[FOOTBALL] Midweek Fixtures (28 Feb - 2 March)

[Reg]

I've just picked out some of the games, there's other stuff on as you can see here: http://www.live-footballontv.com

19:45 unless stated.

TUESDAY
Aston Villa v Bristol City
Blackburn Rovers v Derby County
Brighton & Hove Albion v Newcastle United - SS1

Juventus v Napoli (Coppa Italia Semi-Final 1st Leg) - SS4

WEDNESDAY
Man City v Huddersfield Town (FA Cup 5th Round Replay) - BBC1

Inverness CT v Celtic - SS1
Luton Town v Oxford United (EFL Trophy Semi-Final) - SS1
Lazio v Roma (Coppa Italia Semi-Final 1st Leg) - SS4

THURSDAY
Sevilla v Athletic Bilbao - 20:30 SS5

[Jimmy Floyd]

Aberdeen seem to be on telly every week. Do they have some massive fanbase I don't know about, or are Celtic/Rangers games all on a channel I don't have?

[Offshore Toon]

A lot of Newcastle fans are quite worried, but we've turned up for the big games this season and Brighton aren't that good. I think it'll be tight because Brighton have been solid defensively and we're without Gayle, but I see us winning 1-0 or 2-1.

[Giggles]

Will.this be worth a watch tonight or are Newcastle dour as fuck because of Benitez?

[Offshore Toon]

We're not particularly exciting to watch outside of the few times we've battered teams this season, so I wouldn't bother.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I said this the other week but when I saw Brighton up close I thought they were very limited. Managed to leak 3 fairly soft goals that day as well, which is normally their strength. Mentally strong though, which is half the battle.

[John]

Aberdeen seem to be on telly every week. Do they have some massive fanbase I don't know about, or are Celtic/Rangers games all on a channel I don't have?

Rangers games tend to be on BT Sports, barring the Old Firm which Sky seem to have a six thousand year lease on.

[Offshore Toon]

They're a bit of a one-man-team with Knockaert as well.

[Giggles]

I said this the other week but when I saw Brighton up close I thought they were very limited. Managed to leak 3 fairly soft goals that day as well, which is normally their strength. Mentally strong though, which is half the battle.

Was that the Huddersfield game? They were shite that night.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Brentford. Don't think it was on TV. Around the same time though.

[Reg]

Will.this be worth a watch tonight or are Newcastle dour as fuck because of Benitez?

I think it'll be good and both teams will score.

[Pleb]

Sportfreunde Lotte v Borussia Dortmund sounds hilarious.

MLS is back this weekend. Joy.

[niko_cee]

Brentford. Don't think it was on TV. Around the same time though.

They were in a bit of a bad trot then (and without Dunk and Stephens who are probably their two best players) playing sides they always seem to struggle against (Brentford inexplicably lolled them out of town the Amex earlier in the season) so I'd treat those two games as outliers rather than the norm. They were very much 'back to their best' against Barnsley and Reading (probably the performance of the season). Their best being defensive solidity and ruthlessness/efficiency in attack. Not sure either side will be fully prepared to lose to win tonight so I can see it ending in a draw, which maybe suits both, and maybe suits neither.

[Adamski]

I've just picked out some of the games, there's other stuff on as you can see here: http://www.live-footballontv.com

19:45 unless stated.

TUESDAY
Aston Villa v Bristol City
Blackburn Rovers v Derby County
Brighton & Hove Albion v Newcastle United - SS1

Juventus v Napoli (Coppa Italia Semi-Final 1st Leg) - SS4

WEDNESDAY
Man City v Huddersfield Town (FA Cup 5th Round Replay) - BBC1

Inverness CT v Celtic - SS1
Luton Town v Oxford United (EFL Trophy Semi-Final) - SS1
Lazio v Roma (Coppa Italia Semi-Final 1st Leg) - SS4

THURSDAY
Sevilla v Athletic Bilbao - 20:30 SS5

Any Juventus game is a bit of a snore so I'll avoid that tonight. I'll also avoid going to the Rangers game tomorrow so I'll be all over Lazio vs Roma as I really enjoyed Inter vs Roma on Sunday night.

A quite damning indictment that a team consisting of Szczczczczceney, Salah, Vermaelen, Dzeko & Fazio can be comfortably in second place.

[Reg]

Yeah I think I'll watch Roma as well, although it doesn't look like the second leg is on TV which would be a shame.

They're a bit of a one-man-team with Knockaert as well.

We look to him in the build up a lot, but we have four players on double figures so it's not like if he doesn't score we don't win.

[niko_cee]

Knockaert has taken them from being play-off contenders to title contenders, but he's not a one man show.

His dad dying has done wonders for team unity/spirit though.

[Jimmy Floyd]

To me it looked more like it was a well structured team and Knockaert was more the icing on the cake - albeit there wasn't much other icing going around.

[Weaver]

Gouffran up front for us tonight, with Perez, Murphy and Mitrovic all on the bench.

I'll take 0-0 now.

[John]

I'll also avoid going to the Rangers game tomorrow

I'll be going, but I'll be popping into the newsagents beside Cardonald College to get some Buckfast at 2003 prices to make the whole thing bearable. This upcoming Old Firm could genuinely be a record scoreline.

[niko_cee]

Nice one Bobby.

[Samadini]

Finally non stop crosses into the box once we drop Mitrovic. Good work.

