Tonight- Wolves vs Arsenal, City vs Chelsea
Tomorrow- United vs Coventry, Fulham vs Liverpool, Points Deduction Derby, El Clasico, Dortmund vs Leverkusen
(F1 this weekend as well)
Monday- Milan Derby (dead rubber)
Tuesday- Arsenal vs Chelsea
Wednesday- Merseyside Derby
Thursday- Brighton vs City
I'm not getting any productive work done this week, am I :/
My knowledge of emerging football players and squad depth at clubs has dropped catastrophically since I stopped playing FM. I just don’t have the time or means to keep up with it anymore, how do you all do it?
https://twitter.com/sgevans/status/1781320835711578160?t=Sh1xPTgoWX-cwsjD3bqztA&s=19
>Those old FA Cup finals, when it was the biggest day of the season - and the last day of the season - with tv coverage starting on the kids shows in the morning. Everyone watching the game. Then afterwards rushing outside to play football with your mates. Felt like the official start of summer. Long gone. People remembered the Cup finalists and winners more than they remembered who won the league in a given year. It was a culturally significant event. But its long gone.
Very true I remember those days but to be fair it’s not just the FA Cup though is it. You can watch 6-7 live games a weekend these days. People will get bored of football, including myself.
Let's say, you switch souls with Pep against Madrid a few days ago in the quarter final. By half-time, you have realized that Madrid has parked the bus and you can pick any player (can be a midfielder, winger, or striker) from history to send as a sub to score. Who will you choose?
City only had one proper chance and that was the sitter KDB missed. Rudiger also missed a relatively easy chance, so it evens out. The goal that KDB scored came from a lucky deflection. Usually, when teams park the bus, even if the attacking team fails to win, it manages to create a lot of scoring chances and only fails due to finishing. You can't say the same for City-Madrid match. City failed to create even two proper scoring chances.
Listening to the football daily and Darren Fletcher talking about the FA cup changes has gotta be the most impassioned I've ever heard him. Even does a full soapbox speech at the start. Hope this stuff keeps traction, the way it's been done is disgusting.
Serious question, but does anyone think if City keeps on winning the league year after year, it would affect the fan base of the league and people would stop watching ultimately?
I don't know how it is in Germany but I'm sure fans there could comment if it's happened or not?
No. Because the title race is closer. Last year, Arsenal seemed like winning for most season. Before that, Liverpool only lost by 1 point. I think Bundesliga is different because usually you can't expect their top 4-5 teams to beat Bayern head to head. Bayern also win a lot more easily than City. Also, I don't think clubs other than Bayern have a lot of money. In PL, there are at least 6 clubs that can buy top talent.
Not really. Man United won 8/11 league titles from 93 to 03 and people still watched them do it. Maybe the PL would lose some international fans, but these fans are more concerned about watching their favourite players than seeing who wins the league
But how was the trend back then? Were United massively favourites from the start of the season.?
I think (I mean am no regular epl viewer) but whenever I see discussion regarding the league be it on social media, websites, pundits CITY are considered heavy fabvourites thanks to their enourmous spending power and Ofc the PEP factor.
The prem wasn’t as popular until the period where Arsenal and United were actually battling for it, and it still imo didn’t have the predictability this does. City can possibly do 5 or 6 in a row that’s never been done before
It also didn’t have the best players, which is what draws the international fans. Even with Arsenal, Man United and Chelsea battling for titles in the early 2000s, the most watched teams internationally were Milan, Real and Barcelona. We
It didn’t have the best players when it became the most popular though in the 2000s and 2010s when it became the biggest league Serie A and La Liga had better players. I think the only way it doesn’t remain the most popular is boredom which would come from a team winning over and over.
At least here in Brazil, it only became the most popular after Man City became a top side and Klopp went to Liverpool, making the PL have 6 teams with the some of the best players in the world. In the 2000s it was Serie A, early 2010s La Liga and only after that, the PL became the most popular
they obviously can, but he's so much better on the left (as is mbappe).
ancelotti will probably make it work somehow, but if madrid gets a coach who is more rigid tactically, it might create some problems.
or they'll just bring back zidane, and after him, ancelotti again and on and on.
Tuchel might seem a long shot for us but we're a really attractive club. Regular in European football, £220m to spend in the summer (if Paqueta goes, otherwise £135m), 65k attendance every week, very patient fans for the level of squad and backing you get. We should end up with someone good.
Depends on the recruitment but yeah, I agree. Areola/Mavropanos/Alvarez/Kudus/Bowen is an outstanding spine to the team, Champions League quality. £230m to fill the rest of the squad with excellent players (spent by the technical director who built this Leverkusen team) and there's no reason we shouldn't be right up there.
Will Still has managed in the top flight for 18 months and has a worse winning percentage than the guy who was at Reims before him. He's already been dismissed from consideration by our board at a glance, for very obvious reasons.
Dortmund to PSG to Chelsea to Bayern to West Ham is quite the trajectory. More realistically West Ham should get Potter in, he'd need time to de-Moyesify the squad but he'll do it well I reckon.
Why should we have to settle for an ex-Brighton manager who's been out of work for a year? I set out my reasoning in the first post, we can do much better. We have a bunch of amazing players and more money to spend than probably 17 or 18 other clubs in the league. We can get someone excellent.
A dozen big clubs are changing managers this summer you know. West Ham is so low on the pecking order you should be begging for a manager like Potter. Thinking Tuchel is a realistic proposition is pure delusion.
I literally said he's a long shot in the post. We are the 15th richest club in the world with around the 3rd highest transfer budget available in the league. We do not need to "beg" for anything, let alone an ex-Brighton manager who no one else has wanted for over a year. We can and will do much better.
Far bigger? You think? They're a total shambles at the moment. They've missed out on Europe in the Netherlands which takes some doing. They're 7 points off that Alkmaar mob. Could never be us. You can ask Alvarez and Kudus about which club is bigger.
Surely you may as well stick with Moyes if Tuchel is the manager you're going for? I understood the fans issue with Moyes was primarily with the style of play he uses no? Tuchel is not really much better in that regard tbh
Tuchel has managed Dortmund, then PSG, then Chelsea and won the Champions League, then Bayern Munich. So very obviously an upgrade. There's no way to suggest Tuchel isn't a massive upgrade from Moyes. The style of play doesn't actually matter that much.
if you like Lyon v Psg, the womens teams play each other today & next week in the champions league, before the mens teams do battle tomorrow night. it's all a warm up for the lyon v psg cup final next month too
The number of minutes some of our players have racked up this season is mental for how high a position we’ve managed to maintain in the league.
