2015/2016 Barclays Premier League Thread

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Shame on you not using "He attacks more in his pressers than he does on the pitch". Tsk, tsk...

Damn. Thats a good one.

[d_phaneuf]

anytime you start what is essentially a speech by asking if there is anyone who wants to apologize to you means that greatness is about to occur

LVG delivered

[Locke]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

anytime you start what is essentially a speech by asking if there is anyone who wants to apologize to you means that greatness is about to occur

LVG delivered

Yeah...that line felt like LvG stole it right out of Kevin Lowe's mouth.

[devo22]

what do you do as a good parent when you understandably don't want your kid to be signed by the Scousers? You hide his passport.

Liverpool have agreed a £5.1million bid with Red Star Belgrade to sign Marko Grujic, who will be loaned straight back to the Serbian club. Red Star club claimed to have received three offers for the 19-year-old, from Belgian club Anderlecht, German side Stuttgart and the Premier League Reds.

In a statement posted on their official website they revealed they had “unanimously accepted the offer of the English giants”, and had agreed a package that would see Grujic remain with them on loan until the summer. Red Star said: “The board considered the offer and unanimously accepted the offer of the English giants. Liverpool will pay the money immediately, and the player would stay in Red Star until 01/07/2016.”

The deal is expected to go through before the new year, but Grujic’s father, Goran, has stolen his son’s passport and blocked the move.

“I won’t allow them to destroy my boy,” he told Serbian newspaper Blic. “I’m speaking about people who are in charge of the club (Red Star Belgrade). Everyone turned their back on them, as they’ve spent all the money the club has had, and they see a solution in Marko’s transfer. That’s why there’s so much pressure on him. Ten times per day they are calling him by phone, urging him to sign a contract.

“Did we speak with Liverpool? Look, we had chat with people from Udinese, and then guys from Anderlecht also came. But, there was no conversation about transfer, they just wanted to see what kind of kid Marko is, what’s his way of thinking. And, that was all, just chat. Then, suddenly came that story about Liverpool… All I can say is that the passports are with me, and I can guarantee that Marko is not leaving, he’s not going anywhere.

“There are (their) stories in Serbian media, like ‘Gerrard’s No 8 is waiting for him’, or ‘Klopp called him by phone’, ‘millions here, millions there’. And there’s also pressure in (the) Red Star dressing room, as it seems that (people from the management) convinced players, who are waiting for their salaries, that their payments depend on Marko’s transfer.

“I mean, which club is willing to pay six million euros, and then to say ‘Look, kid, come when you want’? Nope, if Liverpool FC is seriously counting on him, they’ll tell him ‘Start of training camp in January on this day, at that hour, we’re expecting you’. And, what kind of combination is that? The club is paying for him seven million euros, but then leave him on loan and that loan costs one million!? Really, I’m starting to think I should call the police to tell them everything about this pressure.”

http://www.football365.com/news/live...er-blocks-move

[Locke]

Okay. So his dad is a crazy person.

Buying a player and loaning him back short-term to the selling club is pretty standard. Happens all the time.

And yeah, those clubs were just 'popping in' to 'see what the lad is like.' Nothing else. Yup.

Crazy. Person.

[d_phaneuf]

Spurs did it with Dele Alli last January

if he's playing a big role at his current club and won't be for the new one, no point not to loan him back

win win

[nemanja2306]

I'm from Serbia and a big fan of Red Star so I follow Marko closely.

First of all, Marko is a fantastic talent. This kid really has the physical and mental tools to succeed in the Premier league. I think he is going to be the new Matic. To be honest, I would be concerned with him going to LFC if Klopp hadn't been hired. Now I think its the best option for him. As a bonus, the language barrier won't be much of a problem because Klopp's assistant, Zeljko Buvac, is Serbian so he's gonna make Marko's transition easier.

As for the transfer itself, there is a couple of things you need to keep in mind. First, the club is in a huge financial crisis. The €6M will be of huge help to the club. We have a great team this year, we need to keep it together so we can try to qualify for the CL.

