Football thread 2022/23

[layten]

That Emptyhad eh?

[paulie12]

Manchester City: Greater Manchester Police’s average figures were 7,482 lower than club figures, again based on 12 games.

 

https://onefootball.com/en/news/are-premier-league-clubs-lying-about-their-attendance-figures-21548434

 

That is from 2018 though.  But eyes don’t deceive, often there are large numbers of empty seats at City and attendance looks way below its capacity.

[glb]

Juve do have a small stadium compared to most other comparable sides. And they’re at 90% capacity compared to Sunderland’s 77%. But 37k in the Championship is still mightily impressive.

 

Imagine Man City have a sizeable number of Abu Dhabi-based season ticket holders that definitely exist because there’s no way they’re averaging 96% capacity.

[JamesTW]

Remember the stadio della alpi? Juventus were the best team in the world in the mid 90s but it always looked like about 10 people watched them play 

[Fry Crayola]

Turkey followed up their 3-3 home draw with Luxembourg with a spirited 2-1 defeat in the Faroes.

 

Remember when Turkey were minnows? Course you do, it was today.

[Ork1927]

Went to Wales v Poland last night.

 

Polish fans were very 'lively' - don't think I'd fancy being anywhere near them against a team they don't like.  Fireworks being fired into the sky and they don't throw flares - they just stand and hold them.  Probably the loudest away fans I've seen since we moved from Ninian - international or domestic.

 

For a relegation clash from a tournament no-one cares about it certainly felt like a much bigger deal.  On the pitch, the Polish spent half of the game rolling around on the floor while Wales couldn't really get a ball in the box despite plenty of effort.  Bale played the 90 minutes, but looks completely fucked - like they'd brought someone out of retirement who hadn't played for 5/10 years to take free kicks.

 

Might have been the last time he plays in a Wales shirt at home if he retires after Qatar.

 

 

[Fry Crayola]

33 minutes ago, Ork1927 said:

For a relegation clash from a tournament no-one cares about it certainly felt like a much bigger deal.

 

Almost as if, whisper it - someone cares.

[Silent Runner]

Seeing that Lewandowski touch for their goal in person was worth the night I'd say. 

[Ork1927]

6 minutes ago, Silent Runner said:

Seeing that Lewandowski touch for their goal in person was worth the night I'd say. 

 

We were were sat right in front of it - was a bit special.

[Gabe]

4 hours ago, Fry Crayola said:

 

Almost as if, whisper it - someone cares.

Yeah, I think quite a lot of teams care, and all those going to the World Cup were also probably hoping to find some form in these matches too.

 

Plus, as mentioned, the seeding for the Euros makes it worthwhile too, even if you don't care much for this tournament or format.

 

I personally haven't ever watched any of it (but then I only ever watch any WC/Euro tournament matches these days), but I don't deny it is better than lots of aimless friendlies (though there are still too many of those.)

[Fry Crayola]

There's still that gap between the end of a qualifying campaign and the start of the subsequent tournament, that leads to a bunch of friendlies in March and then tournament warm ups in June, but aside from that I'm not sure there aren't many left. 

 

Since the start of the Nations League in September 2018, England have played 8 friendlies. Two were in March 2021, two as warm ups for Euro 2020, but the others were either because of the three-team groups of the original Nations League format leaving two empty dates, or because the pandemic-delayed Euro playoffs created three-fixture international breaks in autumn 2020.

 

The latter four ought not happen again, really.

 

@Naysonymous said it well a while back - it's an excellent tournament for a lot of sides because it tends to give everyone something to play for against teams of a similar level. That said, I do wonder if at some point UEFA will acknowledge that it remains a third priority for the top teams, and try to integrate it even more or outright replace qualification to the Euros.

[glb]

With just under eight weeks until the World Cup, who’s everyone picking?

 

Leaning between Brazil or Argentina, although would certainly prefer seeing Messi finally lifting the World Cup over Neymar.

 

Netherlands my outside bet, so look forward to them going out on penalties in the quarters.

[Ry]

21 hours ago, layten said:

That Emptyhad eh?

 

No old firm?

[layten]

1 minute ago, Ry said:

 

No old firm?

 

[christaylor]

Anyone else watching this comedic England performance? Bereft. 

 

Maguire concedes a penalty for the first, and now managed to lose possession just outside German's box (!) resulting in an overloaded German attack with an admittedly sweet finish for their second. 

[bradigor]

Trent is the issue though

[Plissken]

Turns out vibes can only cover for absolute dogshit performances from individual players for so long.

[Plissken]

1 minute ago, bradigor said:

Trent is the issue though

 

If TAA is the answer, then we truly are fucked.  For an alleged defender, as the saying goes, the only time that he is within shouting range of his goalkeeper is in the dressing room.

[ryodi]

Picking Maguire over Tomori is why the team is fucked. 

[christaylor]

I'd like to think my little pep talk there was just what we needed. 

[Mr Do 71]

2-2!

[Naysonymous]

Jude Bellingham is such a good player.  He’s got to be first choice at this point. 

[PaB]

Well I did not see 3-2 coming from 2-0 down 

[Mr Do 71]

Played shit for most of the game, but somehow we’re now winning. 

[Plissken]

2 minutes ago, Naysonymous said:

Jude Bellingham is such a good player.  He’s got to be first choice at this point. 

 

[SeanR]

1 minute ago, Mr Do 71 said:

Played shit for most of the game, but somehow we’re now winning. 

bit like United… 

[PaB]

Fucks sake pope

[Fry Crayola]

Losing the faith?

[Plissken]

He wouldn't have done that if he was still wearing a a Burnley shirt every week.

 

Then again, he wouldn't have been there if he was still wearing a Burnley shirt every week.

[Stoppy2000]

Pope has been terrible all game. His kicking is woeful. Makes Joe Hart look like Pirlo.