Premiere League & World Soccer Thread

[NorCalVol67]

I’m at the point I have no faith but the only reason I say he probably gets til end of the season at least and early next season at most is because we don’t have a realistic option for interim manager. All those years we sacked managers in season we had one constant: a couple long running assistant coaches that had been with the club decades to take over interim until we found a new manager. We don’t have those anymore. All of the assistants are Potters guys and I bet they leave with him if he’s sacked. I also don’t know who we hire permanently either. I don’t see a lot of managers leaving their team til the end of the season. We might need to still sack him despite all of that though if we keep sinking.

Who would you look at as next manager if we did? Pochettino is just sitting out there but idk if I want him. Zidane won’t coach in England. Flick has been at the Bridge recently. Idk, tough choices.

Conte returns to Chelsea next season and Pochettino returns to Spurs.

 

[Nash_Vol97]

Conte returns to Chelsea next season and Pochettino returns to Spurs.

I wouldn’t complain about that haha. Would be interesting to see the Italian napoleon roaming the managers box at The Bridge again. Hell, I’m so down right now I’d even be happy to see Mourinho come back for the time being

 

[NorCalVol67]

I wouldn’t complain about that haha. Would be interesting to see the Italian napoleon roaming the managers box at The Bridge again. Hell, I’m so down right now I’d even be happy to see Mourinho come back for the time being

Now I can get on board with Jose back to Chelsea.

 

[C/O]

I wouldn’t complain about that haha. Would be interesting to see the Italian napoleon roaming the managers box at The Bridge again. Hell, I’m so down right now I’d even be happy to see Mourinho come back for the time being

I need Sarri ball in my life again.

 

[Nash_Vol97]

I need Sarri ball in my life again.

Hey, I’ll take another Europa league trophy. Only issue is we won’t be in European competitions next year

Maybe he can have a nice reunion with Kepa again lol

 

[MAD]

Hey, I’ll take another Europa league trophy. Only issue is we won’t be in European competitions next year

Maybe he can have a nice reunion with Kepa again lol

Kepa says…

 

[C/O]

Our spring friendly season is starting up this week at the College I work with. Every year they get together all the students, support staff, coaches, etc. and do a blind draw when the season starts.

Basically every EPL and Championship side are put into a pool and we all draw from the hat. The team that you get is yours for the rest of our season. The team with accrues the most points during our season wins, so from this week until the first of May, I will be a…..Burnley fan.

This got me thinking. Who do you all think will get the most points from now and end of season? Minus cup games and CL, etc.

 

[bleedorange0037]

Our spring friendly season is starting up this week at the College I work with. Every year they get together all the students, support staff, coaches, etc. and do a blind draw when the season starts.

Basically every EPL and Championship side are put into a pool and we all draw from the hat. The team that you get is yours for the rest of our season. The team with accrues the most points during our season wins, so from this week until the first of May, I will be a…..Burnley fan.

This got me thinking. Who do you all think will get the most points from now and end of season? Minus cup games and CL, etc.

If The Championship ended it’s season at the same time as the PL, you probably would have drawn the best option. Burnley are head and shoulders the best team in the league this year. Unfortunately, because of the promotion playoffs, the season ends in early May, so they only have 12 games left as opposed to the PL teams that have 13-16, depending on the club.

But…City, the only other realistic contender here IMO, are one of the PL clubs with only 13 remaining, so it will be really close.

Also keep an eye on Brighton, they still have 16 matches remaining.

 

[Nash_Vol97]

Saw a conversation about West Ham and how they just look like a tired and bad team this year, and then thought about the past 2 years where they had been in European positions at the end of the year. Was curious on how they fell so hard and in my inexperienced position I think one of the big factors out of many is the last 2 season took a toll on them. Klopp, Pep and Tuchel have all complained recently about fixture congestion. This is why.

WHU usually play about 42-45 matches a year depending on how far they make it in the domestic cups, but 2021-2022 they played 56 matches and made it to the semi finals of the Europa conference league, 5th round of FA Cup and the quarter finals of the EFL Cup. That’s almost 10 more games, all midweek, and much more travel than they are used to.

If you have a squad like City, Liverpool, Chelsea etc that normally has that depth year in and year out, it’s not quite as big of an issue. For a team that doesn’t have the depth it is a bigger issue and West Ham, at least it felt like, didn’t have a very successful transfer market. They brought in 10 players and sold 18. Ings and Paqueta were solid additions as was Emerson and Cornet, but the rest were fringe players. Just a personal opinion but I think they should have sold Declan for 100M+ and rebuilt the squad for depth, but who knows.

