Football 2015/16

[TheGayTent]

1 minute ago, eFestivals said:

Only you could throw out a stat and then claim all other stats which prove your own talking bollocks are the bollocks.

I'm in no way trying to suggest Sterling has had a great season, but within context it's not been dreadful either.

Re-writing history again? 

[pink_triangle]

2 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

I guess, tho most players have their own particular way of playing and don't perform as well if they're told to do something different.

I get the impression that as the new boy in a team of (supposed) superstars he decided to do what he was told, a bit too much perhaps.

I think lots of players play outside their comfort zone, it's just they look so comfortable you forget. When players like Sterling join a club with better players they are often expected to do a different job as they are lower down the totem poll, it's certainly not an issue specific for Sterling.

[eFestivals]

3 minutes ago, TheGayTent said:

Say what? He's a one trick pony with not much to his game other than being able to run fast? Who would have thought it

And you say others talk bollocks.

He's got a better eye for a pass than most players.

 

[zahidf]

sterling has been like the city team in general: good in spots but disappointing overall.

 

im sure under pep he will come good to a degree

Edited May 17, 2016 by zahidf

[TheGayTent]

3 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

And you say others talk bollocks.

He's got a better eye for a pass than most players.

 

Tis a pity his technique - usually the weight of his passes that let him down dreadfully. 

[eFestivals]

here's the midfielders that Woy has selected:-

Jack Wilshere; Eric Dier; James Milner; Daniel Drinkwater; Adam Lallana; Dele Alli; Fabian Delph; Andros Townsend; Jordan Henderson; Raheem Sterling; Ross Barkley

Is Sterling inferior to any of those by a noticable margin? Nope. His name is no way out of place amongst those others.

Yes, you could make a case for someone else instead of Sterling - or any of those others, too - but that's much more about personal preferences than anything better.

As TGT only ever gets on one when he feels WHU have been slighted I'm waiting for him to tell us all who from the WHU squad should be there instead.

 

 

 

[zahidf]

so awards?

 

team of the year: lecister

best manager: raneri

striker of the year: kane

goalkeeper of the year: de gea

attacking mid fielder of the year: mahrez

defender of the year: kante

best match of the year: liverpool v dortmund

biggest flop of the year: chelsea

why wasnt he fired earlier award: draw between mclaren and martinez

most boring team of the year: Man utd

[zahidf]

2 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

here's the midfielders that Woy has selected:-

Jack Wilshere; Eric Dier; James Milner; Daniel Drinkwater; Adam Lallana; Dele Alli; Fabian Delph; Andros Townsend; Jordan Henderson; Raheem Sterling; Ross Barkley

Is Sterling inferior to any of those by a noticable margin? Nope. His name is no way out of place amongst those others.

Yes, you could make a case for someone else instead of Sterling - or any of those others, too - but that's much more about personal preferences than anything better.

As TGT only ever gets on one when he feels WHU have been slighted I'm waiting for him to tell us all who from the WHU squad should be there instead.

 

 

 

sterling has played well for england as well. he clearly should be in the team.

 

if fit, wilshere should go. out of the 8 games he last played in with england, he got 7 man of the matches!

[eFestivals]

7 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I think lots of players play outside their comfort zone, it's just they look so comfortable you forget. When players like Sterling join a club with better players they are often expected to do a different job as they are lower down the totem poll, it's certainly not an issue specific for Sterling.

Oh, I agree.

Tho he has a rep of being arrogant, while the stuff i've read of him says he's the complete opposite - and I think that's probably in the mix when he's moved to a big team. He's done what he's been told to do (the differences in what he's doing are stark and obvious) rather than been arrogant enough to show what he can do.

[Gucci Piggy]

34 minutes ago, zahidf said:

defender of the year: kante

He's a central midfielder...

