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

[tomahawk9]

Haaland will probably need a lot of time to get an established place. Reference Werner, Havertz, Pulisic, Lukaku, Sancho, etc.

I also hope Haaland will be a victim of the first season curse and underperform like some of the former Bundesliga stars you listed, but, he'll be under Pep, Haaland's dad is familiar with the city of Manchester, sounds like he will adapt very quickly, no? thing is that even if he doesn't adapt to the EPL, City will have the argentinian wonderkid striker Julian Alvarez also arriving this summer. Stacked squad :/

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[buwaytress]

Don't quote me but Haaland will probably need a lot of time to get an established place. Reference Werner, Havertz, Pulisic, Lukaku, Sancho, etc.

I'm quoting you, but to back you up. Everyone, you can quote me on this . I genuinely believe while Haaland will be a good signing for City, he's going to take a bit of getting used to the Premier League, plus he's actually quite injury prone. Reminds me of Aguero in that sense. So, by no means do I think they'll storm the league without any challenge. They might do if we have a bad season, but it won't solely be down to signing Haaland.

Haaland when fit will likely bang them in, and be towards the top of that golden boot, however I still think he won't be the player to get those decisive goals. I do think his introduction will give all the players on the field a boost though.

Glad I'm not the only one thinking of that. And I like the guy, don't get me wrong. Liked Havertz, Sancho, Werner too but the English game does live up to the billing of toughest league to play in -- I used to think it was a bit of an overstatement but the gap between them and the other leagues seems to have only widened in the past 5 seasons. Won't be so apparent in KO formats but when UCL changes to a league format, I have a feeling it will become even more obvious.

Haaland's a beast, but yes, he'll have to play at a higher level so yes, his injury risk could be upped (same as all the other players I mentioned). This is where Liverpool seem to have the upper hand at the time being (remember when Sturridge and Mane were pretty brittle at some point but they somehow found a way to reduce that) -- and we've had amazing recoveries from Elliott and VVD, but I'll pretend we don't have Gomez.

So yeah, City will be better with him, just as they're better with Grealish, but their squad is a little too big to properly give their biggest talents opportunity to grow into games the way they would have at Liverpool (sans one or two of our stars). Arguably the same problem at Chelsea.

Haaland will probably need a lot of time to get an established place. Reference Werner, Havertz, Pulisic, Lukaku, Sancho, etc.

I also hope Haaland will be a victim of the first season curse and underperform like some of the former Bundesliga stars you listed, but, he'll be under Pep, Haaland's dad is familiar with the city of Manchester, sounds like he will adapt very quickly, no? thing is that even if he doesn't adapt to the EPL, City will have the argentinian wonderkid striker Julian Alvarez also arriving this summer. Stacked squad :/

Fair enough, he did go there because of all those friendly face factors, but as I said above, the squad's a bit TOO stacked to give everyone enough playing time. Liverpool finally have a bit of squad depth but even when we have 5 great ones up front, it's a great system since we always play 3 of them, and giving time for one or two to refresh and/or recover. Origi's gone now, so we only have Mina as the fringe player, so it's still guaranteed playing time for all of them.

[Trofo]

^I still think Halland made a mistake with coming to City. Pep is notorious with his rotations and making the play around wingera and false 9 players. Proper striker will never have it easy there and player like Halland who likes to build up invidual stats will have it even harder.

I know there is not many clubs able to pay out his wages and transfer fees and PSG or United would be even worse. PSG has weak league while United is far from settled club at the moment. Barca would be great but they don't have the money. Bayern and Liverpool would never pay that much so that leaves maybe only Real and they wanted Mbappe.

[tomahawk9]

Anyone watching the Championship playoffs final between Huddersfield - Nottingham Forest? GO Forest!! 🙏💪

Liverpool finally have a bit of squad depth but even when we have 5 great ones up front, it's a great system since we always play 3 of them, and giving time for one or two to refresh and/or recover. Origi's gone now, so we only have Mina as the fringe player, so it's still guaranteed playing time for all of them.

some uk journos are saying Mané could go to Bayern Munich next week? No Origi, possibly no Mané, the end of an era is nigh

[Trofo]

Liverpool finally have a bit of squad depth but even when we have 5 great ones up front, it's a great system since we always play 3 of them, and giving time for one or two to refresh and/or recover. Origi's gone now, so we only have Mina as the fringe player, so it's still guaranteed playing time for all of them.

some uk journos are saying Mané could go to Bayern Munich next week? No Origi, possibly no Mané, the end of an era is nigh

I am not sure where Mane is going but it seems like he is leaving Liverpool for sure. Twitter is full of this, from several reputable sources so I am considering it as done deal.

