Football 2023/24

[charlierc]

29 minutes ago, Neil said:

your new owner isn't interested in fixing anything, wants the govt to fix it for him, maybe put chris grayling in charge!!!!

... er, I don't support Man United. And I agree that they're wealthy enough to pay for an Old Trafford redevelopment (or at least a roofer) themselves.

[Neil]

Already got a Chris grayling clone in charge 

[Neil]

ready for sunday's showdown, i've just renewed my now tv subscription

[Neil]

1 hour ago, Neil said:

ready for sunday's showdown, i've just renewed my now tv subscription

well, i thought i did went to check wasn't showing, now tells me the transaction won't go thru till after midnight, will hopefully be active for sunday.

[Neil]

looks like ratcliffe is getting some traction with his ridiculous idea of the govt funding the stadium

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68515495

either that or its a massive trolling of man city and their publicly funded stadium, maybe ratcliffe recons he can get city to pay for utd's stadium.

[Neil]

i've just discovered there's two Nico Williams in professional football just now. there's the welsh geezer who played right back for Liverpool, who is currently playing for Nottingham Forest, and then there's a Spanish geezer currently  playing for  Athletic Bilbao,  maybe heading for the prem with as a target for Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea.

[charlierc]

An intriguing contest that Liverpool v Man City game. Though arguable the biggest winners from it were Arsenal given a draw keeps them top.

[#1SzigetFan]

Saw this somewhere, thought it was funny

[DareToDibble]

Couldn't watch the match as I took the wife and baby out - it was her first Mothers Day so seemed only fair!

As a result I can't really comment on the match itself. When I saw the lineups I thought we might be in trouble. Apparently we were in control for the second half and probably should have won but I guess I would have taken a draw before the game.
Arsenal definitely the biggest winners from the result but with Liverpool having played both now and them playing each other next weekend it could very well change again.

Great to have such a close title race. I think one of the 3 will drop away in the next few weeks and we'll end up with a 2 horse race. Suspect City will be 1 of the 2 and it's a flip of a coin if the other is Liverpool or Arsenal.

Bet it's great for the neutral. I'd rather be 10 points ahead though 😄 

[Neil]

4 hours ago, charlierc said:

An intriguing contest that Liverpool v Man City game. Though arguable the biggest winners from it were Arsenal given a draw keeps them top.

yeah, was amazed to see arsenal have the best GD. thought city would with haaarland.

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, Neil said:

yeah, was amazed to see arsenal have the best GD. thought city would with haaarland.

Tbf recent 6-0, 5-0, 4-1 and 6-0 wins help.

[charlierc]

Hmmmm... losing to Chelsea last night, not ideal. Was a pretty half-arsed looking performance in part as well.

Can't say I'm looking forward to Man City away in the FA Cup. Ederson might be out for a bit but they've still got plenty of other talents and probably want revenge for us dumping them out of the Carabao in the phase of the season when we looked good.

[Gnomicide]

Probably a good thing for Liverpool that Arsenal got through last night, though I don't like seeing happy Arsenal fans.

Them drawing City in the next round would be good. 

[Neil]

Football comedy. Rissdale complaining about clubs overspending.

[charlierc]

4 hours ago, Neil said:

Football comedy. Rissdale complaining about clubs overspending.

Well I guess the way he borrowed a ton of money and set it against income that never came at Leeds in the early 2000s means he's aware of how quickly you can f**k it up.

[charlierc]

On 3/13/2024 at 10:24 AM, Gnomicide said:

Probably a good thing for Liverpool that Arsenal got through last night, though I don't like seeing happy Arsenal fans.

Them drawing City in the next round would be good. 

Saying that, Liverpool are still in the Europa League.

I guess Arsenal being at the Etihad Stadium next is very much one of those "are they the real deal?" games. If they were to win that, it could be very much game on from them.

[Neil]

6 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Well I guess the way he borrowed a ton of money and set it against income that never came at Leeds in the early 2000s means he's aware of how quickly you can f**k it up.

how quickly he can f**k it up.

[Neil]

When are the Saudis gonna show some ambition.

[Neil]

Real ambition would have them make their own pitch for the national stadium of the North just to f**k utd. Otherwise utd will be winning stuff and the Saudis  wont  ever get a look in so the Saudis will sell the club to Sunderland. : p 

 

Edited March 16 by Neil

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, Neil said:

When are the Saudis gonna show some ambition.

Define ambition. Cos it sure as sh*t feels easier to reach such ambitions when PSR/FFP isn't limiting your ability to sign depth and half the squad is in the treatment room. Last season, no Europe and getting knocked out of the FA Cup early meant we could manage our fragile players, and this year, no such luck. We seem to be asking at least 4/5 players to play every game while still injured from the previous too many games they played ffs.

Granted, not signing Kalvin Phillips might actually have been the better approach given how awful he's been at West Ham, but the lack of options everywhere is a real problem, and unlike Liverpool, we don't have gifted off-the-line youngsters to throw in at the deep end. Although ironically one of them (Bobby Clark) was one of the last players Mike Ashley sold.

