The English Football Thread

[Atomiswave 6,072]

I sent this to a pool friend just to wind him up, trust me he had it coming 😂

WTH why cant I post pics anymore? Anyway its a pic of 6 fingers ( the position they find themselves in )

[Vesper 28,366]

That point of the season where every Big Cup match really matters    Neymar feels the pain. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters Barry Glendenning  @bglendenning Following 96 group games played ostensibly to get rid of Manchester United, Inter and Ajax, as well as the 13 other also-rans nobody gave a snowball’s chance in hell of qualifying for the knockout stages, hurrah for that point of the season where every Big Cup match really matters and watching is invariably a pleasure rather than an often dreary ordeal. Despite speculation that jeopardy might be increased by reducing knockout ties to potentially riotous one-legged white-knuckle rides for reasons pertaining to Covid, Uefa have decided to crack on with the usual format with a few minor but necessary and potentially controversial tweaks. The faintly ludicrous upshot? Travel restrictions in certain European countries mean Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City could all conceivably sneak into the last eight on away goals, despite playing opponents who are being forced to play their home legs against English opponents in neutral venues far away from their actual homes. Having made the 400-mile trip to Budapest to “host” Liverpool tonight, RB Leipzig can be reasonably confident of getting a result against a team whose domestic title defence has spectacularly hit the skids. Managed by the confident young German clothes horse Julian Nagelsmann, whose controversial trousers were the talk of last season’s Big Cup, Leipzig are hoping to emulate their semi-final appearance of a year ago. “He’s a big, big coaching talent,” said Nagelsmann’s compatriot and fellow gegenpressing enthusiast Jürgen Klopp. “We don’t know each other very well but I’ve followed his way because I like good football. He’s not the only one but he’s a good example of a lot of really good young managers in Germany.” Meanwhile in Barcelona, mischievous locals spent the night setting off fireworks outside the Paris Saint-Germain team hotel in a bid to prevent their side’s opponents from getting a good night’s kip ahead of their potential firecracker of an encounter. “It’s our clear objective to win [Big Cup] and we understand the responsibility and the excitement,” yawned Mauricio Pochettino, as a Big Bomb Sky Rocket screamed past his ear. If PSG are to avenge their famous 2017 Big Cup bottle-job in Barcelona, they will have to do so without Neymar, who looks certain to miss both legs against his former club with knack. “The sadness is huge, the pain is immense, and the weeping is constant,” wrote the tearful Brazilian in a melodramatic FaceSpace post. “For a while, I will once again have to stop doing the thing I most love in life, which is playing football. I dribble and I get hit constantly. It makes me very sad. It makes me very sad to have to listen to a player, a coach, a commentator or whoever the hell it is say ‘they have to kick him’, ‘he dives’, ‘cry-baby’ ‘spoilt kid’, etc. It saddens me and I don’t know how much longer I can take it. I just want to be happy playing football. NOTHING ELSE.” Here’s hoping his mood has improved by the end of the second leg, or his sister’s latest birthday, which falls the following day, could be quite the damp squib. