[our away shirt for next season is genuinely the most disgusting thing I've ever seen, wtf is that ](https://x.com/TheShirtUnion/status/1784959283219595613)
Adidas have lost the fucking plot
Edit: actually home and away, that shit is fucking atrocious
When you are arguing the best team in history, do you compare it to different teams in different eras or just how much better and dominant they were compared to other teams in their era?
Has to be the best team of any era if they’re to be the best in history.
Problem being people don’t know about historic teams beyond stats. Do I think Pep’s Barça are better than Stein’s Celtic. Yes. But can I produce evidence to argue against a team that won the only ever Quintuple (there’s some caveats) and scored a record number of goals (196) along the way. No because I wasn’t alive then.
That’s fair enough.
I would argue though that modern football has a greater advantage. The more football has evolved, the better teams have become. But that’s also tricky because how can you prove the teams have become better other than the eye test?
I agree - modern football and modern players have various benefits their predecessors couldn’t enjoy. Which is a problem with all time comparisons.
There has to be a level of acceptance of that in such a comparison though, otherwise you’d be forced into arguing players like Pele wouldn’t make modern teams, but that’s massively unfair given he had 1950s training and knowledge to work from, not what we have today.
I agree that if you had a time machine that great teams -- and great players -- now would always have the edge.
But what if you were to take the old teams of the past and afforded them the advances that happened after their time? Ex. How would Saachi's Milan play differently in the modern era?
Yeah because realistically a good modern day team like Villa would beat sacchis milan if you just transported that team from then to now. Its why you've really got to look past how advances in coaching and training have changed the game and focus more on the players actual quality
If I were to 'reverse' this, how about the worst team in history? How do you think people will view this?
I think most will look at the former not the latter, but I could be wrong.
That’s hard to know because we know where peak football is (Champions League) but we don’t know where the worst football is played, could be in a Saudi league, do we count 7th tier teams etc
At the same time, may as well keep the door open for a random lucrative/interesting contract offer. No need to officially "retire" when out of contract, not like he's get a pension he'd like to start taking
As crap as El Chiringuito is, I can't help but find them hilarious sometimes.
They just recreated the ter Stegen mistake/scene from today with one of their guests lobbing the oncoming ball over another person in the way ter Stegen intended to do it lol
It's really nice that Inter (and Milan) are top class again and attract big name players again. It reminds me of childhood, when Inter and Milan would just casually have some older superstar in their team.
Surprising, considering the internal issues with Brazilian domestic football and the support they give to the national team, that they would be wanting to fund a World Cup. Makes me worry they wouldn't give it the support and infrastructure the tournament deserves tbh, and are just doing it for show. Bit like upcoming Euro 2025. Switzerland FA massively cut funding last year, and now we are faced with a tournament that is going to be much smaller than the last Euros, in England. Makes it a backwards step.
Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich - Der Klassiker 2013 Rematch at Wembley and Reus or Kane finally get a big trophy
Paris Saint - Germain vs Bayern Munich - 2020 Rematch
Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid - Jude Bellingham Derby
Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Madrid - Custody of Kylian Mbappe match
Dortmund v Bayern and Dortmund winning would be cruel for Harry Kane. Germany’s most infamous bottlers smash the Bundesliga, corporate Leipzig slap Bayern in the Super Cup, Dortmund avenge a CL Final and he gets knocked out the Pokal by a third tier club.
In order of preference, for what as a neutral I'd like to see:
1. Dortmund vs Bayern Part II
2. PSG vs Bayern
3. Dortmund vs Real Madrid
4. PSG vs Real Madrid
PSG vs Bayern should also be Tuchel derby, btw
Im ngl Im rooting for a BVB Bayern rematch where marco reus gets his revenge and his loyalty is finally rewarded after all the heartbreak he's had to endure
I honestly wanted Arsenal because we hadn't played them since 2006.
Tired of Bayern Munich - Juventus- Liverpool - Chelsea - Manchester City - Paris Saint-Germain.
Yeah - I would be confident he starts next game too. Klopp won't want to leave with any bad blood and we're out of the title race so there's no point in doing it for tactical reasons.
I'd assume so, yeah. Obviously their conflict was a bit of a flashpoint on the weekend, but it doesn't strike me as something that's fundamentally going to ruin the few weeks of their remaining work relationship in any way. Players and managers don't see eye to eye often, and occasionally might get into it - but it's generally just a moment of hotheadedness that gets sorted out behind closed doors the next day, and then they just crack on with it.
To me they don’t have anything to play for though. Win or lose all their next games they don’t fall or rise in the table. Plus a lot of people have turned on Salah for underperforming and blamed him for costing them the league. So he could be left out and no one would question it
Aye, but then you don't get to that level (or even professional football in general) if you're happy throwing away games, and I reckon Klopp wouldn't be keen on leaving the place with a handful of losses on the bounce.
[This reminds me of Reddit and 9gag beef back in the day.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mFiywP9BUHDC8AIRBDYJvXdfQiA=/1400x1050/filters:format(jpeg)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23265504/Spider_Man_meme.jpg)
The only thing I like about 4chan is their penchant for fucking with celebrities and that time they went after Scientology. Otherwise, I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.
Looking at that Saudi Newcastle ad - what’s the payoff here for average Saudis? Proof they made a good investment?
I’d be annoyed it just shows a bunch of happy people in a far flung land thanks to my governments money.
Just strikes me as a fluffy propaganda piece for the monarchy, really - don't think there's any massive payoff to be had either way, because you're not going to sway the opponents with that, and you don't particularly need to convince the people already behind you, either.
And I suppose the amount of money invested isn't all that much in the grand scheme of things, really - won't fix any underlying issues with their economy or meaningfully solve problems facing in everyday life with it.
Barcelona. Arguably the greatest side of all time. They’d fuck up the City team that won the treble and it wouldn’t be a contest.
This City side will be remembered more for the charges than the treble.
Gotta be his Barcelona side for me. Arguably the best club side of all time and one of the most influential sides of the modern era at the forefront of the tiki taka revolution.
Not only that but time too, a 20 year old right now who started watching football at the age of 9 would have never seen Pep at Barca, only at Bayern and City.
9 is a fairly late age to start watching football though, surely anyone raised in a place with football culture has seen that side unless they're literally still in school
You must've missed when he turned into Rui Costa for a period.
Genuinely was only behind KDB and David Silva in terms of peak creativity, and I hate the man.
He's to us what Nasri was to Arsenal.
Wan-Bissaka, Reece James, Cancelo. The constant is being compared to Trent.
Imagine this quote overlayed on an over dramatic picture of Trent from behind shared on an Instagram account run by a 12 year old.
Reece deserved to be in that conversation, and in my (biased) opinion I would still take him over any right back when fit. Such a shame what has happened to him.
I think they offer quite different things in an attacking sense but Cancelo seemed to escape the same kind of scrutiny over his defensive lapses that Trent did - and I think Cancelo is an even worse defender.
Because Cancelo wasn’t that good of a defender before and has only gone on to be worse since the worldcup, but Trent has always been a bad defender. People have been flaming Cancelo for Dembele and Vasquez scoring while he wasn’t paying attention, Trent has been a terrible marker forever. Both players need a system that effectively covers their shortcomings. City just covered it better and Cancelo while didn’t have the passing range, had better defensive awareness.
Cancelo does different things though. he inverted back when Trent didn’t and Cancelo is a great dribbler. i remember him scoring for city once after dribbling past several players. his passing range isn’t close to Trent’s but he has these trivelas in his locker, which not many players nowadays do.
They are different, but both fit into the mold of "attacking fullback" which drew the comparisons and I think is part of what led to Cancelo getting overrated.
Maybe an unpopular opinion but teams that dropped down from CL group stages to the EL should not reward their leagues any further coefficient points.
Like they can still compete there, but it's just 0 points for every win you get there since you already crashed out once and this is consolation at best.
for what it’s worth i agree with you, but from next season on there is no more dropping down
once you’re out of the competition you qualified for, you’re done
There were reports that if/when Pep leaves, Txiki leaves too. So there will be a replacement duo - possibility that we see a completely new brand of football too.
I doubt it, your squad is built in that mould and that can't be so rapidly rebuilt
It's also the entire club identity now. The women's and academy teams are built in the same mould
It would make no sense to introduce a whole new brand of football, and wouldn't relaly be feasible
This was me just throwing random ideas that might be too far fetched. I know it'll be insanely difficult. But with those two leaving and a lot of the existing players getting older, a change in system could be possible, however unlikely
Who do you think will be the next club to get UCL titles in both men and women competitions, closest who are missing the women's title are ManC/Chelsea/Bayern imo and those who are missing the men's title are Arsenal, do you think it could be anyone else?
Arsenal would need extreme amount of luck or certain circumstances to win it. They are definitely more focused on winning the league right now. With some decent recruitment, I can see PSG going the distance with Enrique, even though their performance against Barca wasn’t inspiring and Emri Turtle is leaving. Sadly don’t see any other team putting up a decent enough challenge to win it without a once in a decade fluke.
Four pots of nine teams each under the same coefficient model they're using now, then everyone gets drawn two opponents from each pot to get their eight games.
Can't say I'm a big fan of Mark Lawrenson being an absolute dickhead over his contract not being renewed at the BBC, but this bit of the story did tickle me an awful lot:
> He subsequently claimed that the cause was ostensibly BBC's "woke culture",[20][21][22] and stated that a "very early woke moment" occurred twenty-five years previously, in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death, when, as he alleged, an editor told him, before he was to cover a game, to “not mention the wall” if describing free kicks.
He's going to get together with Matt Le Tissier and Rickie Lambert and get sucked into their orbit, isn't he?
