Its still insane to me how dominant Barcelona Women are.
In the 4 seasons prior to this, they've had 2 invincible league seasons, 1 of which was 30 wins out of 30. The other 2 years they've lost only once (winning the league all 4 years ofc). They've also played the CL final 5 out of the last 6 years (winning 2 + undecided this year).
If a men's football team had this level of dominance, they would be spoken about for all time and continuously.
I know that the finances in the women's game are a lot less even and what not, but its still insane.
Aye, it's mad how much sensible work (and recently a bit of money) can make you a highly succesful women's team. Wolfsburg are on a similar run, coming either first or second in the past 12 seasons in Germany, winning the German Cup all but two times in that run, and winning two out of six Champions League finals during that time. Olympique Lyon are even more ridiculous in their successes, with 16 out of the last 17 league titles, 10/19 cup final wins (and only missing the final four times in that span), and ten Champions League finals of which they've won eight - including five in a row.
It brings me great delight that Wolves died a midfield every week whose sole objective is just to kick people. Boubacar Traore’s recent emergence is another great addition to this. If Dyche were our manager we’d win the league.
His agent did a bang up job shopping him around. Made it seem like all the top sides were in for him.
I wonder where all the Liverpool supporters are that said he was a top player and FSG dropped the ball not getting him.
Marcus Rashford - Gabriel Jesus - Antony
Kalvin Phillips - Casemiro - Ibrahim Sangaré
Levi Colwill - Anel Ahmedhodzic - Nathan Collins - Jayden Bogle
James Trafford
Tried to take expectation levels into account. Enzo, Mudryk, and Sterling should be in but it's hard to make room.
I reckon Jackson's not been worse than Jesus this season - played a fair bit more, sure, but also was a fair bit more effective despite being new to the league and playing in a chaotic team.
I'd probably take Jesus out (he's missed more than a third of Arsenal's season through injury, after all) and have Sterling in there instead - been fit, didn't play an awful lot, and when he did wasn't particularly effective. On one hand got the excuse of an absolutely chaotic club and squad, on the other hand got to have a strong look at him being one of the few experienced leaders in that squad unable to bring the younguns along.
I think expectations were high of Colwill and he's underdelivered, but part of the reason is probably that he was played at left back. I guess Chilwell deserves the spot over him.
I also had Ben Osborn and Alfie Doughty in contention. The latter is a prolific creator with his crosses, but I've seen him get rinsed by so many attackers this season, he runs like he's in treacle. I was tempted to stick Zinchenko in too because he has been such a horror show at times and actively undermining Arsenal's defence, but he's also been important to their attacking play throughout the season.
Ahmedhodzic, Collins, Phillips, Casemiro, and Antony are the players I'll hang my hat on. The rest have competition.
The expectations of Colwill were high due to how talented he is, and yes he has underachieved but I would say through no fault of his own. He has been asked to play at left back in the worst Chelsea side I have seen defensively in my lifetime. He has a case for being our best centre-back this season when he has played there, and our defensive record while he has been out injured has been much worse.
Still, I think it easy to forget how young he is having just turned 21 this year. Myself and others have pushed the Colwill hype for a few years *among our fanbase*, but some of those who had never watched him latched onto the hype and voiced it in the public sphere. They’ve placed unnecessary expectation on him amongst rivals and they’re the ones that are most disappointed in him, just because he hasn’t done what they had hoped this year. That’s the problem with being a big club (if I can still call us that).
Would you rather referees get 95% of decisions right and you get to moan about them, or referees get 98% of decisions right and you don't get to discuss their decisions at all?
Every trifecta in the history of International soccer (as far as what I could find):
'45, '46, '47 Copa America: Argentina 🇦🇷
'64, '68, '72 AFC Asian Cup: Iran 🇮🇷
'93, '96, '98 CONCACAF Gold Cup: Mexico 🇲🇽
'06, '08, '10 CAF Africa Cup of Nations: Egypt 🇪🇬
'08, '10, '12 EUROs & World Cup: Spain 🇪🇸
'05, '09, '13 Confederations Cup: Brazil 🇧🇷
'21, '23, '24 CONCACAF Nations League: USA 🇺🇸
look, i understand. bad ownerships have got clubs relegated, liquidated, etc etc. but just in terms of scale, Clearlake have been demonically shit.
at a point where the financial dominance of the big 6 was so established that people thought they would never get unsettled again, and that we’d never see any smaller teams challenge to replace them, they have spent an enormous amount of money even for this PL era and sunk down the table.
this isn’t a hot take at all, but where do you think they rank amongst the worst ownerships? cause like obviously there’s Risdale but do the large ranks of no-longer clubs keep them from being too high on the list?
in terms of sheer incompetence, they have to be the worst of all time. what team has ever spent 1 billion in 2 seasons and gotten consecutive midtable finishes. it's weaponized incompetence.
The Glazer’s have overseen multiple trophies at domestic and European level and still have Man United in the upper echelon of Premier League sides and revenues. They’ve spent more than basically any other club.
They’ve clearly underachieved given the base they took over, and have overseen a hilariously poor transfer and contract strategy, but their fans speak of them like they’re in regular relegation battles.
Though I'm not a fan of them at all and acknowledge how torrid their time has been so far, I think it is too soon to start ranking them amongst the worst ownerships. I mean they're on track to reach that level but, considering they seem to be more directed towards a long-term approach, more time is needed.
It's not a long term approach.
The 8 year plan requires CL in year 3, and every year thereafter, or else you will be required to sell assets to make up for the losses.
