Kazakstan, here we come! 😃
Only saw the highlights but how the heck did United win that?
They won it by Villa not taking advantage of their huge number of shots in the first 40 minutes of the second half and then weirdly just sitting back and knocking the ball around their defence. They were still doing that when 2-1 down...
Said it a few times on here this season, ManU have one of the best squads available and should be doing better without a doubt, the fact they're in with a shout of a CL place isn't a huge shock, they're the only team who have outspent Chelsea in the last few years!
The fact they're up against the likes of Villa and Tottenham for that 4th place makes it more attainable, we know Villa are going through a tough patch and will have more, same with Spurs, there's no Chelsea, Newcastle or Brighton to worry about this year, so it's even easier to get into the CL.
If Olly Watkins and Leon Baily had put their shooting boots yesterday it would have been a very different result. They created plenty of chances but didn't finish them. I never thought I'd be typing this but the Villa defence couldn't cope with Harry Maguire. He was causing chaos at set pieces
More defensive worries for us after Shaw was taken off again at half time, on top of Martinez limping off last match. When you're playing Lindelof out on the left, due to having no other options, you've got serious problems.
First game in a while that I've not been swearing at the telly for 90 minutes though
I generally don't follow football, but apparently Arsenal had a very good win over West Ham yesterday. Some of the social media channels I'm on have exploded over this; on one friend's Facebook page, one of his FB friends has threatened to 'batter' another over this particular result, because of 'bantz'. These are two grown adults who up until now have got on pretty well as far as I know. I can understand tribalism, but this is madness. Why??
More defensive worries for us after Shaw was taken off again at half time, on top of Martinez limping off last match. When you’re playing Lindelof out on the left, due to having no other options, you’ve got serious problems.
Bet you're glad they cancelled Reguilons loan deal with the knowledge of Shaw's injuries over the years 😂
I still think ManU have the wrong manager, they have a real team there that could do some damage, but live off the counter and never feel balanced, but there's nobody else available just now so probably best to stick with it, again, this season to get top 4 doesn't look as hard as previous years, they're on a run and other competitors are struggling a bit now.
@brownperson - those kind of idiots are a tiny minority and football isn't the issue. The fact that they're idiots is the issue
I don't know how I've managed it but most of my footy supporting mates are scousers. You don't get more tribal than United v Liverpool and we have a Whatsapp group that exists entirely for the purpose of ruthless piss-taking (obviously this has been fairly one sided in recent seasons but hey ho, I had a good 3 decades). I can't imagine it ever getting 'handbags' on account of my mates not being idiots
on one friend’s Facebook page, one of his FB friends has threatened to ‘batter’ another over this particular result, because of ‘bantz’. These are two grown adults
Premier League football fans are the worst! The Guardian match report comments are hilarious, they tend to split 3 ways:
a) People who post an unutterably tedious 8,000 word match report about 3 seconds after the article goes up, which is so long it has to be broken up over multiple posts
b) People posting or attempting banter (sometimes quite funny)
c) People who believe there's a media/PL/referee conspiracy against their club. This lot are great as they appear to think that if Danny Murphy was less snarky about their defence they would definitely be in contention for the title. I say great, but I wouldn't want to spend any time in their company, the miserable gets. They are also highly liable to become mortally offended by b), and can be identified by their constant use of the term 'absolute disgrace'
These are two grown adults who up until now have got on pretty well as far as I know.
The mistake these two have made is they've failed to identify the difference between being 'at the match' (or at least watching it) and real life. Like binners I've got loads of mates who follow different teams and we never miss an opportunity to wind each other up if the other team wins, but everyone recognises it's only football. However if the more hooliganesque fans really want to fight each other over it let them at it. Consenting adults and all that..
Premier League football fans are the worst!
They're also the source of much amusement. Like the guy on the radio 5 606 phonein recently who had a thick manc accent, claiming to be a lifelong liverpool fan, and calling for Klopp to be sacked because he was a traitor after he announced he was leaving at the end of the season.
😆
And now apparently another bloke posted about pulling a sickie today to avoid having to face the Arsenal fans he works with, only someone screenshotted the post and forwarded it to his boss, who then sent him an email that they were fully expecting him work today, and that unauthorised absence would lead to a disciplinary, so that's backfired quite spectacularly. Honestly these people are idiots.
They’re also the source of much amusement. Like the guy on the radio 5 606 phonein recently who had a thick manc accent, claiming to be a lifelong liverpool fan, and calling for Klopp to be sacked because he was a traitor after he announced he was leaving at the end of the season.
I was just about to mention 606. I absolutely love it! Its usually comedy gold. I heard that call and thought it was the first time I'd heard a Liverpool fan who was clearly from Wythenshawe 😂
The Guardian match report comments are hilarious, they tend to split 3 ways:
For the third type, you could have just said "Leeds/Forest fans".
And some football clubs have no sense of humour. I remember this story back in the day after Newcastle fans all wore gas masks to a Boro game. You don't get this sort of thing at the tennis.
Interesting article from The Athletic; might be behind a paywall.
If blue cards had been in operation, who'd have had the most this season.
Understandably top is Sheff Utd who've been chasing shadows all season. 25 tactical fouls and 8 dissents. At the other end, no great surprise either; Man City are lowest (12/3) and Arsenal just above (14/5) - I guess when you have the ball as much as them then not a lot of chance to foul your opponents.
Except - Liverpool are second top. Despite being a top three side and generally dominating possession they've committed 22 fouls and 9 dissent - that's 31 times they'd have been down to 10 men. Doesn't surprise me that much TBH, Klopp has always been ruthless in that part of the game and he is always in the 4th's ear. And at the other end - Luton and Palace are pretty low and would have benefited relatively well from not being down to 10 - if they could make the advantage tell.
