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

[tomahawk9]

See many missing names, guys what are you waiting for? Go and join, the more we have, the more money I win 

will pay and join this week   
best and worst signings you ask? I think Kalvin Phillips will be a flop. He's the most overrated english player right now imo, paying almost 50M for him is a daylight robbery... best sigining, Haaland. He'll prolly score like 30+ goals or something if he can stay injury free (big if).

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[Trofo]

See many missing names, guys what are you waiting for? Go and join, the more we have, the more money I win 

will pay and join this week   
best and worst signings you ask? I think Kalvin Phillips will be a flop. He's the most overrated english player right now imo, paying almost 50M for him is a daylight robbery... best sigining, Haaland. He'll prolly score like 30+ goals or something if he can stay injury free (big if).

I am not so sure about Haaland, Pep does not tolerate proper strikers no matter how much he cries for them. I feel like he has some image of a striker in his head that is very different from rest of the managers. Hell Ibrahimović and Aguero in their prime were not good enough for him. Haaland is good, but is he "Pep" good, I am not sure.

I can see this going two ways:
1. Haaland hits the ground flying and scores 40 goals in the season and Pep rewards that with game time
2. Haaland starts a bit slowly and Pep adds to frustration by managing his minutes. It gets into spiral of death where nobody ends up happy.

My bet would be case 2 probably, even if I hope for case 1.

[DireWolfM14]

I was waiting for if I could trick DireWolfM14 about if I'm a U.S.A citizen or not but I have given up.  

It wouldn't take much to trick me, but I have a couple of tricks of my own to figure out if I'm being lied to.  All I really have to do is ask a silly trivial question about American Football.  If you're an American sports fan, you're either into football or there's something seriously wrong in your head.  Either way you ain't getting my spot!  

See many missing names, guys what are you waiting for? Go and join, the more we have, the more money I win  

will pay and join this week    
best and worst signings you ask? I think Kalvin Phillips will be a flop. He's the most overrated english player right now imo, paying almost 50M for him is a daylight robbery... best sigining, Haaland. He'll prolly score like 30+ goals or something if he can stay injury free (big if).

I am not so sure about Haaland, Pep does not tolerate proper strikers no matter how much he cries for them. I feel like he has some image of a striker in his head that is very different from rest of the managers. Hell Ibrahimović and Aguero in their prime were not good enough for him. Haaland is good, but is he "Pep" good, I am not sure.

I can see this going two ways:
1. Haaland hits the ground flying and scores 40 goals in the season and Pep rewards that with game time
2. Haaland starts a bit slowly and Pep adds to frustration by managing his minutes. It gets into spiral of death where nobody ends up happy.

My bet would be case 2 probably, even if I hope for case 1.

I like Haaland, I noticed him a couple of years ago during one of the EUFA competitions.  I don't keep up with the Bundesliga so he hasn't been on my radar the last couple of years, but I expect he'll do great in the Premier League, but yeah, it might not be under Guardiola's management.

As for my favorite move, it still hasn't been finalized, but I like Raheem Sterling going to Chelsea.  Chelsea is so much closer to the championship than most teams in the top ten, certainly closer than they appeared last year.  Adding Sterling's speed would make a world of difference, in my opinion.

[Harkorede]

He has demonstrated twice that he has no loyalty to any club. He left Real Madrid when they were in trouble and trying to rebuild the team. He then went to the reigning champions Juventus and left them when they were in trouble. Now, he is doing the same thing with Manchester United, leaving when they need him. He does not want to play in the Europa League and does not mind playing for rivals.

Can't argue with that, I guess what I meant to say was that he doesn't seem selfish on the field.  

I believe that clubs these days too barely cares about players and are only in good terms when it beneficial to them, and when it gets to certain stage they keep offering them barely a year deal, so I really don't blame players while chasing their career, they should also ensure their getting the best deal financially and achieve the best feat they can too with what whatever club is able to provide with such opportunities.

Reminds of Dani Alves who has reportedly left Barcelona yet again, meanwhile he came back especially just help the club out during the crises and was more a back room player and leader, he's treatment wasn't ideal to be honest and the same fate befall Rakitic. Iniesta and Xavi were rather intellingent enough to know when it was the right time to leave. I really don't can't blame Ronaldo is a bailing on the club, it wasn't as they did they were doing him any favour by signing him back to begin with and he's getting to his later stages already.


