Football: 3rd Season Meltdown

[Iskaral Pust]

Kovacic is a good add for Chelsea, but why give him the development playing time to benefit Real Madrid while RLC and even Barkley rot on the bench?

And within a year of signing Drinkwater, Bakayoko and Barkley, Chelsea have prioritized two new MF additions this summer.  Last season’s business by them looks especially poor.  Morata still not scoring, Zappa-who? and Emerson nowhere near the first XI.  Only Rudiger and Giroud made any real impact. 

[ljkeane]

31 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

It sounds like Fabinho is injured and will miss the opening game at least.  No word on Milner yet after his head injury, and Henderson not yet ready.  Our MF sounds thin already.  I’m not thrilled at all about Lallana potentially playing.

I don't think Fabinho was going to play anyway, everyone likely to start the West Ham game was substituted off at half time against Torino (or substituted on in Robertson's case) while Fabinho was left on for 70 minutes. On top of that Klopp's made the point to mention that it's going to take Fabinho a bit longer to adapt to the way we play than Keita because he's used to playing a different style of football a few times during preseason.

So long as he hasn't got concussion, which there's been no mention of, Milner should be fine to play if required but a midfield of Wijnaldum, Keita and Lallana/Shaqiri is not exactly a disaster.

So it doesn't look like Spurs are doing any transfer business at all with the Grealish deal not looking likely to happen. Not the end of the world given they've already got a strong squad but I did think the implication was Pochettino had been promised some funds to strengthen the squad when he signed a new contract.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

59 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

In other news: Godin learned a trick from Ramos on how to troll Utd. 

Not just him, reportedly Boateng also turned down a move there, and with him apparently PSG have renewed their interest. That's at least the latest news.

43 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Kovacic is a good add for Chelsea, but why give him the development playing time to benefit Real Madrid while RLC and even Barkley rot on the bench?

 

I haven't seen much of Barkley (admittedly), however I never thought he was good enough to play on a top four EPL team regularly. Every time I have seen him play he looked somewhat limited footballing wise. Same story with Drinkwater.

Let's see what happens with Abraham there, as I think he is a really promising prospect. Not sure if he is good enough to play for them regularly, but I think he has way more potential than likesay Barkley (different position, I know).

[Jordan La Cabra]

1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Kovacic is a good add for Chelsea, but why give him the development playing time to benefit Real Madrid while RLC and even Barkley rot on the bench?

And within a year of signing Drinkwater, Bakayoko and Barkley, Chelsea have prioritized two new MF additions this summer.  Last season’s business by them looks especially poor.  Morata still not scoring, Zappa-who? and Emerson nowhere near the first XI.  Only Rudiger and Giroud made any real impact. 

There were more obvious areas of our squad that needed improvement than midfield, I agree, but the opportunity to have a player of Kovacic's quality would be hard to turn down, even if it's only for one season on loan.

Something Barkley has in his favour is that he is flexible and could fill in as one of the wide forwards, as well as being able to play in midfield.  As much as I want to see RLC do well, I have rarely been that impressed with him when I have seen him play, for Chelsea, Crystal Palace or England. The positive for him is that it looks like AC Milan want Bakayoko. RLC may find his chances limited at the start of the season, but I hope that when the Europa League group stage kicks in, he can get game time in it, find some form and then challenge to be picked for the first XI in the league - sort of like what happened with Jack Wilshere at Arsenal last season

As for Zappacosta and Emerson, at the moment, they look like back up to Azpilicueta and Alonso. 

 

Liverpool, Wolves and Fulham have done really good business this window.

 

[Iskaral Pust]

Wolves and Fulham are up there with West Ham for most ambitious upgrades in one transfer window.  There could be chaos for several weeks as a multitude of strangers speaking various languages can’t even find the bathroom before training. 

[polishgenius]

Everton have had a good window too. Bringing Mina and Bernard in on the final day, plus loaned Andre Gomes and looking to loan Zouma too.

[Consigliere]

Everton had a good window last season as well but things didn't really work out. Lets see if this season is any better. West Ham have made numerous signings as well (10, I think) but with that many incomings, it could take some time for them to gel. Fulham and Wolves are looking good though and both teams play an entertaining brand of football. Wolves especially look like they could finish in the top half. Teams like Brighton, Huddersfield, Southampton, Palace and Newcastle should be worried.

I'm glad that Woodward stood firm and we did not get rinsed for a CB. It's a bit embarrassing that we fell for an obvious ploy by Godin's reps though. He had a very low release clause (€25m) and if he wanted to leave, he would have done so long before this. As far as Boateng goes, I honestly don't care whether or not the talk about him rejecting us is true; I'm just glad we didn't waste €45-50m on a player who is already in decline and is basically a crutch who can just about walk at this point. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

If I were Klopp, I'd give minutes to Solanke over Surridge tbh.

Solanke gets very little love on this board (less than he deserves imho), I think he is atm Liverpool's best young player (save for TAA obviously), and I assume the idea is to build him up as an alternative back up for Firmino, so I think if Firmino isn't fit enough, it makes more sense to give those starts to Solanke.

[Consigliere]

I just saw that Fulham have brought in 12 players and became the first promoted side to spend over £100m. Their squad did need the depth but as with West Ham that many incomings will take some time to gel. 

[Iskaral Pust]

5 hours ago, ljkeane said:

I don't think Fabinho was going to play anyway, everyone likely to start the West Ham game was substituted off at half time against Torino (or substituted on in Robertson's case) while Fabinho was left on for 70 minutes. On top of that Klopp's made the point to mention that it's going to take Fabinho a bit longer to adapt to the way we play than Keita because he's used to playing a different style of football a few times during preseason.

