Gert & TheBoy's Official VNA Soccer... err Football Thread

[Gert-Jan]

I think both Costa and Conte have handled things the wrong way. The Spanish striker is anything but the perfect son in law and something happened around the time he was offered a contract in China and he was left out of the squad. Conte, meanwhile, shouldn't have texted him in May. Let's translate it to our own situations... how would all of us feel when our boss fires us with basically just a simplistic text message? Mismanagement from Conte who should've known better and not let the situation get out of hand cause three months later it's still the talk of the town. Hopefully Atletico and Chelsea reach an agreement so both parties can move on and focus on the future.

That future, by the way, looks a lot brighter as clouds have cleared after beating Tottenham. Conte changed tactics and played with 5 defenders and 3 holding midfielders, lol. I had to grin when he lined up Kante, Luiz and Bakayoko side by side in midfield. The Lilywhites were unable to break down the blue wall during the first half and that infamous double-decker bus was also parked brilliantly during large parts of the second half. If I were Barca, I'd start looking at Eriksen as it was his free-kick again which led to a goal when Batshuayi put the ball past his own keeper. Spurs at Wembley and Kane in August remain an issue whereas Alonso's brace and raids down the left have put him on the fantasy football radar again.

It was a bit of a dull Premier League weekend in my opinion. Liverpool lacked the right intensity, Arsenal were unfortunate to not get a goal against Stoke and Man United struggled for a good hour or so against Swansea as Kyle Bartley made it five at the back to try stop Mourinho's machine from scoring. The Swans went 1-0 down shortly before half-time, but once Clement shifted to a more attacking style, Lukaku, Micky, Martial and Pogba did the business. Man United, Huddersfield and West Brom are top of the table and have yet to concede a goal.

There's Monday night football! Man City vs Everton.

[sugerdaddy]

2 games in the EPL and Manchester United has scored 8 goals.what a team. Go you good things.

[rokkerr]

WTF?!?! Handcock?!?!?

[CGYMike]

Holy Crap...I'm out of last place (if only for a week)

Gawd I love soccer..errrrrr...football

[CGYMike]

I'm fairly certain Ronaldo goes down more than an Amsterdam hooker

[sephirothclone]

would it be too late to join your fantasy premier league

[rokkerr]

would it be too late to join your fantasy premier league

Please do... it's only 2 games in...
the link is in the thread... if you have any problems joining let me know...

[rokkerr]

There were so many changes at the transfer deadline I can't keep track...
I thought Sanchez had been traded like 8 times...

[TheBoy]

There's such a lot of talking points from the transfer deadline day that it's hard to know where to begin.

I was really surprised that Liverpool kept hold of Coutinho, especially with Spain having the extra day to make it happen and Liverpool having wrapped up the signing of Oxlade-Chamberlain. Being honest, I think it's maybe a case of Liverpool cutting off their nose to spite their face in this situation. Coutinho understandably desperately wanted to go to the point that he was shown to be feigning injury in order to avoid playing and Barcelona were offering a ridiculous amount of money. Even if some of that was made up of almost certainly unachievable targets, the fee of £138m far outweighs his true transfer value and if Liverpool could not get in someone with just as much talent for even half the price, then their scouts should be fired.

Alexis Sanchez is a curious one. I almost get the feeling that it was down purely to the Arsenal board's stubbornness that they didn't accept the deal from Man City. I can understand them being unwilling to sell to a direct rival though and I presume they were banking on a team like PSG or Bayern coming in for him instead. However, the fact cannot be hidden that Sanchez also wanted to leave and to get in £60m for a player with under 12 months of his contract left, sometimes you maybe have to accept defeat.

I would guess Sanchez will leave in January now and who knows, with the crazy transfer fees going on, Arsenal still may get £50m from the eventual buyers. But there are very troubling signs at Arsenal with so many players in the last year of their contract and an undeniable lack of moral inside the club.

The next thing I would like to mention is what I think a much more positive one: The number of players who rejected Chelsea's off of money to sit on the bench. We had Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain reject the Chelsea bench for Liverpool, Fernando Llorente decided he'd prefer being at Spurs to Chelsea's bench and finally Ross Barkley walked out part way through his medical in order to 'reassess his options' in January. The disappointing one of course is Leicester's Danny Drinkwater who managed to push through a move in the last few minutes of the window.

On the subject of Leicester still, another player I'm hugely surprised didn't make a move is Riyad Mahrez. You would have thought that with teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool all in the mix for a player of his type, one of them would have thrown down the cash to get him. Still, again fair play to him for not kicking up a fuss and accepting that he'll have to wait until January in order to potentially get his move.

