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Football: the winter break


Iskaral Pust

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Playing TAA in the game after he injured himself in the warm-up was a bad decision.  Keeping him on the field when he was struggling badly for the first ~20 minutes compounded that bad decision.  It's too similar to the bad decision to start Lovren in the FA Cup when he had been identified as having a slight muscular niggle.  The medical team needs to be smarter about this.  I already complained about Clyne being loaned out, just like Sturridge last year, so I won't double down on that.

I trust Milner to do well at RB in our formation, especially if we have Matip back now and Gomez almost back.  But we need to avoid any problems for Milner, who recently had a muscle strain of his own and has looked pretty leaden in recent games.  Our upcoming schedule is not terrible and we have a decent gap between games.  We just need to avoid injuries in training and let players rest their muscles and get recharged.

On top of that, Gini is struggling with a knee injury and Lallana is out (yet again) for several weeks.  So we'll need Fabinho back in MF and we may need Keita to start.  We're looking a bit thin if there any further injuries, but currently can still put out a good XI, but our bench will have more youth players.  Not as bad as Spurs though.  Only City and United have really huge squads of senior players; that's just their financial advantage.

 

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Big blow for Spurs. Kane has damaged ligaments in his left ankle and is expected to return to training in early March. With Son heading to the Asian Cup combined with all their other injuries, Spurs could be in a bit of trouble. Their title challenge is over but top 4 might not be as secure as it once looked to be. 

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45 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Playing TAA in the game after he injured himself in the warm-up was a bad decision.  Keeping him on the field when he was struggling badly for the first ~20 minutes compounded that bad decision.  It's too similar to the bad decision to start Lovren in the FA Cup when he had been identified as having a slight muscular niggle.  The medical team needs to be smarter about this.

You'd think playing Alexander-Arnold through his injury was probably a conscious choice. They'd have to have known he was risking missing a few weeks but there's a decent break between the Palace and the Leicester games so they thought the risk was worth it to avoid playing a makeshift right back alongside the makeshift centre back. 

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Least surprising news of the day that Mislintat has fallen out with anyone who has a different opinion over transfers and quit in a huff.

Kicker have denied he is off to Bayern as the Independent originally reported. They don’t need his help to buy a bunch of BVB players.

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7 hours ago, Philokles said:

Least surprising news of the day that Mislintat has fallen out with anyone who has a different opinion over transfers and quit in a huff.


In fairness from what I've read they made his position pretty much untenable- essentially demoted him and made him answer to someone with a very different way he wanted to do things, and then rubbed it in by telling him he's got no money to work with anyway.

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There's been a bit of change recently at Arsenal following Wenger and all the front-office moves (Gazidis leaving, Sanhelli and Mislintat etc).

One hopes that they're just doing it all in one go rather than moving into a more long-term pattern of instability...

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Marcelo Bielsa called a surprise press conference today. People thought he might be resigning over Spygate. Instead, he's admitted it (and to spying on everyone else too) but set about proving that it made no difference by spending like two hours laying out to the world exactly how to beat Derby in minute detail.

 

:lol:

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1 minute ago, polishgenius said:

 Instead, he's admitted it (and to spying on everyone else too) but set about proving that it made no difference by spending like two hours laying out to the world exactly how to beat Derby in minute detail.

In fairness he came out and admitted it (and took full responsibility for it) straight away.

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27 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Marcelo Bielsa called a surprise press conference today. People thought he might be resigning over Spygate. Instead, he's admitted it (and to spying on everyone else too) but set about proving that it made no difference by spending like two hours laying out to the world exactly how to beat Derby in minute detail.

 

:lol:

The man is a god.

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1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

Marcelo Bielsa called a surprise press conference today. People thought he might be resigning over Spygate. Instead, he's admitted it (and to spying on everyone else too) but set about proving that it made no difference by spending like two hours laying out to the world exactly how to beat Derby in minute detail.

 

:lol:

He's football's greatest mad genius.

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Fabrizio Romano reporting that Chelsea have reached an agreement for Higuain - 6 month loan with option to buy. Loan can be extended for a further year as well provided certain criteria is met (appearances, goals, team targets). 

ETA. Romano also reporting that Morata to Atleti is almost done. Final details being discussed. 

ETA 2. Per Romano again, Piatek is Milan's primary target to replace Higuain and they are currently in talks with Genoa. Chelsea have offered Batshuayi as well. 

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