EPT2024 - 2026 Football Thread - Page 90
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evilfatsh1t
Australia8778 Posts
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sharkie
Austria18544 Posts
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26221 Posts
On October 04 2025 16:27 evilfatsh1t wrote: i think the term "world class" is used a bit too loosely nowadays Some are a bit strict on it, and have the qualification of making a world 11 in your position, some have it be basically a synonym of ‘very good’ player. Think the first is a bit strict, the second indeed a bit loose. For me it’s can you be a real key player and difference-maker for one of the handful of top sides competing for honours, or at least good enough to be. Or could you play in a World 11 without the side losing much potential potency. Whether you prefer say, Kane or Haaland right now or think one is better than the other, a World 11 would be about as good with either of them. I’d say Olise is pretty world class by my criteria, and Eze (and Zaha before him) are just very, very good players. | ||
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evilfatsh1t
Australia8778 Posts
On October 04 2025 21:50 WombaT wrote: Some are a bit strict on it, and have the qualification of making a world 11 in your position, some have it be basically a synonym of ‘very good’ player. Think the first is a bit strict, the second indeed a bit loose. For me it’s can you be a real key player and difference-maker for one of the handful of top sides competing for honours, or at least good enough to be. Or could you play in a World 11 without the side losing much potential potency. Whether you prefer say, Kane or Haaland right now or think one is better than the other, a World 11 would be about as good with either of them. I’d say Olise is pretty world class by my criteria, and Eze (and Zaha before him) are just very, very good players. yeah my bar for world class would probably be on the stricter side compared to you. i wouldnt put olise as world class yet either. as for united, no onana and no bayindir and we get our first clean sheet this season. coincidence? i think not. | ||
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sharkie
Austria18544 Posts
On October 03 2025 00:01 FlaShFTW wrote: Think you're overreacting to this mate. I mean sure, when your first season you win the Prem, and then you suffer two losses in a row (while still being top of the Prem btw), I guess that's fine for your low point in your managerial career. We have a new squad basically with several new players and a key way of playing that we need to adjust (relying on long balls from Trent to a more dribbling-centric style of playing through Wirtz and Frimpong as examples). The players I'm worried about are the ones who are making the silly mistakes who have been part of the team for a while now, Konate in particular, but also players like Macca who doesn't look fit at all so he shouldn't be playing. I do think Slot needs to unleash Kerkez down the wing and force Gakpo to have more interplay with Kerkez's overlapping runs instead of his normal cut inside and do nothing moves (unless he actually see the space), but at this point Gakpo is a 1 trick pony that defenses know exactly what he's doing. Slot dropping Wirtz instead of Salah just shows that either he is blind to Salah's off-form or Salah's new contract forces him to start every game... | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26221 Posts
On October 05 2025 03:46 sharkie wrote: Slot dropping Wirtz instead of Salah just shows that either he is blind to Salah's off-form or Salah's new contract forces him to start every game... Wirtz has hardly been crushing it so far | ||
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DropBear
Australia4380 Posts
Wirtz doesn't seem to fit, Kerkez has been underwhelming. Hoping Frimpong gets fit soon On October 04 2025 16:27 evilfatsh1t wrote: i think the term "world class" is used a bit too loosely nowadays hard agree | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26221 Posts
On October 05 2025 17:53 DropBear wrote: The worry I had at the start of the season is that Liverpool had too many forwards and you can't fit them all. I really don't think we needed Isak on top of everyone else. Wirtz doesn't seem to fit, Kerkez has been underwhelming. Hoping Frimpong gets fit soon hard agree Yeah the balance just feels off a bit. It’s the mark of champions to win when you’re playing badly, so the truism goes, but you’re not meant to do so frequently. I think if they’d bought Isak earlier, considering they lost Nunez, Diaz and sadly Jota, that feels about right depth wise. But Ekiteke started so well it kinda makes Isak feel a luxury right now. I think it’ll be vindicated in a long season where burnout and injuries factor in. Wirtz has been better than some are making out, while not as good as he can be. It doesn’t hugely surprise me. New league, ton of pressure with that price tag, and there’s how do you fit him in? But I think he’ll get there. Kerkez is the one that does surprise a bit, he’s flattered to deceive a bit, probably the most of the new crew, but he was the one I felt would just slot in immediately. Done it in this league before and all As a slightly biased Northern Irishman, I must say I thought Bradley would be more of a go-to with Frimpong struggling for fitness Ak it’s early days, and it’s still one hell of a squad. I do wonder a bit if in time Slot’s first half season or so ends up being the high water mark, and maybe not the beginning of something even better. They basically blitzed the league, and since then haven’t been amazing | ||
