The 2023-2024 Football Thread

[laptech]

Old news...?

Man Utd ready to smash transfer record to sign Joao Neves - report

www.fotmob.com

vs

I'm not holding out much hope...

That United story is not going to happen unless they sell at least 7-8 players because not only would they fail the leagues FFP but also UEFA's as well. It has already been reported that if United was to get into Europe for the 2024-25 season they would be in foul of UEFA's new FFP rules because their current wage bill and transfers are way to high.

This is why I am very cautious about the football media linking players to United without them stating the obvious which the author of the article linked to failed to mention which is United need to reduce their costs and expenditure because they are very close to breaking FFP which is why you will see articles of Ratcliffe going on about the need to reduce United's wage bill and other costs (reducing the number of staff at the club).

 

[Lord Blackadder]

A testament to Arsenal is having Roy Keane saying Haaland looked like a league 2 player lol. That was how ineffective he was.

Roy Keane is trolling the entire world with his pundit persona. He’s clearly having a ball with it, and fair play to him for landing the gig, but I wouldn’t necessarily take anything he says seriously. He’s comic relief.

Carragher and Neville sometimes veer into the absurd, and have their little repartee going, but you at least get the sense they are attempting to be earnest more often than not.

 

[laptech]

Roy Keane is trolling the entire world with his pundit persona. He’s clearly having a ball with it, and fair play to him for landing the gig, but I wouldn’t necessarily take anything he says seriously. He’s comic relief.

Carragher and Neville sometimes veer into the absurd, and have their little repartee going, but you at least get the sense they are attempting to be earnest more often than not.

Clearly their employers are allowing them to get away with it then. The employer obviously do not care if their pundits are trolling or siding on the absurd.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A testament to Arsenal is having Roy Keane saying Haaland looked like a league 2 player lol. That was how ineffective he was.

Roy Keane is trolling the entire world with his pundit persona. He’s clearly having a ball with it, and fair play to him for landing the gig, but I wouldn’t necessarily take anything he says seriously. He’s comic relief.

Carragher and Neville sometimes veer into the absurd, and have their little repartee going, but you at least get the sense they are attempting to be earnest more often than not.

Roy Keane's trolling aside, the fact remains that Arsenal (and Arteta) effectively neutralised the potential threat offered by Haaland,and that was an impressive achievement.

 

[Don Quixote]

Roy Keane's trolling aside, the fact remains that Arsenal (and Arteta) effectively neutralised the potential threat offered by Haaland,and that was an impressive achievement.

He's doing his impression of Roy Kent...

 

[Apple fanboy]

Clearly their employers are allowing them to get away with it then. The employer obviously do not care if their pundits are trolling or siding on the absurd.

Allowing them? Probably encouraging them. Remember this will increase media engagement so works for them!

No such thing as bad publicity anymore with add revenue and all that.

 

[Silencio]

All pundits are now trolls to at least some degree. All about provoking outrage and engagement, and it certainly works. I personally try to tune it out as much as possible.

Between ETH's overly rigorous training regimen and United' incompetent medical staff, the amount of injuries is getting crazy. They have thoroughly mismanaged Lisandro's fitness this season.

At least Varane is fit. Lindelöf is no real loss, though.

 

[daneoni]

All pundits are now trolls to at least some degree. All about provoking outrage and engagement, and it certainly works. I personally try to tune it out as much as possible.

Between ETH's overly rigorous training regimen and United' incompetent medical staff, the amount of injuries is getting crazy. They have thoroughly mismanaged Lisandro's fitness this season.

At least Varane is fit. Lindelöf is no real loss, though.

He should be careful with the headers.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I prefer to tune out the trolls.

Meanwhile, on 90 minutes, Arsenal lead Luton by two goals to nil, while Manchester City - playing Villa - are (currently) ahead at half time by two goals to one.

 

[Alphazoid]

Would've liked more goals but 3pts, 2 goals, clean sheet with decent rotation means i'm happy.

ESR played really well and nice to see some levels maintained. Despite the rotation.

Meanwhile, Villa currently being dismantled by City. Wonder if they'd have taken a bore draw at the start of the evening...👀

 

[laptech]

lol at the media over Foden. He has a really really good game, a rare occurrence for him (he has good games but not as good as that one) and suddenly the media are calling him one of the worlds best and that Southgate needs to play him in that position at the Euros and if he does then England are a sure fire win for the Euros. The football media get worse and worse by the day.

 

[daneoni]

Some of them even suggesting he's superseded KDB, who now needs to remain benched.

You can't make it up.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

All pundits are now trolls to at least some degree. All about provoking outrage and engagement, and it certainly works. I personally try to tune it out as much as possible.

We need an independent refereeing body for punditry, with a sin bin system. Say something stupid? You sit out next week. 🤣

 

[Lioness~]

Mixed football thoughts:

- Rubiales, the not so gentlemanly guy, can get 2,5 years prison for the "infamous kiss". Plus that he recently was arrested for money laundry and corruption. He sure goes down!

- Emma Hayes (the leaving coach in Chelsea) have issues, calling Jonas Eideval (Arsenal's Coach) aggressive while she was attacking and pushed him. Hm, sorry US that you've hired her, she probably have the best behind her.

- Sonia Bompastor will be taking over Chelsea, she will be great for them. She've trained Olympique Lyonnais well and have good results now in Champions League. In semi now against PSG. While Chelsea will play Barcelona and loose of course.
For being so new as a trainer, but was a great player, it seems like Bompastor made a fast and great transition into leadership. Looking forward to see what she will do. 1st now with Lyon in UWCL and later with Chelsea.

