Have you seen the pictures of Amorim out and about with his wife this afternoon? He looks like a bloke who’s been rescued from a hostage situation 😂
City have been getting some serious injuries in recent years that look like nothing when they happen. De Bruyne had one first a few years back, then it was Gabriel Jesus when the idiot ref told him to stop messing about and tried to drag him to his feet for an injury that kept him out for months, last year it was Rodri and that other prize idiot Keown in commentary was spouting off that he was faking it. And yesterday it was Gvardiol, again didn't look like much, maybe a rolled ankle, but now it turns out he fractured his leg and will be out for the season.
And if you look at yesterday incident it isn't a direct impact injury it just seems to be the twisting force of his momentum as he gets knocked off his stride that causes the damage. It just goes to show how some of these small knocks that takes a players down at game pace isn't just because they are a bunch of softies (always).
The blokes (and it is always blokes) accusing players of being soft are the type who never actually watch football anyway and instead prefer sports where not being ‘soft’ means being in with a serious chance of incurring a pretty major brain injury
Looks like Chelsea have the next fall guy lined up. Lets see if he lasts the season.
Is it time we stopped referrring to them as managers, as thats not really what they are any more, in anymeaningful sense of the word? As Amorim just found out.
They're head coaches and best not get any ideas above their station. There to simply oversea training and stand on the sidelines and take the flack when it all goes wrong, while the owners and their representatives on earth dictate all the important decisions from on high.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cp37zvxgg9ko
Just call them what they really are: temporary contractors.
Was listening to The Guardian Football weekly the other day and they were discussing the fact that the sporting directors seem to basically be the managers these days but without the flack or looming sack. Said it's been this way for years in Italy and Spain but there SD are expected to give news conferences and tip up to meet the press.
Celtic sacked their’s, but he did appoint Nancy 😬😀.
Interesting that Richard Hughes at Liverpool seems to be getting more flak than Slot for the lopsided squad they’ve ended up with, despite the splurge. Online at least.
Solksjaer's in line for a return.
When you read his record at United first time round, you'd take that over what has come since - but it's not the same club or league as way back in ~2019.
His record does seem to be subject to a fair bit of revisionism. Martial up front! I had a look back and they were good value for goals at both ends, but I do remember them sitting quite deep with a counter attacking style?
A good night for Arsenal. The City juggernaut seems to be mid-firing, especially when Haaland isn’t scoring.
3 on the bounce for Newcastle with a routine win* against Dirty Leeds at SJP, now up to 6th.
* **** my nerves, I've aged 5 years watching some of the 'defending' tonight. Thiaw, Pope, Botman...must have all had the Liverpool Method video on over the holidays
Game of the season at Newcastle, just mad. And I’m not up to speed with things at Leeds but whether it is players or system but they look transformed from their early season incarnation.
Save of the season, Pickford 🙁
Good second half from Wolves, but they really needed 3 points. What Keane thought he was doing with his hair pulling antics, Ive no idea.
His record does seem to be subject to a fair bit of revisionism. Martial up front! I had a look back and they were good value for goals at both ends, but I do remember them sitting quite deep with a counter attacking style?
To be fair to him, he was making the most of the squad he had. It was entertaining to watch though and more often than not, it worked. I think it was more about Ole’s attitude though. We finished 2nd under him and he apologised to the fans and said it wasn’t good enough. Oh what we’d give to be sat in 2nd now and watching some decent attacking football, with a manager who appeared to care. We've been a long way off that since his departure. I don't need reminding of where we finished last season.
Hanlon's razor and all that (cock-up or conspiracy) but someone at Bournemouth's played a blinder here. "We never noticed that the coffee cup Arsenal left behind had an Arsenal badge on it, and it's purely accidental that it got given to the Spurs manager when he arrived at the ground"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cp37w009dwlo
Game of the season at Newcastle, just mad. And I’m not up to speed with things at Leeds but whether it is players or system but they look transformed from their early season incarnation.
