While they’ve got players capable of doing it, I don’t see them doing it, because that is not Pep or Jurgens style.
Ederson has got two assists this season.
Ederson has got two assists this season.
De Bruyne has played some lovely long balls, too. Not as many as he probably would under a different manager. Pep likes his fullbacks to come inside the wingers but that doesn't mean they never go outside, just not as often as they would under a different manager.
Good summary of Lukaku Garry Lager! Some players just don’t look like footballers do they, but his goal record is very, very good.
Sturridge starting tonight......plenty of ambling around and lots of 40 yard shots?
Lukaku is basically a bigger, clumsier Emile Heskey.
When he turned up at the start of this season he’d bulked up so much I thought he was thinking of switching career to heavyweight boxing
Scores waaaaaay more goals than Heskey. Much better finisher than Rashford too.
Nice first half, going well. My lad went for 4-0, I went for 5-1. At this rate I can't see either of us being correct.
but his goal record is very, very good.
He's a weird one stats-wise. Had his best year the last season with Everton, ithink it was, scored 24? Scored 12 last year, 10 this.
He bangs in multiples against a few smaller teams. In fact until he scored a penalty last year (I think) he hadn't scored against a top 4/5 team at all. Don't think he did this year either.
Just adds to his mystique.
The only striker who seems to score regularly against the top 6 is Aguero. He’s phenomenal.
Heard an interesting stat the other day that the 6th most goals against the top 6 is not by a premier league player...its Messi.
Heard an interesting stat the other day that the 6th most goals against the top 6 is not by a premier league player…its Messi.
He's certainly up there. It would be interesting to know how many games that took, Barca play English sides quite a lot in the Champions league.
Aguero has good numbers against the top 6 but hes been around 9? Years and on good teams. Vardy, Kane have good numbers against top 6 on lesser teams and for less time. Hazard too.
I think there is a difference between scoring regularly against top 4/5/6 teams and basically never doing it. If you are your team's striker and not scoring against your biggest rivals for top positions, it doesn't bode well for your team
Phil Foden has scored as many league goals against top six teams this season as Mo Salah - one!
Nobody seems to want these last two Champions League spots, do they?
Since Poch said it was a 4 team mini-league, everyone involved has been chucking points away left, right and centre. I can see Arsenal losing to Leicester tomorrow then us and Chelski drawing
I'm just going to leave this here...
COYI!
First team to win at Emirates, first team to win at Tottenham.
COYI!
I think someone has sent Bielsa a memo telling him Leeds shouldn't actually go up this season.
https://twitter.com/SoccerAM/status/1122486526473064450
WTF? Play to the whistle!
"the one thing you have to say about city is that they haven't conceded a goal in second half stoppage time all season"
Oddly, not the one thing that leaps to my mind. Great statting though!
City weren't at their best today, looked a bit tired but still deservedly got over the line. Last week I think it was said that with their cup runs they have so far played 7 more games this season than Liverpool, and with a couple of big weeks behind them no wonder they wasn't at their sharpest.
interesting Leeds clip but I think the Leeds team of the '60s & '70s would have scored 3 goals with a man down.
Leeds of the 60s and 70s would have headbutted a few more on the way through.
It's not like it is a golden rule that you kick the ball out when an opposition player is down, sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn't, usually dependent on if you have a goal scoring opportunity developing or not.
However in that case it did look like they had stopped play and kicked it out to the goal line only for a couple of Leeds players not to get the memo. So I can see why the Villa players were irate.
What happened after anyway, did Leeds allow them to get a goal back?
The only players I could see slowing down looking for the easy option were Villa ones. The lad on the wing briefly pauses, but all his team-mates are urging play on. Villa then start a ruck over it and Bielsa inexplicably orders the goal to be given back (which it was). Could affect who they get in the playoffs. Crazy.
Best in the world De Gea .... apart from the last 4 games 😂
It’s not like it is a golden rule that you kick the ball out when an opposition player is down, sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn’t, usually dependent on if you have a goal scoring opportunity developing or not.
I think it more depends on severity of injury. A head injury will almost always have the ref stopping play anyway, likewise a proper bad 'body' injury (leg breaks, etc.), but then there's some where it looks innocuous and the ref waves play on only for the nearby players to realise.
The argument in this case was that Villa had kicked the ball out a few minutes earlier when in a good position, and Leeds didn't reciprocate.
What happened after anyway, did Leeds allow them to get a goal back?
Yep - straight from the kick-off (which had been delayed due to the melee after the Leeds goal). All the Leeds players just stood still and let them score (apart from Pontus Jansson and he was roundly bollocked by the rest of the team). Bielsa (the manager) told them directly to let them score which was astounding especially as we needed to win the match to stay in with a shout of automatic promotion.
So far, looks like spurs treated the quaters against city as a final, and they are unable to lift themselves to that level again.
Looks nothing like the team that beat City. Too much deference.
I'm feeling lots of love for Ajax and their passing.
Spurs schooled a bit tonight and lucky to be only one down? Obvious I guess but the absence of Son and Kane was massive.
Obvious I guess but the absence of Son and Kane was massive.
This is where my sympathy starts to fall apart, you as a manager has to have a plan B for just in case them guys are injured. I understand it can't be a like for like swap of course, but you need 'something' other than a couple of young wing-backs as your plan B (admittedly the right back did well though). Spending squillions on a stadium is great... but you need the squad to back it up too.
I was watching and they were saying about the new Barca signing the sold for £75m after paying £500k for him.... Then wondering "who was bought for the least/sold for the most" Coutinho must be up there, signed for £8.5m and sold for £130m.... I guess it depends on whether you're using multiples of initial purchase, or actual £££ difference. Who else is there who made massive profits?
