The English Football Thread

[DDA 9,690]

My mate supports The Hammers and said they have some big injuries after yesterday. Rice is definitely out for upto 4 weeks. He said Antonio's out too and maybe Soucek 

Wouldn't worry about them.

I'd be more worried about Liverpool and Spurs.

[Strike 7,217]

18 minutes ago, DDA said:

My mate supports The Hammers and said they have some big injuries after yesterday. Rice is definitely out for upto 4 weeks. He said Antonio's out too and maybe Soucek 

Wouldn't worry about them.

I'd be more worried about Liverpool and Spurs.

Same - not too worried about this West Ham team being 4th. Think they won't be amassing 20 points in the last 8 games. We're looking at Liverpool or Spurs as direct rivals.

[Magic Lamps 11,653]

8 hours ago, Vesper said:

West Ham United fans will be closer to the pitch after London Stadium’s new ‘squared-off’ seating is completed

https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/london-stadium-new-seating-configuration-completed-3267594

Yeah but the stadium still is round so by construction they are not as close tothe ground as with a rectangular one

[chippy 342]

3 hours ago, Strike said:

Same - not too worried about this West Ham team being 4th. Think they won't be amassing 20 points in the last 8 games. We're looking at Liverpool or Spurs as direct rivals.

Liverpool are playing well again and I think they'll finish above us.

I see our best chance is actually finishing above Leicester, who we''ve still got to play at home.

[Azul 1,615]

On 04/04/2021 at 22:29, Magic Lamps said:

what did happen to fifa tho? Sepp Blagger got sort of axed and then the next egghead carries on the same kind of corruption. You can not cure it unless there is a fair, transparent and democratic ruling body in place.

True true

[Laylabelle 9,351]

2 hours ago, chippy said:

Liverpool are playing well again and I think they'll finish above us.

I see our best chance is actually finishing above Leicester, who we''ve still got to play at home.

Shame that game is the 2nd to last. Especially if its still 5 points going into it. Which hopefully it won't be. Do think Liverpool will jump us though. See what Chelsea side turns up this weekend 

[Jase 43,479]

On TAA's defending...

 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Vesper 28,779]

