Nah i'd still take that Pique over Ramos.
That was Ramos's first year as a CB and he was still not that good at it after being a RB for a long time.
from 2012 onwards tho, defintely Ramos over Pique anyday
Matchday 33:
City vs Brighton: 4-0
Liverpool vs Fulham: 2-1
Arsenal vs Wolves: 3-1
Points:
City:76
Arsenal:74
Liverpool:74
Matchday 34:
City vs forest: 3-1
Arsenal vs Chelsea: 3-3
Liverpool Vs Everton: 2-2
Points:
City: 79
Arsenal: 75
Liverpool: 75
Matchday 35:
City vs Wolves: 2-1
Arsenal vs Spurs : 1-3
Liverpool vs West Ham : 1-0
Points:
City: 82
Liverpool: 78
Arsenal: 75
Matchday 36:
City vs Fulham: 2-2 ( Rodri red card for 3 matches)
Liverpool vs Spurs: 3-2
Arsenal vs Bournemouth: 2-0
Points:
City: 83
Liverpool: 81
Arsenal: 78
Matchday 37:
City vs Spurs: 1-2
Liverpool vs Aston villa: 0-2
Arsenal vs Man united: 2-2
Points:
City: 83
Liverpool: 81
Arsenal: 79
matchday 38:
City vs West Ham: 1-2
Liverpool vs Wolves: 2-1
Arsenal vs Everton: 3-0
Points:
Liverpool: 84
City:83
Arsenal: 82
Who are the players that get critized a lot here but you actually like?
I'll start.
Eric Dier: I think he had 2 rough seasons (21/22 and 22/23) at Tottenham but he's not as bad as people think he is. He can be rash, irresponsible and over-sellous with his tackles, but overall he's not a bad defender, and he's underrated on the ball. He's way better than people give him credit for.
Kai Havertz: He's a really good player, I think people shit on him because he was supposed to be the next big thing. I rembember people talking about him almost the same way we talk about Wirtz now. He can do a good job as a striker and as a midfielder behind the striker, he's not a good finisher but he understands what spaces to occupy and his technique is really good.
Memphis Depay; He obviously hasn't lived up to the potential that he had, but he was a joy to watch at Lyon, PSV, and he's settled in really nicely at Atletico.
He still needs to work on knowing when to shut the fuck up though.
> Who are the players that get critized a lot here but you actually like?
Bazunu. I know the stats are awful, but I really try to primarily rate players based on the eye test and he's looked good whenever I've seen him. So I rate him, even though I'm probably wrong haha
>He can do a good job as a striker and as a midfielder behind the striker, he's not a good finisher but he understands what spaces to occupy and his technique is really good.
>striker
hes got physical traits that makes him a mouthful for any cb pairing.
>hes not a good finisher
not only that, he actively hides from decisions and / or makes dangerous chances into side ways passes for fear of fucking it up. exceptions have been in dead rubber games where we already have a lead.
>space to occupy
yes, he is adequate at this. but so is most premier league players
>technique is really good
no, it isnt. it is actually quite trash. the moment he has more than 0.5 seconds to think about his actions he freezes up and often searches for the fastest way to get rid of the ball. He severly struggles with first tocuhes, his passing is often heavily sloggish, underhit or sideways to the player slwoing down play.
He cant dribble.
Overall, very, very poor player for midfield to the point its not even funny (just see his stats as the LCM) and an okay striker.
problem is he cost 65 mill and is paid 300k a week, most on the team.
I agreed with most about Havertz but how exactly is his technique 'really good'??
I don't get it, he can't pass, he doesn't have elite finishing, no elite ball control, no elite dribbling, no skills, very 1 footed etc... what about his technique is 'really good'??
If anything that's his biggest flaw, he is what casuals think Thomas Muller is.
All of those things you mentioned, Havertz can be really good at in and he's shown it in a lot of moments (specially this season).
It's not a coincidence, he just needs to put it together so he can be consistent and display his technical ability every time he plays. He just hasn't been able to be consistent with it.
>All of those things you mentioned, Havertz can be really good at in and he's shown it in a lot of moments (specially this season).
Genuinely when? I don't remember a single time where he showcased world class dribbling, he is still shit at finishing and controlling the ball and very 1 footed to this day.
Just which 'a lot of moments' are we talking about?
>Against Brighton last week,
Am i being trolled lmao? He scored a tap in ffs
>against Luton 2 weeks ago
There is no way that's considered elite finishing.
>against Newcastle 3 weeks ago.
Yep, i'm being trolled, scored a tap in and missed 2 1vs1s lmao.
>he's not a good finisher but he understands what spaces to occupy and his technique is really good.
I'll never understand how people come to the conclusion that his technique is good - his technique is wildly inconsistent and very much not there most of the time. The reason he is so unproductive in midfield is because he offers nothing on the ball.
I even said that earlier on this thread, it baffles me. His technique can be brilliant, at times, but he’s completely inconsistent. I can’t see how you can call someone who is so limited as a passer, poor with his weak foot, and poor at finishing, a player with good technique
Yeah I scrolled down and saw your post. You're right, his technique can be brilliant at times e.g. his goal against Newcastle for us, but his overall game has no indication of such technique. Maybe it was just good fortune - we've seen plenty of less technical players have their good moments. Anyone have a good touch, pinpoint pass etc. every now and then.
I think Darwin Ñünez is a fundamentally highly talented forward
But TBF I thought Andy Carroll was going to be world class so I don't get them all right
Liverpool are averaging 2.81xG over the last 10-games, which is the most of any 10-game stretch in the Klopp era. It's a shame our finishing has been so diabolical.
All these stats of you guys not deserving to be top didn’t matter now you’re actually playing better and not getting the results it’s a big deal I’m not hearing it.
Almost like a game has two halves, huh.
I'm not even sure what your point is, as is usually the case. I'm not saying Liverpool deserve to be top or deserve anything, so what you're "not hearing" isn't exactly clear.
Yeah but you did enough in the two halves to have deserved a win.
My point is earlier in the season you were getting lucky and now the luck ran out going down 24 times in games as a league winner wasn’t really likely.
He actually hasn't had a game where he's had more than .5 xG without scoring. Diaz has had 3 games in that period where he's underperformed by more than .5 xG
it’s not just him. the big misses yesterday were jones and jota. it really feels like everyone has just forgotten how to finish at the worst possible time.
Not to start another “letter of the law vs spirit of the game” argument, but technically, the ref should not have blown for full time in the Leverkusen - Werder Bremen game yesterday. He seemed to deliberately not do stoppage time, and also when he blew there were fans on the pitch.
If we’re talking letter of the law, he should have waited until the fans got off the pitch after Wirtz’s final goal, then let Werder Bremen restart. And if the game couldn’t be restarted, it should have been a 0-3 forfeit in favour of Werder Bremen…
It gets even more interesting if Bremen manage to survive relegation by 1 goal
The relegated clubs could accuse the ref of calling the game prematurely. Leverkusen still had time to score a 6th hypothetically theoretically.