Little J is torn tonight - Coutinho was his fave player!
Fingers crossed Bobby is fit & Jurgen picks Keita to become Messi's new best friend forever or at least 90minutes.
🙂
Weeksy - Son and Kane bring out is like two of Firmino, Salah and Mane being absent. Irreplaceable.
To be honest I’m not sure Spurs expected to get as far - the money spent on the new stadium should allow more to be spent on players in the future. Although this hasn’t worked for Arsenal!
Weeksy – Son and Kane bring out is like two of Firmino, Salah and Mane being absent. Irreplaceable.
Yes but in Liverpools scenario for example, you'd have Sturridge, Origi, Lallana, Oxlade, Keita/Shaq, etc... In City's you'd have a similar set of options...
To be fair we were also missing our first choice centre mids, Winks & Sissoko (at the start), as well as another attacking threat in Lamela.. leaving Eriksen and Alli the only 2 available first choice players in our front 6. A full strength Spurs would have beaten them last night, after Sissoko came on it was an even game (after the schooling in the first 30).
Sissoko did really well i thought...
Weeksy - have you seen Sturridge and Origi recently? They are not comparable at all! Shaqiri seems to have fallen out with Klopp and Lallana is not up to standard required.
Even City’s don’t have like for like - Jesus is not as good as Aguero although you can pick 2 from Sterling, Sane and B Silva and not lose any quality.
Weeksy – have you seen Sturridge and Origi recently? They are not comparable at all! Shaqiri seems to have fallen out with Klopp and Lallana is not up to standard required.
Of course they're not comparable to Mane/Salah etc.... But they're never going to be as they're not 1st choice... But, they're a reasonable alternative and that's the best you can expect of course... but Spurs 'backup' left me thinking "maybe you should have spent some more on players"
I think the spurs medical staff have questions to answer on Vertonghen's head injury. The ref was clearly concerned, I have never seen a ref being so thorough and persistent, bypassing the coaches and checking then confirming again with the medical staff that he is fit to continue. Then only 60 seconds later he is dry hurling and having to be carried away.
Sissoko did really well i thought…
He's arguably been our player of the season - gone from being a joke/scapegoat to one of the best CMs in the prem this year.
But they’re never going to be as they’re not 1st choice… But, they’re a reasonable alternative and that’s the best you can expect of course… but Spurs ‘backup’ left me thinking "maybe you should have spent some more on players"
But if you took Mane, Salah, Shaqiri and Origi out of the situation, then Liverpool's bench wouldn't be left with too many quality options. This is what happened to Spurs by losing Kane, Son, Lamela and then Janssen being illegible (think this is due to the rule of Dier and Davies not being counted as homegrown). Leaves us with Llorente, Alli, Eriksen and Lucas Moura playing. Liverpool would only be left with something like Firmino, Sturridge, Lallana, Oxlade playing and not much left on the bench?
Read on a football forum that UtD were speaking to Rio about a director of football position and thought it was a joke tbh - along the lines of Utd approach Eric Djemba-Djemba for first team coach role. Reported in all the mainstream sports pages, though.
Helpful in a way for Utd fans who may not quite have come to terms with how fked the club is right now. Hoping that things might turn themselves around. Things are not ever turning themselves around under an executive leadership who think Ole and Rio can run a football team.
Helpful in a way for Utd fans who may not quite have come to terms with how fked the club is right now.
I don't think any of us are under any illusions. And haven't been for quite some time. This has been the direction of travel since the Glazers took over. Fergie managed to paper over the cracks for a while, but when the owners are far more interested in sponsorship deals in Malaysia than they are about what's happening on the pitch at Old Trafford, this is where you inevitably end up
I heard the Rio/Director of football thing and the phrase 'clutching at straws' springs immediately to mind. We're truly ****ed while the people who own the club are as clueless as this lot.
I'm expecting the now standard unfocused, scattergun approach to transfers this summer where we spend serious money without any kind of strategy as to how they're going to play together, but as long as the replica kit sales hold up....
It's bloody depressing
I'm looking forward to tonight and watching two teams playing great attacking football, both of whom are so far away from where we are, they are literally in a different league
I think the spurs medical staff have questions to answer on Vertonghen’s head injury
I think the head injury thing should be assessed by an independent doctor and if that doctor deems they shouldn't play on then I think they should be able to substitute them without it using up one of the teams 3 allocated substitutions. I'd also allow a temporary sub so there is no pressure to rush to judgement, maybe even mandate that the player must be off for 10 minutes to allow a proper assessment.
maybe you should have spent some more on players
Wasn't Spurs last signing in Jan 18?
Yes Poch has improved them individually & as a team, but it's all about strength in depth these days & outside of their starting eleven there is very little competition for places.
I don't think united's problems can be blamed on the Glaziers not splashing the cash in the past few years. IMO maureen damaged the club far more than anyone cares to admit, it was a massive mistake (panic decision when city got pep) and his ego has destroyed any club ethos and joy, not just in the playing staff but also in background.
IMO there is a big Edwin van der Sar shaped hole for sporting director, they need to go all out to get him in, he is more than credible, and would be welcomed by the fans. They should have done so before confirming Ole as manager.
On spurs depth, yes they don't have the depth of some, but I think the Liverpool supporters are way overestimating what their team would be without Mane and Sala.
Should be a blinder, this.
Just wondering when it stopped being pronounced as the ‘new-camp’ and became camp-now’?
Oh Christ on a bendybus!! Steve ****ing McManamanamanamanaman commentating on a Liverpool match?
What a joy!
