FOOTBALL English Premier League 23/24 Discussion

[Super Freak]

Man United definitely not at their best but still come away with the win.

Can't believe I'm saying this but Maguire actually had a really good game. Very solid at the back.

 

[Wolfie]

Onana is up there with the worst signings of the season. A lot of big money players just havent lived up to their price tags at all so far.

 

[The True King]

Fucking what a goal Dalot.

Keeper looked to be having a good game from the highlights, that's a really poor attempt at a save.

Great shot though, he gave it every chance

 

[The True King]

Onana is up there with the worst signings of the season. A lot of big money players just havent lived up to their price tags at all so far.

He's definitely in the conversation but we're also only 9 games into the prem. Probably deserves at least half the season before we jump to those conclusions.

Who are the others you're referring to?
Mount and Havertz obviously thereabouts, maybe even Raya.

I think Tonali, Szoboslai, Rice, Hojlund, Caicedo, Mac Allister, Edson Alvarez, Gvardiol, Disasi and Doku have all shown good signs. Too soon to make a call on Lavia.

 

[The True King]

Final post for now but that Merseyside derby was so boring. It's actually the worst derby in the league to watch and its not close.

Everton showed no ambition to win, even less so after the red card. As a Liverpool fan I thought it was pretty harsh, I'm never in favour of those sort of decisions early in games, it killed any chance of it being a good game (if Dyche hadn't killed it already). That said, there have been plenty similar decisions so far this season.

Konate was lucky to not see red but I also thought Tarkowski gets red on another day too. Overall the ref was okay, VAR made the right call with the handball no doubt about it.

Performance wise Liverpool were meh. Virgil was a standout, TAA looks like he's still working on fitness and the midfield was quite clearly adapting to one another. Macca had a better game. Salah was poor overall, just did Salah things by scoring the goals. I thought Jota was the best of our attack, he was great on the ball and Darwin was a good injection late.

Shout out to Harvey Elliott, another game that he's turned on its head. He was the spark we needed, was a smart ploy by Klopp also taking off Tsimikas too. Harvey is an underrated player in this squad, not everyone's cup of tea but he's slowly turning into a very dependable and versatile player. Been fantastic off the bench this season, less so when he starts.

We notoriously return from international break slow and lethargic so great to grab the 3 points and now the fixtures ease quite nicely, timed well with the return of Gakpo and Jones. Hopefully Thiago and Bajcetic aren't far away either.

I expect minimum 29 points heading into the City game and us to be right at the summit of the table, if we're not there I'll be rather disappointed.

 

[Wolfie]

He's definitely in the conversation but we're also only 9 games into the prem. Probably deserves at least half the season before we jump to those conclusions.

Who are the others you're referring to?
Mount and Havertz obviously thereabouts, maybe even Raya.

I think Tonali, Szoboslai, Rice, Hojlund, Caicedo, Mac Allister, Edson Alvarez, Gvardiol, Disasi and Doku have all shown good signs. Too soon to make a call on Lavia.

Caicedo for the money they paid i think has been pretty disappointing, Nunes and Tonali as well imo. I dont think Mac Allister looks comfortable yet in Liverpools system. Mount and Havertz have been very ordinary. Hojlund is a bit tricky because of his age but the fee is going to hang around his neck at a big club because of the expectation. He really could do with getting a premier league goal to lift a bit of that pressure. I dont think Torres either has looked as solid as he did in spain.

Just far to many players who have cost a lot of money so far who havent really been awful but just a bit meh and not living up to the price tags. Be interesting to see how things go when January comes around.

 

[The True King]

Caicedo for the money they paid i think has been pretty disappointing, Nunes and Tonali as well imo. I dont think Mac Allister looks comfortable yet in Liverpools system. Mount and Havertz have been very ordinary. Hojlund is a bit tricky because of his age but the fee is going to hang around his neck at a big club because of the expectation. He really could do with getting a premier league goal to lift a bit of that pressure. I dont think Torres either has looked as solid as he did in spain.

Just far to many players who have cost a lot of money so far who havent really been awful but just a bit meh and not living up to the price tags. Be interesting to see how things go when January comes around.

Meh, I think its far too soon to judge

 

[Wolfie]

Meh, I think its far too soon to judge

You can just tell with plenty of players they wont do well for one reason or another and i dont think apart from Mac Allister and possibly Hojlund any of the others will live up to their price tags.

 

[The True King]

You can just tell with plenty of players they wont do well for one reason or another and i dont think apart from Mac Allister and possibly Hojlund any of the others will live up to their price tags.

Caicedo will be fine, he's been excellent the last couple games. He's also got at least 5+ years to pay it back and Poch knows how to develop players. There's a seriously good footballer in there just wait.

Tonali is in the same boat, he's got plenty of time. I don't know if he's entirely cut out for the prem but he's a quality player and Newcastle project is only getting stronger. Hard to call him a flop if he's got a league or two to his name in 5 years.

Pau Torres is an Emery player, so long as Emery is at Villa then that will work out. Villa is most likely a stepping stone anyway but its an interesting project with their finances.

Agree on Mount and Havertz but I think that's just as much due to the clubs they've been bought for as it is the quality of the players. Neither are superstars and naturally their history at Chelsea will count against them in the long run, but ultimately their success will depend on how long the respective managers get.

I don't know with Nunes, jury is out and Pep signings usually take at least a season to settle into the system. Good chance he doesn't make it (they will always be looking to upgrade) but with his history I'm not shocked you've written him off.

