Feb football: The window wheezes shut

[niko_cee]

So this ref who put his head into some twat who plays for Ipswich is going to go under the bus, having no actual knowledge of the incident I'm leaning towards backing the ref. They take an unacceptable torrent of shit almost constantly from people who are almost universally beneath contempt, so if one of them is big enough to back himself to tell one of the little twats [he looked like he could have battered him if it came down to it] where to go isn't that a good thing?

Of course Paul Lambert's comments are laughable, as if they wouldn't be.

Is there any way to rectify the base level shithousery that 'professionalism' brings? I've always maintained it grows from appealing for everything being the norm, but how do you change that behaviour without having to resort to the sledgehammer of mass red carding?

[Jimmy Floyd]

The vitriol towards refs in football is by far the worst aspect of the sport and fans who berate them utterly deserve the shitshow that is VAR. The most popular thing you see is 'Referees need to be held accountable for their decisions' - why? No, they don't. It's a game of football, get over it.

That said, fans who berate referees can at least be dismissed as frustrated nobodies screaming at the moon. Managers who berate referees in public - especially in a calculated fashion - should automatically lose their jobs.

As for whether it's professionalism - I don't think so, as loads of other professional sports manage just fine. I'm pretty sure it's a cultural thing that football has allowed to develop over a long period of time. It's a game that naturally lends itself to shouting and anger and seething.

[Mellberg]

He sent him off for a later incident didn't he?

I'm with you though. Refs put up with way too much shit. Big fines maybe, as you'd probably have to write a season off whilst they all learnt to act like adults via red cards.

[niko_cee]

He sent someone else off [from the same team] a short while later on, and his face as he did it (in the still I've seen) somewhat blots his copybook as he looks very smug doing it.

[Don]

When and how tf did Sevilla manage to sign Papu Gomez on a multi-season loan deal? Fucking Monchi

50/1 for CL.

[SincereTheRebel]

Lads, I don't want to come across as comically biased or something but seriously, watch the Juve game today if yoh want a peek at one of the greatest target man centre-forwards operating in the modern game who very few casual fans will have heard of.

His name is Mehdi Taremi and let me tell you, beside an all-round game with absolutely no weaknesses, he also has a ridoculous ability to win legitimate penalties. I'd be confident that they're fucking up Juve tonight if his 10 other teammates weren't a bit useless. But Juve are shit too so meh.

Juve just gave him a gift.

[Don]

That weren't no gift, he's one of the most intelligent players in world football, the movement and pressing on the blind side of opposition contributed to it and the finish, he's gone for the deflection off the keeper's clearance

They said no one would reach Messi and Ronaldo numbers. Lol at 2 players announcing that they clearly will in the last 2 days.

[Don]

Fucking lol if Bournemouth get rid of Woodgate who has got 3 wins and a draw in 4 all to get Thierry Henry in. Swear him and Pirlo are living off the quality of their beards.

[phonics]

Fucking lol if Bournemouth get rid of Woodgate who has got 3 wins and a draw in 4 all to get Thierry Henry in. Swear him and Pirlo are living off the quality of their beards.

Henry loves Michael Jordan and I think his management career is going to have similar success to Michaels.

[bruhnaldo]

He manages Montreal as they’ve mentioned and I don’t believe Orlando have lost to them once since

[Don]

Juve without Cuadrado trying to win a game of football without a proper BLM presence is brutal stuff.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The second leg of that will be the biggest ref fix ever.

[Don]

If so I pray we get Juve. The draw is so so significant in the next round given the winners from this and the Real Madrid tie are available.

[phonics]

I went to check if Ramsey played (who the fuck is Kuvulevski?) and it turns out Arsenal Twitter is still undefeated.

[Don]

Kulusevski appears to be a ginger Swede who having managed to impress at some part-time level in Serie A has for some reason conned people into thinking he has a career as a top player.

More concerning is this smattering of dogshit 'USMNT' players. I'll give them Pulisic and Reyna even though they're hideously overrated and will amount to little but there's not a fucking chance Steffen, Dest, McKennie, Adams and de la Fuente are all in the knockouts stages of the CL at this point on merit, every single one looks hopeless. Reminds me of when Saudi Arabia poured so much money into La Liga that they convinced the clubs to take one or two of their prospects onto their books.

[phonics]

Meanwhile Santo Cazorla 10 goals and 10 assists in 16 games (20 goal contributions if I’ve calculated the stats right) for Xavis Mates FC and I couldn’t be happier for a man.

[Spoonsky]

McKennie is class and Adams will be really good too. I think Dest has a bright future as well but it's more of a sign of Barcelona's decline than anything else that he's their starting right-back at the moment.