Now we just have the boring internationals to get out of the way and we can get back to planning those Fantasy Football teams again!

[Gert-Jan]

A busy deadline day indeed, though it was more about all the transfers that didn't happen. Liverpool have always said Coutinho wasn't for sale and it shocked me too how they sticked to their guns after Barca had made 3 official bids of £72, £90 and £114 million. I totally agree with Drew that it's far beyond the Brazilian's true value, but then again, the entire transfer market has imploded since PSG triggered Neymar's €222m release clause.

Arsenal's 4-0 mauling at Liverpool was followed up by a disappointing Thursday even though they did manage to keep hold of Sanchez. City and the Gunners had actually agreed a deal (£55m + £5m add-ons) on Thursday, but he would only move up north if Arsenal would be able to get a replacement. Monaco was interested in Arsenal's £94m offer to sign Lemar - confirmed by Wenger this weekend - yet the player in question rather stayed in the south of France. Ultimately, it meant the Sanchez deal was off and City are partly to blame as they left it too late. Pep wanted Sanchez all summer long, so why only come with a serious bid in the last few days?

Surprised Mahrez didn't get his desired move to another club as photos emerged on deadline day from the Algerian sitting at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris ready to fly to either England or Rome in Italy. Hopefully he'll be able to hold his head up high and play like he has done in the first 3 gameweeks.

Oxlade-Chamberlain turned down Chelsea as Conte wanted extra cover in the wing-back positions whereas the England international's preference is a central midfield role. Liverpool's midfield minefield, however, contains even more options than at his former club Arsenal. If everybody is fit, I can't see Oxlade getting into the first team, although I do expect Klopp to rotate around CL fixtures as well as the December month. Kinda stunned they decided to sign Leipzig's Keita for 2018/2019 rather than going back to Southampton to buy Virgil Van Dijk as central defence is an area where they needed to strengthen.

Everton not getting a high profile number 9 is an issue with Europa League in the mix. Rooney can't play striker anymore and has been utilised a bit deeper, Sandro and Calvert-Lewin are too inexperienced and the same can be said for the talented Vlasic from Hadjuk Split. Speaking of strikers, Brighton didn't get one either so they are left with Hemed and good old Glenn Murray, lol.

• Serge Aurier: PSG ~~> Tottenham
• Marvin Zeegelaar: Sporting Lisbon ~~> Watford
• Wilfried Bony: Man City ~~> Swansea
• Kieran Gibbs: Arsenal ~~> West Brom
• Renato Sanches: Bayern Munich ~~> Swansea
• Kylian Mbappé: Monaco ~~> PSG
• Kevin Wimmer: Tottenham ~~> Stoke
• Davide Zappacosta: Torino ~~> Chelsea
• Mamadou Sakho: Liverpool ~~> Crystal Palace

Centre-backs Mangala, Mustafi and Johnny Evans are all staying at their respective clubs.

Drew, what do you think of Spurs' signings? Are you happy with Llorente as back-up (ie plan B) to Kane and Serge Aurier as presumed first-choice right-back? And what about Barca's decision to get Paulinho? Surely you had to laugh about that one. Not good enough when playing at Tottenham, moved to the Chinese league and now under contract at one of the world's biggest clubs, lol.

[TheBoy]

Just goes to show the number of high profile moves (and non-moves) that I completely forgot about Van Dijk in my previous post! What are your thoughts on him Gert, do you reckon he's the type of person to accept his fate and force his way back into the Saints defence or will he sulk until January?

It's the usual story I suppose for Spurs and their transfer dealings. On the one hand, I'm excited by Aurier and think he was an essential purchase after we've seen Trippier cost us the win against Burnley. I'd be lying if I said I'd seen him play a lot, but from the reports and comments, people seem to think he could potentially be an upgrade on Walker so fingers crossed on that one. Llorente, whilst no exactly the most exciting of signings, being logical he scored 15 goals last season for a pretty bad Swansea side and so if he can contribute say 10 goals when coming off the bench, I'd say he'll prove to be an astute purchase. After all if he comes off the bench to score, we can presume that in most cases it will have been in situations where we're looking to snatch a winner or draw level.

On the other, it's frustrating again to think we're gambling basically our entire season on Eriksen and Alli not getting injured, plus hoping that Son can repeat last season with his impressive returns. Lamela seems permanently injured, Sissoko is, well, let's just say not my favourite player and Nkoudou is blatantly not in Pochettino's plans. I can understand us waiting patiently for Barkley - if indeed we are fully invested in getting him - due to his injury, but there's still the huge problem of having very little pace in attack. On the Wembley pitch more than ever, we appear to be crying out for someone with that burst of pace who can counter attack or offer a bit of an x-factor. That's why I'm a little surprised we didn't make a late move for Mahrez.

