The English Football Thread

[communicate 2,703]

On 8/5/2020 at 11:52 PM, NikkiCFC said:

What is funny even with this they won same amount of points 66.

We need next season to have similar influence from our new defensive signings.

That is 130 m pound signing. 

[communicate 2,703]

On 8/7/2020 at 9:59 PM, kellzfresh said:

I agree that defending is not just on one defender, that it requires a team effort to close gaps. But this is exactly why it is important to get the right attack first. Buying a top defender with a broken system would make him look like an amateur in this team. With a proper system of attack, with better quality up top, the team is settled in knowing how they go forward and the type of players they have upfront. I quite remember Liverpool with Klopp buying salah, mane and having a lot of 4-3 matches against Norwich and Bournemoth, we laughed at them at the time. Then he got Fabinho, Vandijk and Alisson to replace Milner, Lovren and Karius. 

Our teams condition right now still doesn't look right in attack for me. We are a pulisic injury away from being a midtable attacking side. We need better decision making and quality (final pass and shooting) in the box to truly elevate our side and make it scary. Arsenal creating more chances than us does not sit well with me when we're aspiring to be title challengers. 

Once the system is right and we are more free-flowing, an improvement in the defense could shoot us straight to the title.

My point is that I personally don't care how he improve and "fix" our team, signing defender or attacker or midfield first does not really matter to me, because like i said player before availability play massive factor.

But I don't believe if we played like we did early in this season we can achieve balance unless we signed top class player everywhere in midfield and defense and that is very2 difficult to do. 

[kellzfresh 7,229]

1 hour ago, communicate said:

My point is that I personally don't care how he improve and "fix" our team, signing defender or attacker or midfield first does not really matter to me, because like i said player before availability play massive factor.

But I don't believe if we played like we did early in this season we can achieve balance unless we signed top class player everywhere in midfield and defense and that is very2 difficult to do. 

Honestly I am more concerned with our midfielders than the defenders if I'm being honest. 

Look at yesterday, so many times the defenders were 1 on 1 with gnabry/Lewandowski/Muller. Several times.... No centre back can take that kind of pressure for 90minutes without a mistake. Our midfielders were no where to be found. No single protection, no tackles, no shield in front of the defenders. Once Bayern had the ball, one pass from thiago and Lewandowski is in front of christensen..   we know who wins that battle 90% of the time. 

Mancity made Varane look ordinary the other day. If the midfielders are not shielding the defence, then it's all for naught. No matter how good the defender is he'll be ordinary facing a tricky attacker every 5 minutes. 

I don't know if it was just a tactical problem, but there was just so much space in between the lines to find Muller and lewa easily. Under Conte you would see a very clear shape of 5 at the back and matic and Kante protecting the space in between the lines. But it just seems so disorganized against Liverpool, Arsenal and Bayern. 

[communicate 2,703]

16 hours ago, kellzfresh said:

Honestly I am more concerned with our midfielders than the defenders if I'm being honest. 

Look at yesterday, so many times the defenders were 1 on 1 with gnabry/Lewandowski/Muller. Several times.... No centre back can take that kind of pressure for 90minutes without a mistake. Our midfielders were no where to be found. No single protection, no tackles, no shield in front of the defenders. Once Bayern had the ball, one pass from thiago and Lewandowski is in front of christensen..   we know who wins that battle 90% of the time. 

Mancity made Varane look ordinary the other day. If the midfielders are not shielding the defence, then it's all for naught. No matter how good the defender is he'll be ordinary facing a tricky attacker every 5 minutes. 

I don't know if it was just a tactical problem, but there was just so much space in between the lines to find Muller and lewa easily. Under Conte you would see a very clear shape of 5 at the back and matic and Kante protecting the space in between the lines. But it just seems so disorganized against Liverpool, Arsenal and Bayern. 

Glad you said that. I didn't watch our game vs bayern but the reason of our defensive problem is genral quite obvious (other than individuals mistake). 

We are not really good at pressing, bar kante we have no ball winner in our midfield, our front line can't keep the ball, our midfield are not technical monster, our d line are just ok, and we want to play fast. 

You combine all of that you have current Chelsea. 

 

 

 

 

[Vesper 29,202]

The relegated Stoke squad of 2017-18 had players who played in the 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2020 [Big Cup] semi-finals.’ The list is: 2005 Glen Johnson, 2007 Peter Crouch, 2008 Darren Fletcher, 2009 Fletcher, 2010 Bojan, 2011 Fletcher, 2013 Xherdan Shaqiri, 2015 Jesé, 2016 Jesé, 2019 Shaqiri, 2020 Choupo-Moting. 

[BlueLyon 9,359]

On 8/6/2020 at 2:18 PM, Jason said:

 

Thank god for that. It was ridiculous when they were bringing players on every 5 minutes. Now it will be back to more tactical substitutions. 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, BlueLyon said:

Thank god for that. It was ridiculous when they were bringing players on every 5 minutes. Now it will be back to more tactical substitutions. 

Can't wait for managers to complain about having to waste subs on injury subs because of the jam-packed schedule...

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Just now, Jason said:

Can't wait for managers to complain about having to waste subs on injury subs because of the jam-packed schedule...