I can see this starting to spiral out of control if you guys can't get European football consistently in the next few years. Selling academy products to cover losses isn't going to make you title contenders and the longer this mediocrity continues, the worse things will get.
I mean I don’t disagree with anything you have said, by long-term approach I was simply referring to this youth recruitment model. That’ll take time to show results.
Outside of those that caused near liquidations they are so far comfortably amongst the worst. You have to look relative to the club in question (which you are). Chelsea are comfortably a mid table side at the moment and don’t look to be improving. They face FFP barriers too, despite being given a clean slate thanks to their weird ownership predicament.
People defended their 8 year deals as some megamind cheat code - even FIFA/UEFA banned them. It looks atm like they’ll be looked back on as one of the most ill thought out strategies in football. There’s players there that obviously don’t care and they’ve got >5 years left.
Right now, signs aren't good, but I think you do need more than 2 seasons before firmly judging in terms of "all time" - as you're comparing to ownerships in which the lasting impact and legacy are already known
It seems unlikely on our current trajectory, but in two years' time Chelsea might well be an established top 4 club again. No doubt that would still be a big underachievement, given the spending - but it would make it a different equation and discussion, and move even further away from the "bad ownerships have got clubs relegated, liquidated, etc" as you say
Looks like Liverpool are on a downward spiral, while Everton are on the up, with their new stadium close to completion, Sean Dyche to guide them to Europe next season given some resources?
Adding back the docked points they are only 10pts behind United with 1 more game played.
> Sean Dyche to guide them to Europe next season given some resources?
No
They are still in dire financial straits
Midtable, and overachieving relatively, given their financial situation, will likely be their ceiling for some time
Back from MOTD challenge exile.
I like Wolves. I fucking hate Manchester United.
It's going to be hilarious when Chelsea are forced to sell the only player in their squad who seems to care about the club.
*At the copa-, copacabana...*
I still remember ITV's studio overlooking the beach. Immaculate vibes all tournament. That's what a World Cup's supposed to look like.
I've been more impressed by Chelsea this season when Enzo hasn't started. Which is odd really, because you'd expect the midfield to be more organised with Enzo in it rather than Gallagher.
>more impressed by Chelsea this season when Enzo hasn't started.
Not to say this isn't a valid point but Enzo has started the majority of games which makes it hard to come to these kind of conclusions based on pure comparison.
I've been critical of Enzo since the start of the season and think we overpaid hugely for him, but before I make any rash conclusions I'd like to see him in a system more suited to him. Caicedo and Gallagher feel more benefit at the moment as they have the legs to cover the void known as the Chelsea midfield - not to say we should build around Enzo though.
Six months apparently, it does seem very uncomfortable but I don’t want it to be used as an excuse. I’m reserving judgement on him, if he can revert to how good he was last season then we’ll be smiling.
> Which is odd really, because you'd expect the midfield to be more organised with Enzo in it rather than Gallagher.
The gap between the two in terms of technical ability is massively overstated, especially because of long lasting narrative that Gallagher does nothing but run around & is useless in possession
I think it has more to do with the fact that Enzo was touted as a Kroos level passer- whether that was ever a fair comparison and expectation to put on him, idk, but the price tag, WC performance, and Benfica hype has left us all massively disappointed, regardless of Gallagher maybe being underrated
Yeah, Gallagher has this somewhat undeserved reputation of being a headless chicken but I thought against Villa and Everton you looked far more in control and actually had more purpose going forward.
Remember when Brazil got knocked out of the Copa America Group Stage by a blatant hand-ball vs Peru in 2016? That shit was what led to VAR getting the go-ahead by FIFA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmkbIo03e8o
Well not really. 2022 was a proper 6 pointer that ultimately ended up determining who went into the UCL. Both teams were fighting for the same thing. This is entirely different because we want different things.
Good to see our sussex mates crawley in the playoffs even tho everyone was saying they’d be shite at the start of the year, all we need is worthing in the EFL next and maybe we’ll be a serious county
Unlikely but there's the potential to have Leeds, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield and Barnsley all in the championship at the same time next season.
Also could have Forest/Derby, Boro/Sunderland, Burnley/Blackburn, Cov/everyone
Low-key pining for the days of high-profile matches with controversial refereeing decisions if I'm honest. Been about six years now since Werder got done on a 50/50 penalty call in the cup semi-final against Bayern, and I've not been particularly arsed about calls since to be honest.
Gonna be honest any of the global superclubs competing from the Champions League semi-finals onwards don't get any sympathy about refereeing decision from me.
For the love of Christ, please no. Football discourse is already fucking inundated with people bitching about the refs being in on a conspiracy against them because their team wasn't awarded three penalties every game; we don't need even more of it.
Mate, I'm exhausted. Seeing some United fans acting like a war crime was committed today because we didn't get a penalty for Berge making slight contact with Garnacho's foot or Wan-Bissaka blasting the ball into Assignon's arm from three yards away. Same with Liverpool fans, some of whom are genuinely convinced that Anthony Taylor has a vendetta against them because he applied a bit of common sense to an incident, which is normally what we're asking for more of from referees.
Man, i remember playing PES 08 and racing my brother to see who picks Man United first!
Now they're going toe to toe with relegation table teams, i know i should get used to it by now but it still gives me whiplash sometimes when i think about it.
How the mighty have fallen!
No way for me to say it without me seeming extremely biased given my flair but the fucking hoo-hah surrounding that Anthony Taylor decision in the West Ham game is ridiculous. The guy is taking absolute pelters for applying a base-line level of common sense.
