Liverpool should be praised for playing by the rules despite Caicedo snub…
One Mailboxer credits Liverpool for pursuing Moises Caicedo in the right manner by not tapping up the Chelsea-bound star. Also: Arsenal’s familiar weakness; new rules; buying the league…
Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…
Tap, tap, tap
While it’s always fun to mock Liverpool and of course there is a slight amount of embarrassment in being turned down, everyone seems to be ignoring a major issue. Well fear not, as I’m here to share it and show my age at the same time.
Chelsea (at this stage) haven’t had a bid accepted by Brighton (they have now – MC) but apparently have had personal terms agreed since May. Liverpool bid for a player they like, seemingly without doing their ‘due diligence’. He said no and everybody laughed at the saga.
Is “tapping up” now just called due diligence and no longer a thing? It used to be a major issue and Chelsea, Mourinho & Ashley Cole were all fined for the parts they played in it. At what point did it become ok?
Liverpool did the right and proper thing in only speaking to Caicedo when a bid was accepted. I’m not sure they deserve the ridicule.
James, Kent.
P.s. I understand these terms are agreed through agents and with the countless forms of communication available it’s impossible to police, but it doesn’t make it right.
Arsenal’s weakness remains
Though it’s a tad ridiculous to call anything after one game, I will stick my neck out concerning Arsenal. If Arteta does not instill organization in our defense, forget challenging for the title, we could be scrambling to secure top five.
Much was made of Arsenal’s collapse last season. Fans debated whether it was a ‘bottle job’ or not. It was. Fans then looked for excuses, the key one being William Saliba’s injury with Takehiro Tomiyasu’s absence left us short at the back. But the rot had already set in. After the winter break we started shipping goals at an increasing pace. We revelled in ‘come from behind’ wins without questioning why we were leaking goals in the first place.
For all Arteta’s pluses, a serious blind spot developed regarding the organization of defense. We now have an abundance of internationals in our back line – Timber, Benny Blanco, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Kiwior, Tierney and Tomiyasu – an obscene level of talent. Yet, like last season Nottingham Forest sprang out twice on the counter and could have scored twice in a game we dominated. No surprise. It’s giving me Wenger vibes in a bad way – with all the talent, it’ll just take care of itself organically.
At the Community Shield, Saliba was tasked with taking Haaland out of the game which is precisely what he did – he has the ability. But against standard fare teams we look entirely unfocused and as soon as we are countered, as nervous as kittens. The lack of organization also affects Ramsdale and replacing him with Raya will not be the fix needed.
What troubles me is we had the off season and the preseason to renew attention on defense but that required focus is not yet evident. If Arteta addresses the lack of organization we will challenge. If all he does is pay lip service then Arsenal will be ‘also rans’.
Dom
Iridescent irritation
There is much to be said about the game, but my word that Chelsea reflective badge is annoying.
Aidan, Lfc (looking at hand ball rules but happy enough with the result)
Spaniards in the sticks
Watching Sanchez guard goal instead of Kepa was much more reassuring, he has a presence about him he’s a large man and the main difference I seen was when he dived to cover shots that just skimmed wide of the top corner his hand was covering the top corner of the goal in that little gap that Kepa just couldn’t get to either because of size or technique. That was always the fear with Kepa, that he just couldn’t reach some of the shots that a taller keeper would or someone with better positioning and technique. Sanchez is an upgrade on Kepa for that alone.
Aaron CFC Ireland.
Already riled by the rules
Hello football fans,
I’d like to start by saying what I’m NOT saying.
I’m not saying I’m representative of the average fan or even a significant subset.
I’m not saying that my perspective is right.
I’m not talking from the perspective of a fan of one club.
That said..
I follow Liverpool and have just watched the Chelsea/Liverpool game. Not sure how they didn’t win three or four goals up, but I was pleased at a draw. The Jackson handball decision has brought into focus something I’ve been thinking for a while though..
Every season there are inexplicable decisions in a game from the ref. And it drives me crackers. I’m not bothering about offsides; However anal it may seem, the line is drawn where the line is drawn. I’m not bothering about fouls either, as those are subjective for the most part and you tend to get some and not others.
But if a Brighton defender can launch forward to block a cross with his foot and the ball unexpectedly hits his elbow as his arms are in the most reasonable position for a player making that gesture and it be considered a handball… How can Jackson, making a vertical leap with with jazz hands at chest height either side, blocking the ball from a much greater distance be an acceptable action?
And beyond that, if the rules of a game don’t matter how can the game matter? It’s not about team bias, it’s about the rules being some sort of chimera, applied as if each minute is a specific universe with its own rules.
I watch football to enjoy the game. Not to be frustrated about technicalities and inconsistencies. PL refs are making me the kind of fan I never wanted to be. I’ll quit the game before I become the pub bore and the misses are stacking up to the point where I feel like I just don’t understand the game anymore.
Can refs let us enjoy the game again? Because if not, I’ll reclaim the space that football occupies and learn a language. Or an instrument. In fact, why the hell do I care about this stupid game where nothing matters?
Man, first weekend of the season and I’m already exhausted. ….
Neil
Welcome changes
I was scratching my head over the conspiracy laden rant at the end of Chris C, Toon Army’s email regarding the EPL rule changes. Personally, I am loving the recent changes. But trying to work out how they manifest into an anti-Toon angle, but more on that later.
For a long time the on field behaviour of players has been atrocious, especially toward refs. So seeing yellow cards being almost immediately drawn on players who are giving it to the refs or better still for waving their imaginary cards has been magic. Nice to see the look of bemusement on their faces as they get the card instead. Clearly even the best players are not that swift, seeing it happen on Sunday, after players got booked for it on Saturday. But it should quickly douse the impetuous player antics. Be interesting to see if Bruno et al get the message for Monday night.