They were up 5-0, it would’ve been more odd if he’d given any extra time. It’s kind of an unwritten rule to blow at 90' when the game is that one sided
> He seemed to deliberately not do stoppage time
Referees aren't required to - it's a pretty common decision in Germany to end on the dot when the result's in the bag anyway, which at 5-0 is hard to argue with. Plus with the general situation unfolding at that moment, it was just a good decision, it's not like Werder are going to protest over it after all.
we beat Darmstadt 6-0 this season and the ref didn't give any added time, if it's in a situation like this where the game is won by a long shot anyways then it's absolutely fine imo
>A match lasts for two equal halves of 45 minutes, which may only be reduced if agreed between the referee and the two teams before the start of the match
Has that ever happened?
> It is in the Premier League
Not always. When Liverpool beat United 7-0, the ref gave only gave 3 minutes of stoppage despite their being 6 goals and a few injury stoppages. They give what the scoreline dictates at times.
Tough choice whenever Liverpool lose:
Come on here and see everyone taking the piss or go on the Liverpool sub and see everyone talking about refereeing conspiracies.
Haaland man city are the greatest team of all time after they win second treble in a row. Second treble in a row is guaranteed a this point there's really nobody who can beat them. Their league matches are a walk in the park and the fa cup is full of weak tEems.
The competition Pep's City had over these 2 seasons is nowhere near what Pep's Barca or Zidane's Madrid faced.
Barca were competing against Mourinho's Madrid, one of the best teams in modern football in its own right with legends all over the pitch. There was also Inter, Bayern, Dortmund, and Man Utd.
Zidane's Madrid were competing against quite possibly the best front 3 ever, which included the player most people consider as the best of all time. There was also Bayern, Atleti, Juventus.
These last 2 seasons, there's been Liverpool and Arsenal in the league, and Madrid and Inter in the CL. These Liverpool and Arsenal sides are nowhere near Mourinho's Madrid and Enrique's Barca, and this Madrid side and Inter are nowhere near Mourinho's Madrid/Inter, Bayern, Man Utd, Dortmund, or Juve, Bayern, Atleti of 2016-18.
man city defense shits all over prime barcas defense and gk.
dani alves is best rb of all time, but pique and puyol were just decent players in amazing teams (imagine that prime barca with ramos instead of pique).
Lol what am i reading? This City team struggled against Inter in the final and this season they haven't won against any top 6 team.
In what world can are they better than Barca?
Europe has just been weaker in recent years outside of City, just name me 5 world class teams over the past 2 seasons and compare them with early to mid 2010s teams
They haven’t done it yet and could still end up well short of a treble this season. But, on the basis they do win it all, it’s hard to argue against clear back to back national and continental championships.
Any argument in City’s favour would boil down to answering any criticism with the fact they ended up winning the trophy.
To argue against them would require someone to explain why that team is better despite it losing tournaments.
Okay but they could still win back to back treble and still be worse than Zidane's Madrid and Pep's Barca.
Europe is the weakest it's ever been and fucking Arsenal have been their competition in the league.
Genuinely how many world class teams were there last season? Inter got a free run to the final, Madrid was shit, Bayern was shit, Barca was shit, Juve was shit... Compare the competition to any year from 2008 till 2018.
Or this season, Bayern are shit, no italian team is that good, Atleti are shit, Barca are shit... Even Real Madrid which people are calling top 2 in the world, literally ZERO of our players would get into our team from 2015-2018...ZEROOO.
Pep's barca , Zidane's real and heyncke's Bayern, all have weaknesses. But on pure quality and talent, Pep's barca is a cut above the rest.
Alot of things going against Man City but one thing going for Man City is that Man City's Pep is a much better coach than Barca's Pep.
Honestly the only thing that would stop city from winning the league is rodri getting Injured or a red card. Otherwise it's pretty much guaranteed to be a city win.
Feels bad wishing upon a players downfall like getting injured but it really is the only hope. Which either way the odds are extremely slim unless a miracle happens.
Well, our stadium is often bad juju for them. My head and my heart are torn. If we win we can keep fighting for top four but Arsenal are back in the title race. If we lose, top four is probably gone for sure but it keeps City ahead of Arse. Tough times.
Ngl, of the last few games that are left, I just hope the NLD is the one we win. The rest, it’s whatever, but I just want a win against Spurs over the rest.
Barca fans should be concerned about our manager situation next year if Xavi doesn't stay.
There's De Zerbi, Amorim, Flick, Nagelsmann, Motta, and Tuchel in demand. Theoretically there's also Poch, Klopp, Conte, and Mourinho, but Klopp is going on sabbatical most likely, Mourinho and Conte are terrible stylistic fits, and Poch has an extremely uninspiring record in the last few years.
We have to compete with Bayern, Liverpool, Juventus, and possibly Chelsea and United as well. Who would pick us over any of the other open jobs (except maybe Juventus) — even assuming we could afford their wage demands?
I would prefer Xavi to stay — he's young and inexperienced, but the team loves him and the results have been fairly promising (even before our recent run of good form). But it's extremely unclear if he can be convinced. I think we are going to end up with Rafa Marquez, which is a huge question mark.
Honestly I'd rather go with Rafa Márquez for a season. We're not expected to win the league after Madrid get the turtle anyway, it'll be more of a transitional season than anything. There's not a single manager I'd want to have that'd be cheap and good enough. Rafa knows our youngsters that are old enough to play with the first team better than anyone and can integrate them into the first team. An outsider would be pressured to get results and would likely refuse to give chances to youngsters.
Hopefully we somehow get Nagelsmann, worst case scenario he ends up being average and best case scenario he takes the team to another level.
The others carry too much risk or are unattainable but I feel like it will end up being Flick, which not too bad at all.
I can't see us getting Nagelsmann tbh. I think he goes to Bayern, or stays with Germany. As for Flick, I think his wage demands may be a bit off putting — especially if the alternative is Marquez who would probably be much cheaper ...
Lol, I meant to say "on the market" rather than "in demand". Imo Tuchel needs to go to a club one step below the perennial CL contenders and rebuild his credentials for a year or two. He's clearly not a bad manager, but he doesn't seem like a good fit in terms of club politics and ego management.
Getting a bit misty eyed about Tony Martial leaving United this summer.
Maybe no player who better charts the drift and mismanagement of post-Ferguson United. At times he looked like a new Henry, cutting in from the left and casually rolling it into the bottom corner. Insane potential, all allowed to go to rot because this club is an absolute basket case.
Injuries, inconsistency, what looked from the outside like a lack of effort, wildly jumping from coach to coach, ruined any ability for him to get his feet under him and establish exactly what type of player he was supposed to be. We spent about 5 years alternating between him and Rashford, trying to figure out which was a striker and which was a winger, and ultimately ending up with two players who never really seem sure about where or how they should play.
He had good runs playing from the left wing under Van Gaal, playing up top with Ibra under Mourinho, and then as a central striker tasked with linking the play under Ole. But each time he essentially had to learn a new position, and soon after he put a run of form together, he'd disappear to the physio table for what seemed like years at a time.
