The Latest New Footie Thread

[LesClaypool]

re: FFP

I doubt anything will be done again. Look at City - they were in breach and have spent crazy cash the last 2 summers with essentially nothing coming back in.

Perhaps predictably, this Neymar transfer is turning into a clown show.

http://www.espnfc.us/story/3171271/la-liga-refuses-to-accept-psg-cash-for-barcelonas-neymar

On what basis the La Liga President has to reject another club's transfer fee is beyond me.

 

[kooterridesagain]

La liga is run by Barcelona these days, its disturbing, thankfully they relented and he's gone.

Mbappe is a huge Madrid and Real fan, but for some reason Zizou loves Benzema and Bale and doesn't want to sell one. Mbappe hasn't done much, but if he becomes great at Barcelona, it would haunt Madrid, much like cr7 haunts Arsenal and to a lesser degree Juventus since they win titles without him.

 

[LesClaypool]

Man, I just watched the 2nd half of the Monaco/Toulouse match.

1. Mbappe is legit! (but he went off in the 72nd minute w/a knock to his knee.)
2. Falcao is old but still has great poaching skills.
3. Thomas Lemar is a total fraud! WTF is Arsenal thinking trying to pry him away from Monaco like that. He's terrible!

 

[nole31906]

Nice win for Arsenal today even if it was just the community shield. Courtois taking the penalty was bizarre. I think Chelsea will struggle without Costa even when Hazard comes back. Of course, by struggle, it is relative. They will be in the top 4. I just don't know if they will have enough to hold of Man City.

 

[LesClaypool]

Why on earth did Conte send Courtois out there?

Saed Kolasinac is a beast!

 

[seminoleed]

A deserved win for The Arsenal. Hopefully that carries over to next week.
The Courtois PK was bizarre; it looked like he was in a hurry to get it off, looking
for a surprise advantage maybe.
It was an excellent match overall.

 

[Rishi]

Courtois is very good at PKs. That's the first time I've seen him not hit one of the top corners - now to be fair I've only seen him take in other pre-season friendlies and practice. To be honest, I was more surprised to see Cahill as the 1st shooter than Thibault. I personally would've gone with Morata (who also missed - and badly as it was what 5 feet wide?), Cesc, David Luiz , Moses and Musonda i.e. the attackers and Luiz who has a lot of experience taking PKs (incl. in our 2012 UCL win). In no particular order.

Arsenal's equalizer showed how much you need to work with others on set pieces as Morata dropped back far too soon which played Kolasinac on.

 

[kooterridesagain]

The Courtois and Morata misses were awful. I can't believe they even let Courtois shoot, totally deserved.

31 on Arsenal impressed the heck out of me, Kolasinac.

I will be so annoyed with Madrid if they really keep the constantly injured Bale and let Mbappe go to Barcelona. Mbappe wants to be at Madrid.

 

[LesClaypool]

Coutinho to Barca allegedly a done deal. Say it ain't so...

http://www.espnfc.us/story/3174603/...o-sell-philippe-coutinho-to-barcelona-sources

 

[kooterridesagain]

Thats a silly amount of money for him. I wonder if Coutinho were born in Paraguay, what would the price be?

Taping Madrid United on delay. Rumors that uber awful Vasquez is demanding minutes, hoping that Zidane benches both him and Bale meaning two more on the way out.

Hoping for a solid game with goals

 

[LesClaypool]

Thats a silly amount of money for him. I wonder if Coutinho were born in Paraguay, what would the price be?

Taping Madrid United on delay. Rumors that uber awful Vasquez is demanding minutes, hoping that Zidane benches both him and Bale meaning two more on the way out.

Hoping for a solid game with goals

As bad as Vasquez is...Asencio is that much greater though. I absolutely love watching that kid play.

 

[FSUdawg]

A couple more Alexis Sanchez rumors I read today.

1. PSG is now interested in Sanchez and apparently looking to pay close to £80 for him (I don't believe a word of that one).

2. While Wenger is adamant that Sanchez isn't going anywhere, the Arsenal Board is leaning towards selling him and adding the money to the bank...or maybe using it to get someone else.

