Topic: Sportsbet.io's English Premier League Football Pool Discussion Thread - page 213. (Read 145488 times)

Even in the country where I am whenever things do not go well for a certain top team,all the supporters immediately point the finger toward the manager when he is a non native but history has shown just like in Liverpool that native coaches did not bode that well compared to their non native counterparts.

I think that it does not mean anything if the man is Saudi,English or American as long as he can bring Liverpool back on track to their glorious days,once this man no matter what nationality has it means that nationality is not at all relevant.

I know it's not a question to me but...

...as a non-native supporter, but I hope as a sincere supporter, I've never seen nationality as a prerequisite -- we've had plenty of spiritual Scousers over the years (even poor Benitez, who made the city his home and the attention of his life work). King Dalglish is another prime example, as is Klopp -- true Scousers the Kop hail as their own... never mind the "mini-Scousers" like even Tsimikas and Naby lad show it's never where you come from, but where you put your heart.

That's always applied to players, always applied to managers, and while no Liverpool supporter might ever bestow the same admiration for their owners, they might at least afford the same spirit of respect.

So there's a difference not in who the owners are but how the money comes and what motivations back it. Is the club going to be a play thing for champagne parties like Abramovich? Is it just a trophy wife to brag about at dinners like Venky's when they first bought Blackburn Rovers and aired their players eating fried chicken?

So that's oil money and franchise money from overseas. But do Englishmen fare better? Ask Newcastle about Mike Ashley, who treated talents like Keegan like crap and appointed his own mates to manage the club (not to mention all the tacky stuff he did for his actual business while allowing his club to get relegated, for example renaming St James Park to... Sports Direct Arena). Oil money bought Newcastle but they seem to be learning a lot of lessons... and it doesn't yet appear they're going to treat the club like a toy. Time will tell.

Having wealthy owners does not solve most of the problems if the club's scouting system is poor. Liverpool has one of the best scouting systems in the league, which is why you rarely see any player flop, they always get the right player for Klopp's style of play and it has been he3lpful all these years. That being said, I believe the owners have been putting a good amount of money into transfers in the last three seasons, not to mention they paid 100m pounds for Darwin, i don't think any other EPL club spend that much on a single player in the last transfer.


I had no idea the club was for sale, it was one of those random rumors' news, club sales are a lengthy process because it involves a lot of politics, finding the right guy for the job, and making sure you don't sell to a rival billionaire fan. Every club wishes to have the Saudis because they are the only people who can invest millions of dollars in the team, bring good sponsorships, and ensure the team competes, but biased English politics will prevent this from happening.

Will you prefer a Saudi, an Englishman, or an American?
will you prefer a Saudi, an English man or American for the job?

15 points behind Arsenal to me is not such a big gap, it's City everyone still has to worry about. Arsenal will put doubt in everyone's mind until final few games, whereas City is expected to rarely lose or even draw.

So yes, it is like me last couple of seasons, accepting Barcelona top 4 (and yet they went broke and trying to win it this season, I am still not convinced).

You think you will be another state owned club?

I would shake hands on acceptance of finishing 4th this season, no problem. I would definitely be happy with that. Our team needs big money spent on it but we have the cheapest owners around. We need an entire new midfield, Klopp is hamstrung by his employers. I hope the sale of the club happens quickly, it’s painful watching our midfield right now.

I think that Liverpool the maximum it can do is to fight for the Champions League to go as further as possible because as bad as they may be,elimination stage there is just 2 games and any team can play really well in just these two games that will decide their fate in the competition.

In Premier League I think right now they will fight to go back in the top 4 teams which would secure them a place in the Champions League for the next season,this season in Premier League is lost by them as they have already made to many mistakes.

It's probably a blessing in disguise for Liverpool have lot the EFL game vs City, but Liverpool didn't even look bad either to have came from behind twice, but I'm not surprised though, as bad as Liverpool have been this season, they've defeated Liverpool twice, so I could pursue my little theory of Liverpool intentionally letting them win this so that Liverpool could less on their plate to handle as the season goes by, I believed Liverpool paid the price for participation in all multiple competitions until the last days, unlike Liverpool, Man City have a better squad depth that could carry them in multiple fronts of all competition, although preparing for that much competition also have its effects on a manager, and all it takes is one wrong game and certain competitions are over, I really can't have Guardiola focused on just the league, that'd be terrible for the sake of competition, imho.

45/10 it was for Liverpool, and crazy game with 2 goals in 2 minutes after the restart. So it's already a fun night, even though we're behind now heh.


Probably, yeah. And we paid dearly for playing every possible match last season -- but EFL's always been only really taxing on our squad on the finals (and not fully even then). Salah started, as did a few other stalwarts but they're probably playing for match fitness in this game more than anything else. Both sides have their deputy keepers.

Salah 15th goal of the season and first in EFL cup according to commentator, that took me by surprise haha), not bad.

On man, i was right this Darwin guy is ass, he reminds me so much of Timo Wener, they are always on a good run, being in goal scoring positions, but their conversion rate is just too low. I didn't realize Salah was on the field until after 20 minutes, and I believe we are witnessing MO's final days. Salah is no longer having an impact on the team. If Salah was in those Darwin positions, Liverpool should be three goals up. BTW, great first half.

Haaland did not had to wait long to score, and City is up after 10 minutes
Liverpool line-up does not call to expect much from them tonight, and it does seem that they will be pressing much to stay in EFL cup

interesting route for City, they kicked-out Chelsea in R32, now play with Liverpool in R16, and United is waiting winner in QF - while Charlton kicked QPR, Walsall, Stevenage and Brighton to reach QF with Leicester

Ultimately, Messi, and Ronaldo are different types of players, but also different personalities. I actually think Messi is a little more likeable just because of his way of handling things. This has become quite evident on the Ronaldo side of things with Manchester United, and comparing that to Messi's exit from Barcelona. There's a stark contrast to both situations. I know not everything was the same, but Ronaldo really did hurt his reputation, even from his own fans that idolised him.

