Premier League 2019/2020 Thread

[weasel]

Last night's CL game was a weird one.

BUT have you ever seen a game like it where EVERY time Bayern touched the ball it ended up in the back of the net? It was ludicrous. No matter where they shot from, in it went. It was like the goal was twice the normal size. Can't even really blame Lloris, he was nowhere near any of the 7 goals. I really don't think 2-7 was a fair reflection of the game.

Yeah, that's a fair comment. I said as much to a few mates. It was just one of those games where everything you hit flies in to the net. They happen about once a season. I agree Lloris couldn't do much about any of the goals either.
Spuds did make it easy for Bayern though, they gave it away so much and just gave up when it got to 4-1. The fact they just downed tools would worry me more than the final score. It's a group game so really only the result counts (though there is obviously a lot of psychological damage is done by a defeat of that magnitude) lose 1-0 or 100-0 it has the same effect on the group table and your pts. If Spuds win their last 4 games they will be fine. Although I can't see them getting anything in Munich.
Results like that make or break a team's season. More often than not, the latter.

As a Man Utd fan you can't expect them to keep winning like they did in the 00's and 90's. I consider myself spoilt really, growing up and seeing them win so much.

So few of your fellow Utd fans think like that it is genuinely sad/pathetic/depressing. The number I have spoken to who bleat on about how "this is Utd we shud b winning the league" as if it is some god given right, or who "don't really follow football anymore" (Ie now Utd aren't winning everything it's no fun) is unbelievable. I have no time for either attitude, the latter in particular normally gets the person a volley of abuse from me. To a man/woman they all deny it's cos Utd aren't winning everything any more.

 

[lejackal]

As an Arsenal fan that spent my whole adult life with Wenger I have been somewhat spoilt in terms of trophies and entertaining football. I don't think we should win the league every few years but I absolutely think, particularly with the money spent on the team and cost to watch them, that they should at least be winning games (or trying to win games) against the top six a couple of times a season.

We don't have a God given right to top 4 but it most definitely should be the minimum we achievement to aim for.

I actually probably follow Arsenal and football more now than I did when we were winning, although I attend less matches due mainly to time and children

 

[theforceuk]

Don't get me wrong I think Man Utd should be doing a lot better than they are, but I put a lot of it down to the owners, same as Arsenal. A succesfull club comes from the owners making good decisions and not excepting lesser standards. It comes from the top, unless you have a genius to paper over the cracks and I think Fergie would take a while to adjust to the present standards Liverpool and City are setting.

 

[weasel]

I do agree that Utd should really be looking at top four as a minimum. Arsenal, probably more top four would be a "good season". It's the entitlement of some autd fans that grates with me. No doubt Liverpool fans were like that in the early to mid 90's but most of us were teenagers then so we couldn't claim to have the long time commitment to footy we have now.

I agree both clubs should be top six as a bare minimum and players making an effort would definitely help. But in today's world footballers all live in a bubble and are surrounded by yes men. If it doesnt work out at a club their agent will get them a move, even if it didn't work out cos they didn't even bother to try. Yes Pogba, I'm looking at you. TBF Ballotelli was worse at Pool.

As for the Glazers, I think I said somewhere else, they are just leeches. I have no love for
Utd, but they are parasites bleeding the club dry. Fair enough if they had used their own money to buy the club, like Mike Ashley, but they borrowed the money and secured it on Utd's assets. Effectively they bought, Utd with Utd's money and if Utd go bust the Glazers lose absolutely nothing, bar their annual management/consultancy fee.

 

[edd_jedi]

Oh god as if Spurs losing to Brighton wasn't bad enough, City have lost as well so now Arsenal fans think they're in the title race again :lol:

On a serious note looks like Spurs are in serious trouble now. 3 points off top 4 obviously isn't the end of the world and only 8 games in it's still well in reach, the results don't bother me as everyone has a bad patch now and again however it seems the confidence and unity have gone. Back to the drawing board during the January transfer window by the look of it, half the sqaud don't seem to care any more.

Looks like this really will be Liverpool's year the way everyone else are playing.

 

[edd_jedi]

Also no surprise Alli has been dropped from the England Squad, should have sold him for 100 million two years ago.

 

[Richard_H]

I really rated Ali two years ago. Shocked at his decline.

We're not in the title race. We're in the race for 2nd :lol:

 

[lejackal]

Oh god as if Spurs losing to Brighton wasn't bad enough, City have lost as well so now Arsenal fans think they're in the title race again :lol:

We've always been in the race, we're just giving Pool a head start :lol:

 

[weasel]

Also no surprise Alli has been dropped from the England Squad, should have sold him for 100 million two years ago.

Yeah, amazing decline. From someone who looked seriously good 2 years ago to utterly anonymous now.

Who has regressed more, him or Lingard!?