Arsenal and an increasingly long line of slapstick performances    Arsenal running and kicking, earlier. Photograph: David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images Barry Glendenning  @bglendenning OUR VASE RUNNETH OVER With just eight of the original eleventy hundred and a million entrants left in Big Vase, it won’t be long now until the wider public start taking interest in this season’s competition. But seeing as Manchester United and Arsenal will have both exited the tournament by the time Ajax take on Dinamo Zagreb in May’s final, The Fiver considered it prudent to swing by Europe’s second-tier competition to see what’s going on regarding the remaining English clubs right now. Manchester United are in picturesque Granada for the first leg of their quarter-final, facing humble Spanish opponents who they should swat aside with a minimum of fuss. In the same way Napoli will feel they should have two rounds ago, only to find themselves ignominiously dumped out by comparative paupers who, in one of the biggest games in their history, struggled to field 11 players after their dressing-room was ravaged by knack, suspensions and the plague. Having originally considered themselves to be in Big Vase for a good time, Granada now mean business.“This international break has been glorious for us,” Roberto Soldado, told The Fiver’s ham garage-owning, castanets-clacking, siesta-taking Spanish cousin El Sid Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa Fiver over a traditional socially distanced 2am dinner of patatas bravas, kalamari in garlic and chorizo. “Rest a bit and train hard: the ‘petrol’ we’re putting into our legs for these last two months.” Roberto Soldado: ‘I can’t believe I’m meeting Manchester United again’ Read more Of course if United fans thought their team got an easy draw, their jubilation would have been nothing compared to that of delusional Gooners, whose delight at being pitted against Slavia Prague was matched only by that of the Czech club’s supporters upon learning their team would be playing Arsenal. Having already dispatched Leicester City and the Pope’s Newc O’Rangers this season, the Czech side are unlikely to fear a team whose most recent outing was arguably the funniest in an increasingly long line of slapstick performances which prompted stinging criticism from the club’s former midfielder Emmanuel Petit, among many, many others. “It’s just about how we take the criticism,” processed Mikel Arteta, who is growing increasingly used to taking it. “It’s not good to get the criticism and feel guilty, because that guilt is going to be changed into fear. It’s about feeling responsible, and that is the key word for me. You have to be responsible every day for what you do on that pitch, for the club we represent, and then act and not do too much talking.” And then? More talking. “It’s time for action,” he declared, in what sounded distinctly more like hope than expectation. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE! Join Rob Smyth from 8pm BST for hot MBM coverage of Granada 2-2 Manchester United in Big Vase, while Paul Doyle will be on hand for Arsenal 2-1 Slavia Prague. QUOTE OF THE DAY “I never called Mark an effing cee. After a tirade of abuse from him, I did call him a swear word beginning with w … I know many of you may consider me to be a lousy chairman but I would like to think that you have found me to be an honest lousy chairman. My standards of behaviour are much higher than they are being portrayed in the media and I can assure you all that they will never drop that low” – Colchester United’s Robbie Cowling delivers a pretty remarkable statement following reports from an employment tribunal involving club charity employee Mark Harris. RECOMMENDED LISTENING Come get some Football Weekly Extra.  Featuring this guy, obviously. Photograph: Sebastian Widmann/Uefa/Getty Images FIVER LETTERS “Octavian Sovre’s backstory about the results of giving a penalty when he was younger (yesterday’s Fiver) reminded me of being asked to referee a Sheffield miners’ welfare league cup semi-final on my second assignment – as a callow 18-year-old just having passed my refs’ exam. It was a game between two fierce rivals with hundreds of supporters and linesmen from each team who were incredibly biased. With the score 0-0 – and with three minutes to go – the ball went down the left wing and the linesman on that side signalled it had gone out. From 20 yards away I could see it was a good three feet in, so waved play on. The winger crossed, the centre forward shot and the ball rebounded off the bar. In my excitement, I stumbled and accidentally blew the whistle, milliseconds before the striker scored from the rebound. I had to restart with a dropped ball, before the other side immediately surged upfield and scored! The crowd, on one side of the pitch, became incensed. Time was up a minute later and, as I blew the whistle, I was engulfed by players and supporters alike, not helped by the winning team wanting to shake my hand. My clothes were in the losing (home team’s) dressing room. Luckily, I had kept my car keys so was able to get in and drive off, returning later to retrieve my clothes … which were not in a good shape. I didn’t bother to ask for any autographs and wasn’t that keen on continuing with my nascent refereeing career” – Patrick Fuller. “Since we’re being pedantic about Oxo cubes falling from space (Fiver letters passim), can I point out that gravity doesn’t magically stop once you get into space. The thing stopping Elon Musk’s satellites landing on our heads is centrifugal force – an Oxo cube will happily plummet to earth provided its orbital velocity is low enough. It’s amazing the things you can learn when the alternative is watching Newcastle play” – Richard Martin. Send your letters to [email protected], especially if you’re a former referee with a tale to get off your chest. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day is … Patrick Fuller. NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Swansea City have announced that all their players and staff will boycott social media disgraces for a week. “We feel it is right to take a stand against behaviour that is a blight on our sport, and society at large,” said the club.  Fair play to the Swans. Photograph: Dan Istitene/Getty Images Bayern are dusting themselves down after a PSG handed them their first Big Cup defeat since 2019. “If we had shown the killer instinct that characterises us then it would have been a different game,” sighed Thomas Müller. Tommy T reckons that Chelsea’s 2-0 Big Cup against Porto will banish away the Sam Allardyce-shaped boogeyman lurking in the dark recesses of Stamford Bridge. “It was important for the guys to have, straight after the [West Brom] match, a clean sheet and a win,” he tooted. Romanian charity SOS Autism Bihor is over the moon with assistant ref Octavian Sovre’s decision to ask Erling Haaland to autograph his yellow and red cards. “We rely on donations,” said Simona Zlibut, who oversees a therapy centre set up by parents. “We auction whatever we get to make up for the huge shortfall.” [Yes, tea-time emails in this vicinity feel guilty too – Fiver Ed.] And Zlatan Ibrahimovic will now turn his hand to acting after being cast in the new Asterix and Obelix film as a character called “Antivirus”. STILL WANT MORE? Bayern v PSG was a wheeze but Jonathan Wilson ponders the bad, sad side to all that overwhelming quality and fun. The Big Vase quarter-finals, all previewed here.  Half your last eight. Photograph: Getty Images White Hart Lane legend Bobby Soldier, he of north-western TV company Granada, gets his chat on with Sid Lowe. Abdallah Sima is Slavia Prague’s man most likely to when he meets Arsenal. Nick Ames profiles the Senegalese forward. The Fiver’s new colleague Philipp Lahm reckons a Euro Super League can work if it includes clubs from across the continent. John Murray, Ian Danter, Kris Temple and Peter Drury reveal how they write their commentary notes. Karen Bardsley wants her England goalkeeper’s jersey back and to return to the Olympics. She speaks to Louise Taylor. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! ANOTHER LORD FERG TREBLE

