European Midweek Football 3-5 November

[Reg]

TV: http://www.live-footballontv.com
As is the case nowadays, all games are on the various BT channels (Chelsea and Liverpool games on BT Showcase)
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[Max Power]

Dunno what game to watch tonight. Might just go with that goals show for the first time

[Giggles]

TV3 have picked the Madrid v PSG game to show tonight instead of the Utd one. Strange.

[Jimmy Floyd]

James Horncastle looks like a man to whom some decades simply haven't happened.

[Manc]

Has Paul Walsh lost a bet to wear those glasses or is his vision that bad?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

01 de Gea
18 Young
12 Smalling
17 Blind
05 Rojo
16 Carrick
31 Schweinsteiger
35 Lingard
08 Mata
09 Martial
10 Rooney

Substitutes

04 Jones
07 Depay
20 Romero
21 Herrera
27 Fellaini
36 Darmian
44 Pereira

Rooney still starting \0/.

[SvN]

Herrera must be gutted to be dropped instead of that tool.

[Lewis]

661591873908264961

He's so good.

[Pen]

The commentator on the Finnish channel seems to mistake all of United's attacking four as Tony Marshall (as he pronounces it).

[Jeet]

Bellerin is injured for the Bayern game.

Debuchy vs Costa one on one -FORGET ABOUT IT!

[Giggles]

This could be the greatest game of all time but Lawrenson is just at his unbearable worst. How do channels still keep employing the fippant cunt?

[Weaver]

Liverpool's game is on BT Sport Showcase on Thursday, in addition to Chelsea's tomorrow night.

[Reg]

:thbup: Added to first post.

[Yevrah]

This could be the greatest game of all time but Lawrenson is just at his unbearable worst. How do channels still keep employing the fippant cunt?

He's quality.

[Giggles]

He's quality.

He offers nothing but smartarse remarks.

[Pen]

Now Rojo and Young have also both been guessed as Marshall (Not a hint of Martial in he pronunciation). United's absolutely dire short corners infuriate more than they probably should.

[Giggles]

Now Rojo and Young have also both been guessed as Marshall (Not a hint of Martial in he pronunciation). United's absolutely dire short corners infuriate more than they probably should.

How's Rooney doing?

[Pen]

Completely anonymous. United have been pretty shit on the whole, but from the attacking four, Rooney has probably been the worst again. At least the rest have got in to some half chances. Lingard really should have done better with his chance though.

[Vim]

Lichtsteiner has just come back after a month out for heart surgery and scored a great goal.

[Reg]

United's absolutely dire short corners infuriate more than they probably should.
That last one was so bad.

Great opening, much quicker play. It's trailed off a little but in complete control. CSKA have barely touched the ball.

Change of system is interesting.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Cavani :harold:

[Max Power]

Lichtsteiner has just come back after a month out for heart surgery and scored a great goal.
Pass from Pogba was scandalous.

Is it not pretty soon to be back from heart surgery? Fair play to him but seems like a risk, they normally play it very safe with that sort of thing

[Mazuuurk]

It probably wasn't a transplant.

[Max Power]

Every time I can recall a player having some sort of heart scare they're out for months. Not exactly a groin strain

[Vim]

Pass from Pogba was scandalous.

Is it not pretty soon to be back from heart surgery? Fair play to him but seems like a risk, they normally play it very safe with that sort of thing

Yeah I thought he'd only get 20 minutes at the end today, then come back from the start next week-end but he looks fine. I'm pretty sure the doctors will have given the all clear to play him from the start.

[Lewis]

United need wingers so badly.

[Luca]

The state of that fucking substitution.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Martial off for Fellainimania? Fuck me.

[Pen]

Is it 500 minutes without a goal to either end if it ends like this?

[Giggles]

I don't know a load of these Madrid players. Have they started bringing through youth or are they signings I never heard of? Vasquez, Jese, Nacho, Casemiro, Danielo.

[Mazuuurk]

Whatever happened to Cavani? He reminds me a bit of Torres - So good, powerful and threatening on goal for several seasons, now just a meek shadow of his former self.

[Luca]

Just fucking shoot him. Fuck me.

