The 2023-2024 Football Thread

[laptech]

No.

I beg to differ.

The media are an obvious and all too easy target, not least because football (with the Premiership when it was first started) sold themsleves to the media (in return for endless coverage), thus giving rise to an increasingly symbiotic relationship.

Given the resources many of these clubs have at their disposal, they are businesses with, in some cases bottomless resources - at the top level, some of them can afford to pay their players salaries of five and six figures a week - are you seriously suggesting that managers (and players) cannot take courses in, study, be taught how to address questions, (answer and not answer, stall, deflect, answer succinctly and tersely), deal with the media, employ clued-in staff with a brief on how to deal with social media so that their version of events is published quickly, and so on.

If you beg to differ then please explain why the media on purpose left out of their articles on Rashford partying that he was out celebrating his birthday. Therefore please explain why the media deliberately intended to mislead their readers so they would believe Rashford did not care about the loss. THIS is what the media had intended. They were not interested in reporting the truth. All they wanted to do was show Rashford in a bad light and it worked because the club had to take some kind of action against him.

The media are to blame 100%.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Columbus lost 4-2 away in Atlanta. Away matches in MLS are notoriously hard to win.

So now we head back to CBus for Game three of the best of three series that forms this year’s playoff round one.

If the game is tied after 90 we go straight to penalties. This is a game Columbus should be able to win but it won’t be easy.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

The media are to blame 100%.

Certain segments of the media match the behaviors you describe, but a lot of media outlets are a lot more even-handed than that.

By the same token, a certain subset of fans at every club are tribal, narrow-minded, and short-termist. Some are even violent and bigoted. But the majority are better than that.

I was previously describing the overall media climate managers face, and the fans that consume such media and reward some of the negative behaviors.

But it’s always dangerous to generalize.

Ultimately I put a lot of the blame on fans who consume the tabloid media and thus essentially pay them to publish inflammatory, exaggerated, flat out fake or just plain dumb ‘stories’. The only way this bad ‘media’ goes away is when people stop consuming it.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And, on the topic of tabloid media (not just print, tabloid print, but also TV), let us not forget the role played by Rupert Murdoch (and his media empire), when the Premier League was established, and how many clubs were eager to cash in on this deal.

The media (especially the tabloid media) are not blameless, - far from it - but this is very much a symbiotic relationship between football clubs and the tabloid print and TV media.

 

[daneoni]

Diogo Dalot had a shocker for Utd. At fault for the equaliser and winner.

 

[laptech]

In my opinion, the clubs were initially not at fault with regards to the media and the Premier League but the owners of the Premier league were. The owners of the league saw how rich they could get with media rights of showing the games. The clubs saw the amount of money that was being banded about and they rightly wanted a piece of it because lets face it, it is their grounds and their players that are being televised around the world and all the Premier league do is go to the broadcasters, 'it's our league, our name therefore pay up'.

Youtubers did exactly the same with youtube. When Youtube started putting adverts on videos and the profits Youtube kept reporting every quarter, Youtubers knew Youtube was getting rich off of their video's but they were not getting a cut of the advertising money until they rebelled and demanded a cut of the advertising that Youtube was putting on their video's. They were doing all the work and Youtube was reaping all the benefits. The Premier league had done exactly the same, getting rich from showing football matches.

Unfortunately as the years have gone by, many of the premier clubs have got greedy and wanted more and more money from televised deals and thus demanded that they be given x amount from any TV deal the owners of the premier league made, which has led us to the situation that the game is in today.

You dangle that preverbal carrot in front of club owners (billions of money) and of course they are going to bite and that is what the owners of the premier league did.

 

[laptech]

oooooo that's gotta hurt!!!. Copenhagen manager saying their weakest performance beat United. Talk about a stinging condemnation of United's performance.

Copenhagen boss admits his team beat Man Utd with their 'weakest' performance

This sums it up for Erik ten Hag right now.

metro.co.uk

 

[Lord Blackadder]

oooooo that's gotta hurt!!!. Copenhagen manager saying their weakest performance beat United. Talk about a stinging condemnation of United's performance.

Copenhagen boss admits his team beat Man Utd with their 'weakest' performance

This sums it up for Erik ten Hag right now.

metro.co.uk

I have not watched Copenhagen's group stage matches, but a number of reputable pundits have agreed that it was one of Man Utd's better performances and Copenhagen's weakest performance.

The red card was fair, as usual you have to ignore intent and look at the actual foul. Liverpool know all about those this season, sigh. On paper you'd expect Man Utd to be able to hold out with 10 men and a 2 goal lead. Not easy, but not insurmountable by any means. I also think it's fair to say that Man Utd did not get the rub of the green this time.

In isolation it's no disaster, but in the context of the group and Man Utd's overall form, it's more fuel for the fire and Ten Hag is under the gun.

