Football: winter break over

[polishgenius]

25 minutes ago, Raja said:

Didn't think it would happen!

 

 

ps refollow me on twitter (@craftyboxing) coz my old account got banninated.

[lmanion]

Honestly I would have preferred one of the young guys taking that place, Lovren is shite and won't learn anything from that game one of the guys would have at least been able to use it as a learning experience. Plus playing beside vvd would do them the world of good.

[Consigliere]

Or Matip could have played. He's better than Lovren and it is more important to get him back up to match fitness. Van den Berg is not ready to make the step up yet. 

[ljkeane]

30 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Or Matip could have played. He's better than Lovren and it is more important to get him back up to match fitness. Van den Berg is not ready to make the step up yet. 

Matip's better than Lovren and Lovren didn't have a particularly good game but it was hardly the decisive factor in the game. All the rest of the defence were at least as responsible for a goal or two. On top of that we basically created one half decent chance (the Robertson shot) in the entire game. It was just a very poor performance and Watford deserved the win.

[Consigliere]

13 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Matip's better than Lovren and Lovren didn't have a particularly good game but it was hardly the decisive factor in the game. All the rest of the defence were at least as responsible for a goal or two. On top of that we basically created one half decent chance (the Robertson shot) in the entire game. It was just a very poor performance and Watford deserved the win.

Not disputing that Watford were the better side or that Lovren wasn't much worse than any of the other defenders. Just a response to Imanion's post. I don't agree that one of the kids should have played especially when Matip is back. He's been out injured since October and hasn't had a game yet (think he might have come on for a couple of minutes against West Ham) so it is much more important for the remainder of the season to give your 3rd choice CB some minutes under his belt to regain match sharpness rather than chucking in one of the kids (who aren't ready to make the step up yet) for one game. 

[Philokles]

Mesut Özil suffers from racial discrimination inside the DFB. Thomas Müller says nothing.

Bayern agree a partnership with a human rights abusing petrostate. Thomas Müller says nothing.

Some Bayern fans put up a mildly offensive banner bruising a billionaire’s ego. Thomas Müller:

 

[Mark Antony]

At least Keita won’t be scapegoated 

[Iskaral Pust]

I just landed from a transatlantic flight to see that result.  It seems our post-break loss of form is now an entrenched tradition.  We could be out of the Cup and CL in the blink of an eye If we don’t make a big improvement.  The season is still a roaring success if we win the PL title, but it will feel a bit anti-climactic if we have nothing else to chase for the last 10 weeks.

Henderson, Milner, Gomez and Keita is a mini injury crisis, especially since Fabinho still looks far short of match sharpness after his own return. 

[Raja]

Honestly, never said a bad word about Deeney.

Everton v United should be tasty today

[A Horse Named Stranger]

11 hours ago, Consigliere said:

Not disputing that Watford were the better side or that Lovren wasn't much worse than any of the other defenders. Just a response to Imanion's post. I don't agree that one of the kids should have played especially when Matip is back. He's been out injured since October and hasn't had a game yet (think he might have come on for a couple of minutes against West Ham) so it is much more important for the remainder of the season to give your 3rd choice CB some minutes under his belt to regain match sharpness rather than chucking in one of the kids (who aren't ready to make the step up yet) for one game. 

Yep, and I only mentioned the kids because Ancalgon explicitly asked what it would take to sell Lovren.

And one of the kids needing to be ready to take the next step is obviously part of the answer.

Because Gomez/Matip are obviously higher up in the pecking order and better footballers. I am still not sold that Gomez is the better player as of right now, but he certainly has a higher ceiling than Matip (I know, I know I have said that a few times, just worth repeating now and then).

[Soylent Brown]

It's a real Battle of the Shit Goalkeepers today. Who will win!?

[Raja]

Come on United, we know there's a mistake in your team somewhere. Don''t let me down.

[Raja]

This ref is strange

[Rorshach]

I don't get that "interfering with play" on Sigurdsson there. 

He doesn't touch the ball. It's not aimed at him. He gets out of the way. And de Gea has already taken a jump to the right and wouldn't get close to the ball in any circumstanse. 

So .. by not touching the ball, not being passed to and not tricking the goalie he's interfering?

[Consigliere]

Saved by VAR. Not sure how Sigurdsson can be deemed to be interfering in play there. He wasn't obstructing the keeper either and the deflection had taken De Gea out of the game anyway. 

Based on the balance of play, a draw is probably a fair result. We were the better side in the first half only to be undone by yet another De Gea fuck up which has become a regular occurrence. Everton outplayed us in the second half. 

 

On Serie A: Atalanta have to be among the most entertaining sides in Europe, if not the most entertaining - never a dull game with them involved. Lazio are also good to watch - most in form team in Europe's top leagues. 

 

ETA. Just another quick word on our game. Chris Kavanagh had an absolute shocker. One of the worst refereeing performances of the season. Kavanagh is a horrible communicator who hides behind cards. He should be demoted or whatever the hell the FA do with refs who produce such an embarrassing display. 

[Rorshach]

Yeah, draw is fair. 