[niko_cee]

Christ, Rob Lee doesn't look great.

[Alan Shearer The 2nd]

That's the best worst goal I've seen in a long time.

[-james-]

Not seen many worse third choice left backs than this Tomori chap.

[mo]

Town winning 3-1 currently, on for back to back wins for the first time this season. We'll still get relegated, this is just the bit where they give us hope so that relegation is all the more crushing.

[phonics]

Any coincidence between the wins and Sherwood being nowhere near the place?

[niko_cee]

The battle of West London perplexity down Brighton's left has been, erm, interesting.

[mo]

Any coincidence between the wins and Sherwood being nowhere near the place?

I'd say there is an extremely strong correlation. Performances improved since he 'stepped back' and we've two wins out of two since he' been banned. Just praying he fucks off completely now. Cunt.

(Sherwood, not you).

[GS]

Rafa.

[Shindig]

Didn't even know we were playing.

[Offshore Toon]

All went as I had predicted, really. I was in the Newcastle end and it was fucking brilliant. No trouble at all and best away crowd by far this season.

[Shindig]

Sky's highlights really show us up, mind. Two more big matches to come.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Fikayo Tomori is a sort of bustling right back who gets up and down on that side and as far as I know doesn't have a left foot, not sure why anyone thought putting him left back was a good idea.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Rocket Roy in talks for the Leicester job

What a man.

[Spammer]

Scunthorpe and Bolton have fucked up their games in hand so it looked like THE MIGHTY BLADES are on course to smash the league . Back in the Championship next season.

Fucking bosh. Looking forward to being the dominant force in Sheffield again

[Jimmy Floyd]

I think you'll find the Cod Army are coming to get you.

[Adamski]

Someone on my Facebook has been banging on to anyone who will listen that Pogba is easily in the top 3 midfielders in the Premier League.

I'm of the opinion that whether he's even in the top 3 midfielders at Manchester United is up for debate, what say you?

[Lewis]

You're a div, lad.

[Reg]

Hughton reacted too late with his subs. The game was slipping away long before they scored and we could have done with probably an extra midfielder or at least some fresh legs up front. Far from a disaster though with Newcastle's run coming up.

Fikayo Tomori is a sort of bustling right back who gets up and down on that side and as far as I know doesn't have a left foot, not sure why anyone thought putting him left back was a good idea.

Out of necessity. Bong, Rosenior and now Pocognoli have been injured, so he was next up. He can play both sides apparently, but it was clear he didn't want to dribble with his left. I thought he did quite well defensively after his first 10 minutes.

[Reg]

Someone on my Facebook has been banging on to anyone who will listen that Pogba is easily in the top 3 midfielders in the Premier League.

I'm of the opinion that whether he's even in the top 3 midfielders at Manchester United is up for debate, what say you?

He isn't in the elite class yet. Never controls a game. When United play well so does he, but he's never the one to decide if it's their day or not.

[Spammer]

I think you'll find the Cod Army are coming to get you.

They're definitely on the radar and they did us over at Bramall Lane a few weeks ago. I wasn't at the match but it's been noticed by a few people they're looking decent recently, and that they probably would be the ones to catch us if anyone does.

I hope they come up with us. Fleetwood in the Championship would be wonderful.

[Offshore Toon]

Sky's highlights really show us up, mind. Two more big matches to come.

The first half highlights don't reflect the game at all. We were dominant. Brighton came out much better in the second half and probably started off dominant, but the tides turned again.

I'd forgotten about Gouffran's 1-on-1. It was clear from early on he wasn't going to do anything up top.

[Kikó]

He isn't in the elite class yet. Never controls a game. When United play well so does he, but he's never the one to decide if it's their day or not.

He definitely is. But he's still inconsistent.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The top 3 midfielders in the Premier League are Pogba, Kanté and Sulley Muntari.

[Lewis]

Teams tend to have a designated game controller these days (Michael Carrick), so assessing Paulp Ogba on that is pretty out-dated. Frank Lampard never controlled a game in his life, but he was good for twenty goals/assists a season, so nobody thought to suggest he should be doing.

[Adamski]

I think thats pretty key, Pogba isn't overtly great at anything so he's easy to dismiss in these conversations.

[Adamski]

Of the top of my head I'm having Kante, Cazorla, Carrick, Gundogan and Fabregas as better than him.

Come at me bro's.

[phonics]

I've ended up watching a few United games recently and you can tell every opposition player is terrified of him. Some Arsenal players get gripped up a bit to throw them off but when it comes to Pogba, some have both arms round his chest and he shrugs them off, controls the ball perfectly to allow him to move forward with the ball.

He'll stop hitting the post soon and everyone will talk about Pogba having ARRIVED despite not having changed his game a jot in 6 months.

[Reg]

In my opinion if he's playing as one of a midfield three he should help control a game more than he does. Because he's not a great goalscorer, or a great defender. And he doesn't tend to have a huge influence on the game when it isn't going his team's way. Players I'd put in that elite level - Silva, De Bruyne, Sanchez etc - all do.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Of the top of my head I'm having Kante, Cazorla, Carrick, Gundogan and Fabregas as better than him.

Come at me bro's.

Has Wonderwang even done anything in a City shirt yet? He may have done, I haven't watched much City this season.

Fabregas isn't better than Pogba.