It's March, there will be football and lots of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF_uOgyBK1c
Poll to follow.
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It's March, there will be football and lots of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF_uOgyBK1c
Poll to follow.
Everton 0 - 5 Liverpool
:youpi:
I read something interesting yesterday about how hate-filled 'derbies' are largely a creation of the TV era, in order to create hype around matches, and how in the olden days people used to support/respect all the teams from their region. That definitely holds up in the case of my dad, who would have watched his early football in the late 60s and he still backs any other London team if Chelsea aren't playing.
It hadn't occurred to me but it's quite interesting.
How far back is it defining 'TV Era'?
When Michael Thomas scored that goal for Arsenal v Liverpool in 1989.
There are probably some exceptions such as Glasgow Rangers vs Glasgow Celtic.
Yeah, there was no fighting or any anger at local football before '89 :cab:
Yeah but the Old Firm is mostly just bigotry with football tacked on for a laugh.
I'm not really referring to hooliganism or whatever, just the general feeling around the rivalries.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
For example in the Clough era, Nottm Forest and Derby did not HATE each other like they pretend to now in order to try and make their existence mean something.
Nonsense rose-tinted nostalgia for an era you didn't even know.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
I bet after the game everyone would meet up and shake hands at a jolly good match well played.
Obligatory one that nobody cares about. (Though Copa90 have a few other good ones in the series too, they're worth a watch if you find ones that you're interested in).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemi...Rovers_rivalry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acRQXajXnJw
Do some reading. Things weren't always like they are now.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
Liverpool/Everton is arguably still a bit like that.
The game literally originates from the populations of two towns beating the shit out of each other while pretending to try get a ball to the other side.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
My grandparents supported Chelsea, and they would always go to Fulham home games when Chelsea played away. I know this is hardly a major rivalry (although we like to think it is), but they always kept an eye out for the Fulham result and wanted them to do well.
That being said, the Fulham-Chelsea game on Sunday is clearly the biggest derby of the month. "Super Scotty Parker" to lead us to a 1-0 win and 9 yellow cards earned.
Apart from that time Matthew Pennington (who?) scored and I wanted to deck half of the Bierkeller.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Seriously, who? Prat!
I made decent money on the back of a BTTS and Can/Barkley to be booked bet though, so my hatred for Matthew Pennington was stunted with about 20 mins left to play.
https://www.skysports.com/football/n...onzalo-higuain
Is that even possible?
A striker seems sluggish after joining Chelsea, you say? He might be onto something here.
He was already sluggish before he arrived.
Villa/Birmingham is on this month, which all joking aside is srz bznz.
Yeah, you still get reds and blues mixing for the derby, though not as much as you used to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
I still remember being on the boz when the derby was on. Absolute bedlam.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mellberg
Fellainimania already running wild in China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FbgUwrlyt4
Winning goal on his debut with a poachers finish.
Chinese people always sound like they're doing a racist impression of Chinese people.
Better than Lukaku.
Leeds totally battered us. I wish we had bielsa.
Fellainimania is my greatest triumph.
If people are willing to spend as much money on him as the Chinese were I was right all along.
Have any of these big name foreign imports actually done the business out there? There seem to be foreigners I have never heard of doing so, but, bearing in mind that the quality is somewhere around late-seventies American levels, the star attractions must be phoning it in.
Most players just take those gigs abroad as vacation, don't they? Ronaldinho was lol when he was in Queretaro.
It's like the footballing equivalent of going to teach in some compound in the middle east for like 80k a year. Actually, maybe I should do that.
And this is how you use tinder...
I know someone that does that. Most people get sick of the sand metropolises after about 3 years but he's still going.Quote:
Originally Posted by igor_balis
"Look at this beautiful shot, their leader, Harry Kane delivering a team talk in the huddle"
*Cuts to a picture of Harry Kane staring off into the distance with his mouth open*
Gormless jug eyed cunt was offside.
That second penalty call is absolutely hilarious. I don't think anyone in the stadium thought it was a penalty. Saved anyway.
Ref had an absolute shocker there didn't he?
Two soft pens. Offside on the Kane goal. Rose slides studs up into the keeper and gets a yellow, torreira win the ball and gets a straight red.
Woeful. Arsenal should've won that, but they had the chance to do so and didn't take them.
That Torreira red card has to be turned over on appeal surely? Both penalties were pathetic.
Honestly not sure. He got the ball, but also studded Rose in the shin.
If it's not overturned football is totally broken.
Arsenal should go in with three videos.
1. Sissoko stamping on koscielny. No card.
2. Danny rose studding the keeper, studs up sliding. Yellow card.
3. Torreira winning the ball, momentum taking him into Rose. Red card.
Brutal.
Having not seen the tackle, if there is any contact whatsoever (which it sounds as if there is) then it won't be overturned.
Fellaini looks like a giant in that video.
The FIFA Inform potential. :drool:
So ... is Willie MacKay liable for involuntary manslaughter after hiring that untrained pilot?
Considering Rose didn’t get the ball and studded Leno in the chest and got a yellow card. I’m not sure how that matters.Quote:
Originally Posted by SvN
Ref obviously realised he’d absolutely cunted that first pen decision after the Arsenal players went mad and absolutely lost it after that.
Chris Smalling is an absolute retard when it comes to shirt pulling. That definitely should have been a penalty and he has about 1 a game on a corner which should be as well.
Alternatively he could be a genius given he almost never seems to get pulled up on it. VAR will end his career.
That's some hit.
Edit your posts mate, if I needed a minute by minute there's plenty of websites for it.
No it's ok.
Funny as it is, Southampton need to seriously fuck off with winning at United.
At least Cardiff appear to be doing their best to stay below Brighton.
Lukaku must have had more out of his right foot this week than over the rest of his career.
Dalot looks like a cracking prospect.
EDIT4PHONICS: The fact we'll only be three points behind Spurs in 3rd if we win this is mad. Solksjaer has done an astonishing job. You naysayers can smoke my pipe.
What sort of THAT WAS HIS FIRST GOAL OF THE SEASON! rage quit-worthy shit is this match?
Lukaku's right foot :cool:
EDIT: he should've taken the pen and taken it right-footed. Would've been the chaddest move ever.
I would still sound Smallpockets out, but if he BOTTLES IT (which he will) then 'OGB' should definitely get it.Quote:
Originally Posted by randomlegend
Dalot looked so much more dangerous than Sanchez. Hopefully he's out injured for the season.
Swindon picking up some decent form of late, threatening to threaten the playoffs. It's the hope that kills you.
Whoops. West Ham were lively earlier in the season and they have some decent players up top. I'd be happy if we sneaked a point.
Rice is going to end up going to City, United or Liverpool for about £60m in the summer.
Why do footballers complain about penalty decisions like that being given against them? Is it like an unwritten rule that you have to complain bitterly to the referee no matter how blatant your offence?
Top quality levels of salt being chucked about by Celtic fans over this. Whoever they get in next, West Brom or someone should nab him immediately.
I just seen than Arsenal sending off on the morning news. Phonics must have been on a large bag of it yesterday, though at least it's a change from him small-timing the fuck out of it all over again.
Celtic get knocked out of the champions league qualification rounds by teams, from Uganda.
Celtic's last European Cup quarter-final was in 1971 and Leicester's in 2017, what more do you need to know.
Fucking hell, we’ve went to a semi final more recently than them? Christ.
Actually, can we just completely abandon all of Scotland's football? Seems like there's bother on a weekly basis. Some fan decided to try and glass Sinclair yesterday.
With a Buckfast bottle, of course.
I actually quite like that Panama themed GAMBLE AWARE advert. Pretty funny but like, with a message you know?
Why is Antonio Conte watching Watford v Leicester in the pissing rain?
They threw a bottle in his direction. You make it sound like man was being run down with the clean break of a glass bottle. It didnt even have a jagged edge. :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Shindig
You don't throw a glass bottle in a person's direction without intending to hit them.
Signs here that strategic titan Sarri is starting to prioritise the Europa League (why are it and its senior partner called 'League'? They are both cups).
Ousmane Dembele :hat:
https://gyazo.com/40014f3479b0ddd3ddfec8e256853422.gif
Derp.
:lol:
Dundee United v Inverness on BBC 1 Scotland now for those who fancy REAL FOOTBALL.
If we didn't have N'Golo Kanté we'd be about 14th. He's the best player in the league by such a massive margin. Not even in his right position and still bosses every game.
Ref has BOTTLED that with a few decisions there.
Are there no streaming links on footybite?
http://bfst.to/play/soccer-1.phpQuote:
Originally Posted by Boydy
Cheers!Quote:
Originally Posted by SvN
None of the ones on the old.reddit thingy seemed to work for me either. Streaming's really gone to shit since they closed down r/soccerstreams.
As much as I want Colin Farrell to bomb at Everton, and for them to stay below us, I think I'd happily see them get the win today.
They won't, though.
Just so you know, I got that link for Footybite. I've watched all three games on it today.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boydy
I'd quite like to have a feed of this game that has neither pictures nor commentary, but just the audio of the crowd noise. Social science (the school of).
Every stream I choose is just a black screen and commentary, so the worst of all worlds.
Well all you have missed so far is 18 cynical fouls and a lot of the Seethe.
https://www.footybite.com/football/e...tream-preview/Quote:
Originally Posted by SvN
There's nothing on there for me.
You don't see the links?
https://i.imgur.com/7GI0pAY.png
The 'preview' page was broken for me as well but only for this game.
cd6de9687da7d198aeed986fc31f508285d4e0c3 works too.
They've literally just appeared now I've clicked the link again. They weren't there a minute ago for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by SvN
To be fair I've just kept the same stream on all day, so it's entirely possible that they've only just updated the page.
Everton are rank. :sick:
Watching Morgan Schneiderlin somehow find the backwards/sideways option, even when it doesn't look on, is giving me flashbacks.
Our corners are fucking rank. Why on earth we cant just hit an in-swinger all the time and hope for the best - it's better than these shitty short corners, and floaty out-swingers.
I'm gonna be raging if this finishes 0-0 after I watched the Bayern game and the United game and then missed the Watford one.
For fuck's sake stop watching then!
Any team persisting with out-swingers just strikes me as massively overthinking it, and trying to look clever.Quote:
Originally Posted by John Arne
My mate is a Newcastle fan and is constantly bringing up how under Pardew they spent about 2 seasons hoofing every corner to beyond the far post with the intention of someone heading it back across goal, and it never worked.
Willian's started taking corners with the outside of his right this season, with predictable results. Statto analysts just aren't interested in set pieces as they don't result in a goal all that often, the logical conclusion of which is Sarriball.
Right, I'm not watching another game this season.
That's it then lads. Best give Bayern a good game instead.
United will beat City then their fans can say they won us the league for years.
No United fan or player wants them to beat City.
Do we think Salah is a bit thick? Given any sort of time and he makes the oddest decisions.
The last few times I've seen him he's been more like Chelsea Salah. Gets into good positions and then blows up like a clown car.
Chris Sutton definitely drunk on 606.
Who are Celtic bigger than now then?Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Sacamano
Possibly. It's infuriating watching him always try to cut back inside on his left foot. Just fucking cross it with your right for once.Quote:
Originally Posted by Manc
Mane seems pretty thick as well.
Pickford thinks he's Ederson with his long kicks. Has the power and none of the accuracy. They were all dreadful today.
@niko_cee Were you there yesterday? What a poor game but the goal and the relief around the ground, as well as Andone's happiness, were good. I was looking at Cardiff's run in earlier and it's pretty horrible, so we should be alright.
I think Salah has had an injury all season that he’s playing on. Wouldn’t be surprised if he had an operation in the summer on something.
Liverpool really need to sort themselves out.
Looking at City's last couple of results, they must be playing like dirt too.
Ah the good old fashioned Scouse Injury. Sadly it wasn't enough to save Karius.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike
Klopp getting rattled by a ball boy and then going on TV and blaming the wind is showing some real signs of “bottling it”
Still think they’ll take it very close and City have a fuck up in them but not great signs.
The stage is all set for Liverpool and City to both capitulate and Ole to drive the United wagon past them to pip them both.
I would be more than happy to throw the City game.
:(
No, next game I'm going to is Bournemouth at home.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reg
I can well imagine the atmosphere wasn't great. I heard a lot of groaning after about 15 minutes when they went to the game on Sky. Great result though and Cardiff looking a bit doomed definitely helps. Have Brighton still got to play Cardiff at home? My mind says yes, but they're not on the fixture list - has that been a casualty of the FA Cup which hasn't made it back onto the schedule yet?
Indeed, that and the Chelsea away game (from when they had the League Cup final) to be rearranged.
What, and ruin our title chances?Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
United should go all out to beat City. Fuck them both.
https://i.imgur.com/2tkhhcA.gifv
Can't embed apparently, but Balotelli had a laugh today
Legend :D
The main reason being that this happened earlier, in the same match with the same referee and was deemed a yellow card.Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
https://i.imgur.com/Xwcs16w.jpg
That's not how football rules work.
Unlike in virtually every situation where they get more protection, 'keepers tend to get less relative to outfield players in those 'body on the line' collisions. You seem to get more leeway in terms of 'going for the ball' than in pure outfield over the ball/miss the ball situations.
