Our Rivals' summer

[moron]

It is difficult to complain about our transfers given that they have gotten so much right the past few years. But I feel that not buying anyone to serve as a substitute for our front three is an unnecessary gamble.

There is always going to be a drop off when one of the front three is injured or tired but this was the right window to go for that extra bit of quality on the bench. We have the right mix now to win the title - top quality from front to back and in goal, the mentality, nice mix of quality and experience. Some one like Coutinho to help us out over the December January phase where we are going to feel the tiredness would have helped.

Am I right in understanding that we can still get players on loan after the transfer window closes ? In which case I am pretty sure we will be signing Coutinho on loan. If he has rejected everyone else then it means something is happening in the background.

 

[Frogfish]

Yeh, I mean, City had no luck after all.

Walker's goal line clearance still sticks in the throat. If only.

 

[Frogfish]

Everyone waxing hysterical and harping on about rivals strengthening their squads whilst we did didly squat.

Some of you guys are missing the point.

With the exception of city I think we have the next best squad. We were never gonna buy a left back and put him on stupid money like City did just for competition with Roberts. Likewise at rightback, the only question marks we have is that our midfield could be better but Ox has had a full pre season, Fabinho is settled and I expect Keita to get up to speed now he's had his first season and play the all action football like he did in Germany. Add to the mix Hendo Shah, Gini.

Up front no one is gonna come here whilst we still have those three and if we throw stupid money at them to sit on the bench. Realistically it just isn't going to happen. I like what I've seen of Brewster so far and if Origi is played through the middle I think he will score more goals.

Now about our competitors.

Spurs: are you telling me you'd rather their goalkeeper and defence over ours? Go on man for man their defence and keeper.

Lloris - gotta a fuckup in him most seasons
Alderweirald and Vertonghen over Matip, VVD and Gomez?
Their fullbacks over ours? Granted they got rid of Trippier who was muck but they've not replaced him with anyone better.

Arsenal: still question marks over their keeper and despite having a shit defence last season have decided it's better to sell their one and only decent centre back, keep Mustaphi and buy that clown from Chelsea in David Luiz.

More questions about their midfield, they lost Ramsey, Ozil is finished.

Granted they'll score a shit load of goals but they'll concede just as many like Newcastle on Keegan circa 1995

Chelsea: transfer ban so not bought anyone except Pulisic from the Jan window. Can he cut it in the league?

Hazard their star player gone.

Defence is still questionable especially central anyway.

New manager in Lampard too so expect him to lose a load of games whilst he gets used to his first big job in management.

Utd:

Have kid of solved some of their defence frailties getting Maguire and Binsaka however Shaw/Young are still gash and with Solskjaer supposedly wanting his defence to play a high line. Maguire has the speed of the Titanic. He's not even had a full pre season with his new club or team mates.

Usual midfield issues with pogbas head a miss. Jesse I just wanna sell loads of clothes and practice stupid celebrations Lingard.

Up top they've let that Donkey Lukaku go and not replaced with him anyone. Sanchez is shot.

Telling you, Solskjaer is in serious trouble with that squad. A few defeats and the fans will be on his back.

Everton: no comment it's Everton. Every year they think they've won the transfer window.

And that is why I'm pretty happy with the squad we have. No star player pissing off for a big fee and us scambling like dickheads to replace him.

I think this is why for the first time I'm confident we can do it. You look at the times we came second under Houllier or Rafa we also seemed to lose key players and piss away the following season, this year I'm certain Klopp will extract even more out of them to enable us to reach the promised land.

There's a lot to agree with in that but more than a tinge of Red-laced optimism too

The elephant in the room is any injury to our front three and we are not going to be as effective, whereas both City and Spurs won't have the fall-off we will suffer .... unless Brewster, Origi and / or Shaq can step up big time. Personally I think Klopp backed himself into a corner with his promises to Brewster (and likely the others in private). Obviously we all hope it works out and doesn't back-fire big time. Of the three I'd put my money on Brewster but that's like asking for an Owenesque debut season, a once in a generation occurrence.