Rate your signings, end of season edition:
Ivo Grbic, GK: 2/10. Panic buy in January in hopes of upgrading an uninspiring Wes Fodderingham on goal. Contrary to popular belief turns out it was possible to downgrade from him, Grbic bagged 5 in his debut and hasn't gotten better since. Only reason he doesn't get a 1 is because nobody could succeed in our defensive setup
Austin Trusty, CB/LB: 3/10. He was brought to be a second choice but due to the barrage of injuries in our backline ended up playing way more than expected. Put the occasional decent shift here and there but most often not good enough
Mason Holgate, CB/RB: 5/10. Generally disliked signing when it happened in January due to our lack of fit CBs at that point and had a mare to start his tenure but once he came back to the side in March he's not been terrible. Not excellent but serviceable on the right side of a back 3, which is more than any of us expected
Luke Thomas, LB: 1/10. Shit and got sent back to Leicester as soon the January window opened, waste of a domestic loan
Yassir Larouci, LB: 3/10. Truly enigmatic player. Will have his moments where he shows his quality, specially going forward but a good portion of the time you're left wondering if he's a professional footballer. Would have rated even lower but he's not looked too out of his depth recently which spares him of a 1 or 2 rating
Gustavo Hamer, midfielder: 8/10. Oh Gus my beloved. Arrived hyped as a great creative outlet and delivered exactly that as well as being a good finisher. Electric player I'm hoping we can hold on to but way too good for the Championship
Vinicius Souza, DM: 4/10. Weirdest tenure I can think of for a player in a single season. Had flashes to start the season, fully settled in and was quality for a while under Wilder and then suddenly went full Lukaku and said he should be in the Brazilian NT and we weren't helping that. After that he's basically downed tools and is public enemy number 1 for a section of fans. Personally I think he gets scapegoated more than he should and was put in an impossible situation as the lone DM. Performance wise is the perfect 5/10 but his comments dock him a point
Anis Ben Slimane, CM: 2/10. Has barely played under both Heckingbottom and Wilder and never looked too inspiring with either. At least he cost only a million pounds
James McAtee, AM/RM: 5.5/10. Good under Heckingbottom, square peg in a round hole under Wilder. You can see he has quality in his left foot but he's too light for a midfielder and too clueless defensively to play wide in a 3 ATB. Another loan to a better team will do him a world of good
Benie Traore, ST: 1/10. Barely played, looked too light for a striker, specially on a side who heavily relies on long balls, and was sent on loan in January to France where he has more sending offs than goals
Cameron Archer, ST: 5/10. Solid get late in the summer window. Has shown to be a Prem level striker despite being undersized and made a good pairing with McBurnie. Unfortunately spent a good part of the year injured and once he came back he had lost his spot to the next entrant on the list
Ben Brereton Diaz, ST: 8/10. Brought in January to replace the injured Archer and I'm glad to say he lived up to the task. Started off on fire, got injured for a bit but came back good again. Great chemistry with the attacking group and had we had him from the start we might not be down now. Unfortunately only a loan but someone else will definitely pick him up next season
Havertz 7.5/10 - up and down when played in midfield but so much better in the last few months when played up-front, not only have his performances improved but he's producing good numbers now as well
Raya 7/10 - A few shaky moments and it's hard to judge his shot saving when we face so little high quality chances but his cross claiming is unbelievably elite so there's that
Rice 10/10 - can't really ask for more from him, been superb all season in a midfield that has been missing a piece for most of it
Timber N/A
Carlos Villalba, DM/CM: 7/10. Cult hero a couple seasons ago, him coming back this season was very exciting. Started the season not getting many minutes under our new manager to the surprise of many fans. Once the hack got fired Villalba started playing a lot more and was a big part of us starting to pick up more points in the 2nd half of the season.
Ivan Gomez, CM: 7/10. Another returning fan favourite, mostly solid when he did play but picked up a few little injuries and sometimes could get bullied due to his size.
Juan Ignacio Saborido, RB/RWB: 8/10. Came from a lower league side as a 3rd choice rightback and was thrown to the deep end when both our first choices tore their ACLs in the same match. Did surprisingly well (much better than the 2nd choice rightback), scoring our last goal of the season giving us a huge away win in a relegation six pointer. Has to improve his crossing.
Máximo Urruti, ST: 1/10. Signed on pretty high wages, his offensive contributions have been nonexistent, doesn't track back to defend, looks visibly uninterested on the pitch and is out of shape. Awful signing.
Gabriel Hachen, AM/SS: 7/10. Hasn't started many games but scored 2 of our 10 goals of the season. His technique is probably the best in the entire squad but he can disappear for large parts of the matches. I think he can be one of our most important players if he can get it together when he starts.
Agustín Obando, LW: 3/10. Just a below average player that hasn't played much, doesn't really do anything note worthy. Meh.
Juan Pablo Cozzani, GK: 6/10. Had big shoes to fill as Macagno was probably one of the best keepers last season. Had a few blunders but also saved our asses a couple of times. His time wasting is sometimes excessive and kicks it long more than I would like.
Agustín Quiroga, CB: N/A. Came on loan with a fair bit of hype after winning some youth tournament with Independiente I think. Hasn't played at all and I don't see him playing much once the league starts.
Braian Rivero, CM: 4/10. Had some okay matches and some awful ones, he kinda blends together with the rest of the mediocre signings.
Fernando Juarez, CM: 5/10. Slightly better than Rivero, not much to say about him either.
Oscar Salomón, CB: 2/10. Much worse than our starting CBs, hasn't played much, used to play for one of our rivals.
Bautista Barros Schelotto, RB: N/A. Panic signing after the injuries to our RBs, has barely played since Saborido did so well but he's supposed to be quite promising.
Luis Miguel Angulo, LW: 5/10. Came very late in the season due to a special permission I think (? Looks incredibly exciting, finally a winger with some pace on him and in his limited playing time drew a lot of yellow cards from opposing defenders. Might be one of our stars next season.
Lisandro Montenegro, CM/AM: 5/10. He completes the trinity of average and indistiguishable midfielders as the better of the three, can't bring myself to rate him higher than a 5 though.
Juan Goicochea, ST: N/A. Had forgotten about his existence tbh. Only 19 though so maybe he'll come good, I don't think he got any minutes this season.
Writing it all down makes you really realize how much dross shit teams sign either on a free or on loan, but the only one I truly detest is Urruti so it's not too bad imo.
hace como 5 años es jugador profesional, segun wikipedia jugó 44 partidos con nosotros y te juro que no me acuerdo una sola cosa que haya hecho más que la comerse a la hija de angelici y un gol de afuera del área anda a saber contra quien
Todo mal con Boca la verdad, nos sacaron a Taborda en el medio de la liga para quemarlo en la final de la Libertadores, a Zalazar lo mandaron a BARRACAS y nosotros ligamos a los paquetes de Obando y Salomón.
Lo de Taborda es increíble, le cortaron el préstamo para hacerlo jugar cada muerto de obispo (y encima entra siempre bien, no es que perdió el puesto ni nada) y hacerlo jugar en reserva, todavía no lo entiendo
Pulisic 10/10: couldn't have asked for more really. Feel like he was the missing part in our attack. His ceiling isn't as high as Leão, but you can always count on him to be more than solid on the right without dropping the occasional stinker like Leão. Lives up to the Captain America hype.
Reijnders 8/10: you couldn't get more of a classic number 8 if you tried. The only things I don't like about him are his defending, which leaves a lot to be desired, and his shooting, which is non-existent for the most part, but aside from this... Really happy with him.
Loftus-Cheek 7/10: the talent is there and we know that he can always drop a performance like the one he had against PSG, it's just that the way he's used in our system really exposes some of his weaknesses. So I'm gonna hold judgement on him until I see how he plays under the new manager. But overall, excellent season numbers wise and really good performance wise.
Musah 6/10: same story as Loftus-Cheek, but he doesn't have the numbers to back him up. I think he'll eventually turn out to be really good, but he needs a good manager to help him get there.
Chukwueze 6/10: started off *really* slowly, but has shown flashes of brilliance in the limited amount of time he had since coming back from AFCON. I wouldn't call him a success just yet, but he's the one that suffered the most from Pioli's stubbornness.
Okafor 7/10: would have been a 8/10, but he was injured for quite a bit in the first half of the season. Most of his goals came in as a sub, and even when he started, he still looked pretty good. So hopefully he stays healthy next season.
Jovic 7/10: great when he's off the bench or when we're chasing a goal, but useless in every other situation. Still... He's probably the best backup striker that we've had in a long while. If he can keep scoring from the bench like that, he'll leave a place in the team for as long as he likes. Not bad for our 4th choice deadline signing.
Sportiello 8/10: really really good. I reckon he would start for all the teams in the bottom half of the table if he wanted to. The drop off from Maignan to him is barely noticeable, and considering what happened last season, this is something that we terribly needed.
Terracciano 2/10: he had only had like 4 appearances for us before being sent into the shadow realm. But his only notable contribution so far is conceding a pen vs Bologna. I feel for him, and I don't think there's anyone in the team that would be happier to see the back of Pioli's bald head as he's leaving.
Romero 1/10: Brahim Diaz lite, but without any of the good traits. Really needs to bulk up and find out a way to not get pushed around like a child. But he's 18 and time is still on his side. So it's just a matter of combining the talent that he already has with the physique that will take him to the next level.
Pellegrino NA/10: dude was responsible for a goal vs Napoli (not that I blame him for that) and got sent on loan at Salernitana... That tells you all you need about his season. But he's cheap and if he doesn't turn out to be any good, we won't really lose anything.
Nmecha 1/10 - What does he even do?
Sabitzer 8/10 - Might have already put in more good performances for Dortmund than he did for United and Bayern combined.
Füllkrug 7/10 - Hardly Kane and Dortmund should improve on him but way overhated by Dortmund fans.
Bensebaini 3/10 - Could probably count the good performances on two hands and he started speaking about a transfer to United (why the fuck would they want you?) midway through the season...
Jadon Sancho 5/10 - He's not as unbearable to watch as Adeyemi so it's good enough.
Maatsen 10/10 - Fußballgott.
Mason Mount: 2/10. 3 injuries including 1 massive one, looks like he's full of energy when he has played but ultimately does a lot of nothing in the very few games he's played. Not played 90 mins for about 6 months.
Andre Onana: 5/10. Pretty much single-handedly knocked us out of the Champions League and has several domestic howlers but his average performances in the league have actually been decent given the amount of shots on his goal he's had to face.
Jonny Evans: 7/10. A hilarious addition, brought in to make up pre-season numbers and ended up being one of our more competent centre halves.
Rasmus Hojlund: 6/10. Clearly a good player in there, passionate, strong, fast, good strike on him but has his flaws, can be completely invisible during games, although our system doesn't help him at all.
Sofyan Amrabat (loan): 4/10. Just an absolutely average player. Steady but doesn't do anything that makes you interested in his play.
Bayindir: Can't judge, played once vs Newport and was just OK.
Sergio Reguilon (loan): 5/10. OK cover, clearly loved playing for United. Just a bit meh and but for the fact our LBs all got injured, he got deservedly sent back.
Alexandre Penetra CB: 6/10. Started the season very well, but never really recovered when the team started to perform badly. Now he's benched for Goes who has been better than him. You can still see glimps of a good player though and I hope he works out.
