football: transfer madness!

[polishgenius]

Just now, Consigliere said:

I named Simeone primarily due to the continuity aspect. Wouldn't mind a more attack minded manager provided that it is someone who can organize a team defensively as well. Alot of these young attack minded managers are clueless when it comes to defensive organization.

Poccetino would be my ideal choice at the moment, tbh. Added bonus if we got Kane with...


 

 

27 minutes ago, JordanJH1993 said:

Simeone is one of the only top level managers that I would say for certain is more defensive minded than Jose. I’m not sure if that’s down to the players he has available at Atletico, but anytime I’ve seen them under Simeone, they’ve never been an exciting side to watch. At least Jose’s teams can be excellent going forwards at times. 

 

I think the main difference between the way the two of them set up is that where Mourinho defaults to having his team just turtle and wait for opponents to make a mistake, Simeone's Atleti are far more proactive about pressing and hassling to force mistakes.
And also as I say even at their most defensive there is a plan, in attack, and as we've discussed on here before I don't think that's the case with Mourinho.

[Consigliere]

1 minute ago, polishgenius said:

I think the main difference between the way the two of them set up is that where Mourinho defaults to having his team just turtle and wait for opponents to make a mistake, Simeone's Atleti are far more proactive about pressing and hassling to force mistakes.
And also as I say even at their most defensive there is a plan, in attack, and as we've discussed on here before I don't think that's the case with Mourinho.

Yeah, Atleti definitely counter press better than we do and Simeone has Atleti building a counter by playing out from the back rather than default to hoofing a long ball to the big man up front.

 

Quote

Poccetino would be my ideal choice at the moment, tbh. Added bonus if we got Kane with...

Poch would be the best choice really. Unfortunately, he would be near the top of Real Madrid's list should Zidane get the sack. After being knocked out of the cup by losing at home to Leganes one would think that Zidane is on borrowed time.

[Consigliere]

I see that both Bild and Kicker are reporting that a deal with Arsenal for Aubameyang is increasingly unlikely in this window due to the transfer fee. Apparently the difference between asking price and what Arsenal are willing to pay is around €15m. Arsenal should just pay that otherwise it will be Europa League again next season.

[Mexal]

2 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

I see that both Bild and Kicker are reporting that a deal with Arsenal for Aubameyang is increasingly unlikely in this window due to the transfer fee. Apparently the difference between asking price and what Arsenal are willing to pay is around €15m. Arsenal should just pay that otherwise it will be Europa League again next season.

It'll be Europa league anyway. Arsenal did nothing to fix their defense or midfield.

[polishgenius]

10 hours ago, Consigliere said:

Poch would be the best choice really. Unfortunately, he would be near the top of Real Madrid's list should Zidane get the sack. After being knocked out of the cup by losing at home to Leganes one would think that Zidane is on borrowed time.

Yeah well that's why we should have punted Mourinho to PSG and gotten Poch asap.

Although I suppose it's not impossible that if Mourinho hangs on another year and a bit, Poch will already have been fired by Madrid for some stupid reason like only winning one major trophy in a season.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

I was watching BBC's Question Time and an audience member asked whether Sanchez's salary at United was appropriate for a professional sportsperson.First of all,i had no idea United were paying him such a mind-boggling sum.Crazy! Do United have their own money printing machine?

Also,is he now earning more than Messi/Ronaldo?

[Consigliere]

No he isn't. The media are full of shit and are just making up numbers now. No way Sanchez is earning £600k/week or whatever new number the media have come up with. They started out with £350k/week, went to £400k+/week, then £500k and now it's £600k. All to fit the narrative they are trying to push that Sanchez chose United over golden boy Pep purely due to money.

[Spockydog]

24 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

 All to fit the narrative they are trying to push that Sanchez chose United over golden boy Pep purely due to money.

That's exactly what he did though. He's never won a European league champion's medal. He could have signed for City and got one in May. Instead, he upped his salary demands to such an extent that City walked away from the deal.

His relationship with Mourinho is almost guaranteed to end in tears. He is a defensive liability. Always has been, always will.