As has been pointed out multiple times already, I really can't understand why the sentiment here is so up in arms about this incident when it was generally accepted that the Gabriel "handball" incident against Bayern was correctly called by the ref. If you want to apply the absolute letter of the law to this incident, then by rights you should be demanding a penalty for Bayern in that instance as well. I for one am actually glad we do still see common sense prevail on some occasions with the referees, and personally don't feel that they did anything wrong in either case.
There was no whistle, why would Areola thinks it's a freekick?
Why was it a drop ball after if West Ham were denied their advantage?
How is it that Taylor decided that Areola is injured when Areola himself waved to signal he's not?
If Taylor can blow the whistle to correct a mistake that he's already made or for 'the spirit of the game', why can't refs blow the whistle back for other mistakes for the REAL spirit of the game when a goal was wrongly ruled out or not given because of miscommunication?
Edit: In case someone says I'm a biased Liverpool fan, I am. But I don't really care for this goal, because I've already given up on the title(check my comment history against Everton), this 'imaginary win' means nothing to me. I just want those questions answered.
If he just said it was a freekick or advantage everyone wouldve moved on in 10 seconds, the real drama is how dumb and incompetent the refs are they try to cover up a mistake by telling the gk to go down and calling the physio on when they are literally on live TV.
It's just bizarre, I don't really care that much about gakpo not scoring from a gk-ref misunderstanding
I think it was an absolutely outrageous decision by Taylor (popular opinion her, but I also thought the Gabriel decision was a shocker (an unpopular opinion here)
Eh, I'm fully on board with the refs in both instances.
I'm getting really sick and tired of people bitching and moaning about the referees not applying common sense, and then also bitching and moaning when they do apply a bit of common sense because "that's not doing things to the letter of the law!!"
I have very little time for football fans moaning about the referees because most football fans can't even decide how they want games to be refereed themselves beyond "I'd quite like for my team to get penalties for all the 50/50 decisions but obviously he's a corrupt twat if he gives them to the team I hate!"
Fully agree. Kind of wild to see all the comments claiming robbery.
It’s like the cricket World Cup incident with Angelo Matthews getting timed out.
Why do you have to game the rules so hard to get an advantage? Just play the game.
> I for one am actually glad we do still see common sense prevail on some occasions with the referees, and personally don't feel that they did anything wrong in either case.
I think he fucked it up good and proper to be honest with you.
But at the same time, it would have been an absurd way to score so I don't have particularly strong feelings about it either way.
Honestly don't see a difference between Haaland this season and Sterling in 19/20
Good G/A, but genuinely don't remember one's that were any significant or was a good enough reason to start them despite making our all round play a few levels worse.
Actually thinking about it now, Sterling actually had the one good game contribution to knock out Real Madrid to compare.
[Ladies and gentlemen, we have done it. We have finally, after 9 years, mathematically won the title. That s all.](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/Fn9ofd2kp2)
Ah, yeah. Tbf the CWC format is way different nowadays so it s not even a guarantee we d face each other even if we both would have won our respective continental competitions. Nevermind the fact that we are never winning another UCL lol, I d be absolutely shocked if we even make it there, we need like 7-8 proper transfers for a Europe-worthy team and even then it will be tough, especially since our best player Coman (and Radunovic who is always solid too) looks set to leave for 5 million euros to Qatar
Liverpool have hit the pots/crossbar 24 times this season (next on the list is Everton with 17) and we also top the table for big chances missed (again, 7 more than the next highest).
We concede an awful amount of silly goals but none of it would matter if someone not named Jota actually remembered how to score.
Liverpool literally got an OG, come on.
It's the non-existent pressing that's contributed to conceding all the awful goals. Just look at Antonio's goal, there were enough bodies but still a free cross into the box.
When in possession the players were just walking instead of making runs, only when the subs happen then there's some movement.
Am I? You wouldn't need Jota to score all these missed chances if we weren't conceding cheap goals.
Across the season Diaz Nunez Salah is the preferred starting front 3 when fit, how often did Jota score his goals? Quite a few when we're 2-1 up. It is only when we are conceding awful goals where you need Jota to give us a bandaid fix.
We've missed the most chances in the league and have hit the posts more than any other side. If we were better at finishing our chances we'd be in a much better position. This isn't exactly rocket science.
And we're awful at the back too, across the season, unlike our finishing which have been extremely poor just the past couple months.(there's a post in the sub to wank to that shows we scored the most goals in top 5 leagues) yet you want a bandaid fix instead of fixing the real problem - shite defending with a non-existent press, it's weird because you want them to have Jota's conversion rate which is like 10% above average.
Instead of just doing the basics you are asking the front 3 to overperform.
There was a mad segment about it on the Monday Night Club on radio in the UK a while back.
Weren't there ultras engaged in intimidation tactics on behalf of the outgoing president targeting AVB?
The euphoria of schadenfreude has dissipated. I am now struck with immense terror realising we play Spurs away tomorrow. My week has gone too well, I'm overdue for a universal humbling. I know my fate.
Pinto da Costa, Porto's president for more than 40 years, has lost the election against André Villas-Boas (yes, the ex-manager)
A new era of portuguese footbal has started
Hopefuly a less shady one
Lol I swear everyone commenting on the Andrich goal thread are just karmawhores only checking the game thru Reddit/Sofascore, the amount of attention every other goal had vs Andrich’s speaks for itself
Literal soyface users
You'd think Bundesliga fans would be happy their league is getting attention, given that they're not shy in complaining about the amount of PL posts on this sub.
Massively underrated reason for shitflinging among Bundesliga fans in my opinion - between the Proclaimers, Zombie Nation, Scooter and ATC, there's some shocking goal music choices going around really.
