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The 2021-2022 Football Thread

Scepticalscribe

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Haswell
Original poster
Jul 29, 2008
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In a coffee shop.
Today marks the curtain raiser to the 2021-2022 Football Season with the Charity Shield competition - which takes place a week prior to the formal start of the season, and is played between the teams who were the winners of the FA Cup (Leicester City) and of the Premier League (Manchester City) of the previous season, that is, the season that has just ended (2020-2021), and thus, I think it time to start a fresh thread for the forthcoming season.

In the Charity Shield, played earlier this evening, Leicester City were the richly deserved winners, and were the better team - emerging victorious at 1-0 - with a penalty awarded just before full time.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
Today marks the curtain raiser to the 2021-2022 Football Season with the Charity Shield competition - which takes place a week prior to the formal start of the season, and is played between the teams who were the winners of the FA Cup (Leicester City) and of the Premier League (Manchester City) of the previous season, the season that has just ended (2020-2021), and thus, I think it time to start a fresh thread for the forthcoming season.

In the Charity Shield, played earlier this evening, Leicester City were the richly deserving winners, - at 1-0 - with a penalty awarded just before full time.
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Seems like the closed season gets shorter and shorter. Especially with the Euros and Olympics.
Anyway I’m hoping for another good season. Disappointed we haven’t managed to secure the services of Lingard after his excellent loan spell last year. Glad that Declan Rice is still a West Ham player. Of course we have to wait until the end of August for the transfer season to close.
Kane and Messi being the two big likely moves (after Greelish has moved already of course).
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
Damage is done though...retaining him did not ruin the club all by itself. But the club totally fumbled its dealings with BOTH Neymar and Messi. In the former case, they might has well have lit his transfer fee on fire for all the good it did on the pitch. They bought remarkably badly. In the latter case, they should have shown him the door years ago, before they bankrupted themselves paying his wages.

Barcelona's story is one of a rich, privileged club breaking itself trying to keep up with still richer, even more privileged clubs.

Man City and PSG have pushed the insanity of football finances into stomach-churning new territory. It's madness to try and compete with them financially, because their plan has always been to disrupt the hierarchy through financial doping. Typically, mere corporations can't compete with nation-states at that game.

What's next? Does nation-state ownership of professional teams become a normal model? It's pretty much the only way to keep on the current trajectory...
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Lord Blackadder said:
He's old. So he won't be able to maintain the required level of athleticism much longer, and he can't outrun anyone anymore. He can still out-dribble and out-pass any player alive, has amazing finishing, his deadball skills are unsurpassed, and he has world-class game intelligence. I think he’d be a great addition to any team on the planet. If referees let him get kicked to death that’s the fault of the league, not Messi.

He’s just ruinously expensive, that’s all. No player, however good, should cost that much.
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Two excellent and thought-provoking posts from @Lord Blackadder (from the earlier thread) on the subject of Barcelona and Lionel Messi which I have taken the liberty of quoting in this fresh, new, thread, as the subject matter of the debacle and disaster of Barcelona's finances (long expected but still a shock) remains salient and topical.

Both the Financial Times (the excellent Simon Kuper) and the Guardian have featured thoughtful and interesting articles on this subject over the past few days which are well worth reading.
 
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With regards to the Messi situation, as I write nothing has been formally announced, but a move to PSG seems a foregone conclusion...nobody else can afford him, but he's still years away from retiring. So surely he's headed to Paris?

A rather macabre situation really...PSG will spend buckets of money on a player who has made it public he'd rather be elsewhere. Football begins eating itself. It would be hugely amusing to watch PSG fail to win the Champions League with Neymar, Messi, and Mbappe all on the books....
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
With regards to the Messi situation, as I write nothing has been formally announced, but a move to PSG seems a foregone conclusion...nobody else can afford him, but he's still years away from retiring. So surely he's headed to Paris?

A rather macabre situation really...PSG will spend buckets of money on a player who has made it public he'd rather be elsewhere. Football begins eating itself. It would be hugely amusing to watch PSG fail to win the Champions League with Neymar, Messi, and Mbappe all on the books....
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After his tearful press conference, please explain why he couldn’t just stay and play for free? It’s not like he needs the money!
 
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Apple fanboy said:
After his tearful press conference, please explain why he couldn’t just stay and play for free? It’s not like he needs the money!
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Generally my take on players making big wages is I'm fine with it - they earn it more than the agents, club suits, owners, FAs, FIFA trolls, media personalities (not including genuine sports journalists) and other jetsam surrounding football. Their careers are short and the system exploits them wherever possible. They retire in their mid-30s and many struggle after that.

