Premier League 2023-24

[PhilT]

BTW I have no idea how Arsenal found themselves in Pot 2. We've been out of the CL for years and stank out the Europa so I'm not sure how we managed to do that, probably the same loophole that saw us in the Charity Shield game!

You beat Man City in the Charity Shield and they won the European Charity Shield therefore Arsenal are the best team in Europe. Should have been in Pot 1.

[R0bertb00th]

Amazing draw for the Geordies and some brilliant away days -Im mega Jealous as a united fan I must say I loved Dortmund, and (one night in Paris 2019)result probably made it more than the event, and Milan is steeped in history saw us get battered there 3-0 in 06/07 Seedorf, Pirlo and Kaka running rings around us but loved every minute of it

Good draw for city and arsenal and a tricky for us - but good luck to all the English teams

* On a seperate note got to love deadline day always some panic buys and usually by us

[TaketheCannoli]

Iwobi is going to Fulham on a permanent deal. I thought he was supposed to be Everton's best player? Planning for a Championship wage bill already?

[ryanb741]

You beat Man City in the Charity Shield and they won the European Charity Shield therefore Arsenal are the best team in Europe. Should have been in Pot 1.

Ah yes makes sense.

Also my understanding is that Liverpool are 'European Royalty' so surely they should have been given a bye to the final?

[ryanb741]

Duh
Group I
Liverpool FC
Not Tuesday FC
Not Wednesday FC
Thursday FC .

Ha! Excellent and stolen thanks!

[PhilT]

Ah yes makes sense.

Also my understanding is that Liverpool are 'European Royalty' so surely they should have been given a bye to the final?

I had heard that Al-Nassr are buying one final slot but the other is being kept open for now.

[robert75]

Ah yes makes sense.

Also my understanding is that Liverpool are 'European Royalty'

You should know, you supported them

[Middo]

I recon Salah will be gone by the end of the year £200mil region.

[tango]

I recon Salah will be gone by the end of the year £200mil region.

I reckon he will be gone today at the kind of eye watering figures being quoted.

Timing is the worst possible but it is surely too much money to turn down for a player his age.


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[TaketheCannoli]

I spoke to my brother in law (a home and away Red) about it last night and his view is that Salah has three years left at the very top and the money being offered isn't enough to get someone of his quality so don't sell him.

I reckon he will be gone today at the kind of eye watering figures being quoted.

Timing is the worst possible but it is surely too much money to turn down for a player his age.


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[sprite1275]

200 mil he has to go. We only need 10 on the pitch anyway

[Middo]

In other news Andy Carrol has just gone to some French tier 2 team

[PhilT]

Palhinha gets all revved up about a move, flies to Munich (with permission), passes a medical and poses for the media team wearing a Bayern shirt. Then Fulham pull the plug because they can’t find a replacement.

Any chance of him having a good game against Man City tomorrow? Will he even play? He must be gutted.

[ryanb741]

Luton look appalling. I reckon Derby's 11 points lowest total in the PL is under threat.

[TaketheCannoli]

I think they’ve done ok considering the level of players they have. They’ve not been bettered by the leaders of the EPL.

Luton look appalling. I reckon Derby's 11 points lowest total in the PL is under threat.

[ryanb741]

I think they’ve done ok considering the level of players they have. They’ve not been bettered by the leaders of the EPL.

Champions of Europe according to their fans

[TaketheCannoli]

They are indeed!

Bruno’s bestie is certainly starting to look a player. Maybe we should have signed him when we had the chance.

Champions of Europe according to their fans

[Wallasey Runner]

Luton look appalling. I reckon Derby's 11 points lowest total in the PL is under threat.

Hang on, Everton will give anyone a run for their money if there is a cup for shit team of the season.

[ryanb741]

I give up with VAR. It's just a lottery.

[TaketheCannoli]

After the Mike Dean admission I don’t think anyone will ever trust any VAR team.

I give up with VAR. It's just a lottery.

[Wallasey Runner]

I give up with VAR. It's just a lottery.

Depends who you are, City, Liverpool and Chelsea with Sterling who dives more than Tom Daley do quite well out of it.

[thegoat]

Depends who you are, City, Liverpool and Chelsea with Sterling who dives more than Tom Daley do quite well out of it.

Eh ?
City ?
We are constantly - 6 to 9 points per season with bad calls .

