2021/22 Soccer Thread: It's Euro 2020 until it becomes 2021

Prederick wrote:

Which one of you psychopaths said you were considering letting your child become a Newcastle fan?

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I'm calling child services, I don't care if you live on a different continent.

I'm blaming the wife for that. She's the Geordie, not me!

Well, a complete shambles at the UEFA Champions League last 16 draw. and it’s going to be redrawn at 2pm GMT. Max Verstappen to be declared the winner of this years competition.

Real crying hard. They have an unhealthy crush on Benfica.

Oh good, more COVID outbreaks.

Aubameyang dropped as Arsenal captain.

I'm starting the Newcastle rumor now. Feel free to swoop in and snatch him up for 50m or so. I'll even take 45m.

Problem moving him on now is the African Cup of Nations. Which leads to the next question... Will it even happen?

9 January – 6 February 2022. I'm not sure we get to the 9th without cases being so high that they have to cancel. Then again I'm not sure if they would even.

Would be mad for any club to do more than take Aubameyang on a loan where Arsenal continues to pay a portion of his wages. Big contracts to late/post-prime players blowing up in faces is always delightful though.

Which, given how badly Newcastle is run... Yeah, I could see an outright transfer.

So much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and Arsenal's back in the Top 4.

But yeah, Auba's done as a Gunner now, right? They're clearly better without him atm.

Prederick wrote:

So much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and Arsenal's back in the Top 4.

But yeah, Auba's done as a Gunner now, right? They're clearly better without him atm.

Yes they are.

And Laca missed a PK so that's saying alot.

Prederick wrote:

So much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and Arsenal's back in the Top 4.

But yeah, Auba's done as a Gunner now, right? They're clearly better without him atm.

Yeah. Just like Granit Xhaka.

Nobody else is going to pay Auba's wages. They'll find a way to get him back in.

Oh Newcastle, it's the hope that gets you.

Stop me if you've heard this one, but half the weekend's Premier League fixtures have been cancelled due to covid outbreaks.

Manchester United v Brighton, Southampton v Brentford, Watford v Crystal Palace, West Ham v Norwich and Everton v Leicester are all postponed.

African Cup of Nations will just be fine tho!

Meanwhile, at Everton, a Christmas miracle.

jowner wrote:

African Cup of Nations will just be fine tho!

I don't think it will.

@archiert1 wrote:

There’s playing a high line and then there’s doing what Bayern have been able to do tonight.

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Aston Villa vs Burnley has been postponed just two hours before kick off due to an increase in positive tests, meaning the EPL is down to only one game today now: Leeds vs Arsenal.

Three out of four games tomorrow are still planned to go ahead right now.

Down in League One where my team loiters it's currently a 50/50 split, with six postponed and six playing.

The Football League have said that about 31% of players in the EFL still haven't received their first covid shot and they've updated their playing requirements for games. Now if you can find 14 fit players from your registered squad, including one Goalkeeper, then you have to play.

Martinelli is 20 and so much potential. Outside of Saka the player I'm most excited to see grow.... Was so sad when he went down with that long term injury.

Auba being Auba and making room for these other players isn't the worst thing.

I know they're down, like, 4/5ths of the first team, but goodness is it all going wrong at Leeds, huh?

Robertson smart!

/shortly afterwards

Robertson dumb!

Exciting match. Wish we could have gotten the dub.

Prederick wrote:

Robertson smart!

/shortly afterwards

Robertson dumb!

Robertson's challenge was a red card.

The problem is, so was Harry Kane's in the first half. So why did VAR allow that challenge to stand as a yellow, but asked Paul Tierney to come back and look at Robertson's challenge again?

It was a great game of football don't get me wrong, but Spurs clearly benefitted from their two weeks off (regardless of the reasons) , and the ref and VAR got almost every major decision wrong. It's the lack of consistency that's the issue here as much as the abysmal officiating. The quality of refereeing in the Premier League right now is not good enough for a premium global sporting league.

Jota also had a clear penalty waved away, but to be fair so did Newcastle in the Newcastle v City game. I was actually Newcastle city centre when that happened, you could hear the screaming from the stadium loud and clear from where we were stood. Stadiums in city centres are the best things ever!

If "every decision wrong" includes allowing a goal that had a handball a moment before to stand, then I can agree.

I was surprised he went red on Robertson.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

If "every decision wrong" includes allowing a goal that had a handball a moment before to stand, then I can agree.

I was surprised he went red on Robertson.

It wasn't a "handball" - the ball hit his arm for sure, but his arm wasn't anywhere it shouldn't have been and it was entirely accidental. We had this debate last year with the ridiculous "handball" decisions seen in then. Let's not bring that up again...

Robertson completely cleaned out Emerson Royal. I can't see fault in that being a red. But Kane's challenge on Robertson in the first half was reckless, completely uncontrolled and very dangerous if Robertson hadn't seen it to jump just before contact. Otherwise he'd have been crippled for most of the rest of the season. How can VAR ignore that as well? Shockingly bad decision making. Alan Shearer was rightly furious on Match of the Day tonight.

To be fair I thought a draw was probably the fair result for the game.

I see a very large difference between awarding a penalty for an accidental handball and allowing a handball to get an assist - but apparently the rule should always favor Liverpool when they play Tottenham, see also the Champions League Final.

Agreed that a draw was fair for today's match.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I see a very large difference between awarding a penalty for an accidental handball and allowing a handball to get an assist - but apparently the rule should always favor Liverpool when they play Tottenham, see also the Champions League Final.

Agreed that a draw was fair for today's match.

The assist for that goal came from Alexander-Arnold, not Salah. The change the interpretation on those types of incident this season after the number of ridiculous decisions last season where VAR was being applied microscopically. And many more of those decisions were in Spur’s favour this game. Sorry but you are barking up the wrong tree for this game.

What do you think about Milan's disallowed goal?
Giroud does move his leg, but I'm not so sure he has any impact on the play while he's on the ground.

A news story that's the embodiment of the Jeremy Clarkson "Oh no, anyway" meme.

Tottenham out of Europa Conference League after UEFA rules they forfeited final match.
Mr Bismarck wrote:

A news story that's the embodiment of the Jeremy Clarkson "Oh no, anyway" meme.

Tottenham out of Europa Conference League after UEFA rules they forfeited final match.

I see this as a good thing, yeah.

Cheeky!