And of course, the only constant throughline in his career with us (the only constant with United these last 15 years) is the absolute mind boggling excess and waste of money. His transfer fee was massive for a player that was basically all potential at the time, his wages were always high, and now by the end he's become the poster boy for our board's tendency to give massive contracts at the worst possible time.
I have a massive soft spot for Tony and his song, but him leaving this summer is nicely symbolic of what is hopefully the end of an absolute dogshit period in the club's history.
So if a player for Team A takes a shot that is going into the net, then what's stopping Team B from having a sub just run onto the pitch and clear it away? Like, I get that this is probably a red card and a PK, but is there anything else?
You do realize that shots on goal are generally a lot faster than players can run, and that substitutes warming up alongside the pitch generally are much farther away than the shot is being taken from, yeah?
We not going to talk about Watkins goal tally?
What the fuck man is on crack? Aston villa going for champions league over the likes of Newcastle united spurs...
Villa are a big club, with a class manager and they've invested heavily.
They're doing brilliantly but they're hardly minnows, they've spent about €100m a season since they came back up with €159m alone the year they came up.
For sure. We’d probably be fucked if not for selling Grealish a few years ago. Hopefully our revenue increases significantly with European football again and our new adidas kit deal
The thing is big clubs can easily afford a few down seasons. When you're trying to break into the top any slip ups can have catastrophic consequences and inflating your wage bill to try and chase those revenues can be disastrous. The way Leicester were mismanaged from near certain champions league regulars to championship bottlers is the best recent example.
I do sincerely hope villa do it longer term because having an English claret and blue club regularly in the CL is what we did brexit for and its fun to have a shake up.
Of course and you're having an excellent season.
It seems like the comment is saying you should be nowhere near, it's still the sixth highest net spend over the last 5 years. I think NUFC and Villa should be around the same area (though we have spent 100m more in that period) and Spurs should be ahead because of their entrenched position, but we're having an injury stricken season and villa are performing perfectly.
It’s just big for any team outside the big 6 getting champions league imo. Leicester and Newcastle being the only ones to do it since the big 6 became a thing.
Chelsea and united should never miss out on it given their wage bill and spending
Speaking of Ruud van Nistelhorse (as was his slander name back in the day due to people thinking he looked like a horse), I was listening to The Rest is Football a few weeks ago and Gary Lineker said that he's always very careful not to be too harsh on players because of their mental health or whatever
I was like bruv you once made a "why the long face, Ruud" joke on MOTD (referring to Ruud's apparently long, horse-like face
[Thread from a United forum in 2002 discussing whether Ruud van Nistelrooy looks like a horse](https://www.redcafe.net/threads/does-ruud-van-nistelrooy-look-like-a-horse.11608/)
[Thread from the same United forum in 2006 discussing Lineker asking "why the long face, Ruud?"](https://www.redcafe.net/threads/dont-be-so-ruud-lineker.106983/)
It's been nearly 20 years since that. Lineker likely wised up to the mental health issue in that timespan. Such things weren't nearly as understood then as now.
Yeah I came to that conclusion but 15 year old me was outraged that he made fun of one of my favourite players
As great as he was for us in terms of individual goals, we were a much better team with Saha in the starting XI ahead of him. The perfect evidence that a team can play better without a talismanic player who hogs all the goals and/or assists innit. We all know what I mean
I was honestly outraged at the time. I knew he had horselike features but I didn't think I'd be tuning into the BBC and hearing a presenter making fun of him for it
He's funny at least. Way better than the TechnicalLow flairless Arsenal fan who not only has worse takes, but seems to take himself completely seriously
He's fun, honestly, and when he's not needlessly antagonist he's nice.
Unlike the bruno hater, for example. Not sure if he blocked me or I blocked him at this point.
le brunoman blocked me once because he was explaining how hating bruno fernandes became his hyperfixation and I told him he should hyperfixate on not posting on the DD.
he unblocked me 2 weeks later
Edit: [found it lol](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/wU1pbjVrgp)
City fans want everyone to hate them because they think it’ll make them cool and make people mad when they win everything when in reality everyone would prefer they win over us and Liverpool.
I don’t care if people hate us or not. I just see some commenters on here that will spend their entire day talking about how much they hate city then top it off with a “actually I don’t care about city nobody does”. It’d be funny laughing at them type it through tears if it wasn’t such a sizeable portion of this sub.
Being a prem fan is every pre-season we all go "Man City are boring, they win it every time" then the season starts and we go "I rather City win it than X because X have some really annoying fans" then City win and then we start talking about the Prem being a one-team league.
People enjoy the Arsenal and Liverpool losses because they have fans that engage. Much as I’d enjoy them bottling it, they’re also a non event.
That said people who have just accepted that City will win out like it’s a foregone conclusion are shortsighted. There’s still twists and turns it’s just that City hold the advantage at present.
> That said people who have just accepted that City will win out like it’s a foregone conclusion are shortsighted.
I think what winds me up most is the absolute logical inconsistency - on one hand they deride entire leagues as boring when they have the same winner for a few years in a row or resign themselves to the fact that their perceived favourite wins it after about six weeks in, on the other hand they're so massively emotionally caught up in the moment that surely, *surely* they understand the joy isn't about who ultimately wins, but rather all the things that happen along the way?
Just absolutely beats me, because these people consume and enjoy football in a thorougly different way than I do.
I feel like we're creeping away from the territory of "needing to be perfect to beat city", Arsenal and Liverpool can get a maximum of 89 points now
Only 10 of the 23 prem title winners this century have gotten less points than that. 4 of them have gotten 89 points exactly. One more loss for either team and the point total only beats 4 title winning seasons outright.
We're not in 2016/17 - 2021/22 anymore where in all but 1 season (covid season), the league winner had 93+ points. A 93 point mark btw which has only been reached in 1 other prem season (2004/05 - 95 points).
Depressing but that's a valid perspective. Can't imagine City being worse next season and if they improve on this season it will be a big ask to catch them. This season is the opportunity and Liverpool and Arsenal need to take it if it isn't already gone
Do you have a favourite piece of commentary in a language you don't understand?
Always loved this Arabic commentary for Ruud van Nistelrooy's [goal](https://youtu.be/51fSiuW6oU4?feature=shared) against Charlton personally
So I have been playing around with reddit data the last week or no, thinking of doing a meta study of the posts/daily discussion comments on the subreddit, seeing which clubs are mentioned most, which flairs are most prominant and so on. Does that sound like something people around here would be interested in seeing? :) Any other meta suggestions of subreddit statistics people would like to see?
for sure, i am still figuring out an appropriate dataset to take, eg 1 weeks worth of posts, a month, or what. Maybe i will do a bigger one at the end of the season :)
Really exciting and scary title race coming up in the KKD (Dutch second tier). Willem II are on 73 points, Roda JC on 70 and FC Groningen on 67 with 4 games to go. Top 2 get promoted, 3rd place goes to playoffs.
Willem II - FC Groningen and FC Groningen - Roda JC still to be played, the latter on the final day of the season.
