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The 2020-2021 Football Thread

Lord Blackadder said:
van de Beek scored for Man Utd, but Wilf Zaha and Crystal Palace had one of those days where they click. Also a lesser-spotted and Andros Townsend goal. Odd performance from Man Utd, who were quite solid at the back last season. Maguire's head may be elsewhere...



Can every Leeds match please be a 4-3? Best scoreline in football. Leeds are on course to score 152 goals this season.
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Certainly crowd pleasers (if we had any crowds).
Yes surprised at the Man Utd result. Zaha is a great player on his day. I am surprised he didn’t get snapped up by another bigger team.
 
Perhaps Palace may be asking too much for Zaha, to ensure that it may be made somewhat difficult for him to leave.

Besides, I'm not sure to what extent he would be interested in leaving Crystal Palace; anyway, a very good victory for Palace against Manchester United.

The Leeds versus Fulham match sounds extraordinary.
 
We’ve started brightly against Arsenal. But I’m not sure we will get anything out of this game. We have a terrible record against them.
 
We huffed and we puffed and huffed and puffed, and finally, with a little bit of class, sealed the win against West Ham.

Arsenal two, West Ham 1; but, we made heavy weather of it.

Still very much a work in progress.

However, West Ham played far better than I had expected.
 
Tough match for the Hammers - Arsenal rode their luck here and there and it's the same old story of the 'big' team having just enough to get the job done in a difficult match.

West Ham fans will obviously be unhappy with the result but it was certainly an improved performance, and of course Arsenal are not the sort of team they need to worry about beating in order to stay up. If they can muster that sort of performance against the clubs in the bottom half they have a decent chance.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
Disappointed to be honest. 14 shots to Arsenals 7. I think we deserved the point.
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You probably did, and,while I'm very glad that we clawed all three, I'm not so sure that we deserved more than a point.

Far stiffer opposition will lie ahead, and Mikel Arteta - in case he needed to be reminded - still has a job of work to do.

And I am not so sure that Leno - good though he is - is actually better than the excellent Martínez, whom we sold, (because he wanted a guarantee of first team football), and whose stint in goal coincided with Arsenal's excellent patch towards the end of last season, post lockdown.

However, West Ham played well, and @Lord Blackadder is quite right; maintain that form for the rest of the season, and there should be no worries about the threat of relegation.
 
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I've already mentioned this to @JamesMike:

There is a lovely interview with Marcus Rashford in the Financial Times; well worth a look.

While I am not - in any way - a Manchester United fan, I have enormous respect for, and time for, that singularly impressive and thoroughly decent young man. And he is a very fine footballer, too.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
You probably did, and,while I'm very glad that we clawed all three, I'm not so sure that we deserved more than a point.

Far stiffer opposition will lie ahead, and Mikel Arteta - in case he needed to be reminded - still has a job of work to do.

And I am not so sure that Leno - good though he is - is actually better than the excellent Martínez, whom we sold, (because he wanted a guarantee of first team football), and whose stint in goal coincided with Arsenal's excellent patch towards the end of last season, post lockdown.

However, West Ham played well, and @Lord Blackadder is quite right; maintain that form for the rest of the season, and there should be no worries about the threat of relegation.
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We shall see. I think there are lots of teams that have strengthened whilst we have not. Everton look good. As do Leeds. I think Newcastle have bought well.
 
If not for the points deduction we'd be in 3rd based on goal dif... 🙁

2020-21 LC Standings
TEAMGPWDLGDP
Reading2200+46
Luton Town2200+26
AFC Bournemouth2110+14
Norwich City2110+14
Birmingham City2110+14
Millwall2110+14
Swansea City2110+14
Watford2110+14
Blackburn Rovers2101+43
Brentford2101+23
Queens Park Rangers2101+13
Bristol City1100+13
Coventry City210103
Cardiff City210103
Rotherham United210103
Stoke City101001
Preston North End2011-11
Middlesbrough2011-11
Derby County2002-30
Barnsley2002-30
Huddersfield Town2002-40
Nottingham Forest2002-40
Wycombe Wanderers2002-60
Sheffield Wednesday2110+2-8


*team names are live links!
 
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Manchester United have no clear way of playing. It’s as though Ole picks a 11 hoping the players figure it out. Always clamoring for a shiny new player isn’t the answer. The current squad should not have lost to palace.

Questions should also be raised of Ole- why play Pogba who recently recovered from Covid?
 
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The table looks amazing right now:

1600602957408.png

1600602966268.png
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Spurs won today; they destroyed Southampton, by five goals to two.
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"Destroyed"? Maybe on the score sheet (which is really all that counts), but to be honest, they were second best the whole game and only worked out in the second half that the Saints back line were not fast or skillful enough for a high back line and then took advantage of it.
Once they worked that out, it was goalarama.

If Spurs continue playing like this for the rest of the season, they'll get spanked by actual football teams (I'm not including Fulham or Southampton in that list). They lost possession too easily, allowed Saints to dominate (which was OK, as Saints appear to be clueless going forward, backward or sideways at the moment) and barely made any in-roads apart from consistent dinks over the top for Son to run onto (which again a decent side would've worked out pre-game).
Can you imagine teams with imagination, speed and a decent defence against that Spurs side? If Saints can trouble them, they are in dire straits and I don't think the return of Tiger Woods is going to save them...

EDIT: I can see the bottom two places being firmly occupied by Fulham and Southampton this season...
 
HandsomeDanNZ said:
"Destroyed"? Maybe on the score sheet (which is really all that counts), but to be honest, they were second best the whole game and only worked out in the second half that the Saints back line were not fast or skillful enough for a high back line and then took advantage of it.
Once they worked that out, it was goalarama.

If Spurs continue playing like this for the rest of the season, they'll get spanked by actual football teams (I'm not including Fulham or Southampton in that list). They lost possession too easily, allowed Saints to dominate (which was OK, as Saints appear to be clueless going forward, backward or sideways at the moment) and barely made any in-roads apart from consistent dinks over the top for Son to run onto (which again a decent side would've worked out pre-game).
Can you imagine teams with imagination, speed and a decent defence against that Spurs side? If Saints can trouble them, they are in dire straits and I don't think the return of Tiger Woods is going to save them...

EDIT: I can see the bottom two places being firmly occupied by Fulham and Southampton this season...
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I am genuinely sorry that Spurs parted ways with Pochettino, although I suppose that he had taken them as far as he could, and sorrier still, that even a small amount of silverware was not won during his tenure in charge.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
I am genuinely sorry that Spurs parted ways with Pochettino, although I suppose that he had taken them as far as he could, and sorrier still, that even a small amount of silverware was not won during his tenure in charge.
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I felt like he was a better manager than the club he was coaching.

If he hasn't already I hope he catches on somewhere.
 
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