Football 2013-2014

[JoeyT]

Is Old Trafford as difficult a place to play at under Moyes though? I'm sure if City score early on then they'll want to make a statement so will go for all out attack. Much like Chelsea did with Arsenal on Saturday.

United's midfield has been out played and out muscled for much of the season against lesser sides so will Pellegrini need to flood it? I see no reason for it against a team which hasn't even been a match for the likes of Sunderland etc.

[The Nal]

that won't sort than out better than a skills increase would do.

All that matters for beating the opposition is having a greater skill-set than the opposition. That doesn't have to come via muscle as the likes of Barca gets to show.

All muscle gets to mean at the end of the day is that one team is better at kicking the other team. That doesn't mean you win. If it did then the likes of Stoke and WHU would be winning the league.

Edited March 24, 2014 by The Nal

[Wooderson]

Fucking hell I'm completely lost now. Sometimes I swear you speak a different language dude.

[LondonTom]

I think you have to blame the keeper for that Rooney goal, he completely lost the flight of the ball and at times was backtracking away from where it was headed. Looking at where he started and where it bounced if he'd have been able to follow it directly he could have comfortably caught it before crossing the line.

[mrtourette]

Soz gaffer. It was a simple typo in the first place.

Hiberno English is a slightly different language. Like most dialects I could have a conversation with someone from here that people from Dublin might not understand.

[TheGayTent]

Nah I think that's the worst West Ham have played since January.

[DomDom1984]

United look much better at dealing with dross at the moment. So it'll be interesting to see how they look against City tomorrow. When I say interesting, what I mean is "hilarious", because that defence should still get torn a new one.

[eFestivals]

Its not a dig, its a valid opinion. Utd have nothing to do with it. Wenger looked puzzled himself yesterday. Arsenal got bullied. Yet again.

nope, they got beat by a better team; that's what normally happens in football.

But hey, if you wanttro admit that Utd are being bullied almost weekly this season and on numerous occasions in recent years too then I'll let your comment stand unchallenged.

They've won one game from 15 away from home vs top 4 in the last 5 seasons.

Lost 13. Conceded 44 goals.

yep, the worst team tends to lose, that's football. Which is why the even-worse team is in 7th.

As loosing equals being bullied in your book, at least Arsenal can claim to not get bullied by the crappest sides but only the strongest, which would not be the case for the other top teams - cos of the top teams Arsenal tend to drop the fewest points against the weakest teams.

Any team that loses is 'weak' - as proven by them being too weak to do anything but lose. This 'weak' stuff really is the most meaningless thing I think I've ever heard in football ... well, apart from all the comments about how Utd would be storming into a top 4 position about now.

Edited March 24, 2014 by eFestivals

[kaosmark2]

All muscle gets to mean at the end of the day is that one team is better at kicking the other team.

[eFestivals]

Messi uses his agility and balance to turn when he's got his back to goal then shoot, Giroud uses his strength. Both are perfectly valid methods

If your team is beaten, your team is weak.

The definitions and facts prove it so.

[LondonTom]

You think wrong. We were much worse against Norwich in February than we were on Saturday.

Man Utd teams of the past would have annihilated us playing like we did on Saturday. They are pretty poor - albeit we weren't facing their first XI.

[pink_triangle]

nope, they got beat by a better team; that's what normally happens in football.

yep, the worst team tends to lose, that's football.

As loosing equals being bullied in your book, at least Arsenal can claim to not get bullied by the crappest sides but only the strongest, which would not be the case for the other top teams - cos of the top teams Arsenal tend to drop the fewest points against the weakest teams.

[eFestivals]

Of course teams who play better teams away generally lose. However theres a difference between losing all the games and losing most of them. A team like Arsenal should have a better record away against the top 4 teams, I don't think Wenger would even deny that. Blah blah...

Yes, Arsenal do tend to consistently lose against the 'big' teams, but they end up maintaining their top-end position by getting better average results against the crapper teams than Chelsea, etc.

You can look it either way. Arsenal should do better against the teams that are better than them, or those other teams should do better against the teams that are worse than them.

And from that comparison, Arsenal's is the lesser crime.

Let's be fair. Apart from a month or two each season when some get carried away (me included), no one really thinks that Arsenal are the finished article that should be at the top of the league. You look at their squad, and while it has plenty of quality you know it's nowhere near as strong as City or Chelsea (and perhaps others). So if they were winning 50% of the games against them it'd be a surprise. And it's not a surprise that they get mostly beaten by them, as do all the sides which aren't as good.

Also the buck has to stop with the manager as he has to buy the players, pick the team and come up with the tactics to get the most of the players in those games.

Thatcher once suggested that we could all be millionaires. You and Nal are falling into the same trap.

