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The 2017-2018 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
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Playing at home against 10 men for 80 minutes and Arsenal get a draw. They might have just lost the chance to give their manager a send off he deserves.
Why are they running him off? I haven’t been following the new on this very much, but he has been a great manager in my eyes.
Well I don't think finishing outside the top 4 is helping, or not winning the PL for 14 years!
Yeah, but are the really putting enough money into the team to win the league? I know the top 4 isn’t good enough this year, but look at what the teams ahead of them are spending. I mean freaking Man City is spending more than Real and Barca.
Agreed. But I think if they were finishing 2nd or 3rd the fans could live with that. 6th or 7th is not so good.
Well considering they haven't managed a single point away from home in 2018, and the type of opponent...NOPE
Still, all they need to do is beat Atleti in the second leg or draw 2-2 or higher and they are through. That is far from an impossible task.
Totally agree! Atléti looked lackluster today and very beatable. They had no sign of attack at all. It was a rare long ball with a bit of luck that got the goal. Keep attacking in the 2nd leg and you have a shot.
Arsenal have underachieved at times under late-stage Wenger, and they might not win this tie, but they are fully capable of doing it.
Atletico Madrid are a good team, and hard to beat. Simeone is likely to be banned for the next match, and possibly the final, should Atleti make it there.
Personally, I want to see Wenger bow out with a trophy, so I am rooting for them.
It would be nice to see Wenger go out with a trophy for sure. Problem is I think Atletico has largely under achieved this year. The talent they have, they should have been playing deep into the CL. What Arsenal did last night was pretty impressive. I think the result was pretty good, and I wouldn’t put it past them to give it a run next week.
This is the time of year when it can become challenging to play a team threatened with relegation; Liverpool have been held to a draw by Stoke - who defended superbly.
Ultimately I don't think it will be enough for Stoke, but a Liverpool win would have made me feel more comfortable.
I figure they weren’t really focused on the game with the second leg of CL coming up.
Quite likely, whereas Stoke were incredibly motivated, and had good reason to be motivated.
Precisely because of the fear of the drop, teams that rolled over tamely a month or two ago often become opponents who fight tigerishly to earn a point, or three.
Now, it probably won't be enough for Stoke, but it leaves them with that hideous hope that they still might salvage something from the season, and execute an escape of improbable proportions.
I actually like that narrative a lot better then Liverpool just winning.
I think it will be the same for Real today. Zidane will throw out the B team with nothing really to loss. The league is out of reach, and CL is all that matters. I think the same can be said for Liverpool.
Lots of interesting results today. Only Huddersfield lost in the bottom.
Palace not only one but gave their goal difference a healthy boost.
I'm feeling less safe today. Especially as we face Man City tomorrow
Palace not only one but gave their goal difference a healthy boost.
I'm feeling less safe today. Especially as we face Man City tomorrow
Lots of interesting results today. Only Huddersfield lost in the bottom.
Palace not only one but gave their goal difference a healthy boost.
I'm feeling less safe today. Especially as we face Man City tomorrow
Lots of very interesting results today, indeed.
If you have to play a bottom team, - or teams - the best time to do so is in those godawful months between early january and mid April.
Anyone facing those teams over the coming few weeks will have a bit of a battle on their hands, - for those team will be fighting for survival - whereas a month ago they would have surrendered meekly - or, at least, pretty tamely - to a better organised, more ruthless, and much more skilful team.
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The atmosphere at Anfield was flat, and - no matter what Klopp says to the team - the players had one eye on the match against Roma. A top four finish is still mathematically in danger.
Stoke have been spoilers for Liverpool for ten years...never good enough to win at Anfield, but they seem to relish in scrappy draws. But this draw didn't really do either team much good.
Oh, gosh, yes, I agree.
No, re Stoke, I beg to differ. At this time the year, the worst agony is not the certainty of relegation, - that is a numbed pain of acceptance, almost bearable - but the clutched straw of distant - almost impossible - hope. The fact that - theoretically, mathematically, improbably - Stoke might pull it off and escape the drop is a sort of exquisite agony for team, supporters, and (I daresay) owners.
So, yes, for those who undertone the agent and ecstasy of pain (the sort of thing Nick Hornby wrote about so insightfully two decades ago in "Fever Pitch") this will act as a weird spur to Stoke.
Watching MOTD.
Good performance from Palace. Leicester looked a very distant team from the one that lifted the trophy a couple of years ago.
Good performance from Palace. Leicester looked a very distant team from the one that lifted the trophy a couple of years ago.
Yes, but Leicester are safe: For a team that has little to fight for - safety well assured, trophies and European places out of reach, - facing hellcats desperate to survive - this is a time of the year when they are less motivated than they might be to fight for a result.
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