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2015/16 Soccer Thread.


Lemonade

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So what's your predictions for the season ahead? Can Aberdeen kick on and challenge at the top? Will Rangers make it out of the Championship with a new manager? Will Chelsea make it two in a row or can City, United, Liverpool or Arsenal mount a challenge? It's all "kicking off" in the SAWCCUR.

Edited by Lemonade Sparkle
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So what's your predictions for the season ahead? Can Aberdeen kick on and challenge at the top? Will Rangers make it out of the Championship with a new manager? Will Chelsea make it two in a row or can City, United, Liverpool or Arsenal mount a challenge? It's all "kicking off" in the SAWCCUR.

1. Ha, dunno

2. No

3. Who knows?

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Firmino. Thoughts? I think if Liverpool were to adapt their best play from last year into something like a 3-4-2-1, it might work.

Mignolet
Sakho - Lovren - Skrtel/someone better
Sterling (?) - Leiva - Henderson - Moreno? Milner? Markovic?
Firmino - Coutinho
Sturridge (/Ings/Balotelli)


That's not a bad side, IMO. Massive question marks as to whether or not they can hold onto Sterling, and the left-wing is a problem position, although I rate Alberto Moreno pretty highly.

They need another centre back, for sure. Skrtel is clumsy and seems to be getting worse in the years he should be reaching his prime. Lovren and Sakho will come good, I'm pretty sure.

I'm not a Liverpool fan or anything, just think it's an interesting looking team.

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Partick Thistle launched a brand new mascot today, for the kids y'know?

 

kingsley_3349680b.jpg

 

X(

 

 

 

My pal wrote about it here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/babb/11691493/Partick-Thistle-unveil-utterly-terrifying-new-mascot.html

Who would have thought getting a modern conceptual artist to design A FOOTBALL MASCOT would end badly?! Fucking hell, I've read some wank online defending this malformed abomination against mascots, as if high art and family friendly characters should be commonplace. Nobody wants Tracy Emin coming up with children's TV shows, unless you want them spending a dark 20 minutes contemplating their own mortality.

 

Anyway, Liverpool have spent lots of money so far. Celtic have not spent lots of money. How many days until the transfer window slams shut?

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Firmino. Thoughts? I think if Liverpool were to adapt their best play from last year into something like a 3-4-2-1, it might work.

Mignolet

Sakho - Lovren - Skrtel/someone better

Sterling (?) - Leiva - Henderson - Moreno? Milner? Markovic?

Firmino - Coutinho

Sturridge (/Ings/Balotelli)

That's not a bad side, IMO. Massive question marks as to whether or not they can hold onto Sterling, and the left-wing is a problem position, although I rate Alberto Moreno pretty highly.

They need another centre back, for sure. Skrtel is clumsy and seems to be getting worse in the years he should be reaching his prime. Lovren and Sakho will come good, I'm pretty sure.

I'm not a Liverpool fan or anything, just think it's an interesting looking team.

 

Rodgers needs to sack off the shite and play with a back four like a normal guy.

 

Traffic Cone

 

Flanagan - Skrtel - Sakho - Moreno

 

Henderson - Can

 

Firmino - Lallana - Coutinho

 

Sturridge

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Rodgers needs to sack off the shite and play with a back four like a normal guy.

 

Traffic Cone

 

Flanagan - Skrtel - Sakho - Moreno

 

Henderson - Can

 

Firmino - Lallana - Coutinho

 

Sturridge

interesting, that - Can ahead of Leiva or Milner? Lallana ahead of Milner? Milner?

I rate Can very highly.

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interesting, that - Can ahead of Leiva or Milner? Lallana ahead of Milner? Milner?

I rate Can very highly.

 

Forgot about Milner tbf. Would probably play Milner in ahead of Can at the moment. Possibly even Milner at RB.

 

I'm pretty sure in the Rodgers system Milner's been signed to play on the right side of midfield, which will in turn allow Henderson to play in centre mid.

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Liverpool have a number of good options in midfield and attack now.  I guess the trick will be finding the right blend.  They probably could still do with buying an out-and-out striker too (Bacca has been mentioned and would be good) but that's probably less essential than other positions.  They may well buy Clyne at right back, which is currently a weak area.  I think left-back could also do with strengthening, as I was fairly underwhelmed with Moreno even though he has some potential, and there aren't many other options in that position.  Centre backs may need some work too, although I rate Sakho quite highly even if he looks a bit cumbersome at times.  Skrtel was actually quite good last season (much better than Lovren).  Maybe Ilori will feature next season - he's reputedly good but hasn't had any opportunity yet.  Really good centre backs are hard to find these days though.

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Centre back is a problem because you still have to be physical in the modern game but it's not enough just to be big and good at kicking people. Even shit centre halves need to be quite quick now and certainly in most systems need to be comfortable on the ball.

 

I think you'll see these becoming more prevalent in the next ten years or so but we're probably in a transition period for the position at the moment. Credit John Terry (*spits*), he's classic 'clogger' centre half who's put the work in to become an actual footballer too.

 

It's that age old argument about how kids are trained - historically trained by position in this country (i.e. the big lad is the centre back and the fast nippy one is the striker and the one happy run and run and run is put in centre mid), rather than being trained as footballers first. I believe it's happening now, but kids should be learning the fundamentals of playing the game - get comfortable on the ball, passing, shooting, crossing, tackling, positioning in a general sense (the principles aren't overly different whether you end up a striker or a defender - it's the same space on the same pitch) and then once you've mastered that to a degree, then find your position and fine tune from there.

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All of their potential centre-back pairings are nasty as hell. They have plenty of great options further up the field, but I don't think they'll be anywhere above 5th until they address the CBs. They succeeded with wild gung-ho Keegan football a couple of years ago because they had a world class forward in Suarez as well as Sturridge before his injury issues. They just don't have that crutch any more, and as good as this Firmino guy may be, I refuse to believe he's anywhere the game-changer that Suarez is/was.

 

One of Sakho/Skrtel would be fine in a back three, but both? Carnage. They're both too thick/cloggy/ill-disciplined to both be in the XI, imo, especially if they're paired with Lovren -- an apparently ball-player who was often calamitous for them.

 

Seems like finding quality CBs is a big blind-spot for Rodgers.

 

As an aside, Jordan Henderson is a brilliant footballer and I love watching him play.

Edited by Murrr
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