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

[cryptofrka]

Surely the brunt of the losses will be with Manchester. Ronaldo will obviously be losing his wages but I'm almost certain he will sign with another club in the January transfer window whereas Man U have lost out on potentially selling him and paying him all that money for barely any playing time. It will be interesting to see what happens/where he goes as not many clubs can afford him nor will the big clubs likely have any money left over due to the fair play rules but I wonder if they can get around that since he will be on a free transfer and could take reduced wages so he at least gets to play Champions League football? I wonder if there's any rules on the minimum wages a player can get? Could we see Ronaldo playing for minimum wage of £9.50 an hour just so he gets to play? 

He will be 38 soon, I really don't feel like selling him was an option anymore.

This is a good move for United, they will save a lot of money on his wages considering that the contract termination was mutual.

Ronaldo will probably find a decent club on a short-term contract until the summer (even Chelsea's rumored to be interested), but that club will be making a mistake in bringing him in. At least in my opinion.

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[swogerino]

Surely the brunt of the losses will be with Manchester. Ronaldo will obviously be losing his wages but I'm almost certain he will sign with another club in the January transfer window whereas Man U have lost out on potentially selling him and paying him all that money for barely any playing time. It will be interesting to see what happens/where he goes as not many clubs can afford him nor will the big clubs likely have any money left over due to the fair play rules but I wonder if they can get around that since he will be on a free transfer and could take reduced wages so he at least gets to play Champions League football? I wonder if there's any rules on the minimum wages a player can get? Could we see Ronaldo playing for minimum wage of £9.50 an hour just so he gets to play? 

He will be 38 soon, I really don't feel like selling him was an option anymore.

This is a good move for United, they will save a lot of money on his wages considering that the contract termination was mutual.

Ronaldo will probably find a decent club on a short-term contract until the summer (even Chelsea's rumored to be interested), but that club will be making a mistake in bringing him in. At least in my opinion.

Chelsea is suffering exactly there in the forwarding,their attacker cannot score that many goals as needed to win games and give them points despite Chelsea not being in a bad position in the standings.I think Chelsea will make the right move if they manage to bring Ronaldo at Stamford Bridge because they are lacking exactly one player of his qualities.The age sure is a thing but in a team like Chelsea I think this will not be a problem as they are in desperate need of a great striker.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

@ItAintEaseh
On this day 2 years ago we lost the great Diego Armando Maradona

Rest for eternity Diego 💜

[darxiaomi]

Yes, we lost it two years ago, I remember perfectly, watching television here, which was already being covered since morning because the rumor had spread that it was not good at all, and I remember that just after noon and everyone believing that as always he was saved, they announced that he had died.

About the pic.... im a little bit lost, i don t know why....

[Igebotz]

Ronaldo will probably find a decent club on a short-term contract until the summer (even Chelsea's rumored to be interested), but that club will be making a mistake in bringing him in. At least in my opinion.

Why is everyone linking him to Chelsea? We've been the ones sending players to Manchester United, not the other way around. We have a much bigger problem, and bringing him to Chelsea would not solve anything, but would cost us a fortune with fewer benefits. If he wants to enjoy his football, he should abandon European football and return to Asia or America for the rest of his football career. Most of those clubs could offer him a player + coach position. Pace is his greatest strength, but he can't brag about it anymore.

He likes Mike Arteta and the way Arsenal plays maybe its time he cross over to Red side of London.

@ItAintEaseh
On this day 2 years ago we lost the great Diego Armando Maradona

Rest for eternity Diego

Thank you for making my day, two legends in one pic . RIP Diego

[buwaytress]

Haha @LFC_Bitcoin now this made me smile. The magnificence, the audacity, the mesmeric awesomeness... of Diego Maradona. May it carry Messi, because for some reason, I've never felt more behind Messi than ever (it's strange isn't it).

More Liverpool players returning to training anyway, and from the way we lost to Lyon (Salah missed a pen, ouch), it does seem like we'll need this week to scrape off the rust!

Have to say, though, we always seem to perform better after losing friendlies...

[buwaytress]

A bit too early to bump thread?

