Other Sports: Soccer/Football Thread Part Six

[CanadianFlyer88]

Pele died today.

 

[trostol]

RIP Pele

 

[Jack Straw]

Nobody deserves the title of "legend" more than Pele. RIP to the King.

 

[Starat327]

Damn Diaz is a tough loss. Really like him.

That’s not a bad scoring rate at all for Nunez. Haven’t watch a ton of Liverpool but I wonder if that petulant red card early on sits in peoples minds. Wasn’t it his first game? Also remember him missing some sitters but again, was early in season.

Settling into a new country always takes time as well. I do like his passion and style of play. Your bookmark is noted and for some reason, I’ll be in a closet rooting for him

He missed a truckload of sitters again this week. It wasn't a one time occurrence. You can call out a perfectly fine scoring rate while also calling out that he could probably halve it if he would put away all the basic chances he wastes.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

Arsenal's actually going to win the PL, aren't they?

 

[BigToe]

Arsenal's actually going to win the PL, aren't they?

The score doesn’t show how well Brighton have played. They look good.

 

[ellja3]

I saw some Slovak source a couple days ago re: how UEFA and Russia is working together on solution of bringing them back into their competitions. They can work all they want, but which European country [Belarus & Serbia aside] is going to sign up for that!?

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

That's a brutal VAR overturn for Brighton.

 

[Halladay]

Arsenal's actually going to win the PL, aren't they?

If they are leading the league after their annual February and March swoon Ill believe it. City overcame a 7 point deficit at this time against a better Liverpool team 4 years ago. That City team might have been better than this one but they didnt have Haaland.

 

[Jack Straw]

All of a sudden drawing 2-2 with Brentford doesn't seem so bad.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

After a brutal run of form, Brentford has now won at Man City, drew at home with Spurs, won at West Ham, and won at home vs Liverpool in probably their toughest 4 game stretch of the season.

 

[trostol]

Liverpool have a bad mix of players on the team..some aging..some not so good coupled with the fact that Klopp doesn't seem to change up tactics when things aren't working

 

[Jack Straw]

After a brutal run of form, Brentford has now won at Man City, drew at home with Spurs, won at West Ham, and won at home vs Liverpool in probably their toughest 4 game stretch of the season.

They're fun to watch too. Unlike say, Spurs.

 

[TCTC]

Liverpool have a bad mix of players on the team..some aging..some not so good coupled with the fact that Klopp doesn't seem to change up tactics when things aren't working

Will be an interesting battle for the 4th spot. For now Manchester United are in the driver seat again.

 

[Jack Straw]

Top of the table battle tomorrow between Arsenal and Newcastle. Who had that on their EPL bingo card?

 

[TCTC]

Top of the table battle tomorrow between Arsenal and Newcastle. Who had that on their EPL bingo card?

Crazy season, for sure. Should be a good match. Newcastle are really good.

 

[Jack Straw]

Crazy season, for sure. Should be a good match. Newcastle are really good.

Amazing turnaround considering they were looking at relagation a year ago.

 

[TCTC]

Amazing turnaround considering they were looking at relagation a year ago.

Obviously they have the resources now, but I doubt many people expected them to challenge for a top 4 spot this year. Eddie Howe has done a fantastic job. Even Almiron looks like a real player now lol.

 

[Fire Tortorella]

They're fun to watch too. Unlike say, Spurs.

What are your thoughts on backing Conte/his contract situation?

Getting pretty annoyed about his comments on lack of spending given how much we spent on his targets this summer. It would be one thing if we were struggling against "top" teams but it's all ringing pretty hollow at this point.

This is probably easy for me to say given that Spurs are at best third on my totem pole of sports fandom, but with how spending and success generally go hand in hand, I don't see a viable way for Tottenham to routinely challenge for more than 3rd/4th without going the "develop young players" route that we did under Poch and like Arsenal are doing now.

 

[Jack Straw]

What are your thoughts on backing Conte/his contract situation?

Getting pretty annoyed about his comments on lack of spending given how much we spent on his targets this summer. It would be one thing if we were struggling against "top" teams but it's all ringing pretty hollow at this point.

This is probably easy for me to say given that Spurs are at best third on my totem pole of sports fandom, but with how spending and success generally go hand in hand, I don't see a viable way for Tottenham to routinely challenge for more than 3rd/4th without going the "develop young players" route that we did under Poch and like Arsenal are doing now.

Yeah, I think at this point he can't complain about spending or the need to bring in more talent. Losing to the "other" top teams is one thing, losing 0-2 to Villa, at home, is something else. Even missing some key players they have to do better than that. I suspect that they will get it going and I think there is still a good chance they finish top 4, but I agree- better than that is probably going to require a commitment to rebuild. And I don't think Conte is the man for that.

 

[Fire Tortorella]

Yeah, I think at this point he can't complain about spending or the need to bring in more talent. Losing to the "other" top teams is one thing, losing 0-2 to Villa, at home, is something else. Even missing some key players they have to do better than that. I suspect that they will get it going and I think there is still a good chance they finish top 4, but I agree- better than that is probably going to require a commitment to rebuild. And I don't think Conte is the man for that.

Agreed, and then it's time to make some difficult decisions on Kane and Son (assuming Kane even wants to stay) and some conversations on why no academy products have been able to break into the team or be used to fund other transfers in years.

 

[Jack Straw]

Agreed, and then it's time to make some difficult decisions on Kane and Son (assuming Kane even wants to stay) and some conversations on why no academy products have been able to break into the team or be used to fund other transfers in years.

If Conte isn't back then it wouldn't surprise me if Kane leaves. City is out now but maybe Man U? I'm not familiar with the academy prospects but they do have some decent young (under 25) talent on the squad now. I would really like to see more of Bryan Gil, even if it looks like a strong gust of wind would blow him all the way across the pitch. Only 21 and he clearly has talent. Probably would be time to move on from the Dier/Davies era too.

 

[TCTC]

If Conte isn't back then it wouldn't surprise me if Kane leaves. City is out now but maybe Man U? I'm not familiar with the academy prospects but they do have some decent young (under 25) talent on the squad now. I would really like to see more of Bryan Gil, even if it looks like a strong gust of wind would blow him all the way across the pitch. Only 21 and he clearly has talent. Probably would be time to move on from the Dier/Davies era too.

Kane and Bayern seems like the perfect match. They need a striker, he wants to win trophies and play in the Champions League.

 

[Jack Straw]

Kane and Bayern seems like the perfect match. They need a striker, he wants to win trophies and play in the Champions League.

Yeah, that would make a lot of sense if he wants to leave England.

 

[Halladay]

Liverpool have a bad mix of players on the team..some aging..some not so good coupled with the fact that Klopp doesn't seem to change up tactics when things aren't working

This is just terrible to watch. Might just turn out to be a regroup year where they finish 5th or 6th. A few young players coming in.