A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that those deals were getting some press. Most of what I saw was suggesting that the deals were basically done, but of course I already saw that a couple of seasons ago about Suarez and so on, so I'm still skeptical until the club announces the deals officially.

The BBC seem confident enough to report the deals as imminent, though, and they're not often wrong about transfers. The article points out that this would take Arsenal's spending to about £100 million this window.

As I've said before, everyone knows Arsenal have that money and places in the squad, so it's not against FFP or otherwise really a problem that Arsenal are doing this kind of business. They can't make a habit of it (without also selling) but since they didn't do enough in the past couple of years they've had enough money in the bank to do this quite comfortably.

I suppose it's kind of notable that the biggest spenders in the league can do this and some of them could still buy a Pogba on top of it, so it's kind of incredible how much money there is in the market. Now, granted, those clubs tend to also sell a lot, while Arsenal usually have the sort of players you don't really want to be selling unless you have to. In that sense the transfer business has been decent (and of course it helps if you give players an actual opportunity before you sell on, if your squad isn't crying out for an upgrade on that position).

Arsenal have loaned out Szczesny and Campbell, and there are stories suggesting they'll also loan out Chambers. That's to free up space and wages for the incoming players. Asano didn't get a work permit (which I expected), so he'll have to be loaned out, too. Arsenal obviously won't register him for any competitions now, as he wouldn't be able to play, anyway. Rosicky, Arteta, and Flamini have left the club.

It's likely that either Jenkinson or Debuchy will be sold, as well; there's no point having three first-team quality players in one position, especially if you've got a youngster from your academy, not needing registration, that was the best in the league in his position last season.

The future of that position, as well as the situations with Campbell and Szczesny, are questions that Arsenal will have to answer next summer. My guess would be that Debuchy will be sold and Jenkinson kept as cover for Bellerin, Ospina will be sold after this season so that Szczesny can come back as the eventual successor of (and intermediate cover for) Cech, and Campbell will be sold if the current wide players (most notably Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain) do enough to secure themselves a future at the club.

Meanwhile, in the Europa League: Arouca has managed to get to extra time (ongoing) against Olympiakos, after a goal scored by the former's player Gêgê at the latter's stadium. Both teams have Portuguese coaches, btw (Olympiakos signed Paulo Bento a little while ago).

And Astra has defeated West Ham at the latter's stadium by 1 goal (scored by Filipe Teixeira. It's not the first time Astra knocked them out in an Europa League qualifying round - it is, in fact, the second time in a row that Astra defeats them.

Sassuolo reach the Europa League group stage in their first attempt ever. Quite good for a club which got promoted to the Serie A 3 or 4 years ago for the first time. If Arouca go through, we'll see a similar thing.

EDIT: Or maybe we won't. Olympiakos has just scored in the first half of ET. And a second one in the second half.

edited 25th Aug '16 2:09:07 PM by Quag15

I'm aware Celtic FC has a sizable international fanbase, but I never figured on that including cheery schoolchildren in Thailand.

A new video posted this week in tribute to Brendan Rodgers has been growing into something of a minor viral hit.

edited 26th Aug '16 6:28:05 AM by SeanMurrayI

Tomorrow, Liverpool play Tottenham in the early 12:30 kick off spot on Saturday. It's hard to not see this game ending in some kind of draw, as both teams are quite evenly matched, with both having quite a similar, tight press, passing sort of game. Last season both times the two teams met, they both ended up in draws, 0-0 on Klopp's first game at home and 1-1 at White hart lane. Going on current form of both teams is rather hard to pick between the two, as Liverpool have played 3 games so far this season, winning 2; Aresnal 3-4 and Burton Albion 0-5 in the league cup. Whilst losing to Burnley in the second game of the season 2-0. Spurs have played 2 games so far and drew 1 all to Everton on the first game and winning 1-0 to Crystal palace last weekend. If Spurs want to win this, they will have to play like Burnley did, put pressure on our midfields, by pressing them high up the pitch and not allowing them any time on the ball, and then countering them quickly. However if they try to play the possession game they can expect to be walloped by the Pool on the counter.

Edit: That's some bloody good character right there.

edited 26th Aug '16 6:36:54 AM by KentDawg1

The Europa League stage has been drawn. Braga's group will be a bit difficult, but they can probably go through.

Manchester United's Europa League group is Group A with; Fenebache (Robin Van Pursie's team) Feyenoord, and Zorya. Whilst Southampton's group K involves; Inter Milan,Sparta Praha, H Beer Sheva.

