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Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Jul 20 2014, 03:39 PM

All EPL talk in here...

Posted by: Danny Jul 20 2014, 07:07 PM

Chelsea have bought well, very well, but Mourinho needs to utilise the best of his players, rather than parking that bloody bus.

Great squad they have, but Man Utd will be stronger this season.

As for City, have they even bought anyone?

Then there's Liverpool who sold the only thing elevating them from being good to world class.

Last but not least Arsenal - buying well, Sanchez is a good signing.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Jul 20 2014, 07:52 PM

And it seems Arsenal won't stop buying there. Khedira and Balo again mentioned in some papers.

Don't forget United, I'm very keen on seeing how LvG will do there.

Posted by: Danny Jul 20 2014, 09:09 PM

Wenger calls interest in Balo a total 'fabrication'. Denied it outright.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Jul 24 2014, 05:08 PM

Good luck in NY.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Jul 24 2014, 05:21 PM

Class act, wish him luck in the states.

Despite their City links and City looking strip, I might follow NYCFC. I don't have an MLS team and them being NY based makes sense with my other teams.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 2 2014, 06:27 PM

He's going back to City on loan apparently for a few months anyway!

Torquay have Gateshead next Saturday when the real thing starts all over again, I'm not even sure I can be bothered

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 7 2014, 09:56 PM

Villa close to signing Aly Cissokho, isn't this the guy that failed a medical with Milan because of his teeth?

Posted by: Jack Bauer Aug 7 2014, 11:00 PM

Yep

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 8 2014, 12:03 AM

You know, in a way it's a good thing we didn't sign him. I remember Galliani praising him as the best young LB in the world when he was supposedly ours. But then he failed at Lyon, failed at Valencia, and with all due respect Kurt, he's ended up at Villa.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 8 2014, 01:09 AM

Failed at Liverpool too.

We're a relegation threatened EPL team, he's not good enough for us. Says a lot about him and how Milan dodged a bullet.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 11 2014, 02:37 AM

You can make more than 3 subs in the Community Shield game?

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 11 2014, 05:50 AM

It's officially considered a friendly and not a competitive game.

Posted by: Danny Aug 11 2014, 11:23 AM

Like the Uefa Super Cup, Club World Cup, Spanish Super Cup.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 11 2014, 01:19 PM

Really? That's weird. Super Cups are official games everywhere else.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 11 2014, 02:08 PM

Yeah I'm not sure why. I can't remember who it was that was signed in the summer, played in the Community Shield, then was sold not. There was talk the sale couldn't go through because you can't play for 3 clubs in 1 year, but it was said it's not an official match so doesn't count. Seems odd to me too.

Villa in talks to sign Carlos Sanchez for £4m. Would be one of the signings of the summer at that price, was one of the World Cups better players!

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 11 2014, 06:21 PM

Quite a bit of talk that the Community shield game might be one played internationally in the near future. Not surprised, still see the EPL becoming like the NFL with a couple of meaningful International games.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Aug 11 2014, 08:54 PM

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 15 2014, 06:13 PM

Massive signing for Villa really. More of his World Cup performances and the long wait for a DM to replace Petrov will be well and truly over!

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 15 2014, 06:26 PM

Good to have the EPL back tomorrow.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 01:17 PM

Moyes first league game in charge was a 4-1 win away at Swansea. So if this holds up and United lose at home, van Gaal could be in trouble. United do look horrific.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 16 2014, 01:26 PM

Did they actually make any improvements to the squad? They look the same as they did last season...

And what is up with the formation Van Gaal is using, they look so awkward out there

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 16 2014, 01:36 PM

Herrera looks questionable at the moment, all I've heard is praise for him. He seems to not want to be tackled too, goes over and complains every single time.

Januzaj and Young have been the only decent-ish players for United.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 01:47 PM

They signed Herrera who, as Ash mentioned, looks crap so far. The only other notable signing was Shaw, who's injured. Fletcher, Lingaard, Jones, Smalling and Blackett aren't good enough.

Stupid to play a 3-5-2 when you got rid of your 2 regular starting CBs and didn't replace either.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 01:56 PM

the player that contributes 100% of Uniteds talent on the field equalises.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 16 2014, 02:15 PM

I don't understand why they have players like Fletcher and Jones on the pitch, for us one can understand having duds like Muntari and the like, we don't have any actual money to spend. But United? They reportedly gave Van Gaal an unlimited budget to work with this summer and yet they still have these kind of players starting games for them, their midfield is probably worse than ours if you count Mata as an attacker.

There are top players like Khedira and Di Maria not wanted by Real, Reus has a buy out they can easily activate, they could easily improve their squad with the resources that they have at their disposal

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 02:18 PM

I stand by my opinion that United last season just weren't good. Moyes should've done a better job, but the team was shite. Carried by a great manager in SAF.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 16 2014, 02:41 PM

The team is far worse than last year too without Vidic & Evra, even Rio is an improvement on some of those defenders.

Aside of Januzaj & Rooney in fits & starts that United team is horrendous.

Also Herrera looks bang average, but he's little & Spanish so you can't criticse.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 02:41 PM

van Gaal, record breaker. Last opening day defeat at home - 1972.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 02:43 PM

These kinds of players don't work in England IMO.

It's and well and good being technically gifted, but shying out of tackles, not really being a ball winner, lack of pace and running - you're going to get out-battled by very average players.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 02:50 PM

Nervous for Villa game after what Stoke did to us last season. I expect a loss especially with their home record over the years, but can always hope!

Posted by: han2503 Aug 16 2014, 03:13 PM

I don't think it's just the lack of quality players, Van Gaal's 3-5-2 won't work with the players he has. You need a strong midfield, strong wingbacks and 3 tough as nails CBs, one of which has to be very good on the ball to make that system work, he has none of those. Even more, you need players that are tactically smart enough to make it work, Jones and the rest of the gang are certainly not that.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 03:31 PM

Are you trying to tell me Ashley Young is not a defender!?

Posted by: han2503 Aug 16 2014, 04:03 PM

Was he actually playing as a wingback? It looked so awkward and unbalanced

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 04:11 PM

Yeah, then 2nd half he was playing as an actual left back. WTF!?

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 16 2014, 04:11 PM

They lost, again?

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 04:56 PM

Phenomenal effort and win. Winning at Stoke is no simple task, very few do it. Brilliant. Cissokho was solid at the back, great going forward. More of the same please.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 16 2014, 07:09 PM

http://gfycat.com/BaggyHeavenlyArcticduck

I love how all the players turn and watch to see if it goes in.

Posted by: Danny Aug 18 2014, 03:54 PM

Utd linked with a £100M bid for Di Maria. Money has no value any more in football. None at all.

'Want that player? Sure! Let's just throw as much money at them as we can'.

Unless you're Milan of course.

Posted by: acid911 Aug 18 2014, 04:17 PM

Yup, that's why this sports has little remaining equity for me. There are much more interesting things to do in life than waste time with this money contests. In a perfect world Di Mario would be a €20 million player. That is why I only occasionally watch football these days, if only for the underdog thrill. The Atléticos and Dortmunds of the world.

And fans who support these (and other) lesser clubs, even in this day and age, have my full respects. Kurt and Ash are two examples here, there are many more that cry for even smaller clubs. I'll always stand beside them, instead of gloryhunters and the new generation that fails to understand that there is a world outside the big teams.

Because, ultimately, at this rate, the sports itself is going to be affected. It already is, in some ways.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 18 2014, 06:16 PM

I can't see this happening, I see a knee-jerk coming but not this. If they're going to throw £100m at people they may as well go after Cristiano again. That's paper nonsense though if they're projecting that as a transfer fee.

United are an odd one at the moment, everyone was expecting a big surge of transfers and they've actually been pretty poor again. Shaw was an ok buy but for £30m+? That's ridiculous. Herrera I'm still yet to be convinced by and again I think they overpaid.

They are still an illustrious club I don't buy this whole they aren't in CL now so no one wants to go there. We're still in a generation where Manchester United have been and continue to be one of the biggest clubs globally in the world, they still have a lot of allure. Something is going on in the background though, most likely the Glazer's just aren't putting money back into the club.

That team needs a lot of financial backing at the moment, it did with Fergie and it certainly does without, everyone could see that at the weekend. I can't see how their Exec can be so poor to not get anyone of note, all Cesc, Vidal, Di Maria, Kroos, Bale, Cuadrado, Strootman even dare I say it Cristiano have slipped through the grasp. You could be the worst salesman in the world and get people to United as long as you have financial backing.


Yeah, I feel for Dave who has a season ticket to the park to watch the local pub b-team

Posted by: acid911 Aug 18 2014, 06:48 PM

Massive respects to him!

Posted by: han2503 Aug 18 2014, 08:31 PM

Chelsea are seriously stacked this season!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 18 2014, 08:48 PM

https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/3CA4460B741113233292070731776_260ce1b80fe.1.2.7059334934692176780.mp4?versionId=QSa2hSnx_CMFrd3i9wDJe8EHbPYV3Ela

Posted by: Danny Aug 18 2014, 11:42 PM

In a perfect world Di Maria would be a £500,000 player and the world record would have stopped at £1M. Since Clough signed Francis it opened the floodgates.



HEY! Kurt supports a team who won the European Cup! Rangers haven't even made the final And never will. Did make the Uefa final in 2008 mind you. But nowadays we're in the Scottish Serie B having clawed our way back from its equivalent of Serie D. THAT'S support! Hence tonight I rather enjoyed an 8-1 win

As for Ash, aye, that truly is dedication.

