Men's Soccer (Football) Thread [ARCHIVED] Soccer • Page 552

One of the big clubs will snatch up Nuno Santo at some point

 

He had over five years at Spurs with Lloris, Alderweireld, Verthongen, Dembele, Dier, Eriksen, Alli, Son, Kane. That's enough to win trophies.

 

who, exactly, were dier, alli, son and kane before poch?

you mention their names like they should have won trophies with that talent when .... they are the talent they are in large part because of poch lol

 

You cannot be a top 10, let alone 5, manager if you have won a grand total of nothing.

He has the immense talent but he needs to get back in the dugout and actually prove it. He did brilliant at Spurs but a lack of trophies is a real gap in his CV.

Considering there’s still Guardiola, Ancelloti, Mourinho, Klopp, Simeone, Conte, Mancini, and those are just the ones off the top of my head.

Arteta has won a trophy with a team who finished 8th in the league and contained a back line of Mustafi, Holding and David Luiz lol.

 

If Arteta can do this, Poch should've done more, hahaha.

And I say this as someone who wouldn't mind having Poch as a coach for my teams.

 

Chupo-Moting has found his way to the PL, then to PSG, then Bayern.

Along the way he has never ever gone for a single penny (unless you count a single loan fee)

 

The problem for Poch at Spurs was that he had early success with those players listed above, but the club didn't really do much to improve from there. Meanwhile, other clubs invested and passed Spurs in talent. We had players either leave or just drop in performance and we would do little to replace them. I used to think this was just Levy being cheap but part of me is starting to think some of it was Poch being difficult to work with in the transfer business.

I think he's a fantastic manager and deserved to win trophies. I can't argue with people saying he isn't top 5 or whatever because he doesn't have any. But I also don't rate Arteta on his level lol

 

Came here to post that lol. What an absolute slap on the face of our shitty board. So good.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a dick move to make it public, but he’s not the one in the wrong here.

 

Neither do I. Yet.

I was just using him to make the the point I guess aha.

 

Didn't say he didn't develop them. But once he had - and it didn't exactly take time - he didn't win trophies with them. An elite manager does.

 

Okay, get ready folks, my process Barcelona post is kicking off... please forgive all the name not-quite-right spellings, American keyboards are stupid.

The youth infusion into this formerly very old squad is amazing. The signings of Dest (19), Pedri (17), Trincao (20), and Fernandes (22) as well as the first team promotions of Ansu Fati (17), Riqui Puig (21), and Araujo (21) are a breath of fresh air after being one of the oldest elite squads in Europe. Throw in Konrad (19) , Mingo (19), and Pena (21) who are consistently getting looks right now in training from the B squad, too. Especially when you consider that Vidal (33), Suarez (33), Rafinha (27), and Rakitic (32) were all replaced by people a little less than half their ages.

However, there is also the two transfers of Semedo (26) and Arthur (24). Semedo had all the right tools to be the next Dani Alves, but when he loaded his toolbelt he barely became a whisper of that shadow. Arthur was clearly an accounting transfer—and I think Barcelona lost in this particular transfer 1v1 on paper—but with the revitalized Coutinho back in the squad, I’m quite okay with it, especially after he got caught drunk driving a few days later.

Now granted, Ansu Fati certainly passes the eye test, but do we actually know if any of this youthful signings are any good? Dest looked very solid against Sevilla. Will Alena finally break out? Pedri and Trincao have looked alright, but make a few too many mistakes still. Fernandes still hasn’t been announced (despite being given a first team number today and his signing being confirmed... in January), so who knows what’s going on there.

There is a lot of talk that they’re considering transitioning Konrad from a LW to a LB to keep him at Barcelona and meet a major need in the team. Will be interesting to see.

[Remaining first team ages because I was curious: Alena (22), De Jong (23), Dembele (23), Firpo (24), Lenglet (25), Umtiti (26), Roberto (28), Coutinho (28), ter Stegen (28), Griezmann (29), Braithwaite (29), Pjanic (30), Neto (31), Alba (31) Busquets (32), Messi (33), Pique (33)]

The wage bill has seen massive relief, which helps with the financial crisis brought on by poor management and made imminent by COVID. The third (Suarez), seventeenth (Vidal), twenty-first (Rakitic), forty-second (Semedo), fifty-first (Arthur) and seventy-third (Rafinha) highest paid players in the league were all transferred.

Juan Miranda of the B team was also loaned to Betis (who will cover his wages) for a year. I’d like to see him get a shot at the first team next summer. This is an excellent loan opportunity for him.

Horrible first team signings Todibo, Emerson, and Wague are also off the books on wage-covering loans and I’m hopeful they’ll be gone next summer.

(I should note that Messi (1), Griezmann (2), de Jong (10), Busquets (13), Dembele (14), Pique (16), Alba (28), ter Stegen (36), Roberto (43), Umtiti (44), Lenglet (45), Braithwaite (83), Neto (96) all also appear in the top 100. So there’s a lot of room for improvement in that metric – especially when I’d argue quite a few people’s pay is not reflective of their actual team worth.)


The Bad
(1) Messi. I don’t think I have to explain more here.
(2) Off-loading Rafinha should’ve happened about five years ago.
(3) Off-loading Dembele should’ve been a priority. He also should’ve never been signed to begin with, but that’s not how this works.
(4) Suarez. You don’t treat a club legend that way. I understand all the financial reasons he had to go, but this left a bad taste in my mouth.