Lampard will take time to adjust ? Like Solskjaer last season ? He managed pretty damn well at Derby. That's not to say he will succeed, especially with their transfer ban, but it's a large assumption that he'll need time to get up to speed.

Solskjaer is in serious trouble ? Their major issue last season was conceding goals, WAn-Bissaka is a tremendous FB and although I don't rate Maguire anywhere near as highly as some on here he is still an upgrade. Shaw wasn't gash last season at all, he was their PotY wasn't he ? If De Gea regains some form that's a more than decent backline. They may well have issues up front though - as you said not replacing Lukaku and his 12 goals in 32 games is a mistake, as is not reinforcing midfield despite desperate efforts to do so (not quite as attractive an option as they still think they are it seems). Lower scoring games at both ends seems to be on the cards there but their defence could/should shore them up.

Everton, Wolves & Leicester could challenge Chelsea/Arsenal if the drop is severe for the former or Arsenal's midfield and defence don't hold up (they've looked good in pre-season though).

 

[StevieM]

Here’s my review of the preseason.

Fuck Man City!!!
Fuck Spurs!!!
Fuck Arsenal!!!
Fuck Chelsea!!!
Fuck Everton!!!
Especially, Fuck Man Utd!!!
Fuck all their signings!!!
Fuck their managers!!!
Fuck all their fans!!!

To paraphrase the great John Wick..

Fuck them.... fuck them all!!!!

 

[StevieM]

And with that... I have no fucks left to give!!!

So Liverpool can start chipping in by fucking up Norwich!!!

 

[Dreambeliever]

Not one of them has improved to be better than us.

As long as we get as lucky as we did last year with injuries and form of the front 3

 

[Dreambeliever]

I might be completely wrong about this but in recent times I always get the impression that we have to work harder for our wins on the whole. We need to run more, want it more... have more togetherness. Even prior to Klopp's arrival.

It's a type of football that resonates with the fans and creates some pretty great memories but it's also hard to sustain. If we do want to be able to dial it down a bit and rely on quality alone... we're lacking... this season more than previous ones for all the reasons already mentioned.

People have gone on about increased contributions from the likes of Keita and Ox but that will only be enough if they properly level up.

Agreed. City had a lot more wiggle room last season for most of their games. The Leicester game was the latest game they scored in all season apart from the 0-0 with us. We had a fair few late wins

 

[Mors]

Looks like Sane is out for most of the season according to Pep, ACL worse than thought. That's a positive for everyone else as it weakens them somewhat.
Be a kick in the balls for them if he sits in the physio room for the next season, on big wages, then fucks off to Bayern next summer. Hopefully.

 

[Red Bird]

I might be completely wrong about this but in recent times I always get the impression that we have to work harder for our wins on the whole. We need to run more, want it more... have more togetherness. Even prior to Klopp's arrival.

It's a type of football that resonates with the fans and creates some pretty great memories but it's also hard to sustain. If we do want to be able to dial it down a bit and rely on quality alone... we're lacking... this season more than previous ones for all the reasons already mentioned.

People have gone on about increased contributions from the likes of Keita and Ox but that will only be enough if they properly level up.

They have to be given the chance to do that, though, haven't they? That's always been Klopp's way. If they don't shape up, Klopp will likely let go and only then will he bring somebody in. There are risks in that, of there are, but there is no use in spending all that money on if we don't then give them chances.

 

[Silver Sean]

Judging by that spiel up there he's more like Colonel Kurtz.

The horror of SCM

 

[tombrown]

Be a kick in the balls for them if he sits in the physio room for the next season, on big wages, then fucks off to us next summer. Hopefully.

Fixed

 

[rurikbird]

 

[Red Bird]

So Rabiot, Ramsey, Khedira, Matuidi and Can can’t! And so poor Emre is being hawked around.