If Mourinho takes Europa League seriously, (emphasis on IF) he should easily get out of that group with the team that he has. With getting first place shouldn't really be a challenge. But knowing what he thinks of Europa League, he will probably play youth. I wont lie, I have literally no clue who the two teams in Group K are, that isn't Inter and Southampton. Looking at what ST have done in the transfer market I can't really say that they've strengthened after selling their best players from last season. So I think they can get 2nd in the group with inter being first.

The away legs for Man U are gonna be so hostile. Between Turkey, Ukraine, and Rotterdam, I can't even be too sure which home crowd could potentially be the most hostile.

The Portuguese squad for the friendly with Gibraltar and the qualifier against Switzerland.

Nice to see our promising striker André Silva there, as well as Bernardo Silva.

And no, Ronaldo is not there. He's still recovering.

Premier League teams already spent €1bn in transfer fees this summer.

I really want to see that bubble explode, it is becoming surreal.

Net spending is under £600m

And EPL clubs can afford it with the massive international TV revenue and streams of advertising.

edited 26th Aug '16 9:05:13 AM by SeanMurrayI

The fact that they can does not make it healthy or reasonable.

Technically, the U.S. can nuke Canada.

Let's stick to the sports analogies.

If English clubs can afford it, then it unquestionably is financially healthy and reasonable for them to spend within their means with the revenue and earnings they take in.

A club like Man U doesn't even need to shell out the ~£120 million (including the add-ons) for Paul Pogba all at once. As transfer fees can be amortised over the length of a player’s contract, English clubs can in effect already spend ever-increasing guaranteed revenue from TV and advertising now, before they receive that cash (typically after the end of seasons), and that's not counting additional funds top English clubs receive for participating in UEFA tournaments.

The real issue we should be looking at is if the increased revenues for the Premier League clubs directly correlate to the much higher transfer fees other European clubs are demanding from English clubs in this transfer window.

edited 26th Aug '16 11:30:04 AM by SeanMurrayI

Insane transfer fees coming from England = Non-English clubs bar a small elite become unable to match them = Talents getting away from their championships earlier and earlier = while PL flourishes, other leagues wither because TV rights become uninteresting = gap widening = problem increasing = problem increasing = problem increasing. And so on.

I mean, the silver lining is that the English national team will keep being an international joke for years to come since its young talents will never get a chance when faced with the best Europe has to offer, but still, overall, it sucks.

If you're going to be serious about outlining a steady slide down a slippery slope, at least explain the logical correlation between each step. Outside of the Premier League, other top European divisions like La Liga and the Bundesliga have already been growing their brand appeal through international TV deals of their own, and lesser clubs in those leagues that aren't Madrid, Barcelona, Madrid, and Munich have themselves been growing increasingly more competitive both in domestic competitions and in UEFA tournaments as a result of that.

And the declines of other top European leagues as of late have little-to-nothing to do with Premier League TV broadcasting deals or English clubs buying their players.

edited 26th Aug '16 1:24:23 PM by SeanMurrayI

Vitória Guimarães 5-3 Paços de Ferreira

What a game!

They scored very early, but we responded well, with Marega drawing about 4 minutes later. They then scored an own goal, and the rest of the first half had quite a few chances that could have gone in (especially in our favour).

In the second half, Marega scored his second goal, and then Hurtado scored a nice header a few minutes later.

Our fifth goal came from an (unjust) penalty, and they reacted by scoring a great goal from outside the area. They scored the third goal through an (unjust) penalty. The occasional incompetence of the referee aside, this was a great match and I would recommned it.

And that's our second consecutive win. 6 points in 3 games is not bad, not bad at all. I like our coach already (Pedro Martins, who had led Rio Ave to a qualifying spot in the Europa League in the previous season).

edited 26th Aug '16 2:37:06 PM by Quag15

So premier league predictions for this weekend's games.

Tottenham 1-1 Liverpool. Chelsea 2-0 Burnley. Crystal Palace 1-1 Bournemouth. Everton 2-2 Stoke. Leicster 2-1 Swansea. Southampton 0-0 Sundeland. Watford 0-1 Aresnal Hull 0-2 Man Utd West Brom 0-0 Middlesborough Man City 3-2 West Ham.

That first penalty call is a can of worms. Seeing how quickly the goalie knocks the ball out of the way and subsequently takes the running forward out from underneath him, from the referee's point of view, it's impossible to tell which happens first, and his collision with his opponent could perhaps still appear as dangerous play. If we'd call it a 50-50 and still call a foul, perhaps I'd favor the GK and award a free kick, but I can't protest much over a penalty being given (love how the kicker balks during that run-up).

That second PK call, though... Ugh.

Still looking like a fun, eventful game.

New season (with another new makeover) in the Argentina Primera is just getting underway. Saramiento is leading 1-0 at home in the season opener against Arsenal, currently in the 25th minute, at the time of this post.

