Epl 2015/2016

[OwlsFan]

Sterling one of the most expensive footballers in history !!

Ranieri to Leicester - Will be surprised if that works out.

Van Persie to Turkey - if fit, why get rid of him? If not fit, who would want him?

Schweinstiger to Man U - a great player whom I have always admired but is he in decline? If not, a great signing.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Anyone else think 32.5m for Benteke is absolutely daft? I thought it was only English players who moved for obscene amounts of money. Benteke is a solid PL player but I have never been blown away by him any time I have watched the Villa. You would think Liverpool would have learned their lesson with Carroll.

Agreed RE: Ranieri. He has spent virtually his entire managerial career managing prestigious teams in Italy, Spain and England. How he will do with a team mired in the bottom half of the table - out of his comfort zone - is anyone's guess.

[BonnieShels]

Well, Belgian players are cool so they'll go for more than they're worth.

[KK77]

Anyone else think 32.5m for Benteke is absolutely daft? I thought it was only English players who moved for obscene amounts of money. Benteke is a solid PL player but I have never been blown away by him any time I have watched the Villa. You would think Liverpool would have learned their lesson with Carroll.

Agreed RE: Ranieri. He has spent virtually his entire managerial career managing prestigious teams in Italy, Spain and England. How he will do with a team mired in the bottom half of the table - out of his comfort zone - is anyone's guess.

I wouldn't get caught up in the price myself sure the majority of players are over priced. What I do know about the player in question is that he scores goals as his time at Villa has proved.

[OwlsFan]

Brendan Rogers owns over 100 houses !! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3177331/Brendan-Rodgers-divorce-goes-Court.html

[Eminence Grise]

And still he can't accommodate Balotelli!

[SkStu]

Anyone else think 32.5m for Benteke is absolutely daft? I thought it was only English players who moved for obscene amounts of money. Benteke is a solid PL player but I have never been blown away by him any time I have watched the Villa. You would think Liverpool would have learned their lesson with Carroll.

Benteke is an absolute monster of a player. A far, far, far superior player to Carroll in every aspect.

The only thing I would say is I don't know how/if he fits with the Rodgers "philosophy"...

https://greatrednorth.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/brendan-rodgers-david-brent.jpg?w=510&h=329

[passinginterest]

Fantasy premier league renewed again. If you were in before you should be auto added. Anyone wants to joint the league is Foot.ie and the code is 1073959-260874

[TheBoss]

Also, another competition here, Sky Sports Super 6 (https://super6.skysports.com/). Predict the scores of 6 games every week and be in with a chance to win £250,000 if you get all 6 exactly correct or £5,000 to the highest scoring player, its free to enter. Not sure if there is an existing foot.ie league.

[OwlsFan]

Everton are adamant that Stones will not be sold. Another week perhaps before he leaves ? I actually had never heard of him until this bidding began.

[BonnieShels]

Everton are adamant that Stones will not be sold. Another week perhaps before he leaves ? I actually had never heard of him until this bidding began.

He was the great white hope a few years back. I remember him being a FPL dynamo for about a fortnight.

[geysir]

is this the most predictable comment ever made by one manager about another clubs state of affairs?

"Arsene Wenger backs Eva Carneiro in ongoing Jose Mourinho row" (http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsene-wenger-backs-eva-carneiro-6250392#rlabs=1)

[OwlsFan]

Watched Wolves vs Hull (how is someone by the name of Conor Coady playing for England at underage level?) which wasn't a bad game (Meyler came on as a sub in the second half and did well) and then went to see Man City thrash Chelsea. The former always seem to start off the season very well and then fade. Had to laugh when the Chelsea physio etc came on to the pitch and the City fans sang "You'll be sacked in the morning".

