Jump to content

Football: Silly season


Mark Antony

Recommended Posts

13 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

£45 million for Walker, fucking hell, that is absolutely preposterous.  

I mean, they're quoting 45 million for Sigurdsson, so...

I'm getting properly excited for next season now (pretty sure I say this every time before a season and then we go onto lose the first game).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Mexal said:

Just want to see us sell some guys.

Yeah, the Arsenal squad does look a bit bloated. Even working on the basic proposition of having two quality players for every position, we are overstocked a little.

I know we have to plan for the inevitable AIC (Arsenal Injury Crisis) but we probably ought to offload some people. I wouldn't mind seeing Wilshere and Walcott go permanently, I think after all these years they just are never going to be consistently good enough to take us forward.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apparently Krzychowiak has been one of several PSG players left out of their pre-season tour, with the implication that they're on the transfer list (others include Aurier and Ben Arfa). We should be all over that- despite it not working out for him in Paris, I reckon he'd fit right into that defensive mid position Jose is looking to fill.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bakayoko officially signs with Chelsea for 40 mill. This deal took longer than expected, but glad it happened. He and Kante should be a good duo in the middle of the field. I'm reading people saying that 'he only made his first app with France this year' as if that's a smudge on his profile. Interesting to see that Kante got his first senior cap with France in '16 when he was 25. Baka is 22 so he got his first cap 3 years younger than Kante. Silly argument. 

If we could get Sandro and one of the three big remaining strikers (Belloti, Aubameyang, and Morata) I'd be happy with the window. Sandro is looking more unlikely with the Bonucci move, and the striker stuff is making my head spin. I'm seeing Auba's name popping up more now but it's hard to believe any of that shit. Batshuayi has to be enjoying it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, someone posted just above that Liverpool had failed on Keita and VVD but the club seems pretty confident that at least one of them will go through once the player starts agitating for the move.  

I'm glad we're adding a LB.  Milner did well for a while but his constant cutting back inside stifles a lot of attacks.  Clyne's lack of any quality final ball and Milner's focus on only his right foot made it easy for opponents to nullify our FBs as a wide overload in attack.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

 

I'm glad we're adding a LB. 

I think Gibbs would have been an excellent LB for Liverpool. Surprised no one has gone in for him, but it *has* been a bit of time since he's played a run of games ( and I guess he's slightly injury prone )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Yep, someone posted just above that Liverpool had failed on Keita and VVD but the club seems pretty confident that at least one of them will go through once the player starts agitating for the move.  

I'm glad we're adding a LB.  Milner did well for a while but his constant cutting back inside stifles a lot of attacks.  Clyne's lack of any quality final ball and Milner's focus on only his right foot made it easy for opponents to nullify our FBs as a wide overload in attack.  

Clyne used to be (and probably still is) very good at crossing the ball into the box .During the Southampton/early Liverpool days, when his role was essentially running past backline and smash a cross in the box and hope someone is there, he did it quite well.

But going by Klopp's interviews from last season, he is not a fan of crossing the ball in aerially and hoping for the best, as he thinks the chance of scoring from that is quite low. It's one of the reason you see so many cutbacks by the fullbacks last season, as the instruction seems to be to play around the box and be patient. Instead of cross, lose the ball and allow a counterattack.

For Milner, the fact that Coutinho was playing in the left wing probably has a lot to do with his cutbacks as well, as passing to Coutinho at the edge of the box is probably considered to be a better option than smashing in crosses and losing the ball (most of the time). Also, I don't think Milner is that bad with his left foot, probably second only to Lallana in terms of ability to use both feet. He crossed with his left fee plenty of times last season, and this preseason. But you will note that he primarily sticks to ground crosses.

Both fullbacks rarely smash one aerially into the box. But i think it's by design and not because they are bad, per se.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Thewingedshadow I agree we're not a team for high crosses but Clyne's weakness in attack goes far beyond that.  He's fine running onto a ball behind the LB but hopeless if he has to stop with the ball at his feet and face up to a defender.  The best hope is he can run behind and make a low first time cross/cut-back.  That works well for counter-attacks but most teams sit pretty deep against us.  Anything else and he is stymied.  Opposing managers last season noticeably conceded space to Clyne to attack, knowing that it wouldn't lead to anything and would create counter-attacking space for them.  

Coutinho's constant drift infield means Milner should stay wide to drag the opposing FB and create space, but he turns back inside and runs into Coutinho's and Lallana's space.  He has made some good crosses and passes from there, but we'd be better overall if he had a left foot threat that kept the FB further from the CB. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Iskaral Pust I agree about Clyne, he isn't good in those situation and could improve. But a part me wants to argue that it is not necessarily his job to do that, and if he fails then he will likely be at the worst possible position to stop/slow a counter (as you noted). While if he passes to Mane/Gini/Firmino/Lallana etc he would be (ideally) in a better position to counterpress. But in general I agree that he needs to be better in those situation because he did find himself in those type of situation alot.

As for Milner, I think what you described about him moving into Coutinho/Lallana's place is part of the way Klopp set up the system. That left wing is where most of the technical players are and where all the cute passes happen due to Coutinho/Firmino/Lallana being there and the dynamic movement Klopp generally wants from his player in terms of constantly moving, dragging defenders, creating spaces, finding half spaces etc. Instead of being static and holding to a preset formation. Plus, him being in those type of position isn't necessarily a negative in my book as he typically has good vision so can create opportunities from there (as opposed to Clyne, for example).