Liverpool play City in the EFL cup in 3 days, so of course I've already thrown down some satoshi on the game heh.

Hard to predict the effect of winning/losing World Cup on returning players -- Fabinho and Alisson in particular, but they hopefully are going to be so hungry to prove themselves even in this Mickey Mouse cup game.

We lost to Lyon but smashed Milan... Nunez a demon, so I can't wait.

[cryptofrka]

It's definitely a great game to start the season once again. I can just hope that our players are hungry for football, most of them had a rest while the WC was in place.

We really need to turn the season around and the game vs City will be a good test to see how much work we have done during the break.

[Trofo]

I don't think many clubs in Premier League will be affected by World Cup. Only 2 I would be extra cautious about are United and Spurs. Spurs lost Richarlison to injury in WC, Perišić played almost all minutes and he will need a rest, Lloris just lost the final and Romero just won the final. They could need some time to get back to top form. United lost Dalot to injury and Martinez & Varane were part of the final so their back line is also probably suspect. However they are having very easy fixtures on restart so probably not a big issue.

I am expecting Alvarez to get even more minutes for City now after he had a great WC.

[swogerino]

I don't think many clubs in Premier League will be affected by World Cup. Only 2 I would be extra cautious about are United and Spurs. Spurs lost Richarlison to injury in WC, Perišić played almost all minutes and he will need a rest, Lloris just lost the final and Romero just won the final. They could need some time to get back to top form. United lost Dalot to injury and Martinez & Varane were part of the final so their back line is also probably suspect. However they are having very easy fixtures on restart so probably not a big issue.

I am expecting Alvarez to get even more minutes for City now after he had a great WC.

I also think that we will continue to see the great Premier League that we are used to see always.The players who needs to come back in their form,they need to rest a little,if I were the manager of the teams where these players play would not activate them for the first 2-3 games.

Alvarez did a lot for Argentina through this tournament despite him failing to bring anything substantial to the final,I think mostly because he was doing his part in helping Argentina rather than trying to score goals in the finals.Finally one week from today we have the boxing day games or it is 1 January the boxing day,don't remember but what is important is that we are going to see great football again.

[buwaytress]

It's definitely a great game to start the season once again. I can just hope that our players are hungry for football, most of them had a rest while the WC was in place.

We really need to turn the season around and the game vs City will be a good test to see how much work we have done during the break.

Yeah, me too man. Nothing better to remove the disappointment of World Cup than to take it all out on opponents in the league. I know it's a crappy EFL cup game, but it'd be great to knock City out on a competition they used to win every season (was it 4 or 5 seasons in a row again?). Saw some training and friendly videos of Salah, Firmino, that's great but much nicer to see Thiago and Matip fit again (and Milner once more clocking record distances wtf).

I don't think many clubs in Premier League will be affected by World Cup. Only 2 I would be extra cautious about are United and Spurs. Spurs lost Richarlison to injury in WC, Perišić played almost all minutes and he will need a rest, Lloris just lost the final and Romero just won the final. They could need some time to get back to top form. United lost Dalot to injury and Martinez & Varane were part of the final so their back line is also probably suspect. However they are having very easy fixtures on restart so probably not a big issue.

I am expecting Alvarez to get even more minutes for City now after he had a great WC.

I put in very early bets against both these teams actually. I still backed Spurs in the pool because it's... Brentford and it's still an easy fixture.

United also has N'ham Forest at home, easy peasy, but you never know if Varane and Martinez are either tired or drunk heh. 11/1 for Forest AWAY is really poor odds but I still took them.

[Igebotz]

Yeah, me too man. Nothing better to remove the disappointment of World Cup than to take it all out on opponents in the league. I know it's a crappy EFL cup game, but it'd be great to knock City out on a competition they used to win every season (was it 4 or 5 seasons in a row again?). Saw some training and friendly videos of Salah, Firmino, that's great but much nicer to see Thiago and Matip fit again (and Milner once more clocking record distances wtf).

