'Even allowing for inflation, this thread is not worth 198 Terry Francises' - EPL 2017-18

lol as if squad building matters these days. you throw your money at whoever will take it, you get in whoever you can, you worry about where they fit in to the bigger picture later. though if Liverpool have got any pretensions at going deep in the Champs League and the cups while competing for the title, you need all the players you can get.

nailing on your 1st eleven and neglecting the bench isn't gonna get you anywhere unless you're out of Europe and only care about the league.

You don't buy someone for 60m+ and keep them on the bench

Even in 2017

idk, i disagree. already this season we've seen Martial, Morata, Lacazette, Aguero, Bernardo Silva etc. etc. - at the higher levels plenty of very expensive players have to put up with time on the bench as part of a rotation system. it's inevitable if you want the necessary squad depth.

if you're a team competing for trophies on all fronts at the highest level it's not a question of buying players for the bench. you need more than 11 players available if you're having a 55-60 game season, which is what all the big sides should be aiming for.

Lemar could theoretically play on the left of either the midfield or the attacking trio in this Liverpool system, he'll get plenty of game time.

Would imagine that janssen would've set you back at least 40m this summer and he's the epitome of a bencher

Sterling plus £20m for Sanchez?! If I was an Arsenal fan I'd be pretty fucking delighted with that...

Sterling LW Theo RW is some kind of platonic model of something

Sanchez is one of the most overrated players out there imo.

Sterling is underrated to about the same degree that Sanchez is overrated. He is also infinitely more effective than Walcott.

why? he's v prolific, fast, has great close control, can beat players

Sterling LW Theo RW is some kind of platonic model of something

― a hulking and impenetrable dump (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 29 August 2017 10:43 (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Wingers who were told to watch what Aaron Lennon was doing and copy it.

60m sprinters with feet too sharp for a football.

Wimmer to Stoke for £18m.

Wingers who were told to watch what Aaron Lennon was doing and copy it.

60m sprinters with feet too sharp for a football.

feel like "basically only got one move" comes into it too

Sanchez is one of the most overrated players out there imo.

This is an absurd challop but on the other hand you have to assume he's peaked now.

Schick's mum: So, how were you announced at your new club son?
Schick: Well...

🐵💻🦁👑🇨🇿🕶🦁🎶🐐 #Schick #ASRoma pic.twitter.com/JAIvKGYS7P

— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) August 29, 2017

raheem sterling isn't fit to clean alexis' boots

From Sky: "SANCHEZ, STERLING UPDATE

Details of the negotiations which have taken place between Manchester City and Arsenal are becoming a little clearer this afternoon...

We understand Manchester City are keen on a simple cash-only deal for Alexis Sanchez.

Arsenal, however, are considering a deal which involves Sanchez heading for Manchester City, with Raheem Sterling heading for north London. Interestingly, we understand that the deal would also include Arsenal paying a fee to City as a makeweight.

So, to confirm, that's Arsenal paying City a fee for Sterling, with Sanchez also going to City."

Wengerball

That still kind of works for Arsenal tho? Sanchez effectively has a value of £0 to them since his contract is up next summer and he is just stomping about in the huff just now, so if they can get a better than decent replacement at a discount in exchange for not having him about the place for the next few months that sounds like decent business? Depends on how much they are talking about adding on I suppose

Don't think the fam will see it that way, blud, but I more or less agree.

MattDC, on my challop upthread: I overwhelmingly meant the latter, that I think Sanchez has had its peak.

coutinho seems to be off, the little dick.

Where are you reading that?

If anything Liverpool's the little dick here. They could've been the heroes of the summer, standing their ground firm. Rejecting 110m, rejecting 120m and laughing at Barca, rejecting 130m and making a mockery of Barca... Saying you'll not sell him this window and Barca looking foolish trying and trying again. So why accept 140m now? They sure fucked Klopp if this is true.

Selling him for anything over 80m is heroic, they're fine without him.

I think he's an extremely overrated player, the kind that if you were to build around him it kind of confirms your 'almost but not quite' status.

Mane, Firminho far more consistent and far more adept at playing to system.

Sure, selling him over 80m is good, but then don't decline bids of 100, 110, 120 strutting yr stuff yet two days before the deadline suddenly accept a bid of a mere 10m more. That's bollocks.

That's Moneyball!

Ah it's not.

If they were fucked without him, yes.

Seeing as that's not imo the case, then squeeze and delay.

Not selling to a club on another level is pretty much always a bad decision all told these days.