Or insanity. Or both. I think you need a bit of both to stay loyal in football.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 18 2014, 11:54 PM

A few of my friends support Tamworth, I've been there for a few games. They got relegated from the Conference this past season. Most of them support Villa as well though, sort of cheating.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 22 2014, 06:11 PM

Former Cardiff manager Malky Mackay has been found to have sent sexist, homophobic and racist texts to people within the club regarding players, agents and the like.

Harry "Rent-a-quote" Redknapp gave his opinion. "He’s not murdered anyone, he’s not a rapist or a paedophile." Oh okay, thanks Harry. I wasn't aware those were the only 3 crimes you were allowed to be punished for. Harry Redknapp is my least favourite famous person in the World.

Posted by: Danny Aug 22 2014, 08:41 PM

Redknapp is a well-intentioned buffoon. He's a nice guy and straight up, fairly, anyway, but he doesn't half seem off the pace with some things.

Posted by: Danny Aug 22 2014, 08:42 PM

PS MacKay - slimeball, lowest of the low. Glad he's a tim.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 23 2014, 02:38 PM

Table doesn't lie. Villa top. Best side in England.

Posted by: Rossoneri7 Aug 23 2014, 02:39 PM

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 23 2014, 02:39 PM

Worst game I've seen in a long time.

Cabella is a trick pony if I've ever seen one too, least the under 13's will love him.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 23 2014, 04:06 PM

It was a disaster.

Hutton made Cabella look like a League 2 player and Hutton isn't exactly Cafu.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 23 2014, 05:18 PM

Felix Magath is the worst manager in the World.

Posted by: Rossoneri7 Aug 24 2014, 02:09 PM

United break UK transfer record to sign Di Maria.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 24 2014, 02:18 PM

Is it 70m?

I think he's more than worth it, Real made a mistake imo.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2014, 02:32 PM

Madrid didn't really need him. Great player, but in the position United least need. All this means is one of RvP, Mata and Rooney can't play.

Posted by: Danny Aug 24 2014, 03:32 PM

I don't think any player is worth more than about £1M tbh. But going by today's loathsome transfer fees, yeah, it's fair.

Posted by: Danny Aug 24 2014, 03:33 PM

Di Maria will be the second Mata Utd have signed. He won't fit in at Utd just like Mata doesn't.

Posted by: Danny Aug 24 2014, 03:34 PM

We called him the 'Blue Cafu' actually

PS I got your tweets and DM'd a reply (eventually). Though this is going back a couple of weeks.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2014, 04:05 PM

I've been having issues with DMs, not sure why. Pretty much all that I've received in the last few months don't appear!

Posted by: han2503 Aug 24 2014, 04:16 PM

I'd still take him over Bale or James tbh. And they could easily be fit into the same side if it wasn't for Van Gaal's lopsided formation


Yeah, of course going by today's prices



WTF is Van Gaal trying to achieve exactly 3-man defence with 3 mediocre CBs, Young at WB...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2014, 04:21 PM

Was never a fan of Bale, but he's so much better than ADM now IMO.

Mata scores for United. I'm fine with him scoring because the odd goal will cover up how dreadful he has been for the past 12 months, keep him in the side please!

Posted by: han2503 Aug 24 2014, 04:26 PM

I don't think that's the case, Di Maria was crucial to Real's success last season, especially in the CL

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2014, 05:09 PM

and Bale wasn't? Bale was involved in an incredible amount of goals and scored the winner in the CL!

lol, Gus, there's no way any player knows what he means by https://vine.co/v/MLY2jBI2jlA

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 24 2014, 05:28 PM

Weird. I actually thought Di Maria and Modric were crucial to Real Madrid. Especially when they faced opposition who weren't going to get blown away by the sheer firepower.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2014, 05:30 PM

Kroos and James will help in that regard though.

It's quite amazing to look at this United team and see only 3 players or so that would be a noticeably big upgrade on their Villa counterpart.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 24 2014, 05:36 PM

I didn't say Bale wasn't, I just thought Di Maria was more crucial and I personally prefer him over Bale.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 24 2014, 05:53 PM

£64m for Di Maria if true is absolutely obscene.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2014, 05:55 PM

This is already Uniteds biggest spending window ever BEFORE Di Maria - yet apparently Moyes is **** and Van Gaal isn't. I wonder if when he spends £200m and they get top 4 if he'll be hailed as a genius, despite his embarrasing failure?

Posted by: han2503 Aug 24 2014, 06:00 PM

How is this their biggest spending window?? They look the same as last season... If not worse

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 24 2014, 06:02 PM

They choked £30m+ on a fat 19 year old, mediocre English left back & also bought Herrera.

Oh & Rojo has joined but needs a permit which isn't secured to actually play

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2014, 06:05 PM

£72m on Herrera, Shaw and Rojo. They look the same because Herrera was terrible last week, Shaw is injured and Rojo hasn't played yet.

I think it's too early to call Shaw mediocre. He was phenomenal last season and injured at the moment, oh and he's not even 20.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 24 2014, 06:08 PM

Exactly and he struggles with his waistline that's only going to get worse over the next few years. That's pretty worrying.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 25 2014, 08:41 PM

JOVETIC!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 25 2014, 09:29 PM

RIP Liverpools season.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 25 2014, 09:30 PM

Can't wait to see Mario whinging in their shirt tbh.

Posted by: Danny Aug 25 2014, 10:28 PM

I'll pay good money to watch the pr*ck ruin their season worse.

Yes, I had to hold back when he played for us, but he's a selfish, whiney little shite and I loathe him. He doesn't even compensate his personality with ability - he's just not that f*ckin' good overall. I'm overjoyed we've wiped our hands of the tw*t.

I also hate Liverpool again, now that they've sold Suarez and replaced with Balo. Call Suarez for his faults, but one thing he always did was given 100% in every match and often won them for Liverpool. Ditto Uruguay.

While Balo only showed up when he wanted to.

I can't wait for Scousers to start hating him.

Posted by: Danny Aug 25 2014, 10:32 PM

Moyes was an unpopular choice so Utd's decline was blamed on him. LVG is a popular choice so Utd's continued decline is blamed on the players, and Woodward.

Moyes was the wrong choice, true, but there's no right choice for that club.

No one can replace SAF. All the more because he knew where his squad was headed.

PS Di Maria won't fit in at Utd just like Mata hasn't.

Great player, wrong team.

I'm loving Liverpool and Utd crumbling into disarray. Makes Milan's own failings not seem quite so awful. Sort of.

Posted by: Danny Aug 25 2014, 10:33 PM

Nah, he is a truly extraordinary player and by today's absolutely abhorrent transfer fees he's up there with Rodriguez etc in terms of quality. Not quite a Ron, Suarez or Messi but an excellent player.

But tbh, the Luiz transfer showed that transfer fees are a total joke and completely trivialising money.

Posted by: Ry4n Aug 26 2014, 03:15 AM

to early for that tbh... one loss does not end a season , but they looked so predictable reminded me alot of milan throughout the years..a bit under carlo a bit under allegri...and seedorf..

so glad man united are failing tho good ****.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2014, 04:36 PM

QPR allegedly looking at Tim Sherwood as a possible replacement for Redknapp. Apparently they weren't happy that he failed to get automatic promotion last season, despite having a wage bill that dwarfed CL finalists Atletico Madrids.

Fans have started to turn on him as well after he, with his team 4-0 down in a London derby, waved to the Spurs fans after they started chanting "Harry, give us a wave". QPR fans tarting booing him as he did it. Not exactly surprising though, the man has never heard of the words "class" or "loyalty". Hopefully this is the end of him in football management!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2014, 08:27 PM

MK Dons 1-0 United, awful error from Johnny Evans.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 26 2014, 08:31 PM

They're all over the place in defence, not that shocking to see them make so many individual errors

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2014, 09:24 PM

2-0. MK Dons strikers chested it in.

val Gaal has to go IMO. £75m spent and they look awful, just not cut out for this league.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2014, 09:30 PM

3-0, van LOL

Posted by: KillerMax Aug 26 2014, 09:32 PM

That is embarrassing for Man u.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2014, 09:40 PM

https://mediacru.sh/n9isVIEZe99o

United have had 1 shot on target v a lower league team. Ha.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2014, 09:43 PM

4-0 lol

It took all of 3 games for van Gaal to make Moyes look brilliant.

Posted by: Ry4n Aug 27 2014, 03:42 AM

lol really i hope he one day manages your team Have your self some class.

Your hatred for some people knows no bounds pretty disturbing tbh but its ok your behind a keyboard.

Lets counter it and i will say i hope Villa fail this season and get relegated...

What is the difference between an Aston Villa supporter and a baby? A: The baby will stop whining after awhile.

crash bam !

Posted by: Jack Bauer Aug 27 2014, 04:45 AM

Posted by: Rossoneri7 Aug 27 2014, 08:27 AM

United have bought a gem of a player in Di Maria.

He was instrumental for Madrid and Argentina alike. He is not a flash player, an attribute you can give to CR or Messi, but he is the man orchestrating the moves. United will definitely be a stronger team with him in the ranks.

Very curious to see how influential he will be for them.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 27 2014, 08:40 AM

edit.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 27 2014, 09:07 AM

Wow. This is an argument that came out of nowhere. Seeing as kurt expressed his opinion on Harry in a pretty civil tone, I'm really not sure why this change in tone gets popped up.

If both you guys have a problem sort it out on PM please. Leave my forum boards alone.


Actually there shouldn't be a problem at all. You guys should GTFO and have a beer together and check out pretty girls. You'll be fine after that.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 27 2014, 09:16 AM

Yeah I'm gonna edit the post. I don't think I said anything out of order regarding Redknapp and 90% of the post was basically cut and paste from the papers anyway, not my own thoughts. What bothered me was he criticises me for something (that's nothing to do with him) then does the exact same thing labelling me with tags like "disturbing".

