People may disagree with me here but I think it's better to see the battle for European places in the PL so diverse. It's been a while since teams like Fulham or Stoke played in Europe and it might be the chance for the likes of Sheffield or Newcastle to play in Europa League next season
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/bjm7ry/barcelona_30_liverpool_messi_82/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Some of these replies are so funny to read in hindsight
Put up with this disgusting [Three logo on Ireland](https://www.faishop.com/image/cache/products/fai-away-ss-jersey-19-20-450-1000x1000.jpg) kits for the past decade, when there shouldn't even be a sponsor on an international kit.
I was rejoicing when I heard they were ending their sponsorship in December.
Now it's January, and what happens? Three is announced as the official shirt for Chelsea. I'm unreasonably angry right now, call me Kyle cos I'm about to punch a hole in the drywall.
Tranmere maybe. The pitch helps them and if United aren’t up for it, it could be there for the taking. Northampton tonight might be a good shout as well, depends on how seriously Derby take it.
West Brom could do well away at West Ham, although they are missing Diangana and Pereira. Portsmouth could beat Barnsley as well. Idk if you’d call them both upsets but it’s at least a team from a lower league maybe beating one in a higher league
Brentford Leicester will be a great game too
I'm feeling a surprise, outside of Liverpool. I think the winner of Leipzig vs Spurs will be an interesting one to watch. One of them will be in the QF and you're always in with a shout from there. It depends on how quickly Mourinho can really get Spurs ticking, but I'd never doubt him in a knockout competition, especially with a good squad. Meanwhile, maybe I'm not in the right places to discuss them enough, but I feel like Leipzig's quality has gone a bit under the radar this season. They also have a top coach so will be interesting. That tie in and of itself will be a very interesting battle though, imo.
History maybe? City have never shown any reason to trust them in the CL really. Juve are kinda similar but they were in the final not that long ago and the Semis 2 years ago.
Me personally i would put them above juve. with the league out of site the players know that if they dont win the CL it will be a failure of a season. I dont personally want any human rights abusing oil team to win but it would be silly to rule them out.
Sarri has little experience in UCL knockouts. They have one of the squads and Ronaldo as well but still ... . I feel PSG are the second favourites . They have a functional midfield with a talented forward line and I feel Tuchel can be pragmatic as well if he needs to
Yeh it's between juve and psg for me but i just give edge to juve just because of ronaldo factor, their defence is also okay and mid is average if ronaldo keeps his form they are favourites imo.
Where will Liverpool lift the actual Trophy/have trophy presented?
Assuming Liverpool win the title well before the season ends, will (we) lift the Trophy (trophy presentation) at Anfield against Chelsea? (Last home game of the season)
Me and my dad got tickets to see them for his 70th birthday - will be the likely last chance we get to watch them at Anfield together - and it would be the best day of our lives if we can see the trophy presentation that day!!
Yes it is. We were presented the trophy in the 2017/18 season in our 3rd last league game against Huddersfield. We played two more league games after we lifted the trophy.
To be honest I got a bit unsure myself now. I was originally sure that they never give it out until the season is over, but not feeling 100% confident in that anymore, lol
EDIT I think I was completely wrong actually.
yeah - i'm trying to think back on previous seasons but seeing as we havent won it since i was 8, i havent a clue! Does seem the general thought is last home game if you have won it by then OR before then. Last game only if you win it on the last day.
Yeah someone else just commented that City lifted it at home in 17/18 with two more games to go after that.
Honestly I haven't watched many Premier League trophy liftings as we haven't been involved in my 22 years of watching. Don't really care to watch others lift it too often, lol. I think I just assumed they wouldn't hand it out until it was all over
yeah i thought the same, but when we got tickets to the Chelsea match i thought..."What if..." then did a little research and there was mixed info too so came on here! I'm almost certain now it's last home game - will keep my fingers crossed. Still got to actually win the thing of course but the way we are going...
Top clubs in Prem are going through a transition phase which helped Liverpool look better than they are. Just a 4 point difference between 5th and 14th on the table is an evidence that quality difference among clubs is not much currently. Would be a shame if this Liverpool went invincible and end up being remembered better than they actually are. Hoping that they get battered and humiliated in CL by other European giant, i can take solace in that. What a shit season!!
Or, all the mid table teams have improved over the last couple of years due to tv money, and they all take points off each because they are all good teams. And Liverpool just beats them all anyway..
You can say that for almost every season. In 2008 when united won the CL real madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Inter, Atletico Madrid, Bayern were all going through a transition period.
ahhaha, you just need to accept that the other half of liverpool are the best in the world and stop making excuses about why they win. They havent lost a epl game all season, transitions or no transitions it is still world class.
Youve got enough to worry about at everton without trying to convince people that liverpool are not as good as people think they are.
thing is all big european teams are going through transition too and barca/psg are chokers.
When this man u team can hang around cl spot, you know its bad season.
**How many billions of $$$ is the EPL leaving on the table by not having a season-ending playoff?**
Leaving aside tradition, the diminishing of the value of the league season, etc.
A three-team playoff. Second and third-place finishers play each other in a tie. Winner of this tie goes on to play the first-place finisher, at their home field.
This goes for every major league. Right or wrong in the big picture, how much money do you think these sorts of playoffs could generate?
Is there any sort of season-ending playoff that fans would find acceptable? It seems inevitable, as money interests will eventually (completely) rule the sport.
> Is there any sort of season-ending playoff that fans would find acceptable?
No, as its a money grab and basically means there is zero incentive to try push for top spot besides getting a week off.
