Congratulations to liVARpool for the title

watching Pool predictably wobble in the run-up is the exact reason why you make maneuvers in the winter window…their contractual issues were always going to be a cause for concern in the 2nd half of the season and instead of applying the pressure we took our foot off the pedal…I wouldn’t be surprised whatsoever to see Pool struggle for points going forward, but the chances of that mattering are slim to none due to.our gutless and misguided acquisitional practices

to make matters worse, I think Berta’s here to pursue the same sort of budget-friendlier transfer policies of his former club, which wouldn’t be the end of the world if MA had better spent the gobs of money he’s been gifted over the years…right now we need to make big boy moves not count our pennies, especially after we handed the positionless Havertz a king’s ransom in wages and signed a DM for 100+M then promptly converted him into a bang average AM…so anyone who’s hoping that Isak’s on his way to North London, think again, as it’s far more likely that those with half the MVs are sitting atop of our wishlist…fuck me!

Ambarish

Ref’s have been fucking awful for as long as I can remember – the simple fact is even if we had every decision called correctly Arteta will never win the PL.

He’s nowhere near good enough – a billion £ squad and we’ve looked convincing a handful of times all season. We’re now heading towards players deciding time to move on to have a chance of winning something – over the next 2 to 3 summers we’re going to lose Gabriel and / or Saliba probably both and most Arteta signings are shit so replacing them is going to be tough.

Oh and by the way £100 million isn’t going to be enough to get Isak – Newcastle certainly don’t need the money and Isak will have his pick of clubs who don’t have retards as managers.

Ambarish—by the sounds of things Berta doesn’t favour Isak:

“Berta’s previous lack of interest in Isak during his Atletico Madrid tenure seems to further support the notion that a bid was never truly imminent”

I guess Berta had a chance to get Isak on the cheap, so to speak, and he didn’t even make contact with the player or his management team…now Isak has definitely rounded into form while at Newcastle, so maybe he would have a rethink, but I very much doubt his thoughts on the matter would have changed so much that he would be willing to make a 120+M bid…it’s far more likely that we would get a Striker like Delap, from a soon to be relegated Ipswich side, or Kean, who’s had a banner year for Fiorentina, but was an unmitigated shit show when he last played in the PL…neither are bona fide starters for a team with higher aspirations, but might qualify as decent bench options, for the right price…unfortunately there’s no way we’re buying two “real” Strikers so long as our German giraffe is still under our employ…Cheers

What an utter dreadful football Pep just served at Man utd. Two football teams with 1 Billion each spent to dish up that football. Truly it’s the worst match I have ever seen. I put the game on went about my chores and came back to realise I had a match on. Dreadful is not the word it’s utter waste of money. Pep had made players like Foden, Grealish just loose their identity. It’s scary that his apprentice runs our club. How many footballers we will have to loose to him I don’t know. I officially despise the football that Pep serves up. Utter trash.

Marc—if the rumours are to be believed Isak would much rather play for Slot than MA, which makes perfect sense considering the latter’s disdain for both the position and the direct tactics a Striker of Isak’s qualities requires…there’s a reason why he’s favoured back-to-goal fuckers like Jesus and fake-ass tweeners like Havertz…btw your Musk-like retard comment was spot on…Cheers

Madhu—it’s funny that you posted that, as I was just about to go on a bit of.a rant about how the Pep coaching tree has negatively impacted the game…before teams had perfected the art of parking the bus, his version of ticka-tacka football could typically breakdown opposing defences, but as the value of each win has risen expotentially and more teams have adopted a similar tactical approach, most managers have spent considerably more time teaching the anti-Pep blueprint on the training ground

now with the “right” players his system can still yield contender-esque results, but even the recruitment side of things has become far more arduous, as those players who best fit the brief are more difficult to find and are likewise being coveted by any manager looking to emulate Pep…just look at what has transpired this season, after Rodri went down, when he was required to rely upon a midfield that included a slow-footed Kovacic, an aging Gundogan and a never 100% KDB…they’re actually quite fortunate that things aren’t considerably worse…this is exactly why I would have never hired someone who was detined to deploy the poor man’s version of someone else’s tired practices…Cheers

