2015/16 Premier League & General Football Discussion

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I'm actually disgusted that they couldn't give him 24 hours to bask in winning the trophy. After all the intense media pressure he's had over the last two years, it's the least he could have had. He'd barely touched the trophy and speculation was rife; it soured the post-match press conference of the biggest domestic cup game of the season.

Laughing my ass off if Mourinho can't get it together either. Hoping for the boot around Christmas.
 
The fact that the day after winning the FA Cup, the headlines were "Mourinho might be new Man U manager" instead of "Man U win FA Cup" was not fair at all on Van Gall, as much as I have hated him the past two seasons.
 
No you didn't, that's why I asked.

Yes I did. Maybe it wasn't clear enough though.

I'm actually disgusted that they couldn't give him 24 hours to bask in winning the trophy. After all the intense media pressure he's had over the last two years, it's the least he could have had. He'd barely touched the trophy and speculation was rife; it soured the post-match press conference of the biggest domestic cup game of the season.

What have the club done that could have been done better?

Applied more pressure on people to not leak news of Mourinho's appointment, regardless whether it came from a club source or one of Mourinho's entourage. Unless, of course, this was a planned leak...
 
Applied more pressure on people to not leak news of Mourinho's appointment, regardless whether it came from a club source or one of Mourinho's entourage.
We don't know for sure if there has been an actual leak from any of the negotiating parties though.

Nothing is official yet, best not go all Tom Smykowski.
 
No announcement from United since the reports emerged this morning, Van Gaal just left the training ground after 'negotiating terms of his compensation pacakge'
 
Apologies for the double post but Van Gaal was sacked tonight, new broke at around 8.30, both he and Woodward have released statements, they wanted to wait until the NY stock exchange was shut before making the announcement.

Mourinho expected in the next 48 hours....

I have no ill feeling towards LVG, just didn't work out the way he, the players or the fans wanted it to, these things happen, I wish him well.
 
Eint. Frankfurt stay up after beating 1. FC Nurnberg 1-0 in second leg yesterday, 2-1 aggregate. I've been a fan the past couple years after seeing the Alfa Romeo sponsor on their kits.

Fox Sports' coverage of the Bundesliga was great this past year.
 
I've been a fan the past couple years after seeing the Alfa Romeo sponsor on their kits.
Definitely one of the best kits this season.

Leicester are looking to make a big move for Slimani who has been brilliant this season plus Liverpool are to finalise the deal for Karius later this week.
 
Got to say Im looking forward to RB Leipzig, everyone in Germany hates them because it's clearly Redbull flexing their muscles, but haters gonna hate.

besides another Big club is something the Bundesliega need(Bayens money kills off any Consistent challenge by Dortmund as they just buy all their good players), i wouldn't be overly surprised if they get Top 4 next year.
 
Got to say Im looking forward to RB Leipzig, everyone in Germany hates them because it's clearly Redbull flexing their muscles, but haters gonna hate.

besides another Big club is something the Bundesliega need(Bayens money kills off any Consistent challenge by Dortmund as they just buy all their good players), i wouldn't be overly surprised if they get Top 4 next year.
I wouldn't class Leipzig as a big club and I would be surprised if they manage to get into the Top 10 for next season. Kind of ridiculous how you think they are going to get into the Top 4 yet they didn't win the league and you class them in the same category as Leverkusen, Gladbach and Schalke also they probably have 2 players which I would highly rate is Poulsen and Forsberg.
 
I wouldn't class Leipzig as a big club and I would be surprised if they manage to get into the Top 10 for next season. Kind of ridiculous how you think they are going to get into the Top 4 yet they didn't win the league and you class them in the same category as Leverkusen, Gladbach and Schalke also they probably have 2 players which I would highly rate is Poulsen and Forsberg.
Because they did the entire 2nd tier with a policy of only signing players under the age of 24, even still they broke the record for transfers that season, now that they are in the main league they can flex their muscles, just have a look at who they are planning on signing, over 100 million euros is likely to be spent this summer.

So yes they are clearly a big club, it's like saying Rangers are a bottom feeder Scottish club because they didn't get promoted first go in the 2nd tier, they are just not going to risk it all when TV revenue is soo small they will bleed money like crazy.
 