IMG Source: Goal.com

[DireWolfM14]

I believe that clubs these days too barely cares about players and are only in good terms when it beneficial to them, and when it gets to certain stage they keep offering them barely a year deal, so I really don't blame players while chasing their career, they should also ensure their getting the best deal financially and achieve the best feat they can too with what whatever club is able to provide with such opportunities.

Reminds of Dani Alves who has reportedly left Barcelona yet again, meanwhile he came back especially just help the club out during the crises and was more a back room player and leader, he's treatment wasn't ideal to be honest and the same fate befall Rakitic. Iniesta and Xavi were rather intellingent enough to know when it was the right time to leave. I really don't can't blame Ronaldo is a bailing on the club, it wasn't as they did they were doing him any favour by signing him back to begin with and he's getting to his later stages already.

There's nothing unique about that, every club or team in every major sport has conducted themselves in similar ways.  Here in the SF bay area people are still bitter about the way the 49ers handled Joe Montana's departure, and that was 33 years ago, lol.  The head coach at the time, Bill Walsh is famous for saying "it's better to move on from a player a year too soon than a year too late."  More recent example is the way Tom Brady and the Patriots parted ways.

It can be hard for the fans, who's loyalty often extends not only to the team but also the contributing players.  But as it is, professional sports are a business, and sentiment can often degrade revenue.

[Igebotz]

He has demonstrated twice that he has no loyalty to any club. He left Real Madrid when they were in trouble and trying to rebuild the team. He then went to the reigning champions Juventus and left them when they were in trouble. Now, he is doing the same thing with Manchester United, leaving when they need him. He does not want to play in the Europa League and does not mind playing for rivals.

Can't argue with that, I guess what I meant to say was that he doesn't seem selfish on the field. 

He is! His assist statistics speak for themselves; last season, he played 30 matches, scored 18 goals, and only had 3 assists. Every club where he has played, he consistently ranks last in assists. He is only knows how to score.

Lol. He still aims to catch Messi for the Ballon d'Or, so he won't be leaving Europe anytime soon.

What do you really think are the odds of Renaldo matching or passing Messi's number of Ballon d'Or awards?  I mean, he's never played for PSG!

Due to his age, the odds of matching Messi's Ballon d'Or awards are almost nonexistent. They have both past their prime and won't ever compete for the prize again.

He must not play in PSG mate.

will pay and join this week   
best and worst signings you ask? I think Kalvin Phillips will be a flop. He's the most overrated english player right now imo, paying almost 50M for him is a daylight robbery... best sigining, Haaland. He'll prolly score like 30+ goals or something if he can stay injury free (big if).

The price is outrageous, but Kalvin Philips plays with a lot of confidence for England, so I don't think he would struggle at Manchester City. In addition, he is a back-up DM, so we won't be seeing him much. As for Halaand, there is no way he will score 30 goals in the EPL; however, if he can score 15 goals in his debut season, we can say he had a fantastic season.

[arallmuus]

however, if he can score 15 goals in his debut season, we can say he had a fantastic season.

For a club like Manchester City that would eventually score lots of goals even when they put almost any striker upfront, 15 goals is a little bit on the low side. Something around 20 would be called as having a fantastic season, I mean he is one of the current top striker right now though so alot of expectation for him even in his debut season


Anyway, joining in the pool as I have stated. Going to send my payment tomorrow !

[Igebotz]

however, if he can score 15 goals in his debut season, we can say he had a fantastic season.

For a club like Manchester City that would eventually score lots of goals even when they put almost any striker upfront, 15 goals is a little bit on the low side. Something around 20 would be called as having a fantastic season, I mean he is one of the current top striker right now though so alot of expectation for him even in his debut season

Werner, who came to the premier league and underperformed expectations, had a better goal ratio in the Bundesliga than Halaand. I don't trust strikers from the Bundesliga. I'm not sure if Halaand would score above or up to 20 goals in his first season because G. Jesus, who spent six years at Manchester City, never scored more than 17 league goals per season; his highest total was 16.

He would be up against good defenders and not some random part-time farmers in Bundesliga.

[Trofo]

however, if he can score 15 goals in his debut season, we can say he had a fantastic season.

For a club like Manchester City that would eventually score lots of goals even when they put almost any striker upfront, 15 goals is a little bit on the low side. Something around 20 would be called as having a fantastic season, I mean he is one of the current top striker right now though so alot of expectation for him even in his debut season

Werner, who came to the premier league and underperformed expectations, had a better goal ratio in the Bundesliga than Halaand. I don't trust strikers from the Bundesliga. I'm not sure if Halaand would score above or up to 20 goals in his first season because G. Jesus, who spent six years at Manchester City, never scored more than 17 league goals per season; his highest total was 16.

