Arena "The Beautiful Game" - The Official JCC Football (Soccer) Thread.

Perfect. This is exactly the reaction I want. Thanks, Ste

But you should really stay off red café, it's bad for your health

 

at least you’re targeting the right area, even if it is ridiculously overpriced. still need a keeper though.

stalker!

 

The problem with transfers now is that all within the top echelon (and including Liverpool ) are vastly overpriced. The Neymar, Mbappe, Lukaku personify this.

When Barca, PSG, Man U etc... go for a player their price will be trebled or even more so.


VVD is just another overpriced (albeit very good) player that is moving to the "upper" levels of the league but won't deliver that much more than their current crop could deliver if they were coached right.

Don't get me wrong, he's a step up but with the right coaching I'm sure some of the younger established players could develop into to a similar standard, and I'm sure that Lovren could be improved too.

 

He and Matip will probably be the first choice pairing. Matip was free, so not bad average price for the first choice CBs

 

And I thought Lukaku was overpriced.

LOL @ pundits claiming he could be the next Rio Ferdinand or some such.
He's a decent player, but he's hardly the world's best.
He also won't single-handedly solve Liverpool's defensive problem, most of that is because of coaching.

But, he is still better than what they have. Though they could have bought a few defenders for that money.

 

lol@you buying into the myth that the Liverpool defence is the worst thing ever.

Keep going, I enjoy it.

 

Liverpool’s defence is the worst thing ever. Worse than Sammy Lee on the Everton bench.

 

It certainly isn't good.

 

The defence could be worse; it could be Everton's. And the Everton bench could be worse; it could have Sam Allardy...oh.

Only away from home in two matches. But that's the price paid when you don't play with a back nine, like certain cowardly managers who complain 300 mill isn't enough.

 

Vs Arsenal 3-3
Vs City 0-5
Vs Sevilla 3-3 & 2-2
Vs Watford 3-3
Vs Leicester 3-2
Vs Spurs 1-4

Seems like more than just two matches

 

I don't see any losses other than the two matches I referred to, so what's the problem? Small price to pay to actually enjoy watching your team play. Surely you remember those days?

 

the Liverpool defence is very leaky. Will VVD fix the problem? probably not as it's a tactical and coaching issue that isn't being addressed.

The thing is they are excellent going forwards and as Diggy says, I'd rather see a team play attacking football and scoring goals that park the bus like Mourinho does when he comes up against a team he considers to be either similar in strength or better than them.


Even more frustratingly from a neutrals perspective, I genuinely don't think United is that dissimilar to City in quality (Neither are Spurs, Chelsea or Liverpool) but none of the coaches are prepared to do what Pep is doing with City. I honestly didn't think Pep would get the premier league but he has and he's making a mockery of it. All coaches should be looking at him and learning as much as they can.

 

@Everton as a late Christmas present, if you want to get me a t-shirt from the Everton Club shop, I would gladly accept it.

@FatBurt What do you believe Pep is doing different from any other coach?

 

I've no idea what he's doing but it's somewhat effective.

City don't ever appear to park the bus for example.

If you looks at the way City play compared to United there appears to be a vast gulf in quality but the teams themselves honestly don't have that gulf in squad quality.

Spurs and Liverpool play a similar style going forwards but can't defend the way that City do.



All of the City players appear to feel massively comfortable on the ball but when watching United/Liverpool/Spurs etc... they just look more hesitant.

Compare City to last year and they're a marked improvement and aside from a new keeper it's not that hugely different a different squad (wing backs aside)

 

He has certainly made a player of Sterling. Superior quality in defence and keeper (vs Liverpool) helps. VVD will redress the balance somewhat and can hopefully bring Matip back to his best. I do like that Klopp is now getting his number one targets. Keita should also help at the defensive end, from what I've read.

There is no excuse for Manchester Untied, with the amount they have spent. They certainly should be challenging, no excuse for a 15 point gap.

