Football: Just Slaven Away

[Isalie]

Time for Inter to run out of luck though..

[Daemon the Leaner]

That City side is pretty disgusting.

If we don't grab the 3pts one way or another* on the Manchester derby, then the League is fucked.

*It allows a nose-goal by Fellaini at the 92'

[polishgenius]

Honestly, although City's side is filthy, given how they've played the last couple of games I'm a lot less unconfident right now than I was yesterday afternoon. Even without Pogba. We've got a pretty decent chance here.

[Consigliere]

Serie A looks to be the most interesting title race - if Roma win their game in hand that would make it two points separating the top 4. After some poor early season form, Bayern have opened up a six point gap at the top - hard to see them throwing that away. It doesn't look to be much of a title race in England - the battle for 2nd to 4th should go down to the wire though.

La Liga could become interesting. Unfortunately neither Valencia nor Real were able to take advantage of Barca dropping points this weekend. Valencia have a small squad and Marcelino's intense style of play could take its toll later in the season - no European football and a winter break should help them though. Real have been poor since the Spanish Super Cup but I don't think the eight point gap is insurmountable - this is still a world class outfit. Atleti were struggling to create earlier on in the season but Simeone seems to have sorted that out and Griezmann looks to be getting back to his best while they remain as tough as ever to break down. Also with both Costa and Vitolo joining in January, that should give them a big boost up front.

 

[Jordan La Cabra]

6 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Honestly, although City's side is filthy, given how they've played the last couple of games I'm a lot less unconfident right now than I was yesterday afternoon. Even without Pogba. We've got a pretty decent chance here.

Another Jesse Lingard madness needed. He’s slowly but surely becoming this era Man United’s version of Fletcher/Park.

[lmanion]

Im pretty neutral to city but hate united and think it would be fantastic if city broke the record at united. City are pretty awesome to watch but I do want there to be a battle for the league, just think they could get one more win for the record then slide back to the pack.

[Winterfell is Burning]

The Brazilian league ended today, and one year after the plane accident, Chapecoense managed to not only end in the same position of last year, in 8th place (which was their best ever in the league) by winning it's game against Coritiba by scoring a goal at the 94th minute, but they managed to earn two more points than last year (54 to 52).

As if it wasn't enough, that position was enough for the team to qualify to the Copa Libertadores (the South American Champions League equivalent) for the second time in a row (and in history) due to two teams that finished ahead of them already being qualified (one won the Libertadores this year, another the Brazilian cup). This is the first time in history that a team outside Brazil's most traditional clubs manages to qualify two times in a row.

Not only that, but they ended up being the best team in the second half of the league, with 32 points in 19 games, also the first time a team that doesn't rank Brazil's biggest clubs manages to do it.

[polishgenius]

On 28/11/2017 at 9:38 PM, Mexal said:

Those goals by Mahrez and Vardy were awesome. That's the Leicester we knew and loved.

I just caught up with the highlights from this. Leicester are scoring some blazing goals right now. If they keep the form they've had since Pouel came in up they're right in the Europa League fight and heck, even CL isn't out of the question, though that'll be an effort.


Great stuff about Chapecoense.

[Jordan La Cabra]

Does anyone remember a team finishing with 12 points in a Champions League group and missing out on qualification to the next stage? If things stay the way they are right now in Man United’s group, someone will miss out despite picking up 12 points. I can’t remember that ever happening. Considering Chelsea might end up winning their group with 11 points if everything stays as it is, that’s quite astonishing.

ETA: Scratch that. Doesn’t matter anymore.

[polishgenius]

Luke Shaw played well.

[Consigliere]

Comfortable game for us. It was disappointing to go into halftime 1-0 down (although we should have scored at least two in the 1st half) but I was not worried. CSKA aren't that good and didn't look capable of keeping a clean sheet. Rashford was very frustrating tonight. He does alot of good work - pace, movement, work rate - but his end product was woeful. Time and again he did all the hard work but let himself down with poor decision making or a poor pass.

 

ETA. very happy that Shaw got through 90 minutes and had a good game as well. Did alot of good attacking work and put in a decent defensive effort as well. Just needs a bit more game time to get back to full match fitness.

[Jordan La Cabra]

Chelsea really should have won the game tonight. A combination of poor finishing and some top drawer saves from Oblak was the deciding factor.

I’ve noticed that Morata is definitely better at shooting with his head than his feet. The less time he has to think about what he’s doing, the better his finishing is. But the positive is that he never gives up or shies away, even after missing sitters.

As I said before, he was the striker I always wanted Chelsea to sign, but my main worry was that he’d be a lot softer than Costa, but physically and mentally he’s a lot more robust than I expected. There’s actually quite a lot about him that’s like Costa: the positives things like being physically imposing, quick for his size, a decent dribbler and great at holding the ball up and linking up with players around him. He also shares a few of Costa’s less favourable traits, such as his tendency to go down easily and gurn at the ref over every single decision.