 

[manwithnoname]

Everyone waxing hysterical and harping on about rivals strengthening their squads whilst we did didly squat.

Some of you guys are missing the point.

With the exception of city I think we have the next best squad. We were never gonna buy a left back and put him on stupid money like City did just for competition with Roberts. Likewise at rightback, the only question marks we have is that our midfield could be better but Ox has had a full pre season, Fabinho is settled and I expect Keita to get up to speed now he's had his first season and play the all action football like he did in Germany. Add to the mix Hendo Shah, Gini.

Up front no one is gonna come here whilst we still have those three and if we throw stupid money at them to sit on the bench. Realistically it just isn't going to happen. I like what I've seen of Brewster so far and if Origi is played through the middle I think he will score more goals.

Now about our competitors.

Spurs: are you telling me you'd rather their goalkeeper and defence over ours? Go on man for man their defence and keeper.

Lloris - gotta a fuckup in him most seasons
Alderweirald and Vertonghen over Matip, VVD and Gomez?
Their fullbacks over ours? Granted they got rid of Trippier who was muck but they've not replaced him with anyone better.

Arsenal: still question marks over their keeper and despite having a shit defence last season have decided it's better to sell their one and only decent centre back, keep Mustaphi and buy that clown from Chelsea in David Luiz.

More questions about their midfield, they lost Ramsey, Ozil is finished.

Granted they'll score a shit load of goals but they'll concede just as many like Newcastle on Keegan circa 1995

Chelsea: transfer ban so not bought anyone except Pulisic from the Jan window. Can he cut it in the league?

Hazard their star player gone.

Defence is still questionable especially central anyway.

New manager in Lampard too so expect him to lose a load of games whilst he gets used to his first big job in management.

Utd:

Have kid of solved some of their defence frailties getting Maguire and Binsaka however Shaw/Young are still gash and with Solskjaer supposedly wanting his defence to play a high line. Maguire has the speed of the Titanic. He's not even had a full pre season with his new club or team mates.

Usual midfield issues with pogbas head a miss. Jesse I just wanna sell loads of clothes and practice stupid celebrations Lingard.

Up top they've let that Donkey Lukaku go and not replaced with him anyone. Sanchez is shot.

Telling you, Solskjaer is in serious trouble with that squad. A few defeats and the fans will be on his back.

Everton: no comment it's Everton. Every year they think they've won the transfer window.

And that is why I'm pretty happy with the squad we have. No star player pissing off for a big fee and us scambling like dickheads to replace him.

I think this is why for the first time I'm confident we can do it. You look at the times we came second under Houllier or Rafa we also seemed to lose key players and piss away the following season, this year I'm certain Klopp will extract even more out of them to enable us to reach the promised land.

So, summing up, our competitors spending money to improve and strengthen their squads - while we did nothing - makes it more likely that we will win the league, after we failed to win it last season?


Yeah, great stuff Mr fucking Logic

 

[737Max]

So, summing up, our competitors spending money to improve and strengthen their squads - while we did nothing - makes it more likely that we will win the league, after we failed to win it last season?


Yeah, great stuff Mr fucking Logic

No dickhead it means that with the exception of City none of our top 4 rivals actually strengthened positions which have deficiencies, as I pointed out above.

 

[manwithnoname]

No dickhead it means that with the exception of City none of our top 4 rivals actually strengthened positions which have deficiencies, as I pointed out above.

Yes they did, you fucking clown

 

[737Max]

I'm sorry I must have missed that brilliant signing Arsenal made in defence. Oh wait you mean Luiz? And Spurs? Who did they replace Trippier, Rose or that Clown Lloris with?

Chelsea? Go on tell me Einstein who did they sign to replace the main creator of their goals? Or in defence where they're fucking gash?

And Utd, utterly abject in midfield and left back not to mention short up top I must have missed their super signings?

So please pipe fucking down, all these teams might have signed a few players here and there but none of them signed players where they glaringly lack quality to address the shite they have.

Peace out.