That said, had the ref given Rose a red card, there would be no chance of it being appealed.
Sorry you’re going to have to point out the rule about going over the ball being worth a yellow sometimes and a red other. One actually getting the ball and following through and one just missing and going studs up on someone’s ribs. Must be an interesting law.Quote:
Originally Posted by SvN
I've given up expecting consistency from game to game but the same bloke in the same game should be able to have two identical decisions be the same. The ref realised he was cocking up left and right and collapsed. Hence why we got that absolute sham of a penalty to 'even it up'. Shit happens but let's not be trying to bring up Point 14 section B of the football laws to say it doesn't.
The two incidents are not related in any way. If the referee made a mistake on one call, it has absolutely no impact on an incident later in the game.
P.S. Is Jurgen about to go on telly and tell people how much he would 'LOVE IT' etc. or have I just seen some clips taken out of context?
Narrator: He knew what he was saying was total bollocks but, because it didn't affect his team, will make the argument anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by SvN
It seemed that he got properly riled by that ball boy. Tried to walk away about 5 times but kept going back for another bite.
What are you on about?Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
He blamed the wind at Wolves in the FA cup too.
The injury to Alexis really threw Liverpool off their game.
With refereeing you have to decide if you want 'consistency' or for him to give the right decision as he sees it every time. If you want consistency you have to accept wrong decisions, and if you want right decisions you have to accept inconsistency. These are all highly, highly subjective calls.
I get that it's frustrating, but at the same time, it's moronic to think that "Well he did it earlier and didn't get sent off" is a proper defence to a red card tackle.
I would like to know this too.Quote:
Originally Posted by SvN
Xhaka should have gone for me and I felt for Torreira, he actually had intent to play the ball but you just can’t do that any more.
They were both red cards, that the officials got one wrong doesn't justify the other one.
Except Danny Rose literally can't be punished for his whereas Torreira can get a four game ban if he decides to appeal it. Very good system of rules.Quote:
Originally Posted by Disco
The ropes have snapped
How did he get any votes?
Because despite my flaws, my quality and quantity is undeniable. I'm the Edison Cavani of the whole shebang.
While we're on this tour de fource of refereeing competence:
lol
Orlando City had our first match Saturday. Went down 2-0 to start despite seemingly bossing proceedings... once we brought Nani on in the 2nd half we looked even more dangerous as to be expected.
Ended up finishing 2-2... we felt we had a strong penalty shout toward the end of the match but VAR didn't overturn the call on the field. Normally I'd post this in World Football That No One Else Cares About but I'd kinda like to hear some unbiased opinions if possible:
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/...-you-make-call
I don't get what your point is here phonics?
That the FA should also hand out penalties after the fact (contradicting the decision of the referee at the time), in the same way appeals to have penalties upheaved can be made?
Wonky face and all.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
That’s odd. I watched the highlights and thought he would definitely be banned retrospectively.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
I would’ve given a penalty.Quote:
Originally Posted by bruhnaldo
Not deliberate. He's trying to get his hands by his side.
Looks unnatural. Pen for me.
Pen for me too
Penalty, onside, yellow card.
5 yard penalty, automatic first down
Nah that's definitely roughing the passer. 15 yard penalty for that one.
I'd award 2 indirect free throws.
No penalty (too close), no idea about offside (give me a proper angle), not a red unless there is some subtext and then maybe as the guy in white isn't interested in the ball (still probably not a red card).
Oh you guys.
https://www.skysports.com/football/n...ffect-the-game
All penalties being treated like those taken in shootouts is an abysmal idea. Just deeply terrible.
Change for changes sake. Absolute bullshit.
What possible reason is there for that change to made?
Because Vertonghen ran in the box - before Arsenal fucked their penalty up - and gained an unfair advantage. It's caused predictable outrage, despite the fact that 2 of their own players were running into the box when Kane took his.
Bless them.
Can someone explain why the Real fans seem to hate Gareth Bale? I can't see any conceivable reason why they would?
He's not Ronaldo
Or a massive arsehole.
Is that penalty rule change for real?
What the fuck?
I don't know how true it is but I read that he hasn't bothered to learn the language or integrate into the team very much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazuuurk
This is a team that booed Ronaldo at times. Logic doesn't come into it.
You think the Arsenal lobby is a little too strong considering this is an announcement that was leaked a week or two ago after several months of meetings.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spikey M
Still reelin'.
This piece from the Fulham programme :D
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D00OwmbXcAEPo4W.jpg
That is outstanding :D
That's all very good, but I'm not sure you could call his time at Inter a success, by any reasonble standard, although I was surprised to learn he stayed there for a couple of seasons.
Didn't much fancy some Brazilian no-mark they had at leftback, as I recall.
He was certainly no Paul Konchesky.
It is remarkable to think how much the football landscape has changed from Woy's days back at Inter.
Fresh off the back of finishing 3rd in the league (no Champions League) and being piloted to an unsuccessful UEFA Cup Final against Schalke (lol), and midway through a domestic torpor that would need all of their rivals to be relegated before it would be broken, Inter were able to go out and buy the best centre-forward in the world from Barcelona, only one extraodinary season after he'd joined them.
"Golaço!" indeed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by John
Seems to have not even been discussed so take the rest with a pinch of salt I guess.
I kind support that tbh. Rebound penalties always feel cheap.
I'm always generally gutted for keepers who save the initial pen but get beat by the rebound but I'm not sure it should necessarily be changed.
Fancy Ajax to do bits.
Yeah, it does always seem an injustice, maybe any change should be that the taker can't follow it in/have the next touch after the 'keeper or post, if a change is needed (it isn't).Quote:
Originally Posted by bruhnaldo
I’ve always thought penalties are stupid. You’re fouled an inch out of the box, near its corner, you get a free kick with an 8% success rate. You get fouled an inch further in and suddenly you’re taking a set piece with an 80% success rate. There’s hardly a tangible difference between the two! It’s so dumb
What's the alternative? Some penalty goal guff that's down to interpretation?Quote:
Originally Posted by mugbull
I broadly agree with Mokkers on this, or at least see his point, but Giggles has it, there has to be a line somewhere.
Yeah I definitely think he's right in a way and the more you think about it the more stupid it seems but, as far as I can think anyway, it is probably still the best solution.
I'd be up for narrowing it a bit though, even just near the end lines.
Penalty trapezoid :drool:
The only real solution would be to make the 18 yard box smaller but surely that's a slippery slope.
Personally, I think it's fine, but I can understand the sentiment.
Really it should be a semi-circle rather than a box. Only problem is it then looks like a hockey pitch and conjours up images of 22 wankers clickety-clacking in skirts.
Haven't made my mind up on which game to watch tonight, but I'm leaning towards Ajax. They were the better team for a lot of the first leg I hear? Real Madrid didn't look very good at the weekend.Quote:
Originally Posted by Manc
I'm only switching over to Spurs once they go 2-0 down.
I think they could take free kicks inside the box. It would be like those rare indirect free kicks from the penalty spot area, except you wouldn’t have to lay it off to anybody.
If you've a wall it's pointless and an advantage to clean someone out of it. If you've no wall, it's a penalty.Quote:
Originally Posted by mugbull
Of course you could have a wall. And the success rate would be pretty high, but not nearly as high as with a penalty, which is reasonable.
When I think of indirect free kicks in the box I think of Shearer twatting it home for England in the 90s
Well done, you've just solved the Irish border.Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
Dortmund team looks strong. :drool:
Picking up a feed German Sky Sports News here for the CL and TV is weird there. One of the presenters looks like a sketch show joke of a typical American (fat lad with a bad baseball cap) and they actually stopped talking in respect of the champions league anthem :D
This Margot Dumont bird though.
:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:
Ooof.
Ajax have gone 1 up having been on the backfoot thus far.
Lovely finish by Ziyech.
Stunning.
This Ajax side is going to get picked clean very soon, probably this summer.
That is some goal.
Wallop.
2-0.
What scenes.
Ajax are leading 3-2 on aggregate right now.
Dusan Tadic is absolutely beasting this.
Harry Kane has had about 6 good weeks in the last year. How much could we sell him for? If it's 120+ I'd say do it.
And Harry Winks has had about 6 good minutes in his entire career
Neres should have made it 3.
Madrid are all over the place at the back.
Ajax doing something in Europe is bang on the 23 year nostalgia window.
Tadic for that second goal is the best thing I’ve seen in a long while
Does Tadic now fall into the misty-eyed 'what a team we could have had' at Southampton bracket?
Vinicius Jr looks like his Dad has just been shot in front of him.
Just seen that Joachim Low has said that Muller, Boateng and Hummels will no longer be selected for Germany. Seems like a really odd decision, and I don't buy his "we're building for the future" reasoning for one second. Muller is 29 and the other two are 30, they're hardly ancient.
He's been huffing on his taint fumes too much.
I never watch Bundesliga in fairness but I thought Muller was looking shit lately or something though?
Axel Witsel is a properly good footballer. Astonishing that he spent seven years in Russia/China.
This is fucking beautiful. Tadic is putting in the best performance in years.
That's a lovely finish by Tadic but the ball was out of play sadly.
Those camera angles are all useless. :D
If it's not clear and obvious then they shouldn't be getting involved.
Actually I think that stands.
Madrid need 3 now :drool:
Unseeded teams fucking shit up.
I live for this. Peter Drury and all.
What odds would you get on Madrid and Dortmund going through now? Madrid could get 3 in 10 minutes and Spurs are Spurs.
Am I right in thinking that Sergio Ramos took a yellow card to miss this game and so be back available for the quarter final?
How can you show your face in public after that?
A Real Madrid goal is required
https://i.imgur.com/SsgT88E.jpg
There's no chance Madrid are getting back into this. They look toothless going forward and Ajax are causing problems every time they venture into the Madrid half.Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
Yes and UEFA added an extra game to the ban too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
I guess that's my fault.
Well in though SvN.
Jizzed tbh.
Finally got a chance to throw it on and Ajax have scored again :drool:
God it must feel so good to be an Ajax fan right now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Schone :drool:
What scenes.
I know it doesn't really count but my buddy decided to start following Ajax toward the end of last year because of a career mode he did on FIFA and I'm lowkey so happy for him right now lolQuote:
Originally Posted by dino
Bring on The Hunter for the lols you pricks.
I always thought Germany 1 England 5 was the peak as far as football ecstasy was concerned, this must be their version.Quote:
Originally Posted by dino
Chelsea Twitter's commitment to going mental whenever their old goalie concedes a few is admirable.
Saw something that said West Brom, 20th in the Prem last season, got more money from TV revenue than Ajax meanwhile Real generated the most revenue for any club in world football.
:drool:
Because, despite all the inevitable wanking over Ajax that we're about to experience, nobody wants to watch them on a rainy Monday away at Dordrecht.
"Ajax’s last away win in the Champions League knockout stages was in March 1997 – it was in Madrid, against Atletico (3-2)."
Fucking hell, what a drought that has been.
Woof.
Can we assume Jose is packing his suitcase?
Daley Blind. :happycry:
Looking at the teams left in, if Man Siddy don't win it this year then they never will.
Barca, mate. The door's open for it.
I was just thinking that. I bet they would still get Noel Gallagher involved as well the small-time cunts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
I was just about to say someone should snap that De Jong up quick, but a quick google says Barcelona have already done it.
Massive win for HCMC FC last night. Beat Nam Dinh 2-0 at home before the 4 week mid-season break - meaning with 3 wins out of 3, we sit top of the Wake Up 247 V.League 1 table for the first time in 3 years :drool;
Sergie Ramos :harold:
That is all.
Also, that's the best game Dusan Tadic will play in his entire life.
The Agent spending his money wisely I see.Quote:
Originally Posted by Adamski
Hes always been one of those annoying players who one week puts in a 10/10 performance followed by three months of 3/10s.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spoonsky
I keep forgetting PSG are still in this. They must be thinking the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
You'd imagine Liverpool would be thinking the same, as would Barcelona. I'd see either more likely than Man City.
De Gea
Young
Smalling
Bailly
Lindelöf
Shaw
Fred
McTominay
Pereira
Lukaku
Rashford
Substitutes
Rojo
Dalot
Romero
Garner
Chong
Gomes
Greenwood
What a bench.
Who are these people?!
Is it injuries or has he written it off after the first leg?
Pogba is suspended then you've got Sanchez, Matic, Mata, Lingard, Herrera, Martial and possibly a couple of others injured.
Jose Mourinho would have played a back seven and brought Michael Essien in on a short-term deal.
It's a sign of how quickly football moves on when you've got a midfield three containing a 55 million pound Brazillian, a 33 year old full back and a kid with 25 games to his name yet Fred starting was the thing that surprised me.
When I saw the team sheet I thought it was a 5 at the back with Fred, McTominay and Andreas as a 3.
If it's what has just been shown, fuck me.
lets goooooooooo!!!!!!
Well lol at that.
thank God for that first goal cause losing 6-0 on aggregate would've been pretty rough for me to deal with
Fun while it lasted.
Mbappe was offside man this is bullshit :'(
That had been coming.
This has been the longest ten minutes ever.
Dalot should have started, Young is absolute gash.