Manchester City has won five of the last seven EFL Cup. This is getting boring, Liverpool won the last one, and at this point, I want both teams to lose. Every new Manchester City player must now have at least one EFL Cup. These guys are running that league for fun, and I wouldn't be surprised if they overtake Liverpool as the most successful holders in no time.

While other teams are having fun, I have to endure Chelsea Haram for the rest of the season, from Messi strolling through Joško Gvardiol like a piece of cake and Mbappe scoring epic goals to Kai Havertz and Mount missing sitters against some old school boys from Bournemouth high school.... wait, I have to watch Darwin as well.. 

I put in very early bets against both these teams actually. I still backed Spurs in the pool because it's... Brentford and it's still an easy fixture.

United also has N'ham Forest at home, easy peasy, but you never know if Varane and Martinez are either tired or drunk heh. 11/1 for Forest AWAY is really poor odds but I still took them.

Avoiding all value bets till new year except I'm going for underdogs to perform magic. Chelsea and Manutd losing their matches is on the table for me

[Harkorede]

Yeah, me too man. Nothing better to remove the disappointment of World Cup than to take it all out on opponents in the league. I know it's a crappy EFL cup game, but it'd be great to knock City out on a competition they used to win every season (was it 4 or 5 seasons in a row again?). Saw some training and friendly videos of Salah, Firmino, that's great but much nicer to see Thiago and Matip fit again (and Milner once more clocking record distances wtf).

Manchester City has won five of the last seven EFL Cup. This is getting boring, Liverpool won the last one, and at this point, I want both teams to lose. Every new Manchester City player must now have at least one EFL Cup. These guys are running that league for fun, and I wouldn't be surprised if they overtake Liverpool as the most successful holders in no time.

While other teams are having fun, I have to endure Chelsea Haram for the rest of the season, from Messi strolling through Joško Gvardiol like a piece of cake and Mbappe scoring epic goals to Kai Havertz and Mount missing sitters against some old school boys from Bournemouth high school.... wait, I have to watch Darwin as well.. 

Isn't it going to be in the league's and champions league best interest for Man City and Liverpool not to lose this early into their domestic cups ? Unfortunately, one of them have to go tomorrow night, right. However, If I were an Arsenal, Chelsea or Man United, I'll definitely wish for both Liverpool and Man City to have their fixture schedule clogged ahead of the second rounds of the league and champions league knockout stages, because the last thing you lots need to worry about is a Guardiola or Klopp team that has nothing on their plate to play for but the Premier League, the competition might even be over before the end of February or at the worse very early in to the month of March.

I'm still taking my deserved rest from the euphoric world cup final drama, so I've had little time to notice the EFL cup is already on, but I did watch some decent minutes of Newcastle's fixture last night, and I must say they still look very much like the real they were before the world cup break.

[swogerino]

Yeah, me too man. Nothing better to remove the disappointment of World Cup than to take it all out on opponents in the league. I know it's a crappy EFL cup game, but it'd be great to knock City out on a competition they used to win every season (was it 4 or 5 seasons in a row again?). Saw some training and friendly videos of Salah, Firmino, that's great but much nicer to see Thiago and Matip fit again (and Milner once more clocking record distances wtf).

Manchester City has won five of the last seven EFL Cup. This is getting boring, Liverpool won the last one, and at this point, I want both teams to lose. Every new Manchester City player must now have at least one EFL Cup. These guys are running that league for fun, and I wouldn't be surprised if they overtake Liverpool as the most successful holders in no time.

While other teams are having fun, I have to endure Chelsea Haram for the rest of the season, from Messi strolling through Joško Gvardiol like a piece of cake and Mbappe scoring epic goals to Kai Havertz and Mount missing sitters against some old school boys from Bournemouth high school.... wait, I have to watch Darwin as well.. 

Isn't it going to be in the league's and champions league best interest for Man City and Liverpool not to lose this early into their domestic cups ? Unfortunately, one of them have to go tomorrow night, right. However, If I were an Arsenal, Chelsea or Man United, I'll definitely wish for both Liverpool and Man City to have their fixture schedule clogged ahead of the second rounds of the league and champions league knockout stages, because the last thing you lots need to worry about is a Guardiola or Klopp team that has nothing on their plate to play for but the Premier League, the competition might even be over before the end of February or at the worse very early in to the month of March.