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Acrofales
Spain18151 Posts
On October 05 2025 19:24 WombaT wrote: Yeah the balance just feels off a bit. It’s the mark of champions to win when you’re playing badly, so the truism goes, but you’re not meant to do so frequently. I think if they’d bought Isak earlier, considering they lost Nunez, Diaz and sadly Jota, that feels about right depth wise. But Ekiteke started so well it kinda makes Isak feel a luxury right now. I think it’ll be vindicated in a long season where burnout and injuries factor in. Wirtz has been better than some are making out, while not as good as he can be. It doesn’t hugely surprise me. New league, ton of pressure with that price tag, and there’s how do you fit him in? But I think he’ll get there. Kerkez is the one that does surprise a bit, he’s flattered to deceive a bit, probably the most of the new crew, but he was the one I felt would just slot in immediately. Done it in this league before and all As a slightly biased Northern Irishman, I must say I thought Bradley would be more of a go-to with Frimpong struggling for fitness Ak it’s early days, and it’s still one hell of a squad. I do wonder a bit if in time Slot’s first half season or so ends up being the high water mark, and maybe not the beginning of something even better. They basically blitzed the league, and since then haven’t been amazing It's possible that Slot's "jazz" football is easier to figure out and adapt to than Klopp's legacy of really high octane pressing. It took teams a bit to figure it out, but the "effective" defense against Slot's style has propagated among clubs now (through the second half of last season, really). The question is whether the summer transfers are the answer to that counter by allowing for new innovation of the style (or just individual brilliance to win matches). So far, they aren't working the way they want. But the season is young. Also, you read Barney Ronay's column, echoing him about the undue pressure created by the stratospheric transfer fee  | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26221 Posts
On October 05 2025 19:48 Acrofales wrote: It's possible that Slot's "jazz" football is easier to figure out and adapt to than Klopp's legacy of really high octane pressing. It took teams a bit to figure it out, but the "effective" defense against Slot's style has propagated among clubs now (through the second half of last season, really). The question is whether the summer transfers are the answer to that counter by allowing for new innovation of the style (or just individual brilliance to win matches). So far, they aren't working the way they want. But the season is young. Also, you read Barney Ronay's column, echoing him about the undue pressure created by the stratospheric transfer fee Haha I do often read him and other Guardian guys, less so now I don’t log Facebook which was good to keep track. Should probably dip in more often! Didn’t steal (this time) I wonder if it’s a bit like Chelsea early doors under Maresca and that transition after Poch started to get a tune out of them. Where they had that real incisiveness in attack, but had that bit of control and stability too. But over time, the team becomes more Maresca, and perhaps a bit too controlled to the degree of occasional sterility. Perhaps a similar sweet spot, or indeed slot hurhur is there with well, Slot. A Klopp core, with some fresh ideas and tweaks works super well, but what’s it look like if it’s all Arne? That pondering aside, yeah it could just be difficult to stay out in front in this league. Too many good coaches around for tendencies not to be studied and eventually countered. Klopp’s later Liverpool was a good bit less ‘heavy metal’, and Guardiola has kept evolving to look at just two | ||
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MJG
United Kingdom1373 Posts
On September 27 2025 06:41 GTR wrote: i'm surprised he has been given the opportunity to stick around; the fact that rangers are in the RELEGATION ZONE is enough to tell you he has to go https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c4gwrplwyz8o Martin is gone at Rangers. When a club hires one of these clueless "philosophy" managers, they deserve what inevitably happens. How long before Ange gets the sack? | ||