Ok, I can see that. Funny thing is Coutinho prob of way more playing value to Barca than to Liverpool.

i meant that in a totally non-negative way, it makes sense to me that Fenway would maximize the return on him, and tho i think he's a loss & i wdn't necessarily agree with "extremely" overrated i think it's already obvious this season that he isn't essential to the club

He's no eriksen he's an alli

i would absolutely sell coutinho if i were liverpool, especially with the silly money being mentioned.

they likely won't end up buying a big money replacement this transfer window though, which always grates on supporters

I think they've handled that with keita announcement this week.

Think Liverpool did really well on the market this summer, and they have a good team as it is. Also, no fam/blud (ie Arsenal) shenanigans.

Anything on the horizon for Spurs the coming two days, or is this it?

If they get 80m for continuous they should deliver it in mailbags to Southampton for vvd and that's a great summer imo

Aurier, which imo is a funny one.

Would almost be interested in what poch could make of Barkley.

What we need and what we look like getting and what levy will produce at 2am after the deadline are essentially three different things.

Anyway.....I'd now be surprised if this wasn't pochs last year. He deserved a lot better this summer than what the club and the players did for him and from a position of being well ahead of schedule we've still somehow managed to put a bad taste on it.

Quite sickened by spurs at the moment tbh.

Absolutely. Don't think Soton will budge though. xp

Idk think Pock and Levy are a match made in heaven. Poch doesn't seem to ask much, which makes Levy a happy camper.

If anything Liverpool's the little dick here. They could've been the heroes of the summer, standing their ground firm. Rejecting 110m, rejecting 120m and laughing at Barca, rejecting 130m and making a mockery of Barca... Saying you'll not sell him this window and Barca looking foolish trying and trying again. So why accept 140m now? They sure fucked Klopp if this is true.

not if, as seems to be the case, the deal is contingent on lemar joining liverpool. if it comes to that, and coupled with his bs about training for brazil after feigning injury before a gigantic match - maybe it is time to just let him go. all my resistance here was on the basis that they won't be able to sign anyone as a replacement.

i'm emboldened by our spanking of perennial tough nut arsenal.

Lemar has it all to prove imo, but I see your point.

OT but missed you here during the trashing of Arsenal last weekend.

xp lol!

We don't mean any more to poch that Southampton did when we came calling. For the past two years he's made his own platform for achievement but last summer the players delivered weren't what was needed. I think this summer was a long time coming for him and he's been left grasping again, and you'd have to be very idealistic to presume he'll overlook the top tier clubs next time they come knocking

Obv, but Poch signed on to a Spurs basically spending nowt (yes yes, Sanchez, but he wasn't even needed most), and he's still there. I don't think it's lack of ambition, rather

May be Poch is very idealistic. Maybe he is a unicorn.

Meanwhile Vincent Janssen is still a first pick striker of the toiling Dutch XI and I don't even know football anymore ffs

omg

all my resistance here was on the basis that they won't be able to sign anyone as a replacement.

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Tuesday, August 29, 2017 3:12 PM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

same, for the most part, though i've always really liked coutinho, in part because he seemed like he wouldn't be the type to pull what he's done this summer

Obv, but Poch signed on to a Spurs basically spending nowt (yes yes, Sanchez, but he wasn't even needed most), and he's still there. I don't think it's lack of ambition, rather

nah you maybe accept a certain frugality out of deference to club policy when you come in as the new guy, but there's not much more Poch could reasonably have done in the last 3 years to say "I know what I'm doing here and if you want to win things then you've got to back me". every one of Spurs' competitors domestically and on the continent is strengthening (except Arsenal it seems). if i was Poch i'd be pretty pissed off. or possibly just a bit deflated and worn out.

Raheem Sterling has got certain natural gifts that make him a very effective wide forward in the right kind of system and i think playing for Pep would be very good for his development, but he's still wildly inconsistent and in some respects he is still basically dogshit. moving to this current Arsenal side would not be a good move for him at all.

though i've always really liked coutinho, in part because he seemed like he wouldn't be the type to pull what he's done this summer

He'd never have had the opportunity to if Barca hadn't completely lost the plot

2nd most expensive player of all time now he's a cunt

Apparently the Ox has turned down Chelsea and wants to go to Liverpool? The rationale being he wants to play central midfield instead of wingback, meanwhile Liverpool are likely to bid a lot less than Chelsea are offering.

Ox in midfield in a Klopp team might actually work IDK.

Aurier has apparently got his work permit.

Good signing

"Excellent work Kieran, now back to the bench for you"