The Football Thread.

Lestratcaster · April 2023

TTony said:

Lestratcaster said:

I don't think we'll beat City or get a draw.

Spurs regularly beat the Mancs.

Change your shirts for that game

Never haha.

I'd rather just pray for someone to beat them (Everton or Chelsea or both)

sev112 · April 2023

West Ham still have to play City. We have a history of stopping Manchester teams win leagues

camf · April 2023

sev112 said:

West Ham still have to play City. We have a history of stopping Manchester teams win leagues

I'm the worst West Ham supporter on the planet - been only mildly supporting them steadfastly for well over 50 years - but I'd love it if they ended a disappointing season by ruining it for Man City.

guitars4you · April 2023

Well at least we avoided back to back 5-1 home defeats

Before the 2 big home defeats we had the best goal difference amongst the 9 clubs in the relegation battle, so blown that stat to pieces

The 9 horse race for relegation might be down to 5 runners now

TeleMaster · April 2023

Glad to see a strong West Ham following on the fretboard

guitars4you · April 2023

You do wonder what is a handball these days - Maguire yesterday and TAA today - Most had TAA down as a handball - Apart from the gob spitting thick Scouser who thought it might be debatable - It probably would not have changed the outcome of the came - But it was 0-0 at the time, after 30 mins and no shot on target so far for LFC

AustrianJohn · April 2023

guitars4you said:

You do wonder what is a handball these days - Maguire yesterday and TAA today - Most had TAA down as a handball - Apart from the gob spitting thick Scouser who thought it might be debatable - It probably would not have changed the outcome of the came - But it was 0-0 at the time, after 30 mins and no shot on target so far for LFC

For handball offences VAR just checks the club badge. ‘Big Club’ = no handball. If you’re a Brighton player, however, goals are disallowed and penalties are never awarded (e.g. against Spurs and Chelsea).

ennspek · April 2023

guitars4you said:

You do wonder what is a handball these days - Maguire yesterday and TAA today - Most had TAA down as a handball - Apart from the gob spitting thick Scouser who thought it might be debatable - It probably would not have changed the outcome of the came - But it was 0-0 at the time, after 30 mins and no shot on target so far for LFC

He's unbearable isn't he. Boggles the mind he's still ok a job.

I'm also an outlier as a Spurs supporter in as much as if we don't win something (which we don't) I don't really care who does.

TTony · April 2023

guitars4you said:

The 9 horse race for relegation might be down to 5 runners now

Southampton, Leicester, Forest, Leeds and Chelsea?

joneve · April 2023

TTony said:

guitars4you said:

The 9 horse race for relegation might be down to 5 runners now

Southampton, Leicester, Forest, Leeds and Chelsea?

I know you're kidding, but how hilarious would that be if Chelsea just stopped winning games and got dragged in.

Praying to all the religious deities that Forest find *something* and can pick up 6-9 points to give us a fighting chance of survival.

TTony · April 2023

joneve said:

I know you're kidding, but how hilarious would that be if Chelsea just stopped winning games and got dragged in.

Image: https://tfb-user-images.eu-central-1.linodeobjects.com/2d57c6adc024a7988ea7dee0a8fbb7ddce310311c3d2670bed

They're doing their best to stop winning, and scoring less than one goal a game so far this season isn't a great way to win games ...

joeyowen · April 2023

TTony said:

joneve said:

I know you're kidding, but how hilarious would that be if Chelsea just stopped winning games and got dragged in.

They're doing their best to stop winning, and scoring less than one goal a game so far this season isn't a great way to win games ...

They've still got to play City / Arsenal away, and Utd / Newcastle at home

Would be kinda funny...

RobDavies · April 2023

A friend of a friend has a tenner on Chelsea losing all their remaining games at 250/1. Three down….

Only thing is, they’ve got Brentford at The Bridge next week and our players have been on the beach for the last three games.

guitars4you · April 2023

Hey, I'm not a Chelsea fan and certainly not a fan of FFL - But Chelsea did play well last night - Apart from the fact they could not score - Is that more bad luck than judgement - But they created chances and that is more than 1/2 the battle - 19 shots to 6 is not a team who can't attack

Somewhat ironic they let Giroud go as 'no longer' really up for it - Yet doing a great job for AC Milan - So someone made an error of judgement on that call - I know he is not always prolific and the French WC winning team of 2018 showed that - But he is streets ahead of other options that Chelsea currently have available to them

It certainly appears, for now anyway, that Arsenal got the better end of the deal by not signing Mudryk

CHRISB50 · April 2023

Been a mixed week for me football wise.

