Football 17/18

[pink_triangle]

59 minutes ago, jyoung said:

 

. Moving abroad is almost unheard of for young Brits, so good on him for rising to the challenge. 

It doesnt sound like he has risen to the challenge if he is coming back after 1 year!

[jyoung]

14 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

It doesnt sound like he has risen to the challenge if he is coming back after 1 year!

Perhaps not but he's young.

He could have stayed in England and done the business in the Championship which let's face it, certainly isn't bad for a young player. So I still think it was brave to make the move in the first place. It shows ambition. He'll have learned a lot about football and developed as a person and player from his time in Germany. Living in a foreign country, the different language, the tactics, the different footballing structures and systems. All positive things for a young player to experience. When Chalobah went to Napoli he played less than 10 games but he has spoken fondly about how beneficial the move was for him as a footballer.

Maybe he thought he would get even less game time this year. You just don't know the reasons for the return. Anyway, he's never played in the Premier League so it is another test for the lad. As you hinted at though, he's back and clearly didn't make himself indispensable but there's plenty of time for him to do that.

Edited August 25, 2017 by jyoung

[Hugh Jass]

Dembele to Barcelona is done. £97m.

[Dan R]

5 hours ago, jyoung said:

Perhaps not but he's young.

He could have stayed in England and done the business in the Championship which let's face it, certainly isn't bad for a young player. So I still think it was brave to make the move in the first place. It shows ambition. He'll have learned a lot about football and developed as a person and player from his time in Germany. Living in a foreign country, the different language, the tactics, the different footballing structures and systems. All positive things for a young player to experience. When Chalobah went to Napoli he played less than 10 games but he has spoken fondly about how beneficial the move was for him as a footballer.

Maybe he thought he would get even less game time this year. You just don't know the reasons for the return. Anyway, he's never played in the Premier League so it is another test for the lad. As you hinted at though, he's back and clearly didn't make himself indispensable but there's plenty of time for him to do that.

I think its worth remembering as well that when he signed for RB Leipzig they were newly promoted and probably weren't dreaming of challenging at the top. They obviously were performing at a higher level than expected which makes it tougher to get a starting role in the team.

[TheGayTent]

52 minutes ago, Dan R said:

I think its worth remembering as well that when he signed for RB Leipzig they were newly promoted and probably weren't dreaming of challenging at the top.

Not sure that's totally true. Red Bull didn't spend in excess of £50m last summer to make up the numbers. 

[jyoung]

Shocking performance from Arsenal right now 

[The Nal]

Arsenal are fairly pathetic now. Liverpool were great to be fair. 

[pink_triangle]

Playing devils advocate is Arsenals start to the season any worse than Spurs?

[sdvruxk]

29 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Playing devils advocate is Arsenals start to the season any worse than Spurs?

Yes it is.

[pink_triangle]

2 minutes ago, sdvruxk said:

Yes it is.

I would argue that Spurs have had an easier set of fixtures and only accumulated one point more. 

[The Nal]

12 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I would argue that Spurs have had an easier set of fixtures and only accumulated one point more. 

They havent conceded 8 goals in 3 games though.

[pink_triangle]

15 minutes ago, The Nal said:

They havent conceded 8 goals in 3 games though.

Things are very rarely decided on goal difference. I see both teams at present as being 3 points below par. 

[kaosmark2]

It's fashionable to talk about Arsenal's typical struggles in the early weeks of the season.

[sdvruxk]

35 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Things are very rarely decided on goal difference. I see both teams at present as being 3 points below par. 

One team has a bunch of players who don't look bothered and the other has a team who are misfiring. Didn't see the game today but apparently Kane had a few chances he'd normally score. The comparison is ridiculous. 

[pink_triangle]

28 minutes ago, sdvruxk said:

One team has a bunch of players who don't look bothered and the other has a team who are misfiring. Didn't see the game today but apparently Kane had a few chances he'd normally score. The comparison is ridiculous. 

I think it's lazy punditry to say Arsenal couldn't be bothered. Liverpool will hand out several thrashings at home this season. I have no doubt Arsenal players want to win games every bit as much as Spurs.

Both teams have had poor starts to the season, mediocre recruitment in the transfer window and i suspect neither will finish in the top 4. I think it's too early to be writing one off and giving the other a free pass.

My main concern about Arsenal is not effort, it's the fact they are getting rid of a decent defender like Mustafi. You can't help but thinking at Chelsea or Man Utd they would be getting much more from such a player.

