Cacofonix the Bard

Interesting. I've read about his passing but assumed he sort of hung out in the centre circle playing accurate long passes. Didn't realise he was capable of playing so many clever, delicate little ones as well. His close control looks really good as well.

We'll be lucky to have a winger as good as Mane every 20 years I reckon. It's hard to figure what a suitably high-class but more realistically attainable standard of winger looks like, but I'll take this recent version of Gakpo if he keeps going

He's so bloody good now. Actually fulfilling his potential and becoming one of the best forwards in the league. We had so many talented signings fizzle out during the wilderness years. It's been refreshing seeing them actually get there in the Klopp/Slot era.

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Watched it again and it looked like he actually picked a spot and placed it instead of just putting his foot through it. Incredible composure in the circumstances.

Crucial intervention from Szobo there to be fair.

Warning: commercial revenue of this magnitude can cause a warming of the cockles. The numbers are staggering. According to figures from Blinkfire Analytics, Liverpool had 1.7billion engagements across all social media platforms last season — more than the top 10 teams in the NFL or the NBA combined. There were 60m alone on the April day when Arne Slot’s side clinched the Premier League title. Yet that is just one way in which the club’s off-field operation has mushroomed in recent years. Over the past decade, commercial revenue has almost tripled. The last set of accounts for 2023-24 was significant in that, for the first time, commercial income (£308million) was more than half of total revenue (£614m). It was also the first time in the Premier League era that they had surpassed arch-rivals Manchester United (£303m) commercially. We're f***ing huge in Asia According to the club’s data, they have close to 250million fans across the continent, and it is their biggest region for retail revenue. Our kits are worth loads The Adidas deal will certainly be more profitable for them than the Nike one. Figures remain confidential, and it will be partly linked to sales and team performance, but the yearly windfall will be a lot more than the figure of £60million per year which had previously been mooted.

Yeah AI is generally awful at anything involving numbers and lists tbf

I got Perplexity AI to do it, and you're right. It is very boring. How Premier League PSR Rules Work Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) allow clubs to make a maximum cumulative loss of £105m over a rolling three-year period. These rules are designed to ensure teams do not overspend relative to their income and help keep English football financially stable. Player transfer fees for incoming signings: The cost of a new signing can be spread out, or amortised, across the length of their contract. For example, if a player is bought for £100m on a five-year contract, only £20m per year is counted in PSR calculations. Sales of players: The entire transfer fee from a player sale is counted as profit in the financial year the sale happens, minus any remaining book value of that player on the club's books. For most Premier League transfers, this book value is relatively low (especially for academy graduates or long-term players), so almost the full fee counts as profit. The Isak/Liverpool £150m Example If Newcastle were to sell Alexander Isak to Liverpool for £150m, almost the whole £150m would be added as profit to Newcastle’s accounts for that financial year (subject to the usual accounting of any remaining amortised value for Isak). This gives Newcastle a huge "boost" in their PSR calculation for that year—you can think of it as PSR "headroom" or capacity to spend. The £450m PSR Room Claim: Is It Accurate? The statement that selling Isak for £150m gives Newcastle “£450m in PSR room” is NOT strictly true by the letter of the rules. Here's where this idea comes from: If Newcastle is near their £105m loss limit, a £150m profit allows them to "spend" much more on new players, because of how amortisation reduces the PSR hit from new signings. For example: Newcastle could theoretically spend £450m on new players (on five-year deals) because, under amortisation, only £90m (1/5th of £450m, per year, over three years) hits the PSR calculation annually—so they could balance this with the £150m profit from the sale. However, this is only a simplified, imaginary scenario; in reality, actual PSR room depends on ALL ins and outs, wages, and overall club accounts, not just one transfer.

I have no idea who they are but this isn't very nice is it? I'm glad none of those projectiles hit them in the head.

Got Perplexity to do a 20 dot point summary of How Liverpool Can Afford the Isak Transfer from The Athletic:

Battering ram of a player who pressed and won the ball back with an intensity I've rarely seen and tried to make things happen with the ball when nothing was going right. Didn't seem to mind if he went through a defender or around them. Loved his commitment

Now this is the sort of thread title I encourage more of. Hope eric has something special up his sleeve for Isak

Apologies if already discussed but why would he be that desperate to leave? He just won a championship ffs

f***ing hell, the athleticism. I was wondering if that was on 1.5x speed.

Yeah I could be wrong, but I can't imagine it feeling like anything like a huge intrusion.

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What the f*** what the f***. Absolute gut punch

Him and Rafa seemed to hate each other pretty quickly. Keane seemingly hated Rafa because he couldn't understand what he was asking him to do and Rafa hated Keane because Keane was a tactically bereft, and thick, c***.

Fairly often teen prodigies can fail to develop but what made it weirder was Houllier claiming he'd improved enough to be worth eight figures when he came back from loan at Lens. He was turning 20 and our record signing was still Heskey for 10.5m. I expected to see someone sensational that season.

Sigh. I fought the good fight. Yeah there's a lot of those isn't there? He's good at it. I don't usually note what other teams' defenders are doing but I've seen him defend like a demon when I've watched Bournemouth. He's going to be a fantastic signing.

Don't give up yet, yours might still be the one that makes it, like a successful sperm.

First interview where he speaks English even more excellently than I speak Magyar nyelv Drats! I was hoping you wouldn't understand

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Well I did it. Now who's going to support me?