Someone broke into Rodgers' gaffe and nicked some of his medals. :|
I've come back from a smoke to see Lukaku has scored and these stats on the BBC MbM:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
https://i.imgur.com/eoPoPld.png
Which is a good enough impression of the man.
Ashley Young is vice Club Knower, so he has to play with Antonio Valencia out.
Lukaku is looking extra enormous today
Big Rom.
How is it he during periods seem to need 50 shots to score but at times (like now) cooly slots everything home?
:D
This is an absolute banter game.
lol pepper that dodgy 'keeper.
Buffon :D
Cheers Buffon.
why are they giving me hope
I was intrigued because I have this impression too so I compared him to Kane and Aguero.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazuuurk
(Following is PL only)
He get's the same ratio of shots on target/off-target as Kane (funnily enough, they've both taken around 310 on target shots) but Kane scores 4% more of those shots that hit the target.
However, Aguero, hits the target with his shots significantly less often (5% less) but has a way higher success rate. (Lukaku: 36%, Kane: 40%, Aguero: 42%) so maybe we think this because we see more of Lukaku's shots saved rather than going wide/over etc.?
How come I haven't heard about Arsenal giving Eddie Nketiah a run out I thought he was supposed to be really good
We got knocked out by Spurs and United early on in the cups and have two 50m+ strikers for one position.Quote:
Originally Posted by bruhnaldo
At least the gimp was offside there.
Probably why he finished it so well.
lol ya i guess that makes sense sryQuote:
Originally Posted by phonics
That corner by Dire Maria was spectacular.
Chong :cool:
'Mon the hair.
Surprised Chong came on over Greenwood.
I'd be stunned if that's given.
Shiiiiiiiiiiii.
Lukaku misses this.
Whoever it is, is going to miss.
Rashford misses this.
MASSIVE MELTDOWN incoming if this holds.
:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:
I thought he was going to smash that over.
Please tell me Neymar is crying.
I hate United but just watching that happen to PSG has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
What a penalty under that pressure.
Unexpected. PSG can have all the talent but they can't shake the French mentality.
Ramos yesterday and PSG today, what a back to back. :drool:
:alan:
What fucking scenes.
Get fucked Neymar you twat.
PSG aren't shit.
Give Solskjaer the job, what a don.
Frogtastic.
That is absolutely immense. Best win in about ten years.
PSG the ultimate bottlers. Fucking mega penalty from Rashford.
Pan to Neymar crying into his Versace man bag please.
If Neymar cries, please post it here and I'll be having that as my avatar.
Best manager in the world. :drool:
Lee Grant going ape shit :cool:
The lad knows he's getting a medal in a couple of months :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by Raoul Duke
That was some penalty. That Chong was a mess when he came on.
He just wanted to run as fast as he could as much as he could.Quote:
Originally Posted by Waffdon
Those guys are the best. I remember Mark Schwarzer saying he wanted to join us not in the expectation of ever playing, but just to experience what it was like at a big club going for trophies. Think we got him a league title. Legend.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raoul Duke
Not to go all Gazprom but Champions League knockout ties are the pinnacle of entertainment, every season. Absolute scenes.
Reddit going absolutely batshit over the penalty decision. I honestly don't even know what the rule is any more, but he had his arm away from his body and it blocked the shot so I'd have said penalty.
I haven't watched it but I was hoping the penalty is dodgy and UEFA are going to cheat them out every year in lieu of FFP having any bite.
Never in doubt.
I think it’s soft. I’d want it given for my team and I’d be disappointed if it was given against my team.Quote:
Originally Posted by randomlegend
I'd have been livid if it'd been given the other way. Wasn't a penalty for me (Clive)Quote:
Originally Posted by randomlegend
Lukaku circling round to celebrate the penalty in front of Dire Maria. :harold:
https://www.clippituser.tv/c/dngpaeQuote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Still not sure why Ole is dressed as a cameraman :sherlock:
One of the commentator's said the interpretation now is if your arm makes your body area bigger and is hit by the ball it's a foul. Is that true? If it is it's a harsh rule but understandable I guess.
It's a laughable decision and that should never be a pen. Still, lol.
Surely his right arm wasn't in an 'unnatural' position. If it had hit his left hand then I'd say it was a penalty.
Yeah, that's never a penalty. VAR lizards on the right side of morality this time though so who cares.
Neymar's fuming on instagram :drool:
At least Buffon stayed cool this year.
Of course you would have.Quote:
Originally Posted by randomlegend
Just saw the goals on the news, why is Buffon still playing? Embarrassing shite for the second goal.
He's stared at the ball and turned his body and his arm goes out from his body
does turning your head at the last second really mean that much idk
Pepe celebrating that by waving a little wooden stool in the air is the most lol event of the night.
His arm can't be anywhere else and the ball is leathered at it.Quote:
Originally Posted by bruhnaldo
I'd not give it. There's nothing deliberate about it.
I didn't know Rashford had a load of tattoos. I bet that block of text on his chest is some absolute shit as well.
Like I would've given a penalty against Chris Smalling at the weekend, yes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Waffdon
I haven't seen it. Was there nothing between the goal and his arm? In those sorts of cases I'd still give then pen as you've just denied a goal with our own momentum.
He rode his luck in the first game so this was jus comeuppance.
https://i.redd.it/vv44uqmzqkk21.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by phonics
There's a video somewhere up thread.
Don't think the shot was on target, but not sure.
Ole Gunnar Binman should be Ole Gunnar Conman tbh. Manages to somehow coax three goals without having a single ounce of attack in his gameplan :D
PSG are retarded as well. They could have passed the ball back and fourth between their Defenders all game and would have been absolutely fine.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/h...box=1550753151
Sounds like this is the rule now. It's a correct call then.Quote:
Roberto Rosetti said officials would penalise handballs if defenders use their arms to make their bodies “bigger” to block crosses or shots
Manchester fucking united. You never disappoint.
You been in a coma for six years our kid?
It still happens lad. Nights in Stockholm, fa cup wins, ending the city fairytale. Ole has just made it more frequent recently.
I've been drowning in life this week I really honestly needed this win so bad lads. :happycry:
Get some tears for fears on and party.
'LvG' diving; 'LvG' calling that reporter 'fat man'; 'LvG' going mental in his end of season speech...Quote:
Originally Posted by Kikó
Lvg was the best part of the lvg era. Shame the football was dire.
He should be the new Director of Football.
Isn't that for schmikes?
I figured they would want somebody who knows what they are doing.
He's too busy doing opposition research on Brendan.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kikó
Well done United but those pricks can all fuck off. Stay in the 90s, losers, and let today's heroes like Rashford and Mike Phelan have their time.
I can only hope they stay out on the piss for the next two days rather than this galvanize them. We didn't even manage to beat them when Moyes was in charge soI haven't got much hope for Saturday.
Didn't see the game but that's an immense result.
I have a bit of a half-baked theory, partly inspired by some chat on the football ramble, that at the highest level the likes of OGS and Zidane might actually be more effective than "proper managers" (see also the self-managed Chelsea side under RDM).
I feel like most of the TOP, TOP players can sort of figure out the tactical stuff on their own. A Warnock or Pulis can drag a 20th place quality side to 15th by using the players as pawns in their own Sun Tzu shit, but I'm not sure it's comparable at the top clubs. I think even the likes of Guardiola and Klopp etc get most of their success by just being like the cool uncle to their world class players, and setting the team up in a way to just give the best players room to manoeuvre rather than anything more cerebral.
Having the character to control the egos at that level is massively important. Possibly the most important aspect. So yeah, it helps if you're Zinedine Zidane.
The niko_cee 'Binman in a Club Blazer Theory'. He came up with that in what 2015? Should have written a book.
Lads, it's PSG.
https://i.ibb.co/qMYLF3Q/image.png
Let's not declare the death of coaching quite yet. Weren't Real Madrid further behind Barcelona in the league than Arsenal were City or something ridiculous?
You need either a strong dressing room with compliant/helpful coach (as in these cases) or you need a weak dressing room with a strong manager who runs everything. Weak + weak is obviously shit, while strong + strong leads to situations like Mourinho at Real Madrid, Mourinho at United, Mourinho at Chelsea v.2, Mourinho telling his kids to go to bed, etc etc.
Ancelotti is a genius with big egos, despite his tactics truck rarely getting out of second gear.
Oh and we won the Champions League with Di Matteo and Eddie Newton.
The United run does seem a lot like the one Di Matteo had.
fixedQuote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Nah, Chelsea didn't play anyone good till the semi against Barca and they were awful in the league.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gray Fox
We also don't have a potential full kit wanker.
Team no penalty for me
I would just like to say that I remember people defending Mourinho by saying the players weren’t good enough as is often the case when a big team plays badly. Unless they’re absolute dogshit, if a team is playing as badly as Utd were under Mourinho it’s always the manager, always.
I agree, but i think there's a sorta proviso that it's not necessarily the manager's "fault". Like it isn't a clear "it was the players being shit/dickheads" vs "mourinho lost the plot" dichotomy. If that makes sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yevrah
Didn't Sacchi or someone say at best a manager can make a team 10% better than the sum of it's parts but a bad one can make them 50% worse?Quote:
Originally Posted by Yevrah
That was amazing. Can't think for a better way for PSG to go out.
VAR is going to wreck football. Away from the comedy handballs that always look 100% deliberate in slo-motion (I'd have given that one last night, but I wouldn't say I was impartial) the game is going to be (even more) about falling over convincingly in the opponent's penalty area, cf the other tie.
What was the deal with the 9 minutes of added time? I'm sure the penalty incident happened after 90 minutes, and it was taken on 93, so at most they should have added another 3 and not 6.
I miss Jose. :(
I think every red in the country was shouting blow your whistle. Definitely an element of giving them a chance to level it and even DDG decided to take the piss with a comedy punch out.Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
Yeah, the De Gea thing was mad. The PSG defender climbing all over the back of someone and then going down looking for a penalty was more gold.
Please be a Manchester Derby in the quarters.
It's going to be like DRS in that everyone will suddenly realise that about 50% more penalties should be given than are given, and so you're going to be playing for them. It wouldn't surprise me if set pieces come back into vogue as there's no real way of reliably defending against them other than committing fouls which are usually ignored.Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
Absolutely no way was that a deliberate hand ball. :D
Have we reached the stage yet where every single offside is checked by VAR?
According to the guidance refs have been issued, it doesn't have to be deliberate to be handball. You can disagree with the rule, but the ref called it correctly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yevrah
I think the arm needs to be in a slightly more elevated position to really fit with the guidance (the arm is, afterall, always going increase the silouette of the body somewhat) but, at the same time, he was jumping to block the ball, the arm was a bit away from his body and it blocked the ball.
Much less clearcut than Otamendi's the other week, given the range and arm position.
It's going to end up a strict liability thing and we'll be back in 1998 (or was it '94?) with Roberto Baggio dinking the ball into defenders hands from 1 yard away
It's clearly not deliberate, and that should be the end of the debate. The shot is definitely flying over, so the fact it hits his hand and goes off for a corner is an advantage for United, if anything. It's a very fortunate decision and normally I'd be peeved that United have benefited, but this is definitely a case of them being the lesser of two evils.
Are we going to see more of that ridiculous arms behind the back attempting to block pose now? That seemed to disappear for a while. Surely a more “unnatural” position than Kimpembe there.
Even aside from it benefiting United it's a lovely double-whammy of punishing defenders idiot enough to turn their back on the ball and making Neymar seethe so I'm all for it.
Ive been preaching this for years. That is the biggest problem. Most of the shots would be blocked if they kept thier eyes on the ball, like a goalkeeper.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian
The only acceptable way to turn your back to the ball.
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/EarnestGro...restricted.gif
Dressing Room. Full of Quality and Characters.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
I mean yes, VAR are constantly re-checking everything that's of any major impact to the game aren't they? If the offside amounts in a goal, then they always make sure, I guess. If it doesn't amount to anything, then why bother.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yevrah
It was like yesterday when there was a review about whether the ball was in play or not about 30 seconds before Ajax scored or something when they were launching their counter. How far back in time do you go? If a foul was neglected 5 minutes ago and the ball hasn't gone out of play, should a subsequent goal be ruled out?
It's starting to get really evident that there needs to be some clearer guidelines and maybe rule clarifications if VAR is to be implemented consistently over all the top competitions (is that even financially viable?).
I was a big fan at first, but I'm less certain now. It's like, you can (most of the time), never really "argue" with VAR decisions. But it fundamentally changes the game, it'll become like Basketball or something in a few years unless theres some adaptation done.
In the VAR world the handball test needs to be 2-stage:
1 - is it clearly intentional? Yes, penalty (foul), no, go to 2,
2 - does the defender or defending team gain a clear advantage* from the handball? Yes, proceed to sanction, no, no further action
*this envisages shots on target being blocked, balls travelling to opponents being blocked, situations where you gain control of the ball etc as events where the defending (handballing) team gains an advantage.
It should, obviously, then be applied all over the pitch, which may or may not be problematic. Probably not so much as the disproportionate nature of the sanction to the offence doesn't exist outside of the penalty area.
When there's room for interpretation the wrong decision can always be made.
I had a half-thought out notion earlier that you could just do it so that if the ball hits the hand (unless it's directly in front of the player's body) it's always penalised, if it's stopping a shot on target it's a penalty if not (a cross, say) it's an indirect free kick but that doesn't really work either. All you're doing is moving the judgement call to a different part of the action and you're left with the same problem.
