Sportsbet.io's English Premier League Football Pool Discussion Thread

[Igebotz]

...Normally the coach should not take any such drastic measures but in this context where Liverpool plays for the title and the coach leaves at the end of the season so this can very well happen.

I think that is unlikely. Liverpool have fielded very strong sides for all their matches since the round of 16. Klopp would definitely start his strongest side against Chelsea this weekend.

They would bother about the league when the next match comes around.

That's the Arsene wenger mentality - putting out a weaker first IX for a cup game to focus on the league and end the season trophyless.

Klopp is departing this season, and he is not going to gamble on any cup game, hence Nunez and Salah will most likely play some minutes. The best approach for competing for a trophy is to take care of games as they come. Don't think about any fixtures; this will relieve stress on the team.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is talking too much for someone who only bought a minority stake - I'm glad we threw his garbage bid to the bin.

[cryptofrka]

Agreed, Klopp will want the trophy. The strongest possible team will start in the Cup final.
Remains to be seen who will that be though, we have over 10 players with some kind of injuries at this point in time.

Klopp will rotate in the FA cup (at home vs Soton 3 days later), and then the best 11 will play against Nottingham in PL.

[Harkorede]

Agreed, Klopp will want the trophy. The strongest possible team will start in the Cup final.
Remains to be seen who will that be though, we have over 10 players with some kind of injuries at this point in time.

Klopp will rotate in the FA cup (at home vs Soton 3 days later), and then the best 11 will play against Nottingham in PL.

What's happened to finishing your last run in a grand style ? He should be going for the treble, it's the least he deserve a such spell at Liverpool.

The league won't end in game 25 or is it 26 ? but he won't get another shot if gets booted out of the FA Cup.

[un_rank]

That's the Arsene wenger mentality - putting out a weaker first IX for a cup game to focus on the league and end the season trophyless.

Squad depth plays a major factor in how well a manager can maintain the quality of their side for all competitive games. Liverpool can choose between, Salah, Gakpo, Nunez, Jota, Diaz, Elliot. They rotate these guys around for different games and have a very solid side. When you are managing a squad filled with academy players who are still trying to find their feet, then you need to keep your top players as fit as possible.

Arsène Wenger is a legend.

- Jay -

[buwaytress]

Nice cap arallmuus. Two years since one? Wow! cryptofrka too, but you're good and dirty so I would expect one from you every season.

Liverpool is dealing with a lot of injuries at the moment, and it appears that the title challenge will be between Citeh and Arsenal looking at Liverpool current injury list. I'm surprised to find that Thiago is still a Liverpool player; when I was told he had less than 5 assists in his entire Bayern Munich career, I thought it was a joke; now I understand why.

If Liverpool fails to lead at half-time, I win! 2mBTC bet placed. Deal.

We're used to losing in the first half, but the risk is worth it.

DEAL.

Don't worry, Liverpool has the league's record in 2009 for recovering the most points from a losing position (22). And after last night, we equalled that record with 12 games to go. We've also had the fewest HT leads among the Big 6s, so it's looking pretty for you, don't worry.

Thiago was useful, when we had Hendo and Fabinho. Now he will look absolutely out of place. Last night saw so many comments from Liverpool online about how "slow" our team is. They're not entirely wrong, we've been so used to Mane+Salah and Robbo +TAA raiding down the flanks that we're still getting used to Mac Allister and Endo, our local lads in midfield, and replacement fullbacks scampering around. But our team is running on spirit now. 16th minute corner I recall and everyone was panting while Luton weren't even gasping. Thiago would actually take that tempo down a notch.

Really filled with pride to see all the photos of celebrations and it's just youngsters all around. It seemed an easy win on paper but it's unbelieable to think this lineup belongs to the league leaders. VVD and Diaz were the only recognised starters on the pitch, Robbo came on late, Gomez is a veteran but he would admit he's not first choice.

[arallmuus]

Nice cap arallmuus. Two years since one? Wow! cryptofrka too, but you're good and dirty so I would expect one from you every season.

Cryptoafrka is a monster !

Yeah should be close around that number or even more than that. Pretty sure that I didnt win anything last season and a season before that as well, I really cant recall if I win anything. Im still far from the top 15 but atleast its always feels good to win something and put a mark on this season rather than finishing at the bottom like last year without getting anything at all

I almost thought that I won get the yellow cap after Liverpool scored that many goals because I only had them for 2-0

[CLS63]

It is a really very big success that Liverpool are still the leader in the league despite having this many injured players. Endo's being bought for only 20 million euros is a big transfer achievement for Liverpool.