At this point I have no clue what Wenger & Arsenal are doing. They weren't good enough last year and they have made 2 moves this summer. How exactly they think that is enough to all of a sudden be good enough to challenge for the title is beyond me. Then again, Wenger seems to always want to challenge for top 4 and not the title, so it shouldn't be surprising to me that he thinks he might have done enough at this point.

 

[LesClaypool]

And now Sanchez is out for 2 weeks w/an abdominal strain. Really 2 weeks for that?!

I guess he's digging in and trying harder to push through a transfer.

I expect Wenger to double-back on his "we're not selling" credo any second.

 

[kooterridesagain]

I too love Asensio and wish he plays over Bale.

Nice scrimmage from Madrid and a very flattering score line for United. Should have been 5-2 without a fit ronaldo.
Mourinho spot on after the game, its not panic time for United as the EPL isn't as good as Madrid.

sadly another Madrid season waiting for Bale to get hurt and Vasquez to suck. But i like the rest of the team even if Navas isn't world class.

I think United will be ok, once they settle on tactics. Just need to survive the first few months. My guess is Mourinho plays open at home and goes for 0-0 park the bus on road.

 

[LesClaypool]

I too love Asensio and wish he plays over Bale.

Nice scrimmage from Madrid and a very flattering score line for United. Should have been 5-2 without a fit ronaldo.
Mourinho spot on after the game, its not panic time for United as the EPL isn't as good as Madrid.

sadly another Madrid season waiting for Bale to get hurt and Vasquez to suck. But i like the rest of the team even if Navas isn't world class.

I think United will be ok, once they settle on tactics. Just need to survive the first few months. My guess is Mourinho plays open at home and goes for 0-0 park the bus on road.

This Madrid team is the greatest team in a long time. 3 CLs in 4 years...c'mon! That's ridiculous. Not even Barcelona accomplished that. Man United finished 6th in the Prem. Mourinho was right to say that EPL isn't as good as Madrid...no one is as good as Madrid. No one (in a long time) has been as good as Madrid. They have no weaknesses.

 

[kooterridesagain]

I can't stand barcelona but i think those Iniesta/Xavi teams were better. They had a rhythm passing ive only seen bits of, both from that Arsenal undefeated team and that Juventus Zidane/Davids midfield.
I do enjoy watching Madrid but I actually think Zidane isnt starting his best team because of owner pressure.
Anyway...

This Real has a few weaknesses:
1 Ramos is not a focused player and loses his man a few times a game, he's the CB everyone goes after with balls played behind.
2 Navas is good, not great.
3 The RM midfield is often out possessed by good midfields because its so defensive oriented and lacks creativity. Modric/Kroos/casemiro can be a joy to watch but they can also starve the offense of possession if they pass backwards too much and dont carry the ball. None like to go at the defense and Modric has really slowed down the last 2 years. He's just a passer now at 31.
At one point last year Real Madrid were ranked outside the top 20 of Champions League teams in possession.
4. Big games, its CR7 or bust. This has to change, eventually CR7 won't dominate knockout rounds and big liga games. Its amazing how little madrid gets from others in these moments but keeps winning.

Now Go Everton!

 

[LesClaypool]

Who do you want starting vs. Leicester, fellow Gooners?

Ramsey, Mertesacker, and Ozil have all been passed fit to play.

For me...

Cech
Mustafi, Mertesacker, Monreal (Holding if AW thinks Mustafi's still not ready yet)
Ox, Ramsey, Xhaka, Kolasinac
Ozil, Lacazette, Welbeck

Welbz hustled his arse off vs Chelsea, doing his best Alexis impression. He deserves to start. Iwobi is not ready for prime time AT ALL, IMO. I don't want him to see the field, let alone start. If Holding does start, then that side of the pitch is who I'd attack...with Ozil, Ox, and Holding all being the weakest links on D at their respective positions. What side does Mahrez usually start on?

 

[FSUdawg]

Les, I like most of your starting 11. However, I would start Holding no matter what...either for Mustafi or Mertesacker. I would also start Bellerin over Ox.

100% agree with you on Iwobi.
Ox definitely does not need to play on the left (I think he started there against Chelsea), and to me he needs to show more consistency defensively.

I believe Mahrez plays on the right, so he would be going against Monreal & Kolasinac all day long. This should be a good thing for Arsenal.