 

[laptech]

I have not watched Copenhagen's group stage matches, but a number of reputable pundits have agreed that it was one of Man Utd's better performances and Copenhagen's weakest performance.

The red card was fair, as usual you have to ignore intent and look at the actual foul. Liverpool know all about those this season, sigh. On paper you'd expect Man Utd to be able to hold out with 10 men and a 2 goal lead. Not easy, but not insurmountable by any means. I also think it's fair to say that Man Utd did not get the rub of the green this time.

In isolation it's no disaster, but in the context of the group and Man Utd's overall form, it's more fuel for the fire and Ten Hag is under the gun.

When United lost I went and watched some social media videos from United fans and it is interesting to see so many of them pick up on the same point which is that when Rashford got the red card and the team went down to 10 men, ETH should have immediately subbed off Erikson who is an attacking minded midfielder and replaced him a defensive midfielder but ETH decided to wait until half time to make the changes and thus whilst United was still in an attack minded formation, Copenhagen scored 2 quick goals. The team structure should have immediately changed to a defensive one to protect the 2 goal lead but ETH screwed up by leaving things as they were and they very quickly lost the 2 goal lead. This was not the players fault, this was clearly ETH's fault. ETH is a very experienced manager, he's proven that during his time at Ajax so it beggars belief that when the team is down to 10 men he believes that the players can handle things till it get's to half time. He clearly has not learnt much during his spell at United.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Close but no cigar for Liverpool away at Toulouse. Klopp rotated the starting XI but to be fair Tolouse were only 1-0 up at the half, so it’s hard to blame rotation alone for the result. The second half saw some of the big guns come in but the game ended 3-2 to the French side with young Quansah’s late equalizer VAR’d.

Many games to play this time of year and you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. But it would have been nice to wrap the group up early.

 

[laptech]

Close but no cigar for Liverpool away at Toulouse. Klopp rotated the starting XI but to be fair Tolouse were only 1-0 up at the half, so it’s hard to blame rotation alone for the result. The second half saw some of the big guns come in but the game ended 3-2 to the French side with young Quansah’s late equalizer VAR’d.

Many games to play this time of year and you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. But it would have been nice to wrap the group up early.

Should have been an easy win for Liverpool because Toulouse are having a shocker of a season so far in the league.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Should have been an easy win for Liverpool because Toulouse are having a shocker of a season so far in the league.

Football is a funny old game. We beat them 5-1 at Anfield. But different day, different stadium, different squads.

 

[laptech]

Football is a funny old game. We beat them 5-1 at Anfield. But different day, different stadium, different squads.

That should be the excuse every club manager should use when going into their post match interviews and get asked about the loss, all managers should reply with 'Football is a funny old game, but different day, different stadium, different squads', then say the interview is over and walk out the door 😂😂😂

 

[pachyderm]

That should be the excuse every club manager should use when going into their post match interviews and get asked about the loss, all managers should reply with 'Football is a funny old game, but different day, different stadium, different squads', then say the interview is over and walk out the door 😂😂😂

I have pretty much told this exact same thing to my BIL when he asks for betting tips on footy matches... and no he wasn't successful very often so he quit betting on footy. lol.

It's pretty true for any sport.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

That should be the excuse every club manager should use when going into their post match interviews and get asked about the loss, all managers should reply with 'Football is a funny old game, but different day, different stadium, different squads', then say the interview is over and walk out the door 😂😂😂

It would not be inaccurate.

 

[pachyderm]

vs

 

[Apple fanboy]

vs

Hope you stuff them.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

vs

Millwall?

Yes, I agree with @Apple fanboy; I hope you stuff them.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Looks like Spurs are finally regressing to the mean after their incredible start to the season.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Arsenal three one ahead against Burnley, and - just now - have been reduced (deservedly, unfortunately) to ten men.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And - as of this evening, and, there is no knowing how long it may last - Arsenal are in second place.

 

[Apple fanboy]

And - as of this evening, and, there is no knowing how long it may last - Arsenal are in second place.

Indeed. But City now can earn a three point cushion tomorrow.
Feels like the league is already splitting up.
The top four CL spots. Then Villa down to Brighton for the other European spots. Than everyone else in mid table.
3 out of the bottom 4 will drop out.
At least that’s how it looks to me.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Indeed. But City now can earn a three point cushion tomorrow.
Feels like the league is already splitting up.
The top four CL spots. Then Villa down to Brighton for the other European spots. Than everyone else in mid table.
3 out of the bottom 4 will drop out.
At least that’s how it looks to me.

Yes, I would expect City to put some (more) space between themselves and those of us who are chasing them as early as tomorrow.

 

[Silencio]

Somehow, Man Utd are the in-form team in the Premier League with 4 wins in their last 5. I guess that's one way to spin it.

Happy for another international break. Hopefully will get some players back fit and ready to go when the league resumes.

 

[Apple fanboy]

vs

Oh dear. That’s a terrible result.