Football thread 2022/23

[Naysonymous]

2 hours ago, Gigawatt said:

I don’t get this at all, why would he want to go to Everton when he’s been such an integral player at Wolves? Does Bruno Lage not like him any more?

 

Wolves signed Nathan Collins in the summer.  I think that moves Coady from being integral to being peripheral.  

[SMD]

4 hours ago, Gigawatt said:

I don’t get this at all, why would he want to go to Everton when he’s been such an integral player at Wolves? Does Bruno Lage not like him any more?

 

Wolves are moving to a back 4, Coady tends to play more like the sweepers of the 70s and 80s than a traditional centre back and struggles otherwise. I guess it doesn't matter for Everton because they haven't really got defensive solidity or a wealth of wide players.

[Azrael]

Wants to get into the England squad for the WC and probably thinks has a better chance of regular playing at Everton? 

[milko]

  

On 06/04/2022 at 23:05, milko said:

I saw something about Steve McLaren being an assistant coach if Ten Hag signs. If nothing else it’d give Squires some easy cartoon panels every week. 

 

Boom! First week of the season.

[glb]

2 hours ago, Azrael said:

Wants to get into the England squad for the WC and probably thinks has a better chance of regular playing at Everton? 

 

He'll definitely get a lot of defensive practice.

[Stoppy2000]

4 hours ago, Azrael said:

Wants to get into the England squad for the WC and probably thinks has a better chance of regular playing at Everton? 

Harry Maguire will still be getting picked for England by default sadly. If Eric Dier can't get back in the England squad then I don't see how Coady can make the cut.

[Fry Crayola]

Shamrock Rovers have a guaranteed Conference League place, after beating Shkupi home and away. They'll play Ferencvaros in the Europa League playoff after they lost to Qarabag in the Champions League.

 

Rovers were the first Irish side to make a group stage back in 2011. Hopefully they'll do better than the zero points amassed that occasion.

[Ork1927]

Fun fact - 9 Championship sides played lower league opposition last night in the League Cup and all 9 lost.

[Plissken]

Barcelona have "pulled a fourth economic lever" which I've been far too slow in realising is "flogging off any part of the club that isn't nailed down".

 

They are going to be fucked in five years.

[glb]

In unsurprising news, the World Cup will likely kick-off a day earlier on Sunday 20th November, after Qatar proposed* their first match with Ecuador be the opening game. It did feel a bit odd that the opening day would be four games, and the hosts wouldn't be in the opening game. The opening ceremony will go ahead before Qatar Ecuador, with Senegal Holland, England Iran and USA Wales going ahead on the 21st.

 

*had a shit fit and demanded?

[bradigor]

I'll be in Brighton that day watching Brighton vs Liverpool. So I'll just have to miss it... oh what a shame. 

[Fry Crayola]

17 minutes ago, glb said:

 

*had a shit fit and demanded?

 

I think it's more because of the weirdness of the opening ceremony taking place after some matches have already been played.

 

Hosts have opened every World Cup since 2006, so it's odd that hasn't been the case here. 

[glb]

1 hour ago, Fry Crayola said:

 

I think it's more because of the weirdness of the opening ceremony taking place after some matches have already been played.

 

Hosts have opened every World Cup since 2006, so it's odd that hasn't been the case here. 

For sure and I did mention similar.

 

But also someone almost definitely had a little tanty over the schedule for it to be amended this late.

[Shimmyhill]

3 hours ago, bradigor said:

I'll be in Brighton that day watching Brighton vs Liverpool. So I'll just have to miss it... oh what a shame. 

 

While I wont be watching this mid table banger () i shall be boycotting this whole vile World Cup, shall look forward to the Womens World Cup instead!

[bradigor]

10 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:

 

While I wont be watching this mid table banger () i shall be boycotting this whole vile World Cup, shall look forward to the Womens World Cup instead!

 

It'll be relegation scrap! I just hope we finish 1 point better off than Leicester, who have to be out target to stay up. 

[Naysonymous]

10 hours ago, Plissken said:

Barcelona have "pulled a fourth economic lever" which I've been far too slow in realising is "flogging off any part of the club that isn't nailed down".

 

They are going to be fucked in five years.

 

Or they’ll get the Super League sorted and ride off into the sunset without looking back at the collateral damage.  

[Fry Crayola]

2 hours ago, glb said:

But also someone almost definitely had a little tanty over the schedule for it to be amended this late.

 

Weird that it ever got this far, though. They've had twelve years. 

