Vesper

Klopp spoke out because City’s escape threatens Liverpool’s entire model https://theathletic.co.uk/1923882/2020/07/14/jurgen-klopp-ffp-manchester-city-cas/ There was certainly no whispering from Jurgen Klopp at Melwood. The message from the title-winning Liverpool manager was loud and clear. “I don’t think it was a good day for football,” was his blunt assessment of the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to overturn Manchester City’s two-year ban from the Champions League. When Pep Guardiola’s men were initially hit with the suspension by UEFA in February, Klopp picked his words carefully. Privately, there was a collective sense of satisfaction and relief within the club that the governing body had finally got tough with the alleged rule-breakers. But with the title still to be won and a City appeal pending, there was little to be gained by expressing those sentiments publicly. “I really feel for Pep and the players,” Klopp told the media after the narrow win against Norwich City. “What they did since I have been in England is exceptional.” His tone was very different on Tuesday as he spoke to the media before Wednesday’s trip to Arsenal. The gloves were off. Klopp spoke passionately about the potential impact of City’s punishment being overturned and why financial fair play (FFP) rules must be upheld for the good of the game. He also admitted that, on the face of it, City playing in Europe next season could actually help Liverpool when it comes to trying to retain the Premier League title, saying he’d feared that if Guardiola only had domestic football to contend with then “I don’t see any chances for any other teams”. But this goes much deeper than the fixture list. For Klopp and Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG), this is about the ongoing battle to ensure it’s a level playing field in the race of the biggest honours. That all members of Europe’s elite abide by the rules regarding expenditure and that those who fail to do so are punished accordingly. “I think FFP is a good idea,” Klopp said. “It’s there for protecting teams and protecting competition so that nobody overspends. Clubs have to make sure that the money they want to spend is based on the right sources.” If you lose FFP, Klopp said, then “nobody has to care any more. The richest people or countries can do whatever they want in football. That would make the competition really difficult. “It is a little bit like Formula One — if you open the door (to competing in F1) to a private jet and you see who is quicker, the aeroplane will win. If the car is in a specific way, then the best driver wins. “If you qualify for the Champions League, you have more money. Since I have been at Liverpool, it was always the most important thing that we qualify for the Champions League for money reasons. If we wanted to buy a player, we had to sell before. That is how it is. “I am not worried about Liverpool in this sense, I don’t think, ‘Oh my God, what can we do?’ But I am really happy we won the championship this year because it will not be easier in the future.” Empowered by the CAS verdict, Guardiola went on the offensive himself, demanding an apology from UEFA and criticising “whispering” Premier League bosses for speaking “behind our backs”. Yet the Spaniard’s suggestion that a traditional giant of English football such as Liverpool is “uncomfortable” with City’s emergence as a major force spectacularly misses the point. For FSG, this has always been about fairness rather than trying to protect the established order. After all, either side of the £300 million takeover nearly a decade ago, Liverpool finished seventh, sixth, eighth and seventh from 2010-13. Liverpool had fallen out of the elite themselves and had a fight on their hands to clamber back in. It was UEFA that decided to introduce the FFP rules that helped convince John W Henry and Tom Werner to buy Liverpool. FSG was never going to bankroll Liverpool in the same manner as Roman Abramovich at Chelsea or Sheikh Mansour at Manchester City. It was attracted by the prospect of clubs having to operate within their means and the challenge of gradually reviving Liverpool’s fortunes by raising revenues across the board. To say FSG has felt repeatedly let down by how those rules have been enforced would be an understatement. When Manchester City stood accused of financial doping after unveiling a £400 million sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways in 2011, Henry tweeted: “How much was the losing bid?” Etihad Airways was chaired at the time by Sheikh Mansour’s half-brother. “The biggest challenge for us has been the ignoring of financial fair play,” Henry said in 2014. “It makes it very difficult to compete. We really don’t have financial fair play, or at least people are not abiding by it.” When City were fined £17 million (with a further £32 million suspended) for FFP breaches a few weeks later, FSG viewed it as a pitiful slap on the wrist. Liverpool were themselves cleared of breaking FFP rules in 2015 after UEFA accepted that £49.6 million had been spent on stadium costs. FSG had to effectively write off £35 million due to the ditched plans of the club’s previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. After