Last season there were minor links to this Georgian winger named Khvicha Kvaratskhelia I think, could be a decent move, even though we’re fine up front, once this injuries clear up we’ll be overloaded
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Barrios would be a good shout as a DM. Kinda surprised no one has taken him from Zenit before now as he was highly regarded when he was at Boca.
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Watching Almeria against Lugo, to have another look on Umar Sadiq.
Just scoring his second. The best example of what I tried to say. Real good positioning and sharpness at the right moment. From alone in the centre surrounded by 4 and fighting one centre back off, backing off and popping up perfectly at the place to be. Great striker goal.
His first goal, was decent as well with some luck, through a forrest of defenders. But good control on chest and got a shot off in tight space in the box.
Sometimes he looks more passive, sometimes he´s very active in positional play and falling back deep in the midfield. This really helps to distract the defenders and creating space to come back at the right moment.
Feels like Sadiq adjusts pace during the game, from conserved to higher intensity moments. Not like Youssef, who´s running around wild all the time.
He´s at 16 goals, 9 assists now.
Pozo also not doing too shabby.
Lugo scoring some miracle goals. Ending 3-3, good fight.
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No doubt he’s a decent player but how much are Almería asking for him again?
There’s conflicting reports on it, but all of them propose that he’s worth a lot. I’m not interested in breaking our transfer record on a player playing in the second division, even if that player looks good.
As of now, I’m not sure if I would want to spend much more than 20m, and I doubt Almería would want to accept that. Maybe if they don’t get promoted, we’ll be able to get him for cheaper but I do not want to break our transfer record on a player who hasn’t played in the first division.
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Man Utd are reportedly going to offer us 15 million + De Gea for Bono.
Our reply should be: FUCK OFF Man Utd!
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It was said, instead of 30 million so DDG is valued at 15 million by Man Utd for now.
However, Bono is priceless for us and Dmitrovic’s performance last night showed that with him as a second choice and Bono as first, our goal is completely secure. In fact I can’t remember when we had 2 amazing goalkeepers in the squad, ever.
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Yeah… his career could definitely benefit with a return in La Liga. He has fallen off of Spain NT too, can’t get any worse for him.
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I don´t like De Gea. He had some very low and very high moments. Maybe it got better and more consistent, but I don´t trust him at all. Once he had those problems with his eyes which was a huge issue at one point I´m pretty sure. Even some confidence and very bad mental issues. A history of unstability, but maybe its all behind him who knows. He might have a good game, but I always have a feeling, he could go in a downward spiral any moment. Definitely not the type, I like to have in the goal. Also his physical presence and appearance isn´t impressive for a defense, nor for an attacker. We are and have been blessed with Bono, but I can see there coming some more Big offers leading to his departure, when the offers become too good. Barca with their new found money are after him as well. Will be a tough task.
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I thought DDG has been good for them recently, no?
He fell off after the World Cup but I thought he picked up his form fairly recently
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DDG is a good shotstopper, but he tries a lot of those saves that look good for the camera. Also, i think everyone called him the best cause of that one legendary game away to Arsenal. That same season he fumbled the bag against us in the CL. I’m not sure about y’all, but for GKs to be labeled ‘best in the world’, shouldn’t they have a few consecutive seasons of peak performances?
Also, whispers today about Valverde being a potential replacement for Lopetegui. I respect his pedigree, but it would be boring football all over again, no?
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Barça signing the next 7m euro salary player for next year already. Franck Kessie. Amusing.
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Valverde has La Liga experience having won 2 league titles, 1 CDR and 1 Supercup with Barca as well as 1 Supercup with Bilbao. However, I always thought of him, especially in his last season with Barca as a ball-less coach figuratively, without courage.
Not sure he’s the right one to take over after Lope.
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I do respect Valverde in a way from his Bilbao times, but besides the throphies don´t think attributed much to Barcelona, besides heavily relying on Messi as well. Who scored about 90 goals in that time period, and 40 assists. So a 130 goal contribution yeah that´s something to rely on. Eventho they won two titles I don´t recognize that time as a feared Barca except for individual class. With Guardiola I do have that.
In my dreams I want to have a trainer, who´s ambitious and has an aggressive style, to aim to win by goals forced upon the other team. One who dares, gets the team in a pro active mind set instead of a reserved and passive (not losing, over winning) mindset, with a fear of possesion loss and taking risks. If a team doesn´t learn this over such a long period of time, to account when it´s okay to go for a risk and when not, there is a lot wrong. It´s just an omen of lack of trust and faith in eachother and in the pre-set playstyle.
One of the reasons this myth of ´defensive stability´ is there, is because of the amount of passive play, ruining all the possibilies of actual football and playing a deadball wasteful game. And ironically still considering this we should have conceded a lot more (around 30+), and with the already small amount of chances we created. Our results could have been absolutely abysmal, the stats aren´t positive either, except maybe possesion or saves and offsides lol. So what is. I respect Edinho for wanting to give Lope another year, but it´s really like giving a kid a knife, knowing there is a big chances it will hurt itself, but to see how long it goes well.
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If taken seriously, these kind of article’s main agenda is to make one mad.
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Y’all think we dug ourselves a hole having both Jordan & Rakitic on the same team? It’s uncomfortable to even ask this cause i like both players. But this is the area of the pitch where the ball fails to progress. Jordan actually makes great pass attempts (thru the middle too!), and Rakitic provides goals from midfield. But neither helps us exert a level of dominance vs opponents.
What do you do? We just gave Jordan an extension, and Rakitic is practically an adopted Sevillano.
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We´ve all seen Jordan´s potential. But he doesn´t take enough responsability in my opinion. Rakitic atleast is a true captain. Jordan can hide, and underperform for games on end. Neither does send the team forward or gives a that special drive like his namesake in Liverpool (atleast on the field performance, in celebrating he always is), Who ended up being a real good driving force, and leader. Henderson his first years maybe weren´t the best either, so I hope Jordan will grow more but his development isn´t going as expected or wished for. The club has faith, so that´s good.
I believe Rakitic knows when its enough to step down, or maybe fill a different role in the team or at the club.
They generally don´t do stupid things and are the passers Lope likes, but complementing to a dynamic midfield not so much. Big area we need to look this Summer window.
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David Soria? No thanks,
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They’re quite slow and often the pair doesn’t make the midfield look good in a 4-3-3. I was (and some others were too) protesting about them being fielded all the time especially last season and in the first half of this season but to no avail, Lope didn’t care 
We never replaced Banega and there needs to be a midfielder of his level, which we don’t have, for things to maybe have a chance at working best. But even then, it’s a double-edged sword as you could either get the Banega of the regular 2019-20 season or the Banega of the EL mini-tournament. Lope focusing almost solely on defense doesn’t do a creative midfielder much favor, so of course things will go wrong when you field a super slow and very defensive-minded midfield in a 4-3-3. It puts a lot of strain on the wings (as they’ll need to cover for gaps), will always be outclassed against pacy teams, won’t take much attacking initiative to unlock the game etc. etc.
Ouch. He wasn’t bad. Just not elite.
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Lol nahmean? At least Soria fulfilled the requirement of winning a UEL trophy with us as the starter. Let him live 
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