Premier League 2014/15

[1611]

I'd loan him to Real Sociedad...He'd be treated like god if Moyes is still their manager next season and he'll get enough game time for us to determine whether he can make it with us..

Ideally they should loan him at Sociedad, a midtable club in the Premiership, or even to PSV as a makeweight for Depay. Package in Pearson and Blackett as well to sweeten the pot.

 

[StarLord]

Might see these two clubs monopolize the EPL in the next 4-5 years.

Manchester City and Arsenal (to a lesser degree, Liverpool) have comparable amounts of revenue streams to Chelsea and United. This reality forecloses your assertion.

 

[1611]

Manchester City and Arsenal (to a lesser degree, Liverpool) have comparable amounts of revenue streams to Chelsea and United. This reality forecloses your assertion.

It's not all about the money, otherwise City and PSG should be playing for the UCL year in and year out. United and Chelsea has the money, AND they know how to use it. This is especially City's problem. Aside from the fact that they will get absolutely no value for the players they would be willing to part ways with, Silva is getting up there in age and Aguero can't stay fit for more than 8 games at a time, Agent Txiki will probably blow the transfer funds on mediocre/solid but not spectacular players as he's been doing since he took over there.

Arsenal is low key one of the better players in the transfer market, but they have to stop spending cash, no matter how little, on the likes of Welbeck. That is simply not going to get the job done. Most of all, Arsene has to allow his players to thrive, instead of shoehorning everyone in order to fulfill his vision of champagne football.

I do hope Wenger has one last EPL title in him before he calls it a day, but I do believe the EPL is heading into an era of duopoly

 

[instinct]

Wow, what happened to Silva there. This doesn't look good at all!

 

[StarLord]

It's not all about the money, otherwise City and PSG should be playing for the UCL year in and year out. United and Chelsea has the money, AND they know how to use it. This is especially City's problem. Aside from the fact that they will get absolutely no value for the players they would be willing to part ways with, Silva is getting up there in age and Aguero can't stay fit for more than 8 games at a time, Agent Txiki will probably blow the transfer funds on mediocre/solid but not spectacular players as he's been doing since he took over there.

Arsenal is low key one of the better players in the transfer market, but they have to stop spending cash, no matter how little, on the likes of Welbeck. That is simply not going to get the job done. Most of all, Arsene has to allow his players to thrive, instead of shoehorning everyone in order to fulfill his vision of champagne football.

I do hope Wenger has one last EPL title in him before he calls it a day, but I do believe the EPL is heading into an era of duopoly

City and PSG have progressed massively from whence they were before the cash poured in. Just remind yourself of where these clubs were before petrodollars came flooding in... The reason why PSG and City are not winning the CL, is because we, Real, Bayern and even Atletico are better. These clubs wouldn't even be in the EL, let alone play in the CL without their newfound wealth.

As long as the money keeps flowing, a team can improve its transfer efficiency at any time. Transfers have always been a bit of coin toss, and all clubs make bad transfers from time to time. My point is that as long as there is more or less financial parity, clubs (especially within the same country) will have roughly similar chances at success failure. There is no financial foundation on which Chelsea and United can monopolize. Their financial advantage (while still real) is not such so as to guarantee dominance over Arsenal, City and maybe even Liverpool. Hell, if Atletico managed to break the Primera duopoly (even for a couple of seasons) with a fifth of the money that their rivals possess, and Lyon and Marseille can chase after PSG (even for a little bit) why wouldn't Arsenal and Man City be able to keep up with Chelsea and United with all their loads of cash?

 

[Egert]

Aston Villa and Arsenal will meet in the FA Cup Final! Supporting Aston Villa there, because I like Benteke alot.
Tim Sherwood

 

[1611]

City and PSG have progressed massively from whence they were before the cash poured in. Just remind yourself of where these clubs were before petrodollars came flooding in... The reason why PSG and City are not winning the CL, is because we, Real, Bayern and even Atletico are better. These clubs wouldn't even be in the EL, let alone play in the CL without their newfound wealth.

As long as the money keeps flowing, a team can improve its transfer efficiency at any time. Transfers have always been a bit of coin toss, and all clubs make bad transfers from time to time. My point is that as long as there is more or less financial parity, clubs (especially within the same country) will have roughly similar chances at success failure. There is no financial foundation on which Chelsea and United can monopolize. Their financial advantage (while still real) is not such so as to guarantee dominance over Arsenal, City and maybe even Liverpool. Hell, if Atletico managed to break the Primera duopoly (even for a couple of seasons) with a fifth of the money that their rivals possess, and Lyon and Marseille can chase after PSG (even for a little bit) why wouldn't Arsenal and Man City be able to keep up with Chelsea and United with all their loads of cash?

Again, it's not solely about money, as evidenced by Atletico. It's about spending right. Case in point - Barca's board. Aside from Mascherano, Suarez and Rakitic, they had the prestige of Barca AND the money to spend yet they've generally let the fans down when it comes to rebuilding the team (specifically CB and a successor to Xavi).

City and Arsenal's money will allow them to stay competitive. That much money means they'll probably never fall outside the EL places. However, building a superpower requires much more than money. See United 06-09 built on bargains like Vidic, Evra and Ronaldo, or Pep's Barca built on homegrown talent mixed with smart purchases like Toure, Villa and Keita.