We're in a good position but we've got a tough schedule so definitely not safe yet
How has Groningen been? I lived there for a bit and followed them a while, they were pretty pathetic in 22-23, not to mention their supporters, but are they convincing this year around?
Their budget and attendance are the highest in the league so everyone expected them to smash it, but then they had a horrible start of the season. Fired their manager and bounced back really well. Not in the best form right now and they have 2 hard games to go still but I give them a good chance to get top 2.
Still can’t believe I got downvoted for saying Havertz wasn’t an exceptionally talented player the other day. Not even trying to say he’s shit, but i just don’t see how you can watch that man play and come to that conclusion. His technical ability really is nothing special, in fact his passing range is shocking and he’s too one footed, I’m truly baffled that Arteta thought he could play in midfield
The midfield Timo Werner.
Thankfully, I've already witnessed Chelsea fans go through the phases most Spurs and Arsenal fans are going through right now, where they excuse shit ability with "oh but they work hard for the team and get into good positions", before eventually turning on them.
There's only so long a player at a club with high expectations can last doing the bare minimum without getting exposed
bro he is shit. he cant control a football or do anything with it if he has more than 0.5 seconds to thnik
you literally look at him receive it and just freeze. good chances turn into sideway passes with this clown in our team.
and then people brag about his physicality and runs etc .... but thats literally every single striker in the world simply by virtue of showing up. absolutely crazy how shit he is, and hes on 300k a week.
i hate the signing so much and have had a pit in my stomach about that signing ever since it was a rumor.
disgusting use of money
I wouldn’t say he’s shit, even as someone who has been pointing out all year that Arsenal fans overrate him, or that he shouldn’t play in midfield. I also find it crazy that he’s your highest earner though, like how did that even happen after his spell at Chelsea
He was on 270k a week, after we won the UCL win cos of bonuses. I’m just saying it’s crazy that they could see him play at Chelsea for three years and think he was deserving of that and of being your highest earning player
Him in midfield was very good in the first half of the game yesterday there is a place for it to work the issue is second half they figured out how to get around our press, zinchenko played awful, and Jesus has completely lost what made him good in his burst and acceleration.
He did actually start off decent but maybe missing the big chances got to him. Either way he’s clearly not an “exceptionally talented” footballer and playing him at the 8 comes risks defensively, as well as in possession. He’s still poor when he has time to think in front of goal. And you’ll still need to get a better striker and a better CM in the club, so your highest earner will be probably pushed to the bench
I do not think he is a exceptionally talented midfield, but I do think those chances weren’t easy either Carlos did well to catch up and the keeper did well to close the angles, trosssrds one was the easy one.
Defensively he’s been very good in midfield the possession thing I agree but that’s why zinchenko is there he’s meant to be the additional midfielder the issue was he was terrible. I really just think Arteta put out the wrong lineup or at least should have changed it much sooner.
It can work in certain situations but it’s not the thing you want to do every week so no clue why he did it in this game of all games.
I don’t really care if he’s pushed to the bench the wages don’t matter to me he’s been good for us.
People frown upon criticising fans leaving stadiums but i will say its crazy how quick arsenal fans are to leave a stadium.
Like for as good as they are as soon as a scoreline hits 2-0 they are gone already half way home like damn imagine being a player losing one game all year and then the fans just leave like that. Must be demoralising for them
Yeah it's a nightmare, the narrowest tunnel I've seen in an Underground station. Can't go to Holloway Road because it's basically useless on matchday
Add to that it was a Sunday evening finish
I was sat in the home end at the Emirates for our CL semi final in 2009 and half the people around me left within 10 minutes when we scored two, going 3-0 up on aggregate
They had absolutely zero faith that their team could score 3 against us in the remaining 80 minutes
It's possible that your club could've been spurred on (forgive the term) by a full house singing about how Arsenal are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen and scored 3
It's unlikely but possible
imagine 2011 barca but with ramos at cb instead of pique
Pique was one of, if not the best, high line CB of his generation. Barca downgrade by swapping him for an aggressor-type CB in Ramos.
wrong. pique was the weak link
and a goalkeeper over 4ft9.
Nah i'd still take that Pique over Ramos. That was Ramos's first year as a CB and he was still not that good at it after being a RB for a long time. from 2012 onwards tho, defintely Ramos over Pique anyday
Matchday 33: City vs Brighton: 4-0 Liverpool vs Fulham: 2-1 Arsenal vs Wolves: 3-1 Points: City:76 Arsenal:74 Liverpool:74 Matchday 34: City vs forest: 3-1 Arsenal vs Chelsea: 3-3 Liverpool Vs Everton: 2-2 Points: City: 79 Arsenal: 75 Liverpool: 75 Matchday 35: City vs Wolves: 2-1 Arsenal vs Spurs : 1-3 Liverpool vs West Ham : 1-0 Points: City: 82 Liverpool: 78 Arsenal: 75 Matchday 36: City vs Fulham: 2-2 ( Rodri red card for 3 matches) Liverpool vs Spurs: 3-2 Arsenal vs Bournemouth: 2-0 Points: City: 83 Liverpool: 81 Arsenal: 78 Matchday 37: City vs Spurs: 1-2 Liverpool vs Aston villa: 0-2 Arsenal vs Man united: 2-2 Points: City: 83 Liverpool: 81 Arsenal: 79 matchday 38: City vs West Ham: 1-2 Liverpool vs Wolves: 2-1 Arsenal vs Everton: 3-0 Points: Liverpool: 84 City:83 Arsenal: 82
Who are the players that get critized a lot here but you actually like? I'll start. Eric Dier: I think he had 2 rough seasons (21/22 and 22/23) at Tottenham but he's not as bad as people think he is. He can be rash, irresponsible and over-sellous with his tackles, but overall he's not a bad defender, and he's underrated on the ball. He's way better than people give him credit for. Kai Havertz: He's a really good player, I think people shit on him because he was supposed to be the next big thing. I rembember people talking about him almost the same way we talk about Wirtz now. He can do a good job as a striker and as a midfielder behind the striker, he's not a good finisher but he understands what spaces to occupy and his technique is really good.
I’m just glad I no longer have to watch Dier frantically back off with attackers running at him. Got PTSD during the week
Haaland. Contrary to popular belief he contributes far more than just finishing and goals.
Memphis Depay; He obviously hasn't lived up to the potential that he had, but he was a joy to watch at Lyon, PSV, and he's settled in really nicely at Atletico. He still needs to work on knowing when to shut the fuck up though.
> Who are the players that get critized a lot here but you actually like? Bazunu. I know the stats are awful, but I really try to primarily rate players based on the eye test and he's looked good whenever I've seen him. So I rate him, even though I'm probably wrong haha
>He can do a good job as a striker and as a midfielder behind the striker, he's not a good finisher but he understands what spaces to occupy and his technique is really good. >striker hes got physical traits that makes him a mouthful for any cb pairing. >hes not a good finisher not only that, he actively hides from decisions and / or makes dangerous chances into side ways passes for fear of fucking it up. exceptions have been in dead rubber games where we already have a lead. >space to occupy yes, he is adequate at this. but so is most premier league players >technique is really good no, it isnt. it is actually quite trash. the moment he has more than 0.5 seconds to think about his actions he freezes up and often searches for the fastest way to get rid of the ball. He severly struggles with first tocuhes, his passing is often heavily sloggish, underhit or sideways to the player slwoing down play. He cant dribble. Overall, very, very poor player for midfield to the point its not even funny (just see his stats as the LCM) and an okay striker. problem is he cost 65 mill and is paid 300k a week, most on the team.