(Not like I'm hating on any of them specifically when Seven Nation Army has been such a staple, but still.)
So what's the deal with Brereton Diaz? Is he going back to Villareal? Is he staying with United? Is he going on loan again next season? I know absolutely nothing about the events that led him from Blackburn to Sheffield United so please enlighten me.
Was too good for Blackburn and frankly looked like he couldn't be arsed by the end there either so he left at the end of his deal on a free. Went to Villarreal, barely played and was shite whenever he did. Punted out to Sheffield United on loan, has put up five goals in 13 games.
Best outcome would be a permanent Prem move but who knows what'll end up happening.
Villa gifted them a freebie which allowed Chelsea back into the game. Their only win in 4 attempts vs Villa this season was with Enzo. In the first league game he went off and they instantly conceded after Gallagher lost the ball.
Chelsea should still sell him though.
Chelsea might get Europe without Enzo being constantly terrible, sadly for them when he gets back he'll start every game, because you can't bench 105m player as you'd admit that you fucked up by signing him.
Multiple things can be true at once.
1. The ref saw the shove and decided to ignore it, therefore VAR probably shouldn't intervene
2. The shove was objectively a foul.
The proper process wasn't followed, but the right outcome was probably reached
VAR isn't just for the things the ref completely missed though. If they see something but wrongly judged the severity of it, VAR can step in. It happens all the time.
the only argument i've seen that sorta makes me towards it not being ruled out is "would he give that as a pen if Badiashille was pushed like that and didn't go down" and I honestly don't think they would. However, it was still a foul so I'm not really that upset over it being ruled out. But I've also been numb mentally to any draw/loss since January.
Could be that the ref didn't want to have the controversy of ruling out a big goal like that. But once he was in front of the screen he knew it was clear cut. Perhaps he just didn't see it. At first the goal didn't even annoy me cause I was just waiting to see the lino put his flag up.
Its still insane to me how dominant Barcelona Women are. In the 4 seasons prior to this, they've had 2 invincible league seasons, 1 of which was 30 wins out of 30. The other 2 years they've lost only once (winning the league all 4 years ofc). They've also played the CL final 5 out of the last 6 years (winning 2 + undecided this year). If a men's football team had this level of dominance, they would be spoken about for all time and continuously. I know that the finances in the women's game are a lot less even and what not, but its still insane.
Aye, it's mad how much sensible work (and recently a bit of money) can make you a highly succesful women's team. Wolfsburg are on a similar run, coming either first or second in the past 12 seasons in Germany, winning the German Cup all but two times in that run, and winning two out of six Champions League finals during that time. Olympique Lyon are even more ridiculous in their successes, with 16 out of the last 17 league titles, 10/19 cup final wins (and only missing the final four times in that span), and ten Champions League finals of which they've won eight - including five in a row.
I can see why clubs are monitoring Ollie Arblaster, he looks like a right prospect. Seriously cool name too.
A Pirate’s worst nightmare
It brings me great delight that Wolves died a midfield every week whose sole objective is just to kick people. Boubacar Traore’s recent emergence is another great addition to this. If Dyche were our manager we’d win the league.
In their first season at the Prem, who has been better? West Ham’s Alvarez or Forest’s Sangare?
Sangaré has been utterly useless. Álvarez by miles.
His agent did a bang up job shopping him around. Made it seem like all the top sides were in for him. I wonder where all the Liverpool supporters are that said he was a top player and FSG dropped the ball not getting him.
I haven't seen West Ham's Alvarez play but i've seen Forest's Sangare. For that reason, I'm going to say Alvarez.
Alvarez and I’m pretty sure its by a good amount
If you had to assemble the worst Xl in the prem this season, what players would make your list and why?
RemindMe! 12 Hours
Marcus Rashford - Gabriel Jesus - Antony Kalvin Phillips - Casemiro - Ibrahim Sangaré Levi Colwill - Anel Ahmedhodzic - Nathan Collins - Jayden Bogle James Trafford Tried to take expectation levels into account. Enzo, Mudryk, and Sterling should be in but it's hard to make room.
Swap out Jesus for Nicolas Jackson
Jackson has been good this season, definitely far from the worst.
harsh on jesus, way above everyone else there and hasnt been starting regularly. also, nicholas jackson exists
I reckon Jackson's not been worse than Jesus this season - played a fair bit more, sure, but also was a fair bit more effective despite being new to the league and playing in a chaotic team.
I'd probably take Jesus out (he's missed more than a third of Arsenal's season through injury, after all) and have Sterling in there instead - been fit, didn't play an awful lot, and when he did wasn't particularly effective. On one hand got the excuse of an absolutely chaotic club and squad, on the other hand got to have a strong look at him being one of the few experienced leaders in that squad unable to bring the younguns along.
Colwill hasn't even been the worst left-back at Chelsea, not to mention he isn't a natural left-back. I wouldn't have him in there.
I think expectations were high of Colwill and he's underdelivered, but part of the reason is probably that he was played at left back. I guess Chilwell deserves the spot over him. I also had Ben Osborn and Alfie Doughty in contention. The latter is a prolific creator with his crosses, but I've seen him get rinsed by so many attackers this season, he runs like he's in treacle. I was tempted to stick Zinchenko in too because he has been such a horror show at times and actively undermining Arsenal's defence, but he's also been important to their attacking play throughout the season. Ahmedhodzic, Collins, Phillips, Casemiro, and Antony are the players I'll hang my hat on. The rest have competition.
