The English Football Thread

[DDA 9,941]

10 minutes ago, Strike said:

Arsenal have been good since the start of last season. In a combined Chelsea-Arsenal team, I'd rate James over their RB and that's about it right now.

Enzo over Havertz bro

[Vesper 30,201]

55 minutes ago, Blue Armour said:

That focus on pure youth is a very high risk gamble. 

Hopefully they'll come to their senses sooner rather than later. 

Nothing against youth signings, but they need to mix it up.

well, the only players older than 25yo (the supposed cutoff by the board) and under 31yo that we could have had a real go at, ones that are truly good enough and might have maybe come here

were very few 

one 30yo (Oblak)

no 29 yos

two 28 yos (Maignan and Skriniar)

no 27 yos

then six 26yos (the 2 AMFs are the biggest misses)

Frenkie de Jong   Central Midfield  26    (too similar to Enzo IMHO)

Nicolò Barella  Central Midfield 26 (we got Caicedo instead)

Lucas Paquetá   Attacking Midfield 26

James Maddison   Attacking Midfield 26

Ousmane Dembélé  Right Winger 26   (I know many here don't rate him)

Lautaro Martínez    Centre-Forward 26  (I know many here don't rate him, even more than posters who do not rate Dembele)

 

ALL the rest of the ones I truly rate and who were available and were not pipe dreams are 25yo and under, so fall under the youth movement

and only four them were even 25:

(Chiesa who is coming off a massive injury, Theo Hernández, who is shaky defensively,Federico Valverde, who is basically a pipedream as well, and Bruno Guimarães , who we already have too many similar players to now)

the rest were 24 and under, and 2 of those are only 19yo (António Silva, who is my NUMBER ONE (by far) CB available want on the planet atm, and then the near pipe dream Gavi)

 

so, the non youth (ie over 25 and still, under 31) buys who would have been great (ie to my approval in terms of quality) are so few in reality

these are the only 'non youth' ones (and I grant the ones in bold are HUGE misses) who were even remotely available and would come here that a person can have a go about (and almost all were hard as fuck pulls):

Skriniar (grrrr)

the 2 AMFs are the other two of the biggest misses (Paquetá and Maddison)

the 2 GKers: Oblak and possibly Maignan (both insanely hard pulls, and I would rather have the 'youth' Diogo Costa or probably (it is close) Mamardashvili than Maignan but I will list him as he is better than the 2 we have now, IMHO, and he is a deffo clear 4th (or 3rd, if you rate him over Mamar) in terms or remotely available keepers)

plus Ousmane Dembélé  and Lautaro Martínez, both of whom many here do not rate (I rate them both, but will not put them bold)

and finally Frenkie de Jong  and Nicolò Barella (who we do not need as we have similar players now, would have been crazy hard to pull and expensive)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Vesper

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Arsenal aren't the same team as before..know crumbled last season but injuries and all. Its not like another team takes a lead and they run off and cant do anything. Don't think they'll win the league but be challenging again 

[Vesper 30,201]

53 minutes ago, Strike said:

Arsenal have been good since the start of last season. In a combined Chelsea-Arsenal team, I'd rate James over their RB and that's about it right now.

both our starting fullbacks (when healthy) are better (Zinchenko is the only LB on their roster and I rate Chilwell over him, no way would I swap unless i knew for sure Chilwell will become perma injured)

they literally have no CMFs on their roster so that is a default win

I rate our combined CMFs and DMFs over theirs

they do have better everywhere else (unless Djordje Petrovic turns out to be a monster) although I do not rate Gabriel that much overall, and surely either Colwill and/or Badi eventually pass him by

so 4 Chels

7 Arse

atm

they CRUSH us in terms of offensive players

Edited September 3, 2023 by Vesper

[Nero 1,874]

Why are we allowing these people to represent the Chelsea fanbase?

