polishgenius Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 Norway have Odegaard, Scotland have McTominay. There was only ever going to be one winner in that contest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 On 10/12/2023 at 7:08 PM, BigFatCoward said: What on earth are you on about? From the end of their last league title to Klopp taking over they won and lost a champions league final, won a uefa cup final and won multiple fa and league cups. They were also perennial top 4 contenders, going close to winning the league a few times. And their lowest finish was 8th. I think you don't understand what a laughing stock is, or what a lack of success looks like for most (proper) fans, which I suppose is the point. They were hugely succesful compared to every other English club, just less than Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal, and lately City. Yeah, it's either I don't know what a laughing stock is or you are forgetting all the "haven't won a title for 30 years" crap that has been thrown Liverpool fans way until Klopp finally ended that one. Also, in the late '80s and early '90s standards for Liverpool have been way above the rest of English football so all that trophies you mention haven't been seen as success (other than Champions League, obviously) and it was always about not winning the title. And no, Liverpool were definitely not also a "perennial top 4 contenders", having ended up below 4th 7 times between 04/05 and 15/16 (Klopp's first incomplete season), being 5th only once (6th, 7th and 8th twice each). It's the same as with United in the last 10 years. They've also won Europa league, FA and League cup, and have ended in top in 5 seasons out of last 10, since Fergie retired. Guess what? They are a laughing stock. This notion that your club needs to not win anything ever or you're not a "proper fan" is plain stupid, but you are entitled to your opinion as stupid as it may be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 (edited) 13 hours ago, lacuna said: Østigård does well for Napoli, Ryerson for Dortmund, Ajer for Brentford, Berge for Burnley, Aursnes for Benfica, Bobb for Man City, Sørloth in La Liga... Not superstars, but they hold their own. Just can't get things to gel, it seems. I'd be shocked if Nusa stays at Brugge for long, too. Really exciting player. Nusa is a lot of fun. Would love him over at Arsenal. Edited October 16, 2023 by Mexal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 1 hour ago, baxus said: This notion that your club needs to not win anything ever or you're not a "proper fan" is plain stupid, but you are entitled to your opinion as stupid as it may be. Never said this. I said you aren't a proper fan if you only support someone because they are succesful and you have no actual links to the club. Not the same at all. If you are a born and bread city fan for example who put up with years of shite, good for you. Rest of your argument is preposterous, over a 30 year period they were the 4th or 5th most succesful club depending how you slice it. And miles ahead of the next most successful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 One of my all time favourite Arsenal players. Love this guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryk Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 On 10/12/2023 at 7:34 PM, Consigliere said: As an aside: English football has been massively popular in South Africa for a very long time Since the earlier 20th century at the least. My grandfather supported Arsenal since the 1930s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 31 minutes ago, Darryk said: Since the earlier 20th century at the least. My grandfather supported Arsenal since the 1930s. When they won 5 league titles and 2 FA cups? Glory hunter. ljkeane, Spockydog, baxus and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 please can we get a midfielder with this kind of skill in the team pretty please Erik. (all hope lies in Mainoo) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 39 minutes ago, polishgenius said: please can we get a midfielder with this kind of skill in the team pretty please Erik. (all hope lies in Mainoo) What would he cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 (edited) 39 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said: What would he cost? A Scholes? Hard to say coz which team with a fully-fledged Scholes on their hand is gonna let him go for any amount of money? Like what would you accept for Bruno G? But I'd accept a younger player with at least something of that, with the potential to maybe get there someday. Edited October 16, 2023 by polishgenius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted October 17, 2023 Share Posted October 17, 2023 Re: Norway, biggest problem isn't that we don't have good attacking players at this time, it's that we're shit at the back. Østigård is ok at CB and Ryerson is decent at RB. Our second CB is shit by every international metric, our LB is quite average and our keeper is at best mediocre. We lost to Scotland owing to them being terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacuna Posted October 17, 2023 Share Posted October 17, 2023 Too true, but I feel like teams like Portugal and especially Croatia have done much, much more with a similar outset in recent history. People say that Belgium wasted their golden generation - but hell, at least they managed to qualify for stuff, so what do we call this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted October 17, 2023 Author Share Posted October 17, 2023 Sorry, but