The English Football Thread

[Atomiswave 6,072]

It was a bloody own goal as well

[ZAPHOD2319 4,053]

I don't think that should be an own goal because it touched a defender. It was originally listed as a goal by Dali Alii and they changed it to own goal. 

Edited March 4, 2021 by ZAPHOD2319

[Fulham Broadway 16,493]

Fulham sneaqualiser ...

disallowed 👎

[ZAPHOD2319 4,053]

Sigh... header for Everton. It hurts to see us in 5th, now we move down unless West Brom can do something. We need to do something today!!

[Laylabelle 9,326]

That disallowed goal..what a load of crap

[Atomiswave 6,072]

15 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

That disallowed goal..what a load of crap

Just saw it again and what an absolute travesty of a decision, that was no handball. Footy is not footy anymore

Edited March 4, 2021 by Atomiswave

[Milan 17,838]

We are screwed either way. We fucked up in the first half of the season.

[Fulham Broadway 16,493]

21 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

That disallowed goal..what a load of crap

Clearance smashed by Sancho three yards away. His arm is by his side, if it hits his hip, thigh any other part of him its a goal. Most stupid decision/rule ever

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Rhythmically peppering suggestions with words like 'eff' and 'jeff'    A lost rag, earlier. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA Scott Murray BATTLE FIVER The manager of Pope’s Newc O’Rangers has, historically speaking, been prone to the odd emotional outburst. Take the way Jock Wallace used to rhapsodise about the Battle Fever. Or the manner in which Walter Smith would give journalists beneficial advice, rhythmically peppering his kind suggestions with words like “eff” and “jeff”. Or the elegant grace with which Graeme Souness would plant his studs in an opponent’s fruit bowl, or upend urns of hot water before being offered out by the tea lady for a square go. Volatility seemed to be part of the job spec. Rangers' Steven Gerrard rages at referee as Morelos earns late win at Livingston Read more But times change, and current incumbent $tevie Mbe is cut from a markedly calmer cloth. As long-time followers of Liverpool will attest, when things go wrong, his go-to response is to stand around frowning quite a lot. That’s been his stock reaction to adversity as a manager, too, and on the whole it’s stood him in good stead. However, everyone has their tipping point, and his tinderbox was finally located on Wednesday night when Alfredo Morelos was brought down by Livingston keeper Max Stryjek, only for Alfredo Morelos’s Reputation to get booked. It was a clear penalty, and those words may have been among the colourful assortment that fell out of Mbe’s face when he ran on the pitch at half-time to question the actions of referee John Beaton in Smithsonian style. Beaton has clearly been watching how the officials in the Premier League comport themselves, for he waved away Mbe with the kind of high-handed disdain that would make Mike Dean look like a half-cut rag-week student offering charity cuddles for 50p. Two yellow cards in quick succession meant Mbe had to watch from the stand as Morelos gained 87th-minute vindication to put O’Rangers within four points of One In A Row. Should the SFA decide to process the referee’s forms quickly, Mbe may also be forced to watch from the stand when his team rock up at Queen’s Celtic Park on 21 March hoping to throw an ever-so-slightly-combustible title party. Not ideal, but at least he’ll get a panoramic view of the 22-man-plus-benches brawl when it inevitably breaks out. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE! Join Michael Butler from 6pm GMT for MBM coverage of Fulham 1-3 Tottenham in the Premier League, before Scott Murray takes in Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea. QUOTE OF THE DAY “Well done … c’mon Crooksy, can you open the legs son? Go on. Go on … ooh, go on then. Now then, Freddie. Make a name for yourself, make a name for yourself. No. Keep going … ohhhhhhhh” – now we’ve transcribed this, it reads like something from Weird Uncle Fiver’s newest subscription service. But it’s actually former Miller John Breckin’s co-commentary as 10-man Rotherham break away and score a 97th-minute winner at fellow Championship strugglers Sheffield Wednesday. It’s the real good stuff. Unless you’re an Owl, mind. | 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑒: 96 mins on the clock at Hillsborough and Wednesday have a corner against the 10-man Millers. Let's be honest, we're all waiting for them to break our hearts with another last minute goal.@JohnBreckin, take it away...#rufc |#ForeverTogetherForeverProud pic.twitter.com/FUR9Lzxwop — Rotherham United (@OfficialRUFC) March 4, 2021 RECOMMENDED LISTENING Football Weekly, on a Thursday, but not ‘Extra’. Blame a Friday pod. Here you go. FIVER LETTERS “I will admit I am a simple man. After all, I read The Fiver every day. So might I suggest a simple solution for offside. Seeing as we play football, why can’t the offside rule be feet? At the moment, if your eyebrows are too long or your sleeve is fluttering in the breeze, you’re offside. As I said, it’s a simple solution but I don’t think the rule makers like it simple any more” – Larry Jones. “Never mind the pitchside effing and jeffing on the TV (yesterday’s Fiver). There was plenty in front of my TV last Sunday during Palace v Fulham” – John Thompson. “Chris Wilder on the sidelines shouting ‘Bashy!’ (yesterday’s Fiver). That’s as good an excuse as any to re-watch the brilliant Kids in the Hall sketch with a guy yelling ‘Lopez!’ at an empty house. Enjoy” – Mike Wilner. 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 … John Thompson. NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Phil Chisnall, who in 1964 became the last player to be transferred directly between Manchester United and Liverpool, has died aged 78.  RIP Phil. Photograph: PA This season’s Women’s FA Cup will resume later this month after a pandemic-enforced shutdown, while Liverpool’s Big Cup last-16 second leg against Leipzig will again be in Budapest. Chelsea and Manchester City have one foot in the quarter-finals of Women’s Big Cup after 2-0 and 3-0 first-leg wins over Atlético Madrid and Fiorentina, respectively. Newcastle’s players and staff have been reminded of the need for discretion after details of some heated training-ground shenanigans between Matt Ritchie and Steve Bruce were leaked. Neil Warnock, who once planned to retire aged 55 and is now 72, will be extending his stay in charge of Middlesbrough for another season. “When you read the news nowadays, there’s always somebody popping their clogs younger than me,” he declared. “I don’t want to die on the job, if I’m honest, so I’d like to finish on a high and I would like to see a little bit of what me and [wife] Sharon love.” And that coffee waste kit didn’t help calm things between Forest Green and Colchester last weekend; the pair have been charged by FA suits with failing to control their players during some scenes that everyone no one likes to see. Always risky with caffeine after 3pm, in our experience. STILL WANT MORE? Boca, Brighton and barbecues: it’s Alexis Mac Allister getting his chat on with Jacob Steinberg. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s music festival guest turn, plus Gennaro Gattuso and Lorenzo Insigne losing the run of themselves. Another quiet midweek in Serie A, as Nicky Bandini explains.  Sport being stuck to, apparently. Photograph: Ettore Ferrari/EPA Andy Hunter sets the scene for Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea. Remembering West Ham’s unlikely title tilt of 1985-86. By Steven Pye. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! GET READING THIS