Who do you think the most successful transfer of the season in the Premier League is?

I think it is Palmer 

[Joca97]

Nice cap arallmuus. Two years since one? Wow! cryptofrka too, but you're good and dirty so I would expect one from you every season.

Cryptoafrka is a monster !

Yeah should be close around that number or even more than that. Pretty sure that I didnt win anything last season and a season before that as well, I really cant recall if I win anything. Im still far from the top 15 but atleast its always feels good to win something and put a mark on this season rather than finishing at the bottom like last year without getting anything at all

I almost thought that I won get the yellow cap after Liverpool scored that many goals because I only had them for 2-0

Cryptofrka with an amazing round and now i need to watchout for him aswell in the pool. Was only thinking that me and Omikifuse were gonna fight but someone always surprises each round and things are about to get intrested. Im in top 150 in the world and not first in the pool and this shows how hard the pool is this year.

[Igebotz]

Arsène Wenger is a legend.

He is, but he overstayed for far too long, and he is one of the reasons Arsenal is yet to win anything in Europe( he misused the golden Arsenal team era). He was too conservative, satisfied with finishing in the top4 and being in the shadow of other managers.

Who do you think the most successful transfer of the season in the Premier League is?

I think it is Palmer 

Definitely Palmer - we hit the jackpot with him. A bigger upgrade on Mount and Havertz.

[un_rank]

He is, but he overstayed for far too long, and he is one of the reasons Arsenal is yet to win anything in Europe( he misused the golden Arsenal team era). He was too conservative, satisfied with finishing in the top4 and being in the shadow of other managers.

On the golden era, firstly it was a team he put together after a slow period at the club and he led us to 7 or 8 glorious years winning 3 EPLs, I think 4 FA cups and other honors with the club, going 49 games unbeaten and reaching the Champions league final as well. Winning in Europe is down to a lot of factors and luck sometimes, but he did not misuse the golden era.

Moving to a new stadium along with financial crisis in '08 put the club in a difficult situation, and we needed conservative management to not get overwhelmed by debt at the time. Arsène Wenger did an incredible job of keeping a club which was drowning in debt afloat and consistent for so long. No other club (except Manchester United at that time) could maintain that level of consistency even if they were spending lots of money and in a good financial situation.
A top 4 finish in 20 unbroken years against managers with huge spending bags was incredible, reason why we needed him for so long.

- Jay -

[cryptofrka]

Wenger is probably the guy I rate the highest - he assembled top teams that played brilliant football and managed to overachieve season after season on a really strict budget.
I don't think we should judge only by winning - if you take that metric alone, you'd even say that Klopp hasn't achieved that much with Liverpool. Zidane has won everything - and still nobody wants him.

Managers that constantly overachieve are quite rare - Wenger and Klopp are the best of them.

[Igebotz]

Wenger is probably the guy I rate the highest - he assembled top teams that played brilliant football and managed to overachieve season after season on a really strict budget.
I don't think we should judge only by winning - if you take that metric alone, you'd even say that Klopp hasn't achieved that much with Liverpool. Zidane has won everything - and still nobody wants him.

Managers that constantly overachieve are quite rare - Wenger and Klopp are the best of them.

Arsene Wenger was only stringy, the club was not broke or anything; he was fully supported but preferred spending on some random kids from the French league for cheap. I recall Arsenal fans carrying banners calling him "a stringy coach"; the money was there, but he had no idea how to spend it.

Why are you continuously dragging Klopp into financial discussions? He bought Nunez for €100m and nearly bought Caicedo for €115m last summer. Klopp gets what he wants; the only difference between him and Pep is that players often reject his project (Caicedo).

[buwaytress]

Villa almost giving it away -- that final goal in the first half, as always when you're behind, so important to spark a comeback, if they'd kept the clean sheet coming back on the pitch, it could easily have been 5-0.

That said, Forest keep finding ways to state their case for survival. Doesn't feel so long ago when they had 11 players who never played with each other. Now they actually look like something resembling a team. Just wish the best for Divock.

Laugh at loud at United yet or back them live at 6/1?

[un_rank]

Watching how United have been playing recently I knew their results and performances were not in resonance and expected them to be undone by a team very soon, I just did not expect it to be Fulham, but a United loss is always a good thing and now they have a GD of 0, I think they have the lowest in the top 10.

