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The 2024-2025 Football Thread
- Thread starter Scepticalscribe
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Ah: City have (finally, belatedly) equalised in the 98th minute, after a serious masterclass in stubborn defence by a ten man Arsenal team for almost the entire half, as they clung to their narrow lead.
I will confess to some surprise at the number of yellow cards received by Arsenal, some of which struck me as perhaps not entirely fairly given (and I am not someone who normally complains about referees).
At 90 plus ten, the clock still ticking, Haaland finally receives a yellow card.
And, the match ends with a point apiece, the score at 2-2.
Arsenal did very well.
I will confess to some surprise at the number of yellow cards received by Arsenal, some of which struck me as perhaps not entirely fairly given (and I am not someone who normally complains about referees).
At 90 plus ten, the clock still ticking, Haaland finally receives a yellow card.
And, the match ends with a point apiece, the score at 2-2.
Arsenal did very well.
Perfect result for Liverpool….
But I’m sure you’d have settled for the point after going a goal down.
Had we succeeded in holding out for the win (and we came agonisingly close) it would have been an astonishing result.
Having said that, the second half was a masterclass in superb defence - and down to ten men - against the best team in the division.
Yes, I'll happily settle for the point; physically and psychologically, this is a good result for us, - we were playing away, and down to ten men - and is two dropped points by City, who barely clawed one back at the very end.
No.
It would have been cruel had we been defeated.
Holding out until 90 minutes was within our capacity; holding out until the Manchester 100th minute - with ten men and the goal under veritable siege for the entire second half - was almost an ask too far.
Agreed.
Superb defending.
Ahh the T&A ladies, looking to grab the attention of some players for some late night party action. Musician's have their groupies, footballers have their T&A ladiesAC Milan is staying at the hotel I'm at - they have a match in a couple of hours. There are also a large number of absolutely gorgeous women roaming around the lobby. It's probably related.
Anyway, good opportunity for you to get the autograph book out and grab a few signatures
No way Utd wouldve held out that long. Dont think any other defence in the league would manage what Arsenal did.
There were 7mins of ET and the goal came in the 98th.
The odds were stacked against Arsenal from the get go, and if there was any parity in the match i think City lose that.
They were clueless second half and relied on a lucky second ball deep into ET to get a point
It's not about being able to hold out that long, it's about doing everything that is right to win the game and then blow it because of stupid mistakes or decisions.
No.
Arsenal did not "screw it up", that is to fundamentally misunderstand what happened.
Arsenal - despite the fact that they had been reduced to ten men, and were playing away from home - played a superb defensive masterclass in the second half.
I would also argue - and normally, I do not complain about decisions made by a referee - that not all of the referee's decisions - as they applied to Arsenal - were fair.
They did exceedingly well in the circumstances, - essentially snuffing out, blunting, City's attack - and, at the very least, deserved a point. This was a game where City dropped two points, and came close to dropping all three.
Studying the replay, there's a very good chance Rodri did his ACL. city have so many great players, but Rodri is IMO the one absolutely indispensable player in their squad. His loss would be a massive, massive blow.
city needs some bad luck — they get away with practically everything else. How on earth did Haaland get away with bouncing the ball off the back of Gabriel's head after they equalized?
Agreed.
Well, they deserve some, certainly.
A yellow at the very least; I am surprised that he did not receive one.
I recently watch a Gary Neville podcast where he talks about the number of red cards Roy Keane as had in his playing career and one of them was for a second bookable offence for bouncing the ball off Alan Sheerer
Arsenal are 2-1 up coming to half time, giving City a really tough game then one of Arsenal players do some so stupid it get's him a 2nd yellow card and sending off just before half time. All Arsenal had to do is don't lose their heads and get into half time where they can compose themselves for the 2nd half but nope, one of the players had to go and lose is head and get sent off. This meant Arsenal was under siege for the whole of the second half. Yes Arsenal was doing well but at the end of the day they went from a winning position to a man down. That to me is screwing up. What is your football definition of screwing up then? because as a biased fan you believe Arsenal played superbly even though they blew away their lead by having a player sent off.
In no way did City drop 2 points, Arsenal was clearly on top of this game, if they had not gone a man down Arsenal would have won in my opinion. No, it was Arsenal who dropped the 2 points.
If the second yellow was for a foul on Silva then you'd have a point.
But PGMOL say it's for delaying restart, which is stupid. The ball is still in motion in the air. And its probably less than a second between the Trossard moving to clear the ball to Martinelli in space, and the whistle going.
The new rule is dumb and has been diabolically enforced so far. This coming from someone who has no stock with either team.
Also Michael Oliver should not be refereeing a City game in my opinion. But i don't want to go into that.
