Rival Watch

Jose puts 3 fingers up. If he had a mallet finger (look it up ) it would have looked like 2 and a half ...and more accurate!

 

Yes

 

Ah, so that's why they are extending Anfield. Trying to get more smiley faces into their ground. Bit like this then:

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City looking to pay £34m for Benfica keeper Ederson. FFS, the guy hasn't even played at full international level yet - what price does that put on De Gea if he decides to go.

 

Wenger signed a two year deal. I think everyone will be happy with that!

 

Man City chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak told the club website he was not a happy man after the club finished third in the Premier League

"There's nothing that annoys me more than people either calling me or sending me a message congratulating me on third place," he said.

"My answer was pretty standard to everyone, 'don't congratulate me on getting third, there's nothing to congratulate, only congratulate me if we win the league'.

"So, this is not the ambition, not at all. There's nothing to celebrate. I think it's something which is important, it's critical, and I know it requires a lot of hard work, particularly in this league, to be in the top four, but our ambition is to win the league. And if not winning it, to go as close as physically possible to winning the league."

Lesson for the RS who have been celebrating their 4th as some major achievement and the sign of massive progress under Kloppyflop ?

 

Bet they thought the league was in the bag when they signed Pep. I'd give him another year to prove himself in the PL - another failure of a season and he will be out. #messiah

 

To be fair to Wenger, he did somehow turn his teams form around with a change of system at the end of the season.

They finished the season strong with 5 at the back, which seems to be working for a lot of teams now.

 

That's Arsenal nailed on for 4th then

 

"Manchester City's ambition is to win the quadruple in what chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak says will be "a massive year" for the club next season."

There you have it, boys! You can all go home now and not bother with next season. City has already won all four trophies.

 

Well in the current game it is just to unrealistic to think anyone can win all 4. Even the treble we did in 99 is unlikely to ever be repeated.

Even to win the league and CL is very difficult. We are still the only English team to manage this.

Chelsea and Liverpool had to completely sacrifice their league form to win the CL. That's why to me they where never truly the champions of Europe, as you can't be European champions, if your the 5th best team in England. More like they where the luckiest teams in Europe.

 

But King, we still won it in 2008 - CL and League, I mean. I don't know about winning four, but two should be doable for a good team. I don't think it is as incredibly difficult as it is made to be. The whole thesis on sacrificing one for the other is flawed in my opinion. Other teams in Europe manage to do it quite frequently but I know that we would like to keep telling ourselves that Premier League is unique and how we don't get winter breaks.

What it probably comes down to is lack of depth in squad. With a formidable group of 15 players and 7 squad players, I don't think it's as impossible as we think to win the league and CL.

 

It's not impossible, but you need to have a really top class team that has the ability to keep getting results consistently in the PL, whilst also competing with the best in Europe. That is part of the problem - it's much harder to rest players and put out a weakened side and still get something in the PL, whereas Real, Bayern, Barca etc get away with it most weekends in La Liga.

I don't think any of the clubs in the PL are there at the moment tbh, it will be another couple of years before they can reach the level we were at in 99 and 08.

 

The only way Citeh are going to achieve the PL part is if their games against
Spurs are scheduled to be played on weeks 37 and 38.

 

Whilst I don't think the PL, CL double is impossible I believe it is super difficult. In betting terms id say it is about 100/1 for any of the CL clubs to be able to pull it off next year, with the exception of Liverpool, it's 1000000000000/1 for them

Look at the team we had in 08 to pull it off though, we had quality right throughout the team.

I do think it is tougher in England than in other European leagues to pull off that double, as I feel the PL is so much more competitive than the 3 other major leagues. So if Bayern, Juve or in some cases Madrid or Barca get to the late rounds of the CL they can often afford to rest players, as they are either so far clear, or they are playing a team their first team would whoop 8-0.

I'm not saying the PL is better than these divisions, as I don't think it is, I just think it is more competitive. There aren't as many easy games for the top teams, and there are a lot more teams who can win it. So I think it's always going to be tougher for a PL team to pull off that double.

 

And becoming more relevant each year, with the growing number of fixtures, is the fact that only PL teams do not get a winter break - all the other teams in the CL benefit from the rest so for a PL team to win it, regardless of whether it is as a double, is always going to be a greater achievement.

 

There are some simple solutions to this, which I don't believe would effect English football all that much.

The first one is we could scrap the league cup, and play PL fixtures on the nights the league cup is supposed to take place. This would free up some space for an Xmas break.

The other one that may be controversial to some, and it is to get rid of FA Cup replays aswell so we could fit some PL fixtures in those nights.

I do like the Xmas fixture period as a supporter, but if it ment English sides benefited in Europe from getting an Xmas break, I could accept a winter break being introduced.

 

I'd be more inclined to keep the Xmas fixtures, which is a great family treat for many, but to let teams have a break in the beginning of January

 

The fixture list has been fixed for a while. Apart from second round that got added to CL, what else has changed? I firmly believe it comes down to quality of squad. We keep talking about 08, but we actually got to the finals in 09 as well only to lose to Barca. We had 50/50 chance of winning it. Again, it was the squad quality which I simply don't see in the league today. Which takes me back to 08 again...

King nailed this one... Just look at this squad lineup and the bench which had Giggs, Nani and Fletcher for that final in 08:

GK 1 Netherlands Edwin van der Sar
RB 6 England Wes Brown
CB 5 England Rio Ferdinand
CB 15 Serbia Nemanja Vidić
LB 3 France Patrice Evra
RM 4 England Owen Hargreaves
CM 18 England Paul Scholes
CM 16 England Michael Carrick
LM 7 Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo
CF 10 England Wayne Rooney
CF 32 Argentina Carlos Tevez

Substitutes:
GK 29 Poland Tomasz Kuszczak
DF 22 Republic of Ireland John O'Shea
DF 27 France Mikaël Silvestre
MF 8 Brazil Anderson
MF 11 Wales Ryan Giggs
MF 17 Portugal Nani
MF 24 Scotland Darren Fletcher

This is what we are missing today. We have way too many sub-par and young players across the field. This is also why the lower teams are catching up. If we have the team of 08 on the pitch today, there is literally no way in hell the likes of Pool, Spurs, Arsenal or even Chelsea would stand a chance. Quality of squad is why Barca, Bayern, Juve and Real dominate their league. They heavily invest, and not necessarily just in fees paid, but they put effort into getting players that meet their requirements - Juve especially. I believe Jose will be working hard to plug in quality across the part this close season.

 

BTW, where is Treble? I haven't seen him around lately. Did he change his name?