ES Soccer Thread

[Fergasun]

But.... that first Man U goal vs. Man City was ridiculously called as onsides.  I was tought in youth ref training that running toward the ball is active participation.  

 

Even if fhe head read overturned the AR flag... VAR should have flagged it as clear and obviously wrong. 

[Corcaigh]

The legendary manager Brian Clough once said “If a player is not interfering with play then he shouldn't be on the pitch.”

[Long n Left]

I’ll tell you what’s wrong with Liverpool. 
 

They’ve kept a large part of the team together, and have not gotten ready replacements in behind to take over as these guys age out. We have young talent, but YOUNG. That, and we’ve had a LOT of injuries this season.  
 

The biggest problem being in the midfield where we’ve continually run out Henderson (32), Fabinho (29 but playing/running like he’s 40), and Thiago (31). All very good players in their day, but none renowned for their athleticism, are getting run through by every opposing midfield.

 

Jota been out all season, supposed to be back in Feb. Diaz, who had been electric since he came, out in October, won’t return till March. Firmino started the season well, but has been struggling with injury since before the WC. And, now Nunez is out for a game or three. Virgil looks to miss another 4-6 weeks, Salah has not been in form, and Oxlade-Chamberlain and Keita have just been back since the end of the WC.

 

The midfield is the big problem that needs to addressed, IMO. Henderson has been a stalwart Captain for us during these salad days, but is a shell of his former playing self, and should be no more than a late game sub at this point. Fabinho has always been one of the slower players, but has even lost a step from that, and doesn’t make the break-up tackles that he had been so good at before. Gets played around like he’s standing still now. Thiago is still quality, but he has a lengthy injury history, and can’t be depended on to play 90 minutes every game. He is nearing the end of his window too.

 

Think this squad has a lot of good pieces for the future, especially in attack (Nunez, Diaz, Jota, Gakpo), but the midfield and defense need a rebuild, I believe. Think they kept some players on too long, played too many matches last season, an all-time record high, and had a short and busy off-season. All this has led to an older and more tired squad this season.

 

I wouldn’t be arsed if they offloaded some big pieces this summer to fuel the rebuild. I could see Salah and Van Dijk moving this summer for the right price, and hope that Bellingham decides to be part of the Reds redux.

[Corcaigh]

It’s also a consequence of Klopp’s very aggressive pressing style. When you press like that, you will get beaten some of the time and badly exposed, and you need to have world-class, defensive midfielders and center backs to cover and win the ball back.

 

Edited January 15 by Corcaigh

[Fergasun]

What I notice... 

 

Nunez has comical finishing, its like a ridiculous invisible wall is blocking the goal.  His body control and positioning is fantastic, so one assumes it's bad luck,  but he could have bad feet. 

 

I forgot about Diaz and Jota.  

 

Salah has seemed to be fine, no one is feeding him. 

 

You are correct regarding midfield.  Elliott and Carvalho should be getting starts... if not both than at least one.  

 

On defense there is no depth after Van Dijk. 

 

I do love following EPL a lot now and even pay attention to the lower teams in the table.  

 

 

 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

 

 

[Berggy9598]

On 1/15/2023 at 9:05 AM, Fergasun said:

But.... that first Man U goal vs. Man City was ridiculously called as onsides.  I was tought in youth ref training that running toward the ball is active participation.  

 

Even if fhe head read overturned the AR flag... VAR should have flagged it as clear and obviously wrong. 

I was taught to play to the whistle and watch for the late runner. 

On 1/15/2023 at 9:58 AM, Long n Left said:

I’ll tell you what’s wrong with Liverpool. 
 

They’ve kept a large part of the team together, and have not gotten ready replacements in behind to take over as these guys age out. We have young talent, but YOUNG. That, and we’ve had a LOT of injuries this season.  
 

The biggest problem being in the midfield where we’ve continually run out Henderson (32), Fabinho (29 but playing/running like he’s 40), and Thiago (31). All very good players in their day, but none renowned for their athleticism, are getting run through by every opposing midfield.

 

Jota been out all season, supposed to be back in Feb. Diaz, who had been electric since he came, out in October, won’t return till March. Firmino started the season well, but has been struggling with injury since before the WC. And, now Nunez is out for a game or three. Virgil looks to miss another 4-6 weeks, Salah has not been in form, and Oxlade-Chamberlain and Keita have just been back since the end of the WC.

 

The midfield is the big problem that needs to addressed, IMO. Henderson has been a stalwart Captain for us during these salad days, but is a shell of his former playing self, and should be no more than a late game sub at this point. Fabinho has always been one of the slower players, but has even lost a step from that, and doesn’t make the break-up tackles that he had been so good at before. Gets played around like he’s standing still now. Thiago is still quality, but he has a lengthy injury history, and can’t be depended on to play 90 minutes every game. He is nearing the end of his window too.

 

Think this squad has a lot of good pieces for the future, especially in attack (Nunez, Diaz, Jota, Gakpo), but the midfield and defense need a rebuild, I believe. Think they kept some players on too long, played too many matches last season, an all-time record high, and had a short and busy off-season. All this has led to an older and more tired squad this season.

 

I wouldn’t be arsed if they offloaded some big pieces this summer to fuel the rebuild. I could see Salah and Van Dijk moving this summer for the right price, and hope that Bellingham decides to be part of the Reds redux.

I'm not sure what's going on with Fabinho, but when you see how different Chelsea look without Kante, Arsenal without Partey, or United without Casemiro, it's difficult to get by without those players. In general, so much of what Liverpool were able to do relied on Fabinho, Henderson and Wijnaldum suffocating the other team. 

[Est.1974]

Uefa is to change its Financial Fair Play rules in response to Chelsea's recent trend of signing players on long-term contracts.

Signing players on extended contracts enables Chelsea to spread the player's transfer fee over the life of that deal when submitting their annual accounts.

That means £89m signing Mykhailo Mudryk will be valued at £11m a year over his eight-and-a-half-year deal.

Uefa is to set a five-year limit over which a transfer fee can be spread.

Clubs will still be able to offer longer deals under UK regulations but will not be able to stretch transfer fees beyond the first five years.

The change to FFP rules will come into force during the summer and will not apply retrospectively.

[Est.1974]

On 1/23/2023 at 9:56 PM, Berggy9598 said:

 

I'm not sure what's going on with Fabinho, but when you see how different Chelsea look without Kante, Arsenal without Partey, or United without Casemiro, it's difficult to get by without those players. In general, so much of what Liverpool were able to do relied on Fabinho, Henderson and Wijnaldum suffocating the other team. 

Liverpool got old in midfield. The fight to get Bellingham is critical to them IMO.

 

The impending change to FFP rules noted above might trigger some big January moves in the next week to beat that change. We may actually see a couple of near 100mil moves coming up.

[Berggy9598]

7 hours ago, Est.1974 said:

Liverpool got old in midfield. The fight to get Bellingham is critical to them IMO.

 

The impending change to FFP rules noted above might trigger some big January moves in the next week to beat that change. We may actually see a couple of near 100mil moves coming up.

Something new for City to circumvent they must be excited. 

 

You really can't compete at the level Liverpool have been under Klopp without more complete midfielders, and that's not just true for Liverpool. The days of drifting number 10s and strictly defensive midfielders that can do the bare minimum on the ball are gone. This is what's holding United back more than inconsistent attackers IMO as they only have one such midfielder. 

Edited January 25 by Berggy9598