Sports The Football Discussion Thread!

[Frozocrone]

Aha I completely forgot about Iheanacho. He was so good as well, I get it that he's not quite the skillset Pep looks for (This is a guy who sold both Samuel Eto'o and Zlatan at the peak of their powers, after all) but that does seem a weird one - Arsenal are becoming known for having a soft middle anyway, so no need to shore up midfield.

I understand that if we finish outside the top four but win the Europa League, England gets an extra spot. But if we finish fourth, does a spot pass down to 5th? Can't find the information on it. Because if that were to happen, my ideal finale would be for us to get 4th and Europa League, and Liverpool to end up 6th and miss out completely.

5th in the Premier League never gets a Champion's League spot 'passed down'.

Winning the Champions League or Europa League only grants you an extra spot in the Champions League if you fail to qualify domestically (ie league position).

 

[EC]

Always good when MNUFC gets a win at home.

 

[Amore]

5th in the Premier League never gets a Champion's League spot 'passed down'.

Winning the Champions League or Europa League only grants you an extra spot in the Champions League if you fail to qualify domestically (ie league position).

Oh cool, so us finishing 4th and winning the Europa League keeps Liverpool in mediocrity where they belong. That's good. Are you 100% sure on that though, because I know if you win the F.A. Cup / League Cup and finish in a European spot, the Europa League spot gets passed down - that's how when West Ham go in for fair play (under Sam Allardici no less), as well as Arsenal winning the F.A. Cup we had 4 teams in the EL and 4 in the CL.

Always good when MNUFC gets a win at home.

MNUFC?

 

[EC]

MNUFC?

Minnesota United Football Club.

 

[Frozocrone]

Oh cool, so us finishing 4th and winning the Europa League keeps Liverpool in mediocrity where they belong. That's good. Are you 100% sure on that though, because I know if you win the F.A. Cup / League Cup and finish in a European spot, the Europa League spot gets passed down - that's how when West Ham go in for fair play (under Sam Allardici no less), as well as Arsenal winning the F.A. Cup we had 4 teams in the EL and 4 in the CL.



MNUFC?

Sure.

Only the Europa League spots get passed down and that's only if one manages to get a Champions League position.

If Man Utd get 4th and win EL, they'll have qualified twice for Champions League. They don't open up a place just for winning Europa.

 

[Amore]

Minnesota United Football Club.

Ah right, yeah guess you have to emphasise the N to avoid confusing about 99% of football fans aha

Tell me, why are you guys nicknamed "The Loons"? I find it quite curious because one of my friends refers to his group of friends as "the loons" as well.

 

[EC]

Tell me, why are you guys nicknamed "The Loons"? I find it quite curious because one of my friends refers to his group of friends as "the loons" as well.

It's the state bird of Minnesota.

 

[Amore]

It's the state bird of Minnesota.

How American, I'm still surprised you aren't forced to have U.S. flag on your strips, bigger than the club crests :P

 

[Sword Master]

PFA Team of the Year

De Gea
Walker Cahill Luiz Rose
Hazard Alli Kante Sane
Kane Lukaku​

It's Mane (Liverpool), not Sane from Man city.

 

[Frozocrone]

It's Mane (Liverpool), not Sane from Man city.

It is, for some reason I combined Sadio and Mane :s

 

[Amore]

Pogba's out of the derby,,,so presumably that means a Herrera-Carrick-Fellaini trio, which means the result entirely depends on how many central midfielders Pep reluctantly decides to play (oh how times have changed), if he does his suicidal Monaco tactics we might have a chance. Although Daley Blind is confirmed as a starter at centre-back so maybe not. There's probably too much pace in City's attack for him.

De Gea to Madrid rumours have started up again - if he does go and he doesn't break Buffon's 16 year old record, I'll be outraged.

Glad to see Joey Barton's been banned. Makes me feel extra sorry for Mamadou Sakho that he lost a chance at a European final and a home international tournament due to a fuck up by the testing people, yet Barton does all that and gets to keep playing for months before its confirmed he actually did anything. Despite his Clouseau-esque accent in that press conference in Marseille and his antics towards Ibra and Thiago Silva amusing me, overall it has to be admitted he's a violent thug and all round prick.