[TaketheCannoli]

I wouldn’t say City benefit but Liverpool and Nited seem to get a helping hand most weeks.

Depends who you are, City, Liverpool and Chelsea with Sterling who dives more than Tom Daley do quite well out of it.

[David_D]

Some VAR “analysis” for last season:

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/stor...e-club-2022-23

[tango]

I spoke to my brother in law (a home and away Red) about it last night and his view is that Salah has three years left at the very top and the money being offered isn't enough to get someone of his quality so don't sell him.

Makes sense but at his age there is only one way his form should go. The amount of money potentially on offer makes for it being extremely tempting and I think that if Liverpool line up some replacements then he should be allowed to go in the next window.

My fear is they will let him leave despite our window being shut as an unheard of offer of somewhere close to £200 million may come in. Ridiculous to imagine it, even whilst I type this, yet still can't bet against it happening, such is the state of play with Saudi money involved.

[MakeColdplayHistory]

As much as I believe in 'innocent until proven guilty ' and also young people doing bad things but having the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, I would have found it very difficult as a United supporter to clap when he came onto the pitch or cheer when he scored a goal.

I've only read the statement on the club website but it's not 100% clear to me that he's leaving the club.

"Rebuilding his career away from Old Trafford" could mean a loan (or a series of loans) with an eventual return. I don't think it does and I hope it doesn't but these kind of statements are very carefully worded and if he is leaving the club I would have expected that to be more clearly stated.

So he has gone on a loan. I hope that's because a sale wasn't possible in this window and not because the club think he has any kind of future at Old Trafford.

[Chewitt13]

So he has gone on a loan. I hope that's because a sale wasn't possible in this window and not because the club think he has any kind of future at Old Trafford.

I suspect if he scores 20 goals this year we will be talking about this again next year

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[tiny73]

So he has gone on a loan. I hope that's because a sale wasn't possible in this window and not because the club think he has any kind of future at Old Trafford.

I wonder if there’s a contractual element to this? He’s not done anything to allow termination of his contract (technically at least, we’ll leave the moral piece out) so there’d be legal recriminations if Utd terminated his contract but as you say with no sale forthcoming it was only possible to loan him out (and, I assume, get his salary off the wage bill at least)?

editted to add: apparently it would’ve meant an £8m pay off to cancel his contract.

[Chewitt13]

We (united) are an embarrassment, we are still the biggest football brand in the world and we are scrapping about loan signings at the end of the window.

We are struggling to stay relevant.

Selling an England international and premiership proven goalkeeper for £15m. Trafford, without a prem game to his name went for the same

With the glazers in charge we will continue to drop

It's depressing

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[tiny73]

We (united) are an embarrassment, we are still the biggest football brand in the world and we are scrapping about loan signings at the end of the window.

We are struggling to stay relevant.

Selling an England international and premiership proven goalkeeper for £15m. Trafford, without a prem game to his name went for the same

With the glazers in charge we will continue to drop

It's depressing

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Also a United fan, it feels like we’re respecting FFP a little too much (hello Chelsea) and that’s impacting our ability in the market. Coupled with a bunch of average fringe players that no one wants, yet we don’t seem to be willing to compromise on price (maguire, mctominay, van der beek) to move them on and free up funds to go after who we need. I also wonder if the loan signings are a more “we’re not 100% sure on these players as they’re not exactly what we want but better than what we have” approach, ie less risk of being lumbered with another maguire…?

[PhilT]

Some VAR “analysis” for last season:

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/stor...e-club-2022-23

Interesting how people choose to interpret statistics. Flawed as it is, this analysis tries to show where VAR has overruled the on field referee’s decision.

If one team - in this case Brentford - has more decisions overturned by VAR than the others, then the conclusion should be that referees are biased against that team, not in favour of it, and actually there will be many more *bad* decisions being made on field that don’t go to VAR.

Of course we’ve already been told on here that all matches involving the top 4 are fixed, so Fulham and Brighton fans might as well just stay at home today :-)

[learningtofly]

Also a United fan, it feels like we’re respecting FFP a little too much (hello Chelsea) and that’s impacting our ability in the market. Coupled with a bunch of average fringe players that no one wants, yet we don’t seem to be willing to compromise on price (maguire, mctominay, van der beek) to move them on and free up funds to go after who we need. I also wonder if the loan signings are a more “we’re not 100% sure on these players as they’re not exactly what we want but better than what we have” approach, ie less risk of being lumbered with another maguire…?

