April football: Is it COMING HOME?

Obviously the Euros are ages away yet but seeing as we're all presumably desperately sad the international break is over and there was some chat about England's qualities, or lack thereof, last night let's have a premature poll about how apparent odds-on favourites England are going to do at the tournament.

Beyond that, you know the drill. Lots of teams playing lots of other teams this month, European knockout games which I imagine people are interested in, that sort of thing.

The best thing about this four day weekend is that United/Brighton isn't going to be the last part of the weekend. Cheers, Jesus!

Ramos is out of both legs of the Liverpool game.

I have absolutely no idea if this is a good or a bad thing.

Maximum Alan and Callum Wilson are back in training. Except them to be late substitutes in a game that's already gone from us.

Aubameyang's hair is something.

We may well dick Real so hard it puts Haaland, Mbappe and the rest of them off contemplating such a move even if they somehow found the money.

Oh well, guess there's always next year.

Jorginho got Silva booked both times with two hospital passes. They should go on to win this

I see Thiago Silva's got sent off. Has he been much good generally?

Jorginho again :D

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Originally Posted by Reg

I see Thiago Silva's got sent off. Has he been much good generally?

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Been injured for ages. He was good before that.

Sticking with 5 at the back with Jorginho and Alonso in your team with ten men was never going to work. This could and should be 5 or 6 if they really want

Big Sam donning the German scientist. Feels good.

The last two goals from West Brom have been incredible

I think Chelsea get beat at least once a year by a big score line against some bottom end team

Hopefully this is the last time we are daft enough to start without Mount.

I’ve never seen Brazil 1970 but a couple of the goals West Brom scored looked like what i imagine it to.

Nice to see Chelsea bring the lols before the usual interminable shitstorm that is the weekend football hits.

Raph. :drool:

West Brom sticking 8 past Chelsea over the two league games is also a bit :cab:. That 3-3 seems as if it was an age ago.

Lille winning at PSG could be a big deal. As far as French football can be anyway. Mon.

PSG losing at home to Lille who are now 3 points ahead of them :drool:

If/when Smallpockets is available in the summer United should get him.

Aubmeyang's hair :harold:

Ceballos is an absolute joke. The definition of a fraud.

His future career path is Villarreal, Leganés, some team in Mexico, Al-Sadd, and finally Rayo Vallecano.

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While this is a bad stat finding out that xG, the Dani Ceballos of footballing statistics, is only based off 7 years worth of data was nice.

You can build a pretty dece model off a couple seasons data. I don't think you get much more granularity by going back further.

The guy that runs that account is an absolute charlatan. I bought his first book a few years ago because he'd had an entry level job at SmartOdds and I thought I might learn something but it was just him repeating the same basic insights and referring to people like Peter Bloom for about 200 pages. I'm fairly sure most of his amazon reviews are fake and "our records" are definitely not his.

FYI, Fabinho is the best midfielder in the world.

150k twitter followers lol. Man is doing it right.

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AM Peacock: Looks like Bruce has another excuse to be kept on now. Sigh.

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Bruce has done alright. He's had to abandon that defensive trench he dug earlier in the season, but now he's setting the side up right.

I can understand wanting Bruce (or any manager) out, but wanting your team to lose in order to make that happen seems a weird state of affairs. There are some teams that don't come back from relegation for decades or at all.

Big Sam pulling off a GREAT ESCAPE at the expense of Newcastle would be nice. Give him the England job off the back of it as well.

It would be worth United's season spluttering into the toilet from here if it got a proper manager brought in. Relegation though lol you don't want that.

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

I can understand wanting Bruce (or any manager) out, but wanting your team to lose in order to make that happen seems a weird state of affairs. There are some teams that don't come back from relegation for decades or at all.

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Aye, you just have to look at Sunderland or even how long it took Leeds to return. And wanting Bruce out doesn't lead to a better manager coming in. You get another cheap option with a meagre transfer budget and no scope beyond, "Mr. Ashley wants to stay in the Premiership. Ta." There's even a thick as pig shit conspiracy going around youtube that Mike Ashley wants the club relegated for erm ... I guess, parachute money!? Even though staying in the Premiership is clearly more lucrative.

Mourinho now saying he's the manager he's always been, it's just that the players are shit (which they are, but still...).

The same way his exits always start. He'll be gone by the summer.

Was always destined to failure. A truly bizarre coming together.

Well, that's a bugger. :(

EDIT: Heh. Capitulation. :D

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Originally Posted by nufc.com

To glorify in the point won though is to fall into Bruce's (clap)trap - on chances, it's another two points lost.

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Nah. Do one.

We are definitely a one man team...and his name is Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan.

Feel a little sick after that. Complete capitulation in a game we looked so comfortable in.

Yeah, sickener for Fulham. We did it away to Burnley a few months back and still can't get my head around how.

Parker just seemed too passive in the subs. If we're going to sit back to hold on, bring on the subs and do it. Our midfield looked leggy and you brought on all 3 subs and kept the ball up our end.

Just need to stay within 3 pts of Newcastle to at least give us a chance on the last day.

Wolves next weekend is doable for your lot. Same could be said for us and Burnley but Chris Wood's bound to give us bother.

In a world where Sir Alex Ferguson never retires Danny Welbeck has five-hundred appearances and about eighty goals.

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I didn't realise it was that crap. Not even four a year.

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Originally Posted by Lewis

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I didn't realise it was that crap. Not even four a year.

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I wonder how much money he's made per goal. Heroic stuff

This is really bad. What are they even trying to do?

Get a penalty for Bruno's XG

You surely know the script by now? Awful first half like this, then United win 3-1.

Everyone looks too knackered for comebacks now.

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Originally Posted by Mellberg

We are definitely a one man team...and his name is Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan.

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Well it’s good it’s a proper Brummie leading the lot 👍

You joke...

I can't work out which way he meant that. :D

That time he randomly went off and called AE the bad word should have made the archive.

Mace :cool:

Bruno Fernandes pre-assist suck it up lads.

If you fancy feeling old: Villa - Fulham was the first league game where every player was born after the Prem was started.

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Originally Posted by Mellberg

If you fancy feeling old: Villa - Fulham was the first league game where every player was born after the Prem was started.

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It's when the majority of the players being born this Millenium is when I'll just Logans Run myself.

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Originally Posted by Spikey M

I can't work out which way he meant that. :D

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It was a joke on how that probably could be quite a common name in Birmingham.

I thought we were alright yesterday but was pretty unfussed about giving the lead away and losing. I would ordinarily be pretty pumped for a Brighton-United game. Crowds coming back is going to be brilliant.

Rapinoe is banging them in for Barnsley

Rapinoe :D

<looks at scoresheet> :D Crude but effective.

:D

Kevin Campbell’s son, Tyrese Campbell, looks a bit of a don. Stoke are useless without him.

Free sticker book: https://www.panini.co.uk/shp_gbr_en/euro2020-freesample
@SincereTheRebel @Foe

Pretty poor season for Wolves all around. Jimenez getting his wig split didnt help either. It was always going to be diffuclt without him.

Oh, Gateshead ...

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Gateshead Football Club can confirm it has been sanctioned by the National League following a breach of rule 8.39.
Following the hearing, the Independent Panel has opted to fine the club a total of £1400 along with a suspended two-point deduction, the latter of which is to be applied following any further breach of rule 8.39 during the 2021/22 season.

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Gateshead Football Club was not aware of any prior convictions of any person or persons associated with Monkeyfist Hair when entering into the sleeve sponsorship deal ahead of the 20/21 season.

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Originally Posted by Baz

Free sticker book: https://www.panini.co.uk/shp_gbr_en/euro2020-freesample
@SincereTheRebel @Foe

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Saw that a few days ago but opted against it.

Maturity. :cool:

Might do the virtual version instead.

I treat Ultimate Team / MyClub as a sticker album.

Naby in place of Thiago is a cheeky cheeky move :drool:

Nrg.

Who's this 50 year old pub team player Liverpool have in defence? Is he the Chairman's son or something?

Liverpool :harold:

That was a clear penalty on Benzema

:harold:

Gary Neville at home pissing himself.

How much did Taz lump on this triumphant scouse performance?

I reckon there's a living to be made just backing the opposite of whatever Taz says.

Should have put it all on Finau.

Sir Henry Winter has described a refereeing performance in the City game as 'very weird', which means the guy's definitely on the take.

That referee blowing the whistle before Bellingham putting it in the net so VAR didn’t overturn it is bribery level of stuff

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Originally Posted by Don

Naby in place of Thiago is a cheeky cheeky move :drool:

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Cheekily stupid. As though he's not good enough to start in the PL but now he's suddenly going to dominate the best midfield in football. :D

It's just way too slow from Liverpool, you're never going to beat Real Madrid in a midfield chess match. And their heads have gone after that second goal. Hopefully 15 minutes of breathing and visualization exercises can turn things around.

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Ref blowing his whistle too early so this couldn't be reviewed...

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Should have put it all on Finau.

Sir Henry Winter has described a refereeing performance in the City game as 'very weird', which means the guy's definitely on the take.

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I’ll never forget this moment. Such obvious corruption. https://youtu.be/fWnsrTx9Y6E

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Originally Posted by phonics

I’ll never forget this moment. Such obvious corruption. https://youtu.be/fWnsrTx9Y6E

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Barcelona that era used to get literally everything their way. Conspiracies aside, I think the refs were just in awe of them.

England's Trent Alexander-Arnold playing himself into the Euros squad.

That Bellingham decision is either corrupt or on levels of incompetence worthy of dismissal. Just wait you twat.

Jose Mourinho blaming UNICEF and saying he didn't want to live in such a bent world that year was the promo of the decade.

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Originally Posted by Mellberg

England's Trent Alexander-Arnold playing himself into the Euros squad.

That Bellingham decision is either corrupt or on levels of incompetence worthy of dismissal. Just wait you twat.

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Var should’ve intervened and given belligham a pen/foul then surely? Clear and obvious error.

It’s clearly not a foul by Bellingham, he’s either fouled, or he’s scores. It’s mental that they just let it go through. The right outcome there was goal, or at the very least goal scoring opportunity, for Dortmund.

Errors will always exist in football, which is why they’re wasting their time pissing about with margins on offsides if they can’t fix simple errors like this one. Get the main things right.

Allison deserves to concede that for that moustache alone

4 figures down the shitter, Taz?

Steve McManaman is such an abysmal commentator.

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Originally Posted by Foe

Var should’ve intervened and given belligham a pen/foul then surely? Clear and obvious error.

It’s clearly not a foul by Bellingham, he’s either fouled, or he’s scores. It’s mental that they just let it go through. The right outcome there was goal, or at the very least goal scoring opportunity, for Dortmund.

Errors will always exist in football, which is why they’re wasting their time pissing about with margins on offsides if they can’t fix simple errors like this one. Get the main things right.

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Ref whistled so it couldn’t be reviewed or something.

McManaman is unlistenably bad. Bring back Andy Townsend asap from whichever middle eastern hole he is no doubt in.

Townsend was on a Villa game the other week. Hasn't lost his touch the magnificent bastard.

Liverpool need a goal here. They're not good enough to turn these kinds of results at Anfield at the minute.

Edit: Fucker from the Guardian mbm making the same observation at the same time. Job please.

I say 'Not for me, Clive' and its cousins possibly daily. Might be the most influential dispenser of English since Shakespeare.

Tren Talexanderarnold.

Goal couldn’t be given, but ederson kicked belligham before the whistle so why didn’t they step in for that?

It’s incompetent refereeing all around, in the quarter final. Mental.

