The English Football Thread

[Atomiswave 6,072]

https://www.goal.com/en/news/hasenhuttl-perfect-audition-replace-solskjaer-or-lampard/1oc8k3gwtzgts1wrd0c2o4jydn

https://www.goal.com/en/news/man-utd-block-lindelof-sweden-squad-coronavirus-denmark/2o2lwom2cfiw1ozkpfitbqjjs

[Blue Armour 4,158]

44 minutes ago, Jason said:

Players' union adds to pressure for five substitutions in Premier League - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/09/players-union-add-to-pressure-for-premier-league-vote-on-five-substitutions-football

Those lesser Premier League sides are really idiots and ignorant. 

Also to add to my previous post. Think its a matter of when, rather than if, they implement the 5 sub rule.

When it happens, we ought to consider recalling one of Barkley or RLC back from loan.

[Tomo 21,681]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Arteta's problem right now seems to be the opposite of Lampard's right now or what Lampard used to have (hope the recent improvement isn't a false dawn).

Arteta looks capable of setting up Arsenal to be defensively sound and with a defined structure way of playing (one might say it's too structured based on recent evidence!) but makes them too blunt in attack while Lampard is/was incapable of setting us up to be defensively solid, have little to no structure but makes us decent going forward.

He also plays players out of position in ways i've never seen before. The only real frustration we have with Lampard in that regard is Mount sometimes on the wing. Arteta has off the top of my head played Willian upfront (LOL), Willock on the wing, Auba permanently on the wing, Tierney at CB, AMN and Saka LWB. Not to mention a series of strange decisions like dropping Lacazette when he was on a hot streak, freezing out their only creative source, bringing Mustafi out of exile, preffering him to the supposed Mbappe of CB's Saliba AND offering him a new deal (could you imagine the carnage if Lampard did that with our equivalent Drinkwater freezing out Gilmour in the process), playing Belerin, selling Martinez etc...

Also on a separate note the Arsenal situation is exactly why i've been so pro only 1 year extension to over 30's, Auba and Willian look like they are badly bottoming out and Arsenal are stuck with them for years.

[Tomo 21,681]

 

2-0 down at home to Villa and sitting deeper than us in Nou Camp 2012  

[Atomiswave 6,072]

44 minutes ago, Tomo said:

 

2-0 down at home to Villa and sitting deeper than us in Nou Camp 2012  

Damn thats an ugly posture to have at home being 2 down, he is very very defensive, too defensive for comfort.

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, Blue Armour said:

Like Klopp/Pep said, its a lack of leadership from Richard Masters.

Why is this topic even subject to a vote?

They should just go ahead and enforce it. 

Exactly. Their argument that 'having 5 subs benefits the bigger clubs' may be true but that is also stupid and ignorant because the point here is to protect the players' wellbeing - physically and mentally - more than anything else. Other leagues as well as the Champions League and Europa League have the rule in place with next to no protest whatsoever and yet, the Premier League smaller clubs are making noise about it.  

Furthermore, it's not like the smaller clubs play the bigger clubs every single week. They will be playing teams in and around them most of the time and these teams have similar level of resources. And those clubs that objected against having 5 subs are also hypocrites. When the season restarted last season in June, majority of them agreed to the rule because they had to play every 3-4 days. Now that we are sort of back to a normal schedule, especially for the smaller sides where they only play once a week, those sides objected against it. It's stupid, especially when injuries are higher than ever and it's not like the 5 subs rule has made the sport worse either. I see managers like Dean Smith said he objected against the 5 subs because it benefits the bigger clubs but am sure if he had been in the other position, managing one of the bigger clubs, he would have been complaining about "why aren't we having 5 subs!?". All these clubs only care for whatever dumb agenda they have and not the players.  

[Blue Armour 4,158]

52 minutes ago, Jason said:

Exactly. Their argument that 'having 5 subs benefits the bigger clubs' may be true but that is also stupid and ignorant because the point here is to protect the players' wellbeing - physically and mentally - more than anything else. Other leagues as well as the Champions League and Europa League have the rule in place with next to no protest whatsoever and yet, the Premier League smaller clubs are making noise about it.  