Posted by: han2503 Aug 27 2014, 10:06 AM

Agreed, but I think Van Gaal was just a mistake for them just like Moyes, his system clearly does not work and I can't see him budging on it. I wonder if he'll play Di Maria as a WB like he's doing with Young

Posted by: Ry4n Aug 27 2014, 10:48 AM

Just a bit of banter matey i'm sure he can handle it.

But i would like to know his take on Liverpool and Harry and why he has a facet hatred with them. I'm curious.

Posted by: Ry4n Aug 27 2014, 10:52 AM

lol i did not see the post before you edited it so thanks for that..

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 27 2014, 11:14 AM

Liverpool is mostly a large portion of their fans being incredibly disrespectful. They defend Suarez throughout his racism, diving and biting. I browse opposition forums a lot and RAWK, their main one, is a vile place. Even some Liverpool fans who hold a minority opinion have insults hurled at them, it's quite ridiculous.

Redknapp is his lack of loyalty. He's spent silly money (not all his fault) at clubs to serve his own needs. It's easy to look a bit better when you spend a tonne, but when the money goes, he leaves the club. If you get sacked it's one thing, but to jump ship when a club is in trouble and you've helped put them there is just poor form. As for my perceived lack of class by him, it's like when he went to QPR he called out the whole squad saying they're overpaid, not good enough, etc. So he then goes and spends £10m and £100k a week on a centreback who was a pretty medicore EPL defender. The main thing though is his constant talking about other teams players. For starters by rule it's illegal, it's tapping up. He constantly does it and for Odemwingie to turn up at QPR, "uninvited" and say he knew nothing about it is quite ridiculous. The media love-in isn't his fault, it's just hilarious how people think he's good enough for England or a good manager. This is the same manager who needed the playoffs to get a team with one of the highest budgets in World football to get out of the Championship. Some people like him? That's fine, I personally can't stand the bloke or his sidekick Joe Jordan.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 27 2014, 12:59 PM

^^ Right. I understand your opinion.

Now Ry4n, if you want to debate, you can stick in and weigh in on the points kurt has presented with your own. But if you wish to go ad hominem on kurt's abilities of perception, I'm afraid that banter will have to go PM.

Thanks guys. Let's get a beer when I'm in town. kurt will arrange the girls. And since he's in Birmingham, there will be plenty of Indian girls with sexy Brit accents for me to go on the rampage.

P.S: Not that I don't like white girls/black girls/Hispanic girls/middle-eastern girls, just that I'm sure kurt's carved up his territory and .....

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 27 2014, 06:33 PM

Di Maria only turned up consistently for the past couple of seasons, he was often irrelevant for games prior, I'm not convinced he's going to be a game-changer for United at all.

Posted by: acid911 Aug 27 2014, 06:50 PM

My thoughts exactly. He is a hard worker first and foremost, not exactly a real talent. It's just that his price went up in the past few months, which resulted in his sale. He may not change games for United solo, sure, but all things considered not a bad buy for them. Save for the obscene price.

Even though I like Van Gaal, Moyes was hard done after just one season. The culprit were (and are) the players. Wouldn't mind a bit of a karma now though, a payback from the spoiled fans and some sections of the media.

Posted by: Rossoneri7 Aug 27 2014, 09:23 PM

Too early to tell, think give him at least three months to see how the team adapts or he adapts. In all fairness it is a marathon till the end of the season, they are at just the beginning.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 27 2014, 09:40 PM

Yes. Van Gaal has a complex and elaborated system he applies. It's very foolish to say it's not working after just a few matches played.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 27 2014, 09:49 PM

4-0 to MK Dons though? It's the worst result in United's entire history, it's not a minor thing.

Anyway, Villa lose again to a lower league team. Paul Lambert at Villa has surely got one of the worst Cup records ever? In just over 2 years he's entered 5 Cup competitions. 4 (yes, FOUR!) of the 5 he's been eliminated by a lower league team. The other a 4-0 home loss!

Posted by: han2503 Aug 27 2014, 09:50 PM

It's obvious that a 3-man defence type of system will never work for United, no matter how many more months we'll give him. They just don't have the right CBs for it, even worse, their CBs are absolutely diabolical, while they'll never have the type of cover that proper WBs provide for that system

I'll seriously be shocked if he doesn't change this system and they manage to succeed this season

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 27 2014, 11:08 PM

Playing a 3-5-2 when you have no wing-back available is madness.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 28 2014, 08:44 AM

I think it's even worse when you have Jones and Evans as 2 of those CBs

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 28 2014, 09:33 AM

Jones isn't that bad, but he shouldn't be your #1 defender. Evand and Smalling are terrible centre backs though.

Posted by: Rossoneri7 Aug 28 2014, 10:41 AM

How's Cissokho's teeth kurt?

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 28 2014, 12:11 PM

So they've got Rojo paying a fortune precisely because they need someone to play in the back three. Luke Shaw will become a wingback I imagine. And they shall stick to Valencia and Young as right full backs.

Their problem imo, is that before they added Di Maria, this was the crappiest midfield amongst the top 10 clubs, and including Newcastle (sounds like a familiar problem?)

Cleverley in their midfield is worse than Muntari in ours. Fletcher is a worker with little imagination. And Carrick is about Montolivo level. How is a one-time competitor for best club in the world supposed to work with that.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 28 2014, 12:43 PM

Holding up well so far. 2 games played, 0 goals conceded. Good at the back good supporting the attack. Hope he keeps it up.

Posted by: Ry4n Aug 28 2014, 01:27 PM

its not really a debate i asked him a question he answered , thats all there is to it.

Do i agree with him no.

Posted by: Ry4n Aug 28 2014, 01:54 PM

Thanks for answering the Q!

on Liverpool i think there is more to it tbh that your not telling us it's ok though. You might have walked into a few liverpool yobs somewhere down the line i don't know.

All i can say is i got to a liverpool supporters pub with my brother when the big games are on and i usually go in my Milan top i can't say anyone has come up to me drunk or not and said get out no they were very welcoming. Alot of the lads come from up north and are more then respectful but ofc theres banter i take it and give it like anyone else.

Suarez is probably one of the best players they have had in a while. But its a shame he showed what is not uncommon in Uruguay racisim...no child should ever see it and anyone liverpool fan or not should defend him. Its inexcusable period.

I don't go on liverpool forums why would i...if they want to defend him let the idiots do it they just look out of place and not in the right era and maybe the mods ban them or something...

On harry i guess we will have to agree to disagree imo i think he should have taken england to the wc and not hodgson.

So to clarify i agree on Suarez totally.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 28 2014, 06:11 PM

Villa have bid £8m for Cleverley!?

Would be one of the worst signings of all-time.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 28 2014, 08:05 PM

I'm practically in tears, he's absolutely horrendous. You could grab a random 20 something off the street and as long as they were fairly in shape they would perform as well as if not better than him.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 29 2014, 10:35 AM

I don't know what's worse, us wanting to buy him or United fans being genuinely disappointed at losing him!? Redcafe seems to believe he's a future England star and people that don't rate him "don't really see what he brings to a team".

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 29 2014, 01:11 PM

Yes of course. Didn't he once so eruditely explain how English fans don't 'get' his Spanish style of play?!! Shame on you, for not recognizing a true artist!!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 29 2014, 02:26 PM

Yeah he said that. Said that if all he did was pass the ball sideways and keep possession then he's doing his job. We already have a CM that's good at playing the simple passes, so why would we spend £8m on another!?

Apparently Hull and Everton are interested. I hope they save us and we spend £8m on something we actually need, like a winger.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 29 2014, 10:28 PM

Haha, that's trash to be honest. People loved Makelele to bits over here because of what he did for Chelsea and he was hardly an illustrious flashy player. Makelele didn't just pass 3 yards sidewards because he was either scared or didn't have the ability to do anything else without messing it up!

Wilshere a few years back was the same, granted he's had critics of late due to his dip in form but he's never going to be your flashy Messi/Ronaldo type either.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 30 2014, 01:50 PM

Di Maria, Young, Mata, Valencia, Rooney and van Persie all in the same team. What happened to this "tactical genius" that van Gaal was meant to be? This is genuinely one of the least intelligent lineups I've ever seen by any club. An inexperienced back 3 who aren't used to playing in a back 3, a midfielder with no legs and 6 attackers. You wouldn't even get away with this on FIFA or FM, but the real World!?

If United continue to play like this, they might win the odd game - possibly even todays - but good sides will tear them to pieces.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 30 2014, 02:14 PM

Fletcher is United's Bonera.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 30 2014, 02:39 PM

Fletcher is in the team for sentimental reasons, it's nice of them but hardly going to win them anything. Valencia is one of the poorest wingers going, but because he works hard he gets in the team.

Di Maria did alright, clearly not fit. Mata is still pretty average, that season at Chelsea looks more & more like a one-off.

Moyes was tactically superior to be fair.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 30 2014, 02:45 PM

Yeah, Moyes played a formation that fit the players and it didn't work. van Gaal is fitting a system that doesn't fit the players and doesn't work which is more unforgivable IMO.

2 shots on target for United today. 2. Against Burnley. With 6 attackers.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 30 2014, 05:31 PM

Kompany done for pace, again. Hart getting beat too easily, again. Not had the best 12 months this pair. Yet still won the league.