Gary Birtles on Saturday when commenting on a game made a mixture of "nothing to write home about" and "nothing to sing about" to end up with "nothing to sing home about". :)

[KK77]

Eamon Dunphy has questioned the quality of the current Manchester United squad and labelled boss Louis van Gaal a “spoofer”, Manchester United won their first two league games of the Barclays Premier League season before being held to a scoreless draw by Newcastle at the weekend.
Speaking to RTÉ 2fm’s Game On, Dunphy said: “I think Van Gaal is a spoofer.
“I said this six months ago and I know that’s a dangerous thing to say, but everything I hear him say and everything he does with the team seems to me as a guy who’s making it up as he goes along.
“The main thing is he doesn’t want to concede goals and he seems to have a lot of bodies behind the ball, no support for Rooney, and a couple of duds in the team.”
Dunphy added: “They were terrible. They don’t really have enough quality players, they don’t have nearly enough quality players.
“This young lad, [Adnan] Januzaj, might become a player, but he’s lightweight.
“The new player, Memphis [Depay], did okay in the Champions League, but he’s raw, he’s a million miles away from being a top player. He wouldn’t get in Manchester City’s reserve team.
“They bring on [Antonio] Valencia - that’s a blast from the past - as a sub.
“[Bastian] Schweinsteiger isn’t fit. They gave Bayern Munich a gift of €20million, because he wouldn’t get in Bayern Munich’s team.”
Elaborating on his doubts on Van Gaal, who has won a Champions League with Ajax and landed league titles in three different countries as well as guiding his native Netherlands to a third-place finish at the World Cup, Dunphy said: “He’s got a very big ego and a presence about him, which is fine, but he’s not doing his stuff.
“The situation with [David] De Gea is a disgrace. I mean, he’s sitting in the stand and it looks like it’s a game of poker, but Real Madrid have four aces and Van Gaal has a pair of deuces.
“De Gea is going to walk for free, he can do a deal in January and he’s worth €35 million.”

[bennocelt]

Don't think he is much either tbf. Amount of money he squandered already

[DeLorean]

Dunphy calling somebody a spoofer, you couldn't make it up.

[OwlsFan]

Last time West Ham won at Anfield President Kennedy was announcing his ill fated trip to Dallas later that year. That's a lot of games.

[OwlsFan]

Everton are adamant that Stones will not be sold. Another week perhaps before he leaves ? I actually had never heard of him until this bidding began.

I am impressed. Both Everton and WBA stand firm against bids for their players by so-called bigger clubs. Everton in particular must be praised for resisting Chelsea's overtures.

[OwlsFan]

So farewell then Brendan Rogers. €300 million later (albeit some with recouped with sales), who will be next to try and rekindle the flames of former glories ?

Interesting that none of the promoted teams fills the bottom three spots. All three big clubs. Aston Villa has been a club in decline for the past 3 or 4 seasons and whether Tim Sherwood has the ability to turn that around, who knows. Nigel Pearson to Sunderland ? Chelsea just above the relegation zone. All quite interesting.

[KK77]

So farewell then Brendan Rogers. €300 million later (albeit some with recouped with sales), who will be next to try and rekindle the flames of former glories ?

Interesting that none of the promoted teams fills the bottom three spots. All three big clubs. Aston Villa has been a club in decline for the past 3 or 4 seasons and whether Tim Sherwood has the ability to turn that around, who knows. Nigel Pearson to Sunderland ? Chelsea just above the relegation zone. All quite interesting.

All the talk seems to be Klopp for Liverpool. We will know soon enough.

[OwlsFan]

Would you be happy with Klopp ? Looking at Wikipedia, he has been at two clubs and very successful at one and did ok at the other.

[DeLorean]

Kop flop Klopp gets chop

.... surely a headline too brilliant for him for him to be a success.

In all seriousness though he would seem a good fit. I'm a big Ancelotti fan but he has had money and superstars wherever he's been. Liverpool aren't shy in paying out big transfer fees but it seems to be wages where they can't really compete with Chelsea and the Manchester clubs in particular. Therefore they'll need to get more than the sum of their parts to really compete and he seems capable of doing that.

[KK77]

Would you be happy with Klopp ? Looking at Wikipedia, he has been at two clubs and very successful at one and did ok at the other.

Yes would be happy enough for him to have a go at it. In saying that I can't claim to have watched much of his spell in Germany but he seems to have great reports.

