Football – 2023/24 Season

Are 8pm kick off, Saturday night games going to be a thing this season then?

Sincerely hope not. I’ve actually got mates who don’t like football and I don’t want to go to a pub with 200 TVs on a Saturday night.

Well yeah, it was a pointless friendly, effectively, but not one we could swerve or put out a B team for (though, TBH, given our happy relationship with EUFA, perhaps we should have done just that). Not sure why things couldn’t be tweaked once we’d won the CL Final to let us play Sunday or Monday.

The fatigue doesn’t happen in week 2, it happens a bit later down the line if players aren’t given sufficient recovery time between matches.

The fatigue doesn’t happen in week 2, it happens a bit later down the line if players aren’t given sufficient recovery time between matches.

You’re moaning because you’ve got a big game this weekend that you need the first team out for. They won’t be fatigued yet, and if there was a risk of it in week two then Pep should have rotated your massive squad more. To reiterate, your B team would easily finish top 6.

Sure, fatigue comes later on but that’s the point. After today you’ve got 2 games against lower level opposition you can rotate for, then a week off for internationals (which yes, you will have players in) then 3 weeks against lower opposition. I know no easy games but Fulham, Sheff Utd, Wolves, WHam and Forest are your next five before you finally have another high tariff game against Arsenal on 8th Oct. That’s what your squad is for, to manage the fatigue.

Tell Pep to dry his eyes and get on with it.

I think it’s great that they’re having such a big game kick off at 8pm on a Saturday night. More of that please

Having been to toon away matches where more than 2-3 hours drinking time is possible I predict utter carnage at the Etihad this evening. I hope they’ve hired extra stewards and cleaners to clean up the mess. 😀

Going to be quite a game tonight, but sadly I won’t be watching as I’m off on holiday later and don’t land in Portugal til 8pm. Something tells me abandoning the family as soon as we land to go find a bar showing the football will not go down very well.

Also if the toon win tonight it’s going to be extremely difficult to keep a lid on the hysteria. Maybe a 0-0 draw would be the best all-round result.

If you’re a top team then throughout the season you’ll have plenty of weeks where you’ll be playing midweek in Europe with a Premier League match at the weekend.

That’s just how it is. That’s the way it’s always been and always will be. So I’ve little time for any manager bleating about it. It’s not like they haven’t got big enough squads to cope. Suck it up, buttercup 😃

In Peps case he could have shoved the reserves out midweek (who could still beat most teams in Europe) and nobody would have cared

Maybe a 0-0 draw would be the best all-round result.

at least let’s have another 3-3 if it’s got to be a draw.

I cancelled BT sport (now TNT) last season, I can’t justify £25 a month for it but I might need to go to the pub tonight.

Anyone watching the NUFC documentary on Amazon Prime?

BT sport is the only one I kept as I love the European games, a nice bit of escapism for winter nights. Binned Sky a long time ago.

I cancelled BT sport (now TNT) last season, I can’t justify £25 a month for it but I might need to go to the pub tonight.

I believe TNT is being shown on Discovery+. My annual discovery+ subscription (which I bought to watch GCN) is around £70 a year. Not quite sure how that works with BT/TNT being £25 a month but it might be worth a go.

Oh Christ! It’s on BT Sport, is it?! Sacked it off ages ago for a number of reasons but mainly Steve McManomanomanomanoman 🙄

Anyone watching the NUFC documentary on Amazon Prime?

I am.

Looking forward to the next episode with the Spurs game!

I see Man Utd have another wrongun. Antony up now.

So new season,  new manager (not unusual) a few new players but as usual it doesn’t feel enough… I am not expecting much but hoping for…. for…. some hope I guess.   Could postecoglou be the messiah?  There’s always hope for a few weeks in the summer isn’t there 🤣

First home game and a chance to see how we set up against one of the stronger teams,  and one we struggle with most.  Spurs v man u, evening kick off.

In Spain La Liga move domestic fixtures to help the teams in European competitions, I think they do in Germany as well. It is something that contributes to aiding their teams.

The thing with the PL is the TV rights match time restrictions, and selling packages of matches to rival broadcasters. IMO it is time for the PL to just have their own platform, and just show every match. There is no evidence that televised matches adversely affects matchday attendances in other countries.

That would allow a little more flexibility in helping English teams in European competitions.

And I don’t want to pay for 6 channels of wall to wall sports coverage when all I want is to watch a couple of football matches a week. The only other sport I am really bothered about is the downhill.

The thing with the PL is the TV rights match time restrictions, and selling packages of matches to rival broadcasters. IMO it is time for the PL to just have their own platform, and just show every match. There is no evidence that televised matches adversely affects matchday attendances in other countries.

Totally agree. They and the clubs could make an absolute fortune if they had their own streaming platform.

Watching live football is a completely different level of commitment, than the armchair supporter. It wouldn’t effect attendances at EPL games at all.

It’s absolutely archaic that they cannot show 3.00pm Saturday kick offs. If they did, it would probably increase attendances because fans complain about annoying kick off times and love a 3 o’clock Saturday game.

@theotherjonv

Just seen on Twitter that all episodes are available now.

Well Amazon have messed up.

