Can honestly see them going down - at best they will be in for a big scrap at the bottom. I also think Moyes is a sure bet for the sack race. Edit - just found out I had a free £5 bet with skybet - stuck it on Moyes. 7/1 seemed decent
West Ham need to sell to buy. They rival us in the ‘underused dross on big salaries‘ stakes. I’m sure they would have preferred to move on the likes of Lanzini or Anderson but in this market there’s no flipping way. Plus they’re on yet another rebuild with a new manager so Moyes will want players. They’ll struggle again but they’ve got a couple of effective attacking players (Bowen and Antonio aren’t pretty but they are direct and hard to play) that should do enough to keep them up.
I still think Anderson can be a player under the right manager. That manager ain't Moyes though. Huge shame what the dildo brothers and Brady have done to that club. Fair play to Noble.
I mean, it’s a touch more complicated than that. I think he’s in the wrong in trying to utilise a clause which he clearly didn’t have a legal right to, however this is the conclusion of a building war between coaching staff, sporting director, President and senior players that has been going on for a long time now. He’s been their best, most reliable player pretty much since he stepped on the pitch and the way the club hierarchy have publicly handled the issues and talked about older players and backroom staff on social media there has been so crass and classless. He’s seeing his friends and teammates told that they’re no longer wanted at the club too. If it were my job, I’d be looking to get out as soon as I could too. Problem is, he’s so insanely valuable as a player and as a tool of the brand that they probably would sell if they could but nobody will pay the valuation. Getting embarrassed by Bayern was just throwing more fuel on an already blazing fire. Long way to go to sort that club out and the talk of them getting Mane off Liverpool is high ****ing comedy.
Fair enough, I didn't know any of that. Messi still has the look of a petulant tart about him though, always has.
Many things are capable of being true, but nobody comes out of the Barcelona story looking good. With all their ‘more than a club’ PR stuff rapidly falling apart as everyone turns on each other, this will be so damaging. Koeman’s no bullshit style is what they needed but almost a year too early. It’ll take them a year to turf out who they don’t want. I don’t think he’s the guy to transform them on the pitch when they have so many bigger issues off it.
Possible but really good players don’t get injured so much. Virgil and Firmino never really seem to be stretching themselves And Mane is a Duracell bunny You could say the same about injuries about most teams couldn’t you? E.g. Man City’s defence last year, Arsenal if they lost Aubameyang
But that was arguably why Man City went off the rails last year: the injury to Laporte early on. I suspect that if the same happened to van Dijk it could have had a big impact.
Indeed, but my point is that saying Liverpool could struggle if they suffer injuries to key players is no different from anyone and good players playing well in a well settled team are less prone to injuries and I believe the only injury VVD has had since arriving in England was when Vardy trod on him
Their defence was still poor when he returned though. Not replacing Kompany was their biggest problem, though replacing his impact both on and off the pitch is very hard to do.
Agree with Anderson - I can remember a couple of seasons back - he was brilliant at St Mary's in a West Ham win. But Moyes is just another one of the dinosaur managers on the merry-go-round with Hughes, Pardew, Pulis etc. With just 12 months on his contract, it would be cheap for West Ham to sack him - I expect he will be gone by december
I’m confused by the clause in his contract. I have read that Messi needed to inform Barca, before the end of June, of his intention to move, which would negate the buyout fee. He didn’t do this. Messi’s legal team claimed that moving the end of the season to August allowed for him to notify them of his intention to leave before the “new” end of the season. Barca denied this, so Messi’s legal team then claimed that if that was the case, we are now into the “next season” in which the buyout clause isn’t valid, as it is his final season under contract. Probably all about money. Has Messi squeezed a new improved deal out of this???
Arsenal youngster being linked with us. Folarin Balogun https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/1...-linked-move-arsenal-striker-folarin-balogun/
Oh what happened to the echo. They used to report actual ITK news and now they just spout off any old tenuous link they've found on the internet. Shame.
It’s not money, well it certainly doesn’t appear to be to those around the situation. We’re talking about former teammates in Abidal (now sporting director) and Messi who are now each accusing the other and all their mates of leading the downfall of the club. This has gotten very personal since about January. Barcelona probably wouldn’t be opposed to losing his insane wages bill but they aren’t going to do it for free and they know that he’s worth a figure into the hundreds of millions on marketing value and image rights alone. I think he’s there this year and then leaves. Unless the club leadership all leave first. Another problem is that even at his age, Messi is an extremely high-output player, still in the 1% of the 1% and you can’t just replace that.
