Sports The Football Discussion Thread!

[Sword Master]

Good results for Liverpool, 2 points from our closest rivals, hoping we don't mess up with Watford today, 3rd sounds achievable, but I wouldn't mind 4th with United in 6th.

Shame for Swansea being denied 2 points by the ref, not the first time it happened this season, Manchester Utd are just a really lucky club.
YNWA!
Edit: wrong team

 

[Eruption]

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



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.

That is a remarkable situation they find themselves in, I suppose after reading that they would be relieved to get Reo-Coker and Richardson just to have some players tied down. Another glaring example of why multiple ownership of different clubs shouldn't be allowed, also a damning indictment of third-party ownership.

We have played some shockingly bad football this year and hopefully we're back up soon and play some genuine stuff. I think we will be able to retain a solid core for our Championship efforts.

Good results for Liverpool, 2 points from our closest rivals, hoping we don't mess up with Watford today, 3rd sounds achievable, but I wouldn't mind 4th with United in 6th.

Shame for Middleborough being denied 2 points by the ref, not the first time it happened this season, Manchester Utd are just a really lucky club.
YNWA!

It's a brilliant race for fourth at the moment, I think United might struggle due to their extra Europa League matches and the difficulty of their upcoming opponents. Arsenal are basically out of the race already, so it looks pretty good for Liverpool.

 

[Amore]

Shame for Middleborough being denied 2 points by the ref, not the first time it happened this season, Manchester Utd are just a really lucky club.
YNWA!

Manchester City*

That is a remarkable situation they find themselves in, I suppose after reading that they would be relieved to get Reo-Coker and Richardson just to have some players tied down. Another glaring example of why multiple ownership of different clubs shouldn't be allowed, also a damning indictment of third-party ownership.

To me it seems more an indictment of an incredibly poorly managed buyout. Pozzo probably couldn't believe their luck - not only do they get paid for the club, but they still get all the value of the players without paying their wages. At least in this case the players are owned by a footballing enterprise rather t than an organisation solely dedicated to extracting maximum value like in the case of the Tevez / Mascherano transfer.

I think United must be one of the unluckiest clubs in the league right now - we have 6 defenders injured, and 5 of them are centre-backs. Finished the last game with Darmian and Blind at CB. flanked by Valencia and Young (who unlike Valencia, will never be a top level full back). Also, in spite of what people might think after Rashford's winning a penalty on Sunday, I remember reading a month or so back that we'd had the least penalties of the current top 6, or top 10 or something since SAF retired.

Really pisses me off how the league doesn't give more help to teams playing the Europa League - we've already got football on all 7 days of the week, at least try to help out the "product" by giving the clubs a level playing field in Europe (Spain and France, for example, give more flexibility with fixtures for clubs in both the CL and EL). The league needs us to win the Europa League to give our coefficient a boost, they just don't seem willing to acknowledge it.

 

[Sword Master]

Manchester City*

Fixed {:3}

 

[Amore]

I really wished it had been true.

See Real Madrid scored yet another late goal, this time from Marcelo. They're pretty much what we aspire to be right now - the late goals make you automatically think of "Fergie Time", and current Manchester United's transfer policy seems quite like what Florentino Perez would do.

Also - Marcelo is like the dark horse of world class left-backs. I remember when Pep started playing David Alaba in all 10 non-goalkeeper positions in about 30 minutes and everyone was raving about it, I guess because Madrid had less compelling managers like Ancelotti and Benitez we were all missing that Marcelo is in some ways a world class left back who would also be a worthy backup to Ronaldo as an inside forward.

 

[Amore]

I really wished it had been true.

See Real Madrid scored yet another late goal, this time from Marcelo. They're pretty much what we aspire to be right now - the late goals make you automatically think of "Fergie Time", and current Manchester United's transfer policy seems quite like what Florentino Perez would do.

Also - Marcelo is like the dark horse of world class left-backs. I remember when Pep started playing David Alaba in all 10 non-goalkeeper positions in about 30 minutes and everyone was raving about it, I guess because Madrid had less compelling managers like Ancelotti and Benitez we were all missing that Marcelo is in some ways a world class left back who would also be a worthy backup to Ronaldo as an inside forward.

 

[Eruption]

I saw Chris Smalling made good use of his time out injured by inviting a fan on twitter to share his executive box with him. So at least your centre back injury crisis isn't all bad.

It is a shame that the FA doesn't do more to help our teams in Europe, but I suppose there is already a ridiculous amount of rescheduling done to accommodate Europe and TV games.

Interesting to see that Kyle Walker might be on his way out of Tottenham, bit of a shame as they're building a team that could stick together for a good few years.

 

[Sword Master]

Watford 0-1 Liverpool
Goal of the season by Can, and another step towards UCL qualification, and keeping United where they belong.

 

[Eruption]

Unbelievable goal, that might just earn him the upper hand in his contract negotiations.

Not too sure about goal of the season though, still had those scorpion kicks from Giroud and Mkhitaryan. Carroll's bicycle kick might be up there too.

 

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Interesting to see that Kyle Walker might be on his way out of Tottenham, bit of a shame as they're building a team that could stick together for a good few years.

Oh really, who's after him?

Watford 0-1 Liverpool
Goal of the season by Can, and another step towards UCL qualification, and keeping United where they belong.

