Football 17/18

[Wooderson]

Just now, The Nal said:

Nah. Not particularly a big Real fan. Just want to see a good game! Which I'm sure it will be. 

Madrid seem to be favourites everywhere which is surprising. 

 

I wouldnt even think the Echo has LFC as favourites chief.

[eFestivals]

2 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Madrid seem to be favourites everywhere which is surprising. 

surprising?

They can't seem to stop winning it at the mo, and they look around the same strength of team as they always do.

[thetime]

3 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Just want to see a good game! 

Stuff that, I just want liverpool to be  embarrased and klopp to keep up his cup final record.

[The Nal]

14 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

I wouldnt even think the Echo has LFC as favourites chief.

Seems odd to me. Nearly identical league records across all metrics this season, position, wins, draws, losses, goals scored/conceded, points. Madrid were very lucky against Juve and if they played that Bayern game again 100 times they'd lose 100 times.  

Just think Madrid have run out of "getting it done" cards now.

Although that could be just myself and Phil Thomspons opinion sure. 

13 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

surprising?

They can't seem to stop winning it at the mo, and they look around the same strength of team as they always do.

Nah they're nowhere near the team of a few years ago. Its actually quite amazing how they've gotten this far. Spurs stuffed them, they needed a dodgy pen to get it done against Juve and Bayern had 180 minutes of madness up front. 

But granted, they did, so fair play to them. They're still Real Madrid and the competitions best team for the last few years but they're a 2 or 3 person team this season. 

Fascinating really. Both teams have incredible strength going forward and are glaring weaknesses at the back at times.

11 minutes ago, thetime said:

Stuff that, I just want liverpool to be  embarrased and klopp to keep up his cup final record.

Hehehe, well yeah, if Liverpool lose 7 nil Ill be the first on here trolling. But I think we'll be seeing images of this come Sunday morning.

Edited May 21, 2018 by The Nal

[DareToDibble]

38 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Madrid seem to be favourites everywhere which is surprising. 

 

I think that's fair to be honest. They just seem to win this competition with a lot more ease than anyone else. 3 in 4 years, possibly 4 in 5. No other team has even successful defended it in it's new format so their achievement is incredible.

Having said that I am optimistic. Some of their defenders are fantastic going forward but can be got at when they have to defend. Plus we won a Champions League with Djimi Traore so anything is possible.

 

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't see there was another page. 

Edited May 21, 2018 by DareToDibble

[Wooderson]

Either side could be 2-0 down in the first 15 and still go on to win it. Thats what we're after, right? Proper belter of a final.

7-0 would be grim. Reds fans are quietly confident of a performance. We beat City 3 times since Chrimble and theyre arguably far better than Madrid.

?

[The Nal]

Just now, Wooderson said:

Either side could be 2-0 down in the first 15 and still go on to win it. Thats what we're after, right? Proper belter of a final.

7-0 would be grim. Reds fans are quietly confident of a performance. We beat City 3 times since Chrimble and theyre arguably far better than Madrid.

?

Also lost to WBA and Swansea. But Madrid have lost to Leganes.

Very similar seasons in that regard too. Lots of results against dogshit, losses and draws but also dished out a fair few 5 and 6 nil hammerings too. 

[DareToDibble]

I''m fairly  certain both teams will score. I can't get the image of Ronaldo scoring one of his headers where he somehow jumps about a foot higher than the defenders out of my head. Ridiculous player.

[The Nal]

3 minutes ago, DareToDibble said:

I''m fairly  certain both teams will score. I can't get the image of Ronaldo scoring one of his headers where he somehow jumps about a foot higher than the defenders out of my head. Ridiculous player.

Oh that'll happen yeah

Edited May 21, 2018 by The Nal

[DareToDibble]

Just now, The Nal said:

Oh that'll happen yeah

 

Yeah he did this to my country and he's gonna do it to my club.

Ronaldo; ruining my dreams one ridiculous header at a time.