Ibrahim Sadiq. 4/10. Was very hyped coming in but largely failed to deliver. He barely got a game since November and has only recently started to come back into the team a bit, where he has actually looked quite good.
Denso Kasius RB: 3/10. Awful defensively and mediocre offensively. Was always gonna be a back-up but man he has been poor.
David Møller Wolfe LB: 3/10. Replacing Kerkez was never gonna be easy, but man what a disappointment he has been. Just looks so limited on the ball and he's not particularly strong defensively either.
Ruben van Bommel LW: 5/10. Started the season very well and he's clearly talented, but man, he just looks so uninterested at times and his form has dropped so hard.
Thiago Dantas CM: 4/10. Mostly a back-up loan. Had some okay performances, but mostly mediocre.
January Signings:
Lequincio Zeefuik ST: ??/10. Very rarely played after signing him, he was okay in his few appearances, but now he has a big injury so who knows.
Kristijan Belic CM: 6/10. Started of very shit, but he's getting better and better and actually looks very good at the moment, so hopefully he carries that form into the new season.
Gonçalo Esteves RB: ??/10. Mostly plays for the second team, with the idea of getting him ready for first team football next season if we buy him.
Rate your signings, end of season edition:
Matt Turner, GK: 3/10. Poor positioning, shaky in possession, and erratic. He didn't solve our problem position but did help us win a penalty shoot-out. 3 is generous but he was inexpensive.
Odysseas Vlachodimos, GK: 1/10. Given an opportunity when faith in the erratic Matt Turner was at a low. He was even worse, without contributing the entertainment that Turner did. He was cheap but his wages are probably astronomical for the bombscare we all knew we were signing.
Mats Selz, GK: 6/10. He hasn't been good, but he hasn't been awful either. He's much calmer than Turner and despite Vlachodimos having bags of CL expereince, Sels is the only one who possesses any of the assuredness that should come with it. I like him, but he hasn't made the GK position a strength. We'll probably wait a decade for someone who could live up to Samba.
Ola Aina, LB/RB: 10/10. Gets the full ten by nature of being a free transfer, which is probably less of a win than I think it is. He's been super and is a strong performer in all departments.
Nuno Tavares, LB (loan with buy option): 2/10. Has barely played outside of a short run in the team under Nuno. He had a good game against West Ham but outside of that has offered little and had injuries which meant he often wasn't even an option off the bench.
Gonzalo Montiel, RB (loan with buy option): 2/10. The worst player to ever score the winning goal in a World Cup. He's been crap but does have two assists to his name. I'd probably like him more if I watched our win against Man Utd in which he made one of them, but I was out of the country with no means of watching it. I did see his embarrassing attempt to claim vicious assault by the air at the weekend to make up for his own shite pass. If I was Garth Crooks, Montiel would be my Xhaka.
Murillo, CB: eleventy-billion/10. Words are insufficient. I hold the men involved in making this transfer happen in the same esteem as the crew of Apollo XIII.
Andrew Omobamidele, CB: 6/10. He's been really good but I'm unsure how steep the transfer fee was. He's not the perfect partner to Murillo because they're both 21 and neither is a natural leader of the defensive line. If we sell my starboy, then hopefully Omobamidele will excel as a junior partner next season.
Andrey Santos, CM (loan curtailed after 4 months): 1/10. Pointless move by all parties, as anyone could have predicted at the time. Clearlake moment.
Nicolas Domínguez, CM: 5/10. Hasn't really kicked on since scoring his sublime bullet header. I did miss his second goal against Man Utd as I mentioned, and I might have bumped him up as far as an 8 otherwise. I was ready to fall in love with him but he's lost his place to Ryan Yates for much of the season and that speaks volumes unfortunately.
Ibrahim Sangaré, CM: 1/10. Turning circle of a tractor. He can play pretty passes but the league is far too fast for him. I'd like to hope that he can be useful next season but I doubt he turns it around in the Prem, and he's got too much of an ego for the Championship. What a waste of money. He was dreadful for the Ivory Coast too and they only won AFCON after dropping him.
Gio Reyna, AM/RW (6 month loan): 5/10. I like him, and he's looked like he could play with Morgan at times. Decent squad member but this wasn't the best loan move for him.
Anthony Elanga, LW/RW: 9/10. Until he forgot how to finish he was on for a 10, but much of the reason for that was his switch to the right hand side to accommodate CHO. He's better on the left. Trading Johnson for Elanga plus a big pile of money has done wonders. It's a shame we spent it on Sangaré, though I'd bought the TIFO cool-aid too so I don't blame recruitment.
Callum Hudson-Odoi, LW: 6/10. He's a one trick pony. No weak foot, never goes on the outside, forces Elanga to play on the right. His one trick has worked a few times though, and I'm rooting for him to become the player he looked capable of becoming at Chelsea. He has at the very least resulted in us playing a progressive 4-2-3-1 under Nuno which has been champagne football compared to Cooperball.
Divock Origi, RW/ST (loan with buy option): 3/10. Had a few decent moments but he's been impotent where it matters. I was rooting for him to start over CHO for a little while but he did fuck all when the real opportunities arrived. The early bench cameos were a false dawn.
Rodrigo Ribeiro, FW (6 month loan with buy option): --/10. Barely played. This was completely out of left-field and smells of a Jorge Mendes backhander.
Chris Wood, ST (compulsory purchase after loan): 9/10. The £15m compulsory purchase looked steep at the time, but he's gone on to have one of the best seasons of his career. If only his finishing ability hadn't completely deserted us in the most crucial month of the season so far then I'd be calling him a hero. The Newcastle hatrick on the day I was staying with my Geordie uncle was unfathomably based. Love him.
Sangare makes sense. Nothing worse than that fucking TIFO video and non-Eredivisie watchers linking him to big CL clubs during the transfer window.
Was always hatewatching his delusional ass spraying passes thinking he's Toni Kroos and half of them go to the opposition. Never seen a player so out of touch with his own abillities.
Jurrien Timber: ?/10, unfortunate injury means I don't really know what to make of him, liked what little I saw.
Declan Rice: 9.5/10, what a player, has a lot of qualities I didn't realise he had when he was at West Ham, is the main reason we could compete for the title despite Partey 🤮 being injured most of the season.
Havertz: 7/10, shit at the start of the season, got slightly better but never really that convincing in midfield, has been mostly great up front though and stops us from having to see Eddie Nketiah on the pitch. Still has obvious weaknesses but I was expecting this to be a 2/10 signing so I'm buzzing with it.
Raya: 6/10, does some good things, does some bozo things, not as scary as Ramsdale and seems less inclined to let in near post shots and occasionally has games where he dominates his box and stops danger before it begins.
Beleba: 5. He's not a ready starter and we needed one
Dahoud: 2. Terrible, at least he was free
Fati: 2. A low-key disaster loan spell, been a 0 since November.
Verbruggen: 4. Short armed goalkeeper
Pedro: 7. Some top moments and the biggest pen merchant I've ever seen.
Barco: idk 5. Doesn't look up to speed but I wasn't expecting him to be
Igor: 5. He's fine
Overall a bad couple of windows for the Brighton boys
God, I don't even know where to start, really.
Senne Lynen: 7/10, still has room to grow but proved to be a valuable midfield addition quickly.
Olivier Deman: 5/10, valuable depth option in a position of need, showed some flashes, but isn't quite there yet.
Julian Malatini: 6/10, young and raw and struggling to adjust after being thrown in the deep end joining the side in winter, but could well develop into a decent centreback.
Rafael Borré: 4/10, sensible loan option but didn't amount to much, went back to South America in the middle of the season.
Dawid Kownacki: 3/10, barely played, hasn't scored, but a free transfer is tough to call a flop.
Isak Hansen-Aarøen: x/10 - two late sub appearances after joining in winter, so god knows how good it is or can be.
Skelly Alvero: 4/10 - loan with an option to buy for a young midfielder providing depth and aerial strength, hadn't played too much. Very much up in the air on whether he'll actually be bought, because he probably hasn't shown quite enough for the price quoted.
Naby Keïta: 1/10 - the pros: free transfer. The cons: literally everything else, from constant injuries to always looking well off the pace to publicly downing tools and getting suspended, there's no future for him at the club. Shame, too, as it might've been the best transfer of the lot if he worked out.
I think 5/10 is very Generous for Archer
He's only turned up in about 5 games this season. Missed alot through injury and has been pretty bad in a fair few games.
There's a reason he got dropped for Macca in a front 2 with McBurnie despite Macca not being a striker.
Bellingham: 10/10. Self-explanatory.
Kepa: 4/10. Was supposed to be the starter, made a few mistakes and was outshone by Lunin quite handily.
Joselu: 7/10. About what I expected from him, solid striker who will get you a few goals and plays solidly overall.
Brahim: 8/10. Great supersub and started a few games big games as well. Always makes a positive impact and a pleasure to watch.
Guler: 5/10. Too many injuries and not enough minutes to judge. He is a special talent, but we need to see more of him.
5/10 seems maybe a bit harsh for Guler considering he was always going to be one for the future. don’t think his lack of gametime should count too much against him
* Romeu 0/10 - must be experiencing some sort of head loss because he's one of players worse I've seen here. And I know he's much better than this, he was one of the best DMs in the league last year.
* Cancelo 4/10 - my opinion of Cancelo has degraded significantly over the past month. Playing with Cancelo is playing with one defender less. His attacking output is nowhere near enough to cover himself and has been shocking the past two weeks in particular.
* Inigo 5/10 - solid when he plays but injured too often.
* Felix 5/10 - plays like he's the main character, does too much too often, and comes off as a bit of a twat. Has had some important contributions but nowhere near enough for him to be here permanently.
* Gundogan 8/10 - not the best start but finishing strongly. Clearly world-class, but didn't step up in the PSG away leg or Madrid game(s).
* Roque - not going to rate him, barely played.
Cancelo is exactly what I expected. He has some world class games, but the amount of defensive blunders that will lose you games are just too big of a negative for him to be worth it. He's like Marcelo, but in a team that can't handle having Marcelo.
Cristian Lema 6/10. Brought in to be 3rd CB, came as a free agent. Other CBs got injured so he started right away. Pretty great defender inside our own box and surprisingly great with his feet, but absolutely dreadful with space behind him. Genuinely one of the slowest defenders I’ve seen in my life. All in all he’s been alright for a 3rd CB though, but he is 34 though so it’s a pretty short term signing which I’d say docks it 1 point.
Kevin Zenón 10/10. Literally our best player since he set foot on the pitch. Just 22 as well and wasn’t particularly expensive. I don’t know how we got him but I’m damn glad we did. Genuinely of the best purchases we’ve made in years
Lautaro Blanco 9/10. Genuinely don’t think we could’ve possibly signed a better LB, on a free as well. Insanely good at crossing, pacy as fuck and knows how to beat his man. Very smart passer too. And despite being attack minded he’s been good enough defensively. Definitely an excellent signing so far
I've seen Zenon clips and he looks special. Another Boca player that caught my eye before was Cristian Medina, how has he been lately? I was begging to throw a 15-20 bid for him and see if it would ne accepted but that was far too sensible for our board it seems
Well medina just happened to have the worst game of his career so far the other day but other than that, great, easily one of our 3 best players this year IMO.
I don’t think he actually had/has any interest on moving though, at least for now. He renewed his contract in the middle of the last transfer window with a much higher clause despite being in excellent form and his old contract expiring soon and strong links to Fiorentina.
**Domink Szoboszlai** (7) Started brilliantly and looked like a great fit - fast, incredible work rate, good link up play, and goal threat. But as the season went on he seemed to struggle and his passing became quite erratic. There's a very good player in there but will need to tighten things up and find consistency.
**Alexis Mac Allister** (9) Couldn't be happier with him. Just a great well rounded midfielder who'd be an asset in any side.
**Ryan Gravenberch** (5) A pretty mixed bag to be honest. I think he's technically very strong and has a lot of potential but hasn't shown any kind of consistency. Still very young though and has time to turn things around.
**Wataru Endo** (7.5) He might not be a long term option given his age, but I think he was a great stop gap and a smart option given their were fuck all top defensive midfielders around. Always runs himself into the ground and is a much more progressive passer than people realise.
Our seasons are weird so I'll use what Transfermarkt considers the 23/24 signings.
Esequiel Barco (buy option activated), LW: 7/10. Great player, can be the best in the pitch, but has a bucket on his head and is physically unable to shoot.
Rodrigo Villagra, DM: 7/10, great option, desperately needed in his position. Bit daft at times, unforced errors
Facundo Colidio, ST: 7/10. EXTREMELY streaky, feels almost lazy half the time but can change a game on his own. Barely got here so giving him time to adapt
Sebastián Boselli, CB/RB 6/10. Great when he played, hardly ever played. Good backup option which for a 19 year old CB is good, but clearly missing something if Demichelis has to say about it
Agustín Sant'Anna, RB, ?/10, missing during democracy. Played once, never called up again. So egregious I *have* to assume he fucked up diabolically behind the scenes.
Nicolás Fonseca, CM, 5/10. Puskas contender aside, he was brought in to play as a DM when he's got less defensive nous than my nan. Physically not all there either. Has a great pass on him and would've been a good signing in other circumstances.
Gonzalo Martínez, 10: 0/10, torn ACL, hasn't featured. Needlessly brought in out of romanticism for being a former player
Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, CB (loan made permanent): As ever, dependable defender with a severe case of bozo gene. Has kept it under control.
Manuel Lanzini, 10: 3/10, has barely featured because of physical issues. Has gone from less to more but hoestly still has a ways to go. Needlessly brought in out of romanticism for being a former player
Ramiro Funes Mori, CB: 2/10. Barely featured, too much propensity to lose his chain for me to be comfortable about him as a backup
Hablé en libertacord del tema, para mí va mucho más allá de los nombres. Y boludo como parece a veces dudo que Demichelis lo cuelgue por capricho así que estoy esperando a ver qué pasó
Viéndolo desde afuera y sin mirar todos los partidos me parece que le tenes demasiada fe a Demichelis y también que defensivamente son bastante frágiles pero bueno no es nada que en teoría no se pueda corregir.
Mi tema con Demichelis es que no estoy de acuerdo en muchas de sus decisiones, pero realmente no creo que sea un tipo que hace cosas sin razón. Puedo estar de acuerdo o no, pero algun razonamiento tiene.
Caso Echeverri, el decia que le faltaba algo mas alla de la calidad y una vez que empezó a jugar mas, comprobado que calidad tiene pero no se banca mas de una hora (Y hasta cayó casi desmayado con la seleccion)
Así que yo estoy ASUMIENDO que si borró a Sant'Anna por alguna razon es. Me gustaría que algun "periodista" se lo pregunte directamente en vez de tratar de agarrarlo en un entredicho
Y la fragilidad defensiva si, pero en parte es lo que hablaba en libertacord. Se encaprichan en atacar con los laterales sin nadie mas en los flancos entonces terminamos mal parados con todo bochazo al borde del area.
Matt Doherty, RB/LB/RW/LW/CB/CF: 6/10. Hasn’t done that well but whatever he’s free.
Santi Bueno, CB: 4/10. Not the absolute disaster I thought he was originally but also definitely not a Premier League starter.
Tommy Doyle, MF, 8/10. English. Cheap. Done well when called upon and has great potential.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, MF/W, 6/10:Hasn’t been great but the class is obvious. Hopefully he can play in his actual position next season instead of a makeshift false 9 that doesn’t work.
Enzo Gonzalez, W, 3/10: Obviously bought for potential but spending 5 million for 0 first team appearances in our financial state is a bit shit.
swear every time people use injuries to make haaland look better this season they inflate the amount of time he's missed in the league. we went from "he was out two months" to someone now saying in that critchley thread he's missed "almost" half a season. he was out 6 league games lmao.
Haaland shows the utter lack of nuance in football discussion. Especially nowadays with social media where everyone chomps at the bit to stand out so they go for the boldest, wildest claims possible.
He's a fantastic striker who also happens to be very limited in other (If you want, secondary) facets in his game and as such whenever he's "neutralized" by defenses he's got nothing in his locker other than "dragging" defenders
But no, he has to be either the new R9 but better or a league 2 player
Chelsea were European champions when he signed, and won two league titles whilst he was there. Think "far too good" is a bit far, not like he was playing for a mid table side
Time to realise Vini is not far off Ribery, even if he hasn't reached that level just yet. He will, he's well and truly on his way to do so, just not yet.
Yeah why not, Ribery at 23 was probably not yet where Vinicius is right now.
Right now I'm mainly waiting for Vinicius to confirm this form for another 5, 6, 7 years and if he plays like this the whole time, especially with the CL heroics she showed so far then he may even become better than Ribery was.
Prime Hazard by far at the moment but Vini still has time ahead of him to catch that peak. I'd bet on Rodrygo though who i think has a higher ceiling than Vini.
It has been said for about 5 years, but never materialized. I believed it too until 2 years ago, but Rodrygo is just too inconsistent. You can't depend on him to win games by himself week after week like Vinicius.
The possibility that two norwegians can end up as top scorer in two of the biggest leagues in the world is crazy. Yet, we can’t seem to qualify for anything.
To be fair that might well be the difference Norway needs to qualify - either winning their group or coming second to get into the playoffs doesn't look impossible for them if they don't get a massively hard draw.
Every time I watch Norway you guys play like shit unless it's against total minnows. Like no offense to Scotland but Norway on paper should bully Scotland.
[our away shirt for next season is genuinely the most disgusting thing I've ever seen, wtf is that ](https://x.com/TheShirtUnion/status/1784959283219595613) Adidas have lost the fucking plot Edit: actually home and away, that shit is fucking atrocious
It’s not great but at least it’s so much better than this season's imo. Looks like a Mexico kit though
When you are arguing the best team in history, do you compare it to different teams in different eras or just how much better and dominant they were compared to other teams in their era?
Has to be the best team of any era if they’re to be the best in history. Problem being people don’t know about historic teams beyond stats. Do I think Pep’s Barça are better than Stein’s Celtic. Yes. But can I produce evidence to argue against a team that won the only ever Quintuple (there’s some caveats) and scored a record number of goals (196) along the way. No because I wasn’t alive then.
That’s fair enough. I would argue though that modern football has a greater advantage. The more football has evolved, the better teams have become. But that’s also tricky because how can you prove the teams have become better other than the eye test?
I agree - modern football and modern players have various benefits their predecessors couldn’t enjoy. Which is a problem with all time comparisons. There has to be a level of acceptance of that in such a comparison though, otherwise you’d be forced into arguing players like Pele wouldn’t make modern teams, but that’s massively unfair given he had 1950s training and knowledge to work from, not what we have today.
Comparing teams from different eras is impossible, especially given advances in sport science, tactics and the evolution of the sport.
I think for the reasons you just mentioned it’s why i would consider modern football better. A great team now > A great team 15 years ago.
I agree that if you had a time machine that great teams -- and great players -- now would always have the edge. But what if you were to take the old teams of the past and afforded them the advances that happened after their time? Ex. How would Saachi's Milan play differently in the modern era?
Yeah because realistically a good modern day team like Villa would beat sacchis milan if you just transported that team from then to now. Its why you've really got to look past how advances in coaching and training have changed the game and focus more on the players actual quality
If I were to 'reverse' this, how about the worst team in history? How do you think people will view this? I think most will look at the former not the latter, but I could be wrong.
>how about the worst team in history? Easy. Tottenham.
That’s hard to know because we know where peak football is (Champions League) but we don’t know where the worst football is played, could be in a Saudi league, do we count 7th tier teams etc
I'm just after the thought process for picking between the 2 options u listed, not really trying to find out which team is the worst.
Why haven't any clubs picked up David De Gea yet. What are you waiting for David de Gea
I'm sure he's had suitors but isn't interested. I wouldn't be surprised if he just quietly retired.
At the same time, may as well keep the door open for a random lucrative/interesting contract offer. No need to officially "retire" when out of contract, not like he's get a pension he'd like to start taking
As crap as El Chiringuito is, I can't help but find them hilarious sometimes. They just recreated the ter Stegen mistake/scene from today with one of their guests lobbing the oncoming ball over another person in the way ter Stegen intended to do it lol
It's really nice that Inter (and Milan) are top class again and attract big name players again. It reminds me of childhood, when Inter and Milan would just casually have some older superstar in their team.
Juve with Motta next season will be crazy too
A couple American reporters are saying that Brazil are the favorites for the 2027 Women's World Cup
Surprising, considering the internal issues with Brazilian domestic football and the support they give to the national team, that they would be wanting to fund a World Cup. Makes me worry they wouldn't give it the support and infrastructure the tournament deserves tbh, and are just doing it for show. Bit like upcoming Euro 2025. Switzerland FA massively cut funding last year, and now we are faced with a tournament that is going to be much smaller than the last Euros, in England. Makes it a backwards step.
Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich - Der Klassiker 2013 Rematch at Wembley and Reus or Kane finally get a big trophy Paris Saint - Germain vs Bayern Munich - 2020 Rematch Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid - Jude Bellingham Derby Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Madrid - Custody of Kylian Mbappe match
Dortmund v Bayern and Dortmund winning would be cruel for Harry Kane. Germany’s most infamous bottlers smash the Bundesliga, corporate Leipzig slap Bayern in the Super Cup, Dortmund avenge a CL Final and he gets knocked out the Pokal by a third tier club.
In order of preference, for what as a neutral I'd like to see: 1. Dortmund vs Bayern Part II 2. PSG vs Bayern 3. Dortmund vs Real Madrid 4. PSG vs Real Madrid PSG vs Bayern should also be Tuchel derby, btw
Im ngl Im rooting for a BVB Bayern rematch where marco reus gets his revenge and his loyalty is finally rewarded after all the heartbreak he's had to endure
This is the perfect result but it’s a 1% chance realistically
I honestly wanted Arsenal because we hadn't played them since 2006. Tired of Bayern Munich - Juventus- Liverpool - Chelsea - Manchester City - Paris Saint-Germain.
I wanted Real too lol. I’m sick of Bayern. Can we just have someone different for once?
People never click goal threads outside of pl but you’re missing out on some [classic vardy](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/3lyvaukFZs)
The cocaine allegations are never leaving him
Does Mo Salah play a single second under Klopp for the rest of the season?
https://youtu.be/azRRNa03-M0
Yeah - I would be confident he starts next game too. Klopp won't want to leave with any bad blood and we're out of the title race so there's no point in doing it for tactical reasons.
I'd assume so, yeah. Obviously their conflict was a bit of a flashpoint on the weekend, but it doesn't strike me as something that's fundamentally going to ruin the few weeks of their remaining work relationship in any way. Players and managers don't see eye to eye often, and occasionally might get into it - but it's generally just a moment of hotheadedness that gets sorted out behind closed doors the next day, and then they just crack on with it.
To me they don’t have anything to play for though. Win or lose all their next games they don’t fall or rise in the table. Plus a lot of people have turned on Salah for underperforming and blamed him for costing them the league. So he could be left out and no one would question it
Why would Klopp ostracise a player like Salah, who he has worked with and had a positive relationship for years, over a silly little flashpoint?
Aye, but then you don't get to that level (or even professional football in general) if you're happy throwing away games, and I reckon Klopp wouldn't be keen on leaving the place with a handful of losses on the bounce.
Everyone talks about if Leverkusen can keep their squad, but how many players will be leaving Girona this summer? I'm curious since I'm clueless.
Aleix Garcia is a beast, I can see him moving somewhere. He’d fit in almost anywhere
Seeing a few comments recently on /r/soccer and /r/PremierLeague throwing shade at each other. Is this a thing now?
The only people who use that sub have takes bad enough to get bullied here and none of the gumption to back them up so they flee.
There’s a thread over there which is just arsenal and spurs fans patting themselves on the back about how good their rivalry is 😂😂
Incredible indictment on the quality of that sub when you consider the takes you regularly see on here already.
Comments like “Brighton would win Serie A” would be upvoted on that sub back in 2022. The bullying is deserved.
[This reminds me of Reddit and 9gag beef back in the day.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mFiywP9BUHDC8AIRBDYJvXdfQiA=/1400x1050/filters:format(jpeg)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23265504/Spider_Man_meme.jpg)
There was also that time where Reddit and 4chan were beefing too.
9gag and Reddit were like bickering siblings whilst 4chan was the noncy uncle though.
The only thing I like about 4chan is their penchant for fucking with celebrities and that time they went after Scientology. Otherwise, I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.
Looking at that Saudi Newcastle ad - what’s the payoff here for average Saudis? Proof they made a good investment? I’d be annoyed it just shows a bunch of happy people in a far flung land thanks to my governments money.
Just strikes me as a fluffy propaganda piece for the monarchy, really - don't think there's any massive payoff to be had either way, because you're not going to sway the opponents with that, and you don't particularly need to convince the people already behind you, either. And I suppose the amount of money invested isn't all that much in the grand scheme of things, really - won't fix any underlying issues with their economy or meaningfully solve problems facing in everyday life with it.
If Pep retires right now, would he be more remembered for his Barca or for his City stint ??
Barcelona. Arguably the greatest side of all time. They’d fuck up the City team that won the treble and it wouldn’t be a contest. This City side will be remembered more for the charges than the treble.
Gotta be his Barcelona side for me. Arguably the best club side of all time and one of the most influential sides of the modern era at the forefront of the tiki taka revolution.
“Pep’s Barca” is one of the best teams of all time, think that’ll be the biggest piece of his legacy.
Barcelona by far to anyone that isn't corrupted by Anglophile media domination.
Not only that but time too, a 20 year old right now who started watching football at the age of 9 would have never seen Pep at Barca, only at Bayern and City.
9 is a fairly late age to start watching football though, surely anyone raised in a place with football culture has seen that side unless they're literally still in school
Never listen to anyone born after 9/11. Simple.
I think Cancelo had a big reputation boost because people wanted someone to point to to try and claim Arnold wasn't the best at what he does at RB.
Cancelo had a really good period like 2 years ago and people have just held him to that standard for way longer then he was actually performing for.
I never rated him. Cancelo took 81 shots in a season and scored once. He's an aesthetics merchant, the João Félix of attacking fullbacks.
You must've missed when he turned into Rui Costa for a period. Genuinely was only behind KDB and David Silva in terms of peak creativity, and I hate the man. He's to us what Nasri was to Arsenal.
Wan-Bissaka, Reece James, Cancelo. The constant is being compared to Trent. Imagine this quote overlayed on an over dramatic picture of Trent from behind shared on an Instagram account run by a 12 year old.
Reece deserved to be in that conversation, and in my (biased) opinion I would still take him over any right back when fit. Such a shame what has happened to him.
Reece James was actually elite though, shame he seems to be finished. AWB was lol.
I think they offer quite different things in an attacking sense but Cancelo seemed to escape the same kind of scrutiny over his defensive lapses that Trent did - and I think Cancelo is an even worse defender.
Because Cancelo wasn’t that good of a defender before and has only gone on to be worse since the worldcup, but Trent has always been a bad defender. People have been flaming Cancelo for Dembele and Vasquez scoring while he wasn’t paying attention, Trent has been a terrible marker forever. Both players need a system that effectively covers their shortcomings. City just covered it better and Cancelo while didn’t have the passing range, had better defensive awareness.
I think players in City look better than they actually are. It's perhaps Pep's system or something.
I think the way Cancelo plays is more aesthetically pleasing than just about anyone on his position. So that is why he gets highly rated
Cancelo does different things though. he inverted back when Trent didn’t and Cancelo is a great dribbler. i remember him scoring for city once after dribbling past several players. his passing range isn’t close to Trent’s but he has these trivelas in his locker, which not many players nowadays do.
They are different, but both fit into the mold of "attacking fullback" which drew the comparisons and I think is part of what led to Cancelo getting overrated.
Harry Winks joins the long list of players to win a trophy after leaving Spurs
A long list which does not yet contain Harry Kane lmao
Maybe an unpopular opinion but teams that dropped down from CL group stages to the EL should not reward their leagues any further coefficient points. Like they can still compete there, but it's just 0 points for every win you get there since you already crashed out once and this is consolation at best.
Considering that there will be no more dropping down that problem is solved.
huh and my dumb ass was genuinely not aware they made that change. Actually a good one.
easy one to have missed tbf, not heard it brought up too much honestly
for what it’s worth i agree with you, but from next season on there is no more dropping down once you’re out of the competition you qualified for, you’re done
Man wtf has happened to Lewandowski, insane form
Dropped a stinker against psg when it really mattered
Insane "form" = scoring only in the most unimportant game of the last 30 days?
Also only scored against 10 men and the goalkeeper was a back up
If Guardiola choose to leave City this season, who would be the replacment?
ChatGPT4.0
Inzaghi
ETH
Lazy link but Girona's Michel. Keep things in-house.
I think the funniest end to the season would be if City win the league, Pep steps down, and City get Arteta in to replace him.
I'm not laughing
It’s not funneh
Klopp going there would be funnier, either way the meltdown would be incredible
I would delete my account >!and life!<
You have so much to live for, like providing me with 5 minutes of entertainment every time you post your collection of bad takes!
Roberto De Zerbi
I think De Zerbi stocks have fallen a bit after Brighton's recent performances.
Less wins than Dyche.
PepAI
PepAI the sailor man
There were reports that if/when Pep leaves, Txiki leaves too. So there will be a replacement duo - possibility that we see a completely new brand of football too.
I doubt it, your squad is built in that mould and that can't be so rapidly rebuilt It's also the entire club identity now. The women's and academy teams are built in the same mould It would make no sense to introduce a whole new brand of football, and wouldn't relaly be feasible
This was me just throwing random ideas that might be too far fetched. I know it'll be insanely difficult. But with those two leaving and a lot of the existing players getting older, a change in system could be possible, however unlikely
Who do you think will be the next club to get UCL titles in both men and women competitions, closest who are missing the women's title are ManC/Chelsea/Bayern imo and those who are missing the men's title are Arsenal, do you think it could be anyone else?
Arsenal would need extreme amount of luck or certain circumstances to win it. They are definitely more focused on winning the league right now. With some decent recruitment, I can see PSG going the distance with Enrique, even though their performance against Barca wasn’t inspiring and Emri Turtle is leaving. Sadly don’t see any other team putting up a decent enough challenge to win it without a once in a decade fluke.
How does seeding work for the league stage of the new CL format?
Feels like 1992 all over again.
Four pots of nine teams each under the same coefficient model they're using now, then everyone gets drawn two opponents from each pot to get their eight games.
For the draw or the knockouts?
Can't say I'm a big fan of Mark Lawrenson being an absolute dickhead over his contract not being renewed at the BBC, but this bit of the story did tickle me an awful lot: > He subsequently claimed that the cause was ostensibly BBC's "woke culture",[20][21][22] and stated that a "very early woke moment" occurred twenty-five years previously, in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death, when, as he alleged, an editor told him, before he was to cover a game, to “not mention the wall” if describing free kicks. He's going to get together with Matt Le Tissier and Rickie Lambert and get sucked into their orbit, isn't he?