Because they did the entire 2nd tier with a policy of only signing players under the age of 24, even still they broke the record for transfers that season, now that they are in the main league they can flex their muscles, just have a look at who they are planning on signing, over a 100 million euros is likely to be spent this summer.

So yes they are clearly a big club.
Flex what muscles and who are they 'planning' to sign? They are newly promoted and obviously have no European football so it's going to be little bit difficult when signing someone decent.

With all that money they fail to win the Bundesliga.2 which is laughable. Trophies are what makes a club renowned not how much they have in the kitty so I guess we should class Leicester as a small club........
 
Flex what muscles and who are they 'planning' to sign? They are newly promoted and obviously have no European football so it's going to be little bit difficult when signing someone decent.

With all that money they fail to win the Bundesliga.2 which is laughable. Trophies are what makes a club renowned not how much they have in the kitty so I guess we should class Leicester as a small club........
To be fair with the money in the EPL now no club is exactly low on funds, but what they did with it is remarkable and the odds for that happening showed it, im just stating you the historical fact that money buys results in football in the long run and Leipzig are full of it, you only have to look at Man city and PSG for modern examples what a massive injection of cash can do to a club.

look at the clubs in Bundesliga.2 and you can see what I mean, they average far higher attendence then any club in that league so they have a solid money foundation from that alone to build then when you add a billionaire ready to attack the transfer market the ability to grow is ten fold.
 
Their policy of signing under-24 players is absurd and will be their achilles heel if they want to compete with the giants of Bundesliga but in their first season I will stand by my point in that they will struggle to break into the top half.
 
I think they will change that now that they are in the top league, just doing it for the lower leagues makes it easy to build a team that can stay for a long period of time.

Anything is possible but all im saying is they have the potential to get a top 4 if they sign the right talent, Hoffenhiem showed in 2008 that it's possible for a newly promoted side to compete with the best as they topped the competition in their first ever top flight season for the first half of the season before they crumbled to 7th, Leipzig have significantly more money to play with though so who knows.

As a betting man I wouldn't mind putting a small bet on them to win the league if the odds are crazy just in case something like Leicester happens.

http://www.espnfc.com/rb-leipzig/st...e-advantage-over-small-clubs-christian-heidel

apparently they are trying to get Embolo, Gotze and Leno.
 
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I think they will change that now that they are in the top league, just doing it for the lower leagues makes it easy to build a team that can stay for a long period of time.

Anything is possible but all im saying is they have the potential to get a top 4 if they sign the right talent, Hoffenhiem showed in 2008 that it's possible for a newly promoted side to compete with the best as they topped the competition in their first ever top flight season for the first half of the season before they crumbled to 7th, Leipzig have significantly more money to play with though so who knows.

As a betting man I wouldn't mind putting a small bet on them to win the league if the odds are crazy just in case something like Leicester happens.
Different story when Hoffenheim got promoted as they had brilliant squad with Demba Ba, Obasi, Ibisevic, Gustavo, Salihovic and Beck so they already had great foundation going into the new season but since then the Bundesliga has changed dramatically to have grown stronger especially with the abundance of talent the top half of the teams possess and they will only get stronger but for Leipzig who as stand have a weak squad in comparison to the other teams in the Bundesliga and even though they have the money I see them not signing anyone who is of high quality until they gain that European qualifying spot.
 
The problem with "RasenBallsport" Leipzig is not necessarily that they are able to have more purchasing power than the clubs around them, although that does play into it, but that they bought out a pre-existing club for their place in the league structure and, crucially, their micro-management of every facet of club culture. There is a conformity required around the fans and Red Bull often take away signs and banners critical of the club's structure and ideology.

Germany, like England, has a long history of traditionalist and purist fans who make themselves a vocal, known presence. Clubs such as Union Berlin, Aue, 1860 Munich and St. Pauli have refused to play Leipzig in friendlies and are frequently recalcitrant to Leipzig during league games. Regardless of whether it was a 'small' team or not, fans were not happy at SSV Makranstädt being bought out and replaced in the league structure.

In fact, prior to Red Bull buying out Makranstädt, St. Pauli were one of many clubs Red Bull approached about purchasing but were immediately rebuffed when it became apparent that there were to be an extreme amount of conditions in exchange for sponsorship. Many clubs across Germany, professional and non-professional, were approached and protests against each move even became violent.