With that being said, Messi has been collecting a ludicrous wage at Barca for years, and the club he professes to love is suffering a near-terminal financial ailment. And while the blame for the club's current plight rests on the people who run the club, not the players, Messi could easily have decided to accept a reduced wage for a couple seasons, something the club could afford. And by 'reduced' and 'affordable' I mean 'still quite extravagant' by the standards of the average working stiff.

So yes, the tears are perhaps genuine, but I remain firmly dry-eyed.
 
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Trivia: Loris Karius is on the bench today for Liverpool’s friendly against Osasuna. Yes, he’s still on Liverpool’s books…so far the club haven’t found a buyer for him and, with the club needing to trim the non-homegrown players, he may find himself out of the senior squad for the season and just gathering dust.

His career has been a tale of woe ever since that nightmarish evening in Kiev. I think he’s a better player than he’s shown but his past mistakes and his own mental health have dogged him for years now.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
Generally my take on players making big wages is I'm fine with it - they earn it more than the agents, club suits, owners, FAs, FIFA trolls, media personalities (not including genuine sports journalists) and other jetsam surrounding football. Their careers are short and the system exploits them wherever possible. They retire in their mid-30s and many struggle after that.

With that being said, Messi has been collecting a ludicrous wage at Barca for years, and the club he professes to love is suffering a near-terminal financial ailment. And while the blame for the club's current plight rests on the people who run the club, not the players, Messi could easily have decided to accept a reduced wage for a couple seasons, something the club could afford. And by 'reduced' and 'affordable' I mean 'still quite extravagant' by the standards of the average working stiff.

So yes, the tears are perhaps genuine, but I remain firmly dry-eyed.
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I’d be crying to if I’d just lost that weekly wage! Goodness knows how he’ll get by on the pittance PSG will offer him!
To be honest he’s not in a strong negotiation position is he? Can’t see them paying what Barcelona have. Also I’d love to see PSG v Barcelona in a game that matters. I wonder how well he’d play!
 
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Apple fanboy said:
After his tearful press conference, please explain why he couldn’t just stay and play for free? It’s not like he needs the money!
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I think that there is a principle that one should not work for nothing, unless one is volunteering.

However, Messi's wage - as @Lord Blackadder has already pointed out - was ludicrous at Barcelona.

In today's news, he has arrived in Paris, having signed a two year contract with PSG (and is now re-united with Neymar) for, yes, another ludicrous sum of money.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
I think that there is a principle that one should not work for nothing, unless one is volunteering.

However, Messi's wage - as @Lord Blackadder has already pointed out - was ludicrous at Barcelona.

In today's news, he has arrived in Paris, having signed a two year contract with PSG (and is now re-united with Neymar) for, yes, another ludicrous sum of money.
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Technically I work for at least 10-15 hours for free every week!
 
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Apple fanboy said:
I think this year will be tougher. But hey it’s the start of the season and time to dream…..
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That is why I think you should enjoy whatever last season's excellent performance bestows on you by way of a bonus.

And I am wondering (the inquiring mind wishes to know) at what stage Spurs (or, to be more precise, Levy) will crack and accept an (obscene) offer for Harry Kane? The Guardian was reporting an offer of around £150 million....
 
Scepticalscribe said:
That is why I think you should enjoy whatever last season's excellent performance bestows on you by way of a bonus.

And I am wondering (the inquiring mind wishes to know) at what stage Spurs (or, to be more precise, Levy) will crack and accept an (obscene) offer for Harry Kane? The Guardian was reporting an offer of around £150 million....
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Well I think his performance if he ever pulls on a Spurs shirt will decide that. I think he will make his point (if he hasn’t done so already by turning up late for preseason).
 
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Apple fanboy said:
Its nice when the limelight is on the newly promoted clubs and the mid table ones! ;)

Brentford have been doing quite well.
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Cough.

Yes, indeed.

In fact, they have just scored, which means that newly promoted Brentford now lead Arsenal by a goal to nil.

And this comes as small surprise.

In truth, I like to see newly promoted clubs do well, especially in their opening games - just (well, perhaps) not at the expense of my team.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Cough.

Yes, indeed.

In fact, they have just scored, which means that newly promoted Brentford now lead Arsenal by a goal to nil.

And this comes as small surprise.

In truth, I like to see newly promoted clubs do well, especially in their opening games - just (well, perhaps) not at the expense of my team.
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Not the best time to play them to be honest. But yes I like to see the teams promoted do well as well.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Not the best time to play them to be honest. But yes I like to see the teams promoted do well as well.
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The best time - and sometimes, the most easily secured points - of the entire season - for a promoted team often occur in August.

Promoted teams can tend to be at their most unsettling, they are still an unknown quantity, after all - and established teams are frequently still a bit tired and stale (especially after international tournaments) and finding their stride, perhaps with new players, in August.

So, no, not a good time to play one of them.
 
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