Football – 2023/24 Season

That Sancho fella looks good. Surprised a premier League team hasn’t snapped him up…

Any predictions for Real v Bayern tonight?

Any predictions for Real v Bayern tonight?

I expect Real will win 2-1 helped by the crowd and the ref. But I’d like to see an all German final. Not a fan of Real they’ve been bankrolled and entitled since the 50’s.

Not a fan of ‘domestic’ finals so hoping for Real tonight and Dortmund to win

However, like most Spurs fans, I’m hoping for a loss to avoid handing the title to that lot down the road.

+1. There’s little point in adding European matches into the mix when Davies or Royal are the options with Udogie or Porro out. Hopefully, Ange will add more depth to the squad for next season.

Oh dear Neuer 🤦

Oh dear oh dear

Real bloody Madrid

Tuchel showing the tactical genius that will bring him the united job.

Come on Dortmund, anyone but but Madrid FFS.

Looks like my crystal ball was on fire tonight but enough about my problems.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3g8ejvezv3o

Just read this on the BBC website regarding their incident reviews. Turns out they can’t even unanimously agree on if things are penalties or not…

I don’t think there is anything wrong with that panel review. I would have thought most fans would say those three incidents were in the grey area.

You wouldn’t necessarily expect them too, they are three subjective decisions. All three were also voted 5-0 against VAR intervention (ie against an obvious error being made) so even those that disagreed with the onfield decision weren’t that certain

The Citeh juggernaut continues. They didn’t even need robostriker on the score sheet yesterday.

I doubt Arsenal will even need to break a sweat to give us an absolute shoeing this afternoon, with what I expect will be about 157 shots on goal as our static defence stands there watching them

Spurs are going to do the most Spursy thing imaginable and thrash City at home to hand the title to their most bitter rivals, aren’t they?

It’s a weird one. City probably need Utd to help them today, Arsenal do need Spurs to help them midweek.

A 2-2 draw today would be ideal.

A draw?

We’ll be starting with a central defensive partnership of Jonny Evans and Casemiro, with a combined age of 68 and the mobility of a pair of supertankers

Up against the pace of Arsenal upfront, I can only see that ending one way. It could be a cricket score

Its not worth betting on an Arsenal win as the odds are so low (1.3/1), but I think I’ll stick a few quid on Casimero to get carded (if he actually gets close enough to anyone to hack them down) and quite possibly sent off

Mercifully we’re off to a mates house for a barby who has zero interest in football, definitely doesn’t have sky sports, so I’ll be keeping up with the regular Arsenal goals on my phone and not have to endure watching it

No Martin… it will unfold like this.

1. Utd beat arsenal today

2. Liverpool beat villa Monday

3 spurs thump  City Tuesday

4. Palace beat villa on Sunday

5. Spurs score in the 5th minute but fail to kill the game,  conceding 2 late goals to lose against Sheffield

6. Arsenal lose aganst Everton

6. City are cruising against wet spam until a var controversy,  they lose their sh1t completely,  west ham score 2 late goals to send the title to the Emirates and Moyes dances in peps face and is signed up for another 10 years at Stratford.

We’ll be starting with a central defensive partnership of Jonny Evans and Casemiro, with a combined age of 68 and the mobility of a pair of supertankers

It’s the midfield where it’ll be won or lost, Arsenal have Odegaard, Rice and Partey in there, up against Mainoo, Fernandes and Eriksen, on paper that looks unbalanced as ever, ManU could be run over easily if they’re not on top of it, of course we are also talking about Arsenal holding their bottle in the title run in, and we know how that ends over the last few run ins 🤣

Surely even Arsenal can’t bottle it against that midfield? Especially with that static defence behind it?