The other super annoying thing is that whilst we sat by and watched City spend over £200m and so many other teams splashing out the TV kings ransom, Daniel Levy once again ended up sitting on a £7m profit! Of course, it could be argued that in Aurier, Sanhez, Foyth and Llorente we have actually upgraded overall on Walker, Wimmer, Vickers and Janssen. But as we've said many times in the past, in modern elite level football if you're not improving then you're actually going backwards in relation to the other teams around you.

Paulinho is one we just have to laugh about really! Who knows, maybe Spanish football will fit him better but it's typical of Spurs that we were pretty much jumping for joy when Levy sold him to China for a decent price only to see him then brought back Barcelona of all clubs!

[PeterL22]

I couldn't resist making a comeback on this forum.
Three questions about World Cup Qualifiers
1/ Why are England so boring? - they even put me to sleep whilst winning 4-0 in Malta!
2/ Why are Holland so bad - I watched their game against Bulgaria (not the best team in the world) and they were lucky to win.
3/ Can Wales do it? Up until 70mins against Austria it looked as if we would go out without losing a match (too many draws), but maybe there is hope!

[TheBoy]

Welcome back Peter :)

International football in general I think is pretty darn boring these days, although I totally agree that England are title contenders when it comes to the league of boringness! I think in the main it boils down not having any really creative players in midfield. Alli is capable of doing some outrageous things but he's not really an Eriksen, Coutinho, Scholes type of player. And when you've got Henderson and Dier as your two central mids, then it's no surprise at all we struggle to get the ball forward and create chances.

Then the pacey options out wide are all of the typical English no brain variety. Oxlade-Chamberlain was by a distance the worst player on the pitch on Monday night, but then you've got Sterling as your alternative. Rashford I will say though looked a different player when put onto the left side against Slovakia.

I was actually at Wembley on Monday night - being wined and dined in a private box no less! I won't bore anyone with too many details, but a friend and I set up a website called Footy Index Scout that offers guidance on using a new betting platform called Football Index and it was those who invited us down to discuss some potential business... All very exciting

The only problem was having to travel for over 7 hours in total to watch England play lol.

Peter, now that you are back what are your thoughts on the Van Dijk situation? Will the manager allow him back into the fold or will Van Dijk continue to sulk until January?

[PeterL22]

My thoughts on Virgil - firstly, the guy is a total sh1t! You get and sign a 6 (yes SIX) year contract after being out injured for over six months (and the club having helped you recover from the injury - for the record deliberate assault by Vardy), and then at the same time start talking to the Sour Kraut at Liverpool about a move. When the club point out that you are a prize asset and they don't want to sell you, you sulk and refuse to play. No wonder the fans start changing your song ("We've got Van Dyke" to "F^ck off Van Dyke") and get fed up with you.
However, he was ,before his injury the BEST centre back in the Premier League and the team would be strengthened by his return. Yoshida has done so well covering and mentoring Stephens (an English International in the near future); Hoedt may be current Dutch choice, but they are pretty poor and there is no real competition for places; the other two centre backs Saints have - Bednarek and Gardos are woeful (Bednarek is a total waste of money - even for the future). Thus we have to say that if he wants to give his full effort (and he should if he really wants a transfer and to play for Holland again), and he is back to where he was before the injury, he should go back to first name on team sheet for defender (for me Romeu is first name on sheet!). Who else plays is more tricky - it may even come to a back three with two from Hoed,Yoshida and Stephens (probably Hoed gets nod as left footer) - we certainly have the right fullbacks/wingbacks in Cedric and Bertrand to play that formation. For me if we go for a back four , I would play VVD & Yoshida - although I expect it will be VVD & Hoed.
Longwinded answer, but hopefully fair one!
I think you may be a Spurs fan - will you actually get a win at Wembley this year?? - LOL

PS - as a Wales fan International football is NEVER boring - but there is often a need for Valium.
Bet you wish Woodburn was English!!

[Gert-Jan]

I decided to watch Spain instead of England or the Netherlands. It's not difficult thrashing minnows Liechtenstein 8-0, although France hilariously struggled with Luxembourg a day earlier, but the way Spain took care of Italy last week was very impressive. A solid 3-0 victory with Isco the main man in midfield, nutmegging Verratti at some point, lol. Lopetegui's side are front runners to win the World Cup with both Brazil and Germany two other creative forces.