 

But then what's another clusterfuck in a tournament full of them?

[glb]

3 hours ago, Fry Crayola said:

 

Weird that it ever got this far, though. They've had twelve years. 

 

But then what's another clusterfuck in a tournament full of them?

Right? I’m sure the matches will run relatively smoothly but will be interesting to hear what goes on between games, at accommodation and in fanzones etc 

 

Already heard of shenanigans with how things are being booked from friends in the UAE with tickets, wonder how much of that will filter through.

[SMD]

1 hour ago, glb said:

Right? I’m sure the matches will run relatively smoothly but will be interesting to hear what goes on between games, at accommodation and in fanzones etc 

 

Already heard of shenanigans with how things are being booked from friends in the UAE with tickets, wonder how much of that will filter through.

 

Lol you know exactly what's going to happen

[Yobo Ahoy]

18 hours ago, Plissken said:

Barcelona have "pulled a fourth economic lever" which I've been far too slow in realising is "flogging off any part of the club that isn't nailed down".

 

They are going to be fucked in five years.

 

[Gabe]

Has there ever been a more boring transfer saga than the De Jong affair?

[SMD]

mbappe

[Chewylegs]

I know this might be a very simplistic view but rather than selling off everything but the kitchen sink at Barcelona and buying tons of players they can't afford, why don't they just make do with their current squad and sell a big asset (De Jong), like nearly all other clubs have to when they've fucked up their finances?

 

 

[neoELITE]

It's Barca entitlement. Pure and simple. Everyone knows this. Can you imagine how much talent is in their youth set up right now? What they should do is focus on that. Football is cyclical. Man Utd and Arsenal had their dominant periods in the 90s and 2000s. Liverpool in the 80s. Real Madrid and Juve are probably the only teams who have experienced dominance throughout their history. 

The problem is, they're now stuck in a vicious cycle of debt and not being able to dominate the Champions League. They're a problem gambler trying to win back their losses. 

If a massive juggernaut of a club like Barcelona goes out of business, EUFA et al will probably start FFP properly but until then, they won't care. 

 

Apparently, the average loss for an EFL Championship club is £10m a season. Football needs to be sustainable. There's enough money going into football for it to be easily sustainable. Wages and transfer fees are insane. 

[Plissken]

55 minutes ago, neoELITE said:

Apparently, the average loss for an EFL Championship club is £10m a season. Football needs to be sustainable. There's enough money going into football for it to be easily sustainable. Wages and transfer fees are insane. 

 

I would agree that there is enough money coming into football for it to be easily sustainable, the problem is that the biggest clubs are absolutely pissing it up the wall.  I'm not picking on Chelsea specifically, but they were about as successful as they could be under Abramovich, winning leagues, cups, and European trophies in front of sell out crowds and worldwide sponsors.  And he lost £80m a season every year for the almost twenty years of his ownership.

 

Meanwhile every team from 7th in the PL down is told that they should be running their club sensibly, which also means that if the big clubs wants one of your players, then shut up and deal with it because That's How Football Works.

 

The money needs distributing far more evenly, the problem is that the PL is actively hoarding it not only for itself, but for six clubs within itself.  And still requiring massive amounts of subsidy.

[Plissken]

And yes, fuck Barca.  I mentioned Braithwaite before and the circumstances of his signing were so blatantly case of purest entitlement and a fuck you to the idea of sporting integrity that La Liga should have stepped in well before.

 

(TBH, it wouldn't surprise me if that pisstake of the rules was part of the reason La Liga is holding them to account.)

[Gabe]

3 hours ago, Plissken said:

And yes, fuck Barca.  I mentioned Braithwaite before and the circumstances of his signing were so blatantly case of purest entitlement and a fuck you to the idea of sporting integrity that La Liga should have stepped in well before.

 

(TBH, it wouldn't surprise me if that pisstake of the rules was part of the reason La Liga is holding them to account.)

What's the story there? 

[SMD]

2 minutes ago, Gabe said:

What's the story there? 

 

They took advantage of a rule that says a club can sign a player from another La Liga club outside the window if they have an injury crisis with season ending injuries. He was Leganes' best forward and they were battling relegation but had a stupidly low release clause.

 

They bought him against Leganes' wishes who couldn't sign a replacement and went down. Braithwaite barely played anyway.

 

403 minutes.

[Plissken]

Crucial point: the season ending injury which enabled the emergency transfer happened to a goalkeeper.

[SMD]

Oh yeah I forgot that part