I think the only solution is to chop professional outfield players' arms off and provide them with prosthetics for when they're not playing.
I would just admit defeat, cancel all future football and play handball instead.
If the players are being dickheads/not playing it's the manger's fault.Quote:
Originally Posted by igor_balis
This is the sort of thing that I've always rallied against it for. If you're going to use it for everything then you can't stop play for anything until that period of play has come to a natural end.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazuuurk
If that natural end is a goal then you then end up with a wait before anyone can celebrate the goal. Which is shit and will ultimately end up happening a lot, particularly when officials rely on it more and more. Which they will as it's human nature to.
Toggle Spoiler
That doesn’t half look odd.
Does it? I’m not sure PSG even existed when a few of those clubs did it.
All those football (footie) banter accounts should be marched outside and shot. Almost all of them doing it for some kind of monetary objective too.
Sokratis is going to get caned but I think I’ve seen Ozil complete three passes and Aubameyang maybe one.
Whilst you should have had three or four by now that red card is mental.
https://www.skysports.com/football/n...abbed-in-paris
People are such shitheads :/
That’s disgusting!
Is this a second leg?
Unlucky to find the one bloke in Paris who actually gives a shit about PSG.Quote:
The 44-year-old was travelling back to the city centre after the game with three other supporters when the driver took offence to them singing in celebration of United's dramatic late winner.
The form difference between home and away is just on another level. It's been years now.
Scenes on La Rue de la Soif tonight no doubt.
Hudson Odoi might take over from Hazard. Some boi
Doesn't seem your type.
How on earth is Mustafi playing at this level?
We have been genuinely good for the last four games, save for half an hour against Fulham. Most of it is down to Jorginho not being absolute dreck because teams have stopped putting a man on him for some reason.
I love how Neymar deep down knows that moving to PSG for the cash was a stupid move in terms of ever winning stuff and his career in general, but somehow tries to hold on to the idea that PSG might win stuff just as much as Barca might in some sort of sad self-justification.
There may not be a nobler cause in football than to make Neymar unhappy.
Neymar gets to much heat for the PSG move. You have to ride for your team. He cant be still dickriding barcelona or any other team. Since his time at PSG, he has won more trophies than he would have if he stayed at Barcelona. But somehow it was a stupid move. He can surpass Zlatan if his timeing and decesions are correct. That sounds like a good career path for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazuuurk
You are fucking nuts son.
"Surpass Zlatan" :D
Fucking go check yourself.
Course he can. The leagues around europe are less competative than ever. You can go to italy and england and get into teams that will win league titles. Easy work.
I can fully get behind this cause.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian
Announced that White Hart Lane won’t be White Hart Lane. It’ll be The Nike Stadium.
Just Bottle It.
Announced? It's been claimed by Richard Keys and since denied
They've been trying to sell the naming rights for ages, but nobody would meet their price. Because, you know, Daniel Levy.
So I've felt this for the last couple of years but I assumed it wasn't that big a difference between previous years. Figured we'd floated around the same points total having dropped a couple more points away from home and picked them up at home but at this point our home form is literally keeping us in the league. I found that on home form alone Arsenal would have finished 3 points behind Man City and away from home been 2 points above relegation.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
Here's the form tables from every year from 2013/14 onwards. It's mental.
https://i.imgur.com/J3wqwwH.png
You would think the club was infested with absolute fannies going off those numbers.
Claudio Pizarro leading the line for Werder Bremen at 40. Stunning.
Ranieri back in Italy. :drool:
And inaccurate. Missing Dundee.Quote:
Originally Posted by Waffdon
Are you pished mate it's above Villa?
That says Dundee United you plank.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
I've just done the posting equivalent of Michy Batshuayi. Went for what I thought was a certain back of the net and then.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mellberg
Probs because it was before PSG existed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mellberg
:drool:
Cracking win, but with both teams now ostensibly safe Sky are going to have to think of another feature to pad-out half-an-hour of build-up with. They must have run the little 'why don't Brighton like Palace?' segment every time they have played in the League.
Ki gets the nod ahead of Shelvey who doesn't make the squad. I'm sure he's not knackered so I wonder if he's away in the summer.
Well, fuck all of this. :moop:
Our record against Everton is so bad.
Southampton have perhaps the worst forwards of anyone in the league (how is Shane Long still starting at this level) and still Spurs have gifted them a 2-1 lead.
Fucking mon
Spurs and Everton are a right laugh.
We really needed that. Cardiff getting the wind up them can do one. And Southampton.
Just need a fucking Burnley win tomorrow for everyone of the threatened teams to have won this weekend.
:cab:
I suppose, on the flipside, defeat for Burnley puts them right back into the mix down there.
What's 7 changes for Watford all about? Have they drafted in Arsene Wenger as a caterer?
Spurs dragging themselves right back into the shit with results of late. G'wan Jurgen, stick a bid for Son in whilst they're on the ropes.
It's like one of those old Spanish relegation battles where Recreativo Chorizo and Atletico Torremolinos get cut off by miles early doors, and then another twelve teams end up locked on 37 points going into the last weekend.Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
I remember the year Barcelona almost got embroiled in that, just before they hired Rijkaard.
A mention of a Spanish relegation battle (and the attendant "little suitcases") is a nice segway into Watford's team selection, or rather, it would have been had this plan not seemingly been working reasonably well for them.
Sorry Elton, that's me jinxed it.
Scored as I typed that.
:D
Went to go check the score after seeing this post and it was already 1-0. Impressive.Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
A bigger suitcase went into the referees room at halftime.
Fantasy captain.
:cool:
Small pockets bottling the top 4 would be incredible.
segueQuote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
I bet Liverpool lose tomorrow.
Jaysus I don't bet but even I'll take that one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boydy
Liverpool's home form against Burnely hasn't been that great over the last few years (couple of draws I think) and it's odd how certain teams seem to perform similarly over prolonged periods (Palace and Watford being two other examples at either ends of the spectrum for Liverpool). I reckon it'll be a gritty game.
Actually, on the repeat performance front I seem to recall Watford getting absolutely fucked by the offside rule against City last season (albeit it at home when they got pumped 5-0).
They are all terrible. Spent 20m on Carillo who is awful, Long who can run a bit and Austin who needs 10 chances to score.Quote:
Originally Posted by Disco
It's a good job Redmond and JWP have started scoring really.
If we could get a 10+ a season striker in we would be mid table, as it is we are aiming for 17th.
I still want us to raid for Ward-Prowse as a set piece specialist. Bet he could do the Jorginho job just as well as the original.
Bit harsh on JWP that.
Don't you have a transfer ban in place?
Surely very much a thing of the VAR future.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Him, Harry Maguire and let the rest take care of itself.
The Knockaert goal. :drool: You just know he's gonna milk it with the fans at the end of the game as well. What a likeable little scamp. (Although should he have been sent off after 15 seconds?)Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
I thought we played well and looked a lot more solid than pre-Huddersfield. Dunk and Duffy seem to be back to their usual selves. The game probably suited us - Palace have the ball, and aren't particularly suited to having it all the time, and we can defend the lead.
Like you I was a bit miffed seeing the other results. But Burnley dropping down there, and it being one week closer to the end of the season with the same five point cushion isn't the worst situation.
Big Dave sacked. Outsiders will understandably slate the Albion for it and the fans are quite divided but I think it's the right call. Shouldn't have been hired in the first place.
Top top bloke but his naivety and lack of strategy totally underlined by bielsas Leeds dicking us. Loyalty to players he liked very frustrating - Robson kanu is League one. Persevered with brunt as ineffective centre mid for about three months and playing Gayle as winger to get him and Rodriguez in the team is like how id set up teams on cm as a child .
He's one of those players that other than the odd free kick does nothing to really influence a game. Hopefully Hassenhuttl continues to get the best out of him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
I'd imagine it's seriously WINDY at Anfield today.
:uhoh:
Drizzle could also play a factor.Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
Ffs.
When your luck isn't in those go against you.
A Birmingham fan just ran on and punched Jack Grealish. I need to leaf through my draconian punishments book.
Christ, he proper went for him too. Must have got ideas from the Hibs fan.
Remaining a Birmingham fan seems appropriate enough.
No idea why the ref is letting Burnley take so much time to do everything. If he continues to let them get away with it, they'll continue to do it.
Decent turnaround. The best thing Liverpool can hope to do is get some daylight.
2 of the most bizarre goals I've seen in a while and Mane proving he's much better when he doesn't have time to think
Grealish donning it by just staying totes cool. I wouldn't fuck with Jack Grealish. He's absolutely nails.
'Mon the Villa.
He's always been a player I've loved watching. One of those mavericks who needs to be at a small enough team (or bad enough team rather, soz Mellin) that he can be the main man. A bit like Wilfried Zaha.
Yeah, he's an intriguing player to watch. He dances around like some kind of woodland imp yet never shies out of anything. No shinpads either. Don.
Child's shinpads. He wouldn't be allowed play with none.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clunge
You have to imagine that bloke will get some sort of exemplary sentence. A couple of years inside or something, and probably bans from everywhere. What an absolute pleb.
The players should have just kicked the fuck out of him. Let that be a warning to anyone else who tries it.
There is also an issue with the club not being able to protect players from assault whilst on the pitch. They might be watching their last home football for a while.
I also don the children shinpads when I play. Socks not pulled all the way up too. I am pure class.
Points deduction so gets filled in by his fellow supporters please.
What's gone on? Please tell me someone has stabbed Klopp :drool:
EDIT: ah, wrong game. Why are you all watching a championship game?
.
A fan ran on in Birmingham v Villa and lamped Jack Grealish from behind. Luckily didn't connect flush but it might well have done.Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
Jesus, if you're going to do that then at least make it count. That was rubbish.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
EDIT: Never mind, Mike beat me to it.
They should let the players get after him in those situations. Dig into him with their studs and spikes.
Just jail him. Jail + lifetime ban. It's simple enough. Can see Birmingham getting hit with Sanctions™ too.
Like in wrestling if a fan gets in the ring :cool2:Quote:
Originally Posted by Shindig
https://youtu.be/FZXyYxhpOXc
I don't get the Zaha thing. He played about thirty minutes of league football for United at the age of twenty one (under Moyes) and gets plastered as some sort of pleb who couldn't hack it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
I think it's fairly logical from watching him play at Palace (where everything goes through him and he has almost total freedom to express himself in an otherwise structured team) that if you put him in a side where he needed to fill a disciplined role and there were many equal or superior talents around him, he wouldn't necessarily be as effective.Quote:
Originally Posted by dino
I guess you don't know until you try, though.
Liverpool winning when Henderson not starting.
https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.u...face_1f914.png
And Grealish gets the goal :beer:. Lad.
Spicy in Birmingham today lads. Karma's a bitch :eyemouth:
So's Jack Grealish by all accounts. :henn0rz:
For the haircut alone, it's a pity he didn't connect properly and knock him out.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47515993
Top quality Zulu's jacket mate.
Did anyone see the steward getting escorted out by the coppers for trying to have another few go's at him?
These are the games where Maurizio has a couple of quickies on the bench over Jorginho's square passing, and everyone else falls asleep. We need Ruben or whoever on the pitch just to make it less predictable.
Aye, noticed that. Was confused when I initially seen him being dragged away.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
I've watched enough wrestling that I was surprised when this didn't happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike
Hazard is really pathetic at corners. As with most other professional players.
Some defending, that.
Classic example there of why Sarriball is shit. Possession gets turned over and all you have going back is a slow cunt who with no physical attributes whatsoever, so the defence is completely exposed. It's bad football and he shouldn't be coaching at a top club.
We were very lucky to get anything out of that. Possession and shots stats are so irrelevant, should have been an easy defensive win for Wolves and they blew it at the end.
Wolves should have held out for the win. Super disapointed to see the game end in a draw. Chelsea are really bad. Hazard to refresh Real Madrid in the summer.
If they come in with £200 million then we should sell. We can spend the money on buying shares in Arsenal or something.
De Gea didn’t half fuck that up.
Seen a few people do that at backward point in my time, less so for relatively tame shots into the centre of goal.
Lukaku and Koscielny do have some great battles together.
That's a penalty.
Sokratis is a lumbering oaf.
Why not just maintain formation and have Ashley Young as the left-sided attacker rather than the defensive waste?
Back to His Best.
Four goals on his debut after he ruptured his spine.
It's ten Japanese feet, so probably like six normal feet.
Why is he taking a touch there ffs?
Cracking pass by Rashford.
Two sitters, and one 'should have scored' bombed. Someone run on and cheap shot him.
@phonics I thought arsenal stopped playing shit youngsters. That maitland-niles is dreadful
He's the 3rd/4th choice right back. He's not been great recently but seems a bit unfair to judge him on it.Quote:
Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel
Dive.
That's not a penalty but Fred has been a mess.
This. Why are you even giving him the opportunity to go down there?Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry
That's a bullshit decision, but it would be interesting to know if VAR would overturn it. There is fractional contact, after all.
He had a decent game today and is a central midfielder.Quote:
Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel
Clipping leg stump I think. You can stay with your on field decision Marais, you're on screen now.Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
How is this working in countries where they have it already?
