Saturday lunchtime is going to be so intense.
Saturday lunchtime is going to be so intense.
It was a perfectly good goal. If you're going to pull that back for handball on VAR then I have some quibbling to do about certain passages of the Quran.
I would've been very aggrieved had my side lost the match because of that last VAR bit but boy oh boy was that peak scenes.
Nice to see some fresh faces in the semi finals. Wonder if that has anything to do with VAR?
VAR does ruin the moment, but nothing is more defeating than big times constantly getting decisions in their favour. We'll learn to enjoy it.
I actually liked VAR, it gives you a similar sense of tension to a penalty being taken, then you get to celebrate all over again if it goes in your favour.
I watched the whole game again from start to finish. That was a really entertaining game. Son and Wanyama were both superb. Sterling is also on another level in a Man City shirt.
Also, the referee for the lorrente goal didnt get to see the angle that we saw on the reply from behind. That version showed a clear handball.
It skimmed his elbow (that was tucked into his body) and went in off his hip. No advantage was gained by it and there was no way of avoiding it, I think that's why the ref gave the goal.
Aye, the two VAR calls were right. Son's really errr... shone in Harry's absence.
Son is brilliant. Maybe Pochettino isn't that bad
I stand to lose a fair few hundred in various bets if a) Liverpool win the league and b) United finish outside the top 4.
I have no problem with VAR when it is actually used, the thing I don't like about it is it effectively abolishes the offside rule for passages of play that don't end in a goal.
I don't get all the "if it hits his hand it's not a goal" stuff with the Llorente goal. I understand that that may be the rule from next season (was that one of the legit rule changes?) but the rule at the moment is the same for the attacker as it is for the defender (ie some degree of real or imputed intent is needed) - and clearly there was neither of those in that case. It is interesting to note that wouldn't be a goal next season (if it hits his hand - is that right?) which I don't know that I agree with.
Ive yet to see Liverpool win a league title in my lifetime and it will stay like that for the considerable feature. They havent won a meaningful trophy in about 10 years. It needs to stay this way.
I win a fair bit of money if Liverpool win the league AND Southampton go down. So that means we'll win the league but bloody Southampton will ruin it.
I won' be complaining though.
You've already lost that bet.
Yeah, even a couple of months ago I thought Southampton were nailed on to go down, but they've got a few wins at the right time. I can't see Cardiff making up 5 points in 4 games.
In my defence, I put it on before a ball was kicked. If only they'd kept Mark Hughes for longer.
It's a brain adjustment thing, I guess with time it will become normal.
There were numerous examples in the Liverpool game where the ball was played over the top and the attacker looked clearly offside. Most times it was eventually given when the attack faltered, but sometimes a corner or set piece ensued quickly and so it didn't and, in those circumstances, I don't think you can go back if the set play results in a goal, which, to me, seems a bit off.
I put on a big accumulator with a few of “nailed on bankers” and then added ‘Liverpool to win the league/Salah top scorer.’ There’s still a chance of it coming in, but I always thought that leg would be the one that broke it. However, ‘Ronaldo top goal scorer on Serie A’ now looks to be the killer.
The others were Celtic, Bayern, Barca & PSG to win their respective leagues. £5 free bet to return £375, so come on Ronaldo/Salah!
I'm a twit
Liverpool have the best defence and the scariest attack left in the competition. You’ve just got to hope Messi turns it on but Mane/Salah can run riot at Nou Camp and it’ll be Bayern all over again for Barcelona. Final will be easy for whoever wins that game.
If City beat Spurs at the weekend they might be fine. Think they’ll beat Man Utd so that’s not an issue.
We've been safe since Hassenhuttl came in, cant work out whether hes a genius or the last couple of managers are just really, really bad.
Pretty sure we are 5th or 6th for the 2019 form table. Astonishing considering how bad we were in 2018 and that we only sold in January.
He's done remarkably well. At the start of the season I thought you were dead certs to go down.
Mark Hughes could make Ronaldo look average. Terrible, terrible manager that has literally failed at every place he's been outside of maybe Blackburn.
He did well at Fulham and I'd say Stoke was a mixed bag.
For Stoke, he took over a team in comfortable mid-table, spent loads of money and got sacked before he could take them down.
At Fulham, he took over a team that got to a UEFA Cup final and the highlight of his 11 months tenure was a 4-0 win over Tottenham in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
He's crap.
Fabinho to do a job on Messi.
He spent one season at Fulham and finished 8th. The year before they finished 12th. It's not an amazing feat, but it's not failure either.
At Stoke he finished 9th 3 seasons in a row, which I'd say is slightly above bar based on where they were under Pulis. His last season was awful. They didn't replace Arnautovic properly and his signings were crap. But if we're judging success based on whether a manager ultimately got sacked/left before they got sacked then you can barely classify any tenures as non-failures.
Are you his son or what?
Hughes is a league average manager. No shame in that. Nowadays the expectation seems to be consistent wins with thrilling football or else you have no place in the game.
He's exactly that. He's average, he usually does an okay job at the sort of clubs that he manages. The problem is that these days (and this extends beyond managers and even football) everything is either brilliant or "absolutely terrible".
Did well enough for Wales too.
I'm not sure average should exist in football management. In that what's the point of hiring someone who is only ever going to finish mid-table with an already established team?
To finish mid-table.
Who else are they going to hire? There's a finite number of exceptional managers.
And where else are they going to finish? The top 6 is a closed shop.
I think the fact that the top 6 is a closed shop has made fans of other teams think they might as well fail playing madcap football. David Moyes will never work again.
The job of a manager is to take a group of individuals and make them better than the sum of their parts. Making them achieve par isn't good management. Pulis might play absolute dog shit football in comparison but he's a miles better manager than Hughes for that reason.
By definition most teams don't have good managers.
Mark Hughes takes over clubs and eventually gets the sack so he can't get them relegated. He's awful.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47982403
I'd imagine this will sort the whole issue out, good work chaps.
24 hours?
I'm a twit
Haven't Southampton already got their Klopp clone?
If they do then Spurs have their Pochettino replacement ready and waiting.
On shit managers, I think we have our first decent one since John Gregory. Some going that.
Managers all have different jobs to do, to be fair. Hughes is an average manager but he does seem to attract interesting (on paper) talent. Pulis was never going to do that because he'd rather take a workhorse. Different chairmen offer different levels of support. Kevin Keegan flourished under a chairman with deep pockets (Newcastle and Fulham), Rafa on a budget works surprisingly well, something you don't get to see from him during most of his other jobs.
Picking a manager's a conundrum and it'll never be a dead cert.
Giroud should be starting every game. That Pedro miss before the goal was outstanding.