Topic: ⚽ Premier League 2023/2024 Discussion Thread ⚽ - page 162. (Read 59174 times)

Yes, the match was held behind closed doors and I personally don't know what they meant by doing it behind closed doors. Because usually, matches like this can still be watched because they are still in the friendly match section, but this match does not seem to be just a friendly match, because this match is also held behind closed doors. Thus, it will probably make not many people know the results and also statistics like what happened in this match. But with Liverpool's defeat I think it would also be quite disappointing if in fact Liverpool also still played some of its main players.

Or maybe, Arne Slot is very careful about playing matches like this, so that it might avoid doubt and disappointment. Because even though this is only a closed match, but if Arne Slot is not confident, then of course such a factor of lack of self-confidence will have a bad impact on difficult matches later.

Manchester United is pushing their chances for Manuel Ugarte. It would be a superb transfer for them truthfully. 



https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1814036386552451367

He is a great talent. You know how much this team needs to strengthen its defense area also. Ugarte is just the player they are looking for defensive midfield.  The source says they have already agreed with the player himself. But the thing is I don't know how much PSG would be eager to sell him after only 1 season. They signed him for 60m euros last summer. I have heard PSG wants 70m euros for him.

If Manchester United can spend around 73m euros for Leny Yoro, it would be possible for Ugarte also. Depending on FFP rules too though.

In my opinion, defeat in pre-season is very valuable for a club, because from there they can learn a lot about what exactly is their problem so they have to accept defeat. Than they can win every pre-season match, which will make their confidence uncontrollable, even though at the same time the club they are facing is also in a series of pre-season events where they also certainly haven't shown their best game.

Liverpool still have quite a long time to learn where their weaknesses lie, so they can start improving them from now on. This is actually what they expect from pre-season matches and in fact the purpose of pre-season matches is as a form of preparation, including seeing what they still lack. There are also many clubs that fail in pre-season but in the competition they can show the truth.

Every post about Enzo Maresca in training session is usually showing how actively he is during training and giving pointers when needed though I won`t speak much of him until this coming season kick off but there is something I`m more curious about which is how well he does in unlocking the potentials in this youngsters at Chelsea and from the fact all his signing are still young lacking experience when it is an obvious thing that most of the Chelsea stars especially Midfield lacks experience/creativity but I can`t judge until we become to see the team performance after Pre-Season not really putting much consideration to the Pre-Season performance since Poch did pretty well but shockingly disappointing in almost throughout the season.

@uchegod-21, looking at your response, you made three different points in your point and I think you're absolutely correct with with two but for the other one, I think you were missing something. Firstly, Chelsea is one of the traditional clubs in the English Premier League and as such they need more than just one striker but last season, we saw that Nicholas Jackson was visibly the club's most consistent captain. Like you rightly said, Cole Palmer isn't a striker but an attacking midfielder that can play either from the flank or behind the main striker.
Now talking about why he didn't many playing minutes while he was in Manchester City, it wasn't because he wasn't good but the club manager who saw his potentials also had another young lad with great potentials in Phil Foden. Guardiola in an interview after Palmer started his impressive form at Chelsea said he wasn't surprised with his incredible performance because he knew he possessed the potentials but had other players in that position Palmer plays. So Cole Palmer right from his days as a Manchester City player had already shown his genius.

I support the idea that Anthony should be loaned out. He needs to witness another environment and if he improves by returning to what he used to be at Ajax it will be great for Manchester United. Currently it seems that both Garnacho and Amed will do better than him in the top left flag.

If anyone watched Manchester United pre-season match with Rangers few hours ago, you will understand how good Amed is. The young guy is playing just like Saka and he got a wonderful R2 goal against Rangers. I believe that if Erik10 had given him chances with other academy boys, Manchester United would have seen top 4 last season.

Manchester United is willing to send Antony on loan. However they want £70k of his weekly wage (which is £200k) to be paid as well.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/40588272/man-united-transfer-policy-leny-yoro-joshua-zirkzee

I think it would be great call for the Red Devils. He has been no use for the team so far and he has been getting even worse every year.    He was the opposite at Ajax. Maybe he isn't ready to play for a much bigger team in one of biggest European leagues. It would be better to lighten his wage load on themselves at least by a loan agreement.

But the question is: Will there be a team willing to pay that sum?     Maybe Ajax would like to bring back their old player for one season who knows...