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE! Join Nick Ames for hot Big Cup coverage RB Leipzig 1-1 Liverpool and join Rob Smyth for the rollercoaster ride of Barcelona 3-3 PSG RECOMMENDED VOTING The Guardian, Football Weekly, The Fiver, David Conn, Jonathan Liew and Suzanne Wrack have all been nominated at the FSA Awards. Voting is open this week. Vote now! Vote Fiver!  If these cute animals could vote, they’d vote for the Fiver. If the Fiver were nominated. Which it isn’t. And they can’t. Photograph: Tierfotoagentur/Alamy Stock Photo QUOTE OF THE DAY “I decided after this season [I want] to do something new, to leave the club . It was no easy decision because I have been here for 13 years and this club is close to my heart” – David Alaba puts Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool on red alert. Well, maybe just Real Madrid. FIVER LETTERS “Carlo doesn’t need to buy a big new safe [yesterday’s Fiver]. What he needs is a lifesize cardboard picture of his assistant Big D next to a sign saying: ‘I live here.’ Back in the day burglars broke into Big D’s house, apparently he heard a noise and went downstairs. The word was that it was the burglars who called the Feds” – Steve Roberts. “I am less than impressed that players from The Pope’s Newc O’Rangers might have been caught at a Glasgow house party after the Saturday match. In the 1960s my father – a detective in the Glasgow Polis – busted a tenement brothel in the Maryhill area and found one of the more famous players from said team drunk in the kitchen (and in his underpants) at three o’clock on the Saturday morning. He was playing 12 hours later and nothing in the match reports (my father checked!) suggested any deterioration in his performance – at Ibrox” – Roger Sigrist. Send your letters to [email protected]. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day prize is … Roger Sigrist. RECOMMENDED LOOKING David Squires dons his wetsuit and plunges into the cyber cesspool of social media.   NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Arsenal will remind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of his responsibilities after Insta footage revealed he had received some new ink from tattooist Alejandro Nicolas “Painless” Bernal. James McClean has been offered support by the Football Association of Ireland after he and his wife Erin revealed the extent of sectarian abuse he has been receiving on social media. It’s Atlético Madrid for Chelsea and Fiorentina for Manchester City in the last-16 draw of the Women’s Champions League. Mason Greenwood has signed a new four-year contract to stay at Manchester’s Big Red until 2025. “There is so much that I want to achieve in the game and I know that this is the perfect environment to play my football,” he chirruped. STILL WANT MORE? Marco van Basten, Falcão and Kev Nolan feature in the latest edition of the Joy of Six – half a dozen goals where the co-creator literally didn’t have a kick. Get your Big Cup last-16 previews and predictions for this week’s ties here. One of the five RB Leipzig players Nick Ames suggests Liverpool should beware in the Big Cup is Peter Gulásci, a goalkeeper brought to Anfield under Rafa Benítez, who sat on the bench under Mr Roy and Brendan, but never played a game for the club. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! GOODBYE CELESTIAL CLOUD. GOODBYE NEPTUNE SEAS.

