Football Season 2018/19

[Fierce_LiNk]

26 minutes ago, Ramar said:

Leeds United?

Leeds are a good example, but that was just over 10 years ago and the climate of football has changed a little bit since then. It should have acted as a warning to other teams, but you could argue that others haven't heeded that warning and we could see more clubs going through dire straits like Leeds did.

[Julius]

18 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

There's lots of talk about Barcelona putting in bids for Willian. With Courtois and Hazard being linked to Real Madrid, it could end up being a very different look for Chelsea next season.

I feel like it’s an understated attempt to get Madrid off our backs. I doubt that we’ll end up selling both Willian and Hazard in the same window, because that would leave us severely undermanned on the wings, so I do think that Barça going after Willian (who would be much cheaper than Hazard), while serving to strengthen their team in that position, could also be an attempt to ensure that we don’t sell Hazard to Madrid. 

As for the obscene amounts going for everyone in the Prem these days, I think it’s only unsustainable to spend in such a way for those likely to be relegated and not bounce straight back (i.e. don’t spend all of your parachute money, recently relegated teams). For the top 12 or so who are confident of staying up, now is the time to spend, as there’s a lot of money in the TV rights for the Prem going around, and that’s only increasing every single time that the rights go to auction.

The problem, of course, is that we’re seeing this effect football fans the most: an increase in value of TV rights bids will see a further increase in the money spent by clubs on players, which means that tickets/TV packages will only go up in price for fans, etc. It’s just becoming a bit of a mess, to be honest. 

[Ramar]

1 hour ago, Julius Caesar said:

I feel like it’s an understated attempt to get Madrid off our backs. I doubt that we’ll end up selling both Willian and Hazard in the same window, because that would leave us severely undermanned on the wings, so I do think that Barça going after Willian (who would be much cheaper than Hazard), while serving to strengthen their team in that position, could also be an attempt to ensure that we don’t sell Hazard to Madrid. 

As for the obscene amounts going for everyone in the Prem these days, I think it’s only unsustainable to spend in such a way for those likely to be relegated and not bounce straight back (i.e. don’t spend all of your parachute money, recently relegated teams). For the top 12 or so who are confident of staying up, now is the time to spend, as there’s a lot of money in the TV rights for the Prem going around, and that’s only increasing every single time that the rights go to auction.

The problem, of course, is that we’re seeing this effect football fans the most: an increase in value of TV rights bids will see a further increase in the money spent by clubs on players, which means that tickets/TV packages will only go up in price for fans, etc. It’s just becoming a bit of a mess, to be honest. 

Not forgetting the Premier League thinks it’s a great idea to split packages. Soon we’ll have Sky, BT and Amazon with live games. So three subscriptions is better for the consumer? And they wonder why illegal streams are so popular...

The ticket debate is difficult because I feel the premier league is finally doing something about that with the away ticket cap. But it’s still not enough.

Tv fixture times and train companies are bigger issue for away fans now.

[Julius]

4 hours ago, Ramar said:

Not forgetting the Premier League thinks it’s a great idea to split packages. Soon we’ll have Sky, BT and Amazon with live games. So three subscriptions is better for the consumer? And they wonder why illegal streams are so popular...

The ticket debate is difficult because I feel the premier league is finally doing something about that with the away ticket cap. But it’s still not enough.

Tv fixture times and train companies are bigger issue for away fans now.

It’s crazy, isn’t it? I was just reading the other day that to support your team by watching every match on your TV/device of choice in the Premier League is going to cost ~£100/month. That’s a crazy amount to be spending for the vast majority of football fans, and that’s just the Premier League.

Right now, I’m thinking about jumping ship and watching Serie A on a much more regular basis (MOTD for Prem highlights). It was already getting to be a much stronger league, with the pack chasing Juve getting closer year on year, but now that Ronaldo’s moved to Juve, it’s going to be an interesting one. It’ll likely end up being cheaper than watching Chelsea week in and week out (other than the occasional match on Sky One, I believe?), which just seems a shame.  

It’s good that they’re taking some steps with making away tickets a more viable option, but still, that seems at face value to be more for their own gain than for that of the fans. I hope that they get on top of things sooner rather than later, but I remain nervous for the time being. 