it's not similar. Portugal's "lost" generation around Luis Figo had a better team. Belgian's golden generation was also a much better team. Norway has like 4-5 really good players, with Odegaard and Haalend being genuine World Class on their days. You can do a mental experiment and compare those Portugese and Belgian teams with your current Norwegian one. Then you can shuffle around ask yourself, which Norwegian would break into their Starting XI, and vice versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacuna Posted October 17, 2023 Share Posted October 17, 2023 36 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Sorry, but it's not similar. Portugal's "lost" generation around Luis Figo had a better team. Belgian's golden generation was also a much better team. Norway has like 4-5 really good players, with Odegaard and Haalend being genuine World Class on their days. You can do a mental experiment and compare those Portugese and Belgian teams with your current Norwegian one. Then you can shuffle around ask yourself, which Norwegian would break into their Starting XI, and vice versa. It's been 23 years since we last played in a WC/EC. All I'm saying is that we should at least be able to qualify for something at some point. That shouldn't be out of reach for this squad, in this group, though Spain should definitely win the group on average. I mentioned Portugal thinking specifically of their recent EC winning side, with some high level stars and solid-but-not Earth-shattering players elsewhere. Not even arguing that our players are better, just that it should be enough to qualify. Croatia took third and second place in the last two WCs, which many would call "punching above one's weight". So why are they very, very good, while we are utter, utter shit? Again, not saying we're better, just... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sunland Lord Posted October 17, 2023 Share Posted October 17, 2023 12 minutes ago, lacuna said: It's been 23 years since we last played in a WC/EC. All I'm saying is that we should at least be able to qualify for something at some point. That shouldn't be out of reach for this squad, in this group, though Spain should definitely win the group on average. I mentioned Portugal thinking specifically of their recent EC winning side, with some high level stars and solid-but-not Earth-shattering players elsewhere. Not even arguing that our players are better, just that it should be enough to qualify. Croatia took third and second place in the last two WCs, which many would call "punching above one's weight". So why are they very, very good, while we are utter, utter shit? Again, not saying we're better, just... I know almost nothing about Norway, but this Croatia national team was always carried by their midfield. Having prime Modric, Rakitic, Kovacic and Brozovic all on your team is a luxury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted October 17, 2023 Share Posted October 17, 2023 13 minutes ago, lacuna said: Croatia took third and second place in the last two WCs, which many would call "punching above one's weight". So why are they very, very good, while we are utter, utter shit? Luka Modric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted October 18, 2023 Author Share Posted October 18, 2023 6 hours ago, lacuna said: Croatia took third and second place in the last two WCs, which many would call "punching above one's weight". So why are they very, very good, while we are utter, utter shit? Again, not saying we're better, just... You are underestimating the actual individual talent there. Modric, Rakitic, Kovacic, Mandzukic. That is more than solid, that's a pretty good core. If you had either Rakitic or Modric to play alongside Odegaard, that would make your team much better instantly. Talking about lost generations, it'd be tragic and hillarious, if this England team fails to win a trophy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacuna Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 3 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: You are underestimating the actual individual talent there. And you're not getting what I'm saying. We're not as good as Croatia of the last decade, currently or ever. The proof is in the pudding. What I'm saying is, I don't even care if we progress from a tournament group stage at this point, much less go deep - just *qualify*. Is that so much to ask? Have a couple of games where we're not teeter-tottering against on paper much weaker teams, and maybe even cause some problems for decidedly stronger ones, you know? Like, ever? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 (edited) Uruguay beat Brazil 2-0. Nunez scored and Brazil had zero shots on goal. That world cup group is tight though! Brazil also had their best goalkeeper sitting on the bench. Good for us though. Edited October 18, 2023 by AncalagonTheBlack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 I think for Norway, mentality is a big block too. We've tried a lot of different football over quite a period of time, and we've been consistently bad. Now, we're struggling to come to grips with a new playing style again. I tend to think we could be better, but it would require us to start bedding in Nusa and Bobb consistently, drop Berg for Berge and never, ever select Strandberg again. Getting another keeper would be a bonus too. With that, I think we can qualify (with a bit of luck), but it's by no means guaranteed. lacuna 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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