soccer soccer soccer

[soccer10k]

13 minutes ago, stitchface said:

that would be ridiculous. does anyone expect them to win at liverpool?

No but if they get smashed again or are horribly outclassed it could be the end. He’s already on thin ice. They’re in 6th in the league and have won 9 games but the best team they’ve beaten is Fulham in 10th. Their next 3 games are at Liverpool (1st), at West Ham (9th) and home to Villa (3rd). They’re not just going to keep letting him lose games.

[stitchface]

4 hours ago, soccer10k said:

No but if they get smashed again or are horribly outclassed it could be the end. He’s already on thin ice. They’re in 6th in the league and have won 9 games but the best team they’ve beaten is Fulham in 10th. Their next 3 games are at Liverpool (1st), at West Ham (9th) and home to Villa (3rd). They’re not just going to keep letting him lose games.

yes, he's completely failed. Just never makes any sense to me to think - "well, if they lose this weekend" - either he's your guy or he isn't. 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by stitchface

[soccer10k]

3 hours ago, stitchface said:

yes, he's completely failed. Just never makes any sense to me to think - "well, if they lose this weekend" - either he's your guy or he isn't. 

 

Because that’s how these teams tend to act. Like if they don’t think he’s their guy but he beats Liverpool, they won’t fire him. But if Liverpool embarrasses them 4-0, they might. I’m not saying it’s right. Just how it seems to be. I’m surprised they haven’t fired him already.

Different sport but Brandon Staley today is a good example. He was likely gone at the end of the year anyway. But they got slaughtered yesterday so the Chargers pulled the trigger. If the Chargers had beaten the Raiders yesterday, no way he gets fired today.

Edited December 16, 2023 by soccer10k

[JHBulls]

Scary to see Luton Town’s Tom Lockyer collapsing today against Bournemouth, only a few months after he collapsed in the Championship Play-off. 😞

Edited December 16, 2023 by JHBulls

[stitchface]

15 hours ago, soccer10k said:

Because that’s how these teams tend to act. Like if they don’t think he’s their guy but he beats Liverpool, they won’t fire him. But if Liverpool embarrasses them 4-0, they might. I’m not saying it’s right. Just how it seems to be. I’m surprised they haven’t fired him already.

Different sport but Brandon Staley today is a good example. He was likely gone at the end of the year anyway. But they got slaughtered yesterday so the Chargers pulled the trigger. If the Chargers had beaten the Raiders yesterday, no way he gets fired today.

It's really just PR. They should fire him now so the new guy gets a window.

[stitchface]

City never seem to lose after the New Year but they're starting to dig a pretty big hole. I wonder if fatigue has finally caught them?

[soccer10k]

5 hours ago, stitchface said:

City never seem to lose after the New Year but they're starting to dig a pretty big hole. I wonder if fatigue has finally caught them?

Could be. Liverpool dropped off big time last year after they went down to the wire with City in 21-22 plus made the final of the UCL, FA Cup and League Cup. But City was down 8 points to Arsenal (with a game in hand) with 10 games to go last year and still won the league with 2 games to spare.

[JHBulls]

It’s insane that PL referees like Michael Oliver will hand out yellow cards for back chat and kicking the ball away (see poking the ball away) but won’t hand them out for diving. Apparently pettiness is worse than blatant cheating. 

[stitchface]

10 hours ago, JHBulls said:

It’s insane that PL referees like Michael Oliver will hand out yellow cards for back chat and kicking the ball away (see poking the ball away) but won’t hand them out for diving. Apparently pettiness is worse than blatant cheating. 

I think diving can be hard to be certain of - sometimes players just lose their balance. 

[stitchface]

22 hours ago, soccer10k said:

Could be. Liverpool dropped off big time last year after they went down to the wire with City in 21-22 plus made the final of the UCL, FA Cup and League Cup. But City was down 8 points to Arsenal (with a game in hand) with 10 games to go last year and still won the league with 2 games to spare.

Probably they kick in gear - they just appear to want to get 1 or 2 up and then take the rest of the night off. Understandable given their schedule but tough to keep holding their leads. It reminds me a little of the year Liverpool did win.

