Premier League 24/25 Thread

[weasel]

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?!

Could you imagine if they did though? Arsenal would never score another goal! They'd probbaly go down FFS

Just to even it up, I did laugh at Ange moaning about the refereeing (albeit he had a point). Weirdly, when Liverpool's goal was disallowed after THAT VAR **** up, he said we just had to accept the Refs decision. Strange that it was ok when you benefited Ange!
Not like a manger to be a hypocrite. And, yes, I know all managers/players/fans are just as bad. I just enioyed Karma biting Ange. All he had to do was say it was a shocker and it shouldn't have happened. Which it was, and it shouldn't. But, no.
I do think Spurs are mad if they sack him though. Given their injuries and tight wad owner….

 

[theforceuk]

Forest are flying! Here's a good one, Wolves in 17th have scored more goals than Forest in 3rd.

Liverpool, Utd was some game and could have gone either way, thought Utd had a penalty shout which was completely ignored by SKY and the officials. Can't have too many complaints Liverpool are the best team in Europe. One thing I will say is I can't remember the last Man Utd team to go to Anfield and come away with a point and 50% possession.

 

[weasel]

Here's hoping no Utd team does it again for a long long time.
No points, 20% possession and a hiding is much better

 

[lejackal]

This is quite wholesome:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cdx91lkwzxrt
RIP

 

[edd_jedi]

Another **** show with the media announcing a sacking the day before it happens, why does this keep being allowed to happen? Really unfair, obviously it's hard to have too much sympathy for people who earn millions of pounds a year so I'm sure he'll be just fine. Should have stuck with Moyes? I agree with a lot of what people are saying today, every team thinks they're entitled to Pep's exciting "brand" of football, but the reality is only two or three teams can pull it off (not Spurs unfortunately.) I would LOVE to see Spurs scrape a few 1-0 wins from some calm defensive performances, there's nothing exciting about watching your team goal hang and lose every week.

 

[edd_jedi]

Well I'm fully expecting the second leg to end 6-1, but with the recent run of results I thoroughly enjoyed last night! I was even enjoying the bore-draw most of the game was compared to recent performances. But I thought it was going to be a typical Spurs game when, shock horror, the very first use of VAR in the ENTIRE TOURNAMENT was to disallow our goal, but thankfully that didn't end up costing us on this occasion.

Got a bit of symapthy for Pool saying Bergvall shouldn't have been on the pitch, but oh how many times that has happened to us so I'll take the let off this once. Maybe the referee saw a playback of the first yellow card at half time had zero contact and decided to cancel the next challenge out for it?

 

[weasel]

@Cazza Potter then?

Dyche sacked 4 hours before kick off. Bizarre. What do Everyon expect? That squad is exactly where it should be. It's *****.

As for Spurs Pool last night. I wasnt too bothered about Bergval scoring. His first card was never a booking, so to my mind he's made one bookable foul and one non bookable one and has got one yellow card to show for it. That's fair. They came the wrong way round, but sure.
Yes, we'll see people sent off for similar but we all know the standard and consistency of refereeing is appalling.
I guess the only slight irk is the fact he committed the foul and then scored the goal while Tsimikas was off the pitch. Would Tsimikas have made any difference defensively, who knows, but logic would say an extra defender doesn't make it easier for an attacker. Still, second leg to come.

Fac dragged out over 57 days starting today. Doesn't feel right to me. FAC 3rd should all be on a Sat/Sun, not a ******* Thurs night!

 

[lejackal]

Moyes back to Everton anyone?

 

[Cazza]

Happy with Potter, but didn't like the way Lop was dealt with.

Agree about Everton- they've got a very poor squad. Moyes would be a very good move for them.

 

[lejackal]

I'm surprised Leicester didn't do more/anything to get Potter, although a fan today said he was approached in the summer, but wasn't interested because of the possible points deduction

 

[weasel]

@Cazza that was definitely a corner!

 

[Cazza]

@Cazza that was definitely a corner!

FFS!!!!