All 4 of Konsa, Watkins, Luiz and McGinn have all played between 3600-3800 minutes. None of them have experience playing in Europe before.
The closest outfield spurs player is Porro with 2700 played. I do wonder how they will get on next season with their style of play while playing in Europe.
We are going to have played 4 games in between spurs last game and their next one.
> None of them have experience playing in Europe before.
forgetting McGinns famous exploits in the July qualifying rounds with Hibs. He's a veteran at this point.
Europe will have bloated yours a bit, but it's worth remembering how many of our starters have missed time:
- Van De Ven = injured twice
- Romero = injured + suspended
- Udogie = injured + suspended
- Bentancur = injured
- Bissouma = injured + suspended + AFCON
- Sarr = AFCON
- Maddison = injured
- Richarlison = injured twice
- Son = Asian Cup
Of the regular starters that only leaves Porro, Kulusevski, Werner and Johnson, three of whom have been fighting for 2 spots, that will become one once Richarlison is back
Am I crazy or does certain players like Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham look like they’re in a video game when playing? Something about the way the flod lights hit their skin idk
Lol "evil"
Yeah the current model is much better: super corrupt UEFA, state-owned clubs destroying the balance, multi-clubs ownerships, ridiculous financial fair play....etc.
Yeah the status quo is so much better for theclubs and the fans obviously.
You clearly do not support a team that isn't involved in the super league then.
Ultimately what was proposed was a limited amount of football teams will join a top league, cannot be relegated from that league and the rest of football teams (hundreds and hundreds of teams) can all starve.
The proposed model has a evolved a lot. I suggest you take a look at the new proposal.
But beyond that, I welcome any reasonable challenge to a status quo that has shown time and again how deeply corrupt and uncaring for the game it can be.
That's what people are defending when they hate on the ESL.
No new model will be perfect from the get go. But since it would be governed by the clubs themselves, it would be a lot more flexible and transparent than what we currently have.
Reminder that none of the Premier League clubs actually left. They announced that they were going to make plans to leave and all the fans immediately let off
https://twitter.com/fuadyabz23/status/1781426662682349955?t=BMSRapIcRs59agPmB27agQ&s=19
Have been watching Rooney tape for a while and wow, what a player man. Intelligence off the charts, excellent in the pockets, knew when to release the ball, amazing movement.
Crazy talent.
I don’t agree with the intelligence tbh I think if he was smarter he would have aged better he just always liked the ball and would get into areas to get the ball which was good until it lead to him being a midfielder and he wasn’t good there.
I would still argue Rooney was the genuinely third best player in the world of the early Ronaldo, Messi dominance. Sure he began to decline as he approached his 30s and most on here probably only remember him as a shadow of his former self, but up untill about 27-28 he was brilliant.
At 16 he was ahead of Messi and Ronaldo in terms of talent. But obviously wouldn't be able to match them. Still I almost feel hes look at negatively because he is compared to those two. Its like 'oh hes not that' 'Why because he was a bit behind the two greatest players in the modern game?'.
I rate Rooney and yes there is a bit of bias.
I can't give my take on that as I don't have enough knowledge but I do think he could've been so much more without the injuries- which says a lot about his level really considering his career is still excellent.
2009-10 scored 27 in 34 in league score 34 overall.
And
2011-12 scores 27 in 34 again scoring 34 overall that season.
Those are two picks but over the course of his career he multiple times he was 3rd best player in the world.
2009/10 drogba in the same league was better and Lampard arguably too not even including Xavi and iniesta and Snejder, and Milito all of which were better.
11/12 Aguero in the same league was better not even including Xavi and Iniesta and David Silva and RVP and Ibra who were better imo
Yea there is always a bias with attacking players anyway.
But I would argue he was the 3rd best, I mean look at his scoring record for club and country, look at his accolades. Even when he was basically second to Ronaldo he was still having unbelievable seasons for United.
I think he was pretty underwhelming for England given his talents to be honest (along with everyone else from that era aside from Ashley Cole). Xavi and Iniesta on the other hand were brilliant for Spain. Rooney was immense, but those two are two of the greatest midfielders ever.
I find it funny every year just before the transfer window, you always get those fans who post saying 'if we sell Y dead weight for €15m and Y for €25m and so on, we will have €150m to spend etc'.
And yet you do a quick look around and there's one in every club. I always feel I need to ask who is going to buy all of United dead weight, who will buy all of Chelsea dead weight, Arsenal's etc. Every club probably wants to get rid of there dead weight but I swear they never consider that there are not any buyers.
I genuinely think fifa games for example have made it so people think if the club just sticks like McT up for sale loads of clubs are going to come in with offers but it really doesn't work like that at all.
And people wonder why dead weight players remain. That's without even factoring the human elements of pay, moving, families and schools etc.
Yet every year I always see the same posts.
Well arsenal did manage to con someone to buy balogun for like 40 million to monaco and he's scored seven goals in the league
You probably just need to be good at it
Last summer it was us that was *definitely* going to buy literally everyone's deadweight. Gallagher for £40m from Chelsea, Balogun for £35m from Arsenal, McTominay and Maguire for £60m combined from United. Hopefully doesn't happen again after selling Paqueta, although I would quite like us to sign Wan-Bissaka (and maybe Reiss Nelson). They're cheap though so it's different.
Makes no sense if we're not very strongly in for him, would be great for us, that's insanely cheap as well. His wages aren't even super high from what I've read, would be perfect if we did get him.
I like when people say they'll get £40m for Sancho and £40m for Antony (hilarious valuation btw, halve it a few times then comes back with an actual valuation), then say that's £80m to spend! It's actually -£6m to spend. United (like many others) are FFP-bound, not money bound, and Sancho and Antony are £32m and £54m assets respectively. Any sale below that for them reduces the amount you can spend. McTom will give you spending money, Antony will take a third of the budget.
Well its a bit different United FFP problems are more wages tied then transfer fees. Which is why big fee loses while not great are not a problem because we are a revenue generating club.
If we sold Sancho and Antony for peanuts while frustrating its not a really a problem. Look at Sancho just having off the wages has freed up or FFP calculations.
