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Football thread 2022/23

Naysonymous

By Naysonymous
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glb

glb

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Art Vandelay said:

I remain convinced Pep tetchy mood is to do with him resenting having to blunt force his way to wins with Haaland when he'd rather be getting the credit for doing something clever instead. 

 

A very good point. It's quite amusing that the tactic he'd probably wince most at, 'get it up quickly to the big man' is now their best path to success.

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wev

wev

Posted
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8 minutes ago, Petrousgyre said:


I’m not convinced Arsenal were that much more desperate to win yesterday than in other games this season. The reason we’re top of the league thus far has been the determination to just relentlessly tear into opposition regardless of calibre. 

 

I'm in agreement, hence the quotation marks, it's something that's been said quite a few times since yesterday game.

 

10 minutes ago, Plissken said:

At the risk of antagonising Arsenal fans (Who? Moi?), I think that this is not a great team in terms of "historically great" but a very good team at perhaps the peak of their abilities who is taking full advantage of down/off years by rivals.  City are slightly off it, Chelsea are a mess, Liverpool are exhausted and Man Utd are rebuilding.  You want more evidence?  Who expected Newcastle to be in third at this stage of the season?  Basically doing a Leicester.

 

That's not a bad thing in any way shape or form, nor is it a criticism.  Part of the appeal of football is being able to take advantage of others mistakes. Arsenal seem to be the one team that isn't shooting itself in the foot at crucial moments.  That's the sort of thing that champions do, maximise your opportunities, minimise your mistakes.  They keep on doing that and they'll be deserved champions - it's not their fault that their rivals keep putting on clownshoes at key times.

 

I don't think this is this Arsenal team "at the peak of their powers" they're mostly still really very young and are likely to improve

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Loik V credern

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32 minutes ago, Art Vandelay said:

You don't need the XI best players to have the best team. 

 

Oh no I agree, just saying in terms of the achievement, it's not that Arsenal can never win the league with that squad, those absolute declarations pundits make when a team isn't at the top, but that teams that do usually win the league either have the best in the world or even all time league greats in the side. Like Arsenal don't seem to have off games where you need those kind of players to conjure something out of nowhere and bail the team out. City for all their machine like ability to win still had Yaya Toure, Aguero, Silva and then De Bruyne doing things no other player could. Chelsea had Drogba, Lampard, Cech, Terry then Hazard, Kante. A lot of these are legendary players now.

 

Even when Arsenal couldn't win the league they had abnormal peaks from Van Persie and Sanchez. Just an observation...what Arsenal are doing this season does feel different I think. Obviously better to have a whole team well balanced and switched on to their role than having a few things off but having a player be abnormally good. 

 

I think Saka is underrated because it doesn't seem like he should be as effective as he always seems to be, yesterday he dribbled towards Shaw and did so in a way where he gained like 10 yards and then was so deep in the box so could just flick the ball into the middle. Or his goal, I didn't think he could generate that power that far out. Still I think.. is he that good really? Even though his consistency proves he is. 

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Plissken

Plissken

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Ramsdale has also far exceeded expectations.  When he got into the England squad last autumn, it was purely on the shirt he was wearing but he's playing much better than Pickford.  (I've not seen enough of Pope this year, but obviously I've always thought he should be England's No 1 and he's quietly racking up the clean sheets again.)

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Gabe

Gabe

Posted
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37 minutes ago, Fry Crayola said:

I think it's worth noting City are only "so-so" by the exceptional standards they've set themselves. Their record so far would have them closely challenging for the title in more than half of the previous thirty Premier League seasons, when you extrapolate points-per-game across the whole season (not sure what it would look like at the halfway mark). So while it's fair to say Arsenal would feel more pressure if City were right on their tails, it remains that they've dropped points in just three of nineteen matches played so far, which is exceptionally good.

 

It's a bit like dismissing Maradona because Pele is injured. In a game being played in heaven, where there's no Martin Tyler, and Paul Scholes gets his boots scrubbed by the tag-team of Gerrard and Lampard.

 

There, I think I'm up to date with the thread.

Oh yeah, the standards we've seen in recent years are incredible, but it's all relative, isn't it? Arsenal have been exceptional this season , which makes City look like they are lagging behind, and whilst that's true in terms of points, you're completely right that it is easy to lose sight of just how good they (and Man Utd to a lesser degree, in fairness) have been too.

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Gabe

Gabe

Posted
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25 minutes ago, Plissken said:

At the risk of antagonising Arsenal fans (Who? Moi?), I think that this is not a great team in terms of "historically great" but a very good team at perhaps the peak of their abilities who is taking full advantage of down/off years by rivals.  City are slightly off it, Chelsea are a mess, Liverpool are exhausted and Man Utd are rebuilding.  You want more evidence?  Who expected Newcastle to be in third at this stage of the season?  Basically doing a Leicester.

 

That's not a bad thing in any way shape or form, nor is it a criticism.  Part of the appeal of football is being able to take advantage of others mistakes. Arsenal seem to be the one team that isn't shooting itself in the foot at crucial moments.  That's the sort of thing that champions do, maximise your opportunities, minimise your mistakes.  They keep on doing that and they'll be deserved champions - it's not their fault that their rivals keep putting on clownshoes at key times.

