Premier League 2018/19

[DavidMarrio]

Hasn't half the team been injured/suspended? 

 

[FLiam]

Brighton are so often piss-poor offensively. Doesn't look like they're even bothered about trying to score a goal.

[Lineker]

Arsenal have announced that Raul Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham will lead the club following a decision by chief executive Ivan Gazidis to join Milan. A statement on Arsenal’s website on Tuesday confirmed the 54-year-old Gazidis would leave by the end of October and begin his role in Italy on 1 December, with Vinai Venkatesham set to assume a new role as managing director.

[Lineker]

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Dejan Lovren has denied any wrongdoing after being charged with perjury in Croatia.

The Liverpool defender and his fellow Croatia international Luka Modric were caught up in the scandal that brought down Zdravko Mamic, a powerful football administrator, who was sentenced to six and a half years in jail this summer.

A court in Osijek ruled in June that Modric and Lovren unlawfully received half of the transfer fees that Dinamo Zagreb, where Mamic was an executive, were paid to secure their moves to Tottenham and Lyon, respectively, and then transferred the majority of that money to Mamic in accordance with illegally backdated clauses in their contracts.

The Real Madrid midfielder was charged with perjury earlier this year.

Writing on Instagram, Lovren said: “After coming from afternoon training, I learned that the media in Croatia and then in England reported the news that an indictment was filed against me for giving a false statement in one case in Croatia.

“My family, friends and acquaintances told me the same thing. So before I saw or received the indictment at all, and before my attorneys received it, all the media reported the news.

“This is simply not fair, not just, not sporting. In this way, acting on me and my family is extremely discriminatory and unfair. A fight that is not fair and I’m not used to.

“But I want to say this to all, especially to my family, friends, supporters in my homeland, my club and my club’s fans in England, [that I am] innocent. I did not commit any criminal offence. I am proud of my life, every step of my life, everything that my family and I have created.

“With indignation I dismiss all accusations, and to anyone who wants to ruin my reputation and the reputation of my family, I say it will not succeed.”

[Lineker]

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Wilfried Zaha has accused Manchester United of failing to give him adequate support following his £10m transfer in 2013, with the Crystal Palace forward admitting that he suffered from depression.

Zaha was Sir Alex Ferguson’s last signing before he stepped down as United manager that summer and the then 19-year-old was handed a five-and-a-half-year contract in a deal that took him to Old Trafford at the end of the season. But having made his debut under new manager David Moyes in the Community Shield, Zaha made just two Premier League appearances as a substitute before being allowed to join Cardiff on loan in January 2014.

The Ivory Coast international eventually rejoined Palace after another loan spell at Selhurst Park and has since excelled in keeping his boyhood club in the Premier League for a record sixth successive season. But Zaha, now 25, said in an interview with ShortList that he was disappointed in the way he was treated at United and described life at the club as “hell”.

“Obviously, getting to United isn’t easy, so not being given a chance is hard to take. I don’t regret anything because it made me stronger. I feel as though I can deal with anything now,” he said.

“I went through so much with United, with England. There were rumours that the reason I wasn’t playing for United was because I slept with David Moyes’s daughter, and no one attempted to clear that up. So I was fighting my demons by myself, these rumours that I knew weren’t true.

“I was dealing with this at 19; living in Manchester by myself, nowhere near anyone else, because the club had a hold over where I lived. They hadn’t given me a car, like every other player. Nothing. I’m living in this hell by myself, away from my family, and I thought, ‘If this doesn’t make me stronger, what will?’”.

He added: “When I was at United I had money, but I was still so down and depressed. People think your life’s different because you’ve got money, you’ve got fame, so they don’t treat you the same.”

Zaha opted to play international football for Ivory Coast in 2016 despite winning two senior England caps under current Palace manager Roy Hodgson in 2012. Asked if he had any regrets over his decision, he added: “None. I did want to play with England because I’ve been here since the age of four, but it reached a point where I thought, ‘What am I waiting for? I want an international career, am I really going to get an opportunity [with England]?’

“The Ivory Coast had been begging for ages. The country and the fans love me already, and I haven’t even done anything. I may not get the red carpet, it may not have the same Nike deals as when you play for England, but I’m going to be playing, I’m going to be loved, and that’s all I want. Nothing else. So when I watched the World Cup I was annoyed, yeah, because we could have been there.”

[MDK]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/09/20/spurs-stadium-workers-heads-cocaine-alcohol-construction/

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Workers on Spurs' new White Hart Lane stadium 'off their heads on cocaine' during construction

Tottenham Hotspur have been hit with fresh allegations over their delayed new stadium that workers on-site have been drinking and drug-taking and that the problems with the 60,062-capacity project have in part been caused by chaotic management of a workforce that peaked at 4,000.