Once again, Argentina Primera matches are broadcast live on YouTube by the broadcast team at Fútbol Para Todos

Following this match, Godoy Cruz host the mighty Huracán!

edited 26th Aug '16 3:29:22 PM by SeanMurrayI

Watford v Arsenal tomorrow (or today - it's past midnight where I live).

Arsenal's new signings, if indeed they are actually even happening, won't be available for this game. Perhaps one or both will be on the bench, but I doubt that because the transfers have still not even been announced.

This is why I'll predict - I admit, with a bit of optimism - Watford 1 - 0 Arsenal. Hopefully Arsenal won't concede more than one. If they're lucky they might even manage a draw.

If Watford remain as compact in the same formation they fielded against Chelsea, it may prove difficult for Arsenal, assuming they start in a similar formation to Chelsea's with only one striker. Chelsea didn't break down Watford last week until they began playing two strikers.

edited 26th Aug '16 3:49:00 PM by SeanMurrayI

This poor kid. Talk about missing that "final touch"...

edited 27th Aug '16 4:05:39 PM by SeanMurrayI

So, Thierry Henry has been hired as the Belgian national team's assistant manager. That's a step up from a similar position at Arsenal's academy, which he had to leave because Wenger said he can't be at the club and working as a TV pundit at the same time. I wonder if he'll be able to combine a job with Belgium with his TV work? I don't see why not, assuming they're not asking him to move to Belgium. (Then again I would think that the coaching team of the national team would normally be based in that nation.)

This will be great experience for him, and a clear step towards an eventual transition to first-team management at a club. I doubt that he'll stay with Belgium for more than a few years. Maybe Arsenal will choose him as Wenger's successor, assuming that Wenger agrees to a few more seasons at the club. The alternative would be someone else managing the club through a transition phase until Henry arrives, but to be honest that sort of plan is not better than just opting for someone else as Wenger's short-term successor with the aim of having them manage the club in the long term, as well. It's not that vital to have Henry, though it certainly would be very nice (when he's ready).

The new transfers have still not been officially announced, so I'm still not fully believing that they're happening. Just about every media source I've seen seems to take them as done deals, so hopefully it really is just some formalities being finished before everything's done. I would've preferred to have them - especially Mustafi - starting against Watford but what can you do. I predicted a 1-0 win to Watford, and as I said that's a fairly optimistic prediction because it only has Arsenal with a goal difference of -2 for the season so far. Wenger left the transfers far too late, and now Arsenal will have to play brilliant football for the rest of the season (after the new players finally arrive) to try to push for a finish in the top half of the table.

I still wonder how he failed that one. Well, better luck next time, I guess.

Italian squad to play the friendly against France and the qualifier against Israel. Gianluigi Donnarumma (the Milan GK) gets called up for the first time. Considering that he's only 17(!) and that he's Milan's first GK, this is quite amazing. In fact, Buffon debuted before he was born. Donnarumma has also become the youngest call-up for Italy since... 1911.

It must really suck to be an Italian GK and to not have Gianluigi in one's name...

Also, take note of Alessio Romagnoli. It's also his first call-up (he's 21) and he's a very promising CB. He also plays for Milan (though I heard Chelsea made a couple of bids for him).

edited 27th Aug '16 7:00:39 AM by Quag15

"1-0 is an optimistic result" LOLOLOLOLOL

Went to the bathroom at the 38th min, took some chocolate chip cookies on the way back, returned by the 1st minute of stoppage time and it's 3-0 LOL

Watford 0 - 3 Arsenal at half-time. Goals from Cazorla (penalty), Alexis, and Özil.

Watford have two new signings in their 3-man defense, and obviously they're not used to playing together yet. I was surprised to see both of them start. I also didn't think Özil would be in Arsenal's line-up. If I had known that I might have guessed that Arsenal would score, though I still would not have expected Arsenal to win this game.

Well, I'm glad to be wrong about this. I hope Arsenal will keep the intensity of the game up for most of the second half - can't allow Watford to get back in the game.

Xhaka has been great, especially with his ability to keep possession and find a teammate with a long pass even under pressure. Looks a lot like Cazorla in that regard. Holding has been decent defensively, but with the ball he's made a couple of mistakes by giving slow, long passes into open space in front of the penalty area. You don't want to allow the other side's forward to sprint to cut one of those, and Koscielny has had to run toward Holding to receive those passes in time. That's something they'll have to work on in training before the next game.

1-1 the final result at White Hart Lane in the early kick off game. Honestly, the game could have been won by either Spurs or the Pool, whilst I thought LP had the better chances to finish the game, Spurs still had some quite good chances as well, so a draw is a pretty fair result and I guessed the right result as well. :)