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Football: Mo Please!


AncalagonTheBlack

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I was trying to think of the players Southampton sold just in recent seasons:

Lallana, Lovren, Mane, Lambert, Clyne, VVD, Shaw, Schneiderlin, Rodriguez, Wanyama, Alderweireld (technically a loan), Pelle, Fonte, Chambers.  

That’s a high quality team plus a reasonably deep bench. 

On top of that, their managers degraded steadily from Pochettino to Koeman (still did quite well) to Puel (parked the bus in most games, but better at Leicester) to Pellegrino (looked at sea with a bad squad) to Hughes (capitulation).

It’s not as simple as that because top players will be tempted by bigger teams.  That happens to Liverpool too.  And several players went to Southampton as a stepping stone.  But the club was scoring far above average with their player recruitment and with Pochettino.  But it’s really hard to rely on scoring above average for a prolonged period.  They started believing their own myth.  They thought it was more skill than luck (which kills people in investments too).  They should have slowed the turnover of players and managers to reduce the number of holes to fill each season. 

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Nice for Huddersfield to snatch a late win today.  I’d like them to stay up based on how they played earlier this season with such a limited budget and squad.  But they have by far the hardest schedule remaining and they have really struggled to score.  They need Southampton and Stoke to fade away against some beatable opposition. 

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35 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Memphis Depay has scored or assisted every one of Lyon's last nine goals, including the one so far today. He's had a good season for them anyway but he's caught fire since they moved him to a central position.

And he’s just scored Lyons 2nd. Fully expect Martial to light it up as well wherever he ends up if you guys let him go. 

Stong start for Liverpool. Salah could’ve had one or two. My expectations of him have grown too high :wacko:

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I think Huddersfield might just be okay. They now have a 7 point gap to Southampton and the way the Saints are playing, it's hard to see them make up that gap. Brighton's loss to Palace was damaging and they are more vulnerable than Huddersfield because their run in is even more difficult - Spurs, Burnley, United, City and Liverpool. Chances are good that they are not picking up another point this season.

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Liverpool looked very tired in the last ten minutes but Bobby closed it out nicely after conspiring to miss an easier chance five minutes ago. 

Edit to mention: Ox does really well for us when the game gets stretched late on. 

40 goals in 45 appearances for Liverpool by Salah.  When Rush got 47 goals it was in 65 appearances.  And our front three all scored again. And another clean sheet, despite Bournemouth pouring forward for the last 15 minutes when Liverpool looked exhausted. 

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8 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

Trent, Ox and Hendo all really good today. I like Bournemouth and I like Eddie Howe, but they play far too open against us to get anything.

Nathan Ake always looks good against us too; I wouldn't mind seeing us go after him during the summer.

They sat very deep against us for most of the game.  They were 1-0 down from very early and stayed deep until around 75 minutes.  They weren’t naive and open, but we’ve had lots of practice at finding that first goal against a deep team and then picking them off whenever they do come out.  

Ake is a very good player but he does seem to save his best for us.  I think his style works well against ball-playing attackers.  I haven’t seen how well he would do against counter-attacks or long balls that Liverpool’s defense tends to face. 

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Good start by City.  It looked like it shouldn’t be a penalty — just outside the box — but why didn’t Jesus finish it first time on his left foot instead of turning inside?

I’m sure dirty Spurs will be clogging away for the rest of the game. 

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Bloody hell how’s Sterling not scored there.

Ok, now he has.

Not a great second half from City again but it looks like they’re going to pull off the win this time. 4 losses on the bounce would have posed some real questions.

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Well done City.  I’m surprised Spurs couldn’t score another with Fernandinho absent. 

Sterling’s goal contribution to this title win has been really significant, especially some of the late winners early in the season.  He has developed his anticipation and timing to become a decent poacher close to goal, while still offering his usual contribution as a wide forward.  But the amount of easy chances he fluffs is still incredible.  I guess the positive is that he could take his goals tally even higher next season.

To be fair, Mo Salah missed plenty of good chances too this year, especially early in the season.  And Suarez did the same in his first season and a half for Liverpool.  

Sometimes it’s more important that you’re getting plenty of chances to miss.  It’s easier to improve your finishing than to improve your rate of getting chances. 

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4 hours ago, Consigliere said:

I think Huddersfield might just be okay. They now have a 7 point gap to Southampton and the way the Saints are playing, it's hard to see them make up that gap. Brighton's loss to Palace was damaging and they are more vulnerable than Huddersfield because their run in is even more difficult - Spurs, Burnley, United, City and Liverpool. Chances are good that they are not picking up another point this season.

That's brutal. I guess they can hope that United, City and Liverpool will have nothing to play for by the time they face them, not that that's likely to change the outcome.

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Milan vs Napoli
Derby della Capitale
Revierderby
PSG vs Monaco
O Classico
PSV vs Ajax
Old Firm Derby
Galatasaray vs Basaksehir

All today, all can decide or practically decide titles and champions league places.

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