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Originally Posted by Mellberg

Liverpool need a goal here. They're not good enough to turn these kinds of results at Anfield at the minute.

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Good of TAA to pack in one of his retard appearances tonight after being very good for the past few weeks. The defence tonight shows the problem at centre half as well you will get away with it against shite but not against more intelligent strikers.

The City choke is on :drool:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

I say 'Not for me, Clive' and its cousins possibly daily. Might be the most influential dispenser of English since Shakespeare.

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:D I use it too.

That and "That'll do, pig". So Andy Townsend and Babe. Culturally enlightened.

Karma in the City game.

Norwich as good as certain. Watford about 90%. Boring hell. Please not Reading as well ffs.

Mane is done.

One of those games where you need every player to be on, and Mane and Trent have turned in awful performances. And the less spoken of poor Keita the better.

Open the Kop.

Luka Modric is 35 :|

That Thiago-Bobby gamble didn't pay off but Real are still limited so we should have this in the second leg, just a damn shame it'll be in an empty Anfield.

When was the last time Mané played well? He can’t seem to do anything right any more.

The media just gets dumber and dumber in need of a narrative. I've just seen a piece describing tonight as 'Klopps worst 45 minutes in Europe' like they didn't go on to lose a Europa League final despite being 3-0 up at half time.

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Fucking hell. Even the birds are lolling at him. Carragher at 1:27 as well. :lol:

If two people arguing for multiple minutes on a refereeing decision they agree with each other on instead of talking about the football doesn't sum up modern punditry...

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Originally Posted by phonics

The media just gets dumber and dumber in need of a narrative. I've just seen a piece describing tonight as 'Klopps worst 45 minutes in Europe' like they didn't go on to lose a Europa League final despite being 3-0 up at half time.

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Eh?

Research on that one please.

I think he's mentally combined the Dortmund semifinal and the loss to Sevilla in the final.

Phonics, I didn't watch the game and don't know the score, but that definitely didn't happen.

Perhaps he was counting that goal Lovren(?) had most unfairly disallowed?

Twice.

The linesman got Haaland's autograph in the tunnel last night, which on its own should be enough for the match to be replayed.

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

The linesman got Haaland's autograph in the tunnel last night, which on its own should be enough for the match to be replayed.

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Yeah, defiantly some funny business going on there

This is mental. 11yr old playing in the Liberian 4th division...

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He's probably 36.

That's a much better pitch/stadium than I would have imagined the Liberian fourth division had.

He'll have a bright future ahead of him until someone kicks his head clean off with a clearance.

Kante being benched in a quarter final in favour of Jorginho is a disgrace

Mount looks a far better player going forward than he did under Lampard.

Why is the keeper going with his feet :D

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

Why is the keeper going with his feet :D

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On the rear view replay you can see he ballsed his initial footwork up, had all his weight on the left and then nowhere to go.

Beautiful goal all the same.

Gazza losing it at Mount doubters on BT. I feel so attacked. Listen you cunts, some no-mark Nigerian diving in like he's playing the African CL doesn't change the fact Mount ain't a top class player.

Curtis Jones has posters of of our Mase in his room.

Tuchel is a more defensive manager than Mourinho. What the fuck is that team other there at the minute :sick:

That Bayern PSG game was fun. Partly thanks to commentator Paul (Dempsey?) being so excited he could barely control his voice. But largely because Bayern's way of playing still seems to be LET'S RUN, which means goals at both ends.

The draw was really a bugger for Man City.

Bayern / Paris vs Man. City / Dortmund
Real Madrid / Liverpool vs Porto / Chelsea

The bolded three are surely the strongest three teams.

That midfield 3 of Madrid will have the easiest game of their life against ‘Jovacic’

Chelsea will lol their way past Madrid. They just seem the sort of team to come out of nuggety unfancied situations, basically as a wider embodiment of Olivier Giroud's career. Liverpool with all the history between the two and the fact that Chelsea might be fancied would probably be a bigger challenge.

There is something to Tuchel's boys strolling to a couple of 70% possession 0-0's and squeaking through on penalties.

:d

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Chelsea shitting it up to beat PSG in the final is the best possible outcome here. Tuchel absolutely donning Qatar.

Paul Gascoigne seems to be donning the Italian I’m A Celeb. Was off it for a bit cos he dislocated his shoulder but back now with an arm brace on and looking well. He’s made friends with Totti’s wife. :)

This may be the daftest question I've ever asked, but does he speak any Italian?

I wondered the same thing. The answer is no.

How does that work then? Because I'm assuming nobody over there speaks Coked up Geordie.

The last picture I saw of Paul Gascoigne he looked like he had died and nobody had told him. How is he in any sort of state to be doing that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNqRXb4IyJE

Seems he can talk some, broken, Italian.

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Originally Posted by Lewis

The last picture I saw of Paul Gascoigne he looked like he had died and nobody had told him. How is he in any sort of state to be doing that?

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Does look lots better now.

I proper love him.

That video's Julio Geordio as owt.

"Incredible, y'knaw?" :D

Quick rant about the utter incompetent EFL that nobody else will care about.

Today Peterborough have signed Stoke goalkeeper Josef Bursik on an emergency loan, after their first choice goalkeeper Christy Pym was injured on Monday. Bursik is highly rated and many Stoke fans apparently think he should be their number one. All fine, apart from the fact Peterborough already have another two professional goalkeepers, both fit, one of whom is their 25 year old back up. Not to mention this Stoke lad has already made a number of appearances for both Stoke and Doncaster this season, yet will be allowed to play for a third club. Utterly bizarre.

From the poor handling of the Covid situation, to public apologies about refereeing incompetence, to the wage cap debacle, and then little things like this, it really has been an eye opener at just how badly things are run at this level.

Well, fingers crossed you go up this year.

'Christy Pym' sounds like a fake name.

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Originally Posted by Shindig

Well, fingers crossed you go up this year.

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This is our best chance. We ballsed up the first season and lost in the play-off final, then last season Covid put a stop to things but we were hardly looking likely. Since Lee Johnson came in we've been transformed, however our recent performances have cast some doubt over whether we'll make the top two. We won't win the play-offs if that's where we end up again.

It's a real name Lewis, but he didn't look like a real keeper on Monday. His replacement Lev Yashin on the other hand...

Rashford has a nagging ankle injury so clearly he must start every game...

For the kids.

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Originally Posted by ScousePig

Quick rant about the utter incompetent EFL that nobody else will care about.

Today Peterborough have signed Stoke goalkeeper Josef Bursik on an emergency loan, after their first choice goalkeeper Christy Pym was injured on Monday. Bursik is highly rated and many Stoke fans apparently think he should be their number one. All fine, apart from the fact Peterborough already have another two professional goalkeepers, both fit, one of whom is their 25 year old back up. Not to mention this Stoke lad has already made a number of appearances for both Stoke and Doncaster this season, yet will be allowed to play for a third club. Utterly bizarre.

From the poor handling of the Covid situation, to public apologies about refereeing incompetence, to the wage cap debacle, and then little things like this, it really has been an eye opener at just how badly things are run at this level.

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They were also trying to sign Luke Steele (as were Swindon at the time) but neither move happened because he'd already played for a third club (what sounded like a Sunday League team). One rule for one, etc.

Fully expecting to be chucked out the league with this FA charge we're facing now. Occurs to me that this may somewhat tarnish Gareth Barry's legacy somewhat as well.

It's disappointing to see what has happened to Swindon this season under Sheridactyl. There's a good Swindon fan on our board who was raving about you last season under Wellens, and now it's all gone to pot.

Also, with talk about financials, supposedly six Championship clubs are under transfer embargos and Coventry are close to administration.

In better news, I've renewed my season ticket and kept the same seat as pre-Covid. Something the old owners actually managed to get right.

https://twitter.com/bbcoxfordsport/s...128310284?s=19

In further other news, Oxford manager Karl Robinson has announced that he will 'take to the stands' whenever iconic referee Trevor Kettle officiates an Oxford match. This comes after Kettle sent Robinson off in a game against us recently when temperatures reached boiling point.

I mean, if you weren't part of it you'd think it was hilarious.

*If someone could sort the twitter link I would be grateful.

Oh, and this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56620143

Allegations were later dropped.

That was brilliant from Rashford.

That fat prick Karl lives a few doors down from me and we cross patgs daily on our walks/runs. I've yet to come up with anything witty to shout at him so I'm thinking of presenting him with a dossier on his team at some point as my 'in' to the industry, AVB style.

"Conclusion: your team is too white for lower league Brexitball"

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Originally Posted by Don

That fat prick Karl lives a few doors down from me and we cross patgs daily on our walks/runs. I've yet to come up with anything witty to shout at him so I'm thinking of presenting him with a dossier on his team at some point as my 'in' to the industry, AVB style.

"Conclusion: your team is too white for lower league Brexitball"

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He's a gobshite who struts around the technical area. He's not the most offensive in the league mind; he's in good company with the likes of Steve Evans and Joey Barton.

This was my recent review of our game with them if it helps at all Taz.

https://www.readytogo.net/smb/thread...nited.1546620/

It's mostly about us.

This referee is blowing for everything like it's 2003.

Top diving from Fernandes there.

The ref is appalling.

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https://www.theguardian.com/football...l-philipp-lahm

You wouldn't have thought somebody who spent almost all of his career at Bayern would be this naive about what's driving the Champions League reforms.

For once, we've benefited from an absolute shocker from VAR. There's no way that Wolves goal should have been disallowed.

Need to actually take advantage of this situation and get a fucking win now.

Sunday can't come soon enough after that.

Feels like that's the final nail in the coffin. Still have Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal to play away and we've played 2 more than everyone else. Absolutely gutting losing it so late on to that fraud.

Two minutes silence. :lol:

Disgusting.

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Originally Posted by Magic

Disgusting.

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Piss take. He won the ball, what do they expect him to do with his legs after? Dematerialise into thin air?

Lesforehead and duck lips two dirty bastards emphasising the letter of the law...

Get fucked City.

Yes lads. Fucking yes.

:henn0rz:

Nice win that.

Pundits talking about Stones' lack of pace on that second goal - surely being aware of the runner before the pass is more important. He just wanders into a useless position, blind to the side where Dallas is coming from.

I think England might need three centre backs...

Anyway well done Leeds. A lovely addition to the Prem.

The title chase is ON.

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And will then be OFF again once Jose bores us to death tomorrow.

Ollie Watkins has made Liverpool his bitch.

That VAR decision :happycry:

Barkley is horrendous when you give him time on the ball.

If Barkley had just shot instead of trying to take 5 minutes to decide what to do Liverpool don't win.

Mane is like me, physical dons absolutely ruined by COVID. Bench him for Wednesday, same XI as today but Thiago in place of Milner.

That is immense from the young man. :drool:

I've no idea where 'Trent' should actually play but it's becoming increasingly clear that it probably shouldn't be in defence.

That was an awful game though, typifying everything bad about both covid and VAR era football.

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Originally Posted by Alex

Piss take. He won the ball, what do they expect him to do with his legs after? Dematerialise into thin air?

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Intent doesn't matter with dangerous play. It looks about right to me.

Ah, thanks for that clarity man who is scared of his own shadow.

Havertz was unreal for us vs Palace. If he plays like that he's going to be world class.

33 minutes into el Classico and it's Real 2-0 Barca. Dembele has had about 10 fresh air shots and fallen over. In typical Barca fashion, they have 10 outfield players inside the Madrid final third and every time Madrid clear the ball, it's Vinicius junior burning down the left. Creating chance after chance. It should be 5-0.

