Football: The grind begins

[Jordan La Cabra]

Just now, Consigliere said:

Everton mean business. I see that Sigurdsson to Everton is done for around £40m + £2.5m in add ons.

Will Barkley be on his way out? I read that he picked up a hamstring injury in training. Don't know how serious it is or whether that would affect any move. His stock isn't as high as it was a while ago so I don't think anyone will be spending £50m on him.

Sigurdsson is a great buy for them. In terms of set piece deliveries from corners and free kicks, he is as good as any in the league. Would be perfect if they had been able to get someone like Giroud in, who is a dominant forward in the air and would revel in playing with Sigurdsson.

Barkley is a strange one. For me, he is no better now than he was three seasons ago. If they are asking £50m for him, I can't see anyone paying up. Maybe Tottenham will sneak in near the deadline with a bid around half of that price to test Everton's resolve. But Erikson and Alli are a different calibre of player to Barkley, so he could turn out like Sissoko if he went there.

Everton is his level, I think. Staying there and being a part of their exciting new team would be my advice to him.

[baxus]

9 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Everton mean business. I see that Sigurdsson to Everton is done for around £40m + £2.5m in add ons.

Will Barkley be on his way out? I read that he picked up a hamstring injury in training. Don't know how serious it is or whether that would affect any move. His stock isn't as high as it was a while ago so I don't think anyone will be spending £50m on him.

They sold Barry to WBA, if Premier League's official Instagram account is to be trusted.

[Iskaral Pust]

I'm glad we won although concerned that my interest level is so low at the start of the season.   I've carried over my sense of being jaded/glutted from late last season. 

Watching the highlights, I wasn't convinced it should have been penalty.  As clumsy as Lovren was, it seemed like Gnabry did a step-over and just walked into him without their legs making much or any contact.  But the replay wasn't the forensic slow-motion scrutiny that I'm sure live viewers saw.  

[ljkeane]

26 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I'm glad we won although concerned that my interest level is so low at the start of the season.   I've carried over my sense of being jaded/glutted from late last season.

It has been a bit of a downer with no real signs of improvement on the pitch plus a fairly disappointing summer in the transfer market. It would have been nice to have a few weeks of optimism before the grind of realistic expectations intrudes.

My interest level has increased a bit due to being involved in a fantasy league this year with a prize for winning and, perhaps more importantly, consequences for losing. Actually putting an effort in is taking a surprising amount of work though so I'm not sure how long that's going to last.  

[Jordan La Cabra]

23 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

My interest level has increased a bit due to being involved in a fantasy league this year with a prize for winning and, perhaps more importantly, consequences for losing. Actually putting an effort in is taking a surprising amount of work though so I'm not sure how long that's going to last.  

One week in and already an injury to one of my players, Zaha. Not that he got me any points this week, anyway.

[Iskaral Pust]

39 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

My interest level has increased a bit due to being involved in a fantasy league this year with a prize for winning and, perhaps more importantly, consequences for losing. Actually putting an effort in is taking a surprising amount of work though so I'm not sure how long that's going to last.  

I opted out of my tipping league this season, even though it's much less upfront effort than fantasy football.  It just all feels so pointless and redundant in its repetition.  From a football fandom point of view, I sound like I should be on suicide watch or something.  On the positive side, I'm saving 3+ hours every weekend if I don't watch the Liverpool match, the highlights show and often some of another match. 

[baxus]

2 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Watching the highlights, I wasn't convinced it should have been penalty.  As clumsy as Lovren was, it seemed like Gnabry did a step-over and just walked into him without their legs making much or any contact.  But the replay wasn't the forensic slow-motion scrutiny that I'm sure live viewers saw.  

It has been a penalty. The slow motion replay clearly shows Lovren moving his leg and making contact not once but twice. Mind you, it's nothing like he's kicking the opponent full force but the contact is there. It's one of those penalties that could've not been called and not many people would complain, but it was the right call.

[Jordan La Cabra]

Sky sports claiming that Man City are interested in signing Jonny Evans from WBA. 

Slightly out of the blue, but Evans is one of the more consistent defenders in the league. Man City would certainly look more assured with Evans at the back than Stones or Otamendi and especially Mangala.

