The 2023-2024 Football Thread

[laptech]

The stadiums for the 2026 World Cup have just been announced

World Cup 2026: MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to host World Cup final on 19 July

The MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the 2026 World Cup final on 19 July, while the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City will stage the opening group game on 11 June.

www.bbc.co.uk

Looks like there is going to be a lot of travelling for fans between the 3 countries of USA, Canada and Mexico. The boarder guards are going to be very busy during the world cup

 

[Apple fanboy]

Just catching up on the highlights.
Some terrible defending today.
The Liverpool equaliser was shocking.
But what was happening at the back from Liverpool? Abysmal defending.

Not taking anything away from Arsenal, but there were a few calamities. Alison and Van Dyke not speak the same language?

 

[Lord Blackadder]

The title race is still pretty open. I know city will turn it on and probably pull through yet again, but Arsenal and Liverpool both have more than a faint chance at it.

Damning with 'more than faint' praise. 🤣

But yes, it's not quite over yet. Probably over, but there are still many matches left.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Damning with 'more than faint' praise. 🤣

But yes, it's not quite over yet. Probably over, but there are still many matches left.

Plenty of twists and turns yet.

 

[daneoni]

Chelsea in free fall at the moment and will likely get 'punished' for FFP this summer. £1bn spent with nothing to show for it.

Utd...in form? ETH may have found his strongest starting 11 which doesn't include Antony or Mount or Amrabat.

Liverpool poor today. Mistakes from their stalwarts. Meanwhile Jorginho arguably played his best game in an Arsenal shirt.
I see the media's celebration police are out in full force against Arsenal again. Although Odegaard at the end wasn't helping his cause.
Seems everyone except Arsenal fans wanted a draw or Liverpool win

City likely buoyed by that and only need to win their 2 games in hand.

That said Liverpool and Arsenal will have something to say, when Mo, Jesus etc return.

 

[HandsomeDanNZ]

More goals than you can shake a stick at this weekend in the Premier League.
From what the punditry is saying, it was a record haul.
Some of those scores are much higher than you'd probably expect as a neutral.

Meanwhile Saints have extended their record unbeaten run to 3,654,259 games with a win at Footballing heavyweights Rotheram.

As much as I love The Championship, some of the clubs that come and go as their fortunes wax and wane, are not exactly household names. Unlike some that are perpetually stuck in the Championship, such as Birmingham, QPR and Middlesborough.

 

[laptech]

Have to laugh at the way the UK press praise Man United and the players for the win over West Ham, saying how good the team was, how the players were gelling together etc etc. The thing is, United have done this before on so many occasions, they have a good win and then it all goes back to normal bad again.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Have to laugh at the way the UK press praise Man United and the players for the win over West Ham, saying how good the team was, how the players were gelling together etc etc. The thing is, United have done this before on so many occasions, they have a good win and then it all goes back to normal bad again.

A win over West Ham is hardly the hardest test in the league. We are quite capable of stuffing it up against the most mediocre of teams….

 

[laptech]

A win over West Ham is hardly the hardest test in the league. We are quite capable of stuffing it up against the most mediocre of teams….

hehehe, I see what you did there with using the word mediocre

 

[Silencio]

Licha is confirmed to be out at least 8 weeks with a sprained collateral ligament in his knee. At least he doesn't need surgery, but United's backline is significantly weaker without him.

Villa away next weekend will be a huge test.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I guess we are all Brentford fans this evening?

 

[Apple fanboy]

So far, so good! Brentford a goal up.

 

[Silencio]

Flekken was otherworldly in the first half for Brentford, but Foden scored a hatty on the night — good for my FPL team, not great for much else.

As for the WC final being played in New Jersey: I hope I can get tickets to at least a group stage match, but I imagine the finals will be well out of my price range. I'm also looking forward to the reacts from Europeans attempting to take the NJ Transit trains from Penn Station to MetLife Stadium. I wish you all the best of luck and I apologize in advance for our country's decrepit mass transit infrastructure.

 

[pachyderm]

Ok I can’t get my Mac to let me on but my phone is fine wondering if I’m banned again …?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Ok I can’t get my Mac to let me on but my phone is fine wondering if I’m banned again …?

No, you're not.

 

[Alphazoid]

I see the media's celebration police are out in full force against Arsenal again. Although Odegaard at the end wasn't helping his cause.
Seems everyone except Arsenal fans wanted a draw or Liverpool win

Punditry at its lowest of lows. Its why i dont bother listening to these clowns anymore.

Massive game between the top two concluded with interesting tactics and errors. And all they could talk about was celebration and pictures. It was cringey to watch and i just changed channels.
Odegaard had a wholesome moment after a big win with club photographer and well known legend at the club...at the Emirates.

Meanwhile Klopp's tribute-fest after announcing his departure were essentially clips of him running across touchlines, and onto the pitch, and fist pumping every win
But thats 'his passion' and 'a credit to the man'.

However with Arsenal/Arteta, its 'embarrassing' 'reign it in' 'get down the tunnel!' Make it make sense.

MOTD analysis was surprisingly measured and objective

I don't think Carragher should be involved in commentary for any Liverpool game going forward. He's too biased and it becomes unprofessional. At this point i can't stand him or Souness. Pathetic.
Neville also annoyed me but at least he tries to be objective.
Richard Keys can just get lost. How he still has a job is beyond me.
Jermain Pennant...well that joke writes itself really.

All in all a good game. Must admit i wasn't sure we would pull it off. Even if we haven't been terrible in recent matches against the scouse. But fair play. Liverpool were poor and we capitalised.
Hopefully we can right the West Ham hoodoo next

Sadly i think we really only helped City in the grand scheme but i'll take the win regardless.