Oh well. There's always being in a fight for 7th/8th and hoping that's enough to sneak a Europa Conference League place.

[Neil]

6 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Define ambition

spending like city.

its like saudis have bought newc to watch them lose

[charlierc]

3 minutes ago, Neil said:

spending like city.

Yeah but City got to do the bulk of their spending in a pre-FFP era when they were building themselves up from mid-table to where they are now, as did Chelsea. Plus those 115 charges might have some clues as to what they were doing between 2009 and 2018... assuming the Premier League ever actually answer those questions, anyway.

I guess with Everton getting six points taken away for overspending, and possibly another six if they fail the rules again, and talk that Nottingham Forest (who've spent a ton of cash in their 4 windows back) are getting deductions as well, we're kinda stuck. Even moreso if, as some suggest, the changed FFP/PSR rules coming in next season will actually end up being even harsher for PiF's ability to throw money at our problems.

Man City away imo is not the representative fixture to hang a season on given how annoyingly good they are, and after a game decided by two lucky deflected goals, but it's just been a season where the squad's been f**ked up by injury after injury after injury. I know we're not alone in that - Liverpool, Spurs, Man United, Brentford, Brighton and Luton all have had injury crises - but the fact we're playing a core of Botman, Longstaff, Gordon and Isak who look like they are all carrying injuries cannot help. Plus Dubravka is just a downgrade on Pope.

[Neil]

21 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Yeah but City got to do the bulk of their spending in a pre-FFP era when they were building themselves up from mid-table to where they are now, as did Chelsea. Plus those 115 charges might have some clues as to what they were doing between 2009 and 2018... assuming the Premier League ever actually answer those questions, anyway.

I guess with Everton getting six points taken away for overspending, and possibly another six if they fail the rules again, and talk that Nottingham Forest (who've spent a ton of cash in their 4 windows back) are getting deductions as well, we're kinda stuck. Even moreso if, as some suggest, the changed FFP/PSR rules coming in next season will actually end up being even harsher for PiF's ability to throw money at our problems.

Man City away imo is not the representative fixture to hang a season on given how annoyingly good they are, and after a game decided by two lucky deflected goals, but it's just been a season where the squad's been f**ked up by injury after injury after injury. I know we're not alone in that - Liverpool, Spurs, Man United, Brentford, Brighton and Luton all have had injury crises - but the fact we're playing a core of Botman, Longstaff, Gordon and Isak who look like they are all carrying injuries cannot help. Plus Dubravka is just a downgrade on Pope.

I know it's difficult but ambitious teams find their way past those difficulties 

[thetime]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

Yeah but City got to do the bulk of their spending in a pre-FFP era when they were building themselves up from mid-table to where they are now, as did Chelsea. Plus those 115 charges might have some clues as to what they were doing between 2009 and 2018... assuming the Premier League ever actually answer those questions, anyway.

I guess with Everton getting six points taken away for overspending, and possibly another six if they fail the rules again, and talk that Nottingham Forest (who've spent a ton of cash in their 4 windows back) are getting deductions as well, we're kinda stuck. Even moreso if, as some suggest, the changed FFP/PSR rules coming in next season will actually end up being even harsher for PiF's ability to throw money at our problems.

Man City away imo is not the representative fixture to hang a season on given how annoyingly good they are, and after a game decided by two lucky deflected goals, but it's just been a season where the squad's been f**ked up by injury after injury after injury. I know we're not alone in that - Liverpool, Spurs, Man United, Brentford, Brighton and Luton all have had injury crises - but the fact we're playing a core of Botman, Longstaff, Gordon and Isak who look like they are all carrying injuries cannot help. Plus Dubravka is just a downgrade on Pope.

As I've said previously I don't expect Newcastle to do a Chelsea or City. It's impossible for them, due to current restrictions. 

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, thetime said:

As I've said previously I don't expect Newcastle to do a Chelsea or City. It's impossible for them, due to current restrictions. 

I mean, if it is to happen, it's going to have to be done in a different way. Man City & Chelsea had the luxury in a pre-FFP era of just spending and not having to care about losses or percentage of revenue spending or whatever. It is essentially having to try and nail every transfer window, getting more player trading calls right than wrong, and getting on-paper inferior players to put in their 10/10s all the time, which tbf, I would argue is how Spurs got into the big 6, but that's much easier said than done.

If the goal is on transfers, I think last summer was a mis-step - Tonali was imo the wrong fit but then got the gambling ban, Barnes has had a nightmare with injuries and Howe hasn't been convinced by Lewis Hall. Throw-in a season-long injury crisis, including several long-term injuries to key players, and the fact we seem to have a core of barely fit players essentially being played into the ground, and it's just become a bit of a chore. Even if we could somehow still sneak a Europa Conference League place if we can just get our act together in the final games.

Maybe it is just the difficult second album. Though if we sell a crown jewel like Bruno or Isak in the summer, it means they have to f**king nail the rebuild.