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2016/17 Soccer/Football Thread

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DestinyUnknown said:
The most important thing for Germany is that they finally have a good striker in Werner, which is what they had been lacking these past few years. Squad depth is important and all but they already had that before.
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Yeah out of that Confederations Cup squad I think Werner, Draxler and maybe Goretzka are the attackers most likely to push the established lineup.

In other news, looks like Lukaku is going to United over Chelsea after they had another bid for Morata rejected by Madrid. However, BBC and Sky Sports both posted contradictory updates so I'm not sure what's happening.

And Arsenal landing a French striker who's older than 17 and experienced...seems like losing Champions League pushed Wenger to extreme measures.
 
shade said:
neves has just signed for wolves on a 5 year deal, the world has gone mad
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Seems to have regressed tho. Only played 18 games for Porto.

On another note, Chelsea and MU are in bidding war over Lukaku. And the crazy quoted recently makes it difficult for clubs to conduct businesses.
 
Nice, As soon as I can register.

To all this, Semedo to Barça omg. He is not very defensive like Bellerin but I like it more.
 
Pretty interesting to see Wenger's selection in the friendly against Western Sydney:

Koscielny, Elneny, Monreal;
Ox, Ramsey, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles;
Iwobi, Giroud, Lacazette.

There's only one CB in Koscielny while Monreal is the only other defensively minded player and even he is pretty attack minded having got an assist. Pretty much everyone else is in attack with long range specialist Elneny in CB (who scored a goal), another long ranger Xhaka in DM, two strikers in Giroud and Lacazette while Ramsey running behind so much he was basically another striker. You could imagine Ozil and Kolasinac coming in for Iwobi and Maintland-Niles and this being pretty close to the starting XI. What is most interesting to me is the use of Elneny in CB which, along with Xhaka, means opposing teams that plan to pack the defence and sit deep have to prepare to apply pressure to two different players which either reduces their potential for counter attack or forces them to compromise their defence. Obviously you have to assume that they're any good at their job but it's a brave move by Wenger if this is indeed what he plans to do and it makes for an ultra attack-minded team. I assuming that Sanchez is leaving at this point since he has given no indication that he wants to stay and keeps coming out with little soundbites like "my mind is made up, it's now up to Arsenal" and "my dream is to win the champions league" -____-
 
No Luck Involved said:
Pretty interesting to see Wenger's selection in the friendly against Western Sydney:

Koscielny, Elneny, Monreal;
Ox, Ramsey, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles;
Iwobi, Giroud, Lacazette.

There's only one CB in Koscielny while Monreal is the only other defensively minded player and even he is pretty attack minded having got an assist. Pretty much everyone else is in attack with long range specialist Elneny in CB (who scored a goal), another long ranger Xhaka in DM, two strikers in Giroud and Lacazette while Ramsey running behind so much he was basically another striker. You could imagine Ozil and Kolasinac coming in for Iwobi and Maintland-Niles and this being pretty close to the starting XI. What is most interesting to me is the use of Elneny in CB which, along with Xhaka, means opposing teams that plan to pack the defence and sit deep have to prepare to apply pressure to two different players which either reduces their potential for counter attack or forces them to compromise their defence. Obviously you have to assume that they're any good at their job but it's a brave move by Wenger if this is indeed what he plans to do and it makes for an ultra attack-minded team. I assuming that Sanchez is leaving at this point since he has given no indication that he wants to stay and keeps coming out with little soundbites like "my mind is made up, it's now up to Arsenal" and "my dream is to win the champions league" -____-
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Where to? He won't go back to Barca, Bayern and Real Madrid doesn't need him while Arsenal won't sell to Man City (who I believe doesn't need him anyway). PSG is pretty loaded in attack as well. Unless he joins AC Milan, I don't see a destination for him.
 
Random Passerby said:
Where to? He won't go back to Barca, Bayern and Real Madrid doesn't need him while Arsenal won't sell to Man City (who I believe doesn't need him anyway). PSG is pretty loaded in attack as well. Unless he joins AC Milan, I don't see a destination for him.
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That is true, and Bayern's interest has cooled because they don't want to pay his wage demands which means Man City is the only one in the race. They definitely don't need Sanchez but that has never stopped them splashing obscene amounts of cash before. If Wenger lands Lemar which all (unreliable) sources indicate is a done deal, then I think Arsenal will sell if City come in with £60m+. That would leave City with an unbelievably stacked attack (Aguero, Jesus, Sanchez, Sane, Sterling, De Bruyne, D. Silva, B. Silva and all their rejects they spent a lot of money on like Navas and Nolito that they're trying to get rid of). On the other hand, if Lemar joins and Sanchez stays then Arsenal will have a pretty serious attacking depth (Giroud, Lacazette, Welbeck, Sanchez, Ozil, Walcott and Ox to fit into three attacking positions not to mention young players like Iwobi and rejects like Perez). And what is gonna happen to Wilshere?
 
anyone else finding fantasy particularly hard this season? everyone looks expensive, so gotta try to eke out as much value as possible i think.