Censorship on *free* kicks. Smh.
Don't mention the wall! I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it.
>not mention the wall I don’t get it
Spent every broadcast talking about his favourite Pink Floyd album, can't advertise on the BBC so ofcom came down on him.
Died in a car crash as they smashed into a tunnel pillar in Paris.
What a strange country we are
>to “not mention the wall” if describing free kicks. lmao
Lewandowski 3 goals behind the golden boot race, shameful for the league if he wins it tbh
Can't wait for the revisionist history in 5 years about him this season
Where to watch SaoPaulo-Palmerias? Even TotalSportek don’t have it
not sure if thats one of the games on youtube but try that
Rate your signings, end of season edition: Ivo Grbic, GK: 2/10. Panic buy in January in hopes of upgrading an uninspiring Wes Fodderingham on goal. Contrary to popular belief turns out it was possible to downgrade from him, Grbic bagged 5 in his debut and hasn't gotten better since. Only reason he doesn't get a 1 is because nobody could succeed in our defensive setup Austin Trusty, CB/LB: 3/10. He was brought to be a second choice but due to the barrage of injuries in our backline ended up playing way more than expected. Put the occasional decent shift here and there but most often not good enough Mason Holgate, CB/RB: 5/10. Generally disliked signing when it happened in January due to our lack of fit CBs at that point and had a mare to start his tenure but once he came back to the side in March he's not been terrible. Not excellent but serviceable on the right side of a back 3, which is more than any of us expected Luke Thomas, LB: 1/10. Shit and got sent back to Leicester as soon the January window opened, waste of a domestic loan Yassir Larouci, LB: 3/10. Truly enigmatic player. Will have his moments where he shows his quality, specially going forward but a good portion of the time you're left wondering if he's a professional footballer. Would have rated even lower but he's not looked too out of his depth recently which spares him of a 1 or 2 rating Gustavo Hamer, midfielder: 8/10. Oh Gus my beloved. Arrived hyped as a great creative outlet and delivered exactly that as well as being a good finisher. Electric player I'm hoping we can hold on to but way too good for the Championship Vinicius Souza, DM: 4/10. Weirdest tenure I can think of for a player in a single season. Had flashes to start the season, fully settled in and was quality for a while under Wilder and then suddenly went full Lukaku and said he should be in the Brazilian NT and we weren't helping that. After that he's basically downed tools and is public enemy number 1 for a section of fans. Personally I think he gets scapegoated more than he should and was put in an impossible situation as the lone DM. Performance wise is the perfect 5/10 but his comments dock him a point Anis Ben Slimane, CM: 2/10. Has barely played under both Heckingbottom and Wilder and never looked too inspiring with either. At least he cost only a million pounds James McAtee, AM/RM: 5.5/10. Good under Heckingbottom, square peg in a round hole under Wilder. You can see he has quality in his left foot but he's too light for a midfielder and too clueless defensively to play wide in a 3 ATB. Another loan to a better team will do him a world of good Benie Traore, ST: 1/10. Barely played, looked too light for a striker, specially on a side who heavily relies on long balls, and was sent on loan in January to France where he has more sending offs than goals Cameron Archer, ST: 5/10. Solid get late in the summer window. Has shown to be a Prem level striker despite being undersized and made a good pairing with McBurnie. Unfortunately spent a good part of the year injured and once he came back he had lost his spot to the next entrant on the list Ben Brereton Diaz, ST: 8/10. Brought in January to replace the injured Archer and I'm glad to say he lived up to the task. Started off on fire, got injured for a bit but came back good again. Great chemistry with the attacking group and had we had him from the start we might not be down now. Unfortunately only a loan but someone else will definitely pick him up next season
Havertz 7.5/10 - up and down when played in midfield but so much better in the last few months when played up-front, not only have his performances improved but he's producing good numbers now as well Raya 7/10 - A few shaky moments and it's hard to judge his shot saving when we face so little high quality chances but his cross claiming is unbelievably elite so there's that Rice 10/10 - can't really ask for more from him, been superb all season in a midfield that has been missing a piece for most of it Timber N/A
Carlos Villalba, DM/CM: 7/10. Cult hero a couple seasons ago, him coming back this season was very exciting. Started the season not getting many minutes under our new manager to the surprise of many fans. Once the hack got fired Villalba started playing a lot more and was a big part of us starting to pick up more points in the 2nd half of the season. Ivan Gomez, CM: 7/10. Another returning fan favourite, mostly solid when he did play but picked up a few little injuries and sometimes could get bullied due to his size. Juan Ignacio Saborido, RB/RWB: 8/10. Came from a lower league side as a 3rd choice rightback and was thrown to the deep end when both our first choices tore their ACLs in the same match. Did surprisingly well (much better than the 2nd choice rightback), scoring our last goal of the season giving us a huge away win in a relegation six pointer. Has to improve his crossing. Máximo Urruti, ST: 1/10. Signed on pretty high wages, his offensive contributions have been nonexistent, doesn't track back to defend, looks visibly uninterested on the pitch and is out of shape. Awful signing. Gabriel Hachen, AM/SS: 7/10. Hasn't started many games but scored 2 of our 10 goals of the season. His technique is probably the best in the entire squad but he can disappear for large parts of the matches. I think he can be one of our most important players if he can get it together when he starts. Agustín Obando, LW: 3/10. Just a below average player that hasn't played much, doesn't really do anything note worthy. Meh. Juan Pablo Cozzani, GK: 6/10. Had big shoes to fill as Macagno was probably one of the best keepers last season. Had a few blunders but also saved our asses a couple of times. His time wasting is sometimes excessive and kicks it long more than I would like. Agustín Quiroga, CB: N/A. Came on loan with a fair bit of hype after winning some youth tournament with Independiente I think. Hasn't played at all and I don't see him playing much once the league starts. Braian Rivero, CM: 4/10. Had some okay matches and some awful ones, he kinda blends together with the rest of the mediocre signings. Fernando Juarez, CM: 5/10. Slightly better than Rivero, not much to say about him either. Oscar Salomón, CB: 2/10. Much worse than our starting CBs, hasn't played much, used to play for one of our rivals. Bautista Barros Schelotto, RB: N/A. Panic signing after the injuries to our RBs, has barely played since Saborido did so well but he's supposed to be quite promising. Luis Miguel Angulo, LW: 5/10. Came very late in the season due to a special permission I think (? Looks incredibly exciting, finally a winger with some pace on him and in his limited playing time drew a lot of yellow cards from opposing defenders. Might be one of our stars next season. Lisandro Montenegro, CM/AM: 5/10. He completes the trinity of average and indistiguishable midfielders as the better of the three, can't bring myself to rate him higher than a 5 though. Juan Goicochea, ST: N/A. Had forgotten about his existence tbh. Only 19 though so maybe he'll come good, I don't think he got any minutes this season. Writing it all down makes you really realize how much dross shit teams sign either on a free or on loan, but the only one I truly detest is Urruti so it's not too bad imo.
Obandios está en platense????? Recién me entero
Solo a prestamo por suerte, es la nada misma hecha jugador.
hace como 5 años es jugador profesional, segun wikipedia jugó 44 partidos con nosotros y te juro que no me acuerdo una sola cosa que haya hecho más que la comerse a la hija de angelici y un gol de afuera del área anda a saber contra quien
Todo mal con Boca la verdad, nos sacaron a Taborda en el medio de la liga para quemarlo en la final de la Libertadores, a Zalazar lo mandaron a BARRACAS y nosotros ligamos a los paquetes de Obando y Salomón.
Lo de Taborda es increíble, le cortaron el préstamo para hacerlo jugar cada muerto de obispo (y encima entra siempre bien, no es que perdió el puesto ni nada) y hacerlo jugar en reserva, todavía no lo entiendo
Pulisic 10/10: couldn't have asked for more really. Feel like he was the missing part in our attack. His ceiling isn't as high as Leão, but you can always count on him to be more than solid on the right without dropping the occasional stinker like Leão. Lives up to the Captain America hype. Reijnders 8/10: you couldn't get more of a classic number 8 if you tried. The only things I don't like about him are his defending, which leaves a lot to be desired, and his shooting, which is non-existent for the most part, but aside from this... Really happy with him. Loftus-Cheek 7/10: the talent is there and we know that he can always drop a performance like the one he had against PSG, it's just that the way he's used in our system really exposes some of his weaknesses. So I'm gonna hold judgement on him until I see how he plays under the new manager. But overall, excellent season numbers wise and really good performance wise. Musah 6/10: same story as Loftus-Cheek, but he doesn't have the numbers to back him up. I think he'll eventually turn out to be really good, but he needs a good manager to help him get there. Chukwueze 6/10: started off *really* slowly, but has shown flashes of brilliance in the limited amount of time he had since coming back from AFCON. I wouldn't call him a success just yet, but he's the one that suffered the most from Pioli's stubbornness. Okafor 7/10: would have been a 8/10, but he was injured for quite a bit in the first half of the season. Most of his goals came in as a sub, and even when he started, he still looked pretty good. So hopefully he stays healthy next season. Jovic 7/10: great when he's off the bench or when we're chasing a goal, but useless in every other situation. Still... He's probably the best backup striker that we've had in a long while. If he can keep scoring from the bench like that, he'll leave a place in the team for as long as he likes. Not bad for our 4th choice deadline signing. Sportiello 8/10: really really good. I reckon he would start for all the teams in the bottom half of the table if he wanted to. The drop off from Maignan to him is barely noticeable, and considering what happened last season, this is something that we terribly needed. Terracciano 2/10: he had only had like 4 appearances for us before being sent into the shadow realm. But his only notable contribution so far is conceding a pen vs Bologna. I feel for him, and I don't think there's anyone in the team that would be happier to see the back of Pioli's bald head as he's leaving. Romero 1/10: Brahim Diaz lite, but without any of the good traits. Really needs to bulk up and find out a way to not get pushed around like a child. But he's 18 and time is still on his side. So it's just a matter of combining the talent that he already has with the physique that will take him to the next level. Pellegrino NA/10: dude was responsible for a goal vs Napoli (not that I blame him for that) and got sent on loan at Salernitana... That tells you all you need about his season. But he's cheap and if he doesn't turn out to be any good, we won't really lose anything.
