Fierce_LiNk Posted August 31, 2020 Author Posted August 31, 2020 17 minutes ago, LazyBoy said: Happy about Van De Beek? @Fierce_LiNk Absolutely, looks like he'll be a quality addition to our team. He'll help to keep things fresh because there is a danger now that we'll be overly reliant on Bruno and Pogba in midfield, so having another talented player in there who can change things up is going to be important. I can imagine him being very useful when we're playing against teams who sit back or don't give us too much space. I'm very optimistic on this one. My only concern is that the midfield-attacking end of the pitch looks great, but the back end is not anywhere near as good. VDB, Pogba, Fernandes + the front three of Greenwood, Martial and Rashford looks like a great setup. But, Matic is still our number one DM, and we need to get someone in for that position in the long term. After that, the quality of the back four is a little hit and miss. I'm not sure that the back four of Shaw, Maguire, Lindelof and AVB is a title challenging back four. Wouldn't mind a top class centre back alongside Maguire and then an attacking RB. Shaw's injury record isn't amazing, so may even need a new LB, or at least one to challenge him/for cover. It's one of those things where the more you look, the more that needs to be done. I'm pleased with our last few signings, so we're going in the right direction. It's just a lot of ground to make up.
Kav Posted August 31, 2020 Posted August 31, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said: What do you make of Chelsea's transfer window, @Kav? They're bringing some tasty players into the club. Although, I have to say that it merely shows that last season was just about surviving the transfer ban, and that the team they were playing wasn't the one they were building for the long term. Werner, Chilwell, Ziyech, Sarr and Silva have all joined, with Havertz on the way, too. That's half of the starting 11 changed immediately. It’s an amazing window so far! We have plenty of deadwood to move on and players who aren’t up to scratch. The youngsters will provide backup & rotation to the more experienced players, so they’ll still be important going forward. Sarr & Mbuyamba are buys for the future - Sarr is going out on loan and Mbuyamba is integrating into the Development Squad. Silva will play alongside Zouma most likely, replacing the spot that nobody else could nail down last season. Given his age and the nature of the Premier League I’m not expecting him to play every game, so others will still get game-time. Alonso & Emerson aren’t good enough for first XI, Emerson is likely to be moved on with Alonso as backup to Chilwell. Werner is a smart buy, we needed to be more clinical in attack last season and he brings that. Tammy & Giroud as backup. Ziyech replaces Willian and is a much needed upgrade - he was such a frustrating player! Havertz coming will likely stop Barkley being used so much, which again I welcome, another very frustrating player. Hopefully we can sign another Keeper as Kepa was nothing but woeful last season. Such a drop off from the season prior, but I don’t know how he’d turn around such bad displays - he had one of the worst seasons I’ve ever seen from a Keeper! We’ll obviously need time to for players to settle & gel so I’m not expecting us to hit the ground running. With the attacking players that have come in though, we are plenty flexible when it comes to how we play as each can play in different positions across the front. I’m very excited! This is very much a team for the future! If everyone is fully fit, I’d love to see a team this season of: 4-3-3: Keeper (new signing) James, Silva, Zouma, Chilwell Havertz, Kante, Loftus-Cheek Ziyech, Werner, Pulisic Edited August 31, 2020 by Kav
Julius Posted September 4, 2020 Posted September 4, 2020 (edited) Messi's staying at Barça, but only because he doesn't want to go up against the "club of his life." Full GOAL interview here (how the heck did they of all places swoop in for this scoop?). Some choice quotes for your perusal: Quote I wasn't happy and I wanted to leave. I have not been allowed to leave in any way, and I will STAY at the club so that I do not get into a legal dispute. The management of the club led by Bartomeu is a disaster Quote I told to the club, to the president in particular, that I wanted to leave. They know this since the start of the past season. I told them during all last 12 months. But I will stay here because I don't want to start a legal war Quote The truth is that there is no project at this club. They just plug holes as and when things happen. I would never go for a war against the club of my life. That's why I'm staying Quote Bartomeu told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700M clause - that's impossible. But at the end of the season, the same Bartomeu said it was 'my decision'... he didn't kept his promise". When I communicated my wish to leave to my wife, it was a brutal drama. The whole family began crying, my children did not want to leave Barcelona. But I've been telling the president & the club that I want to leave all year Quote It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new goals, new airs. It did not come because of the Champions League result against Bayern, the decision I had been thinking about for a long time. Good to see him go in on this board, they deserve nothing but the worst. Curious to see if he'll be leaving next summer either, what with the elections in March and a new board, and the potential for a new manager to come in at that point. Basically being held hostage for a year. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Edited September 4, 2020 by Julius 1 1
Fierce_LiNk Posted September 4, 2020 Author Posted September 4, 2020 Not shocked that he's staying there, although it's mainly on a technicality. I'm sure the mood in that dressing room is going to be great this season. 2
killthenet Posted September 4, 2020 Posted September 4, 2020 It isn't definite he's staying just yet, a club could come in with a €700m bid. The way Chelsea have been throwing money around I wouldn't put it past them.
Fierce_LiNk Posted September 4, 2020 Author Posted September 4, 2020 Speaking of Chelsea and their spending, don't forget to all get your teams ready for the N-Europe Fantasy Football League! 1
Nicktendo Posted September 4, 2020 Posted September 4, 2020 4 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said: Speaking of Chelsea and their spending, don't forget to all get your teams ready for the N-Europe Fantasy Football League! Has a league been set up to join yet?
