Premier League 2020/2021 Thread

[weasel]

You see Utd tonight!?
Very very lucky.

They were relegation bad for the first 60mins, WH probably should have been more than 1 up at HT. Then that equaliser turned the whole game. I would probably bet my life on the fact the ball went out, quite what the lino was doing I'm not sure, the fact it curls in from behind him should give it away. BUT I have sympathy with VAR as no stadium has cameras along the sidelines, or in corners pointing down the line, so there is no way VAR can confirm it went out, thus the goal stands. I would be pissed off if I was WH but they did implode after that, and should have been ahead by more than one. It was as if someone flicked a switch and for the last 30 WH were as bad as Utd had been in the first 60. The game could, and probably should, have finished 4/5-1 to Utd.

Scary that THAT Utd side is 4th, 2pts off the top. They are woefully bad at times, yet manage to win games. I'm still not sure if it is 'character' or just luck. Certainly the latter played a part today, and against Brighton with that after the FT whistle penalty. But credit where it's due, 2pts off the top after 10 games isn't to be sniffed at.

Big month ahead for Utd, Leipzig in a CL play off on Tues, then City, SU, Leeds, Everton (Worthless cup), Leicester and Wolves. Some tricky games in there. The last four in particular are quite capable of giving Utd a beating, or indeed of bending over and taking a hiding.

I was saying to a Utd supporting mate today, Utd are royally ****ed without Fernandez. He really is their only real creative spark in midfield. If he snaps something you have real problems. Given how condensed this season is OGS can't play him every week. Look what happened at the end of last season when he tried that. He's definitely a class act.

 

[theforceuk]

Yeah just imagine if we played well for 90 minutes, the best team in the league and champions have lost 7-2 this season.

Its a results business, Utd will continue to get results but there will always be a team or two in front of us while we have these owners.

We have a young team with plenty of potential!!! lol

If we hadn't signed Bruno we would have a different manager, simple.

 

[weasel]

If we hadn't signed Bruno we would have a different manager, simple.

Or be in a different league, :wink: :lol:

 

[theforceuk]

If we hadn't signed Bruno we would have a different manager, simple.

Or be in a different league, :wink: :lol:

I reckon Man Utd can win the league this season, wouldn't be as bigger shock as when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005 would it! I mean a league where a ream that gets promoted beats the champions 7-2 surely anything is possible!

 

[weasel]

Villa were up last year. This wasn't their first season up.
Utd won't win the league. Over 38 games their luck will wear off and the lack of depth in the squad will kick in. Fernandez cant play every game, plus CL and worthless cup. Look what happened at the end of last season when he (and the same 10) played most games.

They may make CL, but I'm not sure I can see it. There are four better sides and the likes of Wolves and Leicester who could just as easily be there or there abouts.

 

[theforceuk]

Sorry yeah Villa have been up 2 seasons, I should have said a side that should have gone down last season! lol

Let's clear something up by the way, my opinion on Utd winning the league under the present set up let alone this season. Percentage wise I would say about 5%!

 

[weasel]

Yeah, I know, and I agree. It's not impossible but ridiculously unlikely.

As for Spurs, **** me, that was the definition of pure Mourinho. And I mean that in the worst possible way. All that was missing was the diving and play acting.
That man sucks any joy out of football. How do the Spurs boys stick that shite every week. Even if you are winning surely just once or twice a game it might be nice to leave your own half when you are ahead!?

That's a shambles of an Arsenal team. They remind me of Utd under Moyesy, aimless cross after aimless cross. Hard to score when your crossed always find either a Spuds player or 10 yards of space. Yet Spuds just parked the bus in the second half, and for large chunks of the first. They should have torn that team apart.

 

[lejackal]

No one has told the boys crossing that Giroud plays for Chelsea now :roll:

There are a number of areas of concern but Willian being on a three year deal and Aubameyang looking shot of confidence all of a sudden are right up there.

We need to get a good January window but I'm buggered if I know who we should buy.

 

[weasel]

Yeap. Willian looks utterly done. Aubamayang has been anonymous since he signed that new contract. Adebayor-esque. He (Aubamayang, not Adebayor) is too good to be shite for long.

But that Arsenal team needs a hell of a lot of work. The only other one I would keep was Bellerin, but he was piss poor in the final third today. The two new boys, the CB and Parety, look ok so far but too early to say. The rest of that squad is deadwood.
Possibly sakho and willets may come good, the rest!?

Who will pay money for them though? Xhaka cost how much, 35m? Pepe was what 70m? He barely looks worth a tenth of that. Then there's Glazides leeching money out of the club like the Glazier's Utd.


