Consigliere

Tuchel has had falling outs with the higher ups in every job he's been in. He's just someone who starts throwing his toys and picking fights with everyone when he doesn't get his way. Tactically, it's pretty unlikely that he'd do a worse job than the turdfest Ten Hag has served up this season though. Even Newport County (a side sitting in midtable in the 4th division) were just waltzing through our midfield with ease. This issue was apparent even during preseason and Ten Hag has done nothing to mitigate it.

That's not really the big issue though. United are in the process of putting in a structure above the manager which likely means that the manager is going to be more of a head coach. Tuchel is another Mourinho/Conte type who doesn't play well with others and will pick a fight with a DoF and/or Technical Director at the drop of a hat. Not sure we can do any better though if Ten Hag is sacked with Liverpool, Bayern and Barca all in the market for managers. There's been reports that Allegri might leave Juve at the end of the season as well. Napoli, Milan and possibly Chelsea could be looking for new managers too.

Leverkusen's plot armour continues. Yet another late, late goal to keep the unbeaten run alive.

They have a case but insinuating that the only reason they weren't given the penalties is because the VAR is apparently a Luton fan is silly. The ref didn't give the pens so the VAR protecting his mate on the field is much more likely.

Close but offside. We've seen absolute loads of kneecap and armpit offsides so the referees being strict about it is hardly surprising.

Who'd have thought that Solskjaer was a better tactician and coach than Ten Hag. We had better control over games playing Fred and McTominay in midfield under Solskjaer.

Forest's organised crime boss owner upset that he can't threaten and bully officials in England like he can in Greece.

West Ham are getting smoked.

So we either lose to City tomorrow or City next month. Fucking City ruining football.

Miss Jackson keeps fucking them up though.

Looks like the FA and PL might have to backtrack on scrapping FA Cup replays. Apparently they did not consult with the EFL when making the decision and now the EFL and its clubs are up in arms over it. According to John Percy, EFL clubs are threatening to boycott the competition and even the government is demanding answers from the FA and PL.

Chelsea are cheating again. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/apr/19/chelseas-765m-hotel-deals-raise-questions-over-psr-compliance

Great fightback from Villa. Emi Martinez is probably the best penalty shootout keeper in the world.

And West Ham.

Lille dominating against Villa. They were the better side in the first leg too and were a bit unlucky not to come away with a draw at least. Eta. Villa fought their way back into this game after a dreadful hour or so. They've been the better side ever since Lille's second goal.

FA Cup replays to be scrapped from the first round onwards starting next season. The Premier League will also be removing the mid-season break from the calendar. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68844583

Spurs have a very difficult run in so it is pretty unlikely that they can overhaul Villa. It would be great if Villa can hold on and finish 4th. I'm happy that England is now extremely unlikely to get a 5th CL spot - it would've been utter bullshit for Spurs to get CL football for finishing 5th, bombing out early of both domestic cups while contributing sweet fuck all to the coefficient.

Another sting.

It was always the danger for Arsenal that the Bayern players would stir themselves enough to actually put in the effort in a big QF tie and that proved to be the case. Bayern have had a rough season by their standards and there are gaps in the squad but that squad is still full of top class players. Nice to see Man City 115 getting dumped out as well. Unfortunately it's starting to look like both Arsenal and Liverpool are fading so the cheaters are probably going to win another farmer's league title.

Barca in trouble now. Great strike from Vitinha to level it up on aggregate.

Inter will be kicking themselves for bottling it against this Atleti side. Should've won that tie with room to spare.

Think Frimpong will definitely be sold. IIRC, he has a low(ish) release clause too (around €40m).

Another boost for Leverkusen. Their CEO has confirmed that Wirtz will be staying at the club next season.