ETA: I was wrong. He won the league in Spain. 

[Consigliere]

11 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

That's exactly what he did though. He's never won a European league champion's medal. He could have signed for City and got one in May. Instead, he upped his salary demands to such an extent that City walked away from the deal.

His relationship with Mourinho is almost guaranteed to end in tears. He is a defensive liability. Always has been, always will.

ETA: I was wrong. He won the league in Spain. 

Of course money was a factor but lets not pretend that it's the only factor. It's not like he was choosing some Chinese club over City here. Players have egos and big name players have big egos. I'm sure that the promise of being a star man at United and receiving the iconic #7 jersey instead of being another cog in the oil rig at City was a factor as well.

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

I was watching BBC's Question Time and an audience member asked whether Sanchez's salary at United was appropriate for a professional sportsperson.

I love it when people get outraged at politicians about this. As if it's got anything to do with them whatsoever.

Reminds me of this.

[Jordan La Cabra]

Starting to see Chelsea linked to Giroud. As I said before, he is the one striker I thought we should have been chasing if we were so determined to get a target man; he'd easily get more game time at Chelsea than he would at Arsenal, too

The problem is that I still don't think we should be looking at a target man striker to begin with. We need someone to come in and not just be back up to Morata, but to seriously challenge him and make him have to up his own game. Of strikers available, as mentioned here before, Aubameyang would be the perfect choice.

Yes, we have already spent £60m on a striker in the previous transfer window, and financially, it wouldn't be wise to spend another £60m on another striker in the following window, but the first £60m man is out of form and the team in general aren't scoring enough goals to challenge.

We have the joint best defensive record in the league; like Man United, it is the lack of goals that have let us down. But look at what Man United have done to remedy that: they spent £75m on a striker in the summer, who hasn't worked out as well as planned, so they have gone in the next window, swapped Mkhitarayan for another forward in Alexis. There was no 'fee' as such, but when you are paying a player between £350-400k a week, it is still an expensive signing. Man City, top of the league by 12 points, are about to spend £57m on a centre back who hasn't played in the Champions League and hasn't been capped by his country.

If Chelsea are to keep competing with the Manchester clubs in the league, they need to do what they are doing in the transfer market, too.

[baxus]

1 hour ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

I was watching BBC's Question Time and an audience member asked whether Sanchez's salary at United was appropriate for a professional sportsperson.First of all,i had no idea United were paying him such a mind-boggling sum.Crazy! Do United have their own money printing machine?

Also,is he now earning more than Messi/Ronaldo?

The answer to that question is yes. It is appropriate. Athletes deserve to get paid as much as they can negotiate, just like people in every other profession. It's not a matter of how important your job is to the community and society in general, it's a matter of how much money you make for your employer. I'd rather see players than club owners make all that money.

And also, if we were to determine the max income for professional athlete, where exactly do we put that limit? Is 200k£ per week ok but 250k£ per week is not? And where do we draw the line between those two?

[Spockydog]

22 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Of course money was a factor but lets not pretend that it's the only factor. It's not like he was choosing some Chinese club over City here. Players have egos and big name players have big egos. I'm sure that the promise of being a star man at United and receiving the iconic #7 jersey instead of being another cog in the oil rig at City was a factor as well.

I also read that he was a United fan as a kid, so there's that too. To be clear, I don't blame him for prioritizing cash over sporting concerns. But I think he's made a mistake. And I imagine that after a few games where he's given the ball away 35+ times, Mourinho might come to the same conclusion himself.

I wonder who his first dressing room fistfight is going to be with. 

[Consigliere]

18 minutes ago, baxus said:

The answer to that question is yes. It is appropriate. Athletes deserve to get paid as much as they can negotiate, just like people in every other profession. It's not a matter of how important your job is to the community and society in general, it's a matter of how much money you make for your employer. I'd rather see players than club owners make all that money.

And also, if we were to determine the max income for professional athlete, where exactly do we put that limit? Is 200k£ per week ok but 250k£ per week is not? And where do we draw the line between those two?

Also think it's worth nothing that sportsmen and women who earn huge sums of money do so because clubs/franchises/sponsors make even more money off their image.