[Nero 1,798]

What a joke

[Atomiswave 6,072]

1 hour ago, Patrick Bamford said:

What a joke

These accolades have always been a joke

[Fulham Broadway 16,493]

About fucking time....

''Accidental handball that leads to a goal-scoring chance or a goal for a team-mate will no longer be penalised, say football's law makers.

Ifab confirmed the change on Friday, saying it was because of the "interpretation of handball incidents" not being applied consistently.

Fulham lost to Tottenham as Josh Maja was denied a goal as Davinson Sanchez's clearance flew into Mario Lemina's arm.

The change is likely to be introduced in England from 1 July.''

The body also clarified its interpretation of the offside law, saying the definition for handball, whereby the arm ends at the bottom of the armpit, must be used when judging whether a player is offside or not.

Chelsea's Timo Werner was denied a goal against Liverpool on Thursday night when VAR ruled the position of his arm made him offside in the build-up.''

[milka 3,316]

Klopp 2018

Klopp 2021

Klopp 2022

 

[Vesper 27,633]

Jürgen Klopp must solve a tricky and trippy Mersey-infused poser    Oh Liverpool! Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/PA Scott Murray YOU’LL NEVER WIN AT HOME These are difficult times for Liverpool. The club hasn’t won a major trophy for nearly nine months, while it’s now a whopping 22 days since they were deposed as the world’s best club team. To quote the hooked and miffed Mo Salah’s Mr 15%: “.” ! To be fair to the club’s supporters, having waited 30 years to once again celebrate as champions, a virus that looks a bit like early-80s Graeme Souness with vengeance on his mind, has denied them the chance to do so. But while fans are permitted to feel down on themselves, there’s no need for the players to be walking around with faces like they’ve just been approached by early-80s Graeme Souness with vengeance on his mind. Which is pretty much what they did on Thursday night, as they meekly scuttled about Anfield, a timid shower, while a markedly more confident Chelsea gegenstrolled their way to a most deserved victory. Klopp plays down Salah substitution and urges Liverpool to ‘fight harder’ Read more Liverpool’s lack of collective belief was best summed up during the last knockings, when Mateo Kovacic saucily pinged the ball off Sadio Mané’s prone noggin. Mané got up with a view to engaging Kovacic in Hegelian dialectic, but while in olden days Souness would have flown in sideways to offer additional intellectual heft to the philosophical back-and-forth, Mané was left to debate the issue by himself. Now, The Fiver always thinks of the children, but brawl and haymakers please! Everyone else in red, thoroughly defeated, let it slide. Yes, yes, these guys are role models, remember that kiddies are watching, but stand by your man will you. Something doesn’t quite sit right with The Fiver here. What’s going on? “I think we agree it’s a really strange one,” Jurgen Klopp admitted on Friday, still wearing his newly trademarked thousand-yard stare and freshly copyrighted grey pallor. “Football is more rhythm than people think. We’ve never had that to build, we’ve had to change too much. That’s clear.” He illustrated his point further by reporting that Ozan Kabak has a “little problem” and may be replaced for the upcoming Fulham defeat by fellow newcomer Ben Davies, but even so, this lot had a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League in December, after a 7-0 away win to boot, while it’s only been 43 days since they were defending a four-year, 68-game undefeated home record, and now they’re on their worst run at Anfield since 1892. ! “We all have to improve, definitely,” sighed Klopp, who is now tasked with solving the most tricky and trippy Mersey-infused poser since John Lennon flung two versions of a song, recorded at varying tempi and in different keys, at Parlophone kn0b-twiddler George Martin, ordering him to meld them together. Liverpool fans will hope Klopp has similar problem-solving talents to the genius producer, whose credits also feature You’ll Never Walk Alone, because … well … there’s always next season … but this is beginning to look serious, and what are the first five words of Strawberry Fields Forever again? QUOTE OF THE DAY “We’re all disappointed, of course we are, and why wouldn’t we be? It borders on treason, if you like. It’s disgusting … there is a source feeding stuff. We are looking into it to find the culprit” – Newcastle boss Steve Bruce has got the sniffer dogs out and will stop at nothing to find the mole who leaked details of his bust-up with Matt Ritchie to the tabloids.  