ADVERTISEMENT

Sergino Dest and Barcelona

Fk_Pitt

Lair Hall of Famer
Gold Member
Dec 3, 2007
50,877
38,276
113
Dest was left out of the 25 player squad by Xavi, who clearly doesn’t rate him. He needs to go and find regular minutes somewhere. Hopefully it’s not the Man U trainreck. But then again, I suppose if United has regular minutes to give then that’s as good of a place as any.
 
Losing 4-0 at the half. Eff them…hope they go down
 
Losing 4-0 at the half. Eff them…hope they go down
I had a 6 game parlay. I was in good shape, even rightfully betting a draw in the Brighton match. Sadly I bet United too so they messed up an otherwise flawless parlay. Eff them. Relegate them. And to Sergino…just say no!!!
 
Frenkie De Jong has to be watching what is going on and completely ruling them out as a possible destination. They talking heads on Peacock were talking about how Ten Hag will need 3-5 years to get that dump back to where it was under Sir Alex
 
Frenkie De Jong has to be watching what is going on and completely ruling them out as a possible destination. They talking heads on Peacock were talking about how Ten Hag will need 3-5 years to get that dump back to where it was under Sir Alex
One survey I saw yesterday had Liverpool overtaking United as the most popular club in the US. United’s time is over.
 
One survey I saw yesterday had Liverpool overtaking United as the most popular club in the US. United’s time is over.
I really hope it is. Atleast under Sir Alex I could attribute my dislike of them to jealousy and Sir Alex was a solid manager and the team always seems to have talent mixed with grit.

Now that he is gone...no jealousy. You come to realize how Penn State like their fanbase is. Then you see how overrated and lousy they are then you come the realization you just hate them, their fanbase and everything about them.

They really are the Penn State of the EPL right now.

The fans I feel for are the older timer United fans. But newer age and generation, go kick rocks.
 
One survey I saw yesterday had Liverpool overtaking United as the most popular club in the US. United’s time is over.
I don't know how United screwed up the massive head start they had. They were the Yankees. The world's team. And now they are just a team.
 
I don't know how United screwed up the massive head start they had. They were the Yankees. The world's team. And now they are just a team.
Somehow the Glazers have things a mess off the field. Jose Mourinho once said that his best coaching job was taking them to 2nd place with everything he had to deal with behind the scenes. During this time over the past 10 years there’s been a steady gradual decline in their play and to me an increase in USA popularity at the same time. Liverpool has been an attractive team during this period and naturally new fans are going to gravitate to Liverpool instead of a team who really hasn’t won a Prem in years.
 
Dest clearly is Barca’s best option at RB, but he is even more clearly buried in Xavi’s doghouse. Araujo is probably their best CB and playing him at RB hurts them defensively and offensively.

Frenkie, who also is in Xavi’s doghouse, came in after an hour on Saturday and was clearly the best player on the pitch. IMO, Barca should play a 3-4-3. They don’t need two attacking backs with the speed and width Dembele and Rafinha can provide on the wings, and Alba is a major liability defensively. Frenkie should replace Busquets. He is the best outlet for TerStegen from the back and can bring the ball up against pressure. He also has great vision and can get the ball to an open winger quickly.

Gavi is just lost when he is on the pitch at the same time as Pedri. They don’t work well together. Put Kessie in his place or in Busi’s place if Gavi can be effective in a 3-4-3.

Frenkie refused a transfer to Man U because he won’t go to a team not playing in the Champions League. He might accept a transfer to Chelsea if Xavi doesn’t start him this week with Busi suspended, especially after he was so good on Saturday. I don’t know how good a fit he is for Chelsea since his best position is where Jorginho plays. He and his gf love Barcelona so much that they really don’t want to leave the city. It’s as much the city as the team for him. In the 3 months we were just there, we saw them 3 or 4 times just walking around or eating in an outdoor cafe. Also saw him out with some Dutch players who I think were visiting after their season ended. Didn’t look like Ajax players to me so I think they were former teammates ftom his junior team. I have never seen another Barca player out in public in the 7 long trips I have taken to Barcelona which total almost 13 months. He also reportedly is already fluent in Spanish and speaks Catalan adequately.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fk_Pitt
Dest clearly is Barca’s best option at RB, but he is even more clearly buried in Xavi’s doghouse. Araujo is probably their best CB and playing him at RB hurts them defensively and offensively.

Frenkie, who also is in Xavi’s doghouse, came in after an hour on Saturday and was clearly the best player on the pitch. IMO, Barca should play a 3-4-3. They don’t need two attacking backs with the speed and width Dembele and Rafinha can provide on the wings, and Alba is a major liability defensively. Frenkie should replace Busquets. He is the best outlet for TerStegen from the back and can bring the ball up against pressure. He also has great vision and can get the ball to an open winger quickly.