Remember when everyone used to pretend to care about El Classico in this country? Didn't even know it was on.

In fairness it was peak entertainment when Mourinho was in Madrid.

Revista de La Liga. :drool:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Havertz was unreal for us vs Palace. If he plays like that he's going to be world class.

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That front 3 should be the go to. Either that or Hudson Odoi further up.

La Liga's standards have obviously gone off a cliff, but that is some title race they have cooking. Might have to pretend to be interested for a few weeks.

Lille are three points clear in France and inter are eight ahead in Italia. All leagues have been one-sided over the past ten years. Covid balance.

Not really applying to England though.

Wait until we win later and put the pressure on city.

Wins for West Ham & Spurs would be beautiful.

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Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel

Lille are three points clear in France and inter are eight ahead in Italia. All leagues have been one-sided over the past ten years. Covid balance.

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Sporting are about to win their first League in twenty years as well in Portugal.

Add Rangers winning to the surprise pile as well.

The writing has been on the wall in Scotland for a while. Rangers were the better side for a lot of last season as well.

I didn't see them being this comfortable, though.

Not big on that formation Bruce has went for. Five at the back and Joelinton in a front two. I think he does better out wide.

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Originally Posted by Manc

Wins for West Ham & Spurs would be beautiful.

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Eh? Surely as a Liverpool fan you want the opposite?

Presumably talking in terms of EXCITEMENT.

United are gone but Leicester probably still have it in them to blow up again like they did last season.

Liverpool have the easier run in, only Man Utd away looks somewhat tough. Leicester still have to play West Ham, Chelsea and Man Utd. Think Chelsea have the same but Man City instead of Utd.

Liverpool and West Ham to finish 3rd and 4th

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

Eh? Surely as a Liverpool fan you want the opposite?

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Liverpool need more than just Chelsea to go up against for the top 4. If Leicester lose they're only 4 points ahead of us and they still have United, Chelsea and Spurs to play. Plus Rodgers tends not to do well under pressure.

Everyone has a very similar goal difference too, so it could quite literally come down to the odd goal.

We're cruising it which is a shame as would have been cool to finish outside top 4 and still qualify for CL again.

Newcastle relegation battle coming down to their last 2 games against Sheff Utd and Fulham :drool: They're down.

They're more than safe now. Fulham's mistake has been an utter refusal to score goals.

It's a dead rubber now. The big players have come back, Bruce has got us organised for some key games as well. Even if we held station until the Fulham game, it would've required us to shit the bed against a long buried Sheff Utd with a caretaker in change.

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Originally Posted by Shindig

It's a dead rubber now. The big players have come back, Bruce has got us organised for some key games as well. Even if we held station until the Fulham game, it would've required us to shit the bed against a long buried Sheff Utd with a caretaker in change.

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You talk as if shitting the bed against Sheff Utd isn't the most likely scenario.

Think we're safe now, anyway. Means nothing without a change of ownership though.

I can't see us losing both of the last two. Not if there's something to play for.

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Originally Posted by Don

We're cruising it which is a shame as would have been cool to finish outside top 4 and still qualify for CL again.

Newcastle relegation battle coming down to their last 2 games against Sheff Utd and Fulham :drool: They're down.

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How are you doing this?

Newcastle still need another win I think and I'm not sure where it comes from, looking at upcoming fixtures. Fulham should pick up a couple between now and the last day.

Lingard, jesus :D

Newcastle are not going to lose six in a row any more than Fulham are going to win one of their 4 remaining away games (3 of which are at Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal) having scored 0.75 goals per game for 32 games.

They need two wins. :D And goal difference is only 3 goals out.

Fulham's run-in
Arsenal
Chelsea
Burnley
Southampton
Man Utd
Newcastle

They've lost their last 4 matches to an aggregate of 2-9. Bobby Decorator Reid has 5 Premier League goals all season. Lookman has 4 with Mitrovic bagging 2. I've been generous and given them two games they could potentially win. Bear in mind they need 2 more than Newcastle.

Newcastle's run-in
West Ham
Liverpool
Arsenal
Leicester
Man City
Sheff Utd
Fulham

Newcastle have lost 1 in their last six, scoring 8 and conceding 8. Wilson's scored 10 this season, Almiron has 4, Saint Maximin has 3. We'll get something from the last two matches. Crucially, I don't think we need to.

Christ, Leicester really are bottling it. Liverpool should make top four with their fixtures. West Ham or Chelsea for fourth

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Originally Posted by Don

Lingard, jesus :D

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Lingardinho.

Scotty Parker to hang himself on the eve of the last day.

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

Christ, Leicester really are bottling it. Liverpool should make top four with their fixtures. West Ham or Chelsea for fourth

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:nono:

Perfectly plausible that Newcastle lose their next five games and Fulham get 5 or 6 points from their's. It's a tall order but Fulham are definitely not the 18th best side in the league at the moment.

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Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel

Lille are three points clear in France and inter are eight ahead in Italia. All leagues have been one-sided over the past ten years. Covid balance.

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Originally Posted by Kikó

Sporting are about to win their first League in twenty years as well in Portugal.

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Originally Posted by Shindig

Add Rangers winning to the surprise pile as well.

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A.Madrid could win a title too. They have a game in hand and level all points with R.Madrid.

Turn the game on and Rashford is on the floor crying again. Every single time :D

1 in 18 for Vardy, he might be finished

Paulp Ogba retiring that defender.

I would like to retract my previous VAR praise.

If that’s intentional - which obviously it was - then it has to be a 2nd yellow

Thanks for backing me up, Sky Sports

That makes no sense.

VAR is a load of shit.

United fans on here being impartial again :happycry:

Utd in the mud, Bruno losing his head, Jose the architect. Fucking INJECT IT INTO ME INTRAVENOUSLY.

Oh yes, sorry I was a big fan of VAR before today.

Roy Keane is a bit harsh on Son there, the slightest flick on the eye is probably more painful than his Haaland challenge.

A normal eye maybe.

Fs :D

It's cute that nobody had shit to say when Lamela got sent off for the same thing against Arsenal.

Ric Flair would have been proud of that eye gauge.

Fred scoring is a sort of revenge.

Another top, top dive from Fernandes there.

Both goals from Man Utd have been class. Cavani is so good

The pre-assist again. :drool:

And a top, top pre-goal-contribution.

I was halfway through saying "he should have passed it inside there" when he thumped it in.

I'm beginning to think I should never count the Binman out.

Great win that - 2nd place is pretty close to being secured. Could end up being a reasonable season.

Paulp Ogba makes so much happen around the box. He is a number ten.

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It’s a compliment to me in the way we start matches, the way we are organised. Then what happens during matches to lose points from winning positions is one of the situations I am not comfortable with talking to the media anymore.

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:happycry:

https://streamable.com/mndzqj

"Games gone". My binman.

I reckon if you stare at Ole long enough, he'll morph into Mark Hughes.

He seemed to be cultivating a bit of a bald patch today that I haven't noticed. It must have been the stress of the title challenge.

Anyone who thinks that was a foul by McTominay is dangerously retarded.

I’m not one with rulebook so i don’t know if it was a foul or not, but it was 100% intentional

It's ridiculous. It was a dive. There's no way it hurt.

But....

It was a foul. Thems the rules.

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Originally Posted by Jose Mourinho

I'm very, very surprised after the comments that Ole made on Sonny, you don't ask me about it. Because, if it's telling me that player A, B or C from another club was my son and I wouldn't give him dinner tonight, what would be the reaction to that? It’s very, very sad that you don’t ask me about that. It's sad that you don't have the moral honesty to treat me the same way as you treat others. In relation to Sonny, I just want to say that Sonny is very lucky that his father is a better person than Ole. I am a father. I think as a father you always have to feed your kids. Doesn't matter what they do. If you have to steal to feed your kids, you steal. I'm very, very disappointed. We have a saying in Portugal, bread is bread and cheese is cheese.

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It's a tragedy that he didn't win titles with United.

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Originally Posted by mugbull

but it was 100% intentional

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This. Top work from the ref imo.

Any more details on this 'house party' of Perez's that Maddison, Hamza, Barnes and Morgan were at? Was it a proper house party with hookers and shit or is Maddison's international career destroyed because 5 geezers who spend 40 hours a week with each other and shower together decided to play some poker outside of work hours?

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Originally Posted by Spikey M

It's ridiculous. It was a dive. There's no way it hurt.

But....

It was a foul. Thems the rules.

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Son was trying to foul him and got brushed on the face when McTominay tried to push Son's arm away. It's not a foul in a million years.

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Originally Posted by randomlegend

Son was trying to foul him and got brushed on the face when McTominay tried to push Son's arm away. It's not a foul in a million years.

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Intentionally swinging an arm and hitting someone in the face is a foul. In this instance it's ridiculous, but by the letter of the law it's a foul and VAR got it right.

Fernandes goes down for similar levels of contact about three times a game.

Yeah but Son isn't a filthy diving gyppo.

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

I've no idea where 'Trent' should actually play but it's becoming increasingly clear that it probably shouldn't be in defence.

That was an awful game though, typifying everything bad about both covid and VAR era football.

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Based on that goal alone, he should replace Mane.

Unfortunately that means playing Neco “worse than me at football” Williams at right back, and I’d rather actually have a chance of winning.

Trent's fine where he is now. He's just a casualty of the injury crisis and I'm not talking about the defensive one, though that hasn't helped either.

If you imagine Liverpools strongest XI, you have Henderson in there, who is his biggest miss. The usual style is to keep both full backs high up the pitch, with Gini and Henderson tucking into the channels between the CB and advancing full back. Fabinho then usually sweeps up the middle. This is where Liverpool used to dominate teams into submission. The ball would almost always be won back on the press and even if you did get through all that, there was the small matter of Alisson and Van Dijk to still navigate.
It would be standard to not only see Liverpool with near 70% of the ball most games, but very few chances would be given up with that other 30%.

Now what is happening is that he's being left to kind of do it all himself. The midfielder on his side has tended to be Thiago who can't tackle and doesn't provide anything near the help Henderson would. This could be seen as a criticism of Klopp that he hasn't another guy who can play this role. Milner/Jones could be seen as the most similar but both tend to be the left side of the team when they play.

It also hasn't helped that while Aerially dominant, Nat Phillips doesn't get about the pitch greatly well.

I think you'll see Liverpool invest heavily in the summer, with or without a top 4 finish(I don't think we get it). Looks like Konate from Liepzig will be coming in, but a few new faces in the midfield/forwards department are surely a lock.

What's happened to Keita? Is he injured or what?

Keita has a cycle he goes through.

Gets fit > Breaks into the first team > Game 1 and 2 is meh > Game 4/5 he starts to play well > Gets injured. Repeat.

Current state is the 2nd stage. Klopp put him for his return game against Madrid and he was that bad he was hooked in the first half.

Too busy thinking about his rape victims.

Alberto Aquilani syndrome.

I’m pretty sure VAR just ruled that West Brom goal out wrongly by measuring their stupid lines against the wrong player :D

Everton game should be good. Just the 7 centre halves on the pitch and 9 defenders :sick:

Yep, weirdly defensive lineup from them.

Still the Gross/Moder - wing backs but not wing backs and nobody behind them - system for us.

Sane is horseshit now.

Also, in the last 25 minutes or so every Bayern player looked scared to shoot, they were constantly looking for knockdowns to other players.

Flick taking off Chupo Mouting who had scored earlier for Javi fucking Martinez is criminal too.

That Porto goal was as good as Rooney’s shin

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Glorious.

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Sane is horseshit now.

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He was their best player. :cab:

That was the worst Quarter final performance I've ever seen, the cunt benched Taremi for over an hour too. Fuck off.

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Originally Posted by Lewis

He was their best player. :cab:

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Hernandez was.

Sane was probably their next best player although he made a lot of mistakes. Mainly that chance near the end of the game in which he passed it right to Navas instead of finding someone else with a pass/chip.

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Flick taking off Chupo Mouting who had scored earlier for Javi fucking Martinez is criminal too.

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Very odd substitution. You’d pick him to score out of anyone.

I think they left it too late to really go for it. Then again... Mbappe on the break.

Gnabry available and it would’ve been theirs I think. Lewandowski and it’s probably 7-3.

I’m not sure how PSG contrived not to score in that game. They had an entire half free for the fastest striker in the world to run into. Although there was one grossly incompetent offside call against Mbappe in the first half. What happened to letting the play run?

Bayern’s problem is they have little creativity. It’s all angled passes and crosses. They didn’t really create a lot of decent chances.

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What?

I came in to post that. I’ve watched it about 50 times and still don’t understand it.

But she's winning the race to the ball :cab:

What's the consternation here? The decision by the ref or the decision by the player?

Defender's been completely sold out by her 'keeper (women's football eh?) not being in the right place to sweep that up. She could probably have 'eased up' in front of the attacker in a less overtly stupid way, mind, as opposed to putting an NFL block in.

Following our centerback getting an 8 month ban a few weeks back, last night out goalkeeper headbutted the assistant ref (after he gave a soft 96th min free kick from which the oppo scored). Another loooong ban incoming.

Christ, the highlights of that women's match are horrific.

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

What's the consternation here? The decision by the ref or the decision by the player?

Defender's been completely sold out by her 'keeper (women's football eh?) not being in the right place to sweep that up. She could probably have 'eased up' in front of the attacker in a less overtly stupid way, mind, as opposed to putting an NFL block in.

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The player. She just needs to take the ball, she's well ahead of the other one and has a number of options which isn't running into the striker. Option 1, take it, turn play it out. Option 2, pass back to the keeper (the distance is there). Option 3, clear out of play if she's not confident to take it.

The more I watched it I wondered if there was some kind of optical illusion going on and the NI player was actually going to get to the ball first, but it doesn't look that way from the behind-the-goal angle. I think it's just a misjudgement of that.

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

What's the consternation here? The decision by the ref or the decision by the player?

Defender's been completely sold out by her 'keeper (women's football eh?) not being in the right place to sweep that up. She could probably have 'eased up' in front of the attacker in a less overtly stupid way, mind, as opposed to putting an NFL block in.

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She could have easily just calmly knocked it back to the keeper (which is why she doesn't come out, I'd assume)

I've just learned that Fulham have a yoof called "Delano Splatt", which I find rather pleasing.

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Originally Posted by Raoul Duke

She could have easily just calmly knocked it back to the keeper (which is why she doesn't come out, I'd assume)

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Yeah, I dunno, she does sort of look like she's running in treacle.

Women and spatial awareness amirite?

Jude Bellingham actually has a goal and not a yellow card this time.

City on the ropes.

That Casemiro tackle :lol:

Feels like Barcelona except they can't finish today.

I'd love City to go out here too.

Jota for Firmino and Liverpool can tie this up.

Aye, Firmino has been dross.

Should have finished one of those chances but we’re still in the game. Hopefully get a goal early in the second half.

We're raping them as hard as one expected really, imagine 1 goal will really make them shit themselves, hopefullyget it before we have to sacrific the balance and take Milly and Gini off.

Never a penalty. Mourinho was right.

UEFA needs more money.

Typical Liverpool this. So wasteful up front.

Fuck City.

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Originally Posted by Dquincy

Typical Liverpool this. So wasteful up front.

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138 goals from 130 xG over the last couple of seasons. Computer says no.

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Originally Posted by -james-

138 goals from 130 xG over the last couple of seasons. Computer says no.

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This season?

Pretty disappointed in the lack of a real strategy in this half. Just lobbing it in from deep to nobody in particular.

Shaqiri & OLC from the bench. :happycry:

What a fraud Thiago is btw. Even when games are made for him he can't pick out a pass.

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Originally Posted by Manc

What a fraud Thiago is btw. Even when games are made for him he can't pick out a pass.

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I thought he did well. :shrug:

Not sure how that game was made for him to pick passes - Real had a 9 man low block for the last 15 minutes.

Sickening. Left to support Real Madrid as the only stomacheable winner :sick:

Abysmal subs by Klopp at the end there.

Ultimately just needed to score one of the first half chances.

We. Are. Fucking Shit. Yeah, we are fucking shit. :joy:

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Originally Posted by Don

We're raping them as hard as one expected really, imagine 1 goal will really make them shit themselves, hopefullyget it before we have to sacrific the balance and take Milly and Gini off.

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:cool:

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Originally Posted by Spoonsky

Abysmal subs by Klopp at the end there.

Ultimately just needed to score one of the first half chances.

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What else was there? Fresh legs and something different was the order of the day. Mané can do nothing right at the minute, and Firmino is a wasteman, so we weren’t any worse off with the replacements.

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Originally Posted by -james-

138 goals from 130 xG over the last couple of seasons. Computer says no.

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https://i.imgur.com/0yPFqYT.png

Quincy 1 - 0 Spreadsheet

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Originally Posted by CJay

What else was there? Fresh legs and something different was the order of the day. Mané can do nothing right at the minute, and Firmino is a wasteman, so we weren’t any worse off with the replacements.

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Taking off two strikers for two midfielders when you need a goal just doesn't make sense. We spent the last 10 minutes pitching crosses into the box with nobody there to head them. I know neither of them has been great recently but it's not going to be Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who suddenly unlocks the 10 players they have behind the ball.

Our strikers are painfully inconsistent, and this season especially, but I always find it strange how easily people forget the last 3 seasons of success where all three of them were fundamental.

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Originally Posted by Spikey M

Quincy 1 - 0 Spreadsheet

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He's conquered all the spreadsheets
He's never gonna stop

:rave:

How much did you lose over the two legs, Taz?

None of your dirty business, you tranny.

Taz could bet on a daylight and there'd be an eclipse. I've never seen anything like it. It's incredible.

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Originally Posted by Spikey M

Quincy 1 - 0 Spreadsheet

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:cool:

I realise this is what my detractors wish to paint as the narrative due to me being so FUCKING MASSIVE but rest assured, I remain FUCKING MASSIVE.

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Originally Posted by Spikey M

Taz could bet on a daylight and there'd be an eclipse. I've never seen anything like it. It's incredible.

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Isn't it more that he relentlessly (and beautifully imo) backs Liverpool in a season where they keep losing?

How are Man City nearly evens to win the whole thing? PSG to beat them in the home leg is 19/10. LUMP

Love how riled Lewis gets when I xgpost. My point is that it's just lazy/inaccurate to say it's typical Liverpool to be inefficient at finishing chances. Their finishing in the recent era is massively above average. There is enough of a sample for this to be indisputable fact.

They have underperformed vs it a bit this season though yeah lol.

We're so crap these days that the Dulux Dog slagging off Spurs 3 minutes after being announced as an official club sponsor is up there as a top 1-2 highlight of the season.

To elaborate on curly's post. This is brilliant. :D

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Christ, Europe about to have another all English final in both competitions. BITW

Arsenal (and probably United too) will fuck it up.

There's also no chance that City are getting to the final.

Imagine the shame of losing the UEFA Cup final to Arsenal. It would without question be the new post-2013 low point.

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Arsenal (and probably United too) will fuck it up.

There's also no chance that City are getting to the final.

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Only real if taz posts it.

How are those not fouls on Amad lmao.

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Originally Posted by Lewis

Imagine the shame of losing the UEFA Cup final to Arsenal. It would without question be the new post-2013 low point.

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What's the current holder?

I don't know. In hindsight much of the 'LvG'-induced misery can just be filed under 'Banter Era', but, given that everybody our age had only ever known success, the December/January leading up to this was painful.

Imagine thinking Moyes was the problem with that line-up. No wonder he's gone off football and is purely shooting at THE SCIENCE now.

There was a brief movement to blame Sir Alex Ferguson for leaving a load of shit behind, but then people started to see how badly run every other aspect of the club was and it flipped into thinking he must have been even better than everyone thought to win titles with much of that load of shit.

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Originally Posted by Lewis

I don't know. In hindsight much of the 'LvG'-induced misery can just be filed under 'Banter Era', but, given that everybody our age had only ever known success, the December/January leading up to this was painful.

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Those penalties were something to behold. I think I went to a home game v Stoke in the period and typically, it was 0-0 at half time. I think it ended up being 1-0 but I'm pretty sure that was the only excitement, shot or anything in the entire period.

Shame really, LvG's personality was much more interesting than the diabolically dull football.

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Comments like that are a symptom of why footballers are despised in wider society. Get over it you tosser.

Frank Lampard really should be taking that England U21 job

I like that Napoleon is still the second top Russian villain after Hitler. I doubt he barely even registers in the popular British imagination these days the poor little bastard.

Opened Twitter and saw that Spurs v Everton was about to kick off. I think the TV stations being obligated to show the matches and so refusing to lay them over each other to maximise viewing is genuinely damaging to 'the product'.

The most annoying thing is BBC refusing to say which channel the games are on in hope that you tune in to the radio.

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Originally Posted by Offshore Toon

The most annoying thing is BBC refusing to say which channel the games are on in hope that you tune in to the radio.

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As someone who hasn't watched more than 3 games a season not on a stream that's not a big issue for me.

I've got IPTV and the Amazon Prime games always leave me bewildered.

Kane's done his ankle in? It's like clockwork, isn't it?

That was a fairly comedy goal, added bonus of a red card chucked in as well.

Good grief, Fabianski bringing the lols too.

Yeah alright Newcastle are safe. Actually look like a football side these days.

For such doom and gloom over the season, we could only be 3 points off last year's points tally. 41 if we beat Fulham and Sheff Utd. It's all been a bit Pardew-esque with how hot and cold we've been. They key players have come back at the right time and Willock's been a welcome addition.

From the outside looking in, seems that getting ASM back has been the difference.

A win against Leeds later and everything starts to look rosy for Liverpool.

Norwich going up is good. Always though they were a decent side and some tidy players. Yellow kit too.

Rodri, Fernandinho and Jorgingo all in midfield. I think majority of TTH could out run them.

This has 0-0 all over it unless Werner fancies running in behind and remembering how to shoot

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

From the outside looking in, seems that getting ASM back has been the difference.

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Yep. Almiron's been decent as well but Saint Maximin really likes to run at people. It can't help but lift those around him. Shocking defence, though. At least we're reacting well when we concede.

Fernandinho still not booked and James goes in for winning the ball :D

Was just about to say that. Fernandinho stamps on Mount's face, then attempts to chop him in two - nothing. James wins the ball and is booked.

Mendy is enormous. Looks like when an adult playing in a kids game.

It’s days like this where Sterling really looks totally out of his depth. It’s no wonder Pep has barely played him recently.

Watching City be all over Chelsea and not really create anything is giving me real late-era Wenger vibes.

Great to see another year without the treble.

Chelsea’s squad depth is going to be ridiculous after this summer

John Sheriden resigns as Swindon Town manager, now that we've hit bottom of the league. 27 defeats (which could still rise to 31) is our highest amount of defeats in a season since 1894-95, remarkably.

