Tag: Premier League

Office Lock of the Day 1/3

Finally a loss on the office lock. Can’t be perfect in betting — just not possible. 5 wins in 6 games isn’t bad so we are going to bounce back in the new year.

Arsenal vs Chelsea -0 (-122)

Taking the draw no bet for the off chance that Chelsea isn’t able to put one in the night. Arsenal is at home but are missing a few key players due to injury (Ramsay, Giroud, Ozil) and Chelsea are on form and just bagged in 5 against a decent Stoke team over the weekend. I see this being a 1 goal victory for Chelsea in a low-scoring affair, despite being at Emirates. Take Chelsea with the DNB for some cover if they draw.

 

LOTD: 5-1-0    Form: WWWWL

Last Pick

Transfer Madness: Virgil van Dijk Completes £75 million Liverpool Move.

Madness!!! We are shade over 48 hours from the opening of the January transfer window, and Liverpool captured the central defender they have been been hunting for nearly 6 months.

Quick breakdown of transfer business briefly before I get into a rant. There are two opportunities teams can add new players. The Summer window is the first opportunity to purchase players. The window is open from July 1st, with deadline day coming on August 31st (think trade deadline in U.S. sports). The second, is the January Window, open from January 1 to 31st.

The Virgil van Dijk saga had been going on since the summer began. He had made it clear he wanted to move to a bigger club than Southampton. A move never materialized as he was under contract with Southampton, and they were intent on keeping the player instead of selling. Liverpool were 1 of 2 teams interested in the summer. Manchester City were the other.

The transfer has been completed at long last after months of speculation. Even though it is a few days before the window opens, the clubs agreed to the £75 million fee, and Virgil passed his Liverpool physical. The club even announced it a few days early, but he won’t be able to join Juergen Klopp’s side until January 1st.

Let me be the first to say that this transfer is an absolute joke. The £75 million pound fee is the highest ever paid for a defender. Not just in the Premier League, but the WORLD. Utter nonsense!!! Virgil is a very good player, and will vastly improve Liverpool’s trash back-line don’t get me wrong.

(^ LOL clowns)

He’s not the best defender in the world. For the longest time, that title went to Sergio Ramos of Real Madrid. Now, you could throw a few other names in the mix.

Let me just name 10 defenders I’d rather spend big money on. In no particular order:

1. Mats Hummels

2. Sergio Ramos

3. Raphael Varane

4. Gerard Piqué

5. Cesar Azpilicueta

6. Jérôme Boateng

7. Dani Alves

8. Thiago Silva

9. Leonardo Bonucci

10. Marcelo

Now, I would take each one of these guys in a heartbeat. I would NOT pay £75 million for ANY of them. Those 10 are world class too. Best of the best defenders money can buy. Notice how the majority of them played for Champions League teams. Bayern Munich, Paris Saint German, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and none from fucking Southampton.

Virgil will certainly help Liverpool, and at the end of the day, there’s no salary cap. What the fuck do I care? He definitely can play. He’s got good mobility for a defender, and posses great ball skills. Traits not owned by many defenders, let alone big central defenders. I don’t really care about the price tag, I am just shocked. All I can pray for is this man flops under Klopp. Fuck Liverpool man, fuck ’em.

Update: Philipp Lahm retired, never fear Thiago Silva is here. I guess I’ll go screw now.

Harry Kane Becomes Highest Goal-Scorer of 2017

Harry Kane bagged a hat-trick today against Southampton to bring his goal total to an astounding 56 goals in the calendar year of 2017. We always refer to Messi & Ronaldo as the best goal-scorers in the sport and rightfully so.  Here’s his second goal today that put him in first place for the year:

Tottenham’s striker has very quietly put in the most goals in a calendar year in the Premier League as well at 37 goals. To pour on more stats that show how insane this actually is:

Just some casual stats there.  The man has absolutely been on fire all year but will not get close to the same credit as those big names. Not to mention that he’s only 24 and still improving. This was the year for the Spurs to put it all together but they’ve fell flat on their face so far. This can’t take away from the fact that Kane is the best striker in the world right now.  He beat Alan Shearer’s record which many thought was unattainable. Shearer even took to Twitter to congratulate him.

Good to see the support from one of the game’s legends for a kid who’s only destined to improve. If he does it in 2018 again, I think it’s time to give him the respect he deserves.