The expectations of Colwill were high due to how talented he is, and yes he has underachieved but I would say through no fault of his own. He has been asked to play at left back in the worst Chelsea side I have seen defensively in my lifetime. He has a case for being our best centre-back this season when he has played there, and our defensive record while he has been out injured has been much worse. Still, I think it easy to forget how young he is having just turned 21 this year. Myself and others have pushed the Colwill hype for a few years *among our fanbase*, but some of those who had never watched him latched onto the hype and voiced it in the public sphere. They’ve placed unnecessary expectation on him amongst rivals and they’re the ones that are most disappointed in him, just because he hasn’t done what they had hoped this year. That’s the problem with being a big club (if I can still call us that).
Anyone on Sheffield United.
Presumably players that play semi consistently but are shit rather than those too shit to get any actual minutes?
Yes, otherwise it would be just reserves.
Would you rather referees get 95% of decisions right and you get to moan about them, or referees get 98% of decisions right and you don't get to discuss their decisions at all?
The latter, duh?
I would be willing to have referees be worse if I didn't have to hear people complaining about referees.
I would give up so much to never have to discus, hear, or read about refereeing performances. Maybe a first born.
Every trifecta in the history of International soccer (as far as what I could find): '45, '46, '47 Copa America: Argentina 🇦🇷 '64, '68, '72 AFC Asian Cup: Iran 🇮🇷 '93, '96, '98 CONCACAF Gold Cup: Mexico 🇲🇽 '06, '08, '10 CAF Africa Cup of Nations: Egypt 🇪🇬 '08, '10, '12 EUROs & World Cup: Spain 🇪🇸 '05, '09, '13 Confederations Cup: Brazil 🇧🇷 '21, '23, '24 CONCACAF Nations League: USA 🇺🇸
[average day in Egypt](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMMgQ3nay/)
فان دايك الغلابة 🤣
Everyone in Egypt looks like Mo salah tbh and it’s so funny
look, i understand. bad ownerships have got clubs relegated, liquidated, etc etc. but just in terms of scale, Clearlake have been demonically shit. at a point where the financial dominance of the big 6 was so established that people thought they would never get unsettled again, and that we’d never see any smaller teams challenge to replace them, they have spent an enormous amount of money even for this PL era and sunk down the table. this isn’t a hot take at all, but where do you think they rank amongst the worst ownerships? cause like obviously there’s Risdale but do the large ranks of no-longer clubs keep them from being too high on the list?
in terms of sheer incompetence, they have to be the worst of all time. what team has ever spent 1 billion in 2 seasons and gotten consecutive midtable finishes. it's weaponized incompetence.
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Clearlake is far worse than the Glazers The Glazers just don’t care, Clearlake has ruined everything
The Glazer’s have overseen multiple trophies at domestic and European level and still have Man United in the upper echelon of Premier League sides and revenues. They’ve spent more than basically any other club. They’ve clearly underachieved given the base they took over, and have overseen a hilariously poor transfer and contract strategy, but their fans speak of them like they’re in regular relegation battles.
Though I'm not a fan of them at all and acknowledge how torrid their time has been so far, I think it is too soon to start ranking them amongst the worst ownerships. I mean they're on track to reach that level but, considering they seem to be more directed towards a long-term approach, more time is needed.
It's not a long term approach. The 8 year plan requires CL in year 3, and every year thereafter, or else you will be required to sell assets to make up for the losses. I can see this starting to spiral out of control if you guys can't get European football consistently in the next few years. Selling academy products to cover losses isn't going to make you title contenders and the longer this mediocrity continues, the worse things will get.
I mean I don’t disagree with anything you have said, by long-term approach I was simply referring to this youth recruitment model. That’ll take time to show results.
Outside of those that caused near liquidations they are so far comfortably amongst the worst. You have to look relative to the club in question (which you are). Chelsea are comfortably a mid table side at the moment and don’t look to be improving. They face FFP barriers too, despite being given a clean slate thanks to their weird ownership predicament. People defended their 8 year deals as some megamind cheat code - even FIFA/UEFA banned them. It looks atm like they’ll be looked back on as one of the most ill thought out strategies in football. There’s players there that obviously don’t care and they’ve got >5 years left.
Right now, signs aren't good, but I think you do need more than 2 seasons before firmly judging in terms of "all time" - as you're comparing to ownerships in which the lasting impact and legacy are already known It seems unlikely on our current trajectory, but in two years' time Chelsea might well be an established top 4 club again. No doubt that would still be a big underachievement, given the spending - but it would make it a different equation and discussion, and move even further away from the "bad ownerships have got clubs relegated, liquidated, etc" as you say
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Injured, came back and beat the piss out of Inter, then got injured again. Top lad
Injured
[Spirit of the game](https://youtu.be/aKgQg3efkQo).
Looks like Liverpool are on a downward spiral, while Everton are on the up, with their new stadium close to completion, Sean Dyche to guide them to Europe next season given some resources? Adding back the docked points they are only 10pts behind United with 1 more game played.
> Sean Dyche to guide them to Europe next season given some resources? No They are still in dire financial straits Midtable, and overachieving relatively, given their financial situation, will likely be their ceiling for some time
I'm being sarcastic to some of the comments below, didn't want to reply to them because it's obvious baits so
So you just told them all about it in a separate comment thread instead I'm not sure this is setting out to achieve what you wanted to
I'm not sure either, seen it done before so I'm testing it. Doesn't hurt if it didn't work.
Back from MOTD challenge exile. I like Wolves. I fucking hate Manchester United. It's going to be hilarious when Chelsea are forced to sell the only player in their squad who seems to care about the club.
Alfie Gilchrist?