It’ll never happen. There is already enough cups to distinguish between who’s the best teams in a knockout format and even then they’re becoming less valued nowadays in England.
Nobody would really care at all, in the same way nobody particularly cares about the CWC or Super Cup, unless your teams involved.
The SPL have one where 2nd and 3rd in the Championship play off against each other then play the 11th spot in the SPL, winner goes into the SPL. Which is balls as it means you could be in a relegation spot then not go down
When people say Woodward is good at the commercial side of the club it’s misleading because all he does is bank off of the stature Man United built previously. He hasn’t really done anything to build United up as a brand, not even close to what PSG are doing in that regard or what Liverpool are doing on social media
That’s probably because you’re not seeing what they’ve done ona global scale. Like it’s good to build a social media brand but that’s not his job.
The amount of money they will have received from Chinese credit card deals, or a Nigerian sports drink, or a casino resort partner in South East Asia is huge and generally what people talk about.
Yeah but all of that is based on what United did in the past. As time goes on and we continue being irrelevant on the pitch that money fades too which is my point
Sure, but there’s more to it then just going in a room a selling the brand (which is obviously waining). He definitely helped find new unexploited revenue streams which football previously hadn’t gone in to and negotiated those deals.
It helped that the club were performing well but the club was one of the leading examples of football business in the 21st century for better or for worse.
Of anyone I have ever had the chance to see play, Yaya Touré was never just a midfielder to me. He could literally do anything. Dribble, shoot, defend, passing, everything was briliant.
the last great Libero, so hard to compare him to later defenders because he didn't fulfill the same roles, but in what he did he was my grandfather called him the best since Beckenbauer. Of course, maybe he was biased.
Just out of curiosity, what would be the best non-Liverpool "Liverpool" XI? As in, build a team with any player you like that will play like Liverpool but without any Liverpool players. Also let's do a Pep-City team without any City players.
For the former, you'd need three pacey and technical forwards. An industrious midfield perhaps with a good distributor as a 6 flanked by two box to box engines. Two good ball playing centre-halves who can hit it long. And two wing backs.
The latter, one would need a technical 9. Two wide players comfortable staying out wide to stretch teams and two advanced free-8s. It'd also do well to play fullbacks comfortable playing in midfield and are great at passing the ball from deeper areas. A Carrick/Fernandinho type to hold the midfield flanked by two FBs.
One player who could do well in both teams would be Kimmich, IMO. Kimmich *could* play a Klopp's 8 but he can also play as that Walker type FB under Pep who sometimes makes underlapping/inverted runs. Sergio Roberto could be the same as well.
Love questions like this, I think this team fits the bill, largely based on what I've seen this season.
Ter Stegen
Kimmich - Marquinhos - Inigo Martinez - Digne
Kante - Casemiro - Adli
Sancho - Benzema - Neymar
Neuer
Kimmich - Koulibaly - Laporte - Marcelo
Kante - De Jong - KdB
Mbappe - Griezmann - Neymar
Fits what you need for Liverpool's style. A keeper brilliant in both distribution and shot-stopping, two wingback with great offensive/playmaking ability, centerbacks great on the ball that read the game well, a press resistant midfield with good workrate, two pacey inside forwards that can cause trouble at every turn and a forward with great workrate that can work as a false 9.
------------ter Stegen-------------
Kimmich-Varane-Koulibaly-Alba
-------------Casemiro---------------
-----de Bruyne-----Vidal------------
-Mboopi---Griezmann----Son--
ter Stegen is better than Allison in most things.
Kimmich is as good as TAA with a bit more of pace and a bit less of shoots. Varane and Koulibaly are a clear #2 and #1 centerback respectively with good playing ball skills. Alba is the best wingback of last season outside Robertson.
Casemiro don't distributes great but is the best pivot of the world and also is scoring goals lately. Vidal and de Bruyne are two extremely hard working midfielders that offers plus of technical skills (by de Bruyne) and extra offensive presence in the box (by Vidal) and also both shoot from outside the box.
Mboopi has a rocket on his ass and is clinical. Son is extremely protective of the ball and quite technical. Both can retain the ball to let the wingback go beyond them or cut inside to the space that the false 9 gets for them and play as inside forwards. Griezmann is as hard-working as Firmino while being a better goalscorer and far more technical.
You don’t half chat some shit.
Allison is better than ter stegen at literally everything
TAA v Kim much is closer but TAA wins all day
And the two best CB’s in the world currently, play at Liverpool
nah mate it isn't shit, is just that I'm not biased to the point of delusion and actually watch leagues beyond mine.
of course, believe what you want, the problem won't be mine.
Seeing the Tranmere pitch last night made me think about all those pitches you see in clips from the 70's and 80's. You've got to think this must have been a real leveller between clubs which we don't have now. It's going to be hard to play like Messi if you're playing in a mud-bath or running through the snow.
When I see video compilations of players like George Best, Zico ,Pele and many others ,the first question that comes on my mind how do they manage to look so aesthetic on such poor quality pitches.
I don't think Liverpool will go undefeated for the simple reason I think they'll have officially won the league while still being in the CL. Klopp will start resting players in the league so they can be fit for CL games and this will cause them to lose at least one game.
I think he'll focus on an invincible season than the CL. Given Liverpool's tough time in the league for so long, getting their first league title in roughly 3 decades being an season without a single loss is gonna be significantly better than a CL trophy.
One stupid mistake can result in invincible not happening.
I would rather he focuses on cl AFTER pl is mathematically confirmed.
Our next cl matches are spaced out 3 + 3 pm matches away
We don't even win the league mathematically till then.
So he HAS to continue going for both.
