West Ham of course! Unless we can get our old manager with a 100% record back.
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The 2017-2018 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
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Which manager have you in mind?
Of the British ones, I think Sean Dyche is excellent, and Alan Curbishley both extremely good.
We tried Curbishley before.
I would love a top manager. Someone with a link to the club ideally.
Stuart Pierce is there at the moment, but he seems destined to be a number two man.
Maybe Wenger will like the short commute!
Wenger might - in another world - take Chelsea (or, perhaps, Paris St-Germain, but of all, maybe, France), but I could never see him at West Ham.
I don’t think Pep is going anywhere. Sure they won the EPL this year, but fell short of the CL. There is still work to be done, and if I remember correctly, he hasn’t won the CL league since he left Barca. I think he needs to get one with another team before he moves on.
I don't think he will return to where he started.
Rumours say PSG, and possibly, France.
However, I think he had bonded emotionally with Arsenal, and has taken the fact that he had to leave quite badly. Therefore, he might not appear in another post immediately.
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Agreed. I don't see Pep leaving Manchester City for another year at least.
I think Liverpool are a clearly superior team to Real Madrid. Madrid have been pretty poor as a team this season; however, the quality of their individual players, coupled with their total belief and sense of entitlement to victory, seem to carry them through.
I'm about to have a rather busy afternoon at work, not sure I'll be able to catch any of the match. Probably better for my cardiac health. Klopp will go into this game confident, but I am a pessimist and thus absolutely terrified.
Liverpool will want that early goal. Score twice, and they will be in a totally commanding position. Roma would probably prefer to control the game at the beginning but they have not choice but to attack. They will hope to rattle Liverpool with a first half goal of their own, and then try to pounce at the end of the game when Liverpool are tired - as they did with Barca.
I'm about to have a rather busy afternoon at work, not sure I'll be able to catch any of the match. Probably better for my cardiac health. Klopp will go into this game confident, but I am a pessimist and thus absolutely terrified.
Liverpool will want that early goal. Score twice, and they will be in a totally commanding position. Roma would probably prefer to control the game at the beginning but they have not choice but to attack. They will hope to rattle Liverpool with a first half goal of their own, and then try to pounce at the end of the game when Liverpool are tired - as they did with Barca.
I disagree with Liverpool being the clear superior team. Yes Liverpool’s attack is one of the best, but like I said earlier, not better then PSG’s. That was pretty much shut down twice. I will give you that Salah might be the best player over the course of the year, but I will take my chances with the cold blooded Ronaldo that doesn’t let anything rattle him when needed.
Is being in third place in the EPL some how a large difference to being in 3rd in the La Liga? Barca and Man City seem to be equal and A Madrid and Man U seem to be pretty close. Madrid has had issues in La Liga, but it seems to be for lack of caring.
As for a head to head with Liverpool. Liverpool is not the type of team Madrid has lost to this season. Attack heavy teams have trouble with Madrid, and I don’t see it much different for Liverpool. They are good, but winning a CL final against Ronaldo good? Not so sure about that.
Well, by half time, Liverpool had scored two (to Roma's one); thus the aggregate score is 3-7 to Liverpool.
Which means Roma need to score just four more goals merely to push the game to extra-time.
Which means Roma need to score just four more goals merely to push the game to extra-time.
Real Madrid have won their third Champions League final in a row!
I kid...sort of.
But good grief...7-6. Seven to Six!!! Crazy. Roma had a couple decent penalty shouts, but at the same time both of the penalties they were actually awarded were ball to hand.
Liverpool's only chance in the final will be to outscore Real Madrid. If we lose, I hope the game ends 7-6. I think Liverpool's biggest problem in the final will be the lack of a leg at Anfield.
I kid...sort of.
But good grief...7-6. Seven to Six!!! Crazy. Roma had a couple decent penalty shouts, but at the same time both of the penalties they were actually awarded were ball to hand.
Liverpool's only chance in the final will be to outscore Real Madrid. If we lose, I hope the game ends 7-6. I think Liverpool's biggest problem in the final will be the lack of a leg at Anfield.
Yes, skin of the teeth (7-6 on aggregate to Liverpool), and 4-2 to Roma. Squeaky bum time for Liverpool supporters.