He's killed so many attacks as well by just running into a defender. He's utterly hopeless.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny
I judge a book by its cover. He isn't good enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
Not even being able to beat Arsenal will set Ole Gunnar Binman's job application back about three months.
By its tyres, you mean.Quote:
Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel
I think Fred has been alright. Marcus Rashford has killed more attacks than anyone, and the less said about his mate the better.
:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Boydy
At least I'm consistent with my beliefs.
Solksjaer out?
Yeah, it's a bit of a worry if they start cooling off on him.
What the fuck is wrong with fans at the moment though?
Frustrating game but Lukaku failed to take any chances which cost us. Move on.
That Xhaka goal was karma for last year.
Rashford had a couple of moments though (the pass to Lukaku).Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
Probably all still pissed from midweek.
How do Arsenal not have another domestic game until April? How do you end up playing 27 games a week in December/January and now have 3 weeks off?
The Cup and an International break.
I like the March international break. One of the signs that winter is about to fuck off to the dustbin of history where it belongs (the Masters is the victory parade).
Not sure that March means anything anymore weather-wise, it's snowing in California atm.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Regardless of the weather, the return of daylight in the mornings and evenings is the herald of better things to come.
It's been like living in a constant hurricane here since Saturday.
Trees down, branches everywhere. 'Sake.
We had rain, snow, hail, gale force winds, complete stillness, and very pleasantly warm sunshine over the course of about four hours yesterday.
I'm about to mow the lawn between hailstorms, other than that is lovely today.
https://www.bbc.com/weather/3494242
Pretty shit here too.
After letting you in it, more like Puta Cunta.
Didn't know you moved to Florida bubQuote:
Originally Posted by John
Zidane back to Madrid :cab:
Well he needs something to do until Ole decides to give up the United job, I suppose.
If you're Zidane why the fuck would you do that
I thought he'd (very sensibly) said 'not yet'.
An astronomical amount of money, probably.
I suppose it can't get much worse for Real, so Zidane doesn't have THAT much to lose going there anymore. And no pressure to achieve anything until next season really.
It's worked out quite nicely for him. Whether or not he actually knew the team needed breaking up last year, they will be chucking loads of money around this summer so happy days.
BTW Ramos seems to be Reals 3rd best scorer this year with 11 goals :cool:
https://e2.365dm.com/19/03/768x432/s...20190310215319
Gotta say that doesn't inspire confidence. Really needed to pick up points yesterday.
We'll drop 6 more points for Arselol and give Ole the job after that.
You can put us down for goalless draws against West Ham, Burnley and Watford.
We'll draw Watford, outright lose to Wolves, beat West Ham, draw at Goodison, draw City at home, beat Chelsea to keep us mathematically in it when all hope will be lost, only to win our remaining fixtures and come up a point short.
Everton, Watford and Leicester away are all losses so you'll be fine.
Arsenal managing to turn a win yesterday into a seethe about Jesse Lingard suggests a complete collapse is imminent.
Meanwhile, the race for the bottom:
Newcastle: Bournemouth (a), Arsenal (a), Crystal Palace (h), Leicester (a), Southampton (h), Brighton (a), Liverpool (h), Fulham (a)
Southampton: Watford (a) Brighton (a), Liverpool (h), Wolves (h), Newcastle (a), Bournemouth (h), West Ham (a), Huddersfield (h)
Burnley: Leicester (h), Wolves (h), Bournemouth (a), Cardiff (h), Chelsea (a), Man City (h), Everton (a), Arsenal (h)
Cardiff: Brighton (a), Chelsea (h), Man City (a), Burnley (a), Liverpool (h), Fulham (a), Crystal Palace (h), Man Utd (a)
I'll not add Brighton the mix because I think Cardiff's run-in is glorious.
how in the fuck do u take corners here
https://i.imgur.com/ufDMEHM.jpg
Please say that's Spurs' new ground.
It looks like it.
It is.
There's a fair bit of foreshortening or whatever it is called in that image though.
Or, you know, you just make the pitch a bit smaller.
It's not like anyone takes a corner from within the quadrant anyway.
I'm not gonna lie I didn't give it much thought beyond "lol what the fuck why do you BUILD a stadium like this" but i guess you could just make the pitch smaller but then why do it like that to begin with idk
i have many questions that don't necessarily need answers
You can't make the pitch smaller. All pitches must be standard size unless the stadium was built per-standardization.
Not gonna act like I knew that I just assumed you could from when they used to ask me in Football Manager what size I wanted the pitch for each season lmfao
Sorry.
Edit: Though I thought it had to be within certain dimensions I just assumed they had room to shrink lol
There's definitely bigger and smaller pitches in the Premier League.
https://www.skysports.com/football/n...am-this-season
https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/...the-same-size/
You can make it smaller.
Why is Phonics always wrong?
They have min/max dimensions, no?
It says here actually, from the first article you posted:
So maybe they've thought "let's purposely build the pitch area smaller so we can have a smaller ground like at WHL" and the FA were all "Nah mate you fucked up"Quote:
That's because 105m x 68m is the stipulated pitch size by the Premier League. In other words, all Premier League clubs must have a pitch the same size as Wembley - unless their stadium doesn't allow for it.
Tottenham's White Hart Lane was an exception, with the stands at the 118-year-old ground restricting the pitch size.
Five other clubs are in the same position this season: Everton (100.48m x 68m), Chelsea (103m x 67.5m), Huddersfield (106m x 66.9m), Crystal Palace and Liverpool (both 101m x 68m) have been allowed to have smaller pitches, due to stadium restrictions.
Now THAT would be hilarious.
Maybe I should have read the article rather than just looking at the graph.
I remember Highbury being a narrow pitch. It's an odd rule but I guess it level ... fuck, I'm not even finishing that sentence.
Newcastle, Southampton and especially Cardiff can get the fuck out of here .Quote:
Originally Posted by Shindig
Mahow so desperate to shoot his shot that he ends with Bruh pointing out he's a tit.
Huddersfield are already 1 spot, only 2 more can go. They've got 14 points in 30 games and need 16 points just to get out the relegation zone now. With 8 games left they're gone.Quote:
Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel
Fulham are only 3 points better off than them as well.
Looking at those fixtures, unless Burnley win well in their next 4 games, they're fucked. Cardiff has a solid run in there too. Newcastle and Southampton will be fine.
Outswingers all the way at Spurs then.
Good luck if you're a team with no lefties and you get a left-sided corner
I'll take a shot at any time from anywhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
Spurs have been practising no-backlift chip corners for the last five years and are about to dominate world football using them. That's also the reason for no transfers and the stadium delay, they're just waiting for Eriksen's foot bones to be sanded off just so.
4D Chess wow
I'm watching Johor Darul Ta'zim play Gyeongnam in the AFC Champions League.... And Jordan Mutch appears to be plodding through midfield. Twice the size of the Malaysian opposition.
Edit: only 27, and playing in the Premier season before last.
:D I hope this is true.
Spurs probably want their fans as close to the pitch as possible. Then there's always the idea that they know its awkward, but they'll be the only team training for corner taking in such a tight space so they'll have an advantage.
:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
It is too. They felt the need to also announce that "he wouldn't be attending to accept the award" :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Spikey M
The FAI are some shambles but anything that cements this fact is a good thing.
That is unfathomable. I don't care if he played like Messi, you chuck the thing at the soon deceased Robbie Keane over him, surely?Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
They haven't announced the senior award yet. My money is going on Grealish. Or Eden Hazard.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spikey M
That rice kid does not even make 10 caps for england over the next 5 years. Guranteed.
Barring injury he'll have at least 25 in that time. There's no competition for his position (unless Southgate wants to use him as a central defender).Quote:
Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel
That was nice by Sterling.
How exactly did Schalke get out of their group? Or even finish in the places to qualify in the first place for that matter?
I never knew Morata had left Chelsea.
A.S. Ronaldo.
Juventus going hell for leather. Extra time all over this
Cronaldo :cool:
Ronaldo seems like such a complete nutcase. Just obsessed.
Thought that was saved in real time.
Juventus on par with Manchester United and Real as the worst club in football. Atletico have done absolutely nothing today though, so there's only so much you can say
That didn’t even look in when in real time. Some player. Who the fuck is Messi.
Schalke getting fisted.
Ronaldo :drool:
They could probably take every match left at a million miles an hour. It's not like they have any domestic strains left.Quote:
Originally Posted by Manc
It makes me want to see Messi in a different competitive league just to see how he adapts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Waffdon
can someone explain back passes to me cause he's kicked it back to the keeper there hasn't he?
It needs to be deliberately played back.
i've never heard of this lad Juventus just brought on damn i'm out of touch or something
I mean ok sure but idk seemed somewhat deliberate in a sense but I get why it wasn't called thenQuote:
Originally Posted by Shindig
My days of knowing who footballers are ended at about 27/28. 20 year old me would be genuinely disgusted.Quote:
Originally Posted by bruhnaldo
Not a penalty at all
Never rated Bernadeschi much but some of the runs he's had today have been quality.
Ronaldo :cool:
JUVE, STORIA DI UN GRAND AMORE. :cool:
I do love these nights when Ronaldo just dons everybody silly.
The 'keeper went far too early.
He scored two on the weekend.Quote:
Originally Posted by bruhnaldo
I think Juve played Friday if I recall so I deffo missed it my fault
https://youtu.be/U9yPVNfSZ3E
:cool:
This music is why Europe is crap.
Cristiano is amazing man
Trophy less Gerrard :drool:
Not dead. Got up early to watch the Juventus-Atletico match.
What a game. I've watched the replay a half dozen times, and I still can't figure out how Ronaldo got to the ball for the first goal. Oblak's non-save for the second goal may be one of the best ever saves to not actually be a save in the end. And Bernadeschi's run to win the penalty was the highlight of the entire match. Ronaldo was worth every penny we paid for him.
If Juve win the Champions League this season, I'd say that confirms Ronaldo for the best Champions League player of all time. He's such a big game player.
He already is the best Champions' League player of all time. The question is what it does to the main debate.
I still edge Messi over Ronaldo. Both have had to change their game in recent years. Ronaldo is now on the end of everything in the box, whereas Messi is still trying to make shit happen on the half way line. Both are 1 and 2 of all time on my list.
This.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
I’d still take Ronaldo regardless.
I'm amazed by Ronaldos seeming ability to will himself to score. Sometimes you can just see it on him, he's a beast to begin with - but somehow still has the ability to go into Beast Mode from there anyway.
Didn’t Ronaldo do this against Juve last season? (or the season before that)
Beeb has some highlight reel of LvGs best comments. That man was a genius.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/av/football/35145613
Captain "Mike Smalling" :D
Ronaldo > *
I don't think there's even much doubt about it any more.
Messi almost single handedly dragged Barca to a title last season. They lost one game all season, in which he didn't play...
LvG looks like a worm.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazuuurk
Cristiano single handedly dragged Portugal to a Euro final and, especially given Real's results this year, seemingly 3 European Cups in a row though?Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
Those are cup competitions. You can add the amount of actually competitive games he played in in those 4 cups and it probably doesn't even add up to one league season. I'm not trying to do down any of those achievements but to say Messi isn't close is just horse shit.
It was 6-2 in leagues in his time in Spain, for comparison.
And they do say that's the true measure of a team, although I don't now about individual players.
How many of league games were against Albacete U11's? And lets not get silly, nobody claimed it wasn't close.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
The same amount of games as Real Madrid I presume.Quote:
Originally Posted by Disco
I actually think it's ruud.
Ronaldo definitely has more of that “clutch” factor that american sports journalists always talk about. Whether that makes him a better player, idk. He’s vile, though. There’s a reason Mike Tyson isn’t such a huge draw anymore
Yeah, he isn't a boxer anymore.
I think it always came down to who had the better supporting cast, and to what extent that enabled them to do whatever they were doing. If Ronaldo wins multiple Champions' Leagues across three sides it would give him a better claim to have got the best out of his respective teammates, since Barcelona (and therefore the other bloke) have arguably under-achieved in the competition since 2011, when the rest of the side was pretty outrageous. They won in 2015 with peak Luis Suarez and Neymar on fire, but one in seven with Lionel Messi and the ability to sign whoever you want isn't particularly great.
Lol. That's 10 times the penalty that yesterday's was
‘Only him’ says the commentator when Aguero literally done the same thing yesterday.
A thing is always better when a top, top player does it than when anybody else does exactly the same thing.
I remember whichever dickhead La Liga co-commentator it is Sky have / used to have coaxing himself towards climax because Messi was still running in the 90th minute.
Mane, obvs.
That's pure class.
:D
small
These stats are mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
https://www.theguardian.com/football...tletico-madridQuote:
Ronaldo is the Champions League’s all-time top scorer with 124, and there is more than that. Ronaldo without penalties is the Champions League’s second-top scorer. Ronaldo at Real Madrid alone is the Champions League’s fourth-top scorer. Only Leo Messi and Raúl have scored more Champions League goals than Ronaldo has scored in knockout rounds alone. He scored in the 2008 final (although he missed a penalty), in the 2014 final and twice in the 2017 final. In 2016 he scored the penalty in the shootout that won it.
That might officially be the worst penalty ever.