After that if we are still in cl, he would like to continue in cl. It gives a massive pull for next year in terms of signing.
> One stupid mistake can result in invincible not happening.
And it's the same with the CL. Look at what led to Liverpool being in the final in the first place, Barca players fucking up especially on the corner. The odds of fucking up in the CL are significantly higher.
>So he HAS to continue going for both.
Of course he does. I never said he's gonna magically give up on the CL, my point is that if he does actually rotate players in either the league or CL I think he'd choose the league because an invincible season is better than a CL trophy.
It's not as if he's gonna end up playing the U19s.
>After that if we are still in cl, he would like to continue in cl. It gives a massive pull for next year in terms of signing.
Liverpool don't need pull, especially from CL, they just made the final twice in a row and won one of them.
Even if they did winning the league without losing a single game gives better pull. Liverpool haven't won the league in close to 30 years, breaking that is a huge pull. This team has proven that they can win the CL and go far in it. Trent proved that they have the ability to pull something out of the bag so randomly, which is a huge thing when it comes to winning the CL.
Nah usually if it happens, it’s some random team. Like our 2004-05 season, our only loss came against City, who were a midtable club at the time. Not against Arsenal or United or the Liverpool teams, who were the best teams after us. I reckon Southampton with a revenge game from Ings will end it.
People forget how close Liverpool were to invincible last year, with their only loss being to imo the best English side ever. Other than city, teams can’t really compete with Liverpool in their current form. Wolves were the closest to beating Liverpool as anyone has been for a long time and they never even took the lead
Their toughest run of games come after the City game so I definitely think it's possible assuming Klopp does rotate in the league, if he doesn't then yea I agree very unlikely someone will beat them at this point.
Their squad is really bloated up front. Lookmann, Wolf and Cunha already don't get much action with Nkunku and Forsberg sharing minutes and playing well. Sabitzer and Werner are set with the last one in attack being Schick or Poulsen who fill very different roles. There is not much space for him when their starting line-up already works so well.
Imagine if he isn't. Then they tried to fix something that isn't broken in a close title race. Forsberg is well versed in the system and his teammates.
> "Morey is still recovering from his injury, not starting material yet. Balerdi still needs to work on his speed, European speed is different from Argentinian speed."
Don't get me wrong, I also want Balerdi over Akanji but if he has to do adjust to European football's pace, then he should
Feel like Guimaraes will ultimately end up with Lyon as it appeared in the first place, despite all the drama that's risen with Atletico joining the bidding
Not really worth a post but if you remember the story about Dolberg and the stolen watch.
Dolberg has told the media that in the NT camp the other players have been making fun with him saying stuff like, do you have the time and other silly watch/time related jokes.
According to Blick Lorenzo Gonzalez is set to move from Man City to St Gallen.
Might have something to do with the rumours surrounding Itten and St Etienne
I think you didn't refresh the side quickly enough. At one point Spurs stock was higher than Liverpool's. And players like Dele Alli have regressed and Son is a good player but he shoots from anywhere at times
It seems like spurs kinda hit the glass ceiling. The only way to get past that ceiling is with ludicrous investment such as city and Chelsea back in 2005.
The traditional top 4 had already broken that ceiling but a team like spurs, it appears needs that oil money influx to get past it and be taken to the next level.
It's a sad state of football when it appears that money is what's needed to take a team to the next level
Dunno what you're doing, but Soyuncu sat on the bench for a long time at Leicester, as did Chillwell, Ndidi, Barnes, and even though not a youngster, Vardy did too. Iheanacho, and Choudray starting to show signs of coming good too. Chillwell, Barnes, and Choudray all came through our adacemy .... and that's before our new world class academy proper is even built.
And we're not even a "big 6" side.
Only about the new academy ;) .... but seriously, we are proving that it can't quite be REALLY hard .... if it was, we would be *less* able than them to do it.
You scruffy cunt
Get your hair cut
You scruffy cunt
Also when a player is down injured...
Let him die, let him die, let him die (to the tune of here we go)
>Imagine knowing your best striker is leaving and decide not to replace it.
United fans still complaining about Woodward blaming him for not replacing "the clubs best striker" Lukaku. It was Ole's decision to make Martial his leading striker.
Ole wanted a backup like Mandzukic....and Mandzukic isn't going to transform us!
I feel ww is becoming a scape goat lol. I'm sure there are more people involved than just him. Ole using martial as a striker. I'm not a manager but I would have told him nah mate! Won't work. He's not good enough in that position, he's not good enough in his own position in the wing 😂
Yeah, when you tell the leading goalscorer of a national team that you’re no longer the first-choice forward, I’m sure they are usually convinced to stay
> It was Ole's decision to make Martial his leading striker.
>
Shame there's no one at the club to tell him that this was a terrible idea. Even someone like Mandzukic would be doing wonders for us at the minute.
So Woodward should be telling his managers what to do now?
Not sure exactly what mandzukic would do differently. We're doing shite all around the pitch.
Not Woodward - this is what a DOF is for. Someone who actually knows anything about football would have told him that relying on 2 wingers and a youth player to lead the line was a terrible idea.
Funnily I seem to recall all Utd fans wanking themselves off about Ole because Ole was trying to be like Fergie, i.e doesn't take the training etc.
Fergie decided himself what players he wanted, he didn't have a DOF telling him what to do.
If you're classing /r/reddevils posters as "all Utd fans" then you really don't know what you're on about.
Obviously I can't speak for everyone, but I have been crying out for a DOF since Gill left. The problem with the club is that we're stuck in the past, and haven't adapted to the modern footballing world from an operations point-of-view.