Shame about Arsenal‘s performance at West Ham, but still in pole position, and it’s still in our hands.

Realistically I think we’ll cock it up as we have some shitty games on the run in, and we seem to be losing form, whereas City are flying.

I’d love to be proved wrong.

Dorking avoided relegation from the NL! Which is great. Think they’re going full time next year, so will be interesting to see what difference it makes.

Hopefully they can kick on and consolidate their league position next year.

Historically I think they’ve been promoted every other season, but can’t see them making it to the League proper this year.

Came back from 2-0 down to beat Altrincham 3-2 on Saturday. Then 0-0 last night against Gateshead.

Away at Harrow and Wealdstone this Saturday, then back to Meadowbank for the last match of the season against Scunthorpe, who are already relegated. Wonder how many fans will bother travelling.

rze99 · April 2023

playing out from the back WHEN YOU CAN'T DO IT WELL strikes again

GOAL! Sevilla 1-0 Manchester United (En-Nesyri 8); agg 3-2

United hit a bum note here all right. De Gea plays out to Maguire, who is swiftly surrounded by Lamela and En-Nesyri. The former blocks, the latter picks up the rebound, opens his body, and slots into the bottom left. Simple as that. What a calamitous error by both keeper and centre-back.

sev112 · April 2023

Now THAT’s a West Ham performance !

I said to Mrs sev112 at half time that :
a) the ref needed to make up for the wrong penalty handball decision at the end of the 1st Half (thanks ref cos that handball penalty in the 2nd half was a bit lucky for us)
b) I needed them to score 3 goals in 10 mins so I can go to bed

well - I’d didn’t expect that to happen

TeleMaster · April 2023

sev112 said:

Now THAT’s a West Ham performance !

I said to Mrs sev112 at half time that :
a) the ref needed to make up for the wrong penalty handball decision at the end of the 1st Half (thanks ref cos that handball penalty in the 2nd half was a bit lucky for us)
b) I needed them to score 3 goals in 10 mins so I can go to bed

well - I’d didn’t expect that to happen

Yea. Atmosphere was electric from the get go. The Gent fans all held their phone lights up when they scored that shit goal, so every time we scored it lit up like a Christmas tree. What a game!

TeleMaster · April 2023

And what about Dec's solo goal??? What a player he is.

axisus · April 2023

Well done West Ham, I hope they win the cup. Man U disappointingly sh*te over both legs, showing how poor they actually are. Some players need to ship out, and we need those Glazer turds out, they have leeched money out of the club and left it in a terrible state for their whole tenure. Worst ever owners in the prem, absolute ******* scumbags.

DrCornelius · April 2023

axisus said:

Well done West Ham, I hope they win the cup. Man U disappointingly sh*te over both legs, showing how poor they actually are. Some players need to ship out, and we need those Glazer turds out, they have leeched money out of the club and left it in a terrible state for their whole tenure. Worst ever owners in the prem, absolute ******* scumbags.

Don’t get me wrong , I can’t stand what the Glazers have done financially to your club - the model they’ve used to finance their purchase and pay themselves huge amounts of money shouldn’t be allowed. However your managers have been backed over their tenure with money for players , they just haven’t performed to the level of their price tag (Maguire cost £80 million !)

Sancho and Anthony are a couple of recent examples of that , they never seem to perform to their potential so it only needs a sub par performance from a couple of usually reliable players (Casimero and De Gea last night) and you are in trouble

menamestom · April 2023

DrCornelius said:

axisus said:

Well done West Ham, I hope they win the cup. Man U disappointingly sh*te over both legs, showing how poor they actually are. Some players need to ship out, and we need those Glazer turds out, they have leeched money out of the club and left it in a terrible state for their whole tenure. Worst ever owners in the prem, absolute ******* scumbags.

Don’t get me wrong , I can’t stand what the Glazers have done financially to your club - the model they’ve used to finance their purchase and pay themselves huge amounts of money shouldn’t be allowed. However your managers have been backed over their tenure with money for players , they just haven’t performed to the level of their price tag (Maguire cost £80 million !)