Now time to watch the other Manchester team also slip up, hopefully.

- Jay -

[arallmuus]

Laugh at loud at United yet or back them live at 6/1?

Dang, I thought we are save after that equalizer from Maguire. I know we were trying to score another goal to get that 3 points but it really did a huge backlash counter attack onto us. Anyway 36 goals conceded so far, well done team especially Onana  

I went from being a yellow cap winner to only getting 1 point from the first 4 games on this round lol. Well hoping to get correct points from the remaining 2 games of the day to make up for it.

Now time to watch the other Manchester team also slip up, hopefully.

Personally hoping Pep to slip today and getting a draw against Bournemouth 

[cryptofrka]

Arsene Wenger was only stringy, the club was not broke or anything; he was fully supported but preferred spending on some random kids from the French league for cheap. I recall Arsenal fans carrying banners calling him "a stringy coach"; the money was there, but he had no idea how to spend it.

Why are you continuously dragging Klopp into financial discussions? He bought Nunez for €100m and nearly bought Caicedo for €115m last summer. Klopp gets what he wants; the only difference between him and Pep is that players often reject his project (Caicedo).

Fans are mostly idiots who don't actually follow what's happening. Arsenal was working on a really tight budget at the time and it's not even an opinion - it's a fact.

Most managers in top clubs buy good players. If you think Klopp didn't overachieve with Liverpool (and Dortmund), I really don't know how to continue the conversation

[Igebotz]

Arsene Wenger was only stringy, the club was not broke or anything; he was fully supported but preferred spending on some random kids from the French league for cheap. I recall Arsenal fans carrying banners calling him "a stringy coach"; the money was there, but he had no idea how to spend it.

Why are you continuously dragging Klopp into financial discussions? He bought Nunez for €100m and nearly bought Caicedo for €115m last summer. Klopp gets what he wants; the only difference between him and Pep is that players often reject his project (Caicedo).

Fans are mostly idiots who don't actually follow what's happening. Arsenal was working on a really tight budget at the time and it's not even an opinion - it's a fact.

Most managers in top clubs buy good players. If you think Klopp didn't overachieve with Liverpool (and Dortmund), I really don't know how to continue the conversation

Winning 1 EPL title and 2 domestic cups in eight years after spending almost as much as Pep did is not overachieving; you're only exaggerating because Liverpool were irrelevant for far too long before Klopp. Nobody is denying that he did well at Liverpool; he won everything; yet, using the term "overachieved" to describe someone who won only one league trophy in eight years is absurd.

I am not going to talk about Euro trophies because Tuchel won them all in less than 18 months. Facts only.

[cryptofrka]

Winning 1 EPL title and 2 domestic cups in eight years after spending almost as much as Pep did is not overachieving; you're only exaggerating because Liverpool were irrelevant for far too long before Klopp. Nobody is denying that he did well at Liverpool; he won everything; yet, using the term "overachieved" to describe someone who won only one league trophy in eight years is absurd.

I am not going to talk about Euro trophies because Tuchel won them all in less than 18 months. Facts only.

Are you on drugs, man?
The only relevant metric is net spend. Below is a sum for all years since Klopp is at Liverpool.

Club net spend
Liverpool   £254m
Man City   £692.3m
Man United   £888m
Chelsea   £835.7m
Arsenal   £696.2m
Tottenham   £484m

If this is not overachieving, I don't know what is.

[Igebotz]

Are you on drugs, man?
The only relevant metric is net spend. Below is a sum for all years since Klopp is at Liverpool.
Club net spend
Liverpool   £254m
If this is not overachieving, I don't know what is.

Not every club, like Liverpool, understands how to discard unwanted players in order to increase net spend, but you can't deny that he employed/signed players worth £807m and won only three domestic titles. Stop bringing net spend into the argument; that is a club internal matter that has nothing or less to do with the manager

Klopp has full support; he signed the most expensive defence in 2018, and his attacker Nunez is presently the most expensive striker in the league. You keep making it look like he has nothing. We all love him but you're only making him look bad.

[un_rank]

Another five star performance from the goonerz and another high scoring result for us which takes us again to the top of the goal difference chart. Really wanted another clean sheet but still a brilliant play all round from all the boys.

For all the talk around Karius before the match, he managed to be one of their best players on the pitch.

- Jay -