Heeby Jeeby wrote:

Peripatetic wrote:Wow. Second to last place.

Fabregas can't score when he doesn't play...and my only mf sub was injured too.

Oh well, there's a lot of football to be played.

Newcastle ruled yesterday.

Spare a thought for the solitary fucker sitting below you. Fabregas....Carrick....James as goalkeeper....it really couldn't have gone any worse. I'm trying to decide whether to make changes now or see how things pan out in the coming weeks.

I really should've checked the scoring system properly. I had started the Guardian one with my housemate and theirs is way more involved.

I've got James too.

I pretty much tried to start with basically the same team I ended with last year. I couldn't afford it though so I had to make some sacrifices.

I kept Fabregas because he's supposed to be back after a week or two so I thought, eh what the hell. He did very well for me last year.

I'm going to let it ride for a few weeks and see what happens.

It's way too early to use my wildcard.

chairman_hall wrote:
Yes, that's Manchester United, European and Premiership champions, with the most famous brand in football, and probably one of the biggest transfer kitties and pulls in English football whining about a lack of squad depth.

We should all spare a thought for them.

I'd rather spare a thought for a team who's lowly top ten aspirations has their fans feeling smug over a draw at old trafford. Still a big club my arse.

I guess Brazil's dream of an Olympic gold medal will have to wait another four years. 3-nil to Argentina in the semifinal. Four yellows and then two straight reds in three minutes at the end for Brazil. I don't know if they have a consolation game in Olympic football, I guess they must for the medals, but I wonder if they'll even show up?

s = y wrote:

chairman_hall wrote:
Yes, that's Manchester United, European and Premiership champions, with the most famous brand in football, and probably one of the biggest transfer kitties and pulls in English football whining about a lack of squad depth.

We should all spare a thought for them.

I'd rather spare a thought for a team who's lowly top ten aspirations has their fans feeling smug over a draw at old trafford. Still a big club my arse.

Hey hey.

Man United fan?

Of course, we are happy. After being handed out humiliation season after season at Old Trafford we have played well and restored some pride.

I don't know where people get the idea that we are a big club from, it's certainly not Newcastle fans perpetuating this myth. Maybe you are one of those people who accepts whatever is said in the media wholesale. Aye.

Every Newcastle fan I know hates this shit. Every televised game and nearly every newspaper article mentions the number of fans at home games and the fact we haven't won a major honour in 30 years. Aye.

Cock on.

s = y wrote:I'd rather spare a thought for a team who's lowly top ten aspirations has their fans feeling smug over a draw at old trafford. Still a big club my arse.

They are justifiably happy with a draw against any of the big four, especially away from home. This goes for any team currently operating in football. Newcastle didn't have their first team out either. Very good result on the opening day of the season.

Djibril Cisse to go to Sunderland on Season Long Loan

I'm quite surprised by this. I mean, he's already had his leg broken twice.



...thank you, I'll be here all week.



Having said that, I hope he scores every time he plays Blackburn or Liverpool.

Don't know if many of you have caught any of the football at the Olympics. Here is a nice little blog about Argentina beating Brazil 3-0 last night to reach the finals where they will face Nigeria. The blog also has a highlight window.

The BBC website has been brilliant for the Olympics overall I would say but that's a different thread.

sleepkid wrote:I could almost forgive the second Karius howler - it's possible he lost that ball in the lights for just a bit, but the first one was sheer idiocy. Would like to get shot of Lovren. He was solid in the final, but I can think of a half-dozen errors he committed in the season that led to opposition goals. Van Dijk is immense. Naiby Keita gets compared to N'Golo Kante quite a bit - which I hope is true. This season was a mixed bag of highs and lows, but lots of reason for optimism for next season. Rumours about Nabil Fekir - love the scurrying attacks and all, but I think there also should be a target man that could be brought in to switch up play from time to time. Firminho is the tallest up front at 180cm, but I think 4cm of that might be his hair.Interesting take on Karius. While the first howler looked the more egregious I think the second was less-forgivable.Keita is an interesting signing - nothing like Kante stylewise and an absolute liability where discipline is concerned, but he covers some serious ground and will improve Liverpool's hyperspace take on playground football no end. It's no surprise they went so far in a cup, and I think they still have a year or two of natural advantage with the method given the increase in UK TV revenues, but eventually you have to think a larger number of sides are going to swallow their pride and play against it in the obvious fashion, at which point they'll need more than van Dijk to deal with a stylistic brittleness.Fekir is a potential handful as a signing, but do you bring him in to warm a bench? Would his ego stand for it? If Salah is tempted by one of the very big clubs then I guess it's viable, but Klopp will have a task on his hands otherwise. I suppose the main thing from his point of view, and lucky for him, is that all the plaudits thrown the way of Salah may deflect attention from Firmino, who is by a mile the most-important and uniquely gifted player in his squad.Four or five sides top English sides have rebuilding jobs to do this summer. Don't think it's at all possible to predict squads at Liverpool, United, Spurs or Chelsea. Arsenal might look very different with Emery's recruitment too.

sleepkid wrote:He should have had the second one covered to be sure, but it could have been a mishap - but the first one was just completely stupid. I do worry about the discipline issue with Keita, but I think Klopp will get that sorted - possibly. And yes, it will add a lot of strength through the middle of the park. I think if they brought in Fekir he would play much like when Coutinho was still in the side. Mane and Salah out wide, Firminho up top, and Fekir would parade through the middle as a centeral attacking midfielder - the only thing is that just about all of those players can switch roles at any given moment. But I'm really not sure another zippy attacking midfielder is what's needed. He certainly wouldn't be a bench warmer though. Firminho is incredibly talented - agreed. I actually think he's still growing into it, and we may see even more from him next season.The thing is, the first mistake is a case of him doing the right thing but getting it horribly wrong. They need quick restarts. It's essential to how they play. The second is just getting a basic completely wrong.I wouldn't be surprised if Keita was the player who phased out Milner. It's easy to think Can out, Keita in but I doubt it will pan out like that. The role you have earmarked for Fekir is where I would see Keita - the kind of role Pogba should be allowed to play at United, where he can play to his strengths. A three of Henderson, Keita and Fekir would be wide-open with the current front three, and they are wide-open enough as it is. Every time teams dropped the pretense of playing football and just won it, went direct down the channels, Liverpool were giving up chances for fun and dropping points.Klopp's way of playing has always been vulnerable to that and I can't see him changing. Both full-backs bomb on, counterpressing with six or seven pushed up. If teams are too proud and try to play their way out they will largely get slaughtered, but if they look up at the acres in front, have a decent passer from deep and legs down the channels, they'll get something.The wildcard in all of this is whether Klopp upgrades a full-back and shifts Alexander-Arnold into midfield, where I reckon his long-term future would be. Might tread on the toes of Oxlade-Chamberlain though.

Good price for Fabinho that. Good business.