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

https://t.co/wZqEqLU8RS

Just a single month...

jowner wrote:

African Cup of Nations will just be fine tho!

They agree with you!

The president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf), Patrice Motsepe, has reiterated that the delayed Africa Cup of Nations will go ahead as planned.

New President of the Cameroon FA, Samuel Eto'o, points out that Europe held their national championship with full stadiums in the middle of a pandemic, so it'll be fine.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHPmFqRXsAUwY2N?format=jpg&name=medium)

King.

Also, does Liverpool know you don't HAVE to play insanely dramatic games every week?

Prederick wrote:

Also, does Liverpool know you don't HAVE to play insanely dramatic games every week?

Well they get the week off, since the game against Leeds has been postponed due to Covid. Have to say as a Leeds fan, I'm ok with this give we already don't have a squad left anyway even without Covid. Also can we have bonus points for the fact we have 100% Vaccated players and staff please?

onewild wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Also, does Liverpool know you don't HAVE to play insanely dramatic games every week?

Well they get the week off, since the game against Leeds has been postponed due to Covid. Have to say as a Leeds fan, I'm ok with this give we already don't have a squad left anyway even without Covid. Also can we have bonus points for the fact we have 100% Vaccated players and staff please?

It’s Leeds that requested the postponement, not Liverpool. Liverpool play again on the 28th so at least that’s no longer a 48 hour turn around, but now have to sandwich the game in somewhere else in an already overloaded season.

Liverpool are also 100% vaccinated. To be honest, I’m really not sure what it is you are trying to imply with this post?

Sorbicol wrote:
onewild wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Also, does Liverpool know you don't HAVE to play insanely dramatic games every week?

Well they get the week off, since the game against Leeds has been postponed due to Covid. Have to say as a Leeds fan, I'm ok with this give we already don't have a squad left anyway even without Covid. Also can we have bonus points for the fact we have 100% Vaccated players and staff please?

It’s Leeds that requested the postponement, not Liverpool. Liverpool play again on the 28th so at least that’s no longer a 48 hour turn around, but now have to sandwich the game in somewhere else in an already overloaded season.

Liverpool are also 100% vaccinated. To be honest, I’m really not sure what it is you are trying to imply with this post?

He's not implying anything; you've misread his post.

Guardiola makes strike claim as angry Benítez joins chorus over player welfare

Guardiola’s words were picked up by the chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, Maheta Molango, who demanded that authorities take the concerns of elite players more seriously. “I’ve spoken with many senior players on this issue,” he said. “I can tell you that it isn’t going away. Players don’t choose to speak out on issues like this without having given it a lot of thought. Now it’s up to those who run the game at all levels to begin to take this seriously so it’s an issue that can be addressed constructively with players at the heart of the conversation. That has to happen now. ”

Top-flight players are understood to feel aggrieved with the Premier League over a lack of direct communication. Regular meetings held with club captains during Project Restart have not continued and this week’s meeting had been postponed from Monday until Thursday. There are also concerns a new player welfare department within the league has not been proactive enough. The rescheduled meeting ended with captains and the league agreeing to engage in more frequent dialogue.

This week the Liverpool captain, Jordan Henderson, told the BBC that “nobody really takes player welfare seriously”. Among elite players there is concern not only over playing a condensed fixture list during a Covid outbreak but also over upcoming changes to the professional calendar that will mean an expanded Champions League and potentially a World Cup every two years.

Thibaut Courtois was talking about this in October.

Tottenham 3-0 Crystal Palace, Norwich 0-5 Arsenal, Manchester City 6-3 Leicester.

Boxing Day football, eh?

Lucas Moira MOTM with a goal and two assists, one each for Son and Kane!

New free kick routine just dropped.

(Also possibly dropping: Liverpool and Chelsea's title chances)

Well, hope you enjoyed that brief CL-winner shine Tuchel, as it has come off.

Prederick wrote:

Well, hope you enjoyed that brief CL-winner shine Tuchel, as it has come off.

