September football: It never ends, does it?

[Baz]

Looked like Werner was celebrating before he even kicked it.

[niko_cee]

Bernard Lama, Pegguy Arphexad, David James . . .

Dida.

[Luca]

What because he can't bend down to do them himself?

Exactly.


I just want to know if there's been a genuinely good African, heck black goalkeeper before or not. All that's coming to mind beside Shaka are Kameni (clown) and Enyeama (possibly not clown).

Put some FUCKING respect on FUCKING Tim Howard's FUCKING name.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Thomas Nkono, Jacques Songo'o probably the best two from sub-Saharan Africa.

Typically football as played in the region (as opposed to as played by the diaspora in Europe, which now dominates the national teams) has a far greater emphasis on individual expression than European football does. This does, shall we say, manifest itself in the realm of goalkeeping sometimes. For every flapping shite there is a legend like Boubacar Barry who gives us entertainment.

[Don]

If I'm accepting Tim Howard, I'm also accepting everyone bar Adam Bogdan for the first 3 weeks of the season after summer break.

[Giggles]

Someone hasn’t bought a black goalkeeper have they? :face:

[Baz]

Chelsea.

Anyone’s better than Kepa though.

Well, except maybe Pickford, Karius and Joe Hart.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Eric Dier :harold:

[Jimmy Floyd]

I'm giving us 12/1 odds at this shootout. Tammy to moo it into the Seven Sisters Road.

[Waffdon]

Mendy allergic to the other side?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Frankie's boy to miss.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Mount :harold:

[Waffdon]

Mount taking the fifth penalty :D

Lampard’s eventual downfall, alongside not having a clue coaching a team defensively, is shoehorning him into every starting eleven

[Luca]

I hope you're a betting man, Jim.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Mendy fell over the wrong side all five of those penalties. It was like being in on one of those crisp January evenings with the Cup of Nations on Eurosport and shepherd's pie in the oven.

[Manc]

Even penalty shoot-outs have become drab.

[Don]

Theinly triangle of destiny I want to talk about is the one involving Mount, Abraham and Hudson-Odoi destined for the Championship once they find their level.

Spurs with a revitalised Ndombele alongside Hojberg and Reguilon and Doherty on the wings look the real deal.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The one problem I have with Mount is that there appears to be a slight lack of genitalia from him at the key moments. Penalty is one example, but a better one is when he should have put Werner in and decided to pass it to Alderweireld instead. It also comes through in his general finishing. He can technically do it, he just bottles it a lot.

[Lewis]

Mason Cleverley.

[Don]

Just seen footage of Frankie boy giving it to Jose. Jesus lad, wind your neck in you classless cunt, you're a fucking intern.

[niko_cee]

Did Werner not take a penalty? That's a bit poor.

[Danny]

He had cramp apparently

[Jimmy Floyd]

He looked fucked in the last 20 minutes.

I've taken to watching these lockdown games with the sound off (as the sound is bullshit) and without Alan Smith or whoever babbling crap at you, you do pick up a lot more stuff while watching the game. The difference between Kanté and Kovacic after the former came on was obscene. Shame Emerson is a complete goit really or we'd have won.

[Don]

1310692865975222273?s=20

Brexit :drool:

[Spikey M]

Losing to that Spurs team should be grounds for sacking alone.

[John Arne]

Getting knocked out of this cup early doors is a great result. Shit competition, waste of time.

[Jimmy Floyd]

As a fan I want us to win every trophy, but in this particular season, not having the extra games won't hurt too much. Especially when we have championschleague coming up (for some reason I can no longer say that name of that competition except in the Dutch Steve McClaren way).

[Shindig]

On the other hand, a cup run's all my shit side can hope for.

[niko_cee]

These two rounds are the worst for the fixture pile-up, so binning it off for the quarters is a bit pointless. Not that either side did that last night, thought both showed the competition a surprising level of respect, particularly considering Spurs having a game tomorrow. Guess both managers (rightly) understand the importance of winning a trophy and this is one of the few they can realistically aim for.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Both teams 100% wanted to win. Our side wasn't far off full strength really (if we even know what that is). It's just that there's a greater upside to losing than there would have been in a normal season.

[Waffdon]

Think the league cup is getting ready respect this year purely because of the quarantine rules. It’s harder for players not training with the first team to be involved so you won’t see many youngsters or fringe players.

[Don]

Jahanbaksh making Utd cry :drool:

Everton, West Ham and City all taking it more seriously.

[Reg]

Start for Molumby. Forza app has us 4-2-3-1 but think we'll be 3-5-2 or 3-4-3.

Think this is the sort of game which Mata will enjoy. Probably not going to be super end to end, high tempo stuff, and if United just give the ball to Mata he could outclass our (mostly) second string.

[Manc]

Pep's obsession with this competition is inexplicable.

[Ian]

I bet he gets a proper hard-on for being able to say how many total trophies he's won.

[Waffdon]

DCL is what Rashford was meant to be

[Shindig]

Just finished work to see the Newcastle result. Sheesh. Still, it's our first quarter final in the competition since .... Keegan?