Costa, 1-0, 30 seconds.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 30 2014, 05:58 PM

Loved how much the English media were calling him out before arriving because of Brazil, quite quiet on those predictions now aren't they

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 30 2014, 06:12 PM

I only saw a bit from the second half, but United were a mess. Their only weapons were long balls and crosses, most of which were off or easily defendable. And Van Gaal's formation, uh...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 30 2014, 08:03 PM

Scoring 6 past Everton who're historically defensively solid is a ridiculous achievement. Chelsea should win the league really.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 30 2014, 09:46 PM

Yeah, they looked like Milan from last season, completely clueless. Only we didn't spend 120m on just 2 players in the squad.


Didn't watch the game, but their squad is easily the most complete and balanced in the league. I think they'll make a serious push for the CL this season

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 30 2014, 09:50 PM

That's what you get for making planned and well-thought signings instead of panic buys like United have done.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 30 2014, 10:10 PM

Yeah, Jose obviously had a very clear idea of what he wanted this summer to make last season's team into the ideal 11.

Costa is a perfect fit there, Cesc also has slipped in seamlessly it seems

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 30 2014, 11:54 PM

Cesc is perfect for the Premier League.

Posted by: Danny Aug 31 2014, 12:40 AM

In LVG's defence he said this before he even took the job:



So basically when Utd were coasting during pre-season he warned it would take at least 3 months before Utd would look decent.

So while they're horrible now, they won't be in December apparently, and will be borderline CL spot contenders. He also said they won't win the league this season.

And it's not like he hasn't handled big clubs - Barca and Bayern are massive.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2014, 12:48 AM

It'll need to be quicker than that if he's gonna have even just a disappointing season (6th-7th). This isn't the Bundesliga where (when he was there) mid-high 60 points was enough to win the league. That won't even get you close to CL football nowadays in the EPL.

Realistically with money spent, winning the league is the minimum. But with it being his first season, just a title challenge should be accepted. Anything less and he should get the sack. You can't spend £200m on top of a pretty much the same squad that won the title no less than 2 years ago and not compete for the title.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 31 2014, 09:06 AM

Yep, I wonder why Barca went through all the hassle to sign him from Arsenal in the first place and then let him go relatively cheaply just 2 seasons later just to replace him with Rakitic...


I was just about to reply to Danny with the same thing then I read what you said.

EPL isn't the Bundesliga where it's only Bayern (back when VG was coaching them), you can afford to start badly and still blitz through the entire league to win it. If he's still struggling by December in the EPL I can't see them getting into the top 4. The competition in that league is just ridiculous a couple of miss-steps and you're out of it

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 31 2014, 09:12 AM

It's not about the Bundesliga, it's about LvG. This is his way of working: he needs the players to accept his philosophy. He's done it at Barcelona, at Bayern. Sometimes he failed.

But the main point is: he needs time. And since he, unlike Moyes, has won silverware in the past to back this up, he'll get it.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2014, 09:45 AM

van Gaal also has a history of failing really badly at the top level. in 10-11 he got sacked as Bayern weren't even in the CL places, how is that even possible? He did even worse with his most recent spell at Barca, leaving with them 3 points above relegation.

He had a full season at Bayern, then failed. Admittedly he only had 7 months at Barca before getting sacked.

I think van Gaal will eventually "succeed" but then if I was given a title winning team and another £200m to spend on top of that, I'd put up some kind of challenge too. It is impossible not to succeed in that situation IMO.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 31 2014, 10:53 AM

He also failed to qualify Holland for the 2002 WC if I'm not mistaken.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 31 2014, 12:13 PM

I'm not talking about how he'll overcome the difficulty of the league, I'm mainly talking about how the Bundesliga, because of it's limited amount of teams which can compete (even now it's just Dortmund and Bayern are still light-years ahead of them in terms of resources), is a more forgiving league, thus you can start really badly and recover your position after Christmas, however the EPL isn't, if they're still stumbling by December, I fail to see how they can claw their way to a CL spot by May with most of the sides having already run away with the top 4 positions

So this flaw that LvG has might still be overlooked in a lesser league, but it won't in the EPL, and if United miss out on the CL again because they've started badly, I can't see him not getting the sack

Posted by: Danny Aug 31 2014, 02:40 PM

You've both ignored Barca...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2014, 06:19 PM

7 points in 3 games a necessary start with out next 5 being against last seasons top 5. If we can get out of these games not in relegation it would be a huge plus.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 31 2014, 07:14 PM

You didn't win today? I checked the scores in the last few minutes and you were still leading 2-1...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2014, 07:51 PM

We did yes. I just meant that it was very important that we did with the awful fixtures we have coming up. 1 goal conceded in 3 games is the most pleasing stat, seeing how awful we've been at the back these past 4 years.

Our win at Stoke's fortress looks even more impressive now they've gone to Man City and won too!

Posted by: KillerMax Aug 31 2014, 08:02 PM

Hey things are looking up for both of your teams you lucky b@stard! We only get 1!

Happy to see Villa doing well. You have charmed me to always root for them whenever I see they are live on livescore.com

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2014, 08:24 PM

It's still sad overall. Both Milan and Villa overspent and then decided to cut down the wage bill so they both became "bad" at the roughly the same time. Will be nice to see them both move up the table again. Promising starts for both.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 31 2014, 08:40 PM

I thought you'd won the previous 2 games as well, which is why I thought you drew in the last minutes today because of the 7 points instead of 9 which I was assuming you were on. My bad.

And same as Max, when I watch an EPL side against Villa for some reason I end up rooting for them, probably because of you

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2014, 10:48 PM

Oohh I see, nah we drew with Newcastle last weekend.

Well I appreciate that you guys show some kind of support for them, thanks.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 1 2014, 08:05 AM

Newcastle rule and Aston Villa drool.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 1 2014, 01:12 PM

Falcao to United on loan. So they needed a CB and CM and they've signed wingers and attackers.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 1 2014, 02:37 PM

Did Rojo's permit get sorted out? As for CM, once Carrick returns along with Herrera it should last them to CL places. Falcao makes sense, since LvG doesn't want Welbeck and Hernandez. So they have Rooney and RvP alone.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 1 2014, 03:05 PM

Villa bid for Sergio Canales, hope this means we're no longer interested in Cleverley.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 1 2014, 03:32 PM

Posted by: han2503 Sep 1 2014, 03:47 PM

Well I do have some sympathy for Newcastle as well, mostly because of the movie Goal


What's the point of that, they have 2 top strikers plus Wellbeck. Yet still no anchor midfielder or a ball playing CM since in all fairness the ones they have are also average


Carrick is mediocre, and Herrera so far hasn't shown much of anything.

They really needed a proper CB who could at least organize their defence a bit because they're mess there and jam packed with mediocre players. Any one of our 4 CBs (Alex, Mexes, Rami, Zapata) would walk into that United defence with one leg left, that's how bad they are

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 13 2014, 07:23 PM

4 games played. no oposition player has scored past us yet.

Dat defence.

Posted by: Danny Sep 13 2014, 07:45 PM

El Oh El at Balotelli. Apparently he cut a 'frustrated' figure. Rodgers once again done over by solid defending. All teams have to do is a Chelsea on him and Liverpool are found out, without Suarez to bail them out. Rodgers has been figured out quicker than Barca were.

They'll struggle to make CL tbh.

Posted by: Ry4n Sep 13 2014, 07:58 PM

To early to say tbh this league is wide wide open no one knows who's even getting europa let alone CL but its a good prediction from what we saw today from a sub par Liverpool Danny. Funny seeing alot of Man United Rejects in that Villa team tho and some liverpool ones must of being spicy.
They needed sturridge more then anything today Suarez is gone no point even putting him in the equation.
Its more the fact that hes resting certain players for upcoming CL games then anything no sterling ?! its having to cope on more then the league , domestic cup fronts.

Barca were figured out but yet still won so much...not a good compari really

Posted by: han2503 Sep 13 2014, 07:58 PM

I found it funny watching him walk around the pitch while his team mates jogged around trying to find space.

However, before I get on your bandwagon and say we did the right thing by selling him for such a low price, I want to see how Torres does. Only if he does well can we say we did the right thing, because Balo single handedly won us many points over the last season and a half

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 21 2014, 02:01 PM

Villas training down had been closed down for a few days, whole team sick. Still played well against Arsenal, just a mad 3 minutes cost us.

http://mediacrush.net/2d8nbGiMUHa4 - great finish.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 21 2014, 02:47 PM

That's a sweet finish!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 21 2014, 03:11 PM

van Gaal should get sacked after this, surely? What an embarrassing manager.

Posted by: acid911 Sep 21 2014, 03:19 PM

Moyes probably has a little smile on his face just about now.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 21 2014, 03:21 PM

This is basically the title winning team from 2012 + £200m spent. How can they be this bad?

Posted by: acid911 Sep 21 2014, 03:24 PM

Karma catching up with players, nothing else. They'll probably bounce back, but might take a few months. Regardless, this match, particularly towards the very end was full of energy and excitement. Enjoyed.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 21 2014, 03:27 PM

WTF, they lost??? Bwahahahahaha

Posted by: acid911 Sep 21 2014, 04:02 PM

Yip. The penalty that resulted in 5-3 was pure tragicomic.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 24 2014, 12:01 PM

So... Liverpool beat Middlesbrough last night in the cup on penalties, 14-13 precisely.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 24 2014, 03:24 PM

Only 3 missed penalties out of 30. Amazing shootout.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 24 2014, 03:31 PM

Meh! Crap goalkeeping.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Sep 24 2014, 06:32 PM

Mignolet should have saves about 6 but being trash and all at about everything...

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 25 2014, 06:50 PM

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 26 2014, 06:36 AM

Haha. Yeah that's doing the rounds here as well. If you want to see the definition of dilemma take a look at the Indian Man United fans. They don't know whether to cheer or to sulk!

