Football season 2020/2021

[RobertoCarlos]

Klopp has always had issues with injuries. Maybe it's because he plays the same 11 in a high tempo pressing system and chasing long balls for 3 years straight. Apart from VVD who came up short vs a young brexit lad they have all been muscle injuries

[Tommy T]

I don’t even watch football much but this is pretty pathetic. That you’d get any satisfaction from someone else’s misery is just cringeworthy.

Do you not find that at least mildly entertaining? One of the most obnoxious fan bases in the country finally winning the league and their fans can't even celebrate it properly? It's absolutely great.

Schadenfreude is a real thing.

[DingDongKing]

Do you not find that at least mildly entertaining? One of the most obnoxious fan bases in the country finally winning the league and their fans can't even celebrate it properly? It's absolutely great.

Schadenfreude is a real thing.

I wouldn’t take pleasure in anyone’s misery. The whole ‘oh the other side is more obnoxious’ argument is untrue. It takes like a 5 minute glance on Twitter or Facebook to register that every fan base is toxic as fuck. Folk just think their shit stinks less. Which is a chief reason I stay away from social media and sport altogether. Or anything tribal.

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You literally describe Liverpool in this statement. If you want to see what injuries do to a mid sized team look at my own Sheffield United decimated shadow of our former selves.

Was looking at some figures in regards to this. Liverpool only seem to spend when they sell players. Their owners are the same as the Red Sox, who followed a similar model for a while. Invest in youth, etc. Sell them when they’re valuable. The issue is when you come close to the top of the pile and then don’t sell to buy, you run out of options to raise revenue. Especially in a COVID environment, which means the club owners are likely to be reticent to take any credit out to fund transfers. It’s no point comparing Sheffield to Liverpool because the goals are different. One team wants to be top, the other team wants to escape the drop.

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Theres many more clubs than just LFC that have many injuries. Injuries is part of the problem, but its not the whole picture. When it comes to not being wealthy.. Well LFC got the money if they want to spend it. Maybe not PSG money, but they have if need be. Van Dijk has been out long before January and they knew a new CB or two was needed. They did eventually got someone in right before the window closed.

LFC probably took a calucalted risk by not splashing the cash in january for a very good CB and instead plan for summer signings. A decisison that might cost them a CL spot.

Many big coaches have said that when you are winning and your squad is doing got, it can often times be smart to invest in new players. PLayers that dont "fill up the squad", but players that actually bring something to the table and keep everyone on theyre toes. The two CB signings will be benched forever when everyone is fit again.

The very best teams does this. They bring in players that lift the level on the squad.

Sounds correct. Looking at their financial statements, they’re trying to survive COVID. But you can’t also hope to be competing at the highest level when there’s clubs with more financial power to recruit AND also then want to not spend money. Though the injuries situation does seem really bad. Football is likely the same as raiding. You can’t chase world first if you keep losing members of your raid and the drop off between them and a backup is too high. Confidence levels will go down the toilet.

[crusadernero]

I wouldn’t take pleasure in anyone’s misery. The whole ‘oh the other side is more obnoxious’ argument is untrue. It takes like a 5 minute glance on Twitter or Facebook to register that every fan base is toxic as fuck. Folk just think their shit stinks less. Which is a chief reason I stay away from social media and sport altogether. Or anything tribal.

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Was looking at some figures in regards to this. Liverpool only seem to spend when they sell players. Their owners are the same as the Red Sox, who followed a similar model for a while. Invest in youth, etc. Sell them when they’re valuable. The issue is when you come close to the top of the pile and then don’t sell to buy, you run out of options to raise revenue. Especially in a COVID environment, which means the club owners are likely to be reticent to take any credit out to fund transfers. It’s no point comparing Sheffield to Liverpool because the goals are different. One team wants to be top, the other team wants to escape the drop.

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Sounds correct. Looking at their financial statements, they’re trying to survive COVID. But you can’t also hope to be competing at the highest level when there’s clubs with more financial power to recruit AND also then want to not spend money. Though the injuries situation does seem really bad. Football is likely the same as raiding. You can’t chase world first if you keep losing members of your raid and the drop off between them and a backup is too high. Confidence levels will go down the toilet.

We also gotta recognice that this is a very different season alltogether. All players are living isolated and the fixtures just comes piling up one after the other. Sure, they live a healthy life and make lots of money, but they are under immense pressure everyday to perform while the world world judges them. Fatigue from winning the league+fatigue in a long and very different season.

We can see this on most teams, especially in the PL. Its much closer now behind city at first spot. The big teams except city are losing matches.

