Football (Soccer)

[XtremelyBaneful]

there was a work event today and I won a mini speaker but traded it for a soccer ball lol

 

[Zantera]

Amorim to Man Utd done and dusted!

United appoint Amorim as head coach

It's official! Read the club statement here...

www.manutd.com

Couldn't be happier really. Out of the options linked with us I felt his name was the most exciting by far.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[HammerDown]

Amorim is really good and he did an incredible job with Sporting. With the right transfers backing him up I could easily see him leading United to the very top of the PL once again. He’s that good. Mark my words, those PL teams that passed on him for one reason or the other will be regretting that decision for years to come. MU fans should be happy.

MU squad still needs a lot of work, reinforcements and some players need to go but if they play their cards right they’ll steadily rise to the top moving forward.

 

[BlackFox]

Issak puts Newcastle 1-0 up against Arsenal early on in the lunchtime game.

 

[BlackFox]

Well some big results today in the Prem.

Arsenal and City lose and Liverpool win to take back top spot for now.

Forest win again and are 3rd in the table!!

Southampton win a game of football 1-0 against Everton!

Crazy day.

 

[Iceman]

Well some big results today in the Prem.

Arsenal and City lose and Liverpool win to take back top spot for now.

Forest win again and are 3rd in the table!!

Southampton win a game of football 1-0 against Everton!

Crazy day.

I’m very happy with that unexpected Newcastle win after our recent form. Great day for Liverpool with those results. If City’s injury issues are as severe as they’re saying maybe Liverpool can build a cushion in this period. Arsenal not looking like they will take full advantage of slip ups.

Haha, had no idea Forest were even in shooting distance. 19 points already makes staying up chances look very good.

 

[Zantera]

Some interesting results honestly. Nottingham being over Arsenal is kinda funny. Arsenal could be out of the top4 tomorrow if Villa gets a result against Spurs or Chelsea gets a result against Man Utd. Happy that City lost points though.

 

[PepS]

That's the title push over for us for another season, I feel. We're in a top 4 race now. We've looked a shadow of the trajectory we were on the past two season and I'm wondering if we've missed our window of opportunity. City and Liverpool are there, Chelsea are coming, Villa are coming, United will be coming sooner, or later and then you have the likes of Newcastle, Spurs and Brighton in there too. Hopefully, we go strong in the cups rather than putting all our egg's in the League basket and coming up short like we have the last few seasons. We have to go and try and win something, otherwise we are just going to labelled a Pochettino's Spurs, but having spent more money along with the bottle jobs tag.

 

[Zantera]

That's the title push over for us for another season, I feel. We're in a top 4 race now. We've looked a shadow of the trajectory we were on the past two season and I'm wondering if we've missed our window of opportunity. City and Liverpool are there, Chelsea are coming, Villa are coming, United will be coming sooner, or later and then you have the likes of Newcastle, Spurs and Brighton in there too. Hopefully, we go strong in the cups rather than putting all our egg's in the League basket and coming up short like we have the last few seasons. We have to go and try and win something, otherwise we are just going to labelled a Pochettino's Spurs, but having spent more money along with the bottle jobs tag.

Odegaard being out has really impacted how you guys look, but I also think Arteta deserves some criticism for that. Between Vieira and Smith-Rowe you should have had a backup for Odegaard, someone who could fill the same role, someone who would have gotten playtime (and been rotated) who could step in and make a difference in a time like this. We've talked about it before but Arteta has been very bad at rotating and we saw last season how it was usually the same XI that he trusted week in and week out. That means when you get an injury to a Saka or an Odegaard, the replacements coming in feel very cold instead of feeling like decent options.

City also lost yesterday though and Liverpool is in the weird position of rubbing their hands. City without Rodri and De Bruyne definitely feel beatable but you also have Arsenal feeling weaker than the last 2 seasons and it's weird to see Nottingham above Arsenal in the table. Arsenal have a tough week coming with Inter away mid-week and Chelsea away next weekend. If Arsenal lose to Chelsea next weekend (wouldn't be THAT crazy) Arsenal could suddenly be down to 6th or 7th in the table. Heck if Villa get a result against Spurs today and/or Chelsea get a result against Man Utd, Arsenal are out of the top4 for now. Didn't see that coming.

 

[BlackFox]

Haaland seems to be an all or nothing player, when things are going great he bangs them in but when City need a goal he doesnt have the impact alone to change a game, more an Andy Cole than a Ronaldo/Messi type.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[blue scholar]

This is the type of player Arsenal needs on the wing

 

[blue scholar]

I’m very happy with that unexpected Newcastle win after our recent form. Great day for Liverpool with those results. If City’s injury issues are as severe as they’re saying maybe Liverpool can build a cushion in this period. Arsenal not looking like they will take full advantage of slip ups.

Haha, had no idea Forest were even in shooting distance. 19 points already makes staying up chances look very good.

