The 2019-2020 Football Thread

Lord Blackadder said:
There is one fixed factor in all of this, and that is the human body. Sports science has revolutionized football and raised the overall health, endurance, speed, strength, and even mental sharpness of athletes, while shortening recovery times and reducing the severity and consequences of most injuries. However, there is still a upper limit to how much football a player can endure before the quality of their play drops off and they eventually break down physically and mentally. The current football calendar has arguably already exceeded this threshold for most professional athletes.

There is no limit to the growth ambitions of governing bodies, club owners, sponsors, and TV companies. But there is a limit to the amount of football players can actually play.
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Exactly, and that was what I was sort of driving at, in my post.

For now, with some of the top clubs, I think that we may well be reaching - or approaching - some limits of what the human body is capable of.

While health, endurance, strength, speed, fitness - and yes, mental sharpness - have all increased, while the severity of, and possibility of recovery from, and being able to escape immediate consequences of serious injury have all improved exponentially - there may be limits to what the boy can do, especially when playing a sequence of the sort of energy sapping highly focussed matches that the "high pressing" game seems to demand of its players.

Rotations and larger squads and setting strategic rest - or down - times, or a mid season break - may all help to alleviate this to some extent.

But, I can see injuries - or, an increase in the frequency of injures of even the fittest and most responsible of players - depleting even the best of squads.
 
Arsenal: I hope that Mikel Arteta eats you all collectively (with the possible exception of Martinez, the goal-keeper, who has been excellent) without salt in the dressing room at half time this evening.
 
Arteta jolted Arsenal into an improved second half performance, which bodes well and earned a win. He brings a winning mentality and demand for higher standards from Man City with him; hopefully he can instill this attitude in the squad before Arsenal's malaise gets to him.

Liverpool have drawn Bristol City or Shrewsbury in the next round of the FA Cup. One has to assume Klopp will field a very heavily rotated side for that match, given how well the B team performed against Everton.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Arteta jolted Arsenal into an improved second half performance, which bodes well and earned a win. He brings a winning mentality and demand for higher standards from Man City with him; hopefully he can instill this attitude in the squad before Arsenal's malaise gets to him.

Liverpool have drawn Bristol City or Shrewsbury in the next round of the FA Cup. One has to assume Klopp will field a very heavily rotated side for that match, given how well the B team performed against Everton.
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Actually, I don't think that Arsenal's "malaise" will get to Arteta, - that apprenticeship and training at Manchester City should stand to hm - and I do expect a bit of a clear out of some individuals - or rotation at the very least - over the next two transfer windows, starting this very month.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Actually, I don't think that Arsenal's "malaise" will get to Arteta, - that apprenticeship and training at Manchester City should stand to hm - and I do expect a bit of a clear out of some individuals - or rotation at the very least - over the next two transfer windows, starting this very month.
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Aubameyang's statement that he intends to remain at Arsenal is a big boost, they have relied fairly heavily on him at times. Now, if Arsenal would just sign a blessed center back worthy of the name...:rolleyes:
 
Man City completely blew Man Utd away in the first half, it should have been 5-0. Man Utd were extremely lucky to get their consolation, theoretically keeping the tie alive. Pep resoundingly won the tactical duel, but Man Utd just couldn't hold on to the ball either.

On paper, Man City should walk the second leg. On the other hand, OGS might go for broke since there is little left to play for at this point.
 
Too many injuries and an extreme lack of depth doomed United yesterday — I didn't expect any different result. That they had to play Phil Jones, who has no business playing for a club that's serious about competing for trophies, speaks volumes. Really need Axel Tuanzebe back ASAP to provide depth, and Eric Bailly should be also be back soon. Also, the more I see Victor Lindelöf, the more I'm convinced he's not a good fit in the Prem as he's far too weak in the air and generally isn't fast enough to react to the play.

Still a very tricky set of fixtures for United to navigate over the next month with such a thin squad.

[EDIT] Now it's confirmed that Harry Maguire tore a hip muscle and will be out a while. Jeez
 
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Silencio said:
Too many injuries and an extreme lack of depth doomed United yesterday — I didn't expect any different result. That they had to play Phil Jones, who has no business playing for a club that's serious about competing for trophies, speaks volumes.
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I remember when Jones signed for Man Utd, and I was miffed as Liverpool were interested. This was also when Liverpool signed Henderson and Ferg had busied himself remarking about Hendo running with his knees. Many pundits at the time rated Jones more highly than Henderson (though of course they play different positions). I was convinced Liverpool had missed out on a real prospect.

Interesting to see both players' paths since. Henderson was never a bad player but it took time for him to reach the high level he is currently at. Jones played under Ferguson but one wonders if the chaotic years post-Ferg have hurt his development.
 
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Jones started out pretty well in his first year or two at United. Too many injuries and horrible gaffes and weird, highly meme-able facial expressions followed.

Henderson has slowly but steadily improved in his years at Liverpool. Reminds me a bit of Darren Fletcher, another midfielder who wasn't highly rated but kept on adding more and more elements to his game until he became practically indispensable.
 
Kane out till April. That's Spurs' season over. As for England, if you look at their roster there is a lot of promising talent in the forward position, but with Vardy retired and Kane hurt the squad has lost its two most experienced players apart from Sterling.

One wonders if there will be any attempt to coax Vardy back into the squad. My instinct would be to simply give more starts to players like Sancho and Abraham.
 
Please let it be paper talk! I hear Moyes wants to sign 32 year old Fellaini from China. Really didn’t rate him. Dirty player. Don’t think he’ll be cheap.

I’d much rather find a nice young Englishman or two.
 
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