IMO, even if we have a left footer at LB, I really don't think it will change how teams play against Pool. Because they wouldn't expect aerial crosses, and certainly won't be phased by Liveprool's  potential aerial threat, and would hold compact as they usually do. Left footed ground crosses will be almost impossible to get through with all the bodies anyway, so that wouldn't change much. The only advantage I can see would be during counter attacking situation where a lefty running down the left wing would be able to offload more naturally to Firmino/Mane/Lallana etc (which admittedly happens quite a bit....).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 15.7.2017 at 9:32 PM, Soylent Brown said:

It's looking like Keita might actually happen, with the player keen on the move and RBL not 100% against selling him for the right price,

Ahum, what?

Just for the lulz I did some reading at rawk. It was a bit of Kroos to United reloaded (just with Keita and Liverpool this time). The folks at Leipzig have been very constant in their dismissing over offers for their Key Players (be it Forsberg or Keita). Early in the off season somebody from the management said something along the line, well if somebody puts forward a crazy amount of money like 100 mil. or so, we might start to think about it (voiced in a very dismissive tone). The folks at RAWK turned that into.

"So there's a chance."

But Rangnick (who actually makes the calls there) has repeatedly said: "none of our key players are for sale."

Now, then. Let's wait for Liverpool to pay up 200 mil. And leave me looking a bit silly, as in Pogba United last year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Read an interesting article on Futbolgrad earlier, who have been good on the Keita story. They suggested that Red Bull might be leaking contradictory stories to the English press to make the Keita saga as protracted as possible without ever intending to sell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Horse of Kent said:

Read an interesting article on Futbolgrad earlier, who have been good on the Keita story. They suggested that Red Bull might be leaking contradictory stories to the English press to make the Keita saga as protracted as possible without ever intending to sell.

What would be the point of that? There seems to be some truth to the story that Keita would like to go to Liverpool so they'd just be unsettling their own player.

The story of it possibly happening seems to be that some elements in the commercial hierarchy at Leipzig are inclined to take the money and it's being reported in slightly more reputable places than fan forums. I have to say I don't really care too much though. I don't watch any German football so perhaps he is amazing but I'm pretty dubious he's worth the sums being mooted. I'm sure there are plenty of very good midfielders who'd be available for £30-40 million.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm happy with the Morata deal. This striker phenomenon was getting tired. I think he'll fit into the squad nicely and make an immediate impact. Not concerned about his lack of play time in Real. Our transfer window was looking bleak with just the Rudiger and Baka signings, but when you add Morata I think we've had the best window in England this summer. The striker concern needed dealt with because Batshuayi is a question mark at first team forward. If the Sandro rumor would've come to fruition I'd say we've had a perfect summer but I'll stay content with what we've done thus far. Holding onto Hazard and Cesc (so far) should also be considered a win with all the extra games we'll have this season. 

Now Diego can go bury his head in the sand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

What would be the point of that? There seems to be some truth to the story that Keita would like to go to Liverpool so they'd just be unsettling their own player.

The story of it possibly happening seems to be that some elements in the commercial hierarchy at Leipzig are inclined to take the money and it's being reported in slightly more reputable places than fan forums. I have to say I don't really care too much though. I don't watch any German football so perhaps he is amazing but I'm pretty dubious he's worth the sums being mooted. I'm sure there are plenty of very good midfielders who'd be available for £30-40 million.

I agree on all points.  I'd like to see Klopp get his priority targets but I'm skeptical that we need to spend 70 million to improve our midfield.  There's definitely room for a dynamic CM with some pace, tackling, reading of the game, stamina and decent passing.  I have to believe there are viable candidates for a lot less than 70 million.  Even Kante was bought by Chelsea for only 32 million just a year ago, and Victor Wanyama cost Spurs only 11 million.  Neither scores as many as Keita but they both control MF very effectively for their teams.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ljkeane said:

What would be the point of that? There seems to be some truth to the story that Keita would like to go to Liverpool so they'd just be unsettling their own player.

RB Leipzig exist to help sell energy drinks not play football - their goal is to create as much attention as possible and convey a strong image for the company. Having a lengthy transfer wrangle with Liverpool that they win, would be intended to put them in the mind of English fans as a major force in European football.

Keita comes across as a genuinely nice guy and though he would like to leave, isn't going to make a big deal about it. These rumours that they would sell at the right price never arose when Milan wanted Emil Forsberg because he started causing a fuss. Instead there was a definite no and it all ended quickly.

 

1 hour ago, ljkeane said:

I don't watch any German football so perhaps he is amazing but I'm pretty dubious he's worth the sums being mooted. I'm sure there are plenty of very good midfielders who'd be available for £30-40 million.

If Gylfi Sigurdsson is worth £50m, Keita is comfortably worth £70m. I would still concentrate on strengthening at the back if I were in charge of recruitment at Anfield and had that money to spend, however.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, l2 0 5 5 said:

I'm happy with the Morata deal. This striker phenomenon was getting tired. I think he'll fit into the squad nicely and make an immediate impact. Not concerned about his lack of play time in Real. Our transfer window was looking bleak with just the Rudiger and Baka signings, but when you add Morata I think we've had the best window in England this summer. The striker concern needed dealt with because Batshuayi is a question mark at first team forward. If the Sandro rumor would've come to fruition I'd say we've had a perfect summer but I'll stay content with what we've done thus far. Holding onto Hazard and Cesc (so far) should also be considered a win with all the extra games we'll have this season. 

Now Diego can go bury his head in the sand.

I think this worked out quite well for both Chelsea and United. In a roundabout way both clubs eventually ended up with the CF that is more suited to their respective styles of play. Can't see Juve allowing Sandro to leave but you never know. Chelsea would need to make an offer too good for Juve to refuse though.

Oh, and I hear that Verratti has hired Raiola as his agent. Cue "Verratti to United" rumours.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll be interested to see how good Morata does for Chelsea. They tend to do better with big, burley CFs. Good signing though, they needed to bring someone in.

So now United, Chelsea and Arsenal all have new strikers. Let the competition begin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...