[Vesper 28,779]

2020-21 English Premier League

Fulham                                            
Wolverhampton Wanderers          

http://www.sportnews.to/mysports/2021/premier-league-fulham-vs-wolverhampton-wanderers-s1/

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

Edited April 9, 2021 by Vesper

[Vesper 28,779]

big miss by RLC on a header

[Vesper 28,779]

what a crazy disallowing of that Wolves goal for offside

utter madness

 

[Vesper 28,779]

what a game winning goal at the death by Traore

[Laylabelle 9,351]

Newcastle have 2 games in hand..cant see much changing now

[Vesper 28,779]

El Clásico and an infamous loser stumbling inexplicably on the run-in    Madrid players getting their game faces on. Photograph: Antonio Villalba/Real Madrid/Getty Images Barry Glendenning  @bglendenning IT’S ABOUT CLÁSICO TIME KABOOM!!! That was the sound of the Spanish title race being blown wide open last weekend, when Sevilla beat Atlético Madrid. The reverberations of Marcos Acuña’s winner shook citrus fruit from the local orange trees, even going so far as to rouse the last remaining Queen’s Celtic fans from their slumber on the steps of the Catedral de Sevilla, where they’d been “sleeping it off” since that unfortunate Euro Vase final defeat at the hands of José Mourinho’s Dirty Porto almost 18 years ago. Hoots! Jings! Crivens! Help ma boab! It’ll be back to oblivion for them once they’ve drowned the sorrows generated by news of O’Rangers’ title win with a tsunami’s worth of the local hooch. The tremors of Acuña’s potential season-changing strike were felt further afield, as fans of Barcelona and Real Madrid quickly realised Saturday night’s clásico had taken on even more significance. A win for Barcelona will take them two points clear of Atlético, who don’t play until Sunday. Should Madrid prevail, they’ll go level on points with the leaders, with just eight games left to play. Which, when you think of it is quite a lot of games, particularly when one of them is against Atlético. So maybe this game isn’t that important after all, eh? Eh? Oh. La Liga finds no evidence Juan Cala racially abused Mouctar Diakhaby Read more It could end up quite the bottle-job from Atlético, who not so long ago were seven points clear of Barcelona having played two games fewer. Usually, at this point, The Fiver would attempt to illustrate our point by coming up with some sort of analogy featuring an infamous loser who had built an apparently unassailable lead in a high-profile race only to stumble inexplicably on the run-in, but we’re too busy studying the form for Saturday’s Grand National to think of one that is both timely and historically appropriate. Suffice to say, while Atlético still hold their destiny in their own hands, the prevailing opinion in Spain is that they’re going to drop it. “It’ll be a tough game against a side who like to dominate the ball,” declared Madrid striker Karim Benzema, when asked if he thought the contest will be a tough game against a side who like to dominate the ball. “They’ve got a great goalkeeper and of course [Lionel] Messi, the player who does everything for Barcelona. We need to be wary of him because he’s so, so dangerous.” With their centre-back pairing of Raphaël Varane and Sergio Ramos both absent, Real ought to be wary and a little scared. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE! Join Barry Glendenning from 8pm BST for hot MBM coverage of Fulham 0-0 Wolves in the Premier League, while Tumaini Carayol will be on hand for the France 0-0 England women’s international friendly at 8.10pm. QUOTE OF THE DAY “He made it on to the pitch from underneath a large canvas, where he was hidden. The man made it into the stadium at 7am after getting through the security perimeter … it is clear he spent the next 14 hours hidden under the canvas in order to not be seen until he decided to make his move” – police underline the true commitment to the cause of one streaker who invaded pitch during Granada’s Big Vase defeat to Manchester United before being escorted away.  Dedication, earlier. Photograph: Fermin Rodriguez/AP FIVER LETTERS “Re: misadventures in refereeing (yesterday’s Fiver letters). When I was 16, I started reffing U-8 and U-10 matches in a town in rural Ireland. One Saturday morning started with my father’s workmate ‘effing’ me out of it because he disagreed about a clear goal (the ball had passed through the cheap net after it crossed the line) when his son’s team were about 15-2 behind. The morning progressed to an argument between two seven-year-olds, with one asking if the other’s mother had ‘made much on the street last night’, which was met with the swift retort that ‘at least my dad isn’t a kerb crawler’. This erupted into a brawl involving all the players and most of the parents. I switched back to Gaelic football the following weekend” – Paddy Reilly. “Football ain’t got nothing on South African club rugby. In a previous career I used to be a journalist. I covered a few stories about rugby violence at club games. One however, stands out, and is luckily available in English: chaos as touch judge stabbed. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention said touch judge was stabbed in the head. With a flag pole” – Leon-Ben Lamprecht. “I know The Fiver loves a good pointless thread, so can I add to the ongoing Oxo cube narrative (Fiver letters passim) by pointing out that it’s actually centripetal force balanced against gravity, not centrifugal force, that keeps satellites and Oxo cubes in orbit. At least that’s what I recall from my old O-level physics classes. If I’m wrong it just means more thrilling content next week, so everyone’s a winner, right … right?” – David Madden (and others). “Re:” Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a character in the next Asterix film (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs). Egocentrix, surely?” – David Ede. 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 is … David Ede. NEWS, BITS AND BOBS La Liga has found no evidence that Juan Cala racially abused Mouctar Diakhaby after investigating the events that led to Valencia walking off against Cádiz in protest. Newcastle boss Steve Bruce says he would ban all social media abominations, backing all clubs boycotting them over racist abuse: “No social media, for me, would be the way forward.” They may have provided another filthily slapstick performance in the Big Vase home draw with Slavia Prague, but Arsenal have some good news in the shape of in-demand striker Folarin Balogun preparing to sign a long-term deal. Roma defender Riccardo Calafiori understands why an Ajax ballboy got the right funk on and hurled the ball at him as he ambled over to take a throw in the final seconds of their Big Vase win. “I have to admit that it would also have irritated me if I saw an opponent time-wasting in such a situation,” he mused. “I don’t say I respect it, but I get it.” Do not try and waste time in front of Ajax's ballboys  pic.twitter.com/SquvnJRYIy — Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 8, 2021 And Phil Brown is back, baby, taking the reins at Southend United again after Mark Molesley was sacked by the League Two relegation strugglers. STILL WANT MORE? Ten things, the Premier League … you know how it goes by now. And if you missed it, the latest Football Weekly Extra looks back at the magic of Mbappé and the marvel of Mount. Join Max, Barry and their fellow podders. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! GET THE GOLF ON

