2024-25 Season - Discussion Thread

[LittleJimmies]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Looks like Garnacho and Mainoo will be following Rashford out of the door

What a shame. I'm not a ManU fan, but would love to see the home grown kid turn into the star he will become there.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by LittleJimmies

What a shame. I'm not a ManU fan, but would love to see the home grown kid turn into the star he will become there.

he's one of the only saleable assets they have worth something I guess.. he came from the youth setup, so everything they make on him goes down in the books as pure profit for Financial Fair Play rules

[mfw13]

Too bad the Champions League Group stage isn't ending today...you'd have Real Madrid & Juventus facing each other in the playoff round for the right to play Liverpool in the R16.

[mfw13]

For those who care, here's a brief summary of where things stand going into the MD8 of the Champions League:

- Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, and Inter have clinched spots in the R16
- Man City, despite losing at PSG, will advance with a home win over Club Brugge, since PSG and Stuttgart play each other in the last round.

Nine clubs are still in the running for the last four byes to the R16:

Atletico Madrid (5th, 15 points, +5 GD) - @ RB Salzburg
AC Milan (6th, 15 points, +4 GD) - @ Dinamo Zagreb
Atalanta (7th, 14 points, +14 GD) - @ Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen (8th, 13 points, +6 GD) - Sparta Prague
-----
Aston Villa (9th, 13 points, +5 GD) - Celtic
AS Monaco (10th, 13 points, +3 GD) - @Inter
Feyenoord (11th, 13 points, +2 GD) = @Lille
Lille (12th, 13 points, +2 GD) - Feyenoord
Brest (13th, 13 points, +2 GD) - @Real Madrid

Most likely scenario is that Aston Villa wins their home match with Celtic and leapfrogs Atalanta, who would need to win at Barcelona to maintain their spot in the top eight. That said, with Barcelona having clinched a top four spot, who knows how strong a team they'll field.

Atletico Madrid and AC Milan likely only need away draws to maintain their spots in the top eight, although AC Milan could fall to 9th if they draw and either Feyenoord or Lille win their match against each other by more than two goals.

[YayNJ]

Is there any other 'superstar' that's thrown everything away like Neymar has?

Of course there's legions of players like Balotelli, but I can't think of anyone else that could have rightfully been one of the 'greatest' and just ended up throwing it in the bin.

[tupacgr13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Is there any other 'superstar' that's thrown everything away like Neymar has?

Of course there's legions of players like Balotelli, but I can't think of anyone else that could have rightfully been one of the 'greatest' and just ended up throwing it in the bin.

Totally agree. His dribbling skills were so amazing!

[YayNJ]

Can't help but think the problems at Tottenham go much much deeper than their manager.

Ange is a brilliant manager and man. Conte is doing well, Nuno is doing well...

[bjho852]

Thought that Man U are bad enoughalready...a little surprised that Spurs fare even worse now.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Can't help but think the problems at Tottenham go much much deeper than their manager.

Ange is a brilliant manager and man. Conte is doing well, Nuno is doing well...

They do, but I also think it's a bit of a stretch to call him a "brilliant" manager.....he won the Asian Cup with the Socceroos, and a treble with Celtic, but he had zero EPL experience (or in any other major European League) prior to being hired by Spurs, and it's starting to show.

[YayNJ]

I suppose by your logic then, Marcelo Bielsa also isn't a 'brilliant' manager either.

Brilliance goes far beyond trophies won.

[YayNJ]

Neymar has had his contract torn up by his club.

He played just seven times, so each of those games ended up setting his club back £25m

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

I suppose by your logic then, Marcelo Bielsa also isn't a 'brilliant' manager either.

Brilliance goes far beyond trophies won.

Bielsa is a pretty good manager, and rightly revered by Leeds fans such as yourself, and Chilean fans for their performances at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

Whether or not you consider any manager "brilliant" probably depends on your own personal meaning of the word.

For me personally, a "brilliant" manager is one who either gets his sides to consistently punch above their weight, or who wins lots of titles.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Bielsa is a pretty good manager

widely regarded by his peers as one of, if not the most influential manager of all time, and described by Guardiola as 'the best in the world'.