 

[Eruption]

R.I.P. LV's second (maybe third?) account

English managers are overrated. Doesn't really look like there's a next "Great Scot" coming along any time soon unless David Moyes stops making sexist comments and single-handedly takes Sunderland from 20th with ~£200m of debt to the Champions League. Wales' best manager is at his national team and Brendan Rodgers will presumably have his sights set on bigger things when he eventually leaves Celtic.

I can't tell which Championship team you guys are backing...what's your opinion on Derby?

Also, Carlisle finally won! Its so gutting we've gone from at one point having the longest unbeaten run in English football and challenging for the title to slumping out of the promotion places.

As my signature might suggest, I've been finding more joy from non-football sports recently...

Going back a bit with this quote, but in the wake of us beating Sunderland it really is clear just how bad Moyes has became as a manager. Apparently they have the seventh largest wage bill in the country which is just amazing because they only have two players worthy of being in the Premier League at the moment - Pickford & Defoe.

Derby are going to become the type of team I love the most in the Championship - the one who are always in the play-off places or thereabouts and never go up. Unfortunately Brighton have broken their spell of being that team.

Pogba's out of the derby,,,so presumably that means a Herrera-Carrick-Fellaini trio, which means the result entirely depends on how many central midfielders Pep reluctantly decides to play (oh how times have changed), if he does his suicidal Monaco tactics we might have a chance. Although Daley Blind is confirmed as a starter at centre-back so maybe not. There's probably too much pace in City's attack for him.

De Gea to Madrid rumours have started up again - if he does go and he doesn't break Buffon's 16 year old record, I'll be outraged.

Glad to see Joey Barton's been banned. Makes me feel extra sorry for Mamadou Sakho that he lost a chance at a European final and a home international tournament due to a **** up by the testing people, yet Barton does all that and gets to keep playing for months before its confirmed he actually did anything. Despite his Clouseau-esque accent in that press conference in Marseille and his antics towards Ibra and Thiago Silva amusing me, overall it has to be admitted he's a violent thug and all round prick.

I'm not watching the game, but it looks like a classic Mourinho vs. big team game, grind out a 0-0 and hope for a surprise winner at some point.

I was amazed that Barton considered his punishment to be harsh. I'm glad that he'll be gone from football forever now, very dis-likeable figure. I always hate how he acts sort of 'holier than thou' despite being one of the most morally poor characters around.

 

[Amore]

Going back a bit with this quote, but in the wake of us beating Sunderland it really is clear just how bad Moyes has became as a manager. Apparently they have the seventh largest wage bill in the country which is just amazing because they only have two players worthy of being in the Premier League at the moment - Pickford & Defoe.

You can't really blame Moyes for the wage bill - I doubt any of his signings have demanded the big bucks, although if they're paying all of Januzaj's wages this season that won't help. Tbh I think perhaps Wahbi Khazri, Adnan Januzaj and Lamine Koné have the potential to be worthy at this level - Januzaj has an attitude problem, Koné seems to have a bit of that too, but Khazri seems to have been given short shrift by Moyes. I find it intriguing that Jermaine Defoe had so little faith in the club that he has a relegation release clause of £0.

Derby are going to become the type of team I love the most in the Championship - the one who are always in the play-off places or thereabouts and never go up. Unfortunately Brighton have broken their spell of being that team.

Only two black managers in English football - Chris Hughton and Keith Curle (Carlisle manager). Curle is also the only currently employed manager previously capped by England, I believe (although that stat is a few months old and given the turnover in the Championship that may not be true).

I'm not watching the game, but it looks like a classic Mourinho vs. big team game, grind out a 0-0 and hope for a surprise winner at some point.

I was amazed that Barton considered his punishment to be harsh. I'm glad that he'll be gone from football forever now, very dis-likeable figure. I always hate how he acts sort of 'holier than thou' despite being one of the most morally poor characters around.

Yeah it was ok in the first half - a few bursts from Rashford (backheeling over Kolarov's head before charging towards the box and nearly evading Otamendi was a highlight), a Claudio Bravo classic that only needed to be an inch further towards Ander Herrera and we would have had a goal.

I wanted to reach out through the screen and batter Fellaini and Agüero after the red card. Fellaini had no reason to lower his head to him - if Agüero headbutted his chest and he still got sent off he would probably get off on appeal - but Agüero is an absolute little bitch pushing his head into his then hitting the floor faster than the meteor that killed the dinosaurs.