I'm still taking my deserved rest from the euphoric world cup final drama, so I've had little time to notice the EFL cup is already on, but I did watch some decent minutes of Newcastle's fixture last night, and I must say they still look very much like the real they were before the world cup break.

Even I would love for this fixture to go to extra time and penalties but I think this EPL cup if the game ends in a draw they rematch after one week,at least that was the case for the EPL cup before some years,it would be nice if they change the format to extra time and penalties and not with another game as by doing so we can see a lot of games if the games keep ending in draws.

Arsenal should have nothing to worry as they are fully concentrated in the Premier League and I think they will have high chances to win it as long as they take any game with serenity,both Liverpool and Manchester City have shown flaws in their last games.

[Igebotz]

Yeah, me too man. Nothing better to remove the disappointment of World Cup than to take it all out on opponents in the league. I know it's a crappy EFL cup game, but it'd be great to knock City out on a competition they used to win every season (was it 4 or 5 seasons in a row again?). Saw some training and friendly videos of Salah, Firmino, that's great but much nicer to see Thiago and Matip fit again (and Milner once more clocking record distances wtf).

Manchester City has won five of the last seven EFL Cup. This is getting boring, Liverpool won the last one, and at this point, I want both teams to lose. Every new Manchester City player must now have at least one EFL Cup. These guys are running that league for fun, and I wouldn't be surprised if they overtake Liverpool as the most successful holders in no time.

While other teams are having fun, I have to endure Chelsea Haram for the rest of the season, from Messi strolling through Joško Gvardiol like a piece of cake and Mbappe scoring epic goals to Kai Havertz and Mount missing sitters against some old school boys from Bournemouth high school.... wait, I have to watch Darwin as well.. 

I'm still taking my deserved rest from the euphoric world cup final drama, so I've had little time to notice the EFL cup is already on, but I did watch some decent minutes of Newcastle's fixture last night, and I must say they still look very much like the real they were before the world cup break.

I didn't want to ruin my beautiful eye sight from the World Cup final, so I skipped all the league cup matches until the Liverpool - Manchester City match. At the very least, I deserve a good welcome back with a Halaand hattrick and Darwin open sitter miss and a good laugh. The Messi/Ronaldo fanboy banter on Twitter is becoming tedious and childish; I hope the season resumption shifts those banters to new ones among club football fans.

Even I would love for this fixture to go to extra time and penalties but I think this EPL cup if the game ends in a draw they rematch after one week,at least that was the case for the EPL cup before some years,it would be nice if they change the format to extra time and penalties and not with another game as by doing so we can see a lot of games if the games keep ending in draws.

there is no second leg in the EFLC up and there is no extra time, every full time games goes into PK shootout. We only have two legs games in the semi-final games.

Arsenal should have nothing to worry as they are fully concentrated in the Premier League and I think they will have high chances to win it as long as they take any game with serenity,both Liverpool and Manchester City have shown flaws in their last games.

This is like a fresh start; let's see how many big clubs can keep up after the exhausting World Cup with all the injury shit.

[Harkorede]

I didn't want to ruin my beautiful eye sight from the World Cup final, so I skipped all the league cup matches until the Liverpool - Manchester City match. At the very least, I deserve a good welcome back with a Halaand hattrick and Darwin open sitter miss and a good laugh. The Messi/Ronaldo fanboy banter on Twitter is becoming tedious and childish; I hope the season resumption shifts those banters to new ones among club football fans.

Yup! I believe that debate or banter is pretty much dead now, at least for the time being since Ronaldo is currently out of a club and Messi will just be Messi, so It's all going to be just about EPL, FPL and UCL... while following La Liga and Serie A too, there is barely any much controversy or debate worthy topics, other than the stale Brokelona trend whenever we draw or lose a game, and Juventus decline.

I believe I'll be heavily involved and following the FPL, and the post Ronaldo Man United era, they looked quite good tonight but that's against Burnley, with Rashford and Garnacho playing quite brightly, however I'm not so sure Garnacho will be able to live up the pressure.

