Football Thread 2018/19

[neoELITE]

History will tell if Ole does well and people in this thread are often fence sitters and pessimistic but as a neutral, it's great to see good players playing well and Man Utd have some very, very good players.  They absolutely should be top four.  If he gets the job and Utd sign two good central defenders in the Summer, I think they'll be challenging for the league comfortably.  By the way, Klopp has won absolutely nothing at all at Liverpool. Ole hasn't won anything at Utd other than eight games. They're not going to win the league this year unless something truly bizarre happens but I'd put some decent cash on them winning it either next season or the season after.  My arse is firmly off the fence - he just has something about him.

[Loik V credern]

Lacazette has proved he's a better all round player than Lukaku, in a league he's new to, under a period of a lot of change. He links better, his touch is better, he runs and harries the opposition, he's always involved and the impression i get is the arsenal fans think really highly of him. Whereas man united fans don't want Lukaku to play because he often offers so little. 

 

At his peak Sanchez is a phenomenon but at the detriment of his team, causing an imbalance where every attack goes through him. I'd take peak Aubameyang over peak Sanchez.

 

Both Aubameyang and Lacazette have better mentalities than Lukaku and Sanchez, humble, reliable and always switched on.

[Fry Crayola]

2 hours ago, neoELITE said:

History will tell if Ole does well and people in this thread are often fence sitters and pessimistic...

 

... My arse is firmly off the fence - he just has something about him.

 

Don't get me wrong, if United had to make a decision today, I think Solskjaer would be the right choice off the back of his results and the team's performances and attitude since he took over. 

 

They just have the luxury of being able to wait longer and let it pan out further. There's not much to be gained by giving him the contract now.

[Adrock]

2 hours ago, The Fox said:

 

On this season’s form it’s obviously wrong but with all four at their peaks I don’t think he’s wrong.

 

Really? Sanchez hasn't been at any kind of peak for, what, 3 seasons? You can't really compare them fairly apart from on recent form. Which is what Neville's job is when offering opinion on BBC1. He was plainly wrong.

[feltmonkey]

I'd love Solskjaer to get the United job permanently. As @Fry Crayola says, there's no reason to make the decision yet, but he's already made a compelling case. Eight wins on the trot, including two away to top teams, is pretty extraordinary, especially when you consider how the team was performing before that. It really makes you wonder what on earth Jose was trying to do. Under Mourinho, United played a defensive style without actually trying to win the ball back (usually quite an important part of defending) and a counter-attacking style without the counter-attacking. Watching them now, you sort of think, "Oh yeah, this is a team that includes Pogba, Rashford, Martial, Lingard, Lukaku, and Mata, among others - they should be really good!" Of course, these are all players who Jose spent a lot of time trying to convince us were not as good as their reputations suggested, who the club would be better off without, or were just plain crap. 

 

Ole is not just there to get everyone smiling, He and his team have shown that they have the tactical nouse to do the job. Obviously, the win against Spurs involved a large slice of luck and a brilliant performance from De Gea, but for the first 60 minutes United were comfortably the better team, extremely dangerous on the break, and could have been another goal or two up. The Arsenal match was even more impressive. Again Arsenal had a lot of the ball, but United always looked more likely to score. The use of Pogba to carry the ball forward on the counter attack caused problems all game. 

 

This will be an important decision from the board - a sentence to strike fear into the hearts of every United fan. It looks likely to come down to a choice between Solskjaer and Pochettino. Pochettino would be the sensible, level-headed choice, but it would be expensive and difficult to get him, and there is no guarantee that he would be a success. It could be that in Solskjaer, United have found a great manager by accident. He's there, and what he's doing is working. Sometimes this is just how it happens. It's like with how Rashford burst on the scene - he wasn't really in the frame for a debut until there was a crazy injury crisis, and even then he wasn't the first choice youth player to be on the bench against Midtjylland but Will Keane got injured, and then Martial pulled up during the warm up, and he had to play. Like @neoELITE says, Solskjaer has got something about him. I'm probably getting a bit carried away, but I really, really hope he gets the job. 

[dr_manhattan^]

Concentrate on the league init?

[the_debaser]

[dr_manhattan^]

Well thank fuck for that. Yet another goal after 90 minutes. 

[Mr Do 71]

Bottom of League One AFC Wimbledon stuff West Ham 4-2!

[Scruff]

Well done AFC Wimbledon. I would hope half the players who played tonight won't be able to look at themselves in the mirror, but people like Masuaku, Ogbonna, Obiang and Hernandez don't give a fuck. As for Carroll he should have been melted down for glue years ago. And to think he takes home 80 thousand bags a week 

 

[Stig]

A Millwall fan slashed the face of an Everton fan in the fights before the game. Fucking twat..

 

Spoiler

 

 

[neoELITE]

I've been away to Millwall and it isn't very nice at all - the whole area is intimidating and even people who don't attend the game are out pre-kick off milling about. Having said that, Goodison Park is very similar - I went there as a neutral to watch Everton play Man Utd and sat in the home end so it wasn't as bad. Thankfully, I went by coach to the New Den and we arrived and left right by the away end with more police present than I've ever seen at a football match - more than were at Wembley for the play offs. Neil Harris described it as "hostile" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In nicer news.

 

 

 

Quote

Top scorer Billy Sharp - who else? - was their hero, netting both goals to take his tally for the season to 18.

And, with Royal Rumble just around the corner, the striker celebrated his first goal with a WWE-inspired routine.

Sharp pulled out his version of Mr Socko - a sock puppet made famous by wrestling legend Mick Foley and his various ring alter egos - and performed his "Mandible Claw" finishing move on teammate George Baldock.

