2020/21 Premier League & General Football Discussion

[MUSC4EVER]

Man United have signed left back Alex Telles from Porto for an initial £15 million with £3 million in add-ons, we did need a left back and this actually seems like a good deal for us.

So that's one player in, one more to come that we know of...and will there be another??

 

[Dave A]

Man United have signed left back Alex Telles from Porto for an initial £15 million with £3 million in add-ons, we did need a left back and this actually seems like a good deal for us.

So that's one player in, one more to come that we know of...and will there be another??

Today we're finalising deals for:

Telles - Official
Cavani - Done, to be offciially announced
Traore - Done but he won't be joining until January
Pellistri - Being finalised, let's see if that can be done

We're also looking for a centre back on loan if we can get one and a right winger on loan if we can get one. Currently we're pinballing between Dembele from Barcelona and Sarr from Watford.We want a loan, both clubs want to sell.

EDIT: Chris Smalling to Roma is done for a fee of €15m + €5m in add-ons. Smalling is flying out to Roma now.

 

[redhed17]

Van Dijk had a mare last night as well, turned inside-out by Jack Grealish.

Sadly, he didn't stand out as being much worse than most of the others.

 

[redhed17]

Guendouzi leaving Arsenal for Hertha Berlin on loan. After an initial smash onto the scene, that hasn't turned out as expected.

Looks so far, like Ozil may stay and continue to rake in the cash.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Look like Partey to Arsenal might be on the cards, Arsenal have paid the £45 million release clause.

 

[Dave A]

Manchester United have signed Willy Kambwala, he's a 16 year old CB.

Cavai is about to be officially announced.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Roma have signed Chris Smalling on a permanent deal from Man United on a deal that could be worth up to £18 million, Smalling spent 10 years at United.

Lucas Torreira will join Atletico on loan as part of the Thomas Partey deal to join Arsenal.

Spurs in talks to sign Swansea defender Joe Rodon, deal to be worth £18 million.

Less than two hours left.

 

[Dave A]

Apparently the smalling trasnfer went through with 1 minute to go.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

It was, Italy's deadline was 7pm our time and they completed it at 6.59!

West Ham have released Jack Wilshire after two years at the club.

United have signed Amad Diallo (he prefers it to Traore) and he will join in January, deal is subject to medical, work permit and visa. He is a highly rated 18-year old winger who the club has had an eye on since 2016.

 

[Dave A]

Cavani is now official, he's getting the number 7 shirt.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

United sign Facundo Pellistri from Penerol (managed by Diego Forlan) for around £10 million, another young winger who is unlikely to get into the first team right away.

Three signings for United today, four if you include Traore.

Arsenal have signed Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid for £45 million, Lucas Torreira joins Atletico on loan with an option to buy from Arsenal.
Theo Walcott re-joins Southampton from Everton on loan. Southampton were Theo's first club.
Everton have signed Roma keeper Robin Olsen on loan.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek set to move to Fulham on loan.
Fulham have also signed defender Joachim Anderson on loan from Lyon and the permanent transfer of Tosin Adarabioyo from Man City.

 

[redhed17]

Looks like quite a quiet transfer day, with few deals, and few players coming from outside the UK. Maybe more teams are getting the business done before the final deadline. There always seems to be the odd deal that somehow gets done late though.

There seemed to be a lot more players leaving the English leagues for other countries looking at the BBC list of completed deals so far.

 

[redhed17]

The Thomas Partey move from Atletico Madrid to Arsenal doesn't seem to have been done in the normal manner, with the buying club negotiating with the selling club. Apparently, if there is a buyout clause you just have to put the money in their bank account and not talk at all.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

So the internationals for the next two weeks then, most teams are playing three games rather than the usual two, friendlies are tonight and tomorrow night, Euro 2020 Play offs are also tomorrow night an the Nations League resumes from this weekend.

 

[adamp93]

The PL games not already on TV will now be shown on PPV, for the small matter of £14.95 a pop. Because apparently they're short on cash or something. Here is the press release of them telling us to bend over and open wide.

