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The 2019-2020 Football Thread

HandsomeDanNZ said:
That penalty would be hard to swallow for anyone not a Man U fan...
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Conspiracy theorists will be happy to remind everyone that Man Utd broke the record for most penalties ever awarded in a Premier League season this campaign, with an astonishing 14, though they only scored 10 of them. By comparison, Man City were awarded 11 and scored 6.

Outside of Manchester, things look a LOT more sparse - no other club reached double digits, Watford next up with 8. Liverpool were awarded just 5, though they can boast a 100% conversion rate on those. At the bottom of the penalty table, poor old Newcastle United missed the single penalty they were given.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
Conspiracy theorists will be happy to remind everyone that Man Utd broke the record for most penalties ever awarded in a Premier League season this campaign, with an astonishing 14, though they only scored 10 of them. By comparison, Man City were awarded 11 and scored 6.

Outside of Manchester, things look a LOT more sparse - no other club reached double digits, Watford next up with 8. Liverpool were awarded just 5, though they can boast a 100% conversion rate on those. At the bottom of the penalty table, poor old Newcastle United missed the single penalty they were given.
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You do need to factor in the time spent in the opposition’s penalty area in though with those sort of statistics. Some of the weaker teams barely get out of their half. Makes it much harder to get a pen.
Plus better skilled defenders give them away less often.
 
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With Willian and possibly another player incoming, seems Arsenal are almost forced to 'give Ozil away', i.e. release him from his contract. But, GBP18M is costly, and even more so with the 55 redundancies.

I know Willian is 32 now, and giving him a three year deal is probably not ideal. However, there have been plenty of goalkeepers that have played well into their forties. So, there's that :D
 
tee_cup said:
With Willian and possibly another player incoming, seems Arsenal are almost forced to 'give Ozil away', i.e. release him from his contract. But, GBP18M is costly, and even more so with the 55 redundancies.

I know Willian is 32 now, and giving him a three year deal is probably not ideal. However, there have been plenty of goalkeepers that have played well into their forties. So, there's that :D
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Hey and defenders! Both Billy Bonds and Alvin Martin played until they were the much older than 35 at West Ham.
 
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The MLS is Back Cup final happened yesterday. And no, I didn't care about it either (Portland won, I had to look it up). Tonight MLS league matches resume in home markets, when Dallas and Nashville face each other. And just as a reminder: Dallas and Nashville are the two teams who had to drop out of the MLS is Back tournament due to too many positive COVID cases in their respective squads. And the game is happening in Texas, one of the global hotspots of COVID. With fans in the stadium* (albeit a reduced crowd).

What could possibly go wrong????

* MLS has been very serious about laying out plans to test and protect players and staff (whether that will work is another discussion). But their approach to fans is very different. There will be reduced crowds in stadiums, but fans attending will be required to sign a waiver absolving the clubs of responsibility should they contract COVID at a match.

Fans are bing treated as expendable wallets/purses of cash to be milked for funds... and if they get sick or die? Well, that's their problem.

Apple fanboy said:
You do need to factor in the time spent in the opposition’s penalty area in though with those sort of statistics. Some of the weaker teams barely get out of their half. Makes it much harder to get a pen.
Plus better skilled defenders give them away less often.
Click to expand...

Very true. That is why this difference between Manchester United on the one hand and Liverpool or Chelsea on the other is significant, whereas the difference between Norwich and Man United is explainable more by the fact that Norwich just don't spend much time in their opponent's box. I don't think there is a conspiracy of any kind, just to be clear! But I do think that decades of previous success have baked a predisposition towards Man Utd into some officials' subconscious minds when it comes to making close decisions. If Rashford goes down under a challenge from some random journeyman playing for a struggling club, it's probably a penalty, right???? And no, they are not the only team that benefits in this way either. Liverpool rarely give penalties away at Anfield, for instance, even when some players *cough* Martin Skrtel *cough* have had a reputation for risky defending in the box.

HandsomeDanNZ said:
Buffon is now in his late eighties and still playing...
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Gone are the days when outfield players could continue playing into their forties and beyond. The game is too fast and physically demanding for that. The rule of thumb these days appear to be that an otherwise fit and healthy player is no longer able to hack it in the top leagues once they hit between 35-38 years of age.
 
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Watching the PSG/Atalanta match, Atalanta is giving PSG a tough match and lead 1-0 at the half.

The last few minutes PSG came from behind with two exciting goals to win the match.
 
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Very sorry to see Atalanta defeated, especially in such heart-breaking circumstances.

Unless Arsenal are playing (in which case, I not only forgive, but actually welcome such an exception, and yes, I recognise my dubious double standard and acknowledge what I can only concede as my fleeting flirtation with hypocrisy), I hate to see victory clawed, or carved, or simply stolen, snatched or otherwise seized or robbed in the 90th or 96th minute of a game.

Would have loved to have seen them through at the expense of PSG.

And they almost made it. Although nearly never was.
 
Watching the Wellington Phoenix in the A-League last night...last game of the regular season.

The Nix were woefully wasteful when totally dominating the game.
at half time went in 1-0 down...online chat said they’d regret not putting away their chances...lost 3-0 to la very ordinary Newcastle Jets team.

Do not like the Nix’s chances of going far in the finals series on this evidence.
 
I'm watching Barcelona/Bayern match, lots of goals scored so far, 5-2, Bayern's favor.

Messi and company got their butt's kicked! 8-2!
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
In the CL quarter final, yet again, Manchester City exit, as they are deservedly defeated by Lyon by three goals to one.
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Guardiola maybe have once lifted the cup in Europe, but now he has a fairly rotten record in the Champions League - at the helm of several different 'overdog' teams, I might add.

If Bayern don't win the CL now it would have to be considered a huge choke. They are the best team left in it by miles.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
Guardiola maybe have once lifted the cup in Europe, but now he has a fairly rotten record in the Champions League - at the helm of several different 'overdog' teams, I might add.
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You have frequently made the point (argument) that Pep - as a manager - seems to perform best with the proverbial wind at his back, that, he has never been seriously tested by running - and achieving success with - an under-resourced team, and that he has yet to be really tested in an environment where he is not (or has not been) supported by a bottomless bank balance, or war chest, or ample resources, a set of favourable circumstances which has made some of the world's best players available to him.

And, even then, when faced with serious opposition, his teams don't always perform as well as perhaps they ought to.

Lord Blackadder said:
If Bayern don't win the CL now it would have to be considered a huge choke. They are the best team left in it by miles.
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Yes, I would imagine that they could be considered the favourites.
 
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