Tuchel to leave Bayern at end of season and Alonso to take over according to German sources. So no Alonso to Liverpool? De Zerbi then?
Tuchel to leave Bayern at end of season and Alonso to take over according to German sources. So no Alonso to Liverpool? De Zerbi then?
No but obviously if you're a team that has to defend a lot more than others then your centre halves will have 'better' stats.
FWIW Van Dijk is probably still a better defender than Saliba but Saliba has a very high ceiling due to his youth so let's see where he gets to.
Yep.
I'm old enough to remember when kids could go along for themselves at pocket money prices.
They are not likely to get any more out of me, I'm watching my local non league team which kick off Saturdays at 3pm having not being messed around with different days/times predicated by Sky Sports.
Cheers,
Neil.
When FIFA and UEFA are the ones most obsessed with money nothing will improve for the better. You only have to look at the expanded Champions League and World Cup to see where priorities lie. So many managers are complaining about there being too many games and the knock on effect it has with player injuries but the authorities just don’t care.
They're some of my greatest memories Neil. Getting there early so we could stand in front of the concrete barriers to make sure we didn't get crushed when surges happened. Seeing the clouds of steam on cold days coming up from around your feet as it was too packed to get to the loos (I never did that). Passing the little ones over our heads so they could sit at the front.
I saw Quinn, Keegan, Beardsley, Gazza, Waddle etc up closer than you'd ever get these days. Our keeper, Kevin Carr, lived in the house behind ours so we shared a garden fence. Imagine players living amongst the plebs now!
Our centre half, Peter Haddock, lived next door to my granny. Keegan was on £2500 a week and Peter was getting £80. Peter used to get the bus home after a game and stop off at the chippy for his tea on the way up the street.
Great days.
Last edited by TaketheCannoli; 22nd February 2024 at 14:48.
this is like centre back Top Trumps....
stats do not tell the full story; to give them more accuracy you'd at least need to add in the % of challenges to give it some credibility. if VVD has won 102 headers but only 33% of those he's gone for then it puts a different perspective on it.
Arsenal would drop Saliba if he had as many long passes as that is against their very specific playing style, whereas Liverpool do vary it and love a quick long pass break.
Statistics are BS in most cases as you can't compare players that easily.
..... i've no skin in the game as support neither team and think they are both excellent CB's.
There are too many BS stats thrown about that are pretty irrelevant at the end of the day; just SKY dreaming up ways to get people disagreeing
I agree. The stats in that image are chosen to make VVD appear better. They're both top quality CBs playing in teams that play very differently and as such they have different expectations placed upon them. That's all I'll say as you've already said it all. Anyway, neither are as good as Botman ;)
occasionally in the lower divisions you'll get a 'kids for a quid' day on a low category match.
we have a couple a season at QPR (i could argue that every game is low category!) and it would be a great gesture if clubs did this every season just to get the youngsters in who've been priced out off it.
even if it's the early round cup games where season tickets might not apply...... again this would only get you 2 games at my lot as we seem to have not realised that the LC doesn't end in round 1 and the FA Cup at round 3 (or the Final, as we refer to it)
City very lucky to beat Bournemouth. As an Arsenal fan that's worrying as we need City to get a result at Anfield but the way they're playing even getting a draw may be beyond them.
At least come the end of the season Arsenal will have won the same number of trophies as us having spend £150m more than us.
Great game at Villa Park today, two teams really going for it. And another Fulham fan here.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Decent win for Arsenal but we left a couple of goals out there.
Still have to go to City, Spurs and Old Trafford so will be tough. Liverpool on paper have the easiest run in but have injury problems, City not firing properly but still winning. Suspect we'll need to win at the Etihad to win the league and hope Liverpool don't beat City - if they do that might do it for them.
Lovely game. Arsenal were electric.
I hope your £150m lower spend really comforts you, that's what football is all about
Joe Willock goal was brilliant, great cross from BDB and the header was superb. Hope Joe can stay fit, always liked him.
Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
???
Liverpool are 2 points ahead of us and Man City 1 ahead. We have a better goal difference than both. How would that necessitate a 'monumental collapse?' Liverpool and City play each other soon so at least 1 of those teams will drop points at the same time as we play Sheffield United away and Brentford at home. Assuming we win both those then we are worst case 2 points behind Liverpool or 1 point behind City but 2nd regardless. If City and Liverpool draw with each other we'd be top!
Have you checked the league table? Every team needs to win all their matches. Liverpool have the ultimate advantage of knowing that if they win all their games then it doesn't matter if Arsenal win all of theirs.
Last edited by ryanb741; 25th February 2024 at 01:26.
What is City "at their best"?
Does their Treble-winning season count?
Because they are 1 point better off than the same stage last season.
City have been brilliant but they have some actual competition this season with both Liverpool and Arsenal putting together some consistency and quality.
City still the favourites for me due to Liverpool injuries and underlying defensive numbers not being at the same level as Arsenal and City.
Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk
I’ve said Arsenal are shite from the off but they’ve proved me round and at right in the mix for the title.
I just can’t see Liverpool being able to do it at the minute, losing Jota is a massive blow coupled with Thiago being out for the season.
Then add Trent, Alisson, Matip, Jones etc I just think we won’t have enough with the replacements to get it over the line.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Disgraceful from Caicedo on Gravenberch.
What on earth are Chelsea playing at? They're basically playing Liverpool's B team and are passive and lacking urgency.
Well deserved Liverpool. Chelsea what a shambles, literally boys vs men but the boys won.
Superb win for the lads.
Gravenberch in a leg brace. That's not good news.
Didn’t see the game but heard all about it. Klopp deserves that win for playing a cup final with so many kids so fair play to him and them. Chelsea though….
The difference in mentality was clear to see. Liverpool's kids had far more desire and appetite to win. The difference in coaching quality between the sides is vast. Don't forget Pochettino somehow managed to lose the French League to Lille despite having Mbappe and Neymar up front.
Anyway as an Arsenal fan, time to grab some hand cream and a box of tissues and head over to the match day thread on theshedend.com
Ya can’t win owt with kids
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Virgil, Konate, Kelleher were absolutely superb but the man of the match for me was Endo.
Those 4 were the stand out performers.
Disasi at the back for Chelsea looks absolutely dire, probably the worst CB I’ve seen at this level.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Neville combined with the professional “ Scouser” Carragher have got to be the two most annoying pundits ever in fact nowadays i i turn the sound of on football games and the half time garbage especially.
Pochettino in not IMO an elite manager he is bang average at best and my team combined with him are also bang average.
Question to all who or where is the next elite manager
Last edited by mart broad; 26th February 2024 at 09:30.
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
Not just saying this as an Arsenal fan but Arteta would be in the rung below Pep, Klopp and Ancelotti and closing in fast as he's shown he can learn from mistakes and is now very tactically adept. Other contenders who can get into the elite rung are;
- Emery
- Michel
- Alonso
- Nagelsmann
- Simeone
- Inzaghi
- Amorim
I also still think Mourinho is elite.
Plenty of good managers like Postecoglou, Di Zerbi etc but whether they have the potential to move into elite territory is debatable.
Just reading on SSN this morning that the average age of the Chelsea team that both started and finished the game yesterday were younger than Liverpool's.
im not that surprised at that, chelsea have brought in a lot of very young players, the difference being is that most of them cost 10s of millions as they were established already.
Its a bitter pill for chelsea but it could have gone either way yesterday, im glad liverpool managed to win it but chelsea werent far away from winning.