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The 2022-2023 Football Thread
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If they achieve what they did last year they should be happy. Can’t see them improving on second.
David De Gea has officially left Man Utd. Thank you for your service.
I see with the Declan Rice valuation, everyone is having a crack at the inflation game.
West Ham are interested in JWP, but Saints value him at 50million quid. By the same token, Livramento and others are being valued at similarly eye-watering amounts.
I believe WHU are only valuing JWP at 20million - which I find interesting. As a Saints fan I value him highly, but he didn't have a stellar season last season.
Transfer valuations are all subjective, but in the current climate, if a club like Leicester, Leeds or Southampton get relegated and then sell off their underperforming "stars" at the current market rates, surely that puts them in a quite unfair position in the Championship compared to everyone else? They have potentially hundreds of millions to spend and the ability to do so under FFP rules as it's money generated by sales. It means they can pay 25million for a player nobody else in the division can afford to pay more than 15 for, etc. And of course they can virtually buy a whole new squad.
West Ham are interested in JWP, but Saints value him at 50million quid. By the same token, Livramento and others are being valued at similarly eye-watering amounts.
I believe WHU are only valuing JWP at 20million - which I find interesting. As a Saints fan I value him highly, but he didn't have a stellar season last season.
Transfer valuations are all subjective, but in the current climate, if a club like Leicester, Leeds or Southampton get relegated and then sell off their underperforming "stars" at the current market rates, surely that puts them in a quite unfair position in the Championship compared to everyone else? They have potentially hundreds of millions to spend and the ability to do so under FFP rules as it's money generated by sales. It means they can pay 25million for a player nobody else in the division can afford to pay more than 15 for, etc. And of course they can virtually buy a whole new squad.
The USA advances in the Gold Cup on penalty kicks, beating Canada 2-2 (3-2).
I always hated penalty kicks to decide a playoff, it seems more like luck and chance.
I always hated penalty kicks to decide a playoff, it seems more like luck and chance.
I would be curious to see how player valuations worked in the event of a crash and collapse in value.
I don't really think so: There position is more akin to that of a bankrupt business which has to sell everything and where everyone who is of a mind to decides to help themsleves to the good stuff at bargain prices.
The "stars" want out and are clamouring for an early exit - besides, marooned in a lower division, it is probably that the club couldn't afford to keep them anyway.
All of this means that whatever team the club had is shattered, and the club is obliged to build a team again, more or less from scratch; players need to be replaced - often with those of a lower quality.
This is something, a process, that takes time, and it takes more time again to actually build a team, identify players, and then, proceed to craft a team of almost unknown individuals that can play together - in an appropriate style - as a coherent unit.
Buy is one thing; they still have to build an actual team out of that wreckage, and the shock, and trauma (of the experience of relegation).
They are a lot more vulnerable than you think; a further relegation is not unknown in these circumstances, and it can take years to recover and be in a position to challenge for promotion.
No.
You can practice taking penalties just as you plan, prepare for, and practice (and become skilled at) anything else, and, if you are a professional footballer, you are a fool (or your manager is) if you fail to practice taking penalties.
However, it is not merely skill at kicking and placing a ball; there is also the question of individual mental and psychological strength, which taking a penalty in stressful conditions tends gto test. Penalties are a test of - a challenge for - the player as an individual; most of the time he is challenged as a member of the team.
I would also add many players have a release clause in their contract. If they get relegated they can leave for a reduced fee. Or like Jermaine Defoe did to us, slap in a transfer request the day we got relegated, ensuring we got a much lower price for him than we would have.
Thing is from our perspective selling a player like Rice for 105 million and signing JWP for 50 million makes little sense. Not saying we don’t want him, but at 28 he is already at his peak valuation. Probably past it.
But most likely we will buy a couple of 50 million players and be a poorer team for it.
That is also absolutely true (about the inclusion of a release clause - to be triggered, or invoked, in the event of, for example, relegation).
Yes, skill is required. But it seems to me that if a goalkeeper guesses right, they will have a very good chance of blocking it. Which means luck is a good portion of it.
A lot of skill, and a lot of work.
At the very top, these people are paid salaries of six figures a week.
To reduce what they do to "luck" seems to me to miss the point.
A decent coach - and a decent goalkeeper - will have studied the penalty taking habits of anyone whom they expect to face as a penalty taker - what side of the goal (or goalkeeper) they favour when shooting, what foot they favour, what habits they resort to under stress, and so on.
This is not "luck"; this is preparation, work, research and solid homework.
Then, there is practice, practice, practice.
That is not "luck" either.
No, I beg to differ.
"Luck" is an easy, and, to my mind, intellectually lazy - and philosphically indefensible - excuse and explanation when you ply your skills and trade as a footballer, at that level.
"Luck" is a small portion of it, and your task is to minimise this portion even further through preparation, rehearsal, coaching and training.
Preseason football about to kick off, believe it or not. Manchester United vs Leeds in Norway today. We get our first peek at Mason Mount in the red shirt, plus assorted senior players and kids.
[EDIT: United win it 2-0. They seem to be much better at pressing high up the pitch: Mason Mount makes a big difference. Even the team of youth prospects confidently pinged the ball around at pace and looked very comfortable doing it.]
[EDIT: United win it 2-0. They seem to be much better at pressing high up the pitch: Mason Mount makes a big difference. Even the team of youth prospects confidently pinged the ball around at pace and looked very comfortable doing it.]
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Arsenal appear to be stalling on making the Declan Rice transfer official as contracts have not been signed yet and West Ham are getting very very annoyed as everything seems to have been agreed, it just needs pen putting paper which has not happened yet. I wonder why with everything agreed Arsenal are delaying the signing of the contract.