[OwlsFan]

Every time I hear Kloop being mentioned now, all I think of is the version of "Heil Hitler" by Captain Hans Geering in the comedy HALLO HALLO:

KhDDa183URE

[OwlsFan]

So refreshing to see Leicester City lead the way proving (for the moment at least) that the medium sized clubs are not just cannon fodder for the bigger boys. I wonder who the people were at Wednesday who released Vardy. Almost as bad as Trevor Francis insisting that Eric Cantona play a trial match for Wednesday before they would sign him. He told Wednesday where they could stick their trial game and signed for Leeds! The rest, as they say, is history.

[Eminence Grise]

Chelsea decide there's one nut too many in the Christmas party nibbles and it's bye-bye Jose.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/live/34413864

[OwlsFan]

Wenger hasn't won a title in yonks or a Champions League and is still happily ensconced at Arsenal. Mourinho manager of the reigning champions and also won the CL with them and still in the CL: sacked. Gary Monk leads Swansea to their highest ever position last season. Bad run of results this season: sacked and like Mourinho had recently penned a new deal.

It's a funny old game.

[pineapple stu]

Mourinho didn't win the CL with Chelsea; di Matteo did.

Spectacular fall from grace for Chelsea though - either the sacking will be justified by a new manager turning things around, or there's bigger issues and we can have more fun in the new year. :)

[OwlsFan]

Football is a funny old game (wonder who said that?). Swansea appoint a former player with no managerial experience to manage them and he is the flavour of the year for, well, a year. Then things start to go badly and they sack him and appoint, well, a former player with no managerial experience.

[DeLorean]

I was listening to Alan Smith on Sky Sports News earlier discussing Arsenal and their title prospects. He was saying that their match against Stoke at the weekend was a game that they would have lost in the past, and that their new found 'grit' and 'resilience' is the mark of champions. I always thought a mark of champions would be finding a way to win these sort of games, instead of hanging on for a draw. Anyway, I wonder what Smith's view would have been in the aftermath of the 4-0 mauling by Southampton a full three weeks ago, not to mention failing to see out the final couple of minutes at Anfield last week. As far as I can see, Arsenal are the same as ever, but the demise/inconsistency of the other top clubs means they do have a decent shout of finishing top of the pile. I think that's more of a reflection on the league generally rather than Arsenal themselves tough, not that they'll mind too much if it happens.

[OwlsFan]

Arsenal have the usual yo yo season. They put a few decent results together and the media say it could be their season. They then have a string of bad results and the media suggests that it might be time for Wenger to go. They then have some good results and....etc etc.

[geysir]

Arsenal are just being Arsenal, except now they have a very decent goalkeeper in Cech.
And while Arsenal have only bought Cech, Man U and Man City have spent over a £100m each and still they lag behind Arsenal.
I see Jonjo Shelvey cost Newcastle £12m. Isn't his stock as a player similar to the time he joined Swansea in 2013 for £5m? x-y =0 where x = player development and y = (rumors + questions).
Allowing for the 10% sell on clause, the fee does reflect a boom inflation in transfer fees.

[DeLorean]

It probably reflects Newcastle's desperation as much as anything, although Swansea are pretty desperate themselves. He did have an excellent debut, the best I've seen him by a mile.

This was pretty much his last (non)action for Swansea, when they were losing their F.A. Cup match in injury time!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMkEhVhRh14

[geysir]

That's hilarious.
(first time viewer)

I hadn't thought about the desperation stakes, interesting that Swansea would sell a decent player to their relegation rivals.

[SkStu]

In fairness, most people who watched the game and then watched the clip posted by DeL above noted that he was the only Swansea player who did anything that game and burst his ****** running up and down the pitch so was just wrecked that late in the game.

Most observers would say that much of what Swansea have done well over the last few years has involved Shelvey so a bump in his value is not too unusual.

He's a bang average player though in the grand scheme of things - crazy money!

[Charlie Darwin]

Arsenal are just being Arsenal, except now they have a very decent goalkeeper in Cech.
And while Arsenal have only bought Cech, Man U and Man City have spent over a £100m each and still they lag behind Arsenal.
I see Jonjo Shelvey cost Newcastle £12m. Isn't his stock as a player similar to the time he joined Swansea in 2013 for £5m? x-y =0 where x = player development and y = (rumors + questions).
Allowing for the 10% sell on clause, the fee does reflect a boom inflation in transfer fees.
Inflated by Newcastle's desperation I'd say. Tiote looks to be off and he hasn't seemed right for a couple of years, so they went after probably the one player who'd sign for them. Swansea did well consider they wanted rid of him and probably would have accepted half that.

