Football: of great teams having an exceptional season and exceptional teams having a great season.

[Rorshach]

May I just chime in to say we looked good again today?

Even when replacing Gomes with Schneiderlin, we were moving the ball well, pressing as a team and creating chances. Sure, United weren't really there, but four goals is still good. 

For next season, I would like to see Silva cutting shorter the periods when we're out of form. The stretch from after Liverpool 1 to Liverpool 2 was generally horrible. Before and after, we look good. Reducing that period is what I'd like to see.

[Rorshach]

2 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

Yeah, Everton were great. One issue I think that needs to be addressed is up front though - there's an awful lot to like about DCL, and he's generally difficult to play against, but he really needs to score more.

 

He does. And he's acknowledged that as well. 

I don't know if he'll be able to improve his finishing enough, or his anticipation in the box, but I am a bit heartened seeing as he has improved both phases of his play from last season. If he can continue to improve, he may yet become a good striker.

[Consigliere]

55 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Tough to know for sure. And I think this is a rather bold claim.

Liverpool have not dropped that many points. Yes, they gave away a few draws. I mean, pointwise you are suggesting that with Fekir or Ox being healthy, Liverpool would be 100 points+ team (that's what being ahaead of City in the table actually means).

I mean this must be horribly depressing to watch for would be challengers for the next season(s). I vaguely recall you saying that City's 100 points last year was really them overperforming, and them not repeating it. Yet, it looks like this really is the new normal. To challenge City you need to produce a 100 point season (or at least be in that region, as Liverpool is showing this year).

Pointwise, how many EPL teams were actually better than Liverpool this year. City last year, and presumably City this year.

That's exactly what I'm claiming. A bit more creativity through the middle and Liverpool would have turned a couple of those draws into wins and it would have been a 100 point season for them. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

There's always a trade off. So for that extra bit of creativity, they might have lost some stability and lost somewhere else. Anyway, I still think it's tough to say that Fekir and Ox would have given them those needed extra points at the end of the season. Possible, but I wouldn't think it's a certainty.

[Dolorous Gabe]

On 4/19/2019 at 12:16 PM, ljkeane said:

Er, no. Deliberate handball is a foul, accidentally handling the ball isn’t.

On top of that, no, I don’t think the ball brushing off his arm made much difference to it’s trajectory. It bounced off his side into the goal, arm or not I think it’s likely doing the same thing.

The whole "deliberate" thing has seldom had any bearing on reality. Actual deliberate handball is a rare occurrence amongst handball decisions. A defending player accidentally handballing in a situation that prevents a goal or potential goalscoring opportunity is often penalised - I say rightly - and so should handball in the scoring of a goal, which I guess is why the clarification is coming in next season.

[baxus]

15 hours ago, Ser Glendon Fireball said:

Yup, you're totally deserving it, and it's even more irritating to see 'Pool fans moaning around here as if there was a drama going on. Sometimes I feel like you just don't realize in what kind of heaven of a season you are !

To be honest, at the beginning of the season I just wished for someone to challenge City for the title, to avoid the last season when they were 15+ points ahead of everyone else for most of the season.

It's great that Liverpool have managed to do that and the defensive improvement in their game is HUUUUGE! Still, if Liverpool and City manage to win all the remaining games and City edges out Liverpool by one point I won't care one bit that Liverpool have had their best PL season pointwise. I will still regret them coming so close to the title and missing out.

Still hoping for City's stumble and Liverpool winning it, of course.  

[Iskaral Pust]

Can Liverpool fans pick the United team for Wednesday?  It seems like OGS could use some help.

If they’re fit, and regardless of their contract situation, I’d probably choose:

DDG,

Dalot, Lindelof, Bailly, Shaw

Herrera, McTominay, Pogba, Fred

Lingard

Rashford

Matic looks far too slow and unfit.  Young and Jones are liabilities.  Lukaku is deep in one of his doldrums.  Martial can’t be arsed but maybe can come off the bench when Rashford is exhausted.  I would possibly put Sanchez in the #10 spot (move Lingard to RMF, move Herrera to LMF and drop Fred).  It would be a weird formation where FBs can counter-attack but their “wide” MF would stay back to cover and would generally defend the inside channel and watch for a wide City winger making a late run inside to the back post.

[ljkeane]

I’d probably go with that defence plus McTominey, who at least looks arsed, but I don’t hold out much hope of a solid defensive performance against City.

On the plus side with Fernandinho perhaps not fully fit City did look fairly vulnerable on the break against Spurs. I might go with something aggressive like playing 4-2-3-1 with Pogba as one of the two in midfield and hope he decides to have one of his good games.

[Heartofice]

2 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Can Liverpool fans pick the United team for Wednesday?  It seems like OGS could use some help.

If they’re fit, and regardless of their contract situation, I’d probably choose:

DDG,

Dalot, Lindelof, Bailly, Shaw

Herrera, McTominay, Pogba, Fred

Lingard

Rashford

Matic looks far too slow and unfit.  Young and Jones are liabilities.  Lukaku is deep in one of his doldrums.  Martial can’t be arsed but maybe can come off the bench when Rashford is exhausted.  I would possibly put Sanchez in the #10 spot (move Lingard to RMF, move Herrera to LMF and drop Fred).  It would be a weird formation where FBs can counter-attack but their “wide” MF would stay back to cover and would generally defend the inside channel and watch for a wide City winger making a late run inside to the back post.

A 4411 did a bit better defensively for Poch in the CL and it could potentially work against City for Utd. However City have such strength all over the park you can either go 4411 to defend the flanks, but then you concede the centre, or go with something more narrow but then you get battered by Sterling. 