This is a much better way of the point I'm trying to make. As I said originally, Arsenal aren't likely looking at any team other than City as being true contenders for the title, given how Liverpool & Chelsea have fallen off a cliff, so to see them not keeping pace will do wonders for their confidence, I'm sure. 

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Loik V credern

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56 minutes ago, Gabe said:

You really don't see how having City right on a team's tail can impact the pressure players feel, especially if they were yo-yoing positions every week? When arguably the strongest team in the league are dropping points they would expect to win, that clearly helps the mindset for Arsenal.

 

The pressure will start ramping up now, especially if City beat them when they play soon and we'll start to see if they can handle it. But up to now, I definitely think they, like Liverpool in 2019/20 will have felt slightly less pressure from their biggest (and only realistic prior to that season) challengers not being in touching distance.

 

I don't think Arsenal are playing with a mindset where pressure will be a big factor, but I'd think there would be more pressure being so many points ahead, or it being less beneficial for still striving as you might feel you can ease off even just 1%. They're playing knowing that they can't take anything for granted. Might be wrong but I don't think Arsenal will be cagey in the City game, I think they will go at them the same way they did Man United. 

 

No one expected Arsenal to challenge for the league or win it. I think they're playing with the freedom of having everything to gain and nothing to lose. I think pressure will come in in the last few games when it then becomes more real, at the moment they're just enjoying the momentum I think. The squad is young and it's not like any of them have been here before. Say they narrowly lose the league this season and next, as how Messi kept losing finals, then they know they can compete and everyone expects them to. Then I think it would weigh on them. 

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Art Vandelay

Art Vandelay

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8 minutes ago, Loik V credern said:

I think Saka is underrated because it doesn't seem like he should be as effective as he always seems to be, yesterday he dribbled towards Shaw and did so in a way where he gained like 10 yards and then was so deep in the box so could just flick the ball into the middle. Or his goal, I didn't think he could generate that power that far out. Still I think.. is he that good really? Even though his consistency proves he is. 

 

I think he's one of those players you can only make an assessment of when you watch him every game – that's not a criticism, I'm just assuming not everyone sees every game. He's not flashy but just relentless in what he does and defenders can't live with him. You saw Shaw yesterday not know if he's going left foot, right foot, simple pass, come inside, overlap, beat him for pace, and if it doesn't come off he's back again almost immediately. His intelligence is off the chart. Honestly, and I've said before, I think him and Bellingham will win the Ballon d'Or at some point. I'm mega biased obviously, but he's that good. 

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Loik V credern

Loik V credern

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36 minutes ago, Art Vandelay said:

I remain convinced Pep tetchy mood is to do with him resenting having to blunt force his way to wins with Haaland when he'd rather be getting the credit for doing something clever instead. 

 

I think Pep brought in Haaland to win the champions league. The years are blurring into eachother so was it last season or the one before where City were struggling at Christmas and then gradually from January onwards without a recognised number 9 began to go on long winning runs. It seemed like Pep reached a state of contentment, he'd cracked it, a team of midfielders were who could all create and score consistently. 

 

I've been disappointed in Haaland actually, why wouldn't you goal hang in that City side with De Bruyne feeding you, and he makes runs too, but I like strikers improvising on their own, having a singlemindedness where for a brief moment of pure inspiration pull something out of nowhere and score a wonder goal. Like Rashford yesterday. Or even Saka. Neither were opportunities. Haaland hasn't done that once yet. And we've seen him score an unexpected screamer in the champions league so know he can do it. But why bother when you can just lay it off and run into the box.

 

When I see Haaland has scored another goal or two or three I would like to feel just a little bit of anticipation at seeing them. When I see it's a header, a penalty and tap in I do think what's the point. You're not providing much aesthetic quality. He's like at peak CRonaldo machine levels already. City aren't even scoring more goals with Haaland, or leading the table so I think asking about the point of it is valid. If Robbie Savage was an android and I said this I think his brain would melt, he's already losing his mind at 606 callers suggesting City are a lesser team with Haaland. 'What's the point? What's the point?? I can't believe I'm hearing this, are you having me on or what'. *melts*

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deerokus

deerokus

Posted
Posted

Aberdeen just lost in the cup to Darvel. Who play in the *6th* tier. Remember we didn't even have a pyramid until recently, Darvel used to play outside the league system altogether. 

 

That's one of the biggest shocks I've ever seen. I suppose in English terms would be roughly equivalent to Aston Villa losing to someone like Fylde.

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skadupuk

skadupuk

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22 hours ago, multi said:

Probably 3rd because they're hard to beat.

 

Stats suggest Palace also failed to beat them.

 

We lost 3-0 to Everton and have been shit since the world cup with no goals from open play and have been walked over by teams quite a lot further down the table, stats suggest Newcastle didn't beat us.

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glb

glb

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37 minutes ago, Gabe said:

Gareth Bale is embarking on his golf career then, huh? 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64383897


Only a pro-am, he’ll be paired up with a pro.

 

What’s mad is Bale plays off 2, which is very, very good golf. But so far off pro level that him being competitive on a tour would be the equivalent of a conference league player joining a premier league side and scoring more than Haaland.

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