On the edge of my seat to the very end and gutted to lose that one, but yes, totally transformed around from pre December ish. Full of confidence and some great performances over the past few games.
Game of the season at Newcastle, just mad. And I’m not up to speed with things at Leeds but whether it is players or system but they look transformed from their early season incarnation.
On the edge of my seat to the very end and gutted to lose that one, but yes, totally transformed around from pre December ish. Full of confidence and some great performances over the past few games.
Just unfortunate we still have the pirate in defence, missing easy headers to put us 1-0 up and then pulling out of the challenge to let Newcastle come back to 1-1. Oh and the pirates mate, the plank in goal.
What Keane thought he was doing with his hair pulling antics, Ive no idea.
I imagine he grabbed onto whatever was close which ordinarily would be a shirt. Bit unlikely to have been deliberately aiming to pull his hair. But maybe we need a rule about players needing to tie girly hair in a bun, or else rule that it’s part of the kit.
Bring Back the Alice Band!
Marc Cucurella is a player who is often open to a decent hair pull. Watched the Leeds game - what a seesaw. Not heard the the 'Dirty Leeds tag since I was very young.
Not heard the the 'Dirty Leeds tag since I was very young.
I hear it all the time. I have long-since stopped being annoyed that people still say it (often without even knowing why) just because they heard their dads and grandads say it. We are Dirty Leeds and we are here to stay. MOT ALAW.
Ohh, and, should anyone care, here's this year's current Fair Play League Table (inserts a Middle Finger emoji).
Not heard the the 'Dirty Leeds tag since I was very young.
Apologies / not apologies...I started watching in the 70s when that was a (valid) tag, and these things stick. I almost can't say Leeds without saying Dirty Leeds, and likewise it'll always be Boring Arsenal even though neither are fair or relevant nowadays.
Plus, it annoys my Leeds and Arsenal supporting mates, and that's part of what football fans do!
I started watching in the 70s when that was a (valid) tag
But it wasn't though – it was earlier in the 1960s (namely the Battle of Goodison Park in 1964) that we got the tag. But, as you say, these things stick.
Not heard the the 'Dirty Leeds tag since I was very young.
I hear it all the time. I have long-since stopped being annoyed that people still say it (often without even knowing why) just because they heard their dads and grandads say it. We are Dirty Leeds and we are here to stay. MOT ALAW.
Ohh, and, should anyone care, here's this year's current Fair Play League Table (inserts a Middle Finger emoji).
We are Leeds, we are vile! 😎
I dunno @theotherjonv Arsenal remain pretty boring, suffocating teams rather than tearing them apart, seemingly reliant on own goals and set pieces. Fancy them to wallop Liverpool tonight though.
Talking of vile, the BBC gossip page this morning said Liverpool were looking at Mason Greenwood.
I can take "Boring, Boring Arsenal", but I have to admit "Same old Arsenal, always cheating" does wind me up - particularly as *checks notes*, we're apparently the cleanest team according to the Fair Play league table above.
The teams with most possession will always be the ones with least cards, fouls tend to be committed against the team in possession of the ball.
Not heard the the 'Dirty Leeds tag since I was very young.
Apologies / not apologies...I started watching in the 70s when that was a (valid) tag, and these things stick. I almost can't say Leeds without saying Dirty Leeds, and likewise it'll always be Boring Arsenal even though neither are fair or relevant nowadays.
Plus, it annoys my Leeds and Arsenal supporting mates, and that's part of what football fans do!
Thing is Leeds were probably one of the most consistently best teams in Europe from 65-74, Yes Celtic and ManU won European cups but Leeds were strong for a long time. I'd say they were cynical rather than dirty - rather like Inter and the Italian teams of the time. They were masters of the dark arts. They played on the edge because that’s what elite teams did in the late 60s and early 70s.
They were robbed by that ref in the '74 European final.
The Leeds team of 91-92 with that midfield were fantastic to watch.
It was definitely an era where no-one took a back step and Leeds probably weren't much different to most others. But no-one's going to convince me they were angels either 😉
And I didn't realise it was 'that' contentious - my mates don't have a major problem, and indeed is there not unofficial merch with exactly that on worn as a badge of pride?
