"Back of the net!": The Football Thread

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  • Posts: 17,821
    barryt007 wrote: »
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Aubameyang arrives & Ozil signs a new contract.

    Everything is OK then. Keep calm and carry on.

    Interesting to speculate had the results been reversed yesterday things would be painted as looking positive for Arsenal and it would be Jurgen who's getting it in the neck this morning.

    Both clubs have a lot in common actually:

    1. Sold their best player but brought in a big name yet are trying to pass this window off as a good one when all they've done is stand still.
    2. Both let go a striker that didn't play much but nonetheless it still weakens the squad by getting rid yet still we're lied to that this represents a forward trajectory.
    3. Both led by stubborn managers who think their methods are the only way to play and constantly bleat when a lesser team has the temerity to be tactically better and take points off them.
    4. Both have players turning out week in week out that are not fit for purpose yet the manager seems unable to see it.
    5. Both run by yanks whose only interest is rinsing the club of money.
    6. Both, theoretically sitting on massive stockpiles of cash but where has it all gone (see 5 above)?
    7. Both only have the ambition to compete for the ultimate prize of 4th.
    8. Both nowhere near competing with Europe's elite for major trophies.

    I cant argue with that,Wiz,8 very valid points,unfortunately.

    +1
    The biggest problem here (and one could argue many of the others are just as big), is the ownership. Can't comment on Liverpool, but Kroenke is a serial club ruiner in the U.S, according to what I've read, and couldn't care less about the clubs actually winning stuff. The money received from tv rights, and keeping within safe place of relegation, is good business for the guy.
  • Posts: 7,507
    It is a general problem in England, though. Where are the democratically run clubs owned by the fans anymore? They are far and few between, if existing at all.

    As a Barcelona fan I know that democratically run clubs have their problems too; corruption, individuals exploiting the club brand for individual gains, petty feuds and intrigues, questionable political campaigns and agendas etc, etc... But I am still so thankfull we have yet to be in full ownership of businessmen with no real connection to the club. We still might elect shitty presidents and be hurt by bad leadership, but at least we have a certain power to manipulate proceedings, and the leaders are in constant pressure to perform and respect the clubs fans, history and values.

    All over England you have owners with no real connection to the club, that have invested for questionable, and sometimes unknown, reasons, and are basically left to do whatever they please with the institution and their finances. Some of them at least care about the team's performances, for others it doesn't seem so important after all. It must be incredibly frustrating for fans. The PL is more or less a competition of which owner has the more resources and willingness to invest in the actual team and who are less insane and more willing to listen to advice than others. So much for having the suppisedly best sporting traditions and most passionate fan culture... It is quite sad, and arguably not a problem only for the teams with the less ambitious or knowledgeable owners, but also for the league in general.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,585
    The wealthy 'glamour' clubs of England can afford to sit in their ivory towers and cherry pick whatever player they want from 'lesser' clubs. Unfortunately this caste system is the way English football (and maybe world football) works. But they can miss the chance to buy and develop some hidden gems from around the globe.

    I'm a Leicester fan so I watched with interest the other day, a two goal debut for a young player called Diabate. It was only against Peterborough, but he was still the best player on the pitch.

    He was bought from the French second division, the same division Leicester raided to buy N'golo Kante and Ryad Mahrez. The latter seems to be on his way to Man City tongith, if they stump up £70,000,000.
    And they probably will, despite him costing Leicester £400,000 in 2014.

    If Man City cared or tried to find players and nurture them, they may have found Kante or Mahrez or Diabate themselves.

    Now it means that in 2020 Man City will probably stump up £70 M more to buy Diabate from Leicester.

    It keeps Man City at the top of the league without making any real effort, and keeps Leicester in their place around 8th-10th place in the league.

    And their manager will be hailed as a great manager for what exactly?
  • Posts: 19,339
    Pep needs to manage a lower ranked team for once in his career,to show if he can hack it or not.
    Mourinho proved he can do it,by winning the CL with Porto.

    Anyway,i have used my wildcard to re-vamp my PL Fantasy team to now be as follows :

    De Gea
    ...............
    Maguire
    Mustafi
    Monreal
    Otamendi
    ................
    Sterling
    Matic
    De Bruyne
    Lingard
    ................
    Firmino
    Vardy


    Subs :
    Fabianski
    Ayew (Swansea Ayew)
    Gross
    Hegazi


    I'm quite pleased with it...I might be able to make a late push up the table.
  • edited January 2018 Posts: 17,821
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Pep needs to manage a lower ranked team for once in his career,to show if he can hack it or not.
    Mourinho proved he can do it,by winning the CL with Porto.