Yeah, no excuses for Arteta now. He has been thoroughly outclassed by Eddie Howe and Andoni Iraola.

It was fascinating (and painful) to watch Newcastle's execution of their game plan and how they played with pure confidence.

 

[Iceman]

Villa take the lead against Spurs. They’ve made an impressive start, coping well with the demands of CL (top of the league) and PL (third if they see this out).

 

[BlackFox]

Spurs now 3-1 up and seem to have the points in the bag.

 

[BlackFox]

Spurs run out 4-1 winners in the end, great result for them.

 

[BlackFox]

United v Chelsea up next and its hard to know what to expect from this game now. Chelsea will probably fancy themselves being in better form, United though with a new manager on the way will at least have little pressure or expectation on them so that might help a bit.

 

[Zantera]

1-1 draw in the end. Not the worst result but was really hoping for a win. Chelsea will be one of our main competitors this season and we could have used 3p on them.

 

[BlackFox]

Yeah not surprised it ended in a draw given the circumstances. No real point going over the performance given the amount of change taking place and the fact the next managers hasnt even taken over yet. It was probably marginally better than what ETH would have done but not much in it.

 

[Iceman]

Spurs run out 4-1 winners in the end, great result for them.

Wow, I had to stop watching before all those Spurs goals. Postecoglu as Spursy as ever then and a reality check for Villa.

 

[B]

Probably a fair result, poor game overall, broken up too often by the referee, most of the time unnecessarily. Thought the Martinez foul on Palmer being given as a yellow was the right decision, I think a straight red would probably have been harsh, I know he catches him at knee height but it's more of a grazing connection than one that tried to go right through Palmer. I could completely understand though if the referee had given a red in this day & age, particularly after VAR had a look, this sort of thing doesn't tend to get judged that consistently when VAR gets involved.

Referee honestly had a nightmare today. With some decisions on both sides, Ugarte probably should have saw red for persistent fouling, the man is a walking foul. I'm pretty sure RvN subbed him late on if I'm not mistaken & I'm honestly surprised he didn't do it sooner because he was simply asking for a second yellow. Wasn't a good performance from him at all, the volume of fouls & gave away the ball a few times cheaply.

Overall though, was a fairly nothing poor game, looked like both sides were content with a draw based on how we've been this season so far & how they've been, I think we probably should feel the happier.

 

[Zantera]

Yeah these are the worst kinds of 'Super Sunday'-games. Chelsea looked happy to take the point away at Old Trafford - a stadium they had not won at since 2013 (unless the commenters were wrong in my game). And also a point away to a team with similar aspirations as yourself (top4/CL spots) isn't the worst thing. For Man Utd it felt more like just not wanting to get embarrassed like against Liverpool or Spurs. Keep the game fairly close and don't risk too much by attacking with too many players.

In the end it was a pretty boring game with only a few glimpses of good football. Honestly feel we should have tried harder to go for the 3 points. In the long run it's this bad start of the season that will be our main roadblock to making a top4 finish or not. Imagine the best thing happens with Amorim coming in and actually being a success but we miss out on CL football because we didn't do more in the first 10 games of the season.

 

[PepS]

Odegaard being out has really impacted how you guys look, but I also think Arteta deserves some criticism for that. Between Vieira and Smith-Rowe you should have had a backup for Odegaard, someone who could fill the same role, someone who would have gotten playtime (and been rotated) who could step in and make a difference in a time like this. We've talked about it before but Arteta has been very bad at rotating and we saw last season how it was usually the same XI that he trusted week in and week out. That means when you get an injury to a Saka or an Odegaard, the replacements coming in feel very cold instead of feeling like decent options.

City also lost yesterday though and Liverpool is in the weird position of rubbing their hands. City without Rodri and De Bruyne definitely feel beatable but you also have Arsenal feeling weaker than the last 2 seasons and it's weird to see Nottingham above Arsenal in the table. Arsenal have a tough week coming with Inter away mid-week and Chelsea away next weekend. If Arsenal lose to Chelsea next weekend (wouldn't be THAT crazy) Arsenal could suddenly be down to 6th or 7th in the table. Heck if Villa get a result against Spurs today and/or Chelsea get a result against Man Utd, Arsenal are out of the top4 for now. Didn't see that coming.

Agreed. We've made the same mistake that we made when we had Fabregas, of building the team primarily around 1, or 2 players. And then when we lose them, we are unable to function adequately. Arteta is also starting to show some of the same stubbornness with his lack of rotation and negative tactics as he was in his first few years. I thought he was starting to grow out of that, but they're starting to creep back in again.

 

[PepS]

Yeah, no excuses for Arteta now. He has been thoroughly outclassed by Eddie Howe and Andoni Iraola.

It was fascinating (and painful) to watch Newcastle's execution of their game plan and how they played with pure confidence.

Teams have worked us out now and without the likes of Odegaard and Saka, we look completely lost. Arteta also looked like he was lost on the touchline on Saturday and out of ideas.