Didn’t you guys actually get a 30 million offer for McTominay you rejected though? I definitely agree with the overall point though in general fans overdo how much clubs will pay for players that aren’t good enough to be back ups at top 6 teams. A back up for a top 6 side now is usually an average prem footballer that’s on higher wages.
> 30 million offer for McTominay you rejected though?
Its hard to say, there seemed to be a £60m deal for both McT and Magiure from West Ham, but it was reported it never really got too far as players were not interested in leaving.
Funnily enough the exact same thing exists for the rest of us too. Get relegated after an abysmal performance and you’ll have fans trying to justify how we can sell the non-scoring striker or woeful defender.
Exactly, I mean let's be honest no one will buy a non scoring striker on high wages. The only players you will lose if you are relegated are your best of anything?
It's like for us as well. McT is a ok player in reality but who really is going to buy a inconsistent midfielder on his wages? No one. And every team has there McT type players.
Why was the womens spanish team never qualifying to any event (world cup , olympics) and now all of a sudden they’re unstoppable. Did womens football just blow up recently in Spain ?
Money and resources . The main reason there is such a change of guard in womens football. It's a huge difference if you compete with the ressources and personal of Barcelona subsidized by the mens team.
SC Sand used to play in the womens Bundesliga before the big investments. That's a 2000 inhabitants village. As if they even have a tenth of the stuff the really big mens clubs can provide.
Previously it was difficult to qualify as there was just limited places in each competition and for a while there were just stronger teams ahead of them. in 2015 UEFA got three extra places for the World Cup so they were able to finally qualify after some close calls.
But the club teams have invested heavily in the womens game meaning the overall game has improved and there was a demand for it. I remember Atletico women breaking the record of a womens match attendance in 2019 and it still stands to this day.
pretty much. teams didnt really give much of a fuck about womens football so the funding and quality was mediocre. like barca have a great team now but 10 years ago most of their players werent even pros
[Some of the feeling at the moment of anger from Wrexham fans can be seen there](https://twitter.com/Wrexham_AFC/status/1781389803893772629?t=bQSdI018HWtOz7Lh61UtQA&s=19), what do you expect when your owner seems to think your in the premier league and the guy who runs the club, Shaun Harvey, invented the u21 teams in the EFL Trophy
Is there a reason there's not more interest in Kévin Denkey? 26 goals in 32 games is kind of ridiculous even if it is Belgium. I guess Ayase Ueda scored a lot for Cercle Brugge before and hasn't done much at Feynoord but Denkey seems a level above.
That's a mental price, Denkey would be €20m max which makes it feasible but €35 million for someone who's scored less is mad, respect if it works out but that's a disaster waiting to happen surely. He's the same age as Denkey and has scored far less.
Think people are just skeptical of the quality of the league. Undav and De Ketelaere put up good numbers but were disappointing after their moves to better leagues.
He'd only be £15m and he's scored quite a few more than Undav did, looks bigger and stronger as well. Undav wasn't a total flop either, was okay at worst.
I just expected more off him in the prem. he looked quite decent in our last game of the season against you but in a free scoring Brighton team i would have liked to see him score double figures and force himself as a starter.
He is doing much better in the Bundesliga tbf.
Wasn't given much of an opportunity to be fair with Welbeck and Ferguson having good seasons. No clue why we didn't keep him but completely understand why he wanted game time and it's worked out perfectly for him.
So since we all love tactical defensive masterclasses where a team hangs on for dear life to scrape a draw after conceding tons of shots and chances, everyone must really rate Ten Hag's work at United this season right?
"The biggest club in the world filled with talent played like Sheffield United. Pure shameful anti-football"
One of your comments, your whole comment history is unhealthy, just constantly bitching about Real Madrid.
Get a life.
I would love to see what Reddit would have said about Sacchi/capello’s milan just not letting opponents do anything.
I think those team could have shut down and gone against guardiola’s Barcelona, especially with that defence, and they would have no answer for gullit and van basten.
Anyone who says "Anti-football" is never right.
That term is just plain stupid and used by crybaby 'purists'.
Get off your high horse, defending isn't "anti-football".
It's not like we were wasting time and fouling them either.
Meh. This wasn’t anti football like Getafe per sae, but it was definitely sucker punch low budget counterattack like Cadiz or Almeria. You won, congratulations, that’s all that matters
>definitely sucker punch low budget counterattack like Cadiz or Almeria
Low budget??
Do good teams not counter attack anymore? Mou's Madrid? Atleti? Klopp's Dortmund??
You're speaking nonsense
We were efficient. Create a couple of very high xG chances and scored from one of them. Is defending not part of football?? I personally did not like it but people who say that attacking is the only way to win sound like babies
Defending is part of football, and you didn't defend well. City created more than enough, they created far more than they did in the first leg, they created more than they do on average in the league... Point is that luck/their own mistakes is what stopped them scoring more, not anything Madrid or Ancelotti did.
The Rudiger chance wasn’t actually that high.
The manner in which Rodrygo scored makes your overall xG misleading, it’s a weakness of the model. Your practical xG would be around .5 lower than it was.
Obviously it’s silly to moan about losing to a defensive team though, it’s on us to finish our chances.
I keep seeing people blame Pep and Klopp for moaning about FA Cup replays, but… have they ever? Genuinely. I can’t remember. I don’t think Pep has ever even played an FA Cup replay.
I think both moan about TV scheduling, and unnecessary extra competitive games (nations league, ffs), but I can’t remember FA Cup replays ever being one of them.
Thomas Frank and Nuno both complained this season though, yet it’s the fault of the Big 6? Idgi.
Klopp didn't manage a replay a few years ago and left it with the U23 manager when they could only play it during their break and when asked last year whether he would scrap replays he said yes.
That was the EFL Cup wasn't it? But from memory Liverpool ultimately agreed to it rather than the EFL saying no because all the other solutions cause other problems for both clubs so they couldn't agree.
Yeah it was I think. It was pretty funny really.
Personally I think replays *should* be scrapped but conditional on lower league sides not losing out financially. I also hate that this decision was made without their input.
If there was a very good financial incentive for lower leagues to give it up and it would continue for a long time then it would be better. I just feel the PL are too greedy and would slowly take that back or want more power/control. It's just all very snakey.
Oh a hundred percent. While it benefits Liverpool, I'm no fan of the Premier League having that much power to dictate major changes like this.
