The Football Thread 2022/23: End of season reviews pg79

[Finiarél]

Mo

[Herdanos]

Sending him on a playdate with Wijnaldum has proved inspired. Another masterstroke from Jurgen.

[BOR]

twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1542920236453793797

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Amazon close to deal over Champions League rights in UK

US retailer and streaming giant set to split UK rights with BT Sport, while BBC to broadcast highlights in new Match of the Day edition

The deal, which also includes Europa League and Europa Conference League games, also reflects the expansion of the Champions League to involve 36 clubs each playing eight group stage matches from 2024.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ghts-in-uk

If it's simply part of Amazon prime and not an add on then this is great news imo

I still think it’s kills it slightly behind a paywall. The BT coverage of the final wasn’t well received. I remember at school the old ITV CL game evenings where everyone would come in the next day and talk about it.

I would much rather it was on terrestrial TV but I assume a lot more people have Amazon prime than BT so that's why I think it's a better option.

[KingK]

Brennan Johnson signs new 4 yr long term deal
New kit revealed (minus sponsor for now) and on sale now
Henderson season-long loan from MUFC set to be announced over the weekend
Hennessey expected to also join from Burnley per Percy
Horvath set for loan to Peter's beloved Luton
Neco Williams set to join the Welsh contingent at the City Ground too
Cooper's new contract verbally agreed with the owner last week.
Record signing had 1st training session today

All starting to come together for NFFC!

Roll on 6th Aug

[Drumstick]

ETH is going to raid the Dutch league.

[Ploiper]

apparently, Ronaldo has asked to be allowed to leave man utd if a suitable offer comes in for him.

[Finiarél]

Suuuuuuuuuui later

[Finiarél]

Can only see PSG being able to get him.

[Tomous]

Can only see PSG being able to get him.

Munich need to replace Lewandowski if he's gonna go to Barca this summer.

[gaminglegend]

I don't blame Ronaldo, if he wants to play UCL for another 2 years and not part of a rebuild then at least he's honest and will free up his wage meaning Man Utd can get a striker in, if they act quick. Problem is aside where does he go? I'm not even sure Ronaldo would go to PSG with that gooseberry fool storm going on

[tomvek]

I'm happy enough to see Ronaldo leave. While he brought goals and experience, he creates a lot of problems due to his age and lack of flexibility. You basically have to build the frontline around him and for a player who's 37, is it worth it?

Better to start afresh, free up a bit of money and remove a large ego from the locker room.

[Preezy]

Better to start afresh, free up a bit of money and remove a large ego from the locker room.

I have 2 problems with this line of thinking -

1. who is there available that United could get to replace his goals? Top quality strikers are in short supply and United can't seem to sign anyone, let alone a 20-goal a season striker!

2 - that large ego was the only one in the dressing room with any sort of professional standards. Take him out and the wastrels that make up the rest of the rotten squad have noone to call them out for their woeful performances.

Ronaldo leaving is a bad thing whichever way you slice it. The club will try and spin this to make it look like they're ok with him leaving, but the loss of commercial revenue and professionalism are massive hits. It also makes it more difficult for them to sign new players because who wants to join a club where the best player there is desperate to leave because the club has no ambition. It's a disaster.

[tomvek]

Yeah, it's an interesting problem Preezy. He is definitely a professional and brings goals, but he also brings a lot of limitations to the way a side plays. It all depends if you think his lack of tracking back, adapting to new ways to play and shutting down opposition is worth it. While he's a quality player, he is still in the decline phase of his career. It was the same problem Juventus had, they needed to restructure the team and felt Ronaldo was holding them back. While they were going to lose goals, commercial revenue in the short term, it was something they needed to do going forward.

Totally agree that it's really not the ideal situation. While Ronaldo's motivation and professionalism is good, he also brings the added pressure of wanting to play most games which isn't always possible due to his age and team setup depending on your opposition.