Nice to see Pool get a VAR go for them. In real time it looked a penalty all day long. WTF Mane was doing even considering an overhead in his own box I'll never know. Fair do's to VAR from a couple of angles you can see there was no contact.
Great result, albeit Wolves looked very flat. Possibly a hangover from Jimenez's injury.

 

[edd_jedi]

Honestly, as I've said before, I'm thoroughly enjoying watching Spurs play at the moment. How much more entertaining do you want goals to be!? Son's has got to be a goal of the season contender, surely. Football is a tactical game, if you want to see pure attacking either watch a basketball game or Poch managing :lol:

For all the attacking prowess,I used to hate watching our pre-Jose defence **** themselves literally EVERY time the ball came in our half. Remember how much I used to complain about Danny Rose!?

Will be interesting to see if Arteta is still manager this time next week, Poch was sacked with Spurs in 14th

 

[theforceuk]

Poch will be Real Madrid manager soon and Zidane Arsenal or Man Utd. lol

 

[lejackal]

Bear with me one this one.....

Aubameyang is not a **** player yet is looking **** as the service he's getting is ****. This has a knock on effect in making him disinterested and, er, ****.

Lacazette is far from on fire but as he demonstrated on Thursday he can deliver a good goal. Yes, Rapid Vienna are not PL standard, however, the goal he scored could be scored against anyone. Just. Fooking. Shoot.

Xhaka- he is not the answer, he never has been. I don't hate him, I just recognise that despite having leadership qualities he is not very progressive.

Leno- fine but not brilliant. Hardly an area of concern given the wider issues.

AMN- why in all that's holy did we fight to keep him if we're not going to use him?

Partey- really think he is what we need but we should absolutely not have rushed him back for this

Bellerin - not fussed, although Cedric is not an upgrade

Tierney- keep

Gabriel- keep

Holding/chambers/sideshow Bob- off you pop

Willian- I can't believe he's the same player from Chelsea

Pepe- I'm staggered we paid what we did when we could've just had Zaha for broadly the same, however, he will be better than current performances......once we ship him back to France

Saka- keep and ffs play in his best position

Martinelli- god do we need him fit

Joe/Eddie - probably not game changers long term but the seniors aren't exactly covering themselves in glory

ESR/Balogun/ A.N.Other Hale Enders. Just use them, again they can hardly do any worse.

Arteta- change the system or change the personnel

I don't want managerial change, I want Arteta to work but there is sooo much to do to get things moving again

 

[edd_jedi]

I know we all slate players but let's be honest, no PL players are ****, it's incredibly hard to get to that level so they all must have some talent. I think poor performance is always either lack of confidence, laziness, or being played in the wrong position. Just look at Eric Dier - we couldn't have given him away on a free transfer six months ago, but over the last few months he's become a solid CB by playing in a position that suits him, having decent support in Reguilón, and a bit of confidence from having a manager who has stuck by him and got some results.

So what I'm getting at is I don't think Arsenal necessarily need to replace their whole squad or sack their manager, a couple of decent signings might give the others a kick up the arse, but Arteta needs to find a formula that works, which he hasn't yet. I was surprised he didn't play Spurs at their own game yesterday, anyone who's watched us play over the last 5+ years knows that Kane and Son are no good at breaking down a defence, so the teams we usually lose to are the ones that sit back and wait for an opportunity rather than plough forward.

And speaking of boring football I think Jose will rotate his tactics, of course he's going to be risk averse against City, Chelsea and Arsenal, he'll let the team play up the pitch a bit more in lower risk games.

 

[weasel]

Honestly, as I've said before, I'm thoroughly enjoying watching Spurs play at the moment.

:shock: The football is horrendous. It's sit deep and catch them on the break, then ehhh sit deep. Did Spurs even get out of their own half in the second half!? I can think of one free kick they buggered up and that was it. Literally. The other 44 1/2 minutes was them doing sideways shuttles 10-15 yards outside their own box, against one of the worst Arsenal teams in the PL era.
I'm not expecting 100 mph suicidal attacking, but there is a difference between game management and setting up shop. That was the latter, with two double decker busses and a broken down lorry for extra protection.

I could understand enjoying the results in spite of the football, I did that during most of Rafa's reign at Pool, and when Houllier had us playing 10-0-1 away in European games and we hoofed balls for Owen to chase on to. But there's no way I could watch that Spurs side every week.