I’m not sure Bruno is fit and I doubt he’s got 90 minutes in him. So at some point, if not from the start, they could be facing (and waltzing straight through) Mainoo, McTominay and Eriksen

They interviewed a couple of fans on Five Live earlier. The Arsenal fan was saying this could be the opportunity for revenge for the famous 8-2 and 6-1 drubbings that Arsenal have received (an awful long time ago) at OT. I doubt that as either of those scorelines would involve us actually finding the back of the net.

The United fan just said that all the way through the season we’ve been thinking it can’t get any worse and yet somehow it always has. I don’t expect today to be any different

I just don’t see arsenal being that confident at OT, think it could be a nervy win for them to keep the title going to the line, but not seeing 4 or 5 today

Can’t get any worse? Try speaking to a Sheffield fan

Yeah, but the Sheffield squad didn’t cost the same as the GDP of Norway

Anyway… I’m watching the Womens FA Cup final so I can briefly enjoy watching some United players who are actually fit to wear the shirt. They’ve started well.

Is it me or is this one hell of a boring game? I looked forward to the adverts.

Just back from the Albion, could have done with a goal but all to play for on Friday at Southampton

Utd have to try and get something from this game but they’re just letting Arsenal knock it around. No intensity at all – you’d have thought at least they’d be trying to get a foot in, but they’ve committed three fouls in the whole game so far according to stats. One every 20 mins.

Looks like the weather will liven the game up. Should see if Steve McLaren has a brolly.

Fine,  let’s get the red carpet out for city on Tuesday.

End of season clear-out starts early at Old Trafford.

Old Trafford flooding pic.twitter.com/li0WFMpbtY

— jaymie gooner (@jaymietee) May 12, 2024

If anything stands as a metaphor for the state of the club it’s the roof of the North Stand.  Its been pissing in rain for years now, without the owners feeling like they might possibly want to do something about it.

Luckily it doesn’t rain much round here 🙄

They can’’t even be arsed to fix the roof to keep the fans dry but they happily pay Martial a quarter of a million a week for a season where he hasn’t played. Again!

United did ok today – I can’t recall a worse starting 11 than what they put out today? Perhaps some of the line ups in one of the Fergie transition seasons, Kleberson, Djemba Djemba etc.

Kleberson, Djemba Djemba etc.

*shudders*

Yeah, Fergie wasn’t immune from making bloody awful signings. IIRC those 2 clowns were signed on the same day

The rain pouring through That Roof seemed like a metaphor.

Yeah, first thought was that they didn’t do badly in the game, but to give ManU their weekly kicking the roof starts leaking like a sieve and is the story, they can’t catch a break on or off the pitch!

Surely the leaking roof must be failing some public safety measures?

It always makes me curious when some teams have long injury lists – makes me wonder what they do in training to hobble so many players.

It always makes me curious when some teams have long injury lists – makes me wonder what they do in training to hobble so many players.

Too many FA cup replays 🤦

Regarding injuries – it doesn’t surprise me that Newcastle, Liverpool and Spurs seem to get so many, with the fitness demands of a pretty high intensity style. Training must replicate the match, to a large extent. But that fails to explain United’s injuries, given most players seem to amble out and are pretty passive during games.

Good question! I think some is down to style of play, injury is linked to fatigue and high intensity pressing type styles lead to a lot of fatigue and accumulated fatigue. I believe that’s been Newcastle’s issue earlier on in the season, as players get fatigued and injured others incur more workload and in turn are more susceptible. There has been a shift in Newcastle’s intensity, it is much more measured now and wait for a chance to commit rather than trying to force one.

At the same time, NUFC quite publicly got rid of their sports science team / head physio mid season, so also signs that they weren’t managing that loading and recovery well enough.

Not sure what situation at man utd is though….they don’t seem to run around an awful lot.

Chelsea are statistically the worst affected team by injuries.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/arsenal-10th-man-utd-4th-where-do-clubs-rank-in-the-premier-league-injury-table-this-season-/view/news/437159

Can’t be down to just style of play. Don’t forget Chelsea signed Lavia & he has barely played for half an hour.