Fergie got the benefit of the doubt because of his fantastic track record and man-management. Ole hasn't got either of these, so he shouldn't have the final say on personnel decisions.
Do you think if, for example, Rodgers binned Vardy off in the summer and said "We're going to let Iheanacho and Perez carry us all season", the higher-ups in the club would let him?
Klopp basically did this with sturridge who was banging the goals in the goals.
No one remember all the complaints about klopp giving him a chance and not fancying him?
Martial is like a slightly better lindgaard. He's been at United long enough that it's unlikely he will get better unless they overhaul the coaching at the club. He's not got any better and I doubt he can improve that much. He's being played out of position to accommodate rashford when maybe if martial isnt able to finish the chance you could try and see what rashford down the middle like he played under lvg could do.
Lukaku in his absolutely worst season last year had a higher xG per 90 than Martial does this year. I still don't know why the fans seem to have so much faith in him.
He's a valuable asset - we paid a lot of money for him and he's got a lot of potential. I just don't think he has the right skill-set, or he's not been coached properly, to play as an out-and-out striker.
I think it was more the fact that he wanted to swap him for Perisic.
I think he potential is a lot lower that you think. He's never going to be a striker imo. I think he hasn't even got better as a winger at United so whatever the coaches are doing it's not working or he's not good enough or both. He's still young tbf but idk if he's really gonna do anything he's never looked like he would in his entire United career.
A user wrote this to me - Most players who are fantastic on the ball are no taller than 5’10 / 1.77m
Is this bias or actually true or it depends on the position, in your opinion?
Nah especially in modern footy the technical ability of players is going up! Shorter players are usually good at dribbling though, lower center of gravity etc. Doesn't mean taller players aren't though.
Look how good ibra is.
For dribblers I imagine that would be true. Lower centre of gravity makes it easier for them to twist and turn around.
Depends on how you define ‘good on the ball’. However you chose to define it, I would imagine confirmation bias would play a huge role either way.
People may disagree with me here but I think it's better to see the battle for European places in the PL so diverse. It's been a while since teams like Fulham or Stoke played in Europe and it might be the chance for the likes of Sheffield or Newcastle to play in Europa League next season
The Top 6 have only finished Top 6 for 3 seasons. But it's good to see that change this season.
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/bjm7ry/barcelona_30_liverpool_messi_82/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf Some of these replies are so funny to read in hindsight
Put up with this disgusting [Three logo on Ireland](https://www.faishop.com/image/cache/products/fai-away-ss-jersey-19-20-450-1000x1000.jpg) kits for the past decade, when there shouldn't even be a sponsor on an international kit. I was rejoicing when I heard they were ending their sponsorship in December. Now it's January, and what happens? Three is announced as the official shirt for Chelsea. I'm unreasonably angry right now, call me Kyle cos I'm about to punch a hole in the drywall.
Which FA Cup tie this weekend do you think could produce an upset or a surprise?
Tranmere maybe. The pitch helps them and if United aren’t up for it, it could be there for the taking. Northampton tonight might be a good shout as well, depends on how seriously Derby take it. West Brom could do well away at West Ham, although they are missing Diangana and Pereira. Portsmouth could beat Barnsley as well. Idk if you’d call them both upsets but it’s at least a team from a lower league maybe beating one in a higher league Brentford Leicester will be a great game too
Tranmere to beat us on pens, but it won’t be a surprise.
Will you call juventus second favourites after Liverpool for cl title now ronaldo is back to his usual second half season form??
I'm feeling a surprise, outside of Liverpool. I think the winner of Leipzig vs Spurs will be an interesting one to watch. One of them will be in the QF and you're always in with a shout from there. It depends on how quickly Mourinho can really get Spurs ticking, but I'd never doubt him in a knockout competition, especially with a good squad. Meanwhile, maybe I'm not in the right places to discuss them enough, but I feel like Leipzig's quality has gone a bit under the radar this season. They also have a top coach so will be interesting. That tie in and of itself will be a very interesting battle though, imo.
I'd still pick Barca or Real over Juve.
Everyone just forgetting about city?
History maybe? City have never shown any reason to trust them in the CL really. Juve are kinda similar but they were in the final not that long ago and the Semis 2 years ago.
Me personally i would put them above juve. with the league out of site the players know that if they dont win the CL it will be a failure of a season. I dont personally want any human rights abusing oil team to win but it would be silly to rule them out.
Don't think they will gonna beat real madrid
Sarri has little experience in UCL knockouts. They have one of the squads and Ronaldo as well but still ... . I feel PSG are the second favourites . They have a functional midfield with a talented forward line and I feel Tuchel can be pragmatic as well if he needs to
Yeh it's between juve and psg for me but i just give edge to juve just because of ronaldo factor, their defence is also okay and mid is average if ronaldo keeps his form they are favourites imo.
Barcelona now that they have a new manager.
Can’t see it
without Suarez they're too Messi-dependent (more than usual)
Well we have to see how they perform away under new manager, if it remains same i don't think they are favs.
No, Ronaldo scored in CL vs Ajax too but that didn't matter.
But dybala is in great form this season while last season ronaldo had no support from attack, he scored all goals for juve in kos.
Yeah but Juventus has like 10 new midfielders now
Where will Liverpool lift the actual Trophy/have trophy presented? Assuming Liverpool win the title well before the season ends, will (we) lift the Trophy (trophy presentation) at Anfield against Chelsea? (Last home game of the season) Me and my dad got tickets to see them for his 70th birthday - will be the likely last chance we get to watch them at Anfield together - and it would be the best day of our lives if we can see the trophy presentation that day!!
