Football: Return of the CR7

[Winterfell is Burning]

Brazilian press had access to the health inspectors report that says one member of the Argentinian staff filled named Fernando Ariel Batista was responsible for not declaring in the official forms they were  in England in the last 14 days. While it's possible Argentina gave his name because they're looking for a scapegoat, makes sense since I can't imagine players are bothered with this kind of stuff.

Also, according to some reports in Brazilian press, Brazil's players and staff,  as well as the press, had exemption from quarantine rules in Chile (7 days), just being allowed to go to airport to hotel and and from there to stadium and back to airport, and this wasn't unusual during qualifiers. So, in theory, it's possible the 4 players would be allowed to play if they requested an exemption, which apparently was done by AFA..except for the fact that not informing they were in England in the last 14 days would be, in theory ground for immediate deportation, and of course, not allow the players to be on the pitch.

Also, there was no response to the exemption made by AFA because it's the Brazilian public service and it's hard enough to get anyone to do anything, let alone considering it's a big weekend (with a holiday on September 7th and most public offices closed today or at least short-staffed).

In short, it's a complete mess. My guess is that FIFA will delay a decision as much as they can, and if Argentina doesn't need the points to qualify, which is likely, will award the victory to Brazil, and if not, will replay the game.

[Iskaral Pust]

The Swiss Ramble has posted an analysis of Liverpool’s finances.  I hope the link works because this guy is always very good at the financial side of football.

Bottom line: Liverpool lost approx 150m of revenue during two seasons affected by COVID, mainly from no gate receipts but also some reduction in TV payments.  So they took out a new external loan of almost 150m to replace the lost income because they still had most of their costs to meet.  They received no new owner financing, unlike their competitors who have been spending a lot more lately, especially City, Chelsea and United.  (United get new money from the Glazers by them issuing new shares that dilute their ownership, rather than the Glazers making a direct payment to the club’s coffers).  Arsenal must have received a large injection too, even if that seems improbable.  In fairness, it’s very good business sense for clubs with the deepest pockets to take advantage of this situation to steal a march on clubs like Liverpool who limit themselves to only use what money the club can produce for itself.

Liverpool still had the second highest wage bill in the PL, and all the renewals for the main players will keep that number high, although I’ve seen projections elsewhere that Liverpool have now fallen to fourth highest wage bill after the new transfers by City and Chelsea.  United have by far the highest wage bill.

Liverpool’s wage bill consumes such a large portion of the annual revenue that we’re basically always in a sell-to-buy mode.  They don’t accumulate a large reserve for new purchases.  So the difficulty in getting good (or any) prices for sales in the past two summers pretty much dictated the lean spending on additions.  The days of big fees for Ibe, Solanke, Brewster, etc look past.

The only way to change our team or squad in any material way is to sell some of our high wage earners.  But Klopp’s loyalty and philosophy (known players are always preferred to new gambles) makes that unlikely, plus there’s less of a market for them now anyway.  I just hope we rein in the renewals a bit because the extension for Henderson looks like bad business, and we should not be renewing Mane or Firmino either.  Some cold-hearted discipline will be needed.

[polishgenius]

Wow, had no idea Liverpool were so badly run. So basically we're expecting them to do an Arsenal once Klopp is no longer there to prop up the results?

[Soylent Brown]

Given the rumours about what Salah is asking for to sign a new contract, we shouldn't be renewing him either.

What I don't really understand is the disparity between reported player wages and our total wages- if you look at players individually, our highest earner is on roughly 200kpw, but the collective wage bill reported for the other year was the equivalent of a squad of 25 players each earning 250kpw. Is our bonus structure so heavily loaded that in winning something we cripple ourselves for the next few years? Shouldn't winning the league be its own fucking reward?

[mormont]

If winning the league is its own reward, shouldn't Liverpool FC hand back all that money they got for doing it?

[Soylent Brown]

Would the really be an equivalent? I'm not suggesting the players shouldn't be paid at all, just that paying out bonuses of £100m+ is insane.

 

[Spockydog]

PL winners get about £150m in prize money.