German newspaper Der Spiegel published damaging claims about how City had allegedly manipulated sponsorship deals and masked payments from their owners, Liverpool privately welcomed news of UEFA’s investigation. Their name was among the long list of clubs who contacted the Premier League asking them to look into City’s conduct further. “It’s no secret that we are big supporters of financial fair play,” Werner told The Athletic last summer. “We believe it makes sport and on-pitch performance more competitive. UEFA must be successful in implementing it. If there are infringements then we would expect punishments. Everyone should abide by those rules in a very transparent way.” The two-year Champions League ban issued to City in February was viewed at FSG as UEFA finally baring its teeth. Now there’s a sense of dismay over CAS lifting that suspension and reducing the fine from €30 million to €10 million. CAS cleared City of “disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions” but found they had “failed to co-operate with UEFA authorities”. The Athletic understands that Liverpool’s owners were left stunned by Monday’s decision and are awaiting the publication of the full report with interest. They believed that City had broken the rules and would be punished accordingly. They continue to view FFP as critical to a fair sporting competition. For Liverpool, there’s frustration that UEFA was undone to a degree by City’s legal team and its own regulations, with CAS saying part of the reason for its verdict was that some alleged breaches occurred more than five years ago, so were deemed inadmissible. “Most of the alleged breaches reported by the adjudicatory chamber of the CFCB (UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body) were either not established or time-barred,” it said. Relations between Liverpool and City have become increasingly strained in recent years. At the end of last season, Guardiola’s players were filmed mocking Liverpool as they passed the Premier League trophy around the plane flying them back to Manchester after the final day win at Brighton that ensured they pipped their rivals to the title. To the tune of the Kop anthem “Allez Allez Allez”, they sang the version adopted by City fans. “All the way to Kyiv, to end up in defeat, crying in the stands and battered on the streets, Kompany injured Salah, victims of it all, Sterling won the double, the Scousers won fuck all…” Anfield officials were equally stunned by the lack of contrition that followed in a statement issued by City, before Guardiola belatedly apologised. Since then, Liverpool have won the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup and their first league title in 30 years. Trying to extend that run of success won’t be easy in the wake of CAS’s verdict. Rather than City facing the prospect of key personnel wanting to leave following the loss of Champions League football, Guardiola is instead expected to embark on a major spending spree this summer to try to reclaim their Premier League crown. FFP rules are being temporarily relaxed by UEFA because of the financial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the contrasting business models between Liverpool and City will once again be laid bare. With revenue streams at Anfield having been decimated by the crisis, Klopp is expecting a quiet summer transfer window with the club unlikely to make any major signings. The impact of the pandemic led to Liverpool deciding not to pursue a £54 million deal for Timo Werner, who subsequently signed for Chelsea. Liverpool felt they couldn’t justify that kind of outlay in the current climate for a player who would not initially have commanded a place in their starting XI. “Strengthening the squad, you talk about like it is something I just have to ask for and somebody opens the well and away we go,” Klopp added when asked on Tuesday. “To strengthen the squad you need money, and these are uncertain times. “We did not invest a lot in the squad last year and that was before COVID. We do not know when supporters will be back in the stadium. Whoever knows, tell me and then we can plan with that. That is how the club has been led since before I was here. If we have money, we will spend. If we do not know if we will have money, we probably will not spend that much.” Since the start of the 2010-11 season, City have spent £1.39 billion in the transfer market, with a net spend of £960 million. Over the same period, Liverpool have spent £915 million with a net spend of £267 million. The new Premier League champions have bought well and they have sold even better. The £142 million sale of Philippe Coutinho in January 2018, which effectively paid for the signings of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, is the best example of that. FSG hoped financial fair play would help its mission to restore the club to the summit of English football, with Klopp leading the charge. But despite achieving that goal, the feeling persists that they aren’t all playing by the same set of rules. Hence the manager’s strong declaration that Monday was not a good day for football. Liverpool have scaled the mountain, but Klopp knows that staying there will be much tougher on the back of Manchester City’s reprieve.