Virgil!! :cool2:
English football taking over.
Went for a shit and missed that goal. :moop:
The longer the cunts are in this the better.
Bayern are a proper direction-less mess. The pitfalls of binman management.
The horror of a Liverpool double or a City Quadruple LOOMS LARGE.
Have we had 4 English teams in the quarters before?
Bayern were really bad tonight. Lewandowski is now too immobile for the highest level I feel. Bayern haven't really got much going for them player-wise. A load of big units and some foreign fancy dans with little end product.
Robertson getting booked was very stupid.
The pendulum has swung back around, PL now completely dominant again. Cue Karl-Heinz having another whinge in the summer no doubt.
I don't think so. Might be wrong and can't be arsed to check, but even the two years where we had 3 semi finalists there weren't four quarter finalists.Quote:
Originally Posted by CJay
We had four in 07/08 (Ronaldo Year). The classic Sky Four, RIP.
08/09 as well.
I've done well there.
Villa 2 points off the playoffs from absolutely no where. Grealish back for 3 games and we've won all 3. I'd love him to stick around. Brilliant to watch, but think he'll be off in the summer.
Barca and City to draw the easier ties, small pockets v bin man & Ronaldo v VVD.
You knew where you were with the Sky Four. We wouldn't have Trump or Brexit if they were still dominant.
Anyone but an English team.
Final tickets go on ballot tomorrow, fyi.
Flights to Madrid already seem to be going mental. :cab:
It is remarkable what's happened in the past week - we've been completely directionless for months, scavenging the odd result here and there and drawing loads of games that just about kept us in the hunt. Now, Grealish back, three wins, and we're right in the hunt again at just the right time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mellberg
Sometimes, all you need is a spark. Where would we be without Almiron?
Last season. Got some against us in the CL final the year before, but it was really the Casemiro goal that did us in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pen
Without wanting to harp on about it too much, his first goal was a fantastic example. I'm not normally the sort of person who talks about things like "desire" or "wanting it more", but that goal was basically willed out of nothing. He was completely covered, and he still found a ghost of a way through.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazuuurk
He scored that goal because he has hops that an NBA player would be proud of, not because he really wanted to score
Hop off mate.
Paul Scholes has left Pldham :cab:
Blaming the club on the way out too.
Dynamo Kiev would be nowhere near Championship survival based on the evidence of these two legs.
Chelsea should sell Hazard if it means Hudson-Odoi staying.
Does Wenger manage anyone now?
Where do you find streams for games these days? Cant find a good one for the Arsenal game :(
That's not the streams fault.
Footybite
Who's the thick in the balaclava and did he play the whole match with it on?
Aubameyang wishing he was Facundo Sava.
It's a wonder he's allowed flounce around in that.
Man City v Barcelona
Ajax v Liverpool
Man Utd v Spurs
Juventus v Porto
Thank me later x
This Europa League has a nice Cup Winners' Cup feel to it. I bet we'll get Arsenal next though.
Liverpool won't get Ajax because Porto are there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Waffdon
I hope Guy Verhofstadt hasn't checked the coefficient table lately, he might combust.
That draw above has been making its way around today. Where did it originate?
I remember Roma v Liverpool tickets going on sale the day before the draw was made last season.
The final they want would be Juventus v Barcelona, so they need to try and see off City now. The above is what I would fix if I was an evil UEFA baron.
I reckon Juve are a better bet for knocking City out than Barcelona, although I tend to think both might struggle.
If it was going to be a UEFA hatchet job it would be the English sides against each other with Juve and Barcelona sharing the byes. Barcelona to breeze past Porto, Juve to ruthlessly crush the upstartish Ajax.
I lolled at whoever tweeted it that United will get two away ties against Liverpool and City will get Burton Albion.
I know nobody else even remotely cares about the baggie boys but I totally supported the decision to bin off Darren Moore (despite absolutely worshipping him as a player), and I feel somewhat vindicated by the result last night. Top bloke, bad manager.
Beautiful draw.
Juve - Barca final is on, shock.
There you go, City getting the piss draw.
United to win it with style.
I will be supporting the other 6 teams. Stick it to the man.
City Liverpool final and all media abolished.
We havent had a Messi Vs Ronaldo european final yet have we? :drool:Quote:
Originally Posted by dino
And let's hope we never do. Team sport.
That was unexpected.Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
The actual draw
Man City vs Tottenham
Barcelona vs Man Utd
Juventus vs Ajax
Porto vs Liverpool
UL Draw
Slavia Praha vs Chelsea
Benfica vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Villarreal vs Valencia
Napoli vs Arsenal
Napoli in the quarters and Villereal or Valencia in the Semis. Not sure we could have got a harder draw.
Lower Priority Arsenal will have the legs reversed as well.
Semis then we go out to Barcelona...cracking draw though.
Didn't realise this was the case now:
So there's a very real possibility of the 4th team in the PL not getting into the CL.Quote:
From the 2018–19 season, if English clubs win both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, and neither finish the Premier League in a position that qualifies them for the UEFA Champions League, the following will happen:
The club that won the UEFA Champions League will go straight into the group stage
The UEFA Europa League winners will go into the UEFA Champions League group stage
The club that finished fourth in the Premier League will transfer into the UEFA Europa League
No there's not.
Only if the winners of the Champions League finish outside the top 4, which is pretty unlikely.
For 4th placed Arsenal to be shafted either United or Spurs would have to win the champions league and finish 5th and Chelsea would have to win the wafer cup and finish 6th (those league positions being interchangeable).
Fabio Cannavaro new China manager.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47586593
Fifa has approved a revised 24-team Club World Cup starting in 2021 despite top European clubs saying they would boycott the tournament.
The new competition is expected to include eight teams from Europe.
It will run every four years and take place from June to July in the slot currently used for the World Cup warm-up event, the Confederations Cup.
What shit.
This Leeds-Sheffield game has had a lively start. Two extremely good sides.
Outfield player in goal klaxon. Leeds should have pissed this but they have zero composure.
Crewe were 0-1 down before scoring 5 goals in 9 minutes. 5-1.
Well, I guess I'll take that point.
2-0 Swansea in the FA Cup, didn't see that coming.
Second goal was nicely worked as well. The second half could be a proper sulk.
Get your pennies on a City win.
City's second was never a penalty and Aguero was offside for their third. Poor Swansea.
Quality side this.
Feel bad for Swansea. They were properly robbed there by the ref.
Ref got threatened by Richard Keys with a razor blade at half time as the QUADRUPLE looked in danger.
Yeah, but why Romero. I don’t get this cup keeper thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry
He's been a pretty amazing backup keeper, I think giving the cup games to keep him happy to stay is good business.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pen
Wolves look a dangerous side. Very well drilled defensively and bright on the counter.
How hard is it to realise there's no C in Doherty.
Christ, I've just seen the Swansea Vs City highlights. Swansea must be absolutely fuming.
Also I'm coming round to Jimmy's idea of below knee amputations as punishment for cynical tackles to stop counter-attacks. You should never be in a position where breaking the rules with every intention of getting caught is advantageous. I don't even blame the players for doing it - if the rules encourage it then the rules are wrong. Like that farce badminton match at the Olympics the other year where it was better to lose.
We've been shit.
Is it me or did Romero react in slo-mo to that shot?
Yeah, Wolves have deserved this.
After praising Romero earlier that was shocking keeping for the second goal.
Ole Gunnar Binman being out-tacticked (again) more like.
That's never a red.
????????
That's the softest red I've ever seen.
He's the last defender and he took the man before the ball.... looks like a red to me.
No chance. We'll still lose but that wasn't a red in a million years so well done VAR.
Has a red card been overturned by VAR before or is this a precedent?
Wolves have been excellent but they are cheating buggers with all the professional fouls. That's about the 6th.
Even the commentator were saying the more you see it, the more it looks like a red. There's no chance it was a "clear and obvious error" at any rate. VAR seems to require about 52% chance the decision was wrong, rather than 100% like in the NFL (and like it's meant to work).
:drool: :drool: :drool:
It's all a bit strange but doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it.
Basically get paid €400k a year but then lend your employer €100k because they have no money :cab:
He's no Guillermo Franco, for sure, but I'm starting to quite like Hernandez, the little scamp.
Okay, just saw Bournemouth's penalty. He ... made a lot of it. At least Ritchie's equaliser was properly smashed in.
No point even having a debate. Nuno is the manager of the season.
3-0 vs Boro. John McGinn and Super Jack on fire. Four in four now for Villa and we’re into the play-offs for the first time all season. We’re peaking right on time.
We're looking half decent. The signings of Mings (who is far too good for this division) and Hause have transformed the defence, whilst the return of Grealish has improved basically everything else.
We could do with going up this season. I don't particularly like the Prem, but wouldn't want to lose some of these players. Namely Grealish, McGinn and Mings.
Getting Mings permanently would be a massive score. I’ve not been all that impressed with Hause though, tbh.
I was looking at the table this morning and suddenly thought: what if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Rejuvenated Manchester United maintain their current 'net' league position of 6th (or real position if Chelsea get a point today), and go out to Barcelona?
What then?
Then we're still 1000 times better than under Mourinho and he'll still have done a fantastic job.
Will the suits get rid though? With 4th or a semi/final in the CL it would be an easy decision to keep him.
xG strikes again.
I think everything beyond steadying the ship (in time-honoured, attacking, youth-trusting, Mike Phelan-employing, comeback-making...) was a bonus. These last two defeats have brought things back down to Earth bit, but he is still the best option outside of matey likely BOTTLING IT.
Also it's Phelan really isn't it? He's just a frontman.
Phelan's at the wheel
Tell me how good does it feel
We've got Blackmore, Mark Robins, and Webb
This club has a long tradition of playing attractive, attacking...
How patronising.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
United have a team with a number of deficiencies which have been shown up in a few games recently. Arsenal was unlucky, yesterday was poor. If we finish 6th then at least OGS put us in with a chance that of finishing top 4 as it was a complete disaster under Mourinho. PSG is a night that can't be taken away.
Mane, obvs.
This Millwall v Brighton game is epically bad. Massive hailstorm, nawty fans, both teams playing desperate football.
Was just about to say Liverpool aren't playing like contenders here and then they do that :drool:
Ah yes, a good old Liverpool goalkeeper fuck up. It's been a while.
Everything about that was perfect, from Klopp having just brought Milner on presumably to shore things up, to the scorer, to Virgil van Dijk's face like he'd just had a baseball bat shoved up his arse.
Master stroke bringing on Milner! Mr Penalty.
Sulley March deserves better.
That's brain dead for their keeper. We were on the ropes as well.
My fucking stream cut out just as Milner stepped back from placing the ball on the spot FOR FUCK'S SAKE.
Saved.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boydy
That Fulham goalkeeping error is nothing compared to the one which has just let Brighton back to 2-2 at the Den. Easily the biggest fuck up I've seen this season.
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving team (Milwall). Monumental fuck up there from the keeper.
Millwall have it in them to shit City out but that was daft. Brighton were toothless until the second goal. Even then, March has nobody near him. Millwall paid the price for backing off.
Clutch Mane is fantastic.
He's been really reliable for a goal at the minute. What you want when Salah's not firing.
As long as someone is putting it in the net I don't care who. But he's not scored in 6 or 7, and is still on the same goals as Kane and Aubameyang and only 1 behind Aguero. So he's not been all that bad.
I sense both goalkeepers are getting a slap after that game.
I'm surprised Fraser Forster's played nothing this season beyond a couple of reserve games. Worth a look unless Karius comes back a new man.
Yeah in case you haven't kept up with Karius. It's gone from bad to worse.
God knows what Ferguson was thinking there with the stamp. Completely out the blue.
I know Besiktas aren't paying him. Shane Ferguson, you silly radge. :(
We are bad at football. Could we sack him now and appoint Michael Duberry or whoever?
At least he's mixing his substitutes up a bit.
Do FA Cup quarter finals not go to replays?
Fourth round is now the last round that goes to replays.
Yeah, just saw that on wikipedia. Probably a good thing.
Was there a reason why a whole stand at millwall was empty?
Was probably the Family Stand.
They've only gone and let the Rice award stand and are announcing it and all at the FAI awards on TV tonight :D Pack of fucking chumps.
Best name ever.
Who will he be leaving to play Senior International football for?
He'll be winning trophies with Spain by the time he's 25.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spikey M
Messi has just scored a hatrick and wrapped it up with an absolute peach.
Yeah but can he score at will?
We should put together an 'All time could be Irish 11'. I bet you have an outstanding team of deserters.Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
Wayne Rooney could and perhaps should have played for Ireland.
We've done well from the amount of blow-ins coming over this direction too so have to take the good with the bad. Speaking of which, Shane Duffy won senior player of the year tonight.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spikey M
Looking at the current squad, out of 23:
15 are actually Irish:
Darren Randolph, Mark Travers, Seamus Coleman, Matt Doherty, John Egan, Enda Stevens, Alan Judge, Jeff Hendrick, Conor Hourihane, Alan Browne, Glenn Whelan, Robbie Brady, Jack Byrne, Shane Long, and Sean Maguire.
Plus 2 Northern Irish in James McClean and Shane Duffy that probably would have got letter bombs from the UVF had they lined out for Northern Ireland.