 

[Wolfie]

Nunes is mentally weak. He was like it at Wolves, and when he got put under pressure in the Citeh game against us he crumbled, disappeared and got subbed after 45 mins. His ability isnt in question, but i dont believe he has the mentality to make it in England. I questioned him before he became a **** so its not like its just since he left Wolves.


If i'm paying big money for a player say like Caicedo i want them to hit the ground running. He cost the same as Jude Bellingham who had no previous knowledge of Spanish football and yet he's about the best player in football right now. I dont want to be paying $225 million on a project player.

Its nice in dreamland to think you can let these players develop at their own pace to become good players, but in the real world of the premier league Chelsea cant afford to have players like Lavia, Fernandez, Caicedo etc developing if they are missing Champions league football. Their players will want to leave, and their manager wont be in a job if they are only qualifying for Europa league or Europa Conference. It just comes with the territory of signing big money players. They have to get results.

 

[Fitzy]

Onana is up there with the worst signings of the season. A lot of big money players just havent lived up to their price tags at all so far.

United for some time now have gotten the worst out of nearly all signings. About 10% do alright.

 

[ningnangnong]

Hasn't Tonali just been caught up in some gambling business?

I think Mac Allister has looked quite good when he's played in a natural position, further forward. Klopp has been using him as a number six in recent matches though, where I think he's struggled a bit. He wasn't bought for that, and I hope we don't see him stuck there all season.

 

[Renegade]

Firstly how good are 930 games? boring ass derby, we dominated but couldn't do anything in the final third. if you just caught the score you'd think salah has had another good game but reality was he was so so poor.

TAA still shitting me off. he wasn't necessarily bad defensively (hard to be when you've got 70 odd % possession) but his passing was either overhitting them or straight to a defender - it's his number one strength man you've got to be better. I think Diaz has to improve a bit more in end product as well, his final ball is inconsistent - though he did win the pen for the first. I think it's more he just finds himself in good positions so often but doesn't always make the most of them. Konate was probably a bit lucky not to be sent, maybe a bit of goodwill from the VAR fiasco.

The midfield trio were pretty solid, controlled the game well and hardly gave them a sniff. Can't wait till they're another few months down the line and even more embedded in the system/understand each others roles - although he didn't hit the target, it's nice having Dom as a long range option for games like this where they'll sit 10 (9 in this game) behind the ball.

 

[The True King]

Nunes is mentally weak. He was like it at Wolves, and when he got put under pressure in the Citeh game against us he crumbled, disappeared and got subbed after 45 mins. His ability isnt in question, but i dont believe he has the mentality to make it in England. I questioned him before he became a **** so its not like its just since he left Wolves.


If i'm paying big money for a player say like Caicedo i want them to hit the ground running. He cost the same as Jude Bellingham who had no previous knowledge of Spanish football and yet he's about the best player in football right now. I dont want to be paying $225 million on a project player.

Its nice in dreamland to think you can let these players develop at their own pace to become good players, but in the real world of the premier league Chelsea cant afford to have players like Lavia, Fernandez, Caicedo etc developing if they are missing Champions league football. Their players will want to leave, and their manager wont be in a job if they are only qualifying for Europa league or Europa Conference. It just comes with the territory of signing big money players. They have to get results.

City sucked in general against you guys, I'm not sure you can use one game to jump to that conclusion, especially with no Rodri. Fair enough he had his issues at Wolves but you have to remember he's under Pep now and that inevitably means he will win trophies and get better.

Comparing Bellingham and Caicedo is a bit mental haha.
Caicedo is a project player, of course they overpaid for him but look at Grealish... the fee really means nothing if the player goes on to have a few decent seasons and it comes with silverware. Bellingham was ready-made world class and wanted by every club in world football, Caicedo isn't that (even if the fee might make you think otherwise).

I disagree, you simply have to let these players develop at their own pace. I get the point you are making but Chelsea have signed Enzo and Caicedo on long term deals, it's not as if they can turn around next season and ask to leave. Both the club and the players are committed to the long term future.

 

[The True King]

Hasn't Tonali just been caught up in some gambling business?

I think Mac Allister has looked quite good when he's played in a natural position, further forward. Klopp has been using him as a number six in recent matches though, where I think he's struggled a bit. He wasn't bought for that, and I hope we don't see him stuck there all season.

This is spot on, we desperately need a proper 6.

If we can sort that out in January I think we're in the title race. I'm praying we get Andre after the Copa because there really isn't much else around.

I haven't been impressed by Macca or Endo in that role, they're more than capable against teams 8th-20th in the league but it won't be enough to get us over the line against the top teams.

 

[ningnangnong]

Firstly how good are 930 games?

Good when you're over here, but absolute shite if you're going to Anfield. None of them can get on the lash and the atmosphere suffers for it.

Saw a stat in the build-up to last night whereby we seem to have the most early kick-offs following an international break, and by some margin too.

 

[The True King]

Good when you're over here, but absolute shite if you're going to Anfield. None of them can get on the lash and the atmosphere suffers for it.

Saw a stat in the build-up to last night whereby we seem to have the most early kick-offs following an international break, and by some margin too.

Since Klopp joined we have had 15 early kick-offs after international breaks.

The next closest is Spurs with 7

 

[The True King]

Have to say its great to see how well Ange is doing. Australia desperately needed this and Spurs are (somewhat) likeable compared to the other London clubs.


I'm just praying this isn't just setting him up for a downfall once the tougher tests come along.