Furthermore, it's not like the smaller clubs play the bigger clubs every single week. They will be playing teams in and around them most of the time and these teams have similar level of resources. And those clubs that objected against having 5 subs are also hypocrites. When the season restarted last season in June, majority of them agreed to the rule because they had to play every 3-4 days. Now that we are sort of back to a normal schedule, especially for the smaller sides where they only play once a week, those sides objected against it. It's stupid, especially when injuries are higher than ever and it's not like the 5 subs rule has made the sport worse either. I see managers like Dean Smith said he objected against the 5 subs because it benefits the bigger clubs but am sure if he had been in the other position, managing one of the bigger clubs, he would have been complaining about "why aren't we having 5 subs!?". All these clubs only care for whatever dumb agenda they have and not the players.  

Its just dumb. All the other major leagues in Europe have enforced the 5 sub rule.

Plus the bigger teams have to contend with European fixtures and players going away on international duty. 

[Tomo 21,681]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Exactly. Their argument that 'having 5 subs benefits the bigger clubs' may be true but that is also stupid and ignorant because the point here is to protect the players' wellbeing - physically and mentally - more than anything else. Other leagues as well as the Champions League and Europa League have the rule in place with next to no protest whatsoever and yet, the Premier League smaller clubs are making noise about it.  

Furthermore, it's not like the smaller clubs play the bigger clubs every single week. They will be playing teams in and around them most of the time and these teams have similar level of resources. And those clubs that objected against having 5 subs are also hypocrites. When the season restarted last season in June, majority of them agreed to the rule because they had to play every 3-4 days. Now that we are sort of back to a normal schedule, especially for the smaller sides where they only play once a week, those sides objected against it. It's stupid, especially when injuries are higher than ever and it's not like the 5 subs rule has made the sport worse either. I see managers like Dean Smith said he objected against the 5 subs because it benefits the bigger clubs but am sure if he had been in the other position, managing one of the bigger clubs, he would have been complaining about "why aren't we having 5 subs!?". All these clubs only care for whatever dumb agenda they have and not the players.  

The ironic thing is it probably benefits the lesser sides just as much.

Firstly, apart from the odd 1/2 star players the squads lower down the league are pretty average, which means replacing them with their compatriot doesn't give much of a difference, take Burnley for example, apart from Pope and maybe McNeil, are the alternatives in each position that much of a downgrade on the players that start? I remember Wolves (when they were shit under Mick McCarthy) made 11 changes for a match against United and there wasn't really much if any gulf in quality compared to their first choice team atall.

Secondly, if clubs like Burnley are playing shit house backs to the walls to try and get a 0-0 or cling onto a narrow win, an extra two players that are physically and most important (for that type of tactics) mentally fresh could be huge.

[Stats 6,980]

On 11/9/2020 at 7:00 PM, Tomo said:

He also plays players out of position in ways i've never seen before. The only real frustration we have with Lampard in that regard is Mount sometimes on the wing. Arteta has off the top of my head played Willian upfront (LOL), Willock on the wing, Auba permanently on the wing, Tierney at CB, AMN and Saka LWB. Not to mention a series of strange decisions like dropping Lacazette when he was on a hot streak, freezing out their only creative source, bringing Mustafi out of exile, preffering him to the supposed Mbappe of CB's Saliba AND offering him a new deal (could you imagine the carnage if Lampard did that with our equivalent Drinkwater freezing out Gilmour in the process), playing Belerin, selling Martinez etc...

Also on a separate note the Arsenal situation is exactly why i've been so pro only 1 year extension to over 30's, Auba and Willian look like they are badly bottoming out and Arsenal are stuck with them for years.

Yeah, agreed tbh. I am not really a fan of Lacazatte. He has dropped off hugely, however he scored like what 3 league games in a row for them and then was suddenly benched against Sheffield United in the league and did not even come on. Also apart from Fulham and United, their other 2 wins in the league, they have been so unconvincing. West Ham should have got something out that game and Sheffield United arguably should have too. Saliba was bought for £27m and has not even been given a chance. Imagine if this was Emery, the stick he would be getting...

Sometimes sticking to a winning team can be good, but sometimes it can work the complete opposite and when I saw they put the same team they played against United against Villa, I was already licking my lips. There was no creativity and it was the wrong move. It is almost like they paid Villa too much respect.

Auba scored many goals from the wing last season but apart from the second half where he puts Auba up front, he never starts Auba from the beginning up front and it baffles me. Nkeitah and Lacazette are just not good enough to be starting as their main CF and Auba needs to be given a run of games there. I still wouldnt be surprised if he ends up around 20 goals or so come end of season.