That's about as good a ratio as it's ever been I'd say.
Agreed. But what gems out there could you have had? Every fucker going seems to be eligible to play for Ireland. Myself included, potentially. My surname is Celtic and most common in Ireland (and America). Sadly my Paternal Grandparents were racist cunts and my Dad died when I was 11 so I have no idea how far back an Irishness goes.
Shame. I'm alright as a left back (in the dressing room. Hehehehehe)
As Jimmy was saying Rooney could have. Gascoigne was eligible too and Steve Bruce as far as I know. Jack Grealish played underage for us.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spikey M
Two players that are supposedly decent prospects that have or will jump to England soon are that Okoflex lad at Celtic and Luca Connell at Bolton. Ryan Johansson of Bayern has said he wants to play for us but he's 17 and never will if he gets a better offer (Sweden).
I don't think 'Mouse' is Irish.
O'Mouse.
His grandparents dropped the O.
They dropped N's.
Spikey is my second cousin.
And #1 Bro.
:cool:
OutrageousQuote:
Originally Posted by phonics
https://streamja.com/6w4m
The free kick he scored earlier was good enough, but he just continues to amaze.
Our third choice goalkeeper and also our highest earner. No one else will pay him anywhere near what he's on here so he wont be going anywhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shindig
Bogarde rule?
International week is upon us. Every Premier League footballer who was due to be called up sadly has a sprained ankle or a dentist's appointment.
In the picture accompanying that article he was wearing a jumper the exact colour of a Hearts shirt, which made it ten times better.
Crewe have decided in an attempt to prove they had nothing to do with the institutionalised noncing by... hiring the lawyers that represented the Catholic Church in a seperate noncing claim.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...P=share_btn_tw
Also, for the FM players.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2Efd8XW0AAB2J7.jpg
holy shit how
Fm'd mate.
Reminds me of this - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...em/6513343.stm
Somewhere WestHamGaz is fuming about that game Phonics posted
Some goal from the Kazakh lad.
EDIT - The first one. They scored again right as I posted that.
Scotland taking the same approach as their rugby team by the looks of it.
Some animal skins trader from the steppe has arrived at the back post to make it three. Love these farces.
Scotland really are shit getting destpryed by a team of Golovkin's
Fun fact, Kazakhstan renamed their capital city yesterday after their longtime president
It is only the largest landlocked country in the world.
:D
There's a chant in there somewhere for him.
https://www.balls.ie/football/declan...ts-2015-407747
Declan Rice; he’s in the RA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVV9pPEUau4
Reminds me of John Cleese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_JUBgPHYmY
Didn't realise there would be as much backlash towards him from England fans because of it. He was a child for God's sake.
Old tweets are such a boring way to ruin people's lives.
The only thing is one good performance and he could walk off the pitch in a balaclava singing Celtic Symphony and nobody will give a shit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Make him captain.
The lists of other teams Kazakhstan have beaten over particular periods of time/at home/by a certain margin is pretty lol. Is that the worst Scotland result ever?
Faroe Islands at least they got a point.
How did my boy Islambek Kuat do for Kazakhstan? :cool:
EDIT: apparently he assisted the second.
Sancho starting :drool:
Dier binning it in to give Declan Rice a debut the madman.
The meejah won't know how to react to that.
They might have to re-print that article about his mum still living in a housing association gaff for balance.
Is calling it The Czech Republic a hate crime now or something, when did that change?
It's Czechia, isn't it? For some reason it just sounds wrong in English.
Yeah, I thought they wanted to be Czechia now (how I was going to spell it anyway) but I guess we've met them half way with the 'the' thing which seems to really piss off certain quarters.
Still THE United Kingdom, natch.
Was the first goal offside? It sort of looked like it was. And then a dodgy pen. Happy days.
I don't know who wanted it to be "Czechia". We certainly didn't, and if you come to Prague and call it that you'll get assaulted
We're a bit like that with Opal Fruits.
In 2013, Czech president Miloš Zeman recommended the wider official use of Czechia,[37] and on 14 April 2016, the government agreed to make Czechia the official short name.[38] The new name was approved by the Czech cabinet on 2 May 2016 and registered on July 5, 2016.Quote:
Originally Posted by mugbull
I mean yeah the businessmen wanted a name that wouldn’t take them 10 minutes to say but the people thought it was bizarre. Should really be Czecho if anything, thats closer to how you’d actually say it in czech
EDIT: Should honestly also do away with the weird Polish “cz” spelling the English-speaking world uses. It’s not helpful to anyone
Never knew they had a different name in the UK, the american capitalist machine putters alongQuote:
Originally Posted by Disco
Once we'd swallowed 'Snickers' without rioting anything was fair game.
That one too?!
We won Coco Pops though :cool:
No booing :(
England’s team is amazing. Sancho and CHO with Sterling as well. Oh my fuck
Henderson tho. Lol
Surely Rice replaces him or that other joker Dier now that he's had his little slap on the knuckles.Quote:
Originally Posted by Waffdon
Pickford is like the 'ADHD' kid in class that no one really likes.
I'm normally a youth sceptic, but Sarri failing to use Hudson-Odoi at this point really is a joke. I just wish we would stop hiring Italian coaches, they are all the bloody same.
Chechnya really have been unfeasibly unlucky.
I genuinely called something to vote for coco pops.Quote:
Originally Posted by Disco
Luxembourg beat Lithuania tonight. They can't have won many competitive games in their history, and the other two drew so they top the group for now.
They were favourites pre match as well. Lithuania are probably the worst footballing nation in Europe.
Just below Armenia, who scrape past by virtue of having a single player anyone has ever heard of.
Moldova shirley.
You'd imagine Andorra, Gibraltar, and San Marino would have to be worse.
Remember when Latvia made it to Euro 2004?
And would have beaten the Germans with an honest referee. They had some no-mark, 20/20 acceleration and pace cheat causing all sorts of havoc.
Possibly. Moldova's club coefficient is about five places higher than Lithuania so it's a close call.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Growing up in Lithuania, a country of a couple million, you might harbour some hope that your country might do something you could be proud of in football. I imagine people born in those countries probably just support Spain, Italy etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
Yeah but they're still European footballing countries that would be worse than Lithuania regardless of who their youth supports.Quote:
Originally Posted by dino
Marians Pahars was rapid but he was playing in the Premiership at that point I'm sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
In a theoretical ranking of European places I'd want to be born as a football fan, Lithuania is bottom.
Never had a single player of note, league is full of mafia run teams who fix half their matches, stadiums are all shitholes, too cold to play for half the year etc.
It was Maris Verpakovskis apparently.Quote:
Originally Posted by John
If you're born in San Marino, chances are you'll get to see your uncle play against Paul Pogba. Happy days.
Latvia - Czech was the first football match i ever remember watching, was in a pub somewhere in the countryside. As a 7 year old i was convinced Latvia were a powerhouse for the next five years or so
They beat the Swiss in '08 in the qualifying campaign for 2010.Quote:
Originally Posted by John
https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matche...82/report.html
I believe that's their best win.
There was Jankauskas and I’m pretty sure there was a Lithuanian defender who played a few seasons in the Premier league. I’m not saying they’re shit or anything but they have had a handful of “decent” players.Quote:
Originally Posted by dino
Stepanovs? At Arsenal
Southgate saying Raheem Sterling has "turned full circle." So he's in exactly the same place?
Makes you wonder why he never toned down his black man antics sooner. Well done the tabloids for giving him a bit of focus.
I still dont understand how in some sports, people are Team United Kingdom or Great Britain like in Athletics but in football, you have individual England, Scotland, etc.
Because we invented the sport and had to play each other before the rest of the world got involved.
And because Scottish people actually want to be picked.
They knocked the Dutch out of the euros in the 60s if that counts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry
Not what I'd have picked but fingers crossed it's enough for a result.
.
It's some setting for a game.
You're playing Gibraltar. A team composed entirely of League of Ireland players should be able to win.
My overriding memory is still a latter day O'Neill team. They would struggle today, hopefully this is better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boydy
They're all over us already and should have had a penalty :D
Their centre forwards name is peeling off his shirt, I think you'll be ok.
Christ this is ridiculously bad, imagine what the Danes and Swiss are going to do. Actually Georgia will destroy us next week looking at this never mind the two top seeds.
That's some save.
Third time in 27 games that Gibraltar have made it to half time level :face:
That was top notch.
We were really poor, although the weather did seem quite bad (windy). There’s just such a lack of creativity and pace throughout the side. Although even if we had some, McGoldrick and Maguire aren’t exactly going to start banging them in any time soon.
This is by far the worst Irish side of my lifetime.
And to be fair to Gibraltar, they looked quite well drilled at least. They have some Uruguayan fella in charge now apparently.
This John Delaney stuff is outstanding.
watching a bit of Wales
Slovakia's RB gifting one early
This Slovakian pressure is quite something.
Just back from the 21's. Adam Idah and Jason Molumby are two really excellent looking prospects. Hopefully they don't get buried too much at club level.
McLeish looks ill. Definitely early sighs of dementia.
Eden Hazard for Belgium in the past two years is the best player in the world.
Is Molumby the one that was (is?) at Brighton? Remember seeing him in an early league cup game a few years ago and he was quite good, never to be seen again.
I'm not actually sure where he is now but he was at Brighton before anyway. He's had a couple of years of bad injuries.Quote:
Originally Posted by niko_cee
EDIT: Still there apparently.
What is going on with Danny Wellbecks giant thigh?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2fnMmAWoAET-qW.jpg
Am I right in thinking that 'hostile environment' in this context means monkey chants etc?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47606892
Whenever arsenal players get injured, they return with gorilla muscles. Cech being another example.
The Montenegro national anthem is like something out of The Omen.
That’s a quality finish. England’s terrible defenders and ‘keepers will be their down fall.
How is Michael Keane in this squad? :cab:
Tasty game this.
I'm enjoying the amount of clean shaven players we have.
There he is. What a guy
This game has 3-2 written all over it.
5-1 to England it is then.
"Cristiano Ronaldo has gone off injured during Portugal's European Championship qualifier against Serbia."
Left hamstring apparently. Amazing. 1-1 at the moment and Portulol seems to be on the ropes.
Is he ENGLAND'S SAVIOUR once again now?
I thought ENGLAND'S SAVIOUR was Harry Kane?
Has Ross Barkley actually become any good or is playing for Chelsea enough for Waistcoat to have convinced himself he is?
I was surprised to even see him in the squad. Isn't everyone on here always calling him muck every time he plays for Chelsea?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian
He started the season well but has been meh ever since. Loftus-Cheek is a lot better.
1) International football is a lower level than club football.
2) He’s been 7/10 for Chelsea on average. IIRC they’d be 7 points worse off without his contributions.
Turned on France-Iceland to take a peak and they score right away :drool:
love when that happens
Barkley has all the physical and technical tools to be excellent. His problem is that he's braindead and if given time to consider his next move will pick the worst available option every time.
Fair play to Sterling for taunting the Montenegrin fans.
When you play for Everton and it’s not working out, it’s hard to have a good move. You’ve got Leicester or a step upwards which is above his level.Quote:
Originally Posted by John
I think he meant during a game.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
:D that is outstanding
Hahahahahhaahha too much gear.
Fucking hell Moronics.
You fucking balloon. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by phonics
Wow.
Should have had money on it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pleb
I nearly did :moop:
Phonics. :D
Really doesn't help himself.
Yeah this is what's been surprising me. It was only him actually scoring that really prompted the question.Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
We seem to be quite good now, which is nice.
Well it's a better class of steamrolling qualifiers, certainly.
Alberto Moreno off to Barcelona in the summer. :cab:
He must be as baffled by that as anyone else.
They managed to turn Paulinho into a semi-functioning footballer.
It'll be for home grown rule purposes, surely.
If it was purely for that why would you not just bully some La Liga club with a decent young fullback to sell him to you rather than sign sodding Moreno?
He's a known quantity who will fill a spot on the squad and be fine for games against Paella Utd without kicking off. Seems sensible to me.
They probably think a known quantity on a free is better than having to spend 5-10m on a prospect that might wilt under the pressure.
Err ya what Disco said.
Has anyone ever seen Phonics and Pavel in the same thread?
McCarthy dropping one of our only two decent Premier League players :face:
Doherty is twice the player Coleman is. And for Glenn fucking Whelan too. Christ.
How has Whelan not retired from internationals yet? This will be painful. From memory Georgia try to play decent football.
He had :DQuote:
Originally Posted by CJay
Yeah they knock it around lovely, played us off the pitch last time they were in Dublin and out there. If they've found a final pass then it's trouble.
Should be 3 at the back and let Doherty and Stevens do what they do best.
I'd missed the U19 result, that's a great win in Russia.
I wonder how many of them are English :uhoh:
Well, what do I know? Deserved a far bigger win.
Quagliarella scored twice today.
I had no idea he was still playing let alone in international matches.
Yeah we actually played well. McGoldrick was good up top but he is never going to score any goals. Still a lack of end product overall but at least we looked cohesive, and we weren’t just belting the ball upfield out of defence like we did in the dark days under O’Neill.Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggles
With O'Dowda, Browne and Robinson to come into the team it'll look better too, get McClean and Brady out of there. The likes of the Preston pair would feed off McGoldrick well.Quote:
Originally Posted by CJay
Saw Sadlier make Damien Duff look like a muppet on the protests/FAI stuff yesterday so looking forward to Second Captains. It'll be nice to hear the lads in a good mood about the football for the first time since 2016.
