The Barclays Premier League thread 2015/2016

[TCO]

Was at the Ireland game and Rob Elliot got stretchered off after 15 mins. Looks like a serious knee injury.

[MDK]

2 minutes ago, TCO said:

Was at the Ireland game and Rob Elliot got stretchered off after 15 mins. Looks like a serious knee injury.

I think @Gazz is fourth choice keeper. RIP in peace Newcastle.

[TCO]

I also witnessed Seth Rollins' injury in person. I need to stop going to things

[Colly]

It's fine, Ken Barlow's fit.

[Rafael]

22 hours ago, Mad Jack said:

Liverpool are mental for thinking they can get him for that price. Gotze is mental for going to a team that isn't even guaranteed European football next season.

Gotze has played 12 games all season and Guardiola doesn't rate him that highly. 15~20 million with 1 year left on his contract is actually a fair deal.

[The Lusophone]

Guardiola is off in the summer, so it doesn't matter how much Pep rates him or not.

[Rafael]

9 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:

Guardiola is off in the summer, so it doesn't matter how much Pep rates him or not.

It still matters that he is riding the beach real good and people are starting to question if he really is going to turn into the top player people said he would be when he appeared.

[Lineker]

Elliott has ruptured ligaments in his knee.

Sayanara Newcastle.

[Nerf]

11 hours ago, Mad Jack said:

Guardiola is off in the summer, so it doesn't matter how much Pep rates him or not.

Right, but that doesn't change the fact that Goetze has been angling for a move even in spite of protestations from a bunch of people saying "wait to talk to Ancelotti." £20m is hardly an unrealistic fee for him with a year left on his contract, in a league that not long ago saw one of its best players move to a rival for £23.5m. Nowhere else in Europe is as obsessed with money as England is. Bayern would probably call that a coup for a player they don't want and risk losing on a free if they don't sell him.

[Hobo]

What seems to be coming out of this is that Klopp does in fact have first and last say on transfers (Joel Matip and Marko Grujic being the two signings made so far) unlike Rodgers didn't always have a full say in who the club signed.

[Lineker]

Quote

The Manchester City defender Martín Demichelis has been charged with misconduct in relation to betting by the Football Association.

An FA statement read: “It is alleged the player committed 12 breaches of FA Rule E8 concerning football matches between 22 January 2016 and 28 January 2016. He has until 5pm on 5 April 2016 to respond to the charge.”

A worldwide ban on betting on football for all those involved in the game came into force on 1 August, 2014.

Rule E8 states: “A Participant shall not bet, either directly or indirectly, or instruct, permit, cause or enable any person to bet on - (i) the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in, a football match or competition; or (ii) any other matter concerning or related to football anywhere in the world, including, for example and without limitation, the transfer of players, employment of managers, team selection or disciplinary matters.”

Players are also banned from knowingly providing inside information to any other person for the purpose of betting and from promoting betting activity.

[DavidMarrio]

Is that going to be his excuse for being utterly shit?

I'm meant to be playing bad, got a bet on haven't I!

[stokeriño]

1 hour ago, TLHobo said:

What seems to be coming out of this is that Klopp does in fact have first and last say on transfers (Joel Matip and Marko Grujic being the two signings made so far) unlike Rodgers didn't always have a full say in who the club signed.

This is what people say when talking of dream transfers or the successful ones. As soon as a player gets signed who is found out to be an overpriced pile of wank, the fans will convince themselves that the board and/or insert-specific-director-here is actually to blame. Only to AGAIN change their minds in the event that the manager starts to become unpopular for any reason, because it will then be revealed that he was the idiot who wanted the wrong players to begin with.

Honestly. I've seen this kind of talk go round a thousand times at Chelsea and it is insanely predictable. It's the inevitable consequence of everyone filling in the (vast) gaps in their knowledge on a club's inner-workings by simply believing what they'd prefer to believe.

[Nerf]

1 hour ago, stokeriño said:

This is what people say when talking of dream transfers or the successful ones. As soon as a player gets signed who is found out to be an overpriced pile of wank, the fans will convince themselves that the board and/or insert-specific-director-here is actually to blame. Only to AGAIN change their minds in the event that the manager starts to become unpopular for any reason, because it will then be revealed that he was the idiot who wanted the wrong players to begin with.

Honestly. I've seen this kind of talk go round a thousand times at Chelsea and it is insanely predictable. It's the inevitable consequence of everyone filling in the (vast) gaps in their knowledge on a club's inner-workings by simply believing what they'd prefer to believe.

Nah, there's enough evidence to suggest that Rodgers vs. Committee was a real thing. In fact, which signing belongs to whom was pretty evident, given he'd ostracize those that he didn't want to be signed from day one (Assaidi, Sahin, Sakho, Markovic, Can, Moreno, Manquillo, Balotelli, Firmino) and stand blindly loyal to those that he did even in spite of bad form (Benteke, Lovren and Lallana). He even refused to sign off on signing Firmino unless he also got Benteke.

The transfer system at Liverpool was a convoluted mess throughout Rodgers' reign. I think, ultimately, that's what cost him his job - two entities pulling in two entirely different directions.

[Hobo]

2 hours ago, stokeriño said:

This is what people say when talking of dream transfers or the successful ones. As soon as a player gets signed who is found out to be an overpriced pile of wank, the fans will convince themselves that the board and/or insert-specific-director-here is actually to blame. Only to AGAIN change their minds in the event that the manager starts to become unpopular for any reason, because it will then be revealed that he was the idiot who wanted the wrong players to begin with.

Sure, that happens but it was also happening that the actual manager of Liverpool was saying things in press conferences employing the club to give him the "tools" he needed to do his job (ie. let me sign who I want plz).

It's not like it hasn't happened at Liverpool before tbh. It happened to Rafa Benitez quite a bit. It is how Jermaine Pennant ended up at Liverpool at not Simao or Gareth Barry or several others.

Brendan Rodgers has said of transfers during his time at Liverpool: "It was a group decision. It was certainly not something I would have the sole or final say on,"  According to Tony Barrett, Rodgers' signings were, for example, Nathaniel Clyne, Adam Lallana, James Milner, Dejan Lovren and Christian Benteke while Mamadou Sakho, Lazar Markovic, Alberto Moreno and Divock Origi were committee signings.  

Meanwhile, Klopp in his initial press conference insisted he would have the final say on transfers. It's been made clear that Matip and Grujic were signed under Klopp's orders. It seems, at the moment at least, that Klopp is dictating the transfer policy in a way that Rodgers wasn't able to do. 

I think there is a decent argument to be made about Rodgers' stature and personality vs. Klopps and what that means for how Liverpool operate. It seems like the pre-season has been heavily influenced by what Klopp given how it has been structured so far.
 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Nerf]

I can still see it being a mixed policy, the Caulker loan and a few others sprinkled in, but Klopp will have the majority say I imagine. I'm not even sure that's the right thing to do, Dortmund's DoF was responsible for all of those gems. Klopp might have molded them, but he didn't find them.

[Lineker]

Remember how Sunderland just signed Emmanuel Eboue?

Well... he has been banned from all football by Fifa for one year or until he pays money owed to a former agent.

[MDK]

Blimey, never heard of that happening before. Must be a sizeable amount to cause this much ballache.

[MDK]

Now they are ending his contract. That escalated quickly.

[Just Joe]

FIFA Statement

Sunderland terminate Eboue Contract.

The initial fine is something like 22k, 30 in Swiss Francs no idea if it's gone up, but that's nothing to him surely? must be more about principle for him than anything else as to why he hasn't paid it.