Sancho and Anthony are a couple of recent examples of that , they never seem to perform to their potential so it only needs a sub par performance from a couple of usually reliable players (Casimero and De Gea) last night) and you are in trouble

The problem is the board and recruiting team at Man United has been so poor. The management has been terrible for 10 years, all appointed by the Glazers. They have spent a lot of money, but it's not been very clever and all in desparation late in transfer windows. Their negotiating skills are a joke.

Anthony can be pretty good, he's only 23 and has scored some good goals. Never an 80million pound player but he's not the problem. Still crazy £150 million has been spent on him and Sancho.

The main issue for us is when the 2 decent centre halves don't play the defense is shambolic. I said to a few mates last week, all we are getting this year is the League cup and hopefully scraping 4th. Then next season hopefully new owners and a clear out at board level, the club need to modernise in structure, infrastructure and vision.

I feel a bit for Maguire, I don't like him being the longstanding joke, but he needs to not be a United player next season. His mere presence unsettles the whole team.

Teetonetal · April 2023

The issue with Man U does not lie with the Owners. They have bought players, spent big and backed managers. The real issue is that for years players arrive with good reputations and get worse. So the real problem is either with the recruitment or the coaching. The 2nd string players don't seem to be able to step up.

ETH needs to be given time - the team has looked good at times this season and I think for the first time some players have looked better, so with a few squad changes in the summer, I think they will be in good shape.

Boromedic · April 2023

Wonder if one of the issues at Man U, as Neville has mentioned previously is the shambolic state of the club behind the scenes including rusty and rundown facilities rubs off on the players mindsets? They arrive all well meaning and with a spring in their step and the environment brings them down when they realise the shit behind the curtain?

Anyway, we've secured the playoffs at least which didn't look at all likely pre Carrick, we're never going to get the Blades now so it's the lottery!! Don't fancy playing Luton, they're a bit of a bogey side for us, or at least they used to be in the plaggy pitch days

So I hope they get drawn in the other half and beaten. Great season for me, just hope we can top it off, but I won't be too disappointed if we don't as we're a great side to watch on our day and that's been a long time coming.

thecolourbox · April 2023

Well done Boro, you were in the same kind of position as us (West Brom) and turned it around much more spectacularly than we did, and (although not when you played us) it sounds like you've been interesting to watch which we have not been at any single point this season, and neither have 99% of our opponents either.

We have won a couple of matches again recently and somehow are still in contention for playoffs, though it would feel very unjust if we did make it in there. Results certainly went our way this week as well, Millwall look the most likely team to catch if we were to somehow make it. That would be the only saving grace, if we were to make it at their expense as they were by far the dirtiest team we've played this season, and their core of 4 or 5 players who constantly surround players or the ref when something doesn't go their way was so frustrating to watch. However there's a lot of other teams who could also still do what we are hoping to, including our opponents on Sunday, Sunderland (Sundayland?).

We still have loads of injuries, so we are back to the shite team we were bottom of the league with earlier in the season. We've got Phillips, Diangana, Dike, Chalobah, O'shea all out for the season, we've got Yokuslu out hopefully only short term, we've had Molumby, Palmer (only decent keeper at the club) and Bartley out injured and just returning to some fitness, likewise Grant but he's shit when he's fit let alone recovering from injury. Then of course we have Tom Rogic and Albrighton who aren't injured, just shit. Very threadbare squad so it's a minor success story that we've scored any points at all - though every goal has been scrappy and we've ridden our luck considerably.

Next season is going to be bleak. Assuming we don't go up, I think some kind of administration beckons to be honest. We have a core of average championship players largely through the middle (Keeper, one or two centre backs, two centre mids, and one striker who was league 2 earlier this year) but every other player in the squad basically isn't good enough but we won't be able to ship them out as nobody will want them, so they'll remain on their big wages eating up the high interest £20m loan we've had to take out to pay for our poor management over the last few years. I can't really imagine any of our better players being a target for any transfer fee paying club to be honest even, so I don't know where they are expecting any transfer money to come in. I'm sure this similar elsewhere in the league in fairness

axisus · April 2023

Boromedic said:

Anyway, we've secured the playoffs at least which didn't look at all likely pre Carrick, we're never going to get the Blades now so it's the lottery!! Don't fancy playing Luton, they're a bit of a bogey side for us, or at least they used to be in the plaggy pitch days So I hope they get drawn in the other half and beaten. Great season for me, just hope we can top it off, but I won't be too disappointed if we don't as we're a great side to watch on our day and that's been a long time coming.