Previously, Manchester United suffered a defeat against a team from Norway, but the same bad result we saw in the friendly match between Liverpool and Preston yesterday, now it seems that the first match of the pre-season is not on the side of big teams such as Manchester United and Liverpool, the loss from Preston I don't think it was a good start for Arne Slot because in the first half Liverpool fielded many key their players, however faced Preston who are only a champhionship team in the england but Liverpool got a very embarrassing result, perhaps we can say that the defeat was only due to Arne Slot desire to experiment with their current squad, but by fielding many main players in the match it is clear that Arne Slot has a greater ambition to win than just to experiment in the friendly match.

Righ now the friendly match between Manchester United vs Rangers is being played, but Manchester United is still difficult to score in the match even though they currently dominate the match, in today's friendly match, Manchester United fielded most of its key players including Leny Yoro who was recently recruited by Manchester United from Lille.

Edit: Manchester United managed to score 1 goal through diallo in the 39th minute.
Rangers 0 Vs 1 Manchester United

Maresca is consistent with his team. I like how Enzo Maresca is directly involving himself more with his club in training session. It brings lots of energy. Pochettino rarely joins his squad's training.
Maresca is a typical of coach that will push you to perform better, and give you freedom to play. This is why i do like him, and im also seeing how maresca is coaching his current club with full of optimism. I think boehly will be more patiently waiting for Maresca to deliver.

We can only hope Todd Boehly, Chelsea's owner, learned from Pochettino's case. Building a club from the scratch is not that easy like when you fired your coach.
Todd needs to understand it better. Also, he doesn't let his coach trade players without his approval. So, he must be giving Maresca more time to deliver.

In the end, if Maresca can deliver and Todd won't sack him, people will be happy. But, the expectations are high. Chelsea was once a big club in the EPL, and it's a usual thing.

Since when did Cole palmer starts playing as a striker?. Am really confused here.

Currently, I think Palmer happens to be the best player in Chelsea, but that doesn't put him among the top players when he was with City. City are just built different, so let me focus more on Chelsea here. What I think Chelsea needs now is not quantity of players, but rather quality. Buying a 16, 17, 18, 19 or 20 years old players from Brazilian league doesn't guarantee Chelsea a better season ahead. If you observe the type of players Chelsea is currently going for(young players), then you should understand that this project is supposed to be a process. Chelsea needs to consider this new players as projects that needs to be worked on properly. This boys needs to understand themselves and how the premier league work. If any new signing turns out to be good as palmer, them fine, but that doesn't make the team good. Remember that it's still Chelsea FC and not palmer fc.


He is a good player, but we should understand that City is filled with players who fight for their place. He couldn't wait, and we all know that pep can't beg any player to play for him, except you are ..... (You know the name).



I think for Chelsea now, there shouldn't be too many focus with players fighting for shirts, but more attention should be channel to how players can understand themselves and play as a team. Palmer has proven to be a top player ahead of others in that team as he knows how to play a team type of football, which makes his spot secured. Gusto and James are also good players as well from what I have seen sofar. More work needs to be done in other areas. All I can say is that it's all about team work, with a contribution from individual performance.

I am sorry to say this, the mentality you portrayed is that of an average team. Have you ever seen where clubs like Manchester City and Real Madrid would say that they are okay with two finishers. Come to think of it, is Cole Palmer a striker. Cole Palmer is a midfielder, but Chelsea use team as a false most times last season.

Also, I am not undermining Cole Palmer but if he was the best, would Manchester City allow him to go? If he was the best, would he sit on the bench during the just concluded euro competition. For every club to succeed to a great extent there must be competition. Players should fight for shirts and they should fight for positions, Chelsea need more players as many as they could get and not to trust there striking role on Jackson and Palmer only.

It won't be easy for the coach who manages Chelsea if he is still under the tutelage of Todd Boehly, as Pochettino felt, indeed at the start of the season they were very sad but at the end of the season they had found their performance but Toodd was not satisfied with this and he ended it mercilessly, this something new. I saw that he didn't want to continue but he wanted to be quick without taking steps, even though what Pochettino did was extraordinary from a player's point of view, he didn't do that didn't get everything but he was determined and he tried and almost succeeded but Todd wasn't happy.

Now Enzo Maresca is Pochettino's replacement and of course this will not be easy for him this job will certainly guarantee him victory and championships, but seeing them in training seems like they have found the right coach, talking about Enzo Maresca is also a great thing the coach returned Leicester back to the Premier League and his game scheme was also very good so it looks like Enzo Maresca will be successful if there are no more demands from Todd Boehly, because all coaches also need a process to find a good strategy for the team, especially Chelsea with all the talented players they have. Buying Enzo Maresca will be very difficult if you are not given time to determine the right 11 players.

The results of such a match will certainly not be able to be used as an assessment of Liverpool's performance and quality, no matter whether Liverpool won or lost in such a match. Because ofcourse, such results can never or will never be worthy of being used as a benchmark for the team's ability next season. So yes, it is just about a warm-up and true, such a match is a closed practice which in reality is not an official match so often top teams will lose in such a match.