But yep, it's scary thinking that you can send a spaceship to Mars for the cost of Suarez. Puts things into perspective regarding the crazy money in football.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 26 2014, 09:21 AM

You have to be careful of the word "cost" though. Rooney hasn't cost United anything, he's made them a lot of money, same with Ronaldo at Madrid, I imagine Suarez will not have cost Barca anything, Neymar either, in a few years time.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Sep 27 2014, 02:42 PM

Terrible derby that but what a goal from Jagielka

Posted by: Danny Sep 27 2014, 03:06 PM

Another flop from Mario.

He's actually even worse than the shite he ended up here.

You lot (X-Off aside) were furious we sold him for only £16M. Well it's looking like a bloody wise transaction now. All he's done since being there is feigning injury and feigning being a world class striker.

Knew he'd be a bad influence on them, and so it proves. 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses. Sure, Suarez was a MASSIVE loss for them, but replacing Suarez with Balotelli was never going to work out well. Panic buy or what.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 27 2014, 05:41 PM

Balotelli was on the floor more than he was standing up today. Was pretty embarrassing.

Posted by: KillerMax Sep 27 2014, 10:53 PM

So was watching the Hull - Man City highlights (http://livetv.sx/en/showvideo/208204_hull_city_manchester_city/ for whoever didn't see the game) and noticed a couple things worth mentioning:

• What is this own goal week? What's whith all these own goals?
• Looks like City have their own Bonera in Mangala
• The Hull goalkeeper looked oddly suspicious in the 3rd and 4th goal. What kind of dive is that on the 3rd goal? And why so cartoonishly out of position in the 4th one? I guess if there was any rigging going on, goalkeepers would be a prime target for the position they occupy. Just a thought that came to my head.

Posted by: Danny Sep 28 2014, 01:16 AM

He's an embarrassment. Honestly feel his playing peak was January 2013 to summer that year.

Otherwise his career has been totally mediocre.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 11:13 AM

The only good thing he's remembered for is those two goal against Germany.

I really believe the guy has the skills to be a quality FW, but it's his attitude that completely ruins him, and he'll never change in that regard. His lifestyle, his unprofessionalism in training, and his downright pathetic attitude on the pitch. If the guy was an honest worker, thankful for the skills life has given him, he'd be elsewhere right now.

Take Pippo, for example. The guy had subpar skills for a football player, but his desire to score, and his passion on the pitch as if every game was his last made him the legend he is nowadays. You could say he had an innate goal instinct, but Balo doesn't need that, cos he's got the skills. Yet, he acts as if he's God almighty on the pitch, lazying around, yelling at his teammates, and rarely celebrating when he scores as if that's something easy for him to do.

I've said this before, but he takes completely from Ibra. He was born as a professional footballer when Ibra was at Inter, and they played together for a good amount of time. He thinks he can grow into the player Ibra is (or rather, he already thinks he is that good), and hence he imitates his playing style, attitude and so on. But that'll never happen, because even if he doesn't show it, Ibra is very passionate and has a true winner mentality. Instead, Balo cares more about being on the spotlight and taking selfies on Instagram...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 28 2014, 02:59 PM

Couldn't really do much about the 4th. He had to go near post to stop the shot as Zabletta was only a few yards from goal. When it's pulled back like that it's up to the defenders to pick up there men. Last thing you do is leave Lampard open.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 29 2014, 01:08 PM

There's a huge difference, in that Ibra is a beast in training. He always has been. Ibra never had anything handed to him and earned his way up. Balotelli is just weird. He's brilliant but lazy. In thought and action.

Posted by: Danny Sep 30 2014, 12:55 PM

Even the most ordinary players can produce brilliance occasionally. Look at Jagielka's stunner for Everton at the weekend. Balotelli is slightly above average in terms of ability. It's just he has this baggage around him which deludes a lot of us into believing 'there's more there' when there actually isn't.

He scored a stunning free kick V Fiorentina, but then Rangers' left back Steven Smith scored a stunning free kick v Dunfermline:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWfurYQfZl8

So? Do I now regard him as the best player ever? God no.

A moment of brilliance in 10 matches does not make Balotelli a brilliant player.

I just don't think he's half the player he's believed to be by many. He's not done anything in his career in terms of ability that his own team mate Sterling couldn't do.

What makes a player special, like Ibra, is the sustained ability to produce defining moments of a match, season, career. He is a monster.

Posted by: Danny Oct 3 2014, 11:47 AM

Liverpool fans getting sick of the idiot now, and even Rodgers has admitted he was a panic buy. Sorry, but I'm enjoying watching the collapse of Balotelli's career.

(PS Italy have dropped him too)

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 3 2014, 11:55 AM

Where to next for Mario? I think these last 3 years with the attitude he has, he's probably ruined chances of him getting moves to a top club. Wouldn't surprise me if a club like Spurs went in for him next summer - assuming things don't improve for Mario.

Posted by: X-Offender Oct 3 2014, 11:55 AM

Yeah, it does feel good.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 5 2014, 04:17 PM

https://vine.co/v/OKMnFWJKVlh

Another easy win for Chelsea. Title's already over. City look pretty average in comparison. Chelsea unstoppable.

Posted by: X-Offender Oct 5 2014, 04:19 PM

Wow, that was quick! Costa's miss happened, what, 5 minutes ago?



It was an ugly match, I'd say. Lots of confusion and not many clear ideas, at least from Arsenal. Chelsea are very organized, Mourinho has done a pretty good job so far.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 5 2014, 04:53 PM

He's a veteran coach, but Wenger is still very naive when it comes to the big games. He needs to give his ego a rest and play more defensively sometimes. Mourinho will happily defend in the big games, he doesn't try and outplay teams who have more talent than him and Arsene needs to do the same if he's going to succeed.

Posted by: KillerMax Oct 9 2014, 09:54 PM

For the life of me I don't understand what Arsenal's obsession with Wenger is. The club has mostly a star studded squad. It's run efficiently from the inside out and enjoys a very healthy fan-base across the world. Yet they underachieve on the big stage year in year out. In 18 years of being in charge of mostly a strong squad, Wenger has managed a measly 3 Premiere League titles. One can argue this has been mostly down to Ferguson's dominant Man U years. And I would somewhat agree. But what excuse is there for Asenal to finish mostly 4th (six times) and 3rd (three times) since 2005? Now they occupy 10th in the table. How is this OK for Arsenal and more importantly why are they so beholden to such underachieving manager?

/rant.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 9 2014, 10:21 PM

It's not acceptable really. As you say, part of it is Fergie's United. But for the past decade he sold all his top players and replaced them with far lesser quality. I think he doesn't really know what he's doing with spending either, he's good at scouting out some younger players, but when it comes to buying proven talent he's a lot more miss than hit.

Posted by: X-Offender Oct 18 2014, 07:13 PM

Southampton 8-0 Sunderland

Well now...

16 points of 24, 3rd place, best defense and second-best attack in the league. These guys are on fire.

Posted by: Danny Oct 19 2014, 01:01 AM

The actual reason is simple - Arsenal don't spend. You can point and say 'Look, it's Sanchez and Ozil' - but those two are the only major signings they've made in a long time, because, and here's the nub - they're a well run Club, little debt, overcharge exorbitantly for season tickets, make the CL every season.

Can you see a fan revolt happening any time soon?

As long as Arsenal make CL, fans will moan, but keep spending cash.

Wenger has a safe job - he knows how to get them in CL and knows fine well he won't be given cash to spend on a massive squad rehaul, and he is paid well.

Why would he quit, why would they sack him?

The lack of ambition is the reality that Chelsea and City (and Utd) are financially years ahead (in terms of the work they've done with their squad)and Arsenal will never catch them. Gazidis knows it, Wenger knows it, and the fans just keep moaning...but paying.

It's the biggest (smartest) scam in the EPL.

Posted by: Danny Oct 19 2014, 01:03 AM

Nah, he writes off the big matches before the season starts. Arsenal's fourth place year after year is based on an excellent record over the season against the 5th and below teams.

That's the aim, every year, and they make it.

It's no coincidence he's never beaten Mourinho. He's never truly tried to or needed to.

Posted by: Danny Oct 19 2014, 01:09 AM

Chelsea look absolutely awesome - a dark horse for EPL and European dominance if they keep this up.

I really like what Jose has done with his team.

He came back to a Chelsea filled with tricky players like Oscar, Ramires and Hazard, and tried to fit them into the usual Jose defensive unit. It did QUITE well despite not being built for it, but didn't manage to win the league, so he made 3 absolutely wonderful signings in Luis, Fabregas and Costa and remoulded the team to exploit its skill as WELL as the strong side of its attributes.

He's engineered the ultimate football team and I find it impressive as hell.

He has the second best defence in football in Cahill and Terry, as well as superb full backs like Azpilacueta, Ivanovic and Luis, a strong strong midfield in Fabregas & Matic, with creative plunder like Oscar, Ramires, Hazard, Willian, and finished off with the ridiculous attacking power of Costa who is on lava right now.

So easy to admire the team.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 19 2014, 03:00 AM

Yeah last season was a team that didn't really have an identity, it was just solid. Now they have a goal scorer and Cesc to supply him, they're scoring goals. Defensively Jose's teams have always been solid, but the Terry-Cahill partnership is a monster.

As amazing as Costa has been, I'd actually give Cesc the Player of the Season award at this point. Magical.

Posted by: han2503 Oct 19 2014, 08:30 AM

I still don't understand why Barca sold him 2 seasons on from all the hassle they went through to get him from Arsenal...

Posted by: X-Offender Oct 19 2014, 11:03 AM

Yeah, especially since Xavi isn't getting any younger and they'll eventually need to replace him. Selling Alcantara was a mistake, too.