And the same goes for time wasting – either the yellow cards or the extended extra time or both. For so long fans have complained about this, so nice to see some action.
Finally the technical area. Always a point of friction where the coaching staff are concerned and nice to see the reds quickly get on top of some argy bargy in the Brentford-Spurs game. I thought FIFA/UEFA already had rules in place for one person per technical area, although the EPL rule said only one could give instructions to on field players – but the new Rules of Engagement make it clear to everyone what is expected. So we should see much better behaved teams across the board.
Back to the Toon. Still trying to work out how the new rules impacting time wasting negatively affect Newcastle if it actually penalizes the teams the Toon says were doing this to Newcastle (exclusively?) Also, do Newcastle specifically require more than one coach in the technical area? Again, how does this exclusively negatively impact Newcastle?
But what a breath of fresh air these new rules are and I believe made the games in week one more entertaining.
Paul McDevitt
Conspiracy365
So, is your wildly inaccurate homepage table the result of negligent coding, sabotage, pro-Arsenal corporate policy, or a practical joke? We demand transparency.
Chris C, Toon Army DC (top of the league, son)
(The first of those – MC)
Nukey green
I had a mail published at the end of May saying Newcastle are going to win the upcoming PL if they could sort their draws out.
Their last fixture of the season is away so they’ll get to wear their Saudi kit.
Football, eh.
Niallio, Dublin
Buying the league
You hear it regularly enough, United bought their success. I found this curious as although out the EPL era, they’ve always had competition.
Give me Sport created an interesting PL transfer & wage spend since 1993 until today.
United have led that race just once. From 1999/00 – to the begging of the 2002/2003 season. Spending almost a decade chasing Blackburn and Liverpool, before then chasing Chelsea and City for the next two.
Only including spending from 2010 onwards, they took top spot just once as well, very briefly at the beginning of the 21/22 season.
So if United “bought the league”, when did they do it? Who did they buy?
First and most obvious, is Roy Keane. Signed for a world record fee seems to tick the box. That said, he came from relegated Forest, and Blackburn had a similar deal agreed, so this was Keane’s choice, not the money.
Cantona came the year before, plucked for local rivals Leeds. This also seems to tick the box, but then you realize Leeds wanted him out.
The 94/95 season saw another record transfer arrive in the form on Andy Cole(who was also a record signing for Newcastle). Keagan wanted Cole out and United gave them what they wanted.
1997 was the next big window, paying a record fee for a defender to bring Berg in, from Blackburn to a club he claims was the club he supported.
1998 brought in Yorke for £12.8M, and this transfer has more merit than most. Villa did not want to sell, or least get Cole in exchange, but reluctantly had to sell as he wanted to go. They also made Stam the worlds most expensive defender in this window as well, so maybe this is where it truly began, but they were still behind Liverpool in spending terms at this point.
99/00 was when United finally claimed the crown as highest spending English team. Surprisingly, Mikael Silvestre and Fortune the signings to do it.
2 years later, Veron became the most expensive English transfer, along with RVN and Forlan for what were not insignificant fees. A bit like Yorke’s, this season offered some semblance to “buying the league”. Except that Arsenal won it.
The next season brought in Ferdinand. He was bought by United for £29.3million. It made him the most expensive British signing. But that seasons budget pretty much went on just him. The VVD of its time.
This was also the season the modern Chelsea were born, and who took top spend spot, from 02/03, until today. That’s 20 seasons as the highest spending team.
Prior to United’s reign on the top from 2000-2002/03, it was Liverpool and Blackburn top from 1992-1999.
People often forget the Glazers invested very little in the first 8 years, and despite them pumping funds in since, they’ve still invested less than their rivals. United poor spending from 2010 onwards is akin to Liverpools from 1992-99.
United won 3 leagues whilst also being the lead spenders, 1999-01. By the time they lifted the trophy again in 2002-03, Chelsea had taken top spot.
There is definitely a correlation between spending and achieving. Blackburn, United, Chelsea and City have all won while also being the highest investing team. Only United, Leicester, Arsenal and Liverpool have won it despite not being in the top two.
So did United buy the league? Yes and no. They invested wiser than their rivals to win the league in the beginning, kept on investing wisely to keep winning the league, and the fell out of contention due to being out spent and out smarted in the transfer market.
Despite Liverpool not being in the top two spots when they won, they did buy the worlds most experience GK and CB to do so. So if United did buy the league pre-1999, then so did Liverpool in 2020.
If anyone can proclaim to have not “bought the league”, it’s only Leicester and Arsenal who can proudly raise their heads. If you truly want to say “they bought the league”, then rightly direct it towards City, Blackburn and mostly Chelsea.
Calvino
Early musings
My initial thoughts for the season:
1. Kane – lol. Dortmund for the German double. Kane gets 35 goals in all comps though.
2. Caicedo. Whoever gets him is overpaying. If its liverpool no net spend bollocks can save you – you will have had your pants pulled down by Brighton. Chelsea wont worry cos its just money innit?
3. The new rules for adding time for Time wasting are great. Every does it so no one can complain (its not an attack on any club). I just imagine martinez wasting time in the villa goal and the clock completely slowing down ala fifa until he thinks “not worth it”.
4. Spurs will be better without lloris and more entertaining even if they don’t move up the table,
5. Leeds are still pants. Judge us after 10 games but the toughest league in the world will be just that.
Tom