This season we can cleary see the difference between Guardiola and the rest. Especially if you compared Guardiola to Klopp(compare them cause they have been head to head last seasons). City also had a slow start to the season. They struggled too with injuries and fatigue. They didnt have the little extra. So Guardiola changed the style of play a bit, one that focused more on keeping the ball in the team. Rest with ball in possession instead of chasing the ball and/or attacking all the time. They did this for a while until the team felt refreshed and less injury prone. Klopp & LFC on the other hand is business as usual, cause they dont know how to anything else.

You could say Guardiola made his team more boring to watch.

[DingDongKing]

We also gotta recognice that this is a very different season alltogether. All players are living isolated and the fixtures just comes piling up one after the other. Sure, they live a healthy life and make lots of money, but they are under immense pressure everyday to perform while the world world judges them. Fatigue from winning the league+fatigue in a long and very different season.

We can see this on most teams, especially in the PL. Its much closer now behind city at first spot. The big teams except city are losing matches.

This season we can cleary see the difference between Guardiola and the rest. Especially if you compared Guardiola to Klopp(compare them cause they have been head to head last seasons). City also had a slow start to the season. They struggled too with injuries and fatigue. They didnt have the little extra. So Guardiola changed the style of play a bit, one that focused more on keeping the ball in the team. Rest with ball in possession instead of chasing the ball and/or attacking all the time. They did this for a while until the team felt refreshed and less injury prone. Klopp & LFC on the other hand is business as usual, cause they dont know how to anything else.

You could say Guardiola made his team more boring to watch.

Guardiola also just has way more talent at his disposal. His bench is good enough to be a B Team in the league and be top 5. The inherent issue with Klopp this year is he’s a) working within the financial restrictions set for the club b) can’t really be flexible because his squad is so small. All that aside, it’s asinine of anyone to have underestimated Guardiola’s talent as a manager - not that you have - whether her has unlimited finances or not. In fact I don’t think Liverpool deserve Klopp, because they’re hamstringing his potential as a manager by not giving him the resources he needs to succeed.

[RobertoCarlos]

Guardiola also just has way more talent at his disposal. His bench is good enough to be a B Team in the league and be top 5. The inherent issue with Klopp this year is he’s a) working within the financial restrictions set for the club b) can’t really be flexible because his squad is so small. All that aside, it’s asinine of anyone to have underestimated Guardiola’s talent as a manager - not that you have - whether her has unlimited finances or not. In fact I don’t think Liverpool deserve Klopp, because they’re hamstringing his potential as a manager by not giving him the resources he needs to succeed.

Ah yes the team that was hyped as the best premier league team ever is now "too small" too compete.

[DingDongKing]

Ah yes the team that was hyped as the best premier league team ever is now "too small" too compete.

I think if you waste time factoring in what newspapers or fans say about a team, then Michael Ricketts should be England’s all time scorer. So that’s just you looking for a reason to say, ‘see they’re shit and here’s the proof’. See my point on tribalism. It’s the same way people keep giving Solsjkaer crap. Just let the man do his job and stop setting him up to fail with hype. Also, the resource crunch on Liverpool is the same as other teams. But the difference is the owners seem dead set on not borrowing to finance purchases. Because they seem to think running football clubs like a business will keep paying dividends. It won’t short term.

[RobertoCarlos]

I think if you waste time factoring in what newspapers or fans say about a team, then Michael Ricketts should be England’s all time scorer. So that’s just you looking for a reason to say, ‘see they’re shit and here’s the proof’. See my point on tribalism. It’s the same way people keep giving Solsjkaer crap. Just let the man do his job and stop setting him up to fail with hype. Also, the resource crunch on Liverpool is the same as other teams. But the difference is the owners seem dead set on not borrowing to finance purchases. Because they seem to still think FFP is a thing.

Showing fiscal responsibility because they dont have the middle east behind them is good business.

You have one of the best centerbacks in the world who gets injured so suddenly you need to splash out cash on another centerback in a market where clubs still expect prices pre-covid. Seems like a good way to get fleeced. And what people say actually matters, just look at the tole social media and ex player pundits took on players, players like Jesse Lingard, Dele Alli, Sterling were clearly effected by all the online bullying and it effected their confidence on the pitch.

And liverpool broke their spending records to get him a top keeper and CB so its clearly a mutually beneficial relationship.

[DingDongKing]

Showing fiscal responsibility because they dont have the middle east behind them is good business.

You have one of the best centerbacks in the world who gets injured so suddenly you need to splash out cash on another centerback in a market where clubs still expect prices pre-covid. Seems like a good way to get fleeced. And what people say actually matters, just look at the tole social media and ex player pundits took on players, players like Jesse Lingard, Dele Alli, Sterling were clearly effected by all the online bullying and it effected their confidence on the pitch.

And liverpool broke their spending records to get him a top keeper and CB so its clearly a mutually beneficial relationship.