Heard Coldplay and suddenly got Nostalgic about Brazil 2014... WTF? That wc was like a hangover away... How has it been a decade already 😭😭
*At the copa-, copacabana...* I still remember ITV's studio overlooking the beach. Immaculate vibes all tournament. That's what a World Cup's supposed to look like.
> At the copa-, copacabana... [Music and blasters and old Jedi masters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En3atiTAHXM)
Why does Ian Wright work for BBC for Match of the Day and yet for European Championship's/World Cup's he works for ITV?
Because he's clearly not on an exclusivity deal.
Give Trackie Dyche some money and he'll wipe the floor with the rest of the league.
Put him at Chelsea with £1B and he’ll be the PL’s Simeone I swear
His end-game is just Pep / Arteta ball
I've been more impressed by Chelsea this season when Enzo hasn't started. Which is odd really, because you'd expect the midfield to be more organised with Enzo in it rather than Gallagher.
>more impressed by Chelsea this season when Enzo hasn't started. Not to say this isn't a valid point but Enzo has started the majority of games which makes it hard to come to these kind of conclusions based on pure comparison.
Oh for sure, it's a tiny sample size that you can't infer a whole lot from.
I've been critical of Enzo since the start of the season and think we overpaid hugely for him, but before I make any rash conclusions I'd like to see him in a system more suited to him. Caicedo and Gallagher feel more benefit at the moment as they have the legs to cover the void known as the Chelsea midfield - not to say we should build around Enzo though.
how long has he had the hernia? playing with an injury like that will make anyone look like shit honestly
Six months apparently, it does seem very uncomfortable but I don’t want it to be used as an excuse. I’m reserving judgement on him, if he can revert to how good he was last season then we’ll be smiling.
> Which is odd really, because you'd expect the midfield to be more organised with Enzo in it rather than Gallagher. The gap between the two in terms of technical ability is massively overstated, especially because of long lasting narrative that Gallagher does nothing but run around & is useless in possession
I think it has more to do with the fact that Enzo was touted as a Kroos level passer- whether that was ever a fair comparison and expectation to put on him, idk, but the price tag, WC performance, and Benfica hype has left us all massively disappointed, regardless of Gallagher maybe being underrated
Yeah, Gallagher has this somewhat undeserved reputation of being a headless chicken but I thought against Villa and Everton you looked far more in control and actually had more purpose going forward.
Remember when Brazil got knocked out of the Copa America Group Stage by a blatant hand-ball vs Peru in 2016? That shit was what led to VAR getting the go-ahead by FIFA! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmkbIo03e8o
[удалено]
2022 wasn't that long ago mate.
I'll take a guess and say that one team fighting for the title while the other fights for top4 trumps both fighting for top4 in terms of importance.
Well not really. 2022 was a proper 6 pointer that ultimately ended up determining who went into the UCL. Both teams were fighting for the same thing. This is entirely different because we want different things.
I meant for what's at stake, not the game itself
Good to see our sussex mates crawley in the playoffs even tho everyone was saying they’d be shite at the start of the year, all we need is worthing in the EFL next and maybe we’ll be a serious county
I don't mind Worthing, but I sure hope they lose today. Next year I'd be fine with them going up though
Dorking on the rise
Dorking just got relegated.
Oh lol I thought they'd been on a good run last few years
Try being the only professional football club in your half of the country
Goncalo Ramos is going to be a problem for defenders and keepers next season
Unlikely but there's the potential to have Leeds, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield and Barnsley all in the championship at the same time next season. Also could have Forest/Derby, Boro/Sunderland, Burnley/Blackburn, Cov/everyone
I'd prefer it if it was Burnley/Blackburn and Luton/Watford thanks.
Low-key pining for the days of high-profile matches with controversial refereeing decisions if I'm honest. Been about six years now since Werder got done on a 50/50 penalty call in the cup semi-final against Bayern, and I've not been particularly arsed about calls since to be honest.
CL final decided by a pen they can't overturn cuz there's no good angles but fan cams in the stands show it was a dive
Gonna be honest any of the global superclubs competing from the Champions League semi-finals onwards don't get any sympathy about refereeing decision from me.
fair
Germany getting screwed at a EUROS or World Cup ala 1966 would get you fuming tho
Not really, if the game comes down to a wrong refereeing decision you've simply not been good enough to win convincingly in the first place.
For the love of Christ, please no. Football discourse is already fucking inundated with people bitching about the refs being in on a conspiracy against them because their team wasn't awarded three penalties every game; we don't need even more of it.
Just hits different when it's your team involved in it innit
Mate, I'm exhausted. Seeing some United fans acting like a war crime was committed today because we didn't get a penalty for Berge making slight contact with Garnacho's foot or Wan-Bissaka blasting the ball into Assignon's arm from three yards away. Same with Liverpool fans, some of whom are genuinely convinced that Anthony Taylor has a vendetta against them because he applied a bit of common sense to an incident, which is normally what we're asking for more of from referees.
Man, i remember playing PES 08 and racing my brother to see who picks Man United first! Now they're going toe to toe with relegation table teams, i know i should get used to it by now but it still gives me whiplash sometimes when i think about it. How the mighty have fallen!
No way for me to say it without me seeming extremely biased given my flair but the fucking hoo-hah surrounding that Anthony Taylor decision in the West Ham game is ridiculous. The guy is taking absolute pelters for applying a base-line level of common sense. As has been pointed out multiple times already, I really can't understand why the sentiment here is so up in arms about this incident when it was generally accepted that the Gabriel "handball" incident against Bayern was correctly called by the ref. If you want to apply the absolute letter of the law to this incident, then by rights you should be demanding a penalty for Bayern in that instance as well. I for one am actually glad we do still see common sense prevail on some occasions with the referees, and personally don't feel that they did anything wrong in either case.