    Anyway,i have used my wildcard to re-vamp my PL Fantasy team to now be as follows :

    De Gea
    ...............
    Maguire
    Mustafi
    Monreal
    Otamendi
    ................
    Sterling
    Matic
    De Bruyne
    Lingard
    ................
    Firmino
    Vardy


    Subs :
    Fabianski
    Ayew (Swansea Ayew)
    Gross
    Hegazi


    I'm quite pleased with it...I might be able to make a late push up the table.

    Pep should do like Lord Bendtner! Go to Rosenborg!
    Transfer news related to Rosenborg: Alexander Sørloth (or Little Sørloth, as he's called), former Rosenborg player, and son of Rosenborg legend Gøran Sørloth, is maybe on the way to Crystal Palace. He's been scoring for fun in FC Midtjylland this season, and can challenge Benteke for the striker role, if he's off to a good start!


    That's quite different from my current team, @barryt007. Not wildcarding yet, but I'm feeling the urge!

    My current team is:
    Pope (Elliot) (Heaton back will eventually force a move here)
    Alonso – Otamendi – Duffy (Mee, Ogbonna)
    Mkhitaryan – Salah – Mahrez – Sterling – Albrighton (Mahrez is destroying my week with this transfer saga)
    Firmino – Kane (Quaner) (Kane is hurting me every week, but in a totally different way!)

    Going forward I don't know what the hell I'll do with this team. Don't have the balls to put an Arsenal defender in the team, although Monreal is in scoring form these days. Aubameyang might need to get into the team, but can we trust Wenger not rotating with Lacazette – or will he fit them both into the starting eleven?

  • Posts: 19,339
    Good team Torg.

    Aub is not on the listings yet so I couldn't put him in as I wanted to use the players for tonight as there are 7 PL games on !!.

    But I will keep an eye on him.

    Also,big rumour now out that the Giroud deal could include Luiz coming to Arsenal.

    Now THAT'S a good bit of business again.
  • Posts: 17,821
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Good team Torg.

    Aub is not on the listings yet so I couldn't put him in as I wanted to use the players for tonight as there are 7 PL games on !!.

    But I will keep an eye on him.

    Also,big rumour now out that the Giroud deal could include Luiz coming to Arsenal.

    Now THAT'S a good bit of business again.

    If the Giroud/Luiz thing happens (is this why no confirmation on the Giroud transfer has been released?), then it's the best outcome possible, if Giroud goes.

    This transfer window is one of the most exciting ones I remember!
  • Posts: 19,339
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Good team Torg.

    Aub is not on the listings yet so I couldn't put him in as I wanted to use the players for tonight as there are 7 PL games on !!.

    But I will keep an eye on him.

    Also,big rumour now out that the Giroud deal could include Luiz coming to Arsenal.

    Now THAT'S a good bit of business again.

    If the Giroud/Luiz thing happens (is this why no confirmation on the Giroud transfer has been released?), then it's the best outcome possible, if Giroud goes.

    This transfer window is one of the most exciting ones I remember!

    That's because for once we are fully involved in it !!
  • Posts: 17,821
    barryt007 wrote: »
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Good team Torg.

    Aub is not on the listings yet so I couldn't put him in as I wanted to use the players for tonight as there are 7 PL games on !!.

    But I will keep an eye on him.

    Also,big rumour now out that the Giroud deal could include Luiz coming to Arsenal.

    Now THAT'S a good bit of business again.

    If the Giroud/Luiz thing happens (is this why no confirmation on the Giroud transfer has been released?), then it's the best outcome possible, if Giroud goes.

    This transfer window is one of the most exciting ones I remember!

    That's because for once we are fully involved in it !!

    That is very, very true!

    Also:
  • Posts: 19,339
    Shit....Giroud gone for £18m and Luiz staying at Chelsea.

    That just leaves Evans or someone we don't know about.
  • Posts: 17,821
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Shit....Giroud gone for £18m and Luiz staying at Chelsea.

    That just leaves Evans or someone we don't know about.

    I'm nervous now, @barryt007!

