Football: The summer of selling (out)

[Iskaral Pust]

I know it’s only preseason but Liverpool look like they could ship a lot of goals this year unless they change the formation or add an excellent DM and CB.  It’s very attack-heavy so far, and the space behind is too easily exploited.  Jones can play DM for England U21 but hasn’t shown the defensive ability to do so at the PL level.

We’ve added two quality MF players but we’ve seen five depart.  Yes, there were sick-notes and the aged among the departures but we’re still low on numbers and we’ve lost all continuity.

The defense still looks very unbalanced and exposed by TAA’s reinvention.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

You are not the only top club in the DM market.

Tuchel wants one, too.

[baxus]

16 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I know it’s only preseason but Liverpool look like they could ship a lot of goals this year unless they change the formation or add an excellent DM and CB.  It’s very attack-heavy so far, and the space behind is too easily exploited.  Jones can play DM for England U21 but hasn’t shown the defensive ability to do so at the PL level.

We’ve added two quality MF players but we’ve seen five depart.  Yes, there were sick-notes and the aged among the departures but we’re still low on numbers and we’ve lost all continuity.

The defense still looks very unbalanced and exposed by TAA’s reinvention.

Yeah, it is preseason. At times both Liverpool and Bayern players looked like they were on a stroll in a park and not playing a football match. There were 3 or 4 defenders around Gakpo and he easily outran them all for his goal, VVD was basically left unmarked for his header etc. The point of the preseason is to get everyone match fit and steer clear of injuries. That's it. Some great tactical ideas are rehearsed in training anyway.

We've seen five depart out of which Ox and Keita have been as useful as nipples on a breastplate (to keep in theme with the board we're on  ), Milner played only a handful of games and has been far from his peak. Milner is the only one who would've been given a contract extension, and while he was a great presence around the dressing room that would be for purely sentimental reasons. Both Fabinho and Henderson, while world class in their day, have had a rubbish season.

There is a concern about having to include too many new players in midfield and the new system for them, but I'm not really worried about loss of quality in our midfield, especially if MacAlister and Szoboszlai perform well.

[Consigliere]

Liverpool are very likely going to get a DM though - either Lavia or Andre. Some suggestions that Liverpool might try to sign both.

 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Ok, which exit was the bigger surprise. Brazil or Germany? Neither team was a clear favorite, but had to be considered among the runners in the competition.

Why not both? A few of the top sides went down surprisingly and I expect a lot more upsets in the knockouts. 

[ljkeane]

11 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Liverpool are very likely going to get a DM though - either Lavia or Andre. Some suggestions that Liverpool might try to sign both.

At this point anyone we sign isn’t going to be ready to play for at least a few weeks of the season though so we’re definitely looking at Jones starting the season at defensive midfielder, which isn’t ideal.

On top of that I’m not averse to us signing Lavia, who looks like he could be a top class player in a couple of years, but he’s definitely in the ‘good for a 19 year old’ rather than the just good defensive midfielder bracket at the moment so I’m not a huge fan of him coming in to start straight away. No idea what Andre’s like.

Definitely a mixed bag of a summer for us. Getting Mac Allister and Szobszlai looked a very good start but we clearly weren’t prepared to replace Fabinho and I’d have preferred us to replace Tsimikas with more of a LB/LCB hybrid.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Yeah, but that's why I said that I did not see you selling Fabinho this window.

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Wondering whether Edson Alvarez might still move elsewhere this window, after Dortmund pulled out due to Ajax evaluation.

[BigFatCoward]

Not sure right back is our most pressing concern when our funds are limited, it's a lot of our budget to tie up in a bench warmer. 

Trippier is going to play every meaningful game, we need a left back far more. 

[Consigliere]

 

[The Sunland Lord]

 

[Wilbur]

2 hours ago, Consigliere said:

 

West Ham need to figure out where they are going and either fire Steidten or fire Moyes.

Pick one or the other, but stop the internecine warfare.

[Spockydog]

1 hour ago, Wilbur said:

West Ham need to figure out where they are going and either fire Steidten or fire Moyes.

Pick one or the other, but stop the internecine warfare.

Smells like constructive dismissal to me. 

The squad do not like his brand of football. The board apparently wanted to bin him last season, but winning a trophy meant they couldn't really sack him. So they brought this guy in.

I reckon Moyes will be gone by Christmas.

 

[Raja]

The Players Tribune pieces can be a bit of fluff sometimes, but I really enjoyed the Ramsdale's piece - especially the bit where he talks about the importance of inclusivity in football as well as his experience last season

Quote

 It was genuinely the happiest time of our lives. And yeah … there’s no easy way to say this, but I feel like it’s important that people know.… 

On the flight home, my wife had a miscarriage. 

There’s really no way that I can describe the pain of that six-hour flight back to London, even now. I just want people out there to know that they’re not alone if they’re going through it themselves. When we got back, I didn’t tell many people what happened. Only my family, my teammates, and of course Mikel. He was fantastic about everything. Even in the middle of the title race, with so much pressure on the club, he asked me if I needed some time off to deal with everything. Mikel went above and beyond to make sure me and my family were OK.

For me, that’s a manager. 

We don’t always see eye-to-eye on everything. We have some very florid conversations about football sometimes. But he cares so much about his players, and he forever has my respect for how he handled our grief. 

Quote

After I publish this letter, as sad as it is to say, I know that I will receive messages about my wife, and about my brother. Other players receive even worse messages, especially my Black teammates. For some reason, the social media companies don’t seem to have any interest in stopping it. 

 

Edited August 4, 2023 by Raja

[Consigliere]

14 hours ago, Wilbur said:

West Ham need to figure out where they are going and either fire Steidten or fire Moyes.

Pick one or the other, but stop the internecine warfare.

They needed to have done that in June. The season starts in a week, they've made zero signings and sold their best player. West Ham's owners are clowns - they don't believe in Moyes long term so they brought in Steidten but have not backed him either. The owners have managed to royally piss off both their manager and technical director.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

van den Ven to Spurs happening.

€40m + another €10m in bonus/add-ons

Second most expensive sale in Wolfsburg's history (after de Bruyne (€75m to City back in 2015)).

 

[Consigliere]

Apparently Bayern has set a deadline of midnight for Levy to make a decision on Kane so this might be their final offer.

 

[The Sunland Lord]

11 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

van den Ven to Spurs happening.

€40m + another €10m in bonus/add-ons

Second most expensive sale in Wolfsburg's history (after de Bruyne (€75m to City back in 2015)).

 

Is he good? 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

He has just played his second season at Woflsburg/in Germany. It was his breakout season. He has looked pretty good, but Spurs are spending heavy money on 22 y.o. cb there. So still a bit of gamble. But he could turn out to be a pretty good and pacey cb for them. Left footed centreback, which is sorta bonus in my book. He has to get the transition from BL to EPL right, but I would think he will turn out good for them.

Edited August 4, 2023 by A Horse Named Stranger

[Consigliere]

Reports that Atalanta are also in for Scamacca and have made a better offer than Inter.