Industry magazine Construction News levelled a range of allegations against Mace, who have managed the building of Spurs’ new home which was originally scheduled to open last Saturday for the Premier League game against Liverpool. It was alleged by one unnamed source that when the site was at capacity “there were people off their heads, drinking cans first thing in the morning before going on to site and snorting coke in the toilets”.

I see Lamela must have got his mates a job.

[Liam]

Well, that's a shit start.

[Liam]

Fosu-Mensah should have been sent off there.

[Hobo]

Shaqiri starts for Liverpool! 🇽🇰

[DavidMarrio]

19 minutes ago, Hobo said:

Shaqiri starts for Liverpool! 🇽🇰

Already making contributions. 

Nothing better than Mark Hughes looking miserable and pissed off. 

[Gazz]

Extracts from Kevin Keegan's new book.
 

Quote

 

Nobody has ever officially told me I am banned from St James’ Park. Sometimes, though, you know when you are not welcome, and it is almost a decade now since it became apparent that, as far as the people at the top of Newcastle United are concerned, I will always be persona non grata as long as the Mike Ashley regime remains in place.

The saddest thing is that I would not want to go back anyway after everything that happened in my second spell as Newcastle manager and, though my feelings for the club won’t fade, that policy is set in stone until Mike Ashley has gone, and more than a hundred years of proud football history is removed from his business portfolio.

The only time I have made an exception came after an invitation to a private function at St James’ Park one night when there was no football on. It was a leaving do for a lifelong Newcastle fan. My first response was to send my apologies and explain it would be impossible for me to attend. Then I started feeling bad because the guy was leaving for a new life in America and I knew everyone wanted me to be there for his send-off. I didn’t want to let him down. And, besides, I have always loved a challenge.

I improvised. I put on a pair of glasses, I found a flat cap and I turned up the collar on my overcoat to complete the disguise. I found a quiet place to park my car, a safe distance from the ground, and then I walked in the back way, sticking to the shadows and avoiding eye contact with passers-by. It was dark and nobody had recognised me until I made it to the stadium entrance. Then one of the staff came over straight away. “Hello, Kevin,” she said, with one of those lovely Geordie welcomes. “What are you doing back here?”

My cover was blown but at least it was a friendly face rather than a hand being placed on my shoulder. The problem was I didn’t know if everybody in the building might be so hospitable and I didn’t want to take any chances. I asked if she would mind keeping it quiet and then I took the lift to the top floor. I had rung ahead to say I was on my way. Everyone had been briefed that the operation had to be conducted in complete secrecy and, when I hurried down a corridor, lined with photographs of my old teams, they were waiting for me inside one of the executive lounges. I was in and, apart from one minor scare, Operation KK had been a success. Mission accomplished.

I know how absurd it must sound and, when I think about it properly, what kind of craziness is it that someone with my long emotional history with Newcastle now has to smuggle himself into the ground where the owner used to call me “King Kev”? But this is an extraordinary club, run by unconventional people, and perhaps the most charitable way I can put it, as Jesus said on the cross, is to “forgive them for they know not what they do”.

These people don’t know what a precious club this is. They don’t comprehend that football in this big, vibrant city is about self-esteem. They have made a toy out of Newcastle United and, as much as it pains me to say it, I have no desire to be associated with the place for as long as that continues. I will gladly return when they have gone, and I am already looking forward to the day when Newcastle is free of the man who has lurched from one bad decision to another, run an empire of self-harm and handed money and power to people who deserved neither.

Until then, however, Ashley and his associates don’t need to worry about me making a habit of turning up incognito. I don’t want to share my oxygen with these people, trust me.

I have, after all, experienced the full force of the Ashley regime and, though I won my case against Newcastle for constructive dismissal, you can take my word that it wasn’t a pleasant experience being engaged in a legal battle against a man of such power and immense wealth. That it was Newcastle at the centre of this litigation made it an even more harrowing experience. Indeed, the whole thing was so hideous it convinced me I never wanted to work in football again.

---

I came up against a wall of incompetence, deceit and arrogance; you really couldn’t make up some of the things that happened at Newcastle under this regime. It was a tragicomedy.

I knew it was important to build a relationship with [Tony] Jimenez. I was intrigued by this guy and wanted to know how a property developer had found himself in such an influential role at one of England’s top football clubs. He certainly talked well, but was there any substance to it?

Jimenez had risen without trace. Yet I did find out he had a background, of sorts, in football. It turned out this Newcastle executive — a man given the title of “vice-president (player recruitment)” — had previously been a steward at Chelsea’s home games. That was where the link with Dennis Wise, formerly a Chelsea player, came about, and how he had befriended some of the players at Stamford Bridge. It wasn’t the most glittering CV I had ever seen.