[Vesper 28,366]

2020-21 English Premier League

Everton                               
Manchester City                 

http://www.sportnews.to/mysports/2021/premier-league-everton-vs-manchester-city-s4/#!

https://www.totalsportek.com/page-4/

[Atomiswave 6,072]

So the so called experts are claiming that City is the best team to ever grace EPL......just months ago it was pool that were the best, you gotta laugh.

[NikkiCFC 7,900]

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,281]

I agree. Taking the knee will do nothing. As if racists will all of a sudden just stop being racist. 

[Atomiswave 6,072]

I said the same the other day, bending the knee is a disgrace and will do jack shit as you well can see.

[Vesper 28,366]

Friday February 19 2021 Football Nerd

Why the Merseyside derby is the most combustible in English football By Daniel Zeqiri The Merseyside derby is English football's most intimate local rivalry yet also its most combustible. No fixture in Premier League history has produced more red cards than Liverpool vs Everton, and this season's first meeting at Goodison Park was full of controversy. Purists have complained that penalties and red cards have been thrown about like confetti this season by over-eager officials and intrusive technology. It is official: this season's average of 0.35 penalties per game is the highest of the Premier League era. More penalties have been awarded so far this season than in nine Premier League campaigns in their entirety. However, contrary to popular belief, there have been relatively few red cards this season. Only seven Premier League campaigns have a lower ratio of red cards to game. I analyse the data in this week's Football Nerd, and ask if we can expect another Merseyside derby full of incident.   A Telegraph Sport subscription is only £1.50 a week, or £39 for 12 months   Get unlimited access   The best of this week's coverage Talisman: Bruno Fernandes is the closest Manchester United have come to finding another Eric Cantona, writes Luke Edwards Exclusive interview: Fikayo Tomori on Chelsea axe, Zoom calls with Maldini and how he won over Zlatan at Milan Big debate: Why is the England women's football team so white? Comment: David Moyes has beaten Jose Mourinho to manager of the year before - but this time he would deserve it Crisis club: How a hapless manager and a silent owner sent Ipswich Town into a spiral 'When games become stretched - like the frantic finale at Leicester last weekend - Thiago struggles. '   In his column this week, Jamie Carragher says Thiago Alcantara has looked luxurious with the ball and a liability without it for Liverpool     This week's best stat   18 Champions League goals scored by Erling Haaland, all before his 21st birthday. For perspective, Lionel Messi and Raul scored eight Champions League goals before that milestone.     The week in a picture   Back in the groove: Gareth Bale showed flashes of form with an excellent goal and assist for Spurs against Wolfsberger in the Europa League.     Newsletter Panel As a valued newsletter reader, we would like to invite you to join our Newsletter Panel. It’s a chance to have your say on what you think of our newsletters, and to be entered into a monthly prize draw when you participate in discussions and polls. If you are interested in joining please follow this link. After more? We have some excellent newsletters for you. Try our Cricket Nerd or Rugby Nerd newsletters for free. Get in touch Do you like the Football Nerd? Do you have a topic suggestion for next week? Send feedback to [email protected] If you have any problems with this newsletter, please visit our help page. If you have questions about your Telegraph subscription, including delivery issues or technical queries, please visit this page

[Vesper 28,366]

1 hour ago, Atomiswave said:

I said the same the other day, bending the knee is a disgrace and will do jack shit as you well can see.

how the fuck is it a disgrace???

seriously, wtf!  🤬

[Vesper 28,366]

2020-21 English Premier League

Wolverhampton Wanderers     
Leeds United                              

http://www.sportnews.to/mysports/2021/premier-league-wolverhampton-wanderers-vs-leeds-united-s1/#!

https://www.totalsportek.com/page-3/

[Vesper 28,366]