[Pen]

:D

Fuck me.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Rooney :D

What a fucking shambles he is.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Giggles]

Whatever happened to Cavani? He reminds me a bit of Torres - So good, powerful and threatening on goal for several seasons, now just a meek shadow of his former self.

He's looked decent tonight dropping deep or wide, but awful around the box.

[Pen]

I don't know a load of these Madrid players. Have they started bringing through youth or are they signings I never heard of? Vasquez, Jese, Nacho, Casemiro, Danielo.

I think Danilo was a big money signing from Porto and Casemiro did well there on loan. Jese is supposed to be shit hot and I think the rest are playing due to injuries more than anything. They seemed to have promoted a lot of 'youths' to squad players this year.

[Pen]

I can't fathom why anyone would take off Martial and Mata when you need a goal.

Ashley Young diving for penalties on both ends. United very lucky not to concede there.

[Luca]

Ashley Young you mess. :D

[Giggles]

I think Danilo was a big money signing from Porto and Casemiro did well there on loan. Jese is supposed to be shit hot and I think the rest are playing due to injuries more than anything. They seemed to have promoted a lot of 'youths' to squad players this year.

:thbup:

Some don't look bad at all, as you'd expect I suppose. Danilo looks a bit ropey in this one though.

[Luca]

About fucking time.

[Pen]

Had to be Rooney after being utter tripe for the whole game :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

'He's back...'

Ugh.

Nice ball in by Lingard.

[randomlegend]

I think Lingard looks pretty damn good to be honest.

[Mazuuurk]

He's looked decent tonight dropping deep or wide, but awful around the box.

Yeah but he's only ever decent dropping deep, players like Di Maria or Zlatan play better in deeper positions. He really should be the goalscorer, I feel.

[Mazuuurk]

Also, how fucking old is Lucas Silva? The fucker is balder than I am.

[Pen]

Someone really needs to tell me the point of those short corners. They lose the fucking ball before they get it to the box half the time.

[randomlegend]

Lucas Silva who plays for Madrid?

He looks like he's got a stonking head of hair from google images.

[Giggles]

Yeah but he's only ever decent dropping deep, players like Di Maria or Zlatan play better in deeper positions. He really should be the goalscorer, I feel.



The whole PSG team has looked tidy until they get near the box in this second half. No ideas at all.

.

[Vim]

Buffon's been ridiculous tonight, he's still top class.

[simon]

Someone really needs to tell me the point of those short corners. They lose the fucking ball before they get it to the box half the time.

Posshesshion, philoshhophy etc. etc.

[Pen]

The whole PSG team has looked tidy until they get near the box in this second half. No ideas at all.

I'm on about the United game. Their corners this season are the worst I've seen.

edit: Can't even be the possession as they keep losing the ball almost straight away anyway.

[Lewis]

'Memphis' looks short of confidence.

[randomlegend]

Wonder why.

[Giggles]

I'm on about the United game. Their corners this season are the worst I've seen.

edit: Can't even be the possession as they keep losing the ball almost straight away anyway.

I quoted the wrong post. Was supposed to be the Maz one about Di Maria and Zlatan.

[Luca]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P9HcsIRznk

"Michael Smalling" :cool:

[John Arne]

Again? He called him 'Mike' during a pre-season presser, too. :)

[Waffdon]

Jelly and Ice cream when the Rangers die...

Oh my, not again.

[AE]

https://i.gyazo.com/209977f26fac741a56e17105402895cb.png

Why on earth is Kosc on the bench? Fucks sake.

Debuchy to get raped tonight :drool:

[Giggles]

Who the fuck are Iwobi, Adelaide, and Macey?

[AE]

Our protégés :drool:

[Jeet]

Heck that was handball. Shoulder!

[Magic]

Insane pressing.

[Jeet]

First "forget about it" of the night from Owen Hargreaves. :D

[Magic]

And second 'Cruyff turn' of the night.

[Giggles]

This is a fucking reaming.

[Magic]

#concentrateontheleague

[AE]

#weareshit

[Magic]

:harold:

Absolute decimation.

[Lee]

This is a proper bumming.

[Jeet]

Throw the towel Wenger.

[AE]

At least try to press them for fucks sake. Clearly your game plan isn't working. Why on earth would you sit that deep?