Then again, I'll always remember Ronaldo more since he's in the Premier League, and I haven't really watched all that much of Messi due to him being in different leagues. Anyway, Liverpool doesn't appear to be in a entirely bad state. A lot of our players got knocked out somewhat early I suppose. Hopefully when the season does start the break from club football has been more helpful than detrimental.

I doubt the banter will go away anytime soon, after, news broke of Messi requesting to display the World Cup trophy at PSG's home game against the country he defeated. The Qatar owners would want this in order to persuade Messi to sign a contract extension, If PSG allows it, another banter will emerge, and if they refuse, another banter will emerge. The Goat can not be turned down so its a difficult decision for the PSG board.

Whatever happens the Brokelona will never go away

They have always looked decent without Ronaldo and that's a Fact.

I've got the task now of looking for all the injuries of the players in the World Cup, despite not really paying much attention to it outside of the Welsh games. I feel that the injuries will play a major part. I haven't checked how Liverpool are doing yet, but I already know we are without a few of our key players, like Diaz before the world cup even started. I think he's due back around March time. So, I'm not sure if I just start writing off this season for Liverpool, and just hope for a top four finish.

As long as we start playing some decent football, and somewhat consistency I won't feel too bad. However, the start of the season was absolutely atrocious.

Brokelona lol that made me laugh!

I can't believe people are still trying to compare Messi/Ronaldo when it's time to put it to bed. A great reminder to myself why I stopped following social media at all, so many childish people who are grown up adilts lol.

Liverpool City should be a good game, I hope we get a lot of goals, remember they had 2-2 games and those were just so entertaining.

Yup! I believe that debate or banter is pretty much dead now, at least for the time being since Ronaldo is currently out of a club and Messi will just be Messi, so It's all going to be just about EPL, FPL and UCL... while following La Liga and Serie A too, there is barely any much controversy or debate worthy topics, other than the stale Brokelona trend whenever we draw or lose a game, and Juventus decline.

I believe I'll be heavily involved and following the FPL, and the post Ronaldo Man United era, they looked quite good tonight but that's against Burnley, with Rashford and Garnacho playing quite brightly, however I'm not so sure Garnacho will be able to live up the pressure.

I didn't want to ruin my beautiful eye sight from the World Cup final, so I skipped all the league cup matches until the Liverpool - Manchester City match. At the very least, I deserve a good welcome back with a Halaand hattrick and Darwin open sitter miss and a good laugh. The Messi/Ronaldo fanboy banter on Twitter is becoming tedious and childish; I hope the season resumption shifts those banters to new ones among club football fans.


there is no second leg in the EFLC up and there is no extra time, every full time games goes into PK shootout. We only have two legs games in the semi-final games.

This is like a fresh start; let's see how many big clubs can keep up after the exhausting World Cup with all the injury shit.

Even I would love for this fixture to go to extra time and penalties but I think this EPL cup if the game ends in a draw they rematch after one week,at least that was the case for the EPL cup before some years,it would be nice if they change the format to extra time and penalties and not with another game as by doing so we can see a lot of games if the games keep ending in draws.

Arsenal should have nothing to worry as they are fully concentrated in the Premier League and I think they will have high chances to win it as long as they take any game with serenity,both Liverpool and Manchester City have shown flaws in their last games.

Isn't it going to be in the league's and champions league best interest for Man City and Liverpool not to lose this early into their domestic cups ? Unfortunately, one of them have to go tomorrow night, right. However, If I were an Arsenal, Chelsea or Man United, I'll definitely wish for both Liverpool and Man City to have their fixture schedule clogged ahead of the second rounds of the league and champions league knockout stages, because the last thing you lots need to worry about is a Guardiola or Klopp team that has nothing on their plate to play for but the Premier League, the competition might even be over before the end of February or at the worse very early in to the month of March.

I'm still taking my deserved rest from the euphoric world cup final drama, so I've had little time to notice the EFL cup is already on, but I did watch some decent minutes of Newcastle's fixture last night, and I must say they still look very much like the real they were before the world cup break.

Manchester City has won five of the last seven EFL Cup. This is getting boring, Liverpool won the last one, and at this point, I want both teams to lose. Every new Manchester City player must now have at least one EFL Cup. These guys are running that league for fun, and I wouldn't be surprised if they overtake Liverpool as the most successful holders in no time.

While other teams are having fun, I have to endure Chelsea Haram for the rest of the season, from Messi strolling through Joško Gvardiol like a piece of cake and Mbappe scoring epic goals to Kai Havertz and Mount missing sitters against some old school boys from Bournemouth high school.... wait, I have to watch Darwin as well.. 


Avoiding all value bets till new year except I'm going for underdogs to perform magic. Chelsea and Manutd losing their matches is on the table for me

Yeah, me too man. Nothing better to remove the disappointment of World Cup than to take it all out on opponents in the league. I know it's a crappy EFL cup game, but it'd be great to knock City out on a competition they used to win every season (was it 4 or 5 seasons in a row again?). Saw some training and friendly videos of Salah, Firmino, that's great but much nicer to see Thiago and Matip fit again (and Milner once more clocking record distances wtf).


I put in very early bets against both these teams actually. I still backed Spurs in the pool because it's... Brentford and it's still an easy fixture.

United also has N'ham Forest at home, easy peasy, but you never know if Varane and Martinez are either tired or drunk heh. 11/1 for Forest AWAY is really poor odds but I still took them.