[Ian]

Nice of Brighton not to bother defending that.

[Don]

Atalanta are tearing shit up again.

[randomlegend]

What a save that is from Henderson.

[Raoul Duke]

Atalanta are tearing shit up again.

Gomez :drool:

[Don]

Richarlison and Allan injured? :drool: It's gonna be a record margin at the top.

[Giggles]

Richarlison and Allan injured? :drool: It's gonna be a record margin at the top.

As if either would have any influence on that :D

[randomlegend]

Always makes me lol when commentators say a deflection takes "nothing away from a strike" like that, which was going about 8 miles wide.

[Waffdon]

DCL :drool:

[Don]

It's an impressive CV but making something out of that giraffe will be Carlo's magnus opus.

Giggles, we play them soon but I intentionally left it open because they are getting top four.

[Waffdon]

Liverpool, Atletico, Atalanta and Monchengladbach pls

Porto to get the easiest group in history again

[niko_cee]

I would have thought you'd want those [other] teams to do well.

Definitely fancy a bit of 'Atleti' from Pot 2. There's going to be some horrifically shit group involving Shakhtar/Ajax and the dregs of pots 3 and 4.

[Waffdon]

Just noticed Sevilla chilling in pot 1 with Barcelona in pot 2. Europa League really is quite important these days.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Luckily sneaking into pot 2 will mean we avoid most of the sides who can/will eviscerate us. Even if we do get Brian Munich again that would stop us getting Leipzig as well.

Ferencvaros :cool: mugged off both Celtic and Dinamo Zagreb to get there.

[Don]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54372190

No hideous omissions but there are still some hideous inclusions so plenty of scope to put out a retarded XI, fail to win any of the three games, get raped by Belgium and lose his job to Eddie Howe.

[Manc]

What dirt does Kyle Walker have on Southgate?

[Don]

I think he's one of the best defenders England have. Particularly as one of a 3.

[Ian]

It's hard to envision anybody scoring past a back three with both Walker AND Maguire in it.

Wouldn't even matter who the third was.

[Waffdon]

I think he's one of the best defenders England have. Particularly as one of a 3.

Oh, Taz.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If we go into the Euros starting him instead of Arnold-Alexander we will have had a shocker.

[Ian]

He was on the right of a the three last time so he wouldn't be ahead of Alexander-Arnold if we did the same again, he'd be the guy holding the fort if somebody attacks in behind the wing-back.

Which was very effective with Trippier and Walker when Walker seemed liable to give a goal away every time he touched the ball.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Simon Gleave, head of sports analysis, Nielsen's Gracenote: "Porto and Zenit are clearly the teams to draw from pot one as their Euro Club Index rankings put them a good distance behind the other clubs in the highest seeded pot.

"Ajax are the weakest link of pot two despite their 2019 Champions semi-final appearance. They are not at the level of the elite teams from Spain, England and Germany who make up the majority of the second seeds. Compared to most of the second seeds, Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk would also be a decent draw.

"Dynamo Kiev and Krasnodar would be the best draws from the third seeds. Higher seeded clubs will be hoping to avoid RB Leipzig, Internationale and Atalanta.

"Borussia Monchengladbach are clearly the strongest team in the bottom group of seeds. Both Istanbul Basaksehir and Ferencvaros are a good deal weaker than the remainder of the clubs seeded in the final draw pot."

Thank goodness Simon Gleave is here with his sports-analytical expertise.

[Waffdon]

One day we will get the draw without listening to all the pointless shite and handing out trophies nobody cares about

[Jimmy Floyd]

No we won't. It's a massively important commercial and corporate eyeball gatherer, they need to drag it out as long as possible.

[Luca]

Spoken like a man who just got promoted to Head of LATAM.

[Waffdon]

How come Man Utd could only get PSG when the other ball to come was Man City who got drawn in with Porto? How does that make sense?

[Jimmy Floyd]

How come Man Utd could only get PSG when the other ball to come was Man City who got drawn in with Porto? How does that make sense?

They are TV-paired with Liverpool so can't play in the same half as them.

[Ian]

CORRUPTION.

(I dunno.)

EDIT: Or what Jimmy said.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

PSG and RB Leipzig, ugh.

[Waffdon]

Man Utd’s group looks to be the only decent one so far. If Chelsea get that Hungarian team they’ve somehow gotten an easier group than last year. Probably the easiest in existence

[randomlegend]

Liverpool's group looking quite spicy too.

[Giggles]

“TV paired” is just another reason it all needs to be put out of its misery.

[Waffdon]

Yeah, what sort of shite is that.

Do Ajax even have any players left? Not like away games at that sort of place means much with no fans in the ground.

[Don]

I think my old school team is in pot 4. Great to see them doing well.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Knives out :drool:

[Ian]

We're definitely getting bent over in that group.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Yeah, what sort of shite is that.

TV companies don't want the two most famous teams from countries playing at the same time so as to maximise viewership and the value of the rights. It's been a thing for 10+ years (I'm a saddo draw hawk).

Our group is a proper lolfest. Looks like something from the Europa League 16/17 season.