I do not agree. When the foul occurred the ref instantly blew the whistle and nearly every player stopped except Trossard and the Man City player closest to him, even players further away from the ref than Trossard was to the ref stopped meaning there is no way Trossard did not hear the ref's whistle because players further away heard it and instantly stopped. When the ref's whistle blows the ball instantly becomes 'dead' meaning you immediately stop what you are doing. For too long players have got away with kicking the ball away preventing a quick restart and it has to stop.
This is bad management from the manager because the manager should be making it crystal clear to the players what the rules are but the problem is football managers do not follow the rules and that's a fact. Time and time again in autobiographies of ex-players you read where the manager has told the player to go down in the box when you can to win a penalty or to fake the impact of foul to get a player sent off.
I remember watching a football match on BBC many years ago where Alan Shearer and Gary Neville were the games pundits. A penalty occurred, it was a harsh penalty but what dismayed me was hearing both Alan and Gary saying it was a harsh penalty but that is what players are taught to do, go down to win a penalty. In one of his books, Vinny Jones said he was told by his manager to foul players so they would not be available of other games.
After a while, ex players do not realize what they are saying when they talk about being told to take a dive to win a foul or a penalty, to do things to waste time so the clock winds down. This all comes from the managers.
Anyone that is anyone that knows football knows exactly what happened. It is getting close to half time with Arsenal winning 2-1. Managers have always stipulated the importance of getting into half time being in front. The Arsenal players know it is extremely close to half time. On the crux of half time a player is fouled. In the past when such an incident occurs right on the crux of half time the ref has waved away the foul and blown for half time, not wanting to go through the hassle of having everyone set up for the foul only to blow for half time as soon as the ball is kicked. It is seen as a waste of effort. In the past when such an incident occurred a player would kick the ball away claiming innocence in not hearing the ref's whistle for stop of play. Again not wanting to add more time to the game, the ref would wave it off and blow for half time. This is no longer the case. Ref's have been told to clamp down on such action and that is exactly what happened with Trossard. Trossard knowing half time is a whistle away, the ref blows for a foul, Trossard kicks the ball away expecting the ref to then wave off the foul and blow for half time which he knows ref's have done hundreds of times before but not this season because ref's have been told to clamp down on players doing that. Trossard is only doing what the manager is teaching the players to do which in my opinion is why the manager was so animated when his player got sent off.
Sky sports pundit Roy Keane was spot on when he said Mikel Arteta should 'show a bit of class' . This is what Keane said on the Sky sports:
Keane was spot on in my opinion.
Roy Keane was a great player but he's a hypocrite, and his lack of objectivity when being a pundit is jarring. Same goes for Shearer and Carragher.
All well and good singing everyone should get along and smell roses and hug each other. And the game should be played a certain way. But honesty is rarely rewarded in football which is why everyone tries to game the system.
You can argue if it's right or wrong but it's reality.
City are happy to play nice and be patronising to teams as long as they win, but when they don't get their way their true colours come out. When they employ dark arts to grind out a 2-1 win against Brentford its 'clever', and Thomas Franke should manage a big club.
When its another team against them its 'dirty' and Haaland becomes a thug whilst Bernardo Silva won't stop moaning.
The British media's narrative about the game this morning exemplifies why i fully expect City to get away with their 115 charges.
Anyway i'll go back to refraining from commenting on football.
All well and good singing everyone should get along and smell roses and hug each other. And the game should be played a certain way. But honesty is rarely rewarded in football which is why everyone tries to game the system.
You can argue if it's right or wrong but it's reality.
City are happy to play nice and be patronising to teams as long as they win, but when they don't get their way their true colours come out. When they employ dark arts to grind out a 2-1 win against Brentford its 'clever', and Thomas Franke should manage a big club.
When its another team against them its 'dirty' and Haaland becomes a thug whilst Bernardo Silva won't stop moaning.
The British media's narrative about the game this morning exemplifies why i fully expect City to get away with their 115 charges.
Anyway i'll go back to refraining from commenting on football.
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Agree completely.
Too true.
Agreed.
City's whining and whinging is - to be candid - quite hilarious.
Personally, (and I held this position prior to yesterday's game), I sincerely - and devoutly - and passionately - hope that they are held to account for every last charge and are hit - hard - with whatever penalty is possible.
Fair enough.
Over the year a couple of online news sites have posted the full list of charges City face and the one thing that is clear is that City WILL face one charge and that is a guarantee because it is the same identical charge that Everton was hit with. So, City WILL be hit with at least a 10 point deduction because they did not cooperate with the premier league in it's investigation. The only reason why Everton's was reduced from 10 to 6 is because whilst they did not fully cooperate with the premier leagues investigation, Everton did show evidence that did 'partly' cooperate and thus 10 points was too excessive.
If City escape all the charges then Everton would be able to sue the premier league to either get their points deduction removed OR to charge City with the same charge they got.
If City escape all the charges then Everton would be able to sue the premier league to either get their points deduction removed OR to charge City with the same charge they got.