However, the last minute penalty could have been classed as a pretty harsh decision.
Well, yes, this is true, that I will concede, but awarding that penalty at that precise minute of the match did seem just a tad harsh.
Liverpool the better team over two legs but conceding 4 goals in the last 10 mins of both legs and 6 goals in total epitomizes their problem this season. Against better opposition with some key decisions they would've been easily knocked out.
Ye, but as long as they feel assured of being able to score a plethora of goals per match they will continue to ride their luck in defence.
With the single exception of Manchester City, no other team in the top seven have scored more goals this season; likewise, with the single exception of my beloved brittle Arsenal, no other team has concede as many goals in the top seven teams this season.
Yes - and no. Liverpool should have conceded a couple penalties, but also been awarded a couple as well. On balance, I don't see the refereeing being decisive in favor of Liverpool - though the Italian press certainly beg to differ.
And as for the opposition, Porto, Man City, and Roma are all pretty good teams - and Liverpool blew all of them away in at least one leg of each tie, with a combined aggregate of 17-7. They've scored 40 goals in Europe in this campaign.
Frankly, Real Madrid are little better than Liverpool at the back - they just always outscore the opposition. Leaking six goals is OK if you score seven. It ages me ten years in each match, but at least it's entertaining.
I'm rambling here, but I suppose my point is that Mourinho gets called a genius for controlling games defensively and winning a tie 1-0 (though, in this case he got dumped out of Europe by Sevilla), while Klopp's Liverpool are heavily criticized for leaking goals yet win 7-6. Different paths, same result. But I know which match I'd rather see.
The problem with the 'we'll outscore the opposition' approach is you'll eventually run into an Athletico Madrid or West Brom. Of course Liverpool are entertaining and a better proposition to a 1-0 gritty victory. But losing 7-6 doesn't particularly instill fear in a prospective opposition. The team is unbalanced and over-reliant on that front 3.
But we shall find out on May 26th.
But we shall find out on May 26th.
A fair point. But the opposite weakness applies to defensive/control-focused teams - leak a couple goals and suddenly you find yourself unequipped to score your way back into the match.
In this case, it's a moot point because Liverpool's next opponent isn't afraid of anyone anyway. In fact, the more disrespect Real show Liverpool, the better for the Reds.
The lack of balance exists, but it is a calculated risk inherent to Klopp's system - in order to deploy an overwhelming attack against an equal number of opponents the you cannot afford to defend in depth. Klopp seeks to control the match by forcing his opponent to react to relentless pressure, trading the loss of a goal or two against his own team scoring three, four, or five. Many control-focused teams are not very good at chasing a match. Sometimes the approach backfires though, especially late in the match when the gegenpressing team is worn out, especially if they failed to score early and have no lead built up.
Considering how demanding it is to be a defender in a Klopp system the defensive unit are doing OK though - they have the fifth fewest goals allowed in the Premier League, so they aren't exactly dreadful.
I expect Real to win - they pretty much always do - but Liverpool have gotten just as far in Europe as Real at this point (and ahead of giants Barca, PSG, and the Manchester teams). That in itself is a huge achievement.
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Excellent analysis.
That is a fair point, and one that isn't sufficiently recognised. Liverpool's defence is not bad, it is just that they are much more intent on playing a game that focusses on aggressive attacking.
And that, too, is a very fair point; Liverpool have managed to get to the CL final - that is a superlative achievement, and, I would expect them to give a good account of themselves in that final. This is no mean achievement, and no other team in England came close to it.
The Buvac situation appears to be a personal falling-out with Klopp - not necessarily a big deal in itself, but the timing is truly odd. Also odd is the news that Arsenal are immediately trying to scoop him up.
But my understanding is that they know each other since about 25years (first as teammates/players and then for 17y as a managing team. So a falling out is imho quite a big thing in itself - taking the timing into account it appears as some internal-catastrophy has happened..
Since it's crunchtime and Liverpool can win a huuuuge trophy as well as lose big-time (fall out of the CL spots + lose the final against Real) it's understandable that the club doubles down on shutting down info-policies regarding the incident/ plays it down but I'd have thought it's a really big deal.
But I haven't followed really footy-news recently so maybe one could have seen that coming, dunno.
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