he is not a holding MFer though a double pivot of Kante and Pasalic would not work if we had an ounce of sense we would had closed out the damn Marcelo Brozovic deal back then or bought Thomas Partey or Leander Dendoncker

your maths are off you said we do not need any more points to finish 4th (you are 90% sure if Leicester loses v SU) if we get no more points that means we lose to Wolves (they are on 55 now) so we end on 63 Wolves other 2 games are against dregs, Burnley and Palace, which they should win (or at least be favoured) if they win out that puts them at 64 and we are out of CL unless Manure utterly collapse (as we end on 63 and they are looking at 65 if they win their two dregs games and lose to Leicester, and they STILL top us if they go 1 win one draw and 1 loss, as that leaves them at 63 and above us on GD) and not just 5th for us as if Leicester (even if they lose v SU) beats spuds and draws with manure (or draws with spuds and beats manure or wins both) they go above us too, either on GD or outright on points even if we get a draw v Liverpool, but lose v Wolves, as long as wolves win versus the dregs by a total of one goal and 2 goals (or more) (so plus 3 ior more in their GD gain n GD and thus we are only +1 (or worse) in GD versus them, going in), they would go above us on GD by simply beating us by one goal (as it is a net 2 point GD swing). even if they only win each of the other 2 games by only one goal each (thus we are +2 in GD over them going in if we draw v Liverpool) , they also would go through if they beat us by 2 or more (and remember, all that is WITH us drawing against Liverpool, if we lose to the dippers, we could still be well fucked and end up 6th, or 5th at best) we reallllly fucked up tonight by only winning by one goal even two draws for us could well fuck us we would be at 65 points but manure , if they just win 2 the 2 shit games, and lose to Leicester, top us via GD AND Leicester, if they win 2 of the 3 games left (does not matter what combo, as if they lose to manure but win the other two, the only thing that changes is manures gets 3rd for sure) gets 4th, we would be 5th, and Wolves 6th in theory we COULD even end up SEVENTH IF Sheffield win out and we lose both, we both will be on 63 points we are +10 over them in GD but lets say we lose both games by a combined 5 goals +5 now and they win by say 2 versus Leicester, 3 versus Everton, and 1 versus SOTON (or win by 2 2 2) they go 6th, we go 7th on GD IF we lose both remaining games it is VERY likely we do ot get CL unless there are a lot of upsets and in a nightmare scenario we not only are dumped out into the Europa league, BUT we have to go through fucking qualifying rounds there (unless we win the FA Cup) and finally we COULD even miss out on the Europa league No Europe at all IF SU finshes above us ( the only not likely event even if we lose the last two games, but still possible if we get pummelled hard in those two games and SU win by 2 or so goals in each game (or even less if we get just smashed in the last two) and (of course) Leicester and Manure and Wolves finish above us and Arsenal win the FA Cup as 7th place EPL going to the EL then poofs (as Arse cannot finish above us in the league they are mathematically eliminated from that), so their EL place gained via the FA Cup win takes away 7th place EPL team going to the EL we are very lucky a long shot did not win the league cup, as then 6th place would also get NO EUROPE (IF Arse also win the FA Cup, and even if they did not, 7th still gets no Europe) many people forget that the EPL only gets 5 (via league order finish) guaranteed Europe spots (4 CL. 1 EL) as the EFL Cup winners and the FA Cup winners are guaranteed so 6th and 7th place only come into play if a an already Europe-qualified team(s) wins them

but to put BEZOS in perspective by the 1850's or 1860's one family, the combined Houses of Rothschild controlled, directly or indirectly an estimated 55% of the entire wealth on the whole planet the only time in human history one entity controlled over half of the planetary wealth by the 1870's and on that slipped (supposedly, lolol) in today's pounds as the estimated worth of the planet itself, everything on it, is 5 quadrillion (5,000 trillion) USD ie £4 quadrillion that would mean one family controlled £2.2 QUADRILLION £2,200,000,000,000,000 so taking Roman's all-time net worth high (roughly £22 billion) you would need 100,000 Roman Abramovich's to equal what that one family controlled in today's pound sterling more than a Camp Nou at current capacity's number of Roman's (and that is at his all time high, you probably now need 180,000 to 200,000 Romans (as the rouble and oil prices have shit out since his peak net worth) as of today that is wealth comparative extrapolation to the largest degree that is currently possible until we discover other life forms on other planets (or humans literally start buying/seizing up other planets and quadrants of the solar system and beyond)

but, for actual perspective, on multiple single DAYS Jeff Bezos has made 10 times what Messi makes in a YEAR

