Agreed.
Having identified what was required, what positions needed most remedial attention, they did their research, deployed their resources intelligently, and attracted the signatures of some excellent players.
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The 2020-2021 Football Thread
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Agreed.
Having identified what was required, what positions needed most remedial attention, they did their research, deployed their resources intelligently, and attracted the signatures of some excellent players.
I am happy for Walcott to get some game time, he needs it.
Now, thank God the transfer window is shut, and it is now time to Partey...!?!
Now, thank God the transfer window is shut, and it is now time to Partey...!?!
While I think that Partey will prove an excellent signing, I really regret the departure of Martínez, whom I think was even better then Leno (who himself is excellent).
Touche'. Alas, he (Martinez), simply did not want to be number 2 anymore. Thus, this was always going to be a difficult scenario.
Ideally, a conversation should have been had with Leno, explaining, he'd need to earn the number one shirt. But, here we are...
Ideally, a conversation should have been had with Leno, explaining, he'd need to earn the number one shirt. But, here we are...
Fulham appear to have bought reasonably well, strengthening the squad without panicking over their admittedly bad form.
Leeds did their business fairly early, but without being flashy they appear to have set themselves up well. Koch looks to have been a very good buy.
Everton had a solid window, they are obviously pushing to take that next step that the club is always on the cusp of, but never quite achieving. James could end up being a serious bargain - Obviously underutilized by Real Madrid..
Liverpool had a good window overall, strengthening the squad without breaking the bank. Shaqiri is still on the books and appears to want to fight for a place, but his status seems very uncertain. I feel like he is too talented to be sitting around. The depth of defense is OK overall, but there has been a general dip in form that needs to be addressed.
Winning a Premier League title is very hard. Retaining it is harder still.
Leeds did their business fairly early, but without being flashy they appear to have set themselves up well. Koch looks to have been a very good buy.
Everton had a solid window, they are obviously pushing to take that next step that the club is always on the cusp of, but never quite achieving. James could end up being a serious bargain - Obviously underutilized by Real Madrid..
Liverpool had a good window overall, strengthening the squad without breaking the bank. Shaqiri is still on the books and appears to want to fight for a place, but his status seems very uncertain. I feel like he is too talented to be sitting around. The depth of defense is OK overall, but there has been a general dip in form that needs to be addressed.
Winning a Premier League title is very hard. Retaining it is harder still.
Agree that Everton had a great window.
James was not only underutilised at Real, but was also played wrongly for his skill set in my opinion. He's a front man; a target for the ball. That's how he gets his goals.
Madrid played him as a forward with an expectation that he'd play off others, feed them the ball and be just another man on the park...Everton are treating him as the man that will give them goals and they are feeding him the ball as and when they can...and we can all see the results.
Good piece on the Guardian reviewing Ed Woodward's 15 transfer windows.
The pattern that emerges is of a dithering, ineffective negotiator who ends up either getting his pants pulled down or being stonewalled by clubs he is "negotiating" with. You need to move decisively for your target or pivot and go for a solid plan B. Woodward does neither, stubbornly lowballing when bidding for the key target and then overpaying for a panic buy at the last minute when his bluff is called.
Every team has plenty of flop buys in their past; the transfer market is a high stakes casino, and Woodward is not the only easy mark in it. But he blows more money than most.
My only worry is that Everton are spending big when most of the rest of the world are tightening their belts. Can they sustain this? Revenue is going to weak for the foreseeable future, and competition for the top spots in the league will be pretty fierce again this season.
The pattern that emerges is of a dithering, ineffective negotiator who ends up either getting his pants pulled down or being stonewalled by clubs he is "negotiating" with. You need to move decisively for your target or pivot and go for a solid plan B. Woodward does neither, stubbornly lowballing when bidding for the key target and then overpaying for a panic buy at the last minute when his bluff is called.
Every team has plenty of flop buys in their past; the transfer market is a high stakes casino, and Woodward is not the only easy mark in it. But he blows more money than most.
My only worry is that Everton are spending big when most of the rest of the world are tightening their belts. Can they sustain this? Revenue is going to weak for the foreseeable future, and competition for the top spots in the league will be pretty fierce again this season.
Saliba missed out on a loan deal. I wonder if he can go to the Championship (EFL) to play for the season. Plus he’d play many more games.
Now, the interesting thing, we, Arsenal, need to tell two players they cannot play Premier League football till end of January.
Interesting times ahead...
Now, the interesting thing, we, Arsenal, need to tell two players they cannot play Premier League football till end of January.
Interesting times ahead...