Rakitic overall has been really good for them, but I wouldn't put everything on him.

Posted by: Danny Oct 19 2014, 12:44 PM

He literally didn't fit in.

Posted by: han2503 Oct 19 2014, 04:06 PM

Because they used him as a utility player. One week he was a midfielder, the next a winger and the following a false 9.

I don't buy that he couldn't fit in, he came through their system and played with the others throughout his youth, it's just that he was never given the importance that he should have been, which is a mistake because as x-off pointed out Xavi is at the end of his career and Iniesta isn't getting any younger either

Posted by: Danny Oct 20 2014, 12:40 PM

I meant personality wise. Like Ibra, he just wasn't seen as 'one of them' in the way he wanted to. Wasn't that popular with the fans.

Posted by: han2503 Oct 20 2014, 02:00 PM

Hmm, but wasn't Cesc like the lost golden child finding his way back home? Just don't understand that logic though, especially if why they sold him is because he wasn't popular with the fans

Posted by: Danny Oct 20 2014, 02:30 PM

No, they didn't sell him for that reason, they sold him because he wanted to leave. And the reason he wanted out was because he wasn't getting playing time. And he wasn't getting that because he 'didn't fit in' in the way I've illustrated.

Fans were non-plussed about him.

Posted by: han2503 Oct 20 2014, 08:15 PM

Man U already losing to WBA...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 25 2014, 04:57 PM

Birmingham 0-8 Bournemouth. Biggest ever home defeat.

No comment.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 27 2014, 10:27 PM

and we're as bad. Both Birmingham teams a lock for relegation.

Posted by: X-Offender Oct 27 2014, 10:39 PM

Didn't you have about 10 points in the first 3-4 weeks? How many games have you lost since then?

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 27 2014, 11:00 PM

Our current run is the worst I have ever seen by any club in the Premier League. I've included the Liverpool game to show just how long it's been since we scored

Liverpool 0-1 Villa (we scored 9th minute)
Villa 0-3 Arsenal
Chelsea 3-0 Villa
Villa 0-2 Man City
Everton 3-0 Villa
QPR 2-0 Villa

People can say we had it tough. Man City aren't that great. Everton were bottom 5 before they played us and QPR were bottom.

Spurs next, who we routinely lose 4-0 to.

Posted by: X-Offender Oct 28 2014, 01:14 AM

Ouch. That's bad.

Posted by: Danny Oct 28 2014, 01:41 AM

I cannot fathom how Lambert has made it in managament. He sounds thicker than wood.

He's also no better than Eck was.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 28 2014, 06:31 AM

5 straight defeats without a goal is the worst run in the clubs entire history. He also has the record for biggest defeat in our history too. He's only been here just over 2 years.

I can't agree McLeish was better (in his time at Villa). In his one season here he managed to get the records for lowest points, lowest goals, fewest wins, worst ever home record and worst position for us in a 20 team EPL season.

Posted by: Danny Oct 28 2014, 12:43 PM

Didn't say Eck was better, I said Lambert is no better. PS Lambert has now smashed the worst record in your history so I wouldn't use Eck's poor return!

Posted by: han2503 Oct 28 2014, 01:38 PM

Still that's a rough run of games. Arsenal, Chelsea and City right after each other can't be easy to go through

Posted by: X-Offender Nov 1 2014, 07:48 PM

Liverpool have really been shite so far. 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses. And Balo has scored 0 in 7 presences so far. Love it.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 1 2014, 08:08 PM

They were so, so poor today.

Posted by: han2503 Nov 2 2014, 10:01 AM

During the game they showed an image of where he made touches with the ball during the second half, only once in the penalty area and 2 on the wings, all the others were in Liverpool's half

I'm not saying he hasn't been utter cr@p because he has, but the point here is so is the rest of the team. But at least when we were playing like this last season (which was most of the games) he'd pop up with some ridiculous goal that would win us points

Posted by: Danny Nov 2 2014, 12:51 PM

He had 7 touches or so in the second half in the opposition half.

Thing is, the only literal difference between Liverpool this season and last has been Suarez out and Balo in.

Suarez took this average team and made them world class. Balo isn't a 20th of the player Suarez is so can't do it. So guess what happens? Everyone says 'problems lie deeper', or 'it's the whole team not just Balo' - problem is there's not much difference in personnel. Except that one vital change.

And Liverpool are a completely different team for it.

Sorry chaps, it's not deeper than than that. Balo is utter rubbish, with a stinking attitude.

A Twitter account even surfaced questioning whether Rodgers really is as good as the likes of Shankley, or if he's just mediocrity artificially raised last season by the genius of Suarez.

As for your comment, can you name a single winning goal from him last season other than Bologna?

Posted by: Danny Nov 2 2014, 12:52 PM

You know you're a flop when all you can do is score in the Cup. He does have one goal. Scored V Swansea in the cup.

Safe to say social media had a good chuckle at that one.

Posted by: han2503 Nov 2 2014, 02:52 PM

I'd buy into that if Liverpool hadn't spent a good few games at the start of last season without Suarez and they were still good and winning games without him.

They're just not producing the same type of football that they were last season. Gerrard has been utter p!sh as you Scots would say in every game I've watched this season (and I watched quite a few to see how Mario was getting on)

The speed and zest that was in Liverpool's game last season is just not there, irrespective of whether Suarez was on the pitch last season or not, or whether Balo is there or not this season.

Granted, imo he just does not fit into the way they play, he's just too static as a player while Suarez is usually all over the place (which is also what I think is his current problem at Barca as he's very restricted). Balo is imo a PART of the current problem at Liverpool, not the source though as you would like to paint it.

Practically every goal Balo scored for us last season won us points, it's not like we were free scoring, every goal we scored either got us a draw or a win in majority of the games. The penalties and free kicks he scored were always crucial.

And that's also a part of the problem he has at Liverpool, he can't even do this at this point

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 2 2014, 03:55 PM

Smalling stupidly got himself sent off in the first half. Now Sir Gio Agwhereoh makes it 1-0. 25 mins to go.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 2 2014, 04:24 PM

United's lowest points total through 10 games since 1986. Hiddink making records at an incredible rate.

EDIT: of course I mean van Gaal, not Hiddink. Sorry Gus.

and this is just sad.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 2 2014, 06:24 PM

Vertonghen goes in 2 footed. Gets a yellow card. Benteke tries to win the ball back, kicks a player in the leg, gets sent off.

Referees.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 2 2014, 06:47 PM

Screw job of hilarious proportions. Ref fucks up and it's cost us 4 games with Benteke getting a 3 game suspension.

Posted by: William405 Nov 2 2014, 07:09 PM

Yep, watched the match..sucks to lose like this.

Harry Kane must have the coolest name in football though.

Posted by: Danny Nov 2 2014, 07:46 PM

They weren't impressive at the start of last season, they were, however, winning more than they lost, true. But when Suarez came back he elevated them way beyond this - that mashing of Arsenal especially highlighted how strong he made them.

And now today Rodgers has admitted his side can't cope without him (and Sturridge).

It really boils down to a player or two here or there, and not the deeper meaning you're contriving.

But yes, Gerrard is finished - he was finished the moment he slipped last season.

More or less the same team minus Suarez (and Sturridge), and minus last season's Gerrard, plus nowadays' Balotelli - same tactics aren't working, same formation isn't. No sh*t, Brendan.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 7 2014, 12:09 AM

Delph apparently not going to sign a new deal. Pretty disgraceful really. We stick with him for 3 years of some of the worst performances I've ever seen in a Villa shirt and even give him a new contract. Now he's had a good 6 months and says he's leaving.

I'd sit him in the reserves for the rest of the season and ruin his England career. No first team football between now and the middle of August won't do him any good.

Posted by: Danny Nov 7 2014, 02:34 AM

No offence Kurt but loyalty and football don't exist. Villa are diabolical and he clearly sees a chance to get a better deal and team.

I've been through it a million times - Steven Naismith - spent 3 years on the Ibrox treatment room, we stuck by him through the dark times, but when the Club went into admin he was away with no hint of loyalty, while saying Rangers were dead.

And now we have young Lewis Macleod, saying all the right things, our best player, just got called up to Scotland, but I wouldn't be one bit shocked if he left in January. After all, it would be to a better league and probably more pay.

I'm used to being stabbed in the back by these guys. Over, and over again.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 7 2014, 09:20 AM

I don't usually have a problem with players leaving, if we get money for them. But when a club sticks by you like that, the very least you can do is get the club something in return. Basically we paid money for him, gave him a new deal when he didn't deserve one to give him another chance and then he Fs us over.

At least with Barry, Milner and Young they were all quality their entire stay and left when we could still make money from them. Hutton's a more comparable situation, did nothing for 3 years, we gave him another chance, he improves and signs a new deal.

Posted by: Danny Nov 7 2014, 11:46 AM

My point was we got nothing for Naismith, not even a thank you. He left for free. So I've been there, trust me.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 7 2014, 12:46 PM

Yeah it's ****. Hitzlsperger did the same. It's even more annoying when they're irrelevant player, you make them a name and then they ditch.

Posted by: X-Offender Nov 23 2014, 04:33 PM

Liverpool are falling into shambles.

Posted by: Danny Nov 24 2014, 03:09 AM

Falling? Soon as Suarez left that was it for them.

Suarez made Rodgers look like Mourinho.

Now we're seeing he's really very average.

Posted by: han2503 Nov 24 2014, 08:52 AM

Liverpool were great without Suarez last season when he was banned. I don't buy that simple argument. Liverpool are just bad from back to front. players that were performing last season aren't in this one, the system that was so great and exhilarating to watch last season is gone as well, that was not dependant on Suarez.

