Footballers [and their agents] never get that.
It's the same with the Salah situation. His agent is going to laugh in the face of whatever offer Liverpool put in front of him, but he'll be wank if he goes anywhere else for the payday.
Footballers [and their agents] never get that.
It's the same with the Salah situation. His agent is going to laugh in the face of whatever offer Liverpool put in front of him, but he'll be wank if he goes anywhere else for the payday.
If I was to be generous to Messi, he probably saw PSG and thought, "Oh, I've played with Neymar before so I'm not going in completely blind." As for the money aspect, Barca were in such deep shit, he'd have to play for free. He won't work for that and PSG would always match what he was on. If he was willing to effectively become a volunteer, he wouldn't have faxed his transfer request off a year previously.
It's a shame because his inability to adapt to those around him is the only black mark against him. When their careers are over, Ronaldo will be remembered as the evergreen bastard he is. Messi will just be Barca's boy.
Our team looks a bit pants. 4-2 incoming.
Eddie Howe must be regretting that line up now that Chelsea are playing Chalobah/Sarr at full back. Fraser and Saint Maximin would have had a right fun time.
Utterly dreadful game so far, as it always is when we put Timo Werner on the field to murder every single attack without fail.
Wolves are just so bad. I don't think there's ever been a worse team in 8th place.
This is one of the worst games I've seen all season. Teams overpressing high and constantly giving away free kicks, overhit straight balls for goal kicks, players walking over 40 yards to take a throw-in and and then giving it to someone else because obviously that will make all the difference.
Reece James most influential player in the league for sure. No Chilwell either doesn’t help much
I have absolutely no idea how we've got away with that. Chalobah has demonstrably got a huge chunk of shirt in his hand. How is it not a penalty? VAR refs are just appalling in their cowardice.
I’ve not watched all this game but from what I’ve seen this is one of the most incompetent referee performances I have ever seen.
I thought the same, Jim. Looked a stonewall penalty to me.
It's been the performance of a ref with no confidence, seizing on any opportunities to give free kicks in pointless areas, but freezing whenever there's been a decision to make in the attacking third. No massive howlers from him but he's not top flight standard.
Also a very poor game from Tuchel - he gets a lot of praise for someone who has shown he has absolutely no answers to the unavaibility of James and Chilwell.
Last edited by Jimmy Floyd; 13-03-2022 at 03:43 PM.
He’s so good
Lukaku being forced into the starting line up was Tuchel’s biggest mistake
That finish is exquisite.
That was Bergkamp-esque. Wonderful player.
Someone at Chelsea needs to teach Mendy how to kick a football properly. He stands over it like a proper mong
Lampard is taking Everton down. Their run in is brutal as well even with the games in hand
Told you all how good Havertz would be.
Yeah well I said he would be amazing the day before that.
I got wordle in 2.
It was a nice touch and all [terrible defending] and he's nice to watch in a languid sort of way but in terms of 'output' I'm not sure why everyone is creaming themselves tbh.
Leicester concede a goal from a corner ever week it seems
He is only 22 as well. Salah and De Bruyne were there at the same age looking like bang average players.
The age to quality linear progression is such a lazy myth.
I'm not sure most players really get that much better as they age [relative to how highly they are rated as prospects]. De Bruyne was always exceptional, and it was known since he was about 15 [hence why Chelsea spent a relative fortune on him]. Salah, yeah, not sure anyone really saw what he's done since going to Liverpool, but before Chelsea tried to sabotage his career [as well] he was pretty shit hot for Basel.
Also, +1 for the Arsenal support. If Palace can do something against City then maybe Liverpool can reciprocate in the week as part of some anti-United alliance.
Omg.
Does 10 goals a season in the Swiss Super League count as shit hot?
I thought they paid £16m for him, is that what they sold him for?
Whatever, he was a known [and rated] quantity.
You're right about the development, though. Well, probably. At that point it becomes more about the tactics you're slotted into and the people you play with. Individual talent still has an influence but it's more about roles and responsibilities. You can work with Werner forever and he still won't develop an eye for goal.
Werner scores 20 goals every season for Leipzig and 30 odd in his last season. He’s just absolutely useless for a team like Chelsea and more so the league. He’ll score that again once he moves back to Germany. Even if it’s Bayern he joins, teams still don’t bother dropping deep to defend against them. Joke of a league
They must have all been 6 yard tap-ins into empty nets, because I haven't seen any evidence he's got a decent shot in his locker.
Surely it's not controversial to say that the average footballer has a peak age of around 25-29? Your example De Bruyne apparently wasn't good enough for the Premier League until he was 24, and he wasn't viewed as the complete package straight away, iirc?
I had a quick look at minutes by position and age this season, was a little surprised to see defenders skewing so young. All the outfield positions average out to 27ish.
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Soyuncu’s fall from grace the last two years has been pretty special
Will Kasper Schmeichel ever stop charging at refs when he's completely wrong? Should be sent off every time.
schmeichel complains at everything. Proper angry bastard
Re: Werner.
The Germans just love reckless high-line defending; it's even seeped through to the national team who aren't the best defensively now either. I'm not convinced Haaland would break 20 in a season here.
Leicester are bad. Can't be long now before Rodgers jumps ship.
I've watched five games of football this weekend, average 1.00 goals per game (I missed United/Spurs), all crushingly dull. Roll on the summer.
I mean it was Norwich. At home. And we made the hardest work of it. But I'm a fucking happy man. I've not experienced the kind of elation over football that I got from that winner going in for quite some time. If nothing else this has confirmed what we already suspected, Gelhardt is the messiah.
It should have been sewn up by half time though. And what on earth was that last 20 minutes or so all about where the entire team decide to collectively lose their heads and were just hitting the panic button every time the ball approached our box? Madness.
You created plenty which is a big start. It really is between Everton and Burnley for the last spot.
Any update from @Don on Odegaard watch?
Remains absolutely useless, as do Arsenal and Arteta. Never going to reach our level with shite like that.
Taz sending Beano on his way.
Odegaard was really good today, as were a few of them. They need to be a bit harder though, Saka in particular has some very Rashfordian traits in terms of being down on the deck the whole time feeling the absolute maximum injury out of any situation he's in, and letting everyone know about it.