- Sweden playing England on Wembley 5th - exciting match, no predictions, but our team looks good.
With Barca located Rolfö and more players that returned after injuries we are 💪🏼⚽️
May the best team win.

 

[laptech]

.....

- Sweden playing England on Wembley 5th - exciting match, no predictions, but our team looks good.
With Barca located Rolfö and more players that returned after injuries we are 💪🏼⚽️
May the best team win.

England for the win 😇😇😂😂

 

[laptech]

Just read BBC news article about why Pep has dropped Haaland for the Villa game. He said it's to give him a rest because he has played a lot of games. Just shows that Keane was right to call out Haalands performance during the Arsenal game then because if he is knackered and tired from too many games he should not have been playing.

 

[Silencio]

US Soccer has a history of making bad hiring decisions when it comes to head coaches. Hayes sure seemed like a slam dunk not so long ago, but now it looks like she'll fit right in with the standard pattern.

 

[Silencio]

I don't even know where to begin with that match at Stamford Bridge tonight. Soft pens, too much stoppage time, but poor tactics and players not having the requisite fortitude to see the match through to the end.

So much of this is not ETH's fault, but so much of it is. I reckon they get smashed by pool this weekend and then it's vaarwel.

 

[pachyderm]

I don't even know where to begin with that match at Stamford Bridge tonight. Soft pens, too much stoppage time, but poor tactics and players not having the requisite fortitude to see the match through to the end.

So much of this is not ETH's fault, but so much of it is. I reckon they get smashed by pool this weekend and then it's vaarwel.

This.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I don't even know where to begin with that match at Stamford Bridge tonight. Soft pens, too much stoppage time, but poor tactics and players not having the requisite fortitude to see the match through to the end.

So much of this is not ETH's fault, but so much of it is. I reckon they get smashed by pool this weekend and then it's vaarwel.

This.

Soft penalties, perhaps, but the fourth (Chelsea) goal?

This is far more than simply "too much stoppage time."

I used to detest the proverbial "Fergie Time" whereby Manchester United invariably snatched a preternaturally - and insanely - fortuitous goal sometime around the 98th minute which would enable them to claim the game; in this instance, this is a classic example of the biter bitten.

However, and nevertheless, having said (written?) that, conceding a fourth goal at that time, and in such circumstances, was both ridiculous and completely careless.

 

[laptech]

I don't even know where to begin with that match at Stamford Bridge tonight. Soft pens, too much stoppage time, but poor tactics and players not having the requisite fortitude to see the match through to the end.

So much of this is not ETH's fault, but so much of it is. I reckon they get smashed by pool this weekend and then it's vaarwel.

Listening to the game and the last few mins of the match I was thinking to myself that you must have been going mad at the TV/radio as to what was transpiring on the pitch. The ref was atrocious, giving Chelsea far too many opportunities to get in to a goal scoring opportunity or trying to find ways to get United players sent off due to the amount of soft foul decisions going against United.

When Chelsea got the penalty to make it 3-3 and with dying min of the game left, everyone knows what you do in that position, you defend, you hold the ball up and take the draw BUT United did not do that, they immediately came out on the attack, got caught and Chelsea got an easy goal to make it 4-3. That is 100% down to the manager who in my opinion has told the players they need to win every game to stand any chance of getting the 4th champions league spot. No team would take such a risk if they were told not too. The evidence is there in plain sight from past years from multiple teams, nothing to play for, take the draw, need to get to a certain position in the league, take the chance and go for the win and that is exactly what United did and they got hurt for doing so.

As someone pointed out in a phone in, 3 of Chelsea's goal's were soft goal's, 2 penalties and a deflection whereas United's goals were well taken goals. The ref helped Chelsea a lot with the penalties and awarding them the fouls so they could get into good positions to score. That is why there is a lot of bad feeling from United fans because they felt their team had worked very hard for the win and the only reason why Chelsea won was because the ref helped them to do so and looking at how the ref awarded the penalties and the number of fouls because without the ref's help there is no way Chelsea was going to win that game.

 

[Moncler]

Chelsea-MU game yesterday was fiery, I advise you to watch at least highlights

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I don't even know where to begin with that match at Stamford Bridge tonight. Soft pens, too much stoppage time, but poor tactics and players not having the requisite fortitude to see the match through to the end.

So much of this is not ETH's fault, but so much of it is. I reckon they get smashed by pool this weekend and then it's vaarwel.

The PK was a sloppy tackle/stumble by Dalot(?) but the Chelsea player obviously milked it - he didn’t need to go down from what I saw. One of those ones that could go either way but defenders usually get the short end of the stick in such circumstances.

Chelsea’s winner was also lucky with the big deflection, but at the same time Man Utd should never have allowed that counterattack to develop in the first place.

With games being longer these days, those last five to ten minutes or so have become pure chaos….one assumes that teams will adapt better to late game management as time passes. ‘90 minutes’ is kind of meaningless now.

 

[SteveManila1960]

I just have this feeling that when Spurs face Arsenal again it will not be a cagey affair. Its going to be Ange ball win or bust! I am a long suffering Spurs supporter but in a masochistic way I kind of like it. For sure it is rarely boring!

Gung Ho the Lily Whites

 

[SteveManila1960]

The worst thing that could happen is we get Champions League football next season......................and that would be the worst thing that could happen.