The General Football Thread

Even if it means taking a big, big step back. Selling big names and ruling the team out of title contention will never be popular at Barca, but this is literally the only time -- with Xavi newly at the helm, the team struggling and the club's finances utterly shambolic -- that they might be able to do it without the pitchfork-and-torch crowd showing up. They need to clear wages and recoup some operating capital from the likes of Griezmann, Coutinho and even (shock and horror) the old guard in Alba/Pique/Busquets. Clear some debt, wait for the kids to mature, and then hopefully they'll actually be in a position to compete again in a couple seasons.

 

Which is why things like links to panicked loans for Cavani are really bizarre

 

Laporta was reelected on a promise to bury his head in the sand and pretend that Barca is financially and competitively positioned to compete for every trophy, which is a major issue. As is the fact that his chief competitor for the position campaigned on a promise of appointing Xavi and rebuilding...which is now what Laporta is (or at least should be) doing.

 

I didn’t realise they had sold Moriba, thought he was meant to be the best of the bunch and sold him for relative peanuts 16m euros. Saints should’ve been all over that

 

Surprised that nobody has mentioned how those FA Cup minnows crushed Harrow Borough 1-0 yesterday.

 

Deano gone from villa !!

 

JWP withdrawn from England squad with illness, and Tino withdrawn from U21. Giving us even less reason to bother wasting time watching a couple of pointless international games.

 

Armando Broja is reason enough to watch.

 

Bloody hell. Mitrovic has 20 goals in 17 league games for Fulham so far this season. He's on course to hit 50+ for the season at this rate.

 

So Gerrard to Villa. A good step up for him on his career development to manage Liverpool in the future. If he makes a success at Villa, almost becomes a certainty what his next position will be.

 

I can see him getting a few favours from Anfield as well, as in access to a few up and coming loan players should he want them.

 

I’d assume Villa (the fans at least) think they are above developing liverpool youngsters for them

And they could only take one at a time anyway

And it is not like liverpool are known to offer good VFM on sales of unwanted players …

 

I think Gerrard's appointment will end in tears. There was a good piece on the BBC site about the number of trophies he won at Rangers and the fact that the single league title masks other disappointments. They were useless in Europe and I feel Villa will be more of a challenge for him than Rnagers as the Premier League is far tougher.

 

He's also got a better squad to work with. I don't see any evidence he will be a failure at Villa TBH.

 

Nailed on red card, I think.

 

Tom

Doyou not tink that Villa is one of those clubs people go to fail ? I wonder if he would have been better off taking over from Brendan Rodgers if he ever left Leicester City .

 

It was horrific, but it was good to see that his first thought was for the player he might have seriously injured.

 

I agree Tom, neither do l wish him to fail either. As to whether he can meet the aspirations of the owners who want Champions League football. I am not sure that can be done, whoever the manager, without huge commitment and deep pockets of the owners...

 

They and Real Madrid can take a permanet step back as far as I am concerned. Like Manchester United, far too much attention is given to what are average sides. I hope it allows other Spanish sides to come to the fore and win trophies like Sevilla, Villareal, and even Real Sociedad..

 

Real Madrid will sign Mbappe and will dominate La Liga for years to come.