[slaman29]

I didn't want to ruin my beautiful eye sight from the World Cup final, so I skipped all the league cup matches until the Liverpool - Manchester City match. At the very least, I deserve a good welcome back with a Halaand hattrick and Darwin open sitter miss and a good laugh. The Messi/Ronaldo fanboy banter on Twitter is becoming tedious and childish; I hope the season resumption shifts those banters to new ones among club football fans.

Yup! I believe that debate or banter is pretty much dead now, at least for the time being since Ronaldo is currently out of a club and Messi will just be Messi, so It's all going to be just about EPL, FPL and UCL... while following La Liga and Serie A too, there is barely any much controversy or debate worthy topics, other than the stale Brokelona trend whenever we draw or lose a game, and Juventus decline.

I believe I'll be heavily involved and following the FPL, and the post Ronaldo Man United era, they looked quite good tonight but that's against Burnley, with Rashford and Garnacho playing quite brightly, however I'm not so sure Garnacho will be able to live up the pressure.

Brokelona lol that made me laugh!

I can't believe people are still trying to compare Messi/Ronaldo when it's time to put it to bed. A great reminder to myself why I stopped following social media at all, so many childish people who are grown up adilts lol.

Liverpool City should be a good game, I hope we get a lot of goals, remember they had 2-2 games and those were just so entertaining.

[Welsh]

I've got the task now of looking for all the injuries of the players in the World Cup, despite not really paying much attention to it outside of the Welsh games. I feel that the injuries will play a major part. I haven't checked how Liverpool are doing yet, but I already know we are without a few of our key players, like Diaz before the world cup even started. I think he's due back around March time. So, I'm not sure if I just start writing off this season for Liverpool, and just hope for a top four finish.

As long as we start playing some decent football, and somewhat consistency I won't feel too bad. However, the start of the season was absolutely atrocious.

[Igebotz]

I didn't want to ruin my beautiful eye sight from the World Cup final, so I skipped all the league cup matches until the Liverpool - Manchester City match. At the very least, I deserve a good welcome back with a Halaand hattrick and Darwin open sitter miss and a good laugh. The Messi/Ronaldo fanboy banter on Twitter is becoming tedious and childish; I hope the season resumption shifts those banters to new ones among club football fans.

Yup! I believe that debate or banter is pretty much dead now, at least for the time being since Ronaldo is currently out of a club and Messi will just be Messi, so It's all going to be just about EPL, FPL and UCL... while following La Liga and Serie A too, there is barely any much controversy or debate worthy topics, other than the stale Brokelona trend whenever we draw or lose a game, and Juventus decline.

I doubt the banter will go away anytime soon, after, news broke of Messi requesting to display the World Cup trophy at PSG's home game against the country he defeated. The Qatar owners would want this in order to persuade Messi to sign a contract extension, If PSG allows it, another banter will emerge, and if they refuse, another banter will emerge. The Goat can not be turned down so its a difficult decision for the PSG board.

Whatever happens the Brokelona will never go away

I believe I'll be heavily involved and following the FPL, and the post Ronaldo Man United era, they looked quite good tonight but that's against Burnley, with Rashford and Garnacho playing quite brightly, however I'm not so sure Garnacho will be able to live up the pressure.

They have always looked decent without Ronaldo and that's a Fact.

[Welsh]

Ultimately, Messi, and Ronaldo are different types of players, but also different personalities. I actually think Messi is a little more likeable just because of his way of handling things. This has become quite evident on the Ronaldo side of things with Manchester United, and comparing that to Messi's exit from Barcelona. There's a stark contrast to both situations. I know not everything was the same, but Ronaldo really did hurt his reputation, even from his own fans that idolised him.

Then again, I'll always remember Ronaldo more since he's in the Premier League, and I haven't really watched all that much of Messi due to him being in different leagues. Anyway, Liverpool doesn't appear to be in a entirely bad state. A lot of our players got knocked out somewhat early I suppose. Hopefully when the season does start the break from club football has been more helpful than detrimental.