Football 2020/2021

[thetime]

8 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

If I was picking a squad right now:

GK - Pickford, Pope, Henderson

DEF - Maguire, Mings, Chilwell, Alexander-Arnold, Trippier, Dier, Stones, Saka

MID - Henderson, Grealish, Foden, Barnes, Rice, Ward-Prowse, Winks, 

ATT - Kane, Rashford, Sterling, Calvert-Lewin, Sancho

The defence is probably why we won’t win anything.

No better full back than shaw in the Premier league at the minute.

[jyoung]

10 hours ago, thetime said:

No better full back than shaw in the Premier league at the minute.

😂

[eastynh]

39 minutes ago, jyoung said:

😂

If he means English left back, then ge has a point. Shaw us playing well at the minute and I woukd take him before Chilwell, who has never impressed me.

Left back is Englands weakest position and Shaw deserves a chance with the way he is playing.

[jyoung]

This season Chilwell has more goals, assists and clean sheets than Shaw. He's got fewer yellow cards, conceded fewer goals and makes fewer fouls. He's more involved in the game, takes more touches and makes more passes. Hasn't scored an own goal either. There's a better left back. You can have another one if you... Andy Robertson.

[jyoung]

James Justin of Leicester has outperformed Luke Shaw defensively this season as well. I suppose he's a better example as both him and Shaw are less offensive. He may play more often as a right back, I'm not sure but he definitely played left back against Chelsea the other night.

Edited January 21, 2021 by jyoung

[eastynh]

27 minutes ago, jyoung said:

This season Chilwell has more goals, assists and clean sheets than Shaw. He's got fewer yellow cards, conceded fewer goals and makes fewer fouls. He's more involved in the game, takes more touches and makes more passes. Hasn't scored an own goal either. There's a better left back. You can have another one if you... Andy Robertson.

See this is where stats are misleading and are the reasons why idiots are going round saying Fernandes is better than KDB.

I seen Chilwell play against City a few weeks ago and he was atrocious. Where as I watched Shaw play against City and he was very good. He was also very good against Liverpool at the weekend.

It is alright Chilwell having loads of touches against relegation candidates and him boosting his stats, but against anyone half decent he has been found wanting this season. 

Shaw's performances against City and Liverpool were better than I have seen Chilwell play this season.

You are right, the lad at Leicester has looked very good and definitely deserves a shout.

Left back is definitely England's weakest spot.

Just to add, Cancelo has been miles better than Chilwell as well this season, if you're including foreign players.

Edited January 21, 2021 by eastynh

[Dan R]

4 hours ago, eastynh said:

See this is where stats are misleading and are the reasons why idiots are going round saying Fernandes is better than KDB.

I seen Chilwell play against City a few weeks ago and he was atrocious. Where as I watched Shaw play against City and he was very good. He was also very good against Liverpool at the weekend.

It is alright Chilwell having loads of touches against relegation candidates and him boosting his stats, but against anyone half decent he has been found wanting this season. 

Shaw's performances against City and Liverpool were better than I have seen Chilwell play this season.

You are right, the lad at Leicester has looked very good and definitely deserves a shout.

Left back is definitely England's weakest spot.

Just to add, Cancelo has been miles better than Chilwell as well this season, if you're including foreign players.

I'd definitely say CB and GK are England's weakest positions. Shaw seems to do better when sitting deep when sitting deep, Chilwell better when trying to break teams down. They're both decent and would rotate well in a squad, but personally I'd go with James Justin on form for this season. 

[Hugh Jass]

Liverpool look knackered.

Two years of intensity and playing to a ridiculously high standard is catching up with them.

[DareToDibble]

We can’t blame the injuries for this, tonight has been absolutely pathetic. As have the last 3 or 4 games. 
I have no idea what’s happened. One of the best teams on the planet for the last 2 seasons don’t just become crap overnight but we look devoid of any ideas, confidence at 0. Baffling

[jyoung]

68 games unbeaten at home. An incredible achievement. For so long they never ever looked like losing. The intensity of their play was bound to catch up with them eventually and they have been ravaged this season by injuries - in particular defensively. You can't win forever. Recently it has seemed more likely to happen... No goals in four league games isn't great and the forwards need to sort that out. Anyway, 18 games short of Chelsea's unbeaten home record so I'm a happy man tonight. Absolute shift from Burnley who dug it and defended well. Barnes is a shit house but worked his arse off tonight and was clearly delighted in the post match interview. That Origi miss though! If Everton and Spurs win their games in hand, the Champions will be 6th.