[Soylent Brown]

They do, but even 20th place still gives close to £100m, so the difference between finishing just top 4 and 1st hits Liverpool really hard.

[Iskaral Pust]

The bonuses for winning the CL and PL obviously added to the wage bill, but those are non-recurring and usually matched by higher merchandise and sponsorship revenue.  I don’t think that’s a sustainability problem.

The real problem is whether our baseline wage bill is sustainable as a % of our normal revenue, and whether that leaves sufficient room for ongoing squad rejuvenation.  Just like any company needing to replace depreciating assets.  So our very strong squad that has grown together over several years is both a boon and a trap: the players are worth higher wages now, but limited resale opportunity due to age, but retaining them all on higher wages means a stagnant, aging squad.

Alisson, TAA, Robertson, Gomez, Konate, Fabinho and Jota are all young and proven, which looks like a great base for a team for 5+ years.  Elliot and Jones may develop enough.  VVD and Salah look like they can sustain their form for a while and help the transition.  Keita and Ox are young enough, but haven’t really proved themselves.  Matip, Henderson, Thiago, Mane, Firmino have very uncertain longevity for this season and beyond.  And the squad depth isn’t great to begin with.

[Winterfell is Burning]

Yeah, Liverpool seems to have fallen into the trap many clubs have fallen into the past of staying too loyal to their most successful players rather than to rejuvenate their squad (and getting rid of some of the higher wages). 

[polishgenius]

To be fair, as much as I take the piss, it's not that simple. Mid-twenties sort of age players in particular are gonna be less likely to join Liverpool if they think cutting them out when their play is still prime but age makes their value start dropping is gonna be the norm. 

 

[Winterfell is Burning]

15 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

To be fair, as much as I take the piss, it's not that simple. Mid-twenties sort of age players in particular are gonna be less likely to join Liverpool if they think cutting them out when their play is still prime but age makes their value start dropping is gonna be the norm. 

 

Yes, but the issue is a decent amount of the problem is players who are not really in their prime anymore and are still kept- Henderson most notably.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Henderson is just 31 years old. So he should be good for 2-3 years. Or at least I think that's at least a reasonable assumption. And I assume he is also kinda important to the locker room dynamics.

[polishgenius]

This assist from Klaasen is just silly good.

[polishgenius]

I can't believe how badly Soyuncu has started the season. Even accounting for that I may have overrated him he's gone off a cliff. 

[Consigliere]

Depay is on fire.

ETA. Netherlands have been looking pretty good too since LVG took over. Goes to show just how wank De Boer was.

[Winterfell is Burning]

30 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Depay is on fire.

ETA. Netherlands have been looking pretty good too since LVG took over. Goes to show just how wank De Boer was.

Netherlands look good, but also Turkey looked very good before the Euros, but since then they're a complete mess.

2 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Henderson is just 31 years old. So he should be good for 2-3 years. Or at least I think that's at least a reasonable assumption. And I assume he is also kinda important to the locker room dynamics.

To be honest, Henderson has been around for so long, and lost a decent amount of pace, I just forgot he was only 31 and assumed he was a good few years older.

In the latest chapters of the Brazil x Argentina drama,  turns out Fernando Ariel Batista, whose signature is in the official forms not informing the 4 players were in the UK in the last 14 days, denied signing anything. and saying he wasn't involved in this bureaucratic questions. And considering he's the coach of the U-20 squad to boot (and of the U-23 team that went to Tokyo),  it seems likely he's telling the truth.

Also, Brazil's government denied the special exemption 51 minutes before the game, probably because when Argentina did it, on Saturday the players were already in Brazil for nearly 2 days.

Meanwhile, Brazil had to remove Marquinhos from the squad because nobody at FIFA seems to have any idea whether those 4 minutes played count or he would still be suspended in the next match.

 

 

[polishgenius]

VVD may just have picked up an injury. Hopefully for Liverpool just a knock.

[Soylent Brown]

VVD appears to be okay, thankfully.

It's not so much that older players are bad, it's just that all three of our established forward line are the same age, so at some point that really will be a problem.

Henderson is fine and hasn't lost any pace, so I'm not sure what that is all about.

[Consigliere]