⚽ Football (Soccer)

[Iceman]

Villa 2-0 now after a penalty.

 

[Iceman]

Bowen gets 1 back with a bunch of deflections. 2-1, West Ham need to push on against a Europa/ECL rival and take some risks in an attempt to get a draw.

 

[Iceman]

Oh damn, 4-1 now. Great last goal by Villa. They are looking very good today.

 

[Zantera]

Oh damn, 4-1 now. Great last goal by Villa. They are looking very good today.

They look quality! Out of the teams behind the current top4 I think Villa could be the biggest surprise. Would not surprise me at all if they finished 5th or 6th and picked up a Conference League trophy for example.

 

[B]

Another crappy performance from United last night, we scraped 3 points but we look so toothless, I'll give Rashford his due in that he's at least trying to adapt his game, but he needs to sharpen up his decision making. On the other hand Bruno is on my last nerve and Antony is a £90M millstone around Ten Hag's neck which he partially put there himself, then there's McTominay, yes he got a goal but 9 touches for a midfielder is unacceptable, no wonder we only ever get any semblance of control when Eriksen is on but his lack of legs and inability to play 90 minutes make him a sticking plaster on a shotgun wound.

I forgot to even mention that, somehow he lasted an hour before he was subbed, probably due to the goal, however as you say seeing the ball so little in the middle of the park means 1 of a few things.

a)He's completely ineffective at finding space/is a statue.

b)He's actively, maybe unintentionally, hiding from receiving the ball.

This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened either, I remember having these discussions at length, when he was being preferred to Matic, how McTominay could somehow play for 75 minutes of a game, then Matic would come on for 15 & touch the ball more.

I think sometimes when a player has physical size and athletic ability the urge is to shoehorn them deeper, but players like Gullit, Rui Costa, Zidane and Socrates have all shown that an AM/#10 can be a tall, athletically elegant player rather than a techno midget, even Gerrard had his best seasons as an AM behind Torres with Alonso and Mascherano as the double pivot base, so far Ancelotti has used a 4-4-2 diamond and has played Bellingham at the top or even in the front 2, not the #8 roles that require more defensive discipline.

My general thought is when you have a player that's got that sort of size & ability, he should always strive to be complete. Yaya Toure is the gold standard IMO, when he came to City it really opened my eyes to how good he really was, perhaps flew under the radar of some of those good Barcelona sides because of the likes of Xavi, Iniesta & of course Messi. First season or two he played in that more deeper role at City & then something clicked & he was given more license to roam & push forward. He was an absolute powerhouse because he would take the ball so deep & drive forward with or without the ball causing havoc. There was a season were he scored 20+ goals & he was near untouchable.

Not that there's anything wrong with being just an AM or DM, but if you are talented enough to be able to be deployed in various offensive or defensive roles in the middle, you only help yourself & your team.

 

[Iceman]

They look quality! Out of the teams behind the current top4 I think Villa could be the biggest surprise. Would not surprise me at all if they finished 5th or 6th and picked up a Conference League trophy for example.

In the league at home they've scored 6, 4 twice and 3 so far! Looks like they're building some momentum and could be a scary prospect if they start picking up more points away and build on this form. Emery is seriously good. It gives me some confidence in the judgement of the people running Newcastle that Emery and Howe were their main targets rather than the more obvious names.

 

[Iceman]

Missed out on most action yesterday sadly because I was chauffeuring my dad and also had cinema night with my sister (watched Killers of the Flower Moon and it was fantastic!). Some thoughts on the results though:

Would have expected Liverpool to make easier work of Everton with 10-men but seems they had to fight for it. Impressive win for Brentford and there will probably be questions about Kompany soon? Going into the season there was an aura around him of "Could take over from Pep" after a good season last year, but this season has been rough so far. Its ok to lose against top teams but getting battered by teams like Brentford (no offense) is when it gets tougher. Where will the points come from? Similar situation with Bournemouth though I must say there is a level of karma there you can get a kick out of, as a neutral. They sacked O'Neil after he kept them up and went for the "hot" spanish name in the hopes of becoming another Brighton, and it is sort of satisfying to see them struggle a bit and getting beaten by O'Neil at his new club Wolves. City won as expected - though narrowly, Newcastle with an impressive battering.

Heard Chelsea played Arsenal off the park but a team like Arsenal has now gotten to the stage where they can have a tough game and still come back into it with 2 goals and get a point. I feel for Chelsea because they deserved 3 points against Liverpool in the opening game - only got a draw, and now it seems the history repeated itself. It's not necessarily bad to get a point against either Liverpool or Arsenal, but when you get 2p instead of 6p it means they are maybe 3 places lower in the table than they could have been. Not surprised to see us get the odd goal win against bottom side Sheffield United, but at least it was 3p. How was the game? We really needed these 3p considering we have City next.

Also 2 crucial games against Copenhagen upcoming. Really need 6p from those considering how we **** the bed against Galatasaray. Feels like we need a clean 9p from those 3 games (2x Copenhagen 1x Galatasaray) and then just hope its enough to get us through. Bayern is a bonus.