Yes he was a hugely important player for them, but to go from how they played last season to how they're playing now is not solely dependant on Suarez not being there

Posted by: Danny Nov 24 2014, 10:14 AM

I believe it is. His presence elevates Uruguay from mediocre to actually not bad.

The problem was his presence in the Liverpool team compensated for all their failings - their soft centre, ghastly defence. He raised Sterling, Gerrard and Sturridge especially and now he's gone, so has morale.

And the high pressing they did with him around is gone and that terrible defence is now totally exposed.

Suarez really is that good. Pity Barca probably isn't the right team for him to be at. He needs a Liverpool type of team - one which is mediocre and makes him the focal point.

Silvio?

Posted by: Danny Nov 24 2014, 10:17 AM

PS they weren't great, they were decent. At the start. But then...so were Spurs

After 5 matches Spurs and Liverpool were setting the pace. So I wouldn't pay too much heed to what happened at the start.

After all, if you go by opening periods to seasons we were top this season!

Posted by: han2503 Nov 24 2014, 10:25 AM

They were great not just based on their results, but how they played in general. They were good throughout last season, Suarez or no Suarez.

Keep in mind I'm not trying to demean how great Suarez is, the man is a machine and he really proves the argument I was making in the other thread that certain strikers (Ibra and Suarez) can do it all, while others - no matter how great they are - can't do it all.

I just think Liverpool's problems this season run far deeper than just losing Suarez

Posted by: Danny Nov 24 2014, 11:48 AM

Nah, he elevated them big time.

After his return, they were managing:

4-1 V West Ham
0-5 at Spurs
3-1 over Cardiff
0-3 at Utd
3-6 at Cardiff
4-0 over Spurs
0-3 at Southampton
5-1 v Arsenal

They had some lesser results of course but with him in the team they were monstrous at times.

Prior to that big loss v Chelsea (which basically cost them the title) they went on a 12-match winning run, including over the champions elect Man City.

He was making that happen, but Rodgers' lack of a plan B cost them at Chelsea.

Posted by: han2503 Nov 24 2014, 12:35 PM

Let's put it this way, I think Suarez elevated them to a completely new level, I completely agree with you there

However I do not believe that they should be as bad as they are this season, even without him.

There was always going to be a drop, they lost a top class player (not just striker), but the severe meltdown we're seeing this season for me is not just Suarez related - it IS a huge part but not all of it, that's what I'm trying to say basically

Posted by: Danny Nov 24 2014, 01:00 PM

Oh I would agree they shouldn't be a 12th place team without him, I'm with you on that.

They're worse than I expected them to be without him, but it emphasises how big he was. He added about 30% to each midfield/attacker's game around him (impossible 130%), so now they're about 50% without him - a drop of 80%.

And Brendan has absolutely no idea how to get them back to anything like even 70% of their normal capacity.

And those numbers hopefully add up perfectly

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 24 2014, 05:25 PM

The deal hasn't worked out for both Liverpool and Barcelona and his antics cost Uruguay all hope at the World Cup. Great all round.

Posted by: Danny Nov 24 2014, 09:14 PM

Uruguay aside I agree with this post.

Posted by: KillerMax Dec 14 2014, 11:07 PM

So Man U turning it around... People said Van Gaal would pull something like this...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 15 2014, 05:24 AM

It's almost as if he got £180m in new players. You'd expect challenging for the title with that sort of investment IMO.

Posted by: KillerMax Dec 16 2014, 09:50 PM

I honestly thought he was going to fail big the way things were going. I'm impressed he is turning it around. I'm aware of the situation you're alluding to...

Posted by: X-Offender Dec 16 2014, 11:53 PM

Same here. I thought United were beyond salvation, but looks like those money spent are paying off.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 17 2014, 03:47 PM

He's doing an average/below average job. £180m without any European distraction is really title challenge minimum.

But I guess he's a liked coach. People have criticised Man City/Chelsea spending before. But when van Gaal breaks the all-time Premier League spending record within months of being there he gets a free pass, it seems.

Posted by: X-Offender Dec 17 2014, 04:09 PM

I don't care about van Gaal. I agree with you. With those money they spent they should be title contenders. That being said, considering how dire they were two months ago there have been major improvements.

Posted by: KillerMax Dec 20 2014, 07:46 PM

My sentiments.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 21 2014, 12:15 PM

Posted by: William405 Dec 21 2014, 11:20 PM

Very nice goal!


Did anyone watch Tyne–Wear derby? Newcastle controlled most of the second half with good chances then to concede at the 90th due to a counterattack. Not that exciting..I know.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 22 2014, 05:03 AM

It was a really good game. Much better than Liverpool-Arsenal despite less goals.

Posted by: Danny Jan 5 2015, 10:55 PM

Messi followed Chelsea on Instagram and rumours of his unhappiness at Barca are building so there's talk of a £250M move.

Posted by: han2503 Jan 5 2015, 11:14 PM

Absolutely worthy if true, what's football coming to?

Posted by: Danny Jan 6 2015, 01:55 AM

Well that's his buyout clause. As you know in Spain the buyout clauses are astronomical and ridiculous. Ronaldo's is at a billion FFS.

He signed a new deal in May to become the world's best paid footballer but his clause did not increase. So if Chelsea or anyone else coughs up this absolutely insane amount of cash then I guess it happens.

But equally, and I know you're not into basketball, but there's a Knicks player called Carmelo Anthony. Faced with a choice last summer - go to the Bulls for $75M deal or stay with Knicks for $125M. Money has just become fucking crazy in sport, it's lost all its value.

Posted by: Danny Jan 8 2015, 01:06 PM

Chelsea, Arsenal, City and Utd on red alert apparently for a potential swift return to the EPL for Suarez. It was a weird move in the first place, and seems he's unhappy there if reports are anything to go by.

He never fit, but that said he might benefit being the main man if Messi moves on.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Jan 8 2015, 02:15 PM

Hmh. That would be very weird. But anything is possible.

Posted by: X-Offender Jan 8 2015, 02:25 PM

Suarez would be great for Barça, but he plays in Messi's role. Either Messi returns to his roots and plays on the right, or Suarez will be out of the picture for not so long. Because, on paper, a Neymar-Suarez-Messi trio is the maximum a team could ask for.

Posted by: Danny Jan 8 2015, 04:00 PM

Neither Messi nor Ronaldo will ever return to their roots as wingers as they've evolved into complete forwards. Players who have the complete package. Hamstring them by taking away their freedom and you'd reduce their contribution in matches.

Indeed, their roles are a modern and unique position - until Suarez seriously emerged last season Ron and Messi were the only two on earth who filled that role. Some would make a case for Neymar but he's got some way to go to be considered in their breath.

But you absolutely cannot have two of these guys (or even more) in the same team. Doesn't work, and it's being seen with Suarez playing second fiddle to Messi. They cannot help their own instincts and end up cancelling each other out.

Posted by: han2503 Jan 8 2015, 05:15 PM

How many has Suarez scored this season? I haven't really been following so I can't really say anything on the matter, but has he really been that bad at Barca?

Posted by: X-Offender Jan 8 2015, 05:43 PM

Well, technically Ronaldo is still a winger. He mostly starts from the left. Messi has been playing centrally (the so-called "false nine") for some time now. Yes, they both are complete, all-around forwards, but they have different roles in their teams.

Posted by: Danny Jan 8 2015, 08:50 PM

Even weirder than the positions Messi and Ronaldo fill is today's breaking story that Frank Lampard never signed for New York City. Turns out his deal was with Man City permanently. Despite taking part in promotions for NYSCFC and stating himself he was going there.

One of the strangest stories in recent modern football.

Posted by: Danny Jan 8 2015, 08:51 PM

He was sensational at Liverpool last season, we can agree on that. Problem is he hasn't had the same impact at Barca, and for 75M you'd expect him to. But I didn't - because I didn't see how he could fit in with Messi.

Think he's scored once.

Posted by: han2503 Jan 8 2015, 11:28 PM

Well, he WAS Liverpool last season. As close to an Ibra/Ronaldo/Messi I've seen an individual player being for his team

But I really don't think it's that cut and dry, I know he's been played as a winger, that has to be the main culprit. I do think that he can co-exist with Messi, I just don't think Messi's ego can co-exist with him. Think back to Ibra and you have the same issue.

I don't even get why Barca bother to sign top strikers

For example, I think Suarez would have been an even bigger monster than he was last season at Real, and they have Ronaldo and Bale there

Posted by: Rossoneri7 Jan 9 2015, 08:56 AM

He signed with City's holding company, the same owns ny club and the aussie club. It was done this way as City had restrictions because of FFP. IIRC he doesn't have a permanent deal in place with City, just that his wages arn't paid by City the club.

Posted by: Danny Jan 9 2015, 12:49 PM

I know all this, the problem is it was promoted as a New York signing. Even Lampard said he was going to New York. He was pictured holding their scarf. PS he does have a permanent deal with City. Short term, but EPL announced that's who he's registered with and no one else.

This has been incredibly damaging for the MLS.

Great irony is it's had little coverage here in the UK. If it had been City he'd signed for but New York he was playing at it would be a sensational scandal all over the front and back pages. But because it doesn't affect an English club to the negative, it's borderline been swept under the carpet.

Posted by: Danny Jan 10 2015, 11:53 PM

Ronaldo being a bit precious. Bale through on goal and did what any top class forward does, he went for goal, and flubbed his lines.

Cue Ronaldo throwing a hissy fit and the media branding Bale a ball hog when pretty plainly most strikers would have gone for goal in that situaiton.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Feb 3 2015, 03:47 PM

Redknapp walks out.