He would be up against good defenders and not some random part-time farmers in Bundesliga.

You sure about that goal ratio? Because if you are thinking on goals scored in his last Bundesliga season, than sure. If you are talking about goal involment per actual games or minutes played I don't think that is true. Haaland missed a lot of games last season due to injury, otherwise his numbers would be way higher.

Haaland is much better finisher than Werner, Werner was missing heaps of chances in bundesliga as well but he had enough of them to still score often. Not the case in England.

That is another concern, he is injury prone due to his build and explosiveness and Pep could manage his minutes.

[slaman29]

Time for me to shake off the dust and try again this season, I made a small spot late on and feel so much regret for a few game selections that would have enabled me to get top 2 but in the end, we must be grateful for winning.

Anyway I already paid, and so looking forward to all of you fighting it out like last season

[leea-1334]

See many missing names, guys what are you waiting for? Go and join, the more we have, the more money I win 

will pay and join this week   
best and worst signings you ask? I think Kalvin Phillips will be a flop. He's the most overrated english player right now imo, paying almost 50M for him is a daylight robbery... best sigining, Haaland. He'll prolly score like 30+ goals or something if he can stay injury free (big if).

I honestly never watched him play but City would not be buying him if he was not decent right? I tend to really not look much at English players who are overrated,,, like even my own player Kane, they seem to perform worse when rated. Though for players not really rated like Trent (Liverpool rate him high but can you imagine no club wants to buy him or even Southgate does not like him???) I really think they are awesome.

Haaland I think can do 15-20 goals but he does have to score 30+ for him to not be a flop, at his price tag! Same about Nunez!

I was waiting for if I could trick DireWolfM14 about if I'm a U.S.A citizen or not but I have given up.  I made my payment a short time ago and I have got my place in the pool. Even though we seem to be not many people I'm predicting that we are going to reach 50+ people this year. It is going to be a really very tough pool.

Haha this makes my day,,, I would play the offer for others but I doubt there are many people from my country on this forum, or I never met them. Not even on Sportsbet chat!!

[Igebotz]

Werner, who came to the premier league and underperformed expectations, had a better goal ratio in the Bundesliga than Halaand. I don't trust strikers from the Bundesliga. I'm not sure if Halaand would score above or up to 20 goals in his first season because G. Jesus, who spent six years at Manchester City, never scored more than 17 league goals per season; his highest total was 16.

He would be up against good defenders and not some random part-time farmers in Bundesliga.

You sure about that goal ratio? Because if you are thinking on goals scored in his last Bundesliga season, than sure. If you are talking about goal involment per actual games or minutes played I don't think that is true. Haaland missed a lot of games last season due to injury, otherwise his numbers would be way higher.

Werner led Leipzig to the champions league on his own, and he is currently Leipzig's all-time leading scorer with 95 goals. I believe Werner had a greater impact in the Bundesliga than Halaand did. In his last two Bundesliga seasons, he had strike rates of 0.57/90 minutes and 0.9/90 minutes, respectively.

Haaland is much better finisher than Werner, Werner was missing heaps of chances in bundesliga as well but he had enough of them to still score often. Not the case in England.

You're right, but Werner is a better team player than Halaand, and I'd rather have that on my team than someone who can only attack. If Werner improved the accuracy of his shots, by the time he gets to 30 he would be among the best.

Who would have thought that a relegation bond Raphinha would be the talk of every single day like he's Messi or Ronaldo? The Chelsea vs. Barcelona Raphinha saga is getting boring. Just because most players want to play for Barcelona the broke club is creating a nuisance in the transfer market.

[rdbase]

There is pre-season match-up coming up in about 30 minutes from now between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Friendly of course since we have around 24 days until the season officially starts so can't wait for that day to finally come.
Wouldn't have known about this match if it wasn't on a youtuber's channel and received the notification just now that his stream will be starting in 15 minutes.
He also did a friendly between Arsenal vs Numberg last week where the german squad went up 1-0 to the gunners.
We'll see how a Pobga less red devils squad will fair against a Liverpool team who probably won't put on their best players for this match. But we will see. Their next match is against Melbourne Victory from the Australia football league.

