Football 2022/23

[pink_triangle]

7 hours ago, thetime said:

What do you guys think of the Mason Greenwood situation currently? With his release and all charges dropped. 

Hakimi charged with rape and no suspension from PSG, also been called up for Morocco for the internationals. No out cry for him to get suspended, no booing him at the recent Bayern v PSG.

Also the other alleged rumours of the Arsenal midfielder being investigated for rape, Kyle walker flashing. 

 

I think if it was just based on the accusation he would probably be ok. However in this case the audio and photos exist. I can’t see how he can play for Man Utd (or England) again on that basis. He can probably go abroad and get away with it.

[Neil]

41 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

He can probably go abroad and get away with it.

That didn't work out so well for the last scummy kid at utd, forget his name, think he went to West ham for a bit before abroad. 

[pink_triangle]

I don’t get this argument that they need to keep the group stage at 4 teams because of how exciting the last world cups group stage was. The reason the group stage was exciting was because half the teams went out. That jeopardy will go with 2/3 of the third teams going through.

I think it’s fine however to justify it based on the fact 3 game groups are a terrible idea. To be honest if they are going to stick with 4 team groups and a last 32, they may as well expand to 64, I suspect they will in the future.

[pink_triangle]

To me that’s the ideal champions league draw. The thought of a combination of Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern fighting it out in a final was not interesting to me.

[Ryan1984]

6 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

I don’t get this argument that they need to keep the group stage at 4 teams because of how exciting the last world cups group stage was. The reason the group stage was exciting was because half the teams went out. That jeopardy will go with 2/3 of the third teams going through.

I think it’s fine however to justify it based on the fact 3 game groups are a terrible idea. To be honest if they are going to stick with 4 team groups and a last 32, they may as well expand to 64, I suspect they will in the future.

32 is perfect for a month of football. Wish they just kept it as it is. 64 would also make qualification matches even more of a chore (on that note, I’m a little worried for England in our group with Italy and Ukraine).

[pink_triangle]

3 hours ago, Ryan1984 said:

32 is perfect for a month of football. Wish they just kept it as it is. 64 would also make qualification matches even more of a chore (on that note, I’m a little worried for England in our group with Italy and Ukraine).

I prefer 64 as it makes qualification more likely for Wales. I also think continents outside Europe and South America get underrepresented with 32. People talk about diluting the quality, I’m not convinced there is a huge gap between the teams ranked around 20 and 64.

[charlierc]

7 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

To me that’s the ideal champions league draw. The thought of a combination of Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern fighting it out in a final was not interesting to me.

One of AC Milan, Inter Milan, Napoli or Benfica is in the final. That's quite a cool combo tbf, not least given that Napoli and Benfica have both been in brilliant domestic form.

[charlierc]

On 3/12/2023 at 7:55 PM, thetime said:

Certainly interesting down there, Palace not winning in 2023 could be one of them to go. 

Brighton and Arsenal away there next 2 league games. 

 

Yesterday morning they announced Patrick Vieira was being binned off after the Brighton loss made it 12 games in a row without a win.

I'm not really sure what I make of the thing tbh. There's an argument that 12 games without winning, a dreadful performance at Aston Villa with zero shots on target and boardroom tension between manager and board are the kind of thing that don't help, but equally, there's 2/3 games where they nearly won and they had the misfortune of playing a fixture list composed exclusively of teams above them in the table.

An early rumour is they're bringing back Roy Hodgson, which feels like a bit of a step backwards tbh.

[charlierc]

On the basis of last night, there's cause for optimism and pessimism for whether I think Newcastle can make top 4. We had the drive to get the win and Isak seems to have now got to grips with the league and teammates, but with Almiron and Gordon injured, our lack of depth up top is a worry, as is the fact it took an injury time handball to break down a flimsy Forest defence. Still, 2 wins in 2 gets our arses back in gear.