[Lee]

Because if they press them they are pulled put of position and Bayern will rape them even harder.

[Davgooner]

What were people expecting? Leaving Koscielny out wasn't a great sign.

He needs to get a couple off to save them for Sunday. Stick Gibbs and Chambers in front of the full backs.

[phonics]

Because if they press them they are pulled put of position and Bayern will rape them even harder.

Exactly, they'd probably lose just as badly and everyone would be nackered for Sunday.

[simon]

As if you can just 'decide' to press Bayern Munich in the middle of a 3-0 thumping. Pressing as a team isn't something that's easy and it isn't something you can just turn on with a switch. They'd get absolutely molested if they randomly attempted to start closing down higher up now.

[AE]

Because if they press them they are pulled put of position and Bayern will rape them even harder.

Like we aren't getting raped now? At least if you press them they will be forced into playing some tough balls, and will have to make much quicker decisionsr. Right now, they've got all the time in the world to do anything they like.

[AE]

Wenger isn't dumb enough to just have one game plan. These are professional athletes we're talking about. They've definitely done plenty of pressing as a team in training on several occasions.

Closing down doesn't take skill, it takes discipline and practice. Which they all have.

[Davgooner]

That reminds me. I need to get some Gazprom.

[Magic]

it's just unfortunate that every single player in each position is better than the opponents. Unlucky Arsenal.

[Reg]

Subs: Ulreich, Benatia, Robben, Rafinha, Vidal, Badstuber, Kimmich

Bloody hell.

[Lewis]

it's just unfortunate that every single player in each position is better than the opponents. Unlucky Arsenal.

That's the old Pep Guardiola magic at work.

[simon]

Wenger isn't dumb enough to just have one game plan.

Heh, I'd be tempted to disagree with that before we even get started.


These are professional athletes we're talking about. They've definitely done plenty of pressing as a team in training on several occasions.

Closing down doesn't take skill, it takes discipline and practice. Which they all have.

Oh, I'm not doubting that they've all done pressing work in training before. But that's not enough.

Going into the game with a specific game plan to press high and close down everything having spent the full week working on it in training would be reasonable. However, simply deciding they want to try doing that in the middle of the game, having done no preparation against arguably the best passing side in Europe would be absolutely suicidal.

[Raoul Duke]

Beast of a finish from Prof. Xavier. Love those clipped ones into the roof of the net.

[Magic]

Lovely finish. Shite defending though.

How do you let a striker wander in between you and your defensive partner and give him time to chest it down then finish? Fuck sake.

[Magic]

Lol @ Vidal not being able to get in to the first team.

[AE]

Comeback is on...

[AE]

Oh, I'm not doubting that they've all done pressing work in training before. But that's not enough.

Going into the game with a specific game plan to press high and close down everything having spent the full week working on it in training would be reasonable. However, simply deciding they want to try doing that in the middle of the game, having done no preparation against arguably the best passing side in Europe would be absolutely suicidal.


I guess that brings us back to the first question. You're right though, if they've had no preparation it'd be disastrous, but whatever that pathetic attempt was in the first half was diabolical.

[Magic]

Wait a minute...what's happened to Hargreaves??? Lol there he is. I didn't hear him speak for ages!

[Mazuuurk]

Does this mean Arses are out, even if they win the remaining two games?

[AE]

Dynamo have equalized against chelsea :cool:

Edit: Some free kick that.

[Magic]

Just turned it over to lol and they've just scored a pearler.

[Magic]

Its clear to me if your first name is Owen you're going to be a shit commentator.

[CJay]

Does this mean Arses are out, even if they win the remaining two games?

They need to win their last two games and beat Olympiakos by a better score than in the reverse fixture. Very doable, assuming Olympiakos lose to Bayern.

[Mazuuurk]

So essentially they need to beat them by 2 goals? As well as beat Dynamo?

They really should be able to manage that, but then again so they should have in the first place.

[Pen]

At the moment two wins would do it if we do assume that Olympiakos don't beat Bayern.


edit: Nevermind that as Olympiakos just scored. Now Arsenal need what CJ said.

[Magic]

Bloody hell Costa. Running like that at this stage of the game.