[Consigliere]

Surprised City haven't made a move for VVD. It seems like Southampton are not so much against a transfer altogether as opposed to selling him to Liverpool. I think that VVD is overall the better player and better fit for Guardiola's system than Evans. While Evans has been consistent, it's worth noting that some of this consistency might be attributable to a very conservative system at WBA. City have spent alot of money but there has been numerous outgoing transfers as well - think their net spend is currently sitting at around £137m. 60-70 mil for VVD should not pose a problem wrt FFP and Guardiola did say that he will not be spending this much again next season.

[ljkeane]

Southampton have just come out and said he's not for sale at all. Given they've just had new investment and he's got a six year contract I'd say there's a pretty good chance they're serious. If they were going to sell him they probably could have got a bidding war going by now if they wanted to.

[Jordan La Cabra]

Southampton have bid £15m for Lazio centre back Wesley Hoedt. Maybe if they get another centre back in, there will be more chance of them selling VvD. At the moment, though, their stance seems firm. Could come right down to deadline day for him.

[Mark Antony]

Barca haven't looked any better against Madrid than United did last week. Getting completely out played. 

[Consigliere]

Real Madrid are completely outplaying Barca without Ronaldo, Bale, Casemiro and Isco. Just shows how powerful this squad is. Real have done some excellent transfer business in recent years, bringing in young talented players to future-proof the squad for not much money while Barca are looking a shadow of the team they once were and their transfer business has been dismal in comparison.

 

[polishgenius]

17 hours ago, JordanJH1993 said:

Everton is his level, I think. Staying there and being a part of their exciting new team would be my advice to him.

Koeman's said that even if he stays he's not playing. So he can't really do that.

[Jordan La Cabra]

3 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Koeman's said that even if he stays he's not playing. So he can't really do that.

Apparently he's out injured for the next three months with a thigh injury. That will put many suitors off from signing him this window. If he stays at Everton, recovers from his injury, I'd say the chances are high that he'd play again for Everton. Koeman was already going back on his work last week.

[Winterfell is Burning]

FIFA selected 12 coaches to run for the Coach of the Year award:

Massimiliano Allegri

Carlo Ancelotti

Antonio Conte

Luis Enrique

Pep Guardiola

Leonardo Jardim

Joachim Low

José Mourinho

Mauricio Pochettino

Diego Simeone

Tite

Zinedine Zidane

Basically, a mix of people that earned the right to be there and people who are there blatantly for name recognition alone. Zidane will win this one even more easily than Ronaldo (and deservingly so), but I'd like to see Jardim and Tite being nominated as well (although they won't).

[Jordan La Cabra]

3 minutes ago, Winterfell is Burning said:

FIFA selected 12 coaches to run for the Coach of the Year award:

Massimiliano Allegri

Carlo Ancelotti

Antonio Conte

Luis Enrique

Pep Guardiola

Leonardo Jardim

Joachim Low

José Mourinho

Mauricio Pochettino

Diego Simeone

Tite

Zinedine Zidane

Basically, a mix of people that earned the right to be there and people who are there blatantly for name recognition alone. Zidane will win this one even more easily than Ronaldo (and deservingly so), but I'd like to see Jardim and Tite being nominated as well (although they won't).

Deserves to be on the list:

M. Allegri - Apart from winning the Champions League, he is doing everything asked of him at Juve.

A. Conte - Took a broken Chelsea team and led them to the PL title in his first season in England. In doing so, becoming the first manager to win the PL playing three at the back, a formation many coaches ended up copying.

L. Jardim - Usurping PSG despite all their millions is a massive achievement. It's a shame he is losing many of his best players.

J. Low (Not Jenny from the block...) - Won the Confederations Cup with an experimental team.

J. Mourinho - Despite being poor in the league, he delivered the League Cup and Europa League. The man brings trophies.

M. Pochettino - The opposite to Mourinho. Coached an extremely impressive Spurs in the league but ended the season with no trophies to show for it.

Tite - Brazil already qualified for the WC and looking like a young, exciting side again.