Arsenal might be top of the fair play league right now but they keep winning. When they get the runaround there was a discipline problem, heads were lost regularly - remains to be seen if that still happens. And yeah, winning a league by having the best set piece coach is still boring.
and indeed is there not unofficial merch with exactly that on worn as a badge of pride?
Absolutely, We Are Dirty Leeds.
The glory days will be back soon, now United have made a decision on the next manager….
%$£@ The Scousers. LOL!!!
Imagine having to play in those conditions. You'd have pay me at least £200.
Yeah - surprised how solid Liverpool were. Weathered the first half storm - more of a light breeze - and were dominant in the second half without ever looking like scoring.
Not sure how Gyokeres starts ahead of Jesus and even Merino. He’s mince.
and were dominant in the second half without ever looking like scoring
Liverpool under Slot reminded me of us under Maureen. Loads of possession but you could have left them out there for days, perpetually passing sideways, sideways and backwards and never ever looking like scoring. It’s painful to watch
Watched bits of the game last night despite its best attempts to send me to sleep. Martinelli trying to shove Bradley off the pitch was definitely the most exciting point of the match... boring football in a silent stadium (apart from the "Arsenal, Arsenal" every 10 minutes).
and were dominant in the second half without ever looking like scoring
Liverpool under Slot reminded me of us under Maureen. Loads of possession but you could have left them out there for days, perpetually passing sideways, sideways and backwards and never ever looking like scoring. It’s painful to watch
We hugely miss Diaz / Nunez with their pace and direct running, we're desperately in need of signing someone like this, I can only guess Semenyo was always going to City as he would've been ideal. I'm not confident we'll sign anyone this window and we could really do with pacy wide forward, central defender (sadly I think the Guehi ship has sailed too) and a right back (poor Connor looked bad and Frimpong is more of a winger than right back).
To be fair, last night due to injuries we only had one true 'forward' on the pitch and he likes to hang out on the left in the hope of cutting in on his right and curling it into the far corner. There was no-one in the box to actually score a goal. I'd have taken a point at the start of the game, so happy with a clean sheet and better performances from Kerkez, Konate etc.
You’re bang on Binners. I’d say they’re more van Gaal like, this is the modern Dutch way it seems.
Thought Kerkez was excellent defensively actually, didn’t get forward as much, but probably told not to. A shame for Bradley, he seems decent, but made of glass. Frimpong pacy but no end product and Wirtz fairly anonymous.
I’m surprised they didn’t go for Semenyo but I think he got some alleged racist abuse playing at Anfield? So he’s going to City to play 55 minutes or so a game and rotate on the bench with Silva, Doku, Marmoush, Bobb, Savinho etc.
I imagine he grabbed onto whatever was close which ordinarily would be a shirt. Bit unlikely to have been deliberately aiming to pull his hair.
Oh dear, Moany Moyes
So he’s going to City to play 55 minutes or so a game and rotate on the bench with Silva, Doku, Marmoush, Bobb, Savinho etc.
Liverpool have a 1st team squad of 26 players, Manchester city 27 including Semenyo. He would have rotated with Gakpo, Salah, Etikike, Isak etc at Liverpool. You know all those players from when Liverpool splashed the cash and won the transfer window 🤣
I forgot to add Cherki as well! Guarantee he’d start more for Liverpool than City, probably for Gakpo, or Mo, now he’s persona non grata. City and Arsenal squads are much deeper than Liverpool’s in terms of quality, but that’s obviously on Liverpool having spent a bit erratically, shall we say!
'Won the transfer window' is a press / social media invention. Arsenal and City both strengthened, Liverpool stood still.
