The 23/24 Football Thread

Jelster

Jelster

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So, season kicked off tonight, City gave Burnley a bit of a kicking, and Haaland has another 2 goals.

So my money is still on City, but who's going to challenge them?

I love the fact that Chelsea have been chasing Moises Caicedo since the window opened, only for Liverpool to swoop in and pull the rug from under their feet. Shades of what they did when Arsenal were chasing Mykhaylo Mudryk last season. I think my Mum called that "getting a taste of your own medicine".;)
 
It was Burnley ...

Waaaaay too early to make predictions, but obviously people will jump on the City/Haaland wagon - easy start - But I believe the stronger teams will be expecting and more than ready for precisely this
 
Yeah, I would have expected maybe even more goals from City to be honest. It will be interesting to see how well Newcastle & Brighton get on this season, and if Kane leaves Spurs, what happens there, and how Chelsea get on; surely they can't have another season as poor as last year.
 
Not so sure City will be that great this season. already lost DeBruyne for a while, Silva reportedly wants to leave.
They seemed driven last year to finally win the Champions League, always hard to repeat.
Liverpool and Chelsea will surely be better and got a sneaking feeling Man Utd will have a good year.
Then we have Arsenal, Rice is ok, but Havertz isn't great and Jesus is injured again.
 
tijuana taxi said:
Not so sure City will be that great this season. already lost DeBruyne for a while, Silva reportedly wants to leave.
They seemed driven last year to finally win the Champions League, always hard to repeat.
Liverpool and Chelsea will surely be better and got a sneaking feeling Man Utd will have a good year.
Then we have Arsenal, Rice is ok, but Havertz isn't great and Jesus is injured again.
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Arsenal do need to buy a 20 goal a season striker, but Martinelli, Trossard, Nketia or even Balogun can play through the middle.
 
Definite penalty not given to Wolves in the dying minutes against Man Utd. :rolleyes:

Wolves were very unlucky to not get something out of it, because Wolves were the better team. I feared for Wolves because what has been going on there, but there was a lot of positives to take away, even if they don't get any points from the game.
 
1 game in and 1 apology from PiGMOL to the opposition manager for not giving them a clear penalty at Old Toilet. Some things never change. Liverpool and Chelsea was a good game, both looked very suspect at the back. Not really possible to judge City after a game against their perennial whipping boys, but they have a ridiculously strong defence in depth now and will be difficult to stop, Brighton, despite losing their star players, look like they will be strong again and Newcastle will definitely be in the top 4 mix. Spurs of course are just Spursy so will be their usual mix of great results and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
 
Jelster said:
I love the fact that Chelsea have been chasing Moises Caicedo since the window opened, only for Liverpool to swoop in and pull the rug from under their feet. Shades of what they did when Arsenal were chasing Mykhaylo Mudryk last season. I think my Mum called that "getting a taste of your own medicine".;)
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This aged well ;)
 
You don't get penalties against Man Utd, it's in the rules....... (I ******* hate Man Utd)...
 
flook999 said:
1 game in and 1 apology from PiGMOL to the opposition manager for not giving them a clear penalty at Old Toilet.
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Ten Hag didn't think it was a penalty. Seems the admin of the PGMOL disagree, pity they were not officiating that game.
flook999 said:
Some things never change.
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Manager denies obvious penalty, things don't change.
 
Just a reminder that the season didn't start with Burnley v City on Friday. It actually started two weeks ago when the EFL/National League started*.

The Premier League is just a sideshow for the rich.

*Actually some may say it started earlier when the FA Cup got under way 3 weeks ago.
 
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Harriers9 said:
Just a reminder that the season didn't start with Burnley v City on Friday. It actually started two weeks ago when the EFL/National League started*.

The Premier League is just a sideshow for the rich.

*Actually some may say it started earlier when the FA Cup got under way 3 weeks ago.
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The quality of football in the Premier League can, on occasion, make even the Championship look like Hackney Marshes on a Sunday morning. So whilst I get your point about when the season started, for many of us, it starts with the Charity Shield. (As a teenager I spent many Saturday afternoons on the terraces of Priestfields in Gillingham, then being chased down the back alleys by Milwall fans. so I have an appreciation of the lower leagues)
 
Just seen this report on the biggest net spenders in football from 2014-2023, and Premier League teams figure highly.

Man Utd in top spot with £1,196.6m, :oops: :$ followed by Chelsea with £885.5m. It may not be long until Chelsea take top spot, the way they are spending over the last year or two. ;) Man Utd fans may not like their owners, but they can't say they have not stumped up the cash. Whether it has been spent well is for them to decide.

