2023-24 Season - Discussion Thread

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by tupacgr13

Yeh no worries mate :- )!

Finally time to get back to this!

So, it was all rather confusing. The club (Aris) had changed their ticketing because of the violence in the previous game. The club were demanding my passport (which was fine, considering) but also wanted me to become a member of the club for a year 😂

It turns out I was apparently staying in the hotel that the Aris owner owns (?) and the concierge also tried to get me tickets, but he also hit the same brick wall.

I ended up giving it a miss. I think the PAOK squad stayed in the hotel the following day.


I’m still in Kos, contemplating taking a boat over to Turkey (Bodrum) today

[kellmuff]

Arsenal fans really had 'Pray for Bayern' trending a few days ago. lmao

[chiefs]

I don't watch too much Barcelona matches so I haven't watched a lot of Lamine Yamal. Caught some of the game today and he looks twitchy in a good way. More importantly is anyone planning to go all in on his cards and thinks hes going to be the next Messi? Any one have some strong opinions on this player?

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by chiefs

I don't watch too much Barcelona matches so I haven't watched a lot of Lamine Yamal. Caught some of the game today and he looks twitchy in a good way. More importantly is anyone planning to go all in on his cards and thinks hes going to be the next Messi? Any one have some strong opinions on this player?

Nobody is going to be the next Messi....he was that unique of a player.

Yamal tends to play wide for Barcelona, so he's more like a winger right now.

Obviously, given his age, his position might change over time, but I don't think he's ever going to become a central playmaker (i.e. a #10) like Messi is.

[YayNJ]

Going all in on any 16 year old is a real fools errand.

His career can literally go a thousand ways right now, just like the hundreds of other “next Messi / Pele” before him.

He’s also at Barcelona, who recently have had a knack of destroying the health of players. Fati, Gavi, Pedri… all run into the ground and handled terribly.

[yiguiri2002]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Going all in on any 16 year old is a real fools errand.

His career can literally go a thousand ways right now, just like the hundreds of other “next Messi / Pele” before him.

He’s also at Barcelona, who recently have had a knack of destroying the health of players. Fati, Gavi, Pedri… all run into the ground and handled terribly.

It depends.

Who was the last 16 year old who played 40+ games for a top team in a top 5 league? It makes sense why he's so hyped. The tough part is matching the performance of other great players at 17 or 18.

The Barca thing is scary though, how many hyped players they've had in the last few years and look at their injuries.

[fadster]

On a related it's nice to see Pedri back in action. Of the 3 Barcelona youngsters wrecked by injury, I'm most hopeful about him getting closest to where he was pre-injury.

[dream34]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Going all in on any 16 year old is a real fools errand.

His career can literally go a thousand ways right now, just like the hundreds of other “next Messi / Pele” before him.

He’s also at Barcelona, who recently have had a knack of destroying the health of players. Fati, Gavi, Pedri… all run into the ground and handled terribly.

Originally Posted by yiguiri2002

It depends.

Who was the last 16 year old who played 40+ games for a top team in a top 5 league? It makes sense why he's so hyped. The tough part is matching the performance of other great players at 17 or 18.

The Barca thing is scary though, how many hyped players they've had in the last few years and look at their injuries.

Fati, Pedri & Gavi have been tough to deal with for sure. Yamal has been nothing but amazing and incredibly poised for a 16 year old. He's been raved about for years and is living up to the hype. I like sports parallels and I think there a realistic Yamal's Kobe to Messi's MJ thing that could very well happen. Either way, will be fun to follow along and enjoy the (hopefully healthy) career of a prodigy.

[mfw13]

Liverpool shockingly lose 3-0 at ANFIELD to Atalanta....probably torpedoes the EPL's chance of getting a 5th Champion's League spot next year.

Given the results of other EPL teams this week, there's a not insignificant possibility that no English teams make it to the semis of any European competition this year.

[dream34]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Liverpool shockingly lose 3-0 at ANFIELD to Atalanta....probably torpedoes the EPL's chance of getting a 5th Champion's League spot next year.

Given the results of other EPL teams this week, there's a not insignificant possibility that no English teams make it to the semis of any European competition this year.

Leverkusen's 33 to 1 Shot advantage against West Ham today probably won't help either

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by dream34

Fati, Pedri & Gavi have been tough to deal with for sure. Yamal has been nothing but amazing and incredibly poised for a 16 year old. He's been raved about for years and is living up to the hype. I like sports parallels and I think there a realistic Yamal's Kobe to Messi's MJ thing that could very well happen. Either way, will be fun to follow along and enjoy the (hopefully healthy) career of a prodigy.

You’re comparing a 16 year old to the greatest players that have ever walked the earth. Calm down.

Wayne Rooney made his debut at 16 for Everton, and played roughly the same amount of minutes as Yamal has this year for Barca. Rooney was a prodigy, but nobody will ever talk about him being in the pantheon of the “greatest ever” - he burnt out.

Putting expectations on children is absurd.

[fadster]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Liverpool shockingly lose 3-0 at ANFIELD to Atalanta....probably torpedoes the EPL's chance of getting a 5th Champion's League spot next year.

Given the results of other EPL teams this week, there's a not insignificant possibility that no English teams make it to the semis of any European competition this year.

Actually England are still favourites for the 2nd "Lucky Ticket" spot over Germany (Italy are a lock for one spot now) based on Opta projections, but now 58% v 42% instead of 70% v 30% before the games. Key games are the two England v Germany ties, any wins in those games will be big, even if West Ham are going out holding Leverkusen to a draw would be a big help.

