Soccer Season 15/16

September 12, 2015, 08:00:17 pm

Okay so the transfer window has officially shut (and we think our AFL transfer period is the silly season!!) and with having signed a new tv rights deal of around 10 billion AUD for 3 seasons (yeap you read that amount right) it wasn't a surprise to see the EPL splashing the most cash around with 870 million pounds spent in total (breaking last years 835 million pound record) and there were some big deals floated on the last day that could have taken the figure over 1 billion
Among them
Pogba - Juventus -> Chelsea (80 million pounds)
Muller - Bayern Munich -> Man United (60 million pounds)
Stones - Everton -> Chelsea (40 million pounds)
Berahino - West Brom -> Tottenham (25 million pounds).

The last day was mainly taken up with the two really big 'will they - won't they' stories.
With De Gea's transfer to Real Madrid and Berahino to Tottenham taking up most of the air space.
In the end West Brom send Tottenham packing (much to the chagrin of Berahino) and Man Utd and Real Madrid messed up their paper work, which has now seen De Gea re-sign for another 4 years.

What is amazing about this transfer window is that every club has had their hands in their pocket, they need to because the TV rights kick in next season and it will be a disaster for any club that goes down.

Some clubs (West Ham, Crystal Palace, Stoke and Swansea) seem to have done some incredible business with the likes of Payet, Cabaye,Shaqiri (I cannot believe he plays for stoke!!!) and Ayew are just some of the names going to these clubs (Ayew starts the season with a handful of goals, including against Man U and Chelsea to win EPL player of hte month after signing on a FREE).

The club that I think impressed me the most was Man City. some think it is easy with buckets of cash, but you still need the right players and when Man City, Utd or Chelsea come calling, the price goes up by 10-15 million pounds per player.

They already looked dangerous, but come with some frailties last year, this year in the space of 3 signings (they actually made 5 or 6 in total) they have transformed their team.
Raheem Sterling is a complete wanker, but he also plays some beautiful football, has pace to burn, good with the ball at his feet and knows how to strike it, he is a major upgrade on Navas.
De Bruyne was sold by Chelsea last year and it looks like a monumental mistake. De Bruyne could simply play wide and have taken the role that Cuadrado failed in, but really as good as Oscar is, De Bruyne would be a very big upgrade and with Willian on the right and Hazard on the left would make the most fearsome LW-CAM/SS-RW combination the premier league has maybe ever seen, with Costa up front just having a feeding frenzy, or indeed Remy with his pace in front of these 3 could just blow teams apart... but... Man City have him now .

The only problem is that De Bruyne and Silva both play the same role (though play it differently) and one of the is going to be pushed wide> I think it might be Silva, though it is tough. He is the best passer I have ever seen in the prem (yeap better than Scholes) and his delivery usually has more impact from central position, but he has proven he is more than capable of playing our wide. De Bruyne (imo) drops off more when moves wider, so I would probably start with that.

Otamendi is an excellent signing and I expect him to be a regular as soon as he is settled. He is A grade and if Kompany can find his form of 18 months ago, that is a rock solid partnership that has the ability to take them deep (finally) in Champions League, as well as to the title in the EPL.

Chelsea started their window well with the signing of Pedro from Barcelona from under Man United's nose, but they can't escape that they saw some real gaps in the center back position and after missing their first choice signed some very underwhelming backups to Terry.

Also signed Falcao on loan, which might work, but seems to be a bit of a head scratcher.
Lost Peter Cech and replaced with the very capable Begovic who will now be first choice for the next 3 months with Courtois going down. Also traded Filipe Luis back to Spain after a pretty ordinary year, that does put a lot of pressure though on Azpilcueta, but he is a very handy footballer.

Man United. They have spent 250 million pounds in 2 seasons and they still don't have a playmaker to replace Carrick or a real striker to work in front of Rooney. They will walk away knowing their squad cannot chellenge this year, great signings, but a real scatter gun approach that still leaves them very exposed at CB (Blind already exposed by Swansea) and as above anyone to support Rooney and Carrick.

Tottenham - Thrown in here just to let my disgust out. God rid of some truly terrible players, but the way Levy does business is like the old Essendon and clubs hate dealing with him, he has a habit of getting into agents ears and trying to get players to put pressure on their club to sell on the cheap, he done it last season with Schneiderlin and this season with Wanyama and Berahino. Southampton have claimed they will not deal with Tottenham at all going forward and I doubt West Brom will either unless they are forced to by release clauses being met. In all of the above instances the players ended up handing in official transfer requests and got upset at not moving, it is a Tottenham habit that makes other clubs hate them.

As for my team West Brom..
A mixed bag, we released a long time performer in Mulumbu and also let Lescott who is real class cross to our rivals. We brought in another 2 ex-Man United players in Johnny Evans and Anders Lindergaard, we needed cover in both of those positions, but I do have some questions. We also brought in Chester from Hull who looks like a good buy as both McAuley and Olsson are getting a bit old and neither was every quick or had great ball playing skills, they were out and out old school center backs.

In the wider positions we brought in Gnabry from Arsenal (not sure how young loanees go, they really are hit and miss) and also brought in James McClean (strange transfer from Wigan, as can be divisive with supporters and players due to his stances against England) to put pressure on the likes of Brunt.
Up forward we brought in experience in Lambert and a real quality striker in Rondon, taking advantage of the new ratios imposed in the Russian league for non-european clubs. Rondon is a big strong and tall forward who plays a 'target man' type role, could form a good relationship with Berahino and Lambert and will be suited to the very unfortunate 'long ball' style of Tony Pulis.

It will be a long season for West Brom and they will be aiming for at 10-15 finish again, but it will be dangerous to continue playing this style of football as the overall class of the PL continues to improve. I do think that the likes of Sunderland and Norwich are in real trouble though and should be favorites for the drop. With unfortunately probably Bournemouth struggling as well. If Bournemouth does stay up though, expect Howe to move onto a bigger club as he is probably the 'manager most likely' and could well go on to be one of the greats from what I have seen so far. (of course he might just fail at the top level also).

I won't tough on other leagues here other than to say the obvious will be in line for honors again, with probably only Dortmund and possibly Wolfsburg again giving Bayern any grief, the same 3 will be in the running in the La Liga also.

I Serie A Juventus has lost Teves (Boca) and Pirlo (MLS) and not started the campaign very well, but they will get their act together and again be very formidable. Dzeko moving to Roma will give them more attacking options and they are the team most likely to challenge there.

Anyway.. tonight.. West Brom v Southampton is the game to keep your eye on.... well for me

Re: Soccer Season 15/16

Reply #1 – February 12, 2016, 09:39:57 pm

The special one Jose Mourinho looks set to join ManU as their manager...being a Chelsea supporter this is equivalent to Robert Walls declaring he wants to coach Essendon, I know he was sacked but joining ManU is akin to selling your soul to the devil...

Re: Soccer Season 15/16

Reply #2 – February 13, 2016, 09:27:18 am

How good are Juve going ATM? I have been playing the soceer regularly and have come up with four teams that simply do not lose. Juventus, Barcelona, PSG and Benfica (funnily enough Benfica lost this morning). Stick to these four core sides and you can't lose.