Premier League 2018-2019

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Venkman

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United's twitter posted a picture of Shaw and fitness coaches a few days ago, probably in response to his holiday photos. Think United are back in training today.

 

The Abusement Park

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United's twitter posted a picture of Shaw and fitness coaches a few days ago, probably in response to his holiday photos. Think United are back in training today.



Definitely don’t think he’s fat now. Hope it shows on the field.
 

robertmac43

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Random Question; Going into this season where about do people put Deli Ali in the ranking of Prem Mid fielders?
 

KJS14

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Random Question; Going into this season where about do people put Deli Ali in the ranking of Prem Mid fielders?

Only including 8s/10s for comparison, I'd say somewhere in that tier below KdB, Silva, Ozil, Eriksen, Hazard (pseudo-10), and Pogba. Similar in overall contribution to a guy like Ramsey.
 

Havre

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Quite a big difference between KDB and Özil/Pogba.

I'm not Alli's biggest fan. I think he is (or at least was) overrated, but I would easily take him over the Özil we saw last year (and I would just as easily take the Özil from the good old days over Alli). Pogba I don't know. Got more talent then Alli, but he would frustrate the "!%R"#R out of me if he played for Spurs. I think Alli fills his role at Spurs better than Pogba at Utd. Alli is asked to run and score some goals. He does both thinks very well (even if he of course scored far less last season). Pogba is asked to control a midfield - which he does decently, but not very well.

Then you got players like Ox and Bernardo Silva. Lanzini could have been included if it wasn't for his injury.

Disregarding age and formation - if I was to pick a player to build a team around for next year I would take these over Alli:

KDB
David Silva
Eriksen
Hazard (oh so inconsistent though)
Bernardo Silva (question mark how comparable he is of course - I have not included Sane because I don't consider him comparable)
Lanzini (if he was healthy)

Özil and Mhkitaryan I would have taken if I had confidence they would be back to their best (or close to). Ramsey and Pogba probably not (pretty sure 99% of all Utd-fans would take Pogba though - and 98% of others).

Will be interesting to see where Alli goes. Was last year a sophomore slump? Was his first season just a fluke? If he scores 20 goals again with his work-rate I would only rate KDB and Eriksen above him. I highly doubt that though. I see him more as a hard working 10 goals a year kind of player (hope I'm wrong - and Pochettino always hails his mentality so...).
 

East Coast Bias

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We've been through this before, but ....

Pogba and Dele don't play the same position at the club level.

Throw Dele back with Matic in MF and see how those stats look.
 

Havre

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Better comparison would be Fred - Matic - Alli/Pogba. In the world cup they do kind of cover the same position. France try to play a bit more through midfield though (even if it is slow).

As a no. 6 Pogba is probably better. Hard to say when Alli hasn't played in that role since his MK Dons days.
 

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Better comparison would be Fred - Matic - Alli/Pogba. In the world cup they do kind of cover the same position. France try to play a bit more through midfield though (even if it is slow).

As a no. 6 Pogba is probably better. Hard to say when Alli hasn't played in that role since his MK Dons days.

Alli is used as way more of an attacking threat than Pogba. Pogba is asked to do everything in midfield for us. He’s usually the one who receives the ball supposed to transition us from defense to offense. He’s supposed to control the game from midfield. He’s supposed to get back and defend. He’s supposed to get forward and score. Now I will agree that he doesn’t put all that together game in and game out and is a relatively inconsistent player. But comparing Pogba and Alli as players isn’t really fair.
 
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Havre

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Alli is used as way more of an attacking threat than Pogba. Pogba is asked to do everything in midfield for us. He’s usually the one who receives the ball supposed to transition us from defense to offense. He’s supposed to control the game from midfield. He’s supposed to get back and defend. He’s supposed to get forward and score. Now I will agree that he doesn’t put all that together game in and game out and is a relatively inconsistent player. But comparing Pogba and Alli as players isn’t really fair.

