2015/16 Football/Soccer thread

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Hmm, how good is Dortmund? They've lost 3 key players in Gundogan, Mkhitaryan and Hummels but they have recruited wisely in Dembele, Mor, Bartra, Schurrle and Gotze. Also, this seems to happen every year where they keep the impact of losing players to a minimum. Didn't watch the game but they also thrashed Man Utd 4-1. The race is going to be tight this season, with Ancelotti's domestic record not that impressive compared to his records in Europe.
 
doesn't really prove anything given they have played 4 more games then United and it was hardly the best XI all game.
especially given pre-season last year United played Brilliantly.

its not recognising how good Juventus have done, its recognising the crappy managers making our team under achieve.
 

Sapientia

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Dortmund also lost to 60 recently and Stuttgart trashed City last year before getting relegated.

Preseason games don't really matter too much. Especially that soon after the Euro and Copa
 
Wait, phalanx isn't taking pre season games as indicators of the season ahead? Who are you and what have you done with the real phalanx?
because Dortmund have played 3 more friendlies then we have, they are more match sharp, and Jose was looking at fringe players and new signings so, no its not really an Indicator this time
 

destinyunknown

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Hmm, how good is Dortmund? They've lost 3 key players in Gundogan, Mkhitaryan and Hummels but they have recruited wisely in Dembele, Mor, Bartra, Schurrle and Gotze. Also, this seems to happen every year where they keep the impact of losing players to a minimum. Didn't watch the game but they also thrashed Man Utd 4-1. The race is going to be tight this season, with Ancelotti's domestic record not that impressive compared to his records in Europe.
Dortmund is about the same as last season probably. Not good enough to beat Bayern, but still good enough to end second, if anything because Leverkusen, Schalke and Wolfsburg haven't made any huge signings. Leverkusen has a very young squad though, so if it's their breakout season they could pose a challenge.

I think it is more likely that Dortmund will win the Bundesliga than they will finish 3rd though.
 
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and second string beating barca is fair enough.. and Chelsea managed what?
preseason doesn't matter, especially when we do really well and everything looks amazing.. the league starts and you turn to shite
 

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Dortmund is about the same as last season probably. Not good enough to beat Bayern, but still good enough to end second, if anything because Leverkusen, Schalke and Wolfsburg haven't made any huge signings. Leverkusen has a very young squad though, so if it's their breakout season they could pose a challenge.

I think it is more likely that Dortmund will win the Bundesliga than they will finish 3rd though.
I honestly think that Bayern will have significantly less points next year than in the last seasons, because Carlo is not like Guardiola trying hard in every match even if it's against Darmstadt, but rather just let's the same XI play. Which also explains his disastrous league record a bit.

Dortmund will be interesting to watch next season, because it's really hard to tell how they will perfom. Götze was completley out of shape after his injury in last fall and Schürrle doesn't really seem to fit into Dortmund, despite being good at the end of the season. But Tuchel knows Schürrle well from Mainz, so I guess he has a plan I just don't see yet. And he managed to get the failure Mkhitaryan to perform again, so Götze should be fine too. Their talents all look promising, but haven't seen much games from them.

Leverkusen hasn't made any big signings, but also haven't lost any important players, which is an advantage towards Dortmund/Wolfsburg/Gladbach/Schalke. And they still got Volland and Aránguiz is basically new too. If they have less injuries than last year and get close to their shape from last years I wouldn't even be surprised if they're going to be title contenders.

Schalke's most important signings are Heidel and Weinzierl, as they finally got a good manager and coach. They always had a potentially good team with a lot of young and talented players, but seemed to underperform due to bad coaches. Also we should wait which new players they can get when Sané is finally sold.

Wolfsburg is somehow a weird case. They announced to get a completly new squad, but even players like Gustavo and Rodriguez who were the most likely to leave are still here. The rumors around the rumors around their transfers are kinda fucked up too. They sell their right wing Schürrle and want the left wing Kostic as replacement, even though their best player Draxler is playing on the left wing already. Noone gets what these guys are doing, but whatever.

Gladbach lost their best player Xhaka, but also did some decent signings, so I expect a similar performance again from them.