 

[weasel]

Ridiculous. I can understand a close one, maybe when two players go for a 50:50 and it ricochets around, or when there is a mass of bodies. But ehh when a boy shanks a shot miles wide and it's nowhere near anyone….

 

[Cazza]

Unbelievable any ref, let alone a top level ref, would get that wrong. Huge incompetence, which potentially cost us the game.

 

[weasel]

Yeah, it was the real turning point in the game. Although Villa had been pinning you further and further back in the build up to it. I guess one corner shouldn't be the difference between holding on to a one goal lead and losing, but then top level football is about fine margins.

Here's hoping for 8 red cards each in the Arsenal Utd game

 

[weasel]

**** me Arsenal. That was "Spursy".
Losing at home, to a team who play with 10 men for an hour, AND you get the world's softest penalty (I would have booked Martinelli/Havertz, whoever it was, for diving). It's not like they created much either, a couple chances and a handful of half chances. Fair ***** Utd defended well. Which is unlike them. But there was nothing revolutionary in what Utd did, ANY side in their place (ok, bar City, Real, peak Barca etc.) would have done the same. Arsenal just seemed to have no real idea.

The fact they need a striker is no secret but surely they have a plan B when their Tony Pulis tactics….I mean ehhh set pieces, fail? They are not a good watch, and seem to be getting worse to watch as the season goes on, but today was woeful.

Havertz is up there with Timo Werner. And Werner managed to look out of his depth against blokes who aren't actually professional footballers!

Either Arteta is being hamstrung by a board who wont buy him a striker, or he is a ******* moron.

Fair play to Utd, that's two decent performances in a row. Aided slightly by your opponents being poor, but you can claim Utd didn't let them be good. Still far too early to judge Amorim. Arteta is headed for a sixth season without a trophy. Barring a massive change in fortunes in the PL, a big turnaround in the LC semi, or an unlikely CL win. He has done well to get Arsenal to where they are. The, legitimate, question is 'has he taken them as far as he can?' And also, 'could anyone else (who Arsenal could appoint) do better?'

That's not me saying he needs to go, just saying that those questions, the first in particular, will be asked this summer and are probably being asked now by certain (idiot) Arsenal fans

 

[lejackal]

I'd agree we do need a forward. Sterling hasn't been good enough to cover, and we've basically muddled through for the most part this season.
Now we are missing Jesus, Saka and Nwaneri, Odegaard looks like he's about 70/80% at best. Martinelli hasn't done much for 12/18 months, Trossard has stopped delivering, this was Havertz worst game for Arsenal, we have about 42 left backs, all various states of disrepair.
White is still a way off, Merino looks lost, even big Gabby and Saliba have looked poor (comparatively) of late.

The worry is, if we get a new forward and it's the system/coach that is killing creativity, will it make the slightest bit of difference?

I'm glad we at least don't have to worry about the cups now, CL we need to desperately avoid the extra two matches you get rewarded with for dropping out of the top 8. And I'm very much not looking forward to Wednesday, although the only small glimmer is that Spurs are as defensively solid as we are blunt in attack.

 

[theforceuk]

Arsenal play at home in white and turn into Spurs.

 

[weasel]

The worry is, if we get a new forward and it's the system/coach that is killing creativity, will it make the slightest bit of difference?

That's a fair point.

I did text an Arsenal supporting mate about Martinelli, I have never quite seen what Arsenal fans see in him. As you say, the last 18months have been very meh.

The lack of FAC games may help in that they give you a few days extra rest/on the training ground, and Pool wont have them at this stage, but I'm not sure two or three free weekends will make a huge difference. We'll see I guess.

Ps, Sterling being ****, who saw that coming!?
Never saw what Arteta does in Trossard either, fine as a back up 4th choice striker but from memory you paid a decent amount for him and he's little more than a better than average PL player.

Raya's penalty saving technique of diving to one side before the player starts his run up is interesting too. Another I don't see what the fuss is about.

This sounds like I am slagging Arsenal, I'm not, I just don't rate a few of their players….and Raheem Sterling.

 

[edd_jedi]

I can pretty much guarantee that Arsenal losing to Newcastle and United in successive home matches means they will come out all guns blazing on Wednesday, one of us will be wrong though!