 

[ASH32]

The PL games not already on TV will now be shown on PPV, for the small matter of £14.95 a pop. Because apparently they're short on cash or something. Here is the press release of them telling us to bend over and open wide.

It's as if they want (more) people to find out how to watch these games illegally, so dumb as well as greedy.

I hope everyone who has paid for a season ticket now requests a refund and does not back down, it's what they deserve.

Like the league cup games, it is actually a good thing that it's so expensive, since no one at all will pay to watch some of those matches, if it was a fiver or something people might and this sort of thing would then become permanent.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

I'm confused.

It says five matches not selected for television, but every match is televised now because of no fans at the grounds, so having all matches televised means the fans can watch the games albeit not at the grounds, even the 3pm games have been televised on BT so far this season.

Unless its the 3pm games that will be on PPV.

Anyway, having the games on PPV for 14.95 is scandalous, especially as they haven't been doing this for the past six months anyway, so what's changed?!? This is a league that spent over £1 billion in the transfer window.

 

[Jezza819]

Fans in the US are screaming bloody murder because NBC has put several games each week on their new streaming service Peacock. To get Premier League games you have to upgrade to Peacock Premier for $4.95 per month. But ESPN has been doing the same thing for two years now I think with ESPN+ and it's also $4.95 per month. Most of their soccer coverage is over there and now they are the broadcast network for Bundesliga in the US so if you want to watch most of their games you have to pay.

But almost all of NBC's Premier League Youtube game clips are full of comments like "came here to dislike because of Peacock" or "dump Peacock NOW!!!".

 

[redhed17]

Anyway, having the games on PPV for 14.95 is scandalous, especially as they haven't been doing this for the past six months anyway, so what's changed?!? This is a league that spent over £1 billion in the transfer window.

I think you just partly answered your own question.

The hope was to start slowly having fans back by now, to at least start generating some matchday income, but with the rising infection rate in the UK, that is not happening anytime soon. I think the clubs are scrabbling to make up for the lost income. Whether this is the way to do that, or at least do that at those prices is debatable. The viewers, or not, will determine if it works or not.

Arsenal are offering fans back into the their ground to watch away games in their corporate suites.

A total of 368 people will be allowed to watch the game on TV screens inside the stadium. Those attending will have to follow standard coronavirus procedures: temperature checks, track and trace details, and masks must be worn unless seated.

The packages will be offered for away games only, will be limited to six people and feature different tiers from 'The Invincibles Package' at £49 per person up to 'The Marble Package', which includes a booth for six people and a private host at £1,074.

That seems a good way of generating some income, though not the cheapest route to see the games, but people pay over the odds for corporate suites anyway. That will depend on if they are not impacted by the rising Covid rates, and any additional limits on people moving about and congregating.

 

[Liquid]

Football Without Fans Is Nothing £14.95 A Match

 

[MUSC4EVER]

There has been that much backlash in response to it that I wouldn't be surprised if they did a U-turn and scrap it.

It was voted overwhelmingly in though, by 19-1 and Leicester were the only club who opposed it.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Cristiano Ronaldo has tested positive for coronavirus.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

So I have had a little look at the schedule for when the League resumes this weekend, now for some reason I was led to believe that these PPV matches would only be one a weekend, its actually 5!! Yeah that's right FIVE!

That's half the weekends games on PPV, and its difficult for me because of the them this weekend is Newcastle v Man United on Saturday night.

 

[Famine]

and its difficult for me

It's £15 for one game on top of a TV package that already costs £22-£55 a month. That's not a difficult decision: they can **** off.

All those people who paid £9.95 to watch Frank Bruno vs Mike Tyson in 1996? Yeah, this is your fault.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

And all the people who paid to watch every Anthony Joshua fight on PPV ever, and yeah that includes me! And some of his more recent fights have been £19.95...

 

[Famine]

And all the people who paid to watch every Anthony Joshua fight on PPV ever, and yeah that includes me! And some of his more recent fights have been £19.95...

It started with Bruno vs Tyson though - and then a bunch of Prince Naseem fights.

