Football 2020/2021

[kaosmark2]

4 hours ago, jyoung said:

Bit of a slow day. Has me thinking about our Euro squad.

GK - Pickford, Pope, Henderson

DF - Maguire, Stones, Walker, Trent, James, Chilwell, Shaw, Mings, Godfrey

MF - Henderson, Rice, Mount, Foden, Grealish, Saka

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

Some tough calls with Abraham and Bamford narrowly missing out for me as I think Calvert-Lewin is probably a more rounded striker than both. With regards to Maddison, he's been great but I think having the versatility of someone like Saka would be preferable. Godfrey perhaps a surprise inclusion ahead of maybe Dier or Keane but again I think his versatility is good cover.

Are you sure you'd take Mason Mount?

[rock the clock]

He's only getting game time cause Tuchel is manager 

[pink_triangle]

28 minutes ago, jyoung said:

🤫

Good goal, but more media arse licking. The sky presenter said something along the lines of “how much was that goal down to the outstanding brilliance of Mason Mount”. It was good, but not that good!

Chelsea playing some good football, definitely made the right decision to switch manager.

[jyoung]

Just now, pink_triangle said:

Good goal, but more media arse licking. The sky presenter said something along the lines of “how much was that goal down to the outstanding brilliance of Mason Mount”. It was good, but not that good!

Chelsea playing some good football, definitely made the right decision to switch manager.

It was a great goal from Mase. From the moment he knocked the ball past Fabinho, he didn't even look up once. Didn't take a single look at the goal. Just knew exactly where it was.

We're playing well but there's never been a better time to go to Anfield. Anyway... Still 20 mins left so I'm reluctant to get carried away. 

[pink_triangle]

4 minutes ago, jyoung said:

It was a great goal from Mase. From the moment he knocked the ball past Fabinho, he didn't even look up once. Didn't take a single look at the goal. Just knew exactly where it was.

We're playing well but there's never been a better time to go to Anfield. Anyway... Still 20 mins left so I'm reluctant to get carried away. 

It was a good goal, but you see similar on a weekly basis at levels below the premiership. As with a lot of players you have the media  massively exaggerating his talent, while some make out he is an average mid table footballer. As usual the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

[eastynh]

51 minutes ago, rock the clock said:

How much Bundesliga do you watch?

Whatever I can on BT and lots of champions League games. City have played lots of German teams in the Champions League over the last few years and I have seen most of them live.

[Gnomicide]

Well.......

 

But of a head scratcher innit?

[eastynh]

2 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

Well.......

 

But of a head scratcher innit?

Seriously what's happened? This is not just down to VVD being out as you have been abysmal since the restart.

[jyoung]

6 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

Well.......

But of a head scratcher innit?

Taking the Premier League top scorer off was a head scratcher for me.

[pink_triangle]

Liverpool dreadful today. Looked like a mid/lower table premiership side. I think all the talk about liverpool being more effected than other clubs due to the intense fixture list is lazy analysis. 

Chelsea on other hand looked very well organized. I'm still not convinced there are enough goals in the team though.

[rock the clock]

It's harder to talk of home advantage with no fans, but 5 losses in a row is catastrophic for Liverpool any way you look at it. They haven't scored in open play there for over 10 hours. 

I thought Klopp's substitutions were confusing also. I couldn't understand taking Salah off when Mane was playing terribly. 

[Gnomicide]

6 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Seriously what's happened? This is not just down to VVD being out as you have been abysmal since the restart.

I honestly don't know. There is a correlation between playing our best defensive midfielders in defence and losing a lot of the drive through the middle that the other midfielders can then commit to but that's only part of it.

The front 3 have lost all confidence, finishing has gone out the window.... I dunno. Maybe they really are all just knackered. 3 excellent seasons on the bounce with much the same team and then this.

All we can hope for is they come back strong next season, much like City have after being relatively poor last year. No way we're getting past the next round of The Champions League playing like this.

