Football: Hotspur's Fox Hunt

[Gustavo Fringed Sleeves]

2 minutes ago, Rorshach said:

Not yet. I wouldn't trust City not to f*ck this up in the last round.

I'd like to trust your team to do their best against S*nderland.

[Rorshach]

5 minutes ago, Gustavo Fringed Sleeves said:

I'd like to trust your team to do their best against S*nderland.

So would I. But then reality intrudes.

[MercenaryChef]

5 minutes ago, Rorshach said:

So would I. But then reality intrudes.

no. really. don't fuck this up, Everton. 

for some odd reason I feel us beating spurs.

[Gustavo Fringed Sleeves]

1 minute ago, MercifulChief said:

no. really. don't fuck this up, Everton. 

for some odd reason I feel us beating spurs.

But then if Everton don't fuck it up, Watford might.

It really would be a miracle now for NUFC to avoid relegation.

[Mexal]

31 minutes ago, MercifulChief said:

no. really. don't fuck this up, Everton. 

for some odd reason I feel us beating spurs.

That would be amazing! Go Newcastle!

Local paper in Gladbach saying Xhaka to Arsenal is done and to be announced soon. Seems likely this is one of those that will go through. Good signing I think as long as he can stay on the pitch.

[Nas!]

Just finished watching the West Ham v Man U game (the terrors of time zones) after doing my best to follow the Guardian's mbm whilst at work. 

Nice work, lads.  Well won.

Interestingly(?): both of Man U's goals came on their first attack after the fans in the Bobby Moore stand refused to return the game ball to De Gea. Coincidence or karma?

 

[baxus]

15 hours ago, Consigliere said:

Thing is Leicester have been incredibly consistent with a rock solid defence. Nothing about Celta this season suggests they could have had a go at the EPL title - they have a leaky defence and aren't exactly prolific goalscorers either.

That's understatement of the year for a team with Aspas as their top goalscorer.

10 hours ago, Gustavo Fringed Sleeves said:

Ok, Málaga then. Solid defense, gave hell to the top 3 and robbed them some points. Sorry, but City's display against Madrid was clear evidence that the bar was at an all time low in EPL era.

You keep going on about City's poor performance (and I agree it was dire) but keep ignoring the fact that Real's performance was only ever so slightly better. I'm not even sure "better" is the word I'm looking for, maybe "less shitty" would be more appropriate.

Think about it - if Real is so great and City so shitty, then why didn't Real stomp them 10-0 on aggregate?

I know you've said that Real played just well enough to advance, but with aggregate result of 1-0 that doesn't really fit. One lucky break for City, and Real could've been knocked out.

[Calibandar]

Man U beaten by the better team last night. West Ham deserved the win, both teams wanted to win and the better team won.

West Ham's been a better team this year than this United team anyway, so it's all well deserved.

I also think that if you do go up 1-2 after a lucky goal by Martial, you should be able to hold on and keep your hope alive for CL qualification. But the team got dominated again mentally and above all physically. United loves playing tiny guys and a result of that is that you are outmatched across the pitch. And it happened again last night. I'll also note once again that Blind is not a defender. He could be a decent central holding midfielder or maybe even as a fullback at a stretch, but he's been caught out 6000 times this season as a defender. 

[Mexal]

1 hour ago, Soylent Brown said:

I guess the interesting thing will be what else Arsenal do if this goes through. Talk is the price will be €50m, but what will that leave for a striker? Typically you guys haven't splurged on too many big players per window, but you never know!

Good question. I think this year might be different because we'll have a number of players outgoing (Flamini, Arteta, Gibbs, Rosicky, Walcott, maybe Chambo) which will free up wages. Also, we spent 10m last year and I think TV money kicks in this year? We're not short of cash and if Wenger thinks this is his last chance, he may take one more legit run at it. I'm just surprised we're buying so early.

But you're probably right. Xhaka will be our big signing of the summer and Giroud will lead our line next season again.

[Consigliere]

West Ham were by far the better side. As is so often the case this season, we dominate possession but do nothing with it. Only managing a meagre 3 shots on goal (2 on target) with around 60% possession is not acceptable but this sort of thing has been par for the course this season. The result was the right one but the scoreline was flaterring on us. West Ham should have won by a much more comfortable margin. In fact, with better finishing, they should have had this game wrapped up at half time.

Disappointed that we will not finish in the top 4 (don't think City will fuck it up) but also somewhat relieved. The sad fact is we are not CL quality at the moment and had we qualified another group stage exit would be the most likely outcome.

[Calibandar]

Well the thing about that is that I have hope that squad will be strengthened in a serious way in the summer ( I said hope) and as a result of that, you could start the new season with a better team and in the CL. Now it's Europa League, regardless of hoq good the squad is next year.

But mostly I'm just deeply disappointed by Man U. This really is a midlevel team and I think everyone has seen that the team would be quite a bit lower on the table still if not for a remarkable number of undeserved wins. I don't love seeing LvG get sacked, especially with who looms as a replacement, but this has been another unacceptably poor season. The squad needs several players to go, and a few upgrades to come in, and there seems to be no foundation for LvG to stay.

 

[Consigliere]

I have very little faith in Woodward. Since coming in his dealing in the transfer market has been poor so I'm not holding my breath on the squad being significantly improved. Thing is, LVG's conservative style of play is just as much to blame as Woodward's ineffectiveness in the transfer market. I suspect that we'd have fared better had we shown more attacking flair.