His tribute was even spotted by Foley himself, who called the tribute 'tremendous' in a tweet.

 

[Stig]

22 hours ago, bradigor said:

The true test will be how he does against Liverpool and City. Beat either of them and he secures legend status as manager and the permanent job. Get beaten badly and questions get asked. 

 

Personally I hope he gets the job, because I would rather have a league with a strong United, than one without, it wad fun for a while, but it needs more teams in the fight. 

 

Yeah fuck that. The pleasure United fans have taken from our lack of league titles over the last 3 decades, plus the times when we've had poor seasons, I'm happy to see them flounder.

[elmo]

Trouble aside, what a game that was last night. A proper Millwall performance. To kick 5 Premier League teams out of the cup at the den in a row is some achievement.

 

Wish we played like that more in the league!

[Plissken]

13 hours ago, Scruff said:

Well done AFC Wimbledon. I would hope half the players who played tonight won't be able to look at themselves in the mirror, but people like Masuaku, Ogbonna, Obiang and Hernandez don't give a fuck. As for Carroll he should have been melted down for glue years ago. And to think he takes home 80 thousand bags a week 

 

 

I am probably mis-remembering the stat, but Carroll has played something like 61 games in five and a half years.

 

Citeh put five past my lot for the second game in a row.  Now an aggregate of 28-0 over the last six games (against other opposition, not us!)

[Plissken]

2 hours ago, neoELITE said:

 

In nicer news.

 

 

 

 

 

That shirt made me think for a moment that he was doing it to an opposition player and wondering why he didn't get punched for it.

[Scruff]

15 minutes ago, Plissken said:

 

I am probably mis-remembering the stat, but Carroll has played something like 61 games in five and a half years.

 

Citeh put five past my lot for the second game in a row.  Now an aggregate of 28-0 over the last six games (against other opposition, not us!)

 

123 games (so far) in 7 seasons which is around 40% of games or about 31% of game time available based on minutes. Either way they're shitting terrible stats.

 

His house in Chigwell is up on Rightmove for 5mill if you fancy it though  

[dr_manhattan^]

3 hours ago, neoELITE said:

I've been away to Millwall and it isn't very nice at all - the whole area is intimidating and even people who don't attend the game are out pre-kick off milling about. Having said that, Goodison Park is very similar - I went there as a neutral to watch Everton play Man Utd and sat in the home end so it wasn't as bad. Thankfully, I went by coach to the New Den and we arrived and left right by the away end with more police present than I've ever seen at a football match - more than were at Wembley for the play offs. Neil Harris described it as "hostile" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In nicer news.

 

 

 

 

 

I went to Millwall away once for a Friday night game, that was pretty uncomfortable, most I've ever seen fans trying to get at each other.  Thankfully I was on a coach too.

 

Billy Shapr (and Tammy Abraham I think) getting to 18 goals already is impressive.  Our leading scorer, Jota, only got 18 all season last year.

[neoELITE]

Andy Carroll shops at Aldi. He's on just over £4m a year. He's got some cooking oil there and possibly some pies. Aldi pies are well nice. 

 

[bradigor]

2 hours ago, Stigweard said:

 

Yeah fuck that. The pleasure United fans have taken from our lack of league titles over the last 3 decades, plus the times when we've had poor seasons, I'm happy to see them flounder.

 

If we are going to 'get back on our fucking perch' I want to do so against the strongest possible United side, so it makes it even harder to take for them. 

[Stig]

2 hours ago, neoELITE said:

Andy Carroll shops at Aldi. He's on just over £4m a year. He's got some cooking oil there and possibly some pies. Aldi pies are well nice. 

 

 

Good job this wasn't Raheem Sterling

[ryodi]

Spurs absolutely Spursing this. Concede a second goal thanks to a moronic handball that gives away a penalty. They then work a neat free kick to get back into but somehow don't score and then manage to miss a penalty before half time.

[Guest]

As the famous old song goes 

 

"It's lucky for Spurs when the year ends"

[Shimmyhill]

Yep, proper Liverpooling this - to be fair I think my work 7 a side team could pick of the team Spurs have out.

[Azrael]

On 20/01/2019 at 08:41, skadupuk said:

Club legend Julian Speroni gifting Liverpool a goal was heartbreaking, he's not played in a year and only played about  14 games in the last (400 appearances prior to that), he's a cheap and experienced third choice keeper where otherwise we'd have a teenage prospect kicking their heels, it won't tarnish his reputation with Palace fans but he's one of those players you know is going to carry that round with him for a while.

 

He's likely done as a player at the end of the season, but hopefully he get's at least one more game to leave us on a better note.

 

 

Well he's just had a cracking game against Spurs. 

[skadupuk]

1 hour ago, Azrael said:

 

Well he's just had a cracking game against Spurs. 

 

Yep, loved that double save from the free kick they slid to the side, in particular the second shot.

 

He broke the Palace clean sheet record today as well which helps cement his legend, we've just signed a young South American lad to be his replacement as 3rd choice, and to bring through as a future first choice so we may not see much more of him on the field but everyone's hoping he stays on as coach.

 

"The hands of God"

 

[Dudley]

Someone pointed out the FA cup final is on Speroni's 40th.

[deerokus]

Man, I remember really liking Speroni at Dundee, and a Crystal Palace fan I knew not rating him. seems like a lifetime ago. 

 

Rangers fans invading the pitch like they won the champions league because they beat Livingston, bloody hilarious. 

[Gotters]

You realise how significant Prem tv money is when the Deloitte money league, which measures a clubs income, has West Ham, Everton and Newcastle making the top 20.

[nakamura]

Japan v Iran in half hour. Don't fancy this one. Japan have limped to the semis and Iran have been excellent.