The 2022-2023 Football Thread

[Silencio]

Chelsea's transfer policy is officially to copy everyone else's work. So weird. And Mudryk is again not a player that really addresses an area of acute need, and again they're handing out huge contracts like candy. Is there no pretense of FFP anymore whatsoever? (Rhetorical question.)

It doesn't matter this year — their chances of top 4 now are very slim indeed.

What a day at Old Trafford! A total 180° from the reverse fixture not too long ago. City is not on a great run of form and was missing Dias and Stones pretty badly, but United's attitude, application, and resilience is back where it should be. I really hope Wenghorst can give them a little extra something up top, as Martial has slipped back into the doldrums.

Maybe it wasn't Graham Potter who made Brighton a good team. Seems like they're doing just fine without him.

Bournemouth will end up in the bottom 3 at the end. 7 teams within two points of each other at the foot of the table right now, and Forest isn't far off, either.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Looks like Mudryk is going to Chelsea. €100m. Arsenal offered €95m but Chelsea came in. Shaktar get what they've been angling for, going as far as making an official statement to seal it.

Let's not forget Brentford tried to sign him for £27m in the summer.

Meanwhile Chelsea have now spent around €450m in 6 months wowza.

Not a done deal yet; things changed, yesterday, and changed further, again, today.

Moreover, while Chelsea have been attempting to gazump Arsenal, the player himself (Mudryk) has long made it clear that he would prefer to head to Arsenal.

 

[Sal09]

Chelsea with their small club mentality adding Mudryk’s handle to their Insta bio.

 

[daneoni]

Not a done deal yet; things changed, yesterday, and changed further, again, today.

Moreover, while Chelsea have been attempting to gazump Arsenal, the player himself (Mudryk) has long made it clear that he would prefer to head to Arsenal.

By most reports, i think it's a done deal, medical booked for tomorrow. Documents in hand and all that. Arsenal are not gonna go beyond their ceiling (which is fair enough).

One of those deals where everyone kind of comes out looking dodgy.

Arsenal for being so public about their pursuit and focusing solely on him and Felix without any headway with both or backup plan.

Shaktar for trolling and being offensively greedy

Chelsea for proliferating the premise that EPL clubs exist to be milked for every last penny, and epitomising the phrase 'more money than sense'

Mudryk for making so much noise about his 'preference' before turning around and doing the opposite of what he has been yapping about.

Agent for being...well...an agent

Complete mugs the lot of them. And people wonder why the big 6 clubs are disliked.

 

[Sal09]

Who here agrees with refs decision to give that goal against Man City in Manchester Derby.

Personally as an Arsenal im not complaining. Best result for us but as a fan of Football how they hell Rashford wasn’t interfering. That goal shouldn’t have been given.

 

[Sal09]

Mudryk’s made his decision. End of story.

I dont get our fan base loosing the plot and getting so offended/offensive about it.

We are top of the league and have a big game tomorrow. Instead of supporting the club they are pointing fingers who and why we didnt sign him.

Arsenal twitter is jokes at the moment.

 

[daneoni]

Who here agrees with refs decision to give that goal against Man City in Manchester Derby.

Personally as an Arsenal im not complaining. Best result for us but as a fan of Football how they hell Rashford wasn’t interfering. That goal shouldn’t have been given.

Common sense says it's not a goal. But Ridiculous rule and EPL refereeing says it is

Pep now playing mind games saying he doesn't care about the EPL or Carabao cup.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

By most reports, i think it's a done deal, medical booked for tomorrow. Documents in hand and all that. Arsenal are not gonna go beyond their ceiling (which is fair enough).

One of those deals where everyone kind of comes out looking dodgy.

Arsenal for being so public about their pursuit and focusing solely on him and Felix without any headway with both or backup plan.

Shaktar for trolling and being offensively greedy

Chelsea for proliferating the premise that EPL clubs exist to be milked for every last penny, and epitomising the phrase 'more money than sense'

Mudryk for making so much noise about his 'preference' before turning around and doing the opposite of what he has been yapping about.

Agent for being...well...an agent

Complete mugs the lot of them. And people wonder why the big 6 clubs are disliked.

Mudryk’s made his decision. End of story.

I dont get our fan base loosing the plot and getting so offended/offensive about it.

We are top of the league and have a big game tomorrow. Instead of supporting the club they are pointing fingers who and why we didnt sign him.

Arsenal twitter is jokes at the moment.

Ah, yes, once the medical is booked, well, yes, this does seem to put a rather different complexion on the matter.

The French saying "tant pis", works well, in this context.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Who here agrees with refs decision to give that goal against Man City in Manchester Derby.

