Men's Soccer (Football) Thread Soccer • Page 635

Djed Spence has to be in the England squad going forward. He’s getting better and better the more he plays. And he can play either side.

I can’t believe his career arch. He was coming off multiple failed loans. We tried to sell him for under 10m and the other club said it was too much. We got so lucky that it played out this way in the end.

 

The new era begins.

 

The new stadium looks terrific

 

I still find it odd that United went for Amorim, a manager totally wedded to a specific system the squad simply isn’t suited to.

He’s a great manager, but the financial and institutional issues are going to impact the ability to get the right players in. It speaks of more bad decision making to me.

I’m sure they will say that they are prepared to take that short/medium term pain because they believe he’s the right man in the long run, but they badly need CL football every season and I can’t see them getting that in the next few years unless they somehow win the EL.

 

Badge pointing spotted! How long before a kiss?

 

I think there’s a clear disconnect between Ratcliffe, Berrada, Ashworth who has come and gone, Wilcox, Brailsford, and everyone involved. Forcing the Amorim hire mid season maybe just as stupid as containing with ten Hag just to bin him.

My thinking is that they raise whatever funds they can, particularly leaning on the sales of homegrown talent for pure FFP profit. After that they’re going to go the route of 7-8 signings in the 20-30M range, a whole slate of Dorgu style signings that are singled out as the perfect profile to work in his system.

Have a good preseason with a properly rebuilt squad full of young and coach-able and moldable raw talent that are eager to go out and impress and have no prior ties to the rotted institution of Manchester United. Couple that with a season of no Europe so extra time with the squad training to adapt and continue learning the system.

 

Think this has to be up there as one of the great quotes. “I have a lot of problems, my job is so hard.”

 

Everton's goalkeeper for this first game is 15 year old! No goals yet, Wigan have had the better of it lol

 

1-0 Wigan haha. Cursed stadium!

 

And the lad held up his fingers to indicate Liverpool’s CLs lol

 

Yeah, I saw that. I also saw a Liverpool fan PAYING Everton's YouTube for a highlighted comment, though. As if you'd bother haha

 

Back in the good books, I see.

 

Three teams just barely staving off a relegation fight and a surprise contender for a European spot.

 

Interesting that Arsenal and Liverpool said no. Guessing that indicates a change in plans for both compared to the last few years.

 

Are players going to take this club World Cup seriously? Bayern are going to be in Charlotte and if Kane is playing I’ll definitely go. But too expensive to go and not see him.

 

The next Bundesliga season kicks off August 22, which is essentially a month after the Club World Cup finishes. You might get lucky and be able to see Kane, but I'd take caution as the bigger clubs are rarely enticed to take it seriously due to the piss poor prize money on offer (5 million). Even domestic Super Cups offer more reward! Moreover, it's too early for clubs to use it as a pre-season tournament.

 

This is the first one with the expanded format though, right? Isn't the prize money way higher for this new format? I remember seeing it and thinking "wow, $50m just for qualifying? gonna love that in my Korean FM saves", and if it's just $50m(ish) for qualifying, surely the prize for winning is more than that. A few articles seem to suggest it's gonna be $100m for first place? Can imagine teams will be putting in their best effort for that kinda money.

 

Of course, you're spot on.

 

To be fair, think there's been a lot of misleading information about prize money. The $50m figure has been revised down quite a lot, and as it turns out only the bigger clubs will be getting paid that much. Plus FIFA are really struggling to get broadcast deals in place and that's impacting the prize pot. Adam Crafton from The Athletic has written quite a lot on it.

 

I know we have no other real options, and that he’s very good, but we cannot play a(nother) 17 year old up front lol.

Also, if he messes up that name is going to be very meme-able lol

 

Dangerous name lol

 

On one hand, I don’t wish these types of injury crises on any team. It’s miserable. Makes watching games the opposite of fun.

But on the other hand, it’s kinda nice to see it happen to someone else. Partially as a general coping mechanism for our struggles haha but mainly because it will bring more attention to the issue. When it happens to Spurs, it comes with mostly jokes. But now that a few other clubs are going through it, even at a lesser extent as of now, it’s shining light on the issue of too many games and guys being overplayed.

 

I hope Brugge hold on tonight. Would be cool to see a Belgian team make it through.