 

[lejackal]

I can pretty much guarantee that Arsenal losing to Newcastle and United in successive home matches means they will come out all guns blazing on Wednesday, one of us will be wrong though!

We might be all guns blazing, but we're firing blanks

 

[edd_jedi]

Well it should be an interesting game against the leagues worst defence then!

 

[weasel]

That new Spurs keeper looked pretty decent against Pool, too early to pass proper judgement but he's a lot less fun to watch (as a neutral) than Forster. He actually looks like he has done nets before.

Cue a clusterfuck of a performance in midweek.

 

[lejackal]

He can be as crap as he likes if we can't hit the target

 

[weasel]

Anyone watch the Forest Pool game last night?

I saw the last 70 minutes of it and appear to have watched a totally different game to everyone else.
The media and most of the commentators in it, would have you believe Forest stood toe to toe with Liverpool and "showed they belong at the top of the table." What I saw was a side who had one chance, scored it, and then sat in and defended with little interest in doing anything but playing out time. They were literally just hoofing it away and not moving from the start of the 2nd half. Think George Graham's Arsenal of the late 80's and early 90's and you have Forest's style to a T!

Now, I know, without patronising Forest, that Pool are a bigger club and or a better team, and I am not having a go at Forest for their style of play (albeit it is ******* horrendous), in their place I would most likely have done exactly the same. What I am doing is having a go at the media who are making it sound like it was an evenly matched game. It wasn't. Liverpool played them off the ******* park. Sels(?) made 2 or 3 superb saves, and they had to scramble the ball off their own line twice. On another day that's 3-1 to Pool.
FFS Alison could have spent the game shagging all the decent looking women in the stands (assuming there were any) and it would have made no difference to the final score.

The XG tells it's own story, Pool's was five times Forest's! And Forest's wasn't even a 0.5.

That's not "proving you belong at the top." That is going one up and setting shop. Pure Jose or Rafa from 20 years ago. Without the theatrics and time wasting so beloved of that Portuguese tosser.

Again, I'm not slagging Forest, they are very very well drilled defensively and those two CB's are superb. But they are side riding a wave of confidence for whom things are dropping at the minute. In two years, when their better players have been poached or their luck has reverted to normal, they will be lower mid table again. I'm not trying to belittle them, I just don't get why the media are making them out to be something they are not. Just tell it like it is. They copied George Graham's Arsenal's blueprint, got lucky and are riding a wave. We can still enjoy it while it lasts, it is nice seeing someone else challenging at this stage of the season.

But they aren't a great team, they aren't some plucky underdog punching above their weight. They are an average side who play very defensively and aim to knick and goal.

 

[lejackal]

What I saw was a side who had one chance, scored it, and then sat in and defended with little interest in doing anything but playing out time.

Pretty sure this sums up their season. Very high chance conversion rate and then defend like trojans

 

[theforceuk]

Main stream coverage of the PL is a waste of time it's full of 'I've played the game' pundits who contradict themselves from week to week and producers that have agendas and are constantly pushing them. Man Utd are at the top of the list. Forest vs Liverpool game, Matz Sels was MOTM,
Says it all.

 

[lejackal]

I hate the NLD, honestly one of the most stressful games you can watch. We were lucky to get that corner and had a good bit of luck near the end when the guy hit the post. Overall I do think we played better though. Also, and I'm sure there must be actual stats out there to support this, but it feels like the team to open the scoring fails to win in this fixture more than any other.

 

[edd_jedi]

I was going to say the same thing, I don't have the stats to hand but Spurs must have been ahead in 10 recent NLDs and then gone on to lose. It's a shame you can't substitute managers, I would have brought Dyche on right after Son's goal, doesn't take a rocket scieniest to figure out you can win against a team that is having trouble scoring by... defending!

I agree, didn't even watch last night, there's nothing enjoyable about watching 2 hours of venom and hatred, I watched the Villa game.

 

[weasel]

That's very similar to how I feel about Utd Pool games. I endure them. And dread them coming up.