Football 17/18

[The Nal]

13 minutes ago, Dan R said:

But the 4 games they've lost were to arsenal, man utd, Chelsea and Liverpool. And it was close in a lot of those matches. Seems like the league table is all the owners have looked at.

Yup. And the decision will appear justified when the new manager picks up a load of decent results in the next run of games vs Swansea, Leeds, Everton, Stoke, City, West Ham, Spurs, Burnley, Newcastle, Southampton, Palace......

Edited October 17, 2017 by The Nal

[Hugh Jass]

If you can’t beat West Brom at home you don’t deserve a job.

[jyoung]

41 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

If you can’t beat West Brom at home you don’t deserve a job.

We sacked AVB after losing 1-0 to you lot and that is a result I will forever be grateful for.

[kaosmark2]

Hughton got sacked for us when we were 10th in the table after shipping 3 goals to West Brom.

We finished that season in 11th with Pardew, with the final game being.... shipping 3 goals to West Brom.

[jyoung]

Massive result for Tottenham. Nothing more than you'd expect from the Liverpool game and the City machine rolls on. Could English teams dominate UCL this year?

[pink_triangle]

5 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

To be honest Shakespeare never looked long for that job, even when they were winning matches last season. Always had the air of a man promoted above his ability.

I think one thing that works against Shakespeare is the fact he hasn't got the track record which would buy him time. Realistically what managers job could he get now. I'm not convinced championship teams would be knocking his door down.

[mjsell]

17 minutes ago, jyoung said:

Massive result for Tottenham. Nothing more than you'd expect from the Liverpool game and the City machine rolls on. Could English teams dominate UCL this year?

Not dominate no. Compete, yes. 

Great result for Spurs, especially considering their lack of options due to injuries and suspensions. 

Plus the Dortmund game ending a draw means that one more result and they are safely through - either beat Apoel at home or even a draw with Dortmund should see them through (providing Apoel don't go on a mad one)

Another game where Benzema misses golden chances. He may have a good goalscoring record - think I heard them mention he is now 6th in Madrid's all time list, but the amount he misses is unbelievable.

 

[pink_triangle]

21 minutes ago, jyoung said:

Massive result for Tottenham. Nothing more than you'd expect from the Liverpool game and the City machine rolls on. Could English teams dominate UCL this year?

Depends how you define dominate. Probably most teams in the last 8, however I'm not convinced any beat Real Madrid, Barca, PSG etc when the pressure is really on. Liverpool still gave work to reach the last 16.

[pink_triangle]

1 minute ago, mjsell said:

 

Another game where Benzema misses golden chances. He may have a good goalscoring record - think I heard them mention he is now 6th in Madrid's all time list, but the amount he misses is unbelievable.

 

I think the fact that Ronaldo likes him and links well with him, is a key reason for his continued role. 

[jyoung]

43 minutes ago, mjsell said:

Not dominate no. Compete, yes. 

Yeah I suppose what I mean is, when it gets to the latter stages, which nation will be most heavily represented. I don't for a second think Chelsea are gonna steamroll PSG 7-0 on aggregate in the knockouts while the Reds and Spurs both turn over Bayern and Barca.

43 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Depends how you define dominate. Probably most teams in the last 8, however I'm not convinced any beat Real Madrid, Barca, PSG etc when the pressure is really on. Liverpool still gave work to reach the last 16.

Agreed. That said though, Spurs had a good go tonight so who knows how Utd and City would fair. We'll have to see. There will be some cracking ties in the knockouts, that's certain. It's a good year for UCL.

[zahidf]

46 minutes ago, mjsell said:

Not dominate no. Compete, yes. 

Great result for Spurs, especially considering their lack of options due to injuries and suspensions. 

Plus the Dortmund game ending a draw means that one more result and they are safely through - either beat Apoel at home or even a draw with Dortmund should see them through (providing Apoel don't go on a mad one)

Another game where Benzema misses golden chances. He may have a good goalscoring record - think I heard them mention he is now 6th in Madrid's all time list, but the amount he misses is unbelievable.

 

yeah good result considering they were missing wanayama and Ali. Great performance from Harry winks as well. He didnt put a foot wrong, tough for a 21 year old playing at Real. And Sissoko is much better than he was last year.

[pink_triangle]

5 minutes ago, jyoung said:

Yeah I suppose what I mean is, when it gets to the latter stages, which nation will be most heavily represented. I don't for a second think Chelsea are gonna steamroll PSG 7-0 on aggregate in the knockouts while the Reds and Spurs both turn over Bayern and Barca.

Agreed. That said though, Spurs had a good go tonight so who knows how Utd and City would fair. We'll have to see. There will be some cracking ties in the knockouts, that's certain. It's a good year for UCL.