He is in Liverpool for a long time and I guess he is not happy being in Salah shadow all the time. Really can't see any other reason to leave unless he is sick of English weather.

[buwaytress]

Liverpool finally have a bit of squad depth but even when we have 5 great ones up front, it's a great system since we always play 3 of them, and giving time for one or two to refresh and/or recover. Origi's gone now, so we only have Mina as the fringe player, so it's still guaranteed playing time for all of them.

some uk journos are saying Mané could go to Bayern Munich next week? No Origi, possibly no Mané, the end of an era is nigh

I am not sure where Mane is going but it seems like he is leaving Liverpool for sure. Twitter is full of this, from several reputable sources so I am considering it as done deal.

He is in Liverpool for a long time and I guess he is not happy being in Salah shadow all the time. Really can't see any other reason to leave unless he is sick of English weather.

I had Forest on a ticket from the sidebet Trofo won (we agreed to put it on a 100x ticket) but unfortunately, Liverpool's loss last night rendered the result meaningless.

Still, pretty chuffed that Nottingham Forest went through, as I mentioned in the Championship thread, I don't know them but I do know Huddersfield and they were a horrible team to have in the EPL.

Really good to see an old legend back at the top.

Mane news is rife yeah, but he did say he would give very good news after the final... he hasn't said anything yet. I'm sure he'll stay, despite all the stuff said about him and Salah. If he leaves, though, I won't be pissed. He deserves to go where he wants, but you know what they say.

You'll never be loved as much as in Liverpool.

[leea-1334]

Yesterday some good news for me Ivan Perisic joined us,,, and I know a lot of people say this guy is old and should not be able to improve an upcoming team like Spurs but Conte gets the best out of certain players and I am 100% sure Perisic is one of this example.

Also, there is supposedly Croatian player in past 10 UCL winning teams so maybe we get our piece of luck

[swogerino]

Yesterday some good news for me Ivan Perisic joined us,,, and I know a lot of people say this guy is old and should not be able to improve an upcoming team like Spurs but Conte gets the best out of certain players and I am 100% sure Perisic is one of this example.

Also, there is supposedly Croatian player in past 10 UCL winning teams so maybe we get our piece of luck

There is for real in the last 10 UCL,the famous instagram page 433 just put a show of this fact there.A player like Perisic can only do good to any team,including Spurs as he is a true quality player,he can play both left wing or right wing in attack providing really great opportunities to strikers like Kane although I am not sure if Kane will remain with Spurs for the next season.

[leea-1334]

Yesterday some good news for me Ivan Perisic joined us,,, and I know a lot of people say this guy is old and should not be able to improve an upcoming team like Spurs but Conte gets the best out of certain players and I am 100% sure Perisic is one of this example.

Also, there is supposedly Croatian player in past 10 UCL winning teams so maybe we get our piece of luck

There is for real in the last 10 UCL,the famous instagram page 433 just put a show of this fact there.A player like Perisic can only do good to any team,including Spurs as he is a true quality player,he can play both left wing or right wing in attack providing really great opportunities to strikers like Kane although I am not sure if Kane will remain with Spurs for the next season.

I looked it up yes and you are right!! So yes good news for me if we reach the UCL final we will win it,,, but no on a more serious note we really really need a good midfield who can create more chances for Kane and Sonny.

Kane we have decided he will leave or stay does not matter. I think he proved by his lack of goals early on that we can do without him. Now if only we can give Son the elixir of youth

[Welsh]

You'll never be loved as much as in Liverpool.

Yeah, I genuinely do believe that too. A lot of past players have talked about their time at Liverpool fondly, and that was without too much success under their belt. Whereas, Mane is going to leave with pretty good success over the years, which ultimately made him even more loved at the club.

