The Football Thread - Season 2014/2015

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I only saw bits of the first half of the Utd game, but their passing looked better, at least around the QPR box. QPR didn't look too good though imho. I expect more from Redknapp's teams, especially when he has been there for awhile. :thinking:
 
United look a bit more like it, but QPR were poor IMO. I agree, it's not what I expect from a Redknapp team.

I have a lot of faith in Van Gaal. He will achieve what he wants.
 
redhed17 said:
I only saw bits of the first half of the Utd game, but their passing looked better, at least around the QPR box. QPR didn't look too good though imho. I expect more from Redknapp's teams, especially when he has been there for awhile. :thinking:
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simon ess said:
United look a bit more like it, but QPR were poor IMO. I agree, it's not what I expect from a Redknapp team.

I have a lot of faith in Van Gaal. He will achieve what he wants.
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Having expected fast flowing exciting football when Redknapp took over 18 months ago or so, I have been sorely disappointed on the whole. Our primary goal, including in the Championship, has been not to concede. Football has been dire, tactical changes non-existent, the answer to anything more signings - I genuinely can't stand him and would take another season or more in the Championship or lower if it led to his departure. The fact we are offering him a 2 year contract beggars belief but there you go. Not everyone shares my opinion but he's had a huge budget in the Premier League, a huge budget in the Championship where he finished 4th. Not all QPR fans feel this way it has to be said, some thing he has done a good job getting us promoted from the Championship with a wage budget higher than Athletico Madrid's.

That said I feel our team has the prospect of doing better than last time we were in the Premier League, where we won 4 games all season (inc 1/2 season under our current maestro).

Could be worse, could be a fulham fan with an even worse manager in charge! Bottom of the championship and only heading one way.
 
akr said:
I remember watching Man Utd beat us 3-0 at Loftus Road a few seasons ago. I think it was out first season back. That day I felt Utd were just too good for us and there was not much else we could have done. Utd were just tactically better and had better players.

Now you could argue both those things today, but I didn't feel it. Certainly Man Utd had more quality, but first goal was fortunate (a great delivery) but I didn't feel massively torn apart before then. We then of course should have equalised. After the second goal we fell apart somewhat -we are a team in transition (again) and I expect us to get better as players get to know each other more. That said I felt more confident today that we could score than I did those few seasons ago.

So, as I wrote post the Spurs game, I would not get your hopes up based on beating us. Most fans expected a defeat, and a heavy one at that. That said you can only beat what is put in front of you and you certainly look better than last year. I'd be concerned defensively still though, and playing better teams that will close down more and / or foul to break up play more will be interesting to see how Di Maria responds.
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Totally agree.

From a United perspective - it was the first time that team have ever played together.
 
QPR were about as much use as Mesit Ozil.... Pointless on a football pitch :)
 
Well Liverpool dodged a bullet. In a very even game, with few chances, it all livened up in the last few minutes. Balotelli got his first for Liverpool with a poachers goal on 82mins. He was a bit better than his previous games, but still doesn't look that bothered. :rolleyes:

It looked like that would be it. Ludogorets hit the post, maybe should have had a penalty in the first half. Then in the 90th min Ludogorets score a very good goal on the break. Well deserved. :clap:

Then in the 92nd min their goalie brought down Manquillo in the box, and it was a penalty, which Gerrard coolly put away.

At the same time Real were beating Basel 5-1. As they said on TV, it could have been a very bad night if it were Real Liverpool were playing. :eek:

Liverpool still nowhere near last season's form. :(

Playing like this could give West Ham some points on Saturday. Rodgers needs to find the right mix of players to start winning comfortably and getting some confidence. Then he can tinker the odd one or two each game.
 
redhed17 said:
Well Liverpool dodged a bullet. In a very even game, with few chances, it all livened up in the last few minutes. Balotelli got his first for Liverpool with a poachers goal on 82mins. He was a bit better than his previous games, but still doesn't look that bothered. :rolleyes:

It looked like that would be it. Ludogorets hit the post, maybe should have had a penalty in the first half. Then in the 90th min Ludogorets score a very good goal on the break. Well deserved. :clap:

Then in the 92nd min their goalie brought down Manquillo in the box, and it was a penalty, which Gerrard coolly put away.