I’m not surprised at all by the Liverpool stat.
Two names immediately spring to mind when you say tactical foul…
Fabhino and Milner
The worst offenders in the league by miles in recent seasons. Every time Milner set foot on the pitch I’d bet on him getting carded. The odds were only ever 2/1 but it was essentially free money. It’s the way Klopp plays. Stopping the counter.
Taking one for the team is just part of the game though. Always has been, always will be. Who hasn’t said a quiet ‘well done lad’ when one of your own players hacks someone down to stop a dangerous break. Be honest.
Casemiro is quite fond of them for us. He’s always a card waiting to happen too. Shaw isn’t averse to them either.
Scholesy was the grand master of getting away with it
The whole blue card thing is the most stupid thing those idiots have dreamt up yet
Back to present events… Chelsea look absolutely dire again!
Edit: looks like Poch gave them the hairdryer at half time
I am going to be the lone voice and say I think this blue card thing is long overdue a try.
I applaud the intent, but suspect sides that are already good at defending when they have a man sent off will just go defensive for those 10 and it might make for boring games, or at least boring 10 mins periods
I wonder what happens if a centre back is sin binned for example. If sent off they'd take off an attacker to bring another CB on but not so easy if then 10 mins later you've now got three CBs when Mr Bins comes back on. Do you use another sub to get another attacker back, but then the subbed first attacker and the subbed CB - are they done for the day so you're now down to an inferior XI?
What if it's your GK? Bring a sub GK on for 10 mins, then sub him again? Or do we see like the good old days where an outfielder dons the gloves?
That's why there's a trial in some lower grade, s3 how it works out. Might be good, might be shit
Kevin De Bruyne is at it again. He's like a ringer from another planet.
An interesting weekends results.
We were a game of two halves today. The first half being the opening ten minutes when we looked bloody brilliant, then the following 80 where we were shite and couldn’t string two passes together. God knows how we got 3 points out of that?
Still… 3 points off Spuds. Thursday nights in Serbia could still be a reality
Weird one, tuned into the match, the first giveaway goal was bad, then the deflected shot, you thought this was going to be a proper hiding, then Luton score and it turns into a weird game, Casemiro nearly getting sent off was weird as well, guy who's meant to be one of the senior players losing the head like that. Maguire almost gifting them a goal in kind as well was mental, not sure what was said at half time, but the fact Ten Hag binned all 3 on yellow cards was also a bit weird.
Still, as stated many times, ManU have the squad to do well, they just need to keep up with Spurs and Villa, not the top 3.
Dan Ashworth’s garden, 2026
Eddie Howe will be happy, apparently they didn't get on too well. Supposedly Man U are willing to wait, but I doubt Ashworth will be too keen on sitting around for a year so they'll come to a settlement no doubt. Curious about all the media hype about this though, Ashworth's main role was sorting out player contracts and training facilities so not exactly irreplaceable.
Spurs have most players back but don't seem to have gelled, having both fullbacks out won't have helped. I'm only interested in 4th, or 5th if pl does manage to get the extra cl spot. Beyond that I take this season as a massive step in the right direction. We've a very tough run of games coming.... Will need the full squad back if we are going to stay in the race!
Casemiro nearly getting sent off was weird as well, guy who’s meant to be one of the senior players losing the head like that
I mentioned him when we were discussing blue cards for 'taking one for the team' fouls. He does it all the time. He was a very lucky boy to stay on the pitch yesterday. He'd already got away with a couple of dodgy challenges other than the card he'd already picked up. When I saw him dive in again I thought we'd be down to ten men.
Maguire, after a great game last week, resumed normal service with passing straight to a Luton striker in front of his own goal.
An interesting weekends results though. City looked strangely flat against a Chelsea side who actually looked pretty good. Spurs were Spursey. Arsenal look like proper title contenders (they looked like they could have got into double figures against West Ham), as do Liverpool. Its a while since we've had a proper three-way scrap for the title
City looked strangely flat
The Cyberdyne System 101 could of had 3 or 4, needs recalibrating.
Someone definitely hacked into his radar and set his coordinates to Row Z
Brighton were also back on form - though top 6 is looking difficult now.
expert level shithousing from the lower leagues.
https://twitter.com/The_Forty_Four/status/1759345136373313680
In the same vein, you've got to love the live matches from Kenilworth Road. With it being so compact, there was some top level swearyness picked up by the camera mikes yesterday
expert level shithousing from the lower leagues.
Didn't Trippier do that against sunderland if the FA Cup
Well Sunderland have sacked another manager after only 2 months. Crazy.
Which has just reminded me, the return of the long-running comedy 'Sunderland til I Die' has just landed on Netflix. That should provide much hilarity.
I do have a Sunderland supporting mate, exiled in Manchester, who never made it through the first episode of the first series as he was absolutely apoplectic after about 10 minutes and to subject himself to any more risked the telly going out of the window
I've watched the 1st 2 series about 3 times.
The 1st one is hilarious.
Especially as the producers are massive Sunderland fans and thought they were going to record a promotion push.
Maybe if the Sunderland boss just ignores the sacking, it will go away?
Hodgson gone
Palace looking for a new boss
Heart leapt for a moment there, given he'd been in hospital last week.
Not gone gone, fired gone.
It’s a mystery that the same old failed managers get rehired again and again 🤷♂️
Hodgson was successful last season. He kept them up
Hodgson was successful last season. He kept them up
He did, although he had a run of much easier games than Viera had.
Yep Roy's gone. He'll be back next season mind.
Palace looking for a new boss
They had already agreed a deal with Glasner to take over before Roy before he was taken ill, just had to wait for him to be discharged from hospital before they could sack him.