I reiterate, it's not about trophies.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

I reiterate, it's not about trophies.

It's not ALL about trophies, because obviously only a couple of teams in each country can win a trophy each season.

But the standard by which most managers are evaluated is winning, or at least getting your club performing better than expected.

It's easy for someone like Pep to win trophies when the only clubs he's ever managed are Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Man City.

It's a lot harder (and more impressive) to get clubs like Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, and Newcastle into the European spots, or clubs like Brentford and Brighton solidly mid-table.

[YayNJ]

Newcastle (and thus PSG) are the richest club(s) on planet earth, by a considerable, considerable distance.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Newcastle (and thus PSG) are the richest club(s) on planet earth, by a considerable, considerable distance.

In the age of PSR, the wealth of your ownership has only a tangential relationship to how much you can spend on your squad.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

In the age of PSR, the wealth of your ownership has only a tangential relationship to how much you can spend on your squad.

It's meant that they have been able to fill their squad and back-room staff with previously unavailable talent.

Don't get me wrong, they have bought very well indeed - talented, hard working take no shiit British players that know the Premier League inside out, with a sprinkling of world class talent like Isak.

Lets not pretend that Newcastle are operating like the average club in the Premier League though.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

It's meant that they have been able to fill their squad and back-room staff with previously unavailable talent.

Don't get me wrong, they have bought very well indeed - talented, hard working take no shiit British players that know the Premier League inside out, with a sprinkling of world class talent like Isak.

Lets not pretend that Newcastle are operating like the average club in the Premier League though.

In terms of total spending over the past four years, they're 8th.....5th in net spending because they had so few saleable players from the Ashley era, so their transfer income is pretty low.

So they're operating on the upper edge of the middle class....the two closest clubs to them in spending are Aston Villa and Spurs.

[Tones]

Arsenal's red cards are warranted....right???

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/a...s/ce8y682lx76o

Same ref who issued the controversial red card on Trossard vs City?

Hmmmm

[mfw13]

Gonna be a really interesting playoff round.....with a lot of interesting matchups....

Real Madrid (11) - Manchester City (22) is undoubtedly going to be the tie of the round, but you're also going to get interesting local rivalries with AC Milan (13) - Juventus (20) and PSV (14) - Feyenoord (19).

And you've got a potential Barcelona (2) - PSG (15) rematch lurking in the R16, as well as another Italian derby, with Inter (4) lined up to face the winner of AC Milan-Juventus.

Liverpool has the easiest path to the semifinals, with either Benfica or AS Monaco in the R16 and Aston Villa or Atalanta in the QF.

[kingb22]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Gonna be a really interesting playoff round.....with a lot of interesting matchups....

Real Madrid (11) - Manchester City (22) is undoubtedly going to be the tie of the round, but you're also going to get interesting local rivalries with AC Milan (13) - Juventus (20) and PSV (14) - Feyenoord (19).

And you've got a potential Barcelona (2) - PSG (15) rematch lurking in the R16, as well as another Italian derby, with Inter (4) lined up to face the winner of AC Milan-Juventus.

Liverpool has the easiest path to the semifinals, with either Benfica or AS Monaco in the R16 and Aston Villa or Atalanta in the QF.

If I read it correctly the teams are grouped in 2's for the draw. 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 etc. So I think Madrird/Bayern can still get either of City.. or Celtic.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by kingb22

If I read it correctly the teams are grouped in 2's for the draw. 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 etc. So I think Madrird/Bayern can still get either of City.. or Celtic.

You're right....I totally missed that....thought it was straight into brackets from the group stage results....

[Tones]

Im getting flashbacks of the Arsenal of old with transfers..

We needed a striker in the summer... we did not get one.
Jesus got injured weeks ago and is out for the season. Took us weeks to make a soft offer for a striker who is at a PL/CL competition club, obviously rejected

Can't wait for the "Well...we tried..." confrence comments

[YayNJ]

Rashford wanted Barcelona.

He's off to Aston Villa

Next stop : Millwall or Crystal Palace for Marcus.

[JWBlue]

Is Jhon Durán's move to Saudi Pro League a big deal?