[Vesper 28,779]

Friday April 9 2021 Football Nerd

How Manchester City could be the Premier League's most collective champions By Daniel Zeqiri There have been some great Premier League-winning teams of various stripes, but none were less reliant on the feats of an individual player than Manchester City this season. Despite the exorbitant sums spent on their squad, Pep Guardiola are not superstar dependant. Ruben Dias, John Stones, Joao Cancelo, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling are top-class players and important parts of the team but none are immune from rotation and starts on the bench. They really are a true collective. City have managed to be the league's top scorers despite no player scoring more than Ilkay Gundogan's 12 in the Premier League. Only Chelsea in 2004-05 had a top scorer (Frank Lampard) with a lower percentage of their total goals than Gundogan and City this season. Lampard scored 13 of Chelsea's 81 league goals, 18.1 per cent. Gundogan has scored 12 of City's 66, 18.2 per cent. By the time this season is over, that ratio will surely be the lowest in Premier League history. In this week's Football Nerd, I look at how City became such an egalitarian attack and also mention those league champions who were most reliant on one player's goals.     The best of this week's coverage Revealed: The extraordinary Marcelo Bielsa coaching family tree made up of those he has inspired Tottenham on trial: Who deserves the blame for Spurs' slump and discontent? Kylian Mbappe future in doubt: Where could he go should he leave PSG? Out of the dark ages: How England became a factory of young talent Fans returning to stadiums: Vaccine passports and what happens next 'Form can dip, but it’s the attitude and demeanour of Aubameyang during the course of this season which is most concerning.'   Jamie Carragher column: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looks uninterested at Arsenal - he is at risk of becoming the new Mesut Ozil     This week's best stat   8 Premier League goals scored by Burnley in the first 15 minutes of games, more than any other team. They have also conceded the most in the same period so make sure you tune in on time when they are playing.     The week in a picture CREDIT: BT SPORT Linesman Octavian Sovre asked Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland to sign his yellow card after defeat by Manchester City. Thom Gibbs asked: harmless fun or a total disgrace?

[Vesper 28,779]

2020-21 English Premier League

Manchester City       
Leeds United              

http://www.sportnews.to/mysports/2021/premier-league-manchester-city-vs-leeds-united-s1/

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

[Milan 17,853]

Lol City, well done Leeds. With 10 men...

Just imagine, Dortmund to beat City next, us beating them a few days later in the FA Cup and you never know in a final against Mourinho. There goes the quadruple talk...