[Gucci Piggy]

48 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

here's the midfielders that Woy has selected:-

Jack Wilshere; Eric Dier; James Milner; Daniel Drinkwater; Adam Lallana; Dele Alli; Fabian Delph; Andros Townsend; Jordan Henderson; Raheem Sterling; Ross Barkley

Is Sterling inferior to any of those by a noticable margin? Nope. His name is no way out of place amongst those others.

Yes, you could make a case for someone else instead of Sterling - or any of those others, too - but that's much more about personal preferences than anything better.

As TGT only ever gets on one when he feels WHU have been slighted I'm waiting for him to tell us all who from the WHU squad should be there instead.

Noble over Delph is an easy choice for me there, to be fair. But in reality neither would be likely to play. Because we only have 3 CBs in the squad, Dier will probably play CB if 2 of them are out at any one time (unlikely, I know; but not impossible). If that is the case we need another defensive midfielder to take over his role. I guess Milner is the current option in that situation.

Then out of the 11 that makes, I'd leave Henderson, Lallana and Townsend/Wilshere. I normally wouldn't advocate taking someone who's had as little gametime as Wilshere but if he can prove he is fit enough then he's worth the risk for me. Tends to be England's best midfielder when he plays, and taking into account our lack of wide options, he was Arsenal's best midfielder at the back end of last season playing predominantly on the right wing. Townsend has looked good when I've seen him this season, but that has only been on a couple of occasions, and I've never rated him in the past so not sure if that was his usual level of performance this season.

On the whole, I'd take:

Hart, Forster, Heaton

Clyne, Walker, Smalling, Cahill, Stones, Rose, Bertrand

Dier, Alli, Drinkwater, Barkley, Noble, Sterling, Milner, Wilshere

Rooney, Kane, Vardy, Sturridge, Carroll

I have Rooney in the strikers section there but he'd be in midfield for me if he starts.

Edit: Sturridge is the same as Wilshere for me. Good enough to be worth the fitness risk.

Edit 2: Carroll over Defoe and Rashford because he offers something different and would be a useful option from the bench.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Will-2609

[TheGayTent]

50 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

here's the midfielders that Woy has selected:-

Jack Wilshere; Eric Dier; James Milner; Daniel Drinkwater; Adam Lallana; Dele Alli; Fabian Delph; Andros Townsend; Jordan Henderson; Raheem Sterling; Ross Barkley

Is Sterling inferior to any of those by a noticable margin? Nope. His name is no way out of place amongst those others.

Yes, you could make a case for someone else instead of Sterling - or any of those others, too - but that's much more about personal preferences than anything better.

As TGT only ever gets on one when he feels WHU have been slighted I'm waiting for him to tell us all who from the WHU squad should be there instead.

Pointless comparing Sterling's skills to Dier's or many of the others you've named. 

We were discussing Sterling's ability and performances this season not whether he was good enough to make an England squad. 

As for your last paragraph, it's bull shit as usual. I haven't claimed any West Ham United player should make England's Euro squad, let alone in place of Sterling. All I've said is he's not very good. Certainly not in terms of value of money or end product. 

This you've taken as a personal slight because you've previously claimed he's the best thing since Theo Walcott...

Edited May 17, 2016 by TheGayTent

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, zahidf said:

so awards?

 

team of the year: lecister

best manager: raneri

striker of the year: kane

goalkeeper of the year: de gea

attacking mid fielder of the year: mahrez

defender of the year: kante

 

Agree apart from

Defender Alderweireld

Midfielder - De Bruyne (I think the season would have panned out very different without his injury.

Striker - Aguero. I can understand why people choose Vardy for the streak and title win. However Aguero scored almost identical goals to Kane in quite a lot less time.

[eastynh]

7 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

Pretty decent? Yeah Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich are conducting a bidding war for his services right now 

Does not matter who had a bidding war, City only sell when they want to. City obviously want Raheem.

Why has there been no bidding war for Aguero?

[TheGayTent]

6 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Does not matter who had a bidding war, City only sell when they want to. City obviously want Raheem.

