Weekend Football – Gameweek 36

[Nike19]

This may come across as opposition fans thinking of a damp squib. Perhaps it’s the hype we see these days, months ahead on social media. The ‘stats’ accentuated.

The transfer announced before any official unveil at the actual football ground. And then of course the megabuck transfer fee.

I agree Foxy with the sentiment of your post. It can be hit and miss with Strikers. It’s a lot better when ones under the radar and surrounded by less expectation and hype. Not the players fault by any means, but he’ll naturally be wearing the Price-tag, so of-course pressure automatically imposed for him to hit the ground running.

Good example highlighted re Lukaku. I honestly thought at one point it would be Chelsea pushing Manchester City not Liverpool for the Title. What happened with Timo Werner? And yes I do remember a pattern with Thiery Henry.

The way the world is when people so quick to judge the obvious question would Halland be allow the patience? Aguero was a player Pep inherited but you could see at times frustration between both parties.

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[Nike19]

As biased as this is, I thought Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez were fantastic examples of hitting the ground running and personalities that effectively were under the radar. Klopp would have been fed with so much joy.

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[Nike19]

Ablab, I can’t see us going back to the top of the table tonight. I just knew in my heart of hearts Pep would be out to make a statement and make a point of goal difference. Lets be frank though, Newcastle were lightweight.

I would have accepted 3/4 nil, but 5! We would have to score 4 tonight. We’ve not had a big win since beating Leeds with a clean sheet. Still, 3 points is the most important and it would of course keep us in the race.

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[Tower of Babel]

@Nike

I get your point and I am not defending City’s spending in any way, share or form. I have seen 100m Grealish on the bench against Madrid and that only happens at City. Guardiola spends nearly half a billion in transfer fees on defenders. However, I am not gonna sit here pretending United, Liverpool, Chelsea et al didn’t spend money. City spends billions. Wins 4 leagues in 5 yrs. Utd spends billions. Cant even finish in top 6. United’s years of silly spending and wrong recruitment makes us a muddled mess of a football club. Maguire for 80m is the worst value-for-money signing in United’s history. I started watching the Kardashians instead of United’s horror defeats. No doubt money is the key factor to Man City’s sustained PL success for a long time period, but it’s also down to their prudent transfer strategy and the way they run the football club. City posted the biggest income last year after being crowned Champions again, winning the League cup and getting through to the European final. They also brought in close to 100 million over the last few years by selling on ex academy players. The two forwards City are signing, Haaland and Alvarez (77m), will cost City less than the two forwards Liverpool recently signed, Dias and Jota (95m).

In 5 years time, Man City v Newcastle could be the Champions League final or the League One play-off final depending on the price of oil 😉

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[sean the sailor]

Tower of babbel, you cannot compare liverpools spending to utd or city. Huge difference in the net spends. We have always had to sell to buy. City and utd don’t.

150 net spend in 6 years under Klopp. City and Liverpool are similar in that both coaches vastly improve players. Issue at utd is that players are regressing not progressing. Utd have some excellent players but they are just not performing

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[Tower of Babel]

@Adlab

RE: “This is the approach SAF used to take once the team had been established. It was similar with Arsenal and Liverpool under Shankly and to an extent under Klopp. But nothing is forever unless you are in Germany”.

Not sure you can compare Man City’s model of success in the past 10 year with others. Manchester United became big by the work of Alex Ferguson. We all remember how Fergie saved himself from the brink of the sack at United in 1989/90 season before guiding us to unparalleled success. A Man Utd empire could have been lost if Fergie was sacked. Arsenal became big because of Arsene Wenger. Arsenal revolutionized English football by introducing a new fluid fast attacking play. Liverpool were always big in English Football. They have a great history and have won the most European trophies among English teams. Tottenham Hotspurs saw a natural growth and after Pochettino they have became a great club. Chelsea had the help of Roman Abramovic but it was not like Manchester City. City went from mediocrity to glory in the space of just a few years. City have broke the rules for spending many times and still under investigation into alleged FFP breaches. Other clubs achieved success first and then became rich, but Man city first became rich and then used the money to become successful. Same with PSG over at French Ligue. They could not have achieved this success without money and this is an accepted fact. As Pep Guardiola once said, “the secret to Manchester City’s success? ‘We have a lot of MONEY”

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[Nike19]

TOB,

I work with a Leicester fans and they agree. Maguire was way too inflated. Perhaps with him being an England international, but in my view, he’s not even worth half that price tag.

