2018/19 Soccer Thread

Roke wrote:

Newcastle come from behind to defeat 12-man Everton!

With West Ham also losing that now pretty much leaves only Watford and Wolves fighting for the Everton Cup.

Spurs, what else? I'm going to bang my head into something and be right back.

Well, I mean, it may not be official yet, but Fulham are effectively down now.

West Brom have sacked manager Darren Moore

What dire position are West Brom in to warrant this action? They are 4th in the Championship, after being in free fall last season which led to their relegation from the Premiership and being widely tipped to struggle this season - they were in a right mess.

For sure their results for the last couple of matches haven't been good, but they are still 4th in the Championship. That's 4th. In what is probably the toughest league in the world.

They failed to beat us at home today and were outplayed for large stretches. I'd fire someone who managed that too, because we're absolute garbage.

jowner wrote:
Roke wrote:

Newcastle come from behind to defeat 12-man Everton!

I assume the ref wasn't helping?

Spurs lose which now puts them squarely in the top four race.

United Arsenal tomorrow. Arsenal could lose and still squeak into the top4 considering how many games are left but it wouldn't be pretty.

Squeaky bum time for Emery. Big knock on Wenger was how much Arsenal wilted away in big matches.

Yeah. One of our goals looks like it was barely offside but Pickford rugby-tackled Rondon to prevent a goal-scoring opportunity and didn't even get a yellow earlier in the match (should have been a red because he made no attempt to get the ball in the tackle)

The winning goal for Newcastle was totally offside both Rondon and Perez even after he decided to become active.

However, it was a well deserved win. Pickford really should have been sent off long before then.

Interesting aside (actually it isnt) I went into Newcastle today intending to take mini-Sorb out as a treat for a really good week at school. I totally forgot about the match, so we spent about 90 minutes driving around Newcastle trying to find somewhere to park. Oops. We’re going to try again tomorrow.

That Darren Moore thing whether you think it was a good or bad decision is a heck of a risky one. There will be zero question where the blame will be assigned if they fall below 4th.

Honestly, I'm trying to imagine a world where Fulham could beat Tottenham, and failing miserably.

That Darren Moore firing though... Boy howdy. If they drop out of the playoff places, they will deserve to get excoriated.

Prederick wrote:

Honestly, I'm trying to imagine a world where Fulham could beat Tottenham, and failing miserably.

Yeah, Fulham's ship has sunk. There's no way. Even if by some miracle they won four of their last eight games they'd still be short points to save themselves.

Such as sad outcome.

Well that was a massive weekend of results for Arsenal. Besides the Hazard goal, it went as well as it could of.

Pretty fortunate in the game vs United but I'll take it. With each team's schedules, Arsenal have a legitimate chance to finish 3rd.

That was their last game vs other top teams vying to finish in the top 4. I remember when the schedules first came out that if Arsenal were in the thick of it in March that their run in was very soft.

Spurs for example still have to play City and Liverpool.

The assault on Jack Grealish marks a worrying trend I think. It’s fine banning these idiots for life but someone needs to be having a very strong word with Birmingham about the quality of their stewards and stewarding.

God knows stewarding is a tough gig but it is a job. Seems to me there are too many stewards these days are there to get in for free, not to actually do their job.

As for everything else his weekend - I think it’s time to stop prentending VAR is going to be a fix, and that there needs to be some serious addressing of the quality of refereeing in the top leagues. Some of the decisions this weekend have been shocking.

No place for that in any game. Coward move striking an unaware player and I hope the league comes down on not only the moron performing the act, but the team as well to send a message so that we never see that again. It could have been much worse.

It really could've been. Dude wound up and sucker-punched Grealish from behind, and luck for Grealish dude's aim was off because he genuinely could've been seriously injured.

The perpetrator will be very obviously punish, harshly, but yeah, I think Birmingham deserves some punishment as well.

Zinedine Zidane has returned to manage Real Madrid after they sacked Solari.

I’ve got to be honest - I didn’t see that coming.

Wow.

I am genuinely shocked.

I bet he got exactly what he asked for (more control and power) to come back.

This should provide the answer as to whether their previous success under him was a "great players" or "great coaching" thing.

And that narrows the Pochettino conversation too.

Reality is so much fun.

Honestly, one might argue it's not "great players" but "great player".

Prederick wrote:

It really could've been. Dude wound up and sucker-punched Grealish from behind, and luck for Grealish dude's aim was off because he genuinely could've been seriously injured.

The perpetrator will be very obviously punish, harshly, but yeah, I think Birmingham deserves some punishment as well.