 

[manwithnoname]

I'm sorry I must have missed that brilliant signing Arsenal made in defence. Oh wait you mean Luiz? And Spurs? Who did they replace Trippier, Rose or that Clown Lloris with?

Chelsea? Go on tell me Einstein who did they sign to replace the main creator of their goals? Or in defence where they're fucking gash?

And Utd, utterly abject in midfield and left back not to mention short up top I must have missed their super signings?

So please pipe fucking down, all these teams might have signed a few players here and there but none of them signed players where they glaringly lack quality to address the shite they have.

Peace out.

Arsenal signed Tierney to play LB and improved their midfield with Ceballos and Pepe.
Chelsea signed Pulisic, but I hardly class them as real competition this season, so they don't count so much.
United have spent £130m on the defence, which should allow the midfield to play more to their own strengths.
Spurs improved the midfield (and defensive solidity) with Ndombele, Sessegnon and Le Celso, and shipped out Tierney who was a fucking liability.
City spent £120m on a squad that already won every single domestic trophy.

So everyone has improved their team and squad apart from us, and simply ignoring signings because they don't fit your irrelevant speculation about where a team's real weakness exists is facile.

Trying to spin all that as a reason we are more likely to win the league than last season is fucking retarded.

 

[737Max]

Arsenal signed Tierney to play LB and improved their midfield with Ceballos and Pepe.
Chelsea signed Pulisic, but I hardly class them as real competition this season, so they don't count so much.
United have spent £130m on the defence, which should allow the midfield to play more to their own strengths.
Spurs improved the midfield (and defensive solidity) with Ndombele, Sessegnon and Le Celso, and shipped out Tierney who was a fucking liability.
City spent £120m on a squad that already won every single domestic trophy.

So everyone has improved their team and squad apart from us, and simply ignoring signings because they don't fit your irrelevant speculation about where a team's real weakness exists is facile.

Trying to spin all that as a reason we are more likely to win the league than last season is fucking retarded.

So Arsenal signed a left back but decided to totally ignore the rest of their defence which is utter shite, yeah major improvements there. Pepe and Caballos might be ok signings but new to this league I'd say lets see how they fare before ridiculously claiming the have improved their midfield.

United have improved their defence, shame their midfield went missing yesterday when Neves scored that screamer

Spurs improved their midfiled that's it. Sessegnon will not improve their defensive frailities, he's a kid who did nothing last season for Fulham and is being blooded into the Spurs squad.

City as i said are the only ones who really went out and spent to strengthen their already invincible squad.

I never said/spun anything to say we would win the league however I think our 11 is the next best compared to City, the only question mark in our squad is in midfield and hopefully with a fully fit Naby and Ox it could be.

 

[rurikbird]

Internazionale have finally reached a deal to sign Alexis Sánchez on a loan from Manchester United.
The two clubs have been discussing a possible deal for several weeks now and a breakthrough in negotiations day saw the reaching of an agreement. Sánchez’s loan is believed to be for 10 months and Inter do not have an option to buy, although the Serie A club will pay £175,000 of Sanchez’s £390,000 weekly salary. The 30-year-old will have his medical in Milan on Wednesday.
Sánchez joined United as part of the deal that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan sign for Arsenal in January 2018 but he has failed to make any impact at Old Trafford. The Chile international scored only three goals in 32 league appearances and the Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, has been keen to offload him despite having already sold Romelu Lukaku to Inter.
The move will leave Solskjær short up front. The Norwegian now has only Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood as his available forwards and Martial is currently struggling with a thigh injury.
United started the season with a 4-0 win over Chelsea but then drew against Wolverhampton Wanderers away before losing at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday. They play Southampton away this coming Saturday.

============

Finally United have their own "Aquilani." Alexis scored only 3 goals in his United career and now they will pay him £215,000 a week for the next 10 months to just go away and enjoy Italian food and sunshine.

 

[Insignificance]

============

Finally United have their own "Aquilani." Alexis scored only 3 goals in his United career and now they will pay him £215,000 a week for the next 10 months to just go away and enjoy Italian food and sunshine.