It genuinely puzzled me as to why Anderson's goal was disallowed last night. I accept Longstaff was offside but the ball was played by one Forest defender off another without touching Longstaff. It just seems as though the definition of interference is one that refs seem to inconsistently give on, not least after Rashford in the Manchester Derby seemed to indicate more of lenience on that one. Guess we won so I'm less annoyed about it.

[thetime]

5 minutes ago, charlierc said:

On the basis of last night, there's cause for optimism and pessimism for whether I think Newcastle can make top 4. We had the drive to get the win and Isak seems to have now got to grips with the league and teammates, but with Almiron and Gordon injured, our lack of depth up top is a worry, as is the fact it took an injury time handball to break down a flimsy Forest defence. Still, 2 wins in 2 gets our arses back in gear.

It genuinely puzzled me as to why Anderson's goal was disallowed last night. I accept Longstaff was offside but the ball was played by one Forest defender off another without touching Longstaff. It just seems as though the definition of interference is one that refs seem to inconsistently give on, not least after Rashford in the Manchester Derby seemed to indicate more of lenience on that one. Guess we won so I'm less annoyed about it.

I don't think you score enough and from an outsider you dont seem to win games comfortably. Take last night's game you were in total control and just about managed the 3 points. 

You will win plenty, but the draws you are bound to get will cost you a top 4 position imo. 

I know it's early in your new regime, but this is your big chance. The other teams you would think would be in the top 4(Liverpool and chelsea), have given man utd, Newcastle and spurs an easy ride really. 

I'd imagine Liverpool being totally out of it come mid April, they maybe be down to 9th or 10th. 

Newcastle v Man Utd? 1-2

[thetime]

14 minutes ago, charlierc said:

 

It genuinely puzzled me as to why Anderson's goal was disallowed last night. I accept Longstaff was offside but the ball was played by one Forest defender off another without touching Longstaff. It just seems as though the definition of interference is one that refs seem to inconsistently give on, not least after Rashford in the Manchester Derby seemed to indicate more of lenience on that one. Guess we won so I'm less annoyed about it.

Yes it was a strange one, you get some and some you don't. You got lucky last week with pope, last night it went against you.

 

[charlierc]

So Antonio Conte's reaction to Spurs blowing a 3-1 lead to draw at Southampton was quite something, first saying his players don't play as a team, then effectively saying Daniel Levy is a specialist in failure.

Though it almost feels like a Spurs thing to do that he might still be about for their next PL game in 2 weeks time.

[charlierc]

8 hours ago, thetime said:

I don't think you score enough and from an outsider you dont seem to win games comfortably. Take last night's game you were in total control and just about managed the 3 points. 

You will win plenty, but the draws you are bound to get will cost you a top 4 position imo. 

I know it's early in your new regime, but this is your big chance. The other teams you would think would be in the top 4(Liverpool and chelsea), have given man utd, Newcastle and spurs an easy ride really. 

I'd imagine Liverpool being totally out of it come mid April, they maybe be down to 9th or 10th. 

Newcastle v Man Utd? 1-2

Depth is an issue coming up imo and is now getting a little worse given top scorer Almiron will be out for six weeks with a thigh injury, Saint-Maximin had to be taken off at half-time with hamstring damage, Wilson wasn't fit enough to come off the bench and Gordon has some kind of unspecified problem. Joelinton returning from a ban will help a little, but it is the case that we're going up against teams with more problem solvers in reserve. 

Last night was one of those things - Anderson's irritatingly disallowed goal aside, we seemed to need a lot to break down what was at times a fairly disorganised Forest backline. At this stage of the season, I'll happily take the win. Not every game is going to be like when we put 5 past Brentford and 4 past Villa back in October I guess.

Still 12 games to go tbf. Plenty of twists yet. Spurs at home imo is the one that could be pivotal, although be nice to get something off Man Utd as well. But that's a post-internationals problem.