 

24 minutes ago, JordanJH1993 said:

We have the joint best defensive record in the league; like Man United, it is the lack of goals that have let us down. But look at what Man United have done to remedy that: they spent £75m on a striker in the summer, who hasn't worked out as well as planned, so they have gone in the next window, swapped Mkhitarayan for another forward in Alexis.

I think Lukaku has worked out quite well actually. He's got 17 goals + 6 assists in all competitions and his general play has been very good for the most part. He'd have even more goals if we had someone who was capable of seeing all those great runs he makes and actually look to pass to him.

[Consigliere]

16 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

I also read that he was a United fan as a kid, so there's that too. To be clear, I don't blame him for prioritizing cash over sporting concerns. But I think he's made a mistake. And I imagine that after a few games where he's given the ball away 35+ times, Mourinho might come to the same conclusion himself.

I wonder who his first dressing room fistfight is going to be with. 

Mkhi gave the ball away a lot too. I think if Sanchez's output is more consistent than Mkhi's (his premier league record suggests that it will be) then I think it will be okay. If Sanchez can get anywhere near what he averaged in goals+assists per season for Arsenal then I think everyone will be quite happy even if he is loses possession a lot. Mourinho is not really a stickler for possession so long as players are creating chances or putting them away.

[Spockydog]

5 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Mkhi gave the ball away a lot too. I think if Sanchez's output is more consistent than Mkhi's (his premier league record suggests that it will be) then I think it will be okay. If Sanchez can get anywhere near what he averaged in goals+assists per season for Arsenal then I think everyone will be quite happy..

And that's the £400k p/w question. This season, his form has been patchy - he's been a shadow of the player of the past three seasons. Whether this is due to fatigue, his contract situation, or his frequent bust-ups with other Arsenal players, or a reaction to Chile not qualifiyng for the WC, who can tell? 

One suspects he's a bit of a wanker - haven't seen one well-wishing message from any of his Arsenal team-mates - and I'm hoping he's going to sow disharmony and resentment amongst the United squad.

Glad he's gone, tbh.

 

[Consigliere]

4 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

And that's the £400k p/w question. This season, his form has been patchy - he's been a shadow of the player of the past three seasons. Whether this is due to fatigue, his contract situation, or his frequent bust-ups with other Arsenal players, or a reaction to Chile not qualifiyng for the WC, who can tell? 

One suspects he's a bit of a wanker - haven't seen one well-wishing message from any of his Arsenal team-mates - and I'm hoping he's going to sow disharmony and resentment amongst the United squad.

Glad he's gone, tbh.

 

We'll have to wait and see how it all pans out. I'm glad we signed him though and I'm hoping that his patchy form thus far this season was down to him desperately wanting out of Arsenal.

[Jordan La Cabra]

13 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

I think Lukaku has worked out quite well actually. He's got 17 goals + 6 assists in all competitions and his general play has been very good for the most part. He'd have even more goals if we had someone who was capable of seeing all those great runs he makes and actually look to pass to him.

I, too, think he has been quite good for Man United, but his form has been rather inconsistent. Lukaku went on a brilliant run at the start of the season, then went on a drought, and has since started scoring again. But with 11 in 23 in the league - a decent record - he hasn't scored enough that Man United didn't need to sign another top class forward, though - that was my point.

Morata has scored 10 in 20, which is decent enough, too, but not good enough that we don't need to spend big on another striker. Man United, though, are trying to add more goals with a big money signing, while we are looking to bring in random big men on a short term deal that might get us 5 goals from now until the end of the season, when we should be going for a proven player to challenge or usurp Morata.

[baxus]

1 hour ago, Consigliere said:

Also think it's worth nothing that sportsmen and women who earn huge sums of money do so because clubs/franchises/sponsors make even more money off their image.

Yes, that's why I said:

1 hour ago, baxus said:

It's not a matter of how important your job is to the community and society in general, it's a matter of how much money you make for your employer.

 

[Consigliere]

3 minutes ago, baxus said:

Yes, that's why I said:

 

Haha. Woops, missed that!