And agree on Kavanaugh - at least today. He was terrible throughout.

[Daemon the Leaner]

Real Madrid take a narrow lead in La Liga as they win El Clasico with two lucky but deserved goals. Barca created themselves the better chances in 1st half but disappeared in 2nd. You can see the dip in quality in the finishing since Suarez's injury. Great performance from Madrid midfielders anyway.

[Wilbur]

6 hours ago, Rorshach said:

I don't get that "interfering with play" on Sigurdsson there. 

He doesn't touch the ball. It's not aimed at him. He gets out of the way. And de Gea has already taken a jump to the right and wouldn't get close to the ball in any circumstanse. 

So .. by not touching the ball, not being passed to and not tricking the goalie he's interfering?

Baffling decision from the VAR.  Ancelotti was well within his rights to protest that decision.

[Consigliere]

Real Madrid totally outplayed Barca in the second half and were the better side for most of the first half as well. Barca's midfield really shit the bed - Arthur and De Jong were useless. Braithwaite looked more dangerous in his 20 odd minutes than Griezmann and Messi did for 80 minutes.

This game also showed why it was such a huge blunder from Zidane to leave out Kroos in the City game -  his range of passing and accuracy ensured that Real were able to better maintain possession and thus control the tempo of the game. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

On 2/29/2020 at 11:11 PM, Philokles said:

Mesut Özil suffers from racial discrimination inside the DFB. Thomas Müller says nothing.

Bayern agree a partnership with a human rights abusing petrostate. Thomas Müller says nothing.

Some Bayern fans put up a mildly offensive banner bruising a billionaire’s ego. Thomas Müller:

 

And Müller misses the point entirely. The protests over the WE had very little to do with Hopp himself.

Hoffenheim was a small village football club. That was until SAP cofounder Hopp decided to shower the club he played for as a kid in cash. He built the stadium and youth academy and thus gradually built an organization around the team other clubs with a longer and richer history could only dream of. The Hopp family (he and his sons) do not just throw cash at football clubs, they are also active in let's say less money blessed sports, like handball or ice hockey. That kinda his way to let the communities participate in his wealth (so his money goes into the local clubs, Mannheim in Handball and Icehockey). Funnily enough he toyed with the idea of investing his football cash into Waldhof Mannheim, who have more of a history. Personally, I am glad he did not go there, because their fan scene is not particularly pleasent, and they can rot in the lower leagues for all I care. And a small detail, which I should add in Hopp's defense. He is not playing sugar daddy like Abramovich used to do, and what the City owners do. He believes the club should be self-sustaining (so more in line with the Liverpool ownership).

Anyway, going back to Hopp and Hoppenheim, eh, Hoffenheim. Hopp and his club (intended or not) have become a symbol for the gentrification of football, or modern football. So on their way thru the leagues they were universally rejected. When they arrived in the Bundesliga 12 years ago (time really flies), they did unsurprisingly not receive a particularly warm welcome. Dortmund fans were arguably the most outspoken ones. So they started off with Hopp is the son of a whore chants right from the getgo. Hopp did not react particulary well to that, in one of the following seasons to avoid a repeat, they installed some noise machines that played an unpleasent whistle when the Dortmund fans wanted to get going again (something like that iirc). So that has been boiling and escalating for a bit.

Eventually the FA stepped in, and their arbitrary court ruled a suspended sentense, if they repeat that, Dortmund will have to play their away fixture at Hoffenheim without their fans. Change of FA leadership Grindel takes office. And the new leadership agrees that collective punishments are not the way to go. Bear in mind, there still was this suspended sentence pending in the background. Grindel had to resign in the aftermath of the Özil scandal. New FA chair is Keller, who is widely respected (he was the chairperson of Freiburg before he got elected as new FA chair). However the relationship between fans and FA has always been rocky, the (not) lifting the ban on pyro stuff (flares) is probably the most symbolic bone of contention, and security stuff in general. Now then, Dortmund's fans fully aware of the suspended sentence decided to pick that fight the FA and doubled down on their attacks on Hopp during their away game this season. Result, the suspended sentence became a real one. And now all this Hopp bashing from fan groups around the league is really more of fight between supporters and the FA with Hopp really just being the means to an end. So those anti-Hopp banners were present around the Bundesliga not just in Hoffenheim.

Now that's put the FA in particularly awkward position. They can either cave in and look weak, or stand their ground there. Which looks horrible from the outside. As in, they are putting their foot down over the bruised ego of a billionaire, while their response to xenophobia, homophobia and sexism has been rather weak. So this is really more of a fight between FA and Fans with Hopp caught in the middle of it.

The real kicker in this story however is, that fucking Red Bull Leipzig has replaced Hoffenheim as the most hated club and symbol of the gentrification of Football. After 12 years in the Bundesliga people have simply grown a bit more accustomed to it (arguably with the exception of Dortmund's supporters due to their personal history with Hoffenheim/Hopp). You can still view Hoffenheim as steaming pile of horseshit, but it just pales to the huge mountain of shit that is Leipzig. And Mateschitz undoubtedly deserves way more shit than Hopp does.