“Missed” Chances

(1) Eric Garcia. But I’m alright with this after Araujo was a monster against Sevilla. Besides, we can get him for free next summer (and has he actually proven anything at City thus far?).
(2) Lautaro. I’m really glad we didn’t sign him. I don’t think we can trust his output at Inter yet. Happy to re-assess and be proven wrong over the course of the season.
(3) Memphis. Surely we dodged a bullet here, right? I’m only recalling his United days. But it seems he’s coming in January or for free next summer.
(4) Jose Gaya. This is probably the player I wanted the most that we got linked to.
(5) Speaking of Valencia’s fire sale: we really didn’t try to snatch up Guedes, Soler, or Maxi Gomes on the cheap? Smdh.

So what’s next?

This is Koeman’s preferred XI as of right now (with asterisks denoting who is actually starting XI for him if they’re not in this line-up):

Neto*, Dest**, Lenglet, Pique, Roberto***; De Jong, Busquets; Fati, Coutinho, Griezmann; Messi

*ter Stegen is recovering from surgery; ** Alba hurt his hamstring against Sevilla; *** will probably be Dest if everyone is healthy

Fati and Griezmann have been subbed every game for Pedri and Trincao respectively. We’ve also seen Pjanic subbed on for Coutinho or Busquets, and Dembele made a cameo appearance. The pecking order has clearly been set.

I think Griezmann and Messi need to be switched for Griezmann’s sake, but Griez offers more in defense on the wing so it makes sense that he’s there. He’s just... quite terrible for us despite being an immense talent.

What I would like to see next summer:

Three questions dictate all of next summer: Will Messi stay? Will ter Stegen stay? Will Pique and Busquets retire? (FWIW: My answers are currently leaning: maybe, yes, no, and no.)

Sell: Dembele, Griezmann, Wague, Todibo, Emerson, Braithwaite
Bring Back From Loan: Miranda
Promote to First Team: Konrad, Inaki Pena
Transfer In: Kounde from Sevilla, Gaya from Valencia, a true #9 (Lautaro will be the main link, but I wouldn’t be upset to see a few more options put forward, heh). Eric Garcia, I guess. I’d love Kimmich, but there’s no way he’d ever leave Bayern.
Do Not Want: Memphis.

IF MESSI GOES: They will need to make a few marquee signings and get offensive/creative firepower. I wouldn’t rule out big splashes for a Neymar return, Pulisic (if coming back from injury he remains Chelsea’s best player; they really want that American fan money), Sancho, or Dybala in this scenario. Maybe even Sadio Mane if they’re ballsy enough.

IF TER STEGEN GOES: Donnarumma, maybe? Idk. I'm not up to date on keepers at all.
IF PIQUE RETIRES: Kounde is an absolute must.
IF BUSQUETS RETIRES: Welcome back to your traditional midfield role, Sergi Roberto.

Take or Leave: Neto is an adequate, yet aging, back-up. One more season with him wouldn’t hurt. He should not be our first choice should ter Stegen leave.


If you read all of this, I’ll buy you a pint sometime when and if we all watch footy together.

 

How Tottenham's opportunism led to one of their best transfer windows

"To understand Mourinho's influence, it is worth comparing him with his predecessor, Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine was genuinely sceptical of new signings and more than once turned down players offered to him by the club, including Marco Asensio and Youri Tielemans.

Levy, in turn, is sceptical of the correlation between success and spending big, and the result was a relationship without enough productive tension to get difficult signings over the line.

By contrast, Levy and Mourinho have found a more fruitful balance, at least for now, with the pragmatic Portuguese more willing than Pochettino to accept suggestions from the club, as he did with Steven Bergwijn in January."

This article kinda backed what I said above.

 

I read most of it haha

I think Barca are in better shape than the general consensus claims. They have some really good young players on the brink of taking over the first team. And I think they're good enough to win the league this year. But like you, I just don't understand playing Greizmann outside. It clearly isn't ideal for him.

 

I didn’t read it. I still expect a pint.

 

Having to wait two more weeks for Bale’s debut is going to go so slow haha

Son and Kane have been so good this season. If we are getting a motivated Bale with something to prove in addition to Son and Kane...that front 3 is going to be so scary. I really think Kane could lead the league in assists. He seems to love his new role of playing a little bit deeper and feeding Son and others. His passing is almost more fun to watch than his shooting.

 

If I’m ever in Dublin, deal

 

There have been a few reports claiming that Spurs are looking at Dael Fry in addition to Joe Rodon.

I don't know much about Fry either but from what I find on google he is also considered one of the top Championship defenders. I think we'll only sign one but getting both would be cool I suppose. I think this is Toby's last year at the club so it'd make sense to get a couple younger guys. We'd probably loan one or both back for this year.

 

The fees for championship players are going to seriously balloon over the next week and half. I’m expecting someone to panic buy the likes of King, Cantwell and Benrahma.

I think we need 2 or 3 players to strengthen the squad. Hoping for either Clarke-Salter or Sanderson to strengthen the defence. Perhaps Jota from Villa to add a bit of depth in midfield. Would hope for a big pacy striker up top but so far we’ve been linked with Kenneth Zohore.

 

I think someone will buy Cantwell for sure. I think I saw Leicester linked to him. I could see them coming back or someone like Southampton.

 

Arsenal should be looking at Cantwell too

 

salt in the wound

 

Thought you'd have got over the no.7 shirt when Michael Owen was given it.

 

USL suspended the Rising player who used the homophobic slur against Colin Martin of the Loyal. Seems to encompass the entire playoffs not sure about next season.

Edit: Looks like the Rising are saying he will stay on administrative leave for the entirety of his contract with them which is up in November.