The Özil Saga Continues...he's essentially frozen out of the squad now. Plenty of finger pointing to go around, I suppose, but at the end of the day Özil is an Arsenal employee and should either be playing or have been loaned or sold. the current situation is unsatisfactory for everyone involved. Arsenal's version of the infamous Winston Bogarde affair.
Also, The Gunners' bill of fare for this summer's transfer window generates some bad optics after the recent employee redundancies at the club. Gunnersauraus is getting let go? Come on...
Also, The Gunners' bill of fare for this summer's transfer window generates some bad optics after the recent employee redundancies at the club. Gunnersauraus is getting let go? Come on...
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Agreed.
And Ozil has stepped in and offered to fund the salary of Gunnersaurus for "as long as he (himself) is, or remains, an Arsenal player".
All I can contribute towards the Ozil conversation is that, his Marketing people have and are, doing a brilliant job.
A shame it has all come to this. Ozil himself could have moved on, or bloody better still, he could have started to put a damn shift in, and showing up for ALL training sessions.
Anyway, let me go back to getting on with my life. I am rather disappointed with Ozil, for many reasons...
A shame it has all come to this. Ozil himself could have moved on, or bloody better still, he could have started to put a damn shift in, and showing up for ALL training sessions.
Anyway, let me go back to getting on with my life. I am rather disappointed with Ozil, for many reasons...
But to put it into context, in the time it took you to write that post, he’d earned enough money to pay his first month!
I think nobody was prepared to take a risk on him. Or he was not prepared to take a drop in salary.
Like I said, there is plenty of blame to go around, and Özil deserves his share. I tend to side less with clubs and agents than with players, who have short careers and little to no support from the game after retirement. Arsenal decided it was a good idea to pay him 350k a week...that's on them.
Look at it this way, at least he hasn't been sold to a direct rival who then rode straight to a title on the back of their new acquisition's goals, as Man Utd did with RVP. Still stunned that Arsenal thought THAT deal was good idea.
Oh, yes, agreed absolutely.
And I would never claim to be a fan of Ozil's.
Personally, I think the wages of top Premiership players obscene, and equally obscene are clubs such as Arsenal terminating the employment contracts of their (usually not at all well paid) ground and support staff.
...not to mention that Stan Kroenke could, without blinking an eye, easily afford to pay the wages of the 55 staff who were let go, Gunnersaurus, and Özil...
Good little hit-out for England against Wales.
Comfortable win, with a couple of defensive wobbles, but overall a pretty good result at 3-0.
Nice to see Saint Danny score the goal of the game...fabulous striker's goal with an overhead kick at relatively close range.
Good to see some new blood get their debuts, too.
Comfortable win, with a couple of defensive wobbles, but overall a pretty good result at 3-0.
Nice to see Saint Danny score the goal of the game...fabulous striker's goal with an overhead kick at relatively close range.
Good to see some new blood get their debuts, too.
I don’t think any of the Premier League are covering themselves with glory. The money in the game is obscene. More so the spread of that money. Too many small clubs are struggling to stay afloat, whilst the entitled are earning millions and flouting lock down rules.
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Indeed. You’d have thought the dinosaur would have looked out for the other dinosaur at the club!
Can’t really get into international games unless there is a proper tournament on. I missed tonight’s game as I had work to do.
I was on a global conference call, so had it streaming on my iPhone on a stand just below my monitor, so it looked like I was paying attention...
Southgate is right to experiment, though I get the feeling he still doesn't know what his best XI and preferred formation is. There are a lot of young promising players around the fringes of the England squad, which is a good thing.
Ings should be a shoo-in for the time being, his form has been excellent.
Meanwhile, the USA men's team has no matches on the horizon till next summer, and last played a match in February. It's possible they might play a friendly before the turn of the year but at the moment I doubt it. Given current predictions on the course of the pandemic it's very hard to say when the USA will be playing its next match. On the upside, most of the USA's best players are in Europe, so they are getting game time in good leagues.
Ings should be a shoo-in for the time being, his form has been excellent.
Meanwhile, the USA men's team has no matches on the horizon till next summer, and last played a match in February. It's possible they might play a friendly before the turn of the year but at the moment I doubt it. Given current predictions on the course of the pandemic it's very hard to say when the USA will be playing its next match. On the upside, most of the USA's best players are in Europe, so they are getting game time in good leagues.
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That was a radically changed line up and to be honest I was happy to see most Spurs players rested. More interested in the EPL than International games.
Putting Premier League matches on Pay-Per-View = double charging most fans, and triple charging season ticket holders.