[sdvruxk]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

I think it's lazy punditry to say Arsenal couldn't be bothered. Liverpool will hand out several thrashings at home this season. I have no doubt Arsenal players want to win games every bit as much as Spurs.

Both teams have had poor starts to the season, mediocre recruitment in the transfer window and i suspect neither will finish in the top 4. I think it's too early to be writing one off and giving the other a free pass.

My main concern about Arsenal is not effort, it's the fact they are getting rid of a decent defender like Mustafi. You can't help but thinking at Chelsea or Man Utd they would be getting much more from such a player.

Of course they want to win. But it's the same problems as always. I just don't think you can judge them at this stage solely on results. With Arsenal, you're seeing a reoccurrence of problems which have blighted them for a number of years. Spurs have had a couple of individual errors which have caused them to drop points.

The Mustafi transfer would be strange, I agree. It will be interesting to see what happens with Sanchez too. 

[pink_triangle]

8 minutes ago, sdvruxk said:

Of course they want to win. But it's the same problems as always. I just don't think you can judge them at this stage solely on results. With Arsenal, you're seeing a reoccurrence of problems which have blighted them for a number of years. Spurs have had a couple of individual errors which have caused them to drop points.

The Mustafi transfer would be strange, I agree. It will be interesting to see what happens with Sanchez too. 

Spurs are also a team who have been very complacent in the transfer market and I think have fooled many into thinking they already have a great squad. One mediocre a season and you wonder how many Spurs players will be happy being paid below market rate.

[mjsell]

Mustafi isn't a decent defender. 

[sdvruxk]

46 minutes ago, mjsell said:

Mustafi isn't a decent defender. 

How many centre backs have Arsenal got? 

[mjsell]

55 minutes ago, sdvruxk said:

How many centre backs have Arsenal got? 

How many players have Arsenal got that play centre back: 7

How many players that are worth keeping for centre back purposes: 3

[sdvruxk]

40 minutes ago, mjsell said:

How many players have Arsenal got that play centre back: 7

How many players that are worth keeping for centre back purposes: 3

7? 

[eFestivals]

15 hours ago, The Nal said:

Liverpool were great to be fair. 

just think what they'd be like if Salah was the proper business in front of goal!  Fantastic player all the same, but he misses loads of great chances.

 

[pink_triangle]

40 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

just think what they'd be like if Salah was the proper business in front of goal!  Fantastic player all the same, but he misses loads of great chances.

I guess if that was the case he would have ended up somewhere better. I'm sure Liverpool will hand out a few hidings this season. However I think they will need some luck when it comes to injuries, as they don't have the backup of the two Manchester clubs.

[Gucci Piggy]

8 hours ago, sdvruxk said:

7? 

Koscielny, Mustafi, Mertesacker, Holding, Chambers, Monreal, Kolasinac.

However, one of the last two has to be playing at LWB (Ox and Bellerin are shite there) and out of the others only Koscielny and Mustafi are good enough (I doubt Mertesacker can be relied upon to play regularly). Mustafi isn't great but he's as good as they've got after Koscielny, and it'd be ridiculous to let him leave unless it's to bring in a better CB such as VvD or Koulibaly. Realistically, though, he won't be replaced.

They still desperately need a CM because Ramsey doesn't seem like he'll ever learn than he isn't a striker.

Realistically, though, they'll sign nobody, and Wenger will say Wilshere and Cazorla will be like new signings and he'll apologise that Rob Holding didn't cost £60m.

I reckon Wenger's been given nothing to spend and he's covering for the board. Must be. They've got a net spend of around £30m so far and potentially have Ox and Mustafi leaving which would push them into a negative net spend, which for a club the size of Arsenal who have such glaring issues in their team, is ridiculous.

[eFestivals]

22 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I guess if that was the case he would have ended up somewhere better. I'm sure Liverpool will hand out a few hidings this season. However I think they will need some luck when it comes to injuries, as they don't have the backup of the two Manchester clubs.

Even Morino had a decent game yesterday. That's not going to happen too often.

they weren't particularly lucky last season with injuries (tho they didn't have it really bad, either), and their squad is much fatter this season too - so it'll be how the extra games for the chumps impacts, I guess.

With the extra/better players and a little bit more use of those players (rotation) I don't think there's any particular reason to think they'll do worse than last year - tho the competition for the top places is going to be tough again (so top 4 isn't guaranteed).