Football – 2023/24 Season

Our new keeper is covering himself in glory.

I suppose he’d have faired better if there had been a United defender in the same half as him

We are a (very, very expensive) pub side.

Arsenal conceded in the first minute too?

Promising first half for the Albion, 2-1 up against Boro and passing the ball pretty well.

good picture, those clouds look like a massive lamb looking over the roof of the stand.

^ The Lord is my Shepherd 🔵⚪

I thought it looked more like Yoda.

Bit of a blip in the first half for the tractor boys, hoping we can still get a result out of this with 15 minutes left to play

Bit of a blip in the first half for the tractor boys, hoping we can still get a result out of this with 15 minutes left to play

Indeed – turns out one of my riding mates is at Portman Road, in the away end….

Was ecstatic with that lead at Man U but knew we’d struggle to hold. Points is what counts but happy with the result, the main issue for Forest last term was convincing ourselves we belonged in this league.

A respectable 1 goal loss at Arsenal where they needed to bring on defensive cover for the last 10 as we were getting at them (they spanked us 5:0 there last season) two goals scored at Old Trafford is huge after last years away fotm, 10 men with attackers coming on for the last 15, that’s what you want to see!

Couple of signings to come in but more than anything the belief looks there, looking forward to what’s ahead this season.

I’m getting carried away but 7 points from 3 games,  2 away and home vs man u, was not what I expected.  Top of the league! Until City play.  I wonder…. Burnley away,  the blades come to whl… we could stay near the top until late September.   Then we go to the library and host Liverpool before October starts so I think I should just enjoy it right now as I doubt it will last.

I’ll leave this here and it will give me some consolation when bouncing around the bottom in January.

Yeah! And it’s seven points in the bank for the inevitable downturn. Ward-Prowse and Alvarez both looked good.

Well the Berkshire Behemoth lost to early pacesetters Exeter and are now languishing 16th.
One of my mates traveled to the game but was able to defend himself as he was on his way to Cornwall anyway.

Hammers looking better without Rice? Looks like they’ve spent the money quite well, new signings looking good with Mavrpanos and hopefully Kudus to come. JWP’s prescison a perfect fit for what looks to be shaping up to be a very physical,  low possession team.

Meanwhile, I got a ticket to OT yesterday, I turned up five minutes late, glanced at the scoreboard and for a while genuinely thought it must have been an early 2pm kick off and my mate had told me the wrong time.

Off to Bramall Lane this afternoon 😬

If we can the City goal tally to three or less, I’ll take that 🤣

Arteta has lost the plot. I know we have lost Timbers and Yoshi, but he’s trying to fit Havertz into the side by playing quite a few out of position. We have a great pairing in Saliba and Gabriel but he left Gabs on the bench yesterday. I feel like he’s trying to be smart. He best sort it out soon.

Still, my pre season prediction of 5th still stands.

I thought The Ars just needed a tweak but Arteta over engineered them.

Yep, he’s over thinking it.  At the end of last season the lack of squad depth meant we had become a bit too predictable (and knackered – I see Saka played his 80 something consecutive PL match yesterday).  So it looks like the signings and coaching has been designed to increase squad depth but also makes us less predictable, but the end result is too many players in the wrong position and uncertain about the pattern of play around them.  Saliba needs to be installed at right centre back and get his choice of left centre back and right back, Partey needs to be alongside side Rice (although the rumour suggests that all is not right between Partey and club) and then need to find the right attack blend – but it doesn’t involve Martinalli, Trissard and Haevertz (do we have a right of return with him?) being on the pitch at the same time.

Havertz is really frustrating. Is he a striker? Winger/wide forward? Attacking midfielder? (See also Joao Felix). Not sure he makes Arsenal any better aside from giving Saka a break now and again but you wouldn’t spend that fee not to start him regularly.

In theory I think Haevertz has been bought as a sort of left sided equivalent of Odegaard – advanced midfield who knows where the goal is.  But we already have Martinelli (a little wider, I know) and Trossard, not forgetting Smith Rowe.  What he can’t do is lead the line like he was asked to do at Chelsea and what we have already asked him to do as Plan B.  It feels as though Arteta sees this as one of those managerial challenges which will look good on his CV if he gets it right, but more likely might just unbalance the team; an odd decision when it was announced and nothing yet to disprove the initial feeling.

