Yeah Mourinho got beat at his own game.

How the fack have Barca decided on Koeman to get them out of this absolute cluster fack they’re in?

Because he used to play for them. It’s usually a good enough reason to get the Barca job.

They are genuinely run by a load of Boris Johnson’s

I don’t think Koeman’s that bad a choice, to be fair. He’s a decent manager. But I’m actually surprised he’d take the job right now. It’s got potential to go really badly given the mess the club is in. And the Netherlands are looking a decent bet to do well at the Euros as well.

I love how much revisionism of Lukaku there was last night

Don't get me wrong, he's a very good goalscorer. But there's so much more to being a top striker than just scoring goals. Technically, he just isn't at the top level.

He also seems to have a habit of scoring goals late on against tired, demotivated teams when the result is already beyond doubt. Or against the lesser teams. Which is stat padding. He had an awful game yesterday before he scored.

I haven't checked if this is true, but I read on Twitter that in 39 games against the top 10 Premier League sides, he only scored 3 times.

I get he's doing well now at Inter (even though he's been stat padding there as well), but that doesn't mean United were wrong to sell him.

comment by Imran The King Khan (U10026)
posted 13 hours, 5 minutes ago
Silva to Real Sociedad.
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Quite a coup for them and a great addition quality-wise for La Liga.

Also peed Nazio off big time too, apparently.

comment by Samir (U2630)
posted 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
I love how much revisionism of Lukaku there was last night

Don't get me wrong, he's a very good goalscorer. But there's so much more to being a top striker than just scoring goals. Technically, he just isn't at the top level.

He also seems to have a habit of scoring goals late on against tired, demotivated teams when the result is already beyond doubt. Or against the lesser teams. Which is stat padding. He had an awful game yesterday before he scored.

I haven't checked if this is true, but I read on Twitter that in 39 games against the top 10 Premier League sides, he only scored 3 times.

I get he's doing well now at Inter (even though he's been stat padding there as well), but that doesn't mean United were wrong to sell him.
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He did well at Utd though. He probably wasn’t good enough and selling him wasnt necessarily a bad thing but he still averaged roughly a goal every two games playing for a deplorable Mourinho side.

The stat doesn’t seem true - does it only mean at Utd? He scored 4 against Fergies Utd for WBA in one game.

He is also unlucky to have never taken penalties at Utd which would have boosted his stats considerably.

The stat I saw on twitter:
Lukaku non penalty goals in the league per 90 minutes last year: 0.51

Lukaku non penalty goals in the league per 90 minutes this year: 0.51

comment by Imran The King Khan (U10026)
posted about 11 hours ago
I don’t think Koeman’s that bad a choice, to be fair. He’s a decent manager. But I’m actually surprised he’d take the job right now. It’s got potential to go really badly given the mess the club is in. And the Netherlands are looking a decent bet to do well at the Euros as well.
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Strong character is probably what they need right now too, even though it has the potential to go pear-shaped like when he alienated the dressing-room heavyweights at Valencia.

comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Imran The King Khan (U10026)
posted about 11 hours ago
I don’t think Koeman’s that bad a choice, to be fair. He’s a decent manager. But I’m actually surprised he’d take the job right now. It’s got potential to go really badly given the mess the club is in. And the Netherlands are looking a decent bet to do well at the Euros as well.
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Strong character is probably what they need right now too, even though it has the potential to go pear-shaped like when he alienated the dressing-room heavyweights at Valencia.
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I think he’s a good manager but stylistically miles away from the ‘Barca way’ at Saints he’d sacrifice Tadic/Mane minutes to get the most out of Pelle!
However the last manager to have true success playing the Barca way is probably Pep (Enrique was too direct imo) - so maybe it’s needed.

Good news is Bartomeu intends to stay on until the end of his term, so that might set their reconstruction back another year

Yeah Lukaku revisionism is one of my biggest hates in football fans. They just look at his goal stats - but not when they were scored and who against - and make out like he’s really good. One of the reasons we were deplorable under Mourinho was because of Lukaku. He’s a painful player to watch/have in your team. That stat wouldn’t surprise me at United. He scored one against the top six - same as Smalling did in the same two seasons.

ioag, yeah apparently he didn’t even tell Nazio he was going there instead.

I agree about them needing a strong character. In terms of style, it’s hard to say as he’s shown his teams can play a possession based style as well as being more pragmatic. Which is probably what Barca need. They haven’t got the players to play the way many expect them to. Valverde knew that. In hindsight they’d have been better off keeping him.

I’m looking forward to Barca signing Haller or Joelinton to help Koemans system

Depay’s been doing well as a striker for him. Maybe he’ll try and convert Griezmann into a cf. But I don’t think him and Messi work together in the same team. Barca’s squad is do badly assembled.

they need to get rid of messi

that era is over.

get him off the wagebill and begin again

for me personally, it's a relief that era is now finally over

Messi causes them problems, but there are 20 odd players they need to get rid of before him. He’s still comfortably the best player in La Liga.

It’s probably easier to get rid of Messi included and do a painful rebuild while someone like PSG or City would pay £100m for him

I don’t think City would. Even for Messi.

I don’t think a painful rebuild under the current board is necessary, or likely, as the president will be gone next year anyway. As big a mess as Barca’s squad is in, they can still win the league with Messi in the team.

Abidal’s gone now.

Barca under Enrique were so amazing to watch, that front three played some insane football between them.

Despite all the hate he gets Neymar is just great to watch

I find it weird when there are people that don’t enjoy watching Neymar. He’s the most entertaining player on the planet.

After Phil Jones.

comment by Imran The King Khan (U10026)
posted 48 seconds ago
I find it weird when there are people that don’t enjoy watching Neymar. He’s the most entertaining player on the planet.
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nah ramos is the most entertaining player