Didn’t say what they’re doing is a bad thing necessarily. Just that like any business decision, it has its drawbacks and benefits. It’s a little weird though that the owners haven’t really invested much of their own money at all into the club. So then in times like now, the financial power gap between them and say a City or Chelsea or United is glaring. If I was a Liverpool fan, I’d have split feelings on it, but would recommend writing this season off as a weird one. No different to how it was when Chelsea came 8th in 15/16 or United came 7th or something in 13/14. Football is cyclical. It’s also silly to ever believe any single team is the ‘best ever’. There’s no pocket universe where conclusive results can be found for it. So it’s just tribal bullshit. I agree regarding what fans say. Social media is a shithole for both fans and players alike. But it extends to entertainment, politics and every sphere of life. And it’s quite frankly, pathetic.

[RobertoCarlos]

Didn’t say what they’re doing is a bad thing necessarily. Just that like any business decision, it has its drawbacks and benefits. It’s a little weird though that the owners haven’t really invested much of their own money at all into the club. So then in times like now, the financial power gap between them and say a City or Chelsea or United is glaring. If I was a Liverpool fan, I’d have split feelings on it, but would recommend writing this season off as a weird one. No different to how it was when Chelsea came 8th in 15/16 or United came 7th or something in 13/14. Football is cyclical. It’s also silly to ever believe any single team is the ‘best ever’. There’s no pocket universe where conclusive results can be found for it. So it’s just tribal bullshit. I agree regarding what fans say. Social media is a shithole for both fans and players alike. But it extends to entertainment, politics and every sphere of life. And it’s quite frankly, pathetic.

I disagree. Its clearly silly to say a team is the "best ever" because sports constantly evolve and the competition/talent required only continues to increase but you get special teams in any sport where its the right combination of players and it all syncs together perfectly with the managers chosen play style.

AC milan in the 80s early 90s had some special teams, Man utd's 99 and 2008 teams. Chelsea under Mourinho in his first stint. Barcelona under Pep.

You put any of those teams even against modern increased standards and they would still be competitive if not dominate.

Similar to mike tyson, tiger woods, michael phelps, michael jordan. Some athletes are just different breed

[DingDongKing]

I disagree. Its clearly silly to say a team is the "best ever" because sports constantly evolve and the competition/talent required only continues to increase but you get special teams in any sport where its the right combination of players and it all syncs together perfectly with the managers chosen play style.

AC milan in the 80s early 90s had some special teams, Man utd's 99 and 2008 teams. Chelsea under Mourinho in his first stint. Barcelona under Pep.

You put any of those teams even against modern increased standards and they would still be competitive if not dominate.

Similar to mike tyson, tiger woods, michael phelps, michael jordan. Some athletes are just different breed

All fantastic teams, but it’s impossible to say one of them is the greatest ever. They’re all VERY VERY good teams. And that’s all that matters. The ‘who’s the best?’ is just penis wagging and pointless.

[RobertoCarlos]

All fantastic teams, but it’s impossible to say one of them is the greatest ever. They’re all VERY VERY good teams. And that’s all that matters. The ‘who’s the best?’ is just penis wagging and pointless.

Yeah sadly we dont quite have the technology yet to re create those teams to find out. You can however recognize greatness that goes beyond mindless tribalism.

[DingDongKing]

Yeah sadly we dont quite have the technology yet to re create those teams to find out. You can however recognize greatness that goes beyond mindless tribalism.

Sure, those teams are some of the best. An argument could easily be made that for the 24 month period that Liverpool were on top form, they were one of the best teams around alongside City and Bayern. Injuries are commonplace for sure, but what they’re experiencing is quite bizarre. City seemed out of sorts last year because Laporte was missing. I wonder how United would manage if their centre backs were out, they had to then play Fred and Matic back there, and then they were out too. The lack of a consistent lineup would wreck them. And it would bad taste to revel in their misery.

[Logwyn]

USWNT has all but sewn up the "She believes Cup".

[Northern Goblin]

Sure, those teams are some of the best. An argument could easily be made that for the 24 month period that Liverpool were on top form, they were one of the best teams around alongside City and Bayern. Injuries are commonplace for sure, but what they’re experiencing is quite bizarre. City seemed out of sorts last year because Laporte was missing. I wonder how United would manage if their centre backs were out, they had to then play Fred and Matic back there, and then they were out too. The lack of a consistent lineup would wreck them. And it would bad taste to revel in their misery.

This happened already in the 2009/2010 season, there was a point where our back four was Valencia, Carrick, Fletcher and De Laet, to add insult to injury we had to resort to Kuszczak in goal.

We finished the season second a point behind Chelsea. No sympathy for Liverpool's complete collapse here.