[Mexal]

While reading the Xhaka news, I realized I don't actually care. I think he's a good player, will add steal and DLP ability to our spine in one player but unless we get a replacement at striker, it won't actually matter. Welbeck can't stay health or finish and Giroud, he of 2 goals in 22 PL matches, is just not good enough to lead the line. So while I'm happy we're splashing cash and making good signings early, especially in the CM position where I hope we never see Ramsey again, I can't help but feel apathetic to it all.

Also, I find it funny that Tottenham have their best season, possibly ever and everyone is talking about how great they've played and how poor Arsenal have played yet they are one loss away (and an Arsenal win) from finishing behind us again. That just cracks me up.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

On 5/10/2016 at 3:21 AM, Gustavo Fringed Sleeves said:

I don't get what is so confusing about that "concept", unless you've never heard of boxing in your entire life. For the last time, I'm not talking financials. I'm talking results, competitiveness (not in-league parity), level of play. La Liga teams have been superior. Seriously, I must sound repetitive to others, but it's just that you don't finish grasping what is self-evident.

Pound for pound has a very specific meaning in boxing. You're talking about one person, with two variables, fighting ability and weight. And even then it's very subjective.

With an entire league, each with twenty different teams? That's a lot more complicated.

Are the top three in Spain better than the top three in England? Yes. I don't think anyone really disputes this, though some people say that Real Madrid lucked into the CL Final with an easy draw and barely beat the 4th/5th best team in England.

Is the 4th in Spain better than the 4th in England? Maybe?

Is the 7th in Spain better than the 7th in England? Probably not.

is the 15th in Spain better than the 15th in England? Almost definitely not.

By pound for pound, are you saying that Spanish teams do better considering their revenues? Well there's no objective way to measure that, despite your claims that it's a very concrete and definite statement.

[Calibandar]

1 hour ago, Consigliere said:

I have very little faith in Woodward. Since coming in his dealing in the transfer market has been poor so I'm not holding my breath on the squad being significantly improved. Thing is, LVG's conservative style of play is just as much to blame as Woodward's ineffectiveness in the transfer market. I suspect that we'd have fared better had we shown more attacking flair.

I tend to agree and yet, is there attacking flair in this team? It's a weak side, they are not able to push through an opponent.

Even the wins have felt fortunate and could have been losses.

And there is a lack of firepower upfront. Rashford's come in but still needs years to get better. 

Rooney has delivered nothing at all for the club a whole year long, after the club just sold his two competitors. Clearly LvG was wrong to place his trust in him, and as so many said pre-season, even worse is the fact that you knew, and he should have known, that Rooney does not have that consistency anyway.

Lingaard is a lightweight, Depay's been poor. Martial is a rare bit of talent in this squad. Opinions on Mata go back and forth. Herrera has been ok but nothing more than that, which is what he was at Bilbao. Schweinsteiger predictably hasn't been able to stay on the pitch and looks years past his prime.

[Mexal]

Welbeck out 9 months after knee surgery. I'm absolutely gutted for him. Dude can't catch a break since coming to Arsenal. Standard.

[Consigliere]

6 minutes ago, Calibandar said:

I tend to agree and yet, is there attacking flair in this team? It's a weak side, they are not able to push through an opponent.

Even the wins have felt fortunate and could have been losses.

And there is a lack of firepower upfront. Rashford's come in but still needs years to get better. 

Rooney has delivered nothing at all for the club a whole year long, after the club just sold his two competitors. Clearly LvG was wrong to place his trust in him, and as so many said pre-season, even worse is the fact that you knew, and he should have known, that Rooney does not have that consistency anyway.

Lingaard is a lightweight, Depay's been poor. Martial is a rare bit of talent in this squad. Opinions on Mata go back and forth. Herrera has been ok but nothing more than that, which is what he was at Bilbao. Schweinsteiger predictably hasn't been able to stay on the pitch and looks years past his prime.

I think that the attacking players we have are better than our goals tally would suggest. LVG's fondness for 'square pegs in round holes' hasn't helped. We have players with pace up front but have not made full use of that. Too often the emphasis is on pointless possession all in front of the opposition defence which makes it pretty easy to defend against us. How often do we play balls over the top or in behind for these players to run onto? This conservativeness has had an additional negative impact where the opposition are confident in holding a higher line against us and committing more players to their attacks, safe in the knowledge that the chances of being hit with a lightning quick counter are slim. I agree that we clearly need to add a bit more quality to our squad and selling all those attacking players and not adequately replacing them has come back to bite us.

[SerTarod]

On 09 May 2016 at 11:09 AM, SerTarod said:

As an Arsenal supporter and partial to Everton on occasion, I will be thrilled to bits if Everton beats Sunderland on Wednesday. I have no gripes against Sunderland, but I want Newcastle to have everything to play for on Sunday!

 

*bump*

 

Come on Everton!!!

 

[Gustavo Fringed Sleeves]

2 hours ago, White Walker Texas Ranger said:

Are the top three in Spain better than the top three in England? Yes. I don't think anyone really disputes this, though some people say that Real Madrid lucked into the CL Final with an easy draw and barely beat the 4th/5th best team in England.

Is the 4th in Spain better than the 4th in England? Maybe?

Is the 7th in Spain better than the 7th in England? Probably not yes.

is the 15th in Spain better than the 15th in England? Almost definitely not yes.

FTFY. I accept it is my opinion, OK, but I think we can infer it pretty well from the results in European competitions, again, the only objective parameter for comparison between leagues.

[Gustavo Fringed Sleeves]

BTW, I already played my part for the magpies: I placed a bet on S*nderland today. With my luck, they should soundly lose