He's also a player who has literally said he doesn't want to be at United next season which may have an unsettling presence anyway and is usually not a good thing imo. His agent has been listening to other clubs so he clearly wants to go.

Up front will be a problem for Ten Hag so it'll be interesting to see if they do bring someone in (though that will be difficult) or how Ten Hag does, flexing his coaching skills and is able to rehabilitate some of the remaining forwards.

He's also a big fan of Guardiola (hence him taking over the Munich reserve team) so I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to play without a traditional striker (I have a feeling he's done this in the past) or at least until United secure one. He's also shown over his coaching career to adapt his strategies to the squad he has so I'm very interested to see what he does.

Either way I'm already looking at it as a transitional season as United would find it very hard to compete with a lot of the top teams with their current squad. But I'm very excited to see what Ten Hag does and how he gets on. At the end of the day, the Ronaldo situation will probably be down to him so we'll know if he's a player he wants to keep or not very soon.

This season should be a wild ride

[gaminglegend]

Yeah, it's an interesting problem Preezy. He is definitely a professional and brings goals, but he also brings a lot of limitations to the way a side plays. It all depends if you think his lack of tracking back, adapting to new ways to play and shutting down opposition is worth it. While he's a quality player, he is still in the decline phase of his career. It was the same problem Juventus had, they needed to restructure the team and felt Ronaldo was holding them back. While they were going to lose goals, commercial revenue in the short term, it was something they needed to do going forward.

Totally agree that it's really not the ideal situation. While Ronaldo's motivation and professionalism is good, he also brings the added pressure of wanting to play most games which isn't always possible due to his age and team setup depending on your opposition.

He's also a player who has literally said he doesn't want to be at United next season which may have an unsettling presence anyway and is usually not a good thing imo. His agent has been listening to other clubs so he clearly wants to go.

Up front will be a problem for Ten Hag so it'll be interesting to see if they do bring someone in (though that will be difficult) or how Ten Hag does, flexing his coaching skills and is able to rehabilitate some of the remaining forwards.

He's also a big fan of Guardiola (hence him taking over the Munich reserve team) so I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to play without a traditional striker (I have a feeling he's done this in the past) or at least until United secure one. He's also shown over his coaching career to adapt his strategies to the squad he has so I'm very interested to see what he does.

Either way I'm already looking at it as a transitional season as United would find it very hard to compete with a lot of the top teams with their current squad. But I'm very excited to see what Ten Hag does and how he gets on. At the end of the day, the Ronaldo situation will probably be down to him so we'll know if he's a player he wants to keep or not very soon.

This season should be a wild ride

Depth aside I honestly don’t think the Man Utd team on paper is bad. I expected a title challenge last year with the signings and it just seemed like the issue was half the team couldn’t give a crap. Getting rid of Pogba is the best decision they’ve made in years

[Finiarél]

Transfer Muppet within is taking over.

Talk of Bellingham.

Nailed on it's happening. Best player in the world. I'm on board. Planning formations and watching youtube videos.

Love Transfer Window.

[Benzin]

Transfer Muppet within is taking over.

Talk of Bellingham.

Nailed on it's happening. Best player in the world. I'm on board. Planning formations and watching youtube videos.

Love Transfer Window.

Have you made your own "Bellingham Baller - Welcome to LFC" Youtube compilation yet?

[Drumstick]

Arsenal have signed Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City on a long-term deal for £45m.

I think that's pretty shrewd - his ceiling is much higher than what he's reached at City.

[Photek]

Suuuuuuuuuui later

The news of Mo staying and within 24hrs Ronaldo asking to leave is a rather wonderful thing.

[Photek]

Depth aside I honestly don’t think the Man Utd team on paper is bad. I expected a title challenge last year with the signings and it just seemed like the issue was half the team couldn’t give a crap. Getting rid of Pogba is the best decision they’ve made in years

Not one Manu player would make the Liverpool/Man City first team.