As a Liverpool supporter, I'd say the money spent looks reasonable looking at what has been won over that period compared to a lot of the others. :) If I were an Everton fan, god forbid, net spending just £60m less than Liverpool does not look like money well spent at all. ;) :LOL:

Nottingham Forest surprised me sneaking in in 20th place, though with I think 40+ players bought over the last year or so, maybe not. Bournemouth being in there is surprising too.

Only one of the Saudi Arabian clubs there so far, but no doubt they will start to appear over the next few years, as where a lot of the teams will be buying and selling, I don't see them selling a lot of players given the stage in their careers a lot of them have been so far. I don't think those teams will be going out of business though. ;)

Highest net spending (2014-2023)
1. Manchester United - £1,196.6m
2. Chelsea - £885.5m
3. Paris St-Germain - £865.8m
4. Arsenal - £746.9m
5. Manchester City - £733.8m
6. Newcastle United - £575.2m
7. Barcelona - £568.4m
8. Tottenham Hotspur - £522.1m
9. AC Milan - £467.3m
10. West Ham United - £451.9m
11. Aston Villa - £414.3m
12. Liverpool - £395.3m
13. Al-Hilal - £391.3m
14. Juventus - £385m
15. Everton - £336.1m
16. Crystal Palace - £322.3m
17. Bournemouth - £294.9m
18. Bayern Munich - £294.1m
19. Real Madrid - £277.6m
20. Nottingham Forest - £265.8m
 
I take it this is just player purchases and excludes player salaries?
 
Jelster said:
And City would probably be #1, and Arsenal a close 2nd.
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Mmm, not too sure about that. Looking at this site, which may and may not be accurate, but let's say it is, Man Utd are quite generous with their wages. Sancho on £350k a week to not play, and a 3 others on £300k+. Utd annual wages £194,515,000, Arsenal wages £154,530,000 and Man City £178,532,000.

Paints an even darker picture for Utd.
 
Arsenal, until recently, have always overpaid their average players, and underpaid their stars. Looks like Arteta & Edu are fixing that though.

On a different note, it's good to see so many English players in the listing for the Ballon d'Or list, and loads from the EPL....

www.bbc.co.uk

England trio & Man City seven on Ballon d'Or shortlist

England's Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane and seven Manchester City players are on the shortlist for the 2023 Ballon d'Or.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
Obviously I meant specifically at football :D

Another frustrating session of sloppy defending for 90 minutes, France could/should have won at least 4-0.

Oh well, there's always the rugby, we can win the odd game in that
 
Fuji Dave said:
Leicester did it years ago, so it is possible.
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it is but leicester did it when all the top teams were in a transition period, just a case of the stars aligning, it won't happen again for a long time. City won't implode to allow Brighton to win it, Arsenal will be more resilient than last year and I really fancy them for 2nd, 3rd and 4th are between Liverpool, Spurs and Brighton I think, and I'd love it if Brighton could get in there.
 
To be fair to the scorer, the keeper didn't seem in much of a hurry to get back into position after taking the free kick.
 
Nod said:
To be fair to the scorer, the keeper didn't seem in much of a hurry to get back into position after taking the free kick.
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I've only seen the short clip, so no idea why the keeper was all the way over there? BUT ... you never, NEVER! blindly pass back to a keeper. As a defender [played sweeper as a kid myself] you always look to them, make eye contact , maybe even a quick nod before passing back. Surely a pro football player knows it on'y takes a split second lapse of concentrations for mistakes to happen
 
Jelster said:
That was awful, heads need to roll, may have produced a very different outcome.
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If I was a conspiracy theorist some of the decisions yesterday would give me plenty of scope.
 
Jelster said:
That was awful, heads need to roll, may have produced a very different outcome.
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4th official replaced for today's game between Forest and Brentford, following his 'error' yesterday:

www.bbc.co.uk

PGMOL replaces official England after Liverpool error

Darren England is replaced as the fourth official for Sunday's match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford after his VAR error during Liverpool's defeat at Tottenham.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

That's very shocking. I suspect there will be repercussions over this.
 
So much going on in the Spurs v Liverpool game. The Diaz disallowed goal was just a joke, but sadly not the first time such a mistake has happened this season. So much from learning from mistakes! :headbang: That they have kicked off again should not be a barrier to stopping the game, if no other refereeing has had to be made, if the aim is to get the decisions correct.

