soccer soccer soccer

[Rex Buckingham]

 

Wonder where he might end up if he moves

[stitchface]

hopefully not Bayern. I think these moves make sense - Dest seems caught between positions. I could see a second level Bundesliga or PL team - something like Leipzig or Everton.

[soccer10k]

This has to be up there for dumbest red cards ever. Even if you're getting in front of the kick to stop a counter attack, it would be a dumb move considering you're on a yellow. But your team is back already. What advantage are you possibly trying to gain by doing this? There's literally no point at all.

 

[wvcbxl]

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VAR stikes again? :wink:

[soccer10k]

And predictably, Chelsea draws the easiest (by far) opponent they possibly could have.

 

Hopefully Atletico Madrid figures their stuff out by February and knocks ManU out.

[wvcbxl]

And predictably, Chelsea draws the easiest (by far) opponent they possibly could have.

 

Direct Eurostar train link to boot - their travelling fans will be very happy.

[stitchface]

Round-of-16 draw

FC Salzburg vs.Bayern Munich

Sporting CP vs. Manchester City

Benfica vs. Ajax

Chelsea vs. Lille

Atletico Madrid vs. Manchester United

Villarreal vs. Juventus

Inter vs. Liverpool

Paris Saint-Germain vs. Real Madrid

 

Initial round-of-16 draw, declared void

Benfica vs. Real Madrid

Villarreal vs. Manchester City

Atletico Madrid vs. Bayern Munich

FC Salzburg vs. Liverpool

Inter Milan vs. Ajax

Sporting CP vs. Juventus

Chelsea vs. Lille

Paris Saint-Germain vs. Manchester United

[stitchface]

And predictably, Chelsea draws the easiest (by far) opponent they possibly could have.

 

Hopefully Atletico Madrid figures their stuff out by February and knocks ManU out.

 

Athletico seems like a terrible draw for Man U as one of them will have to have possession

[bukie]

Why was the original draw declared void?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Why was the original draw declared void?

 

I'm not sure of the exact mechanisms of how these interact, but the 3 problems I saw identified were 1) Man U was drawn w/ Villareal, which was not allowed 2) Man U was not in the pot to be drawn with Atletico Madrid, which should have been allowed 3) Liverpool were in the pot to be drawn with Atletico Madrid, which should not have been allowed

[stitchface]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-the-toe-poke/story/4546790/the-champions-league-draw-that-never-was-how-social-media-reacted-to-round-of-16-redraw

[UMFan83]

Finally a breakthrough goal in the 89th minute by Bassett. Anyone else bothering to watch this friendly?

[wolf stansson]

[stitchface]

 

Replacing Haaland?

 

Watched Chelsea this morning - they are not good with Pulisic as the 9. They have all these players who are good at crossing the ball and he is not much of a target. Chelsea switched at halftime to Pulisic out right and Lukaku at the 9 and were so much more dangerous. Pulisic and Mount created well together and opened up Lukaku.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

The Pepi destination appears to be Wolfsburg. Opportunity there, especially if Weghorst gets sold before August, but their track record with Americans isn’t glowing and they’re currently managed by Sargent’s former Bremen manager who doesn’t inspire a ton of long term confidence.

[stitchface]

Finally a breakthrough goal in the 89th minute by Bassett. Anyone else bothering to watch this friendly?

 

Just watched it. Entertaining until the red card then pretty painful to watch. Given it's a search for depth, few players really stood out although they played well as a team. Good to see Morris back - still seemed to have a quick first step - will be good to see what he can do against stronger competition. Acosta was his usually ok self - plays decent but gives the ball away too much in spots that cost you games. Zimmerman was good. Lennon was good in first half when there was space behind. Pepi not too good.

[stitchface]

The Pepi destination appears to be Wolfsburg. Opportunity there, especially if Weghorst gets sold before August, but their track record with Americans isn’t glowing and they’re currently managed by Sargent’s former Bremen manager who doesn’t inspire a ton of long term confidence.

 

yea, that doesn't excite me.

[soccer10k]

 

How have we gotten to a place where goalkeepers basically can't be touched in any way or it's a foul? Like a goalie can go barreling off his line towards a ball in the air, crash into an opponent and it's a virtual lock to be a foul on the opponent. Why? It's a contact sport. I don't understand why the above is a foul on Doherty but Moura just goes over the top of a defender against Palace on Sunday with more contact and they let it stand. I'm not arguing Moura's should have been waived off at all. I just don't understand why Doherty was whistled for a foul.

 

I haven't even considered what Ian Wright said in the above clip either. A goalie is trained to high point the ball and had Forster done that, he would have caught it no problem. But he gets rewarded for letting the ball drop to his chest.

