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Football

backontrack

backontrack

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At the halfway stage, here's my XI of the best signings PL teams made this season.

GK: Ramsdale (Arsenal)
DF: Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Konate (Liverpool), Guehi (Palace)
MF: Livramento (So'ton), Soumare (Leicester), Gallagher (Palace), Cucurella (Brighton)
FW: Gray (Everton), Dennis (Watford), Cornet (Burnley)

Bench: Jose Sa (Wolves), Ajer (Brentford), White (Arsenal), Young (Villa), Mwepu (Brighton), Sancho (Man Utd), King (Watford), Hwang (Wolves), Daka (Leicester)
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

Xenophon PCDGS

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Peterthegreat said:
I'm not quite sure what would motivate an interim manager.
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He is an experienced manager and his main responsibility as an interim manager lies with communicating the club's player needs to the club management, whilst selecting a team that can produce performances expected by a club that needs a top-four final league placing to ensure Champions League football for both financial reasons and the aspirations of their top overseas players. Once a club looks to be assured of Champions League football, the more likely it will be for top overseas players to feel they can join the club.
 
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Peterthegreat

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Xenophon PCDGS said:
He is an experienced manager and his main responsibility as an interim manager lies with communicating the club's player needs to the club management, whilst selecting a team that can produce performances expected by a club that needs a top-four final league placing to ensure Champions League football for both financial reasons and the aspirations of their top overseas players. Once a club looks to be assured of Champions League football, the more likely it will be for top overseas players to feel they can join the club.
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That may be the reason he is there but (apart from big financial bonuses) what would motivate him if he is gone by the end of the season regardless?
 
Xenophon PCDGS

Xenophon PCDGS

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Peterthegreat said:
He's not exactly set the football world alight though. The best he has done is win the German Cup once.
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He can only do things with the squad at his disposal. He has been very blunt in post-match summations since he arrived at Old Trafford. It is not usually the case that the manager is the one holding the proverbial purse-strings that opens the door to signing better-quality players.

The type of manager that you have in mind is not one that would even consider a six-month interim managerial contract.

Past historical performances are only a reflection of what has occurred at a club in past times. Oldham Athletic were a founder member club of the Premier League and they are currently bottom placed in League Two.
 
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SteveM70

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roversfan2001 said:
6th win in a row for the mighty Rovers last night. I've no idea how, but something special is happening down at Ewood...
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My eldest son went last night with his best mate, who's a massive Rovers fan. Only £15 for a student price ticket and he said it was a decent game, just a shame only 14,000 were there. Brereton Diaz has been a revelation this season
 
roversfan2001

roversfan2001

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SteveM70 said:
My eldest son went last night with his best mate, who's a massive Rovers fan. Only £15 for a student price ticket and he said it was a decent game, just a shame only 14,000 were there. Brereton Diaz has been a revelation this season
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Our attendances have been dropping near enough every season since we dropped out of the top flight, some midweek games this season have been sub-10k so 14,000 was quite good set against some of the crowds earlier in the season. We've got our pricing all wrong - it's £30 a ticket for Huddersfield at home on Sunday.

Brereton Diaz won a lot of people a lot of money last night! He was 1000/1 to score 20+ league goals this season and he's achieved it with 22 games to spare.
 
roversfan2001

roversfan2001

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Xenophon PCDGS said:
Yet it is not all that long ago that Blackburn Rovers fans were in despair about those running the club. For those of us "not in the know", what happened at the top echelon of the club?
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Our owners (Venky's) have sat back and let football people make all the decisions basically, while continuing to pump millions of pounds into the club to keep it afloat. It took a number of years, and two relegations, for them to figure out that was the best way to run the club, but most fans are now seemingly happy to let bygones be bygones and look forwards and upwards rather than dwell on the last decade.
 
LSWR Cavalier

LSWR Cavalier

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Is Rangnick more a finance manager than a football manager?
..
The Portuguese manager of the Polish national team has a new job in Brazil. But what language did he use in Poland? Do most players understand English? Or is there a lot of translation between languages?
 