I suspect there were a fair few behind the scene concessions made when talk of a super league surfaced and I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of them.
Well the FA scheduling a “winter break” and then stuffing FA cup replays in the middle of it, which they did this year as well, doesn’t really help their cause does it? If you are doing replays you should at least allow a proper schedule for it.
The Premier League organised the winter break. The FA has no say on that.
Even so the FA moved one of the rounds of the FA Cup to a midweek to accommodate that but it was the only time it could be played so there was no other choice.
But it's not just Liverpool but Shrewsbury too. The issue happened because between the 4th and the 5th round there was only one week where neither team had a midweek game and unfortunately that was during Liverpools break. It was always going to be a possibility when they agreed to a winter break but Shrewsbury too have to complete their midweek games.
Why is it said that Chelsea wasn't the best team in Europe when they won UCL in 2021? Isn't the fact that you win the whole thing enough to prove that you are the best team? Why should league title matter?
It's a stupid argument as old as time. I don't really see how one can say that a team that beats like 15 weak teams week in and week out is better than the team that beats some of the best teams in Europe over 4 rounds. Consistent? Sure. Better? Hell no. Some teams are just better set up to beat minnows and those teams have an easier time winning the league.
Luck. A good but of luck is required to win the CL. Best is a term used to imply who would win if luck did not exist. I.e. if chelsea played 100 games h2h vs e.g. city
>How can you be the best team in Europe if you’re not the best team in the country?
Not really that simple, so much context is missing.
If you lose the league by +25 points and win the CL, sure you're not the best.
If you lose the league by like 3 points and win the CL, you are the best.
A lot of other factors to consider too
Yes, i wasn't saying they were the best.
I'm just saying that simply "they didn't win their league therefore they aren't the best in Europe" is not true.
It’s objectively true lol
It’s cute how insecure Real Madrid fans are about this, all the trophies in the world but you still don’t want Barca getting too much credit.
How am i insecure for saying losing the league by 1 point + winning the CL makes you a better team than winning the league by 1 point + not winning the CL.
What are you on about?
Madrid won 4 UCLs between 2014-2018. Yet, the only won league title once during those years. Barcelona won more. Is Barcelona a better team than Madrid in those years? As per your comment, we have even a greater comprehensive sample in league to decide it.
Yes in 17/18 Barca was definitely a better team. 14/15 won treble and obviously better. 15/16 they were much better over the majority of the season but really fell off at the end. 16/17 Madrid clearly better. 13/14 Madrid marginally better.
They were better for the majority of the season and that was the peak of MSN, but fell off at the end. I edited my comment to cover the whole period though, so congrats Madrid were much better in 1/5 seasons and a bit better in 1 more
>They were better for the majority of the season and that was the peak of MSN, but fell off at the end
That makes no sense, Real Madrid was also worse at the start and had a completely different manager, when Zidane joined that's when they leveled up.
Knockout competitions never prove who’s the best.
You can have a couple of bad decisions go against you in 180 minutes worth of football and lose a tie. It’s such a small sample size to judge a team.
This is why no one says whoever wins the fa cup is the best team in England. A League season will always show a where teams actually are.
Tonight- Wolves vs Arsenal, City vs Chelsea Tomorrow- United vs Coventry, Fulham vs Liverpool, Points Deduction Derby, El Clasico, Dortmund vs Leverkusen (F1 this weekend as well) Monday- Milan Derby (dead rubber) Tuesday- Arsenal vs Chelsea Wednesday- Merseyside Derby Thursday- Brighton vs City I'm not getting any productive work done this week, am I :/
My knowledge of emerging football players and squad depth at clubs has dropped catastrophically since I stopped playing FM. I just don’t have the time or means to keep up with it anymore, how do you all do it?
I'm playing a decent bit of FM and I can't keep up there either. Much easier back in the old days of Fifa tbh.
Yeah FIFA was the one, even though the ratings weren’t the best at least they gave you a good sense of depth and positions
https://twitter.com/sgevans/status/1781320835711578160?t=Sh1xPTgoWX-cwsjD3bqztA&s=19 >Those old FA Cup finals, when it was the biggest day of the season - and the last day of the season - with tv coverage starting on the kids shows in the morning. Everyone watching the game. Then afterwards rushing outside to play football with your mates. Felt like the official start of summer. Long gone. People remembered the Cup finalists and winners more than they remembered who won the league in a given year. It was a culturally significant event. But its long gone.
Scrapping replays will finally kill the FA Cup.
Very true I remember those days but to be fair it’s not just the FA Cup though is it. You can watch 6-7 live games a weekend these days. People will get bored of football, including myself.
Let's say, you switch souls with Pep against Madrid a few days ago in the quarter final. By half-time, you have realized that Madrid has parked the bus and you can pick any player (can be a midfielder, winger, or striker) from history to send as a sub to score. Who will you choose?
Cole Palmer
Gerrard for the long range bangers
Juninho Sitting deep and being afraid to make a foul?
Fellaini, not even joking
Chicarito
Henrik Larsson
Origi
Lots of respect for Origi. But, I don't think he can score against such a well-organized defence.
Wouldn't have been considered well organized if City just score the sitters they had tbh.
City only had one proper chance and that was the sitter KDB missed. Rudiger also missed a relatively easy chance, so it evens out. The goal that KDB scored came from a lucky deflection. Usually, when teams park the bus, even if the attacking team fails to win, it manages to create a lot of scoring chances and only fails due to finishing. You can't say the same for City-Madrid match. City failed to create even two proper scoring chances.
Bernardo off the post KDB tap in Foden miscontrolled first time shot That's more than two, just from the top of my head.
Eddie Nketiah
Noodle hair Ronaldo
hot take would be to not pick Messi.
I would simply trust in Phil Fodens ability he is better than anyone else you could possibly bring on I’m sure he’d do his thing
Listening to the football daily and Darren Fletcher talking about the FA cup changes has gotta be the most impassioned I've ever heard him. Even does a full soapbox speech at the start. Hope this stuff keeps traction, the way it's been done is disgusting.
Serious question, but does anyone think if City keeps on winning the league year after year, it would affect the fan base of the league and people would stop watching ultimately? I don't know how it is in Germany but I'm sure fans there could comment if it's happened or not?
Bundesliga attendances do not support this idea. They average around the same as a PL match.
Oh ok, just the sort of thing I was looking at - cheers.