At the same time Real were beating Basel 5-1. As they said on TV, it could have been a very bad night if it were Real Liverpool were playing. :eek:

Liverpool still nowhere near last season's form. :(

Playing like this could give West Ham some points on Saturday. Rodgers needs to find the right mix of players to start winning comfortably and getting some confidence. Then he can tinker the odd one or two each game.
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Time will tell for Liverpool. This season was always going to be harder with CL football also. My gut feeling is you won't make top 3 and may not make 4th but could do. Top 2 look almost certainly City and Chelsea, though it pains me to say it, I can only see Chelsea winning the league bar some catastrophic injuries. I think it might be a long season for you, especially if Sturridge is out for a significant amount of time. That said it will probably be more enjoyable than my season!
 
Thought the pen was soft although the keeper was stupid.

Calmly taken by Gerrard though for his 342nd penalty for Liverpool ;)
 
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how is Ole Gunnar Solskjær still in charge at cardiff city the guy is clueless.the tactics and substitutions are mind boggling.he is a nice bloke but he isnt a very good manager
 
Falcao, Van Persie, Di Maria and Rooney all starting today. Could be interesting.
 
West Ham were excellent yesterday and really highlighted Liverpool's weaknesses.

It's a funny old game, few weeks back feeling sorry for Man Utd fans, but after today they should be above us in the league.
 
Gerrard was particularly bad yesterday. He resigns from International football but is still considered good/fit enough for 3 matches in 8 days....how does that work? Still, the Merseyside derby next week should be interesting!
 
strumstrum said:
greatest football match I have ever watched.
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Not sure I'd go that far but it was bonkers.

In terms of progress United looked much better than they have for a long time up to 3:1

The penalty to make it 3:2 was soft to say the least but from 3:2 onwards Leicester were superb and made United pay for their errors.

Not sue how much of City v Chelsea I'll get to see although hopefully it will be another exciting one.
 
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dinners said:
Not sure I'd go that far but it was bonkers.

In terms of progress United looked much better than they have for a long time up to 3:1

The penalty to make it 3:2 was soft to say the least but from 3:2 onwards Leicester were superb and made United pay for their errors.

Not sue how much of City v Chelsea I'll get to see although hopefully it will be another exciting one.
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I'm Foxes thru and thru Phil so my view is a little one sided... 1st penalty shouldn't have been as it was a clear foul on Rafael but of course I am glad it did happen as it totally changed the momentum of the game and as you say from 3:2 Leicester were superb.
 
johnnypanic said:
West Ham were excellent yesterday and really highlighted Liverpool's weaknesses.
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West Ham were very good. ;) They came out with a game plan, the Aston Villa game plan, ;) :LOL: that was working very well.

Kudos for Rodgers for seeing the problem early, and being decisive in making changes. Sadly, until Gerrard is one of the changes he considers changing, it may be a flawed strategy. Too many Liverpool players are not playing well, Gerrard, Balotelli, Borini, Sahko, but that is what can happen if you sign too many players in a short time. Maybe he is keeping Lambert for midweek, but he should have been on before Balotelli or Borini. :mad: He will at least give 100%, which is all I expect from Liverpool players. If they give 100%, but get beat by a better team, then so be it.

Just have to wait and see if they gel and come into form, hopefully sooner rather than later. :thinking:

Leicester v Utd game should be interesting tonight. :D

I see Balotelli was stupid enough to make a comment about Utd on Twitter. :rolleyes: Really no need. But then apart from the expected abuse in return, also had some racist comments hurled his way. Hopefully those people will be found and punished.
 
Something told me not to watch the United game this afternoon ... i suppose i'd better watch MOTD2 tonight though.
 
new2me said:
Something told me not to watch the United game this afternoon ... i suppose i'd better watch MOTD2 tonight though.
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Worth a watch - United played some good football despite the scoreline.
 
dinners said:
Worth a watch - United played some good football despite the scoreline.
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Always worth watching even when we dont play good. Leicester might have put away their 5 shots on target, but they showed us up a few other times too. We'll learn :D
 
Refreshing to see such a great set of fixtures taking place on a Saturday this weekend.

