Without CL football they will find it harder to attract top players. They might not even have European football of any kind.
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The 2022-2023 Football Thread
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The correct decision, to my mind, given Liverpool's resources.
Even if Liverpool had managed to achieve Champions League football, the asking price for Bellingham was excessive, and would have blown and unbalanced their transfer budget to such an extent that it would have been difficult to purchase others of similar quality.
Besides, not all stratospherically expensive transfer targets work out well, or successfully.
Plus, for the most part, Klopp has bought intelligently, and has spent Liverpool's transfer budget sensibly and responsibly.
Agreed.
Thank goodness. We can buy multiple players for the price demanded for Bellingham and I’m sick of reading about it. It was never going to happen and I’m glad Liverpool have seen sense.
Besides, not all expensive - stratospherically expensive - transfers work out, or are a success.
And blowing the budget on an expensive signing, - a so-called marquee signing - who may not work out, who may get injured, who may not fit in with how the manager wishes to play, who may sulk and throw tantrums, the cost of whose wages may unbalance the budget and unsettle the rest of the dressing room, and whose purchase may have prevented the club from being able to afford other, more useful, players, - is always a risky move.
That is not how Klopp operates (which is a good thing, and one of the many reasons why he is an intelligent, thoughtful manager and an impressive human being). Klopp takes calculated intelligent risks, - not imbecilic ones - and has a history of developing and mentoring players;
Perhaps it is too early to judge Mudryk, (and perhaps we dodged a proverbial bullet) but I do recall that Nicolas Pépé was most certainly, not - to my mind - remotely worth what we paid for him (a club record at almost £80 million, at the time). Likewise, Lukaku, - among others - when he played with Manchester United.
But Arsenal will always let you back in...
Down to third now, I'm not in panic mode ... yet... we're still in the playoffs but an automatic spot would be much nicer...
I've no idea what has changed after we went unbeaten in 23 straight matches...
Not quite.
Unfortunately, this is all too true.
And then, to cap it all, to miss a penalty........
There are days when Arsenal almost drive me to homicide.
Pleasure as pain, or pain as pleasure.
At times, they really try your patience.
Pleasure as pain, or pain as pleasure.
At times, they really try your patience.
Mind you, while we (and I) wrote about the possible effects of the absence of Gabriel Jesus, (for which we actually managed to compensate surprisingly well), I do think that Saliba's loss (again, to injury) has hurt us far more.
Holding just isn't the same quality.
Holding just isn't the same quality.
Told you anything can happen in football @Apple fanboy
2 points dropped and PL title handed over to Man City.
Poor substitution by Arteta again.
Took Jesus off and left Saka on.
I can already see us loosing at Man City by 5+ goals.
2 points dropped and PL title handed over to Man City.
Poor substitution by Arteta again.
Took Jesus off and left Saka on.
I can already see us loosing at Man City by 5+ goals.
I'm sorry. It's 100% my fault. I put Saka in my FF team. It is the kiss of death.....
But I'm very happy with a point for the Hammers. Hopefully we can go one better and beat City when we play them shortly. That one point could be literally worth millions to the hammers.
Unfortunately, I agree with you.
Unlike last week, which I do not regard as two points dropped, this shows depressing signs of becoming the characteristic Arsenal collapse at season's close.
Today most certainly is two points dropped, and, our momentum halted, I suspect, fatally.
An excellent game for West Ham - it galls me to admit that they deserve the point they have earned - but they do.
A poor result for Arsenal, they lacked focus, and failed to execute their chances.
Arsenal could have won, and should have won.
But, we allowed West Ham back in, allowed them space to recover, and, worse, missed a penalty and failed to convert our chances.
Agree that Saka should have been removed rather than Jesus: However, it may be of relevance to recall that Jesus was already on a yellow card; that may have been a factor in his removal.
And we missed Saliba, very badly, in my opinion; we play far better with him.
At this stage, I think that West Ham are almost safe - by almost safe, I mean that by season's end, there will be three teams (at least) with fewer points and lower in the table than they are.
However, today (unlike against Liverpool), I think that we have seriously damanged our hopes of actually winning the Premier League.