Gavi is just lost when he is on the pitch at the same time as Pedri. They don’t work well together. Put Kessie in his place or in Busi’s place if Gavi can be effective in a 3-4-3.

Frenkie refused a transfer to Man U because he won’t go to a team not playing in the Champions League. He might accept a transfer to Chelsea if Xavi doesn’t start him this week with Busi suspended, especially after he was so good on Saturday. I don’t know how good a fit he is for Chelsea since his best position is where Jorginho plays. He and his gf love Barcelona so much that they really don’t want to leave the city. It’s as much the city as the team for him. In the 3 months we were just there, we saw them 3 or 4 times just walking around or eating in an outdoor cafe. Also saw him out with some Dutch players who I think were visiting after their season ended. Didn’t look like Ajax players to me so I think they were former teammates ftom his junior team. I have never seen another Barca player out in public in the 7 long trips I have taken to Barcelona which total almost 13 months. He also reportedly is already fluent in Spanish and speaks Catalan adequately.
Jorginho is an enigma. Great player and great guy and teammate. If Chelsea were to get Frenkie, Jorgi would be free to go to Juventus who is always sniffing around. And if Jorgi leaves, we will all be torn. Sometimes fans don’t know how Jorgi impacts games, he just does. He’s certainly not an elite playmaker that’s for sure. Best description of him that just popped into my head is James Robinson at Pitt.

Kante is out for a month. He just can’t stay healthy. Kovacic is not fit either. So maybe another CMF is now a priority…but we have Conor Gallagher who in my opinion needs minutes and is a future star.

one question I have Mike…it seems like what Barca is doing to de Jong is not right and simply dirty. He has a contract and he should be paid, right? Who pays him all that money he’s owed if he goes to Chelsea?
 
one question I have Mike…it seems like what Barca is doing to de Jong is not right and simply dirty. He has a contract and he should be paid, right? Who pays him all that money he’s owed if he goes to Chelsea?


That's the part of the story that you aren't getting from most of these places. During the pandemic De Jong reworked his contract to take less money the last couple of seasons in exchange for getting more money in the future. The reason they want to dump him now is because it's time to pay the piper, and they don't have the money to pay. If they can get him to go elsewhere they won't have to pay the salary, including all the money that he essentially deferred, anymore.

That's a big reason that de Jong doesn't want to leave. If he leaves now and gets paid only his "worth" going forward he's going to lose all the money that he essentially deferred to help the team when they needed it. He thinks they owe him the money, and that they are merely trying to get out of paying him what he is owed. And that's a big reason why he doesn't want to leave.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fk_Pitt
One survey I saw yesterday had Liverpool overtaking United as the most popular club in the US. United’s time is over.
That’s because America is home to the biggest bandwagon sports fans. But they will say, my mom is from England and she dated a guy from Liverpool who liked Liverpool, so I love Liverpool. Or, their uniforms are so pretty, I’ll like that team. Now instead of Duke fans who don’t know where Duke is on a map, we now have Duke fans who love Liverpool and don’t know where Liverpool is either.
 
Last edited:
That's the part of the story that you aren't getting from most of these places. During the pandemic De Jong reworked his contract to take less money the last couple of seasons in exchange for getting more money in the future. The reason they want to dump him now is because it's time to pay the piper, and they don't have the money to pay. If they can get him to go elsewhere they won't have to pay the salary, including all the money that he essentially deferred, anymore.

That's a big reason that de Jong doesn't want to leave. If he leaves now and gets paid only his "worth" going forward he's going to lose all the money that he essentially deferred to help the team when they needed it. He thinks they owe him the money, and that they are merely trying to get out of paying him what he is owed. And that's a big reason why he doesn't want to leave.
That’s because America is home to the biggest bandwagon sports fans. But they will say, my mom is from England and she dated a guy from Liverpool who liked Liverpool, so I love Liverpool.
Which is why United has been the most popular team here for 30 years.

I mean, I’m a chelsea supporter and it happened organically. I’ve shared my story here probably a few times so I won’t again. But if they weren’t competitive and competing for trophies, I wouldn’t have been drawn to them because I wouldn’t have known who they were. So it’s a chicken and egg kind of thing. And really, Man City has been arguably the best team in the world over the past several years and they still lag behind Liverpool, Chelsea and others in popularity.
 
Notre Dame subway alumni: Wondering why you left them out.
We are talking about the women, if mens I’d have ND. But with ACC women, ND would be in the 4th or 5th spot. I would put wake and potentially Louisville squeezing in ahead of ND. They were 4th last year but other teams will be much better this year after being down or just having bad luck.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT