Football Thread 2021/2022

[feltmonkey]

@bradigor you're better than this man.

 

Liverpool were unlucky, they came up against a defence who played out of their skin, and of course have had an amazing season.  I'd quite like United to have won a couple of cups, whether by penalty shoot-outs or whatever. 

 

I reckon the fact that Liverpool had to send on Firminho, who is a fading force, Jota, who is inconsistent and contributes little outside his finishing, and Kieta who shoots like me in 5-a-side was kind of telling.  There's a slight lack of strength in depth there.

[bradigor]

Oops wrong thread

[Stig]

6 minutes ago, Gabe said:

I think for the first 40 minutes Liverpool were excellent in all aspects expect for not scoring. After that, whilst Madrid were hardly much of a force going forward (I think they had about 4 chances all game?), they were clinical and then defended masterfully. Whilst Courtois will get a lot of plaudits for his saves, I don't think any of them bar the one from Mane in the first half and Salah's late chance were particularly different.

 

Whilst I didn't feel too bad about not winning the league, this hurts, because this Liverpool side is better than the 2018 side - but they just didn't turn up and I think they will look back and be disappointed that they didn't produce.

 

What a record Real have in these finals though, it's absurd.

 

I just think Real played it perfectly. Let Liverpool come at them, defend and get us on the break if they can. They only managed it to make it work once but its all these needed. After that, defend ever deeper. They were rock solid.

 

Just sucks for us.

[Timmo]

5 minutes ago, carlospie said:

Trent Arnold was abysmal tonight. Reese James is miles better at RB. 

 

Somewhat culpable for the goal but his final ball and crossing were their best chance of scoring throughout. The 'problem' (not an actual problem) with his style of play is that he can easily look wasteful but every great team needs someone as forward thinking as him, someone who doesn't care about keeping it safe. He's their De Bruyne.

[carlospie]

To be fair to Liverpool your other CB was epic, not van dijk but the young french man. Strong, aggressive, quick. 

[Azrael]

Obviously it's shite to not win but to say this has been a bad season for Liverpool is laughable. And seeing how much a Liverpool loss means to some people is always funny tbh 

 

"But yous only won the 2 little cups that we couldn't win, while pushing City to the last day of the season, getting to the CL final and playing every possible game in a season"   

 

Lol 

[Gabe]

2 minutes ago, carlospie said:

To be fair to Liverpool your other CB was epic, not van dijk but the young french man. Strong, aggressive, quick. 

Konate is the only player I think can look at his performance and be really proud, he was excellent (as he has been over the past couple of months.)

 

4 minutes ago, Stigweard said:

 

I just think Real played it perfectly. Let Liverpool come at them, defend and get us on the break if they can. They only managed it to make it work once but its all these needed. After that, defend ever deeper. They were rock solid.

 

Just sucks for us.

Yeah, I think this is probably about the sum of it.

[JLM]

3 minutes ago, Stigweard said:

 

Dude, don't bite, just let them have their fun. We'd do the same if it were United.

Yeah I get that, I am enjoying the current state of United very very much and take a great deal of glee in it. I wouldn’t mind if United fans gave it back though. It’s just the jabs we’re getting are exceptionally weak because this Liverpool team is sensational. 😍
 

Why does anyone have to take the high ground anyway? It’s just shit talking  in a football thread on the internet. Nobody’s breaking any rules and it’s all in good fun. 

[Stoppy2000]

Let's not overlook how atrocious the BT commentary was. You'd think Liverpool had been tearing Madrid apart in that first half. 

[Gabe]

6 minutes ago, feltmonkey said:

Liverpool were unlucky, they came up against a defence who played out of their skin, and of course have had an amazing season.  I'd quite like United to have won a couple of cups, whether by penalty shoot-outs or whatever. 

 

I reckon the fact that Liverpool had to send on Firminho, who is a fading force, Jota, who is inconsistent and contributes little outside his finishing, and Kieta who shoots like me in 5-a-side was kind of telling.  There's a slight lack of strength in depth there.

It's a shame this was the first game where Diaz has been poor. I think if he had been flying like the past couple of months it may have been a different story. This is also the first time in a while when I looked at the bench and thought we lacked any good options to change things (when compared to Real's bench).

 

Ah well, it sucks but such is life.

[ryodi]

3 minutes ago, Stoppy2000 said:

Let's not overlook how atrocious the BT commentary was. You'd think Liverpool had been tearing Madrid apart in that first half. 

BT football coverage has always been awful, the European Goals Show with AC Jimbo and the Totally Football Show crew is the only thing they produce involving English sides that is remotely watchable,

[wev]

4 minutes ago, Stoppy2000 said:

Let's not overlook how atrocious the BT commentary was. You'd think Liverpool had been tearing Madrid apart in that first half. 

 

Fans are like that too. I think there's a bias that if a team is playing at 100 mph and firing half chances then they must be the better team because that's how the game is played here.

[Adrock]

Arguably Liverpool controlled the game in the first half without creating many real chances. They were the better team for the first half but not by any great margin.

 

The second half was completely different and Real never looked troubled and Liverpool huffed and puffed but just couldn't get anywhere near them.

 

Real deserved to win overall.

[Stoppy2000]

Also confirms, once again, that Michael Owen is an absolute bell end. His punditry tonight might be worse than his NFT scheme. 