“Berta’s spending won’t be reckless. “They just want to be creative with what they’ve got and what they bring in,” said Balague. Arsenal don’t intend to splash £300 million but will instead pursue surgical reinforcements in key positions”

it sounds as if our new “process” will involve the buying of a whole lot of half-measure/coin tossers on the cheap, who will then be artifically propped up by MA’s legion of PR minions, just like when they attempted to force feed us Havertz in the old Xhaka role even when he was playing like total dog shit…even so, I’m still holding out hope that he will prove his worthiness come the summer, but it’s difficult not to paint Berta with the Arteta brush as I just can’t fathom this hiring happening without MA’s stamp of approval…furthermore, it still seems weird to me that an organization who has suffered one near miss after another would attempt to rectify that situation by hiring a DOF from the king’s of the near misses…maybe it’s just me

TVRL- true and iam more interested in the players that he has bought for high value and got nothing out of them.
Grealish – bought for 100 M and if you add today’s inflation it would be close to 150. When he was at Villa he was a force to reckon with. No wonder he paid so much but what happened after that. He hasn’t score for a year now and I guess his assists be single digit. What has Pep done to improve him or has he killed his natural game? Jury is out
Kalvin Phillips – he was supposed to be a deputy for Rodri but he hardly played. Pep has destroyed him and rumors of his attitude is a perfect albi. We know that narrative right.
Doku – I cannot understand what he does and why was he bought. I find him uncannily similar to Martinelli. Martinelli was my fav and the season he joined us he score 10 goals. He was a shot monster he could score left, right, header, long rangers everything. Look at him now his natural abilities killed and he is painful shadow of his former self. If both Doku and Martinelli was playing for some other manager we can only dream what these players would be.
Foden – what does he do for Man C. PepS and Arteta football is laborious, constipated, robotic and sometimes you fail to understand what is the objective of football. It’s almost that the payers have forgotten that you win football matches by scoring goal. Foden has regressed spectacularly. He was this young a exciting highly technical footballer what is he now?
Pep avoids scrutiny as he has won many PLs with very high spending. But the above cases are ample evidence that his brand of football kills the very essence of the beautiful game. There is debate in cricket among coaches that you never change the natural instincts of players but only coach nuances. Not sure Pep and Arteta even understand what natural instincts means. It’s like they have a blueprint and they want robotic players to execute it.

TRVL
Hard to disagree with yours and Madhu’s posts, which Marc cements with his MA thoughts being the same as ours. Now we have Berta in the mix who is a former banker I believe. Bankers are not known for some risk taking spending. So, I can see Berta being overly cautious when buying players.

Your previous post outlining Berta’s big spending fails was worrying.

Now, let’s assume Berta has a nose bleed and buys a striker of note even if against MA’s express orders, sooner or later that striker will be Artetarised either from the square peg, round hole conundrum or requiring hamstring surgery as he’s played to death by club and country – probably in his 2nd season.

We need TWO top tier strikers not one. Havertz is far from top tier so buying one striker will simply not do with MA’s need for every player to get back to defend all the time.

Watching Rice’s box to box antics at full pace I imagine it’s only time before he breaks down, especially if Partey goes in the summer: I’d keep Partey for one more season, as I’m not a fan of Zubi, as he’s too one dimensional for MA’s rigid tactical game plans we see every game. I haven’t watched Zubi that much and do appreciate his 6 abilities, I just don’t think he’ll fit into our ‘same shit different day’ way of playing.

Keep Partey and buy Isak and add Eze from Palace would bring me hopeful happiness this summer.

Never going to happen, so we are left with pipe dreams and longing for the day MA is shown the door with a Tuk Tuk waiting, as he isn’t worth the cab fare.

Like you, I’m willing to give Berta the chance to shine for us. However, any Berta collusion with MA, with MA calling the shots even though, as a footballing director, Berta should be manager Arteta’s boss. Isn’t that how management hierarchy works? Not with our club as Gazidis found out to his embarrassment with Wenger.

Pool might continue to struggle now TAA is out where Slot has suffered Artetaitis with not resting players as the season wears on. They looked off the pace against Fulham where Salah was and has been a passenger for the last 6 or more games. Nunez is a poor reader of the game where he’s too oft flatfooted for defense splitting passes as in yesterday’s game.

As for the Manchester derby yesterday, junior had his first day at work leading up to his summer job, I laid out on the sofa as the game started and woke up at the 81st minute soundly sleeping through the first 80 minutes. Watching the last 15 minutes including added minutes I concluded that I’d wished I’d slept longer………..