No Luck Involved any idea on what you think wenger plans to do in terms of formation and staring xi in the coming season? monreal at 5.5mil sounds like great value to me for fantasy if arsene is gonna play him in a more advanced position with 3 CMs - if not trippier for the same price is looking pretty now. thoughts on iwobi and how hes gonna play giroud/laca also appreciated
 
this is my team rn, planning to wildcard it pretty soon. will get rid of willian as soon as hazard is back fit probably. thinking ramsay/zaha are good value for 7m as replacements. REALLY tempted by milner as a defender just for pennos, but 6.5 is something i can't really find rn. southamptons opening fixtures are so good.

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shade: Monreal is a favourite of Wenger's and I expect him to play as the left sided CB with Kolasinac as wing back. He has a good pass on him and has a chance of getting some assists so he'd be my choice for fantasy; however Koscielny is the only 100% sure starter in the defence simply because we have so many CBs so there is a small chance Monreal is rested every once in a while, particularly when the Europa League starts up again.

I don't expect Iwobi to be getting in the team regularly seeing as we have plenty of more senior players in his position. Having said that, he did keep both Walcott and Ox (and Giroud indirectly since Sanchez was playing up front) out of the team for a good half of last season so if he really shines in pre-season then he could do it again but it's too much of a risk for me.

Lacazette I expect will be a direct replacement for Sanchez. From pre-season Lacazette looks good, has a bit of quick feet and got a goal and an assist in his first two half games. Since he's the club record buy, you'd have to expect him to be a secure starter from day one and I expect he will take penalties too so he could be very good value. As I said before, I don't expect Sanchez to stay and I don't think Wenger wants to sell Giroud so I believe Giroud and Welbeck will share the central striker position; so the only blemish for Lacazette is that I think he is likely to be starting on the left. HOWEVER, if by some magical pixie dust Sanchez decides to stay then I think Giroud will go and we will have a Lacazette, Sanchez, Ozil frontline.

edit: forgot to say, the best value for me in the Arsenal line-up is Ramsey; I expect him to start 90% of games and he was very unlucky not to score a bucketload of goals at the end of last season when he came back after injury. He was always running in behind and his average position was often the furthest forward ahead of both Giroud and Sanchez. He hit the post a few times and if those go in this season then he could have an outstanding goal scoring season again.
 
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No Luck Involved said:
shade: Monreal is a favourite of Wenger's and I expect him to play as the left sided CB with Kolasinac as wing back. He has a good pass on him and has a chance of getting some assists so he'd be my choice for fantasy; however Koscielny is the only 100% sure starter in the defence simply because we have so many CBs so there is a small chance Monreal is rested every once in a while, particularly when the Europa League starts up again.

I don't expect Iwobi to be getting in the team regularly seeing as we have plenty of more senior players in his position. Having said that, he did keep both Walcott and Ox (and Giroud indirectly since Sanchez was playing up front) out of the team for a good half of last season so if he really shines in pre-season then he could do it again but it's too much of a risk for me.

Lacazette I expect will be a direct replacement for Sanchez. From pre-season Lacazette looks good, has a bit of quick feet and got a goal and an assist in his first two half games. Since he's the club record buy, you'd have to expect him to be a secure starter from day one and I expect he will take penalties too so he could be very good value. As I said before, I don't expect Sanchez to stay and I don't think Wenger wants to sell Giroud so I believe Giroud and Welbeck will share the central striker position; so the only blemish for Lacazette is that I think he is likely to be starting on the left. HOWEVER, if by some magical pixie dust Sanchez decides to stay then I think Giroud will go and we will have a Lacazette, Sanchez, Ozil frontline.

edit: forgot to say, the best value for me in the Arsenal line-up is Ramsey; I expect him to start 90% of games and he was very unlucky not to score a bucketload of goals at the end of last season when he came back after injury. He was always running in behind and his average position was often the furthest forward ahead of both Giroud and Sanchez. He hit the post a few times and if those go in this season then he could have an outstanding goal scoring season again.
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I agree with you. Since the transition to 3-4-3, I've seen Ramsey being a lot more threatening with his runs and for that reason he's in my Fantasy.
 
Another possible outcome is Chelsea's "serious interest" in Aguero could mean a striker merry-go-round with Sanchez going to City and Costa going to Atletico now that Lacazette has gone to Arsenal.
 
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