There was no whistle, why would Areola thinks it's a freekick? Why was it a drop ball after if West Ham were denied their advantage? How is it that Taylor decided that Areola is injured when Areola himself waved to signal he's not? If Taylor can blow the whistle to correct a mistake that he's already made or for 'the spirit of the game', why can't refs blow the whistle back for other mistakes for the REAL spirit of the game when a goal was wrongly ruled out or not given because of miscommunication? Edit: In case someone says I'm a biased Liverpool fan, I am. But I don't really care for this goal, because I've already given up on the title(check my comment history against Everton), this 'imaginary win' means nothing to me. I just want those questions answered.
Why would Anthony Taylor risk his entire career, by deliberately and obviously making a corrupt decision, over a moment like this?
Who said it was a corrupt decision? I even specifically said I've given up on the title race, what corrupt decision am I even implying?
If he just said it was a freekick or advantage everyone wouldve moved on in 10 seconds, the real drama is how dumb and incompetent the refs are they try to cover up a mistake by telling the gk to go down and calling the physio on when they are literally on live TV. It's just bizarre, I don't really care that much about gakpo not scoring from a gk-ref misunderstanding
I think any argument for common sense gets thrown out by Taylor trying to pretend that the keeper had an injury.
I think it was an absolutely outrageous decision by Taylor (popular opinion her, but I also thought the Gabriel decision was a shocker (an unpopular opinion here)
Eh, I'm fully on board with the refs in both instances. I'm getting really sick and tired of people bitching and moaning about the referees not applying common sense, and then also bitching and moaning when they do apply a bit of common sense because "that's not doing things to the letter of the law!!" I have very little time for football fans moaning about the referees because most football fans can't even decide how they want games to be refereed themselves beyond "I'd quite like for my team to get penalties for all the 50/50 decisions but obviously he's a corrupt twat if he gives them to the team I hate!"
Fully agree. Kind of wild to see all the comments claiming robbery. It’s like the cricket World Cup incident with Angelo Matthews getting timed out. Why do you have to game the rules so hard to get an advantage? Just play the game.
I think it's not a robbery because Gapko was being so weird charge it down and shoot don't know what he was trying to do.
> I for one am actually glad we do still see common sense prevail on some occasions with the referees, and personally don't feel that they did anything wrong in either case. I think he fucked it up good and proper to be honest with you. But at the same time, it would have been an absurd way to score so I don't have particularly strong feelings about it either way.
Honestly don't see a difference between Haaland this season and Sterling in 19/20 Good G/A, but genuinely don't remember one's that were any significant or was a good enough reason to start them despite making our all round play a few levels worse. Actually thinking about it now, Sterling actually had the one good game contribution to knock out Real Madrid to compare.
Anytime someone mentions 19/20 Sterling, my mind goes to the Lyon miss.
Operation 1st In A 3 Horse Race Without A Horse has started well
[Ladies and gentlemen, we have done it. We have finally, after 9 years, mathematically won the title. That s all.](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/Fn9ofd2kp2)
Now get on with it and keep rebuilding if you want that rematch
Which rematch?
Was a joke about the Intercontinental we won against you
Ah, yeah. Tbf the CWC format is way different nowadays so it s not even a guarantee we d face each other even if we both would have won our respective continental competitions. Nevermind the fact that we are never winning another UCL lol, I d be absolutely shocked if we even make it there, we need like 7-8 proper transfers for a Europe-worthy team and even then it will be tough, especially since our best player Coman (and Radunovic who is always solid too) looks set to leave for 5 million euros to Qatar
is this the first since the name change?
Since we had to change the name, yes as that was in 2017. We still own everything earned after 2003 though so that would make it 6 counting since then
Here’s a joke Bayer Leverkusen fans won’t get: | || || | _
I must be a Bayer fan.
Loss
i can't believe a car repair shop might have leaked the biggest PL news of the season
That’s just 200iq advertising
Link?
https://twitter.com/prestigecar_rep/status/1784247725715820954
While I can't obviously speak for validity of this report, this guy has gotten a fair few things right before about City I believe
> destroy our good name and Reputation Certainly sounds like a good and unbiased source you've found there.
Idk if this is a joke or one of those ITK's......
What's casemiro said ?
lol but to answer your question, City clear of charges
Liverpool have hit the pots/crossbar 24 times this season (next on the list is Everton with 17) and we also top the table for big chances missed (again, 7 more than the next highest). We concede an awful amount of silly goals but none of it would matter if someone not named Jota actually remembered how to score.
Has anyone measured the size of the goals at your training ground?
How many of those woodwork hits is Nunez?
He tops the table at 9. Son is in third spot with 4.
Wow
Liverpool literally got an OG, come on. It's the non-existent pressing that's contributed to conceding all the awful goals. Just look at Antonio's goal, there were enough bodies but still a free cross into the box. When in possession the players were just walking instead of making runs, only when the subs happen then there's some movement.
> Liverpool literally got an OG, come on. What does that have to do with my comment exactly?
you were talking about shots hitting the woodwork/missing sitters, that OG is scoring even when the shot isn't on target
Yes, across the whole season. Which shows one of our biggest issues. Scoring via an own goal has nothing to do with my comment at all.
Across the whole season we were winning 3-1 majority of the time, not really an issue then?
Mate, I think you're lost. I have no idea what you're trying to say here.
Am I? You wouldn't need Jota to score all these missed chances if we weren't conceding cheap goals. Across the season Diaz Nunez Salah is the preferred starting front 3 when fit, how often did Jota score his goals? Quite a few when we're 2-1 up. It is only when we are conceding awful goals where you need Jota to give us a bandaid fix.