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Jockmcplop
United Kingdom9753 Posts
On October 06 2025 16:19 MJG wrote: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c4gwrplwyz8o Martin is gone at Rangers. When a club hires one of these clueless "philosophy" managers, they deserve what inevitably happens. How long before Ange gets the sack? Hopefully its a matter of hours. I've never seen our fanbase so united in wanting a manager gone. | ||
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sharkie
Austria18544 Posts
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MJG
United Kingdom1373 Posts
On October 06 2025 16:30 Jockmcplop wrote: Hopefully its a matter of hours. I've never seen our fanbase so united in wanting a manager gone. You could not find two mangers with a greater gulf in their preferred styles than Ange and Nuno. It was a crazy decision. On October 06 2025 16:45 sharkie wrote: I am a big Ange fan but I gotta say him accepting Forest job made me lose a lot of respect for him. He knew that he doesn't have the players to play his system there. Why accept the job? Arrogance or ineptitude. Perhaps both. | ||
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gTank
Austria2601 Posts
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DropBear
Australia4380 Posts
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26221 Posts
It’s not been great, I haven’t seen every game. Ones I did, Forest weren’t terrible. They could have an extra draw or two, or have scraped a win or two and it wouldn’t be totally against the way those matches went. Just as Liverpool hadn’t been entirely convincing, but were winning every game early doors. I feel pretty bad for Russell Martin, he just picked a bad job. It went horribly, he’s certainly not blameless there. It is a relatively rare gig in world football where you’re basically expected to win every game in your league, except maybe the odd one against your only serious rival. So you can’t start slowly at all. The fans turned basically immediately, and I mean when that happens how do you keep morale up? If he’d gone to say, a Championship side with ambitions but not expectations of making the playoffs, in one of the most competitive leagues in Europe, he maybe gets the time and rope to start a bit slowly and do his thing. And frankly some of the vitriol was completely over the top and pretty shameful. A football writer I rather enjoy says the single most underrated skill a manager/coach must have, is being good at picking jobs. Martin picked horribly here. Sometimes it’s just bad luck, sometimes it’s being made erroneous promises, sometimes it is just you making a bad call. I think it’s the latter with Martin here. Graham Potter taking the Chelsea gig only for them to sign 48 players, I mean he struggled there, but that wasn’t how Chelsea operated prior, so not something he was necessarily to know going in. | ||
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Jockmcplop
United Kingdom9753 Posts
On October 06 2025 23:39 WombaT wrote: It’s an international break, gives Ange a bit of time to do his thing. It’s not been great, I haven’t seen every game. Ones I did, Forest weren’t terrible. They could have an extra draw or two, or have scraped a win or two and it wouldn’t be totally against the way those matches went. People are judging off vagueness having not seen the games. I've watched every minute. There's a reason probably 95% of Forest fans want him gone, we aren't normally a fickle fanbase. I was 100% behind Ange until we lost in Europe midweek and then the Newcastle game at the weekend. He had us looking.. .reasonably decent against Betis, we played some good football for 45 minutes. Ever since then it has spiralled downwards extremely quickly. We looked like we could have played until Xmas without scoring against Newcastle the other day. We were absolutely battered. His in game subs were all 'throw another forward on and change the formation again' which just made us look like we didn't have a clue what was going on on the pitch. I think he's lost the squad already. The international break isn't going to do much for Ange I'm afraid. Most of our players are away playing internationals so it doesn't help us much. There is not a single player except Anderson who hasn't gotten worse under Ange. He needs to go to Europe somewhere imho. His style is not made for the Premier League, especially in a period of metagame where low block counter attacking football is getting more and more effective and wiping out the differences in squad value. | ||
FlaShFTW
United States10252 Posts
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sharkie
Austria18544 Posts
Klopp's first statement when he joined Liverpool. He was such a great guy. I will miss him forever (loved him since he was Euro commentator for German TV before he joined Dortmund) | ||
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