Martinez, is not a bad sell tbh. I know a lot of fans maybe would have said keep Martinez instead of Leno but with them looking to generate funds, it made no sense having a keeper who they could get that amount of money for on the bench, if they could invest in other areas of the team but for me Martinez looks more complete than Leno, but I understand why they sold him for money they received.

I remember when Emery first came and there was so much hype about him, then suddenly hype goes off and flaws are recognized. Seems a story of de-ja-vu albeit Arteta is getting a lot more patience than Emery and been forgiven for some ludicrous decisions.

[communicate 2,703]

12 hours ago, Tomo said:

He also plays players out of position in ways i've never seen before. The only real frustration we have with Lampard in that regard is Mount sometimes on the wing. Arteta has off the top of my head played Willian upfront (LOL), Willock on the wing, Auba permanently on the wing, Tierney at CB, AMN and Saka LWB. Not to mention a series of strange decisions like dropping Lacazette when he was on a hot streak, freezing out their only creative source, bringing Mustafi out of exile, preffering him to the supposed Mbappe of CB's Saliba AND offering him a new deal (could you imagine the carnage if Lampard did that with our equivalent Drinkwater freezing out Gilmour in the process), playing Belerin, selling Martinez etc...

Also on a separate note the Arsenal situation is exactly why i've been so pro only 1 year extension to over 30's, Auba and Willian look like they are badly bottoming out and Arsenal are stuck with them for years.

Pep school of football, it only work if you have either complete player or maniac of a coach aka bielsa otherwise it is juat stupid. 

[Jase 43,479]

16 hours ago, Jason said:

Exactly. Their argument that 'having 5 subs benefits the bigger clubs' may be true but that is also stupid and ignorant because the point here is to protect the players' wellbeing - physically and mentally - more than anything else. Other leagues as well as the Champions League and Europa League have the rule in place with next to no protest whatsoever and yet, the Premier League smaller clubs are making noise about it.  

Furthermore, it's not like the smaller clubs play the bigger clubs every single week. They will be playing teams in and around them most of the time and these teams have similar level of resources. And those clubs that objected against having 5 subs are also hypocrites. When the season restarted last season in June, majority of them agreed to the rule because they had to play every 3-4 days. Now that we are sort of back to a normal schedule, especially for the smaller sides where they only play once a week, those sides objected against it. It's stupid, especially when injuries are higher than ever and it's not like the 5 subs rule has made the sport worse either. I see managers like Dean Smith said he objected against the 5 subs because it benefits the bigger clubs but am sure if he had been in the other position, managing one of the bigger clubs, he would have been complaining about "why aren't we having 5 subs!?". All these clubs only care for whatever dumb agenda they have and not the players.  

This is exactly what I meant when these smaller clubs are just sticking to their own agenda and not looking at the bigger picture...

https://global.espn.com/football/english-premier-league/story/4231377/reintroducing-five-substitutes-would-hurt-premier-league-integrity-sheffield-united-ceo

"Any change of rules midseason will clearly affect the integrity of the league ... The 20 clubs have voted not once but twice to reject five subs. The bigger clubs managed to find a way to have the vote held a second time and again they lost.

"So far this season, clubs playing in Europe have endured a similar workload to clubs in the Championship and we don't hear them complaining, do we? Here at Bramall Lane, we have not seen an increase in muscle injuries."

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Jase 43,479]

Van Dijk, TAA and now Gomez...

 

[Strike 6,958]

Liverpool might still find a way to cope. Something like this at Chelsea would end our season hopes 

[Jase 43,479]

5 minutes ago, Strike said:

Liverpool might still find a way to cope. Something like this at Chelsea would end our season hopes 

Will it? The quality varies but at least we have enough backup options in terms of numbers across the defence.

But Liverpool? At this rate, they are gonna have to play their youth team backline. If I'm not mistaken, a 34-year-old James Milner came on to replace TAA last weekend. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,194]

Reports its pretty serious too. Gomez injury. 

It's Liverpool. So I particularly don't give a flying fuck. However, its madness isn't it. The fact we have internationals in this congested season, AND having only 3 subs whilst the rest of the world has 5. 

Completely unjust. 

[chelsea_4_eva 1,137]

Well they did vote against the 5 subs and now are taking it back and want to have those 5 subs rule, its a whole mess.

[Jase 43,479]

11 minutes ago, chelsea_4_eva said:

Well they did vote against the 5 subs and now are taking it back and want to have those 5 subs rule, its a whole mess.

It was mostly the smaller clubs who voted against it. The rule needed 14 out of the 20 clubs to vote for it.