On the hunt, earlier. Photograph: Richard Sellers/Reuters FIVER LETTERS “After watching Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s current breed of zebras lose their way in the south London mist this week, I think I’ve figured out the reason for Manchester United basing that third strip on those dazzle ships of yore. If the Allies’ ship was painted to disorientate German U-boat commanders by blurring how fast and in which direction it was travelling, might the zebra shirt not have the same effect on the person in the VAR room checking for offside? Modern football is getting too complicated. Next they’ll be employing teams of young women at Bletchley Park to break the codes on Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool corner kicks” – Justin Kavanagh. “Re: $tevie Mbe having words with the ref at Livingston (yesterday’s Fiver). Was he asking the official to change his tune, perhaps?” – Neale Redington. 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 … Neale Redington. But we’ve got book prizes from Monday, courtesy of those kind people at From the Jaws of Victory [UK only, apologies – Fiver Postal Ed], and you can also enter promo code FIVER and get 15% off and free shipping. NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Ifab has announced that accidental handball which leads to a teammate scoring or having a scoring opportunity will no longer be considered an offence, from 1 July. Which will be of no consolation whatsoever to Fulham, who were denied a draw against Tottenham by this nonsense disallowing Josh Maja’s equaliser. David Moyes is getting high off his own supply [not literally – Fiver Lawyers] of West Ham players. “[They] have changed my mentality because now I’m looking up to see how high I can get,” he giggled, scarfing down a bag of Doritos. “I don’t see why we can’t be around those [top four] positions.” Bobby M will not call up Leeds’ Pascal Struijk for Belgium in order to avoid a lowlands dispute or something. “It looks as if his heart lies with the Netherlands,” he sobbed. “We have to respect that, never mind how interesting his profile is. I don’t want there to be any conflict.” Michael Keane reckons if Everton qualify for Big Cup it will be all down to the £70m and change the club dropped last summer Carlo Ancelotti’s worldly know-how. “The manager has been there and done it all,” gushed Keane. “Even when we don’t play well we still believe we are going win.” And $tevie Mbe can’t wait to do some DIY around Ibrox when the Pope’s Newc O’Rangers win a 55th title, potentially as soon as this Sunday. “The important thing is to get that trophy back … knock all the 54s off the walls,” he blabbed, getting his tool kit out. STILL WANT MORE? “I never want to miss a minute of football – but I do wonder at what cost.” Burnley captain Ben Mee on the risks of concussion and why he backs restrictions on children heading the ball. Ten things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend. Make it stop!  Here you go. Composite: Tom Jenkins,AFP, Getty Images, Reuters Spurs need balance if they’re to nab a Big Cup place, reckons David Hytner. Barney Ronay on why turbo-charged Timo will soon be bathing in lovely goals. Plus the resurgence of N’Golo Kanté, by Jacob Steinberg. Sunday: a short film about football, friendship and talking about feelings. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! GOOL PERAN LOWEN

[Vesper 27,633]

Friday March 5 2021 Football Nerd

Why so many Premier League teams' attacking moves veer left By Daniel Zeqiri Knowing your opponent's attacking patterns and strong side is an important part of match preparation, and more often than not in the Premier League it is the left side. Fourteen of 20 Premier League teams this season have attacked down the left more frequently than the right wing or through central areas. Whenever there is a substantial bias it is always to the left. This could be because coaches are more inclined to use their left-back as an attacking outlet than their right-back, or due to the proliferation of right-footed forwards who like to cut in from the left: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Marcus Rashford, Heung-min Son and Richarlison to name a few. Brighton, Chelsea, Leeds United, Leicester City, Newcastle United and Wolves are the only teams without a left-sided bias. In this week's Football Nerd, I analyse the data and explore the reasons why so many Premier League games seem to tilt to one side.

[Vesper 27,633]

2020-21 English Premier League

Burnley                   
Arsenal                   

http://www.sportnews.to/mysports/2021/premier-league-burnley-vs-arsenal-s1/

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

 

[Laylabelle 9,326]

1-0 Aubameyang

[ZAPHOD2319 4,053]

What a gift from Arsenal!!!