[Julius]

A Bonucci-Higuain swap deal between Milan and Juve looks to be on the cards over in Italy.

Can’t imagine Higuain being happy with that...

[killthenet]

The club's promoted to the Premier League last season are making some impressive signings, Wolves have signed Moutinho and Rui Patricio while Fulham look to have secured the services of Andre Schurrle. 

Roma announced the signing of Bordeaux winger Malcom yesterday only for Barcelona to announce they'd signed him instead today, they must be furious with his agent or whoever is responsible for Barca gazumping them 

[Julius]

10 hours ago, killthenet said:

Roma announced the signing of Bordeaux winger Malcom yesterday only for Barcelona to announce they'd signed him instead today, they must be furious with his agent or whoever is responsible for Barca gazumping them 

It was the player. He was supposed to get on the plane for Rome, and for all intents and purposes was going to put pen to paper, but when word came through that Barça was interested, he changed his mind. In addition, Bordeaux froze the Roma deal as soon as the Barça offer came in, which was higher than Roma’s offer at €41 million. The Romans tried to match it, but it was too late. Still, Roma have made some excellent signings in Javier Pastore, Justin Kluivert et al so far, and they’ll probably add a few more names in the coming weeks; some names being floated around are Thauvin and Bailey, but they’ll likely cost more. 

Great signing for Barça; he “only” scored 12 goals and got 8 assists in Ligue 1 last season, but he was Bordeaux’s chief creator and goal scorer. In fact, the assists number would be way higher (something like 87 chances created) if not for the sloppy nature of his team (at least when trying to put the ball into the back of the net).

And he scores some absolute screamers.

Elsewhere in Europe, it seems that Tuchel has tapped up Boateng for a move from Bayern to PSG, which would be an excellent signing for their floundering back line. Apparently they’ve been in talks over the last month. 

Also, we’re seeing the first reports of Tuchel’s infamous strict nature over in Paris. PSG players are banned from eating candy and drinking soft drinks, and Tuchel has visited a number of restaurants across Paris to control the nutrition in his players’ diets. He’s also checking nightclubs, and has told them to call him when they see a PSG player. 

Going to be a fun season  

[Kav]

Rob Green to Chelsea as a 3rd choice Keeper.

It may seem odd but it’s been done so that Eduardo isn’t taking up one of the foreign spots in the Squad as Green counts as Home Grown.

[Fierce_LiNk]

2 hours ago, Kav said:

Rob Green to Chelsea as a 3rd choice Keeper.

It may seem odd but it’s been done so that Eduardo isn’t taking up one of the foreign spots in the Squad as Green counts as Home Grown.

That home grown rule really is a load of shit, isn't it? 

[bob]

It certainly seems to prolong the careers of shit, English goalkeepers.

[Charlie]

In terms of player development it's better to have an old goalkeeper as the 3rd keeper rather than a young goalkeeper. The young guy can instead go out on loan and get significant play time.

[Space]

Anyone know if there's an N-Europe fantasy football league?

Looking forward to the new season. 6 very well equipped teams battling it out is going to be great to see. I fancy Liverpool to finish top 2 this time around, with the 4-1 win over United this could be a sign of things to come.

I predict it all goes terribly wrong for Mourinho this season and he implodes. The early signs are there with is negative comments and saying American fans wasting their money watching his team.

As a Chelsea fan looking forward to seeing us under Sarri! Shame we're not in the Champions League, but gives us a season to adopt a new style.

On 14/07/2018 at 2:01 PM, Kav said:

Hoping to see a midfield 3 of Loftus-Cheek, Kante & Jorginho next season!

Yes! I hope this happens... Loftus-Cheek deserves his chance.

[Kav]

Loftus-Cheek has reported back to Cobham a week early to fight for a place in the squad. Good lad!

[Happenstance]

Looking forward to the Premier League starting back up soon. I think its going to be an interesting season.

[Kav]

So happy Conte left!

 

[Kav]

This is so much better to see than us “suffering” under Conte by withdrawing into our own half, “keeping shape” and hoping for an opposition error to turn over the possession!

 

[Space]

Love the high press.

