Football 2024/25

[thetime]

Not heard much from Liverpool fans on here lately, they get a good run going and you can't shut them up.

 

As fake as the Anfield atmosphere. ☺️

 

[charlierc]

I mean, 4 points for Ipswich from Spurs and Man United is pretty good going. Given Southampton's increasingly ridiculous defending and Leicester making the face-value odd decision to sack Steve Cooper after only 12 games, maybe Ipswich might be the best bet of the 3 newboys to stay up after all.

[thetime]

26 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I mean, 4 points for Ipswich from Spurs and Man United is pretty good going. Given Southampton's increasingly ridiculous defending and Leicester making the face-value odd decision to sack Steve Cooper after only 12 games, maybe Ipswich might be the best bet of the 3 newboys to stay up after all.

 

They've got a nice 3 game run, with some winnable games. 

[kaosmark2]

On 11/24/2024 at 6:38 PM, charlierc said:

I mean, 4 points for Ipswich from Spurs and Man United is pretty good going. Given Southampton's increasingly ridiculous defending and Leicester making the face-value odd decision to sack Steve Cooper after only 12 games, maybe Ipswich might be the best bet of the 3 newboys to stay up after all.

I think Ipswich were playing pretty good football early in the season - they just weren't getting any wins out of it. I can see it being like the last 1/4 of the season Burnley had last year - things click and they just have a style and enough quality and belief and start getting the points on the board.

 

I thought Southampton looked pretty dependent on Ramsdale to keep them up, and he's not good enough to do it with that defending in front of him. They already look done and dusted.

 

Who goes down with them is interesting though - I thought Palace's squad looked good coming out of the transfer window between retentions and signings - but apart from a couple of games they haven't played well at all. Wolves can't defend at all but they've got goals in them and I think that should keep them up eventually. Everton by contrast can't score but seem able to nick just enough wins to keep to about 1point per game which would usually keep a team up. I haven't really seen enough of Leicester this season to make any analysis, but they still seem pretty dependent on Vardy up front? Struggle to think anyone above the current bottom 6 will be dragged into it either.

[charlierc]

Le sigh. A few good wins in a row for Newcastle followed up by a home faceplant against a West Ham side who spent most of the international break being the focus of "manager set to be sacked" rumours. Should really have known better.

[charlierc]

18 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

I think Ipswich were playing pretty good football early in the season - they just weren't getting any wins out of it. I can see it being like the last 1/4 of the season Burnley had last year - things click and they just have a style and enough quality and belief and start getting the points on the board.

 

I thought Southampton looked pretty dependent on Ramsdale to keep them up, and he's not good enough to do it with that defending in front of him. They already look done and dusted.

 

Who goes down with them is interesting though - I thought Palace's squad looked good coming out of the transfer window between retentions and signings - but apart from a couple of games they haven't played well at all. Wolves can't defend at all but they've got goals in them and I think that should keep them up eventually. Everton by contrast can't score but seem able to nick just enough wins to keep to about 1point per game which would usually keep a team up. I haven't really seen enough of Leicester this season to make any analysis, but they still seem pretty dependent on Vardy up front? Struggle to think anyone above the current bottom 6 will be dragged into it either.

Ipswich I think will be annoyed not to have won sooner - they let a lot of points go from winning positions early on. But they do seem to be getting it together.

 

Leicester now depends on who they can hire as a new manager. given the early choice to pull the plug on Cooper. The talk on whether they get a points deduction might also be a factor given the question marks on what their finances are or aren't.

 

Southampton are the favourites for the drop, yeah. Have a few decent moments but are generally bad at defending. It's still close though. I thought Wolves were in trouble but they're now beginning to show something. Everton still look like a relegation waiting to happen, Palace's rebuild all happened at the end of the window and never seems to have gelled quite well and ofc you never rule out someone having a nosedive and landing right in the thick of it.

[kaosmark2]

17 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Ipswich I think will be annoyed not to have won sooner - they let a lot of points go from winning positions early on. But they do seem to be getting it together.