Apparently Arsenal lawyers were unhappy with the wording and were making adjustments. Seems a bit messy and unfair to West Ham who need the funds to kickstart their transfer window
Meanwhile Pau Torres has signed for Villa. And Emery looks to be building a decent squad there.
Will Kane end up in Bayern or PSG or stay at Spurs to earn 400k/w
Watching Frank Lampard's interview on the DOAC podcast. Then will watch Dele Alli's one on the Overlap
Meanwhile Pau Torres has signed for Villa. And Emery looks to be building a decent squad there.
Will Kane end up in Bayern or PSG or stay at Spurs to earn 400k/w
Watching Frank Lampard's interview on the DOAC podcast. Then will watch Dele Alli's one on the Overlap
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400k a week!!!! he'd be a fool not to accept it, not that I agree with it mind you.
Heartbreaking for Dele Alli. Even the strongest person mentally would struggle with what he's been through. I hope he finds healing and can kick start his career.
Villa is going to be a lot of people's sleeper team this season, and with good reason. They finished strong under Emery last season and have bought well this summer.
Villa is going to be a lot of people's sleeper team this season, and with good reason. They finished strong under Emery last season and have bought well this summer.
Steven Gerrard was an incredible player, but from the moment he ended his playing career at Liverpool, things seem to have been going downhill. His stint at LA Galaxy was not a success, his managerial record so far has been spotty, and now he's shilling for Saudi Arabia. Sigh.
The most painful thing about it is that all of these footballers and managers are going there for the money. Everything else they say about the atmosphere, league, and living situation is part willful ignorance and part flat-out lie. They know it, we know it, and they know we know it. Seeing Gerrard sit there at a weirdly-official-looking table with little Saudi flags on it while he went on about the 'family atmosphere' in a nation with an appalling human rights records was just plain saddening.
There is also talk that Gerrard is being used, along with an eye-watering salary offer (rumored £400-700k per week?), to lure Jordan Henderson to Al Ettifaq. To be fair, these people are being offered unbelievable salaries that would tempt a saint. But that does not make it OK.
Please, Hendo, don't follow your hero.
The most painful thing about it is that all of these footballers and managers are going there for the money. Everything else they say about the atmosphere, league, and living situation is part willful ignorance and part flat-out lie. They know it, we know it, and they know we know it. Seeing Gerrard sit there at a weirdly-official-looking table with little Saudi flags on it while he went on about the 'family atmosphere' in a nation with an appalling human rights records was just plain saddening.
There is also talk that Gerrard is being used, along with an eye-watering salary offer (rumored £400-700k per week?), to lure Jordan Henderson to Al Ettifaq. To be fair, these people are being offered unbelievable salaries that would tempt a saint. But that does not make it OK.
Please, Hendo, don't follow your hero.
...and then get knocked out by Panama on PKs. Very silly.
Typical behaviour of one of the greedy six. Very disrespectful. Price is agreed. Terms are agreed. Now it’s just dragging on and on.
As you say we need to get on and find a replacement or three.
I personally don't understand how football people need yet more money. I can somewhat understand if you've won everything and now its just planning for retirement.
But leaving at your peak powers is one i cannot get behind.
Ruben Neves was on an annual salary of £2m/yr even if you pay 50% tax thats still a nice chunk that can be grown with smart investment. But instead of going to another European club, maybe even playing in the UCL, he chooses to effectively end his career for a pay upgrade to £300k/w.
The arguement for Gerrard is that he's trying to develop his managerial skills. Why do that in Saudi when you could join any lower league club with less expectations is beyond me. Well not really, its for the moolah. Which again for someone who played professional football for 18yrs being paid well makes no sense to me.
Sergej Millinkovic-Savic is the latest one. 28yrs old with all of Europe clamouring for his signature (AC Milan offered £119m for him a few years back). Opts to go to Saudi to earn £17m/year.
Then again as a realist. If someone offered me 3-4x my current wages in an easy league with good weather and less media scrutiny...
But leaving at your peak powers is one i cannot get behind.
Ruben Neves was on an annual salary of £2m/yr even if you pay 50% tax thats still a nice chunk that can be grown with smart investment. But instead of going to another European club, maybe even playing in the UCL, he chooses to effectively end his career for a pay upgrade to £300k/w.
The arguement for Gerrard is that he's trying to develop his managerial skills. Why do that in Saudi when you could join any lower league club with less expectations is beyond me. Well not really, its for the moolah. Which again for someone who played professional football for 18yrs being paid well makes no sense to me.
Sergej Millinkovic-Savic is the latest one. 28yrs old with all of Europe clamouring for his signature (AC Milan offered £119m for him a few years back). Opts to go to Saudi to earn £17m/year.
Then again as a realist. If someone offered me 3-4x my current wages in an easy league with good weather and less media scrutiny...
It's easy to criticize these players but most people would probably do the same given a similar opportunity.
That does not make it right. But it is an understandable temptation. If someone offered to double or triple my wages to move to Saudi Arabia, I admit I would have to at least think about it. I would probably say no, but we are all human.
And the Saudis know that. Money talks. And they are exploiting that human weakness with single-minded ruthlessness in order to construct a huge cultural smokescreen obscuring the barbaric activities of their government. It is a huge state-sponsored information operation. And it's all pure baloney.
EDIT: It's worth also pointing out that the Saudi's aren't just asking people to play football. Those massively inflated salaries are there because they also ask players to go on the record, in front of a camera, and talk about how wonderful Saudi Arabia is. THAT is what they are really being paid for.
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Personally I wouldn’t consider it for a second. I would never move to a place that is going to consider Mrs AFB a second class citizen.
I can’t imagine most of these players or managers are short of money.