Our issue is that whilst we spent a lot, we didn't really improve the squad or depth. Remember we lost Trent (replaced by Frimpong, currently a downgrade), Jota (sadly) and Nunez (replaced by Izak and Ekitike - should be an upgrade, but we won't see it this season as Izak has never got up and running yet given lack of pre season then getting chopped by MVdV), Tsimikas (replaced by Kerkez, long term upgrade), Diaz (I guess that you say 'replaced' by Wirtz, but the reality is they are different positions). Based on this any realy upgrade is either long term or injured. City and Arsenal on the other hand added to their squads with quality without losing players (aside from deadwood). In an ideal world Guehi would have got over the line, Trent and Diaz would've stayed (both wanted away), Jota would still be with us, and we maybe wouldn't have signed Frimpong and one of Ekitike/Izak, and we would've been much better off for it.
I forgot to add Cherki as well! Guarantee he’d start more for Liverpool than City, probably for Gakpo, or Mo, now he’s persona non grata. City and Arsenal squads are much deeper than Liverpool’s in terms of quality, but that’s obviously on Liverpool having spent a bit erratically, shall we say!
Oh well I forgot Wirtz as well, the other record breaking Liverpool signing. For city Bobb is likely to be sold in this window. Liverpool's squad is just as deep as everyone else, its hilarious the myths liverpool try to build around themselves.
Semenyo will start for city, he is better than any of the other wingers.
duplicate post
Wirtz has a touch of the Klinsmans about him doesn't he? And I don't just mean his dodgy barnet, but there's that too 🤣
Squad is deep in numbers, but not quality. Compare Arsenal’s bench to Liverpool’s last night - and that’s with them having a few injuries too. Arteta has done well to keep them all happy, which Pep seems good at too. City will be in for Guehi too I think.
How long we giving Dyche ball then? Couple more defeats and Maranakis will dispose of him I think.
Parky ball versus Dyche ball was entertaining. It was Mrs S birthday yesterday so didn't get to go/watch it.
What a fantastic win for the Silkmen, an FA Cup record. 117 place difference between them and Palace I think they said and not an American private equity company or Gulf State oil dollar in sight.
A lucky escape for Wolves today. We nearly had them! If they hadn't fluked those 6 lucky goals it would have been very different, let me tell you
Spurs covering themselves in glory again. I see that Palhinha took Richarlesons absence to establish himself as the biggest nobhead in the Premier League. What on earth was he doing at the end of the match, other than looking to get a well-deserved slap? He was like a petulant toddler.
I just had a look at the disciplinary stats and surprisingly Spurs aren’t the worst in the league, Chelsea are. Spurs are second. They just come across as a totally ill-disciplined rabble. I can’t see Frank lasting much longer, not least because he looks like he’s had enough, same as Amorim last week. And with trying to manage that lot, who can blame him?
Anyway…. I look forward to us getting our customary spanking off Brighton later. They’ve become something of a bogey team for us in recent seasons
Oh well. Who saw that coming?
You!! Saving themselves for the league. City and Arsenal up next!
You!!
I don't recall that to be the case, iirc Ratcliff was welcomed like the 2nd coming of Christ by the united fanbase. I think the STW search function not allowing me to find previous years footy threads and have a look at the comments from the takeover is currently saving some blushes.
Looking forward to MOTD tonight for a change 🥳
Anyway…. I look forward to us getting our customary spanking off Brighton later. They’ve become something of a bogey team for us in recent seasons
Be gone, future telling wizard!
It turns out that West Ham are very slightly better than a mid table championship side. So there are grounds to believe that we might challenge for the play offs next season.
I dunno MSP - I think there was some scepticism given the Ineos record at other sports teams.
iirc Ratcliff was welcomed like the 2nd coming of Christ by the united fanbase
Of course he bloody was! We’ve had 20years of the Glazers so the idea of a lifelong United fan coming in, who also happened to be a multibillionaire, was welcomed like he was the second coming.
We finally had some hope!
That didn’t last long. Talk about a false Dawn.
We soon realised it was even worse. Whereas before we had one lot of grasping, incompetent, utterly clueless, parasitic @#**-wits in charge of the club, now we had two. Result, eh?
And now, they were now arguing with each other about whose ’vision’ was the best and making frankly weird appointments. Obviously, as you’d expect, such a situation has worked out absolutely brilliantly! Yay!