Sherfield Utd are gone but Wolves have been poor all season. Not even goals in the team. This William Jose can piss off wherever he came from. Should have brought in Giroud instead

Im not sure If wolves can relegate wba, but if they do :drool:

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What on earth is that last defender doing?? Edge of the 6 yard box, facing Messi - and he shows him inside? I know he's probably shitting the bed, but that is awful defending.

I think it's more Messi showing him outside tbf :D Mad quick bodyswerve. On a similar note, the way ASM made one of the West Ham whiteboys shit themselves for Ogbonna's OG was hilarious.

Diop, you racist slag

No, he was white, you blind cunt.

:baz:

Oh Scotty :(

It was clear a late Arsenal goal was coming.

Parker doesn't know how to set up his team to keep a lead.

Great to see Juve lose today.

LWogba :drool:

(:uhoh:)

Wonder if the lads will count that as the early goal conceded at home.

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Originally Posted by randomlegend

LWogba :drool:

(:uhoh:)

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Ron Atkinson's commentary notes.

Rashford :lol:

Neville is furious about this potential super league.

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You know it's bad when you're getting donned like that by Micah Richards :D

Martin Tyler randomly screaming Rashford’s name there :D

Man Utd are quite good at winning games they don’t look good in. We’ll get to see if they manage to finally win a semi final this year with this new confidence

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

Neville is furious about this potential super league.

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Once again I'm left wondering what Tottenham have ever done to be part of these discussions. Jose Mourinho is the biggest thing about them.

Give "Donny" more minutes.

Good result.

Another spectacular pre-assist. What could you class the dummy in the first goal as? The co-assist.

8 points to catch up with 6 games to play? Easy.

Not once Neville's docked you 60 points and David Moyes' West Ham are lolling their way to the title.

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Sky taking the moral high ground is all sorts of lol.

Is Salford run on a non-league budget, Gary?

I don't think he was criticizing owner investment in general.

In guessing Leicester couldn't afford the entry fee so Spurs took the spot instead.

This Super League move is somewhat baffling. Allegedly, UEFA and the Premier League have the right to expel the clubs from their own competitions if they pursue this. So it all just stinks of being a power move against UEFA (rather than actually going through with it).

Big dick NRG from Nev is lovely to see.

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Originally Posted by Dquincy

This Super League move is somewhat baffling. Allegedly, UEFA and the Premier League have the right to expel the clubs from their own competitions if they pursue this. So it all just stinks of being a power move against UEFA (rather than actually going through with it).

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If I was UEFA, I'd call their bluff. Let them do it and they'll spend all season playing 22 games a season with a three-month break in the middle. 11 home games vs 17+ in a proper league with a cup games and European games. They'll bleed money unless a stupid TV deal made up the numbers.

This is just a protest against the changes to the Champions League that UEFA wants to make.

The Premier League would also never kick out any of those clubs. There's not a chance someone who has grown up a Chelsea fan is going to suddenly abandon them and follow Crystal Palace or West Ham.

They’ve released a statement saying it’s going ahead as soon as possible. I wonder who the other three clubs are. PSG I would assume. Doubt the German clubs will be involved

I imagine Juventus and the two Milan clubs, along with Real, Barcelona and Atletico.

PSG and Bayern crucially have not agreed to it as yet. If those two get on board and maybe bring Dortmund, I could see them doing it.

Would be beautiful if it did happen but I don't see how the logistics could work. You'd just have a league that would be full of past it names and money hungry Neymars so basically MLS. If it did, it would lead to some revolution so chalk it up as yet another awakening thanks to COVID.

Well, shit.

https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/fir...e-competition#

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

I imagine Juventus and the two Milan clubs, along with Real, Barcelona and Atletico.

PSG and Bayern crucially have not agreed to it as yet. If those two get on board and maybe bring Dortmund, I could see them doing it.

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It’s the English clubs, the Milan clubs, Juventus, The Madrid’s and Barcelona. Spurs and Arsenal don’t half look out of place

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

This is just a protest against the changes to the Champions League that UEFA wants to make.

The Premier League would also never kick out any of those clubs. There's not a chance someone who has grown up a Chelsea fan is going to suddenly abandon them and follow Crystal Palace or West Ham.

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The fans can carry on supporting the likes of Chelsea, they just won't be seeing them play in the Premier League or Champions League. Would love to see them all booted out for this.

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

It’s the English clubs, the Milan clubs, Juventus, The Madrid’s and Barcelona. Spurs and Arsenal don’t half look out of place

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Spurs and Arsenal are definitely the relegation fodder (if only this mickey mouse competition had relegation).

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The new annual tournament will provide significantly greater economic growth and support for European football via a long-term commitment to uncapped solidarity payments which will grow in line with league revenues. These solidarity payments will be substantially higher than those generated by the current European competition and are expected to be in excess of €10 billion during the course of the initial commitment period of the Clubs. In addition, the competition will be built on a sustainable financial foundation with all Founding Clubs signing up to a spending framework. In exchange for their commitment, Founding Clubs will receive an amount of €3.5 billion solely to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID pandemic.

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So essentially we're all making sure each others backs are scratched to stop anything like Leicester winning the league again.

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Well that didn't take long.

What are the proposed changes to the Champions League they're pissed off about?

I hope UEFA aren’t using empty threats. Imagine they banned the players from international football :D

On the flipside, the abdication of the six clubs makes our European slots quite awesome. Leeds and Villa grinding out score draws in Tiblisi. :cool:

UEFA banning them makes no difference. This Super League has a staggering amount more money in it.

It's down to the Premier League now.

This is absurd. What the sweet fuck is going on in the world?

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

UEFA banning them makes no difference. This Super League has a staggering amount more money in it.

It's down to the Premier League now.

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Not that it will happen, but I doubt players would be too happy not being able to play for their countries at major tournaments. Or am I missing something

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

UEFA banning them makes no difference. This Super League has a staggering amount more money in it.

It's down to the Premier League now.

---

It's a massive weapon UEFA have. They will essentially have every player that signs up be publically recognised as a mercenary (yes, even more than now). Fans will burn Anfield down before they have a chance to play a game in that shambles.

I'm still at the point where I don't think it will actually go ahead, but this is a serious bluff calling contest now.

Didnt the ECB say the same thing when the IPL started?

How do I find a new club? I can’t follow my Dads team, being a West Brom fan sounds awful.

Have you not got a Swiss team?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phonics

How do I find a new club? I can’t follow my Dads team, being a West Brom fan sounds awful.

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https://i.imgur.com/AHG2uMD.gif

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They also say that Dortmund and PSG have said no.

Leipzig. :lol: It would be them from Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_League_war

Essential reading lads (finally). It's a wheeze to get their own way on the Champions' League reforms.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

They also say that Dortmund and PSG have said no.

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Surprised at PSG but I think one of their directors is involved within UEFA

Champions League and Europa League temporarily cancelled:lol:

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This is my Chauvin acquittal. Board up your fucking windows.

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This is all a bit mental. Even VAR has its fans, I doubt you’ll find anyone other than Asians and Africans that would support this

Rumours are that Klopp has walked.

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I'm absolutely fucked. First day back at work after a week off and I was intending on getting a good night's sleep.

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:lol:

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https://i.gyazo.com/b988b5d35cc7ddc8...a77d4ce33f.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kikó

Sky taking the moral high ground is all sorts of lol.

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Exactly this. I'm not a fan of this Super League shit. But, there seems to have been a very collective amnesia regarding how the Premier League was formed, the impact it has had on the rest of the league & the fact that the big clubs have hoovered the vast majority of the money since it's inception. Something like this was always going to happen because the biggest clubs are only interested in what is best for them.

£3.5bn? If this goes ahead and they're allowed to stay in the league I'll give it up.

If they're fucked off and the Prem becomes rugby league with the same rules then fanfuckingtastic.

I'm joining Taz's militia - he can teach me how to use an automatic weapon and the ways of the mujahideen, while I'll supply the list of local restaurants the Chelsea players frequent, for the first wave of killings.

What I don't understand is why they have now suddenly been driven to such an extreme measure. It's not as if life is going badly for them now.

Presumably Covid provides an excellent backdrop to leverage their financial might against and also allows for the 'structural and financial reform is needed to save the game' li(n)e.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Rumours are that Klopp has walked.

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He can come and managed FC Liverpool of Liverpool.

Wait . . .

Wolves have won more top league titles than Spurs. Shambles.

If United are doing this as an excuse for me to finally stop watching them then I'm all in favour.

I was thinking about alternative clubs this morning. Sutton Utd might be a good one. Woking are a bit too shit and full of plebs, and Wimbledon are a bit up themselves.

I was playing at Dorking Wanderers for a game on Saturday Jim, lovely little stadium. Shame it's about 90 minutes from me but it's in a lovely setting.

I suppose I'd throw what enthusiasm I have for football into going out of my way to watch more Coventry games. Another club with shithouse ownership.

I'll start pricing up a Mo Konjic tattoo.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kikó

I was playing at Dorking Wanderers for a game on Saturday Jim, lovely little stadium. Shame it's about 90 minutes from me but it's in a lovely setting.

---

Yeah, the cricket ground there is the same. England hardly gets more beautiful.

Mourinho sacked. Must have not liked the Super League

If all the richest clubs fuck off to start their own sport and our takeover goes through. :drool:

It might be a good thing. Imagine the variety in the European competitions. There's no shortage of good players about so there'd be plenty of competition. Can see it becoming a league/union type deal with players switching codes and the like. If they create a money driven Yanktastic version of soccer, then we might end up moving away from that.

Football would undoubtedly be better off without the 'big clubs', for a while at least, until the next batch rolled around I guess.

Presumably Spurs have had to sack Mourinho now on the off chance that they might win a cup next week and they probably couldn't do it after that. Absolutely baffling.

Either that of they've got Jo Moore (was that her name) in to do their press work.

Are they doing a minute's silence for The Duke/The Death of Football at tonight's match?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

Football would undoubtedly be better off without the 'big clubs', for a while at least, until the next batch rolled around I guess.

Presumably Spurs have had to sack Mourinho now on the off chance that they might win a cup next week and they probably couldn't do it after that. Absolutely baffling.

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That and the hope of an extremely timely "new manager bounce" I imagine.

I don't know what could be more exciting: An empty stadium for the League Cup final or 8,000 angry, violent punters.

I'm disappointed that Sky haven't lined up boos for every single Liverpool touch.

Considering how unwatchably bad football is in a fanless environment it feels like there's a very simple solution to all this breakaway nonsense, and if the fans won't do it (they won't) then lets start revoking some safety certificates.

This game has been horrendous. Chelsea will probably do a 2012 and win the CL/FA Cup and finish 6th

Schalke's fall from grace sure is something. 5th in the league in the winter break 19-20, then won their last game in match 18 of that season. In all of last year and this year they've won a total of three games.

Relying on a 37 year old KJH to score goals is a bit lol. He wasn't the most mobile at his peak.

*The Hunter.

Please get his name right.

You didn't even put a :drool: in there 'How so you're not even adhering to your own style guide.

He flustered me.

And hiring that binman who was Jurgen's mate and was terrible at Wigan (?)

Huddersfield.

Terrible? He got his team promoted to the promised land. :cab:

It should've been Lee Clark. :moop:

@Lewis

We're going to win the league.

Well done.

@Lewis

We're not going to win the league.

That's a stonewall red.

Players attempting to clear the ball should not be deemed an aggressive tackle.

It’s a booking, he’s late, but it’s not a 3 game ban.

Displaying it as if it’s a studs first lunge is ridiculous.

