Football 16-17

[eastynh]

3 hours ago, Wooderson said:

City fans bragging about lack of debt. Hahahahaha

Not bragging mate, I was just highlighting how there was nothing fair about Financial Fair play.

Manchester City's owners invest money into the game, where as Manchester Uniteds owners take money out of the club and invest it in Texan shopping malls. Only a fool would suggest that Uniteds situation is more beneficial to football. Yet it was Manchester City who were penalised. How does that work? Now City could have gone and got a 2 billion pound loan from the bank of Abu Dhabi and that would have been fine, yet by using their owners investments they were penalised. It just does not make sense.

Thankfully the new TV deal has enabled FFP to be shot down in one and the so called established elite shot themselves in the foot. Never mind City, the likes of Milan can no longer compete financially with West Ham.

[Gucci Piggy]

On 2017-5-30 at 9:06 PM, pink_triangle said:

Im not sure the lack of champions league is a huge factor, I'm struggling to think of a single manager who I think would have been keen to join Champions league Arsenal, but not Europa league Arsenal.

To me availability is a much bigger factor. Most of the top clubs look like they will stick with their manager while a lack of international tournament also restricts candidates.

Tuchel, one of most mentioned names for the Arsenal job, has just left Dortmund.

On 2017-5-31 at 8:47 AM, thetime said:

Fair play to arsenal and wenger, you shouldn't be sacking managers after they win the FA Cup. 

His contract was up, he wouldn't have been sacked. There was always an offer on the table and it was down to whether Wenger was going to sign it or whether he thought now was the right time to leave. For me he was always going to sign on. I think the best case now is that he confirms that this will be his final contract and they start to plan for his successor early.

[eFestivals]

3 minutes ago, Will-2609 said:

I think the best case now is that he confirms that this will be his final contract and they start to plan for his successor early.

they've confirmed it isn't necessarily his final contract, and that one of the things he's tasked with is getting his successor (tho not necessarily for the end of this contract, see the first bit).

 

[Wooderson]

Dortmund living up to their hipster club image today. Statement on Tuchel made me laugh. As did Zorc's comment on the "sale" of P-EA.

[CRW5252]

20 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

I must say the meltdown of Arsenal fans that I was expecting doesn't seem to have materialised! Guess we'll see if it's still the case at the end of the transfer window.

I do think Wenger was right when he called out some of the fans and said they way he was treated was disgusting at times. 

I think most Arsenal fans had already accepted it was going to happen. I know I had. 

[TheGayTent]

Fletcher has left West Brom for Stoke. I doubt anyone will be interested much from either club let alone the rest of the football world.

[CRW5252]

32 minutes ago, TheGayTent said:

Fletcher has left West Brom for Stoke. I doubt anyone will be interested much from either club let alone the rest of the football world.

He's been quality at West Brom. I'm sure they will be pretty gutted. Good signing for Stoke imo.

Edited June 1, 2017 by CRW5252

[eastynh]

2 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

Fletcher has left West Brom for Stoke. I doubt anyone will be interested much from either club let alone the rest of the football world.

Hes a very under rated player. He should never have left United as he is far better than some of the crap they have had in midfield since he left.

Would have thought he could do a job for Everton in place of Gaz Baz.

[Hugh Jass]

5 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

Fletcher has left West Brom for Stoke. I doubt anyone will be interested much from either club let alone the rest of the football world.

He really went off the boil second half of last season. Not sure if was age catching up him or his health troubles returning. Either way he isn't the same player he was.

Not too bothered about him going, more concerned about us signing some decent attacking players.

[pink_triangle]

9 hours ago, Will-2609 said:

Tuchel, one of most mentioned names for the Arsenal job, has just left Dortmund.

The question for me. Is Tuchel the real deal, or the hipsters flavour of the month.

[pink_triangle]

2 hours ago, eastynh said:

Hes a very under rated player. He should never have left United as he is far better than some of the crap they have had in midfield since he left.

Would have thought he could do a job for Everton in place of Gaz Baz.

Everton should be aiming far higher. He is one of those players who went from underrated to overrated very quickl.

[eastynh]

10 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Everton should be aiming far higher. He is one of those players who went from underrated to overrated very quickl.

You are doing him a massive disservice. He was/is a top quality player and a key member of a squad that won multiple league titles and the champions league. It was only a dehabilitating illness that restricted him in the end at United. Ask any United fan if they think it was a wise decision getting rid of him. The problem was his illness and United could not affird any passengers.

He has managed to get his illness under remission and prospered at West Brom. It is just a shame that illness took away 2 years of his career when he was at his peak.