Jordan Pickford coming like a boulder from an Indiana Jones movie    Definitely a scene from the first Merseyside derby of the season. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive Scott Murray SATURDAY NIGHT’S ALRIGHT FOR FIGHTING It’s the second Merseyside derby of the season on Saturday. You can be forgiven for forgetting what happened in the first one, what with this strange concertinaed season, the hectic schedule, the lockdown, the days and matches melding into one, the misery, the comfort eating, the drink, all that. It also doesn’t help that nobody ever refers back to the game in question, perhaps melodramatically framing it in terms of season-jiggering savagery, or refereeing atrocity that wholly justifies the subsequent Blackburnesque title defence. At least we’ve heard no word. So to jog the memory, at Goodison back in October, Jordan Pickford came at Virgil van Dijk like a boulder in an Indiana Jones movie, Jordan Henderson had a late winner disallowed because Sadio Mané forgot to file his toenails the night before, and Richarlison launched himself at Thiago with a rabid intensity that even $tevie Mbe would baulk at. Fair to say, then, that Liverpool may have issues for which they will be seeking closure. Throw in the fact that Everton are desperate to end an 11-year wait for victory in the derby, and we’ve got ourselves two cats in a bag. Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend Read more It’s at this point you’d expect the managers to pour oil on troubled waters. And to be fair, Jürgen Klopp has categorically promised that “nothing will be carried over” from Goodison. However, he followed that up with this sequence of glorious contradictions: “A week later, two or three when we got the diagnosis for Virgil van Dijk, it is good we didn’t play Everton straight away again, let me say it like this. But that’s long gone. Now we just don’t think about it.” Does that sound like the group have compartmentalised everything to you? The Fiver certainly isn’t 100% sure, and will be tuning in to tally the number of people involved in the bench-emptying homage to George Graham’s Arsenal, instigated at a corner when someone tries to slyly give Pickford a hot ear. Of course, nobody wants to see it, least of all The Fiver. Won’t somebody think of the kids? LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE Join Scott Murray for hot MBM coverage of Wolves 0-0 Leeds in the Premier League from 8pm GMT. QUOTE OF THE DAY “I’m a Milan fan and he’s an Inter fan, so for us it was already a derby doing this mural with four hands belonging to two different teams. Our message is definitely a positive one. We hope that this mural can also encourage these champions towards a peaceful encounter in front of the mural” – artist Stefania Marchetto talks about the San Siro mural, created with Marco Mantovani, which shows Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic coming together in the kind of scenes that nobody wants to see, again least of all The Fiver. The teams meet again on Sunday.  San Siro, earlier. Photograph: Daniel Dal Zennaro/EPA FIVER LETTERS “The Fiver is only interested in competitions that Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool might (not) win, so it comes as no surprise that there was no mention of a much more important cup game that took place on Tuesday evening: the semi-final of the Papa John’s Trophy [is this a nickname we came up with that finally stuck? – Fiver Ed]. The mighty Oxford United were humiliated by League Two Tranmere Rovers, who are the third side of the Mersey (the other two being Everton and Everton Women). There was no report of the match on Big Website. But surely the fact that Rovers will grace Wembley for the fourth time in five years is, I think, worthy of mention” – Joy Clancy. “Reading about Spurs’ Big Vase tie versus Austrian village side Wolfsberger, not Bundesliga giants Wolfsburg, brings back memories of pre-pandemic away travel, when two Liverpool fans erroneously bought travel and tickets to Gent, not Genk, only to arrive at a dark and empty stadium in deepest Flanders. Imagine if they had a 10-day hotel quarantine thrown in today” – Steve Lewis. Send your letters to [email protected]. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day prize is … Joy Clancy. RECOMMENDED VOTING The Guardian, Football Weekly, The Fiver, David Conn, Jonathan Liew and Suzanne Wrack have all been nominated at the FSA Awards. Voting is open this week. Vote now! Vote Fiver! NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Poor Terence Kongolo is in the deep stuff after a surprise birthday shindig was thrown for the Fulham player, breaking lockdown rules. “It’s not acceptable,” sniffed boss Scott Parker. “The people who have planned this have put him in a very vulnerable position. It’s something that we will deal with as a football club in-house and that’s the nuts of it, really.”  A belated happy birthday to Terence. Photograph: Matt West/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock Athletic Bilbao’s first-team squad have agreed to an 8.43% salary reduction because of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic. “The step forward taken by the players, the second in less than 10 months, shows an exercising of responsibility and loyalty to our institution and its members,” said the club. Lots of buzzwords have clearly been thrown around behind the scenes at Morecambe, who have announced “an exciting new vision and strategy” at the League Two club under the banner of “Goodbye Little Old Morecambe”. Ryan Shawcross is headed for the USA! USA!! USA!!! after his 14-year spell with Stoke City was brought to an end. “He feels the time is right to explore new opportunities and leaves with our very best wishes,” cheered chief suit Tony Scholes. And Tottenham boss José Mourinho is still dialled in on making the top four this season, despite a run of three wins in 12 Premier League games. “It’s very premature to think about the table,” he cooed. “People still have matches in hand. In our case, we played already two matches against Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City. There are other teams that didn’t even play a second game against one of the top teams.” STILL WANT MORE? Jonathan Liew on that new Pelé film and how the Brazilian became more myth than man.  Shiny. Composite: Getty Images/Rex/Bettmann Archive Manchester City’s Alex Greenwood and Ellen White on the “brilliant, unbelievable mentality” of their USA! USA!! USA!!! World Cup-winning teammates and their impact on England. With Mee-lan and Inter facing off this weekend, Sam Brookes basks in five of the best goals the derby has thrown up this century. Premier League. This weekend. Ten things. You know the drill. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! ‘WATCHED A FIGHT BETWEEN AN ARTSY COUPLE ESCALATE’

