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The 2019-2020 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
- Start date
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I'd imagine pretty strongly.
They won the Champion's League last season, were a finalist the previous season, and finished the season in the Premier League second to Manchester City (by a point), with a points total - the third highest ever in the PL - a total that would have seen them crowned champions in 116 of the previous 119 seasons.
The rumor is that Dybala never really wanted to leave in the first place, so the club flogging him around was a bit of a red herring.
Man Utd's defense should be stronger this year, though to a certain extent they brought in Maguire on speculation that he will develop into a world class player, as happened with van Dijk at Liverpool. The team still represents bad value for the money spent, but if the current crop of signings pan out they will be moving in the right direction. Much, of course, also depends on whether OGS can cut it as manager.
The sticking point was that the deal to sell him to China included little to no fee, but huge wages for Bale. Since Chinese clubs have to pay a 100% tax on foreign players, they were not prepared to pay Real for him, but they were prepared to take on his massive wages - and it would have gotten Bale's wages off Real's books. Real said - "wait, you say you can't afford a transfer fee but you're paying him all that money in wages? We want some of that money as a transfer fee." The Chinese club refused, Bale refused a pay cut, and Real (Perez) wouldn't let him go for free...so the deal died.
They started pretty strong against us last season. This season its only Man City for our first game....
Happy Lukaku has gone?
That’s the best way to look at it. Keeping an unhappy player never works out.
Agree with both of you; it is not just that keeping an unhappy player never works out, but that they can be a very negative influence in the dressing room as well.
And Norwich concede an own goal in the first five minutes; ouch.
Is there a worse way to start a match?
Enjoy the Stellas; notwithstanding feeling somewhat sorry for Norwich, I'd love to see Liverpool do well the season.
Sounds like a good way to start the season. Sadly Mané is my fantasy captain!
Sooooo...Liverpool are up 3-0 after half an hour, Alisson probably just tore his hamstring and Adrian is now in goal.
Pretty much the definition of a mixed bag, and we are just halfway through the first match of the season.
EDIT: big Div Origi makes it 4-0. The scoreline makes it sound a like a totally one-sided affair but Norwich have produced some dangerous attacks. A very open first half, but while Liverpool have just managed to contain Norwich, The Canaries simply can't stop Liverpool's attack.
Pretty much the definition of a mixed bag, and we are just halfway through the first match of the season.
EDIT: big Div Origi makes it 4-0. The scoreline makes it sound a like a totally one-sided affair but Norwich have produced some dangerous attacks. A very open first half, but while Liverpool have just managed to contain Norwich, The Canaries simply can't stop Liverpool's attack.
If Allison is seriously injured, that will be an expensive victory for Liverpool; he was superb last season.
The other thing that has struck me is this: Until last season, when this pattern had begun to change as quality became more evident and was able to impose itself from the beginning of the season, for a newly promoted team, the easiest ten points they would ever clock up in the Premiership, tended to come in those opening matches, when the established teams were rusty, or tired (if international competitions had been played over the summer), or new signings had yet to bed in to their system.
That was when you might have had some early upsets, wth newly promoted teams, high on confidence and energy, might snatch a win - or draw - against a top six team. However, by last season, I noticed that this pattern was not as pronounced as it had been in other, earlier seasons.
True.
I sincerely hope that Alisson merely suffered a minor knock, rather than something more serious necessitating a long term period out of action and then in recovery.
Alisson is one of the best keepers in the world at the moment, an absolutely crucial player for Liverpool and I'm terrified that he faces a an extended period of recovery...the scan will reveal the extent of damage...
Adrian is a stopgap, no more, and while he is clearly a very good keeper Liverpool will have to rely on van Dijk more than ever to keep things tight at the back, and Liverpool will have to be that much more dangerous up front to keep teams from putting their backup keeper under too much pressure.
Apart from the injury it was an excellent start to the season by Liverpool against a team that are open at the back but also reasonably dangerous going forward. I'd like to see Norwich do well because they play an attractive style of football.
I’d like to see Norwich do well as my Mum just moved there. Plus it’s good for the area to have a team in the top flight.
Agreed.
Plus it is home to an amazing cathedral.
And - rather than some of the ghastly foreign oligarchs who mainly seek profits or prestige and have little by way of emotional attachment to the clubs they own - there is something rather endearing about someone local - and a woman at that (Delia Smith) - being on the board at Norwich, being passionate about it, and investing in the club.
I’ve never been that I can recall. Been to Ipswich a few times. Watched Arsenal play there one Boxing Day many moons ago (George Graham era).
If Liverpool can score four, during their opening match, well, then, Manchester City reply with five, setting out their stall early with a ferocious statement of intent as they demolish West Ham.
Time was when lower ranked clubs could expect to snatch a point (or three) from top six clubs at the very early stages of the season. That appears to be the case no longer.
Time was when lower ranked clubs could expect to snatch a point (or three) from top six clubs at the very early stages of the season. That appears to be the case no longer.
No need to rub it in! We lost to Liverpool last season on our opening game. We then lost our next three. Hopefully we don’t follow the same pattern!
No, I'm not actually rubbing it in, as in coming (belatedly) to the realisation that - for a promoted team, above all, or for a mid ranked, or lower placed team the previous season - the first four games often proved the easiest pickings for amassing points all season as the strong teams initially struggled to find balance and form (new signings, dealing with departures, fatigue - some of the players might have been on international duty, lack of match fitness, and so on), and that this s a situation that no longer applies.
Remember those improbable - and often high-scoring - "giant-killing" days? When newly promoted teams might find themselves inexplicably well placed in the table for a few weeks?
Likewise, top teams often dropped silly points at the start of the season, taking three or four weeks to find rhythm and balance, which is when the table began to resemble something a lot more predictable.
But now, (as also happened last year), Manchester City and Liverpool have both started the season with a blunt statement of intent and have sent a signal that this s the standard t beat if you want to dream of being champions, this is the degree of quality you must seek to attain if you are to enjoy any degree of success.
As long as Alisson is not seriously injured (which would make last night's victory against Norwich a very expensive victory indeed), it is clear that the top two teams of last season are setting out their markers from the very beginning.