    From Chelsea:


    Feel very uncomfortable seeing this image…
  • Posts: 7,507
    The thesis that Mourinho won the CL in 2004 with a complete underdog is a bit of a myth and only partly true. The team was packed with quality players from South America, and featured stars like Ricardo Carvalho and Deco, who went on to have great careers in Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. Further more they faced very few top teams on their way to the final. Their main achievement was defeating Man United in the last 16 round, but this was definitely not the strongest version of Man United, who only managed third place in the Premier League that year. The other rivals in the knockout stages were (in cronological order from quarter final to final) Lyon, Deportivo La Coruña and Monaco, decent teams sure, but not the cream of Europe at the time, and not necessarrily of greater statue than Porto. Looking at the squads of the said teams, one could argue Porto in fact had the strongest line up of the four.

    The Semifinal against Deportivo was also heavily marred by controversy, as in the deciding game in Spain (after a goalles draw in the first leg), Deportivo player Naybet was dubiously sent off for two tackles that were hardly worthy of yellow. There was also controversy regarding the winning penalty awarded to brazilian striker Derlei, which gave Porto the 1-0 away win after Deportivo had dominated the game.

    Porto winning was by all means a great and impressive achievement, but it was not such a genius sensation as some claim. Everything was lined up for one of the "lesser giants" to win that year, as the three heavy favorites, Real Madrid, Arsenal (having its famous "Invinceable Year" in the PL) and AC Milan all managed to falter against lesser teams. AC Milan famously managed to throw away a 4-1 lead from the first leg against Deportivo, and Real Madrid also inexplicably collapsed in the second leg vs Monaco.
  • Posts: 17,821

    Hah! Batshuayi always deliver on social media!
  • Posts: 19,339
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Shit....Giroud gone for £18m and Luiz staying at Chelsea.

    That just leaves Evans or someone we don't know about.

    I'm nervous now, @barryt007!

    From Chelsea:


    Feel very uncomfortable seeing this image…

    I know,i dont like it either,i just saw his interview and i genuinely will miss the guy.

    Anyway,keep the faith,Arsenal are making enquiries into Jonny Evans right now with WBA!!
  • edited January 2018 Posts: 17,821
    barryt007 wrote: »
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Shit....Giroud gone for £18m and Luiz staying at Chelsea.

    That just leaves Evans or someone we don't know about.

    I'm nervous now, @barryt007!

    From Chelsea:


    Feel very uncomfortable seeing this image…

    I know,i dont like it either,i just saw his interview and i genuinely will miss the guy.

    Anyway,keep the faith,Arsenal are making enquiries into Jonny Evans right now with WBA!!


    Giroud will be missed. Possibly my favourite player in the most recent years.
    Re Evans: According to some sources, maybe not…

  • Posts: 19,339
    Well as long as we get someone else ,either CD or DM !!
  • edited January 2018 Posts: 17,821
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Well as long as we get someone else ,either CD or DM !!

    Fingers crossed until the deadline!


    Sørloth getting closer to a Palace move. This will be interesting if the deal goes through!
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Pep needs to manage a lower ranked team for once in his career,to show if he can hack it or not.
    Mourinho proved he can do it,by winning the CL with Porto.

    Anyway,i have used my wildcard to re-vamp my PL Fantasy team to now be as follows :

    De Gea
    ...............
    Maguire
    Mustafi
    Monreal
    Otamendi
    ................
    Sterling
    Matic
    De Bruyne
    Lingard
    ................
    Firmino
    Vardy


    Subs :
    Fabianski
    Ayew (Swansea Ayew)
    Gross
    Hegazi


    I'm quite pleased with it...I might be able to make a late push up the table.

    Dear oh dear old son. Two Arsenal defenders? Matic not going to get you much in fantasy league and not having either Salah or Kane (or preferably both) is pretty fatal.
    jobo wrote: »
    l Everything was lined up for one of the "lesser giants" to win that year, as the three heavy favorites, Real Madrid, Arsenal (having its famous "Invinceable Year" in the PL) and AC Milan all managed to falter against lesser teams.

    =)) when were Arsenal ever 'heavy favourites' to win the European cup? I'd love you to dig out Ladbrokes odds for that year for me.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Matic was damn cheap ,so he fitted in with my remaining money...he can sometimes score a rocket .
  • edited January 2018 Posts: 17,821
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Matic was damn cheap ,so he fitted in with my remaining money...he can sometimes score a rocket .

    Those cheaper midfielders in Fantasy are difficult to pick. Went with Albrighton for now. Need him to perform with Mahrez out of the squad. What to do with Mahrez? Downgrade and prepare for Aubameyang?
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Matic was damn cheap ,so he fitted in with my remaining money...he can sometimes score a rocket .

    Those cheaper midfielders in Fantasy are difficult to pick. Went with Albrighton for now. Need him to perform with Mahrez out of the squad. What to do with Mahrez? Downgrade and prepare for Aubameyang?