[Giggles]

Liverpool's group looking quite spicy too.

For everyone else maybe. They’ll canter to 6 wins in that.

[niko_cee]

Liverpool's group looking quite spicy too.

How? They'll spanner everyone in it, even with Atalanta assuming the role of hipster's favourite.

[Giggles]

The more I hear about these Faroes the better they sound.

[Jimmy Floyd]

More than half of the Klaksvík squad work either full-time or part-time. Andreasen has just finished his apprenticeship as an electrician, Jacobsen works in a fishing factory, and there are students, carpenters, painters and accountants. In order to enable everyone to train, the coaches set the training sessions for 5pm local time.

:drool:

[Raoul Duke]

One day we will get the draw without listening to all the pointless shite and handing out trophies nobody cares about


No we won't. It's a massively important commercial and corporate eyeball gatherer, they need to drag it out as long as possible.

I believe it's also a legal/IP thing where they have to have a load of palaver around it so that it's "unique" and therefore copyrightable (likewise the reason they have the CL anthem etc.).

[Giggles]

Dundalk aren’t far removed from similar days jobs themselves.

KÍ doing Dinamo Tbilisi 6-1 in the last round was a bit of an eye opener. An Irish club wouldn’t score 6 in a European tie in a million years.

[Baz]

Group F: Zenit St Petersburg, Borussia Dortmund, Lazio, Bruges

Best group. Could be anyone in any position.

[Manc]

Zhirkov still going at 37. He must be gutted with 94 caps.

[Giggles]

Here we go. Dundalk had absolutely shat themselves since the second goal and fully deserved to concede that.

[Waffdon]

Gerrard’s record in Europe with Rangers is pretty great.

[Giggles]

That was squeaky enough until the third.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

lol at that penalty to end it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Willock looked like he thought it was a miss too.

[Gray Fox]

Wilson never looked up to it, even from the walk up.

A shame, but the team selection suggests Klopp probably isn't all too gutted to be going out.

[Baz]

Gonna make a thread soon about how much of a baller Curtis Jones is.

[Raoul Duke]

They should just allow teams to go straight to penalties without playing a match in these dead rubber cup games. Neither team wanted to be there

[Don]

The real takeaway is just how useless Salah looked outside of the system. I probs will retire my Liverpool support when Klopp leaves.

[niko_cee]

That was such a terrible game.

What happened to Shaqiri? Is he injured again? Shame the Greek was injured. Too many square pegs in round holes.

[niko_cee]

The real takeaway is just how useless Salah looked outside of the system.

Salah is always 100% dire in games he ought not be playing in. I guess he must want to do it, but you'd have thought someone behind the scenes would have clocked it by now.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Meelan currently getting beat by Rio Ave. They probably didn't bother paying off the ref for that one either. Some sweaty foreheads at UEFA as the calls frantically go in for a late couple of penalties.

[Gray Fox]

That was such a terrible game.

What happened to Shaqiri? Is he injured again? Shame the Greek was injured. Too many square pegs in round holes.

A move away is imminent. They didn't play him just in case of injury.

[Shindig]

I'd have preferred Stoke but that's an okay draw for us.

[Don]

What a penalty shootout in that Milan game. Their fans must have felt alive for 5 minutes again.

[Manc]

Meelan currently getting beat by Rio Ave. They probably didn't bother paying off the ref for that one either. Some sweaty foreheads at UEFA as the calls frantically go in for a late couple of penalties.

The penalty shoot-out was incredible. The spot in bits, the rain thrashing down, both keepers skying thier efforts.

[Boydy]

Has anyone posted this yet?

1311744683543007240

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

:D

[Pen]

That’s great :D

[Giggles]

That’s a stinker of a draw for Dundalk. Is there 6 games or 3?

[Don]

Is there such a thing when there are no crowds? They were hardly going to go for 2nd regardless of the draw.

Should be 6 but who tf knows what shit they've got up their sleeves.

[Giggles]

You’d assume when it’s all been one leg so far then they’ll either only play each other once, or even have a semi final playoff type thing to determine the top two.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's 6 games.

[Giggles]

The stinker draw is no chance of a result in any game (if there was 6). They got 4 points last time round which means extra €€€€€.

[Pen]

The money will still be good, but I know what you mean. Is their stadium big? You’d imagine all games would’ve been sold out too.

We’ll get more competitive games when we’re pushed to that UEFA Rejects cup.

[Pen]

Is your league a professional or a semi-professional league? Was wondering if this kind of prize money will put Dundalk miles above the rest.

[Giggles]

Their stadium is terrible so they had to play the playoff at Lansdowne Road the other night so presumably they’ll use it for the group games too (they used Shamrock Rovers ground in 2016). They’d definitely have got 10-15k in for an Arsenal game, though most would be “away” fans.

The top division here is a mixture of pro and part time and Dundalk would have been the best team in the country before the last wad of European cash (when they finally got it from the FAI) and were bought by the American investors. Most of it went into training ground development and longer contracts for players. They were due a €2m loss this year and lose a heap of free players but this money should clear up that at least.