 

Leicester now depends on who they can hire as a new manager. given the early choice to pull the plug on Cooper. The talk on whether they get a points deduction might also be a factor given the question marks on what their finances are or aren't.

 

Southampton are the favourites for the drop, yeah. Have a few decent moments but are generally bad at defending. It's still close though. I thought Wolves were in trouble but they're now beginning to show something. Everton still look like a relegation waiting to happen, Palace's rebuild all happened at the end of the window and never seems to have gelled quite well and ofc you never rule out someone having a nosedive and landing right in the thick of it.

Yeah definitely. There's quite a few games they could've pinched - the Liverpool one I remember thinking they possibly deserved more - but they've got enough about them that I'm hoping they just don't have a season-ruining run of bad form.

 

Palace are the one I find most curious - I think they've been really missing Wharton and Eze's looked a bit isolated creatively at times - but they've got enough else that I can't help but think they'll surely sort themselves out at some point. The rest of the bottom 6 I all thought would be around there from before but I just think they've got too much quality to be mired there all season. Having said/thought this about other teams that have gone down in the past...

[FeverDream]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

Le sigh. A few good wins in a row for Newcastle followed up by a home faceplant against a West Ham side who spent most of the international break being the focus of "manager set to be sacked" rumours. Should really have known better.

Such a frustrating game. If Isak wasn’t off-side for that first half goal I’m confident we’d have gone on to take all 3 points. We really struggle against low block teams and it’s clear that’s one of Howe’s weaknesses. This was an absolute must win match and would have had us 2 points off 2nd place… only saving grace is our fixture run remains fairly generous into Jan.
 

I’m not one for singling out individual players… but Lloyd Kelly man. I thought it was a good bit of business initially given he was a free, but I am starting to worry with Krafth injured and Botman seemingly no closer to return. At least Burn is back next match. 

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, FeverDream said:

Such a frustrating game. If Isak wasn’t off-side for that first half goal I’m confident we’d have gone on to take all 3 points. We really struggle against low block teams and it’s clear that’s one of Howe’s weaknesses. This was an absolute must win match and would have had us 2 points off 2nd place… only saving grace is our fixture run remains fairly generous into Jan.
 

I’m not one for singling out individual players… but Lloyd Kelly man. I thought it was a good bit of business initially given he was a free, but I am starting to worry with Krafth injured and Botman seemingly no closer to return. At least Burn is back next match. 

Botman I think is back ahead of schedule - it's a long term injury that was mismanaged last season so he is apparently potentially available soon. But yeah defence is a concern.

 

Plus yeah, the inability to break down the low block, incoherent substitutions and missing chances all counted against us. And ofc what is football if not a sport where you lose the games you think you should win.

[charlierc]

12 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Yeah definitely. There's quite a few games they could've pinched - the Liverpool one I remember thinking they possibly deserved more - but they've got enough about them that I'm hoping they just don't have a season-ruining run of bad form.

 

Palace are the one I find most curious - I think they've been really missing Wharton and Eze's looked a bit isolated creatively at times - but they've got enough else that I can't help but think they'll surely sort themselves out at some point. The rest of the bottom 6 I all thought would be around there from before but I just think they've got too much quality to be mired there all season. Having said/thought this about other teams that have gone down in the past...

It's a fairly open field at the bottom imo. But we'll see what happens. Football is ofc not predictable - I don't think I saw Leicester and Leeds going down in the season before last ,yet they did, while I thought Wolves would go down but their bizarre sequence of playing all the big teams then all the teams around then may yet work in their favour.

 

Certainly I'm going to hope Palace are beatable given that's where Newcastle go next.

[FeverDream]

47 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Botman I think is back ahead of schedule - it's a long term injury that was mismanaged last season so he is apparently potentially available soon. But yeah defence is a concern.

 

Plus yeah, the inability to break down the low block, incoherent substitutions and missing chances all counted against us. And ofc what is football if not a sport where you lose the games you think you should win.