I hope I’m completely wrong above, and that we get who and what we exactly need and let our offensive players stay up top leaving the other 8 players to defend cohesively and and collectively: not expecting them to do tearing hammies sprints because our high line is halfway in the opponents half, requiring to keep pace with the PL’s speedsters who are our undoing. It’s too much for our towering players.

Just for once I’d like to be going into this summer window with confidence that KSE actually want to win rather then play for a CL birth next season keeping them in profit.

I find my self shouting “Show me the money” at no one in particular and passing local paddle borders and surfers below my current rental………

This song seems apt for our plight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8

Have a good one guys……..

Anyone feeling buoyant about our chances against RM tomorrow night.

I mean they did lose at the weekend and ………..

Tony

I reckon the game tomorrow will be a fairly tight affair – the return leg I have a feeling will Madrid score at least 3 against us.

Marc

The man with nicotine stained fingers really wants it. He said he wants to stay for another year or two but I would not be surprised if he bows out if RM win the big one.

NORG

The CL has got interesting at last – I’m not sure who I’d put my money on right now to win it but I wouldn’t bet against Madrid.

Marc
RM has drawn 4 and lost 5 from 30 games being 2 points behind Barca but 7 points above AM in 3rd.

We’ve drawn 11 and lost 3 from 31 games.

AM ran RM close in both legs where arguably Athletic were the better side in both legs.

So, for me it depends on which Mbappe turns up. No question he can cause us untold problems, but he lacks consistency with only 9 goals from 15 games.

Keep him quiet and you may well be right about it being a tight game.

Then it depends if MA plays his usual must not lose cautious football or play with the handbrake off free flowing football we are capable of when we play one and 2 touch football.

AM played the latter and almost got it right in both thrilling legs.

It all depends on MA’s selection and tactics. RM have leaked a goal a game scoring a little over 2 goals a game. Conversely, we’ve scored 53 and conceded 26.

Losing Gabs is a big loss no doubt, but I’d play Rice in a back 3 with Saliba and KT with Skelly and Timber as wing backs as both are good moving forward and Rice is best at the back.

Let Marts play 9 and Ethan as false 9/8. Tross and Saka on the wings would not be what Ancelotti will be planning his tactics against.

We’ll see tomorrow night, but if MA mixes it up and loses, then at least he tried to win and not play to not lose.

On the other hand form and stats fly out of the window when it’s a CL Quarter final.

Tony

” but he lacks consistency with only 9 goals from 15 games”

Mate I’d take a striker with that stat in a heartbeat.

The chances of Arteta going for it? I’ve never seen him set up like that in a big game (any game?) he’ll be more concerned with not losing the tie in the first leg and missing a CB he’ll be even more cautious than normal.

Madhu—It’s difficult not to agree with most of your takes as they basically bolster my argument, but I would pushback a bit when it comes to blaming Pep for the failures of a few of the players you’ve mentioned…on the one hand you have two ill-suited reaches like Grealish and Phillips, neither of whom should have ever been on Pep’s transfer radar, as they’re both inherently flawed players, at least from a Pep-specific tactical standpoint(much in the same vein as Havertz in the 8 or Rice as a full-time AM)…whereas, on the other hand, players like Foden and Doku were given ample opportunities to succeed, but simply haven’t come through on a consistent enough basis to maintain their once much more predominant roles in Pep’s offence..as such, I believe Pep is less blameworthy for their struggles, as their issues are far more self-inflicted in nature

Grealish, who’s been predictably underwhelming for the vast majority of his time there, was a savvy big fish in a small pond ruse orchestrated by Villa to raise his MV to such heights that his future transfer fees would actually bankroll their pending massive retool project…Villa’s whole schematics revolved largely around freeing Grealish up in advantageous positions so as to fluff up his stats, which was never going to be the case at the Etihad…just think about it, he’s primarily a right-footed player who can’t beat even average defenders to the baseline, so everyone knows full-well how to defend against him with little to no help

whereas Phillips, who’s profile was greatly raised while playing internationally for England, which btw was a rather anamolous situation in that he was given carte blanche to roam whilst Rice held the defensive fort, was always going to find it difficult to perform similarly under a completely different set of curcumstances…I get why some might have been smitten by what appeared to be on offer, especially when he was flourishing in the same capacity under Bielsa at Leeds, but Pep was never going to run a 4-1-4-1 formation simply to appease one player…btw he was never going to be Rodri’s long-term replacement, as he was only 25 going on 26 at that time and Phillips didn’t possess the body positional qualities of his former Spanish teammate…personally I believe Pep wanted him to do some heavy-lifting in the midfield so as to free up KDB more, but his bull in a china shop approach and his mid-level ball skills were always going to limit him in a possession-based attack

so I do agree with you regarding these two ill-suited transfers, as Pep was totally responsible for these highly predictable transfer window missteps

as for Foden, it appears as if Pep has exhausted ever effort to get him going, including moving him around at times, but nothing has worked…for me Foden’s body language suggests that he’s a bit checked out, for whatever reason…maybe he’s just mentally fatigued, as few teams have played more matches in the last 3 years…not to mention, I would assume if it was more physical in nature, he would have been shelved for a considerable period, which simply hasn’t transpired