If you are talking about Utd 17-18 I agree they played vastly different roles. But I believe one of the reasons why Utd bought Fred was for Mourinho to go back to a more traditional central 3 at Utd. The same midfield 3 he played with at Porto and Chelsea - giving Pogba much more freedom to attack. Alli can easily play as a no. 8 in a midfield 3.

I personally don't believe Spurs are getting the best out of Alli as a second striker. He is far too good pressing to play too high up the pitch and he isn't good enough scoring to play as a second striker. Strangely enough he had more defensive responsibility in his first year scoring a lot more than he did in his second.

For me the biggest difference between Pogba and Alli is that Pogba wants possession while Alli wants to be on the end of things. But no two players are exactly the same so I think they are comparable - or at least they could fill many of the same positions - even if they would solve the roles slightly differently.
 

The Abusement Park

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If you are talking about Utd 17-18 I agree they played vastly different roles. But I believe one of the reasons why Utd bought Fred was for Mourinho to go back to a more traditional central 3 at Utd. The same midfield 3 he played with at Porto and Chelsea - giving Pogba much more freedom to attack. Alli can easily play as a no. 8 in a midfield 3.

I personally don't believe Spurs are getting the best out of Alli as a second striker. He is far too good pressing to play too high up the pitch and he isn't good enough scoring to play as a second striker. Strangely enough he had more defensive responsibility in his first year scoring a lot more than he did in his second.

For me the biggest difference between Pogba and Alli is that Pogba wants possession while Alli wants to be on the end of things. But no two players are exactly the same so I think they are comparable - or at least they could fill many of the same positions - even if they would solve the roles slightly differently.

I’m hoping going to a midfield 3 helps Pogba out because it’s clear he’s at his best on the left of a midfield 3. But I guess where I think the lack of comparison comes between the two is that Pogba is much more of a creator than Alli is. Pogba is fantastic at setting the tempo and his long passing is some of the best in the world and that’s just not something that Alli does; but to be fair that’s also Eriksens role in the team. Alli is a much better finisher than Pogba though and that’s why he’s effective as a 2nd striker/attacking mid unlike Pogba.
 

KJS14

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Quite a big difference between KDB and Özil/Pogba.

I'm not Alli's biggest fan. I think he is (or at least was) overrated, but I would easily take him over the Özil we saw last year (and I would just as easily take the Özil from the good old days over Alli). Pogba I don't know. Got more talent then Alli, but he would frustrate the "!%R"#R out of me if he played for Spurs. I think Alli fills his role at Spurs better than Pogba at Utd. Alli is asked to run and score some goals. He does both thinks very well (even if he of course scored far less last season). Pogba is asked to control a midfield - which he does decently, but not very well.

Then you got players like Ox and Bernardo Silva. Lanzini could have been included if it wasn't for his injury.

Disregarding age and formation - if I was to pick a player to build a team around for next year I would take these over Alli:

KDB
David Silva
Eriksen
Hazard (oh so inconsistent though)
Bernardo Silva (question mark how comparable he is of course - I have not included Sane because I don't consider him comparable)
Lanzini (if he was healthy)

Özil and Mhkitaryan I would have taken if I had confidence they would be back to their best (or close to). Ramsey and Pogba probably not (pretty sure 99% of all Utd-fans would take Pogba though - and 98% of others).

Will be interesting to see where Alli goes. Was last year a sophomore slump? Was his first season just a fluke? If he scores 20 goals again with his work-rate I would only rate KDB and Eriksen above him. I highly doubt that though. I see him more as a hard working 10 goals a year kind of player (hope I'm wrong - and Pochettino always hails his mentality so...).

I forgot Lanzini tbh, and thought of Bernardo Silva as more of a winger since he mostly played in that role for City this season.

The only 3 players I'd rate ahead of Ozil are KdB, Silva, and Hazard. Ozil is seriously underappreciated even by Arsenal fans and people get caught up in the lazy criticisms that they read and start to believe them. Ozil was a better player than Alexis at Arsenal for all but 1 year, but you'd never know it without actually watching the games closely. If he was surrounded by the players at City, he'd be just as remarkable as KdB and Silva. I wouldn't even consider Dele over him currently. I highly rate Eriksen, but I think Ozil is slightly better (personal bias perhaps).