Could Spurs do it in a knockout game when the pressure is really on? Look at Madrid they dropped points in 3 group games last year. They perform in the big games.

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, zahidf said:

yeah good result considering they were missing wanayama and Ali. Great performance from Harry winks as well. He didnt put a foot wrong, tough for a 21 year old playing at Real. And Sissoko is much better than he was last year.

Sissoko is a beast when he can be bothered, which is when the cameras are on him.

[zahidf]

8 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Could Spurs do it in a knockout game when the pressure is really on? Look at Madrid they dropped points in 3 group games last year. They perform in the big games.

A draw away at Real is 'doing it' id say. Real were really going for it as well

[pink_triangle]

3 minutes ago, zahidf said:

A draw away at Real is 'doing it' id say. Real were really going for it as well

Spurs lose that match and they are still favourites to progress. Knockouts is a completely different animal. The likes of Madrid win when they really need to win, as I said they drew half their group matches last time.

[thetime]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

Spurs lose that match and they are still favourites to progress. Knockouts is a completely different animal. The likes of Madrid win when they really need to win, as I said they drew half their group matches last time.

Still a pretty impressive result and the way they played, Jose's Utd wouldn't have got past the half way line.

[eFestivals]

Just now, thetime said:

Still a pretty impressive result and the way they played, Jose's Utd wouldn't have got past the half way line.

Yep, can't knock Spurs for that one. Not losing to Real is a good result for any team at any time, and from what i read it sounded like Spurs had a proper go at winning too.

But i was watching Liverpool bang them in, and while they weren't the world's best opposition there was a Liverpool with its mojo back and everything clicking last night (until the substitutions).

Am looking forwards to Spurs/Liverpool on Sunday, as Spurs don't have a fleet of buses and both teams will have had the same mid-week euro excursions and a decent break before that match. Will hopefully be a good'un.

[pink_triangle]

11 minutes ago, thetime said:

Still a pretty impressive result and the way they played, Jose's Utd wouldn't have got past the half way line.

No doubt about it, however the jury still out on Spurs. Are they a team who can win when they really need to win. I don't think the evidence is there yet.

[eFestivals]

1 minute ago, pink_triangle said:

Are they a team who can win when they really need to win. I don't think the evidence is there yet.

last season, nope.

Sunday will be interesting, to see if it's changed.

[pink_triangle]

9 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

last season, nope.

Sunday will be interesting, to see if it's changed.

I think it's too early in the season for that judgement. My thoughts is more in the last couple of seasons spurs have needed to win to stay in the title race and dropped points, they have also lost knockout games including an fa cup semi final.

[eFestivals]

5 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I think it's too early in the season for that judgement. My thoughts is more in the last couple of seasons spurs have needed to win to stay in the title race and dropped points, they have also lost knockout games including an fa cup semi final.

i'd say if they win on Sunday it might not be a judgement, but it will be an indication of an improvement.

Cos it's exactly the type of game they'd have previously dropped points on, so if they don't on Sunday that's one less game they've dropped points on compared to last season.

I'm really pleased that they've both had overseas trips for the same day this week, so that everything for their preparation is the same and neither side can claim they've been disadvantaged by it. It stands the chance of being a proper cracker.

[sdvruxk]

24 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

No doubt about it, however the jury still out on Spurs. Are they a team who can win when they really need to win. I don't think the evidence is there yet.

You don't like Spurs do you? 

[zahidf]

2 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

i'd say if they win on Sunday it might not be a judgement, but it will be an indication of an improvement.

Cos it's exactly the type of game they'd have previously dropped points on, so if they don't on Sunday that's one less game they've dropped points on compared to last season.

I'm really pleased that they've both had overseas trips for the same day this week, so that everything for their preparation is the same and neither side can claim they've been disadvantaged by it. It stands the chance of being a proper cracker.

Should be a top game. I reckon Spurs should win it, they are the slightly better team, esp with Mane out 

[zahidf]

43 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

No doubt about it, however the jury still out on Spurs. Are they a team who can win when they really need to win. I don't think the evidence is there yet.

Who cares? Ill enjoy them while i can. Same with City, Chelsea and liverpool.

 

I really like Pochettino and his modus operandi – faith in kids, tactically adept, doesnt insist on spending 100s of millions and then complain about underinvestment, and a seemingly decent guy.

Edited October 18, 2017 by zahidf

[zahidf]

2 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Spurs lose that match and they are still favourites to progress. Knockouts is a completely different animal. The likes of Madrid win when they really need to win, as I said they drew half their group matches last time.

People were def not saying that when the group was announced. The prevailing opinion was that Spurs would struggle to qualify.

A potential third top 4 in a row means that its not a fluke by any means.