[NikkiCFC 8,327]

My combine 11 would be:

Ramsdale 

James

Saliba

Colwill

Chilwell 

Enzo

Caicedo 

Saka 

Odegaard 

Nkunku 

Jesus 

 

[milka 3,393]

In the usual positions.

[NikkiCFC 8,327]

Arteta lost the plot... 

 

[Vegetable 830]

Weird thing to say, especially given current scandals in football.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Vegetable

[robsblubot 3,595]

nah just lost in translation I think.

His system, as well as Pep's, demands the most from all players esp the attacking players. The defenders have to cover a lot more ground, and the attackers have to run relentlessly like Werner did.

I've heard from an umber of players who say it's really difficult to adapt, and takes time. Some don't really adapt as they don't have the mentality for it, but time is a sure thing IMO.

I'm one who thinks we'd be much stronger had these players stayed, at very least for strength in depth, but it is what it is; still, rooting against the career of 23-24yo who already play for big clubs is going to be a time-consuming affair. 😆

[Reddish-Blue 2,509]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

My combine 11 would be:

Ramsdale 

James

Saliba

Colwill

Chilwell 

Enzo

Caicedo 

Saka 

Odegaard 

Nkunku 

Jesus 

 

As of right now I'd say it's Rice > Caicedo.   Maybe once he's settled and had his pre-season, it will change...

[DDA 9,941]

1 hour ago, Reddish-Blue said:

As of right now I'd say it's Rice > Caicedo.   Maybe once he's settled and had his pre-season, it will change...

Caicedo is more dynamic than Rice but Rice has leadership qualities... he will become a great for Arsenal if he carries on performing like he did yesterday. 

 

[YorkshireBlue 3,277]

6 hours ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Someone just said the average age of Arsenal's team on the pitch was under 24. 

We still using the U23 excuse on this Chelsea team?

Let's not compare a team that's being together for 3 years to a team that has only 5 players that have played together before and are only 4 games in, when arsenal started with the youth project they were shocking to start with. Again, you don't go from a youth team to what arsenal is now in 4 games.

Edited September 4, 2023 by YorkshireBlue

[Blue Armour 4,448]

26 minutes ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Let's not compare a team that's being together for 3 years to a team that has only 5 players that have played together before and are only 4 games in, when arsenal started with the youth project they were shocking to start with. Again, you don't go from a youth team to what arsenal is now in 4 games.

It was a gamble on their part, as is the case with ours.

It may pay off eventually, but boy is it going to be painful along the way.

I guess that's where all the long term contracts come in. To prevent our development players from jumping ship the moment things go to shit. Case in point, Mr. Mount.

[Reddish-Blue 2,509]

6 hours ago, Blue Armour said:

It was a gamble on their part, as is the case with ours.

It may pay off eventually, but boy is it going to be painful along the way.

I guess that's where all the long term contracts come in. To prevent our development players from jumping ship the moment things go to shit. Case in point, Mr. Mount.

Not sure if Mount is the right example as he rejected the opportunity to sign the long term contract, wanted a shorter deal. 

[Reddish-Blue 2,509]

12 hours ago, Laylabelle said:

Arsenal aren't the same team as before..know crumbled last season but injuries and all. Its not like another team takes a lead and they run off and cant do anything. Don't think they'll win the league but be challenging again 

Yea I agree with that, they kept most of the team together from last season as well. 

The major difference being the upgrade in midfield as they have Rice instead of Xhaka.

[Blue Armour 4,448]

7 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

Not sure if Mount is the right example as he rejected the opportunity to sign the long term contract, wanted a shorter deal. 

What I meant is that if the club already had him on a long term contract like James, he wouldn't have been able to push for a move so easily.

With all our new signings on long term contracts, the club is making sure they don't jump ship easily if the season becomes worse.

