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The 2015-2016 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Giggs isn't ready for a big managerial role especially considering who's been teaching him at United. Ditto for Zinedine. Just don't see those two strategising a victory in a big away match. Hyypia is more experienced and still not up to scratch.
Pep confirms he's off in summer and Carlo will replace him. So the big names are reshuffling.
Would be interesting to see Pep at Arsenal. The Bayern move never made sense to me. Just seemed like easy money/CV filler.
City don't have a manager problem, they've had an ageing squad problem
I want him to take on the mantle from Wenger long-term. But alas. Spanish managers rarely survive long in the EPL anyway
Pep confirms he's off in summer and Carlo will replace him. So the big names are reshuffling.
Would be interesting to see Pep at Arsenal. The Bayern move never made sense to me. Just seemed like easy money/CV filler.
City don't have a manager problem, they've had an ageing squad problem
I want him to take on the mantle from Wenger long-term. But alas. Spanish managers rarely survive long in the EPL anyway
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Liverpool have turned into the USMNT - leaking silly goals early on and spending the rest of the match trying to catch up. Half an hour left and there's no chance in hell Liverpool will come back from this one as far as I can tell. Bogdan looked like a donkey, though this is hardly all his fault.
I've had plenty of fun at Man Utd and Chelsea's expense this season, but Liverpool aren't exactly lighting up the league either, despite a few great performances here and there. The "big" teams are establishing plenty of useless possession - and then being counterattacked to death by the likes of Leicester, Watford, Palace, and even Bournemouth.
Beaten by Newcastle, barely drawn with a Tony Pulis *spits* side, Beaten by Watford. So, Klopp's Liverpool are no better than Rogers' Liverpool - if you go by points accumulated. There's more to it than that, though it's clear that manager, ownership and fans are expecting continued improvement.
I think fourth place might be too far away now, unless Liverpool really go on a run.
I've had plenty of fun at Man Utd and Chelsea's expense this season, but Liverpool aren't exactly lighting up the league either, despite a few great performances here and there. The "big" teams are establishing plenty of useless possession - and then being counterattacked to death by the likes of Leicester, Watford, Palace, and even Bournemouth.
Beaten by Newcastle, barely drawn with a Tony Pulis *spits* side, Beaten by Watford. So, Klopp's Liverpool are no better than Rogers' Liverpool - if you go by points accumulated. There's more to it than that, though it's clear that manager, ownership and fans are expecting continued improvement.
I think fourth place might be too far away now, unless Liverpool really go on a run.
If I was Benteke I'd start reconsidering my LFC career now. 2-0 down in the EPL and I'm on the bench with Origi (whose only talents seems slowing moves down and making useless passes)
Also Skrtle isn't a good defender. In case people were wondering. And you can probably see why Rodgers was unconvinced by Sakho.
Lucas is the only decent defender they have.
The marked difference between the two teams has been that Watford players have had vision and picked the right passes. LFC haven't.
LFC have a lot of work to do but the have their best manager at the helm to do it.
As a fair old neutral, this season has been fantastic thus far.
Also Skrtle isn't a good defender. In case people were wondering. And you can probably see why Rodgers was unconvinced by Sakho.
Lucas is the only decent defender they have.
The marked difference between the two teams has been that Watford players have had vision and picked the right passes. LFC haven't.
LFC have a lot of work to do but the have their best manager at the helm to do it.
As a fair old neutral, this season has been fantastic thus far.
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Skrtel and Sakho can both be excellent defenders; the problem is consistency.
Liverpool are attempting to deploy a much more sophisticated approach to the game than teams like Watford and Leicester. I'm not trying to sound arrogant here; on the contrary, the major theme of this season has been the failure of possession-based/pressing systems against simple counterattacking systems. That's the fault of the former, not the latter. It's much harder and more expensive to build a good pressing side than it is to build an effective counterattacking side.
Watford only had six shots and scored three goals, and I can only applaud their efficiency. They are above Liverpool in the table for a reason.
Benteke is not a Klopp-style player, that much is obvious. This mismatch is neither Klopp's fault nor Benteke's but I am increasingly thinking he may be moved on at a loss this summer.
I think the wins over Man City and Chelsea were deceiving because those teams actually attacked Liverpool - most Premier League teams won't do that. Against counterattacking teams Liverpool still struggle to make their pressing game work, and this season's league table contains a lot of effective counterattacking sides.
From a Liverpool perspective, they have to hope that their squad depth will help them pick up points later in the season when clubs with smaller squads lose key players to injury.
Liverpool are attempting to deploy a much more sophisticated approach to the game than teams like Watford and Leicester. I'm not trying to sound arrogant here; on the contrary, the major theme of this season has been the failure of possession-based/pressing systems against simple counterattacking systems. That's the fault of the former, not the latter. It's much harder and more expensive to build a good pressing side than it is to build an effective counterattacking side.
Watford only had six shots and scored three goals, and I can only applaud their efficiency. They are above Liverpool in the table for a reason.
Benteke is not a Klopp-style player, that much is obvious. This mismatch is neither Klopp's fault nor Benteke's but I am increasingly thinking he may be moved on at a loss this summer.