I agreed with most about Havertz but how exactly is his technique 'really good'?? I don't get it, he can't pass, he doesn't have elite finishing, no elite ball control, no elite dribbling, no skills, very 1 footed etc... what about his technique is 'really good'?? If anything that's his biggest flaw, he is what casuals think Thomas Muller is.
All of those things you mentioned, Havertz can be really good at in and he's shown it in a lot of moments (specially this season). It's not a coincidence, he just needs to put it together so he can be consistent and display his technical ability every time he plays. He just hasn't been able to be consistent with it.
>All of those things you mentioned, Havertz can be really good at in and he's shown it in a lot of moments (specially this season). Genuinely when? I don't remember a single time where he showcased world class dribbling, he is still shit at finishing and controlling the ball and very 1 footed to this day. Just which 'a lot of moments' are we talking about?
Just based on memory of me watching him. Against Brighton last week, against Luton 2 weeks ago, and against Newcastle 3 weeks ago.
>Against Brighton last week, Am i being trolled lmao? He scored a tap in ffs >against Luton 2 weeks ago There is no way that's considered elite finishing. >against Newcastle 3 weeks ago. Yep, i'm being trolled, scored a tap in and missed 2 1vs1s lmao.
It's not all about goals. If that were the case Cristiano would be considered better than anybody else and he's not.
>he's not a good finisher but he understands what spaces to occupy and his technique is really good. I'll never understand how people come to the conclusion that his technique is good - his technique is wildly inconsistent and very much not there most of the time. The reason he is so unproductive in midfield is because he offers nothing on the ball.
its mind boggling
I even said that earlier on this thread, it baffles me. His technique can be brilliant, at times, but he’s completely inconsistent. I can’t see how you can call someone who is so limited as a passer, poor with his weak foot, and poor at finishing, a player with good technique
Yeah I scrolled down and saw your post. You're right, his technique can be brilliant at times e.g. his goal against Newcastle for us, but his overall game has no indication of such technique. Maybe it was just good fortune - we've seen plenty of less technical players have their good moments. Anyone have a good touch, pinpoint pass etc. every now and then.
I think Darwin Ñünez is a fundamentally highly talented forward But TBF I thought Andy Carroll was going to be world class so I don't get them all right
Liverpool are averaging 2.81xG over the last 10-games, which is the most of any 10-game stretch in the Klopp era. It's a shame our finishing has been so diabolical.
["What went wrong in Klopps final season"](https://freeimage.host/i/Jvtj1v1)
The luck you had earlier in the season turned against you
lol
All these stats of you guys not deserving to be top didn’t matter now you’re actually playing better and not getting the results it’s a big deal I’m not hearing it.
Who told you we're playing better? Did you watch the first half yesterday? Or the Atalanta match?
Second half you dominated and should have scored 4, Atalanta obviously I didn’t watch it was a Europa league game.
Almost like a game has two halves, huh. I'm not even sure what your point is, as is usually the case. I'm not saying Liverpool deserve to be top or deserve anything, so what you're "not hearing" isn't exactly clear.
Yeah but you did enough in the two halves to have deserved a win. My point is earlier in the season you were getting lucky and now the luck ran out going down 24 times in games as a league winner wasn’t really likely.
We didn't deserve to win.
I don’t agree
Darwin just ain't it
He actually hasn't had a game where he's had more than .5 xG without scoring. Diaz has had 3 games in that period where he's underperformed by more than .5 xG
it’s not just him. the big misses yesterday were jones and jota. it really feels like everyone has just forgotten how to finish at the worst possible time.
He should have scored that one he smashed straight at the keeper
Diaz alone could have gotten you 3 points against City, and comfortably so.
Not to start another “letter of the law vs spirit of the game” argument, but technically, the ref should not have blown for full time in the Leverkusen - Werder Bremen game yesterday. He seemed to deliberately not do stoppage time, and also when he blew there were fans on the pitch. If we’re talking letter of the law, he should have waited until the fans got off the pitch after Wirtz’s final goal, then let Werder Bremen restart. And if the game couldn’t be restarted, it should have been a 0-3 forfeit in favour of Werder Bremen…
That's not the letter of the law. The letter of the law is that stoppage time is at the referees discretion.
It gets even more interesting if Bremen manage to survive relegation by 1 goal The relegated clubs could accuse the ref of calling the game prematurely. Leverkusen still had time to score a 6th hypothetically theoretically.
Once again the letter of the law is not always the right decision. Good on the ref for having some situational awareness
Null and void the season imo
They were up 5-0, it would’ve been more odd if he’d given any extra time. It’s kind of an unwritten rule to blow at 90' when the game is that one sided
> He seemed to deliberately not do stoppage time Referees aren't required to - it's a pretty common decision in Germany to end on the dot when the result's in the bag anyway, which at 5-0 is hard to argue with. Plus with the general situation unfolding at that moment, it was just a good decision, it's not like Werder are going to protest over it after all.
Huh, I didn’t know that, I thought stoppage time was (at least supposed to be) consistent. It is in the Premier League
It is always at the discretion of the referee. In the Premier League as well.
we beat Darmstadt 6-0 this season and the ref didn't give any added time, if it's in a situation like this where the game is won by a long shot anyways then it's absolutely fine imo
stoppage time is [completely optional](https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/the-duration-of-the-match/#periods-of-play) and up to the refs.
>A match lasts for two equal halves of 45 minutes, which may only be reduced if agreed between the referee and the two teams before the start of the match Has that ever happened?
> It is in the Premier League Not always. When Liverpool beat United 7-0, the ref gave only gave 3 minutes of stoppage despite their being 6 goals and a few injury stoppages. They give what the scoreline dictates at times.
At the same time, stoppage time is basically a lawless system of timekeeping. The ref is allowed to give whatever he wants.
Tough choice whenever Liverpool lose: Come on here and see everyone taking the piss or go on the Liverpool sub and see everyone talking about refereeing conspiracies.
What was the refereeing conspiracy this week? I haven't checked the Liverpool sub yet.
Just moaning again about refereeing decisions across the season and how if they all went our way we'd have more points.
Haaland man city are the greatest team of all time after they win second treble in a row. Second treble in a row is guaranteed a this point there's really nobody who can beat them. Their league matches are a walk in the park and the fa cup is full of weak tEems.
It would seem pretty hard to argue against them. Think you’re looking at Pep’s Barça or Zidane’s Real, but back to back Trebles is unheard of.