[Neil]

8 minutes ago, charlierc said:

So Antonio Conte's reaction to Spurs blowing a 3-1 lead to draw at Southampton was quite something, first saying his players don't play as a team, then effectively saying Daniel Levy is a specialist in failure.

Though it almost feels like a Spurs thing to do that he might still be about for their next PL game in 2 weeks time.

story has been going around that he's the next prem manager to be sacked.

[charlierc]

8 minutes ago, Neil said:

story has been going around that he's the next prem manager to be sacked.

Since the loss to Sheffield United in the FA Cup at the start of the month, it's felt like the interest in continuing a contract due to expire at the end of this season had dwindled.

Now it just reads like Conte wants to be fired.

[thetime]

Fulham had that in there hands, then it went pear shaped.

Big fan of Mitrovic, that guy is crazy. 

[charlierc]

On 3/19/2023 at 6:58 PM, thetime said:

Fulham had that in there hands, then it went pear shaped.

Big fan of Mitrovic, that guy is crazy. 

The FA might have noticed

I'm not sure what they were hoping to achieve either. That was definitely a penalty and red card against Willian, and they seemed to react by going nuclear.

To say nothing as well of this being a weekend where Wolves' manager claimed there's a reffing conspiracy against them, which is one way to react to recent disappointments.

[pink_triangle]

11 hours ago, charlierc said:

The FA might have noticed

I'm not sure what they were hoping to achieve either. That was definitely a penalty and red card against Willian, and they seemed to react by going nuclear.

To say nothing as well of this being a weekend where Wolves' manager claimed there's a reffing conspiracy against them, which is one way to react to recent disappointments.

You could understand slightly in a prev VAR world where there is the frustration of injustice, now if the referee has made a mistake it will be corrected.

My perspective is that it’s a terrible look and footballers need to be role models for grassroots. At the same time I wonder if it was a “big club” or a player with a better reputation if we wouldn’t be looking at the same outcome.

[Neil]

woy is back 🙂 

[pink_triangle]

Seems a strange choice for a club struggling to score, didn’t do much with Watford last season.

[charlierc]

On 3/21/2023 at 8:03 AM, pink_triangle said:

You could understand slightly in a prev VAR world where there is the frustration of injustice, now if the referee has made a mistake it will be corrected.

My perspective is that it’s a terrible look and footballers need to be role models for grassroots. At the same time I wonder if it was a “big club” or a player with a better reputation if we wouldn’t be looking at the same outcome.

It's equally bizarre as that was absolutely handball.

Silva can be a hyper-critical one - I recall him being outright furious with the refs as Everton manager a lot, not least a game at Newcastle I was at 4 years ago (admittedly one where Newcastle's winning goal was offside, but then Everton were lucky not to have a player or two sent off).

Mitrovic absolutely has no excuse. I know there's arguments over Bruno Fernandes shoving the lino during Man United's demolition at Anfield the other week, but that's its own questionable case. His was with a very aggressive intent.

[charlierc]

On 3/21/2023 at 8:35 AM, Neil said:

woy is back 🙂 

I think Crystal Palace fans have a right to question if this is really a positive step, given they seemed happy to move on from him at the end of 2020/21. I know Vieira was in poor form and that if you choose to sack a manager with 10 games or so remaining, you can be at the mercy of what's available (although ironically Rafa Benitez was someone we turned to at this point in 2016 and is available after the misfire at Everton).

That and tbf the fact he just didn't fit Watford in their survival hopes at all didn't help. It may well be that such a chaotic relegation battle where Palace still have to play all of the teams below them might be a saving grace as there's a ton of opportunities to get decisive points.

[thetime]

[pink_triangle]

Ben Foster signed for Wrexham, will be interesting to see if he can still perform after not playing this season.

[Ryan1984]

39 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Ben Foster signed for Wrexham, will be interesting to see if he can still perform after not playing this season.

And if it affects his ability to gob off on his YouTube channel 😉