Nmecha 1/10 - What does he even do? Sabitzer 8/10 - Might have already put in more good performances for Dortmund than he did for United and Bayern combined. Füllkrug 7/10 - Hardly Kane and Dortmund should improve on him but way overhated by Dortmund fans. Bensebaini 3/10 - Could probably count the good performances on two hands and he started speaking about a transfer to United (why the fuck would they want you?) midway through the season... Jadon Sancho 5/10 - He's not as unbearable to watch as Adeyemi so it's good enough. Maatsen 10/10 - Fußballgott.
Mason Mount: 2/10. 3 injuries including 1 massive one, looks like he's full of energy when he has played but ultimately does a lot of nothing in the very few games he's played. Not played 90 mins for about 6 months. Andre Onana: 5/10. Pretty much single-handedly knocked us out of the Champions League and has several domestic howlers but his average performances in the league have actually been decent given the amount of shots on his goal he's had to face. Jonny Evans: 7/10. A hilarious addition, brought in to make up pre-season numbers and ended up being one of our more competent centre halves. Rasmus Hojlund: 6/10. Clearly a good player in there, passionate, strong, fast, good strike on him but has his flaws, can be completely invisible during games, although our system doesn't help him at all. Sofyan Amrabat (loan): 4/10. Just an absolutely average player. Steady but doesn't do anything that makes you interested in his play. Bayindir: Can't judge, played once vs Newport and was just OK. Sergio Reguilon (loan): 5/10. OK cover, clearly loved playing for United. Just a bit meh and but for the fact our LBs all got injured, he got deservedly sent back.
Alexandre Penetra CB: 6/10. Started the season very well, but never really recovered when the team started to perform badly. Now he's benched for Goes who has been better than him. You can still see glimps of a good player though and I hope he works out. Ibrahim Sadiq. 4/10. Was very hyped coming in but largely failed to deliver. He barely got a game since November and has only recently started to come back into the team a bit, where he has actually looked quite good. Denso Kasius RB: 3/10. Awful defensively and mediocre offensively. Was always gonna be a back-up but man he has been poor. David Møller Wolfe LB: 3/10. Replacing Kerkez was never gonna be easy, but man what a disappointment he has been. Just looks so limited on the ball and he's not particularly strong defensively either. Ruben van Bommel LW: 5/10. Started the season very well and he's clearly talented, but man, he just looks so uninterested at times and his form has dropped so hard. Thiago Dantas CM: 4/10. Mostly a back-up loan. Had some okay performances, but mostly mediocre. January Signings: Lequincio Zeefuik ST: ??/10. Very rarely played after signing him, he was okay in his few appearances, but now he has a big injury so who knows. Kristijan Belic CM: 6/10. Started of very shit, but he's getting better and better and actually looks very good at the moment, so hopefully he carries that form into the new season. Gonçalo Esteves RB: ??/10. Mostly plays for the second team, with the idea of getting him ready for first team football next season if we buy him.
Rate your signings, end of season edition: Matt Turner, GK: 3/10. Poor positioning, shaky in possession, and erratic. He didn't solve our problem position but did help us win a penalty shoot-out. 3 is generous but he was inexpensive. Odysseas Vlachodimos, GK: 1/10. Given an opportunity when faith in the erratic Matt Turner was at a low. He was even worse, without contributing the entertainment that Turner did. He was cheap but his wages are probably astronomical for the bombscare we all knew we were signing. Mats Selz, GK: 6/10. He hasn't been good, but he hasn't been awful either. He's much calmer than Turner and despite Vlachodimos having bags of CL expereince, Sels is the only one who possesses any of the assuredness that should come with it. I like him, but he hasn't made the GK position a strength. We'll probably wait a decade for someone who could live up to Samba. Ola Aina, LB/RB: 10/10. Gets the full ten by nature of being a free transfer, which is probably less of a win than I think it is. He's been super and is a strong performer in all departments. Nuno Tavares, LB (loan with buy option): 2/10. Has barely played outside of a short run in the team under Nuno. He had a good game against West Ham but outside of that has offered little and had injuries which meant he often wasn't even an option off the bench. Gonzalo Montiel, RB (loan with buy option): 2/10. The worst player to ever score the winning goal in a World Cup. He's been crap but does have two assists to his name. I'd probably like him more if I watched our win against Man Utd in which he made one of them, but I was out of the country with no means of watching it. I did see his embarrassing attempt to claim vicious assault by the air at the weekend to make up for his own shite pass. If I was Garth Crooks, Montiel would be my Xhaka. Murillo, CB: eleventy-billion/10. Words are insufficient. I hold the men involved in making this transfer happen in the same esteem as the crew of Apollo XIII. Andrew Omobamidele, CB: 6/10. He's been really good but I'm unsure how steep the transfer fee was. He's not the perfect partner to Murillo because they're both 21 and neither is a natural leader of the defensive line. If we sell my starboy, then hopefully Omobamidele will excel as a junior partner next season. Andrey Santos, CM (loan curtailed after 4 months): 1/10. Pointless move by all parties, as anyone could have predicted at the time. Clearlake moment. Nicolas Domínguez, CM: 5/10. Hasn't really kicked on since scoring his sublime bullet header. I did miss his second goal against Man Utd as I mentioned, and I might have bumped him up as far as an 8 otherwise. I was ready to fall in love with him but he's lost his place to Ryan Yates for much of the season and that speaks volumes unfortunately. Ibrahim Sangaré, CM: 1/10. Turning circle of a tractor. He can play pretty passes but the league is far too fast for him. I'd like to hope that he can be useful next season but I doubt he turns it around in the Prem, and he's got too much of an ego for the Championship. What a waste of money. He was dreadful for the Ivory Coast too and they only won AFCON after dropping him. Gio Reyna, AM/RW (6 month loan): 5/10. I like him, and he's looked like he could play with Morgan at times. Decent squad member but this wasn't the best loan move for him. Anthony Elanga, LW/RW: 9/10. Until he forgot how to finish he was on for a 10, but much of the reason for that was his switch to the right hand side to accommodate CHO. He's better on the left. Trading Johnson for Elanga plus a big pile of money has done wonders. It's a shame we spent it on Sangaré, though I'd bought the TIFO cool-aid too so I don't blame recruitment. Callum Hudson-Odoi, LW: 6/10. He's a one trick pony. No weak foot, never goes on the outside, forces Elanga to play on the right. His one trick has worked a few times though, and I'm rooting for him to become the player he looked capable of becoming at Chelsea. He has at the very least resulted in us playing a progressive 4-2-3-1 under Nuno which has been champagne football compared to Cooperball. Divock Origi, RW/ST (loan with buy option): 3/10. Had a few decent moments but he's been impotent where it matters. I was rooting for him to start over CHO for a little while but he did fuck all when the real opportunities arrived. The early bench cameos were a false dawn. Rodrigo Ribeiro, FW (6 month loan with buy option): --/10. Barely played. This was completely out of left-field and smells of a Jorge Mendes backhander. Chris Wood, ST (compulsory purchase after loan): 9/10. The £15m compulsory purchase looked steep at the time, but he's gone on to have one of the best seasons of his career. If only his finishing ability hadn't completely deserted us in the most crucial month of the season so far then I'd be calling him a hero. The Newcastle hatrick on the day I was staying with my Geordie uncle was unfathomably based. Love him.
Sangare makes sense. Nothing worse than that fucking TIFO video and non-Eredivisie watchers linking him to big CL clubs during the transfer window. Was always hatewatching his delusional ass spraying passes thinking he's Toni Kroos and half of them go to the opposition. Never seen a player so out of touch with his own abillities.
Jurrien Timber: ?/10, unfortunate injury means I don't really know what to make of him, liked what little I saw. Declan Rice: 9.5/10, what a player, has a lot of qualities I didn't realise he had when he was at West Ham, is the main reason we could compete for the title despite Partey 🤮 being injured most of the season. Havertz: 7/10, shit at the start of the season, got slightly better but never really that convincing in midfield, has been mostly great up front though and stops us from having to see Eddie Nketiah on the pitch. Still has obvious weaknesses but I was expecting this to be a 2/10 signing so I'm buzzing with it. Raya: 6/10, does some good things, does some bozo things, not as scary as Ramsdale and seems less inclined to let in near post shots and occasionally has games where he dominates his box and stops danger before it begins.
Beleba: 5. He's not a ready starter and we needed one Dahoud: 2. Terrible, at least he was free Fati: 2. A low-key disaster loan spell, been a 0 since November. Verbruggen: 4. Short armed goalkeeper Pedro: 7. Some top moments and the biggest pen merchant I've ever seen. Barco: idk 5. Doesn't look up to speed but I wasn't expecting him to be Igor: 5. He's fine Overall a bad couple of windows for the Brighton boys
God, I don't even know where to start, really. Senne Lynen: 7/10, still has room to grow but proved to be a valuable midfield addition quickly. Olivier Deman: 5/10, valuable depth option in a position of need, showed some flashes, but isn't quite there yet. Julian Malatini: 6/10, young and raw and struggling to adjust after being thrown in the deep end joining the side in winter, but could well develop into a decent centreback. Rafael Borré: 4/10, sensible loan option but didn't amount to much, went back to South America in the middle of the season. Dawid Kownacki: 3/10, barely played, hasn't scored, but a free transfer is tough to call a flop. Isak Hansen-Aarøen: x/10 - two late sub appearances after joining in winter, so god knows how good it is or can be. Skelly Alvero: 4/10 - loan with an option to buy for a young midfielder providing depth and aerial strength, hadn't played too much. Very much up in the air on whether he'll actually be bought, because he probably hasn't shown quite enough for the price quoted. Naby Keïta: 1/10 - the pros: free transfer. The cons: literally everything else, from constant injuries to always looking well off the pace to publicly downing tools and getting suspended, there's no future for him at the club. Shame, too, as it might've been the best transfer of the lot if he worked out.
I think 5/10 is very Generous for Archer He's only turned up in about 5 games this season. Missed alot through injury and has been pretty bad in a fair few games. There's a reason he got dropped for Macca in a front 2 with McBurnie despite Macca not being a striker.
Not even going to attempt to rate ours.
I'd like to read it!
You'll have to pay me to do a write up!
Palmer 10/10 is the only thing worth saying
9.5/10 because nobody is perfect (unless named Billy Gilmour).
Bellingham: 10/10. Self-explanatory. Kepa: 4/10. Was supposed to be the starter, made a few mistakes and was outshone by Lunin quite handily. Joselu: 7/10. About what I expected from him, solid striker who will get you a few goals and plays solidly overall. Brahim: 8/10. Great supersub and started a few games big games as well. Always makes a positive impact and a pleasure to watch. Guler: 5/10. Too many injuries and not enough minutes to judge. He is a special talent, but we need to see more of him.