For the 1st red card, I was very surprised that the first image that the referee sees when going to the monitor to look at the Curtis Jones tackle, was a still image of Jones's foot impacting the Spurs players ankle. That is surely influencing what the referee is about to see! Show the video as it happened, from start to finish, and then let the referee either change their decision or not.

Diogo Jota's first card should have been reviewed by VAR imho, because the contact was minimal, and there did not seem to be any intent. If it was reviewed, and the same decision, then fine, but to not look, or even consider looking, again, brings into question the competence, of the officiating in game, and remotely. No arguments that his 2nd tackle deserved a yellow, but by then, the consequences of the incident make it a red card. :rolleyes:

I have to say that for a team who's defending has often been called into question over the years, I thought they all defended brilliantly, with 10, and 9 players. And that was also with Alexander-Arnold, who seem to be the punch bag for defending badly. ;) Spurs were very lucky to win this game, as they looked to have ran out of ideas for scoring. I felt sorry for Matip, but he, and the whole Liverpool team, had a great defending day, first Spurs goal aside. Without some very questionable decisions, it could have been a very different result.
 
redhed17 said:
So much going on in the Spurs v Liverpool game. The Diaz disallowed goal was just a joke, but sadly not the first time such a mistake has happened this season. So much from learning from mistakes! :headbang: That they have kicked off again should not be a barrier to stopping the game, if no other refereeing has had to be made, if the aim is to get the decisions correct.

For the 1st red card, I was very surprised that the first image that the referee sees when going to the monitor to look at the Curtis Jones tackle, was a still image of Jones's foot impacting the Spurs players ankle. That is surely influencing what the referee is about to see! Show the video as it happened, from start to finish, and then let the referee either change their decision or not.

Diogo Jota's first card should have been reviewed by VAR imho, because the contact was minimal, and there did not seem to be any intent. If it was reviewed, and the same decision, then fine, but to not look, or even consider looking, again, brings into question the competence, of the officiating in game, and remotely. No arguments that his 2nd tackle deserved a yellow, but by then, the consequences of the incident make it a red card. :rolleyes:

I have to say that for a team who's defending has often been called into question over the years, I thought they all defended brilliantly, with 10, and 9 players. And that was also with Alexander-Arnold, who seem to be the punch bag for defending badly. ;) Spurs were very lucky to win this game, as they looked to have ran out of ideas for scoring. I felt sorry for Matip, but he, and the whole Liverpool team, had a great defending day, first Spurs goal aside. Without some very questionable decisions, it could have been a very different result.
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Agree, although Jota should never have made that 2nd tackle when on a yellow, so regardless of the merit of the 1st yellow, he got himself sent off.

The offside was a disgrace.
 
redhed17 said:
For the 1st red card, I was very surprised that the first image that the referee sees when going to the monitor to look at the Curtis Jones tackle, was a still image of Jones's foot impacting the Spurs players ankle. That is surely influencing what the referee is about to see! Show the video as it happened, from start to finish, and then let the referee either change their decision or not.
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Two players going for the ball, just an unfortunate accident. Never a red card. Curtis Jones' foot rolls over the ball because it's suddenly stopped dead. There's nothing he could have done to prevent that. Red has to be because there's intent or dangerous play. There was neither.

Jota's first yellow; the Spurs player might have felt the very faintest of touches ( I don't think there was any), but again purely accidental. He then take a another couple of strides, then dives. Pure and simple. Should have been a yellow for that.

cambsno said:
The offside was a disgrace.
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It's beyond that. There was no attempt to apply the technology VAR uses to correct exactly this kind of mistake.

Was embarrassing to see Postecogleu celebrating at the end of the match. But on that performance, once thing is clear; Spurs won't be winning the league title. They aren't good enough. If you can't score against a team with 9 men, at home, then you won't be winning titles. Pathetic. Liverpool come out of that game with far more dignity, and signs of encouragement. If Spurs had any class, they'd offer to replay the game, or have it declared void, and share the points. But at the end of the day, it's not on Spurs; it's on the team officiating. An absolute disgrace.
 
Bridges said:
If Spurs had any class, they'd offer to replay the game, or have it declared void, and share the points.
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Never happen, and I wouldn't expect even the possibility of it to happen. Unless the mistake is rectified at the time, nothing will come of it bar an apology. If they admit to their mistake.

Considering Liverpool have missed out on two league titles by 1 point to Man City over recent years, I am hoping this season is not as close either way, because losing by 1 point is bad enough, but to do that again, after that decision, and potentially 2 points lost, would be difficult to take.
 
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