 

[LesClaypool]

Yeah I hear you on Holding...he was just really bad against Chelsea. That sort of scares me.

RE: Bellerin...something's missing. I don't know if it's heart or what, but he just isn't the same player that he was 2 years ago.

 

[nole31906]

Who do you want starting vs. Leicester, fellow Gooners?

Ramsey, Mertesacker, and Ozil have all been passed fit to play.

For me...

Cech
Mustafi, Mertesacker, Monreal (Holding if AW thinks Mustafi's still not ready yet)
Ox, Ramsey, Xhaka, Kolasinac
Ozil, Lacazette, Welbeck

Welbz hustled his arse off vs Chelsea, doing his best Alexis impression. He deserves to start. Iwobi is not ready for prime time AT ALL, IMO. I don't want him to see the field, let alone start. If Holding does start, then that side of the pitch is who I'd attack...with Ozil, Ox, and Holding all being the weakest links on D at their respective positions. What side does Mahrez usually start on?

Ozil has a slight ankle injury, so I expect Iwobi will play.

 

[LesClaypool]

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[seminoleed]

Quality, Les.

 

[LesClaypool]

Quality, Les.

I copied it from the "Arsenal Banter" fan page on Facebook.

COYG! You going to be able to watch the match today, Ed...or do you have to teach during the match?

 

[LesClaypool]

 

[FSUdawg]

Very interesting lineup going with 1 true CB in a back 3 of a 3-4-3. On top of that we only have 1 true defender on the bench. Weird.

 

[nole31906]

Well, that was stressful, but an exciting game to start the Premier League season.

 

[nole31906]

Very interesting lineup going with 1 true CB in a back 3 of a 3-4-3. On top of that we only have 1 true defender on the bench. Weird.

From what I could tell, Arsenal was playing a 1-2-7 formation. LOL.

 

[seminoleed]

Les, had to teach, but kept ESPNFC on my laptop so I could follow the score. Just got home and fixing to watch the replay. Sounds like one hell of a match.

 

[LesClaypool]

A win is a win is a win is a win.

 

[kooterridesagain]

Crazy game!

This Watford keeper has been at fault for 2 goals and nearly gave up another because he's outrageously aggressive, hes creating break aways. Its bizarre

 

[LesClaypool]

Crazy game!

This Watford keeper has been at fault for 2 goals and nearly gave up another because he's outrageously aggressive, hes creating break aways. Its bizarre

Ex-Spurs keeper. He's dreadful.

 

[LesClaypool]

Watford tie it up at the end. C'mon and hold, Hornets!

 

[seminoleed]

Outstanding start to the Prem. If these first two games are representative of the future, it'll be a wild season.

Watched the replay of The Arsenal last night. Defensive lapses were a shock to see, even for this team. But, you could sense in the second half that the Gooners felt like they had it in them. It was easily the loudest I've heard the Emirates in some time. And the "Hey Jude" serenading of Giroud after it was over was classic.

And the Peasants! WTF? Horrible performance by the Reds. That one might sting for a while. I know Sir Elton is happy.

 

[LesClaypool]

Horrible performance by the Reds. That one might sting for a while.

 

[LesClaypool]

Holy jeepers...Burnley 3-0 Chelsea...AT THE HALF!

 

[LesClaypool]

Agh...Brighton held City 0-0 for 70 minutes or so, now it's 2-0 City. Bummer.

Oh well at least Chelsea lost and Liverpewl dropped points. Pretty good start to the week.

Now come on you Hammers vs Man United and Newcastle vs Spurs tomorrow!

 

[Rishi]

Great day for Huddersfield. Top of the table after their first match in the PL.

 

[seminoleed]

Based on the first weekend of play, MU looks to be ahead of everyone else. That was a pounding they put on the Hammers. Manch must be ecstatic right now. They looked to be in mid-season form today.

 

[LesClaypool]

They started last year the same way. Plenty of time to falter.

 

[kooterridesagain]

And Barcelona suspiciously gets insane calls again for the millionth straight game.
Suarez pk off a dive, then cr7 a bizarre yellow for fighting for ball and not diving. Stunning call which should be repealed aftrr the game. Second yellow and Red off.

Had a great goal though.

Bale and benzema are awful, isco/cr/asensio is the lineup