Ah… the return of the beautiful game where teams who pay more win more in the long run… 💷
The Pochettino Dynasty and The Liverpool Shambles
The Klopp era at Liverpool was inaugurated with a match against Pochettino’s Spurs. In poetic fashion Pochettino faces off with Klopp in his first competitive game managing a highly-rejuvenated Chelsea. This could herald the beginning of the Pochettino-dynasty.
Despite the abundance of chances and chaotic situations, the 2 sides could not avoid a 7th successive low-scoring draw.
Match Pointers: CHE vs LIV
- Liverpool lucky to get a draw. Defensive third often chaotic. Liverpool’s MOTM was Alisson. Seldom a good sign when your goalkeeper was your best player.
- Enzo Fernandez is a monster: The 105M fee paid for him is possibly an undervaluation. Whichever team had him on their side would have been the better team in that game. MOTM, by far.
- Pochettino, backed with Boehly’s funds, can create a dynasty.
- Chelsea, without European football, are serious competitors. The effects of last season’s abysmal performances will not manifest strongly this season. They are very comfortable in possession. Chelsea will be much better this season and will have a shot at the title if they start the campaign with a run of wins like Arsenal last season.
- Szoboszlai’s corners are better than TAA and Robertson’s corners.
- Insane end-to-end game, top drawer in entertainment terms.
- Liverpool in dire need of reinforcements. Got bullied in the wings and by long diagonal balls. Attack not as blistering as one may have expected based on the lineup on paper.
- In the second half Liverpool basically admitted Chelsea were the stronger team of the evening by setting up more cautiously.
- Chelsea’s new signings looked good, and their fullbacks ran Liverpool ragged.
- Liverpool need to refine their defensive tactics and set-up during phases where TAA moves into midfield.
- Liverpool lost attacking steam after the first 20 minutes.
- Pochettino showed his tactical expertise with a back-3 system despite his usual set-up being a back-4. Switched to a back 3 at times during his Tottenham stint, despite the usual 4-2-3-1 formation.
- Reece James the best right-back in the league, by some distance. Put in dangerous crosses. Made of glass, however. Would be an auto-pick in FPL if not for his injuries.
- Mudryk redeployed to the right-flank as a substitute. Most likely a stopgap positional shift in pursuit of a result against a retrograded Liverpool. Mudryk is someone who can punish tiring defenders.
- Liverpool did not look secure in possession. When at the feet of Salah, Diaz, Jota or Gakpo, the ball feels like it’s going to be lost within the next 5 seconds. Previously Liverpool had 2 key triangles on each wing (Mane-Wijnaldum-Robertson and Salah-Henderson-TAA), which greatly aided ball retention. Similar triangular play in the wings has been non-existent since last season.
Other Matches
- Bissouma, who is the Caicedo of 2 seasons ago, was good. Hojbjerg may be out of favour now, having been a nailed pick under the last 3 Spurs managers.
- Ronaldo clutch again for Al-Nassr. He loves a competition with the word “Champions” in their name.
- Maddison off to a good start. Spurs have had severe gaps in attacking midfield creation since Eriksen left. Lo Celso may have an important role under the new manager too.
- Wolves had a late penalty denied which would have likely gave them an equaliser in a game they dominated. Man United were poor which did not surprise me. Rashford will never cut it as a striker, Antony and Garnacho just aren’t that great, while Mount can’t play centre-midfield in a 4-3-3. The extent of Wolves’ domination was surprising, however, given their recent turbulence and weak transfer window.
- Nottingham Forest accumulated more xG than Arsenal, but Arsenal held on. Saka is amazing and seems to be continually improving.
The Transfer Market
The Phenomenal Perspicacity Of Sagacious Supporters
Even after Saudi Arabia have bought Ronaldo, Neymar, Benzema, Kante, Mahrez and co., some Chelsea (and other rival) fans can still believe that players weigh “a club’s pull” significantly relative to the pull of money. You’re telling me Neymar went to the Saudi Pro League for Al-Hilal’s “pull”?
The degeneracy! Truly remarkable the extent of cognitive dissonance some people can have. How smooth-brained one can be.
Furthermore, all else equal, Liverpool has to offer more enticing contracts than Chelsea to attract players due to inferior geography. Chelsea is situated in an affluent area of London while Liverpool is a relatively poorer area of England.