That wouldn’t have mattered too much if Jimenez could walk the walk, as well as talking the talk, but it wasn’t long before I began to suspect there might not be a great deal of substance behind the big promises.

Jimenez had positioned himself as a football expert but it turned out this bewildering character — the man in charge of Newcastle’s recruitment, no less — admitted during discussions about potential transfer targets that he had never even heard of Per Mertesacker.

Can you believe that? Mertesacker had made his debut for Germany four years earlier. He was recognised as one of the outstanding players in the 2006 World Cup and had been an ever-present for his national team when they reached the final of Euro 2008. He was one of the best defenders in Europe and would go on to win over 100 caps for his country. Yet Jimenez didn’t have the foggiest who he was. I tried my hardest to retain a sense of humour and, somehow, I could laugh on occasion at the absurdity of it all. But there were other moments when it made my head ache to think what they were doing to a famous old sporting institution. It was an incredible story, but a sad one, mostly — and I had never known anything like it at any other football club.

Jimenez pulled the plug on a deal for Modric because he was “too small”

Dennis Wise had been confirmed as the club’s director of football within a couple of weeks of my appointment. I had envisaged we would work together closely, but it wasn’t long before I realised that the likeable guy I used to pick for England — a chirpy little character who had never given me any problems — was going to stick very closely to Jimenez and, in turn, keep his distance from me.

At one point I took a call from Luka Modric’s agent to ask if I would be keen on signing the player from Dinamo Zagreb. Modric had already been speaking to Spurs and his agent was honest enough to explain the move to White Hart Lane was likely to happen. Yet it was clear there might still be a chance to gazump that deal, otherwise the agent would never have bothered getting in touch. “Mr Keegan, I’m a massive fan of yours and I’d very much like to discuss it with you,” he said. Dinamo Zagreb wanted £16 million and the wages were quite high, but it was still within our budget and, at 22, Modric had his best years ahead of him. He was exactly the kind of player I wanted to see in a black and white shirt.

His agent flew up from London and this time it was me inviting Jimenez to be part of it, rather than him cutting me out of the loop. It was an opportunity to sign one of the outstanding young footballers in Europe and, to begin with, I was making decent inroads. I explained what a great club Newcastle was, how the supporters would adore Modric and how we were looking for someone to spark us off.

Then Jimenez piped up. “Can I come in here?” he said. “I don’t think Luka is good enough for the Premier League. He’s too lightweight. He’s decent, but he’s not good enough.”

Terry [McDermott] was also in the meeting and we just stared at each other in disbelief. The agent looked shocked. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Are you saying my player is not strong enough? Luka’s a very strong boy, I can assure you.” “That’s exactly what I mean,” Jimenez continued. “My view is that he’s too lightweight for English football, he’s too small.”

It was an awful moment and, ten years on, it needs only a cursory glance at Modric’s achievements to realise what a nonsense it was. Even back then, however, it was laughable.

 

 

 

Remember too that this was 2008, when Danny Guthrie made 21 league starts in our midfield.

[Hobo]

40 minutes ago, DavidMarrio said:

Already making contributions. 

Nothing better than Mark Hughes looking miserable and pissed off. 

He's been fantastic!

His shot deflects off 2 Southampton players and goes in and then his free-kick hits the bar and Salah knocks it in. In between Matip manages to score!

This could be a right mauling. Southampton are not very good. I'm still holding out for a Shaqiri goal. They can't handle him or Salah.

[Szumi]

It sounded like Shaqiri coming off at half was tactical, not injury; can only imagine he's being saved for Chelsea in midweek.

That being said, can't believe Fabinho is not getting on the pitch again! This is a great game to ease him in, 3-0 up at half, but Klopp knows best.

[stokeriño]

51 minutes ago, It's Pronounced Zoom-E said:

It sounded like Shaqiri coming off at half was tactical, not injury; can only imagine he's being saved for Chelsea in midweek.

Prioritising Chelsea in midweek as opposed to Chelsea next weekend?

[Lineker]

Vorm got injured in training yesterday so we are onto goalie #3.

 

Also, some really sad news:

[DavidMarrio]

Probably a good thing. Vorm has been shite. 

[stokeriño]

I refuse to believe that Gazzaniga is a real name.

[Gazz]

[Hobo]

44 minutes ago, stokerino said:

Prioritising Chelsea in midweek as opposed to Chelsea next weekend?

looking forward to big div and smol shaq vs Chelsea 

 

[Noah]

8 hours ago, stokerino said:

I refuse to believe that Gazzaniga is a real name.

It sounds like Gazz embarking on a new career as a Sheldon Cooper impersonator. Which seems like a limited shelf life job, seeing as people are already sick of the real thing.

Edited September 23, 2018 by Noah