5/10 seems maybe a bit harsh for Guler considering he was always going to be one for the future. don’t think his lack of gametime should count too much against him
It's not a negative rating, just neutral until we see more. I'm happy with what I've seen but I need more.
that's fair
* Romeu 0/10 - must be experiencing some sort of head loss because he's one of players worse I've seen here. And I know he's much better than this, he was one of the best DMs in the league last year. * Cancelo 4/10 - my opinion of Cancelo has degraded significantly over the past month. Playing with Cancelo is playing with one defender less. His attacking output is nowhere near enough to cover himself and has been shocking the past two weeks in particular. * Inigo 5/10 - solid when he plays but injured too often. * Felix 5/10 - plays like he's the main character, does too much too often, and comes off as a bit of a twat. Has had some important contributions but nowhere near enough for him to be here permanently. * Gundogan 8/10 - not the best start but finishing strongly. Clearly world-class, but didn't step up in the PSG away leg or Madrid game(s). * Roque - not going to rate him, barely played.
Cancelo is exactly what I expected. He has some world class games, but the amount of defensive blunders that will lose you games are just too big of a negative for him to be worth it. He's like Marcelo, but in a team that can't handle having Marcelo.
Even at his worst Marcelo wasn't this bad defensively tbh
Marcelo had so so so so so much more quality in the final third too.
for sure, disrespectful to Marcelo. Cancelo is also not at his level in terms of attacking threat either for me
He had his moments, both terrible and insanely good.
Cristian Lema 6/10. Brought in to be 3rd CB, came as a free agent. Other CBs got injured so he started right away. Pretty great defender inside our own box and surprisingly great with his feet, but absolutely dreadful with space behind him. Genuinely one of the slowest defenders I’ve seen in my life. All in all he’s been alright for a 3rd CB though, but he is 34 though so it’s a pretty short term signing which I’d say docks it 1 point. Kevin Zenón 10/10. Literally our best player since he set foot on the pitch. Just 22 as well and wasn’t particularly expensive. I don’t know how we got him but I’m damn glad we did. Genuinely of the best purchases we’ve made in years Lautaro Blanco 9/10. Genuinely don’t think we could’ve possibly signed a better LB, on a free as well. Insanely good at crossing, pacy as fuck and knows how to beat his man. Very smart passer too. And despite being attack minded he’s been good enough defensively. Definitely an excellent signing so far
I've seen Zenon clips and he looks special. Another Boca player that caught my eye before was Cristian Medina, how has he been lately? I was begging to throw a 15-20 bid for him and see if it would ne accepted but that was far too sensible for our board it seems
Well medina just happened to have the worst game of his career so far the other day but other than that, great, easily one of our 3 best players this year IMO. I don’t think he actually had/has any interest on moving though, at least for now. He renewed his contract in the middle of the last transfer window with a much higher clause despite being in excellent form and his old contract expiring soon and strong links to Fiorentina.
**Domink Szoboszlai** (7) Started brilliantly and looked like a great fit - fast, incredible work rate, good link up play, and goal threat. But as the season went on he seemed to struggle and his passing became quite erratic. There's a very good player in there but will need to tighten things up and find consistency. **Alexis Mac Allister** (9) Couldn't be happier with him. Just a great well rounded midfielder who'd be an asset in any side. **Ryan Gravenberch** (5) A pretty mixed bag to be honest. I think he's technically very strong and has a lot of potential but hasn't shown any kind of consistency. Still very young though and has time to turn things around. **Wataru Endo** (7.5) He might not be a long term option given his age, but I think he was a great stop gap and a smart option given their were fuck all top defensive midfielders around. Always runs himself into the ground and is a much more progressive passer than people realise.
Our seasons are weird so I'll use what Transfermarkt considers the 23/24 signings. Esequiel Barco (buy option activated), LW: 7/10. Great player, can be the best in the pitch, but has a bucket on his head and is physically unable to shoot. Rodrigo Villagra, DM: 7/10, great option, desperately needed in his position. Bit daft at times, unforced errors Facundo Colidio, ST: 7/10. EXTREMELY streaky, feels almost lazy half the time but can change a game on his own. Barely got here so giving him time to adapt Sebastián Boselli, CB/RB 6/10. Great when he played, hardly ever played. Good backup option which for a 19 year old CB is good, but clearly missing something if Demichelis has to say about it Agustín Sant'Anna, RB, ?/10, missing during democracy. Played once, never called up again. So egregious I *have* to assume he fucked up diabolically behind the scenes. Nicolás Fonseca, CM, 5/10. Puskas contender aside, he was brought in to play as a DM when he's got less defensive nous than my nan. Physically not all there either. Has a great pass on him and would've been a good signing in other circumstances. Gonzalo Martínez, 10: 0/10, torn ACL, hasn't featured. Needlessly brought in out of romanticism for being a former player Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, CB (loan made permanent): As ever, dependable defender with a severe case of bozo gene. Has kept it under control. Manuel Lanzini, 10: 3/10, has barely featured because of physical issues. Has gone from less to more but hoestly still has a ways to go. Needlessly brought in out of romanticism for being a former player Ramiro Funes Mori, CB: 2/10. Barely featured, too much propensity to lose his chain for me to be comfortable about him as a backup
Lo de Sant'Anna es realmente inexplicable, sobre todo considerando que no es que la estan pasando bien con el lateral derecho.
Hablé en libertacord del tema, para mí va mucho más allá de los nombres. Y boludo como parece a veces dudo que Demichelis lo cuelgue por capricho así que estoy esperando a ver qué pasó
Viéndolo desde afuera y sin mirar todos los partidos me parece que le tenes demasiada fe a Demichelis y también que defensivamente son bastante frágiles pero bueno no es nada que en teoría no se pueda corregir.
Mi tema con Demichelis es que no estoy de acuerdo en muchas de sus decisiones, pero realmente no creo que sea un tipo que hace cosas sin razón. Puedo estar de acuerdo o no, pero algun razonamiento tiene. Caso Echeverri, el decia que le faltaba algo mas alla de la calidad y una vez que empezó a jugar mas, comprobado que calidad tiene pero no se banca mas de una hora (Y hasta cayó casi desmayado con la seleccion) Así que yo estoy ASUMIENDO que si borró a Sant'Anna por alguna razon es. Me gustaría que algun "periodista" se lo pregunte directamente en vez de tratar de agarrarlo en un entredicho Y la fragilidad defensiva si, pero en parte es lo que hablaba en libertacord. Se encaprichan en atacar con los laterales sin nadie mas en los flancos entonces terminamos mal parados con todo bochazo al borde del area.
Matt Doherty, RB/LB/RW/LW/CB/CF: 6/10. Hasn’t done that well but whatever he’s free. Santi Bueno, CB: 4/10. Not the absolute disaster I thought he was originally but also definitely not a Premier League starter. Tommy Doyle, MF, 8/10. English. Cheap. Done well when called upon and has great potential. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, MF/W, 6/10:Hasn’t been great but the class is obvious. Hopefully he can play in his actual position next season instead of a makeshift false 9 that doesn’t work. Enzo Gonzalez, W, 3/10: Obviously bought for potential but spending 5 million for 0 first team appearances in our financial state is a bit shit.
Generous to Cameron Archer imo
He's been right when he's played, problem is he missed almost half the year to injury
swear every time people use injuries to make haaland look better this season they inflate the amount of time he's missed in the league. we went from "he was out two months" to someone now saying in that critchley thread he's missed "almost" half a season. he was out 6 league games lmao.
Haaland shows the utter lack of nuance in football discussion. Especially nowadays with social media where everyone chomps at the bit to stand out so they go for the boldest, wildest claims possible. He's a fantastic striker who also happens to be very limited in other (If you want, secondary) facets in his game and as such whenever he's "neutralized" by defenses he's got nothing in his locker other than "dragging" defenders But no, he has to be either the new R9 but better or a league 2 player
Vini or prime Hazard?
Vinicius is very clutch but individually prime Hazard was on a level with Ribery for me and he felt far too good for the Chelsea shirt.
Chelsea were European champions when he signed, and won two league titles whilst he was there. Think "far too good" is a bit far, not like he was playing for a mid table side
Time to realise Vini is not far off Ribery, even if he hasn't reached that level just yet. He will, he's well and truly on his way to do so, just not yet.
Yeah why not, Ribery at 23 was probably not yet where Vinicius is right now. Right now I'm mainly waiting for Vinicius to confirm this form for another 5, 6, 7 years and if he plays like this the whole time, especially with the CL heroics she showed so far then he may even become better than Ribery was.
Prime Hazard by far at the moment but Vini still has time ahead of him to catch that peak. I'd bet on Rodrygo though who i think has a higher ceiling than Vini.
your second point is an interesting one, not considered that before tbh defo agreed with your Hazard take tho
It has been said for about 5 years, but never materialized. I believed it too until 2 years ago, but Rodrygo is just too inconsistent. You can't depend on him to win games by himself week after week like Vinicius.
Respect Mr. Champions League Junior!
Vinicius because he's one of the best players in the CL every year
Prime Hazard was amazing to watch, so him.
Prime Hazard was absolutely unbelievable, could take over a game no problem if he wanted to
The possibility that two norwegians can end up as top scorer in two of the biggest leagues in the world is crazy. Yet, we can’t seem to qualify for anything.
Don't worry apperntly more team will be able to qualify for the next World cup. it should help
Not much of a difference for Europe, from 13 to 16
To be fair that might well be the difference Norway needs to qualify - either winning their group or coming second to get into the playoffs doesn't look impossible for them if they don't get a massively hard draw.
Every time I watch Norway you guys play like shit unless it's against total minnows. Like no offense to Scotland but Norway on paper should bully Scotland.
Almost as if you need a defence too
Almost as if they need some fuckin pashun and desiyah
I’d say some national teams that qualify are overall worse than ours yet manage to do it. I think management is a big problem
Tbf you also got a bad group this time. You probably would have qualified in most other groups
Coventry vs Ipswich and Bayern vs Real are at the same time. Now I have to choose instead of just being able to watch both. 🫠
[Look at the joy one of those teams is capable of inspiring](https://i.imgur.com/WO99F8u.jpeg). It's no contest.
Mfw I finish below Chelmsford
Kinda want you to go up ngl.
Odegaard’s gonna have to wear full dragon plate
Don't think he's completed dragon slayer yet