[DeLorean]

In fairness, most people who watched the game and then watched the clip posted by DeL above noted that he was the only Swansea player who did anything that game and burst his ****** running up and down the pitch so was just wrecked that late in the game.

I only saw the last twenty minutes or so myself. Still, no excuse for not chasing the ball a couple of feet away in the situation they were in. He seemed to be walking freely enough once he took his little breather.

[geysir]

I see that the English Independent has reported that Mourinho sent in a lengthy essay extolling his virtues to Man U.
True or not is besides the point, the report just happens to tick all the narcissist believability factors that make up Mourinho.

[DeLorean]

You wouldn't put anything past him but his agent did say the story is absurd, so I guess that it probably is. Not that Mourinho and respect are related in any way, but I don't think he'd draw that on himself with Van Gaal still there. I think Manchester United are deluding themselves a little with this notion that Mourinho isn't classy enough to manage them though, he's certainly not classy but then neither was Ferguson. Throw a 'Sir' before somebody's name and suddenly they're seen as whiter than white!

That said, I'm not sure Mourinho is a great fit at this point in time. His stock has fallen a little, the success once heavily outweighed the baggage, but they're getting closer all the time. Clubs haven't exactly fallen apart without him either, Chelsea and Real Madrid both winning trophies aplenty, including a Champions League each, after he left.

United's major problem at the moment anyway is their complete absence of attacking spark, they're relatively well organised otherwise. Mourinho's major strength has been making teams incredibly difficult to beat. It would be interesting, but perhaps risky, to see how he'd get on with the other side of the game as his main challenge. I think Ancelotti would have been the ideal appointment but obviously that ship has sailed for now.

[geysir]

The story is not absurd (agent's description) because it has a number of believable factors, there are people who would believe that Mourinho has messianic delusions and would think himself to be the savior of Man U. The unbelievable bit (imo) would be to have put an unsolicited letter of application down in writing and risk ridicule. Ridicule on that level would be the thing that would give him restless nights. And football leaks would have a copy on line by now, courtesy of a deep throat who goes by the pseudonym 'comb-over'.
Now Mourinho has to endure a level of ridicule without having done the deed, the narcissist's path is a thorny one. That could also explain why he has difficulty to rescue a situation which has dive bombed, eg as outlined in Arbeloa's interview (http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/alvaro-arbeloa-interview-real-madrid-full-back-gets-inside-the-mind-of-chelsea-manager-jose-mourinho-a6715696.html), his players have betrayed him, they make him look bad by their attitude on the pitch, whereas Ferguson was a ruthless dictator but one who put the ethos of club first and foremost and one who could pick his team off the floor.

[DeLorean]

The story is not absurd (agent's description) because it has a number of believable factors, there are people who would believe that Mourinho has messianic delusions and would think himself to be the savior of Man U.

Maybe he meant 'absurd' in the sense that it was a totally fabricated story conjured out of thin air, and not necessarily that Mourinho isn't capable of such an action. That Arbeloa interview is very interesting, I had never seen that.

[DeLorean]

I see Jonjo Shelvey cost Newcastle £12m. Isn't his stock as a player similar to the time he joined Swansea in 2013 for £5m? x-y =0 where x = player development and y = (rumors + questions).
Allowing for the 10% sell on clause, the fee does reflect a boom inflation in transfer fees.

Paddy Power have adopted a formula similar to yours, added my desperation theory, and come up with this for Newcastle's latest signing... :)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZpEUVmWwAAJ426.jpg

[CraftyToePoke]

So Leicester having beaten Liverpool 2-0 earlier have Man City away followed by Arsenal away up next, if they navigate those with a point or three or at least without taking a good hiding then who knows, as they then face Norwich, WBA, Watford, Newcastle & Palace.

Gripping story with each hurdle closer ratcheting up the entertainment value. Shame there are no Irish lads part of it.