I can't see that being the case with Amrabat. He's world class.

[tiny73]

I can't see that being the case with Amrabat. He's world class.

Agree to a degree but he’s had one excellent World Cup and was relatively quiet prior (as in he wasn’t mentioned last transfer window for example). I also think the time element prevented a full buy in that Hendersons move (and thus funds) came to late in the day to structure a full purchase. I still think the loan with an option to purchase suits Utd more at present though.

[learningtofly]

Agree to a degree but he’s had one excellent World Cup and was relatively quiet prior (as in he wasn’t mentioned last transfer window for example). I also think the time element prevented a full buy in that Hendersons move (and thus funds) came to late in the day to structure a full purchase. I still think the loan with an option to purchase suits Utd more at present though.

Disagree regarding his pedigree. We were after him a year or two ago, and he was already looking like an absolutely superb buy. The WC just gave him more of a shop window.

[Gareth-W]

For the Man United fans, what the score with the sale or non sale?

Surely all bets are off until that is fully resolved for their future direction……

[demonloop]

Greenwood will score a bag full and will be in a red shirt next season. It’ll be carefully managed all year to minimise criticism

No matter what you think of Greenwood’s personal life, he’s an absolutely brilliant talent

Ironic that the 2 of the best youth players I’ve ever seen come through Uniteds ranks (and that’s saying something) ended up having personal issues get in the way of their football

Ravel Morrison had the lot, same as Greenwood

[Bluemoon7]

I wonder if there’s a contractual element to this? He’s not done anything to allow termination of his contract (technically at least, we’ll leave the moral piece out) so there’d be legal recriminations if Utd terminated his contract but as you say with no sale forthcoming it was only possible to loan him out (and, I assume, get his salary off the wage bill at least)?

editted to add: apparently it would’ve meant an £8m pay off to cancel his contract.

I struggle a lot with this. Even in the work I do there are clear stipulations within any contract I have ever had that should I bring the company into disrepute that will be gross misconduct. There are also codes of conduct guidelines. There seems to be some misunderstanding that unless there is a criminal charge they cannot terminate his contract. This is purely a business decision to try and get something for the lad and if he does well a bigger profit or a return to the fold. We have seen how they have handled this over the past few months and weeks. Let’s not kid ourselves that they have their hands tied. They could have terminated the contract and washed their hands of him and sent out a message. They could have also paid him up and washed their hands of him. They have done neither.

[Chewitt13]

Greenwood will score a bag full and will be in a red shirt next season. It’ll be carefully managed all year to minimise criticism

No matter what you think of Greenwood’s personal life, he’s an absolutely brilliant talent

Ironic that the 2 of the best youth players I’ve ever seen come through Uniteds ranks (and that’s saying something) ended up having personal issues get in the way of their football

Ravel Morrison had the lot, same as Greenwood

Agree about greenwood.

He would have been the best England striker of his generation had he continued his development.

He not played for 18 months so will be interesting how he does



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[Middo]

Luton look appalling. I reckon Derby's 11 points lowest total in the PL is under threat.

Hold my toffees!

[Wallasey Runner]

Well that 1-0 lead didn’t last long. Still think Pickford is shit.

Heading for another defeat.

[cyrusir]

I can't see that being the case with Amrabat. He's world class.

World class? Not sure about that, if he was fiorentina would hardly be letting him got at 27 for 30m all in should united elect to buy him.

[ryanb741]

My Italian colleagues are saying Amrabat has been distinctly average for the last year for Fiorentina

[learningtofly]

I guess time will tell.

[TaketheCannoli]

Definitely not world class. No doubting he’s a good player but the big boys would have snapped him up ages ago if he was really special.

My Italian colleagues are saying Amrabat has been distinctly average for the last year for Fiorentina

[ryanb741]

This match looks every bit the Championship fixture it will be next season

[TaketheCannoli]

Probably. I’m watching Sunderland v Southampton and Southampton are shocking. They’ve not offered anything of any quality all day.

This match looks every bit the Championship fixture it will be next season

[ryanb741]

Take a bow Pickford

[tango]

Fulham holding their own in this fixture.


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[TaketheCannoli]

Maddison is such a cheating, diving little turd. I can’t stand him.

[ryanb741]

Eh ?
City ?
We are constantly - 6 to 9 points per season with bad calls .

This aged well!