It's not even that there is even a problem with a company investing; Bayer Leverkusen, Ingolstadt (Audi) and Wolfsburg (Volkswagen) are backed by other firms but Red Bull go about it in a totalitarian way where things must be done on their terms.

Let's not even get started on Red Bull Salzburg. In that case it wasn't just a small team who were erased from history but one of Austria's more successful clubs; SV Austria Salzburg, a club with a long top-flight presence. Imagine them buying out United or Tottenham and then you get Red Bull Manchester or Red Bull London with new crests and club colours.

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But still, everyone will be curious to see how they do. Hoffenheim are still in the top flight since being promoted but their competitiveness wanes with each passing year.
 
Hoffenheim are still in the top flight since being promoted but their competitiveness wanes with each passing year.
They just let their star man go to Leverkusen but towards the end of the season their results have improved so lets hope they make this season stronger.
 
Monaco signed half the world in 2013 and finished 2nd in Ligue 1 that season. Of course Leipzig can do similar if they plan on buying big.
 
Monaco signed half the world in 2013 and finished 2nd in Ligue 1 that season. Of course Leipzig can do similar if they plan on buying big.
Bit of an exaggeration when Monaco only signed Falcao, Rodriguez, Moutinho, Abidal and Toulalon in terms of top signings and Ligue 1 is considerably less competitive than the Bundesliga.
 
Bit of an exaggeration when Monaco only signed Falcao, Rodriguez, Moutinho, Abidal and Toulalon in terms of top signings and Ligue 1 is considerably less competitive than the Bundesliga.
Not really, I would rate both pretty similar. Both leagues have a team that can just buy out any challangers good players out so they don't have competition(PSG and Bayern)

Whilst I would rate Dortmund higher then the Likes of Monaco, Lyon or Marseille. Schalke, Laverkusen, Wolfsburg and the likes I would rate around the same, the Bundesliga is better but not by a significant margin.
 
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Not really, I would rate both pretty similar. Both leagues have a team that can just buy out any challangers good players out so they don't have competition(PSG and Bayern)

Whilst I would rate Dortmund higher then the Likes of Monaco, Lyon or Marseille. Schalke, Laverkusen, Wolfsburg and the likes I would rate around the same, the Bundesliga is better but not by a significant margin.
You rate Leverkusen, Wolfsburg and Schalke on the levels with Marseille? :lol:

I really question you actually watch any of those leagues.
 
You rate Leverkusen, Wolfsburg and Schalke on the levels with Marseille? :lol:

I really question you actually watch any of those leagues.
This year no, over the course of Several yes.

Marseille is France most followed club they will bounce back.
 
Not really, I would rate both pretty similar. Both leagues have a team that can just buy out any challangers good players out so they don't have competition(PSG and Bayern)

That's your criterion for a good league?

The Bundesliga is streets ahead of Ligue 1 in terms of quality and enjoyment, in my opinion. That's not to say that Munich's domination is any less boring than PSG's but this year in particular, Ligue 1 has been ridiculous.

I'd also say Germany has the second-strongest football league after England. That is, the German second tier is the next best second tier after England's and the third-tier is the next best third tier and so on.

Whilst I would rate Dortmund higher then the Likes of Monaco, Lyon or Marseille. Schalke, Laverkusen, Wolfsburg and the likes I would rate around the same, the Bundesliga is better but not by a significant margin.

But where do the likes of Frankfurt, Ingolstadt and Darmstadt rank against Ajaccio, Lorient and Troyes? You can't just arbitrarily compare some big names and say that makes the divisions equal.
 
This year no, over the course of Several yes.

Marseille is France most followed club they will bounce back.
If you watched both leagues for several years then you can clearly see that Bundesliga have developed far more than Ligue 1. Ligue 1 is dreadful to watch and it's just turn into fertile ground for clubs outside of France to steal players from and I would bet on some Championship teams to beat the top half of Ligue 1.
 
Suppose I better add this to the OP...

23rd May - Louis van Gaal (Manchester United, sacked) Premier League

Sackings: 52
Resignations: 7
Expirations: 2
Approaches: 7
Kicks Upstairs: 1

Total: 68
 
Rumors are rife of Gerrard going to Celtic which I simply don't understand. Although he'd bring a great quality to the team he is a bit old and less likely to last 90 minutes. Plus, his wage would be astronomical.
 
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