Football: Showdown Sunday

[Mark Antony]

2 hours ago, Mexal said:

NBC fucking over the best product they have. I'm so annoyed.

NBC sucks.

Ugh 

[Iskaral Pust]

3 hours ago, Mexal said:

NBC fucking over the best product they have. I'm so annoyed.

NBC sucks.

That's a shame.  It did seem to be too good to be true these past few years. 

$50 for a season subscription isn't terrible.  I'll wait to see if it matters for Liverpool games.  I'm already feeling glutted with too much football. 

I've toyed before with buying a subscription to Liverpoolfc.com to watch the games there, but it until they'll stream to my TV in hi-def.  I'm not hunching over my laptop or iPad screen.

[baxus]

15 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I agree with this.  Matic improves upon what they have right now, but was it the best use of $40m and the available DM spot to upgrade him over Schneiderlin?  The best I could offer is that he has experience of winning a title and knows the Mourinho tactics already.  Matic was a great DM in 2014/15, regressed badly as DM in 2015/16 and then improved dramatically (or regained prior form) as CM in 2016/7 with Kante alongside him giving him license to get forward more.  Does that mean Matic will be great as the DM anchor with Pogba and Herrara roaming?  There's a big risk that without Kante you'll get the 2015/6 version of Matic.  Plus he's 29 at the start of next season, so he's approaching the peak of his game management but waning pace. 

Schneiderlin is only one year younger than Matic, so age is definitely not a factor.

While Kante definitely was a major factor in Chelsea's defensive game last season, Matic played pretty much the same role for Chelsea in their title-winning 2014/15 team so he's more than capable of handling United's DM position.

In 2015/16 season every single one of Chelsea's players played poorly, so singling out Matic like that is silly to the point of absurd.

As far as pace is concerned, I never heard anyone praising Matic's for pace. Just like pretty much every 1.95m tall football player I can think of, Matic is not really a speedster and he never was.

[Consigliere]

Yeah, I wouldn't be disappointed at all if we signed Matic. £40m might seem a bit steep but I don't care about that (I'm a fan not the club's CFO) and 40mil in today's market isn't outrageous, especially for a quality player like Matic. His distribution is infinitely better than Fellaini's and he stands well above Carrick when it comes to physicality and mobility. Pace is not an issue since Matic has never been considered a pacey player and I'm not concerned that he's turning 29 either since he is not a player prone to injury. We should get a good 5 seasons out of him. A trio of Herrera-Matic-Pogba looks like a very well balanced midfield and as good as anything in the league (on paper at least).

[Consigliere]

Germany have been ruthless. Very impressed with this young German team. In addition to the great talent, they play with the composure of veterans. The scoreline is a bit harsh on Mexico though. They have created a number of great opportunities themselves but have been nowhere near as clinical as Germany.

[Philokles]

Unbelievable hit from Fabian. Almost as negligent as their wide open defence is that he has not been starting. Had he played in the Premier League or La Liga like he has for Frankfurt, he would be the first name on the teamsheet.

Feel Germany could have had a couple more even if Mexico could have got one earlier. First real time they were under pressure after the goal from nowhere, they almost immediately scored to relieve it. 

[Mexal]

Seems like Lacazette to Arsenal is close.

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

The Guardian reports Chelsea about to sign Antonio Rüdiger? I know Conte kinda digs him. Still, that would be one of the more non-sensical moves I have seen in a while. I don't follow Italian calcio, so maybe Rüdiger has improved quite a bit since he joined Roma (Spaletti rumoredly also wanted to take Rüdiger with him to Inter), but presonally I still think that Christensen is at least as good a defender as Rüdiger (well, actually I rate Christensen higher). And he just returned from his two year loan spell with Gladbach, so he's effectively a new arrival without a transfer fee. Guess, that one just follows the internal EPL signing logic. Any player with a transfer fee of less than 40m. € can't be any good.