In theory I think Haevertz has been bought as a sort of left sided equivalent of Odegaard – advanced midfield who knows where the goal is.

He knows where it is, but doesn’t seem to know what it’s there for

Of all the transfer business that’s been done (excepting our own, obviously… Mason Mount anyone?), Arsenal buying Haevertz is probably the most mystifying.

I just can’t see where he fits into that squad. He just looks lost

If he had been a free agent it might have been a cheap long shot idea, but I am sure we could have spent £65 million more wisely, especially when his struggles at Chelsea were so apparent

A question for the Citeh fans… is Phil Foden the new Ole Gunnar Solskjær?

I can’t understand why he doesn’t get more starts. He always has a massive impact when he comes on

Not a City fan but I think Foden will play more now given Gundogan has left, centrally rather than wide.

it’s what I was discussing / arguing with martinhutch last week….. he’s still young and needs managing, so you play him in the tough games like the one last week where he was immense, but sit him out this week. They can rest a few and still be way too good for most of the games they’ll play.

<scrolls back furiously> I literally do not remember this particular argument, which is worrying. 🙂

EDIT: Ah, yes, squad rotation. I think losing Gundogan and Mahrez means we’ll see Foden more often. It’s not exactly a thin squad yet though with Kovacic hopefully fitting in OK in midfield.

EDIT2: We need to get shot of that donkey Haaland though. 🙂

overstatement probably, arguing = constructive exchange of opinions rather than ‘outside, NOW!!’

you were complaining that having to play supercup and then Saturday was unfair, I said that’s why you have a massive quality squad with a B team that would be pushing for top 6, so you can rest players to avoid fatigue and injury. As you’ve done with Foden this week

especially if the refs are so determined to favour the top clubs……

But Cyberstriker 2000 needs a factory recalibration.

We always say this, then he goes and gets a hat trick in the second half 😂

Sheffield United have been pretty impressive in coping with the Citeh pressure here

A question for the Citeh fans… is Phil Foden the new Ole Gunnar Solskjær?

I really can’t understand why he didn’t start after his man of the match performance against Newcastle. When he came on again today he just speeded everything up, and improved the team. IMO he should be on the team sheet ahead of Silva and Kovacic, not that they played badly it is just I think the team is better with him in.

Exciting finish to the game, was a little bit worried for a while.

especially if the refs are so determined to favour the top clubs……

I don’t really think you can say that today, the only decision that favoured city was the yellow card when Gvardiol got caught in the face, which was clearly accidental. The penalty was fair, especially when you see the example of how Dias defends and throws his body into blocks with his hands firmly held behind his back at the other end. And despite what some like to think about Grealish he actually gets kicked a lot, in fact the way city play with a lot of close control and passes in tight spaces they do get fouled quite a lot, I think sometime/often the refs feel a bit sorry for the opposition and don’t give out the cards they should.

especially if the refs are so determined to favour the top clubs……

TAA? Stonewall second booking. First or last minute the offence is the same.

Yeah well Liverpool and United do seem to get favourable treatment from the refs, not sure that relates to top teams getting the decisions though 😉

OK, BIG clubs 😉

surprised they haven’t managed to get someone (Gordon) running at TAA

oooh, hang on!!

Well he made the right decision that time, and I think that VVD might have added to the ban by abusing the official.

On the earlier incident it also looked like Klop had lost his rag and was screaming at the Newcastle bench, which also should have been yellow.

Yeah well Liverpool and United do seem to get favourable treatment from the refs

I think that is why Wolves played in red yesterday at Goodison.

In a sense that was easier – because as a straight red he had the backup of VAR if he had made a mistake.

TAA can’t tackle at the best of times, now he can’t even attempt a tackle

Glad others have noticed this and not just me then. I haven’t a clue what Haevertz is for or what he does. Bit like a project manager.

When Trent got his yellow, I immediately put a bet on a Liverpool player being red carded as I didn’t think he’d be on the pitch for much longer, and he should have been off. Nice of big Virge to oblige 😃

I still think they’ll be down to 9 pretty sharpish if Trent comes back on for the second half

Carragher – that’s not a clear goal scoring opportunity. Unbelievable. Dreadful bias.

Yep. Carragher at his most one-eyed