2017/18 Soccer Thread

Can't say that wasn't the expected result.

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Arsenal are what you get if you have too many passengers and no captains.

Slightly distracting to hear Gary Neville spending all of his time slaughtering Arsenal...then I realised that it was in order to prevent the rat-faced one having to praise City.

Still, look at it this way, Neville. No matter how sh*t Arsenal were, at least they made it to the final. Unlike some other club. Who lost to Bristol City.

Kompany's elation when scoring the second goal gave me goosebumps for sure.

I've never heard anyone, whoever they follow, say a bad word about Big Vince. One of the trio in the after match pundit booth (Bellamy, Redknapp the Younger and Henry) said that his face looked like he was scoring his first ever goal.

Nice to see Foden come on as well, and Baby Jesus.

Bet Aubamayang's pleased with his choice of club now - disappearing on the big day, he'll be right at home with Ozil, Wilshere et al, as well as the Arsenal support, who were largely out of the stadium for their long trip home not long after City's 3rd.

davet010 wrote:

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Arsenal are what you get if you have too many passengers and no captains.

Slightly distracting to hear Gary Neville spending all of his time slaughtering Arsenal...then I realised that it was in order to prevent the rat-faced one having to praise City.

Still, look at it this way, Neville. No matter how sh*t Arsenal were, at least they made it to the final. Unlike some other club. Who lost to Bristol City.

I can't take either Neville criticizing Managers any more since their stirling displays attempting it themselves.

Well, we'll soon see Phil Neville attempting to manage the England Ladies team - I would say 'coach', but I think that would be inaccurate.

Arsene Wenger also had a go at 'media personalities'. Pep Guardiola isn't a big fan either - "I don't pick squads to please Gary Neville".

Oh dear oh dear.

With their game against Espanyol standing 0-0 with 90 mins gone, Real Madrid decide to put Sergio Ramos up as an extra striker.

You can guess what happens next.

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If they don't win the CL, Zidane is gone.

That is excellent news; I loathe Ramos. Absolute unsporting heel of a dirty player.

"Caan weeee plaaay yoouu every weeeek?"

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58,000 ? Yeah, sure.

Arsenal should genuinely consider not playing City again for at least a year or two.

I'm neutral, but I converted to the Wenger out camp during the League Cup Final, as I discussed with the Arsenal fan in my office earlier this week (before the same-score rematch).

I've come around to WengerOut but I still think the post-Wenger years are going to go really badly. Replacing a talisman who has his fingers in everything at the club, even if he's clearly past it, isn't easy.

Roke wrote:

I've come around to WengerOut but I still think the post-Wenger years are going to go really badly. Replacing a talisman who has his fingers in everything at the club, even if he's clearly past it, isn't easy.

I am #WengerOut too, and I completely agree. The immediate aftermath of losing Wenger at Arsenal will probably be like the Moyes era at ManU, it's going to be pretty, pretty bad for a while, before it turns back around. But I think they have to do something, there's a rot in the club right now, and worse, it's followed the exact same pattern every year:

Promising beginning to the season - Fall blip - Brief resurgence before the New Year - Total capitulation in almost all competitions in the Winter - Spring revival when there's nothing to play for with the occasional consolation trophy.

Like, that's it. That's the whole damn thing, and it does not appear to be improving. I don't think anyone will be surprised if they get battered over two legs and knocked out by AC Milan. Something's got to change, and that thing should probably be Wenger. Everybody has an expiration date.

Cengiz Under was an interesting buy for Roma in the summer, he came in after only one season in the Turkish league. He was highly touted, but in his first few games he really struggled. He couldn't get into the side, until recently when he got his chance. He's been phenomenal, and I think we're seeing the beginnings of a truly special player on the big stage.

I'd also recommend reading Miguel Delaney's read on the current situation of football owners and how it's heavily related to politics around the world now.

This is nothing too new though, Matthew Syed went on Sky Sports News years ago to talk about Abramovich and the source of his wealth, bringing up why it isn't objected by more football fans. Of course, Sky Sports is the absolute worst place to air these sort of thoughts; when Syed mentions that Abramovich has questionable ties who have done some terrible things, he's met with a barrage of "...but...he's made Chelsea good, and made the Premier League good!" Weirdly, he's never been invited back since, I don't believe.

I think, for me, it's part of the reason football is starting to become a bit unlikable. The money itself, but then the people who are pouring the money in.

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Yeeeeeee!

Also, if you haven't seen it, Kane's assist for Son's second today is just filth.

And is Swansea good now? (Well, good-ish. Not awful, really.)

Very sad news coming out of Italy, as Davide Astori, Fiorentina's captain, was found dead in his hotel room this morning before the game against Udinese

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Unsurprising to hear Gary Neville once again belittling the opposition rather than having to praise City - after all, the Blues have only beaten top 6 opposition THREE times in EIGHT days Gary, by an aggregate score of 7-0.