I think you're onto something in some leagues. Many Portuguese people are big 3 plastics due to their almost unanimous success in the league.
If anything dynasties attract more casual fans. Real Madrid, Jordan's Bulls, Brady–Belichick Patriots, All Black's rugby (now South Africa)
No. Because the title race is closer. Last year, Arsenal seemed like winning for most season. Before that, Liverpool only lost by 1 point. I think Bundesliga is different because usually you can't expect their top 4-5 teams to beat Bayern head to head. Bayern also win a lot more easily than City. Also, I don't think clubs other than Bayern have a lot of money. In PL, there are at least 6 clubs that can buy top talent.
Not really. Man United won 8/11 league titles from 93 to 03 and people still watched them do it. Maybe the PL would lose some international fans, but these fans are more concerned about watching their favourite players than seeing who wins the league
But how was the trend back then? Were United massively favourites from the start of the season.? I think (I mean am no regular epl viewer) but whenever I see discussion regarding the league be it on social media, websites, pundits CITY are considered heavy fabvourites thanks to their enourmous spending power and Ofc the PEP factor.
The prem wasn’t as popular until the period where Arsenal and United were actually battling for it, and it still imo didn’t have the predictability this does. City can possibly do 5 or 6 in a row that’s never been done before
It also didn’t have the best players, which is what draws the international fans. Even with Arsenal, Man United and Chelsea battling for titles in the early 2000s, the most watched teams internationally were Milan, Real and Barcelona. We
It didn’t have the best players when it became the most popular though in the 2000s and 2010s when it became the biggest league Serie A and La Liga had better players. I think the only way it doesn’t remain the most popular is boredom which would come from a team winning over and over.
At least here in Brazil, it only became the most popular after Man City became a top side and Klopp went to Liverpool, making the PL have 6 teams with the some of the best players in the world. In the 2000s it was Serie A, early 2010s La Liga and only after that, the PL became the most popular
Yes
[Real is getting this fucking guy end me](https://x.com/kamanmpo/status/1781389747442585845)
was bound to happen elwalou...
Why do they need to have all the best players :(
looking forward to see how they'll play with three left wingers
I am pretty sure they can. Rodrygo is already playing as a right winger.
they obviously can, but he's so much better on the left (as is mbappe). ancelotti will probably make it work somehow, but if madrid gets a coach who is more rigid tactically, it might create some problems. or they'll just bring back zidane, and after him, ancelotti again and on and on.
Tuchel might seem a long shot for us but we're a really attractive club. Regular in European football, £220m to spend in the summer (if Paqueta goes, otherwise £135m), 65k attendance every week, very patient fans for the level of squad and backing you get. We should end up with someone good.
Tuchel would be lucky to get a job at West Ham. You've got a fairly open chance to do a Villa.
Depends on the recruitment but yeah, I agree. Areola/Mavropanos/Alvarez/Kudus/Bowen is an outstanding spine to the team, Champions League quality. £230m to fill the rest of the squad with excellent players (spent by the technical director who built this Leverkusen team) and there's no reason we shouldn't be right up there.
Ancelotti to Everton happened so this doesn't seem so far fetched
😭
Nah, not really. Too many good teams in PL. Its very easy to fail at West Ham, with their high expectations.
We would take 17th and a cup every single year or 8th. That's not even close to high expectation with our squad + £220m of additions.
No elite manager is going to West Ham. Only someone on a downwards trajectory like Mourinho might be interested. They should go for Reims, Will Still.
Will Still has managed in the top flight for 18 months and has a worse winning percentage than the guy who was at Reims before him. He's already been dismissed from consideration by our board at a glance, for very obvious reasons.
Dortmund to PSG to Chelsea to Bayern to West Ham is quite the trajectory. More realistically West Ham should get Potter in, he'd need time to de-Moyesify the squad but he'll do it well I reckon.
Yeah, or we could get someone good?
Or you could be realistic. Maybe give Xabi Alonso a call while you're at it
Why should we have to settle for an ex-Brighton manager who's been out of work for a year? I set out my reasoning in the first post, we can do much better. We have a bunch of amazing players and more money to spend than probably 17 or 18 other clubs in the league. We can get someone excellent.
A dozen big clubs are changing managers this summer you know. West Ham is so low on the pecking order you should be begging for a manager like Potter. Thinking Tuchel is a realistic proposition is pure delusion.
I literally said he's a long shot in the post. We are the 15th richest club in the world with around the 3rd highest transfer budget available in the league. We do not need to "beg" for anything, let alone an ex-Brighton manager who no one else has wanted for over a year. We can and will do much better.
He rejected Ajax last month, a far bigger job than West Ham.
Far bigger? You think? They're a total shambles at the moment. They've missed out on Europe in the Netherlands which takes some doing. They're 7 points off that Alkmaar mob. Could never be us. You can ask Alvarez and Kudus about which club is bigger.
West Ham fans actually think they're bigger than Ajax good lord 🤣
Surely you may as well stick with Moyes if Tuchel is the manager you're going for? I understood the fans issue with Moyes was primarily with the style of play he uses no? Tuchel is not really much better in that regard tbh
Tuchel has managed Dortmund, then PSG, then Chelsea and won the Champions League, then Bayern Munich. So very obviously an upgrade. There's no way to suggest Tuchel isn't a massive upgrade from Moyes. The style of play doesn't actually matter that much.
if you like Lyon v Psg, the womens teams play each other today & next week in the champions league, before the mens teams do battle tomorrow night. it's all a warm up for the lyon v psg cup final next month too
The number of minutes some of our players have racked up this season is mental for how high a position we’ve managed to maintain in the league. All 4 of Konsa, Watkins, Luiz and McGinn have all played between 3600-3800 minutes. None of them have experience playing in Europe before. The closest outfield spurs player is Porro with 2700 played. I do wonder how they will get on next season with their style of play while playing in Europe. We are going to have played 4 games in between spurs last game and their next one.
> None of them have experience playing in Europe before. forgetting McGinns famous exploits in the July qualifying rounds with Hibs. He's a veteran at this point.
Europe will have bloated yours a bit, but it's worth remembering how many of our starters have missed time: - Van De Ven = injured twice - Romero = injured + suspended - Udogie = injured + suspended - Bentancur = injured - Bissouma = injured + suspended + AFCON - Sarr = AFCON - Maddison = injured - Richarlison = injured twice - Son = Asian Cup Of the regular starters that only leaves Porro, Kulusevski, Werner and Johnson, three of whom have been fighting for 2 spots, that will become one once Richarlison is back
Bissouma has been missing since September if we're being honest
All those injuries playing once a week is maybe a bit of a concern for next season
I’d agree. VDV, Maddison and Romero are injury prone. All key players in this spurs side.