Well it would be unfair advantage to squads with better depth. Like psg atalanta where atalanta couldnt stand on their feet anymore in final moments.

Then we might give city the title right now.

[communicate 2,703]

There has to be minute or app restrictions for young player of the year. It make 0 sense to give it to trent. 

[Jype 6,398]

3 hours ago, communicate said:

There has to be minute or app restrictions for young player of the year. It make 0 sense to give it to trent. 

Yep, it's always been ridiculous. I think last season it went to Sterling who's been playing regular PL football as a starter (+200 games) since fucking 2012 and is one of the highest paid players in the league. Sterling at the time was 24 years old.  

The cut-off for YPOTY should be 21 age or a maximum of 50 appearances in the league at the start of the season concerned, whichever comes first.  

[communicate 2,703]

1 hour ago, Jype said:

Yep, it's always been ridiculous. I think last season it went to Sterling who's been playing regular PL football as a starter (+200 games) since fucking 2012 and is one of the highest paid players in the league. Sterling at the time was 24 years old.  

The cut-off for YPOTY should be 21 age or a maximum of 50 appearances in the league at the start of the season concerned, whichever comes first.  

The age not overly concerned for me. But there need to be some restrictions on playing time. 

Sterling and trent as young player of the year lol. It should be for player like Greenwood, mount or saka

[Jase 43,479]

32 minutes ago, communicate said:

The age not overly concerned for me. But there need to be some restrictions on playing time. 

Sterling and trent as young player of the year lol. It should be for player like Greenwood, mount or saka

Err, should that not be about age then? Because playing time makes little because TAA played in all 38 league games this season and 3,176 minutes. Not sure how much restriction can you place there. 

[communicate 2,703]

10 minutes ago, Jason said:

Err, should that not be about age then? Because playing time makes little because TAA played in all 38 league games this season and 3,176 minutes. Not sure how much restriction can you place there. 

My point is more on current age criteria, i beleve it is under 23/24, that is fine.

So age + career app/minute. 

 

 

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, communicate said:

My point is more on current age criteria, i beleve it is under 23/24, that is fine.

So age + career app/minute. 

That U23/U24 rule for a "Young" Player of the Year award is BS, TBH. It should be U21 at most. 

Placing restriction on appearances and/or minutes makes no sense because what if that player plays beyond those numbers set? Then what? Asking them to then compete with the more established players for the Player of the Year award is unfair either. In TAA's case, it just so happens that he was promoted at a very young age and has more experience at the senior level than most. 

Those players you mentioned above - Greenwood, Saka, Mount etc - are the newcomers this season (although Saka did make a PL appearance in 2018/19). Maybe we should have a different award for it. 

[Stats 7,060]

5 hours ago, communicate said:

There has to be minute or app restrictions for young player of the year. It make 0 sense to give it to trent. 

Like Jason said, I don't think there should be an appearance restriction. That is basically saying to a player, you aren't being rewarded because you have featured more than this and that player. There maybe needs to be an age restriction and as Jason suggested an award for 'best newcomer' or 'breakout star'. For instance I think it is unfair to give young player of year to a player who is 24. Maybe cut it at 21/22 at most. I think TAA is deserving of that. 21 is still very young and he is playing with players who are far more experienced, so then that gives him outside chance for winning main award.

 

[NikkiCFC 8,081]

TAA is 21, not sure why people have problem with him being best young player.

Speaking of Liverpool Klopp does not care about future it seems. He wants results while he is there. Salah, Firmino, Mane, Henderson, VVD, Vijnaldum all 28+ yo. And Alcantara is also 29.

[Vesper 29,202]

12 hours ago, Jason said:

That U23/U24 rule for a "Young" Player of the Year award is BS, TBH. It should be U21 at most. 

Placing restriction on appearances and/or minutes makes no sense because what if that player plays beyond those numbers set? Then what? Asking them to then compete with the more established players for the Player of the Year award is unfair either. In TAA's case, it just so happens that he was promoted at a very young age and has more experience at the senior level than most. 

Those players you mentioned above - Greenwood, Saka, Mount etc - are the newcomers this season (although Saka did make a PL appearance in 2018/19). Maybe we should have a different award for it. 

even taking it up to currently under 25 years of age

TAA was the best player

I have no complaint with thsi at all

I do think that to qualfy you cannot have turned 23yo or older during the season

22yo is a bright line cutoff

in fact I would have no issue if you made it such that you cannot have turned 22yo during the season

so only players 21yo or younger during the whole time

but that would be a bit harsh on a player who hit 22 only during the last 3 or 5 games

23yo is my dead last year I will call an outfield player a very young player (GK, sure that is very young, even at 25ish)

if you are not up and running by 24/25, then the odds are VERY high you are not going to become a great player

sure there are exceptions, but they are so rare (less than 10%, probably less than 5% of player who were meh until after they hit 25, other than, as stated, GKers)

unfortunately those rare exceptions cloud people's vision, so they hold onto hope that a 28yo is going to explode out of the blue, association football is not yank footie with QB's or baseball with pitchers, who often DO explode out of the blue near or older than 30 years of age