[l2 0 5 5]

A nice win by Germany. Though they're 3rd ranked in the world by Fifa, the team that was on the field for them in this tournament is not the reason why they're number 3. Pretty impressive that they beat Chile who is the #4 in Fifa, and they actually fielded their top list players. I've watched this tourney passively. Just gives you the blue balls for the WC next summer. I think France and Germany have to be the European favorites for next summer. I like Brazil as the SA favorite. 

As for Chelsea, seems like Baka is a sure deal. Sandro is teetering, and Lukaku is a 50/50 deal. I think Baka is an upgrade over Matic, and certainly nice to shave off 6 years between the two players. Will be fun to see him and Kante run the defensive midfield next year. Sandro would be a great addition, and it will benefit us to have a guy like Alonso coming off the bench. Particularly with more mid-weeks games with CL. The big question mark is striker. Lukaku, Morata, Belotti, Mbappe... Hard to say who it will be. I think you can rule out the last 2; as much as I'd love to have Mbappe. My guess is it'll be Lukaku. 

I have mixed feelings on him. Scored a lot of goals the last 2 seasons, and a lot at home last year, with few on the road. Doesn't play in any big games mid-week with Everton and now he will have to show up for both. The guys on ESPN FC bring up a good point that Lukaku's style may not mesh well with Hazard. Diego and Hazard had good rapport and played a lot of one touches to each other, where that is not Lukaku's game. At first I was wanting Morata over Luk no doubt about it. The more I think about it though, Morata is even more unproven than the former. Morata is used to coming off the bench in the second half when the opposing team has had to endure Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale, etc for the first 70 minutes or so of the game, and he gets to come out with fresh legs and beat them down even further. Also, not proven in PL. Makes me a little sick that we gave Luk away for 30 mill or so and now have to buy him back at 80M. Not that Abramovich's checkbook will care. Either or, I don't think either of them will be a flop, just makes me nervous. I hate on Diego and his antics a lot, but the guy played well for us.

On a last note, saw some chatter on the web about Chelsea putting in a bid for Dele. That's laughable. Can't see Tot ever giving away their pride and joy to a rival. No matter what the bid is. I think Tot is the only team in the PL that doesn't have to make any moves in the transfer window.

[polishgenius]

Spurs should definitely buy a player or two. They don't need sweeping changes, but they didn't win the league this year, and their rivals are going to improve. It's more about squad balance than new stars though there's a couple of positions they could upgrade in; plus, they seriously need a Kane backup. Preferably someone who can play up front but also somewhere else for when Kane is fit and firing.

[Consigliere]

Great win by Germany especially considering that this was more like a C team. What was so impressive was the composure these young players showed in addition to some great counter-attacking football. Many in the Confed Cup squad could have been at the U21 Euros and Germany won that competition as well which just goes to show that German football is overflowing with young talent.

Agree with Polishgenius. Spurs definitely need to make some additions to the squad. Sure, they had a good season in the league but ended up winning nothing. Lets not forget that they were pretty abysmal in Europe. Eventually Spurs need to actually start winning things and become serious contenders for European honours otherwise they will face a real battle to keep hold of their top players.

[ljkeane]

Everton are really splashing the cash this summer. Micheal Keane in for up to £30 million. I suspect it won't actually be £30 million unless he ends up scoring 20 goals in a title winning season but, still, spending something close to £90 million with potentially more to come is a bit of statement of intent.

[Iskaral Pust]

This is what I expected from Everton last summer with the new owner and new manager.  I guess they made a start in January with Schneiderlin, who inproved them a lot in the second half of the season.  Surprising that they didn't do more last summer. 

There's definitely a top 7 now, which is tough news for Liverpool. City, United and Chelsea are the biggest spenders and should dominate the top 3 unless any are underperforming (Utd is for sure).  Arsenal are a level below them in spending but still well above the next tier.  Spurs, Liverpool and Everton are the next tier of spenders and will be jockeying for opportunities.  It will feel pretty crowded at the top. 

