Premier League 24/25 Thread

[theforceuk]

If it meant getting rid of the Glazers I would take it.

 

[weasel]

It won't though.

They made the club borrow money during lockdown so it could pay them for their "consultancy". Even if Utd's revenue drops to zero they will leech money out of the club.
You need someone, really really rich and dumb, to make them an offer they cant refuse.
That person then needs to invest in the stadium, team and club infrastructure.

None of which will happen

 

[theforceuk]

We had that person a year ago and the Glazers turned him down and chose Jim boy.

 

[edd_jedi]

And for today's brain teaser, 25 goal difference but only 1 point ahead of West Ham

 

[lejackal]

If this was 95/96 and Ange was Keegan you'd be 2nd at the end of the season. You simply can't just attack in the PL, you need to be able to defend as well

 

[edd_jedi]

I agree, that's what is puzzling me though, +13 GD is far higher than any other team outside the top 4. And it's equally bizarre to me that Forest can be 2nd with only +7 GD! How have they managed to win 11 games with an average of less than one extra goal!? You can't draw your way to the title surely...

 

[lejackal]

I assume you must have dished out a couple of thrashings and they've been winning by one goal

 

[lejackal]

The table does tend to rationalise towards March though, we were top four with not very good GD about 3 seasons ago and ultimately dropped out

 

[edd_jedi]

And it's not even funny that Udogie went off with a hamstring injury after 20 minutes in his first game back from injury. This has got to be the unluckiest season in history, even more so than last year for us. Either the Spurs medical team are doing something seriously wrong, or Ange is not giving the players enough recovery time.

 

[lejackal]

 

[edd_jedi]

So I'm obviously expecting the worlds smallest violins here, but Spurs currently have nine first team players injured, the second highest in the league, and we have EIGHT fixtures this month - PL, FA Cup, Europa league, and League cup. 4 of those are away games, one abroad.

At what point do you admit defeat? I don't see how that is possible. We're either going to end up with 11+ first team injuries, or play a load of kids and lose every game. Is there any mechanism for rearranging fixtures due to injuries and/or congestion? I feel like our best option currently is to scrape 35 points over the next few games to avoid relegation, and then just play a load of U21s for the rest of the season so we can get everyone fit and have a fair shot at the 25/26 season.

 

[Hod10]

Even if Spurs had a fully fit squad I don't think you'd be seriously challenging in the Premier League with the quality of players you've got. Inconsistency. Romero and Son are top quality players. The rest are just a mix of average to good players. For example Maddison, Solanke, Johnson are only 'good' players, overrated as most English/British players are.

 

[lejackal]

So I'm obviously expecting the worlds smallest violins here, but Spurs currently have nine first team players injured, the second highest in the league, and we have EIGHT fixtures this month - PL, FA Cup, Europa league, and League cup. 4 of those are away games, one abroad.

At what point do you admit defeat? I don't see how that is possible. We're either going to end up with 11+ first team injuries, or play a load of kids and lose every game. Is there any mechanism for rearranging fixtures due to injuries and/or congestion? I feel like our best option currently is to scrape 35 points over the next few games to avoid relegation, and then just play a load of U21s for the rest of the season so we can get everyone fit and have a fair shot at the 25/26 season.

According to premier injuries you've got 9.

Although I'm not sure injuries are the only problem…

 

[edd_jedi]

Oh I agree, Spurs aren't challenging for the title even with a fully fit squad. But I also don't think we're a bottom half team either, 5th or so is where we "should" be IMO. People seem to forget that until Vicario got injured we had not only scored the most goals, but also conceded similar amounts to the other top four teams. A couple of recent hammerings has skewed that, we were outside the top four due to poor game management and (IMO) bad luck, not Southampton level defence.

 

[weasel]

Is part of Spurs fans grief with Ange not his refusal to play the kids? Even when you have 327 injuries, he sticks with the same players and (apparently) runs them into the ground, thus increasing their chances of an injury and the cycle repeating?

 

[edd_jedi]

Hard to say who's fault it is, it's not unusual for a manager to want to pick their best players, maybe the medical team are sending players back too early?

 

[edd_jedi]

Oh joy https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/fo...latest-sickness-bug-postecoglou-b1202768.html

 

[lejackal]

Stealing Arsenal injuries now, we had the bug in the week. Maybe Ange is finally doing some reconnaissance on set pieces

 

[edd_jedi]

So any accidental handling in the lead up to a goal means it gets disallowed… unless you're playing Spurs apparently. Come on, give us a break

 

[edd_jedi]

Despite that shocking decision, fair play to the ref for playing nearly 14 minutes of injury time against the ugliest time wasting cheats in football. Newcastle seem to think they have a god-given right to win a game the second 90 minutes pass, I don't know where this cunty view comes from but it's vile and needs to be stamped out.

 

[weasel]

Newcastle did that against Pool two years ago. Time wasted from the second the game started and then were surprised when there were 6 minutes of stoppage time, during which they pissed about even more, and Pool scored the winner in the 98th. SLAP IT RIGHT UP THEM.