Let’s hope Arsenal is paying attention though. This season will be the most games that Arsenal have played in a season since, 2018 maybe? Arteta leads the PL in the least lineup changes throughout the season. Same players start every game, partially because, well, they are playing really well.. but also because of depth issues behind them. Arsenal I think is going to need to invest in a good bit of depth this summer. Arteta has proved he is the man for the job, now they need to invest in him.

Ok, that’s enough of my Monday morning distraction from working.

 

[bleedorange0037]

Saw a conversation about West Ham and how they just look like a tired and bad team this year, and then thought about the past 2 years where they had been in European positions at the end of the year. Was curious on how they fell so hard and in my inexperienced position I think one of the big factors out of many is the last 2 season took a toll on them. Klopp, Pep and Tuchel have all complained recently about fixture congestion. This is why.

WHU usually play about 42-45 matches a year depending on how far they make it in the domestic cups, but 2021-2022 they played 56 matches and made it to the semi finals of the Europa conference league, 5th round of FA Cup and the quarter finals of the EFL Cup. That’s almost 10 more games, all midweek, and much more travel than they are used to.

If you have a squad like City, Liverpool, Chelsea etc that normally has that depth year in and year out, it’s not quite as big of an issue. For a team that doesn’t have the depth it is a bigger issue and West Ham, at least it felt like, didn’t have a very successful transfer market. They brought in 10 players and sold 18. Ings and Paqueta were solid additions as was Emerson and Cornet, but the rest were fringe players. Just a personal opinion but I think they should have sold Declan for 100M+ and rebuilt the squad for depth, but who knows.

Let’s hope Arsenal is paying attention though. This season will be the most games that Arsenal have played in a season since, 2018 maybe? Arteta leads the PL in the least lineup changes throughout the season. Same players start every game, partially because, well, they are playing really well.. but also because of depth issues behind them. Arsenal I think is going to need to invest in a good bit of depth this summer. Arteta has proved he is the man for the job, now they need to invest in him.

Ok, that’s enough of my Monday morning distraction from working.

Same for Man U. They’ve played a staggering 19 matches in just barely over two months since the post-WC restart. No end in sight either, as nothing about their form indicates they won’t be making a deep run in the FA Cup and Europa League. If they were to make it to both of those finals, they would still have 25 matches to play. I don’t know that any team in the world has a squad capable of playing 44 matches in five months without it taking a substantial toll.

 

[Nash_Vol97]

Same for Man U. They’ve played a staggering 19 matches in just barely over two months since the post-WC restart. No end in sight either, as nothing about their form indicates they won’t be making a deep run in the FA Cup and Europa League. If they were to make it to both of those finals, they would still have 25 matches to play. I don’t know that any team in the world has a squad capable of playing 44 matches in five months without it taking a substantial toll.

Geez, that is brutal. I don’t see them slowing down so they are going to play a lot of matches. We will see what their summer looks like but they are going to need to bring in a lot of depth.

 

[Nash_Vol97]

 

[NorCalVol67]

My goodness, Thiago Silva has ligament damage. Chelsea is a M*A*S*H unit.

 

[C/O]

My goodness, Thiago Silva has ligament damage. Chelsea is a M*A*S*H unit.

They have been bitten by the injury bug for sure. I realize they have like a 39 person roster, but one would think all of these injuries will eventually lead to Potter finally choosing a starting 11. It’s to the point where even if the 11 you run out lose, put them out there again. Some type of chemistry is needed in that lineup.

 

[Nash_Vol97]

They have been bitten by the injury bug for sure. I realize they have like a 39 person roster, but one would think all of these injuries will eventually lead to Potter finally choosing a starting 11. It’s to the point where even if the 11 you run out lose, put them out there again. Some type of chemistry is needed in that lineup.

Injuries happen but I can’t remember a year with this amount of injuries in a long time for Chelsea. I’ve not been a fan of his starting XI choices so far. Not consistent and he seems to be just throwing different combinations out for a spark, which I get, but it’s hurting us in the long run. He needs to lean on the experience at the moment and not worry about the young players getting experience this season. Sterling looks fit again, Mount is completely out of form but he still needs to bring the experience, and as much as Havertz is snake bit in the final 3rd, he’s very valuable in build up and works pretty well with Felix. I think Pulisic comes back this week too. He should be first sub off the bench for the forwards.

 

[bleedorange0037]

 

[NorCalVol67]

I was watching that match when it happened, scary as hell. Always liked him as a Spur.