Doku’s situation has been a little different, as he’s missed more time this season, due to a couple different injuries, but when he’s played he’s been rather effective, considering his positional brief…unfortunately, in the main, he’s continued to struggle when it comes to his end product…in many ways, his arrival was largely predicated on Grealish’s inability to come good and, as such, the only thing I would blame Pep for is the fact that he paid over the number for Doku, who had a 28M MV at the time of his 50+M purchase…Cheers

Marc—like you, I think MA will try to dumb-down this home leg in the hopes of eking out a 1-0 scoreline before heading to Madrid…styles make fights, so Real will likely allow us to have more possession, which will undoubtedly give Artetites the wrong impression, then try to punish us on the counter…this is where Gab’s absence might be most felt, especially if Rice is still spending considerably more time in their final third than our own…I likewise worry about the potential for another Skelly brain fart, as a few have occured when he’s been caught up the pitch and the opposing team counters with pace…that said, I still think this is a beatable side who have a somewhat fractured locker room, which was only made worse when Real didn’t properly refute rumours about Ancelotti’s pending demise, so if we can find a way to get a 2-0 or 3-0 scoreline, they just might fucking implode

as for the bigger CL picture, I don’t believe there’s a truly dominant side in Europe right now, even though some would suggest that the closest candidate for such a lofty moniker would be Real, considering their lineup on paper and CL pedigree..that said, I personally think Barca should be considered the favourites due to their uncanny ability to score goals no matter the circumstances and the fact that I think the internal strife inside the Bernabeu has hurt them from an offensive “gelling” capacity…Cheers

Tony—as is typically the case, we have some very similar concerns for both the now and the future, but for this particular post I’m going to focus on the latter…I know it’s been said before, but I believe this window will be an organizational tone-setter for the next 3+ years…now this highly pressurized situation could have been easily avoided if MA hadn’t bungled his last 4 or 5 windows…in fact, we should be entering the summer as the two-time defending champs, which would have made our upcoming transfer brief relatively straightforward, remove and replace some periphery pieces then sign 1 world-class starter in our greatest position of need…instead we’re under the gun to get a shit ton of business done in a timely fashion, which certainly hasn’t been our forte

to further complicate matters, our most pressing needs are in positions where the competition will be fierce and the stakes substantially raised…I guess we should know fairly quickly what deals were actually struck between ownership and our former banker turned DOF…maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised and find out that the size of our war chest and some assurances regarding personnel decisions sealed the deal, after all Berta did have some other lucrative offers on the table, so it’s not as if he was devoid of leverage…it’s these sorts of details that will be vitally important when it comes to our ability to both properly identify and secure the best possible option(s) up top

with this in mind, I share your concerns about how MA’s mere presence might negatively impact both our perceived attractiveness for any potential candidates and/or the ability for any newcomer to thrive should MA not drastically adjust our presently Striker-stunted tactics…I certainly don’t want some marginal upgrade on either of our present “options” or someone who’s a part-time, supposedly positionally flexible option, like Cunha…fuck me, what’s so wrong with getting someone who’s exceptionally good at one fucking position, instead of sort of serviceable at a couple different ones…championship football is about winning the thin margins battle, so why would you constantly roll the dice with lower percentage/coin toss options…have a good one bud

