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The 2024-2025 Football Thread
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Money will talk. I’m not sure the women’s teams carry the same sectarian baggage the men’s teams do.
If it wasn’t for that I’m sure they would have been Brough in 20 years ago. As it stands the EPL and FA just don’t need the hassle.
You know what, if I was a footballer and able to earn that sort of money I would be utterly embarrassed that my talent of kicking a ball around can earn me more money than those who deserve it much more than I would.
I think you’d get over it! It is an obscene amount of money. But at the end of the day he is a very good player.
You would probably never make it as a pro sportsman with that attitude. There’s got to be a huge slice of arrogance to allow that talent to come through.
Is he though? That sounds crazy I know. He is a brilliant finisher but is he also a bit of a luxury player? He scores a hatful in a team full of talent but he doesn’t create very much himself. He can just put it in the net with brilliant efficiency.
If he was in any other premier league side or this current city side he doesn’t score anywhere near as much.
My counter argument to this is he has scored a lot for Norway as well so maybe I’m talking out of my bum.
Good finishers are hard to come by. How many chances does he need to convert? Not many.
Yes he will (typically) benefit from better quality play around him to get those chances, but he makes the most of them.
Let’s put it another way. If he was at Southampton do you think they’d have more points than they do now? Absolutely. Would he get 30+goals a season? Probably not.
In terms of pure finishers he is one of 2-3 players current PL who will get you 30+ goals a season.
They may have more points Thant hey do now but I think Southampton with a fully fit Wilson would have more points than they would with Haaland.
Although I do contradict myself with the Norway point.
My gut is he’s a luxury player most teams couldn’t carry over a more flexible forward.
My local team Gilligham lost again. They recently sacked their manager and got a new manager in place before todays game. Obviously the 'new manager' bounce did not happen. Down the table we go. Same again every year. Start of well then do badly, dawdle mid table for most of the season and then struggle again getting close to relegation and then survive just as the season closes. Looks like the same will happen again this year.
Villa/Emery come from 2-0 down to dent Arsenal's title challenge...again.
Yes, I read this with regret; RIP Denis Law, an absolute gentleman as a human being, and an outstanding, gifted, decent, dignified, footballer, with a love of laughter and of life.
Obscene, agreed.
What strikes me, though, is the absurd length of that contract, or deal.
Nine and a half years is astonishing in a world where few deals exceed three or four years, five at most.
Well, yes.
Absolutely obscene.
Actually, I disagree to a certain extent.
Haaland is only a good player - or, rather, goal-scorer - when the team around him is fully functional, - and serve to support him.
More to the point, he only performs well when a team of gifted players are there to supply (and support) him; he doesn't lift the team (doesn't defend, track back, tackle, dribble, make ground, pass, create chances), instead, they lift him.
Now, I will readily grant that he does score goals, a great number of them, in fact, - and is exceptionally good at converting chances into goals (and @Apple fanboy and I are regrettably both more than gloomily aware that one does very much need capable, competent, confident players who can actually take their chances and contrive to put the ball in the net), but that is his sole (valuable) skill.
In the absence of his supporting cast, he flounders.
Sigh.
I do not know why this result does not - not even remotely - surprise me.
We really have learned next to nothing in recent seasons, or years, for we keep repeating the same mistakes and taking to the field without having remedied the quite obvious deficiencies of recent seasons.
Meanwhile, the injury list mounts - Saliba took a knock today.
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Maybe you need a decent striker who can score for you! I think you are far too reliant on set pieces.
Unfortunately, while all too lamentably true, this is not - by any means - a recent problem for us.
No argument there.
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Whilst its true Arsenal need a number 9, i sometimes think its the go to stick for anyone criticising Arsenal. And not always the reason for their downfall.
They were the amongst the highest scorers last season and yesterday they scored two good goals from open play.
The reason they lost yesterday is because Saliba was out, and the squad is thin but thats the club's fault. Also too many players out of position.
Merino, Partey and Havertz were the last line of defence for the goals. And fell asleep.
Arteta, it seems, often mis-profiles players and plays them out of position for lengthy periods. He is also too reliant on systems-based football which can be detrimental to individual brilliance/talent
Partey at RB i dont think has ever worked for Arsenal. I can't remember the last time they won a game with him playing there. He does his best work as a 6, and has been better than Rice in the 6 position any time i see him play. But Arteta continues to deploy him there which is odd.
Odegaard is a 10...not necessarily a right 8 but he does a job. Martinelli and Trossard are inside forwards not touchline wingers. But they do a job.
Lewis Skelly is a midfielder who is being played in LB. Again does a job but not his position.
The only people that play their actual positions are Saka and the 2 CBs
Contrast with LFC, i think only Gravenberch and maybe Diaz play out of position.
At some point maybe let players play their best position and recruit accordingly.
They were the amongst the highest scorers last season and yesterday they scored two good goals from open play.