Fred and Sessegnon in summer, please Pep.

Oh, and another 'Oh Yeah' moment for fans of facial similarities.

This, apparently, is NOT Thibault Courtois. Hard to believe, I know.

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Not sure if Arsenal are in shambles more than they were 1 month ago when the window closed. Or since the season started. Or since last season started.

They lost to City twice and if you ask Dave that's the top club in the world. I'll even admit this season they are arguably top 3 easily.

They are 18 points clear in supposedly the 'most competitive league'.

So more like 70/30 maybe 60/40 City are just really f*cking good and Arsenal are a mess and 6th... and 33 points behind City.

Not sure if I'm buying the doom post Wenger analysis. They went and got the guy from Barca and Dortmund for a reason. The real question is Wenger going to even leave this year and if so who's coming in, how many of the current squad can work in that managers system and in turn how many players need to come in then.

This isn't Ferguson to Moyes...unless they actually just go get Moyes. Especially considering the Woodward factor.

Clusks wrote:

Very sad news coming out of Italy, as Davide Astori, Fiorentina's captain, was found dead in his hotel room this morning before the game against Udinese :(

Genuinely quite awful. It's one thing to lose a teammate so suddenly, but the club captain?

davet010 wrote:

Fred and Sessegnon in summer, please Pep.

YOU STAY AWAY FROM HIM

Meanwhile.... Arsenal. Wenger deserved to go out better than this.

Deserved. Past tense.

That quote from Cocktail seems apropos here:

"Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn't end."

Also, seeing Theirry Henry's commentary on this today, can I just state that my mancrush on him has somehow grown since he retired?

Would you rather he went to Man U and prospered, just like Luke Sha....oh, wait.

In other news, two more records fell in yesterday's game.

City completed 975 passes, the most by one team in one Premiership match (I reckon less than half were contested, but that's on Chelsea)

Ilkay Gundogan completed 174 passes, the most successful passes in one Premiership game by a single player.

Just put them in the record books in pencil, they'll be rubbed out when Jose comes to the Etihad.

davet010 wrote:

In other news, two more records fell in yesterday's game.

City completed 975 passes, the most by one team in one Premiership match (I reckon less than half were contested, but that's on Chelsea)

Ilkay Gundogan completed 174 passes, the most successful passes in one Premiership game by a single player.

Just put them in the record books in pencil, they'll be rubbed out when Jose comes to the Etihad.

Wow. I watched the whole game and it did seem like a lot of passing. But god, what a boring game to watch. Chelsea pretty much conceded Man City the ball and 2/3 of the pitch. Man City would pass it around 30 or 40 times, then usually lose possession around the box. As soon as Chelsea would get the ball, Man City would immediately press and either force a long clearance or just take the ball away again. Apparently it was the first time since 2002/2003 that Chelsea went a whole half without a shot. It was like watching a training exercise.

Everton being linked with Wenger.

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Seriously, this move only makes sense if our long-term goal is to be the best-of-the-rest. (Granted, that'd be an improvement over this shambles of a season, but surely things aren't so dire that we need Wenger in?)

Dimmerswitch wrote:

Everton being linked with Wenger.

I don't know much about British media, but isn't the Metro one of those tabloids that pretty much just makes stuff up?

Godzilla Blitz wrote:
Dimmerswitch wrote:

Everton being linked with Wenger.

I don't know much about British media, but isn't the Metro one of those tabloids that pretty much just makes stuff up?

They all pretty much fall into that category

Don't know - I originally saw it on the BBC Football Gossip feed, for what that's worth (though the piece there is from the Star, which may or may not be a reputable source, either).

Everton want Arsene Wenger to take over as manager if he is sacked by Arsenal. Everton owner Farhad Moshiri believes he is the best candidate to help the Toffees rebuild.

Everton are also interested in bringing former Gunners midfielder and current Manchester City assistant boss Mikel Arteta into the managerial set-up at Goodison Park.

I don't know enough about Arteta as a coach to have a read on whether I'd want him, but he always struck me as a good guy who understood the game well.

I'd take him as manager ahead of Wenger, if those were the two choices.

If Wenger-to-Everton actually happens, I will eat my foot.*

* - "my foot" is slang for "a slice of pizza". Don't try to Google it, it's slang only for cool people.

I can’t see Wenger managing another team day to day after leaving Arsenal. A national team or director of football maybe, but not a team manager. For starters I don’t think anyone sensible would give him final say over transfers, and I don’t think Wenger would find that acceptable.

First Walcott then Wenger?

Feel free to take Chambers/Holding/Welbeck also!

Wenger going to Everton in any capacity would be amazing as whoever takes over Arsenal would probably be more than happy sending 2-3 players with him.