[Vesper 28,366]

Wednesday February 17 2021 Matt Law's Chelsea briefing

Chelsea need to set out to win Champions League, not just make money from it By Matt Law, Football News Correspondent It has been seven long years since Chelsea last progressed further than the last 16 of the Champions League. Atletico Madrid knocked Chelsea out at the semi-final stage in 2014 and since then they have been eliminated in each of their four last-16 ties. In the seven years before their last semi-final appearance, Chelsea had reached two finals, winning the tournament in 2012, two semi-finals and a quarter-final. So it’s high time Chelsea got past the first knockout stage and proved that the Champions League is a competition they set out to win, rather than to make money from. It should be noted that they have not been fortunate with their draws, having been knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain, twice, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but Chelsea have not been competitive in Europe’s top competition for too long. Thomas Tuchel faces a tough task to become the first head coach since Jose Mourinho to get past the last-16 with Chelsea, as La Liga leaders Atletico lie in wait. Next Tuesday’s trip to face Atletico in Bucharest represents the first big challenge of Tuchel’s reign and progression over the two legs would no doubt be seen as a major success. Atletico have lost only one La Liga game all season, although they were also thrashed 4-0 by Bayern in the Champions League group stages. Bayern brushed Chelsea aside – 7-1 on aggregate – at this stage last season on their way to winning the Champions League and the Germans are once again the favourites to go all the way. Chelsea can take encouragement from the fact they are a team in form since Tuchel’s arrival and success in the Champions League owes much to timing as they proved themselves in 2012 under then interim manager Roberto Di Matteo. Atletico have also, much to their dismay, lost home advantage because of the coronavirus travel restrictions which should benefit Chelsea, even if there will be no home crowd in the return leg at Stamford Bridge. The big unknown for Chelsea is how their inexperienced players – many of whom are unproven at this level – will perform in the most cut-throat of environments. Timo Werner will not be able to afford to miss two great chances before taking one, as he did against Newcastle United, while the defence can be sure that even the slightest of mistakes at the back will be punished. Tuchel, though, has Champions League pedigree, having guided PSG to last season’s final, and it will be interesting to see whether or not he sticks with what has worked in the Premier League or comes up with something special in Europe. In terms of whether or not his squad are in the best possible form to face Atletico, Tuchel said: “You need to ask me next Monday. We will be prepared and, hopefully, I will tell you that we are well prepared. We will do everything to go through but you know very well that Atletico are top of the league and are by far the top of the league in Spain. They are one of the toughest teams in Spain and are still a challenge. It is a two-match elimination as you know well. “We will focus on Southampton and the best way to arrive in the Champions League with a good performance. Hopefully another win, we will see on Monday who we can count on and who is ready to play. “We are self-confident enough to say we play these two games to get to the next round but it will be super hard.” For a club so consumed by winning under owner Roman Abramovich, Chelsea need to stop accepting second best in Europe.

[Atomiswave 6,072]

17 hours ago, Vesper said:

how the fuck is it a disgrace???

seriously, wtf!  🤬

That came out wrong Vesper, what I meant was it shoudnt be going on forever.

[Vesper 28,366]

2020-21 English Premier League

Burnley                                
West Bromwich Albion      

http://www.sportnews.to/mysports/2021/premier-league-burnley-vs-west-bromwich-albion-s1/#!

https://www.totalsportek.com/page-4/

[Laylabelle 9,341]

Dont expect Liverpool to drop points again..though still be in 4th depending how many goals they score...somehow

Edited February 20, 2021 by Laylabelle

[Azul 1,615]

Don Carlo we need you!!!

[Vesper 28,366]

2020-21 English Premier League

Liverpool              
Everton                 

http://www.sportnews.to/mysports/2021/premier-league-liverpool-vs-everton-s1/#!

https://www.totalsportek.com/page-3/

[Milan 17,849]

Everton lead!