    Emre Can.

    Paid 4.5m for him in Nov. He's on 70 points now chipping in a cheeky 14 last night.

    Obviously our mug board are letting him go for nothing in the summer.
  • Posts: 7,507
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Pep needs to manage a lower ranked team for once in his career,to show if he can hack it or not.
    Mourinho proved he can do it,by winning the CL with Porto.

    Anyway,i have used my wildcard to re-vamp my PL Fantasy team to now be as follows :

    De Gea
    ...............
    Maguire
    Mustafi
    Monreal
    Otamendi
    ................
    Sterling
    Matic
    De Bruyne
    Lingard
    ................
    Firmino
    Vardy


    Subs :
    Fabianski
    Ayew (Swansea Ayew)
    Gross
    Hegazi


    I'm quite pleased with it...I might be able to make a late push up the table.

    Dear oh dear old son. Two Arsenal defenders? Matic not going to get you much in fantasy league and not having either Salah or Kane (or preferably both) is pretty fatal.
    jobo wrote: »
    l Everything was lined up for one of the "lesser giants" to win that year, as the three heavy favorites, Real Madrid, Arsenal (having its famous "Invinceable Year" in the PL) and AC Milan all managed to falter against lesser teams.

    =)) when were Arsenal ever 'heavy favourites' to win the European cup? I'd love you to dig out Ladbrokes odds for that year for me.


    In the days with Bergkamp and Henry upfront, Wieira and Parlour, Campbell, Ljungberg and Pirez, they were no doubt one of the best teams in Europe. I haven't bothered with digging up old betting odds... you can do so yourself... But they were certainly one of the teams that could have won it that year. Going a full season unbeaten in the Premier League speeks for itself...

    And since you don't adress the actual content of my post, and instead choose to derail the conversation into one tiny derail, I guess you have conceded that I am completely correct in my overall asessment... ;)
  • edited January 2018 Posts: 17,821
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Matic was damn cheap ,so he fitted in with my remaining money...he can sometimes score a rocket .

    Those cheaper midfielders in Fantasy are difficult to pick. Went with Albrighton for now. Need him to perform with Mahrez out of the squad. What to do with Mahrez? Downgrade and prepare for Aubameyang?

    Emre Can.

    Paid 4.5m for him in Nov. He's on 70 points now chipping in a cheeky 14 last night.

    Obviously our mug board are letting him go for nothing in the summer.

    Bit of a punt downgrading Mahrez to Can, but he has got some points in him, that's for sure. As a fifth midfielder he's a great choice!

    Is it Juventus he's going to?
  • Posts: 19,339
    Can doesnt get regular playing time though.
  • edited January 2018 Posts: 17,821
    Sp*rs 1-0 up after 11 seconds. Oh my…
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Can doesnt get regular playing time though.

    Played 90 mins 10 out of the last 14 matches. With Henders and Lallana injured and Cout gone he's been practically starting lineup these days.
    Sp*rs 1-0 up after 11 seconds. Oh my…

    Good work Christian son. Another gem in the Wizard's stable of thoroughbreads.
  • Posts: 19,339
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Can doesnt get regular playing time though.

    Played 90 mins 10 out of the last 14 matches. With Henders and Lallana injured and Cout gone he's been practically starting lineup these days.
    Sp*rs 1-0 up after 11 seconds. Oh my…

    Good work Christian son. Another gem in the Wizard's stable of thoroughbreads.

    Git....
  • Posts: 19,339
    Oh dear..

    I drop Pope and he saves a penalty.
    I put Maguire into my team and Leicester let in a goal.
    I put in De Gea and Man Utd let in a goal.
    I considered putting Murray into my team but didnt and he scores for Brighton.
    I considered putting Fernandinho into my team and didnt and he scores for Man City.


    Going swimmingly....im so f****ing happy.......................not.
  • edited January 2018 Posts: 17,821
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Oh dear..

    I drop Pope and he saves a penalty.
    I put Maguire into my team and Leicester let in a goal.
    I put in De Gea and Man Utd let in a goal.
    I considered putting Murray into my team but didnt and he scores for Brighton.
    I considered putting Fernandinho into my team and didnt and he scores for Man City.


    Going swimmingly....im so f****ing happy.......................not.

    This is me every gameweek, @barryt007! Considered Walcott but dropped it. Assist and a goal since then!

    Arsenal should throw money at Burnley and buy Pope!
    ______
    And Walcott scores again!
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