***Official*** English Football Season 2019-20

[flibbertyjibber]

Exactly, you don't wish an injury like that on anyone. Always the silly ones that look innocuous cause the most damage.

 

[sledger]

Useful player but Everton is more his level imo. Couldn’t turn down such a generous fee.

Meanwhile a deal for us to sell Rojo apparently fell through over the transfer fee. Woodward.

Useful for sure, but perhaps one of those players whose stats paint a misleading picture of their overall worth. I always really liked him, and it was nice to have an academy player regularly in the first team, but it was very obvious he was never going to have the ability to be anything more than a rotation option. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. It's actually extremely important to have those sorts of players. But yeah, not a great surprise that he has moved on, given the circumstances.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I know Steve Bruce's face doesn't always omit happiness, but it looks like a really "through gritted teeth" smile while shaking hands with Andy Carroll.

 

[sledger]

There's something about Andy Carroll in that pic that makes him look like a fan on a tour of the stadium who has just wondered into shot.

 

[Uppercut]

https://twitter.com/Millar_Colin/status/1159495539282632705


Rojo and Darmien might still end up at some European side who should know better. Poga and De Gea must be looking at the signings this summer and thinking wtf.

Realistically United need new owners to fix the shambles of a squad that they have.

Does Ole last this season?

Good thread that, called the "director of football" leak: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49282584.

"It is thought the role would not involve negotiating with or signing transfer targets." Woodward.

I think Ole probably does last the season, pretty much regardless of how badly we do. Every other post-Fergie manager has been left in place long, long after it's become clear that it's not working out and Ole will have less fans on his back than any of the others.

 

[Uppercut]

OTOH, I do expect us to be better than last year, and we got close to 4th then.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

United will win a lot of games but won't be consistent.


Besides that I got allocated Brighton, Southampton and Norwich in a relegation sweep. Not impossible.

 

[morgieb]

United will win a lot of games but won't be consistent.


Besides that I got allocated Brighton, Southampton and Norwich in a relegation sweep. Not impossible.

Surprisingly realistic.

This has to be the first season where there's no standout horrid team in a long time. Then again Huddersfield somehow stayed up in 17/18....

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Newcastle will go down. They look woeful.

 

[Uppercut]

Surprisingly realistic.

This has to be the first season where there's no standout horrid team in a long time. Then again Huddersfield somehow stayed up in 17/18....

It never really looks like there are standout horrid teams at this point.

Promoted sides are weaker than they have been for a while imo. Norwich much better than the other two but haven't signed anyone. I can see one of those stinking the place out. Newcastle could well end up in a dark, dark place too. Appointed a Championship manager to go with their Championship squad.

 

[Furball]

Useful player but Everton is more his level imo. Couldn’t turn down such a generous fee.

Meanwhile a deal for us to sell Rojo apparently fell through over the transfer fee. Woodward.

In fairness, Woodford may have laughed long enough at the idea of a club paying a fee for Rojo that the deadline had passed by the time he stopped laughing.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Whoever first coined the phrase "It's a project" did all the failing managers a big favour.

 

[morgieb]

It never really looks like there are standout horrid teams at this point.

Promoted sides are weaker than they have been for a while imo. Norwich much better than the other two but haven't signed anyone. I can see one of those stinking the place out. Newcastle could well end up in a dark, dark place too. Appointed a Championship manager to go with their Championship squad.

Yeah true, though I think all of Norwich, Sheffield and Aston Villa are better than Huddersfield and Cardiff, for example. If one of them stinks it up I think it'll be Villa though - their window seems very Fulham-esque.

Toon I could easily see doing a Villa/Sunderland, yeah.

 

[Uppercut]

In fairness, Woodford may have laughed long enough at the idea of a club paying a fee for Rojo that the deadline had passed by the time he stopped laughing.

Probably just a typo but I hope you've got his name wrong on purpose as an insult.

I'm sort of realising that it might be naive of me to attribute Woodward's behaviour to incompetence. How much financial sense does it really make to try to challenge for titles? Given the current state of the squad it would cost a fortune. This past 3 windows he's spent around 100m or so net, maybe less if we can shift a few more bodies to Europe, and I'd give us about a 30% chance at CL qualification. That's probably a better deal, at least in the short term. And, of course, having Woodward in charge in the first place is as clear a signal of the club's priorities as you could possibly make.

 

[sledger]

Yeah true, though I think all of Norwich, Sheffield and Aston Villa are better than Huddersfield and Cardiff, for example. If one of them stinks it up I think it'll be Villa though - their window seems very Fulham-esque.

Toon I could easily see doing a Villa/Sunderland, yeah.

What are you basing this on exactly (other than the fact that they have made a number of fairly-expensive signings)?

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah true, though I think all of Norwich, Sheffield and Aston Villa are better than Huddersfield and Cardiff, for example. If one of them stinks it up I think it'll be Villa though - their window seems very Fulham-esque.

Toon I could easily see doing a Villa/Sunderland, yeah.

As relegated teams go Cardiff really weren't too bad, could easily have stayed up. I'd be surprised if all 3 promoted teams beat their 34 points. You're probably right about Huddersfield, though.

 

[morgieb]

What are you basing this on exactly (other than the fact that they have made a number of fairly-expensive signings)?

That, pretty much. Also the fact that they've basically signed a entire new first XI.

I think their signings are smarter than Fulham's though and not all done at the last minute, so that's why I don't have them going down. It's still a massive risk though, ableit one they had to take.

 

[sledger]

That, pretty much. Also the fact that they've basically signed a entire new first XI.

I think their signings are smarter than Fulham's though and not all done at the last minute, so that's why I don't have them going down. It's still a massive risk though, ableit one they had to take.

You're talking total bollocks then. Nonsense reasoning. This entire post is nothing but waffle.

 

[Uppercut]

That, pretty much. Also the fact that they've basically signed a entire new first XI.

I think their signings are smarter than Fulham's though and not all done at the last minute, so that's why I don't have them going down. It's still a massive risk though, ableit one they had to take.

Their signings are much, much, much less smart than Fulham's were.

 

[morgieb]

Their signings are much, much, much less smart than Fulham's were.

They've signed shittier players but I think they're more cohesive signings (i.e. target last year loanees and guys who Smith has coached in the past), which was kinda what I meant by "smarter signings".