TRVL – thanks mate for your post on Pep. Points well made about those players. My argument through that post was to highlight the aspect of Peps and Arteta s coaching where they seem to stifle the natural instincts of players. I draw a parallel to cricket simply because I was closer to the game and had seen coaching and witnessed these debates. I am sure it’s the same in other sport but most likely true in cricket as it’s a highly technical game. For examples there used to be debate about bowling actions and tendency of coaches to alter them based on bio mechanics as naturally developed actions of some bowlers caused stress fractures. But rarely in those cases the bowlers are effective as that killed their natural ability. Same goes with batsmen if you coach them out of their natural ability to make them better in odd cases or might work but generally it seems to have failed. So nowadays with coaches are taught not to change anyone’s natural abilities but to teach them nuances of the game so that they can better adapt to International game and succeed.
That’s precisely my point football managers are supposed to maximize players ability and in some odd cases everyone manger fails. Pep I argue has missed scrutiny in this aspect due to his successes. It’s not just at city there is the famous case of Eto when he was at Barca. I am sure there are other cases but he has missed scrutiny.
Unfortunately for Arsenal Arteta is in the same mould and yet again I highlight Gaby M as his a prime case. His natural ability is stunted and he is not the same player. I am particularly worried for MLS and Ethan. These are academy kids bought up in a different way of coaching which encouraged their natural abilities. I wonder what Arteta will make of them. That’s my real worry.

TRVL
Totally agree with your thoughts and we’ll have to wait until September to see whether the writing on the wall when taking MA into the equation is going to sadly leave us once again average in certain areas that have needed fixing for a decade or more: namely our 9 and 8 positions.

History has shown these are not make do positions for also rans.

Had we signed Isak before Newcastle and Michael Olise from Palace instead of him going to BM and pulling up trees, we would be clear PL winners leaving Pool in our wake this season and possibly winners of the previous season.

This is purely down to one man: Arteta.

Can you imagine if we had added Eze to Olise and Isak? Two 8s from Palace who can both fit 9 or false 9s as well as their favored 8 position.

The cost collectively would have been not much more than Rice’s price including add ons.

Can Berta find such talent for the aforementioned positions?

Only time will tell.

Madhu
Agree with your Ethan & Skelly worries and feel MA will sideline Skelly at least for his discipline issues caused mostly by MA’s high line, and inverting tactics. He’s asking way too much of an 18 year old instead of nurturing, where he expects Skelly to be playing like an experienced 23 year old with 3 or more seasons and CL’s experience.

Skelly is a natural 8 not a LB.

All we can hope is Berta sorts our serial loser manager out. @nd best is not good enough for the years MA has managed us nor for his atrocious TW dealings that has seen too many ‘Stars’ go to other clubs and shun MA’s advances.

To me it looks as though MA doesn’t trust youth players and doesn’t want to teach and nurture our best young talent preferring g to let them go and but players below the quality we need.

I think he expects youth to be Saka’s level now forgetting that Saka got his nurturing from previous managerial incumbents MA inherited.

Marc
I wouldn’t want Mbappe playing for us as he’s too disruptive believing in his own hype without delivering what he’s potentially capable of.

I made my underperforming comment when looking at our own PL leading scorers thus far after 31 games and not the Spain league’s 15 game mark.

9 goals from 15 with the players he’s playing with for me is a poor return when you consider his cost and wages.

Premier League 2024-25 goal scoring leaders

Mohamed Salah, Liverpool — 27.
Erling Haaland, Manchester City — 21.
Alexander Isak, Newcastle United — 20.
Chris Wood, Nottingham Forest — 18.
Bryan Mbeumo, Brentford — 16.
Cole Palmer, Chelsea — 14.
Yoane Wissa, Brentford — 14.
Jean-Philippe Mateta, Crystal Palace — 14.

With home advantage I think we can get a draw at best.

I have a very odd feeling for today. We gonna see some goals and it won’t be from Madrid.

Ambarish—I’ll take your above comment with a large grain of salt considering your “feelings” regarding the whole officiating conspiratorial nonsense lol…truthfully, I wouldn’t be shocked by any scoreline, as it’s very difficult to get a read on either side right now…I would suspect that we willl get plenty of possession, but as we all know that rarely correlates with our actual goal production….meanwhile, this fractured Real side has struggled at time this season to score, especially against sides with good defensive habits…so the keys to this one will likely come down to our ability to convert our chances versus their ability to exploit the left side of our defensive line…that said, I do think it’s imperative that we get a result today, as I find it difficult to fathom a world where we overturn a negative scoreline at the Bernabeu…tbh they definitely appear ripe for the picking, but I’m just not convinced that MA has the onions or acumen this task requires

I’m sitting on the fence calling it a score draw with RM scoring late when we tend to fade.

RM has a much better bench that we do, but have some good players out injured with one suspended.

Junior is snoring on the sofa next to me bless him.

It’ll be tight tonight maybe 1-1 or 2-1/1-2.