[Tommy T]

I wouldn’t take pleasure in anyone’s misery. The whole ‘oh the other side is more obnoxious’ argument is untrue. It takes like a 5 minute glance on Twitter or Facebook to register that every fan base is toxic as fuck. Folk just think their shit stinks less. Which is a chief reason I stay away from social media and sport altogether. Or anything tribal.

Who mentioned anything about Twitter or Facebook? They're utter cesspools in regards to Football. Have you met a Liverpool fan in real life? YNWA, "6 times la", every other club has no history. It's all part of their vocabulary and behaviour.

You're a regular in the politics sub forum, yet you say you stay away from anything tribal?

Politics is the most tribal thing on this planet. It's very rare you can have a decent conversation about politics with someone who's not got their colours strapped to their chest.

I make no apologies for being tribal when it comes to Football. It's what provides the passion. Seeing your rival teams lose can be as good as seeing your own team win sometimes and I wouldn't change that.

[DingDongKing]

This happened already in the 2009/2010 season, there was a point where our back four was Valencia, Carrick, Fletcher and De Laet, to add insult to injury we had to resort to Kuszczak in goal.

We finished the season second a point behind Chelsea. No sympathy for Liverpool's complete collapse here.

Based on what I'm reading, that lasted 2 months. Liverpool have had no centre backs for the majority of the season.

And really, all that most football fans want is an excuse to say their team is better than another. Or to invalidate the successes and failures of another team. So even if Chelsea (for example) had their entire 11 out for a year, opposition fans would still not be objective about it.

It's not even like a Liverpool fan would be asking you for sympathy. You just see it as your right as a 'fan' to be involved in it.

When truly, the optimal thing to do is just focus on your own club and not give a damn what anyone else says or thinks.

Who mentioned anything about Twitter or Facebook? They're utter cesspools in regards to Football. Have you met a Liverpool fan in real life? YNWA, "6 times la", every other club has no history. It's all part of their vocabulary and behaviour.

You're a regular in the politics sub forum, yet you say you stay away from anything tribal?

Politics is the most tribal thing on this planet. It's very rare you can have a decent conversation about politics with someone who's not got their colours strapped to their chest.

I make no apologies for being tribal when it comes to Football. It's what provides the passion. Seeing your rival teams lose can be as good as seeing your own team win sometimes and I wouldn't change that.

1. I know a fair few of them, and they're all like every other fanbase. They're no different in their tribal nature to anyone else.

2. I discuss politics like I discuss sport. I don't have a 'side' - though it's unfortunately but true that most right wing parties are full of nutcases. And even then, I wouldn't want them to be miserable. I'd want them not to be such a hateful and spiteful bastards.

3. You do you. I wouldn't stoop down to a level where I cheer someone else's misery. It's pathetic.

[Tommy T]

Based on what I'm reading, that lasted 2 months. Liverpool have had no centre backs for the majority of the season.

And really, all that most football fans want is an excuse to say their team is better than another. Or to invalidate the successes and failures of another team. So even if Chelsea (for example) had their entire 11 out for a year, opposition fans would still not be objective about it.

It's not even like a Liverpool fan would be asking you for sympathy. You just see it as your right as a 'fan' to be involved in it.

When truly, the optimal thing to do is just focus on your own club and not give a damn what anyone else says or thinks.



1. I know a fair few of them, and they're all like every other fanbase. They're no different in their tribal nature to anyone else.

2. I discuss politics like I discuss sport. I don't have a 'side' - though it's unfortunately but true that most right wing parties are full of nutcases. And even then, I wouldn't want them to be miserable. I'd want them not to be such a hateful and spiteful bastards.

3. You do you. I wouldn't stoop down to a level where I cheer someone else's misery. It's pathetic.

It's a game for fuck sake. Am I not allowed to take the mick out of my friend who supports Tottenham when we beat them the other week? Is that cheering someone else's misery?

anyway, getting too personal for me. Usually just ignore people when they start throwing around insults.
Have a good one.

[DingDongKing]

It's a game for fuck sake. Am I not allowed to take the mick out of my friend who supports Tottenham when we beat them the other week? Is that cheering someone else's misery?

anyway, getting too personal for me. Usually just ignore people when they start throwing around insults.
Have a good one.

1. Messing with your friend is different, and I would say if it begins to upset him, then no. It's not 'allowed'.

2. You've come onto an internet forum to basically tell every Liverpool fan that you're enjoying their misery. They're not your mates are they?

3. I don't recall having insulted you. Just said that such behaviour is kinda pathetic. And if anything, you're probably better than that?

[RobertoCarlos]

Wonder if lampard was watching with his little fine rule book at what a real manager can do with chelsea