Men's Soccer (Football) Thread [Archived] Soccer • Page 154

I bought a Rangers jersey that was 80% off the tag price. Stoked about that.

 

Just about to set off. Feeling a mixture of raw nerves and excitement. What a day this could be.

 

Got £5 on Sheffield Wednesday win and £10 on Atletico inside 90. Feeling optimistic.

 

sakho cleared of doping charge

 

I think Alejandro Moreno is color commentating the UCL Final. Looking forward to watching this on mute, then. He's abysmal.

 

ESPN is showing the game?

 

Oh. I got the games confused on the sports guide breakdown/Twitter reports showing up. Phew.

 

Witsel and Fellaini both on the field right now. So much fro.

 

Speaking of Fellaini, nothing will endear Mourinho to United fans like selling him off.

 

Between Pep and Mou, both Manchester sides are gonna be a selling spree this summer. Pep told the City board he needs eight new starters. Not just players, starters, haha.

 

Taking a look at it, that City squad is nothing to write home about. If you offered United a squad swap with City, I'm not sure I'd take it.

 

I'm curious who he considers the three starters on the squad. Aguero is obvious... David Silva and Kompany? DS is getting up there in age, but he's still one of the best at his position in the game.

 

I read it was Aguero, Kompany, and Fernandinho.

 

He'd be mad to actually follow through and get eight new starters for a team. That sort of "burn it to the ground and start again" team building would be absolutely catastrophic. No team can accommodate such an overhaul in playing staff so quickly.

 

De Bruyne

 

I doubt we will sell many players. We're already very thin.

 

It'd be hilariously sad if Mou only sells Mata.

 

Why anyone would think it's reasonable to replace 3/4ths of the starters on a team that just finished 4th is beyond me.

But I hope he does bring in 8 new starters. I fucking hope he brings in 11 new starters. Why not.

 

Was Sterling that bad for them?

 

Realistically, I can see 3-4 new starters coming in. But City is also a pretty old team, yeah? Next two seasons should see 7-8 of them phased out entirely.

 

Sterling has been fine. He suffers a bit from being a 50m pound signing, and the "Great English Hope" who wasn't very popular with the media. He's 21, played nearly 50 games this season and scored 11 goals, in a misfiring team. He was City's best player in the Champions League. He's had a decent season.

He's an extremely talented player, and I think Pep will make good use of him. He's far better than Navas.

 

Sterling - Aguero - De Bruyne in a typical Pep 4-3-3 is going to be a great front line. I'm more curious what he does behind them. Wouldn't necessarily call any of City's current midfielders Pep's preferred type.

 

I think he'll like Fernandinho at the base, he's a decent ball-player, and it looks like Gundogan is almost certainly being brought in, he can be the box-to-box in midfield for them. I think he might try and convert Silva to a deeper role, similar to Iniesta at Barca, or Cazorla at Arsenal.

 

Gundogan was linked with Barca a bit iirc while Pep was there, so I'd definitely believe that. He'd actually be perfect for Pep's system. Just because Silva's done it with Spain a few times, I can see him transitioning into that Iniesta role easily enough.

 

Sterling, Aguero, De Bruyne, Silva are all good enough. Maybe Fernandinho.


In other news, it's important to remember that no matter what you think of Wednesday, that Steve Bruce is a rape apologist so deserves nothing good from life.