[TheBoss]

I think everyone would want them to win it, would make such a refreshing change but should we be surprised that they are doing well. I say that because with the amount of money available to most if not all EPL teams, you would think that most should challenge for the title but its just that most of the clubs are happy to be mid table sides. Look at Stoke, spending €25m on a player and their target is a top half finish despite the quality they have, they should be challenging for the league if you look at some of the players they have but the mentality of club is not directed towards that.

[pineapple stu]

The Champions' League and the uneven distribution of TV revenue surely gives the incumbent big 4 a huge advantage though.

Man City earned €45m in prize money alone last season. Liverpool earned €34m. That's money Leicester don't have. CL gate receipts and other matchday income would add to that gap.

In terms of league prize money, Leicester earned €20/25m less than the top few last season.

And then Leicester just don't have the same global reach as the other clubs - no club was shown on TV less often than them last year - and there's more money that the big teams have. That'll reduce sponsorship deals and all sorts of other income.

So yes, it's a huge surprise that they're three points clear with just 14 games to go.

[DeLorean]

Even more amazing that they're producing football like this...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4bdCdiKGto

[TheBoss]

The Champions' League and the uneven distribution of TV revenue surely gives the incumbent big 4 a huge advantage though.

Man City earned €45m in prize money alone last season. Liverpool earned €34m. That's money Leicester don't have. CL gate receipts and other matchday income would add to that gap.

In terms of league prize money, Leicester earned €20/25m less than the top few last season.

And then Leicester just don't have the same global reach as the other clubs - no club was shown on TV less often than them last year - and there's more money that the big teams have. That'll reduce sponsorship deals and all sorts of other income.

So yes, it's a huge surprise that they're three points clear with just 14 games to go.

Those top teams as you say are earning vast amounts but how are they spending that money should be the question asked. They are bringing in slightly above average players for huge money, where as teams like Leicester now can afford to get good players despite the huge difference between them and the high earners. Not too long ago a team like Leicester could only spend like €2-3m per player, now they can spend up to €10m+, which gives them a huge pool of players to choose from that the top teams always ignore for some reason, only then to buy these players off clubs like Leicester.

[DeLorean]

Those top teams as you say are earning vast amounts but how are they spending that money should be the question asked. They are bringing in slightly above average players for huge money

That's true in a lot of cases but there's still a massive difference between Manchester City being able to spend £100m on De Bruyne and Sterling alone, two players that are almost guaranteed to aid a title challenge regardless of whether they fully live up to their billing. They can afford to spend £8m on Fabian Delph and if he's a flop it's no big issue, it's much more damaging to be an £8m flop at Leicester. Even Arsenal, who aren't usually flamboyant when it comes to transfer fees, could fork out £70m+ (and attract) high performers at Real Madrid and Barcelona in Ozil and Sanchez. These aren't slightly above average, they're practically the elite.

[pineapple stu]

Yep.

Even being in the Champions' League makes it easier to sign players - and Leicester aren't. Players would surely go with the top 4 in England, Germany, Italy and Spain ahead of Leicester. And probably other CL regulars like Porto, Kiev, PSG, Zenit, etc, etc.

And I don't think they've any real big-name players in their squad. Mark Schwarzer is their most experienced international - he's 43 (and has played twice this season). Vardy is the only player with England caps - 4 of them, and no goals, even against San Marino. Huth has 19 caps for Germany - the only player capped with a big country in the squad; they've an uncapped Argentine and Frenchman. Schmeichel and Morgan are internationals for Denmark and Jamaica, but have 40 caps between them at the age of 29 and 32 - so hardly key national team players. There's lots of players like that - and it just all seems to be coming together.

I'd believe that the extra money coming into the English game means Leicester would be better than most of the mid-table teams in Germany, Spain and Italy. And it helps that Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea in particular are imploding of late. But still, breaking into the top four in England - for a side that was newly-promoted relegation-fodder this time last year - is still a huge surprise in my view. Let alone being three points clear at the top. And having dropped four points in the past few weeks through missed penalties.

[Charlie Darwin]

Vardy is the only player with England caps - 4 of them, and no goals, even against San Marino. Huth has 19 caps for Germany - the only player capped with a big country in the squad.
Nice :)