Aquillani was Liverpools Veron

 

[Hansern]

Watch him be a good signing for Inter now.

 

[Woland]

I'm with Hass. United are weaker now. Arsenal look about the same. Chelsea are weaker, though Mount and Abrahams might sort them out

 

[Frogfish]

I'm with Hass. United are weaker now. Arsenal look about the same. Chelsea are weaker, though Mount and Abrahams might sort them out

United have definitely strengthened their defence but now look much weaker up front, how you can let both Lukaku and Sanchez go without a replacement is poor management. Can't see who is going to score the 15 goals Lukaku scored last season (12 in the PL), in addition to their own quota. I said we'll see a lot of 1-0 score lines at United this season (either way) and can't see any reason to change that opinion.

Arsenal are weaker. Luiz for Koscielny, ha. Pepe is a forward and they already had a good forward line that is now stronger. In midfield they lost Ramsey, difficult to see Ceballos being 'that' replacement in his first season.

Chelsea - transfer ban and Pulisic to replace Hazard. Much weaker though Mount looks great.

Spurs - Tierney & N'dombele definitely improved their defence/midfield. Sessegnon and Le Celso may end up being squad players, all to prove. Weird start to the season though and if Eriksen leaves I think they could be in the shit.

City - the only real threat to us and what a threat they are. Only upside could be the few aging players not at their prime - wishful thinking perhaps.

 

[Mors]

I'm sorry I must have missed that brilliant signing Arsenal made in defence. Oh wait you mean Luiz? And Spurs? Who did they replace Trippier, Rose or that Clown Lloris with?

Chelsea? Go on tell me Einstein who did they sign to replace the main creator of their goals? Or in defence where they're fucking gash?

And Utd, utterly abject in midfield and left back not to mention short up top I must have missed their super signings?

So please pipe fucking down, all these teams might have signed a few players here and there but none of them signed players where they glaringly lack quality to address the shite they have.

Peace out.

You're right, he's being fucking obtuse for the sake of it.

Arsenal were weakest last season at CB 6/8. So they bought one attacking fullback, a wing foward and a 10.
Chelsea were weakest upfront and scoring goals, they completed a signing of a midfielder but are banned so did nothing about their problems apart from get weaker.
Spurs don't have adequate cover for Kane, and it looks like they've let Dembele/Wanyama/Erikssen all go and replace them with Ndombele and a loan.
Utd have severe issues across the board, and all they brought in was a single CB and a youth team winger. Whilst letting go of plenty. Their 'senior' forwards are now Martial and Rashford.

Us and city 'stood still' so to speak, didn't lose anyone we didn't want to, but didn't really sign any improvements for the starting 11.

 

[Ukrainian by marriage]

There are no possible improvements to our starting eleven !

 

[manwithnoname]

You're right, he's being fucking obtuse for the sake of it.

Arsenal were weakest last season at CB 6/8. So they bought one attacking fullback, a wing foward and a 10.
Chelsea were weakest upfront and scoring goals, they completed a signing of a midfielder but are banned so did nothing about their problems apart from get weaker.
Spurs don't have adequate cover for Kane, and it looks like they've let Dembele/Wanyama/Erikssen all go and replace them with Ndombele and a loan.
Utd have severe issues across the board, and all they brought in was a single CB and a youth team winger. Whilst letting go of plenty. Their 'senior' forwards are now Martial and Rashford.

Us and city 'stood still' so to speak, didn't lose anyone we didn't want to, but didn't really sign any improvements for the starting 11.

City spent £140m on a squad that had already won every domestic trophy and was the best team in the league.

 

[Insignificance]

[bcolor=transparent]Dream the dreams of other men, you'll be no one's rival![/bcolor]​

 

[Insignificance]

Smalling to Rome. I Guess that mean Lovren stays put?

 

[Hansern]

Lovren is also linked to Roma again today