 

I guess what I'm saying is some contact on a goalie should be allowed. Not necessarily knocking the ball out of their hands. But you should be able to challenge for a ball without having to worry that the slightest bit of contact will result in a foul.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Don’t really understand how there can be any controversy here. Doherty is not looking at the ball and therefore is challenging for it only in the most generous sense. His trajectory carries him into the keeper, checking him at a point after he had gotten to the ball(the last part being irrelevant in this case because it’s a foul before he touches it too). A foul 1000% of the time. If Doherty had been making an honest attempt at the ball then it gets a little more gray, but the rules are the way they are for keeper safety. You already see too many instances of players undercutting opponents on aerial balls at midfield, with the incentives in front of goal and a keeper’s center of gravity on those plays it’d be begging for a slew of injuries.

[soccer10k]

Again, so they're just not allowed to touch the goalie at all? If that's another field player who is going for the ball, it's not a foul. Those types of plays happen all the time over the course of a game. Why treat the goalie different. He's already go the advantage of being able to use his hands. Forster easily could have just punched the ball clear. Would have been the smart play since when he comes for the ball, there's two of his teammates there and a Spurs player plus Doherty came in. If he punches it, no issue. Instead he tries to catch it. And the ball is already going through his arms when Doherty made contact so Forster screwed up before Doherty touches him.

 

I'm not sure why you're bringing up undercutting since Doherty didn't do that. I agree, undercutting is horrible. It should be a foul everywhere on the field. But that's not what happened here.

 

I used this specific play because it happened yesterday but I have an issue overall with how goalies are treated. Why do goalies get/need so much protection? Most of them are already the tallest person on the field and they have the advantage of being able to use their hands. I'm not saying it should be open season on them. But if they can't handle a little contact when coming for a ball, maybe don't come out for the ball? They don't have the right to just come out and catch every ball without the other team going for it. Punch it away if you're not sure. If the ball was already in Forster's hands when Doherty makes contact and that caused the ball to come out, I'd have no issue with it.

 

Or this play from a couple weeks ago where Schmeichel barely got his hand on the ball before the player kicks it. It was a bang-bang play but that's 100% a safety issue. We don't need players trying to kick the ball out of a goalie's hands.

 

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[Transmogrified Tiger]

Again, so they're just not allowed to touch the goalie at all?

 

With rare exception, yes. Also Doherty would be called for a foul on another field player plenty of times, he’s so late he doesn’t even bother facing the ball! If this is at midfield and the field player equivalent tried to control the ball, Doherty bowls them over and it’s a foul all day.

 

I'm not saying it should be open season on them. But if they can't handle a little contact when coming for a ball, maybe don't come out for the ball?

 

Not possible to do one without the other. The only way to avoid open season is zero tolerance, because the incentives are too great that people will try to legally take out the keeper at every opportunity and create many other illegal instances. It’s the same reason people dive when there’s a 5% chance they get a PK, only this would be throwing themselves at a person who is way more vulnerable than the average position player.

[soccer10k]

Doherty isn’t late. He arrives literally a split second after the ball does. If that was at midfield it’s a shoulder to shoulder play. Forster came barreling in also and collided with Doherty just as much as Doherty collided with him.

 

I think you’re way overestimating what would happen if a little contact was allowed. We expect referees to legislate contact all over the field. Why not with goalies also? Slide tackling is allowed even though occasionally there are terrible tackles that are red cards. And even though it’s allowed, we don’t see star players get taken out left and right with ankle breaking slide tackles. We can have some nuance here. It’s possible to have a middle ground where you can make contact with a goalie without headhunting them every time.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Doherty isn’t late. He arrives literally a split second after the ball does. If that was at midfield it’s a shoulder to shoulder play. Forster came barreling in also and collided with Doherty just as much as Doherty collided with him.

 

I think you’ve got some big spurs-colored glasses with the framing of the play here, man. Don’t what else to say but I disagree on every word.

 

I think you’re way overestimating what would happen if a little contact was allowed. We expect referees to legislate contact all over the field. Why not with goalies also? Slide tackling is allowed even though occasionally there are terrible tackles that are red cards. And even though it’s allowed, we don’t see star players get taken out left and right with ankle breaking slide tackles. We can have some nuance here. It’s possible to have a middle ground where you can make contact with a goalie without headhunting them every time.

 

1) keepers are uniquely exposed when coming out for a ball, like a wide receiver reaching for a pass over the middle

2) keepers are significantly more valuable to take out of a play than anyone else on the field, there’s a reason that some corner kick routines try to box them out, to allow some contact is to invite everyone to try to take out the keeper legally because there’s huge rewards even if you don’t win the ball

3) because of 1 and 2, adding any leeway increases injury risk to keepers significantly, because they’re vulnerable and valuable you’ve now made it the logical play to try to physically box them out of every play, hoping that a small percentage get the judgment call to go your way. That means keepers are taking bumps left and right on balls in the box, and all because a keeper fumbled a ball while being hip checked on a hopeful cross? All rules are arbitrary but these ones are fine.

[stitchface]

Generally, I would say the rules are well enforced in pro games - youth games are ridiculous.

[stitchface]

oh and yea, that's a foul on doherty. he isn't trying to play the ball and if he doesn't run into Forster, he catches it easily.