Kav Posted September 5, 2020 Posted September 5, 2020 14 hours ago, killthenet said: It isn't definite he's staying just yet, a club could come in with a €700m bid. The way Chelsea have been throwing money around I wouldn't put it past them. We’ve only spent what we made from selling Hazard & Morata to be fair, spending £700m would be a bit of a stretch to keep within FFP rules... even if we sold all our deadwood, as much of that as we have, we couldn’t quite make that much, haha.
LazyBoy Posted September 5, 2020 Posted September 5, 2020 I'm happy United have stayed away from Messi talk. Would it be nice to see him wear the shirt? Of course, which football fan wouldn't. But at those wages, for the minimum 3 years he would demand, and then the fact that you would have to build the team around him? I can't see that being a positive to a team who are still early in a building process.
Julius Posted September 5, 2020 Posted September 5, 2020 15 hours ago, killthenet said: It isn't definite he's staying just yet, a club could come in with a €700m bid. The way Chelsea have been throwing money around I wouldn't put it past them. I mean, if a club were going to do it, I feel like they would have had that conversation with Messi already. I think his interview shows that whoever wants him is going to be patient. And yeah... don't think we'll be in for him as much as Abramovich is a big fan of Messi and tiki-taka, he wouldn't suit the style of play we're building towards, or the players we've signed this summer, especially with such a focus on signing youth. It would seemingly fly in the face of everything Lampard is trying to centre our team around, so great a player as he is...I just don't see it happening. Also, I know FFP is being relaxed somewhat as a result of COVID, but as @Kav mentioned, even with that I don't think we'd be able to pull it off based on our current structure. It's hard to see us financing a move in a similar way to how Juve financed Ronaldo's salary (getting Fiat to step in). The club which suits him most is undeniably going to be City, and while I'm sure they'll try to get plans ready for a free transfer next summer now instead, this is going to allow them to get the team even more prepared for a Champions League run with Messi, because their match against Lyon showed a lot of tactical weaknesses in Pep's side, and there are certainly some key areas which need strengthening still. From the sounds of it even City weren't planning on paying the €700 million, and at most were planning on a €300 million bid depending on how the contract review went. Either way, like Messi, I don't see Pep or Txiki wanting to burn bridges with Barça in such a way. 13 minutes ago, LazyBoy said: I'm happy United have stayed away from Messi talk. Would it be nice to see him wear the shirt? Of course, which football fan wouldn't. But at those wages, for the minimum 3 years he would demand, and then the fact that you would have to build the team around him? I can't see that being a positive to a team who are still early in a building process. Yeah, this is a good point. That and the fact that you and us both can't really offer a team with the potential for a run deep into the Champions League, nor can our projects really afford to do anything but focus on the rebuilds we've already done. And thing is, his style of play isn't best suited for probably any club in England except City, and even outside of England, who could want to build a team around him? He'd ruin Bayern's wage structure; PSG already have the attacking quality, it's just about everywhere else that they need to strengthen; Juve has already shown what happens when not using one of the greatest of all-time in a way which makes sense - why they haven't learned from Zidane's template of resting him plenty for key matches I'm not sure - much as I'd love to see Messi and Ronaldo share a kit; and Real were never seriously going to be in for him other than to be cheeky, but Perez is a romantic (other than that whole Figo incident, but I guess he wasn't Barça blood like Messi is) and I doubt he'd have been interested (think he'd much rather wait on Mbappé). City's offer to have him for a few years then ship him off to NYC honestly sounds like the smarter move to me for Messi (unless he was ever serious about moving back to Old Boys): a couple of last cracks at the UCL with the manager who he had his best seasons with, a team suited to him and can compete on all fronts without him playing every game, and then the chance to retire in America. It gives him the potential for one last hurrah in Europe and the chance to really put eyes on the MLS. And of course I'd selfishly hope Ronaldo ends up in America too, on the same team obviously, just so we can see what that's like
Nicktendo Posted September 10, 2020 Posted September 10, 2020 My fantasy team is ready. Who ran the league last year? Willing to do the same again? We had good numbers last year. I can do it if no one else wants to?
bob Posted September 10, 2020 Posted September 10, 2020 I might be tempted to join up, pore intricately over my team for the first few weeks, and then forget about it for the rest of the season and ending up in last place. 2
Fierce_LiNk Posted September 11, 2020 Author Posted September 11, 2020 I think @Space set up the N-Europe League and has to renew it for the next season. @Space, if possible, can you renew it please and let us know the code so that we can join the N-E league.
Fierce_LiNk Posted September 12, 2020 Author Posted September 12, 2020 Hey everyone, I'm not sure if Space will ever see that message since he hasn't been here in a while and isn't a frequent poster. I've created a new N-Europe league for us to join! Click here to join The league code is lvnod7 in case you need it.
Space Posted September 12, 2020 Posted September 12, 2020 (edited) Hi, sorry - I only just renewed the league before @Fierce_LiNk’s last message. Feel free to use his new one going forward - especially next season as I’m not really playing FPL anymore. The code for the old league is q2lxoe. Edited September 12, 2020 by Space
Fierce_LiNk Posted September 12, 2020 Author Posted September 12, 2020 1 hour ago, Space said: Hi, sorry - I only just renewed the league before @Fierce_LiNk’s last message. Feel free to use his new one going forward - especially next season as I’m not really playing FPL anymore. The code for the old league is q2lxoe. Cheers, dude.
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