The Ongoing Serie A, La Liga, All English Football, Champions League Thread - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 55

[Iceman]

Also glad Rashford is taking the pens!

 

[Dr Lee]

Rashford should be the first on the list for penalties

 

[Iceman]

I didn't realise Chelsea beat Wolves 5-2 away. Very impressive result that. Abraham got a hat-trick too.

 

[Dr Lee]

First EPL player to get a hat trick and an OG in the same match

 

[Iceman]

First EPL player to get a hat trick and an OG in the same match

Impressive stat haha.

 

[B]

That was a real laboured win today, we weren't good but at the same time we weren't bad, it was a nothing performance & if Leicester had been a bit braver they probably could have nicked a point, which from the way they played seemed their goal anyway IMO.

I don't really have anything to say other than our lack of depth is truly astounding for a team & club that alledgedly has aspirations to get back to the top.. also OGS's selection policy is starting to irritate me. If you're going to try & force academy players into the first team to speed up their development, then at least do it with the ones than excelled at U23/U18 level ie get Greenwood & Gomes in that lineup.

 

[Zantera]

I think some of you guys really jinxed Abraham cause after the "meh" start he's on route to win the golden boot

 

[Iceman]

Watford score late on to get a point against Arsenal. Finishes 2-2.

 

[BlackFox]

How long are Arsenal going to try and play it out the back from a goal kick before they realize they arent very good at it, hilarious goal conceded ala Bulgaria and end up drawing 2-2 with Watford, brilliant stuff.

Great performance by Norwich against City, handed Liverpool the title but hey watching City suffer is a rare thing these days so enjoy it for what it is, while United decide to play the OAP's and grind out a much needed win but I would rather watch them on teletext these days, dire stuff and Ole is saying one thing and doing another with the youth, a touch fraudulent you would have to admit.

Good weekend of footy though to be fair.

 

[B]

Such a dumb goal for Arsenal to concede & let Watford back into it, perhaps I'm wrong, but rule one of playing out from the back from a goal kick should be never play it into the box. Most teams that try that typically send the CB's to closer to the corner flags & bring 1, maybe even 2 CM's to the edge of the box to avoid the very problem that Arsenal created for themselves.

If it still isn't on, even the likes of Barcelona wouldn't try to force it, they'd play a quick chipped pass over the forwards into one of the holes of midfield.

Really, really daft, Emery should be fuming with that.

 

[BlackFox]

Such a dumb goal for Arsenal to concede & let Watford back into it, perhaps I'm wrong, but rule one of playing out from the back from a goal kick should be never play it into the box. Most teams that try that typically send the CB's to closer to the corner flags & bring 1, maybe even 2 CM's to the edge of the box to avoid the very problem that Arsenal created for themselves.

If it still isn't on, even the likes of Barcelona wouldn't try to force it, they'd play a quick chipped pass over the forwards into one of the holes of midfield.

Really, really daft, Emery should be fuming with that.

I think the problem is he is telling them to do it, same with all theses other teams, I'm not even sure City and Barca do it to be honest, why do Arsenal think they are the best passing team around? they got away with it just a couple of times at Liverpool, it was always going to end this way with them, ah well we need them to drop points so I'll will activity encourage them to carry on with that practice. Should have wrapped that game up long before anyway.

 

[Zantera]

Arsenal were terrible, I read Watford had something like 31 shots today. WATFORD. The team that was 20th before this game. In fact if you look at chances for all Arsenal games this season so far, the opponents have created more chances against them in all games and that includes Newcastle and Burnley.

Would not be surprised if Emery gets an early sack because despite him being there for almost 1 ½ year there's still no signs or indication of what kind of football he stands for. I've watched a lot of Arsenal games and I swear every game the tactic is "let's adapt to our opponents and wing it".

 

[DeadPresident]

To be fair this was always on the cards since their defensive attributes remained the same. No new centerbacks added and no defensive midfielders added.