Xenophon PCDGS

Xenophon PCDGS

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LSWR Cavalier said:
Is Rangnick more a finance manager than a football manager?
..
The Portuguese manager of the Polish national team has a new job in Brazil. But what language did he use in Poland? Do most players understand English? Or is there a lot of translation between languages?
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Was it the manager of Leeds United who always had a translator at his side for post-match TV interviews?
 
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JamesT

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Xenophon PCDGS said:
Was it the manager of Leeds United who always had a translator at his side for post-match TV interviews?
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He still does. Bielsa has said he’s not been able to learn English to a suitable level to get more complex ideas across.
Peterthegreat said:
Wasn't it Pochettino? Particularly when he was at Southampton.
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Pochettino started off with a translator, but eventually learnt English enough to do interviews himself.
 
Mike99

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I always felt that when Liverpool lost Kenny Dalgleish needed a translator but when they won he didn't.
 
KashmireHawker

KashmireHawker

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Manchester United 0-1 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

A sublime volley by 35 year old Joao Mouthino, gives us a fully deserved 3 points and our 1st win at Old Trafford since February 13th 1980!

We are back into 8th place and despite us only scoring 14 Premier League goals all season, means every goal has been worth 2 points with us on 28 points after 19 played!
 
Cowley

Cowley

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KashmireHawker said:
Manchester United 0-1 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

A sublime volley by 35 year old Joao Mouthino, gives us a fully deserved 3 points and our 1st win at Old Trafford since February 13th 1980!

We are back into 8th place and despite us only scoring 14 Premier League goals all season, means every goal has been worth 2 points with us on 28 points after 19 played!
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Well played!
 
Xenophon PCDGS

Xenophon PCDGS

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Darandio said:
Ralf at the wheel.....
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He did not pull any punches in the post-match interview, unlike the previous post incumbent who seemed incapable of criticism where required, being totally blunt about the task needing to be done by any manager at Old Trafford at this moment in time. Living on past glories does not bring any type of reality and one must ask exactly what has gone wrong at Old Trafford this current season.

Good to see Phil Jones back in the centre of defence after a two-year absence.
 
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JamesT

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Xenophon PCDGS said:
He did not pull any punches in the post-match interview, unlike the previous post incumbent who seemed incapable of criticism where required, being totally blunt about the task needing to be done by any manager at Old Trafford at this moment in time. Living on past glories does not bring any type of reality and one must ask exactly what has gone wrong at Old Trafford this current season.
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I don’t think there’s anything particularly different this season, it’s a lack of cohesion that goes back to Fergie leaving. Players have been bought because of their individual talents rather than how they fit into a plan. Individuals can drag the team along for a time (e.g. Bruno Fernandes first half season), but they can’t be relied on.
This season has seen a time where nobody has elevated their performance so the true level of the team is visible. Possibly you could argue for Ronaldo as he’s produced the goals, but if the team never have the ball in the final third to play him in there’s not much he can do.
 
Xenophon PCDGS

Xenophon PCDGS

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JamesT said:
I don’t think there’s anything particularly different this season, it’s a lack of cohesion that goes back to Fergie leaving. Players have been bought because of their individual talents rather than how they fit into a plan. Individuals can drag the team along for a time (e.g. Bruno Fernandes first half season), but they can’t be relied on.
This season has seen a time where nobody has elevated their performance so the true level of the team is visible. Possibly you could argue for Ronaldo as he’s produced the goals, but if the team never have the ball in the final third to play him in there’s not much he can do.
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Jordan Sancho is an example of a young player who previously played in a top-quality national football league against teams of a good calibre week in, week out, and performed well for his club, yet is unrecognizable as the same player at Old Trafford. That has been the case at Old Trafford for some years now with top level players who eventually left Old Trafford and seemed to resume their former level with their new clubs. Angel di Maria and Diego Forlan are two past examples of this.
 
150249

150249

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Ralf failed to impress with his first real test! Put a Chelsea or a Manchester City against them and they'd get battered
 
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