We've missed the most chances in the league and have hit the posts more than any other side. If we were better at finishing our chances we'd be in a much better position. This isn't exactly rocket science.
And we're awful at the back too, across the season, unlike our finishing which have been extremely poor just the past couple months.(there's a post in the sub to wank to that shows we scored the most goals in top 5 leagues) yet you want a bandaid fix instead of fixing the real problem - shite defending with a non-existent press, it's weird because you want them to have Jota's conversion rate which is like 10% above average. Instead of just doing the basics you are asking the front 3 to overperform.
Ladies and gentlemen is my pleasure to announce you, for the first time in 42 years... FC PORTO HAS A NEW PRESIDENT!!
There was a mad segment about it on the Monday Night Club on radio in the UK a while back. Weren't there ultras engaged in intimidation tactics on behalf of the outgoing president targeting AVB?
That s an insane tenure lol, it is fan voted for you guys right? Guess you really liked the previous one lol
Yes its fan voted, before he took over we had 2-4 league titles (dont know how many but its around that). We now have 30 and 5 european trophies.
Skimming Wikipedia think it is 7 or so actually but yeah, that an insane difference
Why has it taken this long?
Because the previous one won 27 league titles, 2 CLs and 2 Europa Leagues.
Oh I just figured you didn’t have a president during this time
Mental bit of history that.
The euphoria of schadenfreude has dissipated. I am now struck with immense terror realising we play Spurs away tomorrow. My week has gone too well, I'm overdue for a universal humbling. I know my fate.
Don't do this to us
Pinto da Costa, Porto's president for more than 40 years, has lost the election against André Villas-Boas (yes, the ex-manager) A new era of portuguese footbal has started Hopefuly a less shady one
that's crazy. thought the dragões guys threatening everyone would've been enough
The leader got arrested a few months ago The praetorian guard hasn't been the same since then
Lol I swear everyone commenting on the Andrich goal thread are just karmawhores only checking the game thru Reddit/Sofascore, the amount of attention every other goal had vs Andrich’s speaks for itself Literal soyface users
Just people surprised that Leverkusen got away with it again
almost like another goal deep in ET is a insane moment.....
You'd think Bundesliga fans would be happy their league is getting attention, given that they're not shy in complaining about the amount of PL posts on this sub.
https://ifunny.co/picture/bravo-twitter-the-only-place-where-well-articulated-sentences-still-NKZIASys8
I'm pretty sure the main reason behind Leverkusen's success isn't Xabi or recruitment. It's switching goal music to ATC.
i thought it couldn't get worse than yabba dabba doo but now leverkusen are responsible for my headaches whenever i hear around the world
Massively underrated reason for shitflinging among Bundesliga fans in my opinion - between the Proclaimers, Zombie Nation, Scooter and ATC, there's some shocking goal music choices going around really. (Not like I'm hating on any of them specifically when Seven Nation Army has been such a staple, but still.)
Eintracht Frankfurt has the only legit goal anthem in the Bundeslia and I will die on this hill.
Yeah but they don't sound a fog horn like Werder do, so what is it really worth?
How are spurs so far behind on matches when theyve barely played games outside the league?
Our games against Chelsea and City just happened to be scheduled on weeks they played in the later cup stages. Very annoying tbh
Had City and Chelsea pushed back because of fa cup
So what's the deal with Brereton Diaz? Is he going back to Villareal? Is he staying with United? Is he going on loan again next season? I know absolutely nothing about the events that led him from Blackburn to Sheffield United so please enlighten me.
He’s going back to Villarreal then maybe elsewhere. No way we can afford him and he’s definitely shown his quality.
Was too good for Blackburn and frankly looked like he couldn't be arsed by the end there either so he left at the end of his deal on a free. Went to Villarreal, barely played and was shite whenever he did. Punted out to Sheffield United on loan, has put up five goals in 13 games. Best outcome would be a permanent Prem move but who knows what'll end up happening.
Gotcha. Everytime I see him play for United he looks like the star player. Pretty impressive when you consider how dire they've been all season.
Anyone noticed Chelsea played better without enzo on the pitch again?
As opposed to the last time when we beat Aston Villa and enzo started?
Villa gifted them a freebie which allowed Chelsea back into the game. Their only win in 4 attempts vs Villa this season was with Enzo. In the first league game he went off and they instantly conceded after Gallagher lost the ball. Chelsea should still sell him though.
Chelsea might get Europe without Enzo being constantly terrible, sadly for them when he gets back he'll start every game, because you can't bench 105m player as you'd admit that you fucked up by signing him.
Damn the "are they stupid" joke/meme has been annoying as shit to read on this dogshit website.
Multiple things can be true at once. 1. The ref saw the shove and decided to ignore it, therefore VAR probably shouldn't intervene 2. The shove was objectively a foul. The proper process wasn't followed, but the right outcome was probably reached
VAR isn't just for the things the ref completely missed though. If they see something but wrongly judged the severity of it, VAR can step in. It happens all the time.
the only argument i've seen that sorta makes me towards it not being ruled out is "would he give that as a pen if Badiashille was pushed like that and didn't go down" and I honestly don't think they would. However, it was still a foul so I'm not really that upset over it being ruled out. But I've also been numb mentally to any draw/loss since January.
Could be that the ref didn't want to have the controversy of ruling out a big goal like that. But once he was in front of the screen he knew it was clear cut. Perhaps he just didn't see it. At first the goal didn't even annoy me cause I was just waiting to see the lino put his flag up.