He went in studs up knee height, of course it's a red.

https://i.imgur.com/VOVErxA.png

Not a red :happycry:

No he didn’t. He went in side foot first to clear the ball and didn’t get there first.

Side foot :D

This would happen almost every time someone kicks a football more than 30 yards if you plonked a player beside them.

It’s contact. It’s a foul. It’s a yellow.

I’m not denying his studs caught his knee. That’s not the challenge he’s making though, is it. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand motion.

It's reckless and dangerous, he hits him knee height with his studs, it's an absolutely blatant red.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foe

I’m not denying his studs caught his knee. That’s not the challenge he’s making though, is it. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand motion.

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Understanding motion is exactly what you need to be able to do to understand why what he's done is dangerous.

Players don't have carte blanche to go flying in any way they like provided they are aiming for the ball.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foe

This would happen almost every time someone kicks a football more than 30 yards if you plonked a player beside them.

It’s contact. It’s a foul. It’s a yellow.

---

The player beside them part is pretty important.

It’s clumsy and late.

Respectfully disagree, but whatever.

England are in deep trouble in the summer if that boy starts.

Jesus christ, you've got to be absolutely brainless to get to do that on a yellow.

Is Grealish injured? Villa are awful.

You've got to be more brainless to care :baz:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foe

No he didn’t. He went in side foot first to clear the ball and didn’t get there first.

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:D

The Athletic is now available for £1 per month. Get involved.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...-league-launch

Quote:

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it is understood he felt uneasy regarding the lack of competition in a new tournament in which 15 clubs including United would be guaranteed entry, and spent the next two days considering whether he could support it.

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But surely that element of it is basically the headline thing from whenever he first saw these proposals?

Plebs like him wouldn't have been in the loop, this was about moving the share prices.

Ed 100% would have known the full deal. He's arse covering.

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Lolz

Ryan Giggs charged with assault on two women. He’s a bit of a creepy cunt, isn’t he?

He hasn't exactly endeared himself to people post-playing career, but surely enough's enough at this point and we'll never hear from him again?

Fingers crossed.

This probably rules him out of the United job.

Fingers and toes crossed.

Paul Scholes must be relieved that he's no longer the biggest post-playing twat of the crew.

Rumours are that he's been sacked from the Wales job which you'd hope is true.

Hope? He's done.

Gary Speed > Chris Coleman > Ryan Giggs is a distinct moral and talent decline each time.

Does Craig Bellamy have his badges?

Gary Speed didn't even work his notice, so I'm not sure how fondly the Welsh FA regard him.

Quite a lot of Wales feels like it's still in the 1950's (when topping yourself was still a crime) so that must count against him too.

Jose Mourinho, Wales Manager.

That would actually be a really good fit if it wasn't for Bale.

"When I need Gareth I'll call him up." :cool:

Having Martyn Tyler call them 'the shameful six' sort of makes me want said six teams to collectively to tell Sky/The Premier League to stick it and watch the world burn.

It's all a bit 'We made you and we can destroy you'.

This match is the best advert for a super league they could do. Fucking atrocious.

Not when it involves one of the SUPER teams.

They'll need some goalkeeping reinforcements if they're to avoid the ignominy of finishing 20th in the SL.

Funny that they sold the best keeper in the league this season for a pittance.

I say thanks every day.

I don't remember there being a recent season where so many teams are vying for 3rd and 4th place.

Exciting.

West Ham might genuinely be in with a shot if they get a result tomorrow. Chelsea's run in is brutal and everyone else below them is just a bit shit.

The unstoppable force of poetic justice is now with them and Lester too.

This bit of the BBC Gossip page took me aback somewhat this morning:

Quote:

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Everton's Norwegian striker Josh King is in talks with Turkish side Galatasaray and the 29-year-old seems set to leave the club this summer.

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Not sure I had any recollection of him having gone there.

It also too me about 3 days the other day to remember Ajax were in Liverpool's Champions League group this season, which I'm not sure says more about me, the Champions League group stage or the general plight of football in the last year.

Think it was Jimmy who said new football gets forgotten pretty quickly and the old stuff you can recite to the closest detail. Very true. Off the top of my head I'm not sure what our third fixture back was, but you ask me to talk you through the Channel 5 hosted 97/98 UEFA cup run and it's no problem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romano_Floriani_Mussolini

Benito Mussolini's great-grandson turning out for no other than Lazio u19 this afternoon. Position? Right wing.

This Liverpool game is ridiculous. Should have scored 6 goals based on the chances created so far.

So basically like 90% of Liverpool's games this season then? Scrappy equaliser inbound.

Yep. Nearly just happened with Joelinton through on goal after the defence switched off.

Classic Liverpool.

VAR has saved this sport. If only we could now work to reform the CL to protect the top sides a bit.

They should be giving a penalty for pushing him over before he’s had a shot if anything

If Kabak ain't back to slicing doners next season I'm gonna be disgusted.

hahahahahahahah

Lol

Newcastle absolutely deserved that. The arm was against his body ffs what's he supposed to do?

Absolutely brain dead from the defence and Klopp in the last 20 minutes. Why keep the high line when it blatantly wasn't working?

Mint. We have to keep Willock forever.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

So basically like 90% of Liverpool's games this season then? Scrappy equaliser inbound.

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Beautiful stuff.

Another top four race no one wants to win.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dquincy

This Liverpool game is ridiculous. Should have scored 6 goals based on the chances created so far.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

So basically like 90% of Liverpool's games this season then? Scrappy equaliser inbound.

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@-james-

It's quite mad how wasteful Liverpool are in front of goal. Our survival's looking real comfortable now.

Looking at the table, wouldn't mind Fulham or West Brom pipping Burnley to another year. Northwestern tinpot town clubs are second only to London satellite town clubs in levels of uninteresting shite.

Welcome back, Watford :moop:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lewis

@-james-

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Some Liverpool stats:

Liverpool have collected just five points out of a possible 27 at home in the Premier League in 2021, only Fulham have picked up fewer [4] among all 92 teams in England's top four divisions.

Liverpool have had 146 shots this calender year, with just 4 goals. As well as this, the Reds have only scored four first half goals in their last 18 games.

What is the point I'm suppose to be arguing?

Swindon rather fittingly relegated at the club stealers with a 5-0 rogering (Will Grigg even got 4). A fitting epitaph to the season. Would gladly never see any of the current squad ever again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lewis

@-james-

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It would only have really counted if Taz had quickly bowled in with a "this lot'll never score" line.

What was the timing on his VAR post?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by -james-

What is the point I'm suppose to be arguing?

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Nothing, I just want to be friends.

Typical Lewis stirring the pot.

Any chance of Klopp leaving at the end of the season? He sounds fed up week on week.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shindig

Any chance of Klopp leaving at the end of the season? He sounds fed up week on week.

---

Slim to none I think. I know the German national job is available in the summer, but can't see him leaving.

Can understand why he's sounding fed up though; he sets the team up to create chances, which they do a plenty, but the personnel are massively wasteful up front.

He probably sounds depressed because imagine how depressing it is to have to carry on in this environment week on week. It's unwatchable as a spectator, it must be horrendous to actually be invested heavily in it.

Has that guy just been sent off for kicking the ball?

I know there are plenty of "oh, the game's gone" moments these days, but, if kicking the ball, off the ground, when you are in possession of it becomes a situation where you can 'endanger an opponent' isn't that pretty much peak "game's gone"?

I'm pretty sure he's one of the worst referees in the game. I think top flight football in England is pretty much done.

100% not the ref's fault though, they seem to operate under the standing order that the VAR is right and if you are sent to have a look then you are to change your decision.

I'm not sure about that. He's got eyes and that's no way a foul nevermind a red.

You wot? It was mostly the ref's fault. He made the decision. Absolute shocker.

Edit : @Niko

It's an anti-David Moyes conspiracy, probably run by West Ham themselves.

"You won't believe which manager is history's greatest secret."

Nowhere near enough has been made of West Ham letting him go after he kept them up in 2017/18 because they wanted a Good Football manager. I hope he walks at the end of the season and they get relegated.

And Lingard follows him as his new Fellaini. On the red card, that's harsh. He's just cleared it and it's an unfortunate coming together. It'd be like sending someone off for a clash of heads.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dquincy

You wot? It was mostly the ref's fault. He made the decision. Absolute shocker.

Edit : @Niko

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Did he? His decision came after 'consulting' the VAR monitor. When the ref is told to go and look at the monitor there's one outcome. It's a terrible decision (perhaps the worst there has been) but once the ref gets sent to look at the freeze frame where Chilwell manages to wedge his leg under the other guys studs it's a fait accompli. I don't really blame the ref in that situation. He's not the problem in this scenario.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

Did he? His decision came after 'consulting' the VAR monitor. When the ref is told to go and look at the monitor there's one outcome. It's a terrible decision (perhaps the worst there has been) but once the ref gets sent to look at the freeze frame where Chilwell manages to wedge his leg under the other guys studs it's a fait accompli. I don't really blame the ref in that situation. He's not the problem in this scenario.

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No, not having that. The VAR monitor is there for the ref to review the incident using his own judgement. If VAR make the decision on his behalf without the monitor then fair enough.

I see the authorities are holding a (utterly pointless) twitter blackout next weekend.

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Timo comes across as a bit dim. Would explain a lot.

So is calling footballers on first names basis

Bless.

Bit noncey, mate. Football fwends x

Wolves are awful.

Boly is a red card/own goal waiting to happen.

Podence should be booked for that. What a fanny.

Traore would have gone had Cork been a dirty foreign melt like Podence.

Chris Wood's a really good forward.

We could finish above Wolves at this rate.

That was the worst game I've seen all season.

And assuming you've watched more than a handful of United games that's a very high bar for it to clear.

I figured the eight-thousand fans in Wembley would be all spread out, but they aren't, so why can't it be more?

Every single one of the current rules is based on 'Well, we have to draw the line somewhere!' and inventing a random number.

This includes the 'rule of six'.

Spurs :lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lewis

I figured the eight-thousand fans in Wembley would be all spread out, but they aren't, so why can't it be more?

---

Trains, etc.

No Grealish for the ninth game straight. Wesley back on the bench after 15 months out though.

Is it an injury, or an 'injury'?

Genuine I believe. Has trouble with shin splints. Misses 3 months or so every couple of years due to them.

Lol at getting relegated by Keinan Davis.

If Brighton aren't going to get themselves relegated the league should step in and flush them.

Is it the gays or the xG that's the sticking point?

Gerrard bottling another domestic cup. Puts Celtic out and gets eliminated a week later. You love to see it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by -james-

Is it the gays or the xG that's the sticking point?

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They just do nothing every year, and that pretend rivalry with Crystal Palace annoys me.

Their goal difference tends to cancel itself out which just screams a team that can't escape a stalemate. It's those stalemates that tend to keep them up but drawing 13 matches a season (for three of the last four years) must be a bit grim to watch.

Can confirm pretty grim to watch, although I've not witnessed all that much PotterBall in person.

They're lucky that the three below them have been so useless/inconsistent (as I'm not entirely convinced West Brom and Fulham aren't both better than Brighton).

They do nothing in that they always finish 16th but so do Palace/Burnley/Newcastle. At least with Brighton there's a hint there might be something to come.

There's no way Brighton are the 18th/19th best side this season. Is finishing ability the only thing that matters when evaluating a team?

Well it’s pretty important.

They've played some fucking stunning football this season. Wolves have been brutal this season and someone seriously needs to carry out an audit on the prem table because there is no way Palace have amassed 38 points so far.