Nice! Good reasons to miss the football at least.

The league's tight enough that many of the chasing teams could be up there if they had taken advantage of their if-onlys. Like if we didn't implode against Liverpool with 10 men and give it away right at the end against West Ham we'd have another 5 points and be right up there.

Yeah both games against Copenhagen are must-win and so is the match against Galatasaray as they're likely to be the team you are going head to head with for second place. Might still need something against Bayern but by that point hopefully they're already well clear top of the group.

 

[Iceman]

Son and Maddison on the scoresheet as Spurs beat Fulham and go top of the league.

 

[Iceman]

Another crappy performance from United last night, we scraped 3 points but we look so toothless, I'll give Rashford his due in that he's at least trying to adapt his game, but he needs to sharpen up his decision making. On the other hand Bruno is on my last nerve and Antony is a £90M millstone around Ten Hag's neck which he partially put there himself, then there's McTominay, yes he got a goal but 9 touches for a midfielder is unacceptable, no wonder we only ever get any semblance of control when Eriksen is on but his lack of legs and inability to play 90 minutes make him a sticking plaster on a shotgun wound.

The Merseyside Derby was a bit flat yesterday, I thought Everton were unlucky with some of the referee calls. Wolves are doing well with the return of Neto but Hwang's acting was embarrassing. There were a couple of cracking goals from Brentford yesterday and I thought Nottingham Forest threw 2 points away. Newcastle are building genuine momentum that could see them in a title race, Gordon has definitely went up a couple of levels this season along with Isak and they look a very confident unit overall.



I'd be surprised if any Serie A side could match a PL team on wages, I never would have thought this day would come as a kid, AC Milan were like the elite of the elite and now they can't financially compete with a mid table prem club.



I think sometimes when a player has physical size and athletic ability the urge is to shoehorn them deeper, but players like Gullit, Rui Costa, Zidane and Socrates have all shown that an AM/#10 can be a tall, athletically elegant player rather than a techno midget, even Gerrard had his best seasons as an AM behind Torres with Alonso and Mascherano as the double pivot base, so far Ancelotti has used a 4-4-2 diamond and has played Bellingham at the top or even in the front 2, not the #8 roles that require more defensive discipline.



R.I.P. Sir Bobby, one of the games greats and a man who even transcended his status on the pitch.



Arsenal have became a side that believes, they were poor yesterday but have developed a mental toughness that gives them the resilience to dig things out, conversely Chelsea played well for 70 minutes but folded like a team who has been struggling as soon as Arsenal got one back.

I'm just hoping Rashford finds last season's form at some stage, even if he has to turtle-walk there with small improvements until some momentum starts building. I hope he plays in the final England games as that can give him a break from the mess of Utd and give him back the confidence that he knows how to play.

AC Milan of that era were absolutely amazing.

Bellingham has good defensive ability for someone who is effectively playing as a no. 10 at the moment for Real and England. That would come in useful when the team is ahead and already solid behind him, a big bonus when the 10 can also disrupt attacks and drop deeper off the ball to stack the midfield and make things too tight for the opposition. Gerrard worked well like this too with the great protection of Alonso and Mascherano as you mentioned.

It's crazy how well Newcastle are doing with still so many of that relegation level team playing. From our summer transfers, Tonali is about to get a betting ban, Barnes is long term injured, and Hall and Livramento aren't really playing and earmarked for the future. Outside of the likes of Bruno and Isak we still don't have many saleable assets, it's just a case of Howe squeezing every drop out of the players he was landed with and from some journeymen or misfit budget players he acquired for the most part. We're doing much worse on injuries this year than last and somehow still doing fine with the added burden of CL games and even tough cup draws!

 

[Iceman]

Good result for Utd with Bayern beating Galatasaray 3-1 at their stadium. Now they need to take advantage in their supposedly easiest game of the group, home against Copenhagen. If they can't win this they don't deserve to go through (and won't lol).

 

[BlackFox]

0-0 HT Pretty dire performance so far, and a few jeers as the teams came off at the break. Really struggled to not only create a chance but just get a general grip on the game. You have to say at home against Compenhagen thats pretty poor. A goal changes things but this is a must win game and there is zero energy in this United side at the moment.

 

[Iceman]

0-0 HT Pretty dire performance so far, and a few jeers as the teams came off at the break. Really struggled to not only create a chance but just get a general grip on the game. You have to say at home against Compenhagen thats pretty poor. A goal changes things but this is a must win game and there is zero energy in this United side at the moment.

If this ends as a draw or a loss with a performance like this I can see some boos ringing out at the end, especially as it pretty much means CL is over for this year.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I'm blown away by how bad a first and second touch our wingers have.

 

[BlackFox]

1-0 Maguire with the goal to put us one up. Bit of a struggle still this though.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

He didn't even kick him. He ran into McT's leg.

 

[BlackFox]

Penalty to Compenhagen in the last minute. Cant make it up.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Onana. Well done.