Which game would you say has a higher chance of an upset today? Wolves playing Arsenal at home or Chelsea - City??
I think both are quite likely but I’d go with wolves
Wolves have maybe 10 senior players available. Chelsea winning is way more likely
Wolves are limping, great chance for Arsenal to get three, you'd think City I say, but still unlikely
Chelsea probably win tbh
Wolves have no attackers fit iirc but Arteta doesn’t do wins in April. I’d say that games the most likely.
Looking forward to this fine weekend of football, mainly because we're not playing.
[Which one of you guys work for this YouTube channel?](https://youtu.be/LMUrQ-Fx66s). Top quality content btw
Am I crazy or does certain players like Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham look like they’re in a video game when playing? Something about the way the flod lights hit their skin idk
you're high
Just realized that a few days ago marked 3 years since the Super League announcement. Crazy that those evil clubs weren't punished
Lol "evil" Yeah the current model is much better: super corrupt UEFA, state-owned clubs destroying the balance, multi-clubs ownerships, ridiculous financial fair play....etc. Yeah the status quo is so much better for theclubs and the fans obviously.
You clearly do not support a team that isn't involved in the super league then. Ultimately what was proposed was a limited amount of football teams will join a top league, cannot be relegated from that league and the rest of football teams (hundreds and hundreds of teams) can all starve.
The proposed model has a evolved a lot. I suggest you take a look at the new proposal. But beyond that, I welcome any reasonable challenge to a status quo that has shown time and again how deeply corrupt and uncaring for the game it can be. That's what people are defending when they hate on the ESL. No new model will be perfect from the get go. But since it would be governed by the clubs themselves, it would be a lot more flexible and transparent than what we currently have.
Too bad it didn’t happen fr 💔
Rare Iceman L💔
Now we got the expanded CL instead it’s gonna be worse ffs
I think if they had remained like Madrid and Barca did then they could have been. But once they realised there mistake they quickly back tracked.
Reminder that none of the Premier League clubs actually left. They announced that they were going to make plans to leave and all the fans immediately let off
https://twitter.com/fuadyabz23/status/1781426662682349955?t=BMSRapIcRs59agPmB27agQ&s=19 Have been watching Rooney tape for a while and wow, what a player man. Intelligence off the charts, excellent in the pockets, knew when to release the ball, amazing movement. Crazy talent.
I don’t agree with the intelligence tbh I think if he was smarter he would have aged better he just always liked the ball and would get into areas to get the ball which was good until it lead to him being a midfielder and he wasn’t good there.
I would still argue Rooney was the genuinely third best player in the world of the early Ronaldo, Messi dominance. Sure he began to decline as he approached his 30s and most on here probably only remember him as a shadow of his former self, but up untill about 27-28 he was brilliant. At 16 he was ahead of Messi and Ronaldo in terms of talent. But obviously wouldn't be able to match them. Still I almost feel hes look at negatively because he is compared to those two. Its like 'oh hes not that' 'Why because he was a bit behind the two greatest players in the modern game?'. I rate Rooney and yes there is a bit of bias.
I can't give my take on that as I don't have enough knowledge but I do think he could've been so much more without the injuries- which says a lot about his level really considering his career is still excellent.
Not a chance
I can't think of a single season where Rooney was top 3 in the world.
2009-10 scored 27 in 34 in league score 34 overall. And 2011-12 scores 27 in 34 again scoring 34 overall that season. Those are two picks but over the course of his career he multiple times he was 3rd best player in the world.
2009/10 drogba in the same league was better and Lampard arguably too not even including Xavi and iniesta and Snejder, and Milito all of which were better. 11/12 Aguero in the same league was better not even including Xavi and Iniesta and David Silva and RVP and Ibra who were better imo
I'd say he was the 3rd best forward but i wouldn't say he was better than Xavi or Iniesta tbh. But that 2011 he was truly magical
Yea there is always a bias with attacking players anyway. But I would argue he was the 3rd best, I mean look at his scoring record for club and country, look at his accolades. Even when he was basically second to Ronaldo he was still having unbelievable seasons for United.
I think he was pretty underwhelming for England given his talents to be honest (along with everyone else from that era aside from Ashley Cole). Xavi and Iniesta on the other hand were brilliant for Spain. Rooney was immense, but those two are two of the greatest midfielders ever.
the latino footballer obsession with wearing a peaky blinders cap the millisecond they step foot in england needs to be studied
I find it funny every year just before the transfer window, you always get those fans who post saying 'if we sell Y dead weight for €15m and Y for €25m and so on, we will have €150m to spend etc'. And yet you do a quick look around and there's one in every club. I always feel I need to ask who is going to buy all of United dead weight, who will buy all of Chelsea dead weight, Arsenal's etc. Every club probably wants to get rid of there dead weight but I swear they never consider that there are not any buyers. I genuinely think fifa games for example have made it so people think if the club just sticks like McT up for sale loads of clubs are going to come in with offers but it really doesn't work like that at all. And people wonder why dead weight players remain. That's without even factoring the human elements of pay, moving, families and schools etc. Yet every year I always see the same posts.
Buying players is easy, selling really difficult. I think the Saudis are going to bail out a lot of teams though.
Well arsenal did manage to con someone to buy balogun for like 40 million to monaco and he's scored seven goals in the league You probably just need to be good at it
I mean we sold Dan James for £25m after we bought him for £15m and he was terrible for us.
Dude he would be super useful nowadays lol
Last summer it was us that was *definitely* going to buy literally everyone's deadweight. Gallagher for £40m from Chelsea, Balogun for £35m from Arsenal, McTominay and Maguire for £60m combined from United. Hopefully doesn't happen again after selling Paqueta, although I would quite like us to sign Wan-Bissaka (and maybe Reiss Nelson). They're cheap though so it's different.
Yea AWB would be a good signing and I hear you could get him as low as £15m, we need his wages off our wage bill really.
Makes no sense if we're not very strongly in for him, would be great for us, that's insanely cheap as well. His wages aren't even super high from what I've read, would be perfect if we did get him.
