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All purpose football thread 20-21 season

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bernardhepworth said:
I see we have usual passive aggressive stuff from Klopp telling everyone that Liverpool are different (i.e. better) club than everyone else. I'd rather see the talking done on the pitch. They were better than everyone last season, but that's history now.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54098364
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But they are a better club than everyone else. The fact you don’t like it is your problem.
 
jackbarron said:
Frank Lampard is going to hand the Chelsea No 10 shirt to Pulisic. It was previously worn by Willian and Hazard. This is a good move, given the impact of the American. Pulisic has been recovering from a hamstring injury and might play against Brighton on Monday. https://metro

Jack

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We need him fit Jack - he's an absolute diamond.
 
It pains me to say but arn't Manchester United better in terms of trophies, head to heads.
Or is there some magic criteria I've missed o_O
 
Colin L said:
But they are a better club than everyone else. The fact you don’t like it is your problem
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Colin old chap, I have no problem with Klopp showing how mentally insecure he is, if he wants to talk rubbish, I'm happy to let him do it. As I have mentioned before I have family in Liverpool who are big fans of the club and when I asked what they thought about what Klopp had said. one view was " We won the championship by a country mile last season, why is he is talking shite, what he said was disrespectful to Chelsea and other clubs"

If you want to find out how you develop players, go and see what Chris Wilder has done at Sheffield United, as I think he is one the best in the business. It's easier for the top 4 to improve a £50m player than develop a player from league 1 to play effectively in the prem.
 
bernardhepworth said:
Colin old chap, I have no problem with Klopp showing how mentally insecure he is, if he wants to talk rubbish, I'm happy to let him do it. As I have mentioned before I have family in Liverpool who are big fans of the club and when I asked what they thought about what Klopp had said. one view was " We won the championship by a country mile last season, why is he is talking shite, what he said was disrespectful to Chelsea and other clubs"

If you want to find out how you develop players, go and see what Chris Wilder has done at Sheffield United, as I think he is one the best in the business. It's easier for the top 4 to improve a £50m player than develop a player from league 1 to play effectively in the prem.
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Bernard old Chap...talking about developing players...lets talk about Trent, Andy Robertson, Curtis Jones...etc.. Klopp and his system have improved every player that's at Liverpool with the exception of Virgil who has always been god-like :D

Number of PL wins LFC will have by the of the season? Pep knows :)

iu
 
Colin L said:
A lovely article from the divine Marina... I think she's an Arsenal fan, sadly. (Guardian)

"We began the lockdown with politicians tilting piously at a familiar scapegoat. “The first thing that Premier League footballers can do,” prioritised health secretary Matt Hancock, “is make a contribution, take a pay cut and play their part.”

Regrettably, for the government, that wasn’t the last thing Premier League footballers did. By the time we got to June, footballers had raised vast sums for NHS workers, and the cabinet were gritting their teeth to thank Marcus Rashford, 22, for handing their arse to them on the matter of free school dinners over the summer holidays for Britain’s poorest children. “I think it is the right thing to do,” said a straight-faced Boris Johnson, whose own government had long resisted doing it, “and I congratulate Marcus Rashford on his campaign.” Education secretary and full spectrum disasterclass Gavin Williamson opined of Rashford: “He represents the best of Britain and is a role model for all of those children who look up to him for inspiration.” Shame he can’t be a role model for Gavin. Still, the minute I hear the news about Williamson or Hancock taking a pay cut, so will you.

So as the Premier League season gets under way, we’ve probably got at least three weeks’ grace before actual secretaries of state start using sportsmen as a deflector shield again.

In the meantime, though, we have now spent a veeeeeery considerable time hearing about how the pandemic has put football into perspective. And you know, I get it. I got it in March. We have been through quite a lot, as the politicians who have helped put us through quite a lot of it keep telling us.

But five long months on, what far too few people are talking about is the sheer JOY of a completely lost perspective. Honestly, what’s so bad about not having any perspective? There really is a deliciously carefree pleasure to reacting to things in a manner quite out of proportion to their importance.

When my middle child was born, he required surgery a few days into his life, and then a long stay and fairly painstaking recovery in hospital. At the start, naturally, I made deals with deities I didn’t even believe in, and had great flashing revelations that of course nothing that I had ever thought mattered actually mattered at all. My goodness – the sheer insignificance of the things I had previously obsessed about! The incredible triviality of stuff I had devoted so much as five seconds to thinking about!

However, after a few weeks, there does come a point where you think: “Wow, I can’t WAIT to get really exercised by something that doesn’t matter. I can’t wait to simply LAVISH way too much of my concern on some frippery. I LONG to obsess over some obvious irrelevance like my life depended on it. I yearn to be mildly put out by being seated next to the loos in a restaurant, or appalled at a TV show, or outraged by any other nonsense. I can’t wait to be monumentally pissed off about a borderline questionable red card.”

