Everything Soccer

[CTIDANDREW]

In the simplest terms Silva was purely a center midfielder for Pep and rarely if ever played along the forward line while Grealish has thus far only played as part of the front 3.

Grealish signing could easily be very much like the Riyad Mahrez signing. Riyad was 27 i think when we bought him in a club record fee. Had a rough first season and now is firmly part of our strongest XI at age 30.

Yep, to the question posed by Rogue basically this. I have been surprised so far that Jack has only played as a winger in Pep's system. I thought he would play as more of an attacking mid position at times. He just isn't really agile / quick enough to excel as a winger in Pep's system. Sterling, Sane, Foden, and even Bernardo Silva just have that extra gear getting around a full back, that Jack has so far not shown.
Who Scored (https://www.whoscored.com/Players/11.../Jack-Grealish) has him at 12 starts at left forward, and 4 as a false nine so far this season.
His biggest problem at City, is that he will likely never score enough goals or get enough assists to justify his large price tag.

What he brings to the table, that City has been lacking since Silva left, is his ability to create key chances by making key passes in the final third vs teams that are bunkered in. Which is about 90% of the games that City play.

If you want to compare him against Silva in that capacity, then I would say that is a fair comparison. He needs to continue to improve in the team, to reach Silva's ability to do that when he was in his prime. There is no doubt about that.

 

[NDRock]

I hate to say but I’ve enjoyed Cole Palmer more than Jack this year.

 

[Rogue219]

From a relative standpoint, it's really hard for me to comprehend how you spend all this money on these guys and it takes them years to "adapt." For these price tags, these dudes should be ready to roll, but these guys are changing countries in many cases so it makes sense they need to get settled. Robertson and Fabinho are two that I recall needed time to mesh under Klopp.

I'd love to see more guys come in and...blend. The club needs to spend money to do that.

At any rate, I thought it was a pretty clever retort to the Tweet. Villa have done well for themselves to this point and seem to be putting together an aggressive January transfer window. Fans all over England sing songs about their manager slipping whenever they play Liverpool, so the guy must be onto something.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are just going to keep doing this Moneyball Junction Boys shit while more than half the League spends more on transfers than they do. It's actually getting embarrassing. Hopefully someone at Fenway saw that match yesterday against Arsenal. There's what your life looks like without Salah and Mane.

 

[Rogue219]

Chelsea played scared against City this past weekend. Disappointing but not totally unexpected. They have a problem with Lukaku. He's not in Serie A anymore. Their draw today against Brighton was a bit of a surprise, but I was always under the impression this was a two team race. Something about Chelsea that's lacking for the long haul. Can't put my finger on it and don't really care about their issues, honestly. LOL

I could go for some very boring 2-0 clean sheets from Liverpool here the rest of the way, including when Salah and Mane get back from AFCON. One thing about City, they control games and keep clean sheets. I could care less about anything exciting at this point. Boring, controlled 2-0 wins will be just fine. We'll see how it all shakes out come April.

I am old enough to remember the last time Burnley played a football match.

 

[DCDomer]

Rangers dropped points to Aberdeen tonight. The door is open for Celtic, just a few months after the sky was falling and Gerrard's Rangers couldn't be stopped.

 

[NorthDakota]

From a relative standpoint, it's really hard for me to comprehend how you spend all this money on these guys and it takes them years to "adapt." For these price tags, these dudes should be ready to roll, but these guys are changing countries in many cases so it makes sense they need to get settled. Robertson and Fabinho are two that I recall needed time to mesh under Klopp.

I'd love to see more guys come in and...blend. The club needs to spend money to do that.

At any rate, I thought it was a pretty clever retort to the Tweet. Villa have done well for themselves to this point and seem to be putting together an aggressive January transfer window. Fans all over England sing songs about their manager slipping whenever they play Liverpool, so the guy must be onto something.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are just going to keep doing this Moneyball Junction Boys shit while more than half the League spends more on transfers than they do. It's actually getting embarrassing. Hopefully someone at Fenway saw that match yesterday against Arsenal. There's what your life looks like without Salah and Mane.