[Vesper 30,201]

EXCLUSIVE: Manchester United will be taken OFF the market by the Glazer family after bidders fail to reach their asking price in a huge blow to furious fans... as they hold out for £10BN for the club

• The Glazers are holding out for £10billion to part ways with Manchester United
• The owners have received offers throughout a protracted negotiating period 
• Only Sheikh Jassim of Qatar and Sir Jim Ratcliffe emerged as serious bidders 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12474251/Manchester-United-taken-market-Glazer-family-bidders-fail-reach-asking-price-huge-blow-furious-fans-hold-10BILLION-club.html

 

[Vesper 30,201]

Fraudgate at the helm

‘Disrespected’ England stars should retire from international duty after latest Gareth Southgate snub, Rio Ferdinand says

https://metro.co.uk/2023/09/04/disrespected-england-stars-should-retire-after-gareth-southgate-snub-rio-ferdinand-says-19444330/

Rio Ferdinand says he would retire from England duty if he was continually overlooked by Gareth Southgate just like James Ward-Prowse and others have been.

 

Southgate named his Three Lions squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine and friendly with Scotland last week and, as per usual, it divided opinion.

Much of the discourse centered around the inclusion of Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips despite their lack of game time or form for Manchester United and Manchester City respectively over the course of the year.

The pair made the cut ahead of the likes of West Ham duo Ward-Prowse and Jarrod Bowen who have made a blistering start to this season, with the Irons fourth in the table and unbeaten after four games.

Midfielder Phillips getting in ahead of Ward-Prowse has really irritated fans, given that the former has played just six minutes this campaign, while the latter has one goal and four assists in four appearances for West Ham and former club Southampton.

‘I’ve never known a manager to pick players that are consistently not playing,’ former United and England defender Ferdinand fumed on the FIVE podcast.

‘I get it if a player hasn’t played for five, six or 10 games maybe. But Phillips and Maguire don’t kick a ball. They don’t play, they do warm-ups and they’re getting in England squads. It amazes me.

‘Southgate comes out and says we haven’t got defenders. Go and use a young one man! Go and use someone young or inexperienced who you’re thinking about. You know what Maguire does.

‘It’s a reward for performances playing for England. It’s the best players that are currently playing in their teams. Maguire don’t kick a ball. He comes on for cameos here and there.

‘Kalvin with respect isn’t anywhere near the Man City team. He won a treble last year and well done to him but he ain’t kicked a ball. These men ain’t playing football and they’re still getting in a team based off of work that they done two, three years ago.

‘They’ll be other young midfielders or [someone like] James Ward-Prowse that are thinking, “Wow, what’s happening here? How come I’m not getting a looking?”. It’s a kick in the teeth.’

There was also controversy over the selection of Jordan Henderson following his move to the Saudi Pro League and the exclusion of Raheem Sterling despite his fantastic form for Chelsea in the opening fixtures.

‘If I was Sterling, I’d be very disappointed bearing in mind what he’s done for this England team when he’s been in or around it,’ Ferdinand added.

‘If you’re going by the yard stick that Gareth’s using with the likes of Maguire and Phillips, why is it all right for them guys to get in and not him? Sterling’s probably been the main bright spark at Chelsea. It’s just nuts.

‘I’d retire. If I’m someone like Ward-Prowse I’d just retire. Say, “listen, don’t pick me no more. There’s no point. It’s disrespectful what you’re doing”.

‘It is to people like him, especially Ward-Prowse who’s been putting up numbers for his team on a regular basis. What more does a man got to do to get a sniff?’

 

[Vesper 30,201]

thug life Mancs at it again

Antony's current girlfriend - and mother of his child - Rosilene Silva leaves their Cheshire mansion with a suitcase amid claims Man United star threatened his ex while she was pregnant, damaged her breast implants and sliced her finger

• Antony's ex Gabriela Cavallin has made abuse allegations against United star
• The forward has denied the claims but has been removed from Brazil's squad

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12483119/Antonys-current-girlfriend-Rosilene-Silva-leaves-Cheshire-mansion-suitcase-amid-claims-Man-United-star-threatened-ex-pregnant-damaged-breast-implants-sliced-finger.html