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The 2015-2016 Football Thread

There is a big price to pay when a manager announces in December that he will be leaving at club at the end of the season. Both Man City and Bayern Munich are learning the short-term consequences of Pep's big summer move. Neither team is really bothered, the players are lacking in motivation and focus.

And as a result Bayern, who are probably the second-best team on the planet, needed a bit of luck and some longball to get past Juve. Luckily for Pep, his players can get away with turning it on when they are down to the wire.

Arsenal got schooled. Barca look out of this world, Suarez-Messi-Neymar are majestic.
 
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Both Liverpool and Man Utd showed their limitations tonight. Liverpool can still be shaky at the back and the quality of the finishing is (statistically) poor. Clyne got burned numerous tomes but was on his weaker side and facing a very fast player. Coutinho was peak Coutinho - does very little for most of the game but scores a worldy. Man Utd consist of De Gea, Rashford, Martial...and 8 other bodies. Fellaini should have been sent off in each leg, but wasn't.

Still a great result for Liverpool. Winning the Europa League is a very tough challenge (Liverpool-Dortmund final? That would be great) but it does give the squad something big to focus on (4th place is surely gone now?).
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Both Liverpool and Man Utd showed their limitations tonight. Liverpool can still be shaky at the back and the quality of the finishing is (statistically) poor. Clyne got burned numerous tomes but was on his weaker side and facing a very fast player. Coutinho was peak Coutinho - does very little for most of the game but scores a worldy. Man Utd consist of De Gea, Rashford, Martial...and 8 other bodies. Fellaini should have been sent off in each leg, but wasn't.

Still a great result for Liverpool. Winning the Europa League is a very tough challenge (Liverpool-Dortmund final? That would be great) but it does give the squad something big to focus on (4th place is surely gone now?).
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Liverpool Dortmund would be a great final , just a shame Spurs didn't bring more to either leg , I can not help myself but think that the Europa was more of a burden on them in there eyes at this point .
 
macuser27 said:
Liverpool Dortmund would be a great final , just a shame Spurs didn't bring more to either leg , I can not help myself but think that the Europa was more of a burden on them in there eyes at this point .
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I was very disappointing to see Spurs throw the Dortmund tie away on purpose. It could have been a pair of very exciting matches.
 
It's going to be a great tie - and unlike Spurs, Klopp and Liverpool are going to go for it. On the one hand it's a major obstacle to advancing - Dortmund are the better team - but you know what? European competition is all about testing yourself against the best in Europe - not brushing aside the Maltese champions or some such.

Still, I would have preferred to meet them in the final. But if Liverpool pass this test, they will be in good shape for the next round I would think.

Disgusting, shameful, embarrassing - that's all I'm going to say about the crowd trouble at both legs of the Liverpool-Man Utd Europa League tie. UEFA has charged both clubs. It may only be a relatively small proportion of the fans, but it's still totally unacceptable and contradicts everything that both clubs and fans' groups claim they stand for. When are we going to stop taunting each other about certain tragedies?
 
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De Gea poor for the goal, Lovren fouling Fellaini - he isn't Smalling so no focus on it, and very bad finishing by both sides. It didn't matter who got through given remaining teams are capable of taking the many chances Liverpool/Manchester United afford them. As for the draw, the look from the Liverpool delegates was priceless. Mind, injuries and the balance can change.

What is with the flare/firework fetish? Continental sophistication?

Cheers,
OW
 
oscillatewildly said:
As for the draw, the look from the Liverpool delegates was priceless. Mind, injuries and the balance can change.
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Did they look disappointed? I think it's a great draw. If Liverpool are going to win the Europa League they were always going to have to beat one or both of Dortmund and Sevilla. Now is as good a time as any. If Liverpool lose, they will have been knocked out by a superior team. If they win, they'll be one of the favorites to win the competition.

Flares: they can be annoying, but are better than the banners/chants both sets of supporters seem to think are funny.

EDIT: Interesting Manchester Derby set for this weekend...both managers dead men walking, will the players be up for it? City have more to lose, but Man Utd are still in the race for the top 4.
 
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617aircav said:
If LFC or THFC win the league Wenger should shoot himself. Total failure and embarrassing.
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Steady on.

I would rather have Wenger as manager and not win the league/CL for years while playing good football than win a bunch of stuff in three years under that disgrace Mourinho, or be swapping players and managers every couple seasons like Real Madrid or Man City or Spurs. Winning the way Chelsea have won is kind of empty for me - it's just results.

Wenger is going to take a lot of heat this season, and some of it is justified, but people are already going way over the top with criticism.

Ranieri's Leicester City are massively over performing. There is zero chance they will do this again next season, even though a league championship this season would be the greatest story in English football in a lifetime. With the squad they have there is no way they can compete in the league, Champions League and both cups. But that one season for Leicester would be sweeter in my mind than everything Mou has done at Chelsea.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
Steady on.

I would rather have Wenger as manager and not win the league/CL for years while playing good football than win a bunch of stuff in three years under that disgrace Mourinho, or be swapping players and managers every couple seasons like Real Madrid or Man City or Spurs. Winning the way Chelsea have won is kind of empty for me - it's just results.

Wenger is going to take a lot of heat this season, and some of it is justified, but people are already going way over the top with criticism.

Ranieri's Leicester City are massively over performing. There is zero chance they will do this again next season, even though a league championship this season would be the greatest story in English football in a lifetime. With the squad they have there is no way they can compete in the league, Champions League and both cups. But that one season for Leicester would be sweeter in my mind than everything Mou has done at Chelsea.
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Couldn't agree more, and very well said.

