GWT: English Premier League: 3/1-3/2

[Blender]

Some of the top teams need to re-evaluate how they spend money as well I think. You have lower table teams buying decent quality guys from continental clubs for relatively cheap who come in and perform at a pretty good level for a fraction of the cost of guys the big clubs have bought. Is it really worth it for a Manchester City to spend 5x as much as West ham to only finish a few points ahead of them?

 

[Evilo]

Having 10-15 first team players injured tends to show on the pitch.

They sucked before injuries however.

 

[Evilo]

Some of the top teams need to re-evaluate how they spend money as well I think. You have lower table teams buying decent quality guys from continental clubs for relatively cheap who come in and perform at a pretty good level for a fraction of the cost of guys the big clubs have bought. Is it really worth it for a Manchester City to spend 5x as much as West ham to only finish a few points ahead of them?

It's as if it was too much of a risk signing lower key players.
I said last summer Kanté was a great signing, and any decent scout would have said the same. He was bought for what, 6, 7M?

However, smaller teams have also made ridiculous bids. 15M€ for J. Ayew is laughable.

EPL scouts are really not very good most of the time (or maybe it's the management that insist on signing some players and contractict the scouts?)

 

[Jussi]

They sucked before injuries however.

Which would mean before Shaw's injury started the the whole run of injuries, which has lasted basically the whole season.

 

[Blender]

It's as if it was too much of a risk signing lower key players.
I said last summer Kanté was a great signing, and any decent scout would have said the same. He was bought for what, 6, 7M?

However, smaller teams have also made ridiculous bids. 15M€ for J. Ayew is laughable.

EPL scouts are really not very good most of the time (or maybe it's the management that insist on signing some players and contractict the scouts?)

It seems like a lot of clubs try and buy the best player, instead of the best player for their team. Kante is a great example of a perfect buy from last summer. He was relatively cheap, fits Leicester's playing style perfectly, and has been put in a position that maximizes the chance of him excelling. Compare that with Manchester United who spent a large fee on Memphis Depay because they could, only to have him perform at a less than stellar level.

 

[Evilo]

It seems like a lot of clubs try and buy the best player, instead of the best player for their team. Kante is a great example of a perfect buy from last summer. He was relatively cheap, fits Leicester's playing style perfectly, and has been put in a position that maximizes the chance of him excelling. Compare that with Manchester United who spent a large fee on Memphis Depay because they could, only to have him perform at a less than stellar level.

Totally. And United didn't adress their biggest need (defense) with an up-and-coming like Depay, no they get a foward where they have Mata, Martial, Rooney, Young and even Januzaj that they loaned.
Frankly, signing a Kanté or a decent defenseman would have been much more reasonnable and with extremely less money.

But they go for the biggest name indeed.

 

[YNWA14]

It seems like a lot of clubs try and buy the best player, instead of the best player for their team. Kante is a great example of a perfect buy from last summer. He was relatively cheap, fits Leicester's playing style perfectly, and has been put in a position that maximizes the chance of him excelling. Compare that with Manchester United who spent a large fee on Memphis Depay because they could, only to have him perform at a less than stellar level.

That's a bit of revisionist history though. They also bought Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger and Darmian after having bought Herrera, Blind, Shaw and Rojo the year before. I despise United but they have quite the injury crisis on their hands - and they are/were lacking in attacking players, really.

 

[East Coast Bias]

Totally. And United didn't adress their biggest need (defense) with an up-and-coming like Depay, no they get a foward where they have Mata, Martial, Rooney, Young and even Januzaj that they loaned.
Frankly, signing a Kanté or a decent defenseman would have been much more reasonnable and with extremely less money.

But they go for the biggest name indeed.

They're being run by a marketing executive now. Unfortunately, it's as important to that ******** that a player have star qualities as it does being great.

In addition, the moron is out hosting conf calls talking about how much money they have. Of course teams aren't going to give you cut rate prices.

They need someone in there to run their football operations. Someone who will tell Ed to ****. Hopefully sooner than later.

 

[Evilo]

They also bought Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger and Darmian after having bought Herrera, Blind, Shaw and Rojo the year before.

That's supposed to be CL quality there?
Schneiderlin is overrated, Schweini is on his last legs, Darmian is not a high caliber player, Herrera is quality, Shaw and Rojo are certainly not what would turn a disastrous D around.
Now, add up the numbers they paid for all these players combined and how on earth can't they get a top player with all that money spent (outside maybe Herrera)?

 

[Power Man]

That's supposed to be CL quality there?
Schneiderlin is overrated, Schweini is on his last legs, Darmian is not a high caliber player, Herrera is quality, Shaw and Rojo are certainly not what would turn a disastrous D around.
Now, add up the numbers they paid for all these players combined and how on earth can't they get a top player with all that money spent (outside maybe Herrera)?

Martial will be

 

[Evilo]

Martial *could* be. For the price of an actual superstar.

 

[YNWA14]

That's supposed to be CL quality there?
Schneiderlin is overrated, Schweini is on his last legs, Darmian is not a high caliber player, Herrera is quality, Shaw and Rojo are certainly not what would turn a disastrous D around.
Now, add up the numbers they paid for all these players combined and how on earth can't they get a top player with all that money spent (outside maybe Herrera)?