But indeed, that Arne Slot needs to continue to make a good approach so that the team can work well when the league starts later. After all, the transfer window is also still open and thus, there will still be a chance for them to bring in and also players to leave. Thus, of course, they will still adapt of course to build good chemistry.

When he received an offer from Chelsea to replace Tuchel, Pochettino already predicted that his task would not be easy at Chelsea. And it turned out that he was unable to carry out this task and could not complete it in a short time. Todd Boehly really wants results in a short time to improve Chelsea performance, this demand is clearly not something the coach can fulfill in just one season.
Now that Enzo Maresca is responsible for Chelsea's future, Todd Boehly has no hesitation in providing large amounts of funds to recruit quality players. Maybe Todd Boehly will return to treating Enzo Maresca like Pochettino if he fails to bring Chelsea to a top-four finish.

I'm also going to say it again, Palmer isn't actually a "striker" mate.    The thing you can say about his role the most could be False 9. He played as attacking midfielder and right winger in the previous season as well.

But of course as for his statistics, I can confidently say he is much better than even many real strikers. 27 goals and 15 assists in 48 matches - including all tournaments. It is incredible.    But you can't expect Palmer to carry the main goal load of the team every season. It isn't very sustainable to tell the truth. This is why Chelsea really needs a bigger support from their attackers next time. This would increase their chances to join the Champions League too.

Palmer also does not have much experience playing at the national team level. The Blues striker has only started playing regularly in the first team since joining Chelsea last September. Before that, he often sat on the bench at Manchester City and had few opportunities to play. Although he has made great strides in his career, his lack of international competition experience is still a major limitation. You can't blame Southgate. It was not easy for Palmer to break into the official squad even though he had a great season with Pochettino.

Chelsea must see something positive and promising in this young strategist. In theory, Enzo Maresca can coach Chelsea's group of promising players, but what he needs to be wary of is that the pressure in the Premier League, especially from the media, is much more terrible than in the Championship. Enzo Maresca needs to look at his predecessor's difficulties to find solutions for himself.

Mistakes in carrying out a series of trials during pre-season have become commonplace for every club, so when you see Liverpool's defeat in training yesterday, at least it can benefit Arne Slot so that he can find out the weaknesses of his teammates in several trial matches, when Arne Slot finds out The club's weakness is that it is certainly ready to look for players who fit the criteria the squad wants. If you look for players haphazardly then it will be difficult to form a solid squad.

Lol! I know what you’re trying to say as a United fan probably. Chelsea was the first club to come my mind when you said it is possible to have a hundred percent success in preseason and fumble when season starts. During last year, Chelsea did not record a single lose but it was entirely a different story when league started until the end of the season when they attempted to turn things around but it was too late.

Concerning Liverpool lose yesterday, it’s important to note that Preston were playing their fourth friendly match and were less experimental but for Liverpool, it was a behind closed door training session. I see the game as an opportunity for Arne Slot to have idea of where he may need to strengthen and see where their fitness is. At least, it’s a wake up call him to sit up and train his boys very well.

I haven't seen critics here talking about this game lol. I don't have high expectations with pre season games, one could still have a hundred percent win during the pre-season and fumbles when the Premier League Competition kicks off. I can recall vividly, but a couple few did last season.
Arne Slot should challenge the Liverpool board honestly, I don't know what's going on with transfers. If you take a good look at his defenders, he'll face a whole lot of work next season, if no improvements or developed players are brought into the club.

I have seen comments about Aaron Wan Bisakka, he is a great defender, I love him, I can bet the fans do too, but do you know what? If Manchester United wants to win the Premier League Competition, they cannot do that will a right fullback like Aaron Wan Bisakka truthfully.

Most Manchester United fans are like "Don't sell him this and that, he was our best defender last season" I don't like that God knows, when you look at the right fullbacks of Manchester City and Liverpool when they won the Premier League Competition, you'll know that Aaron Wan Bisakka cannot win Manchester United the premier or not even a good competition for Dalot he needs to leave fully.

That's what i have been waiting for. Maresca is also holding Pep's blue print, and he has ever worked with him together. The fight between these baldy coaches will be very interesting to watch. Pep's good review about Maresca can be trusted. They were on the same club as coach and assistant manager.

Being a coach at a big club has lots of pressure. But, I think Maresca can handle it. Watching him in Chelsea's training sessions made me feel that the Blues squad will play better under him. But, let's give Maresca time to build chemistry with his new club now.

One season is not enough for him. Hopefully, Chelsea can compete for the title again next season and fight against City.