But with them 6 competing for the 4 CL spots and with RP Leipzig an ambitionated team coming from the 2nd Bundesliga, I think we will have one of the most exciting Bundesliga seasons next year. Even if Bayern wins again, we got a lot of interesting teams to follow. Can't wait till it starts :>
 
So Higuain to Juve for 94m€ seems almost done. They probably overpaid here around 30m but still he's one of the top 5 CFs in the world imo and since they'll probably sell Pogba for like 120m and lost Morata I think thats a fine deal. There is definetely no better CF on the market for them. Next years Juve will probably dominate Italy easily since they got the 2 most important players of the only teams that had a small chance to challenge them (Pjanic from Roma and Higuain from Napoli). I think their top XI could look like this:

-----Barzagli/Benatia------Bonucci-------Chiellini-----------
D. Alves---------------Marchisio-------------------A. Sandro
-----------------Pjanic-----------Khedira----------------
---------------------------------Dybala----------------------
--------------------Higuaín-----------------------------------

+ Rugani, Lichtsteiner, Evra, Lemina, Sturaro, Asamoah, Pereyra, Pjaca, Mandzukic as first backups

Doesn't look too bad but their problem is that they have some players like Khedira, Marchisio or Benatia who're very vulnerable to injuries and some players like Buffon, Barzagli or Alves who aren't in the best age anymore and don't have a lot of perspective on their positions.
 
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Lol Higuain has probably proven to be worth more then Pogba (and arguably already had by the time he was Pogba's age), 60m of that Pogba fee is based on potential not what he has actually shown.

As a pure striker only Ibra, Suarez and Aguero can definitely claim to be better, one is 34 and one is made of glass.

I am still thinking the Dani Alves signing is a bad idea, not matter how good he has been he is still a 33 year old who basically played a decade in a very specific team setup much different to Juventus and he doesn't have the defensive ability to help cover a 3 man defence. Lichtsteiner is better defensively and has more stamina.
 
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Thought I would give it a shot for the 3 weeks until I forget to change my team. I am expecting KDB to have a big season and Giroud is gonna prove all the haters wrong; 20 league goals at least. Ozil will do his regular 723 assists but not actually win any titles for Arsenal. They will end up 4th based on the fact that they don't bottle it as much as Spurs.

Leicester will still be strong but the loss of Kante (and possibly Mahrez), champions league and the fact they no longer have the surprise factor will stop them challenging.

I have no idea how Ibra will perform; as likely to do a Falcao and end up benched as he is to hit 30+ goals and be player of the season.

I think Chelsea will have an efficient if not somewhat dull season grinding out wins with most of the goals via Costa; who is at this point somehow underrated.

Peps wanking around with formations, trying players out in new positions and too many midfielders fighting for a starting place is gonna catch up to him. City also still have a shit defence.

1. United
2. Chelsea
3. City
4. Arsenal
5. Spurs
6. Leicester


upload_2016-7-23_22-4-2.png
 
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Lol Higuain has probably proven to be worth more then Pogba (and arguably already had by the time he was Pogba's age), 60m of that Pogba fee is based on potential not what he has actually shown.

As a pure striker only Ibra, Suarez and Aguero can definitely claim to be better, one is 34 and one is made of glass.

I am still thinking the Dani Alves signing is a bad idea, not matter how good he has been he is still a 33 year old who basically played a decade in a very specific team setup much different to Juventus and he doesn't have the defensive ability to help cover a 3 man defence. Lichtsteiner is better defensively and has more stamina.
Lewandowski, Benzema?
What is bad about signing Dani Alves for basically nothing?

1. Shity
2. Chelsea
3. Arsenal
4. United
5. Spurs
6. Pool
 
Lewandowski, Benzema?
What is bad about signing Dani Alves for basically nothing?
I mean to judge Higuain as a striker is difficult. He is a hit or miss but when you need a striker and you also want to weaken serie a, then not a bad choice. Although the price is something i wouldn't agree with. The dani alves signing was class
 
I honestly think that Bayern will have significantly less points next year than in the last seasons, because Carlo is not like Guardiola trying hard in every match even if it's against Darmstadt, but rather just let's the same XI play. Which also explains his disastrous league record a bit.

Dortmund will be interesting to watch next season, because it's really hard to tell how they will perfom. Götze was completley out of shape after his injury in last fall and Schürrle doesn't really seem to fit into Dortmund, despite being good at the end of the season. But Tuchel knows Schürrle well from Mainz, so I guess he has a plan I just don't see yet. And he managed to get the failure Mkhitaryan to perform again, so Götze should be fine too. Their talents all look promising, but haven't seen much games from them.