Did Fabinho even need time? Wasn't he hurt? I forget

 

[Rogue219]

Did Fabinho even need time? Wasn't he hurt? I forget

His first league appearance was October 20th, 2018 against Huddersfield. His first start was a week later against Cardiff. He was not injured. He was either on the bench or not in the squad.

 

[nsisk157]

COYS

 

[notredomer23]

Matt Turner to Arsenal per Twellman. Big move for him.

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/taylortwellman/status/1484196895694151680?s=21[/TWEET]

 

[Rogue219]

Matt Turner to Arsenal per Twellman. Big move for him.

There is a bid in. Is this official?

He's number two behind Ramsdale if he goes there. Seems odd unless he goes on loan or gets significant starts in goal.

 

[notredomer23]

There is a bid in. Is this official?

He's number two behind Ramsdale if he goes there. Seems odd unless he goes on loan or gets significant starts in goal.

Not official, meant to include the tweet in my OP. Twellman’s tone leads me to think he knows this is a done deal and they’re probably working out the work permit details. I think it’s a good move for him starting or not. He was undrafted. His career earnings are $825K nearly half of which came this year. He’s looking at a significant pay increase that no keeper is going to get in MLS.

 

[Rogue219]

Not official, meant to include the tweet in my OP. Twellman’s tone leads me to think he knows this is a done deal and they’re probably working out the work permit details. I think it’s a good move for him starting or not. He was undrafted. His career earnings are $825K nearly half of which came this year. He’s looking at a significant pay increase that no keeper is going to get in MLS.

Here is the Tweet.

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/TaylorTwellman/status/1484196895694151680[/TWEET]

If he's not going to be playing regular minutes in goal before Qatar, I don't know how that's good for him or for the USMNT. He will make EPL money and be in London which does the USMNT no good.

God, I must be bored that I'm posting about this.

 

[Rogue219]

Jota might be my favorite signing of all time.

 

[phillyirish]

Here is the Tweet.

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/TaylorTwellman/status/1484196895694151680[/TWEET]

If he's not going to be playing regular minutes in goal before Qatar, I don't know how that's good for him or for the USMNT. He will make EPL money and be in London which does the USMNT no good.

God, I must be bored that I'm posting about this.

He’d make more money next year than he did in his career thus far, of course it’d be good for him.

The USMNT would be with their top 3 keepers playing reserve in England, and screwed for the World Cup.

Jota might be my favorite signing of all time.

Can’t tell if Liverpool or Celtic fan by this post lol.

 

[Rogue219]

He’d make more money next year than he did in his career thus far, of course it’d be good for him.

The USMNT would be with their top 3 keepers playing reserve in England, and screwed for the World Cup.

Financially, yeah, it's great. He gets to rot on the bench and collect a paycheck. Or he could go somewhere in Europe, start, still make more money than he ever has and actually be playing.

I would have thought the best idea is to get these guys out of MLS but going abroad and actually playing somewhere.

 

[Rogue219]

Leicester and Burnley both played today. I didn't actually see them play but I heard that it's true.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

Rangers dropped points to Aberdeen tonight. The door is open for Celtic, just a few months after the sky was falling and Gerrard's Rangers couldn't be stopped.

Kind of love the fact SG in first coaching gig walked right into the SPL and won a title.

 

[Rogue219]

Kind of love the fact SG in first coaching gig walked right into the SPL and won a title.

He seems like he's up for anything. Has the thick skin to handle the job regardless of environment. Rangers, now Villa.

 

[NDRock]

Kind of love the fact SG in first coaching gig walked right into the SPL and won a title.

Good thing he walked, if he tried to run he would have slipped.

 

[ACamp1900]

Kind of love the fact SG in first coaching gig walked right into the SPL and won a title.