Lastly, i personally i'm ready to start looking beyond Jesus, Partey, Tomiyasu and Zinchenko. Cannot be relied upon despite their qualities, and i hope we can get Onana and Toney at least in the summer.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I guess we are all Brentford fans this evening?

Very much so.

Alas.

 

[Don Quixote]

I guess we are all Brentford fans this evening?

I know Nick Lowe is...

 

[HandsomeDanNZ]

Flekken was otherworldly in the first half for Brentford, but Foden scored a hatty on the night — good for my FPL team, not great for much else.

Thanks to Foden (20), my captain Watkins (36) and no thanks to Gabriel (-1), I ended up on 96 points this week. It may well be my highest points haul ever!
I do love a good hattrick. I don't much care who it's by, as long as they're in my FPL team.

 

[HandsomeDanNZ]

FA Cup replays were a goalfest this morning.
Saints 3-0 winners over Watford to set up a juicy encounter with Saints B at Anfield.
Leeds scored three in extra time to beat Plymouth Argyle 4-1.
Coventry 4-1 winners over the Mighty Wednesday (leaves them to concentrate on the league, so silver linings and all that)
Then we have Villa vs Chelsea and Forest vs Bristol City tomorrow.
Any bets on whether this could be the make-or-break for a certain Mr Pocchetino? The club are very much doing theor best to ruin his career as they have so many before him.

 

[laptech]

I see the media are getting their hooks into the story of Mbappe possibly moving to Arsenal due to a stumbling block over a move to Real Madrid which is related to his wages. If Real Madrid are not prepared to pay his asking price on his wage then I think every other club would be doing the same. He maybe considered one of the best strikers in the world but he comes at a price that only a handful of clubs in the world can afford him.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I see the media are getting their hooks into the story of Mbappe possibly moving to Arsenal due to a stumbling block over a move to Real Madrid which is related to his wages. If Real Madrid are not prepared to pay his asking price on his wage then I think every other club would be doing the same. He maybe considered one of the best strikers in the world but he comes at a price that only a handful of clubs in the world can afford him.

I’m not sure Arsenal can afford him with the money they have spent over the last couple of years. I see this story as being a bit of a fabrication tbh.

 

[laptech]

I’m not sure Arsenal can afford him with the money they have spent over the last couple of years. I see this story as being a bit of a fabrication tbh.

I agree. Mbappe massive wage at PSG is a cause of concern for any club which is why in my opinion there has been no credible interest for him apart from that of one club, Real Madrid. Having no one else register their interest in him would mean Real Madrid are in a very strong position in contract negotiations because they know no one else is seriously interested in him BUT if Mbappe's agent puts out a fake story that Arsenal could be interested in a summer move for the player, the shift of power in the contract talks shifts back to Mbappe because he could say to Real Madrid that if they are not willing to agree to his terms there is another club who might be and that might spook Madrid into thinking they could lose out on signing him and thus give in to his demands.

We see it all the time, year in year out, players linked to clubs who have no interest in them but the link is made purely for the reasons of trying to drum up the transfer price because as we know, the higher the transfer price, the higher the percentage fee the agent gets. Cristiano Ronaldo's agent has been accused of that on a number of occasions.

So yeah, I have no doubt the Arsenal story is try and get Madrid rattled into giving in to Mbappe's wage demands.

 

[laptech]

If this is true the guy and the Glazers have got some b*****y nerve!!!!.

Jim Ratcliffe suffers major blow to ambitious Manchester United plan

'Sir Jim Ratcliffe knew what he was taking on when he bought into Manchester United.'

metro.co.uk

This article talks about Ratcliffe looking to either redevelop the stadium or build a new one but here is the kicker, it is mentioned that Ratcliffe may try to claim public funds for the stadium from the UK governments 'Levelling Up' pledges and I quote:

According to The Telegraph, INEOS CEO Ratcliffe wants United to have a state-of-the-art ground with a wow factor and he may seek to lobby the UK Government for funds amid Westminster’s ‘Levelling Up’ pledges.

The fact that this is being mentioned is an utter disgrace. The Glazers have let the stadium rot, they've done nothing to improve or advance the stadium because in doing so they would have had to spend their own money in doing so and as some football critics have pointed out, the Glazers have not spent a single penny/dime of their own money on the club, everything has come from loans, payments from sponsors or money gained from profits the club have created.

The Glazers are billionaires and have/had no intention of spending their own money on the stadium and now Ratcliffe comes in with his 25% ownership of the club, another billionaire looking to use public money on redeveloping the stadium!!!. Just goes to show people with exorbitant amounts of money are not prepared to spend their own money but other peoples money to get the things they want done.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I see the media are getting their hooks into the story of Mbappe possibly moving to Arsenal due to a stumbling block over a move to Real Madrid which is related to his wages. If Real Madrid are not prepared to pay his asking price on his wage then I think every other club would be doing the same. He maybe considered one of the best strikers in the world but he comes at a price that only a handful of clubs in the world can afford him.

I’m not sure Arsenal can afford him with the money they have spent over the last couple of years. I see this story as being a bit of a fabrication tbh.

Agreed.

Pure click bait, in my opinion.

Bear in mind that Arsenal bought nobody at all during the winter window, and I doubt - very much doubt - if they could be considered a serious candidate for Mbappe, not least because they cannot afford him.

This is not just a matter of how much money Arsenal have spent in recent years, but also a matter of how much Mbappe would cost.

Other than clubs such as Manchester City (who don't need him), clubs with bottomless resources, I cannot see anyone else being in a position to submit a serious bid.