Meanwhile, Switzerland were 3-0 up in the 84th minute and drew.
I normally wouldn't ever praise that self important twat but anyone putting Duff back in his box is doing good work, especially the face on him when he was informed about the concept of time.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
:drool:
:lol:
That's quality.
This keeps happening.
I'd like that more if every tweet by them didn't include an animated gif.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny
Why is playing out from the back so in vogue? These sideways goal kicks do my head in.
Idk who Cambridge Utd are playing today but just seen of contingent of whoever it is' fans aggressively approaching and chanting in the faces of anyone they passed on one of side streets into Cambridge city centre.
Like yeah well done on how loud you can shout and knowing all the words, but I don't think a bunch of Saturday shoppers and Chinese maths students are really your opposite number.
It’s Colchester, but that’s kind of irrelevant. Every club (well, lower league certainly) has that exact group of supporters. They just haven’t got much else going on in life.Quote:
Originally Posted by randomlegend
Are you saying that this was his own fault? Top lad.Quote:
Originally Posted by randomlegend
United have been total wank these first 20 minutes.
Fat Boy Shaw :cool:
Dortmund win it in injury time whilst Bayern drop points :cool:
Stuck £20 on Villa for promotion before the game @ 7/1. Don't let me down boys.
That Martial goal :lol:
I saw 'getting dominated' on the BBC ticker and figured Juan Mata must be playing. Bless him. He is clearly the nicest man in football, but he has basically wasted the prime years of his career at United.
Watford deserved to win that tbh, but oh well. Ole at the wheel.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/47758736
A veteran Australian rules football broadcaster has apologised after laughing at an amputee's attempts to toss a coin before a match.
Sydney Swans ambassador Cynthia Banham appeared to struggle while performing the ceremonial role before Swans' AFL match against Adelaide Crows.
McGuire, presenting coverage for Fox Footy, provoked laughter from his co-commentators as he said: "I think we should introduce a $5,000 fine to anybody who's tossing the coin and can't do it properly.
"Every week, we have someone dropping it on their foot. Come on, toss it up properly, for goodness sake. Practise in the week, you know you're going to do it. It can't be that hard can it, guys?"
:D
Bloody Jon Obi Mikel there getting mugged off in the Middlesbrough midfield.
Alfredo Morelos has just been shown his fifth red of the season, half an hour into the old firm match, for an off the ball elbow on Scott brown.
Got to be the thickest cunt in football.
I mean we'd all like to bury our elbow in Scott Brown's face but he is a proper mongo.
Surely not worth the bother.
I thought that it would be someone without hands, in which case lol at choosing that person but I can see the OUTRAGE. But this person has a perfectly functioning hand to toss the coin with.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry
Gerrard :D
Morelos :D
Glasgow in Green. Thirteen points. Christ.
BBC live text saying Ryan Kent "shoved" Scott Brown but from the pictures it looks like he's lamped him.
Terrible, terrible away kit today and our genius manager has left Hazard and Kanté on the bench, I can't imagine how anything could possibly go wrong.
Where does he rate in the list since you've been following Chelsea Jim?
That was a boring first half. Chelsea must have had 75% of the ball but did absolutely nothing with it.
Pffft. The state of this.
:cool:
He's the worst manager we've had in terms of performance with us. Big Phil Scolari was also shite, but not for the infuriating and entirely avoidable reasons that Sarri is. Benitez was a negative turd, and Grant was obviously a weird stooge but this guy has the horrible combination of thinking he is a football genius while also not having the first clue what he is doing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yevrah
The worst thing about him is that when his shit tactics fail, he just blames anyone else available, as if only he knows the correct way to play football and the pesky players/opposition/referee are unfairly thwarting his correct style of play.
Thats criminal from the AR there.
Back in your cage, Cardiff.
That chance at the end sums Barkley up. All the time in the world to do *something* and he lets the ball run across him for what felt like 10 minutes and then smashes it over the bar.
That is absolute daylight robbery.
lol at Steven Gerrard wanting to use a red card fine to reimburse the fans. Wrong side of town for that mawkish wank la.
Spurs dont usually go 3 at the back do they? Could be tough today with Spurs not needing a win.
They have done that quite a few times this season. They 100% do need a win though, the other three have reeled them back in!
Absolutely dire
Bullshit. That wasn't even a foul.
Shite defending anyway though.
What is the fucking point of Jordan Henderson?
Phew
Fabinho away at Southampton for the love of god please.
omg!
It's moments like that that make me believe, but then I remember City actually need to drop points.
In Binman we trust.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gray Fox
Alright, let's look at the potential banana skins for City:
17/4 - Spurs
24/4 - Man Utd
Maybe an outside chance of Palace holding them but they have the game in hand. With Liverpool, every match looks like a battle but they're getting the luck and results.... so far.
Liverpool
Southampton (a)
Chelsea (h)
Cardiff (a)
Huddersfield (h)
Newcastle (a)
Wolves (a)
Man City
Cardiff (h)
Palace (a)
Spurs (h)
Man Utd (a)
Burnley (a)
Leicester (h)
Brighton (a)
Some droppable tasty games in that list.
Just seen Chelsea's offside goal. That is so disgraceful from the linesman that it borders on suspicious for match-fixing. He'd have to be looking in the opposite direction to miss that.
I hope it comes down to the last minute of the last game, and Bottlepool bottle it in the most majestic way possible, perhaps the mighty VIRGIL bundling it in to his own net, Bobby missing an open goal/pen, Salah having a heart attack. Something like that. :drool:
He'd cleverly stationed himself behind Willian.
Harsh on Cardiff, but with my Brighton hat on thank fuck for that.
I thought Salah was miles offside for that goal at the end but seeing as it got zero mentions anywhere I guess he wasn't.
Fuck Cardiff. They can get the fuck out of here.
Last game, Liverpool need a win for the title. 0-0 in the early stages and Henderson goes down with a heart attack. Pronounced dead, match abandoned. City win, which leaves Liverpool still needing to win the rematch, but as the city is in mourning it's delayed until the start of July. Jeremy Corbyn, by now Prime Minister, negotiates a settlement with Wolves in the 'national interest' and the match kicks off. For 90 minutes the sides just pass the ball around while the nation pays its respects. 96 parachute jumpers land on the pitch at half time, causing an hour's delay. Supporters applaud through the 56th minute in tribute to when Henderson would otherwise need to have been subbed off. As the clock reaches 90, Wolves move the ball back to their own goal line and Liverpool make their final change, replacing Mo Salah with Wee Timmy Henderson, Jordan's three year old son, drafted onto the bench after the Premier League agreed to relax several of its rules for the day. Encouraged to the ball by players from both sides, Wee Timmy wallops it over the line. The final whistle is blown, and Liverpool are champions. Henderson's coffin is wheeled out for the presentation, and the trophy placed on top of it. A helicopter lands on the pitch to take the players, staff, trophy and coffin back to Liverpool. They all clamber in, singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. The helicopter rises into the air and Wolverhampton doffs its cap to the finest champions any country has ever known.
The final piece de resistance arrives in the form of Kenny Dalglish, temporarily confined to a wheelchair after suffering a solidarity stroke after Henderson's death. Accepting an enormous rocket launcher from Jorge Mendes, Dalglish fires and it's like he's never been away, as the shell blows the departing helicopter up.
The crowd links arms, King Kenny - soon to be installed as the actual monarch - smiles, and England looks forward to next season, safe in the knowledge that Liverpool FC are finally champions. Forever, champions.
tl;dr?Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmy floyd
I lost to him.
This is me posing for photos in front of the scoreboard.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
A grown man wrote this
You could expand your parameters there. Excluding the mentally afflicted he might be the thickest cunt on earth. I said it when he got sent off against Aberdeen, we just can't trust him. He's a complete liability, and we're probably going to get about half the fee his ability should command purely because wherever he goes everyone will quickly learn that if you can wind him up even a little he'll get himself sent off.Quote:
Originally Posted by dino
Was that grown man Kenny Dalglish?Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheddar
Looks like Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to me, mate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spikey M
It sounds like he just needs to be more snide. Show him a highlight reel of Diego Costa and Eric Dier and you have a banker.Quote:
Originally Posted by John
He's not even black, you cunt.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheddar
Fuck sake though Jimmy. Sort it aaat.
Neil Warnock staring the officials down will be the lasting image of the 2018/19 season.
Everyone knows Warnock is dodgy as fuck, but I think it goes beyond that. I'm not quite saying evil genius, but I think there's something a touch more Machiavellian about Warnock than the other old school wide boy chancers like Redknapp.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
The story about him taking a few hundred quid off his players in what was meant to be a 'team building' bowling game makes me smile every time it appears on Facebook. I don't even want to know if it isn't true, it's the perfect distillation of who he seems to be.
you familiar with the battle of bramall lane? that was my first exposure to him and it was not a good first impression.Quote:
Originally Posted by John
I remember seeing his book in a charity shop and indexing 'Sean Bean' and 'Wally Downes'. Absolutely RINSED them both.
I thought that when he did his Brexit means Brexit press conference a while ago. Got us all on a string, and the endgame is probably only that he gets to drink slightly more expensive whisky.Quote:
Originally Posted by igor_balis
Don't get me started on Pulis either. My taxes probably get paid straight into his account.
someone on c&b was "summarising" chapters of that in the football thread, I genuinely couldn't tell what was legit and what was satire (if anything). good stuff, here's an extract:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
Quote:
Chapter 4 - Team Bonding
- Neil begins by parachuting the listener into a night march on the moors that formed part of one of his pre-seasons as a player. At Hartlepool, an ex-commando called Tony Toms took fitness. Tony took them to the moors, separated the squad so they were all sat alone in the pitch black. 'I waited for what seemed like ages in the dark, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I nearly filled my pants.' Turns out it was Tony, who'd used his commando skills to sneak up on Neil. 'He was ahead of his time Tony - he made us play a game and the loser got chucked in the river. It's the sort of thing they do these days on I'm A Celebrity. Finally, in the morning, we were told to find our way home - so I used my initiative and made a reverse charge call at a phone box, and got picked up.'
- Neil then moves onto his pre-season as manager, which 'is more benign. Fitness is best judged by the naked eye, not the computer.' More signings are discussed from his first one at QPR - Bradley Orr and Leon Clarke. Neil slates Clarke as not good enough, then says how pleased he was to see him nominated as League One player of the year a few years later.
- Neil takes his teams now to Cornwall, fixing matches with local teams. Marcus Bent once gave a kitman £300 to buy a TV to put in his spartan room at the training camp. Neil takes the squad to a local pub for 'a buffet and a drink - nothing excessive. Later we go back to mine for a barbecue, where I always cook.'
- Neil remembers that first summer at QPR where the new signings, led by Clint Hill, dressed up as JLS and sung 'Everybody In Love' at the team hotel. Neil gave his son £20 to soak Ákos Buzsáky with a water pistol.
- We move onto mid-season breaks. Neil says he likes a day at the races, or some fishing, before pointedly commenting on 'Allardyce liking Dubai'. There's then a lovely anecdote about Tongey and the lads going for a winter swim at Scarborough. 'Brrrr' adds Neil.
- Neil claims he got Notts County players to drink 'glasses of sherry and raw egg' in the hotel, the night before away games.
- Neil now embarks on a wide-ranging defence of his methods, arguing he has been wrongly derided as a long ball merchant. He points to the success of Darren Ambrose and Neil Danns as evidence, plus his blooding of Victor Moses and Sean Scannell. There's a brooding silence after he mentions John Bostock - this is clearly a sore spot for Neil.
- 'I know Barcelona's players are very short, but they are also very good.'
- Neil then seems to contradict himself by saying he does not want his centre halves to pass the ball. 'Kick it in the stands, they'll not score from there.' Some players don't buy into this immediately, with Anton Ferdinand a prime culprit. Neil showed the lads a video of Gael Clichy giving a goal away with a back pass in the Champions League, and wrote a column in the Independent thanking Gael for doing his job for him.
- Neil unveils a one-nation Tory attitude to defending, advocating man-marking on the grounds that 'personal responsibility is a fantastic motivator, especially against talented wingers like Jobi McAnuff'.
- At Notts County, 'Brian Clough used to walk his labrador past our postage stamp of a training ground, no doubt laughing on his way back to his salubrious grounds'.
- 'I'd be hopeless managing England, not that I'll ever get the chance.'
- There is a truly medieval discussion of tactics. Neil has used the phrase 'disputed winner' three times in the last five minutes.
- Neil claims he went to watch Barcelona train at Loftus Road and 'they didn't even work on corners or shape!'
There's a lot in there, but what jumped out at me is that his own son wanted twenty quid to take part in his nonsense.
He was once caretaker manager of Harchester United.
I'd missed this donning.
Oh shit.
Play on if I know African refs.
The one year I randomly watched the AFCON with you guys was fuckin peak scenes. African football is insane.
This is still a personal favourite:Quote:
Originally Posted by bruhnaldo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAKyI_cbF18
Kapango the don.