I wonder if that's down to Sky and the Ryder cup.
 
Great equaliser from Jagielka in the last minute of the Merseyside Derby. :clap:

Liverpool deserved the win, but if you only score one goal, that's what can happen. :rolleyes: :(

Utd finally give Shaw his debut, and have been forced to put an unknown 19 year old into defence. It'll be interesting to see if Utd's attack can keep West Ham busy enough at the other end to give the defence an easy day. Good goal from Rooney 5mins in.

Arsenal v Spurs should hopefully be a good game. :)
 
Seen reports, and on MotD and MotD Extra about people objecting to Rooney's sending off. :eek:

He lashed out and kicked someone on the thigh, so it was obviously dangerous play. Automatic sending off, no arguments.

So stupid, especially when there when there was no need for it. There's a difference between committing a 'professional foul', and a dangerous reckless kick of another player. A West Ham player did a tackle later in the game that was a cynical 'professional foul', but didn't involve kicking the player like Rooney, just a trip. It rightly received a Yellow Card, but the crowd were screaming for another Red. :rolleyes: They even clapped Rooney off for getting a Red Card, and putting his/their team in trouble. :eek: He's so lucky that they went on to win, or at least not lose.

Stuff like that is why I think he's not the right choice for being a Captain, of Utd or England. You may argue that he hasn't been sent off for a number of years, but he got away with something similar last season. He is always liable to snap. And someone who can't control his emotions is a liability, which people put up with because of the other things he gives the team, but to make someone with that type of personality a Captain too, is stupid imho.

Anyway, just my opinion, and something to discuss, as there is not much posting in this thread lately. :)

Some great goals over the weekend, but the Jagielka one for me was the best. Love the view from behind. :clap:
 
redhed17 said:
Stuff like that is why I think he's not the right choice for being a Captain, of Utd or England. You may argue that he hasn't been sent off for a number of years, but he got away with something similar last season. He is always liable to snap. And someone who can't control his emotions is a liability, which people put up with because of the other things he gives the team, but to make someone with that type of personality a Captain too, is stupid imho.

Anyway, just my opinion, and something to discuss, as there is not much posting in this thread lately. :)

Some great goals over the weekend, but the Jagielka one for me was the best. Love the view from behind. :clap:
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Was waiting for the anti Rooney bandwagon to appear!! He got sent off, wow, so he should not be captain? I remember some very good and successful captains in recent years like Viera and Keane who got sent off a number of times. In fact Viera saw red 10 times, Keown 5 and even Bergkamp 4 times (at Arsenal alone, don't remember people saying he had a problem)... Its the first time he has been sent off for a few years, especially at club level. Its like when the 'dirty arsenal' tag appears when we have a player sent off... 105th sending off under Wenger... well, he has been in charge for 18 years and 1000 games so its not that bad.
 
redhed17 said:
It rightly received a Yellow Card, but the crowd were screaming for another Red. :rolleyes: They even clapped Rooney off for getting a Red Card, and putting his/their team in trouble. :eek: He's so lucky that they went on to win, or at least not lose.
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You see the clapping off of sent-off players irrespective of what they have done all the time, no matter how stupid they have been, it's crazy. In fact when I see it at QPR it drives me nuts. That said based on the season so far we would be better off getting 4 players sent-off a game, taking the 3-0 loss and improve our goal difference.

I thought the Man Utd players were fairly disgraceful trying to get him sent-off, but I guess that's the game nowdays.

I would not have this as a reason for Rooney not to be captain, but he seems an un-natural choice to me for club or country. For me he is someone who could be a captain through his play and inspire that way, but not a captain in the true sense of the word. But what do I know?! (answers not required).
 
akr said:
You see the clapping off of sent-off players irrespective of what they have done all the time, no matter how stupid they have been, it's crazy. In fact when I see it at QPR it drives me nuts. That said based on the season so far we would be better off getting 4 players sent-off a game, taking the 3-0 loss and improve our goal difference.

