Jase

Can you seriously not see the difference? Unlike some of the other leagues, the Bundesliga is basically dominated by one team - Bayern Munich. Any time they have a team looking to seriously challenge them, they will look to buy their best player(s), thus strengthening their hold on the league while weakening the others. I don't have the full list of it now but am willing to bet that majority of their transfers over the years have been from the league itself. They will only buy from abroad if there are no viable options in Germany. The big teams in Spain, England have also bought players from within the league but they have also bought a lot of players from abroad. They do so more than Bayern. From a player's perspective, sure, going to Bayern means they can easily win trophies especially the domestic competitions in Germany. It's good for the CV etc. But from a fan's perspective, it's really BS. You want to see the other teams in Germany also have quality players and can build a team to really challenge Bayern. But no, they can't do that because one of the reasons is that Bayern keep poaching their best players. Also, the Bundesliga is basically Bayern Munich while the Premier League have at least 5-6 big clubs, La Liga have at least 3 etc and there's also a difference between buying a player from say a second tier side within the league and buying one from a direct rival. How often do we see, for example, Man City buying a player from Man United or Liverpool buying from Spurs?

Winning the Premier League has never been harder... ...And in some ways, the league itself is becoming a bit like the Bundesliga.

Our end total points difference from 2014/15 to 2015/16 was just 37 points. If Liverpool don't pick up their form again, there's every chance that theirs will be worse than ours when we compare this and last season.

Chelsea 2014/15 - P24 W17 D5 L2 = 56 pts 2015/16 - P24 W7 D8 L9 - 29 pts (-27) LIVERPOOL 2019/20 - P24 W23 D1 = 70 pts 2020/21 - P24 W11 D7 L6 = 40 pts (-30)

Damned if they do. Damned if they don't. 🤣 But on the flip side, Leicester seem prone to dropping points against the smaller sides. And I just noticed Leicester have United (a), Chelsea (a) and Spurs (h) in their last 3 games...

A draw would have been better...

For his career, yeah but on the flip side, it's boring and almost a given that Bayern would win the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal pretty much every season.

So pathetic that players in Germany just go join Bayern every season. Swear every German club are just a feeder club to Bayern.

A quiet January transfer window means nothing really. We might normally see the odd big transfer or two but no serious clubs will sell their assets right in the middle of the season. I think there will be much more movement this summer compared to last summer. Last summer, the pandemic just happened and I don't think anyone had a clear picture of the financial situation. Now that we are a year in and all that and have some sort of clarity of the situation, I suspect some clubs will be making moves this time around. Bayern already made a move on Upamecano. United will likely try to sign Sancho again and he might be available on a cheaper price this time, especially if Dortmund don't qualify for the Champions League. Then there's City who might try to sign Messi or Haaland for example. Real Madrid might also be tempted to make a move if Mbappe wants to go to Spain.

What I find odd is that people say Abraham's buildup play is good or that he has improved it when it's still quite hit-and-miss, especially with his bambi on ice control/touch. His movement also is not always the best such as when someone is attacking the box and preparing to play a cross in, Abraham hardly moves to attack it, be it at the near post, far post or centrally. More often than not, he'll just stand somewhere in the box and expect the ball to be played to where he is, even if it's among a mass of bodies etc.

But those are just predicted numbers on paper, no? Only 6 of Abraham's goals this season have come in the league and while another 5 of his goals came against Luton and Barnsley. I mean, goals are goals but he needs to do more against better opponents than just lower league sides.

Also the same Sheffield United side that beat United at Old Trafford before that City game.

Well, F them considering we were denied a blatant penalty as well in the first half.

No team is gonna be able to play well in every game and given how often we have dropped points when we simply do not play well, Sunday's result was at least an encouragement in that we are able to eek out a win while not being at our best.

That's because we played a style that requires a target man, a physical central striker, a classic #9, I guess. Any time we tried to deviate from that type of striker, they have struggled. Seeing as how to we are trying to play a more possession based game in recent years, there's probably more chance now for a different type of striker to succeed. Plus, a lot of the other big sides around Europe have shown that you don't need a target man to be successful at the highest level. There are more ways to skin a cat.

Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2020/21 Premier League Match 24 15th January, Monday 2021 Stamford Bridge 20:00 Kick Off (UK time)

Sheffield United on March 20 it is then and that also means our league game against Liverpool at Anfield will be moved.

Yeah, just take the win and run. Less said about the performance, the better.

Who cares, if it is? We were denied a blatant penalty in the first half.

The classic 'Player coming from the Eredivisie struggling in the Premier League'?

Abraham still has 2 years left on his contract apparently and while he has made his contribution, we need to say goodbye to Giroud once and for all. He's getting older and if he's not scoring, he really isn't offering us much anymore.