 I think OGS has actually been quite good with his tactical choices so far, hes simply been let down by a number of players simply losing interest and not doing their jobs. 

I do like the idea of a pacey 2 up front against City, Son and Lucas did well. But playing so many players out of position in the way you've lined there would scare the hell out of me if I was a Utd fan. 

[Iskaral Pust]

16 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

A 4411 did a bit better defensively for Poch in the CL and it could potentially work against City for Utd. However City have such strength all over the park you can either go 4411 to defend the flanks, but then you concede the centre, or go with something more narrow but then you get battered by Sterling. 

 I think OGS has actually been quite good with his tactical choices so far, hes simply been let down by a number of players simply losing interest and not doing their jobs. 

I do like the idea of a pacey 2 up front against City, Son and Lucas did well. But playing so many players out of position in the way you've lined there would scare the hell out of me if I was a Utd fan. 

No offense, and not taking a cheap shot, but I think it's the big picture that should be scaring the hell out of Utd fans right now.  For this particular game the expectations are so low that it's like having a free hit.

I'd keep the MF quite narrow so that the "wide" MFs wouldn't really be out of position.  For me, the "wide" MFs are there to shield against wingers cutting inside to shoot (the FB covers the run outside to the end line) or to cover against the opposite winger drifting in late to the back post.  Plus they clog up the inside channel to block a passing lane to Aguero.  They definitely don't offer width.  The FBs offer width when Utd have the ball, and Rashford and Lingard make runs into wide areas behind City's FBs.

22 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

I'd play Rashford and Lukaku up front, but have them keeping quite wide and looking to run onto balls played into the channels. Rashford on the left and Lukaku on the right.

Have Lingard playing at the tip of a midfield diamond and making runs to support them when he can, with Pogba, Herrera and McTominay/Fred in the other slots (I'm not sold on McTominay yet).

Agree with Dalot, Lindelof and Shaw, but I think Bailly is shit and would be a nailed on penalty if he were to play. Smalling would be the lesser evil of the remaining choices, as he's less likely to thud into something at full speed and injure himself.

That made me snort with laughter.  I was torn between Smalling and Bailly.  I do think there is a potentially very good player in Bailly, especially if he has a calmer partner.  And he compensates for Lindelof's lack of pace.  Smalling has a steady enough head but he and Lindelof combined seem a bit slow and stodgy for the movement of City.

[Philokles]

Typical end of season drop of for Bielsa has cost Leeds promotion. Two losses for them over Easter, especially against 10 man Wigan, have all but sealed the deal for Norwich and Sheffield United. Some nice playoffs as it stands - a Birmingham-ish derby between Villa and West Brom and a Spygate rematch between Leeds and Derby.

[Mark Antony]

No one wants top four anymore 

 

yeah burnley easily have more of a chance of shithousing their was to a result at turf moor vs City than United getting anything at Old Trafford. They are such bastards 

[Consigliere]

1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

That made me snort with laughter.  I was torn between Smalling and Bailly.  I do think there is a potentially very good player in Bailly, especially if he has a calmer partner.  And he compensates for Lindelof's lack of pace.  Smalling has a steady enough head but he and Lindelof combined seem a bit slow and stodgy for the movement of City.

Couple problems with Bailly. He's rash and tends to dive into tackles but he's also a confidence player who gets better given a run of games (he performed very well in the 2016/2017 season) which brings me to the other issue. He's been rather injury prone these past two seasons and thus never got a chance at run of games. Given he is a confidence player who hasn't played much, I think it's too big a risk to play him against City.

I might consider trying a 3-4-2-1.

 

                        De Gea

        Lindelof - Smalling - Darmian/Jones

   Dalot - Herrera/Fred - McTominay - Shaw

                 Lingard - Pogba

                      Rashford

 

In defence, Dalot and Shaw can drop back to form a back 5. In possession, they will need to get forward to supply the width. In possession, Lingard can push up into his favoured secondary striker position in support of Rashford. In defence, he drops deeper so we can crowd the centre with 4 players.

[Jeor]

6 hours ago, Mark Antony said:

No one wants top four anymore

I don't know whether I should feel relieved, or even more aggrieved as an Arsenal fan that we couldn't get the jump on the other three teams. To only have one point out of the four teams duking it out for the CL places is an abysmal record and if any of those teams could have won they would have been in the driving seat. Arsenal had a good home record too, so we should have really taken control of the race.

That being said, the Manchesters still play each other plus Chelsea play United, so there are bound to be more points dropped. Arsenal theoretically have the best run in and should be able to wrap things up, but there are a number of away games (and our away record is poor) plus some tricky teams like Wolves that shouldn't be underestimated. I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down to the wire.

[BigFatCoward]

Cant wait see how Shane Long managed to score quickest ever premier league goal (8 seconds) despite not even having the kick off. 

[ljkeane]

It’s on the Sky Sports score app if you’ve got it.

Basically Watford pass the ball back to their centreback who tries to lump it upfield and manages to kick it into Long. Long collects the rebound and finishes quite well.

That’s a future pub quiz question though. I don’t think Shane Long will be the first to come to mind for many people as the scorer of the quickest goal in Premier League history.

[Philokles]

As the ball almost always goes backwards from kick off I expect most of the sub 15 second goals will come from the opposition’s kick off. There’s not enough time to put a move together to score that quickly, just nick it straight off a defender and shoot immediately.

[Philokles]

Kompany is such a liability these days. Sad to see.

[Mark Antony]

Manchester derby has been pretty good. Shame I can’t enjoy. 

Fuck are Arsenal doing 

[Philokles]

Palace at home and Wolves away are as hard as it gets outside the top 6, but that is abject with the Champions League in their hands.