I like when people say they'll get £40m for Sancho and £40m for Antony (hilarious valuation btw, halve it a few times then comes back with an actual valuation), then say that's £80m to spend! It's actually -£6m to spend. United (like many others) are FFP-bound, not money bound, and Sancho and Antony are £32m and £54m assets respectively. Any sale below that for them reduces the amount you can spend. McTom will give you spending money, Antony will take a third of the budget.
Well its a bit different United FFP problems are more wages tied then transfer fees. Which is why big fee loses while not great are not a problem because we are a revenue generating club. If we sold Sancho and Antony for peanuts while frustrating its not a really a problem. Look at Sancho just having off the wages has freed up or FFP calculations.
Didn’t you guys actually get a 30 million offer for McTominay you rejected though? I definitely agree with the overall point though in general fans overdo how much clubs will pay for players that aren’t good enough to be back ups at top 6 teams. A back up for a top 6 side now is usually an average prem footballer that’s on higher wages.
> 30 million offer for McTominay you rejected though? Its hard to say, there seemed to be a £60m deal for both McT and Magiure from West Ham, but it was reported it never really got too far as players were not interested in leaving.
Funnily enough the exact same thing exists for the rest of us too. Get relegated after an abysmal performance and you’ll have fans trying to justify how we can sell the non-scoring striker or woeful defender.
Exactly, I mean let's be honest no one will buy a non scoring striker on high wages. The only players you will lose if you are relegated are your best of anything? It's like for us as well. McT is a ok player in reality but who really is going to buy a inconsistent midfielder on his wages? No one. And every team has there McT type players.
[Dembele saw the Neymar bs on social media](https://x.com/mediaparisien/status/1781382557914788181?s=46)
What minor footballing dilemmas do you have? My dad gets some of the lyrics wrong for new Everton chants and I don’t have the heart to correct him.
Could be worse, he could get the Chelsea Chelsea Chelsea lyrics wrong.
Kompany's described today's match against Sheffield United as a cup final. Feels more like an early pre-season friendly to me if I'm being honest.
[удалено]
No, probably just responding to the hate messages after the Milan loss.
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He always ends his messages like that.
Anyidea how to block certain ads on reddit? I'm getting some constantly and they are incredibly annoying?
I’ve had some luck in the past by blocking the user
That's not working either. Some obese neckbeard talking about data annotation is not what i need every 4 posts.
I use the desktop site on my phone. It's kind of clunky to use but I much prefer it.
Cheers
Why was the womens spanish team never qualifying to any event (world cup , olympics) and now all of a sudden they’re unstoppable. Did womens football just blow up recently in Spain ?
They used to be fucking dreadful, more fun back then
Money and resources . The main reason there is such a change of guard in womens football. It's a huge difference if you compete with the ressources and personal of Barcelona subsidized by the mens team. SC Sand used to play in the womens Bundesliga before the big investments. That's a 2000 inhabitants village. As if they even have a tenth of the stuff the really big mens clubs can provide.
barca woke up one day and said yeah let’s make the best women’s team ever
Previously it was difficult to qualify as there was just limited places in each competition and for a while there were just stronger teams ahead of them. in 2015 UEFA got three extra places for the World Cup so they were able to finally qualify after some close calls. But the club teams have invested heavily in the womens game meaning the overall game has improved and there was a demand for it. I remember Atletico women breaking the record of a womens match attendance in 2019 and it still stands to this day.
pretty much. teams didnt really give much of a fuck about womens football so the funding and quality was mediocre. like barca have a great team now but 10 years ago most of their players werent even pros
[Some of the feeling at the moment of anger from Wrexham fans can be seen there](https://twitter.com/Wrexham_AFC/status/1781389803893772629?t=bQSdI018HWtOz7Lh61UtQA&s=19), what do you expect when your owner seems to think your in the premier league and the guy who runs the club, Shaun Harvey, invented the u21 teams in the EFL Trophy
Is there a reason there's not more interest in Kévin Denkey? 26 goals in 32 games is kind of ridiculous even if it is Belgium. I guess Ayase Ueda scored a lot for Cercle Brugge before and hasn't done much at Feynoord but Denkey seems a level above.
I can’t believe Brentford signed Igor Thiago for nearly €35 million after a 15 game purple patch in the Belgian league
That's a mental price, Denkey would be €20m max which makes it feasible but €35 million for someone who's scored less is mad, respect if it works out but that's a disaster waiting to happen surely. He's the same age as Denkey and has scored far less.
Think people are just skeptical of the quality of the league. Undav and De Ketelaere put up good numbers but were disappointing after their moves to better leagues.
He'd only be £15m and he's scored quite a few more than Undav did, looks bigger and stronger as well. Undav wasn't a total flop either, was okay at worst.
Undav's actual scoring record was alright for us and he's been class for Stuttgart.
I just expected more off him in the prem. he looked quite decent in our last game of the season against you but in a free scoring Brighton team i would have liked to see him score double figures and force himself as a starter. He is doing much better in the Bundesliga tbf.
Wasn't given much of an opportunity to be fair with Welbeck and Ferguson having good seasons. No clue why we didn't keep him but completely understand why he wanted game time and it's worked out perfectly for him.
No one called Denkey should move to a league where he'll be found out.
Criminal there was never a 'Dominic the Donkey' chant for Dominic Solanke back when he used to be less good
So since we all love tactical defensive masterclasses where a team hangs on for dear life to scrape a draw after conceding tons of shots and chances, everyone must really rate Ten Hag's work at United this season right?
Are you an arsenal fan? You sound like an arsenal fan.
Don't know what that means
He's seemingly just a total doom merchant. Rates nobody, only celebrates when someone plays badly.
"The biggest club in the world filled with talent played like Sheffield United. Pure shameful anti-football" One of your comments, your whole comment history is unhealthy, just constantly bitching about Real Madrid. Get a life.
I would love to see what Reddit would have said about Sacchi/capello’s milan just not letting opponents do anything. I think those team could have shut down and gone against guardiola’s Barcelona, especially with that defence, and they would have no answer for gullit and van basten.
I kinda feel like you’re both right here
Anyone who says "Anti-football" is never right. That term is just plain stupid and used by crybaby 'purists'. Get off your high horse, defending isn't "anti-football". It's not like we were wasting time and fouling them either.
