Recent content by nomdeplume1325

Best hope they don’t start playing well then!

I think some context is useful here. Klopp only failed to get to the CL in one (full) season which was last season. The average finishing position has been much higher than Man Utd and the average points per season is a mind boggling 85. Klopp has a higher win ratio in the Premier League than...

However, to put that into perspective, Callum Wilson had scored more premier league goals in fewer games playing mostly for Bournemouth and a pre-Saudi Newcastle.

For goalkeepers, in my time it was Chris Kirkland. Dear Lord the man had bones made of glass.

My votes would be: Torres Ronaldo 9 Rooney (I don’t think he quit his the heights after the metatarsal injury) Bale

Agree the season is young, but Klopp and Giardiola’s teams were quickly looking like what their managers wanted, albeit with serious problems e.g. Liverpool being awful defensively at the time and City being vulnerable defensively too. But they had a clear template that was working well enough...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-9622019/Big-Six-spent-26BILLION-wages-transfers-Premier-League-began.html This is not perfect, but suggests that the biggest PL era spenders were Chelsea, then Utd.

Brendan Rodgers saw the committee as usurping power he believed should have been his, and so he didn’t commit to it. Klopp saw them as another facet of the club to help him, and he worked with them. He trusted them, and they in turn delivered for him. By the way, Firmino, Coutinho, Henderson...

Gerrard might get the job if he shows he is up to it. I guess the Aston Villa job is his audition for the Liverpool job. Liverpool have one terrible appointment in the Premier League era, which was Hodgson. The rest have not been resounding successes (except for Klopp), but each of the managers...

You do the work on the training ground. It is the small things, shuffling left and right to make sure you are in a position to support the press and / or block the passing lanes. Those numbers are not all sprints. They are just discipline of doing the right thing. Keep doing it all game. Don't...

You only play what is in front of you. Yes, Liverpool's route to the semis (and probably to the finals) was relatively "easy", but they only got luck in the sense that the good teams that ought to have been in their path either didn't make it out of the group stages (e.g. Barcelona for Benfica)...

That Conte year was something special. it’s quite something that it no longer is talked about, and that is all to do with what Man City and Liverpool have done since. Here are some stats. Year Team Wins Pts GF GA 16/17 CHE 30 93 85. 33 17/18 MCI. 32 100 106 27 18/19 MCI 32 98...

Conte did it in Pep’s first year and when Klopp was stilL settling in at Liverpool having inherited a really rubbish squad. Once those two got going, no one else has had a look in.

That Leicester team was really good. They had really good balance with Vardy, Mahrez and Kante. Yes they fell off since, but they did lose their most important player in Kante. Turns out really good defensive midfielders can make a team.

I think the days of every player contract being an asset might be over. Maybe a handful of players (e.g. a peak Messi or Ronaldo), but otherwise player contracts should be right off as liabilities. That would lead to clubs not bidding too much for players, not paying wages that are too high and...