Agreed that transfers are 50/50 propositions most of the time, but it's no coincidence that the players United and Chelsea acquires regularly end up being worth the money. Great decision making will turn that 50/50 to a 60/40, or even 75/25. Going back to the Atletico example, look how they've never fielded a team that didn't have a great scorer up front despite having a very limited transfer kit per year.

 

[S7_MUFC]

Again, it's not solely about money, as evidenced by Atletico. It's about spending right. Case in point - Barca's board. Aside from Mascherano, Suarez and Rakitic, they had the prestige of Barca AND the money to spend yet they've generally let the fans down when it comes to rebuilding the team (specifically CB and a successor to Xavi).

City and Arsenal's money will allow them to stay competitive. That much money means they'll probably never fall outside the EL places. However, building a superpower requires much more than money. See United 06-09 built on bargains like Vidic, Evra and Ronaldo, or Pep's Barca built on homegrown talent mixed with smart purchases like Toure, Villa and Keita.

Agreed that transfers are 50/50 propositions most of the time, but it's no coincidence that the players United and Chelsea acquires regularly end up being worth the money. Great decision making will turn that 50/50 to a 60/40, or even 75/25. Going back to the Atletico example, look how they've never fielded a team that didn't have a great scorer up front despite having a very limited transfer kit per year.

City's team also has bargains like Zabaleta and Kompany and if there was no FFP they could easily compete with us but now with our revenue and FFP restrictions I can't see them outbidding us for premium talents like pogba,reus etc. if they become available and that's going to separate also-rans from the contenders for the next few years...

 

[1611]

I'll give you Kompany (WC for 1.5 seasons), but Zabaleta was never a bargain IMO. They got what they paid for, which isn't bad considering the amount they shelled over for the likes of Nasri, Navas, Mangala, Bony and Robinho. Again, even without FFP restrictions, the question is whether they can spend money on the RIGHT players.

 

[S7_MUFC]

I'll give you Kompany (WC for 1.5 seasons), but Zabaleta was never a bargain IMO. They got what they paid for, which isn't bad considering the amount they shelled over for the likes of Nasri, Navas, Mangala, Bony and Robinho. Again, even without FFP restrictions, the question is whether they can spend money on the RIGHT players.

Zabaleta was signed for £6.5 million so he's definitely a bargain and the issue of signing right players also applies to us and chelsea, it's not like United and Chelsea have some sort of genius scouting network that city cannot emulate.

 

[Sterlingfan2000]

Zabaleta was signed for £6.5 million so he's definitely a bargain and the issue of signing right players also applies to us and chelsea, it's not like United and Chelsea have some sort of genius scouting network that city cannot emulate.

Liverpool announce 45€ million shirt deal. Also name rights for PL will be sold for 280€Million Euro.


Honestly with their money every league will have huge problems

 

[BenRobbins]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/...rs-around-the-world-where-does-your-club-rank

Interesting article. I knew arsenal had a big twitter presence and has a lot of african fans but no idea they were that well supported. Very odd as before last year they had that long stint of being very unsuccessful so i don't see how they managed to accumulate so many fans.

 

[StarLord]

Again, it's not solely about money, as evidenced by Atletico. It's about spending right. Case in point - Barca's board. Aside from Mascherano, Suarez and Rakitic, they had the prestige of Barca AND the money to spend yet they've generally let the fans down when it comes to rebuilding the team (specifically CB and a successor to Xavi).

City and Arsenal's money will allow them to stay competitive. That much money means they'll probably never fall outside the EL places. However, building a superpower requires much more than money. See United 06-09 built on bargains like Vidic, Evra and Ronaldo, or Pep's Barca built on homegrown talent mixed with smart purchases like Toure, Villa and Keita.

Agreed that transfers are 50/50 propositions most of the time, but it's no coincidence that the players United and Chelsea acquires regularly end up being worth the money. Great decision making will turn that 50/50 to a 60/40, or even 75/25. Going back to the Atletico example, look how they've never fielded a team that didn't have a great scorer up front despite having a very limited transfer kit per year.

The success of Atletico proves nothing more than that there is always the possibility of temporary divergence. Without persistent and consistent spending, a team will suffer in the end.

Man City started from a far lower base in relation to Chelsea or United, yet they still managed to be the best team in England during the past 3 years (11/12-13/14)

So, if anything, spending matters a lot. Arsenal were under-spending for many years, but from now on, I would expect them to seriously pick up the spending. As you can see, their relative position within the EPL is beginning to improve in the last couple of years, they are no longer the poor relative of the Top 4.

 

[Morten]

The success of Atletico proves nothing more than that there is always the possibility of temporary divergence. Without persistent and consistent spending, a team will suffer in the end.

Man City started from a far lower base in relation to Chelsea or United, yet they still managed to be the best team in England during the past 3 years (11/12-13/14)

So, if anything, spending matters a lot. Arsenal were under-spending for many years, but from now on, I would expect them to seriously pick up the spending. As you can see, their relative position within the EPL is beginning to improve in the last couple of years, they are no longer the poor relative of the Top 4.

Even so, i expect Chelski to win/draw the game against them. Wenger is Mourinhos bitch. Not that it matters anyway, Chelski won the league last weekend, if not before. Maybe Arsenal can actually win this one, Chelski has nothing to play for.

 

[Ode to Django]

got a world exclusive here of all the laughing gas