This social media blackout - I mean I understand that something is better than nothing - buuut what are they expecting here? Do they think that the absolute knobheads who send these message are suddenly going to think "oh noes, my team is not posting for 3 days, I'd better stop being a racist cuntfuck".
Can't the FA jut employ 4chan to go after the individuals posting and hunt them down - surely more effective than this lip service bollocks.

I think it's more to do with pressuring the social media companies into acting.

Although they may be morally right on this, think 'football people' have a real blind spot on this - the public doesn't give a fuck about rich people receiving nasty abuse and so neither will the social media companies. If it's so important to them they should withdraw on a permanent basis, not for 3 days.

Late goals over the weekend.

A.Madrid lost at Bilboa with a late goal. They are only 2 points clear of Barca and R.Madrid with 5 games left. They still have to play Barca.

Darmian cane off the bench to score the only goal for Inter who are now 10 points clear with 15 points left to play for. They need 3 more wins. They still need to play Juve.

Lille came from 2-0 down at Lyon to win 3-2. They are 1 point ahead of PSG with 4 games left.

Sporting Lisbon need 2 wins from the last 5 games to give them their first title since 2001

Wolves have been woeful all season. That fake Diego costa needs to piss off back to la Liga. Fabio Silva is shit, but give the lad all game time until the end of the season

Wolves just seem like another team who's style of play really suffers in the no-crowd-meta.

That and the fact that their star forward's head got broke.

Sporting drop points in 2 games and Mehdi Taremi's Blue and White Army will have the league, calm yourself. Tasty title races in Spain and France for a change.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Don

Sporting drop points in 2 games and Mehdi Taremi's Blue and White Army will have the league, calm yourself. Tasty title races in Spain and France for a change.

---

You and Taremi have matching nostrils. I can understand why you can smell a title. It isn't happening lad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

Gerrard bottling another domestic cup. Puts Celtic out and gets eliminated a week later. You love to see it.

---

You think United might have a chance to win it? :pards:

They've failed to replace Jota. The recruitment policy of 'have boots, speak Portuguese' puts pay to that.

Pedro Neto is basically a genetic clone of Jota for all intents and purposes and whoever gets him is doing well. Their issue is thinking they can replace a world class striker with some dogshit Iberian talent.

Do you reckon Nuno does all the team talks in Portuguese? Has Conor Coady had to have lessons?

I think Nuno just strokes his beard at them for 10 minutes with some heavy metal and they walk out pumped ready to grind out a 0-0.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Do you reckon Nuno does all the team talks in Portuguese? Has Conor Coady had to have lessons?

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He's knackered if they don't have a whiteboard.

Henry, Bergkamp and Vieira to buy Arsenal? :henn0rz:

I wonder who Firmino's regen goes to after West Brom get relegated. Him and Johnstone along with Sheff Utd's Berge and Fulham's Areola, Andersen and Robinson are top half EPL material.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kikó

You think United might have a chance to win it? :pards:

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As good as chance as anyone else has. Hopefully Hibs/St Johnstone draw each other.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Waffdon

Well it’s pretty important.

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Finishing is streaky, look at Liverpool scoring ten goals above expectation in the 2 seasons prior to this one before whatever has happened this season (five below).

The question of whether Brighton's recruitment are nerds optimizing for xG rather than G is pretty valid imo. In Maupay they've gambled on a promising young forward who scored a load of goals in the Championship while performing under expectation (37 goals from 41 xG at Brentford). He has 14 from 19.5 excluding pens in the Premier League which doesn't look too hot. I could see them going for (and will lol if it happens even though I think he's good) Tammy Abraham in the summer.

Even if they have compiled a group of players who are so historically poor (~25% worse than average) in front of goal it's not a problem you need to rip up the squad for, and they're doing everything else right. 2nd fewest goals against in the league since binning Mat Ryan for Sanchez. :huhu:

Abraham will end up at a top half team. Probably West Ham or Aston Villa. The former makes sense if Chelsea still want Rice

If my knowledge of what goes into golf is transferable to football (and surprisingly, I think a lot of it is, at least as far as attacking is concerned), Brighton are just a low-variance plodder of a side who need to throw in some mavericks up front if they want to finish higher than about 14th, but seemingly don't want to risk their pretty high floor (this season must be close to their floor) in pursuit of that.

Newcastle, on the other hand, are a bad team who are high-variance enough to capitalise on what good days they have, which, in a 38-game world where you only need to finish 17th out of 20, can be pretty effective.

Fulham are a worse Brighton, and the other two were doomed from the start. I'm not sure what Sheffield United did last season. That might be where my knowledge runs out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Baz

Henry, Bergkamp and Vieira to buy Arsenal? :henn0rz:

---

Flamini is the richest Arsenal alumni.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Newcastle, on the other hand, are a bad team who are high-variance enough to capitalise on what good days they have, which, in a 38-game world where you only need to finish 17th out of 20, can be pretty effective.

---

Some of this falls on Bruce's management as well. Rafa wound up being pragmatic with the squad he had and Bruce does the same. Unfortunately Bruce also has stretches where he sets us up not to lose, rather than trying to efficiently fashion a chance. You don't want to be on the back foot when you've got little going forward. And unlike Rafa, the fans get right on Bruce, even when we're doing well.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...munich-manager

Julian Nagelsmann will take over at Bayern Munich from 1 July in a deal that makes him the Bundesliga’s most expensive manager, with RB Leipzig receiving compensation that could rise to €25m (£21.7m).

Jesus.

I would love to be in the meeting where the waxworks tell him to burn all of his suits.

33. :|

He'll have burned out of there by 36, then England for a bit, 40. Where does he go from there?

By that time he'll have enough money to buy a gold house. Why would it matter?

Our youth FA Cup quarter final is on tonight against Villa. My hopes aren't up. 7pm kick-off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd9W2yWJUgU

And we're 2-0 down inside eight minutes. Good job, lads. :D Keeping playing from the back.

Werner would have had a field day getting in behind Madrid’s defence at the Bernabeu. This ground looks the size of non league teams

Is Werner disabled?

Chelsea have absolutely pissed this so far. Madrid look like bums

There’s a serious gulf in class between these sides.

Nacho might be.

I thought Pulisic had fucked it for a minute.

Wtf are real doing

I would rather watch Liverpool win another one than this Chelsea team.

Where is Marcelo even meant to be playing here lol

Chelsea :harold:

That’s some goal.

Benzema might be the most underrated player of all
Time

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Do you think actual football people recognise the Binman as a concept?

No, out of sheer psychological self-preservation.

Surely the Binman concept is actually liberating to them? Well, not Proper Football types but chancers like Joe Cole

Hard to get excited about this semi involving no underdogs and no decent footballing sides. Imagine a front three of Werner, Mount and Pulisic winning this :D

Why's Zidane done a Pep and gone weird with his tactics and why couldn't the Islamic cunt do it against us and field Marcelo too. Speaking of Islamic cunts, what Waff said.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EyyqPjsUcAQkkRL.jpg

The first 30 minutes have looked like what brazil Germany 2014 would have looked like if that German side had zero end product or composure in the final third. Madrid look rotten.

Right down to sharing a schoolgirl with his friends.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lewis

Right down to sharing a schoolgirl with his friends.

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:baz:

He's probably suffered in his career from playing with Ronaldo and doing the Wayne Rooney shift. He looked like an absolute freak at Lyon when United pretended to be interested.

No one comes close to Kante when he’s playing well.

At what point does a binman graduate by sheer weight of success? Or is binman just a way of life at this point?

What happened to the Binman G.O.A.T? Did he take another job after his sacking?

What is Roberto di Matteo up to?

Southend were all but relegated from the Football League last night. I can't see how the club survives it to be honest.

A heart felt memorial in next months thread please @Ian

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kikó

What is Roberto di Matteo up to?

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Nothing since Villa. Back to back binmen with him and Sherwood. What a time to be alive.

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Originally Posted by Spikey M

Southend were all but relegated from the Football League last night. I can't see how the club survives it to be honest.

A heart felt memorial in next months thread please @Ian

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Grimsby going too, a truly bleak day for seaside shitholes. At lunchtime I'll play that Morrissey song about 'trudging slowly over wet sand' in their honour.

I've watched that Cheltenham manager on loop for about 12 hours now.

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

Where is Marcelo even meant to be playing here lol

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Wherever he played, I'm sure it was better than what he's doing for the 2nd leg.... working in the polling station apparently.

Seeing Grimsby mentioned reminds me of the first Liverpool game I ever went to. We played them in the League cup and lost 2-1 at home after extra time. It's a wonder I ever went again.

Barrow staying up at their expense :drool:

Liverpool fans, buying a friend one of the retro shirts. Crown Paints or Candy?

https://store.liverpoolfc.com/media/...1/a13347-a.jpg
https://store.liverpoolfc.com/media/...1/a13339-a.jpg

Candy.

There was a grey Crown Paints one too (think it was the first shirt I had).

Candy but in red.

Thinly veiled 'I've got a scouse bird' post :drool:

Is the Red one actually nice IRL?

https://www.3retro.com/siteimg/produ...es/801-189.jpg

Thanks Shindig. I couldn't have found that picture of a 3d render without you.

Ask inane questions and you get inane answers.

Especially when the question is, "Does this thing I'm not going to wear or see much look nice on other people?"

It's a top 3 kit.

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Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel

What happened to the Binman G.O.A.T? Did he take another job after his sacking?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kikó

What is Roberto di Matteo up to?

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I would’ve TTH’s toppest binman is Roberto Martinez, but he could’ve been the original chancer too.

Edit: Kingbinman could be Villanova too 🤔 his only job prior to managing Barca was being the lunch lady for a few years.

Avram Grant surely.

City :wave:

Grant and Di Matteo are on my Mount Rushmore for binmen.

Dire Maria should have been a modern United great. He's still got years in him as well.

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Originally Posted by Shindig

Grant and Di Matteo are on my Mount Rushmore for binmen.

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Roberto Di Matteo, Luis Enrique, Zinedine Zidane, and then a space reserved for whichever one wins something first in England. Carlo Ancelotti gets his own Lincoln Memorial-type monument, and there is a separate one for the international binmen.

PSG are special. Poch :cool: Hopefully Neymar does his cruciates in injury time of 2nd leg.

Navas looked a bit shit there

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Originally Posted by Lewis

Roberto Di Matteo, Luis Enrique, Zinedine Zidane, and then a space reserved for whichever one wins something first in England. Carlo Ancelotti gets his own Lincoln Memorial-type monument, and there is a separate one for the international binmen.

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International journeymen get a wall of the Pentagon each. Ancelotti, Hiddink and then three others. Actually, the Dutch could fill the rest of that easily.

I reckon Joachim Löw has international binman credentials.

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Originally Posted by Don

PSG are special. Poch :cool: Hopefully Neymar does his cruciates in injury time of 2nd leg.

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Extraordinary.

That tackle :D

Add more walls to the Pentagon. We need Jurgen Klinsmann and Diego Maradona on there.

There are too many international binmen. Mario Zagallo got the Brazil job in 1970 specifically to not coach them, and Franz Beckenbauer got by on 'Class of 74' stories.

Tottenham meets France here. Falling to bits.

That's such an ugly challenge :D

That tackle was Cameroon 1990 stuff.

Phil Foden is basically Messi.

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Originally Posted by -james-

Phil Foden is basically Messi.

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He's so good. Is he doomed to a lifetime of being underappreciated because he doesn't play for one of the media-friendly red teams?

Kiko posted 'This Mbappe has potential' at HT and deleted it for fear of being controversial. Pass it on.