Why has there been no bidding war for Aguero?

There is nothing special (in this regard) about Man City. There's been no bidding war for Aguero because Aguero has made it clear he doesn't want to leave. At the same time, Man City don't want him to leave.

Should Aguero decide he wants to leave and acts in a manner like Sterling did towards the end of his time at Liverpool, Man City would suddenly decide they want to sell him. 

The players hold most of the cards and they know it. Only going to get worse the richer (comparatively) English clubs get compared to their European neighbours. 

[eFestivals]

1 hour ago, TheGayTent said:

Pointless comparing Sterling's skills to Dier's or many of the others you've named. 

We were discussing Sterling's ability and performances this season not whether he was good enough to make an England squad. 

As for your last paragraph, it's bull shit as usual. I haven't claimed any West Ham United player should make England's Euro squad, let alone in place of Sterling. All I've said is he's not very good. Certainly not in terms of value of money or end product. 

This you've taken as a personal slight because you've previously claimed he's the best thing since Theo Walcott...

I agree at one level that Sterling's performances this season haven't been good enough to make an England squad.

But the same can also be said for : Jack Wilshere; Adam Lallana; Fabian Delph; Andros Townsend; Jordan Henderson; Ross Barkley

(and perhaps some of those I deleted too).

Who's clearly better than those? No one.

As I say, you can make an argument for other players, but not on the basis of any of those other players being clearly better players. It's simply a matter of preference.

[eastynh]

38 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Agree apart from

Defender Alderweireld

Midfielder - De Bruyne (I think the season would have panned out very different without his injury.

Striker - Aguero. I can understand why people choose Vardy for the streak and title win. However Aguero scored almost identical goals to Kane in quite a lot less time.

Just a shame Kompany, Silva, KDB, Nasri and Aguero spent so long out injured. It was even worse in that they were all pretty much out at the same time. When you look at Leicesters record, it would have taken a lot to match that, but it is clear keeping your best players fit is so so important. You only have to look at Chelsea last year and Leicester this.

I am glad the season is over though, been a bit of a nightmare.

2 minutes ago, TheGayTent said:

There is nothing special (in this regard) about Man City. There's been no bidding war for Aguero because Aguero has made it clear he doesn't want to leave. At the same time, Man City don't want him to leave.

Should Aguero decide he wants to leave and acts in a manner like Sterling did towards the end of his time at Liverpool, Man City would suddenly decide they want to sell him. 

The players hold most of the cards and they know it. Only going to get worse the richer (comparatively) English clubs get compared to their European neighbours. 

Yes because thats exactly what happened when Tevez and Yaya played up. Did either of them leave? Did either of them get a pay rise? I think you will find the answer to that is no, they were forced to honour their contracts and when Yaya goes this summer both would have left on Citys terms.

[TheGayTent]

11 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Does not matter who had a bidding war, City only sell when they want to. City obviously want Raheem.

Why has there been no bidding war for Aguero?

N.B. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on Begiristain. I think Pellegrini was given a bit of a rough hand given that  Begiristain's big money signings have been debatable in terms of success rate. 

In my opinion, prior to De Bruyne, the last big money City signing to be an outstanding success was Aguero at £38m 5(?) years ago. 

Ignoring anything under £20m, there's varying levels of question marks over Jovetic (£25m), Fernandinho (£30m), Navas (£23m), Bony (£28m), Mangala (£40m), Otamendi (£32m), and Sterling (£44m). 

Of course I'm sure it could be argued that some were Pellegrini influenced signings (Navas) but some definitely weren't. I guess you could also argue that Pellegrini hasn't managed some of those correctly. 

It will be fascinating to see if any improve under Pep and which if any he ships out asap. 

[TheGayTent]

4 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Just a shame Kompany, Silva, KDB, Nasri and Aguero spent so long out injured. It was even worse in that they were all pretty much out at the same time. When you look at Leicesters record, it would have taken a lot to match that, but it is clear keeping your best players fit is so so important. You only have to look at Chelsea last year and Leicester this.