[Rorshach]

As happy (and surprised. Most definitely surprised) I am about both the amount of money we've spent, and not least the timing (five purchases, at least four primary targets, before pre-season gets properly underway), I think it's early days yet. 

All our signings are young, half of them haven't played in the PL before, and we'll lose our top scorer (extremely likely), while questions remain about Barkley. 

Essentially, we're changing the spine of the team. It will take time to gel -and it would be ludicrous to expect every transfer to be a hit. Nevertheless, I'm (cautiously) optimistic. There seems to be a plan, action is taken swiftly and I think we've chosen our targets well. 

And anyway, this beats waiting all summer and doing all our business on or close to Deadline Day.

[Consigliere]

Looks like Donnarumma has done a U-turn and will sign a new deal with AC Milan. Think this is a good move on his part to remain with Milan at this early stage of his career. If Real do decide to turn their attentions back on DDG, hopefully we will make negotiations as difficult as possible. Considering the exorbitant fees being paid, we should not be accepting anything less than £80m for one of the best goalkeepers in the world who is easily worth at least 10-15 points a season.

[Lord Friendzone]

13 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Looks like Donnarumma has done a U-turn and will sign a new deal with AC Milan. Think this is a good move on his part to remain with Milan at this early stage of his career. If Real do decide to turn their attentions back on DDG, hopefully we will make negotiations as difficult as possible. Considering the exorbitant fees being paid, we should not be accepting anything less than £80m for one of the best goalkeepers in the world who is easily worth at least 10-15 points a season.

You want Morata. So some kind of exchange but Zidane appears to be a fan of Navas, Perez is the guy who wants DDG because he's Spanish and would be marketable a lot better than Navas.

EDIT:As much as DDG is a really good goalkeeper, 80m is a way too much for him, 50m-60m at best because goalkeepers simply do not command this value on the market.

 

16 hours ago, Rorshach said:

As happy (and surprised. Most definitely surprised) I am about both the amount of money we've spent, and not least the timing (five purchases, at least four primary targets, before pre-season gets properly underway), I think it's early days yet. 

All our signings are young, half of them haven't played in the PL before, and we'll lose our top scorer (extremely likely), while questions remain about Barkley. 

Essentially, we're changing the spine of the team. It will take time to gel -and it would be ludicrous to expect every transfer to be a hit. Nevertheless, I'm (cautiously) optimistic. There seems to be a plan, action is taken swiftly and I think we've chosen our targets well. 

And anyway, this beats waiting all summer and doing all our business on or close to Deadline Day.

You guys made a good deals Pickford, Keane, Klassie - some really good buys. 

What about Lukaku? Is he going or you'd keep him with 2 years on his deal. I've seen 100m figure being quoted but nobody gonna pay that or anywhere close to it, then you're risking losing him for half of that or free.

[Consigliere]

Just now, Lord Friendzone said:

You want Morata. So some kind of exchange but Zidane appears to be a fan of Navas, Perez is the guy who wants DDG because he's Spanish and would be marketable a lot better than Navas.

Unless that exchange involves Real paying us money plus Morata then we should not even entertain it. I agree, if it was purely up to Zidane then there would be no bid for DDG however, Perez is the guy calling the shots and if he wants a certain 'galactico' then he will attempt to sign him regardless of what the manager thinks.

4 minutes ago, Lord Friendzone said:

What about Lukaku? Is he going or you'd keep him with 2 years on his deal. I've seen 100m figure being quoted but nobody gonna pay that or anywhere close to it, then you're risking losing him for half of that or free.

I think Chelsea might have paid that if Costa made a big money move to China but with the 100% tax instituted by the Chinese League, interest from China seems to have cooled so I don't see anyone paying that sort of money for Lukaku. Don't think Everton would mind keeping Lukaku for one more season even if that means selling him for less the following year. There might also be an outside chance of Lukaku doing a u-turn as well.