[swogerino]

There is pre-season match-up coming up in about 30 minutes from now between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Friendly of course since we have around 24 days until the season officially starts so can't wait for that day to finally come.
Wouldn't have known about this match if it wasn't on a youtuber's channel and received the notification just now that his stream will be starting in 15 minutes.
He also did a friendly between Arsenal vs Numberg last week where the german squad went up 1-0 to the gunners.
We'll see how a Pobga less red devils squad will fair against a Liverpool team who probably won't put on their best players for this match. But we will see. Their next match is against Melbourne Victory from the Australia football league.

Probably this match is exactly as being in a training session of each team,but now they are doing it together by playing against each other.I doubt this event will be spectacular and most likely both teams will try all the players as that is what friendlies are for in the beginning.They are made to test all the players even those who has not played many matches.I think it will end in a draw if the game is quiet but if for some reason one of the teams scores the first goal that can spark the other team response and we can see a friendly game with a lot of goals.

For the next game with the Australian league team I think there is no need for comment here  .

[tokeweed]

See many missing names, guys what are you waiting for? Go and join, the more we have, the more money I win 

will pay and join this week   
best and worst signings you ask? I think Kalvin Phillips will be a flop. He's the most overrated english player right now imo, paying almost 50M for him is a daylight robbery... best sigining, Haaland. He'll prolly score like 30+ goals or something if he can stay injury free (big if).

Yup, same gut feeling here.  He's gonna be something like the Nathan Ake signing from Bournemouth.  I think Ake's transfer fee was over 40m GBP?  Could be wrong.  But yeah... 

Another great move that Man City did was extend Rodri's contract.  That guy is the unsung hero of the club.  Very underrated player imho.  And what do you mean by 'big if'.  Is Haaland prone to injuries?  I think it's still too early to say he's injury prone.  He's still so young.

[buwaytress]

New kid Carvalho, fullbacks I never heard of before (shame on me) and Bobby leading the line in Thailand, started seeing when down 1-0 to a Sancho goal but we're playing much better (passes, accuracy, attempts). We're now 3-0 down though haha but United playing a proper first eleven!

We do have an entire squad more than United on the bench, so this is going to be some kind of musical chairs game I bet!

Also, didn't realise actually I'd not joined up the pool yet (didn't click on the link Capt'n sent to me till now), though had paid much earlier. #15 to join, hope to see the rest of you gentlemen in there -- only weeks to the first game!

[tomahawk9]

♪ Eriiiik is at the wheel, Tell me how does it feel ♪


😂🤣

I don't trust strikers from the Bundesliga.

oh i hear ya, i know a thing or two about Bundesflop strikers, especially after Real Madrid signed Luka FlopJovic 

Very underrated player imho.  And what do you mean by 'big if'.  Is Haaland prone to injuries?  I think it's still too early to say he's injury prone.  He's still so young.

to me Rodri is easily one of the best in his position, world-class, right up there with the likes of Casemiro and Fabinho
And yeah, Haaland is injury prone, or at least that what it looked like last season. I remember Pep saying that the Man City medical staff was aware of it when they signed him and that they're confident it's not a big issue, but we'll see

[cryptofrka]

Yeah, United is giving us a proper spanking, it's never nice to see that.

Still - their lineup was way stronger (basically all seniors while we had 5 kids in the team) and they are a week ahead in their physical preparation due to their season being way shorter than ours.

A friendly game so no harm done, but still - it's United and I wish that it did not happen.

[casperBGD]

♪ Eriiiik is at the wheel, Tell me how does it feel ♪


😂🤣

~snip

if you can't beat them in regular season, do that in friendly match, new United moto
nevertheless, will be interesting to see United in the season, can they repeat this one, I do not think so, but as already said, City is top, and Liverpool is better than the rest, but closer to them than to City

[Igebotz]

I don't trust strikers from the Bundesliga.

oh i hear ya, i know a thing or two about Bundesflop strikers, especially after Real Madrid signed Luka FlopJovic  

It never ends well! When Michy Batshauyi, a Chelsea flop went to Dortmund and became the Messiah and scored 7 goals in his first 9 games before getting injured, I knew the league was in shit.

Yeah, United is giving us a proper spanking, it's never nice to see that.

Still - their lineup was way stronger (basically all seniors while we had 5 kids in the team) and they are a week ahead in their physical preparation due to their season being way shorter than ours.

A friendly game so no harm done, but still - it's United and I wish that it did not happen.

Whether friendly or not, banter MUST be served  ! At least they stopped Liverpool supporters from saying, "We won United with our B team."

Were Liverpool supporters anticipating ETH to start with a young team? Nah! He is under a lot of pressure to prove himself unlike Klopp. Liverpool, however, fielded a full squad after falling behind 3-0.