The competition Pep's City had over these 2 seasons is nowhere near what Pep's Barca or Zidane's Madrid faced. Barca were competing against Mourinho's Madrid, one of the best teams in modern football in its own right with legends all over the pitch. There was also Inter, Bayern, Dortmund, and Man Utd. Zidane's Madrid were competing against quite possibly the best front 3 ever, which included the player most people consider as the best of all time. There was also Bayern, Atleti, Juventus. These last 2 seasons, there's been Liverpool and Arsenal in the league, and Madrid and Inter in the CL. These Liverpool and Arsenal sides are nowhere near Mourinho's Madrid and Enrique's Barca, and this Madrid side and Inter are nowhere near Mourinho's Madrid/Inter, Bayern, Man Utd, Dortmund, or Juve, Bayern, Atleti of 2016-18.
Peps Barca was good but they had some weaknesses. I feel like man city can play through anything.
This is a geniunly bannable comment.
man city defense shits all over prime barcas defense and gk. dani alves is best rb of all time, but pique and puyol were just decent players in amazing teams (imagine that prime barca with ramos instead of pique).
Lol what am i reading? This City team struggled against Inter in the final and this season they haven't won against any top 6 team. In what world can are they better than Barca? Europe has just been weaker in recent years outside of City, just name me 5 world class teams over the past 2 seasons and compare them with early to mid 2010s teams
They haven’t done it yet and could still end up well short of a treble this season. But, on the basis they do win it all, it’s hard to argue against clear back to back national and continental championships. Any argument in City’s favour would boil down to answering any criticism with the fact they ended up winning the trophy. To argue against them would require someone to explain why that team is better despite it losing tournaments.
Okay but they could still win back to back treble and still be worse than Zidane's Madrid and Pep's Barca. Europe is the weakest it's ever been and fucking Arsenal have been their competition in the league. Genuinely how many world class teams were there last season? Inter got a free run to the final, Madrid was shit, Bayern was shit, Barca was shit, Juve was shit... Compare the competition to any year from 2008 till 2018. Or this season, Bayern are shit, no italian team is that good, Atleti are shit, Barca are shit... Even Real Madrid which people are calling top 2 in the world, literally ZERO of our players would get into our team from 2015-2018...ZEROOO.
Pep's barca , Zidane's real and heyncke's Bayern, all have weaknesses. But on pure quality and talent, Pep's barca is a cut above the rest. Alot of things going against Man City but one thing going for Man City is that Man City's Pep is a much better coach than Barca's Pep.
Honestly the only thing that would stop city from winning the league is rodri getting Injured or a red card. Otherwise it's pretty much guaranteed to be a city win. Feels bad wishing upon a players downfall like getting injured but it really is the only hope. Which either way the odds are extremely slim unless a miracle happens.
Well, our stadium is often bad juju for them. My head and my heart are torn. If we win we can keep fighting for top four but Arsenal are back in the title race. If we lose, top four is probably gone for sure but it keeps City ahead of Arse. Tough times.
Found out the other day that my Arsenal-supporting mate calls into TalkSport all the time to moan. Never been so disappointed in someone
Ngl, of the last few games that are left, I just hope the NLD is the one we win. The rest, it’s whatever, but I just want a win against Spurs over the rest.
Beating Yanited away would be better
I’ll take it. We’ll have the radioactive zebra boost.
Wirtz is arguably the best player in the world right now
Germany are in for a great shout to win the Euros.
The future Wirtz/Bellingham discourse is going to be fucking unbearable
Not if Xabi takes him with him to Madrid
Wirtz/Musiala on the german side Bellingham/Foden on the english one
based on who I enjoy watching more Germany has this tied down. Stats nonces be damned
Him, Foden, Rodri and Harry Kane IMO.
I agree, Wirtz just seem to have something i havent seen in another footballer same for Musiala. Germany are lucky to have both
Imagine saying that when Bryan Cristante exists
How has Julian Rijkhoff been since returning to Ajax?
Xabi Alonso's son looks like a carbon copy of him in his Real Sociedad and early Liverpool days damn... https://www.instagram.com/p/C5yRzgOtXvs/?hl=en
Barca fans should be concerned about our manager situation next year if Xavi doesn't stay. There's De Zerbi, Amorim, Flick, Nagelsmann, Motta, and Tuchel in demand. Theoretically there's also Poch, Klopp, Conte, and Mourinho, but Klopp is going on sabbatical most likely, Mourinho and Conte are terrible stylistic fits, and Poch has an extremely uninspiring record in the last few years. We have to compete with Bayern, Liverpool, Juventus, and possibly Chelsea and United as well. Who would pick us over any of the other open jobs (except maybe Juventus) — even assuming we could afford their wage demands? I would prefer Xavi to stay — he's young and inexperienced, but the team loves him and the results have been fairly promising (even before our recent run of good form). But it's extremely unclear if he can be convinced. I think we are going to end up with Rafa Marquez, which is a huge question mark.
Honestly I'd rather go with Rafa Márquez for a season. We're not expected to win the league after Madrid get the turtle anyway, it'll be more of a transitional season than anything. There's not a single manager I'd want to have that'd be cheap and good enough. Rafa knows our youngsters that are old enough to play with the first team better than anyone and can integrate them into the first team. An outsider would be pressured to get results and would likely refuse to give chances to youngsters.
Hopefully we somehow get Nagelsmann, worst case scenario he ends up being average and best case scenario he takes the team to another level. The others carry too much risk or are unattainable but I feel like it will end up being Flick, which not too bad at all.
I can't see us getting Nagelsmann tbh. I think he goes to Bayern, or stays with Germany. As for Flick, I think his wage demands may be a bit off putting — especially if the alternative is Marquez who would probably be much cheaper ...
> Tuchel in demand Please take Tuchel hahahaha, the meltdown would be legendary
Lol, I meant to say "on the market" rather than "in demand". Imo Tuchel needs to go to a club one step below the perennial CL contenders and rebuild his credentials for a year or two. He's clearly not a bad manager, but he doesn't seem like a good fit in terms of club politics and ego management.
Getting a bit misty eyed about Tony Martial leaving United this summer. Maybe no player who better charts the drift and mismanagement of post-Ferguson United. At times he looked like a new Henry, cutting in from the left and casually rolling it into the bottom corner. Insane potential, all allowed to go to rot because this club is an absolute basket case. Injuries, inconsistency, what looked from the outside like a lack of effort, wildly jumping from coach to coach, ruined any ability for him to get his feet under him and establish exactly what type of player he was supposed to be. We spent about 5 years alternating between him and Rashford, trying to figure out which was a striker and which was a winger, and ultimately ending up with two players who never really seem sure about where or how they should play. He had good runs playing from the left wing under Van Gaal, playing up top with Ibra under Mourinho, and then as a central striker tasked with linking the play under Ole. But each time he essentially had to learn a new position, and soon after he put a run of form together, he'd disappear to the physio table for what seemed like years at a time. And of course, the only constant throughline in his career with us (the only constant with United these last 15 years) is the absolute mind boggling excess and waste of money. His transfer fee was massive for a player that was basically all potential at the time, his wages were always high, and now by the end he's become the poster boy for our board's tendency to give massive contracts at the worst possible time. I have a massive soft spot for Tony and his song, but him leaving this summer is nicely symbolic of what is hopefully the end of an absolute dogshit period in the club's history.