By the way, have set up an N-Europe fantasy football league should anyone want to join! The code is:

1151543-375779

If one already has been renewed from previous years please let me know the details.

[Julius]

3 hours ago, Kav said:

This is so much better to see than us “suffering” under Conte by withdrawing into our own half, “keeping shape” and hoping for an opposition error to turn over the possession!

 

Can’t wait to see us under Sarri this season. I’m wary, because it took Guardiola a season to adapt his style of play to the Premier League, and I feel like it could take a few more weeks or months for players to fully adopt their new style of play, which is understandable. I do still feel that there are a couple of positions which we could strengthen, but otherwise, this looks like a promising start under Sarri.

Though, I’m not sure about your assessment when it comes to Conte’s Chelsea. We were like that in the second season under him, sure, but that’s mostly because we chose to not support his style of play in our transfer business; we were ferocious in our first season under him, but we had too few players to keep up that intensity, in my opinion. 

Edited July 30, 2018 by Julius Caesar

[Fierce_LiNk]

We should do some predictions for the forthcoming season. I reckon Top 4, Bottom 3, FA Cup Winner, League Cup Winner (or whatever they've called it now...the Mudkipz cup) and Champions League Winner.

Top 4

1. Manchester City

2. Liverpool

3. Manchester United

4. Spurs

 

Bottom 3

18. Huddersfield

19. Brighton

20. Cardiff

 

FA Cup: Liverpool

League Cup: Manchester City

Champions League: Barcelona

[Kav]

 

3 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

We should do some predictions for the forthcoming season.

Top 4

1. Manchester City (hate saying this)

2. Liverpool (hate saying this lol)

3. Chelsea (wish we’d be higher)

4. Spurs

 

Can’t be arsed doing more just now, haha.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Kav

[Happenstance]

I’m gonna go with:

1. Man City

2. Liverpool

3. Chelsea

4. Man U

[bob]

Mine are:

Man City
Liverpool (only one or two points behind though)
Tottenham
Arsenal
.
.
.
.
.
Fulham
Southampton
Cardiff

FA Cup: Tottenham
League Cup: Man City
Champions League: Dunno, maybe PSG?

[Fierce_LiNk]

2 hours ago, bob said:

Mine are:

Man City
Liverpool (only one or two points behind though)
Tottenham
Arsenal
.
.
.
.
.
Fulham
Southampton
Cardiff

FA Cup: Tottenham
League Cup: Man City
Champions League: Dunno, maybe PSG?

There are quite a few good shouts for relegation there. Southampton were poor last season and I see no reason why they wouldn't struggle again. Then, you've got teams such as Huddersfield and Brighton who were down there, too. Cardiff and Fulham will also struggle to pick up points. Think there's around 6 or 7 teams who will involved in that battle to not get relegated. The league is essentially split up into three now, as you have the top 6 who are aiming to get Champions League spots, then a sort of middle 8 who are not doing well enough to challenge for Top 4, but could sneak 6 or 7th, and then you've got the bottom 6 who are trying not to get relegated. 

[Julius]

Apparently Inter are interested in Modrić, and apparently Modrić is interested in a move to Inter. They've already pieced together a stellar team for their return to the Champions League, but this would be huge for them. They also got Vrsaljko on loan from Atlético. Looks like they’re trying to reunite the Croatian national team...  

The deal for Higuain to move to AC Milan on loan from Juve, and for a swap deal between the teams for Bonucci to move to Juve for Caldara, is nearly complete. It looks like a much better move for Milan than Juve, at least at face value. 

Glad to see Serie A taking huge strides this summer, they’ve got a real bit between their teeth and are making some audacious moves; can’t wait for the new season to begin!   

Edited August 1, 2018 by Julius Caesar

[Mandalore]

On 7/30/2018 at 5:04 PM, Space said:

Love the high press.

By the way, have set up an N-Europe fantasy football league should anyone want to join! The code is:

1151543-375779

If one already has been renewed from previous years please let me know the details.

Might give this a go. I used to do The Sun Dream Team game with people in my old job, absolutely no one is interested in football in my current job. Thankfully no one seems interested in The Sun either though.

Edited August 2, 2018 by Mandalore