Football: Better Call Raul

[BigFatCoward]

To paraphrase Thanos 'they are inevitable'.

Mentally this might be the strongest PL team I've ever seen. However I think they lose out to the City team of 2 years ago just on flair points for best PL team in my lifetime (even this City team has only a tiny deficit in goal difference despite a much worse record, and of course Liverpool technically havent actually won it yet). 

[Mme Erzulie]

Wolves are an impressive side. A bit surprised to see that their last five games are 1-1-3 (although two of those losses were against us).

You'd think they'd be able to mount a challenge for top four, but they clearly need to find some consistency against weaker teams.

Insanely impressive to have won every single game in January so far, conceding only one goal in the process. Huge blow if Mané's injury is serious. Minamino will have to adjust quickly. He's looked a bit overwhelmed so far, which isn't surprising at all.

Henderson has been immense, Gini as reliable and indispensable as ever, but you fancy they'll need a bit of rest at some point (they've played all but a combined 14 minutes in the last six games).

Fabinho looked a bit rusty yesterday, but I trust he'll be back to his imperious best soon.

Presumably Klopp will field almost all youngsters against Shrewsbury.

[Consigliere]

17 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Only in the EPL, where money is not an issue. I mean isn't United prepared to throw like 30m at Birmingham for a 16 y.o. talent from the Championship (Bellingham (?)).

I've seen those rumours and honestly that is an absurd amount of money for a 16y/o who has only played half a season in the 2nd division. I've not seen the kid play but for that kind of scratch he's gonna have to be a Mbappe-level generational talent otherwise it's really not worth taking such a massive gamble especially given the poor state of United's squad. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

1 hour ago, Mme Erzulie said:

Fabinho looked a bit rusty yesterday, but I trust he'll be back to his imperious best soon.

Presumably Klopp will field almost all youngsters against Shrewsbury. 

You forgot VVD + Gomez = clean sheets.

Anyway. Knowing Klopp, I'd think he's tempted to give Fabinho game time there. Maybe not for 90 mins, but surely some competitive minutes. Him, and a bunch of players who have not seen much of the ball this season (Lallana and Shaqiri come to mind). I'd think Matip will also play coming back from injury.

[Mark Antony]

Henderson has always been quality Imo but it’s nice to seee him getting the plaudits for this run of form he’s on. Maybe the best of his career. Best midfielder in the league this season after KDB 

I know Simeone is like Wenger level of hero to Atleti but I wonder if he’s on the hot seat yet. They have been so underwhelming this year

[Consigliere]

Doubtful. They've had poor results this season but by far the biggest problem has been replacing Griezmann's goals. Costa has properly declined and become injury prone, Morata and Correa are very unreliable in front of goal and Felix is much more of a creator than a scorer. Atleti have actually tried playing a more expansive game this season - they've been creating more chances, having more shots and controlling possession more than they usually do but their forwards can't hit the broadside of a barn. Understandable why they are so desperate for Cavani.

[Consigliere]

 

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Good news , looks like Kieta will be in training today:

Quote

“I think for Shaq and Milly it’s too early; Naby we will have to see,” Klopp told reporters on Friday. “I think my information is that he will be part of training today.

“Then we have to see, it was not too long [back] then, but how he looks and so on.

“The boys that didn’t play yesterday obviously longer than half-time will be in a very, very important session today, a kind of intense session.

“It’s minus-two [days] to the game, so there’s always intensity.

“So we will see if [Keita] can be part of that completely, then he will be an option; if not, then he will not.”

 

[Corvinus85]

 

[polishgenius]

4 hours ago, Mark Antony said:

Henderson has always been quality Imo but it’s nice to seee him getting the plaudits for this run of form he’s on. Maybe the best of his career. Best midfielder in the league this season after KDB 

It's weird coz you started that sentence talking about Henderson but suddenly veered off into Emiliano Buendia.

eta: Our response to the striking injury crisis is apparently to try to loan Ighalo and Slimani.

[Consigliere]

Both Di Marzio and Romano reporting that Inter and Spurs have reached an agreement for Eriksen.

[polishgenius]

Very disappointing performance from Erling Haaland, who came on for half an hour for Dortmund again but only managed two goals this time.

[BigFatCoward]

Teams that didn't make an effort to sign Haaland must be furious. He scored another 2 after coming on last night. Now averaging something like 8 goals every 90 mins.  

[Rorshach]

12 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Very disappointing performance from Erling Haaland, who came on for half an hour for Dortmund again but only managed two goals this time.

Clearly he's losing it already. 

 

[ljkeane]

3 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Teams that didn't make an effort to sign Haaland must be furious. 

In fairness I think Haaland and his management team had a pretty clear idea which team they wanted to go to. I’m not sure other teams making an effort to sign him would have made much difference.

[polishgenius]

Just wanted to point out that it's 25 years today since the greatest moment in the history of the Prem.
 

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

On 1/24/2020 at 12:06 PM, Consigliere said:

I've seen those rumours and honestly that is an absurd amount of money for a 16y/o who has only played half a season in the 2nd division. I've not seen the kid play but for that kind of scratch he's gonna have to be a Mbappe-level generational talent otherwise it's really not worth taking such a massive gamble especially given the poor state of United's squad. 

On that note. Olmo for 20m + add ons to Leipzig.

[Raja]

Well, let's see how this one turns out.

[Consigliere]

1 hour ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

On that note. Olmo for 20m + add ons to Leipzig.

Germany is the best place to go for younger players looking to take the next step in their careers - top European league where younger players are actually given a proper chance and great coaching available (the best coaches are coming out of Germany). All those top performers for the England youth sides that did so well not too long ago should be on their agents backs to secure them moves to Germany otherwise they will just rot in England. I recall articles at the time saying that the biggest roadblock for these players is the lack of a path to senior top flight football in England and those fears have proven to be true. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Not so sure about this best coaches atm come out of Germany bit.

I think this perception is a weeee bit influenced by Klopp.

Otherwise English talents are probably a bit too expensive for most German clubs. France appears to be atm the treasure trove for German clubs looking for foreign talent. Their youngsters are excellently trained, and for one reason or another they don't get the game time they'd deserve. For PSG talents the way into the starting XI in the senior team is for obvious reasons especially hard.

Otherwise the view on the perspective might be a bit distorted because of Sancho (and to a lesser degree Kenny). But not every English talent will make it in the Bundesliga.

Lookman is struggling for minutes this year (Nagelsmann is not Rangnick). Kent's Freiburg loan adventure was a disappointment for all parties a few years ago. So in short the better (EPL quality) talents would find their way into the starting XI of most Bundesliga clubs, but it's not an easy route for more minutes for every English talent.