Pretty nice quote from Lukaku: "Now it is the right time to share my feelings. I have always said that I have Inter in my head. I know I will return to Inter, I really hope so. I am in love with Italy.

As an Italo-phile (I've been several times and studied Italian for several years in college - which was longer ago than I'd like to admit), that's a pretty generous sentiment towards a place where they throw banana peels at you.

At the risk of straying into D&D subject matter, following international soccer has made me MUCH more aware of racism in other countries.

To be fair to Rom, he probably compartmentalized pretty well, plus he was (prior to leaving) essentially treated as a living God at Inter (and his form was way, way better). I'm not totally surprised he loves Italy, the two best seasons of his career were there.

Plus, he's rich, and that'll help smooth over a whoooooooooooooole lot.

60 Great Goals of 2021

Based on where you live, there may or may not be a fair number of videos that are region-locked.

Being an Arsenal fan is going into the match thinking if we lost by 2 that's probably a win for us and then being heart-broken you lose 2-1.

vvv good first half

VVVVVVV good first half.

Game of the Season so far. Blimey.

EDIT: Well, Pep's happy. No-one else is.

EDIT v2: Huh, didn't know this. City and Liverpool have taken the lead 17 times this season. City have won every game. Liverpool have won 12 of those games. And those 10 points dropped are pretty much the difference between the sides atm.

Huge win for Leeds today, a few more of those and it will start to look more like a 4 way race for relegation not featuring Leeds

Prederick wrote:

Game of the Season so far. Blimey.

EDIT: Well, Pep's happy. No-one else is.

EDIT v2: Huh, didn't know this. City and Liverpool have taken the lead 17 times this season. City have won every game. Liverpool have won 12 of those games. And those 10 points dropped are pretty much the difference between the sides atm.

Liverpool's inability to hold on to leads is becoming a problem to be honest, it's all well and good TAA and Robertson bombing on all the time, but none of the remaining central defenders are either fit enough or as good as they were 2 seasons ago to cover the gaps. And as much as l love Milner, he's starting to show his age in these sorts of games.

Much to ponder for Klopp, we're really going to miss Mane and Salah for the Cup of Nations.

Prederick wrote:

EDIT v2: Huh, didn't know this. City and Liverpool have taken the lead 17 times this season. City have won every game. Liverpool have won 12 of those games. And those 10 points dropped are pretty much the difference between the sides atm.

Hey, in the first half of the year Tottenham beat City but only drew with Pool, so we were bucking the trend.

Prederick wrote:

Coutinho to Villa?

Where's Newcastle in all this!

Speaking of Newcastle, would they like an Aubameyang? He already got COVID at the African Cup of Nations so might even be back before sooner than later.

Yeah, Gabon is currently.... having a time.

Meanwhile, in Italy...

IMAGE(https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/players-of-internazionale-warm-up-before-the-beginning-of-the-serie-a-picture-id1363071013?s=2048x2048)

the thing that's missing from this picture of Inter warming up for their match away to Bologna, if you're curious, are literally any Bologna players.

Prederick wrote:

Coutinho to Villa?


Welp!

Prederick wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Coutinho to Villa?


Welp!

The Stevie G connections coming through. I can’t help thinking Countinho is a little - physically - lightweight for Villa. Hard call though

Prederick wrote:

The Ragnick experiment can't have gone wrong this fast, can it?

The Manchester United subreddits are fairly convinced it’s the players feuding - half of them with Harry Maguire and the other half with Ronaldo. And Martial who nobody likes and just wants to leave. Allegedly.

I still think one of the major issues at Old Trafford is Sir Alex still hanging around like that final guest who just won’t leave when the party is over. I’m sure all the managers - apart from Ole - found that particularly frustrating.

His shadow does loom quite large.

I was shocked to realize, while watching the Premier League Season Review shows on YouTube, that ManU's last title was 2012/13 and they haven't been anywhere close since.

Prederick wrote:

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

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