[jyoung]

11 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Liverpool dreadful today. Looked like a mid/lower table premiership side. I think all the talk about liverpool being more effected than other clubs due to the intense fixture list is lazy analysis. 

Chelsea on other hand looked very well organized. I'm still not convinced there are enough goals in the team though.

Agreed on both parts. Unbeaten since Tuchel took over and only conceded twice which on paper, is great but going forward (where arguably we have better quality) there are still question marks. Tactically we are much better. I'm happy with how it's going anyway. Tonight was our best display this season.

[rock the clock]

11 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

I honestly don't know. There is a correlation between playing our best defensive midfielders in defence and losing a lot of the drive through the middle that the other midfielders can then commit to but that's only part of it.

The front 3 have lost all confidence, finishing has gone out the window.... I dunno. Maybe they really are all just knackered. 3 excellent seasons on the bounce with much the same team and then this.

All we can hope for is they come back strong next season, much like City have after being relatively poor last year. No way we're getting past the next round of The Champions League playing like this.

I think you lot are in big need of a refresh. Would be good to cash in on two of the front three now and try and rebuild. 

Though all the 'Pool fans I know have no confidence in the owners at all (which is interesting because in May/June all I heard from them was how great a 'project' it was).

[eastynh]

3 minutes ago, rock the clock said:

I think you lot are in big need of a refresh. Would be good to cash in on two of the front three now and try and rebuild. 

Though all the 'Pool fans I know have no confidence in the owners at all (which is interesting because in May/June all I heard from them was how great a 'project' it was).

Who's gonna spend big money on Liverpool's forwards? Especially with them approaching 30.

[kaosmark2]

2 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Who's gonna spend big money on Liverpool's forwards? Especially with them approaching 30.

Italian teams.

[pink_triangle]

2 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Who's gonna spend big money on Liverpool's forwards? Especially with them approaching 30.

Also Barca and Real not splashing the big money now.

[eastynh]

13 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

I honestly don't know. There is a correlation between playing our best defensive midfielders in defence and losing a lot of the drive through the middle that the other midfielders can then commit to but that's only part of it.

The front 3 have lost all confidence, finishing has gone out the window.... I dunno. Maybe they really are all just knackered. 3 excellent seasons on the bounce with much the same team and then this.

All we can hope for is they come back strong next season, much like City have after being relatively poor last year. No way we're getting past the next round of The Champions League playing like this.

City's drop off was nothing like this. We lost Kompany before the start of the season, Laporte got injured 3 games into it and Aguero injured for half of it. We still finished second with a. Points total that would probably win the league this season, won the league cup, semis in FA cup and got the furthest out of the English team in champions League. 

This drop off from Liverpool is absolutely astounding. There is still enough quality in that squad to be doing far better than they are. It is totally unprecedented really. This is relegation form.

[eastynh]

1 minute ago, kaosmark2 said:

Italian teams.

No Italian team is spending 80 million plus.

[jyoung]

3 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Who's gonna spend big money on Liverpool's forwards? Especially with them approaching 30.

I kind of get it... But, Salah. 90 goals in 133 games. An excellent addition to any top team. You just can't argue otherwise. He's one consistently one of the best players in the league. The argument is not who will spend big but who can afford to.

[eastynh]

2 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

Italian teams.

Also who of similar quality can Liverpool replace them with?

[rock the clock]

Mane to PSG. Salah to Real Madrid. 

Bobby not quite got the same value but plenty of teams will take him. 

[eastynh]

Just now, jyoung said:

I kind of get it... But, Salah. 90 goals in 133 games. An excellent addition to any top team. You just can't argue otherwise. He's one consistently one of the best players in the league. The argument is not who will spend big but who can afford to.

I am not arguing with you as I totally agree, Salah is shit hot. No one has the kind of money Liverpool would want and the amount Liverpool would need to replace them.

[jyoung]

I guess there's always PSG.

[eastynh]

1 minute ago, rock the clock said:

Mane to PSG. Salah to Real Madrid. 

Bobby not quite got the same value but plenty of teams will take him. 

Madrid have not got a pot to piss in.