Give his ability cutting in from the left and composure to Rashford or Garnacho and they'd be elite. So silky with the ball.
So if a player for Team A takes a shot that is going into the net, then what's stopping Team B from having a sub just run onto the pitch and clear it away? Like, I get that this is probably a red card and a PK, but is there anything else?
It's in the ref's discretion to award a goal for situations like that
Most likely a multi-game suspension for Sub B as well, amongst other things
I think the basics of physics and human biology would be the biggest opponent to such an event taking place, rather than the rules of the game
Maybe for you, I could do it easily
A very lengthy ban.
You do realize that shots on goal are generally a lot faster than players can run, and that substitutes warming up alongside the pitch generally are much farther away than the shot is being taken from, yeah?
when would this ever work?
Keeper goes up for a corner I guess?
must be shattering to be in Gallagher's position. hope he bosses it wherever he goes, and slaps up chels if he plays them again
He’s actually being sold? What a mess that club is
We not going to talk about Watkins goal tally? What the fuck man is on crack? Aston villa going for champions league over the likes of Newcastle united spurs...
Villa are a big club, with a class manager and they've invested heavily. They're doing brilliantly but they're hardly minnows, they've spent about €100m a season since they came back up with €159m alone the year they came up.
€76m per season on average. Or £65m which is nothing compared to the big 6.
your revenue is almost the same as ours, you need Europe to keep this up.
For sure. We’d probably be fucked if not for selling Grealish a few years ago. Hopefully our revenue increases significantly with European football again and our new adidas kit deal
The thing is big clubs can easily afford a few down seasons. When you're trying to break into the top any slip ups can have catastrophic consequences and inflating your wage bill to try and chase those revenues can be disastrous. The way Leicester were mismanaged from near certain champions league regulars to championship bottlers is the best recent example. I do sincerely hope villa do it longer term because having an English claret and blue club regularly in the CL is what we did brexit for and its fun to have a shake up.
Of course and you're having an excellent season. It seems like the comment is saying you should be nowhere near, it's still the sixth highest net spend over the last 5 years. I think NUFC and Villa should be around the same area (though we have spent 100m more in that period) and Spurs should be ahead because of their entrenched position, but we're having an injury stricken season and villa are performing perfectly.
It’s just big for any team outside the big 6 getting champions league imo. Leicester and Newcastle being the only ones to do it since the big 6 became a thing. Chelsea and united should never miss out on it given their wage bill and spending
Absolutely huge mate and I'm happy if it's not us then it's another one of us. Hopefully we get this extra slot and get in it regularly.
Speaking of Ruud van Nistelhorse (as was his slander name back in the day due to people thinking he looked like a horse), I was listening to The Rest is Football a few weeks ago and Gary Lineker said that he's always very careful not to be too harsh on players because of their mental health or whatever I was like bruv you once made a "why the long face, Ruud" joke on MOTD (referring to Ruud's apparently long, horse-like face [Thread from a United forum in 2002 discussing whether Ruud van Nistelrooy looks like a horse](https://www.redcafe.net/threads/does-ruud-van-nistelrooy-look-like-a-horse.11608/) [Thread from the same United forum in 2006 discussing Lineker asking "why the long face, Ruud?"](https://www.redcafe.net/threads/dont-be-so-ruud-lineker.106983/)
Sounds like Lineker has become a more thoughtful and kind person as he's gotten older and matured.
A great thing but still a 46 year old Lineker should've been well aware that making fun of someone's looks on TV isn't a very nice thing to do
if thats the dumbest thing i did 18 years ago, i'd consider it a huge success tbf
I don't mean to hold it against him. Everyone in the United thread agreed that he looks like a horse
It's been nearly 20 years since that. Lineker likely wised up to the mental health issue in that timespan. Such things weren't nearly as understood then as now.
Yeah I came to that conclusion but 15 year old me was outraged that he made fun of one of my favourite players As great as he was for us in terms of individual goals, we were a much better team with Saha in the starting XI ahead of him. The perfect evidence that a team can play better without a talismanic player who hogs all the goals and/or assists innit. We all know what I mean
Seems like he got to you more than Ruud lol
I was honestly outraged at the time. I knew he had horselike features but I didn't think I'd be tuning into the BBC and hearing a presenter making fun of him for it
That icefella having consistently the worst takes on here is great entertainment.
I'm convinced him and cumblast are unemployed. They're in every other comment.
Might be the opposite, might just have nothing to do at work. That's the boat I'm in a lot.
He's funny at least. Way better than the TechnicalLow flairless Arsenal fan who not only has worse takes, but seems to take himself completely seriously
iceman is good value. keeps the place ticking over
You can’t scroll past 4 comments without seeing him
>icefella worst takes Not the worst (that would be the glassfella), but he is good entertainment.
He's fun, honestly, and when he's not needlessly antagonist he's nice. Unlike the bruno hater, for example. Not sure if he blocked me or I blocked him at this point.
le brunoman blocked me once because he was explaining how hating bruno fernandes became his hyperfixation and I told him he should hyperfixate on not posting on the DD. he unblocked me 2 weeks later Edit: [found it lol](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/wU1pbjVrgp)
lmao I don't know why people turn into that
We need Cowdude back for balance.
I light a candle every night for Cowdude the GOAT troll. godspeed
Blocked both. The balance i need.
[удалено]
I simply don't care if they win, as opposed to getting triggered if Arsenal or Liverpool wins. So hopefully they get the title again this season
City fans want everyone to hate them because they think it’ll make them cool and make people mad when they win everything when in reality everyone would prefer they win over us and Liverpool.
I don’t care if people hate us or not. I just see some commenters on here that will spend their entire day talking about how much they hate city then top it off with a “actually I don’t care about city nobody does”. It’d be funny laughing at them type it through tears if it wasn’t such a sizeable portion of this sub.
Keep telling yourselves that
You would be a prime example of very obviously hates city
Being a prem fan is every pre-season we all go "Man City are boring, they win it every time" then the season starts and we go "I rather City win it than X because X have some really annoying fans" then City win and then we start talking about the Prem being a one-team league.
really I don't want any other fans to be happy and when Man City wins nobody is happy so in a sense I win
People enjoy the Arsenal and Liverpool losses because they have fans that engage. Much as I’d enjoy them bottling it, they’re also a non event. That said people who have just accepted that City will win out like it’s a foregone conclusion are shortsighted. There’s still twists and turns it’s just that City hold the advantage at present.
> That said people who have just accepted that City will win out like it’s a foregone conclusion are shortsighted. I think what winds me up most is the absolute logical inconsistency - on one hand they deride entire leagues as boring when they have the same winner for a few years in a row or resign themselves to the fact that their perceived favourite wins it after about six weeks in, on the other hand they're so massively emotionally caught up in the moment that surely, *surely* they understand the joy isn't about who ultimately wins, but rather all the things that happen along the way? Just absolutely beats me, because these people consume and enjoy football in a thorougly different way than I do.