It is pretty startling how quickly they've all risen. Felt like I blinked and suddenly Americans everywhere.

[Don]

You can't just spread a load of mixed race youth into the big clubs and call them class. They'll all be back in MLB soon.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

McKennie is going to be massive.

Get on the train quick Taz, the seats are going fast.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Notable, in my pretty cynical opinion, that none of them have gone to England.

[bruhnaldo]

I don’t know anyone calls them class seriously I think we’re just excited for their potential.

[bruhnaldo]

Notable, in my pretty cynical opinion, that none of them have gone to England.

Pulisic literally plays for your club.

[bruhnaldo]

Mind you I personally think they’ll all be nice squad players at best but it would be cool to have a fun tidy national side with perhaps one random higher level player

Like a less “trendy” Belgium kinda - I don’t want to get to the point ppl think we should actually win anything substantial.

A Croatia, even.

A little more than an Iceland.

[bruhnaldo]

Still think Mou is the absolute perfect choice for us as well and if we ever wanted to be serious we would’ve already given him the keys to the kingdom.

[Don]

Your boy at Barnsley looked comical and there were 2 lingering around Swansea. Swansea being a notoriously footballing side which I presume is why they could get away with being thoroughbred Aryans but they seem hopeless too. All very odd really, you'd think they would have managed to bring through some proper talent by now.

[bruhnaldo]

Lot of the Barnsley folks I seen on twitter said he was doing well for them and I guess had a part to play in goals in their last two matches including today but I can’t say I watched.

He’s a bit baby deer kinda doesn’t understand his body yet I don’t reckon idk it’s weird. Happy for him to get the experience.

[bruhnaldo]

That Jordan Morris that went to Swansea I never really rated though so I’m not sure what to make of that one honestly.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Pulisic literally plays for your club.

He's been around for ages. I mean the new lot - think Italian clubs in particular are desperate to get any commercial leg up they can.

Germany has always had a strong US link due to the military bases etc.

[Lewis]

Real Sociedad look really crap, and a proper side would beat them 6-0, so let's see how this goes wrong.

[Ian]

This high line suggests they haven't watched even a minute of United's games in the last two years.

[-james-]

Keeping the away goals rule in place for two legged ties played at neutral venues with no fans has got to be near the top of the list of daft things to have happened this pandemic.

[Shindig]

What even is two legged football without away goals?

[niko_cee]

The away goals rule should have been abolished about 20 years ago (conservatively) so they really should be taking the chance to knock it on the head for good now.

[bruhnaldo]

Away goals is cool why don’t you guys like it

[Ian]

+1 for "away goals is bollocks." Either keep away goals and go straight to penalties or sack off away goals and keep extra time and penalties as they are. Preferably the latter.

Also what's the point of bringing Martial on? He's not going to have any impact on whether or not Sociedad get back into it anyway and regrettably Solskjaer clearly sees him as a starter so why not do one of the debuts instead? Or Mata?

[Lewis]

Away goals is ace, and it's not like we've ever been robbed of a deserved trophy winner by it.

[Giggles]

How is there away goals when an English team is playing a Spanish team in Turin anyway?

[Lewis]

Wahey here we go(!).

[Don]

The cruces worth pointing out here are that James surely now deserves playing time in the league () and Diallo on the other flank...is this Europa League or European Diamond League

[Lewis]

It was all that raking Eric Bailly pass. All he had to do was run after it.

[niko_cee]

Away goals is cool why don’t you guys like it

The rule is a relic of a bygone, and long lost, age.

[phonics]

This Odegaard kid might actually be quite good.

[randomlegend]

Told you.

[Don]

Romelu's regen has landed.



19 already, unfortunately, but the Ajax education on that physique is a recipe for scenes.

[phonics]

He’s half the size Lukaku was at 16. Put some respect on Romelu’s name.

[Don]

Zaha has finally paved the way for prem players to stop taking the knee, coming a week after my boys at Brentford started it. We should start a book to see how how long it takes before the the game is cleansed of it completely and whether last man kneeling will be Rashford or Sterling.

[-james-]

Told you.

And I take it you watched loads of Real Sociedad last season and didn't just read that he was good on Twitter?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

And I take it you watched loads of Real Sociedad last season and didn't just read that he was good on Twitter?

Fuck off.

He read it on Reddit.

[Baz]

Zaha has finally paved the way for prem players to stop taking the knee, coming a week after my boys at Brentford started it. We should start a book to see how how long it takes before the the game is cleansed of it completely and whether last man kneeling will be Rashford or Sterling.

Its achieved literally nothing anyway.

[niko_cee]

Aye, it's worked so well that every minority player is roundly abused en masse on social media after every game now it seems. Did this happen in the beforetimes?