After failing to buy his way to safety the last time they were up, not being able to sign anyone at all he walks out. So now the new manager and the club cant sign anyone, but then again we all know Redknapp cares not at all for the clubs he manages.

Posted by: Danny Feb 3 2015, 03:57 PM

Love the reason. A knee operation.

Aye ok Harry. I do like the guy but what a total lie that is!

Now mercs like Ferdinand, Barton, SWP, Dunne, Zamora et al are stuck there. Pretty sure they aren't overly bothered given their wages.

Posted by: Danny Mar 1 2015, 12:41 AM

Villa apparently having their worst run in 50 years. Sherwood sure fixed their problems!

Kurt has it as bad as me.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Mar 1 2015, 07:15 AM

He's only been there 2 games, it will take a while to fix the problems Lambert has stuffed the club with. Oh well. RIP.

Posted by: X-Offender Mar 17 2015, 10:45 AM

When was the last time the five most prestigious English clubs were in the first five positions, and so close? Can't even remember.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Apr 20 2015, 10:39 AM

So apparently it's been reported that Klopp will take over as manager of Liverpool next season. Odd really. He managed to be in 10th in a one team league.

Apparently van Gaal is being considered a success. He took over a squad that won the league in 12-13, spent £200m and is nowhere near the title. Result! He's spectacularly failed.

Posted by: han2503 Apr 20 2015, 10:58 AM

I think he's considered a success based on what Moyes managed last season. But yeah, in the grand scheme of things it's still a massive failure

And wow, what a step down for Klopp, I really thought that after Dortmund he'd take over one of the top teams. PSG/City/Real/Chelsea/Man U were the only teams I envisioned him going for

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Apr 20 2015, 11:01 AM

Massive failure for now. What Van Gaal brings is a system that needs to be tuned in and prepared. Maybe they threw away this season, but I can't say it's a failure yet cause LvG is a longterm project.

Posted by: Danny Apr 20 2015, 01:57 PM

I think LvG has been a 'success' in the sense that he's completely overhauled Utd with a new system and it wasn't working, took ages to click into gear and now they are definitively (there's that word again) top 3 material.

They're not the SAF Man Utd, but then we're not the Carlo Milan.

Falcao and ADM have been utter failures, but Blind hasn't and slowly but surely LvG has turned them round. He's even turned Mata into a player.

Compared with where they were in September, they've had a good season.

Posted by: han2503 Apr 20 2015, 02:10 PM

Di Maria was probably one of the best if not the best players from last season, he just doesn't fit in there and that's Van Gaal's failure imo

And saying top 3 material after they spent all that money for me is still a failure

Posted by: Danny Apr 20 2015, 06:19 PM

Are you one of those who defends Carlo's decade at Milan despite the world class squad, money spent, but only three major trophies secured?

Posted by: han2503 Apr 20 2015, 06:28 PM

Nope, I've always said that for the quality he had, Carlo failed with Milan domestically

Even though I do acknowledge that the system was working against him back then seeing as Juve basically bought the league while having a top class team themselves as well.

However I do acknowledge that what Carlo did with us in Europe was unrivalled. We were one of the most consistently good teams in the CL from 02/03 to 06/07

Posted by: X-Offender Apr 20 2015, 07:59 PM

Carlo sacrificed the league for Europe, plain and simple. As good as we were back then, we didn't have the capacity to win both.

2003 - CL
2004 - Serie A
2005 - CL final (should have won)
2006 - Failure
2007 - CL

IMO in those five seasons Carlo only failed once. 2005 should have been a success, it's just the circumstances that prevented it from being one. From 2008 onwards the team had degraded and we can't really fault him there anymore.

Posted by: Danny Apr 20 2015, 08:07 PM

Fair dues

I can't be bothered looking at the mitigating factors, the details. He didn't do well enough over the decade to justify the reputation.

I even remember the criticism of him for those ridiculous subs in particular during the second half of his tenure.

Posted by: han2503 Apr 20 2015, 10:24 PM

I don't think 2006 was a failure per se.

It was still a very good season one where we once again came very close in both major competitions and I personally believe that we should have made it through to the final had that Sheva goal not been wrongfully disallowed in the Camp Nou

I personally hold Carlo in very high regard. But yes, he valued Europe over the domestic competition and this was a mantra that ran throughout the club. Galliani was happy with it as well. Let's not all forget the DNA BS he used to spew so proudly. We were the top team in Europe based on UEFA co-efficient. We were that good in Europe. Our run-up to the final in 05, especially the games against Man U and Barca were just the essence of what that Carlo team was built on.


I think his CL exploits more than justify the stellar reputation imo.

I think there were many mitigating factors for why he didn't do as well domestically, but still, I do agree that he should have at least won one other title while he was with us

Posted by: Danny Apr 21 2015, 12:51 AM

He knows how to win UCL. I give him that. But the man just isn't a league coach. In his entire managerial career spanning 20 years he's got three league titles. That does not justify his reputation at all.

In terms of continental/international trophies, yes, 8 is impressive, very impressive.

Posted by: han2503 Apr 21 2015, 11:16 AM

Well he has won in Italy, England and France, yes the number itself is meagre, but it's still a good record

Posted by: Danny Apr 21 2015, 12:32 PM

You can't call it both good and meagre!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Apr 21 2015, 02:01 PM

Can't take the titles away from him. But he's very good at losing things. Taking over PSG while they were in 1st, with a significantly better squad than anyone in the league, and not taking the title is one of the bigger failures by a manager in recent years IMO.

Posted by: han2503 Apr 21 2015, 02:16 PM

I think you can. He should have done a lot better domestically considering the teams he's had but even with all that, he's still won in pretty much all of the major leagues. Spain is also still a possibility as well


Yep

Posted by: kurtsimonw Apr 22 2015, 12:05 PM

Wouldn't quite call it a step down. He's sitting 10th in the Bundesliga and going to a CL challenging, bigger club, in the Premier League? It seems certain managers just seem to get far more leeway than others. What Klopp has done this season is really awful, he should've been sacked.

Zorc is the success behind Dortmund IMO, he's signed these great players and Klopp has gained the benefits. As soon as he doesn't have these World class players, he had them in the bottom half of the table, despite having a top 3 squad.

Posted by: Danny Apr 22 2015, 01:03 PM

He's not going to West Ham.

Posted by: X-Offender Apr 22 2015, 01:43 PM

One bad season and suddenly he's not good enough? Come on, now.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Apr 22 2015, 04:52 PM

There's a difference between bad season and not even being in the top half (relegation for most of it). IMO the success is mostly down to someone else. In 7 years, he's had more than 1 bad season.

He's not as good as someone like Rafa Benitez, certainly less successful in every way. Would you give Rafa a very top job? No. Liverpool is about his level.

Posted by: han2503 Apr 22 2015, 05:45 PM

So basically you're saying he's Allegri

He does well as long as his team is stacked to the rafters with talent but fails once he loses some of his best players...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Apr 23 2015, 12:21 PM

I don't know, Allegri finished 3rd with a team that hasn't even been able to dream of 3rd since.

As for Allegri, how many times did Conte reach the CL SF, Cup Final whilst winning the league? Conte must really be awful then!

Posted by: han2503 Apr 23 2015, 05:13 PM

Like I just said in the other thread, Conte managed to win the league when he did not have the best team in the league, that honour was with Allegri who lost the league to Conte.

As for CL. Allegri is coming up against the first real hurdle in the next round, a hurdle that he won't surpass, simple as that. Going one step further than Conte doesn't make much difference ultimately, he'll still get KO'd by a better team

And yeah, Allegri did finish 3rd, in a league that had already crumbled down to nothing, thanks to some serious heroics, luck and awful penalties given to us. Let's not brag about that season because it was plain embarrassing more than a badge of honour. We were just as bad as the season that followed it (performance wise, luck just helped us through). Relying on the ref in the last game of the season against Siena was the lowest of lows

Posted by: kurtsimonw Apr 24 2015, 11:49 AM

Conte couldn't get through a group with Galatasary and Copenhagen. Going one step further is one step further. It's better. Certainly a huge improvement of not getting over the first, very easy, hurdle that Conte failed to do last season.

Posted by: han2503 Apr 24 2015, 02:38 PM

Yeah, Conte failed last season in the CL no doubt, I was talking about when he got them to the quarters, because that's the bar Allegri had to meet in terms of Conte imo. He really couldn't do anything domestically that wasn't already being done with ease by Conte.

But ultimately. One season doesn't matter for me. Conte is by far the better coach and tactician. Failing in one season of the CL doesn't change that for me

We'll se what Juve do against Real in the upcoming games

Going by Allegri's MO they'll defend for their lives and try to hit on the counter, we've seen this exact same scenario play out for us enough times now

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Apr 25 2015, 11:07 AM

Bull.

You know how many titles won Arrigo Sacchi? One league title! Liedholm has 2 league titles (Roma and Milan). Ancelotti won league titles in England, Italy and France. I don't know many coaches who made that happen.

Sure, like Kurt said, he sometimes could have done more. But that's really unimportant in the big picture.


I think you're being quite unfair. To overemphasize Zorc or Klopp is really not necessary. Both did a good job with little. Klopp managed to lift up the club from poor results and implement a system that didn't exactly thrive on world class players, at least not from day one. He knew how to handle and work with solid to good players like Kagawa, Lucas Barrios, Kehl, Subotić and a few others.

They also share the blame for this year's fall. It was again Zorc who signed big time failures like Ramos or Immobile.

Posted by: X-Offender Apr 25 2015, 11:22 AM

And Sokratis, Aubumeyang, Mkhitaryan, Kampl etc. But yeah, let's blame Klopp.