When they signed Pepe we all talked about how their attack was going to be dominant but their defense would let them down, and we’ve seen that come to pass against Watford. Could be a long season for them though, yeah.

 

[Iceman]

Italian TV station bans pundit Luciano Passirani for racist Romelu Lukaku comment

 

[DeadPresident]

It’s a start, but I have some questions...

How the **** is an 80 year old still allowed to be a pundit? On what planet, admittedly me being an ageist, is an 80 year old still a commercial pundit and is is opinion still relevant?

And in half-heartedly defending it the “he was trying to compliment Lukaku but it ended up being racist blah blah” excuse was used again...The Italians in football need to get their ****ing act together, it’s embarrassing.

 

[Zantera]

To be fair this was always on the cards since their defensive attributes remained the same. No new centerbacks added and no defensive midfielders added.

When they signed Pepe we all talked about how their attack was going to be dominant but their defense would let them down, and we’ve seen that come to pass against Watford. Could be a long season for them though, yeah.

I don't think Arsenal's defense or defensive midfield on paper is good enough for a challenge against the big boys but this really is bad tactical decisions from the manager though. Apparently Arsenal's topping the amazing table of "most chances against" out of any teams in the 5 biggest leagues in Europe so far. Even more chances against them than many of the bottom/relegation teams. Say what you want but that's terrible. And the players they have aren't that bad.

Even as a Man United fan it angers me because Arsenal are suffering from similar problems we've suffered from (and still do to some extent) which is extreme lack-of-identity syndrome. You can watch teams like Burnley or Southampton and they have a clear picture of how they want to play football and then you watch Emery and his only tactic seems to be "lets adapt to our opponents and wing it". You're up 2-0 at halftime against the last team in the league, you go out with a more defensive mindset and when 1-2 comes, instead of pushing for a goal you substitute all your attacking power and hope to defend and invite the pressure. This following the previous day where Lampard sent his Chelsea out and they scored 5 away against Wolves - arguably a better team than Watford.

In terms of "Is Luiz-Sokratis good enough CBs to challenge for the top?" or "is Xhaka gonna be good enough?" the answers are gonna be no but we're not expecting them to be either. On paper this Arsenal team definitely should be in fight for third/fourth and the fact that 1 ½ year into Emery-Arsenal they still don't have a gameplan, a solid first 11 or solid formation, it says it all. The defense is bad, the offense is bad and the midfield is basically non-existent. As a Man United fan I feel sorry for Arsenal and that's saying something considering the amount of problems we have.

 

[B]

De Gea signs new long-term contract with Manchester United

New deal until June 2023 with an option for a further year at approx £250k per week, no problem with De Gea being our highest earner at the club (while Sanchez is on loan anyway), one of the few that has earned his wage in recent years.

Now we've got our CB & GK secured, we need to bring in another solid, consistent central midfielder in the January or summer transfer window to give us a solid central foundation & core to hopefully build off.

 

[Dr Lee]

i agree... he's shown that he deserves a higher wage. Hopefully now he's resolved the contract thing, his head will come back.

We're slowly getting things together... like B said, we need a good CM... along with some depth to the team... in January or the summer

 

[DeadPresident]

Dortmund v Barcelona this evening, something tells me with how lethargic Barcelona have been lately Dortmund are going to pull off a bit of an upset.

 

[Iceman]

West Ham weren’t impressive against Villa with 10
men. They need to do better than that.

 

[BlackFox]

Should have watched Red Bull v Genk it appears, Dortmund v Barca bit of a let down so far.

 

[Dr Lee]

Liverpool losing to Napoli

 

[BlackFox]

Not a great start for the English teams but still early days.

 

[Iceman]

Yeah, bad start with both Liverpool (2-0) and Spurs losing.

 

[DeadPresident]

Chelsea with their own penalty drama as Barkley misses one that could've got them a point against Valencia.

I don't generally wish for other teams to do badly but I'm glad some other PL sides are hitting speed bumps so the vultures at the rags and Sky will have some other 'crises' to fabricate **** about instead of United.