Other Sports: Soccer/Football Thread Part Six

Starat327

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@Starat327 you guys struck gold with that Palmer transfer. Seems like the Sancho one ain't too bad either.

I was worried Palmer was only going to be good on Pochs free flowing play but he's seemingly jist that good. He makes up for about half of the 19 year old flops that'll never make it and well be lucky to break even on.

I need to see more of Sancho before I make a judgment. He hasn't looked bad by any means but I need to see it against a real team to truly believe it.
 
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Appleyard

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I was worried Palmer was only going to be good on Pochs free flowing play but he's seemingly jist that good. He makes up for about half of the 19 year old flops that'll never make it and well be lucky to break even on.

I need to see more of Sancho before I make a judgment. He hasn't looked bad by any means but I need to see it against a real team to truly believe it.

City's Academy has rarely missed tbh in a very, very long time. Since "Academies" were invented has been up there amongst the best... even in the pre-money days. Generally always had ~3-4 England u-21 guys consistently since ~2003 or so.

Generally known that if you made it to the u-18 team even in the late 2000s? You were going to be a pro player even if in league 1 or so. Which is not the case for a LOT of academies. I.E. they are generally considered to "get the most" out of guys.
 

Curufinwe

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Never got the obsession with playing out from the back, tbh. Yeah, you have a higher chance of keeping possession, but if you do lose it the opponent has a prime scoring chance.
If you play long and lose it, at least the ball is in the other half.
Statistically, you have a better chance of scoring a goal playing out than launching, very much so for the top teams. But that can go the other way if your players aren’t good enough at it.
 
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Appleyard

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Actually... if it was not for our Academy I guess we might not have been the team that was bought by the men with the big bucks... still might have been given Stadium, facilities and size of fanbase etc...

but for example the season before being bought we had 6 of of regular squad (including 4 starters and the back-up goalie) were from the Academy and 10 Academy players played that season...

and the money from Shaun Wright-Phillips went a long way to them being able to keep the team competitive in the Prem and above board financially.
 

Appleyard

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Statistically, you have a better chance of scoring a goal playing out than launching, very much so for the top teams. But that can go the other way if your players aren’t good enough at it.

What I think is funny is the rhetoric that playing out from the back etc is some "new fangled modern stuff"...

this all originates from Austria's team in the 1930s... and that style was actually based a lot on Jimmy Hogan's football philosophy (one of the best coaches in the world from the 1910s-1930s, who inspired Joe Mercer, Ron Atkinson etc... who played beautiful football with very good English teams)

Hilariously Hogan is from Burnley (basically the hotbed area of where professional football started) and played his first season of pro football in 1902... he was a child when the Football League was founded (right in his backyard).

In a lot of ways long ball etc? Was a pretty late tactical development. Teams never really played that way until the 1950s! And was espoused by a very bad statistician. It was only really in the 1970s it became common. (usually amongst limited teams)
 

Starat327

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City's Academy has rarely missed tbh in a very, very long time. Since "Academies" were invented has been up there amongst the best... even in the pre-money days. Generally always had ~3-4 England u-21 guys consistently since ~2003 or so.

Generally known that if you made it to the u-18 team even in the late 2000s? You were going to be a pro player even if in league 1 or so. Which is not the case for a LOT of academies. I.E. they are generally considered to "get the most" out of guys.

I know an academy like this.
 

Appleyard

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I know an academy like this.

United's has been very good and is good again...

but there were some very dark years and it is part of the reason that they struggled tbh over the last decade.

Between ~2006 and 2016 Evans and Welbeck were basically the only graduates who ended up playing a full season in United's first team.

That is also partially as they seemed awful at actually identifying who was good and keeping them aha... and a lot of very talented teens did not live up to potential.

Tbh if you made a list of the United Academy guys born between 1985 and 2000? I mean, damn... Evans, Lingard, Rashford, Welbeck and McTominay are basically the only 5 who had any kind of impact at United.

Rooney actually talked about it recently in terms of worrying even when he was in mid-career at United... looking around the room and going "who are the next guys after me?" As he came in at 19 to United and when he was like 26 he was still one of the younger guys in the room aha, with none of the younger guys really being key players sans De Gea.
 
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Appleyard

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I can't see ETH surviving to the end of this season.

Postecoglou vs Ten Hag is basically the actual talented manager vs a bigheaded Dutch pretender.

Even as a City fan that arrogant prick annoys me.

Winning with Ajax means jack shit given the talent he had vs league etc.

As an Utrecht fan? Ten Hag is a solid manager... but I mean... after he left de Jong and Advocaat got the same results. And since then van de Brom, Hake, Silberbaeuer, Penders have been similar.

Tbh Ron Jans is maybe a slightly better manager ahaha.
 
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Striiker

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Jun 2, 2013
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I need to see more of Sancho before I make a judgment. He hasn't looked bad by any means but I need to see it against a real team to truly believe it.
I assume you didn’t watch much/any Dortmund last year but he was pretty good as soon as he was somewhere that he felt comfortable and appreciated.

Only real issue was his shot was pretty harmless, but otherwise he did a lot to help get us to that UCL final.
 
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Starat327

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I assume you didn’t watch much/any Dortmund last year but he was pretty good as soon as he was somewhere that he felt comfortable and appreciated.

Only real issue was his shot was pretty harmless, but otherwise he did a lot to help get us to that UCL final.

Not as much as I would have liked to, given i wasnt expecting him to make his way to Chelsea (though there were ALWAYS rumors, given him supporting Chelsea as a kid).

I remember his initial move to Dortmund and think the kid has immense talent, its just a matter of -- from what i have seen -- the consistent application. I cant say anything bad about how hes started so far, but I just want to see more of it before i jump on the wagon. I try not to be the "omg did you see this one game, hes the next messi" type.
 
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Starat327

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I doubt he makes it to Christmas. United are a mess.

My hope is that they beat someone in a semi-final that they shouldnt and the management team gets behind him again. I need him to be just good enough to keep them treading water. If it means they have to win the EFL cup, im good with that too. Just keep him around as long as possible.
 

Curufinwe

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This international break would be a good time for a new manager at Man U.

The old manager is still up to his tricks...


comp-1727694043.png
 

Halladay

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Feb 27, 2009
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Postecoglou vs Ten Hag is basically the actual talented manager vs a bigheaded Dutch pretender.

Even as a City fan that arrogant prick annoys me.

Winning with Ajax means jack shit given the talent he had vs league etc.

As an Utrecht fan? Ten Hag is a solid manager... but I mean... after he left de Jong and Advocaat got the same results. And since then van de Brom, Hake, Silberbaeuer, Penders have been similar.

Tbh Ron Jans is maybe a slightly better manager ahaha.
What are your thoughts on Slot? Do you think more highly than him than ETH?
 

Jack Straw

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My hope is that they beat someone in a semi-final that they shouldnt and the management team gets behind him again. I need him to be just good enough to keep them treading water. If it means they have to win the EFL cup, im good with that too. Just keep him around as long as possible.
Machiavelli would be proud.
 
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