The Europa League backdoor for Chelsea and Arsenal is a bit of a red herring, it will only become relevant if they're absolutely out of top four by February, which is what it was for United and Arsenal the last two years. I think Chelsea will definitely be challenging for top four, on paper I like their team a touch more than Spurs, although both have #### depth, so avoiding injuries will be key.
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I still think Spurs are a Top 4 club. Its largely the same squad so if they prioritize the CL and the League and ditch the Caribou Cup they should still be okay.
It's really going to come down to injuries because their margin for error is razor thin, which is what irks me about this. They didn't need to bring in many first-team players, so it should have been cheap enough to go out and grab a few depth options but they couldn't even do that.
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It's really going to come down to injuries because their margin for error is razor thin, which is what irks me about this. They didn't need to bring in many first-team players, so it should have been cheap enough to go out and grab a few depth options but they couldn't even do that.
Well, I dont know about 'couldnt' but they certainly decided not to. Maybe they think their academy is strong enough?
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10/1 to get 100 points is decent value. While I think it's unlikely they replicate last year, they added Mahrez who put up top numbers with Leicester's supporting cast. And with Mendy coming back, him overlapping Sane on the left is gonna be pure terror for defenses. Not impossible at all for me.
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"Ummmm...we couldn't buy Raphael Varane...so instead we just bought nobody"
I'm not as high on Manchester City as others it seems...pretty much every single thing went perfectly for them last season and they put up 100 points. 10-1 odds on that seems like not great value IMO. They are still the favorite by far on paper, and have the deepest squad in the PL, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if that team actually had a down season and the title race is closer than most think it will be.
Last edited by SuperMatt18; 08-09-2018 at 04:25 PM.
I think it's smart for United to hedge and not just give Mourinho a blank cheque. His history is what it is, so had they splurged for his players and he gets fired (like most of us expect), well then you could hamstring yourself with expensive players the next manager may not want. That said, they still should have done better considering what even clubs like Fulham and Wolves achieved.
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I get not spending big on Maguire especially after klopp oiler'd the market on centerbacks with the VVD deal, even the argument on Toby makes sense with his age and injuries last year.
But Varane or bust just seems crazy, why not go after de ligt?
I do think too often people think the winners of the window are just those that spent the most, avoiding buying players not good enough for the squad is important.
All the talk of wolves, west ham, everton etc. Improving and being big winners. Its a lot easier to improve on bad than good.
How many of the signings those clubs made would get significant minutes at the bigger clubs?
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I get not spending big on Maguire especially after klopp oiler'd the market on centerbacks with the VVD deal, even the argument on Toby makes sense with his age and injuries last year.
But Varane or bust just seems crazy, why not go after de ligt?
I do think too often people think the winners of the window are just those that spent the most, avoiding buying players not good enough for the squad is important.
All the talk of wolves, west ham, everton etc. Improving and being big winners. Its a lot easier to improve on bad than good.
How many of the signings those clubs made would get significant minutes at the bigger clubs?
And to add to the thought on Wolves/Fulham/West Ham, who knows whether it will even work. It’s a bit of a gamble to bring all these guys in and hope it comes together, and sometimes it takes a year or so for players to get settled. When you look at a signing like Lucas for Spurs he wasn’t much to see in six months, and is just now getting in to form. Son looked pretty poor for his first season and it took basically a year for him to come around.
I get not spending big on Maguire especially after klopp oiler'd the market on centerbacks with the VVD deal, even the argument on Toby makes sense with his age and injuries last year.
But Varane or bust just seems crazy, why not go after de ligt?
I do think too often people think the winners of the window are just those that spent the most, avoiding buying players not good enough for the squad is important.
All the talk of wolves, west ham, everton etc. Improving and being big winners. Its a lot easier to improve on bad than good.
How many of the signings those clubs made would get significant minutes at the bigger clubs?
Exactly, the goalposts are very different. These clubs are spending to stay in the PL for next season whereas bigger clubs would naturally have bigger ambitions.
The thing that really makes me happy is that Klopp identified areas of need and addressed them. We bolstered out goaltending, we improved our squad and we bought top quality players that we needed.
We didnt just go out and buy players for the sake of buying players.
I'd have preferred if we could have cut a little more dead weight, but sometimes that works out for the best as well. Look at Sturridge! If he can stay healthy for a few minutes theres another excellent striker!
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If you are flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a Fire Exit. - Mitch Hedberg
1 Man City
2 Liverpool
3 Chelsea
4 Man United
5 Tottenham
6 Arsenal
7 Everton
8 Leicester
9 West Ham
10 Wolverhampton
11 Fulham
12 Burnley
13 Crystal Palace
14 Bournemouth
15 Southampton
16 Newcastle
17 Watford
18 Brighton
19 Huddersfield
20 Cardiff
I get not spending big on Maguire especially after klopp oiler'd the market on centerbacks with the VVD deal, even the argument on Toby makes sense with his age and injuries last year.
But Varane or bust just seems crazy, why not go after de ligt?
I do think too often people think the winners of the window are just those that spent the most, avoiding buying players not good enough for the squad is important.
All the talk of wolves, west ham, everton etc. Improving and being big winners. Its a lot easier to improve on bad than good.
How many of the signings those clubs made would get significant minutes at the bigger clubs?
Everyone plays their part.
Quote:
The irony is that United helped to create that market by routinely flexing their financial muscle and, in the case of Pogba’s £93m transfer from Juventus, the mind-boggling sums that went to the player’s adviser, Mino Raiola. Alexis Sánchez’s contract – £391,000 a week with an extra £75,000 for every game he plays and an annual £1.1m signing-on fee – is another indication of how far the club are willing to go when a category-A player is available.
Yet United blame other clubs for the transfer market spiralling and trace it back to Kyle Walker’s £53m move from Spurs to Manchester City last summer. Neymar’s £200m switch to Paris Saint-Germain took the market to another level entirely, but the view at Old Trafford is that the most outlandish deal was Barcelona signing Ousmane Dembélé from Borussia Dortmund for a fee that could rise to over £135m. United believe Van Dijk’s fee will not seem disproportionate within a year but, with the prices currently so inflated, the club do not want to pay similar amounts unless their targets are at a certain level – higher, plainly, than Maguire or Alderweireld.
Well not everyone plays their part, thanks Daniel Levy! Spurs took the net spend trophy to a whole new echelon with this performance, and now all that remains is a 38-0 run to the title to vindicate it.
(If they were to lose to Newcastle tomorrow, the fireworks and pressure will be interesting viewing for all, regardless of whether you are interested in Tottenham or not!)
I'm not going to do the whole league because I really dont know enough about most of the other clubs especially since the transfer window just ended but here goes:
1. Man City
2. Man United
3. Liverpool
4. Spurs
5. Chelsea
6. Arsenal
7. Everton
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If you are flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a Fire Exit. - Mitch Hedberg