Please, if anything's keeping us out of the Champions League its injuries. You've got to get the feeling Liverpool will be a lot lower down next year - they can't get the top, top players to come as they either want to go to London instead (like Sanchez) because its London, or one of the Manchester clubs will outspend them. Klopp's methods mean they'll have an injury crisis on par with ours this year (and last year actually, when Van Gaal ended up playing all the youngsters).

Unbelievable goal, that might just earn him the upper hand in his contract negotiations.

Not too sure about goal of the season though, still had those scorpion kicks from Giroud and Mkhitaryan. Carroll's bicycle kick might be up there too.

Having not seen Can's goal, I have to vote for Andy Carroll goal of the season. Mkhitaryan's goal was amazing, Giroud copied him, but for someone the size of Andy Carroll to pull off a bicycle kick is effort enough just in terms of the form, then actually executing it in a game, and scoring, is really something special.

 

[Eruption]

Well apparently Walker has fell out with Pochettino, so that's why he might be on the way out. The papers reckon Man City will be in for him, but I feel like Pep might want to avoid paying extravagant amounts for another English defender.

You can see Can's goal here if you haven't already - https://my.mixtape.moe/hclyrg.mp4

I liked this in the reddit comments, perfect advertising on NBC.

 

[Amore]

Ahahaha

It's Turkish engineering with German training technically, but that's really funny.

It'd be a shame if Walker leaves Spurs, their transfer policy is still quite hit and miss so its not guaranteed Trippier would have genuine competition. No way 1 full back can play the majority of games in such an intense style.

Apparently Shaw is out until next season, gutted for him it seemed like he was fit at the perfect time to earn the manager's trust as well. Getting a bit pissed at Mourinho's attitude surrounding injuries - Klopp saying Sturridge needed to toughen up is one thing, but he's got players playing through broken toes for him and still he criticises them for not recovering fast enough. Seriously worried about United's chances now. Hoping Axel Tuanzebe turns out to be our Ferdinand replacement because a Valencia-Darmian-Blind-Young back four playing all our games for the rest of the season will embolden all our opponents.

 

[Eruption]

All I know about Tuanzebe is I don't like him because he just walked out on my Fulham team on Football Manager. United survived the other year when they had to play McNair, Borthwick-Jackson and Blackett, I'm sure they can survive this.

I was going to say 'Can't Fosu-Mensah play centre back?', but then apparently even he is injured. Looks like Tuanzebe or Ro-Shaun Williams will have to plug the gap.

 

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All I know about Tuanzebe is I don't like him because he just walked out on my Fulham team on Football Manager. United survived the other year when they had to play McNair, Borthwick-Jackson and Blackett, I'm sure they can survive this.

I was going to say 'Can't Fosu-Mensah play centre back?', but then apparently even he is injured. Looks like Tuanzebe or Ro-Shaun Williams will have to plug the gap.

Yeah but that wasn't at the business end of the season was it?

I know, i was so excited to see Fosu-Mensah get a run in the team then it turned out he got injured as the whistle blew in the derby :(

Apparently Bailly, Jones and Smalling are all back in training, so presumably Bailly will end up playing alongside both of them in the next game - one will start, only to get injured and be replaced by the other.

 

[Frozocrone]

Totti retiring at end of season.

'tis sad

 

[Eruption]

Yeah but that wasn't at the business end of the season was it?

I know, i was so excited to see Fosu-Mensah get a run in the team then it turned out he got injured as the whistle blew in the derby :(

Apparently Bailly, Jones and Smalling are all back in training, so presumably Bailly will end up playing alongside both of them in the next game - one will start, only to get injured and be replaced by the other.

Sounds like the crisis is over for now then. It's a shame Jones can't keep fit, it seemed like he was actually playing well this season.

Totti retiring at end of season.

'tis sad

An end of an era.

It seems odd that the club's director announced it rather than Totti himself, almost gives off the impression that Totti didn't want to retire.

 

[Amore]

Well, I guess FM17 is the time to finally manage Roma. I've always put it off due to the sheer paucity of Italians in the squad of the two capital clubs, but can't resist attempting to get a 20-goal season out of a guy who's closer to my football-hating dad's age than my own.

Really happy about our result tonight - a 1-0 away leg means not only do we have an away goal but Celta have to attack us, and Mourinho specialises in counter-attacking (see: Madrid 2011-12 aka that finest counter-attacking team to ever not be United '07-'09). Loved the sheer cojones of Rashford doing what Neymar did in the 2013 Confederations Cup and pinging the ball straight at the goalkeeper, knowing he'd move out of the way instinctively (even if Celta's GK is no Buffon) as well.

I believe this is the first thing Monchi has done? Most likely they would have announced it a while ago but chose to save it in order to give the impression he's in charge before he actually does anything of note. Plus let's be honest, Roma are unique in top divisions in that Totti, like Wenger, is the only person who decides when he retires. The guy's had 1 start this season yet still contributed valiantly, no doubt he sees this as a good way to bow out (he's at Roma after all, he doesn't need to pursue another title in order to be a success, they've never been successful so his helping them stay at the top end whilst most traditional powers fall away is still admirable).

 

[Sword Master]

West Ham 1-0 Spurs
Spurs title ambitions have been hammered

 

[Sword Master]

West Ham 1-0 Spurs
Spurs title ambitions have been hammered

 

[Amore]

Such a Spurs thing to happen...I can see they're another season of this away from turning into a team that everyone agrees are likeable enough, "play football the right way"^TM, but never win anything. I guess I can only hope that when this team does get picked apart by the sharks, United are in for Kane, Dier and Alderweireld.