On the points I was trying to articulate and bring out yesterday, I don’t have in principle the spending. Liverpool have had power in the past over other clubs so who are we to talk. The problem is the fee being inflated and most of all agents. They are the behind-the-scenes catalyst for quite frankly hinderance (when it all goes wrong and the money they scoop). We need this regulating and the fans to have power and the ability effectively to oversea transfer activity.

I’m led to believe this is what Chelsea will try and embed into the club giving fans power. All clubs should follow suit. The salaries paid out are shooting through the roof leading players to be out of touch with the ordinary 9-to-5 working class man.

Times particularly now are tough. We have more food banks in circulation. A player does not need 500 grand per week. It’s ludicrous and beyond comprehension.

We need a balance of organic players from the youth system combined with a mix of ‘B’ grade type players that have potential to be World Class, not to have to rely on a Ready-Made-Meal Ticket of a player all the time.

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[Tugay is God]

There is no r in Haaland.

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[Tugay is God]

TOB, so you think United are going to spend £421 million this summer haha. Also, why have you just made up some random figures from nowhere. Go back to playing Champ Man.

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[Brian blue]

City do have spending power, however, we have pulled out of a number of negotiations for players where City thought the price was not value, the last being Kane at 150 million plus. My view is you can have a team of expensive players plus a bench of equal status but it guarantees you nothing. I also think, in football, everything changes in time and we should just enjoy the game for what it is without looking for price tickets or excuses . City could still finish with nothing this season but I suspect many City fans like myself will not be looking for excuses because teams have been better than us. There is no such thing as a level playing field in football, never will be and the more they try and alter the rules the worse it will become. Keep it simple, the way it was designed to be. My last point is that, does anybody think saying those fans in lower leagues who watch a match be thinking they would be rather better somewhere else, no, they go to watch a game of football…status does not come into it. The upper teams of EPL forget that…all of them. We have been seduced by TV, big money transfers, multi kit merchandise selling and Corporate boxes and forgot how to watch 22 players play football and appreciate what they see from all. It is only a matter of time before we see “periods” instead of HT. Pop corn sellers walking up and down the isle, razz-a -ma tazz dancers etc…where is football going? Well guys..that is something for you to think about and how you would improve the game of football

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[Brian blue]

Nike..lets be more frank….Villa have lost more games in fewer matchers than “weaker” Newcastle. In fact Villa have lost 50% of there games. In my view there is no difference between Villa and Newcastle so I will be looking for a healthy win from “pool” to night

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[threeps]

Nil, you are to blame for such high wages. By you I mean we the football fans. We crave football so we are happy to pay for it, the TV companies are desperate to provide it so pay obscene amounts for the rights and charges us far too much. This is then passed onto the players who ignite our desire to watch even more. Its a vicious circle of greed and desire. If you don’t like it then the only thing to do is stop watching but the system knows many have done this only to be replaced by others. If football becomes too expensive to watch in the UK that millions don’t renew then fine sell the rights to the far East, Middle East or America.

One day football will implode and I fancy that will be when/if the Super League starts. Maybe not an implosion but a slow deflation as the fans lose all interest for the expensive it causes.

Until this happens the rich will get richer and the poor (us fans) will get shafted even more.

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[Adlab]

Some excellent posts to read.
TOB I was trying to make the point that once the team is mature/set up what you generally need to do is introduce one top quality player or so each year, That was the general approach, very successfully by SAF. By the way some interesting posts.

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[Adlab]

Brian. At the moment the one thing I would do is to amend the VAR approach to offside to avoid a goal being disallowed if your toenail is an inch in front.

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[Brian blue]

Adlab..agree with that 100%. also. I would not allow play to continue even though a known infringement had taken place.My view….if you see it…call it…to Officials

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[Brian blue]

threes…good post

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[Nike19]

Phew. The players are tired to say the least. We just about edge that, but grateful for the 3 points. Goal Difference now down to 3, but that’s immaterial unless there’s a slip up.

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[Nike19]

Check this out

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[Nike19]

Check this out

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[Mikus LFC]

The European superleague was never really stopped, merely postponed. It’s happening gradually by piecemeal.

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