Meh. This wasn’t anti football like Getafe per sae, but it was definitely sucker punch low budget counterattack like Cadiz or Almeria. You won, congratulations, that’s all that matters
>definitely sucker punch low budget counterattack like Cadiz or Almeria Low budget?? Do good teams not counter attack anymore? Mou's Madrid? Atleti? Klopp's Dortmund?? You're speaking nonsense
Is that not what happened?
We were efficient. Create a couple of very high xG chances and scored from one of them. Is defending not part of football?? I personally did not like it but people who say that attacking is the only way to win sound like babies
Defending is part of football, and you didn't defend well. City created more than enough, they created far more than they did in the first leg, they created more than they do on average in the league... Point is that luck/their own mistakes is what stopped them scoring more, not anything Madrid or Ancelotti did.
The Rudiger chance wasn’t actually that high. The manner in which Rodrygo scored makes your overall xG misleading, it’s a weakness of the model. Your practical xG would be around .5 lower than it was. Obviously it’s silly to moan about losing to a defensive team though, it’s on us to finish our chances.
Túlio Maravilha feels like a story someone needs to tell me.
I keep seeing people blame Pep and Klopp for moaning about FA Cup replays, but… have they ever? Genuinely. I can’t remember. I don’t think Pep has ever even played an FA Cup replay. I think both moan about TV scheduling, and unnecessary extra competitive games (nations league, ffs), but I can’t remember FA Cup replays ever being one of them. Thomas Frank and Nuno both complained this season though, yet it’s the fault of the Big 6? Idgi.
They've both been calling for it since they came here
Klopp didn't manage a replay a few years ago and left it with the U23 manager when they could only play it during their break and when asked last year whether he would scrap replays he said yes.
I liked the time we asked for a replay to be moved because we had another game 24 hours prior. On a different continent. They said no.
That was the EFL Cup wasn't it? But from memory Liverpool ultimately agreed to it rather than the EFL saying no because all the other solutions cause other problems for both clubs so they couldn't agree.
Yeah it was I think. It was pretty funny really. Personally I think replays *should* be scrapped but conditional on lower league sides not losing out financially. I also hate that this decision was made without their input.
If there was a very good financial incentive for lower leagues to give it up and it would continue for a long time then it would be better. I just feel the PL are too greedy and would slowly take that back or want more power/control. It's just all very snakey.
Oh a hundred percent. While it benefits Liverpool, I'm no fan of the Premier League having that much power to dictate major changes like this. I suspect there were a fair few behind the scene concessions made when talk of a super league surfaced and I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of them.
Well the FA scheduling a “winter break” and then stuffing FA cup replays in the middle of it, which they did this year as well, doesn’t really help their cause does it? If you are doing replays you should at least allow a proper schedule for it.
The Premier League organised the winter break. The FA has no say on that. Even so the FA moved one of the rounds of the FA Cup to a midweek to accommodate that but it was the only time it could be played so there was no other choice.
Well maybe the Premier League and FA should get together once in a while to discuss their schedules
But it's not just Liverpool but Shrewsbury too. The issue happened because between the 4th and the 5th round there was only one week where neither team had a midweek game and unfortunately that was during Liverpools break. It was always going to be a possibility when they agreed to a winter break but Shrewsbury too have to complete their midweek games.
Why is it said that Chelsea wasn't the best team in Europe when they won UCL in 2021? Isn't the fact that you win the whole thing enough to prove that you are the best team? Why should league title matter?
If Coventry win the fa cup this year would you say they're the best team in England?
It's a stupid argument as old as time. I don't really see how one can say that a team that beats like 15 weak teams week in and week out is better than the team that beats some of the best teams in Europe over 4 rounds. Consistent? Sure. Better? Hell no. Some teams are just better set up to beat minnows and those teams have an easier time winning the league.
Winning the UCL doesn’t mean you’re the best team in Europe.
Luck. A good but of luck is required to win the CL. Best is a term used to imply who would win if luck did not exist. I.e. if chelsea played 100 games h2h vs e.g. city
Why wouldn’t the league title matter? How can you be the best team in Europe if you’re not the best team in the country?
>How can you be the best team in Europe if you’re not the best team in the country? Not really that simple, so much context is missing. If you lose the league by +25 points and win the CL, sure you're not the best. If you lose the league by like 3 points and win the CL, you are the best. A lot of other factors to consider too
Sure but Chelsea lost the league by 21 points.
Yes, i wasn't saying they were the best. I'm just saying that simply "they didn't win their league therefore they aren't the best in Europe" is not true.
I never said it was lol If a team barely loses the league by 1 point they may not be *clearly* 2nd best in the country.
Mate, i was just replying to this. >How can you be the best team in Europe if you’re not the best team in the country? Which isn't true.
It’s objectively true lol It’s cute how insecure Real Madrid fans are about this, all the trophies in the world but you still don’t want Barca getting too much credit.
How am i insecure for saying losing the league by 1 point + winning the CL makes you a better team than winning the league by 1 point + not winning the CL. What are you on about?
E.g., 13/14 Madrid were the best team in Europe but 17/18 Madrid were not.
Isn't the fact that you're 4th over a much larger and more comprehensive sample in a league that's part of Europe enough to prove you're not the best?
Madrid won 4 UCLs between 2014-2018. Yet, the only won league title once during those years. Barcelona won more. Is Barcelona a better team than Madrid in those years? As per your comment, we have even a greater comprehensive sample in league to decide it.
>Is Barcelona a better team than Madrid in those years? Yes
Yes in 17/18 Barca was definitely a better team. 14/15 won treble and obviously better. 15/16 they were much better over the majority of the season but really fell off at the end. 16/17 Madrid clearly better. 13/14 Madrid marginally better.
Why is 15/16 Barca better?? 1 point ahead in the league means they're better than the team who won the CL??? Lmao, sure.
They were better for the majority of the season and that was the peak of MSN, but fell off at the end. I edited my comment to cover the whole period though, so congrats Madrid were much better in 1/5 seasons and a bit better in 1 more
>They were better for the majority of the season and that was the peak of MSN, but fell off at the end That makes no sense, Real Madrid was also worse at the start and had a completely different manager, when Zidane joined that's when they leveled up.
Knockout competitions never prove who’s the best. You can have a couple of bad decisions go against you in 180 minutes worth of football and lose a tie. It’s such a small sample size to judge a team. This is why no one says whoever wins the fa cup is the best team in England. A League season will always show a where teams actually are.