Leverkusen hasn't made any big signings, but also haven't lost any important players, which is an advantage towards Dortmund/Wolfsburg/Gladbach/Schalke. And they still got Volland and Aránguiz is basically new too. If they have less injuries than last year and get close to their shape from last years I wouldn't even be surprised if they're going to be title contenders.

Schalke's most important signings are Heidel and Weinzierl, as they finally got a good manager and coach. They always had a potentially good team with a lot of young and talented players, but seemed to underperform due to bad coaches. Also we should wait which new players they can get when Sané is finally sold.

Wolfsburg is somehow a weird case. They announced to get a completly new squad, but even players like Gustavo and Rodriguez who were the most likely to leave are still here. The rumors around the rumors around their transfers are kinda fucked up too. They sell their right wing Schürrle and want the left wing Kostic as replacement, even though their best player Draxler is playing on the left wing already. Noone gets what these guys are doing, but whatever.

Gladbach lost their best player Xhaka, but also did some decent signings, so I expect a similar performance again from them.

But with them 6 competing for the 4 CL spots and with RP Leipzig an ambitionated team coming from the 2nd Bundesliga, I think we will have one of the most exciting Bundesliga seasons next year. Even if Bayern wins again, we got a lot of interesting teams to follow. Can't wait till it starts :>
There's going to be one team that will be the Augsburg of 2014-15 and/or the Hertha Berlin of last season. No idea who though.
 
Do anyone else think that the 94 mil fee for Higuain can partly be attributed to the 120 mil Juventus were supposed to receive for Pogba? You see, when you value a player of Pogba's quality and potential for that kind of fee, another player, say Higuain, who is also an established player in his position also gets his price rise significantly. There is too much money in football that inflation occurs.

In the early 2000s, Barcelona paid a record transfer fee 19.5 mil to secure the services of Ronaldo (Brazillian). This record was left dead in the water by Real Madrid's 50 mil deal for Zidane and Buffon's 53 mil transfer to Juventus. It was also around this time that people were shocked at Man Utd's 30 mil fee for Ferdinand. Back then, 20 mil was a soft cap and only mega-rich (or successful) clubs can have players over this limit (just for the sake of comparison, Liverpool's record transfer in 2004 was 14 mil for Djilbril Cisse, the Ligue 1 top scorer). Of course, mega rich clubs can ignore this as evidenced when Real Madrid bought Beckham for 35 mil and Barcelona got Ronaldinho for 30 mil. It was around this time that Roman Abramovich came to Chelsea, which allows them to secure 5 players with transfers worth over 10 mil, which also includes 24 mil for Didier Drogba (again, for comparison, Harry Kewell, an established player in the Premier League, only cost 5 mil). The next season, this trend continues with Chelsea paying over 20 mil to sign Shaun Wright-Philips and Essein, thus effectively making 30 mil the new "soft" cap (Van Nistelrooy, for example, cost 29.5 mil, Robinho 24 mil and Fernando Torres cost 26 mil).

In 2008, Manchester City was taken over by the Abu Dhabi Group. They made a statement of intent by capturing Robinho for 32.5 mil while also signing players like Jo and Ni Gong for almost 20 mil. Of course, the madness doesn't stop there as Real Madrid smashes the world record transfer for Kaka for 68 mil and Ronaldo for 80 mil. Barcelona followed suit by offering 59 mil plus Eto'o for Ibrahimovic. At the same time, Manchester City continued their shopping trend by getting Tevez, Adebayor and Lescott for over 20 mil while Santa Cruz and Toure (Kolo) cost close to 20 mil. What does this lead to? This actually means the price of your standard average players (the ones that can do a job but not excellent in it) has risen to 15 mil at minimum (which is ridiculous when you remember that Alonso cost Liverpool 10.5 mil). The two La Liga clubs has also shown the world that for the "top-class" players, you have to pay ridiculous money, which is shown when Torres was eventually sold at 50 mil and his replacement, Carroll was valued at 35 mil. At this point, fees around 30 mil was standard such as Aguero for 38 mil, David Villa for 40 mil, David Silva for 24 mil and Edin Dzeko for 27 mil. The new "soft cap" is now 50 mil for the average club .

