The 2023-2024 Football Thread

[SteveManila1960]

Cant argue with that! Not fussed either way about our leading England striker and captain and wishing him the very best for his future at club level.

We seem to have this mentality in the game. Strong anti feelings against players at club level but passion and love at international level.

I can't bring myself to not be fussed about Saka or Foden or whoever else. I admire them at club level and passionately support them at International level.

 

[SteveManila1960]

So Liverpool or Chelsea this weekend? Liverpool with a depleted squad and Chelsea trying to find form amidst the turmoil at the club. Lets have predictions just for fun.

Me. Liverpool 2 Chelsea 2 goes to extra time and Liverpool score the winner.

 

[Apple fanboy]

So Liverpool or Chelsea this weekend? Liverpool with a depleted squad and Chelsea trying to find form amidst the turmoil at the club. Lets have predictions just for fun.

Me. Liverpool 2 Chelsea 2 goes to extra time and Liverpool score the winner.

Liverpool in 90 minutes for me I think.

 

[SteveManila1960]

Liverpool in 90 minutes for me I think.

Score?

 

[Apple fanboy]

Score?

3-1.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I won't make predictions (not least because - with the exception of the appalling but brilliant behemoth that is Manchester City - predictions will often look ridiculous by the end of the game), but I do hope that Liverpool secure victory and claim the trophy.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Gosh.

I had thought that (the much maligned) Harry Maguire had salvaged a point for United (equalising in the 89th minute, against Fulham), but Fulham scored again, in the 96th minute of what used to be known as Fergie Time, to claim all three points and a victory for Fulham at Old Trafford.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Gosh.

I had thought that (the much maligned) Harry Maguire had salvaged a point for United (equalising in the 89th minute, against Fulham), but Fulham scored again, in the 96th minute of what used to be known as Fergie Time, to claim all three points and a victory for Fulham at Old Trafford.

So much for the new (part) owner bounce. But an impressive win for Fulham.
Glad to see Villa maintaining their top four push.

 

[daneoni]

Arsenal unleashing pent up anger. Newcastle haven't had a kick. That said still 2-0 and could turn on its head

 

[Silencio]

Gosh.

I had thought that (the much maligned) Harry Maguire had salvaged a point for United (equalising in the 89th minute, against Fulham), but Fulham scored again, in the 96th minute of what used to be known as Fergie Time, to claim all three points and a victory for Fulham at Old Trafford.

ETH is still a dead man walking. United didn't deserve the point today at all. For all the money they spent, they have an incredibly thin squad.

The only holdup is to get the footballing structure above the manager in place, and we'll see how much Newcastle extracts from Man Utd to secure Dan Ashworth's services.

 

[daneoni]

Arsenal unleashing pent up anger. Newcastle haven't had a kick. That said still 2-0 and could turn on its head

or not

 

[Scepticalscribe]

ETH is still a dead man walking. United didn't deserve the point today at all. For all the money they spent, they have an incredibly thin squad.

The only holdup is to get the footballing structure above the manager in place, and we'll see how much Newcastle extracts from Man Utd to secure Dan Ashworth's services.

I'm not defending Manchester United, far from it.

Actually, after Maguire's goal, I switched off, as I assumed that United - playing at home - had done all that was necessary to claim a point.

Yet, it was not to be.

I think that their expensively assembled squad is exceedingly unbalanced, rather than thin, and is a collection of individuals - of varying degrees of ability and skill - rather than a coherent and cohesive team.

What is striking is that how few players are enhanced, or improved, or have been shown to grow, as players, by a stint at United.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Elsewhere, at the Emirates, Arsenal lead Newcastle by four goals to one.

I think that I can begin to relax.

Perhaps a beer might be in order.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Happy sigh.

A happy Gunner, here.

Arsenal demolish Newcastle.

 

[pachyderm]

2 - 1

We won with 10 men.

Sadly everyone else near us at the bottom also won except for Stoke who just dropped into the relegation zone...

 

[daneoni]

ETH is still a dead man walking. United didn't deserve the point today at all. For all the money they spent, they have an incredibly thin squad.

The only holdup is to get the footballing structure above the manager in place, and we'll see how much Newcastle extracts from Man Utd to secure Dan Ashworth's services.

Yeah, i thought they'd turn a corner but really this has been their identity for a decade.

ETH running out of excuses. He's been given money and bought his own players and Utd are still no better.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Yeah, i thought they'd turn a corner but really this has been their identity for a decade.

ETH running out of excuses. He's been given money and bought his own players and Utd are still no better.

One of the problems is that United are not a team, and worse, each manager appointed since the legendary Sir Alex had a different vision of what constituted a team, and the current team remains dysfunctional and incoherent as a team, even though some of the individual players are very talented.

More to the point, has any player emerged from a period at United as a better player (then when he had joined the club) at any time over the past decade? This is not a club that develops, or improves, players.

Worse still, is the long shadow cast by that departing legend, and the impossibility of living up to it, let alone surpassing it.

And there is the undeniable fact that he (Sir Alex) had allowed - or been obliged to accept - running the quality of the team down - in the final few years immediately prior to his departure, which meant that the quality of the team that he had handed to his successor(s) was a lot more threadbare than some had supposed.

 

[Apple fanboy]

2 - 1

We won with 10 men.

Sadly everyone else near us at the bottom also won except for Stoke who just dropped into the relegation zone...

Well think how much worse it would have been if you lost.

 

[pachyderm]

Well think how much worse it would have been if you lost.

Oh believe me when I say I do exactly that !

 

[Scepticalscribe]

For now, (and I have no idea how long this stage will last), there is a genuine competition at the top of the Premier League, with a mere two points separating the top three teams, (they are, respectively, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal), all of whom have played 26 games, and all of whom have won 18 games.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Bad day at the office for Sheffield Utd.
Not only did they lose and have a 7 point gap between them and safety, but they are also shoving each other on the pitch.

Better get prepared for life in the Championship.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Bad day at the office for Sheffield Utd.
Not only did they lose and have a 7 point gap between them and safety, but they are also shoving each other on the pitch.

Better get prepared for life in the Championship.

Neither Sheffield United nor Burnley look to be in a healthy position, and, I would be surprised if either of them escaped relegation.

Each team has only won three games, (out of a total of 26 games played, two thirds of the way through the season), and have amassed a grand total of 13 points, leaving them both more than six points (two victories) away from Luton and Everton, the teams lying immediately above them, both also threatened by the drop.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Caciedo should have received a yellow card, (if not a red), at the very least, for that ugly (and doubtless deliberate) foul on Gravenberch (who was stretchered off) in the first half.

 

[daneoni]

Dunno what to make of it;

Good job to Liverpool for playing a cup final with teenagers and being competitive. Or Chelsea's £1bn squad failing to put away this injury hit Liverpool side to get a first trophy.

If Chelsea fail to win i think they psychological damage will be notable and Poch may be walking on thin ice

EDIT: Sadly cant say i'm surprised.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Delighted to see Liverpool (finally) score at the death, almost at the very end of extra time, (the scorer, the legendary Virgil van Dijk, who else?), defeat (the eye-wateringly expensively assembled) Chelsea team and claim the Carabao Cup.