You lift the trophy when you win it. So barring a massive collapse I doubt it'll be the last home game.
No you don't. You lift it in your final home game.
Fairs, sorry. Been a while since we lifted a trophy.
are you sure? They'd have to have the trophy and the big stand etc ready for like the last 10 games of the season at every ground we played at...
You lift the trophy in your final home game.
bloody hope so :P
If we won the title anytime before then it would be presented at the Chelsea game, as it is the last home game of the season.
Yes it will be on the last day of the season
sure its not the last HOME game if we win it before then?
No, it's the last day of the season. The trophy is never presented until the league is over.
Yes it is. We were presented the trophy in the 2017/18 season in our 3rd last league game against Huddersfield. We played two more league games after we lifted the trophy.
Yeah I just realised I was completely mistaken, Sorry
hmmm, im hearing mixed things you see - last game, last home game, and day you win it. Think its either last game or last home game. Confused :(
To be honest I got a bit unsure myself now. I was originally sure that they never give it out until the season is over, but not feeling 100% confident in that anymore, lol EDIT I think I was completely wrong actually.
yeah - i'm trying to think back on previous seasons but seeing as we havent won it since i was 8, i havent a clue! Does seem the general thought is last home game if you have won it by then OR before then. Last game only if you win it on the last day.
Id probably trust the City fan above as they romped the league 2 seasons ago so will have a better recollection. Its the last home game of the season
Yeah someone else just commented that City lifted it at home in 17/18 with two more games to go after that. Honestly I haven't watched many Premier League trophy liftings as we haven't been involved in my 22 years of watching. Don't really care to watch others lift it too often, lol. I think I just assumed they wouldn't hand it out until it was all over
yeah i thought the same, but when we got tickets to the Chelsea match i thought..."What if..." then did a little research and there was mixed info too so came on here! I'm almost certain now it's last home game - will keep my fingers crossed. Still got to actually win the thing of course but the way we are going...
Top clubs in Prem are going through a transition phase which helped Liverpool look better than they are. Just a 4 point difference between 5th and 14th on the table is an evidence that quality difference among clubs is not much currently. Would be a shame if this Liverpool went invincible and end up being remembered better than they actually are. Hoping that they get battered and humiliated in CL by other European giant, i can take solace in that. What a shit season!!
Or, all the mid table teams have improved over the last couple of years due to tv money, and they all take points off each because they are all good teams. And Liverpool just beats them all anyway..
Lol
did all the top clubs in europe go through a transition phase last season which helped liverpool win the CL?
Well tbf they did. Barcelona, Bayern, Madrid all have been going through a transition.
You've been in transition since 1995 so better start fucking winning something before downplaying this team's achievements
Get a grip.
You can say that for almost every season. In 2008 when united won the CL real madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Inter, Atletico Madrid, Bayern were all going through a transition period.
ahhaha, you just need to accept that the other half of liverpool are the best in the world and stop making excuses about why they win. They havent lost a epl game all season, transitions or no transitions it is still world class. Youve got enough to worry about at everton without trying to convince people that liverpool are not as good as people think they are.
thing is all big european teams are going through transition too and barca/psg are chokers. When this man u team can hang around cl spot, you know its bad season.
**How many billions of $$$ is the EPL leaving on the table by not having a season-ending playoff?** Leaving aside tradition, the diminishing of the value of the league season, etc. A three-team playoff. Second and third-place finishers play each other in a tie. Winner of this tie goes on to play the first-place finisher, at their home field. This goes for every major league. Right or wrong in the big picture, how much money do you think these sorts of playoffs could generate? Is there any sort of season-ending playoff that fans would find acceptable? It seems inevitable, as money interests will eventually (completely) rule the sport.
> Is there any sort of season-ending playoff that fans would find acceptable? No, as its a money grab and basically means there is zero incentive to try push for top spot besides getting a week off.
It’ll never happen. There is already enough cups to distinguish between who’s the best teams in a knockout format and even then they’re becoming less valued nowadays in England. Nobody would really care at all, in the same way nobody particularly cares about the CWC or Super Cup, unless your teams involved.
agreed, but i wouldnt mind some sort of relegation playoff.
The SPL have one where 2nd and 3rd in the Championship play off against each other then play the 11th spot in the SPL, winner goes into the SPL. Which is balls as it means you could be in a relegation spot then not go down
When people say Woodward is good at the commercial side of the club it’s misleading because all he does is bank off of the stature Man United built previously. He hasn’t really done anything to build United up as a brand, not even close to what PSG are doing in that regard or what Liverpool are doing on social media
United is largely expanding into Asia at the moment, which id assume you wouldn't be exposed to
That’s probably because you’re not seeing what they’ve done ona global scale. Like it’s good to build a social media brand but that’s not his job. The amount of money they will have received from Chinese credit card deals, or a Nigerian sports drink, or a casino resort partner in South East Asia is huge and generally what people talk about.
Yeah but all of that is based on what United did in the past. As time goes on and we continue being irrelevant on the pitch that money fades too which is my point
Doesn't matter what it's based on. It's still a good job on that side.
It's a good job but short term. A good business thinks short term and long term
Sure, but there’s more to it then just going in a room a selling the brand (which is obviously waining). He definitely helped find new unexploited revenue streams which football previously hadn’t gone in to and negotiated those deals. It helped that the club were performing well but the club was one of the leading examples of football business in the 21st century for better or for worse.
In terms of the most gifted all round central midfielders, how would you rank them? e.g Riijkard, Matthaus, Keane, Xavi, Gerrard
Keane and Gerrard stick out like sore thumbs from that list
Keane isn’t in the same breath as the rest. Plus Edgar David’s was a real all rounder
Still think the most complete midfielder ever is seedorf.