[TG09]

Arsenal Arsenal Arsenal, what the hell....really!

[Jeet]

Burn that blue kit

[Davgooner]

Thought we had the better of that.

[Davgooner]

Though we missed a trick not snapping that showboating cunt Costa in half. Need to catch him first like.

[Jeet]

Though we missed a trick not snapping that showboating cunt Costa in half. Need to catch him first like.

Forget about it.

[Luke Emia]

I only saw the first half but that was a full on molesting for Arsenal.

[Magic]

The commentator said 'at least they drew the second half 1-1'.

:D

Optimistic as fuck.

[Luke Emia]

Didn't Bayern score two in the second half anyway?

[Luke Emia]

Oh and what's this with Andrew Cole. Kidney disease has changed his appearance? I had visions of him going full on Michael Jackson or something.

[simon]

Gabriel should be sacked for that first goal. It's actually disgraceful how unintelligent and lazy he's been there. Just do your job and track the runner.

[Davgooner]

I only saw the first half but that was a full on molesting for Arsenal.

Second half they were lucky to escape with the points.

[simon]

How has Neil Warnock managed to shoehorn his way back in at QPR? He returns to the club as an 'advisor' three weeks ago and now Chris Ramsey gets the sack?

Absolute acid.

[QE Harold Flair]

Overall, I felt we lacked sharpness tonight.

[Jimmy Floyd]

How has Neil Warnock managed to shoehorn his way back in at QPR? He returns to the club as an 'advisor' three weeks ago and now Chris Ramsey gets the sack?

Absolute acid.

Gets teams up from the Championship.

[Waffdon]

How has Neil Warnock managed to shoehorn his way back in at QPR? He returns to the club as an 'advisor' three weeks ago and now Chris Ramsey gets the sack?

Absolute acid.

They should be in the top six at least, tbf

[Magic]

#onelastchallenge

[simon]

They should be in the top six at least, tbf

They're only six points off that though.

[Sam]

They're only six points off that though.

And they've been utter gash this season. That they're close to us is example enough of how bad they've been.

[Giggles]

Setanta are showing 3 games on the trot. I thought Spurs were the middle one though but they're 8.

[Boydy]

Great finish there by Ibe.

[Giggles]

Lloris, Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies, Alli, Dier, Lamela, Mason, Eriksen, Kane.

Seems to be going for this.

[Benny]

Trippier was awful in Belgium, hopefully he's had a kick up the arse for this one. I like the competition and it'll be good to go into Sunday on the back of a win,

[niko_cee]

Maybe the coefficient situation has been brought to the attention of various clubs.

[Giggles]

Doesn't bother me too much tonight as they're surely pissing into the wind on Sunday anyway, so no point in resting players. A decent performance and no injuries would do.

[Benny]

Pissing into the wind on Sunday?

:sick:

[Baz]

That rapid Vienna goal :D

[Giggles]

Pissing into the wind on Sunday?

:sick:

Arsenal at the Emirates? They're improved, but they can't cope with those kinds of teams away.

[Giggles]

Is that FM legend Okaka?

[Giggles]

That was lovely.

[Benny]

Arsenal at the Emirates? They're improved, but they can't cope with those kinds of teams away.

They really can.

Go on Kane, keeper had no chance for that one.

[Giggles]

They really can.

Go on Kane, keeper had no chance for that one.

Arsenal have too many players on a level above anything Spurs can perform at. They just get overrun in those type of games.

Looking better tonight after a terrible start. Some good looking forward movement.

[Giggles]

Delle Alli certainly likes going over easily :D

[Benny]

Arsenal have too many players on a level above anything Spurs can perform at. They just get overrun in those type of games.

Looking better tonight after a terrible start. Some good looking forward movement.

So how would you explain beating City 4-1 if that's how football works?

[Benny]

Delle Alli certainly likes going over easily :D

He looks knackered to me, big jump from League One to the level he's at now, could do with a rest considering the busy Christmas period coming up.

[Giggles]

That's been coming.

Vertonghen :face:


EDIT: Some hit from Dembele though.


.

[Manc]

That rapid Vienna goal :D

Brilliant

It's hard to see past Napoli/Dortmund for the Europa. A final with Arsenal is definitely on the cards for one.