Having said that, at the start of the season, most Arsenal fans would have quite happily settled for fourth place, given that hardly anyone predicted that we would be a top four team.
Still, for all that we remain at the top of the table, I dislike this growing tendency of leaking goals - twice, in recent games - and having to fight despaerately to salvage a draw, having initially stormed into an almost effortless two nil lead.
The Cherries have really turned it on of late and now look good for survival. I did not see this coming.
Man, Arsenal. I can fully empathize with the frustration. Really don’t want city winning the league and contending for a treble.
Come on, United. Please take care of business.
Man, Arsenal. I can fully empathize with the frustration. Really don’t want city winning the league and contending for a treble.
Come on, United. Please take care of business.
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I think Southampton are doomed, and Leicester are looking pretty dire. But the third place is still up for grabs. Bear in mind our game in hand is against City, so could easily lose our GD advantage there if they are having one of those days!
I think that Southampton are doomed, also, and I think that Leicester are in deep trouble.
Both teams have lost 20 games; nobody else in the table has anything near such a dire statistic. And their current form is exceptionally poor, as well.
More ominous still, a gap - a gap that will become increasingly difficult to bridge - is beginning to open up between the bottom two, and the rest.
Your main task is to ensure that three teams lie below you in the table on the last day of the season, and I think that you will achieve that.
I hope you are right. Depends on the Europa Conference distractions as well for us. Something no other team has to consider down there.
What can I say?
Down to third now, I'm not in panic mode ... yet... we're still in the playoffs but an automatic spot would be much nicer...
I've no idea what has changed after we went unbeaten in 23 straight matches...
You have my sympathies.
However, when one writes that sort of rhetorical remark - "I've no idea what went wrong after we went unbeaten in 23 matches"....
Suffice to say, this wet Sunday afternoon, I can empathise completely because I know exactly how you are feeling.
I'm irked actually.
This afternoon, I think that we threw away our best chance of claiming the title (and all credit to West Ham, and, indeed, for that matter, to Moyes).
We were embarrassing in the second half; a team that hopes to win trophies needs to be far better.
Actually, I had read (earlier this week) that Mikel Arteta had bluntly informed both Saka and Martinelli that they couldn't be considered among Europe's elite unless and until they started winning trophies.
Utd dispatch Forrest, so another team we have kept below us. Interest and both ends of the table makes for a good season in my book.
Leicester, Leeds and West Ham have a significant GD advantage over the other teams down there. I can see a team being relegated on GD this year.
Leicester, Leeds and West Ham have a significant GD advantage over the other teams down there. I can see a team being relegated on GD this year.
Very tight at the bottom. The title race remains interesting but I have still seen Man City favorites...it's the depth. They are not the better first XI as often as Arsenal but they just have a lot more resources to win over the course of a season.
Re: Bellingham, the price was too high. I doubt the CL qualification was really a critical factor in this case. There are other suitors happy to pay that kind of money so Dortmund can afford to play hardball on the valuation. FSG have shown willingness to pay top dollar when convinced it is necessary but they are not operating on a Galactico model.
Re: Bellingham, the price was too high. I doubt the CL qualification was really a critical factor in this case. There are other suitors happy to pay that kind of money so Dortmund can afford to play hardball on the valuation. FSG have shown willingness to pay top dollar when convinced it is necessary but they are not operating on a Galactico model.
Goal difference means nothing if you don't have the points on the board to make it count.
Leicester have already lost 20 games - a shocking statistic - this season, won only seven, and drawn a mere four. The only team that have been worse worse - and they have also been defeated on 20 occasions - is Southampton.
Each and every other team threatened by relegation have lost either 15 or sixteen games; at this stage, that is a big difference between them and the bottom two.
On their current form - which is dire - where can they expect to find the points to climb up a place or two? (Okay, pull a point back from a team such as Arsenal.....)
I don't think that Leicester's goal difference makes any difference at all, unless they start putting a few results togetehr, and time is running out for them.
Now, I will concur with you on the third and final trapdoor slot; there, yes, GD could well come into play, especially if there is a bunched clump, or cluster, of teams threatened with relegation as we come into the last day of the season.