Soccer 2017-2018

We could have been an amazing side with Coutinho though. Put Naby Keita next to him and a solid #6 behind those two and that might be the best MF in the world. Ah well...

For Barca, Dembele is Neymar's replacement and Coutinho is supposedly Iniesta's replacement forgetting the fact that Coutinho has never played like Iniesta. Barca will probably be the best scoring side in Europe until Messi retires, the guys numbers are just unreal.

As far as PSG, yes they need to win the CL to make the Neymar money worth it since Ligue 1 is such a joke. With that said winning the CL is so random that it's pretty stupid but when that's all you have to play for /shrug

What a win today, great game for LFC. Just need Stoke to win by 3 tomorrow now

Hmm, not sure where to start on this one. Coutinho went and told everybody including the tea lady at Melwood he was done playing for LFC and would not play again. He already skipped out on the CL qualifiers in August with a bogus injury. Carragher said the same thing in that LFC should still make him stay as you are now. But for what? His value to Barca wasn't going to change so him playing well or better wasn't going to affect anything, he's guaranteed a Brazil WC spot whether through merit or Nike and he already showed he would rather sit out in the hope he'd get a Barca move than play for us. So we just force him to play when he doesn't want to? How does that affect the rest of the squad?

We can debate whether La Liga is rigged for RM and Barca but it's a relative fact that Latins watch soccer growing up in which the players speak the same language they do rather than PL games. So they grow up watching Barca and RM plus their idols such as Ronaldo and Ronaldinho recently played there. La Liga is doing a better job now on TV money which is how A. Madrid has been able to sustain itself along with new ownership. Granted this doesn't get into the shady RM land deals or both RM and Barca seemingly not needing to pay taxes.

As far as where LFC spends it's Coutinho money, probably nothing right now. You're right in that Lemar is in no way a £60-90m player so I don't see that happening based on the clubs previous transfer history and who leads that department. Any player that would improve us is either on a CL team or a team that is challenging for CL places which is why I don't expect anything in January now that an early Keita move is ruled out. I would expect us to go heavy for Roma's GK Allison in the summer as well as another MF to go with Keita assuming we lose Can if we can't get Goretzka on a free. His teammate Max Meyer was moved into a #6 role and is thriving, he's also going to be on a free and that's who I'd be targeting as well. Basically players on teams that are performing at a high level where their stats are higher than expected, probably only 2-3 this summer.

Welp, not sure what is worse. Chelsea going after Carroll after signing Drinkwater and Barkley or ManU giving Sanchez £500k per week. Both are absolutely retarded and I'm all for that.

It's reported as £14m per year net from his agent. First I've never heard a wage being quoted in "net" terms in England, only in France due to taxes and Monaco. Second ManC's contract was supposedly £13m per year, so they're quoting the £14m without the "net" added to it to make it seem like this isn't about money when it most definitely is. Not that I have an issue with Alexis getting paid, more power to him. Just seems like a shit ton of money to throw at an eventual wing back

Maul said:

It is a dubiously large amount to pay I agree. The issue I have is all the frees surrounding it get lumped into one by the media to make it 500k+ a week. Since when has any transfer been valued like that.

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For once I'd have to agree with you Maul in that you usually don't see a transfer quoted with all fees included. Unless this is the new norm it is a bit unfair as most "bosman" transfers are not free yet they're reported as if they are. All other types of transfers don't usually include the agents fee in the overall number bandied about.

Where I think in this case it's different and why it's being reported as such is just the amounts are a bit staggering for a player with only 6 months left on this current contract, is 29 years old with a lot of mileage on his legs and is not one of the 3 best players in the world. The £470-500k per week is just salary, nobody is disputing that. Where it becomes truly amazing is with the transfer fee, sign on fee, agent fee and wages it's £180m spent over the 4 1/2 contract that is going to be signed. ManU's turnover makes this possible so I don't hate it like i would a ManC or PSG but still it's fucking insane. Why wouldn't Pogba or DDG show up tomorrow demanding commensurate contracts? It just seems a really good way to blow a hell of a lot of money for not much return while opening a Pandora's box when it comes to the other squad members.

Jozu said:

Liverpool beating City during their historic rampage through the prem was basically unthinkable just a month ago.. Maybe they would have gotten a result, but to beat a top 3 team in Europe 4-3 under such high pressure conditions shows Klopp is a great coach. That game is why Liverpool hired Klopp.

Guardiola got outcoached as he didnt counter the high press and Klopp has that energy and craftiness to see small things developing and then makes changes in an attempt to reverse whats happening. Thats why Liverpool looks so bad on defense sometimes, Klopp makes the situation vulnerable in his quest to shift the direction of the match. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt, but at least they have a manager who actually has an impact on his team and can produce miraculous results because of it. It might not end up being a season defining win, as City will still win the Prem by a comfortable gap, but Liverpool put itself in the champions league seat, and if they can just keep playing this type of foootball they will no doubt finish top 4.

Arsenal is sunk, Chelsea and Conte look lost, so its looking more and more like City, United, Liverpool, Spurs.

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Not sure I'd say Pep got out coached, more that his players just couldn't perform when under pressure. Even then it was a really tight run thing as the first 10-15 minutes of the 2nd half I thought we were done. The Firmino goal just changed everything.

For top 4, right now I'd say ManC/LFC/Spuds/Chelsea. Everybody talks about Arsenal in crises but ManU's underlying defensive numbers are even worse right now. The chances they gave up even in the Stoke game in that first half were ridiculously good but somehow Stephen Ireland was playing and not an actual live footballer. Unless Bailey comes back soon and fixes everything then I think they're going to drop more points Sanchez or not as their defense is just a mess.

Typical would be we lie down and have our tummies tickled by a clearly inferior team while a normally shit and brutish CF bullies us off the pitch. We created a shit ton of chances and it just so happened every single player that had one missed. Shit happens. Play that same game the exact same way another 9 times and we win all 9. On to next week.