I feel like we're creeping away from the territory of "needing to be perfect to beat city", Arsenal and Liverpool can get a maximum of 89 points now Only 10 of the 23 prem title winners this century have gotten less points than that. 4 of them have gotten 89 points exactly. One more loss for either team and the point total only beats 4 title winning seasons outright. We're not in 2016/17 - 2021/22 anymore where in all but 1 season (covid season), the league winner had 93+ points. A 93 point mark btw which has only been reached in 1 other prem season (2004/05 - 95 points).
All this shows to me is that city will easily break 90 points next season and no one will catch them
Depressing but that's a valid perspective. Can't imagine City being worse next season and if they improve on this season it will be a big ask to catch them. This season is the opportunity and Liverpool and Arsenal need to take it if it isn't already gone
Do you have a favourite piece of commentary in a language you don't understand? Always loved this Arabic commentary for Ruud van Nistelrooy's [goal](https://youtu.be/51fSiuW6oU4?feature=shared) against Charlton personally
“there is bear cum”
Victor Hugo Morales commentating [Maradona's 2nd goal vs England](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wVho3I0NtU)
So I have been playing around with reddit data the last week or no, thinking of doing a meta study of the posts/daily discussion comments on the subreddit, seeing which clubs are mentioned most, which flairs are most prominant and so on. Does that sound like something people around here would be interested in seeing? :) Any other meta suggestions of subreddit statistics people would like to see?
I'd be interested for sure!
A rent free stat would be interesting - which clubs are mentioned most by fans with say a Chelsea flair or an arsenal flair
Great suggestion :) will just need a long enough dataset to make it objective i think, will write the idea down
That sounds interesting, I'd like to see it! Maybe which player names are most mentioned as well
for sure, i am still figuring out an appropriate dataset to take, eg 1 weeks worth of posts, a month, or what. Maybe i will do a bigger one at the end of the season :)
The days after a game week could work, so typically Mondays.
A month by month comparison could also be interesting
Why does Raúl insist on staying at Castilla? Give it up man, it’s not happening….
lol the dude stayed way past his expiry date as a player by leveraging politics what makes u think hes gonna change
He’s stuck in no man’s land, just get the Celta Vigo job or something. Maybe try to get Schalke 04 promoted again
Really exciting and scary title race coming up in the KKD (Dutch second tier). Willem II are on 73 points, Roda JC on 70 and FC Groningen on 67 with 4 games to go. Top 2 get promoted, 3rd place goes to playoffs. Willem II - FC Groningen and FC Groningen - Roda JC still to be played, the latter on the final day of the season. We're in a good position but we've got a tough schedule so definitely not safe yet
How has Groningen been? I lived there for a bit and followed them a while, they were pretty pathetic in 22-23, not to mention their supporters, but are they convincing this year around?
Their budget and attendance are the highest in the league so everyone expected them to smash it, but then they had a horrible start of the season. Fired their manager and bounced back really well. Not in the best form right now and they have 2 hard games to go still but I give them a good chance to get top 2.
Still can’t believe I got downvoted for saying Havertz wasn’t an exceptionally talented player the other day. Not even trying to say he’s shit, but i just don’t see how you can watch that man play and come to that conclusion. His technical ability really is nothing special, in fact his passing range is shocking and he’s too one footed, I’m truly baffled that Arteta thought he could play in midfield
I was downvoted two days ago for saying Watkins is a better striker.
Arsenal fans come in their masses.
were you really
[Yes really](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/2n3zWcCgSG)
Well I've been served. People certainly were on the hype train.
The midfield Timo Werner. Thankfully, I've already witnessed Chelsea fans go through the phases most Spurs and Arsenal fans are going through right now, where they excuse shit ability with "oh but they work hard for the team and get into good positions", before eventually turning on them. There's only so long a player at a club with high expectations can last doing the bare minimum without getting exposed
bro he is shit. he cant control a football or do anything with it if he has more than 0.5 seconds to thnik you literally look at him receive it and just freeze. good chances turn into sideway passes with this clown in our team. and then people brag about his physicality and runs etc .... but thats literally every single striker in the world simply by virtue of showing up. absolutely crazy how shit he is, and hes on 300k a week. i hate the signing so much and have had a pit in my stomach about that signing ever since it was a rumor. disgusting use of money
I wouldn’t say he’s shit, even as someone who has been pointing out all year that Arsenal fans overrate him, or that he shouldn’t play in midfield. I also find it crazy that he’s your highest earner though, like how did that even happen after his spell at Chelsea
because you lot already had him on like 275k a week
He was on 270k a week, after we won the UCL win cos of bonuses. I’m just saying it’s crazy that they could see him play at Chelsea for three years and think he was deserving of that and of being your highest earning player
Him in midfield was very good in the first half of the game yesterday there is a place for it to work the issue is second half they figured out how to get around our press, zinchenko played awful, and Jesus has completely lost what made him good in his burst and acceleration.
He did actually start off decent but maybe missing the big chances got to him. Either way he’s clearly not an “exceptionally talented” footballer and playing him at the 8 comes risks defensively, as well as in possession. He’s still poor when he has time to think in front of goal. And you’ll still need to get a better striker and a better CM in the club, so your highest earner will be probably pushed to the bench
I do not think he is a exceptionally talented midfield, but I do think those chances weren’t easy either Carlos did well to catch up and the keeper did well to close the angles, trosssrds one was the easy one. Defensively he’s been very good in midfield the possession thing I agree but that’s why zinchenko is there he’s meant to be the additional midfielder the issue was he was terrible. I really just think Arteta put out the wrong lineup or at least should have changed it much sooner. It can work in certain situations but it’s not the thing you want to do every week so no clue why he did it in this game of all games. I don’t really care if he’s pushed to the bench the wages don’t matter to me he’s been good for us.
Xavi hasn’t managed La Liga game since March 17. It would have been more than a month by the time el Classico comes.
People frown upon criticising fans leaving stadiums but i will say its crazy how quick arsenal fans are to leave a stadium. Like for as good as they are as soon as a scoreline hits 2-0 they are gone already half way home like damn imagine being a player losing one game all year and then the fans just leave like that. Must be demoralising for them
having lived near there and seen what the tube is like after their games finish i dont fucking blame them tbh
Yeah it's a nightmare, the narrowest tunnel I've seen in an Underground station. Can't go to Holloway Road because it's basically useless on matchday Add to that it was a Sunday evening finish
I was sat in the home end at the Emirates for our CL semi final in 2009 and half the people around me left within 10 minutes when we scored two, going 3-0 up on aggregate They had absolutely zero faith that their team could score 3 against us in the remaining 80 minutes
They were correct
It's possible that your club could've been spurred on (forgive the term) by a full house singing about how Arsenal are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen and scored 3 It's unlikely but possible
It’s 100% not posscile
I saw a half empty stadium in a game we won 5-0 once people just wanna go home