I am glad the season is over though, been a bit of a nightmare.

Yes because thats exactly what happened when Tevez and Yaya played up. Did either of them leave? Did either of them get a pay rise? I think you will find the answer to that is no, they were forced to honour their contracts and when Yaya goes this summer both would have left on Citys terms.

Yes, I guess the alternative is to cut your nose off to spite your face...pay a player to be on garden leave or pay a player a fortune, have him wander around putting next to no effort in, and allow him to walk away without getting a penny back for him with regards to a transfer fee. You're right, though I'm unsure if that's a good thing or not. 

[eFestivals]

11 minutes ago, TheGayTent said:

Should Aguero decide he wants to leave and acts in a manner like Sterling did towards the end of his time at Liverpool, Man City would suddenly decide they want to sell him. 

so a player isn't allowed to turn down an improved contract or want to move to a better club?

It clearly didn't go well for him in the media, but there was already a media shitstorm before he did his bit on TV.... where he committed the cardinal sin of...? Being honest about his ambition.

From what I can see the only thing he's guilty of is being naive.

 

[TheGayTent]

2 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

so a player isn't allowed to turn down an improved contract or want to move to a better club?

Who said that? 

[eFestivals]

1 minute ago, TheGayTent said:

Who said that? 

the only "manner" he had was saying no when the club wanted him to say yes, and going public himself with it when it was all already public anyway.

 

[TheGayTent]

Just now, eFestivals said:

the only "manner" he had was saying no when the club wanted him to say yes, and going public himself with it when it was all already public anyway.

Agents...

[eastynh]

8 minutes ago, TheGayTent said:

N.B. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on Begiristain. I think Pellegrini was given a bit of a rough hand given that  Begiristain's big money signings have been debatable in terms of success rate. 

In my opinion, prior to De Bruyne, the last big money City signing to be an outstanding success was Aguero at £38m 5(?) years ago. 

Ignoring anything under £20m, there's varying levels of question marks over Jovetic (£25m), Fernandinho (£30m), Navas (£23m), Bony (£28m), Mangala (£40m), Otamendi (£32m), and Sterling (£44m). 

Of course I'm sure it could be argued that some were Pellegrini influenced signings (Navas) but some definitely weren't. I guess you could also argue that Pellegrini hasn't managed some of those correctly. 

It will be fascinating to see if any improve under Pep and which if any he ships out asap. 

I think Pellegrini is useless and have done since we were dismantled by Munich at home a couple of seasons ago. It is fair to say that I am not overy fond of Txiki either as I think his record in the market is woeful. Fernandinho as been absolutely fantastic, what an absolute gem of a player. The problem there is that he was Mancini's choice and not Txiki's. I would also be very shocked if Pep did not have any input  into the KDB signing.

So no I am not a fan of Txiki at all. He has bought an awful lot of shit for an awful lot of money. I still have hopes for Mangala but sadly think he may be off this summer. The difference between him getting a 2:1 and a 2:2 is how Pep gets on as Pep is clearly is star signing.

Can I just add that I don't think KDB or Aguero should get in the team of the year? Theu maybe the best players on the division but they have not done it enough to get in any team ahead of Kane, Payet, Vardy or Mahrez. Aguero may have a silly goals per minute record but he scored 5 against Newcastle and has just not been fit enough all season. Vardy and Kane have consistenly scored match winning and important goals. Mahrez and Payet have just been an absolute joy to watch all season.

[eFestivals]

Just now, TheGayTent said:

Agents...

and the club.

I'm not daft enough to think people weren't deliberately putting it out there, but as far as I'm aware it was the club who started the leaking to try and put pressure on him to sign, thinking he would sign.

The whole thing was shite, but I'm not sure much blame falls at Sterling's feet for that.