The English Football Thread

[Strike 7,489]

And Arsenal are challenging for the league. They got 84 points last year and are on 40 as it stands. They’ve shown they can be consistent and this is not a lucky streak . Their first XI is really good and settled. Don’t know why they wouldn’t be title challengers 

[TheHulk 2,444]

2 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Precisely what Caicedo was bought for too…. There is a lot said in being a top top midfielder who contributes these things to a team. And can be relied upon every week to do so.

People have short memories on here, Maka, Mikel, Ramires, Matic, Kante - all players who yes could do other things but were primarily their best assets and contributions were to do the bits that the likes of Rice & Rodri do so so well for their sides.

Everyone would be raving for Caicedo if he was playing for Arsenal right now.

[lucio 5,418]

6 minutes ago, Strike said:

They’ve been good for 1.5 years now 

And Rice is boring but he is at least consistently doing the dirty work in midfield - hold position, recover the ball. Not the skill sets to pay 100 m for but there is some value to being one of the best in the league at the boring, dirty work in midfield 

i'd have taken him on a reasonable price too, but yeh, he wouldn't get a game at a top european side. Before sanchez messed up , he was getting dominated by our mediocre midfield 

[lucio 5,418]

1 minute ago, TheHulk said:

Everyone would be raving for Caicedo if he was playing for Arsenal right now.

rice is 24 so he would have given us a little bit of experience at least 

[Laylabelle 9,534]

4 minutes ago, Strike said:

And Arsenal are challenging for the league. They got 84 points last year and are on 40 as it stands. They’ve shown they can be consistent and this is not a lucky streak . Their first XI is really good and settled. Don’t know why they wouldn’t be title challengers 

Exactly. Obviously things may chance but at the moment they're at the right place! He has built up a stronger side then before and no reason why they can't go all the way. City are hit and miss atm

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

3 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

There's also this.

Assuming this ends with draw.

PL table after 18 rounds last and this season:

Arsenal 46 to 40 

West Ham 14 to 30

Where is positive Rice effect?

WH was really smart to invest that money in Alvarez and JWP. 

But also look at how many years have West Ham played in Europe now also? He also captained them to a European trophy too didn’t he? Was Rice a huge contributor in their success and doing that? Undoubtedly yes. They were smart investing in Alvarez and JWP because they wouldn’t be able to get what they got from Rice in one player. Plus they needed to become a more multi functional team because some of guys they have will only get them so far and with question marks around the likes of Paqueta’s future also. 

Arsenal started very well last season. But didn’t finish well. Also is a league won after 18 games? Look at City last year and then the year or one before. Slow starts, finish strong. Arsenal haven’t played the same sort of high level of football they were last season but they are still getting a lot of results. Them, City and Liverpool all haven’t played anywhere near as well but 100% they are all capable of going on a run too. 

Just watch how much of the dirty work Rice gets through for Arsenal, particularly in the first half there I thought he was very good. Maybe looks simple the things he does but Rodri is the same. Adds stability and grit to their team. And height also. 

 

[Strike 7,489]

16 minutes ago, lucio said:

i'd have taken him on a reasonable price too, but yeh, he wouldn't get a game at a top european side. Before sanchez messed up , he was getting dominated by our mediocre midfield 

I agree with this. I don’t think he was an essential signing

But as long as we don’t get our midfield in order, we’ll always have the Rice comparisons and he’s looking like he can be part of a title challenging squad 

[lucio 5,418]

caicedo would probably be good under klopp at pool

[Strike 7,489]

Liverpool are making it work with Endo and Gravenberch. Drop Caicedo and Lavia into their system and they’d be pretty great too .

[lucio 5,418]

6 minutes ago, Strike said:

Liverpool are making it work with Endo and Gravenberch. Drop Caicedo and Lavia into their system and they’d be pretty great too .

And those 2 would look all at sea here. We’ve had shocking management since tuchel left 

[Vesper 30,172]

1 hour ago, lucio said:

He's done fuckall apart from some lucky deflected goals , basic English lump , arsenal are no better than last season. Middle of the road side 

ludicrous

[NikkiCFC 8,318]

Villa would be top of the table if they didn't failed yesterday. Spurs also there after winning just one point from possible 15, now 3 in the row. Without couple of important injuries I'm sure Spurs would be comfy on top now. Especially Maddison. 5 teams fighting for title mid season. Nice to see. We can get 6th place at best. 

[Blue Armour 4,439]

1 hour ago, lucio said:

He's done fuckall apart from some lucky deflected goals , basic English lump , arsenal are no better than last season. Middle of the road side 

I would argue Arsenal are more boring to watch in comparison to last year. 

But that means they are also a bit more ruthless.

 

[Vesper 30,172]

2 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Villa would be top of the table if they didn't failed yesterday. Spurs also there after winning just one point from possible 15, now 3 in the row. Without couple of important injuries I'm sure Spurs would be comfy on top now. Especially Maddison. 5 teams fighting for title mid season. Nice to see. We can get 6th place at best. 

I would bite yer hand off for 6th

[NikkiCFC 8,318]

3 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I would bite yer hand off for 6th

Would you rather lose Carabao cup final and get 6th place or finish 10th and win the cup?

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

We will be lucky to get 8th never mind 6th.

Not done enough so far and won’t have done enough to get real traction in the league before the end of the season, lets be honest. Unless we spend around another £200-300m on 3 top top players at CB, CF and GK and go on a huge run, it will be next to impossible.

I mean are we really going to finish above the likes of Man United, Newcastle, Brighton? Without taking the likes of the current top 5 teams into consideration just now who may fade out such as Villa or Spurs - again doubtful they’ll drop out too much? Absolutely not.

Edited December 23, 2023 by OneMoSalah

[Vesper 30,172]

1 hour ago, TheHulk said:

Everyone would be raving for Caicedo if he was playing for Arsenal right now.

take out Rice and put in Caicedo and Arse are a lesser side, it is not even close

with Citeh not rocketing towards 94-100 points the EPL is a wide open meat grinder

no other league has the number of quality teams we do

 

[lucio 5,418]

5 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Would you rather lose Carabao cup final and get 6th place or finish 10th and win the cup?

Rather win something , Europa league qualification isn’t a big motivation 

[Laylabelle 9,534]

6 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Would you rather lose Carabao cup final and get 6th place or finish 10th and win the cup?

Cup! Been too long since we went to Wembley and won..

[Vesper 30,172]

11 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Would you rather lose Carabao cup final and get 6th place or finish 10th and win the cup?

6th place and lose the final (we get Europa League)

if it is the FA Cup

win the final and 10th (Europa League again)

if we win the League Cup and finish 10th, it is Conference League

or

win both cups and finish 10th

THAT would be fucking great

Edited December 23, 2023 by Vesper