I thought the Man Utd players were fairly disgraceful trying to get him sent-off, but I guess that's the game nowdays.

I would not have this as a reason for Rooney not to be captain, but he seems an un-natural choice to me for club or country. For me he is someone who could be a captain through his play and inspire that way, but not a captain in the true sense of the word. But what do I know?! (answers not required).
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There is no-one else for England captain. Not like the old days when u had Adams, ince and shearer in the same team.
 
What a shi@e performance 1st half. Why ffs are we playing with Milner, should have someone like the Ox playing or someone with some flair.
 
I often wonder how Milner gets in the England team every game, but I think he's seen as being "safe". In all fairness, I think he is better suited to the holding role than Wilshire. He can tackle, and he can be a blunt instrument when required. However, I think there are far better midfield players than Milner out there that don't even get a shout. Townsend looked good when he came on, but he's a bit one dimensional.....
 
Milner seems to take a lot of flack from people that don't see him play very often. His problem is that he can play anywhere and like a lot of players that can play in many different positions he suffers because of it. He isn't just a 'safe' holding player, he is bloody good going forward (left or right wing), tackles back, can play centre midfield and either full back position, and consistently has the highest number of km covered in matches. He played in four different positions recently in one game against Chelsea and was many people's man of the match whilst playing for the champions of England. This kid has been playing at the highest level since the age of 16 when he debuted in a decent Leeds team. For anyone interested have a read of Paul Scholes' article in yesterdays Independent. He made a point of saying that "every team should have a James Milner in it". He went on to say that he is a player that fellow professionals really value but that rarely gets any credit. I cannot recall him ever being on the wrong pages of the tabloids and the only time I see him seeking publicity is for the charity foundation that he set up a few years ago. I am slightly biased being a City fan but he is very popular with the City faithful who rate him quite highly.

Chris
 
I think Milner is a very good player. He always plays to a consistently high level when given a chance for club and country. He's obviously winning things at Cit€h, and you would expect be on a wedge of cash, but he should play more games at his age now. I wouldn't mind him at Liverpool. :)

Saying all that, he is no holding midfielder. ;)
 
redhed17 said:
I think Milner is a very good player. He always plays to a consistently high level when given a chance for club and country. He's obviously winning things at Cit€h, and you would expect be on a wedge of cash, but he should play more games at his age now. I wouldn't mind him at Liverpool. :)

Saying all that, he is no holding midfielder. ;)
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But that's just it, he doesn't excel anywhere. He's just "safe" when you have nobody else to do that job. Being a Gooner, I remember when Flamini was exactly the same, could do everything but was special at nothing (now he specialises in red & yellow cards)...
 
redhed17 said:
I think Milner is a very good player. He always plays to a consistently high level when given a chance for club and country. He's obviously winning things at Cit€h, and you would expect be on a wedge of cash, but he should play more games at his age now. I wouldn't mind him at Liverpool. :)

Saying all that, he is no holding midfielder. ;)
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Milner is a good player and someone I would have in the squad but to start against San Marino in a holding role?

Roy has to go! Totally clueless. Why play a packed midfield? Against poor teams you need to stretch the game, play people on the flanks. It was crying out for Townsend and Ox to be on the flanks, with Wiltshire and Henderson in the middle. How Delph got in ahead of Ox is beyond me.

Drop baines too, awful in World Cup and would rather see Gibbs or shaw there.
 
Have to agree on Baines, and I thought the whole team looked much more dynamic against San Marino.
 
Jelster said:
Have to agree on Baines, and I thought the whole team looked much more dynamic against San Marino.
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Well, if you can't look dynamic against San Marino, there really is no hope.
 
Steve Bruce, I think you need to take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror mate. I have never seen such a disgusting display of "anti-football" as Hull put on at the Emirates today.

Feigning injuries, blatant time wasting and doing anything to stop a game of football being played. And you said you were "Very proud of the display" when interviewed. You don't deserve to manage a kids team let alone in the Premiership.

Yes, Arsenal were not at their best, but that was exactly what the sport doesn't need, even worse than the Pulis Stoke City in my opinion....
 
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