That makes me slightly relieved.  Fabinho has looked great in possession in preseason but looked pretty slow off the ball.  He looks more like Jorginho than Mascherano so far.  And I'm glad that he makes good forward passes so quickly and can play out of pressure so coolly, but I don't want a DM who gets by-passed too easily in any counter-attack.  If Klopp thinks he will adapt further then I feel a bit better.  But we're still looking shy of numbers in MF right now and I'd prefer not to see Lallana start many games.

2 hours ago, Soylent Brown said:

I'm not sure Firmino should be starting yet, given that he's barely had any minutes. He's someone who likes to enjoy himself on his holidays, so he might need another week or so.

I'd prefer to see Sturridge starting this week, with Firmino getting 30 minutes or so at the end to bring his fitness up further.

Firmino is so central to how we play that I'm pretty sure he'll start and get subbed after 60 minutes.  He looked sharper against Torino than Napoli and another five days of training would help further.

1 hour ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

If I were Klopp, I'd give minutes to Solanke over Surridge tbh.

Solanke gets very little love on this board (less than he deserves imho), I think he is atm Liverpool's best young player (save for TAA obviously), and I assume the idea is to build him up as an alternative back up for Firmino, so I think if Firmino isn't fit enough, it makes more sense to give those starts to Solanke.

I think you're trying to sabotage us.  I hope Solanke finds his groove and improves but he underwhelmed last season (but was trusted more than Ings) and then had a poor pre-season.  Curtis Jones, Rafa Camacho and Nat Phillips were all significantly better than him in preseason.  I know preseason is not a great indicator of readiness for competitive PL games, but Solanke really hasn't shown much in any of his opportunities to warrant a start.  Sturridge or Shaqiri would be much better to replace Firmino right now.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Shaqiri isn't really a CF in my book. I think the plan for him is to take off some of the workload from Mane and Salah.

Guess we'll see how Klopp sets his side up.

[Iskaral Pust]

6 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Shaqiri isn't really a CF in my book. I think the plan for him is to take off some of the workload from Mane and Salah.

Guess we'll see how Klopp sets his side up.

Definitely not a CF but he could be a false nine (which is really what Firmino is) or play at the tip of a diamond with Mane and Salah as forwards, or play as the right-sided forward as Salah moves to center forward.  Sturridge would be the more natural CF replacement.  Solanke would be a distant third choice.  Lallana might even play as a right-sided forward (Salah at CF) before Solanke starts.  I think most of Solanke's PL minutes will come from the bench, with starts in the LC.  At least until he shows some improvement, which I hope he does.  His link-up play isn't bad, he just isn't sharp enough around the goal.

[Iskaral Pust]

4 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Everton have had a good window too. Bringing Mina and Bernard in on the final day, plus loaned Andre Gomes and looking to loan Zouma too.

I'm glad Everton got some more business done.  It was looking a bit thin before today as they shed so many players without many replacements.  Three players from Barcelona and two Brazilians sounds pretty sexy on paper for this transfer window.  But the reality of taking peripheral players from big teams or else star players from peripheral teams is that you don't know how well they'll do.  But with five attempts here you would expect at least 2-3 successes, and possibly even better than that.  

I expect their opening match will include a lot of camera shots of these new players sitting in the directors' box.

Did the Zouma loan go through?  I haven't seen any confirmation of that.

 

Edit for a note on Liverpool: although not widely reported that I can see, ThisIsAnfield says that Danny Ings has a confirmed move to Southampton (loan with an obligation to buy next summer) for 18m +2m in add-ons.  Best of luck to him, I hope his career gets back on track after two terrible injuries have cost him three years of playing.

[Raja]

Yuuurs. New season hype. Mourinho getting fired hype. 

 

[Jeor]

I can't remember being this excited for a season in a while. Maybe it's because as an Arsenal fan, I am naive about a change in management and have high hopes for Emery.

But there's plenty of intrigue in the EPL this year as well. A resurgent Liverpool, a self-destructive Mourinho, new-look Chelsea and Arsenal. Tottenham - was it a terrible mistake to not spend anything? As it is, Manchester City is probably the most "boring" narrative of the top clubs, although they play the most scintillating football. And beyond those clubs there's still plenty of storylines. Big-spending Fulham - how will they go? West Ham have made lots of moves. Will Benitez quit in a huff at Newcastle?

Let the entertainment begin!

[Jordan La Cabra]

1 hour ago, Jeor said:

As it is, Manchester City is probably the most "boring" narrative of the top clubs, 

And they will be very happy with that. In recent years, it is rare to see the title winner go into the new season with no sub-plot threatening to harm their chances. 

 

[Raja]

2 hours ago, Jeor said:

I can't remember being this excited for a season in a while. Maybe it's because as an Arsenal fan, I am naive about a change in management and have high hopes for Emery.

 

I'm excited too. But I get excited before every season.

Also, which team do we all think will be the first to employ Big Sam? Brighton? Cardiff? 

[BigFatCoward]

That fat fuck just spent our whole transfer budget on a fucking shop. Wanker. 

[Consigliere]

And what's worse is there is a very good chance that Benitez walks at the end of the season when his contract is up. Can't see him renewing unless new owners come in since Ashley will never back him in the transfer market. It's embarrassing when newly promoted clubs like Fulham and Wolves and small clubs like Brighton and Huddersfield are investing more in their squads than a club like Newcastle.

[Mark Antony]

It’s a shame cause Rafa would’ve likely stayed for a long time with even minimal backing. Seems like him and the fans have a great relationship  .Will be even harder to keep them up this year.