But that is brutally funny.

 

[Through_The_T]

I feel guilty laughing, but I can't help it...

 

[C/O]

Grimsby though. Pretty fun round of FA games.

 

[bleedorange0037]

Grimsby though. Pretty fun round of FA games.

Yep. At least one Championship club making it to the semifinal now.

 

[bleedorange0037]

Even Everton scored twice last month.

 

[Nash_Vol97]

It’ll be interesting what they choose. Building stand by stand is grueling and in the end won’t allow them to build more capacity then they could if they knocked it down and restarted… so I get the thought. A bit sad though. They are also trying to purchase land near the stadium for a bigger footprint. If they do tear down and build a new one they would most likely be temporarily playing games either at Wembley, or Craven Cottage until 2030.

 

[bleedorange0037]

It’ll be interesting what they choose. Building stand by stand is grueling and in the end won’t allow them to build more capacity then they could if they knocked it down and restarted… so I get the thought. A bit sad though. They are also trying to purchase land near the stadium for a bigger footprint. If they do tear down and build a new one they would most likely be temporarily playing games either at Wembley, or Craven Cottage until 2030.

They’re just in a very difficult spot on this whole thing. Stamford Bridge is nowhere close to big enough for a club of that stature, so they really do need something bigger. How they manage that, I have no idea.

Acquiring enough land in West London to build something from scratch would be somewhere between literally impossible and so obscenely expensive it becomes effectively impossible.

At one point they explored moving across the river to Battersea Power Station, but that had a lot of hurdles, plus would have been a nightmare for local fans to get to. Even though it’s basically right across the river, getting there by train/Tube requires going all the way back into Central London and then down to Battersea. Would’ve been a very aesthetically pleasing spot though.

Expanding is just as tough because of the location. It’s landlocked to the north by the District Line, and the east by the Overground. To the west is a massive veterans home (top of the first picture in the Tweet you linked) which is unlikely to be purchasable, and is possibly a Listed building, so it might be illegal to tear it down even if they bought it. All that leaves is the small row of houses to the south between the Shed Wall and Fulham Road (left hand side of that same picture), so I imagine that is what you mentioned they were trying to purchase. That buys them a little room, but I don’t know that it’s physically possible to shoehorn the 60k-70k seat ground that they need into that space. Like you said, it’ll be interesting to see how they go about it.

 

[Nash_Vol97]

They’re just in a very difficult spot on this whole thing. Stamford Bridge is nowhere close to big enough for a club of that stature, so they really do need something bigger. How they manage that, I have no idea.

Acquiring enough land in West London to build something from scratch would be somewhere between literally impossible and so obscenely expensive it becomes effectively impossible.

At one point they explored moving across the river to Battersea Power Station, but that had a lot of hurdles, plus would have been a nightmare for local fans to get to. Even though it’s basically right across the river, getting there by train/Tube requires going all the way back into Central London and then down to Battersea. Would’ve been a very aesthetically pleasing spot though.

Expanding is just as tough because of the location. It’s landlocked to the north by the District Line, and the east by the Overground. To the west is a massive veterans home (top of the first picture in the Tweet you linked) which is unlikely to be purchasable, and is possibly a Listed building, so it might be illegal to tear it down even if they bought it. All that leaves is the small row of houses to the south between the Shed Wall and Fulham Road (left hand side of that same picture), so I imagine that is what you mentioned they were trying to purchase. That buys them a little room, but I don’t know that it’s physically possible to shoehorn the 60k-70k seat ground that they need into that space. Like you said, it’ll be interesting to see how they go about it.

Yeah I have no idea how they will work this out. The options that have been reported, that I have seen at least, is to rebuild stand by stand, leave Stamford Bridge completely, or to tear down and rebuild altogether while playing at Wembley/Craven Cottage. None of the options leave a great solution unfortunately. For the reference of what I’ve heard from the journalists that cover Chelsea, this is the land/building they are looking to possibly acquire. My guess is it would add a ton of cost to the project and without buying more land towards the top of the picture, idk how much more room it really gives.

One thing I also saw mentioned is that they are going to send a development team out to Everton to talk with and tour the new stadium being y’all are building. Idk if that’s just from a “we just want to see a current stadium being built job site..” or if there is something specific they want to tour that is prevalent in the Chelsea build as well.

 

[Nash_Vol97]

No Thiago Silva tomorrow and now no Reece James or Mason Mount. Even with them I have no confidence, now I really have no confidence.