I know we're going to say goodbye to Salah, and Mane at some point, but I was hoping we'd be able to at least get another two years out of them both. I actually think overall Mane might be the more important player of the two, however when Salah is on form, there's not many players like him. Salah probably has quite a few years left in him. He'll still be playing when he's 35/36, Mane I'm not sure.

I'm hoping that all this talk is a way of him securing a new contract, since Salah has been pushing for more. If we can get both of them on realistic salaries, I would in a heartbeat. There's not too many players out there right now, that would be a direct replacement, especially when you consider Mane can play across the line.

[buwaytress]

You'll never be loved as much as in Liverpool.

Yeah, I genuinely do believe that too. A lot of past players have talked about their time at Liverpool fondly, and that was without too much success under their belt. Whereas, Mane is going to leave with pretty good success over the years, which ultimately made him even more loved at the club.

I know we're going to say goodbye to Salah, and Mane at some point, but I was hoping we'd be able to at least get another two years out of them both. I actually think overall Mane might be the more important player of the two, however when Salah is on form, there's not many players like him. Salah probably has quite a few years left in him. He'll still be playing when he's 35/36, Mane I'm not sure.

I'm hoping that all this talk is a way of him securing a new contract, since Salah has been pushing for more. If we can get both of them on realistic salaries, I would in a heartbeat. There's not too many players out there right now, that would be a direct replacement, especially when you consider Mane can play across the line.

Yeah. Somehow you get these inklings that you are about to say goodbye. I definitely felt that with Coutinho, but have to admit I actually don't have the same strong confidence of Mane/Salah leaving (just yet).

One more good season. I know they feel they have unfinished business despite winning everything there is to win, the treble/quadruple effort, if done AGAIN this season would put them into the highest bracket and demand whatever they want.

I know everyone says 30 is their past peak but really these guys will play a lot longer, possibly even improve (maybe never speed but definitely smarter and sharper).

Same here too, realistic salaries, yes sir. We've never bent backward to pay demands, and we never should. (I doubt it's TOO much a pay issue though).

[casperBGD]

~snip

Mane news is rife yeah, but he did say he would give very good news after the final... he hasn't said anything yet. I'm sure he'll stay, despite all the stuff said about him and Salah. If he leaves, though, I won't be pissed. He deserves to go where he wants, but you know what they say.

if what I saw on Twitter are real wages for Liverpool players, Mane is extremely underpaid, and that could be a reason to go
his contract is from 2018, and he is somewhere below position 10, when talking about weekly salaries, almost to have whole team in front of him

it is a strange moment in Liverpool right now, great season, two trophies, CL final, point to PL title, and somehow nobody is happy about it, since last two matches were downers in PL and CL

[buwaytress]

if what I saw on Twitter are real wages for Liverpool players, Mane is extremely underpaid, and that could be a reason to go
his contract is from 2018, and he is somewhere below position 10, when talking about weekly salaries, almost to have whole team in front of him

it is a strange moment in Liverpool right now, great season, two trophies, CL final, point to PL title, and somehow nobody is happy about it, since last two matches were downers in PL and CL

They probably are real, I saw several versions over the years and yes, they're actually all severely underpaid -- if you want to compare against the rest of the teams and what they're paying.

Liverpool do have a wage structure that has been legendarily rigid -- which is why we've always lost out when it comes to satisfying guys like Sterling but I still don't think Mane/Salah are deadlocked with the club based on salary alone. They will want to get paid more -- that's professional, we all would ask to be paid more if we performed well at our jobs.

Definitely strange season. If we'd had maybe ended the season with FA and league cup wins instead we'd be a bit happier. I don't know, terrible price to pay for going all the way. Football huh.

[swogerino]

~snip

Mane news is rife yeah, but he did say he would give very good news after the final... he hasn't said anything yet. I'm sure he'll stay, despite all the stuff said about him and Salah. If he leaves, though, I won't be pissed. He deserves to go where he wants, but you know what they say.

if what I saw on Twitter are real wages for Liverpool players, Mane is extremely underpaid, and that could be a reason to go
his contract is from 2018, and he is somewhere below position 10, when talking about weekly salaries, almost to have whole team in front of him

it is a strange moment in Liverpool right now, great season, two trophies, CL final, point to PL title, and somehow nobody is happy about it, since last two matches were downers in PL and CL

The fans are happy but not as happy as they would be if Liverpool had won neither of these trophies and in turn to have won either the Premier League or the Champions League title.Strange season and very strange last game where City was down 2 goals and they managed to recover.