And Leicester won again today; I'm delighted - it was the first result I checked when I arrived home.
 
The-Real-Deal82 said:
I think fans of pretty much every club except Arsenal and Tottenham are hoping Leicester win the league title this season. A great win today and one step closer.
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And including some who count themselves fans of those clubs, too.

For what it is worth, I am an Arsenal fan, one who is, granted, of the desultory, rather than avid, persuasion, and I, for one, would love to see Leicester City win the Premiership. For, it would be a victory for decency, fairness, hard work, idealism, romanticism, all the stuff that you are encouraged to believe in as a kid.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Did they look disappointed? I think it's a great draw. If Liverpool are going to win the Europa League they were always going to have to beat one or both of Dortmund and Sevilla. Now is as good a time as any. If Liverpool lose, they will have been knocked out by a superior team. If they win, they'll be one of the favorites to win the competition.

Flares: they can be annoying, but are better than the banners/chants both sets of supporters seem to think are funny.

EDIT: Interesting Manchester Derby set for this weekend...both managers dead men walking, will the players be up for it? City have more to lose, but Man Utd are still in the race for the top 4.
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It will be interesting to see how the teams man up.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
EDIT: Interesting Manchester Derby set for this weekend...both managers dead men walking, will the players be up for it? City have more to lose, but Man Utd are still in the race for the top 4.
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JamesMike said:
It will be interesting to see how the teams man up.
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Not sure whether it is a case of 'being up for it' or whether they 'man up', or just sheer indifference to the outcome.

To me, it is more a case of the jaded palate of those on bloated and obscene salaries who are far removed from responsibility, professional pride and mundane stuff such as having to face consequences for their underwhelming form.

While I can see the laziness, and arrogance, and supreme indifference on the part of the teams to the fate of the pair of managers, both of whom are the proverbial 'dead men walking', I am stunned at the lack of motivation, and professional pride, - and, more telling - any sense of a dawning awareness of possible danger.

Certainly, when Pep Guardiola takes over the reins at City, he may wish to instigate a clean out. Dead wood may find itself culled, and chopped.

What I do not understand is the lack of an instinct for self-preservation - why a number of these players clearly have insufficient personal ambition and professional pride to wish to impress an incoming manager, - in advance - rather than the contemptuous indifference towards the fate of a manager which marks many of them currently.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
What I do not understand is the lack of an instinct for self-preservation - why a number of these players clearly have insufficient personal ambition and professional pride to wish to impress an incoming manager, - in advance - rather than the contemptuous indifference towards the fate of a manager which marks many of them currently.
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They are very young men with little education, fame and fortune suddenly thrust upon them and slick, opportunistic agents instantly whispering in their ears about the next big move. Add to that the fact that managers come and go every couple years and you can see where they might have trouble motivating themselves for this badge or that badge.

Still, it seems that even international city does;t excite players the way it used to, Maybe it's a generational thing - Millenial footballers are too self-absorbed to give a damn, perhaps.

Hoping for a draw in the Tyne-Wear derby, because I want both teams to go down and Norwich to survive...
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
They are very young men with little education, fame and fortune suddenly thrust upon them and slick, opportunistic agents instantly whispering in their ears about the next big move. Add to that the fact that managers come and go every couple years and you can see where they might have trouble motivating themselves for this badge or that badge.

Still, it seems that even international city does;t excite players the way it used to, Maybe it's a generational thing - Millenial footballers are too self-absorbed to give a damn, perhaps.

Hoping for a draw in the Tyne-Wear derby, because I want both teams to go down and Norwich to survive...
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I'm laughing reading your remark about the Tyne-Wear derby.

Re educational levels, yes, you are quite right: I read a piece some time ago about the number of footballers (or, ex-footballers) with a university degree, or a half decent education, and the figure mentioned was really pitiful - roughly a dozen names come to mind, hardly any more than that.

Indeed, it strikes me that this is an area where the clubs could do a lot more, through their youth academics, although I believe that some improvement has taken place in recent years.

The other issue is that the nature of the wealth enjoyed by top footballers these days really does serve to divorce them from any meaningful connection with the world that gave rise to them. Even as recently as the 80s, before the truly stratospheric salaries of the Premiership era (and the impact of the effects of the Bosman ruling) although very well paid, footballers tended to have been a bit more grounded and rooted in the communities that gave rise to them.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
Mourinho has reportedly signed a pre-contract agreement to be the next Man Utd Manager.

In just a few short years the club have gone from stability under Ferguson to rushing into the arms of Mourinho - a man who will bring trophies but also a great deal of turmoil and he won't hang around too long either.
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I read that.

Idiots. Actually, idiots playing with dynamite and very cavalier with the club's traditions and culture.

Meanwhile, it doesn't take the unsettling gifts of a prophet or seer to be able to predict with any degree of accuracy that Jose Mourinho will leave a trail of utter nihilistic destruction behind him when he is compelled to quit - as will inevitably happen - and will part from the club in explosive and toxic circumstances of pure poison, having wrung out emotions and consumed the proverbial acres of media coverage in the meantime.

Needless to say, it will be interesting to compare and contrast the relative fortunes - on the field and off - of the two Manchester clubs next year, under their respective (new) managers, if Manchester United are foolish enough to indulge this itch and actually appoint Jose Mourinho. They need their heads examined.

Given his track record, I don't doubt a trophy or two from Jose Mourinho in his first season as manager, but things will turn toxic in the second season, and will have done so. most certainly, by the third, assuming he lasts that long.

While the media - and much coverage - will be exercised by comparing and contrasting Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho next year, long term, I would imagine that Pep Guardiola will leave City in a far better position than Jose Mourinho will leave United.
 
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