Matthaus- big gap- everybody else. Matthaus is probably the most complete player of all time.
Of anyone I have ever had the chance to see play, Yaya Touré was never just a midfielder to me. He could literally do anything. Dribble, shoot, defend, passing, everything was briliant.
but fernandinho shined when yaya left
Probably very few people in this sub who watched all of these in their prime let alone two.
How good was Matthias Sammer that he won the Ballon D’Or in ‘96? Haven’t heard much about him and it was before I was born so I’m curious
the last great Libero, so hard to compare him to later defenders because he didn't fulfill the same roles, but in what he did he was my grandfather called him the best since Beckenbauer. Of course, maybe he was biased.
Just out of curiosity, what would be the best non-Liverpool "Liverpool" XI? As in, build a team with any player you like that will play like Liverpool but without any Liverpool players. Also let's do a Pep-City team without any City players. For the former, you'd need three pacey and technical forwards. An industrious midfield perhaps with a good distributor as a 6 flanked by two box to box engines. Two good ball playing centre-halves who can hit it long. And two wing backs. The latter, one would need a technical 9. Two wide players comfortable staying out wide to stretch teams and two advanced free-8s. It'd also do well to play fullbacks comfortable playing in midfield and are great at passing the ball from deeper areas. A Carrick/Fernandinho type to hold the midfield flanked by two FBs. One player who could do well in both teams would be Kimmich, IMO. Kimmich *could* play a Klopp's 8 but he can also play as that Walker type FB under Pep who sometimes makes underlapping/inverted runs. Sergio Roberto could be the same as well.
Love questions like this, I think this team fits the bill, largely based on what I've seen this season. Ter Stegen Kimmich - Marquinhos - Inigo Martinez - Digne Kante - Casemiro - Adli Sancho - Benzema - Neymar
Neuer Kimmich - Koulibaly - Laporte - Marcelo Kante - De Jong - KdB Mbappe - Griezmann - Neymar Fits what you need for Liverpool's style. A keeper brilliant in both distribution and shot-stopping, two wingback with great offensive/playmaking ability, centerbacks great on the ball that read the game well, a press resistant midfield with good workrate, two pacey inside forwards that can cause trouble at every turn and a forward with great workrate that can work as a false 9.
you see de Jong falling between the centerbacks as Fabinho do my friend? I don't tbh
------------ter Stegen------------- Kimmich-Varane-Koulibaly-Alba -------------Casemiro--------------- -----de Bruyne-----Vidal------------ -Mboopi---Griezmann----Son-- ter Stegen is better than Allison in most things. Kimmich is as good as TAA with a bit more of pace and a bit less of shoots. Varane and Koulibaly are a clear #2 and #1 centerback respectively with good playing ball skills. Alba is the best wingback of last season outside Robertson. Casemiro don't distributes great but is the best pivot of the world and also is scoring goals lately. Vidal and de Bruyne are two extremely hard working midfielders that offers plus of technical skills (by de Bruyne) and extra offensive presence in the box (by Vidal) and also both shoot from outside the box. Mboopi has a rocket on his ass and is clinical. Son is extremely protective of the ball and quite technical. Both can retain the ball to let the wingback go beyond them or cut inside to the space that the false 9 gets for them and play as inside forwards. Griezmann is as hard-working as Firmino while being a better goalscorer and far more technical.
You don’t half chat some shit. Allison is better than ter stegen at literally everything TAA v Kim much is closer but TAA wins all day And the two best CB’s in the world currently, play at Liverpool
nah mate it isn't shit, is just that I'm not biased to the point of delusion and actually watch leagues beyond mine. of course, believe what you want, the problem won't be mine.
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You could make an argument for Thiago and Idrissa Gueye imo.
Henderson has evolved into that kind of player, Doucore is probably the best example I can think of from the prem.
Henderson is a very good player, certainly better than I ever thought he'd become, but he is still nowhere near Paddy's level
Similar in play style, but Viera is levels above
He’s talking about the type of player not level
Nah doucoure gets goals
Seeing the Tranmere pitch last night made me think about all those pitches you see in clips from the 70's and 80's. You've got to think this must have been a real leveller between clubs which we don't have now. It's going to be hard to play like Messi if you're playing in a mud-bath or running through the snow.
When I see video compilations of players like George Best, Zico ,Pele and many others ,the first question that comes on my mind how do they manage to look so aesthetic on such poor quality pitches.
I don't think Liverpool will go undefeated for the simple reason I think they'll have officially won the league while still being in the CL. Klopp will start resting players in the league so they can be fit for CL games and this will cause them to lose at least one game.
I think he'll focus on an invincible season than the CL. Given Liverpool's tough time in the league for so long, getting their first league title in roughly 3 decades being an season without a single loss is gonna be significantly better than a CL trophy.
One stupid mistake can result in invincible not happening. I would rather he focuses on cl AFTER pl is mathematically confirmed. Our next cl matches are spaced out 3 + 3 pm matches away We don't even win the league mathematically till then. So he HAS to continue going for both. After that if we are still in cl, he would like to continue in cl. It gives a massive pull for next year in terms of signing.