[CiaranGQ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Liverpool shockingly lose 3-0 at ANFIELD to Atalanta....probably torpedoes the EPL's chance of getting a 5th Champion's League spot next year.

Given the results of other EPL teams this week, there's a not insignificant possibility that no English teams make it to the semis of any European competition this year.

I was at the Inter vs Atalanta match at Giuseppe Meazza (‘San Siro’) just over a month ago. Inter won 4-0 and it was a stroll. Cannot remember an easier match for Inter.

That’s the beauty of this sport. You never know …

Good luck to Atalanta. I pray to my Lord that Real defeat Man City. We will see.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by fadster

Key games are the two England v Germany ties, any wins in those games will be big, even if West Ham are going out holding Leverkusen to a draw would be a big help.

It would, but the most likely outcome at this point is that both German teams advance, thus giving them the opportunity to earn more points in the semifinals.

With Liverpool and AC Milan losing at home, Leverkusen will now be the favorite to win the Europa League.

[fadster]

Originally Posted by mfw13

It would, but the most likely outcome at this point is that both German teams advance, thus giving them the opportunity to earn more points in the semifinals.

With Liverpool and AC Milan losing at home, Leverkusen will now be the favorite to win the Europa League.

Sure, that's considered in the percentages but the balance of probability still lies with England as Man City are still favourites for the UCL and Aston Villa for the Conference League. Even if England have a bad week losing Arsenal, Liverpool and West Ham they still have enough to turn it around with two teams, whereas Germany only has a narrow path to overtake, with fewer negative surprises allowed.

[dream34]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

You’re comparing a 16 year old to the greatest players that have ever walked the earth. Calm down.

Wayne Rooney made his debut at 16 for Everton, and played roughly the same amount of minutes as Yamal has this year for Barca. Rooney was a prodigy, but nobody will ever talk about him being in the pantheon of the “greatest ever” - he burnt out.

Putting expectations on children is absurd.

Rooney was such big news I remember hearing about him when I was in school in Japan, even hearing how (I believe it was) Mandela wanted to catch a game of his. He may have underperformed to the unrealistic hype, but he's still one of his country's greatest ever. Having to go back 20+ years to find a likely precedent is amazing in itself.

Rooney made 3 starts for Everton and had 1 goal & 1 assist by the time he turned 17 that year. Yamal has started 22 games and been a regular starter for Barcelona in Champions League games already and doesn't turn 17 for another 3 months.

I'll calm down of course, but what Yamal is doing (and what Barca is allowing him to do) is extremely rare.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by dream34

Having to go back 20+ years to find a likely precedent is amazing in itself.

it's not rare, it was just an easy and quick example. You can even look at Barcelona and Ansu Fati. He was the 'next Messi' before they broke him - and he showed more talent than Yamal. He was hyped as the next Messi, and people even said he was the next Messi after his debut season.

Martin Odegaard was the 'next Messi' too, as was Gai Assulin, another Barcelona talent, who ended up playing in Kazakhstan.

Now we have Endrick as the 'next Messi' and Claudio Echeverri.

Of course none of them are. Yamal has had a very, very good first season. Lets see what he does next season and the one after, and lets see how Barcelona handle him and his fitness and health - because we've been here for the past five years running with Barcelona, with Fati, Pedri and Gavi, and before all of those was the original 'next Messi' Bojan. (Who Barcelona ruined... there's a theme here)

[yiguiri2002]

If Yamal ends up having Rooney's career, will he be a bust? Specially when it comes to his prices?

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by yiguiri2002

If Yamal ends up having Rooney's career, will he be a bust? Specially when it comes to his prices?

Depends how you look at it really. Rooney was quite clearly in rapid decline by the time he was 29/30 years of age. That's incredibly early for a modern footballer and partly due to far too much, far too young - something that Barca have/are risking with Gavi and Pedri, along with his natural body size/shape and some mental issues & illness.

Rooney will go down as one of the best English players of all time, and between 2008 to 2011 he was world class.

However, would you have him in your top 50 players of all time? I wouldn't, and I'm not sure many other people would either. If I had to pick between Scholes and Rooney, I'd pick Scholes.

Personally I don't think Yamal gets anywhere near Rooney's career, I've been around the block far, far too many times now and I've seen countless 1st season wonders at Barcelona that either get broken, or fade out after year two or three. Barcelona have been so desperate to get the 'next Messi' they can't help themselves. Bojan is probably the greatest example - he actually was better than Messi at youth level. They broke him too.

Messi, and to a lesser extent, Xavi and Iniesta are once in a lifetime players, that came through in a different environment, with less pressure and more time to grow and find their calling - a million years away from todays culture of everything NOW.

[JWBlue]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Barcelona have been so desperate to get the 'next Messi' they can't help themselves. Bojan is probably the greatest example - he actually was better than Messi at youth level. They broke him too.

Fast fact. Bojan is a fourth cousin of Messi.

[CiaranGQ]

The Giuseppe Meazza is basked in glorious sunshine tbis afternoon, ahead of this evening's Inter vs Cagliari clash.

[mfw13]

Liverpool go down to their second consecutive shock home defeat!

When was the last time they went two consecutive games without scoring at Anfield?

[YayNJ]

Rangers hilariously bottled the Scottish League today.

[Ianhatcher]

Nice goal from Messi last night but when Suarez gets the game winner and every headline is Messi helps Miami win 3-2 I have to laugh and I can't even stand the biter.

[pregra]

If anyone deserves credit for last night's Miami result, it's their Paraguayan midfielder Diego Gómez. Scored, and should get 90% credit for Suárez's goal. A European club will pick up Gómez sooner rather than later.