In Episode 4, they apparently announce the new Sponsorship deal with Adidas, which hasn’t been formally announced yet.

They have now took the episodes down.

It’s absolutely archaic that they cannot show 3.00pm Saturday kick offs.

Its utterly insane that you can watch the 3 o clock Premier League kick offs in any other country in the world apart from this one.

The whole concept of it affecting attendances has looked more ridiculous with each passing year*

As for the Newcastle doc… are there any clubs not having a documentary made? I started watching the Burnley one on Netflix then just lost interest. The only one that any good is ‘Sunderland Til I Die’ as it catalogues an epic tale of mismanagement as they go into freefall through the leagues. My mate who’s a Sunderland fan said he nearly kicked the telly in ten minutes into the first episode and couldn’t watch any more of it 😂

* The Emptyhad excepted, obviously

The only one that any good is ‘Sunderland Til I Die’ as it catalogues an epic tale of mismanagement as they go into freefall through the leagues.

I’ve binged watched it about 3 times!

Well Amazon have messed up.

In Episode 4, they apparently announce the new Sponsorship deal with Adidas, which hasn’t been formally announced yet.

They have now took the episodes down.

someone’s going to be in trouble.

Oh hello! Postecoglou IS the messiah!

Good to see us starting this season in exactly the same fashion as we started the last one… a total and utter ****ing shambles, home and then away

I can’t believe we started this game today with the same squad in the same formation that was so absolutely dire on Monday

Looks like it’s going to be a very, very long season, involving some absolute arse-kickings, if we’re going to carry on playing like that.

If you’re a ManU supporter, that must have been grim, Spurs were making lots of mistakes, and no ManU player was able to really put the foot in, they look proper soft in midfield, they walked through it at times, not sure how you fix that, you have all the players that should be able to build a competitive team, but not sure Mount has improved the starting 11, and definitely not sure what Antony has on ten Hag, but it must be juicy to get a start every week 🤣

As a Celtic supporter i have to say that Spurs game reminded me of last season, dodgy as hell in the first 20 minutes trying to work out formation, movement, etc, and if they survive that, then they gain confidence, think they’ll lose a few with so many slack passes and messing about, but when it works it’s nice to watch.

Don’t worry Binners you’ve got us at home next Saturday, we’re renowned for reinvigorating a teams confidence after a bad spell, I think we even tried to get Leicester kick started last year. 🙂

I do enjoy a Binners 6-0-6 style rant!

I guess with Brighton humping Wolves, who really should have had at least a point against United on Monday, that result was predictable. I don’t think Mount is a centre mid – wide forward or attacking midfielder maybe. But not sitting next to Casemiro.

I’ve ended up in the pub with 200 TV’s.

“We” played good.

“you” played good.

How many are included in those  we”s and you’s?

Never understood this…..

“you” had f-all to do with the result. You were a mere bystander.

Bore off 🙄

I’ve ended up in the pub with 200 TV’s

It was inevitable

Never understood this….

Clearly, but it’s not that difficult to grasp

Bore off 🙄

Indeed. Off you pop

Yeah, each to their own….

However, I thought this might be about the women’s world cup, but you’re blokes so you’re not playing for them. Wink.

There’s a thread about the women’s world cup, and yes… tomorrow morning I’ll be cheering us on and hoping we win.

Cover your chips, the Seaguls are flying! 😁

I just switched over to the Villa match and saw Ashley Young in an Everton shirt. Just had to Google his age as it seems like he’s been around for ever.

He’s 38 and with Milner still playing for Brighton it’s a testament to what kind of shape they must keep themselves in to be still playing at this level 😳

Really? I was sure Ashley Young was playing in the early 80’s for Villa.

I think he played for us for at least two decades

It’d been mentioned on the Womens World Cup thread about time wasting. Good to see refs coming down hard on it this season. Pickford was rightfully booked for deliberately faffing around before the penalty was taken

I should get booked for watching Reading as they’re a waste of time…but 2 wins in a row maybe the worm has turned.

Jeez, how bad are Everton again this year?

Absolute nailed on relegation fodder on the strength of that performance. Their defence is an absolute shambles. I can just imagine the Dyche hairdryer that will be administered after that

Fair play to Villa though. They could have had more. That looked like a leisurely kickabout in the park for them

I should get booked for watching Reading as they’re a waste of time…but 2 wins in a row maybe the worm has turned.

Win nothing with kids. Average age of the outfield 10 was just over 20, I read. However, I follow a couple of twitter accounts that seem to have insider info and sounds like there was a major bust up between Sellés and some senior members of the squad resulting in a few being told to sling their hook – leaving us with nothing but kids.

Impressive win yesterday – Stevenage were unbeaten and have a reputation for ‘physicality’ with a few old pros that like to dish it out. I know they had a sending off early (well done ref) but sounds like the kids gave them a runaround at times.

Jeez, how bad are Everton again this year?

Can they just be relegated now? Terribly run, and terrible football. I actually think relegation could be good for them, allow a total reset?

If Everton went down with that recent spend and the associated wage bill, a new stadium to pay for…. I reckon they’d go into freefall like Leeds did a few years back.

Great Chelsea debut for Caceido 😂