 

[BlackFox]

1-0 in the end. Pretty poor performance overall though but Maguire and Onana get five minutes of peace at least as they were the heroes in the end but my word were are a bang average side still. Keeps us alive in the group at least with the 3 points we desperately needed but its a dire watch at the moment. Had the chances to get more second half but wasteful as usual with that and we are far too easy to create at the other end against. Some much tougher games coming up as well.

 

[Iceman]

That was a bit of a script lol with Maguire scoring the winner and Onana saving that last minute pen (plus another very good save earlier) - hopefully this can be a turning point for both of them to take some confidence from. Need to win the away leg and then - still tons to do.

 

[Iceman]

1-0 in the end. Pretty poor performance overall though but Maguire and Onana get five minutes of peace at least as they were the heroes in the end but my word were are a bang average side still. Keeps us alive in the group at least with the 3 points we desperately needed but its a dire watch at the moment. Had the chances to get more second half but wasteful as usual with that and we are far too easy to create at the other end against. Some much tougher games coming up as well.

Away to Galatasaray could be a miserable day unless Utd have picked up some fluency and form by then.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

 

[B]

This ****ing club man..

Didn't play well, again had a few chances that we really should have scored, however then again so did Copenhagen, given how both teams played a draw would have probably been fair.

We should have had a penalty when Hojlund was bundled over in the box, I don't know what rules they teach in Italian refereeing school, but when a defender bundles into the back of an attacker sending him off balance, making no contact with the ball whatsoever, that's a foul. It would have been different if it were shoulder to shoulder & Hojlund was simply overpowered, but when it's shoulder into back, it's a foul. VAR should have looked at that & overturned it.

Furthermore, the penalty he did award to Copenhagen was an absolute piss take. It was more of a foul on McTominay as it was more of a case of him running into McTominay's leg... AND McTominay's foot made absolutely no contact with any part of his head. Again, how VAR looked at that & thought it was a foul astounds me. Justice was served though & Onana absolved himself from one of his costly errors in our previous 2 CL games by making a fantastic save. Actually did quite well tonight made a few big saves to keep it at 0-0.

Furthermore as if the referee didn't have a bad enough game, he blew up for half-time before the clock had even hit 45 minutes. Must be a new rule were you can subtract time rather than adding it on if you feel like it.

Happy for Maguire also, gets so much **** from United fans, myself included, so it's good to see him get to be one of the heroes of the hour.

 

[Iceman]

Perfect

 

[Iceman]

This ****ing club man..

Didn't play well, again had a few chances that we really should have scored, however then again so did Copenhagen, given how both teams played a draw would have probably been fair.

We should have had a penalty when Hojlund was bundled over in the box, I don't know what rules they teach in Italian refereeing school, but when a defender bundles into the back of an attacker sending him off balance, making no contact with the ball whatsoever, that's a foul. It would have been different if it were shoulder to shoulder & Hojlund was simply overpowered, but when it's shoulder into back, it's a foul. VAR should have looked at that & overturned it.

Furthermore, the penalty he did award to Copenhagen was an absolute piss take. It was more of a foul on McTominay as it was more of a case of him running into McTominay's leg... AND McTominay's foot made absolutely no contact with any part of his head. Again, how VAR looked at that & thought it was a foul astounds me. Justice was served though & Onana absolved himself from one of his costly errors in our previous 2 CL games by making a fantastic save. Actually did quite well tonight made a few big saves to keep it at 0-0.

Furthermore as if the referee didn't have a bad enough game, he blew up for half-time before the clock had even hit 45 minutes. Must be a new rule were you can subtract time rather than adding it on if you feel like it.

Happy for Maguire also, gets so much **** from United fans, myself included, so it's good to see him get to be one of the heroes of the hour.

Funny how of all the things a referee can get wrong, blowing at less than 45 minutes is an absolutely fundamental F up even if noone cares if not much was going on.

Maguire and Onana really have to treat this as their moment to turn their seasons around. For England to have a decent chance of winning the Euros we need Maguire to be playing too.

 

[B]

Funny how of all the things a referee can get wrong, blowing at less than 45 minutes is an absolutely fundamental F up even if noone cares if not much was going on.

Maguire and Onana really have to treat this as their moment to turn their seasons around. For England to have a decent chance of winning the Euros we need Maguire to be playing too.

Make no mistake, the first half was a poor game of football all round & in all likelihood nothing would have happened in the 30 or so seconds he should have played, but you still can't blow up early because the games dull. We've all seen games & teams go from 1 end of the pitch with less than 5 passes in the space of about 10 seconds, heck we did tonight with that 1v1 Garnacho missed.

Couldn't agree more, Maguire did well overall to give him his fair shake, scored a vital goal obviously but was relatively tidy in possession, put in a few important tackles & blocks when called upon. Onana was the same, made a few important stops when asked & that penalty save was huge.. I was livid when that was awarded after seeing the replay, especially after the Hojlund non-penalty earlier in the half.