Interestingly Fellaini didn't get a second yellow card, but rather a straight red on top of his initial yellow. Any idea how this affects suspensions?

 

[Eruption]

I suppose Moyes can't be blamed for the wage bill, but he can be blamed for some of the players I saw last night. Darron Gibson looked afraid of the ball for the majority of the match and their entire backline was remarkably easy to pressure.

As for Fellaini, he will probably get a 3 match ban instead of a 1 match ban due to the straight red. Although if its considered violent enough, it may be even worse for him. I've just watched the incident there and I think he will probably get away with 3, but it was really silly of him in an important game.

 

[Amore]

Oh yeah, Moyes' transfers haven't been great. i mean, Sunderland generally don't do great transfers but the great Sam Allardici managed to do some revitalising. Darron Gibson has fallen so far from rifling them past Bayern at 20 yards...

I honestly think we broke David Moyes. Then Sociedad was always going to be a struggle, Eusebio has revitalised them but they had some horrible transfer activity and the stigma surrounding English managers means, I think, that the players probably never took to him. I remember they had a decent performance against Barca and everyone thought he was back, then it turns out Sociedad more reliably perform at Anoeta against Barca than they do against Athletic.

 

[Amore]

Oh yeah, Moyes' transfers haven't been great. i mean, Sunderland generally don't do great transfers but the great Sam Allardici managed to do some revitalising. Darron Gibson has fallen so far from rifling them past Bayern at 20 yards...

I honestly think we broke David Moyes. Then Sociedad was always going to be a struggle, Eusebio has revitalised them but they had some horrible transfer activity and the stigma surrounding English managers means, I think, that the players probably never took to him. I remember they had a decent performance against Barca and everyone thought he was back, then it turns out Sociedad more reliably perform at Anoeta against Barca than they do against Athletic.

 

[Eruption]

I think he also scored against Schalke that year. I wouldn't be surprised if he struggles in the Championship next year.

Speaking of Sociedad and English managers in Spain, Tony Adams' Granada have been unsurprisingly relegated after losing to Sociedad today. I would be worried about his ability to take them back up if I were a Granada fan.

Sunderland also confirmed to be down.

 

[Amore]

I think he also scored against Schalke that year. I wouldn't be surprised if he struggles in the Championship next year.

Speaking of Sociedad and English managers in Spain, Tony Adams' Granada have been unsurprisingly relegated after losing to Sociedad today. I would be worried about his ability to take them back up if I were a Granada fan.

Sunderland also confirmed to be down.

Lol can't have too many of these north-east clubs in the premiership, too much horse punching and the overseas broadcasters will flee :P

Adams is meant to be Granada's sporting director - so technically he won't be trying to take them back up but rather replace their entire squad (even most of the youth players are owned by 3rd parties including the Pozzo empire) and hire a new manager.

 

[Eruption]

That's strange, so even though the Pozzos sold the club they own some of the players? Either way Adams seems likely to sign Kieran Richardson and Reo-Coker so you know they're screwed anyway.

Gutted by the referee giving City a dodgy penalty against us today. I liked Sané before today as well. :( At least now I have no hope remaining for us staying up.

 

[Amore]

That's strange, so even though the Pozzos sold the club they own some of the players? Either way Adams seems likely to sign Kieran Richardson and Reo-Coker so you know they're screwed anyway.

Gutted by the referee giving City a dodgy penalty against us today. I liked Sané before today as well. :( At least now I have no hope remaining for us staying up.

Yeah, this was an eye-opening paragraph for me:

Granada's squad contains players of 17 nationalities, 13 of them on loan. They have only four Spaniards. Adams found that the economic rights of a significant number of players belong to Pozzo, not the club. Negotiations have begun over the contracts of some of them; there will be legal challenges over others. Only eight first-team players are contracted to Granada and the problem runs right through the structure. Of 106 players in the first team, second team and juvenil (under-19s), only 44 belong to Granada.

It seemed like the Pozzo project was going well, I didn't realise they'd been taken over until I saw how far down the table they were in winter - turned out some Chinese people had come in. Suddenly that really effective scouting network isn't so good when it means you don't own all your players. Source

I would like to offer my sincere commiserations to you about that game - Boro have been even more boring this season than our derby on Thursday so nobody will miss you, ironic that you finally figure out how to score on the day that pretty much confirms relegation.