I think the wins over Man City and Chelsea were deceiving because those teams actually attacked Liverpool - most Premier League teams won't do that. Against counterattacking teams Liverpool still struggle to make their pressing game work, and this season's league table contains a lot of effective counterattacking sides.
From a Liverpool perspective, they have to hope that their squad depth will help them pick up points later in the season when clubs with smaller squads lose key players to injury.
Sorry to say, but that was very reason he had to leave Dortmund / the Bundesliga. His team played one-dimensional and had a really hard time to compete against any opponent - since those knew they could just wait deep + standing compact while Dortmund's defense was leaking goals left and right. Dortmund still gets those "comedy" / slapstick goals now under Tuchel, albeit more seldom - but now they are incredile flexible when attacking, scoring even more goals than Bayern. Word is that the Prem isn't that advanced tactically so that a hardcore "pressing-machine" à la Klopp could still disrupt the opponents matchplan and win plenty of matches like Dortmund did years back when they surprised to whole Bundesliga (and even international heavy hitters). Remains to be seen if that key really works as intended. His style was 100% burnt out and decoded before he left.
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Anyway, Hertha is placed third. All is good and Christmas can come.
It's frustrating we keep going behind, we're really missing Lees at the back, but I'll take 4 goals in reply!
Blatter and Platini banned for eight years each; neither one seems the slightest bit sorry for what they've done and they continue to protest their innocence.
What a couple of *******s.
It does't matter; they are finished. The question now is, what next? Will we see business as usual at FIFA (there are still many shady characters there), or will things change for the better? They are a laughingstock of an organization.
Well, it's a problem Klopp will have to learn to solve if he wants to be successful at Liverpool. The new TV money has made the middle teams in the league substantially stronger, but they will play a counterattacking style, usually sitting deep. In the face of that, Liverpool will either have to become a Mourihno side and sit deep themselves, waiting for the opponent to make a mistake (which is boring as hell), or figure out how to break down defensive counterattacking teams.
Bringing in a world-class center back would help a lot, but they are in short supply at the moment, probably even rarer than world-class strikers. Also, we are getting poor value for money out of Benteke and Sturridge - more firepower up top is needed. The midfield and full back situation is OK for the moment, though Moreno can go on walkabout defensively.
What a couple of *******s.
It does't matter; they are finished. The question now is, what next? Will we see business as usual at FIFA (there are still many shady characters there), or will things change for the better? They are a laughingstock of an organization.
Well, it's a problem Klopp will have to learn to solve if he wants to be successful at Liverpool. The new TV money has made the middle teams in the league substantially stronger, but they will play a counterattacking style, usually sitting deep. In the face of that, Liverpool will either have to become a Mourihno side and sit deep themselves, waiting for the opponent to make a mistake (which is boring as hell), or figure out how to break down defensive counterattacking teams.
Bringing in a world-class center back would help a lot, but they are in short supply at the moment, probably even rarer than world-class strikers. Also, we are getting poor value for money out of Benteke and Sturridge - more firepower up top is needed. The midfield and full back situation is OK for the moment, though Moreno can go on walkabout defensively.
Platini should be out on his backside permanently. Hopefully FIFA will have moved on in 8 years.
Arsenal edge it in the end but made it closer than it should've really been. Yaya Toure turned up...eventually.
Good game and good goals.
Not really sure it changes much. Still plenty of points to play for and injured players returning. So there's still some shuffling to be had.
But in the interim, Arsenal win another 'big game'
PS - this makes me laugh for some reason
Good game and good goals.
Not really sure it changes much. Still plenty of points to play for and injured players returning. So there's still some shuffling to be had.
But in the interim, Arsenal win another 'big game'
PS - this makes me laugh for some reason
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Did anyone watch the analysis by Henry and Carragher on MNF? Some excellent stuff there about Pep and his coaching methods at Barca mentioned by Henry there.
(not sure if I can post a link for it here)
Looks like the current Man Utd squad/players are deeply shackled by LvG. I really hope LvG sets them free for the next couple of games - what's the worst that can happen? United might lose again and he'd be out of a job? Meh! So be it - he should go down swinging!
(not sure if I can post a link for it here)
Looks like the current Man Utd squad/players are deeply shackled by LvG. I really hope LvG sets them free for the next couple of games - what's the worst that can happen? United might lose again and he'd be out of a job? Meh! So be it - he should go down swinging!
Did anyone watch the analysis by Henry and Carragher on MNF? Some excellent stuff there about Pep and his coaching methods at Barca mentioned by Henry there.
(not sure if I can post a link for it here)
Looks like the current Man Utd squad/players are deeply shackled by LvG. I really hope LvG sets them free for the next couple of games - what's the worst that can happen? United might lose again and he'd be out of a job? Meh! So be it - he should go down swinging!
I agree 100%.
Good and prescious win for Arsenal, albeit the quality of the match was lacking. City being totally clueless as to how to create threatening chances and arsenal being absolutely lackluster with finishing their counter attacks - only intense because of ranks and names.
And those clubs form the top of the league (+ think United and Chelsea, not your state of the art football as well). English clubs have a long way to go and I guess those boatloads of new money aren't necessarily helping them.
And those clubs form the top of the league (+ think United and Chelsea, not your state of the art football as well). English clubs have a long way to go and I guess those boatloads of new money aren't necessarily helping them.