I was just pointing out that it wasn't about just getting an attacking player with a big name. They bought players to fill in other positions they just didn't spend wisely in general in most areas. I would argue that Memphis and Martial could actually end up being two of their best buys really moving forward -- it's in midfield and defence where they probably should have been smarter, but it doesn't help that they've had a ridiculous number of injuries this season.

 

[Evilo]

Not denying anything about injuries. But they sucked before and they sucked last year too.
They spend 120M at least on Martial+Memphis.

120M on potential. Not even on positions of need.

 

[Power Man]

Martial *could* be. For the price of an actual superstar.

Yeah time will tell

But I have the feeling he will be great

 

[YNWA14]

You don't think that forward was a position of need for United? Take away Martial and Memphis (they bought Memphis first) and you have Rooney, Young and Mata. Rooney and Mata are two of the most hated on players in the PL for how poor they've become (or how they don't fit in United, whatever) which leaves us with Ashley Young who...is by no means a top end forward, and Januzaj was given his chance and showed he couldn't cut it in the PL.

If you think forward wasn't a position of need for them...

 

[S E P H]

I am all for wanting Arsenal to win the EPL title, but firing Wenger is a bigger priority. Getting a loss against Spurs on Saturday will be a fantastic result since the EPL title is close of being gone.

 

[Evilo]

You don't think that forward was a position of need for United? Take away Martial and Memphis (they bought Memphis first) and you have Rooney, Young and Mata. Rooney and Mata are two of the most hated on players in the PL for how poor they've become (or how they don't fit in United, whatever) which leaves us with Ashley Young who...is by no means a top end forward, and Januzaj was given his chance and showed he couldn't cut it in the PL.

If you think forward wasn't a position of need for them...

Wanna check United's D before naming Mata, Rooney, Young and Januzaj?
And then do you think the signing of both of these players for 120M while not adressing that D is acceptable?

... indeed.

 

[YNWA14]

Wanna check United's D before naming Mata, Rooney, Young and Januzaj?
And then do you think the signing of both of these players for 120M while not adressing that D is acceptable?

... indeed.

I don't see what you're arguing here. Like I said their buying was not smart, but they definitely did have a need up front and Martial/Memphis will probably turn out to be two of their better buys for the forseeable future. They bought defenders and defensive midfielders (I listed them) but they weren't necessarily smart buys (and again, injuries).

I'm fine with it tbh because I want to see United fail, but I was responding to the comment about Memphis and/or Martial being stupid buys...those were probably two of the only ones they got right. It wasn't that they didn't need Martial and Memphis, because they did, it was that they really failed to address their defensive issues adequately.

 

[Evilo]

For 120M€ it was stupid, no question.
With that money, the could have bought 3 quality defensive players and two quality forwards.

 

[Live in the Now]

They only needed to buy Martial and Depay because LVG alienated RVP and di Maria. We should be clear on that.

 

[Plato]

United certainly needs more quality in their backline but I'm not sure why it's being brought up here as an issue for them this season. They hold the second best defensive record behind Spurs at the moment.

I think Van Gaal and the United brass figured the system alone and a world-class keeper would keep teams off the scoresheet and for the most part it has. This is even more evident when you consider who's had to play back there with the injuries they've had. Too bad for them this same system hasn't led to much going forward. Injuries, again, haven't helped, nor did the fact that Rooney took ages to find form before going down himself.

They may not have gotten what they thought they would thus far from Depay but he's the type of player that United have needed this year as somebody who's able to break down a defense with a quick dribble or two when United's dominating possession/philosophizing and facing tons of opposition players who are sitting back on them.

 

[Hesher]

United's defense would be fine* if they could stay healthy.

*assuming DDG is in net

 

[YNWA14]

They only needed to buy Martial and Depay because LVG alienated RVP and di Maria. We should be clear on that.

di Maria never wanted to play there and RVP isn't even a regular starter for Fenerbahce. They needed forward reinforcements regardless.

Now the quality of who they bought with the money they spent can certainly be questioned. Firmino would almost certainly have been a better buy than either for example and United were linked with him IIRC.

Also money is no object to United ATM so that's kind of irrelevant. They could have bought a lot of players but chose those two the monetary figure doesn't really matter.

 

[Ceremony]

Rank these three in order of hilarity:

- Arsenal's annual bottle job coming in a year when all their biggest usual title rivals are absolute horse resulting in it being quite likely that Spurs will finish ahead of them or even win the whole thing
- This horrendous Man U team that has a new child in it every week slithering back up into a top 4 place
- A team based predominately around someone signed from the conference, a guy signed from the French lower leagues, an Aston Villa castoff and Robert Huth winning it?

Scenes galore. Delicious. I suppose Pep arriving to a Champions Leagueless team could be equally amusing.

 

[bluesfan94]

I am all for wanting Arsenal to win the EPL title, but firing Wenger is a bigger priority. Getting a loss against Spurs on Saturday will be a fantastic result since the EPL title is close of being gone.

Everything about this is gross. Rooting not only to lose a game, but to lose a chance at a title AND to root for Tottenham. Gross.