Second, I wouldn't call Marko's father crazy. There is numerous examples of our talent who went abroad way too early and had their careers fall apart. Heck, Matic was almost one himself. Obviously, he thinks Marko needa to gain more first team experience before making a transfer to such a big club where competition is fierce.
I do have to say, though, it is a bit odd we are giving Liverpool €1M for the loan. I mean, we don't really need him for the second half of the season as we practically secured the title. The money would be more helpful, imo.

Sent from my D2005 using Tapatalk

[Locke]

There are endless examples of players going from a smaller club to a bigger one and failing due to the pressure and the competition, so thats a reasonable concern but at some point you just have to do it.

Also City have a new badge coming out.



http://www.espnfc.us/manchester-city...on-ipo-website

[d_phaneuf]

so many of their fans are going to be confused by the 1894

they must think Oil founded the club only 10 years ago

[Locke]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

so many of their fans are going to be confused by the 1894

they must think Oil founded the club only 10 years ago

Ha! Burn.

That and I think the badge itself is a little boring and lame.

[nemanja2306]

Originally Posted by Locke

There are endless examples of players going from a smaller club to a bigger one and failing due to the pressure and the competition, so thats a reasonable concern but at some point you just have to do it.

Also City have a new badge coming out.



http://www.espnfc.us/manchester-city...on-ipo-website

But you can't blame a parent for wanting what's best for his kid. There is endless cases where the greed of the parents ruin or almost, cost their kid a better career.

This is actually kind of refreshing to see.

As for the logo, horrible.

[browna]

Originally Posted by nemanja2306

As for the logo, horrible.

Not horrible. Better than than the Lazio-esque thing they have now.

Also, ties in with their MLS and Australian league teams' branding.

[devo22]

I love how they obviously tried to create similar badges for all their City clubs, yet Man City is the only one who's not a "Football Club".

[Senator Clay Davis]

Van Gaal will get fired, and it almost certainly will not matter. Whether United fans want to admit it or not, this simply isn't a very good team regardless of who will be managing it.

[devo22]

of course it will matter. This is going to be addition by subtraction at its finest.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Of course they'll get a short term bump firing him but long term they have a lot of problems to solve besides manager. Just shocking how little threat they have in the final third. Defense that looked good early on looks average at best now. Could be a couple more years before they are a true threat to win again.

[devo22]

you know, they said the same things about Bayern Munich when van Gaal was sacked there. United might not have a good enough squad to win the league, but they should not be hammered by the likes of Norwich, Bournemouth and Stoke, with all due respect to those teams.

the defense simply needs Morgan Schneiderlin, yet he's 90 minutes on the bench again. Pathetic.

with Schneiderlin (90 minutes): 13 games, 8-5-0 (2.23 points/game), 6 goals against (0.46/game)
with Schneiderlin (subbed on/off): 3 games, 1-1-1 (1.33 points/game), 3 goals against (1.00/game)
without Schneiderlin: 10 games, 3-1-6 (1.00 points/game), 15 goals against (1.50/game)

[Senator Clay Davis]

I certainly think that playing their best starting lineup United could be a top 4 team but not much more. I mean they were playing Leicester to go top not even 30 days ago. But they just don't feel like a threatening team, a team that worries you because they can't score goals at all. Now that their defense isn't rock solid back there they can't win. Schneiderlin helps there for sure, but that gets them back to 0-0 games pretty much.

[devo22]

looks like van Gaal is thinking about stepping down himself.

Rob Harris ‏@RobHarris
Van Gaal won't say if he's received assurances from club and adds: "The club doesn't have to fire or sack me - sometimes I do it by myself"

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Van Gaal will get fired, and it almost certainly will not matter. Whether United fans want to admit it or not, this simply isn't a very good team regardless of who will be managing it.

And you base that statement speculation on what exactly?

It's a good group of individuals with zero intensity, passion, self belief and direction. You have no idea how they would perform under decent leadership.