Huh??? Off memory he was there for like 3-4 years or so?? I think his competition record was something like 1-9,… and the one was really handed to him by Celtic’s board selling big and buying low with ten in a row on the line. I don’t think that qualifies as ‘walking right in and winning’. Unless I’m misunderstanding your point

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

Gerard took over in the 2018-2019 season, gave Rangers their first win over Celtic wince 2012 (coached 13 games won 8), was runner up in his 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 (4 pts/1 pt off respectively) and hadn't finished higher than third for 3+ years before.....-and won a league title in 2020-2021 without losing a league match. He was an instant impact but whatever.

 

[Rogue219]

Five wins, one draw and four defeats so far with Villa. The defeats are Citah, Liverpool, Chelsea and Man United.

Gerrard's most impressive feat is having multiple clubs' supporters in England sing songs about him when they're not playing Villa for something that happened the year Meghan Trainor's song All About that Bass was a hit. That's being relevant and then some.

 

[notredomer23]

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/taylortwellman/status/1486768841552244736?s=21[/TWEET]

 

[nsisk157]

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/taylortwellman/status/1486768841552244736?s=21[/TWEET]

The Steffen v Turner debate heightens with both being in similar back up positions in the Prem. No more holding the MLS over Turner's head. What a story!

In the end, Slonina may have a word.

 

[notredomer23]

The Steffen v Turner debate heightens with both being in similar back up positions in the Prem. No more holding the MLS over Turner's head. What a story!

In the end, Slonina may have a word.

Sounds like Slonina may move to the Prem as well with a $10MM price tag. Will be interesting if he ends up getting picked up by a lower team and gets starting minutes while Steffen and Turner get only cup matches.

 

[Rogue219]

 

[nsisk157]

Another photo proving Spurs are a joke. Dusan-Juve, Adama-Barca, Diaz-Liverpool. It is wildly embarrassing. We sit in a very decent spot to qualify for the CL next year yet we continue to penny pinch. Drove the best manager I've ever seen for us out (Poch) and will certainly drive the most decorated manager to come into our fold (Conte). Mets, Jets, Knicks, Spurs... I know how to pick em.

 

[notredomer23]

If the US takes care of business these next two matches, which is a big if with the Canada match, the following scenario would all but clinch a spot for the US in the top 3.

US beats Canada and Honduras to get to 24 points
Panama loses/draws to Jamaica and loses to Mexico gets them to 14 or 15.
Costa Rica gets 3 points or less from their Mexico and Jamaica matches which would have them anywhere between 12 and 15 points.

A fairly stress free final 3 games would be nice after the last qualifying cycle.

 

[Rogue219]

Another photo proving Spurs are a joke. Dusan-Juve, Adama-Barca, Diaz-Liverpool. It is wildly embarrassing. We sit in a very decent spot to qualify for the CL next year yet we continue to penny pinch. Drove the best manager I've ever seen for us out (Poch) and will certainly drive the most decorated manager to come into our fold (Conte). Mets, Jets, Knicks, Spurs... I know how to pick em.

Reports indicate that Spurs came in with a higher bid to Porto but Diaz wanted the move to Liverpool. Man United and Everton were also in the mix. At the end of the day, I don't think it was penny pinching.

Liverpool could also be close to a deal with Carvalho if Fulham will agree to a deal. This is all rather shocking to me. Guessing the FSG boys are on a high from Ortiz making Cooperstown and will hold off on getting additional yachts for now.

 

[Rogue219]

If the US takes care of business these next two matches, which is a big if with the Canada match, the following scenario would all but clinch a spot for the US in the top 3.

US beats Canada and Honduras to get to 24 points
Panama loses/draws to Jamaica and loses to Mexico gets them to 14 or 15.
Costa Rica gets 3 points or less from their Mexico and Jamaica matches which would have them anywhere between 12 and 15 points.

A fairly stress free final 3 games would be nice after the last qualifying cycle.

Panama losing to Costa Rica last night seemed significant to me. USA winning was ultimately what I wanted out of last night, but that other result was a nice bonus to go along with it.