the big 3 La Liga teams, plus Manure, Shitty, and especially Juve, PSG, and Bayern all have insane wage bills Barca and Real are on another planet and again these INSANE numbers below, are NET https://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/football-leaks-reveal-lionel-messis-staggering-wages-barcelona-signing-new-contract-147118 Lionel Messi pockets in the region of €2million-a-week with his astonishingly lucrative new contract at Barcelona, according to a new report by Football Leaks. Messi ended growing speculation over his long-term future in November when he put pen to paper on a new deal that keeps him at the Camp Nou until 2021. While it was widely assumed that the new contract was possibly the most lucrative in the history of the sport, the specific financial details that have emerged confirm that the five-time Ballon d'Or winner earns around €100m-a-year. The 30-year-old forward will earn €71m annual wages under the new contract, with the rest coming from image rights. It's approximately twice what Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo earns. There are other significant incentives written into the contract, including a €70m bonus for Messi if he stays at Barca for the entire duration of his contract. In addition to that, his buy-out clause stands at an astronomical €700m. https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/football-leaks-lionel-messi-s-100-million-euro-contract-a-1187549.html The documents show that Messi is to receive an annual fixed salary of 71,053,846 euros through the end of the 2020/21 season. He is also to get a one-time bonus of 63.5 million as well as a "loyalty bonus" of 70 million euros. On top of that come performance bonuses. If the team wins the Champions League, for example, Messi would receive an additional 12,057,513 euros. If the Argentinian takes to the field for at least 60 percent of all matches over the next four years and fulfils his contract through its end date of June 30, 2021, then he can be certain of an average annual income of 106,347,115 euros. And if FC Barcelona were to achieve a "treble" -- winning the Champions League, the Spanish league title and the Spanish cup all in a single season -- and Messi were named FIFA player-of-the-year, he would make 122,515,205 euros for that season.

Oblak release clause is £108m so £50m cash + Kepa puts Kepa's valuation at £58m which is NEVER gonna happen especially as he has 5 years left on his contract at £190K per week £49.4m if that actually happened then we just got Oblak for basically giving him to Atleti and paying his salary for 5 years of course Oblak¨s salary if he came will be at least what he has now which is the true deal killer from OUR end it is now £18.9m per year with the exchange rate so if we signed him to 5 years, that is £94.5m amortised outlay just to match if he demands a 7 year deal, (he is 27 now, 28yo in January) that is £132m amortised in salary outlays over 7 years £363K per week

Atalanta smashed Brescia 6 2 nice hat trick for Pasalic

looking ahead the the EPL and CL qualification I see potential true skulduggery possible odds are so high Manure beat Palace and West Ham so going into the last game v Leicester on 65 IF (massive if) Leicester beat both Sheffield United and Spuds they go into the last game on 65 that last game of course, is Leicester v Manure IF we lose (not draw or win) versus Victimpool then no matter WHAT we do (unless we win by 20 or so goals, lol) versus Wolves (as we come in on 63 so a win gives us 66) a DRAW in the Leicester v Manure game puts them BOTH through to the CL over us on GD now I so think Leicester will slip up in either or both of the next two games, BUT if they do not and we fail to get even a point versus Liverpool (that could, unfortunately, easily happen) it could be a huge issue of collusion

