Consigliere Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 I'm fairly satisfied with our season. As I said, I think the 3 month hiatus helped us massively. Our starting XI were able to come back well rested with Pogba and Rashford fully recovered. I'm quite certain that without the postponement we would have run out of steam. Outside of our starting front 4, our options are really rubbish and clearly nowhere near good enough for a team looking to compete for a CL place. Lingard, Mata, James and Pereira are clearly not good enough and more often than not have absolutely no impact on a game and are merely just making up the numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaughn Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 Hmm, wonder what that means for Poch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 Probably dodged a bullet? I know the Barca job is a coveted one but it is a bit of a poisoned chalice right now with a shit board and player power that has reached toxic levels some time ago. The Barca squad is also poorly suited to Poch's aggressive pressing style of play as well. Clearing out the squad is going to be a problem due to wages and the stalwarts wield a lot of power. Given Poch's association with Espanyol and some of the comments he made previously, I don't think he would have been given the time to rebuild the squad. He really would have needed to hit the ground running immediately otherwise the fans and players were likely to turn on him very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 Some very concerning reports emerging regarding Valencia. It looks like Peter Lim's running of the club into the ground is almost complete. Reports that Valencia's financial situation is dire and the club cannot pay players. Players were offered IOUs but refused. If an agreement cannot be reached then Valencia will not be allowed to participate in any competition next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 One thing last night's game changed my mind on is that I do think we should sign Sarr now. Not as an alternative to Sancho and he certainly shouldn't be the only player we sign but we're so lacking in convincing depth we realistically need to replace every single attacking player that was on the bench (I want Ighalo to get more chances sure but he's leaving at Christmas anyway, the rest are useless). Get Sarr in to replace James, get my lad Buendia in as a Mata with balls and better dribbling skills, sort out the midfield with someone else who can impose themselves (it's like our fifth window being linked with Niguez so maybe we'll get him this time) and then even if we don't get the ideal big star for the right (which we still should go for) we've still got some viable options to switch things up and variations in attack. With some of the names we're linked with the last couple days - Filip Stevanović of Partizan, Jens Petter Hauge of Glimt though that might just be someone reading too much into the presence of the scout- I'm a little worried the backup plan to Sancho is to buy as many promising-but-not-overly-coveted youngsters as possible on the cheap and hope one of them Greenwoods their way into the squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 4 hours ago, Consigliere said: Some very concerning reports emerging regarding Valencia. It looks like Peter Lim's running of the club into the ground is almost complete. Reports that Valencia's financial situation is dire and the club cannot pay players. Players were offered IOUs but refused. If an agreement cannot be reached then Valencia will not be allowed to participate in any competition next season. I would guess that’s what helped City to get Ferran Torres at such a low price, even with his contract situation. It’s a pity for the club. I don’t want irresponsible owners to be bailed out or insulated from consequences, but there are lots of other people who suffer if a club collapses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 I really can't see Koeman being a success at Barca. Then again, that just makes him your average Barca manager of late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 I'm not sure how much actual long term planning is going into things at Barcelona at the moment with elections coming up, probably not a lot, but they do need someone to be the bad guy and start turfing out a bunch of club legends. Pretty much any manager is on a bit of hiding to nothing at the moment with the rebuild they're going to have to do so I'm not sure how much it really matters who they get in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 A major problem is that this current board indulges players at the expense of the manager. Player power has reached toxic levels and Barca's board are solely responsible for that. Laporta is currently favourite to win the election next year - he was the one who appointed Guardiola and backed a rookie manager to get rid of any player (including the stars like Ronaldinho and Deco) who had become a problem and revamp the team. That is what's needed again. Barca have sacked Eric Abidal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Joe Hart has signed for Spurs. He can shout and beat his chest on their bench instead of Burnley’s. Arsenal, with Saliba and Mari already arriving as new CBs, have also made a bid for another CB Gabriel. They definitely need to strengthen at that position, but bringing in three young CBs with no experience in the PL might not be the best way to transition. And NUFC have a new bidder from a Singaporean group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Unless Spurs sell one of their other keepers, Hart won't even make the bench! Hopefully this evening's game is a fun one. I'll be rooting for the lesser of the two evils: come on, Fizzy Cat Piss! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 26 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said: Unless Spurs sell one of their other keepers, Hart won't even make the bench! Back-up GK is a great position to contribute toward the homegrown quota for PL and CL squads. I assume Vorm is departing if they have signed Hart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 3 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said: Back-up GK is a great position to contribute toward the homegrown quota for PL and CL squads. I assume Vorm is departing if they have signed Hart. Gazzaniga is their backup these days, and he's much better than Hart. They'd be daft to get rid of him, especially having seen Lloris miss a bunch of games recently through injury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Not a great game so far. Leipzig have basically bent over and encouraged PSG to paddle their backside, and PSG have obliged. Far too many unforced errors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Terrible error from Leipzig's keeper that has probably killed the game. On the balance of play though, Leipzig were totally outplayed and are lucky to be only 2-0 down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 54 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said: Arsenal, with Saliba and Mari already arriving as new CBs, have also made a bid for another CB Gabriel. They definitely need to strengthen at that position, but bringing in three young CBs with no experience in the PL might not be the best way to transition. Probably not the ideal but proven Prem CBs are fucking expensive and there aren't that many genuine standouts, taking a gamble for less money on three players gives them more depth and a decent chance of finding a pairing that works whereas buying someone proven is still a gamble, but for more money and with less depth. Like who would they be buying from within the league? Lewis Dunk is reported to be going for 40mil. West Ham rejected 80mil for Rice, supposedly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daemon the Leaner Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Yeah, I thought it's a case where we can say that Leipzig is played off the park? Mad to see Ander Herrera climbing his way into a CL final, never mind starting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Hopefully Bayern don't fuck up tomorrow. They are the only ones that can stop fucking PSG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 4 hours ago, polishgenius said: Probably not the ideal but proven Prem CBs are fucking expensive and there aren't that many genuine standouts, taking a gamble for less money on three players gives them more depth and a decent chance of finding a pairing that works whereas buying someone proven is still a gamble, but for more money and with less depth. Pretty much my thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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