Edited January 21, 2021 by jyoung

[Gnomicide]

Not gonna lie, it's not been a great day.

[jyoung]

Klopp coming across well post game to be fair.

[lost]

1 hour ago, Hugh Jass said:

Liverpool look knackered.

Two years of intensity and playing to a ridiculously high standard is catching up with them.

Wasn't sure about this article regarding Lijnders at the start of the season but he seems to be calling it spot on so far:

http://backpagefootball.com/why-liverpool-wont-win-the-premier-league-this-season/126313/

[thetime]

What a result to wake up to. 😂

[eFestivals]

8 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

One of the best teams on the planet for the last 2 seasons don’t just become crap overnight

lol

They've been getting steadily worse for the last 3 seasons. Seriously! They were at their best the year they lost the CL final. Perhaps even the season before. 

It didn't take a genius to know they wouldn't win the league this season. The proof? I said they wouldn't. 😛 

[Hugh Jass]

2 hours ago, eFestivals said:

lol

They've been getting steadily worse for the last 3 seasons. Seriously! They were at their best the year they lost the CL final. Perhaps even the season before. 

It didn't take a genius to know they wouldn't win the league this season. The proof? I said they wouldn't. 😛 

That’s just not true is it?

I mean just look at the last two seasons - pushed an excellent City side all the way in the title race, garnering 97 points which would have won the title in any other season in history. Also picked up the Champions League that season. Last year they were on course to break every league record imaginable before the COVID break, if anything there’s an argument that they haven’t quite been the same since that break.

No great team lasts forever, 2-3 seasons is usually the limit before intensity starts to drop, players tire both mentally and physically and teams figure out how to play against them. 

[eFestivals]

5 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

That’s just not true is it?

I was replying to a comment that said they'd become crap overnight.

I was pointing out that the form of their front end has been dropping for years, and more-so since Bobby has been out of form (a year or so).

Jota managed to paint over the cracks - and lift performances - earlier this season.

[thetime]

1 hour ago, eFestivals said:

I was replying to a comment that said they'd become crap overnight.

I was pointing out that the form of their front end has been dropping for years, and more-so since Bobby has been out of form (a year or so).

Jota managed to paint over the cracks - and lift performances - earlier this season.

Since dijk injury have they played deeper? I don't watch an awful lot of Liverpool so don't know. 

[jyoung]

2 minutes ago, thetime said:

Since dijk injury have they played deeper? I don't watch an awful lot of Liverpool so don't know. 

I wouldn't say so. I thought they would when Hendo and Fabinho were the CBs but they still seemed to have a high line.

[thetime]

2 minutes ago, jyoung said:

I wouldn't say so. I thought they would when Hendo and Fabinho were the CBs but they still seemed to have a high line.

Oh ok, thought they might have been as the front 3 are not as potent.

[priest17]

1 hour ago, Hugh Jass said:

That’s just not true is it?

I mean just look at the last two seasons - pushed an excellent City side all the way in the title race, garnering 97 points which would have won the title in any other season in history. Also picked up the Champions League that season. Last year they were on course to break every league record imaginable before the COVID break, if anything there’s an argument that they haven’t quite been the same since that break.

No great team lasts forever, 2-3 seasons is usually the limit before intensity starts to drop, players tire both mentally and physically and teams figure out how to play against them. 

not the season before it ahah

 

Surprised by anyone being surprised that Liverpool are struggling after seeing the exact same thing the season before with City. Plenty of season left though.

[Hugh Jass]

1 minute ago, priest17 said:

not the season before it ahah

 

Surprised by anyone being surprised that Liverpool are struggling after seeing the exact same thing the season before with City. Plenty of season left though.

There’s a psychological aspect too. Last year they finally achieved the thing the club, fans, players, city have been desperate for for 30 years. Once it’s been achieved there’s always going to be a slight drop in intensity.

[eFestivals]

4 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

There’s a psychological aspect too. Last year they finally achieved the thing the club, fans, players, city have been desperate for for 30 years. Once it’s been achieved there’s always going to be a slight drop in intensity.

the intensity dropped from about this time last year, before they'd even won it (and before covid got in the way)

Edited January 22, 2021 by eFestivals

[Hugh Jass]

9 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

the intensity dropped from about this time last year, before they'd even won it (and before covid got in the way)

They’d won it by this time last year. They were about 15 points clear already.

[eFestivals]

Just now, Hugh Jass said:

They’d won it by this time last year. They were about 15 points clear already.

yep, but it's not like they stopped trying until much later. They didn't ease off, they stopped playing well.