Football - Stolen Taxi for Pardew

[polishgenius]

Lot of paper talk that Pogba's on his way out in the summer. Better fucking be bullshit. If it comes down to a choice between Pogba and Mourinho you have to choose Pogba. People like to say no player is bigger than the club but neither is the fucking manager.

Doubly so because the purported replacement is Tony Kroos, and he's fine but they can fuck right off with that idea.

[Consigliere]

14 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Lot of paper talk that Pogba's on his way out in the summer. Better fucking be bullshit. If it comes down to a choice between Pogba and Mourinho you have to choose Pogba. People like to say no player is bigger than the club but neither is the fucking manager.

Doubly so because the purported replacement is Tony Kroos, and he's fine but they can fuck right off with that idea.

There aren't many clubs capable of/willing to paying the sort of transfer fee that we would demand for Pogba assuming we even want to sell him - probably Real and PSG are the only two options. I don't see us doing business with Real unless they are willing to stump up Coutinho or Mbappe money. Also it doesn't make much sense for Real to sign Pogba since they are stacked in midfield (Ceballos can't even get a game) and swapping Kroos who is such an integral part of the team for Pogba doesn't make sense either. This paper talk looks like the usual clickbait nonsense. Have to still generate those clicks during the slow international break.

[Mark Antony]

Joe Gomez is out for at least one month apparently. Clyne is probably not ready so TAA is gonna have to step up during some crucial games. An emergency Milner could work at RB probably if it came down too it I guess. 

[Iskaral Pust]

5 hours ago, Mark Antony said:

Joe Gomez is out for at least one month apparently. Clyne is probably not ready so TAA is gonna have to step up during some crucial games. An emergency Milner could work at RB probably if it came down too it I guess. 

As feared.  A big boost for City.  I hope TAA can have a couple of monster games against Sane.

[Consigliere]

UEFA have removed the cup-tied rule after the group stages for the CL and EL. From next season onwards a club will be allowed to register any three new players after the January transfer window without restrictions. 

[Mark Antony]

Not sure if I like that. Makes perfect sense to not be able to play in CL for two separate teams. January window was already insane this year and I expect it to get a lot crazier now. 

[ljkeane]

Yeah, I'm not really a fan. It's just another advantage for the big money teams. I don't really see the point.

[Mark Antony]

Yeah it’s stupid. Players that play on teams that fail to qualify out of their groups will force moves to teams who are still in CL and get a 2nd chance at the trophy. Dumb

[Raja]

Man, the french national team is insane. Their squad is full of talent. 

[Mexal]

For all the speculation about Tuchel to Arsenal (isn't happening), people often forget that Arsenal still has Wenger and Wenger can't make up his fucking mind. They won't fire him and he'll play the will he, won't he until the end of the season when he signs a new 3 year deal. Wenger isn't going anywhere so no idea why all the speculation.

[Consigliere]

Tuchel has also been linked to PSG and Chelsea. Think that either of those two clubs are a more likely destination than Arsenal. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

3 hours ago, Mexal said:

For all the speculation about Tuchel to Arsenal (isn't happening), people often forget that Arsenal still has Wenger and Wenger can't make up his fucking mind. They won't fire him and he'll play the will he, won't he until the end of the season when he signs a new 3 year deal. Wenger isn't going anywhere so no idea why all the speculation.

In other words we should ask our Chinese based borders to look for some dog receipes for your fellow gooner, who promised to eat his dog should Wenger not leave at the end of the season.

[Philokles]

So good from Lingard to spot Vardy's run and act so quickly. About as intelligent as I can recall a player in an England shirt being.

 

Horror show from Trapp in Berlin. Not the most important thing but Löw's choice of backup goalkeepers is consistently horrendous. Either he or Leno (both if Neuer doesn't make it) going to Russia despite barely being in Germany's top 10.

[Mark Antony]

Ter Stegen should be Neuers back up. Kinda a no brainer 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

18 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

Ter Stegen should be Neuers back up. Kinda a no brainer 

That is a given. He has emerged victorious in that battle of who will be Neuer's back up/successor. The question is about the pecking order behind those two.

The hierarchy in goal for Germany is: Neuer, Ter Stegen, Leno/Trapp. Personally I would throw in Horn into the mix.

Generally speaking this match is about sorting out some players/position that aren't lock for Russia.

That's a the thrid goalkeeper, but also about the strikers. Werner has established himself as number 1 striker for Germany. The back up role is contested between Gomez and Wagner (despite Löw insisting he might want select both). Central midfield is equally contested. Kroos is a given, Khedira very likely. Then it gets kinda tricky. Goretzka can expect to be in Russia, but then it gets less clear. Rudy, Gündogan, Can, Weigl. The more offensive midfielders/wingers. Müller is a given. Sane will make it, because Germany doesn't have that many pacey players who can beat one or more players in one on one situations. Özil is very likely to make it, but who else. Draxler, Reus, Gnabry, Brandt, Stindl are competing for spots on the roster. 

 

[Jordan La Cabra]

I really don’t think that was a penalty for Italy. Tarkowski seemed to step on his foot by complete accident; he could hardly have put his foot anywhere else.

The problem with VAR is that it is still a human making the decision. And a human has made an error by calling that as a penalty, even with the help of VAR.

[Consigliere]

Spain wiping the floor with Argentina. They've played some really slick football.

 

ETA. heh, not just wiping the floor with them, Spain are now thoroughly embarrassing Argentina. 

[Jordan La Cabra]

Quite disappointing to see England only come away with a draw tonight, especially considering the goal came from a penalty that shouldn’t have been.

Over the two friendlies I’ve been impressed with what Southgate is trying to do. The shape, with three at the back, is really working for them. It’s maybe just the personnel that needs to be worked out. 

Walker has been brilliant at RCB. It makes sense playing him there, as, even at City, the wide attackers generate the width and Walker ends up making runs in the inside channel. With this system, he can ‘underlap’ the wingback.

I think Maguire and Tarkowski both played well in their respective games at LCB. Either of those two would be fine in that role. 

Stones in the middle is the main issue. In tonight’s game, he didn’t seem awake at the start, and gave away a couple of cheap opportunities to Italy.

I’m not convinced by him defensively or on the ball. He drops the shoulder and beats a striker every now and then, but tonight he tried it and nearly cost his team a goal. I don’t even think his passing range is that special. For me, Dier should be deployed there, as he’s a more assured defender and just as good on the ball.

Have to say, Lingard has really impressed me lately, for club and now country. At the start of the season, he was never a player I rated highly, but he’s been in great form since the end of last year. He and Sterling seem to have a good understanding, too. He totally deserves to be keeping Dele Alli out of the England team.

Credit to Southgate. He has an idea of how he wants England to play and his players are responding to it. More than that, they seem to enjoy it.

[Philokles]

I am not sure it was a clear and obvious error for the penalty, but once Aytekin saw the video he had little choice but to overturn. Those things happen twenty times a game and are generally let through. Really he should never have been called over to have a look - if there is enough uncertainty to recommend that the referee looks at the monitor then it is probably ambiguous enough to leave. I am not sure why it was Siebert in the booth, instead of one of the retired referees who have done most of the VARing in the Bundesliga this season. These are the kind of things we were seeing at the start of the season but not so much of after the winter break.

[Daemon the Leaner]

It is going to be very difficult to outplay this Seleçao, especially if Neymar is fit for WC. 

Pogba with a superb free-kick and an assist today, I hope it can help him to bring his season's end up.

I've not seen the Spain game summary yet but they are very likely to be in semi-finals anyway.