It’s staggering to believe it was credible, but Sir Jim has managed to **** things up even more than when it was just the Glazers. It’s been an utter car crash from day one
The only positive thing to come out of today is that I stuck a fiver on Brighton (at 4/1) as I was pretty sure how this was going to play out.
Danny Welbeck absolutely loves scoring against us when he comes back to OT, and he came up trumps - yet again - today.
I hope Ole is back soon. We’re due two potential arse-kickings in the next couple of matches. First and second in the league. Something to look forward to. I expect I’ll watch them through my fingers while sobbing
Well, you've always got the league.
With no other distractions I feel confident we can finish in the top of the table
…. probably….
…. maybe…
Well they’ve no excuse, only going to play 40 games this season, a lot of their rivals for the European slots will be playing 55 plus.
Alonso sacked at Madrid, I know it was in the offing, but I still think its insane. I don't think they will continue to have success if they don't back a manager to implement a system rather than just having someone to massage the egos of the superstars.
They have looked at man united and said "hold my San Miquel"
Ratcliffe’s mistake is that for some misplaced reason he thinks a football club can be run like a business, putting up prices and cutting costs to make a profit each year whereas football is, and always has been, about rich owners indulging lots of money over many years and convincing another rich owner to pay quite a bit more for the club.
I didn't realise that the Rosenoir appointment by Chelsea from Strasbourg was essentially from their feeder club.
Multi Club Ownership is properly rotten & should be banned.
Alonso sacked at Madrid, I know it was in the offing, but I still think its insane. I don't think they will continue to have success if they don't back a manager to implement a system rather than just having someone to massage the egos of the superstars.
They have looked at man united and said "hold my San Miquel"
I read that Mbeppe and his team mates refused the guard of honour for Barca on Sunday's cup in sportswash land that Alonso requested and ignored him which meant that the team was in charge.
In Spain and I think also Germany and Italy, they have had multi club ownership for a long time, go down a couple if divisions and quite a few of the clubs are owned by the big clubs and are just feeder/training clubs for the main squad. The only real difefrence is that it has now become international.
Not that I like the way it is being done, but I am also wary of those casting the biggest acustations (the spanish league) being just as corrupt, it is just someone else has done something they haven't (but absolutely would have done if they had thought of it first) and gained an advantage from it.
It reminds me of a few years ago, when it was suggested that the premier league could play a game in another country, who wailed the loudest, the ones who are now doing exactly that once the heat had died down.
Carrick has been appointed as interim manager to replace the interim/interim manager, Fletcher
Nothing else changes with the shambles above him and so the same depressingly familiar cycle of failure begins yet again.
It’s like Groundhog Day.
You're within 3 points of Europe, I understand the issues and the anger but I'm struggling to find even a medium sized violin.
I see Steve Holland is being brought in as assistant - Southgate’s long term assistant. He’ll take stock of the situation before Sir Gareth arrives in the summer.
So, when will Phil "Duncan Edwards" Jones get his go as ManU manager? He knows the dugout.
I see Rooney volunteered himself, and was ignored!
More examples where commentators don't know the laws. Thiaw was last defender but Pope was in front of him so there were clearly not 2 opponents between Haaland and the goal line. Clear offside, the only issue is whether Haaland interfered with Thiaw and on that it took too long.
More ridiculous VAR in the semi final.
If it takes that long give the benefit of the doubt to the attacking team.
Thought it was one of the easiest decisions for var, keepers advanced of Haarland and he’s got his arms round the defender, should of taken 5 seconds max
I think it'd help if they had a time limit of 3 monies to make a decision and if they can't decide on that time the benefit of the doubt is given to the attacking team.
Its Man City - they weren't looking for a reason to disallow it, they were looking for reasons why they shouldn't disallow it but exhausted them all to had to can it.
Would have been a more even game if they'd left Wissa on instead of bringing the daddy long legs Woltemade on. He reminds me of Carlton Palmer.