Ah wonderful news, I’ve deleted X and don’t tend to keep up with press conferences so miss a fair bit of injury news, so nice to see he’s ahead of schedule. Hopefully Palace is a win and we get back on track as I’m not expecting anything from the Liverpool game 🤞🏻😬

[thetime]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

It's a fairly open field at the bottom imo. 

 

You would fully expect Everton in the bottom 3 on Boxing Day, nasty run in December. 

 

 

[charlierc]

3 hours ago, FeverDream said:

Ah wonderful news, I’ve deleted X and don’t tend to keep up with press conferences so miss a fair bit of injury news, so nice to see he’s ahead of schedule. Hopefully Palace is a win and we get back on track as I’m not expecting anything from the Liverpool game 🤞🏻😬

Well I knew it was long term for Botman - making him play on an injured ACL between Christmas and Easter last season was a terrible idea so it made sense it would be a while. But hopefully it'll be ok.

 

Admittedly Howe has in the past been one of those managers who tends to be selective with the info in press conferences.

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

 

You would fully expect Everton in the bottom 3 on Boxing Day, nasty run in December. 

 

 

Yikes. And given how much Everton found breaking down a 10 man Brentford on Saturday to be hard work, this isn't promising.

[thetime]

6 hours ago, charlierc said:

Yikes. And given how much Everton found breaking down a 10 man Brentford on Saturday to be hard work, this isn't promising.

 

On the brightside, they have utd at the weekend. 😂

[charlierc]

Man City just blew a 3-0 lead to draw with Feyernoord in the Champions League... the f**k is happening to them?

[thetime]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

Man City just blew a 3-0 lead to draw with Feyernoord in the Champions League... the f**k is happening to them?

 

f**king Liverpool fans are going to be more annoying than usual. 

[kaosmark2]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

Man City just blew a 3-0 lead to draw with Feyernoord in the Champions League... the f**k is happening to them?

Injury crisis, and aging squad amplifying bits of poor form. I think they'll be fine over the season but it's still a bit funny.

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, thetime said:

f**king Liverpool fans are going to be more annoying than usual. 

At this rate, they'll be disappointed if they don't beat Man City on Sunday imo.

8 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Injury crisis, and aging squad amplifying bits of poor form. I think they'll be fine over the season but it's still a bit funny.

I mean, lose on Sunday and the title suddenly becomes a bit of a long-shot for them. But yeah, it's still interesting. I know the fact they have no real Rodri replacement and, as has been clocked, also don't really have a Ruben Dias stand-in as he's been absent for this collapse in form of theirs.

[thetime]

16 minutes ago, charlierc said:

 

I mean, lose on Sunday and the title suddenly becomes a bit of a long-shot for them. But yeah, it's still interesting. I know the fact they have no real Rodri replacement and, as has been clocked, also don't really have a Ruben Dias stand-in as he's been absent for this collapse in form of theirs.

 

I'm unsure, Liverpool have been getting away with it so far this season. 

 

Could be very tight this season, wouldn't rule out someone like Chelsea winning it. 

 

City certainly have it to reel in one team. 

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

At this rate, they'll be disappointed if they don't beat Man City on Sunday imo.

I mean, lose on Sunday and the title suddenly becomes a bit of a long-shot for them. But yeah, it's still interesting. I know the fact they have no real Rodri replacement and, as has been clocked, also don't really have a Ruben Dias stand-in as he's been absent for this collapse in form of theirs.

Well Kovacic is their backup to Rodri and he's been injured as well

[Skip997]

4 hours ago, thetime said:

 

I'm unsure, Liverpool have been getting away with it so far this season. 

It certainly feels that way, but remember the Ferguson Man Utd teams that seemed to produce late comebacks and get contentious decisions in their favour almost every week 

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Well Kovacic is their backup to Rodri and he's been injured as well

Yeah - having the back-up to the back-up out will always be unhelpful. Hence playing Gundogan out of position as a CDM when it doesn't really work.