[Lord Friendzone]

3 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Unless that exchange involves Real paying us money plus Morata then we should not even entertain it. I agree, if it was purely up to Zidane then there would be no bid for DDG however, Perez is the guy calling the shots and if he wants a certain 'galactico' then he will attempt to sign him regardless of what the manager thinks.

Zidane has far more say right now at Real. He brought them two UCL and League title in such a short time. In fact Zidane managed to convince Perez last summer transfer window, not to get DDG and trust Navas. DDG approach goes back to Benitez and not Zidane. Since Zidane came, not much of news about Real interest in DDG, as before they had a lot of it.

The thing is, you need a striker more than they do a goalkeeper. Market for strikers is not a big basically Belotti, Lukaku and Morata from those really good ones. You either pay a lot of money for Morata or they might try to convince you to include DDG.

Quote

I think Chelsea might have paid that if Costa made a big money move to China but with the 100% tax instituted by the Chinese League, interest from China seems to have cooled so I don't see anyone paying that sort of money for Lukaku. Don't think Everton would mind keeping Lukaku for one more season even if that means selling him for less the following year. There might also be an outside chance of Lukaku doing a u-turn as well.

True but losing 50m on Lukaku is too much even for new Everton owners and as far as Lukaku making u-turn unlikely, he knows Everton will not be challenging for title, might not even top 4. They made a really god buys but still are far away from the likes of Chelsea,. Man City, Man Utd, Tottenhamand they will be better. Lukaku wants to get to a bigger club and play UCL regularly.

[Mexal]

Lacazette is on Arsenal ground for medical today so that's happening. I'll be interested to see how he handles the PL and whether his Ligue 1 game can transfer. Good player but would have preferred Mbappe (everyone would).

Dount Lemar happens but could see Mahrez asa back up plan. That'd work out alright I think if he can return to form from two years ago.

Kosalanic was a great signing to help shore up the defense and Arsenal still needs a CM to pair with Xhaka. Pretty good business so far if they get Lacazette and two more players on top of Kosalanic and unload a number of guys.

[Consigliere]

38 minutes ago, Lord Friendzone said:

Zidane has far more say right now at Real. He brought them two UCL and League title in such a short time. In fact Zidane managed to convince Perez last summer transfer window, not to get DDG and trust Navas. DDG approach goes back to Benitez and not Zidane. Since Zidane came, not much of news about Real interest in DDG, as before they had a lot of it.

The thing is, you need a striker more than they do a goalkeeper. Market for strikers is not a big basically Belotti, Lukaku and Morata from those really good ones. You either pay a lot of money for Morata or they might try to convince you to include DDG.

True but losing 50m on Lukaku is too much even for new Everton owners and as far as Lukaku making u-turn unlikely, he knows Everton will not be challenging for title, might not even top 4. They made a really god buys but still are far away from the likes of Chelsea,. Man City, Man Utd, Tottenhamand they will be better. Lukaku wants to get to a bigger club and play UCL regularly.

I don't see us agreeing to pay Real money plus DDG for Morata, no matter how desperate we are for a CF. That would be a terrible deal for us. In that case we might as well just pay Bellotti's release clause or 100mil for Lukaku because DDG is worth at least 80mil in this market. You might be right concerning Zidane and Navas though. Thus far I haven't seen anything to suggest that Real intend to make a bid or ask that DDG be included in a deal for Morata.

Re: Lukaku. Everton are not going to get 100mil so I don't see it as them 'losing 50mil'. If Lukaku does leave then I expect the fee to be quite a bit less than what is being rumored.

 

@Mexal

Not sure that I would prefer Mbappe actually. Certainly not for the rumored 100+ million. He's the flavour of the month right now but it seems an awfully big risk for a player with only one season under his belt. Sure, he's talented with the potential to become world class. Equally, at this stage of his career, he could turn out to be one of those who never fulfills their potential.