Mane is a great player and if he will go away it will be a gap in Liverpool team and maybe it will impact the team performance overall and he is a goal scorer which will be a minus for the team.If he goes away Liverpool needs as soon as possible to find a good replacement otherwise it will be difficult for them to fight for the title/s in 2022/2023 season.

[examplens]

~snip

Mane news is rife yeah, but he did say he would give very good news after the final... he hasn't said anything yet. I'm sure he'll stay, despite all the stuff said about him and Salah. If he leaves, though, I won't be pissed. He deserves to go where he wants, but you know what they say.

if what I saw on Twitter are real wages for Liverpool players, Mane is extremely underpaid, and that could be a reason to go
his contract is from 2018, and he is somewhere below position 10, when talking about weekly salaries, almost to have whole team in front of him

it is a strange moment in Liverpool right now, great season, two trophies, CL final, point to PL title, and somehow nobody is happy about it, since last two matches were downers in PL and CL

The fans are happy but not as happy as they would be if Liverpool had won neither of these trophies and in turn to have won either the Premier League or the Champions League title.Strange season and very strange last game where City was down 2 goals and they managed to recover.

Mane is a great player and if he will go away it will be a gap in Liverpool team and maybe it will impact the team performance overall and he is a goal scorer which will be a minus for the team.If he goes away Liverpool needs as soon as possible to find a good replacement otherwise it will be difficult for them to fight for the title/s in 2022/2023 season.

I would say that for any player who is dissatisfied with the current situation, the club should let him go. Judging by the newspaper, Mane is not the only one in Liverpool who feels underpaid. I guess it can be a big challenge for Klopp to maintain high quality and competitive team. very easily the same can happen as with Dortmund after some successful years.

though most big teams will undergo major roster changes, so it is not to be expected that two teams will have a great dominance. Even City, where some important players announced a possible departure.

I wouldn't say there was anything strange in City scoring 3 goals against Aston Villa, which, apart from being a much weaker team, did not have a special competitive motive in this match.

[casperBGD]

-snip
I wouldn't say there was anything strange in City scoring 3 goals against Aston Villa, which, apart from being a much weaker team, did not have a special competitive motive in this match.

within Evertonian community there is a "we showed them a way", since Everton overturned Palace in similar manner few days before that, to avoid relegation, and City saw how to do that and reflected in last round

add to that, that Ancelotti praised Everton fans after the final, since he was our manager before, and it seemed that our fans are happier at the moment, and we finished shitty season at 16th place
Football all around

[Welsh]

I'm all for a strict wage structure, but if has to adjust with the times. Our maximum wage around 200k per week, with incentives has been the way for years now. We've since come into a lot of success, which should allow us to compete on the wage structure even more. However, we haven't adjusted, and ultimately we'll pay the price. The fans aren't up in arms about it yet, but if we lose Mane, Salah, and then the following year someone like VVD, it'll one be too late, but two FSG will lose the fans.

Honestly, after the defeat against Real Madrid in the final, I was half expecting the announcement of Salah's resigning as a way to cushion the blow. That would have been the smart thing to do. However, right now we're at risk of losing two of our best players, and if they don't resign this season, I doubt teams will be willing to pay a big fee for them when they can just wait for both to run down their contracts. Mane will either go for 30-40m or go on a free. Salah, will likely go on a free rather than a fee. So, Liverpool are risking it all to keep this wage structure which hasn't been updated to keep up with the times.

I'm sickened by the wage structure that football demands, Mbappe on around 2 million a week is just ridiculous, but to remain competitive you have to keep up with the times, and it's not like we haven't got the revenue coming in to not do it.

[CLS63]

if what I saw on Twitter are real wages for Liverpool players, Mane is extremely underpaid, and that could be a reason to go
his contract is from 2018, and he is somewhere below position 10, when talking about weekly salaries, almost to have whole team in front of him

it is a strange moment in Liverpool right now, great season, two trophies, CL final, point to PL title, and somehow nobody is happy about it, since last two matches were downers in PL and CL

They probably are real, I saw several versions over the years and yes, they're actually all severely underpaid -- if you want to compare against the rest of the teams and what they're paying.