So yes, only terrible stuff puts other stuff into perspective. But fixating on and fuming about matters that really aren’t important, big picture-wise – well, that’s the great luxury. It is to be enjoyed, not rationalised away. And at the start of this Premier League season: I want luxury. I want escape. I certainly don’t want to be reminded, ever, that it doesn’t matter because much more horrible things do. What a very dreary puritanism that would be, on top of everything else.

Celebrities will frequently tell you of the solemn importance of living as civilians do – squeezing the toothpaste on their own toothbrush, for instance, or taking the bus to keep them grounded. As always I defer to Mariah Carey, who shrieked with laughter when an interviewer asked her if she’d rather travel by public transport. “I hate the bus!” she trilled. “I’ve already been on the bus – I don’t need to go back on the bus!”

Harry Maguire’s night out in Mykonos. I am very grateful to Maguire, who has allowed me to resume a particular but long-dormant form of football-related chat with friends. I am in heaven at the small pleasure of messaging friends with inquiries such as: “Do you think they will ever find the Albanian gangsters who injected his sister in the arm?”; or: “I think they should do a true crime podcast where they track them down because otherwise it’s like there will never be justice.”

A recent YouGov survey with Sky Bet found fans’ biggest hopes for 2020-21 were full stadiums, and just for the season to get played in full. This is incredibly adorable and winsome – like going to parents’ evening and seeing that when the teacher has asked everyone what they’re most looking forward to at Christmas, one of the children in your child’s class has written “spending time with my family”. (Your child has written something like “Xbox” or “hopefully getting a dog even though my mother says we can’t”. )

But I think that secretly – perhaps subconsciously – football fans are looking forward to much less wholesome pleasures. I know I am. So from now until the end of May, please don’t remind me about the grand scheme of things. I’ve seen the grand scheme of things – tens of thousands of people die, a generation of schoolchildren are forgotten, the economy goes down the shitter – and I’ve got to be honest: I prefer the non-grand scheme. I now want 24-hour Premier League drama, telenovela-style off-pitch plotlines, and a million wall-to-wall overblown debates till June. I’ve had quite enough of the things that matter, thank you very much.
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Yep a really good article but I fear no fans for the foreseeable.
 
Chelsea have sorted out shirt numbers for the new players. Timo Werner gets No. 11. Pedro and Drogba wore it in the past, so he has a lot to live up to. https://metro

Kai Havertz wanted No.29, which he wore throughout his career at Bayer Leverkusen. Fikayo Tomori, who might join Everton on loan, has vacated the shirt.

Other players, including Tiago Silva, haven't got quite the right number yet. The Brazilian has been given No. 6 by Frank Lampard. He usually wears No's 2 or 3. They belong to Rudiger and Alonso. He'll have to stay longer than a single season to get one of those.

Ian Wright praises Werner "He’s got it, he’s got the striker vibe. It’s what Shearer was like. You look at Shearer and you watch him walk into a room, he looks like if there was a goal in this room I’m going to score it. Teddy Sheringham, Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler you look at those players and he’s got that."

Sounds good to me.

On the downside, Giroud has agreed in principle to sign to Juventus. I like him and it will be a shame if he goes.

Jack
 
jackbarron said:
On the downside, Giroud has agreed in principle to sign to Juventus. I like him and it will be a shame if he goes.
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Chelsea should keep Giroud - he offers something different and could be very useful in what will be a long season.
He's also a great pro who dosen't get the hump when he's on the bench.
 
webster said:
Chelsea should keep Giroud - he offers something different and could be very useful in what will be a long season. He's also a great pro who dosen't get the hump when he's on the bench.
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You're right. I like Giroud's can-do attitude and he rarely moans. Juventus will go for him if they can't get hold of Suarez, who apparently isn't interested moving anyway.

Jack
 
Colin L said:
Bernard old Chap...talking about developing players...lets talk about Trent, Andy Robertson, Curtis Jones...etc..
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Colin old bean, All the top clubs are hoovering up what they consider to be the top youth talent, so it it's not that unusual that clubs will have players coming through all the time. My point about Chris Wilder is that Sheffield United are probably not the top pick for talented youth players, which is why his track record on improving players, is in my view he is top of the pile in the Prem. I'm not quite sure whether he wants to sign or loan Brewster, but if its a loan, you'll be fairly certain that he will come back to the club a better player.....
 
Andy Robertson
Liverpool are his fourth professional club.
He was bought by Liverpool as a 23 year old from Hull.
Well developed!
 
Bernard old boy - look no further than the mighty blues in terms of developing young talent.;)

Tammy Abraham - joined Chelsea aged 7
Mason Mount - aged 6
Reece James - aged 6
Callam Hudson-Odoi - aged 7
Ruben Loftus-Cheek - aged 8
Fikayo Tomori - aged 7

I could go on..................................:)
 
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