Also, some agents have a lot of power over their player, complicating the transfer negotiation process. The agents’ incentives may not be well-aligned with that of the player.
Financial Unfairness ⚖️💵
Of course a club which offers higher wages and can incur a net spend of over a billion in less than 12 months is more attractive to a player than a club which has a stubborn wage structure and a net spend of less than 200 million since 2018 despite winning every possible trophy from 2018-2022. Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa have spent more. Liverpool have the most austere management in the Top 7. Even Tottenham, who are so frequently ridiculed for parsimonious management, have a higher net spend in recent years, and they just built a billion-dollar stadium! As current trends and ownerships persist, Liverpool’s results will be at the bottom of the Top 7.
If Liverpool had half the net spend of Chelsea over the past decade, we would be better than Man City.
Liverpool’s owners FSG are fan-satisficing rather than trophy-maximising. Don’t only have eyes for what happens on the pitch, look at the big picture! How can one consider Liverpool as Man City, Chelsea and Man United’s (in the future Newcastle) competitors? Liverpool are midway on the spectrum which has Chelsea and Crystal Palace on its extremes, but their results are judged on the same scale as that of Chelsea. Interesting.
A big reason why many football fans make ill-informed and unfair judgements is because of the kinds of narratives perpetuated in media. Pundits, in their intentional avoidance of discussion over practical affairs as such, are deluding football fans. Many podcasts, large social media accounts and journalists also fail to report adequately a realist view of the sport, to preserve the ‘so-called ‘sanctity of the beautiful game’.
We judge clubs that are run in order to create dynasties by their trophies. For some reason, we also judge clubs that are run in order to maximise profit by their accolades. Football cannot be a fair game if different owners weigh the importance of profit-maximising differently.
FSG Folly
Liverpool have very poor squad depth. In the senior team, there is only 1 striker, 1 right-back, a lack of reliable backup CBs, no senior DM. We’re also thin on CMs, with Thiago’s injury rate.
Chelsea vs Liverpool got off to a fiery start 2 days before kick-off as the bombshell dropped that Liverpool was hijacking Chelsea’s plans by breaking the British record transfer fee for Caicedo. Klopp even verbally confirmed the transfer!
But the transfer eventually fell through. This attempted hijack was a poor move by the club as it prematurely revealed our hand. Now everyone knows how desperate Liverpool are for a defensive midfielder, and have at least 110M to fork out. This weakens our bargaining position.
Canny Chelsea
Yes, Chelsea have made a lot of money from player sales, but their expenditure has far outstripped sales. They have a monstrously exorbitant net spend since Boehly took over. Have they not violated Financial Fair Play (FFP)?
Even as a vexed rival fan, I think Chelsea are playing within the rules. Chelsea are handing out big-money contracts of 8-10 years, double of what is usually given to a young new signing. This allows them to amortise the transfer fee over many years, so only a fraction of the total fee would be accounted in a year. Being young, many of Chelsea’s signings would retain a lot of value after several years, allowing them to recoup a lot of their expenditure or even profit. Enzo Fernandez, Lavia, Caicedo, Mudryk, Fofana and Badiashile could be hotly coveted by other teams if they live up to their hype. I mean, even Mason Mount was sold for 60M.
Certainly many clubs have had a transfer strategy in a similar vein, but none do it to the extent of Chelsea, because it is a risky practice. If Chelsea’s performances and hence revenues regress or fail to keep pace, they could face FFP sanctions. In addition, other clubs are probably not able to withdraw such a massive war chest in an equivalent period of time.
Fantasy 🔮
- Many players this season are severely underpriced compared to other seasons. Even Haaland at 14.0M is underpriced, given his 90% ownership. There’s a wealth of good-value midfield options: Mitoma, Mbuemo, Saka, Martinelli, Diaby, Diaz, Rashford.
- Many starting 4.0-4.5M goalkeepers too.
- Reece James and Chilwell passed the eye test with flying colours, but the former is an injury risk and the latter a rotation risk with Cucurella.
- 33%-owned Gabriel’s benching was a surprise, but he should be less of a risk with Timber’s long-term injury.
- With Man City’s depleting depth in attackers, just one more injury to an attacking player would make their assets very viable.
BLOGOPUS 