here is a wild card play swap AC straight up for Evan N'Dicka of Frankfurt left-footed, and would be our tallest CB, he is young but is a 2 and a half year starter Eintract want around €30-35m about what AC is worth, he may be worth a wee bit more, but in swaps you often loos a few million in valuation he certainly is not as bad as AC and AC is far better in the Bundesliga, as it is less physical and more suited to his playing style, as proven before by his great play there already Scouting Report – Evan N’Dicka https://www.prostinternational.com/2020/06/11/scouting-report-evan-ndicka/ Eintracht Frankfurt defender Evan N’Dicka has been linked with a move to several Premier League clubs in recent weeks, most notably Arsenal and Southampton. (Liverpool too) But is the young Frenchman ready for that move? Here we look at the attributes that make the defender a target for these clubs in need of defensive reinforcements. This scouting report will consist of two aspects; an ‘Eye Test’ – looking at his performance against Bayern Munich in the DFB Pokal – the toughest of opponents in Germany. We will also take a dive into his data from the rest of the 19/20 season and paint a picture as to what makes him such a wanted asset. Name: Obite Evan N’Dicka Club: Eintracht Frankfurt Previous Clubs: Auxerre DOB: August 20 1999 Position: CB/LB The Eye Test N’Dicka started the game in a back three, deployed on the left hand side of the trio. The role provided the Frenchman with the ability to cover for the wing back, due to his experience in playing in that position. In the early minutes he was seen commanding his teammates on who to mark as they dealt with the movement of Bayern’s forward players. An example of the positioning sense and pace held by N’Dicka was displayed early as he beat the lively Kingsley Coman in a foot race in the opening stages. A momentary lapse meant N’Dicka lost sight of Coman at the back post, giving his opposite a glorious chance to put Bayern 2-0 up, as Coman exploited the space between N’Dicka and Timothy Chandler at full back. N’Dicka made significant contributions in terms of last ditch defending to ensure the game stayed at 1-0 for the first half, his desire to defend was clear to see, making vital clearances from within the penalty area and making himself big to block a shot from Robert Lewandowski. The second half saw Frankfurt squeeze further up the pitch, with the defensive line sat on the halfway line, N’Dicka often showing his ability to track runners and close up the space left behind the defence when Bayern attempted to break through. The license given to take the game to Bayern helped N’Dicka show his proactive side, the defender was an aggressive winner of the ball, attacking it at every opportunity. On occasion, this desire to win the ball led to the defender either being caught out of position when the ball was shifted quickly in small spaces where a more experienced head may have read the situation. The Data N’Dicka has made 18 appearances for Frankfurt this season, starting 16 of those games deployed either as a central defender or a left back. Using data and visuals from Soccerment, we can compare the young Frenchman to a recent signing Arsenal made for the future in William Saliba. Using the defender template, it is shown by the data that N’Dicka boasts similar stats to Saliba over the course of the season so far, with the Frankfurt man contributing to greater chances created due to his deployment at left back. Completing 84.2% of his dribble attempts and 1.1 dribbles per 90, he is perfectly capable of bringing the ball out from defence and advancing the play, an attribute which is highly sought after in the modern central defender. Note that the sides linked with a move for the defender, Arsenal and Southampton, currently use David Luiz and Jack Stephens in these roles. A key aspect of the modern defender is to be involved with the build up of attacks, their passing has to be accurate and forward thinking. The graphic below shows how often N’Dicka looks to move the ball forward, with 44% of his passes advancing the play. His aerial duels are nothing to be sniffed at either, winning over half (54.7%) of these. Compare this to the highly rated 23-year-old Fikayo Tomori of Chelsea, who wins a similar amount with exactly 55%. Summary Against Bayern Munich, the defender was under immense pressure for the duration of the game and battled for everything that was thrown at him despite the defeat. At 20-years-old, the Frenchman has a lot to learn and improve on, but the talent is there to see. His desire to defend would make him a great fit for the Premier League. Although it is to be noted that with the improvements needed, it would be better for his development to arrive at a club who thrive on developing young players, rather than relying on N’Dicka to be the linchpin of a defensive unit.

CL, all the way its a £60m or so net loss of revenue and hurts recruiting and also forces us into the Europa league meat grinder next season

AND Wolves (it really may be barring a win versus the dippers and a Leicester further implosion) that NUFC last kick of game loss is THE number one haunt from the year if we lose out on CL by GD to Wolves or a point to any team so fucked

yes, so true hopefully we have 3rd or 4th clinched before that so although it would be irritating to fail in a final (the Bayern game is a lost cause barring a true miracle) I really would MUCH rather have CL next year than an FA Cup this year I know some may disagree but the long term spillover from missing out on CL is FAR worse than losing an FA Cup final

the following assumes Leicester shit out if we draw verses the dippers and Wolves win the next 2 by 3 (so by one and by 2) or more we are going to fucking rue the day we did not score more tonight we are +4 GD with them now and they have a game in hand if we come in +1 or worse after a draw with vpool all they need to do is beat us by a goal and we crash out on GD if we are +2 (plus +3 is impossible with a draw by us as they would carve off 2 at a minimum with 2 wins ) coming in (we would have 64 points, and they would be on 61) they would have to win by 2 or more (as if level on points and GD we go through as we have more goals scored ,+16 atm)

the next 4 matches are against 1 arguably the hottest team in the EPL (Manure) 2 one of the best single season EPL sides and the world champions (the dippers) 3 one of our 3 main CL rivals (unless they fuck up against 2 shit teams in their next two games) 4 arguably the best team on the planet (Bayern) grrrrrrr the only way it could be worse is swap out Wolves for Shitty literally that is the only way to make it 4 harder games

far too close but its down to two games for CL we play like we have the 3 of the last 4 games we are in deep shit

so close, arfffffffffffffff

Jorginho IS the definition of negative football on this team

it is bullshit so so unhappy with him atm

and we need the goals ffs, to up our GD so so frustrated with this all

I have NO clue what Lampard does anymore it seems to be no rhyme nor reason

Norwich are SO frail now defensively we simply MUST score and NOW FFS FFS Azpi moved to LEFT BACK Alonso, who has been quite lively off GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Willian has been utter dogshit a horrid performance so far, 80% of his passes seemingly have been backwards and he is back to sitting and holding up play

Pukki on now too

Emiliano Buendía on, he is a bit of a creative