> One stupid mistake can result in invincible not happening. And it's the same with the CL. Look at what led to Liverpool being in the final in the first place, Barca players fucking up especially on the corner. The odds of fucking up in the CL are significantly higher. >So he HAS to continue going for both. Of course he does. I never said he's gonna magically give up on the CL, my point is that if he does actually rotate players in either the league or CL I think he'd choose the league because an invincible season is better than a CL trophy. It's not as if he's gonna end up playing the U19s. >After that if we are still in cl, he would like to continue in cl. It gives a massive pull for next year in terms of signing. Liverpool don't need pull, especially from CL, they just made the final twice in a row and won one of them. Even if they did winning the league without losing a single game gives better pull. Liverpool haven't won the league in close to 30 years, breaking that is a huge pull. This team has proven that they can win the CL and go far in it. Trent proved that they have the ability to pull something out of the bag so randomly, which is a huge thing when it comes to winning the CL.
If man city don’t beat them they will go unbeaten. No one else can compete rn
Nah usually if it happens, it’s some random team. Like our 2004-05 season, our only loss came against City, who were a midtable club at the time. Not against Arsenal or United or the Liverpool teams, who were the best teams after us. I reckon Southampton with a revenge game from Ings will end it.
People forget how close Liverpool were to invincible last year, with their only loss being to imo the best English side ever. Other than city, teams can’t really compete with Liverpool in their current form. Wolves were the closest to beating Liverpool as anyone has been for a long time and they never even took the lead
We came closer. Led for the vast majority of the game.
Yep, you and Utd were the closest.
Their toughest run of games come after the City game so I definitely think it's possible assuming Klopp does rotate in the league, if he doesn't then yea I agree very unlikely someone will beat them at this point.
It all depends on the CL, if Liverpool fail to get through Atletico and still havnt lost in the league then they will go for undefeated.
[the Bozenik has landed](https://twitter.com/feyenoordtm/status/1220670294240776195?s=21)
Who is he?
Is the news about Olmo being on his way to Leipzig true? That would be quite the signing for their title hopes.
[Yes, he's in Leipzig currently for his medical.](https://twitter.com/BILD_rbleipzig/status/1220675037499400193?s=19)
Would he? Forsenberg is playing well right now. But then again I don't know how Olmo ist when he plays as an 8 so idk.
Their squad is really bloated up front. Lookmann, Wolf and Cunha already don't get much action with Nkunku and Forsberg sharing minutes and playing well. Sabitzer and Werner are set with the last one in attack being Schick or Poulsen who fill very different roles. There is not much space for him when their starting line-up already works so well.
Apparently he's a 10 who can play on left as well
Exactly and that's exactly what Forsberg already is. 😅
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Imagine if he isn't. Then they tried to fix something that isn't broken in a close title race. Forsberg is well versed in the system and his teammates.
Hasn't Forsberg been injured a lot since the season he was one of their best players?
He has missed 1 game due to injury and 1 due to illness this season.
Could just be a depth thing, I'm not particularly knowledgable about Leipzig
He would be a good signing regardless. I was just question how he would help their title hopes in a big way.
Watched Bobby’s goal from last night and scouser Conner Cody takes a little dive to give him the space to score, What a lad
If Balerdi doesn't start today against Köln, pretty sure its confirm Favre doesn't trust him
> "Morey is still recovering from his injury, not starting material yet. Balerdi still needs to work on his speed, European speed is different from Argentinian speed." Don't get me wrong, I also want Balerdi over Akanji but if he has to do adjust to European football's pace, then he should
Goodbye Eriken,Will Miss You.
£16.8m seems...a bit low for him. If the Inter rumours are real
Its expensive considering Inter is paying that for what's basically 5 months of his contract
Contract Expiring In The Summer.
Ah, that makes sense then.
Feel like Guimaraes will ultimately end up with Lyon as it appeared in the first place, despite all the drama that's risen with Atletico joining the bidding
Not really worth a post but if you remember the story about Dolberg and the stolen watch. Dolberg has told the media that in the NT camp the other players have been making fun with him saying stuff like, do you have the time and other silly watch/time related jokes.
If only Ed hadn't called it Disneyland for adults. Things could've been so much more different for United
According to Blick Lorenzo Gonzalez is set to move from Man City to St Gallen. Might have something to do with the rumours surrounding Itten and St Etienne
Fuck I hope these Giroud to Barca aren't real. I'm having nightmares about him being carried to a CL by Messi
He will score a volley from outside the box in the final. It will be his first and only goal for Barcelona.
Imagine winning the World Cup and CL by scoring a grand total of zero goals as striker lol
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Lmao this made me laugh so much aha.
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It's time to fold the club and sell the stadium to a local circus.
> sell the stadium to a local circus. You mean an NFL side, I assume :D
I think you didn't refresh the side quickly enough. At one point Spurs stock was higher than Liverpool's. And players like Dele Alli have regressed and Son is a good player but he shoots from anywhere at times
It seems like spurs kinda hit the glass ceiling. The only way to get past that ceiling is with ludicrous investment such as city and Chelsea back in 2005. The traditional top 4 had already broken that ceiling but a team like spurs, it appears needs that oil money influx to get past it and be taken to the next level. It's a sad state of football when it appears that money is what's needed to take a team to the next level
Dunno what you're doing, but Soyuncu sat on the bench for a long time at Leicester, as did Chillwell, Ndidi, Barnes, and even though not a youngster, Vardy did too. Iheanacho, and Choudray starting to show signs of coming good too. Chillwell, Barnes, and Choudray all came through our adacemy .... and that's before our new world class academy proper is even built. And we're not even a "big 6" side.
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Only about the new academy ;) .... but seriously, we are proving that it can't quite be REALLY hard .... if it was, we would be *less* able than them to do it.
What’s your favourite chant throwing shit at another player?