Only one can be the winner. All others are weaker, and what particular skills might be thought lacking to make them that weaker doesn't much matter.

Being 'stronger' (rather than 'weak') doesn't mean you win. Only being better makes that difference.

There's more than one way to catch a monkey, as the saying goes. If your view won out we'd be back to players spending 90 minutes kicking the shit out of each other, and be enjoying less football.

If Wenger and his 'weak' teams didn't exist that's where English footie would still be, and those 'strong' English teams would be weak as fuck in European competition.

Edited March 24, 2014 by eFestivals

[DomDom1984]

It's not just losing against bigger sides that has been a problem for Arsenal this season. Three games against the other top four sides, they have conceded five or more goals. That's a MAJOR problem, and I think a lot of it comes down to the manager, at least on two of the occaisions anyways. Didn't watch the City game so don't know if it was the same sort of tactics.

[eFestivals]

It's not just losing against bigger sides that has been a problem for Arsenal this season. Three games against the other top four sides, they have conceded five or more goals. That's a MAJOR problem, and I think a lot of it comes down to the manager, at least on two of the occaisions anyways. Didn't watch the City game so don't know if it was the same sort of tactics.

arsenal can't defend, yeah, that's a new trait this season.

Arsenal are what Arsenal are. They've not had the money to compete with the big boys for a decade or so. In fact, they've not had the funds to win a relegation fight, and yet they've not needed to as they've been solidly in the top 4 for all that time, without spunking £30M+ each season on players as their competitors have.

They're as weak as you'd expect the team in 4th to be - weaker than the teams above them, and stronger than the teams below them.

Really, what's to say ... unless there's a new fashion of pointing out the obvious?

[mrtourette]

Jesus Christ even the football thread doesn't escape this shit.

[DomDom1984]

While I wouldn't necessarily expect Arsenal to be world beaters, I WOULD expect them to concede less goals against the top three sides than most teams in the EPL concede against the top four including Arsenal.

Once I reached 13th place without finding a side with a worse record not named Tottenham, I decided to just stop looking.

Also, it's not like they haven't spent millions on their defence so they should at least be doing better than that.

[pink_triangle]

Interesting comment from the football weekly podcast, apparently in Germany if Ox had admitted it was him who handballed, the referee would have taken his word and sent him off instead. However if a player was to pretend they were guilty to take the hit for a superior player, there would be significant repercussions for dishonesty.

[DomDom1984]

I'd say both things make sense. Also a guy was sent off for St. Mirren up here a couple of years back and that got rectified while the game was on.

Why is the FA so backwards on this issue? Or did the ref HAVE the option and just acted the dick?

[pink_triangle]

Yes, Arsenal do tend to consistently lose against the 'big' teams, but they end up maintaining their top-end position by getting better average results against the crapper teams than Chelsea, etc.

You can look it either way. Arsenal should do better against the teams that are better than them, or those other teams should do better against the teams that are worse than them.

And from that comparison, Arsenal's is the lesser crime.

So if they were winning 50% of the games against them it'd be a surprise. And it's not a surprise that they get mostly beaten by them, as do all the sides which aren't as good.

[kaosmark2]

If your team is beaten, your team is weak.

The definitions and facts prove it so.

[kemosabe]

Leeds are in serious problems... mates of mine who are serious fans think they might now go bust sad thing to see for a former giant of the english game... they might be palying non league though, in the league they will be in they normally take more away fans then the grounds hold

In other news Sunderland are going down... Already started planning next season for m! Loads of Northern teams which is great is it sad that im more excited to go down then stay up??? Genuinely fed up with the premier league and losing every week would much rather play Championship football for a few years... More wins, more games, cheaper tickets, more grounds i haven't been too... cant wait

[dentalplan]

Leeds are in serious problems... mates of mine who are serious fans think they might now go bust sad thing to see for a former giant of the english game... they might be palying non league though, in the league they will be in they normally take more away fans then the grounds hold

In other news Sunderland are going down... Already started planning next season for m! Loads of Northern teams which is great is it sad that im more excited to go down then stay up??? Genuinely fed up with the premier league and losing every week would much rather play Championship football for a few years... More wins, more games, cheaper tickets, more grounds i haven't been too... cant wait

Edited March 25, 2014 by dentalplan

[t8yman]

Our (Hull) fans have always made me laugh. When we went down, they all said "the championship is better anyway", then they are all up their own arses when we got back into the prem. I genuinely did prefer the championship - yes the glamour isnt the same, but the games were more entertaining to watch in the ground, less diving and general gamesmanship/cheating, fewer primadonnas, and as has been said - games were winnable.

Edited March 25, 2014 by t8yman

[kaosmark2]

I enjoyed our season in the Championship, I'd prefer not to repeat it anytime soon though.