Dele is close to Pogba currently, but I'd say Pogba has been better and has more potential under a different manager/system. I think Ramsey is a really good comparison for overall level of play, goal-threat, etc. Ramsey is a bit more technical and a lot more injured though.
 

robertmac43

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I think Ramsey is a really good comparison for overall level of play, goal-threat, etc. Ramsey is a bit more technical and a lot more injured though

I like this comparison in style of play. I would say that Ali has a higher ceiling but thats pretty obvious being 22
 

YNWA14

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It's still early, and maybe hard to make a judgment since many players are missing, but Liverpool look like they're going to transition to the 4-2-3-1 this season. If I had to guess the preferred starting XI would be something like this:

TAA - Lovren - van Dijk - Robertson
Henderson - Fabinho
Salah - Keita - Mane
Firmino
I'm very optimistic about this season, but there's still a lot of work to be done before it starts and I'm sure there will still be a lot of movement from the other teams. It's going to be a very competitive year. City is still a powerhouse, if Chelsea really do nab Sarri and Jorginho they're going to look great, United still have a very strong team and may have a better season this year, and Spurs will be tough as well.
 

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My biggest question going into next year is whether or not the Salah we saw this year is for real or not. If it is than obviously Liverpool is a title threat. If he regresses to Roma form than Liverpool are still a damn good team but idk if I see them as a title threat.
 

YNWA14

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My biggest question going into next year is whether or not the Salah we saw this year is for real or not. If it is than obviously Liverpool is a title threat. If he regresses to Roma form than Liverpool are still a damn good team but idk if I see them as a title threat.
I don't think that the difference between Roma and Liverpool is a matter of form; it had more to do with his change in role. I think it's unlikely he's going to be pushing 50 goals again this season, but his instincts, composure and footskill means as long as he's healthy he's going to be scoring a lot of goals in Klopp's set up. Mane and Firmino (and now Keita) will just create too many chances and too much space for him not to.
 

The Abusement Park

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I don't think that the difference between Roma and Liverpool is a matter of form; it had more to do with his change in role. I think it's unlikely he's going to be pushing 50 goals again this season, but his instincts, composure and footskill means as long as he's healthy he's going to be scoring a lot of goals in Klopp's set up. Mane and Firmino (and now Keita) will just create too many chances and too much space for him not to.

I forgot about Keita. Granted I don’t really see any teams competing well with City at this point hence why I think Salah dropping 10-15 goals in the league could be an issue. But who knows! Should be an exciting season regardless.
 

Havre

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My biggest question going into next year is whether or not the Salah we saw this year is for real or not. If it is than obviously Liverpool is a title threat. If he regresses to Roma form than Liverpool are still a damn good team but idk if I see them as a title threat.

Depends how you define a title threat of course. I don't think it is obvious at all that Liverpool will be anything close to catching up 25 points to City. Do they have a shot at it? Certainly more so than Leicester did...

I would argue that every single year fans get blinded by new players. Of course some of the new players do end up strengthening the team - like Salah, but a big percentage fail - certainly when it comes to helping a team become title contenders.

Liverpool might make better decisions than others, but that is difficult in the long run to do. They got Salah because City and Utd didn't understand how good he is/was. Let's see if City and Utd underestimated Fabinho and Keita as well before thinking they will lead them to a title. Might very well be so, but any rational person would understand it is more likely not...

As a Spursfan I'm honestly not to bothered about the transfer market at the moment. Unfortunately it is very difficult for Spurs to attract players better than what they got. I would say the same goes for Liverpool.
 

bleedblue1223

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Conte has been officially sacked, so Sarri must be close. I'll be curious to see how he does, we'll need to add some players to fit his style.
 

KJS14

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Auba has scored a hat-trick in 17 minutes in Arsenal's first preseason game. Winner of Croatia vs France will advance to play them the WC final.
 
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