Liverpool do have a wage structure that has been legendarily rigid -- which is why we've always lost out when it comes to satisfying guys like Sterling but I still don't think Mane/Salah are deadlocked with the club based on salary alone. They will want to get paid more -- that's professional, we all would ask to be paid more if we performed well at our jobs.

Definitely strange season. If we'd had maybe ended the season with FA and league cup wins instead we'd be a bit happier. I don't know, terrible price to pay for going all the way. Football huh.

I don't think that the reason why Mane's wage is low is only related to Liverpool's wage structure. Mane is earning nearly the half of the money that players like Salah and Firmino are earning now. If I were in Mane's place, I wouldn't also like to continue at Liverpool. I think that Liverpool would have paid the money Mane really deserved after he showed a this much high level performance for years.

[hilariousetc]

I'm hoping that all this talk is a way of him securing a new contract, since Salah has been pushing for more.

It usually is always about the money. Look at Mbappe. Looks like he was dead set on a move away, then voila, he's now very happy to stay once PSG have promised him a quarter of a billion over the next three years and looks like he's practically going to be a player-manager.

I'm all for a strict wage structure, but if has to adjust with the times. Our maximum wage around 200k per week, with incentives has been the way for years now. We've since come into a lot of success, which should allow us to compete on the wage structure even more. However, we haven't adjusted, and ultimately we'll pay the price. The fans aren't up in arms about it yet, but if we lose Mane, Salah, and then the following year someone like VVD, it'll one be too late, but two FSG will lose the fans.

Honestly, after the defeat against Real Madrid in the final, I was half expecting the announcement of Salah's resigning as a way to cushion the blow. That would have been the smart thing to do. However, right now we're at risk of losing two of our best players, and if they don't resign this season, I doubt teams will be willing to pay a big fee for them when they can just wait for both to run down their contracts. Mane will either go for 30-40m or go on a free. Salah, will likely go on a free rather than a fee. So, Liverpool are risking it all to keep this wage structure which hasn't been updated to keep up with the times.

I'm sickened by the wage structure that football demands, Mbappe on around 2 million a week is just ridiculous, but to remain competitive you have to keep up with the times, and it's not like we haven't got the revenue coming in to not do it.

Something needs to be done about the finances but it'd just be a hollow gesture as I think it's already too late. The big clubs are already big and will stay that way and the rest will just battle it out for even a whiff of a dream of becoming a bigger one and actually challenging for something. I'm sure they will end up capping wages and clamping down on the fair play rules but that leads to 2 other main problems. They'll either just go to some other far off league that doesn't have such wage restrictions or clubs will just end up sweetening the deal behind the scenes ie, we'll pay you the max capped wage, but we'll also pay your mortgage/buy you a mansion and here's a free Lambo and a Rolex etc. Clubs could either keep this all off the books in the name of some off-shore company or just have it in their name and just let the players 'use/lease' the houses and cars from them for free. I'm sure stuff like this already goes on anyway, especially with the Neymars and Ronaldos of the world. There's probably no other way to get them without bribing them with some other luxuries, otherwise why go to them when there's plenty of other choices? There's also no loyalty with players these days either. Why would Salah or Mane even want to leave Liverpool, the club that arguably made them who they are today? I imagine it's purely financial because there's not many clubs you can go to where they're going to win more stuff than they do with Liverpool so it's almost certainly about just grabbing more cash as opposed to wanting more silverware. If Liverpool upped their wages there'd be no talk of wanting to leave I'm sure of it.

[casperBGD]

~snip

It usually is always about the money. Look at Mbappe. Looks like he was dead set on a move away, then voila, he's now very happy to stay once PSG have promised him a quarter of a billion over the next three years and looks like he's practically going to be a player-manager.

agree, usually, it is about money, but not always, or we can put it wasn't always all about money
players played for teams they want, and not just for the money, Mbappe is a real example that "pay me more, and I will come" is now more often than not in football

looking at competition, I would like to see Liverpool staying pretty much the same, since they are the only team that can compete with City, if they fall-apart, season could be decided before new year