In 2012, Monaco shook the transfer market with a 60 mil purchase of Radamel Falcao. One year later, Edinson Cavani was sold to PSG for 64 mil. What this transfer means is it puts the selling club into a much stronger position as they can now demand exorbitant fees for assets they do not want to sell. The Bale transfer saga which would eventually make Bale the most expensive football player ever at 91 mil was proof of this. A few months later, it was reported that Barcelona had cheated on the fees they paid for Neymar, for instead of the 57 mil reported, they actually spent closer to 75 mil instead. This actually set a new precedent that top players (stars) are now priced at 60 mil or above, unless they only have one year left on their deal. This information is used by Liverpool to push up the price of Luis Suarez, who was valued at 40 mil the season before, to 75 mil. At this time, the price of players continued to undergo inflation as Kroos, who only had one year left on his deal, cost Real Madrid 30 mil. The transfer of James Rodriquez to Real Madrid for 70 mil is further proof of this "standard price". Angel Di Maria, who was unwanted at Real Madrid, was sold off at 59.7 mil, which again adheres to the 60 mil rule. The fact that PSG continued to spend money since 2012 (e.g. David Luiz (50 mil), Di Maria (44 mil) and Thiago Silva (42 mil) ). Transfers of this kind again raises the price of average players such as Liverpool's purchase of Adam Lallana (25 mil) and Christian Benteke (32.5 mil). Man Utd were not spared as they were forced to part with 30 mil for an 18-year-old Luke Shaw, who only had a full season under his belt.

2015 is a year where 30 mil becomes the standard fee for "potential stars" while 50 mil becomes the go-to rate for "potential stars" who have had a great season. Players like Memphis Depay (31 mil), Roberto Firmino (29 mil), Raheem Sterling (49 mil), Kevin De Bruyne (55 mil) and Anthony Martial (38 mil rising to 58 mil) were stand-out examples of this trend. With much more money available, smaller clubs had more money to spend (Newcastle United spent close to 80 mil, which was unheard of previously) which of course again caused further inflation. One year later, China entered the market and started spending ridiculous amounts of money (31 mil for Atl Mad benchwarmer Jackson Martinez, 25 mil for an unwanted Ramires, and Griazannio Pelle (6th highest paid footballer in the world) ). As a response to this demand, clubs now have to even overpay on potential stars. While 27 mil for Embolo might not seem too high, fees over 25 mil is (imo) rare in the Bundesliga. Renato Sanches, another 18-year-old cost Real Madrid 38 mil while Barcelona bought Andre Gomes for 50 mil. For comparison, Hummels, an established star who only had one year left on his deal cost 34 mil. By this point, you really have to wonder how much money would you need to sign a player who is on a longer deal. Man Utd gives us the answer; 120 mil. Of course, this sets a precedent of paying way over the odds for a player on a longer deal (such as Higuain). You have to wonder how long before the money finally runs out. Remember, when a record fee is set, the fee around the players will rise. The Higuain fee, for example is higher than Ronaldo's and Bale's.


Disclaimer: Sorry for the rant (if you read it). Also, I apologize in advance if there's some inaccuracies in there or the sentences simply doesn't make sense. Those were just ramblings.
 
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The money reflects the growing popularity of football around the world. There is a massive push into the asian countries and the USA, both of which are huge markets and the commercial growth has been exponential. I don't see the fees plateauing anytime soon because I don't see the growth stopping in both target markets. The US is pretty self explanatory, it is such a wealthy market that any small increase in public interest will drive a massive increase in commercial revenue compared to any other part of the world.

In Asia on the other hand, you need much greater engagement to drive higher revenue but the population is much greater. There is also a push from the government level of China to diversify and transition from a manufacturing economy to a services driven economy. Sport, and football in particular, has been earmarked by the government as a major area of investment. That's the reason why Chinese clubs have suddenly started spending big, because the government told them to and also from the knock on effect of big businessmen wanting to improve relations with the government leadership at the top level. They want to be seen as supporting the government by investing heavily in football in order to maintain a favourable relationship (god bless corruption!).

So basically, £100m could become the price of an average player sooner rather than later!

As a footnote: the PL is the main beneficiary of this growth because it is the most popular league in the world. So unless the other leagues dramatically increase their appeal, it is the PL commercial deals that will be going up relative to the rest of the leagues. We already see this with bottom half PL teams automatically becoming richer than many top teams from other leagues because of the TV and sponsorship money. If the status quo continues then I wonder if the PL will become the 'PL-of-the-world' with the other leagues becoming feeder leagues because they simply can't compete financially. When Newcastle drops £80m on players and gets relegated it's a pretty big wake up call for the ridiculous amounts of money now flowing in the PL.
 
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