Background
In these weekly articles, we will look at some views based on events that happened that week. This weeks views based on:
- Liverpool buying Tsimikas 4 days after having an offer for Jamal Lewis turned down
- Man City beating Real Madrid to get to the quarter finals of the UCL
- Barcelona overcame Napoli to get through to the quarter finals of the UCL as well
- Bayern Munich, a team that has won all matches since December 7th, showing dominance in their game against Chelsea,
Article
Liverpool are ruthless in the transfer market
One minute they are in for Jamal Lewis, the next, they have agreed to sign Tsimikas from Olympiacos for around £11m. The way Liverpool do business these days is they have a have set a value for a player and they make an offer which is as close to their final offer as needed. If they find that the valuations are far apart and there is a chance this could turn into a transfer saga, they simply walk away and move to their backup plan. Days after their defeat to Real Madrid in the 2018 champions league final, they announced they had Fabinho signed up. No rumours, no discussions, no leaks. There is of course a need to do this to avoid other teams coming in and pushing the price up. Added to this is the internal unity with which they work together on this. This truly makes them an efficient machine in the transfer market.
Man City will need Aguero to win the UCL
Bayern Munich will await Manchester City if they overcome Lyon. A team that is in full flow and scoring goals for fun. A machine not too dissimilar to their domestic enemy Liverpool. Against Real Madrid, City dominated and should have scored a lot more goals. They didn’t and they got through mainly due to the current state of their opponents. Against Bayern, they will need to put their chances away especially with the fragility their defence has shown this year. Getting an even 80% fit Aguero back would be beneficial to help them overcome the Bayern machine.
Moment of sadness – Messi’s goal disallowed
De Jong’s crosses with the outside of his foot, Messi using his chest to control the ball taking out the defender at the same time before slotting into the net. A moment of pure joy. At home, we were all struck with wonder of the beauty of the goal and thinking of whether we had ever seen a goal like this before. But then the dreaded VAR came in and we saw that there was an ever so slight touch of the arm as the ball came down. It was accidental and purely down to the to the design of the human body as opposed to any intention to cheat. We were cheated out of the goal. Years from now, few will relive this beautiful moment because the goal never stood. However, all those who saw it live will never forget the purity of the goal and the tinge of sadness that we felt when it was chalked off.
Do the current transfer rules need changing?
Norwich are a team that will be playing championship football, Liverpool are the current english, european and world champions. Jamal Lewis is a left back for a side who conceded 78 goals in the premier league and is probably one of lower earners in the team. After years of sacrificing his life for football, he had the chance to join Liverpool and develop his talents further under Klopp. However, Norwich wanted £20m+ for the player and hence the deal did not happen. Liverpool offered £10m plus a high sell on cut for a player still with a lot to prove. Surely, there needs to be some fairness introduced to these scenarios. Should Jamal Lewis walk into his manager’s office asking for a pay rise to bring him in line with other £20m+ players, the request will be refused. And yet, he is not allowed to leave the club unless someone pays that amount. In Spain, all players have a buyout clause. Is this something that can come in for players in England as well? Maybe a players salary should be increased to reflect the rejected fee? Something not quite right on the way we do things at the moment.
Test Run of European Super League – so far, so good
So far, watching the elite clubs going head to head in a distant land is proving to be exciting and popular with the fans. We’ve been told by our local leagues that this would be boring for us and we would prefer to see only local teams play against each other. Oh, and we don’t want so much football on TV. I have to confess, none of these emotions have so far been inflicted on me yet. Seeing different players, tactics and styles go head to head has been so interesting and tantalising. Yes, there are a percentage of supporters whose life is to attend matches and all the adventure that goes with it. But that does not mean we would not want to see the elite take each other on more regularly as well. Football is entertainment and allows us to drift away from our daily problems for those 90 minutes. So far from what we have seen, this festival of football has been a healthy distraction from all the crap going on in the world right now.
The Alternative 39th Game
Years ago, Richard Scudamore suggested a 39th game that would be played by premier league teams on foreign soil. This idea was branded a disgrace and thrown out. Here is a suggestion for the alternate 39th game. Watching Bayern Munich tear apart all comers in the UCL festival of football, one desire amongst all fans would be to see a game between them and Klopp’s Liverpool, surely, the two best teams in the world right now. How would that game pan out if they both tried their best. High octane attacking football filled with pure quality on and off the pitch. Maybe Thiago could play the first half for Bayern and the second half for Liverpool! Unfortunately, we won’t see this until 2021 at the earliest if we do at all due to the hardened structures of competitions. Other games that we all wanted to see but never? France vs Argentina in 1986, Platini vs Maradona. Or maybe Liverpool vs Milan in 1988 or Netherlands vs Argentina 1988. Football should be about entertainment and the ability to arrange these galactico matches needs to happen sooner rather than later.
Football Features 