 

[JLM]

Delicious salty tears aside, agreed that Madrid fully deserved it. We had some good spells in the first half but didn’t make it count. They defended well, threatened enough and took one of their few big chances when it came. Courtois made some excellent saves and we ran out of steam and ideas. I fear we’ll struggle to run the league as close next season with City strengthening even more, but overall it’s been a fantastic season. I think what we’re missing the most is Salif Diao’s presence in midfield though. Just haven’t been able to recapture the magic since he left. 

Owen is a terrible pundit, no disagreement there either. Also really don’t like Steve Mcmanaman as a co-commentator. It pains me to say that as I had an ecru shirt with his name on the back as a kid, but someone in the Liverpool thread described him as a “human rain cloud” on commentary and that is 100% accurate. 

 

[PyramidFace]

1 hour ago, Stoppy2000 said:

Let's not overlook how atrocious the BT commentary was. You'd think Liverpool had been tearing Madrid apart in that first half. 

 

Well, on DAZN we had Jonathan Woodgate repeatedly saying "it's clearly offside, no idea why VAR is taking so long to make such an obvious call" over slo-mo replays of a goal that looked very much onside.

 

 

[ilpostino]

45 minutes ago, PyramidFace said:

 

Well, on DAZN we had Jonathan Woodgate repeatedly saying "it's clearly offside, no idea why VAR is taking so long to make such an obvious call" over slo-mo replays of a goal that looked very much onside.

 

 

 

Yeah, the DAZN commentary was shite - and the crowd noise was weirdly muted too, I felt. Shite all round.

[bradigor]

Apologies to @carlospiethere was no need for that last night. Wasn't in the best head space after last week but no excuses it wasn't on. 

 

Also to the rest of the thread for stinking up the place 

[Jammy]

Counter-attacking masterclass by Madrid. Liverpool looked like they were trying to get one or two up early and then keep the ball, but quickly ran out of ideas against a resolute defence and were relying more and more on Salah and Mane for a moment of magic as the game wore on. Nearly worked but for Courtois. Trent guilty of ball watching for the goal. I think the three weeks off Madrid had before the final helped; the Liverpool players looked tired from about 60 minutes and Madrid were able to stretch them.

No doubt gutting to have been so close to a legendary season and ultimately not quite got there, but I can think of 90 other clubs in the football league who would have taken a domestic cup double, banter aside.

[feltmonkey]

Everyone is blaming Alexander-Arnold for the goal, and he should have been more aware, but Van Dijk is as much at fault in my opinion. Valverde got the ball very wide initially, and instead of closing him down and forcing him wider, Van Dijk let him come inside, allowing him to play that excellent ball to the back post. He wouldn't have been able to do that from wide, and Van Dijk could have afforded to go out to him as he had three defenders in the middle.  After that, the pace and accuracy on the pass made it very difficult to defend, although as I said, TAA didn't cover himself in glory, as he was seemingly unaware of Vinicius' existence.

[Adrock]

1 hour ago, Jammy said:

Counter-attacking masterclass by Madrid. Liverpool looked like they were trying to get one or two up early and then keep the ball

 

That's the exact opposite of how I saw the game. Liverpool didn't try to start the game with any kind of tempo, they were very considered in possession and were too concerned by the Real counter attack to commit. Which is exactly why it ended up being a half of 40 minutes of possession with nothing really created.

[sith]

Banter aside, Liverpool have nothing to be ashamed off. Ultimately, I think the game was decided in the middle of the park. Tiago was average at best, and you have to question if he was 100% fit. I've always been adamant that the Barca trio of Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta are the best midfield 3 of all time. After this result surely we have to question that? The Madrid 3 were immense yet again! And they have had more success in the Champions League.

 

Probably their final swansong at their ages, not a bad way to go out.

[Gabe]

I was talking to another fan before the game and we (like many pundits in the lead up) were talking about how we had to better than 2018 in controlling the midfield, but we didn't. Again.

Thiago wasn't fully fit, nor was he on his game - he tried a few long passes in the first half but way, way overhit them. But so many disappointed last night. I feel pretty flat about it all, which is a shame because two trophies is still two trophies. Just a shame that we missed out on the biggest prizes, albeit by fine margins on both - but that's really no comfort right now.

[p b]

The weekend's important game takes place today! FcSchaffhausen play FcLuzern away, the winner plays in the SuperLeague next season. The stadium is sold out, about a 1000 from Schaffhausen should be there, unfortunately not me. 

The first leg ended 2-2, it's only the points that count today. So basically a cup final!

[feltmonkey]

I always love the Championship play-off final. There's no game like it in terms of reward and jeopardy.  Come on Forest!  I want to see those tricky trees back in the top flight.

[Scruff]

6 minutes ago, feltmonkey said:

I always love the Championship play-off final. There's no game like it in terms of reward and jeopardy.  Come on Forest!  I want to see those tricky trees back in the top flight.

 

Yep. Been far too long without Forest in the top flight. Fingers crossed for them.

[wev]

Hoping for another excellent performance from Samba

[wev]

The refs a big guy isn't he?

[feltmonkey]

Forest are completely in control, bit haven't created anything from open play. This could be a frustrating match.

[wev]

Yaaaaas