I half joked with a few Utd supporting mates that the game yesterday was "a relegation 6 pointer". Obvious they all disagreed. By the end they didn't. That game had all the hallmarks of two teams who were fighting for PL survival. Teams littered with dross, nobodies and has beens, no game plan on display, a chronic lack of skill (basic skill), and two managers who look like deer caught in the headlights.
Still, Liverpool next for Utd. If that doesn't wake their players up I suspect the 8-0 beating and the abuse from the fans will.

Ps, Yes, Spurs have imploded and look like they need an overhaul too. As for Everton, it's a race between those three managers to see who can make their team the worst.

 

[spoons]

I wouldn't write off Arsenal yet to compete with Utd or Spurs for underperforming team of the year award. Two shots on target at home to Bournemouth doesn't bode well, but at least a decent manager comng in would have something to work with. Emery seems clueless.

No-one could improve that Utd team, and if the rot is as bad as it seems in the Spurs team, Kane and a few others following Pochettino to Utd or elsewhere wouldn't leave much of a team left to play in that big new stadium

 

[theforceuk]

I think Arsenal are doing alright, could be a lot worse.

 

[weasel]

Good team that Czech Republic. You would have to be something special to beat them lol

 

[theforceuk]

Good team that Czech Republic. You would have to be something special to beat them lol

I bet they would beat Man Utd.

 

[weasel]

I was going to say, "you don't need to be a good team to do that" but given Pool have them on Sunday I am saying nothing.

DDG carried off injured last night.

 

[theforceuk]

I was going to say, "you don't need to be a good team to do that" but given Pool have them on Sunday I am saying nothing.

DDG carried off injured last night.

Really! Stitch up that is. :roll: That Said Romero is a bloody good number 2 and it's not as if DDG has been as good as he can be in the last 12 to 18 months.

 

[edd_jedi]

Another worrying Spurs performance against Watford at the weekend. Bizarre line up and formation from Poch, 7 changes from the previous game apparently, Erikson wasn't even in the squad. A CL finalist should be winning 5-6 nil against the bottom club at home, not scraping a draw. At least they have an easy game this weekend :lol: I think Tottenham's season is over already, needs to hit the January window hard and look to next year.

Speaking of which, United were unluckly to draw with Liverpool yesterday, that was the best I've seen them play for months, looked half decent (against an admittedly below par Liverpool.)

 

[weasel]

Yeah, I ALMOST felt sorry for Utd. They came with a plan and stuck to it very well. Although Liverpool were shite. I was that pissed off by how bad Pool were (I dont mean Utd making them play badly, I mean passes to no one, aimless crosses that Utd's CB's ate up all day and almost consant insistence on passing BACK to the defenders) that I didn't even react when Pool scored. Granted it's just one game but when you play a side who are gonn sit in like Utd did you have to be quick on the attack. Bouncing it back to the defenders is fine once in a while, but Liverpool's front three did it every single time. Well, everytime they didn't turn it over with a shocking first touch or a flick to ehhh no one.

Without getting into the specifics of Sunday's game I do think there is an issue with VAR. Why have it if it won't over turn errors? That's what it's for FFS. Even Gary Neville said he expected Utd's goal to be over turned. Watford should have had a penalty against Spurs. That was stonewall for me. VAR looks at it and says no. Joel Matip got pulled back in mid air against Newcastle and VAR looked at it and says no.
It's compounded by the fact that referees have started to leave incidents knowing that if it is bad VAR should correct them, but then VAR does nothing.
I don't blame the refs, i blame the morons who set the rules/criteria for VAR. But the current system is a joke though. I don't know anyone who thinks it works well.
Even Utd fans, who probably got the rub of it's decisions yesterday, will admit the system is flawed.
I can understand a ref/lino missing something or not getting a clear view, but when someone sees it a dozen times from different angles and refuses to make a decision then it's just a waste of time.

 

[edd_jedi]

Yeah I am really struggling to understand how the commentators and us at home watching it on TV can see what happened within seconds, yet the VAR officials with 25 HD screens and slow motion play/rewind etc need to watch each incident from a dozen angles and then STILL get it wrong 2 minutes later. Utterly baffling.

 

[theforceuk]

VAR is ****, Daniel James was almost murdered in that Liverpool game.

Liverpool haven't been playing that well for a while if you ask me, they are just grinding out results. Don't get me wrong their the best team in the league still. Man Utd are miles behind, but they are still hard to beat and stay in every game. Says it all really, two wins against Leicester and Chelsea, only team to get anything from Liverpool, but lost to Newcastle, West Ham and Palace.

We have become the Liverpool of the 90's.

 

[weasel]

VAR is ****, Daniel James was almost murdered in that Liverpool game.

Ashley Young has been teaching him well. Diving wee bas.......Lol