Also, that goal should never have stood.
No one doubts it hits Joelinton's hand, and by the letter of the law the fact he doesnt score means it's not hand ball, but that's just ********. That chance ONLY came about because of the handball, Newcastle benefited from breaking the rules, so no way should that goal stand.
And then Dan Burn handles it in the centre circle, whilst on a yellow, and nothing…..hhhmmmm.

 

[lejackal]

Feel free to shoot me if I'm ever sympathetic to Spuds, but I don't see how they've managed this;

 

[lejackal]

Also, dear BBC, if one row is "column A minus column B = column C", then the next row shouldn't flip the formula in a table of data

 

[lejackal]

Brighton penalty. Watching live my first thought was "you can't be serious", then I reflected and thought, if a late foot is a pen, then a late head should be the same. Having now watched MOTD and seeing Saliba make contact with the ball before the attacking player I do not understand how VAR has not overturned it.

 

[theforceuk]

@lejackal Answer is Anthony Taylor as ref and nothing gets overturned.

 

[edd_jedi]

Feel free to shoot me if I'm ever sympathetic to Spuds, but I don't see how they've managed this;

It literally makes no sense, I can't get my head around having TWENTY SEVEN higher goal difference than West Ham, yet being a single point above them apparently this is the first time a team in the bottom half of the table have had positive goal difference since 2001.

 

[Cazza]

It literally makes no sense, I can't get my head around having TWENTY SEVEN higher goal difference than West Ham, yet being a single point above them apparently this is the first time a team in the bottom half of the table have had positive goal difference since 2001.

Yeah, it's utterly bizarre. I'm also baffled with how many points we've actually got. We've been so, so poor and have gained points, despite being dreadful. We're so easy to play through and we make so many defensive errors. That said, we played some good stuff yesterday, but undone by bad luck, poor individual moments etc. Never, ever a 4-1 game. Same as when we lost 3-1 to Leicester a couple of weeks ago- think it was around 31 attempts to 8! I think the three worst teams are Saints, us and Man U. Worried for us, now Bowen is out. We attacked well yesterday, but missed his finishing.

 

[edd_jedi]

I was at the Southampton game you won a few weeks ago and Bowen was the match winner, definitely a big loss!

 

[Cazza]

That's another game where we lucked out, and his quality was the difference. Hopefully Fullkrug can get up to speed.

Lovely goal by Solanke yesterday, by the way.

Re: the Brighton pen, initially thought it was a smart decision, but he actually heads the ball, so should've been overturned. Also, Brentford have a goal disallowed for holding/grappling, and rightly so. However, this happens several times in pretty much every game, with no consequence. Where is the consistency?!

 

[weasel]

Brighton penalty. Watching live my first thought was "you can't be serious", then I reflected and thought, if a late foot is a pen, then a late head should be the same. Having now watched MOTD and seeing Saliba make contact with the ball before the attacking player I do not understand how VAR has not overturned it.

That was my thinking too, all I can come up with by way of an explanation is yer Brighton fella heads in on to Gabriel's head. It's the top/side of his head it hits not his forehead. It was a bizarre penalty though. Not one we'll see again anytime soon. He says, guaranteeing it happens this week.


I saw the highlights of the WH game on MOTD, it definitely didnt look a 4-1 game. That first goal was criminal wimping out by Paqueta(?) if he goes for the header and maybe gets hit, City don't score. But no, he chickens out. 2 seconds later…. Grow a set FFS.

As for today. I don't know how to view that. On the one hand it should have been seen out at 2-1 and against such an out of form Utd that result and performance is disappointing. Especially at Anfield.
On the other hand, the pitch did look a bit worse than the cameras made it seem. A lot of players were quite tentative and almost tip toeing at points as if bits of it werent fully defrosted. Granted, it's the same for both sides, I just mean it limited the ability of the game to flow, which would have suited Utd more than Pool. Also a point when you play 85minutes with 10 men is never to be sniffed at.
I've watched a **** tonne of football in my time, World cups, European Championships, CL, EL, PL, FAC, Championship, L1, L2, even the Conference and (when I was really really bored) the SPL. But I have NEVER seen a performance as utterly wretched as Trent Alexander Arnold's today. It wasn't even a "0" out of ten. He did NOTHING. He won zero duels in 85 minutes, gave the ball away every time he had it. Even by the law of averages he must have mis-hit one to a liverpool player, but no. He didnt mark. He didnt close down. He didnt track. He didnt run. He just casually walked about the pitch. It was like watching someone playing in a testimonial after a night on the tiles and a morning hanging out of Lilly Phillips.
Genuinely I have never seen a "professional" footballer look that disinterested and poor. Ever. Moreno, at his worst, was streets ahead of what TAA did today. How he stayed on for 85 minutes I will never know.
Then Connor Bradley takes 90seconds to win his first duel.

Roy Keane said he would be off to Tranmere after a performance like that, and Tranmere tweet a "no thanks" with a picture of what I assume/guess is their RB. That sums up how **** he was, a team in a relegation fight in League two don't want you.

I genuinely can not do justice to just how bad TAA was today. He is an attack minded defender and he does leave gaps in behind, but today he was worse than a competition winner. He should repay his weeks wages after a performance like that.

Slot also needs to look at himself for leaving him on for so long. I know Bradley is only back from injury and possibly that is why, but from the first minute Trent was MILES off the pace. I'm not even joking when I say he was Utd's best player.