This was always how it was going to end up if people bought into it, and they did. It's exactly like DLC, where you buy the disc and then they keep extra juicy stuff that's on the actual disc back for another £20 as a "season pass" or some crap. Then the consumers who bought into it complain about being fleeced and how Sky/EA are a bunch of rip-off merchants... but they're the ones who proved there was a market for these ****** practices by paying for it.

 

[Liquid]

I don't know if there's a name for the phenomenon but the idea of hoping that people will independently but collectively boycott outrageous market practices and pricing models but... they just don't. You just know that people will always fall for it. Always. A l w a y s.

On a slight tangent, if for example 80,000 people boycotted Old Trafford, you just know that another 80,000 will always be there to still go to the match. It doesn't matter how many people stay away, there will always be people who will go. No matter what.

They'll buy pay-per-view.
They'll buy subscriptions.
They'll buy DLC.
They'll buy season passes.
They'll pay for incomplete games and pay again for the "missing" content.
They'll pay for individual games on top of their paid subscription.

They'll buy whatever 🤬 is plopped in front of them. The companies and broadcasters know this and they've no reason to be benevolent.

The hope of people "voting with their wallet" or whatever is too optimistic. Is it simply being weak willed? I don't know.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Games this weekend, including the first pay-per-view games.

Saturday
Everton v Liverpool (12.30 BT)
Chelsea v Southampton (3pm BT BO)
Man City v Arsenal (5.30 Sky)
Newcastle v Man United (8pm Sky BO)

Sunday
Sheffield United v Fulham (12pm BT BO)
Crystal Palace v Brighton (2pm Sky)
Tottenham v West Ham (4.30 Sky)
Leicester v Aston Villa (7.15 Sky BO)

Monday
West Brom v Burnley (5.30 Sky BO)
Leeds v Wolves (8pm Sky)

Celtic v Rangers is also on tomorrow as well on Sky.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Everton 2-2 Liverpool
Chelsea 3-3 Southampton
Man City 1-0 Arsenal

Only one place to start, it was the best Merseyside derby in years!

Mane scored after just three minutes from a quick attack that Everton could do little about.
Just a few minutes later Pickford took Van Dijk clean out but wasn't given as a foul because the ref had already blown for offside, it was a bad challenge from Pickford and deserved a red card, Van Dijk had to be subbed off.
Michael Keane equalised on 19 minutes from a corner.
Second half started slow with both teams sizing each other up, there were some good chances from both before Salah scored from a nice finish on72 minutes, before Calvert Lewin equalised for Everton with a great header on 81 minutes.
Richarlison was sent off for a bad tackle on Thiago on 90 minutes.
Liverpool thought they won it in added time from Henderson but was ruled out by VAR for offside as Mane was adjudged to be just off in the build up but it didn't look like he was at all.
Its been reported that Van Dijk has an ACL tear and will be out for at least 6 months.

Chelsea went 2-0 up with Werner scoring his first league goals for the club before Ings and Adams brought Southampton back to 2-2, Havertz made it 3-2 and then Vestergaard with a late 92nd minute equaliser.

City v Arsenal just finished Sterling got the only goal in the first half, Arsenal did pretty well and had their chances but City just get the win, Aguero returned for them after four months out, Partey made his Arsenal debut from the bench.

Newcastle v Man united to come tonight, its on box office and I wont pay for it, will try and find a YT stream if I can, United's line up is pretty bad!

 

[Famine]

United's line up is pretty bad!

"#OleOut" started trending an hour before the match...

I don't know if there's a name for the phenomenon but the idea of hoping that people will independently but collectively boycott outrageous market practices and pricing models but... they just don't.

There's almost certainly a compound German word for it.

We don't do social civil protest in the UK. They do it brilliantly in France - reportedly every wheel clamp in Paris was rendered inoperable almost the day they were first used because everyone who saw one (regardless of whether it was their car or not) filled the locking mechanism with superglue, so they all had to be cut off.

In the UK, we'd laugh at the idiot who got clamped, because it wasn't us, and then bitch for all time about how unfair it is ("I was only five minutes!") if it happened to us.