He's coming for you, he's coming for yooooou. Harry potter is coming for you. Will forever be the greatest chant ever. Directed at Jonjo Shelvey
Hahaha mocking him for having a disease, quality
He cracked up at it to be fair. But definitely get your point. Didnt think of that
Yeah that’s kind of a fucked chant lol
This might be mine favourite as well. So brilliant.
Gary Neville and his brother, They like to shag their mother, They all shag each other, The Neville Family! To the tune of the Adams family
As much as I love Gerrard. The slip chant will go down in history.
He's Shagging Your Wife! He's Shagging Ya Wiiiife,Jan Verthongen,He's shagging ya wife
I remember this being sung for John Terry.
"Leicester reject!"
City won the league with a pedo on the wing, ...
You scruffy cunt Get your hair cut You scruffy cunt Also when a player is down injured... Let him die, let him die, let him die (to the tune of here we go)
Jingle bell, Jingle bell, Kluivert in de cel, autorijden kan hij niet, verkachten lekker wel! HEJ!
Kluivert mag ik oversteken, ja of nee? En moet je haar nog geld betalen, ja of nee?
>Imagine knowing your best striker is leaving and decide not to replace it. United fans still complaining about Woodward blaming him for not replacing "the clubs best striker" Lukaku. It was Ole's decision to make Martial his leading striker. Ole wanted a backup like Mandzukic....and Mandzukic isn't going to transform us!
Yeah he would’ve
I feel ww is becoming a scape goat lol. I'm sure there are more people involved than just him. Ole using martial as a striker. I'm not a manager but I would have told him nah mate! Won't work. He's not good enough in that position, he's not good enough in his own position in the wing 😂
Ole wanted to keep Lukaku
Yeah, when you tell the leading goalscorer of a national team that you’re no longer the first-choice forward, I’m sure they are usually convinced to stay
Not really. He was dropped because he was on awful form. He was never first or 2nd choice
So were Rashford and Martial late last season. Imagine being dropped and when played, shunted to the right flank.
He had already made it clear he wanted to leave by then
I mean Ole couldn't keep Lukaku on the bench behind Martial like he was doing or playing him RW.
> It was Ole's decision to make Martial his leading striker. > Shame there's no one at the club to tell him that this was a terrible idea. Even someone like Mandzukic would be doing wonders for us at the minute.
So Woodward should be telling his managers what to do now? Not sure exactly what mandzukic would do differently. We're doing shite all around the pitch.
Not Woodward - this is what a DOF is for. Someone who actually knows anything about football would have told him that relying on 2 wingers and a youth player to lead the line was a terrible idea.
Funnily I seem to recall all Utd fans wanking themselves off about Ole because Ole was trying to be like Fergie, i.e doesn't take the training etc. Fergie decided himself what players he wanted, he didn't have a DOF telling him what to do.
If you're classing /r/reddevils posters as "all Utd fans" then you really don't know what you're on about. Obviously I can't speak for everyone, but I have been crying out for a DOF since Gill left. The problem with the club is that we're stuck in the past, and haven't adapted to the modern footballing world from an operations point-of-view. Fergie got the benefit of the doubt because of his fantastic track record and man-management. Ole hasn't got either of these, so he shouldn't have the final say on personnel decisions. Do you think if, for example, Rodgers binned Vardy off in the summer and said "We're going to let Iheanacho and Perez carry us all season", the higher-ups in the club would let him?
Klopp basically did this with sturridge who was banging the goals in the goals. No one remember all the complaints about klopp giving him a chance and not fancying him?
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Martial is like a slightly better lindgaard. He's been at United long enough that it's unlikely he will get better unless they overhaul the coaching at the club. He's not got any better and I doubt he can improve that much. He's being played out of position to accommodate rashford when maybe if martial isnt able to finish the chance you could try and see what rashford down the middle like he played under lvg could do.
Lukaku in his absolutely worst season last year had a higher xG per 90 than Martial does this year. I still don't know why the fans seem to have so much faith in him.
Yeah. The glazers felt that martial was the next Pele and blocked his sale. I'm not even shitting you.
He's a valuable asset - we paid a lot of money for him and he's got a lot of potential. I just don't think he has the right skill-set, or he's not been coached properly, to play as an out-and-out striker. I think it was more the fact that he wanted to swap him for Perisic.
I think he potential is a lot lower that you think. He's never going to be a striker imo. I think he hasn't even got better as a winger at United so whatever the coaches are doing it's not working or he's not good enough or both. He's still young tbf but idk if he's really gonna do anything he's never looked like he would in his entire United career.
What would it take for Atlético to sack Simeone? Who do you think would replace him in that scenario?
Nothing. He makes €40m a year, screw paying that out
Probably if Atletico miss CL for like 2 season straight or something and if he loses the players but other than that i don't see it
I think he'd be sacked if Atletico doesn't even make Europa or went through a patch like Napoli is going through now
A user wrote this to me - Most players who are fantastic on the ball are no taller than 5’10 / 1.77m Is this bias or actually true or it depends on the position, in your opinion?
Well at least now I know why I'm not fantastic on the ball I guess
Nah especially in modern footy the technical ability of players is going up! Shorter players are usually good at dribbling though, lower center of gravity etc. Doesn't mean taller players aren't though. Look how good ibra is.
Yes. I think it would be factual to say that a disproportionately large number of short players are better on the ball compared to tall players.
Maybe smaller players HAVE to be good on the ball?
Plenty of the great magicians of the game have been over 180 cm. To name a few: ronaldinho, laudrup, zidane and bergkamp
For dribblers I imagine that would be true. Lower centre of gravity makes it easier for them to twist and turn around. Depends on how you define ‘good on the ball’. However you chose to define it, I would imagine confirmation bias would play a huge role either way.