I'll call the Pool spurs game now. Jose will do what he did in the second half against Arsenal. A flat back 4 who barely leave their box, 4 midfielders who barely get 10 yards in front of their defence and 2 "strikers" who will take up positions more akin to a regular defensive midfielder. Pool will have 70% possession and the game will be decided by either a moment of magic by a Pool player (or a **** up by a Spurs defender) or Spurs getting one on the break with either only shot on target.
That's chess. That's not football.

That's why everyone hated the Liverpool Chelsea games when Jose and Rafa where in charge. 89 minutes of utter tedium and 1 minute of excitement....if you're lucky.

 

[weasel]

And speaking of boring football I think Jose will rotate his tactics, of course he's going to be risk averse against City, Chelsea and Arsenal, he'll let the team play up the pitch a bit more in lower risk games.

Possibly. Although it will still be Jose, so safety first.


Ohh and [mention]lejackal[/mention] I would agree with most of your assessments.
The problem is two fold. 1) who is gonna buy half of Arsenal's shite players, for anything approaching a price Arsenal will want? 2) Arsenal have no money to buy in new players. They need to buy 5 or 6 boys on the cheap who turn into very very good PL players. When was the last time Arsenal did that with ONE player, never mind 5? Viera, Anelka!?

 

[edd_jedi]

The second half was a bit of a bore I agree, but I still don't see what else you're meant to do when 2-0 up. Lose 2-4 like Poch would have done!? It's nice to see a hammering like the United game now and again, but I'll never moan about a win and clean sheet. Bear in mind this is a team that have won two meaningless trophies in the last 29 years, there is a lot at stake. Those seasons where Poch came second and third, I can think of several matches in each where he threw points away by being too gung-ho. An occasional bit of restraint might have won him something. He might do well in a league like Spain or Scotland where a couple of elite teams are so much better than everyone else, but in the PL where there are at least five or six serious contenders most seasons, and even the relegation battlers make you work for points, you can't play like that, and he proved it.

 

[weasel]

Bear in mind this is a team that have won two meaningless trophies in the last 29 years, there is a lot at stake.

Yeah, fair point. The ends may justify the means after all.

I still don't think that Arsenal team could have scored two goals against an under eleven kids team, missing 10 of their 11 players. They just look so poor.
Since when did Arsenal whack crosses into the box all day long!? Fat sam would be proud, albeit he would probably have them actually aiming the crosses for a team mate, and one who knew how to head a ball as well.

 

[weasel]

Another nonsense VAR penalty last night

https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1336070805613146120

THAT is two fouls apparently. BS. UTTER UTTER BS

 

[weasel]

Well that was impressive.
Play 5 at the back but then none of them bother to mark.
Fat Maguire watches a cross bounce across his box and doesn't feel any need to try and deal with it. If you don't get a call from the keeper ehh it's yours!

I particularly liked AWB's attempted back heal in the first half that went nowhere and resulted in him losing the ball.

TBF that game taught us nothing we didn't already know. Utd are a Jackal and Hyde side, often within a game as much as game to game. OGS isn't good enough for the CL, or probably Man U, but he isn't doing badly enough to warrant the boot. Fat Maguire is really not that great. The Utd defence is ropey/it's weakest link. Utd can score goals when they attack. Utd get quite a loft of penalties (last night's was soft) and Fernandez scores them. That Utd squad is still a bit thin/weak. The Board won't sack OGS as they only care about money coming in and he is doing JUST well enough to keep them in contention in the league and lesser cups, so "fans" will keep buying the merchandise and Ed can keep flogging advertising and sponsorship to "official noddle partners".

Ohh and Utd won't get any better with this current set up. That is, this manager, this squad, and this Board.


And, Yeah, I did laugh. For 90mins. Someone post a link to that Rio Ferdinand thing of "Ole's at the wheel, Utd are back" :wink:

 

[theforceuk]

Yeah not a lot I can add to that other than sacking OGS now is pretty pointless in my opinion. He has 18 months left on his contract so sack him in May, there is no way he will get a new contract and no manager goes into the last season of his contract. Who would want the job now anyway? with the Pogba mess, in need of at least one decent centre back, the fridge and Lindaloff are worse than Jones and Smalling, probably better as individuals but can't play together and were in the Europa League.

Watch Man Utd beat City on Saturday, its so frustrating. I actually can't see that as City look like they may be hitting some form. We played 5 at the back last night and there first two goals came from players at the back post not being marked! OGS is lucky to still have his job and I think without his history at the club he would be gone. We should and very easily could have lost our last 4 games Southampton 2-0 down at half time, PSG lost 3-1, West Ham should have been 3-0 up at half time and last night. Bring on City.