Our qualification is hanging by a thread even after beating Bulgaria 3-1 on Sunday night. We need to win our remaining two fixtures and then it still depends on Sweden's results in their two matches as they have a better goal difference than us. If we somehow miraculously manage to finish second in the group, the two-legged play-off draw looks terrifying as we could face the likes of Northern Ireland and Portugal. Michael O'Neill's well-drilled recruits rarely concede a goal, while the Portuguese stars, Ronaldo in particular, will for sure need to be present too. I fear the Dutch will miss another major tournament.

Van Dijk lacks match fitness and needs a few more weeks in my opinion. Whether he'll come straight back in remains to be seen as Pellegrino has enough options in central defence with Stephens, Yoshida and new signing Hoedt, though I can't imagine Van Dijk will be frozen out until the window opens again. That would see his transfer price/value drop significantly.

Anyone read the Adrien Silva story? Apparently Leicester City were 14 seconds late with the required paperwork for his registration and he's now ineligable to play until January, lol. Unsurprisingly, Leicester have submitted an appeal. To be continued.

[PeterL22]

I decided to watch Spain instead of England or the Netherlands. It's not difficult thrashing minnows Liechtenstein 8-0, although France hilariously struggled with Luxembourg a day earlier, but the way Spain took care of Italy last week was very impressive. A solid 3-0 victory with Isco the main man in midfield, nutmegging Verratti at some point, lol. Lopetegui's side are front runners to win the World Cup with both Brazil and Germany two other creative forces.

Our qualification is hanging by a thread even after beating Bulgaria 3-1 on Sunday night. We need to win our remaining two fixtures and then it still depends on Sweden's results in their two matches as they have a better goal difference than us. If we somehow miraculously manage to finish second in the group, the two-legged play-off draw looks terrifying as we could face the likes of Northern Ireland and Portugal. Michael O'Neill's well-drilled recruits rarely concede a goal, while the Portuguese stars, Ronaldo in particular, will for sure need to be present too. I fear the Dutch will miss another major tournament.

Van Dijk lacks match fitness and needs a few more weeks in my opinion. Whether he'll come straight back in remains to be seen as Pellegrino has enough options in central defence with Stephens, Yoshida and new signing Hoedt, though I can't imagine Van Dijk will be frozen out until the window opens again. That would see his transfer price/value drop significantly.

Anyone read the Adrien Silva story? Apparently Leicester City were 14 seconds late with the required paperwork for his registration and he's now ineligable to play until January, lol. Unsurprisingly, Leicester have submitted an appeal. To be continued.

To be honest, if a multimillion business can't get its deals sorted out by a deadline it has known for months, I have no sympathy.
You'd better hope you get Northern Ireland or Portugal rather than Y Ddraig Goch - we are unbeaten and starting to play a bit now. Your lot would freeze in Cardiff with the atmosphere there - ask Austria and Belgium!

[PeterL22]

Weekend review of Premier League
Man Utd aren't as good as they think they are - Stoke proved that teamwork is better than massive transfers (God I wish I had the Welsh Pirlo - Joe Allen - in my Fantasy team)
Liverpool - just ha ha! Best wishes from all Saints fans. Special message to Sour Kraut - "Sacked in the morning, You're getting sacked in the morning!"
Arsenal - see you can do it!
Spurs - don't worry, half your games are away from Wembley
Everton - sorry guys, you aren't really top six material.
Watford - watch out rest of PL, these guys look much better than last season - great midfield.
Burnley - great transfer window - Woods looks good, and who would want to face him and Vokes in the rain and wind in Lancashire.
Palace - Bye , bye - and back to Holland Mr De Boer
Saints - is Pellegrino such a good choice - after Claude I though the only way is up - totally got tactics wrong. Why leave out Lemina when you are facing rotweillers in midfield. Too light-weight - even with Romeu. O, why didn't we buy a striker rather than waste money on two centre backs!!??
Finally - why are refs in PL so cr@p? Come on guys get your act together.

PS if you want to watch good football, forget PL and watch Mr Mertens &Co at Napoli!

[rokkerr]

Quite a weekend for for Neil Stewart our new player...

It's going to be a very tight race to the winner...

Drew, haven't forgotten your trophy. It's coming soon. It's been a rough patch in Florida..

[sugerdaddy]

The Manchester United due a game against Stoke. I think most players where drunk to do this.Any way they are still top of the table with 12 goals. Stiff shit Man City.

[sephirothclone]

Quite a weekend for for Neil Stewart our new player...

It's going to be a very tight race to the winner...

Drew, haven't forgotten your trophy. It's coming soon. It's been a rough patch in Florida..

didn't stay on top for long