I did not realise he was 33, I thought he was a little younger. He could still do more than a job for someone like Everton. They signed Barry off us at a similar age and he worked out well for them.

Edited June 1, 2017 by eastynh

[TheGayTent]

He's a decent water carrier, no more. 

[pink_triangle]

27 minutes ago, eastynh said:

You are doing him a massive disservice. He was/is a top quality player and a key member of a squad that won multiple league titles and the champions league. It was only a dehabilitating illness that restricted him in the end at United. Ask any United fan if they think it was a wise decision getting rid of him. The problem was his illness and United could not affird any passengers.

He has managed to get his illness under remission and prospered at West Brom. It is just a shame that illness took away 2 years of his career when he was at his peak.

I did not realise he was 33, I thought he was a little younger. He could still do more than a job for someone like Everton. They signed Barry off us at a similar age and he worked out well for them.

I think we must both have different definitions of the word quality. He is a solid premiership player who was lucky to pay under a manager who got the most out of solid premiership players.

One season the media were going overboard with "the most underrated player in England/Europe/ world with lots of fans jumping aboard the underrated bandwagon. I always find most underrated a silly conversation, as if a load of people call you underrated, then your clearly rated.

[Andre91]

Arsenal bid £87m for Kylian Mbappe? NAH 

[CRW5252]

1 hour ago, Andre91 said:

Arsenal bid £87m for Kylian Mbappe? NAH 

That would be one hell of a statement from Wenger... Looks like it is legit but it sounds like it will be rejected.

[Hugh Jass]

13 hours ago, eastynh said:

You are doing him a massive disservice. He was/is a top quality player and a key member of a squad that won multiple league titles and the champions league. It was only a dehabilitating illness that restricted him in the end at United. Ask any United fan if they think it was a wise decision getting rid of him. The problem was his illness and United could not affird any passengers.

He has managed to get his illness under remission and prospered at West Brom. It is just a shame that illness took away 2 years of his career when he was at his peak.

I did not realise he was 33, I thought he was a little younger. He could still do more than a job for someone like Everton. They signed Barry off us at a similar age and he worked out well for them.

Having watched Fletcher regularly over the last season I can assure you that he's not the player he was anymore.

[pink_triangle]

7 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Having watched Fletcher regularly over the last season I can assure you that he's not the player he was anymore.

Interestingly on the times podcast they were deliberating putting him in the non top 6 team of the season. I have to admit WBA live games aren't a huge draw for me, but he certainly hasn't stood out from highlights I have seen over the season.

[Hugh Jass]

1 minute ago, pink_triangle said:

Interestingly on the times podcast they were deliberating putting him in the non top 6 team of the season. I have to admit WBA live games aren't a huge draw for me, but he certainly hasn't stood out from highlights I have seen over the season.

They aren't for me either pal, but I still have to watch them.

What's been noticeable in the second half of this season is how bad his passing has been. He was frequently giving the ball away, now this might be down to our rigid system and the fact that Fletcher isn't the sort of player who should be relied up to pass incisively and start attacks, but there was a noticeable drop off in his performance levels.

The feeling amongst Albion fans is that we've had the best of the remaining years and he's on the slide. Better to let him go now and put his £60-70k a week towards a younger (and hopefully better) replacement. We pulled a similar trick a couple of years ago where we saw Lescott was shot and offloaded him to Villa (he played a key role in their comical downfall) and brought in Jonny Evans to replace him. Evans is now one of the best centre halves outside the top six IMO.

[lost]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

Interestingly on the times podcast they were deliberating putting him in the non top 6 team of the season. I have to admit WBA live games aren't a huge draw for me, but he certainly hasn't stood out from highlights I have seen over the season.

I don't listen to this. What was the full team out of interest?

[pink_triangle]

52 minutes ago, lost said:

I don't listen to this. What was the full team out of interest?

That's a good question and a test of my memory. I cant remember them all but Pickford, Mcauley, Bertrand, Keane, Lanzini, Lukaku, Siggurdson, Llorente and Zaha were all part of the discussion

[TheGayTent]

13 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

That's a good question and a test of my memory. I cant remember them all but Pickford, Mcauley, Bertrand, Keane, Lanzini, Lukaku, Siggurdson, Llorente and Zaha were all part of the discussion

Zaha was included as best diver presumably 

[mjsell]

4 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

Zaha was included as best diver presumably 

Outside of the top 6 yeah.

[pink_triangle]

Interested to see you have released Arbeloa TGT, only because I didn't realise he was a West Ham player in the first place!

[TheGayTent]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

Interested to see you have released Arbeloa TGT, only because I didn't realise he was a West Ham player in the first place!

Fell out with Bilic very soon after arriving and got only 2 sub appearances after that.