[Jimmy Floyd]

We should probably throw our last couple of CL games to drop into the wafer, as it's the only way we'll be getting back into it next year. Although a hilarious rearguard cunt to CL glory would be very funny as well.

[Toby]

This side probably has more hope of shitting their way to the Champions League than of winning the Europa League. To win that they'd have to actually try against mid-tier sides and they're obviously not going to do that.

[phonics]

“The only time for happiness is the present. The past holds regrets. The future uncertainties.

“Man realised this quickly and created religion. It forgives him for what he has done wrong in the past and tells him not to worry about the future as he’ll go to Paradise. There’s great advantages to this. Man is very early on ‘self-pyschoanalysed’ through faith.”


On how he finds meaning in his work, he adds: “In the religious world, it is said that God created man. I am only a guide. I allow others to express what they have in them. I have not created anything. I am a facilitator of what is beautiful in man.


“I define myself as an optimist. My constant battle in this business is to draw out the beauty in man. At this level that can portray me as naive. At the same time, it allows me to believe it and it often gives me reason.”

Wenger :cool: The sort of stuff Brendan thought he was saying.

[John]

Of all the smilies you could have used in connection with that passage, that should have been the last.

He sounds like a nutcase.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I play a large part in running a cricket club and the other night we had a meeting of the sort that football people probably have in May or June, to plan ahead for the following season. At one point I found myself saying 'the group' to refer to the squad, and immediately apologised to all involved before promising to shoot myself with a rifle emblazoned with the word 'outstanding'.

However I needn't have worried, as soon afterwards one of my colleagues, who has a sports science degree and all that jazz, declared that our training needs to improve its 'ecological validity'. I shouted 'that is bollocks' as a sort of animalistic reaction, and he was a bit pissed off, offering to 'show me the textbook' in what appeared to be a serious educational proposition.

What is it about sport these days that encourages such wank?

[phonics]

Graeme Souness told a story where Shankly was asking the Liverpool team what all these new tactical words meant, he didn't have a clue and they were the best team in the world. The rest of the podcast is pretty good because he keeps on passive aggressively suggesting that Graham Hunter is a total knob.

[Giggles]

Graeme Souness told a story where Shankly was asking the Liverpool team what all these new tactical words meant, he didn't have a clue and they were the best team in the world. The rest of the podcast is pretty good because he keeps on passive aggressively suggesting that Graham Hunter is a total knob.

Which one?

[niko_cee]

What is it about sport these days that encourages such wank?

'Sports Science' is such a modern construction that it's essentially a blank canvass where any half baked idea can gain traction. And most of the 'experts' are dimwits in the first place so it's coming from a low base.

[phonics]

The Big Interview with Graham Hunter.

It's interesting to hear from some of these people in a longer format but he doesn't half tongue their arsehole. He tried talk about Sampdoria 'and the magic of the city' and Graham Souness basically goes 'Piece of piss, so easy, I could have played till I was 40 there. Shit league'

[John]

Ray Wilkins tells a good story about Souness. Rangers were three or four goals up during Souness' spell as player/manager and he was preparing to bring himself on with about five minutes to go. Wilkins noticed and went around every player on the pitch, telling them they were to avoid passing to Souness if at all possible. He finished the game without touching the ball (I'm not sure I buy that part, since he'd have been flying into tackles even at his advanced age), and went bonkers at the team afterwards. After a couple of days of death stares and shouting he saw the funny side and calmed down. Then sold him.

[Toby]

I was going to say, I wouldn't take Graeme Sounness's opinion of his abilities as a particularly reliable indicator of the strength of Serie A. He seems like he'd still fancy himself to play at the top level now given the chance.

[phonics]

Oh totally, it's more the sheer contempt he holds Graham Hunter in after several podcasts where you're wondering if the subjects are touching each others winkies at the same time.

[Manc]

Is Hunter the pundit who first coined "Pep"? Tosser.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I'm pretty sure Pep is just short for Josep, i.e. the Catalan wanker equivalent of 'Pepe'.

[Davgooner]

Of all the smilies you could have used in connection with that passage, that should have been the last.

He sounds like a nutcase.

Behave. When the geezer speaks you have to listen and learn.