It should be obvious, but I thought I read where a hooligan at a Champions League match who disabled another fan for life just got four years. Bit of a joke, in my opinion.

Prederick wrote:

Honestly, one might argue it's not "great players" but "great player".

Right, there is that to consider too!

I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I've leaned toward Zidane being a good team manager, but I think he'll likely have more control over who the club brings in going forward. I have no idea how he'll do with signing players and bringing in players he wants. To a degree that's a different skill set, in many ways.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
Prederick wrote:

It really could've been. Dude wound up and sucker-punched Grealish from behind, and luck for Grealish dude's aim was off because he genuinely could've been seriously injured.

The perpetrator will be very obviously punish, harshly, but yeah, I think Birmingham deserves some punishment as well.

It should be obvious, but I thought I read where a hooligan at a Champions League match who disabled another fan for life just got four years. Bit of a joke, in my opinion.

Done! 14 weeks in prison, 10 year football ban. I guess the legal system punished him for the results, not the potential severity of the action?

Man, that is crazily fast. In the US it would take months even if he was willing to plead guilty in order to get a light sentence.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Done! 14 weeks in prison, 10 year football ban. I guess the legal system punished him for the results, not the potential severity of the action?

Man, that is crazily fast. In the US it would take months even if he was willing to plead guilty in order to get a light sentence.

Sometimes, for high profile crimes justice can move fast in this country. The fact he admitted guilt and pleaded as such also helped - no need for a trial so they can move straight to judgement. Magistrates courts (sort of local level law courts) don’t have to hang about in these circumstances.

He’ll be out in 7 weeks - over here for relatively minor offenses you usually serve half your sentence in jail and then serve the other half under supervision - he’ll have to wear a tag, and/or report regularly to his parole officer/local police for the other 7.

He’ll also lose his job, is banned from all football for 10 years, and Birmingham City have banned him for life - he held a season ticket for 20 years. All in all that’s probably the worst punishment he’s received.

That did seem fast, to me as an American. I assume that this went so much faster because the UK has so much previous dealing with hooliganism already. Is that correct, UK people?

Prederick wrote:

That did seem fast, to me as an American. I assume that this went so much faster because the UK has so much previous dealing with hooliganism already. Is that correct, UK people?

Common assault (basically where you attack someone but don’t really cause any physical injury) is a summary offense in the UK. That means it doesn’t have to go to jury trial. You can ask for it to do so, but that involves delay, a lot more cost and the likelihood (if you are found guilty) of a more severe sentence and greatly increased legal costs.

For these types of higher profile cases they can be expedited and so get sent to court sooner rather than later. As I said previously, the guy pleaded guilty so all that was left was the judgement. There are clear and well defined guidelines in the UK for what type of sentencing is available for each type of offence, so it’s not too hard for the magistrates to pick one and apply it. By and large, while our magistrates and judges are independent the length and types of sentence available are set by parliament.

I think that’s right, I might have to check tomorrow!

Prederick wrote:

Honestly, one might argue it's not "great players" but "great player".

Yep, feeling very smug about this analysis right now.

Over to you, Leo....

EDIT: Oh yeah, City. SHEEESH.

Prederick wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Honestly, one might argue it's not "great players" but "great player".

Yep, feeling very smug about this analysis right now.

Over to you, Leo....

EDIT: Oh yeah, City. SHEEESH.

Would be better if the PK wasn't so terrible. At least Ronaldo wasn't the guy who tripped himself to earn it.

jowner wrote:
Prederick wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Honestly, one might argue it's not "great players" but "great player".

Yep, feeling very smug about this analysis right now.

Over to you, Leo....

EDIT: Oh yeah, City. SHEEESH.

Would be better if the PK wasn't so terrible. At least Ronaldo wasn't the guy who tripped himself to earn it.

Did he trip himself or was he clipped? The announcers were saying he was clipped, but I couldn't see anything.

Forget your boring champions league, Premier League ect, this weekend is all about one match Leeds vs Sheffield Utd, win and we go 5 points clear of them, lose and we most likely end up 3rd and have to play catch up. This is huge, it's at Elland Road and Leeds is going to be rocking if we win.

On a side note, if we do go back up, the city will be at a stand still. When we got promoted to the Championship, pubs had to shut down early because they ran out of glasses/booze.

onewild wrote:

On a side note, if we do go back up, the city will be at a stand still. When we got promoted to the Championship, pubs had to shut down early because they ran out of glasses/booze.

Becoming a football fan was great because it completely disabused me of the American notion of Brits being all cultured and posh all the time.

Massive goal from Virgil there. 4 English teams in the CL quarter finals now.

Mane has just added a third