As a Born & Bred Lutonian I am SOOOOOO happy that we are most likely back in the playoffs again! After all those dark years dropping out of the league I could just never imagine us being in this position again. I would LOVE to see us back in the top flight! Yes, we would get battered every week and I could just see the lowest ever Prem points total, but it would be magnificent!!!!! I'm even happy if we don't make it, just to see us at the top end of the Championship is brilliant!

guitars4you · April 2023

Spend spend spend as it will solve all your problems on the pitch - as if !!!!!!!!!!!

Think there is to much short term thinking by many club owners/boards - Few if any leave any legacy these days and certainly few develop any legacy - Managers come in wanting an open cheque book then moan/leave if it is not forth coming

Few, if any clubs make any actual money - Waiting for the next big TV rights as and when Face Book, Apple, tik tok etc decide to bid more than Sky etc - Certainly many 'rich/big' clubs see massive 'wastage' by buying the next super star then getting rid not to long after when it doesn't work out

Managers should be there to 'manage' the assets and develop a game plan that suits what is available to them and the club - You have to admire what Brighton, Fulham, Brentford have achieved this year - And indeed Arsenal for sticking with Arteta and allowing him to build a potentially trophy winning team

There is not a shortage of good players - There is a shortage of a vision and game plan that is longer than a few games

axisus · April 2023

DrCornelius said:

Don’t get me wrong , I can’t stand what the Glazers have done financially to your club - the model they’ve used to finance their purchase and pay themselves huge amounts of money shouldn’t be allowed. However your managers have been backed over their tenure with money for players , they just haven’t performed to the level of their price tag (Maguire cost £80 million !)

Wrong managers*, poor staff in general, bad recruitment brought players in that don't fit, haven't sorted the stadium or training ground. Ultimately that all lays at the owners feet.

* Lots of wrong managers, but I genuinely believe that Ten Hag is the right man going forward.

And on Maguire - he has to go, not just for Man U but also for himself. There's a good player still in there somewhere and he needs to find himself again with a new Prem club. I'd like to see him do well (elsewhere!).

TTony · April 2023

I really am grateful that ManU & Chelsea are having such dramas.

Takes some of the spotlight off the debacle at Spurs.

Boromedic · April 2023

thecolourbox said:

Well done Boro, you were in the same kind of position as us (West Brom) and turned it around much more spectacularly than we did, and (although not when you played us) it sounds like you've been interesting to watch which we have not been at any single point this season, and neither have 99% of our opponents either.

We have won a couple of matches again recently and somehow are still in contention for playoffs, though it would feel very unjust if we did make it in there. Results certainly went our way this week as well, Millwall look the most likely team to catch if we were to somehow make it. That would be the only saving grace, if we were to make it at their expense as they were by far the dirtiest team we've played this season, and their core of 4 or 5 players who constantly surround players or the ref when something doesn't go their way was so frustrating to watch. However there's a lot of other teams who could also still do what we are hoping to, including our opponents on Sunday, Sunderland (Sundayland?).

We still have loads of injuries, so we are back to the shite team we were bottom of the league with earlier in the season. We've got Phillips, Diangana, Dike, Chalobah, O'shea all out for the season, we've got Yokuslu out hopefully only short term, we've had Molumby, Palmer (only decent keeper at the club) and Bartley out injured and just returning to some fitness, likewise Grant but he's shit when he's fit let alone recovering from injury. Then of course we have Tom Rogic and Albrighton who aren't injured, just shit. Very threadbare squad so it's a minor success story that we've scored any points at all - though every goal has been scrappy and we've ridden our luck considerably.

Next season is going to be bleak. Assuming we don't go up, I think some kind of administration beckons to be honest. We have a core of average championship players largely through the middle (Keeper, one or two centre backs, two centre mids, and one striker who was league 2 earlier this year) but every other player in the squad basically isn't good enough but we won't be able to ship them out as nobody will want them, so they'll remain on their big wages eating up the high interest £20m loan we've had to take out to pay for our poor management over the last few years. I can't really imagine any of our better players being a target for any transfer fee paying club to be honest even, so I don't know where they are expecting any transfer money to come in. I'm sure this similar elsewhere in the league in fairness

Thanks mate, hope you guys will be okay and maybe sneak the playoffs! Got a lot of time for West Brom, similar in many ways to us.

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GOAL! Sevilla 1-0 Manchester United (En-Nesyri 8); agg 3-2

My head said brake, but my heart cried never.

My head said brake, but my heart cried never.