Neymar losing his head is still so damn satisfying to watch.

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

He's so good. Is he doomed to a lifetime of being underappreciated because he doesn't play for one of the media-friendly red teams?

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The opposite. He's an English player who 'Pep' rates, and he's liable to be the only homegrown player worth a wank at City for the foreseeable future and therefore proof of all the Great Things the slave state is doing in Manchester ('on and off the pitch[!]'), like when Jack Wilshere was briefly the poster boy for everything Arsene Wenger had brought to the game.

Sorry, Jack 'Jack' Wilshere.

Does Phil like a cheeky smoke?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lewis

The opposite. He's an English player who 'Pep' rates, and he's liable to be the only homegrown player worth a wank at City for the foreseeable future and therefore proof of all the Great Things the slave state is doing in Manchester ('on and off the pitch[!]'), like when Jack Wilshere was briefly the poster boy for everything Arsene Wenger had brought to the game.

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If he played for United he would already be England captain and have national Gazza status; as it is he feels very under the radar.

If he played for United he would be crap.

Next England captain from United is still going to be FEC, Foden can do one.

The Luke Shaw redemption NARRATIVE gets him it in a friendly, and then two goals come down his side in a 3-1 defeat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

He's so good. Is he doomed to a lifetime of being underappreciated because he doesn't play for one of the media-friendly red teams?

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Rather because he has possibly the least likeable face of all time.

That is true, if he wasn't good at football he would be thieving all the nice cars in Wilmslow.

He one of the lads. He still stands on street corners in shorts and a tennents super with a hand full of sovereign rings

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Don

Kiko posted 'This Mbappe has potential' at HT and deleted it for fear of being controversial. Pass it on.

Neymar losing his head is still so damn satisfying to watch.

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I'm only joking Tazmania.

For all the talk of the death of football surrounding the Super League, the actual death of football is the near total domination of the oil clubs which is now manifesting itself in the european cup (hitherto the final frontier for said domination). Over the last 10 seasons City, PSG and Chelsea have basically accounted for something like 60% of all domestic competitions won, and it's only the national cups that pull that average down from nearer 80%.

7(8) Premier League titles
7 League Cups
3 FA Cups (although also 4 of the 5 previous to the 10 year cut off)
7 (8) Ligue 1 titles
5 Coupes de France

Yeah the super clubs have already largely killed the competitive edge.
City / Liverpool / Chelsea in England
PSG in France
Bayern in Germany
Juve in Italy
Madrid/ Barcelona in Spain.

Having not paid that much attention to Foden this season - someone tell me what his main strenghts actually are? I see him as your average english "10" - good at linking play, decent technique, excellent at making runs into the box and a mean shot. But perhaps not super rapid or one of those Neymar-style dribblers, and while the passing is good it's not De Bruyne either.

aul Scholes or Frank Lampard reimagined, basically.

Is that image wrong?

He's not a Scholes. I can't think England has had a player of his type in the last 25 years. The best comp I can think of at the moment is Pavel Nedved.

A small group of financially dominant sides is manageable as long as it's otherwise a level playing field during the game and competition. A couple of them will be hitting the rocks soon too :drool:

Foden is actually becoming the Iniesta regen. With a better shot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

He's not a Scholes. I can't think England has had a player of his type in the last 25 years. The best comp I can think of at the moment is Pavel Nedved.

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Alright fair enough. I looked at some videos now. Kaka also seems like a fair comparison to me.
Saw him being compared to Gazza, but that seems true for every english talent basically.

But then he's more of a central midfield player right? I have the impression Pep keeps playing him as a winger.

The best players are always more 'central' when they come through the age groups, I've no idea what his actual position is (probably an anachronism in itself).

I've been quite surprised at how good he is at dribbling/going past people in confined spaces.

Gonna be great when England get trolled out of the Euros with Rice, Dier and Lingard in front of 5 defenders with the likes of Foden and Grealish on the bench/not in the squad.

Granada staging a late sinking of the good ship Koeman.

:harold:

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Originally Posted by Shindig

Nothing since Villa. Back to back binmen with him and Sherwood. What a time to be alive.

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A light needs shining on how shit Sherwood really was. The year we went down (with about 17 points) we actually had a fucking excellent window.

Gueye - Champions League semi last night despite GBH
Veretout - Europa League semi tonight
Amavi - Europa League final (winner?) a couple of years back
Traore - Inconsistent don
J Ayew - Decent centre forward

Instead he threw his toys out the pram, ostracised the lot of them as he didn't get Andros Townsend, played Kieran Richardson, Gabby Agbonlahor and a load of shit in centre midfield, created a toxic split dressing room and blew the club to pieces. Proper, proper shit cunt.

Man Utd aren’t going to bottle another semi final, are they? :lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lewis

The Luke Shaw redemption NARRATIVE gets him it in a friendly, and then two goals come down his side in a 3-1 defeat.

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:happycry:

The standard of football in this Utd game :sick:

It's literally like your local powerleague.

I do rate Arteta but the continued existence of Ceballos does give me doubts. He looks like a League One player.

I'd sack Ole if he doesn't win the tournament.

Cavani is amazing. Give him whatever he wants for another season.

I think the foul system is fundamentally broken at this point.

Emery :cool:

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Originally Posted by phonics

I do rate Arteta but the continued existence of Ceballos does give me doubts. He looks like a League One player.

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Serious question: what has Arteta done this season that has made you rate him? With the Europa League now up in flames and a bottom half finish as likely as a top half finish (in a poor league) you have to question him surely.

I'm not even sure he even really qualifies for binman status given that he only had a few shitty years at Arsenal, and that just leaves you with some no mark novice manager.

Lovely to see what a shambles of a hairline that chancer has got these days.

He's a student of Pep.

I’ve done a Taz.

Smalling repaying Man Utd by standing two yards deeper than everyone else

That's not a pen for me.

Cavani should take it for the hattrick though.

How is that a penalty when the ball is five minutes past him?

All these goal contributions. :drool:

Stat-padding his way to the Ballon d'Or.

Very satisfactory second half so far. Roma sure also not very good.

Arsenal making a balls of Rule Britannia.

Mace is ace.

Cavani. :drool:

It’s going to be another all English final in both competitions. What a league.

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

It’s going to be another all English final in both competitions. What a league.

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What a bore.

There's absolutely no chance Arteta's Arsenal turn it around.

I still don't believe that City will make it to the Champions League final.

Just watched the Utd highlights. Shaw is actually so good.

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Originally Posted by CJay

Serious question: what has Arteta done this season that has made you rate him? With the Europa League now up in flames and a bottom half finish as likely as a top half finish (in a poor league) you have to question him surely.

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Tonight was the first time that I've seen us been actually passed through in several years. For a good few years the way to beat Arsenal was simply to just pass the ball forwards and you would get a decent attack in the final third. That doesn't happen anymore. We no longer get completely bypassed in midfield.

However, whatever structure fixes that seems to completely inhibit the team in possession and attacking. Meaning we have to score the few chances we do create because the goals we concede now are mostly creations of our own making (we lost 3 games in a row by 1 goal because a player gave the ball to the opposition for a free goal).

Pretty much this same team drew 15 games last season. Most of the players really aren't very good. Mohamed Elneny, binned off 3 years ago to Turkey, was the inform midfielder for a time. And those that are good don't fit together whatsoever.

I back him because there's a sense of something there and he's a decent bloke.

I'm in two minds because I always backed the Wenger way of just destroying the dross and getting battered by the top whereas Arteta is the reverse@
https://i.imgur.com/0IEQVDo.png

They definitely don't have the x-factor in the squad that can bail them out. And I don't think Arteta's the kind of manager who can bring those kinds of players in.

There’s no such thing as X-factor. It’s paying them. Our wage bill is 100 million less than United, Liverpool and City.

It's a good job football was saved from the ESL, clubs are still definitely not businesses and you'll soon be spending some of that money.

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Originally Posted by phonics

There’s no such thing as X-factor. It’s paying them. Our wage bill is 100 million less than United, Liverpool and City.

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Where are you getting those figures from?

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/payroll/

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick...ague-position/

Those were the first two links I found and neither show that much difference.

lol out loud at those United figures. Two years left on that Dave Gayer contract as well. :humb:

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Where are you getting those figures from?

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/payroll/

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick...ague-position/

Those were the first two links I found and neither show that much difference.

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Crystal Palace figure looks odd. Who the fuck are they paying for? Benteke?

Zaha, Benteke and Sakho are on 100k+ with Batshuayi (albeit on loan) just outside of that, according to the first site.

McTominay on 20 grand a week while Lee Grant is on 30 and Phil Jones is on 75 is quite something. I'd be banging down the manager's door every day.

Yeah, Arsenal are hardly going to have a reasonable wage bill (although I am somewhat surprised Spurs' has crept to be that high too) given their penchant to doling out the big contracts to over the hill marquee players.

Out of date, surely...

https://gyazo.com/38ab863f1d38bb1e2198c5e9b432dd4c.jpeg

Has Partey been any good for Arsenal?

No. Turns put being an African and a 'baller in the eyes of the MOTDX FIFA fanboys turned out to be misleading.

Rob holding appears to be their best, most consistent defender. That tells you everything.

https://i.ibb.co/4tZTmBx/Screenshot-20210430-110732.png

Why would you take a dog to a firework display?

:D

He's a very funny person is Sharples.

:D

I came in here to see if that had been posted yet. :D

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Originally Posted by Offshore Toon

https://i.ibb.co/4tZTmBx/Screenshot-20210430-110732.png

Why would you take a dog to a firework display?

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Might have run away from his garden because of a display nearby.

I've decided this social media boycott thing is the biggest load of shite since records began. Back on Tuesday to hawk their wares via the same platforms... it's completely empty.

That's white privelege talking. Mods, can we close the football thread over the weekend? We'll all be the worse off not being able to read Kiko's thrilling posts but sacrifices must be made.

I heard about it the other day and genuinely couldn't believe it for exactly the same reasons.

It’s somehow even less productive than that blackout thing people did.

A lost dog is worse than somebody sending the monkey emoji to a professional footballer. Gypos could have found it or anything.

I’m switching off from TTH for a while.

Why? Because enough is enough.

I want greater regulation by TTH Moderators to stop online abuse.

By going silent, I am sending that message loud and clear.

#WaffUnites against discrimination and online abuse.

Fuck off you white scotch girl.

Daniel Storey is taking it so seriously and feels so strongly about it he managed to take a poorly cropped blurry sceenshot of his message.

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My timeline is almost sport-free now, it's amazing. Pleased to say however that pro golf (even the European kind) soldiers on. You learn who your real friends are at times like this.

If only this could get Stan Collymore to shut up.

Cavani staying at United another year. Good news.

Thoughts on the balbuena and vestergaard incidents please gentlemen.

Cooper upheld as red, balbuena appeal won. Should vestergaard have been sent off?

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Originally Posted by Foe

Thoughts on the balbuena and vestergaard incidents please gentlemen.

Cooper upheld as red, balbuena appeal won. Should vestergaard have been sent off?

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Not sure of the rules. Seemed a tad harsh but possible that Vardy could have got to that if Vestegaard hadn't taken him out.

It's just typical of our last few months, forced himself into a corner with that mistake and ruined this for us.

Ally McCoist is a truly terrible commentator outside of world cups.

Him failing to give Man of the Match to Danny Welbeck should see him sacked, but I don't mind him other than that.

Bertrand Traore's great to watch when he's on it. Must've grew up playing FIFA Street.