 

side note - if you don't watch the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen are about as fun as it gets right now. Would be great to see BM finally dethroned (though also dubious about that).

 

[stitchface]

On 12/16/2023 at 9:58 AM, stitchface said:

It's really just PR. They should fire him now so the new guy gets a window.

and now what . . . they play just as badly but manage a road draw so Ten Hag gets another 2 games? 

[soccer10k]

1 hour ago, stitchface said:

I think diving can be hard to be certain of - sometimes players just lose their balance. 

Yeah, the obvious dives they do give cards for it. Bissouma got sent off earlier this year for a second yellow on an awful dive. The ref just needs to be certain it was a dive and since yellow card offenses aren't reviewed, a lot of dives don't get punished.

[soccer10k]

1 hour ago, stitchface said:

and now what . . . they play just as badly but manage a road draw so Ten Hag gets another 2 games? 

Yep! With West Ham and Villa on deck, ManU has a couple good chances to get him canned.

In general, I do agree with you. But sometimes whoever makes the decision does need a really bad result (or a string of bad results) to push them to make the move. I think that's something most people experience at some point in their life, like ending a relationship or changing jobs. It's sort of a final straw type of thing.

[soccer10k]

Good group of ties minus Man City against Copenhagen.

[wvcbxl]

On 12/17/2023 at 2:25 AM, stitchface said:

City never seem to lose after the New Year but they're starting to dig a pretty big hole. I wonder if fatigue has finally caught them?

KDB back at team practice today - he could provide the boost they need.

[stitchface]

3 hours ago, soccer10k said:

Good group of ties minus Man City against Copenhagen.

1

yes! With a mild squint, you can see all those being competitive except 6 and 7

[stitchface]

This is probably good news as neither Dest or Tillman is likely to ever play at Barca or Bayern.

 

PSV want Sergiño Dest, Malik Tillman loans made permanent - ESPN

[UMFan83]

Some of you have probably seen way more PKs than I have.  Have you ever seen one taken like this before? 😂  For context, making the PK would have sent Everton to the semifinals of the Carabao Cup, and they eventually lost the PKs.  

 

[soccer10k]

18 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Some of you have probably seen way more PKs than I have.  Have you ever seen one taken like this before? 😂  For context, making the PK would have sent Everton to the semifinals of the Carabao Cup, and they eventually lost the PKs.  

 

Jorginho does a similar run up, though he usually pauses right before kicking to get the GKer to give away which way he’s going to dive.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Yeah, players who do the slow approach/hop to try to get the keeper to commit typically have a longer run up.  But I've seen a variant of that PK a bunch of times.  If you don't get the keeper to guess wrong or keep the slotted shot too close to the center it looks very bad.  And frankly, they deserve it because those types of PKs make a mockery of the spirit behind them, especially since keepers are on a super strict VAR leash to not leave their line.

[UMFan83]

3 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Yeah, players who do the slow approach/hop to try to get the keeper to commit typically have a longer run up.  But I've seen a variant of that PK a bunch of times.  If you don't get the keeper to guess wrong or keep the slotted shot too close to the center it looks very bad.  And frankly, they deserve it because those types of PKs make a mockery of the spirit behind them, especially since keepers are on a super strict VAR leash to not leave their line.

Yeah in retrospect the worst thing about that PK was the actual kick which would be terrible regardless of the run up to the ball.  

[stitchface]

2 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Yeah in retrospect the worst thing about that PK was the actual kick which would be terrible regardless of the run up to the ball.  

these guys should be good enough to just fire the ball in the corner. all these mind games are pretty stupid imo

[JHBulls]

 

[JHBulls]

 

[soccer10k]

No idea how Jota survives this horrific challenge from the goalkeeper. True credit to him for continuing to play on after this.

I get that while yes, there was contact from the GKer on Jota and that because it was rule a PK on the field, it's not a clear and obvious error. But this being a PK is so stupid. Jota didn't need to go down. He wasn't knocked off balance and he wasn't impeded. He got lightly grazed, took another step and then fell. If soccer rules made sense, this would be a yellow for diving.