Z. Zidane - Nothing to say. This guy has won the award already.

Does not deserve to be on the list:

C. Ancelotti - Winning the league with Bayern is the least that's expected of a Bayern manager.

L. Enrique - Winning the Copa Del Rey is the least expected of a Barca manager.

P. Guardiola - No idea how this guy's name is on the list. Spent millions upon millions last summer at Man City yet came third in the league, didn't make it beyond the semis in the cups and crashed out of Europe at the Ro16. Pellegrini's final season at City was better than Pep's first.

D. Simeone - I really respect Simeone, but again, another trophy-less season at Atletico.

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

I seriously wonder what Ancelotti or Guardiola are doing on that list.

Ancelotti has achieved the bare minimum requirements for Bayern. He achieved their league goal, but failed to win the German Cup and did not make it to the semi-finals in the CL. And the way his Bayern team played wasn't really all that awe inspiring. This season will probably be even more difficult for him. Thus I said my guess is, that he will be out of his job at the end of the season.

Somewhat the same with Guardiola. And arguably he was even a worse underachiever last season.

And btw. what's Luis Enrique doing there?

Anyway talking about (formerly) Barcelona. So Luis Suarez has picked up an injury, and Dortmund's Director of Football has voiced his anger with Barca and his counterpart there. According to him, Barca have not handed in an improved offer for Dembele. Or as he had put it. They strongly voiced their interest in signing him in public, handed us an initial offer, and then buggered off without any concern whatsoever over the player's future. Ofc, he is trying to publicly increase the pressure on Barcelona to come up with an improved offer. So let's see who blinks first. Given Suarez injury I think Barcelona's hand might be forced here.

[Philokles]

18 minutes ago, Winterfell is Burning said:

FIFA selected 12 coaches to run for the Coach of the Year award:

Massimiliano Allegri

Carlo Ancelotti

Antonio Conte

Luis Enrique

Pep Guardiola

Leonardo Jardim

Joachim Low

José Mourinho

Mauricio Pochettino

Diego Simeone

Tite

Zinedine Zidane

Basically, a mix of people that earned the right to be there and people who are there blatantly for name recognition alone. Zidane will win this one even more easily than Ronaldo (and deservingly so), but I'd like to see Jardim and Tite being nominated as well (although they won't).

My top three would be Jardim, Zidane and Allegri in that order. As you say, there is no way Zidane isn't going to win, though. Tite deserves the nomination, but needs the World Cup before he can think about getting near the podium. His record against South American opposition is impeccable, but that midfield still looks fragile if it were to face one of the big European sides.

For the club managers, it seems you either have to win your league or be in La Liga or the Premier League - at which point managing a big club is enough. I would much rather see Bosz, Favre, Hassenhüttl, Nagelsmann or Sarri over Enrique, Mourinho and Guardiola who had pretty underwhelming years.

[Jordan La Cabra]

21 minutes ago, Notone said:

Anyway talking about (formerly) Barcelona. So Luis Suarez has picked up an injury, and Dortmund's Director of Football has voiced his anger with Barca and his counterpart there. According to him, Barca have not handed in an improved offer for Dembele. Or as he had put it. They strongly voiced their interest in signing him in public, handed us an initial offer, and then buggered off without any concern whatsoever over the player's future. Ofc, he is trying to publicly increase the pressure on Barcelona to come up with an improved offer. So let's see who blinks first. Given Suarez injury I think Barcelona's hand might be forced here.

With the way Real dismantled them in the Super Cup, it really does look bleak at the Camp Nou. If Atletico can get Costa over the line, they may well be a bigger threat to Real in La Liga than Barca this season.

 

13 minutes ago, Horse of Kent said:

 

For the club managers, it seems you either have to win your league or be in La Liga or the Premier League - at which point managing a big club is enough. I would much rather see Bosz, Favre, Hassenhüttl, Nagelsmann or Sarri over Enrique, Mourinho and Guardiola who had pretty underwhelming years.

I was trying to think who had been overlooked. Farve, Nagelsmann and Hassenhüttl definitely deserve to be in ahead of Pep, Ancelotti and Simeone. But it seems to be you have to manage a big club to get your name thrown into this mix.

What Jardim has done with Monaco in breaking the stranglehold PSG have on Ligue 1 is arguably the most impressive feat, but Zidane is winning everything in front of him with Real. Breaking a long running curse of the CL holders not being able to retain the trophy is worthy of winning on its own.