The reason they lost yesterday is because Saliba was out, and the squad is thin but thats the club's fault. Also too many players out of position.
Merino, Partey and Havertz were the last line of defence for the goals. And fell asleep.
Arteta, it seems, often mis-profiles players and plays them out of position for lengthy periods. He is also too reliant on systems-based football which can be detrimental to individual brilliance/talent
Partey at RB i dont think has ever worked for Arsenal. I can't remember the last time they won a game with him playing there. He does his best work as a 6, and has been better than Rice in the 6 position any time i see him play. But Arteta continues to deploy him there which is odd.
Odegaard is a 10...not necessarily a right 8 but he does a job. Martinelli and Trossard are inside forwards not touchline wingers. But they do a job.
Lewis Skelly is a midfielder who is being played in LB. Again does a job but not his position.
The only people that play their actual positions are Saka and the 2 CBs
Contrast with LFC, i think only Gravenberch and maybe Diaz play out of position.
At some point maybe let players play their best position and recruit accordingly.
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The problem with todays managers and clubs and it has been for some while now is that they want every player to be multi skilled in every position so when a player get's injured they can fill in for that player. Doing this messes with a players mind because they start to have doubts how a certain situations should be played. Players usually start from a young age. They find the position they are good at and stick with it through school, through college, through youth teams, they instinctively know how to position themselves and where to position themselves at what ever given situation arises, it becomes second nature to them but when they get signed up to a football league team suddenly everything they have learnt for their favourite position is thrown out the window and they are told to be a multi skilled player in that they must learn multiple positions. You've got so many managers playing players out of position it is a no wonder not only the player struggles but the team struggles.
I have always been of the opinion of how team's used to be, every player was a specialist in their chosen position and allowed to play in that position with the team having 2-3 multi role players, players who specialised in being adaptable in multiple positions on the pitch. Not every player is capable of playing multiple roles on the pitch and it's about time clubs and managers realised this instead of trying to force them to undertake roles are completely alien to them and expect them to preform at their best.
I have always been of the opinion of how team's used to be, every player was a specialist in their chosen position and allowed to play in that position with the team having 2-3 multi role players, players who specialised in being adaptable in multiple positions on the pitch. Not every player is capable of playing multiple roles on the pitch and it's about time clubs and managers realised this instead of trying to force them to undertake roles are completely alien to them and expect them to preform at their best.
Really, really poor at Old Trafford today. Fatigue must've played a part, coming in the way of the FA Cup tie that went to ET and then a Thursday night match followed by an early Sunday kickoff, but clearly United don't have the squad depth to rotate properly — or Amorim doesn't have faith in rest of the squad, which is understandable TBH.
Andre Onana crossed the Rubicon with his awful performance today: he has got to go. So add a new goalkeeper to the list of transfer priorities with little to no financial headroom to work with.
Ange has got to be on extremely thin ice at Tottenham right now.
Andre Onana crossed the Rubicon with his awful performance today: he has got to go. So add a new goalkeeper to the list of transfer priorities with little to no financial headroom to work with.
Ange has got to be on extremely thin ice at Tottenham right now.
Trouble is managers don’t always choose their own players. They either inherit them or a director of football does.
So if you plan to play a 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 they might not be the players you have. So you end up moving players around instead of letting them play in their best position.
A manager should play to a players strength. If they have their own system it takes time to find the right players to play that system. A manager cannot come into a team and say 'this is the system I play, adapt to it' because it never works out like that which is why new in coming managers rely heavily on the transfer system, getting in a few players that fit the system the manager wants to play.
The thing is with United's players many cannot use this as an excuse because they have been trained in multiple different systems due to the different number of managers they played under, Ralf Rangnick, Ole G Solskjaer and Eric T Hag. 3 different managers who all had their own system. Only the new comers under Eric T Hag have the right to complain about having to play under a different system that they are not used to and thus have to be trained on it. Now Amorim has come in he is playing a 3-4-3 system which according to pundits and critics, the players are struggling to adapt to. That is the whole point of training. So either United's players are not putting the effort in to play how Amorim wants them to play or the training methods at the club have gone terribly wrong.
We lost, 3-0, and now there are issues the chairman and Donny Rohl about the transfer window.
From a friend of mine:
Chansiri, the chairman, does this every season. It seems as though The Chairman only wants a certain amount of success... then he starts this sh*t.
From a friend of mine:
Chansiri, the chairman, does this every season. It seems as though The Chairman only wants a certain amount of success... then he starts this sh*t.
People seem divided over Amorim's take on the current Utd squad. To me he is killing to birds with one stone.
Acknowledging that he hasn't produced so far because of his new style, but also calling out the deadwood who lets be honest have been deadwood for a few seasons now.
Acknowledging that he hasn't produced so far because of his new style, but also calling out the deadwood who lets be honest have been deadwood for a few seasons now.