[Gucci Piggy]

3 hours ago, Dan R said:

Just seen Nainggolan isn't in the Belgium squad, but they are taking Chadli and Januzaj, plus a fourth keeper. They've got some quality players and are gonna be tough in the group but really don't get how Martinez decided on that. 

Nah they're not, that's the provisional squad. 5 of them (including a keeper) will be left out of the final squad.

Martinez said they can't offer Nainggolan an important role like he has at Roma and that's why he hasn't taken him. He doesn't really fit into their first XI midfield but it's pretty ridiculous to not even have him in the squad (and Martinez's reason for not selecting him doesn't really make much sense). The only thing I can think is Martinez expects him to be a disruptive influence or something if he's there just to sit on the bench, or him and Martinez have just fallen out in general.

[Gucci Piggy]

Definitely Emery, then. Prefer that to Arteta. Did well at Sevilla which is a much more similar job to Arsenal than PSG is.

[jyoung]

Came to post that. Shame, Arteta would've been jokes...

[Wooderson]

Emery to the Emirates.

[mjsell]

Think I would have preferred Arteta. And I wasn't completely sold on that idea either. 

[CRW5252]

Emery's record is pretty incredible. Very good at working on a budget which I'm sure the Arsenal board loved. 

Part of me still would have liked us to go for an inexperienced manager and break the mould but it is probably sensible to go for a manager with a proven track record

[Wooderson]

4 minutes ago, mjsell said:

Think I would have preferred Arteta. And I wasn't completely sold on that idea either. 

Emery a strange fit for the Arse. 

[lost]

Looking like Pellegrini to the hammers and Silva to Everton too according to a few places.

[Gucci Piggy]

Just now, Wooderson said:

Emery a strange fit for the Arse. 

How so? Great record with Sevilla who, based on Arsenal's supposed budget, recent league positions and European standing, were in a similar position to where Arsenal are now. Arsenal of course is a higher profile job and has a higher profile of playing staff, but he also has experience in that regard due to his time at PSG.

Even if Arsenal should be aiming higher than that, that's where they currently are, and even if it's just to steady the ship for a couple of years it doesn't seem a bad fit to me.

Anyway, last time he came up against Klopp/Liverpool:

 

[CRW5252]

25 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

Emery a strange fit for the Arse. 

Seems a good fit to me overall as he is used to working on a budget and his record speaks for itself. The main point against him is that he doesn't necessarily play the style of football Arsenal are known for. Perhaps that is a good thing though as we don't really have the players to play like that anymore.

[Wooderson]

20 minutes ago, CRW5252 said:

Seems a good fit to me overall as he is used to working on a budget and his record speaks for itself. The main point against him is that he doesn't necessarily play the style of football Arsenal are known for. Perhaps that is a good thing though as we don't really have the players to play like that anymore.

The style of footie is dour, like the man. He could be a success however. 

[Gnomicide]

Slap!

https://youtu.be/d72Ru3y4YJA

 

[CRW5252]

1 hour ago, Wooderson said:

The style of footie is dour, like the man. He could be a success however. 

I wouldn't say the style is dour. He varies his tactics a lot. His teams can play great football but he is often pragmatic against big teams. We have certainly lacked someone like that at Arsenal in recent years. 

[mjsell]

1 hour ago, Wooderson said:

The style of footie is dour, like the man. He could be a success however. 

From everything I've read, theres not been much to say that his style of football is especially boring. Could you explain?

I'm not going to take much notice of his time at PSG because I get the sense that he wasnt allowed to play/manage the way he normally would - So anyone with good knowledge of his time at Sevilla/Valencia who could shed more light on the 'dour footie' comment would be much appreciated.

I like what I've read about actually having some defensive tactical awareness.

 

[CRW5252]

24 minutes ago, mjsell said:

I'm not going to take much notice of his time at PSG because I get the sense that he wasnt allowed to play/manage the way he normally would.

He didn't do badly at PSG either. He won 4 cups and a league in 2 seasons. It was just the champions league that was his downfall