 

There is no excuse for the gap

Mourinho is just not getting anywhere near the best out of the United team

 

There's nothing wrong with being attacking, but throwing away leads & almost losing as Liverpool have done so much this season isn't going to win you the league.
United didn't lose a lot last season, but they did draw a lot of games. Those were valuable points thrown away. Liverpool won't get to where they want to be if they can't hold on to a 2-0 or 3-0 lead. Just saying it's OK because they don't lose is basically accepting that this standard is OK & it shouldn't be. VvD will help, but not if the coaching of the defence is poor which is the main problem.
Lovren like VvD was great at Southampton, but he's been awful at Liverpool. VvD has a big price tag hanging over him now which is a lot to live up to.

As for City - it's possession football. Why defend when the other side can't get the ball?
United can't play the way City play because José doesn't have the confidence in his players to do that without conceding.
City's defence isn't great, but they rarely get much attacking threat to deal with because City always have the ball.
Spurs are similar, only they can't withstand the attacking threat of a team like City.
United showed in the Arsenal game how effective they can be when they bother attacking, they just don't do it often enough.
City also have been lucky, and luck is important when to win titles.

 

Attacking wise City have a wealth more attacking talent.

Aguero, Jesus, D Silva, B Silva, Sane, Sterling, and I’ll count De Bruyne

We have

Lukaku, Martial, Rashford, Mhki, Mata, Lingard, and I’ll count Pogba

If you think those two attacks are even close to being on par then you guys are overrating Rashford and Martial more than United fans (and I still have hope for Martial).

 

But, should City have a wealth more attacking talent? Shouldn't United be buying - and, more importantly, developing - better talent all over the pitch?

It's not like this in a squad inherited by the current manager that he has to make due. How many transfer windows has he had? And how many hundreds of millions of Euros has he spent to shape the squad? And it's still lacking behind?

 

Yep, Mourinho sucks. He didn't suck, now he does. It's hard for Manchester Untied fans to accept.

 

well City already had 3 of those attackers - and WC ones at that - already in D Silva, Aguero and De Bruyne. that's a nice base for Pep to start with. who did Mourinho have? Two kids in Martial and Rashford, a past his prime Mata, and a squad player in Lingard. as for developing, what do you think we're doing with Rashford and Martial? the difference is we haven't had the luxury of developing them slowly, they're basically forced to be first choice options because the squad is still not there yet.

Mourinho has had 2 summer windows, which is nothing. i agree we needed another attacker last summer, particularly with Mhki struggling with the PL. but it's not enough time. you guys are all making out like winning and competing for the PL is just a matter of throwing money at a wall, we all know it's more than that. not every signing works out. for every Bailly there's a Mangala, for every Sane there's a Mhki.

however much Jose has spent since his arrival, City have spent more. and as i said, from a better starting position. also, it's ridiculous to criticise United for not matching what is currently history-making form from City. you guys are better than that.

Jose has at least built a strong base, but it's still very much a work in progress. this is a team that's been out of the top 4 for 2 years running. we're still another flair player, another central midfielder, and another fullback, before we can compete with City.

 

But Jose said he only needed four players when he got there. He got all four.

That didn't quite work out.

Then this last summer he said he needed for players. He got three.

He even said “We have to put ourselves in a position in the Premier League that allows us to fight for the title.”

You're defending the indefensible.

Let me ask you this. Who would get more out of that current Manchester Untied team, Moanrinho or Guaradiola? Moanrinho or Allardyce? Moanrinho or Klopp?

Moanrinho is supposed to win the title in his second season, before the third season meltdown. The meltdown has come early, and no title in sight.

 

you can't bring in too many players in one window, 4 is about right. what should he have done, replaced the whole first team in one go?

in any other season we would be competing for the title. so would the other big 4. City's start this season is a historical anomaly. you can't criticise failing to match historical greatness.

i'd take Pep over Jose. i like Klopp as a character but he also has his own managerial issues, and Jose has a better record. how many Cups has Klopp lost in a row again?

 

You love Klopp and want to marry him and have babies with him, admit it.

 

He right, ya know.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...-sounds-like-broken-record-pep-guardiola-man/