Anyway, I guess we can look forward to coming up against PSG for the fourth consecutive Champions League campaign!

[Daemon the Leaner]

41 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Comfortable game for us. It was disappointing to go into halftime 1-0 down (although we should have scored at least two in the 1st half) but I was not worried. CSKA aren't that good and didn't look capable of keeping a clean sheet. Rashford was very frustrating tonight. He does alot of good work - pace, movement, work rate - but his end product was woeful. Time and again he did all the hard work but let himself down with poor decision making or a poor pass.

 

ETA. very happy that Shaw got through 90 minutes and had a good game as well. Did alot of good attacking work and put in a decent defensive effort as well. Just needs a bit more game time to get back to full match fitness.

Have not a lot more to say. Our two strikers that were in lack of confidence scored, and we rested some key players ahead of saturday. Which makes me think: do you guys think that Shaw is able to have some game time in the sooner PL fixtures ?

[Consigliere]

7 minutes ago, Sandokan I Ironborn said:

Which makes me think: do you guys think that Shaw is able to have some game time in the sooner PL fixtures ?

He's done enough to earn himself a place in the matchday squad but I don't see him displacing Young just yet. Shaw is far better offensively than either Blind or Darmian so he might see some game time against either Bournemouth or West Brom but only if Mourinho chooses to rest Young for those games. I expect his next start will be in the league cup fixture against Bristol City. Shaw still needs to be eased in as he doesn't look fully match fit yet.

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, Consigliere said:

Rashford was very frustrating tonight. He does alot of good work - pace, movement, work rate - but his end product was woeful.

This can be a problem for Rashford. His all-round game is the best of all our strikers/forwards (though I've been impressed by Lukaku's increasing pressing game and workrate in recent games, compensating for his lack of off-the-shoulder runs and things), but his composure lets him down in the final bit, especially on the finishing but sometimes (like tonight) with the passes too. Like the opposite of Martial.


Young's playing well enough that there's no pressing need to rush Shaw, but he showed enough today that I hope he gets one more proper chance to stay fit and get a crack, because at the end of the day if he gets it together he's a better player than Young.

[Consigliere]

11 hours ago, polishgenius said:

compensating for his lack of off-the-shoulder runs and things

I've noticed that Lukaku has been better in this area over the past few games as well. The problem is that he is rarely ever picked out with an early pass. There were numerous occasions over the past few games where Lukaku makes a good run between the CBs, even pointing to where he wants the ball but none of Lingard, Valencia, Rashford, Martial, Mata or Herrera ever seem to bother to pick him out. It's only Pogba who looks to make that early pass. If we can bring in a top class #10, I think it would become more apparent that Lukaku's movement and runs are nowhere near as bad as it's sometimes made out to be.

[Jordan La Cabra]

2 hours ago, Consigliere said:

If we can bring in a top class #10, 

Would Mesut Özil top your wishlist for this role?

[Consigliere]

4 minutes ago, JordanJH1993 said:

Would Mesut Özil top your wishlist for this role?

Definitely. Özil on a free is an opportunity too good to pass up but I'm sure there would be other clubs interested as well. While Lingard's work rate and energy versus Mkhi's disappearing act has been a refreshing change, he simply does not possess the necessary skill and vision for a #10 - great squad player but should not be a starter for a club of United's stature. Despite Özil's perceived 'laziness' he still remains one of the top creators in Europe and Lukaku especially would benefit from having him in the team.

[Jordan La Cabra]

4 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Despite Özil's perceived 'laziness' he still remains one of the top creators in Europe and Lukaku especially would benefit from having him in the team.

Yes, I think the lazy tag often attributed to him is exaggerated and is actually a lazy opinion for someone to have who clearly hasn’t watched much of him. I admit, I once shared that view, but having paid him closer attention it’s an unfair tag. He often covers the most ground for Arsenal in games (whether that’s a good judgement of someone’s work rate is debatable, but shows he doesn’t just stand around looking for the ball).

Coming for free in the summer and already knowing the league, Man United couldn’t find a better no. 10 to sign. As you said, you would expect him to be in high demand, but I expected him to be in high demand when Real decided to let him go, but he ended up at an Arsenal side who were experiencing an eight year trophy drought. 

Also, I would guess Arsenal have a higher hope of getting him to extend than they do of Alexis.

[Mexal]

Yea, Ozil gets called lazy but he's anything but. The issue comes in his defensive work rate but he's improved that leaps and bounds recently. Arsenal is definitely a better team with him in there and I think he'd make United very good.

As for Ozil v Sanchez, I think they have a higher chance of signing Ozil though I think both probably leave. I don't see any way Sanchez comes back and honestly, I kind of hope we sell him in January even though I know we won't. His form this season has been hugely detrimental to the team.

On the plus side, Lacazette is awesome. Can't wait until we have a manager that suggests to his players to play Lacazette over the top. He's constantly making runs that no one ever sees.