Personally as an Arsenal im not complaining. Best result for us but as a fan of Football how they hell Rashford wasn’t interfering. That goal shouldn’t have been given.

Common sense says it's not a goal. But Ridiculous rule and EPL refereeing says it is

Pep now playing mind games saying he doesn't care about the EPL or Carabao cup.

Manchester United - and, above all, Rashford - intelligently exploited the rules (because, under the rules as they stand, the goal was perfectly legal) exquisitely; well done to them.

 

[Sal09]

Booked Anfield Stadium Tour for son next month.

He wasn’t pleased with the result tonight.

 

[Alphazoid]

Re-Mudryk, Felix etc. People really shouldn't be surprised. There will be deja vu with Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham etc.

When it comes to contemporary football, it's ALWAYS about the money.
This is why i seldom have sympathy for football players, managers, and/or football clubs.

The game has lost the plot, and has been tainted from top (FIFA/UEFA) to bottom.
Cantona might have a point. People should support lower division clubs who haven't sold their souls...yet.

Or better yet be neutral, that way you're not contributing to the farce. I know i know...easier said than done.

 

[pachyderm]

 

[fanboy-ish]

Re-Mudryk, Felix etc. People really shouldn't be surprised. There will be deja vu with Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham etc.

When it comes to contemporary football, it's ALWAYS about the money.
This is why i seldom have sympathy for football players, managers, and/or football clubs.

The game has lost the plot, and has been tainted from top (FIFA/UEFA) to bottom.
Cantona might have a point. People should support lower division clubs who haven't sold their souls...yet.

Or better yet be neutral, that way you're not contributing to the farce. I know i know...easier said than done.

I don't know much about the history of English football, but what I'm seeing nowadays is clubs copying the old Italian system of managing football clubs, which is patronage basically. The system involves having rich owners that spend money like they're playing a videogame.

The system can be fun for fans, as long as the owners keep pumping money into clubs, but if the system goes on for too long, managers won't know how to properly manage a club, and if/when the owner stops spending money the club will go astray because you won't be able to find almost anybody who has the faintest idea how a football club should be managed. That's what happened in Italy, big club managers were used to simply go after the best players, ask the club owner and match the asking price and wage for the player, smaller club managers just had to try to find good young players, develop them and auction them, in Italy nobody really knew how to manage a club like a company and becoming self-sufficient.

However, I don't know if things are really that different from the past, I think that having a strong financial backing has always played an important part in football, what's different today is the amount of money being spent, owners today are competing against sovereign funds that have no oversight and no accountability, even if people like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk were to buy a club they'd still have to sell assets in order to have that kind of money and they couldn't use company money to play.

 

[MBAir2010]

Who here agrees with refs decision to give that goal against Man City in Manchester Derby.

Personally as an Arsenal im not complaining. Best result for us but as a fan of Football how they hell Rashford wasn’t interfering. That goal shouldn’t have been given.

I exhaled a "that is a goal" then started supporting United for the rest of the match
which I never did since I followed football back in the 1980's
That was a great match tho, Kevin Kevin De Bruyne never ceases to amaze!

good luck with Arsenal today, Conte lost lost offensively lately in WHL!

 

[Sal09]

We need a third goal to kill this game.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

We need a third goal to kill this game.

Yes, a third goal would be very welcome.

 

[MBAir2010]

Spurs do play much better and score their goals in the 2nd half.
but Arsenal look solid in the backfield.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A solid win at White Hart Lane for Arsenal against Spurs.

Arsenal are now eight points clear at the top of the table.

This is Arsenal's first win at Spurs for almost a decade (since 2013-2014), and, this season, they have now taken all six points from both of their contests against Spurs.

Ramsdale played a blinder, and seems to have been shoved (in the head) by Richarlison and subsequently kicked (in the back) by a Spurs supporter, both occurrences taking place after the final whistle was blown, when Ramsay had gone to collect his gear which had been placed beside an advertising hoarding.

Unsporting, uncalled for, unprofessional, and downright unpleasant. Ugly and so utterly unnecessary.

 

[Silencio]

Conte is an incredibly overrated manager. I'm so glad United steered clear of him. They've got some good attacking talent, but play really ineffective attacking football.

Arsenal are almost looking out of sight in the title race. This is reminding me about of the season when Leicester won the title, where they were the most consistent team from start to finish while the others sputtered and stumbled at various points. Unlike Leicester, this Arsenal team looks like they're built for sustained long term success.

Manchester United - and, above all, Rashford - intelligently exploited the rules (because, under the rules as they stand, the goal was perfectly legal) exquisitely; well done to them.

Exactly this. "Interfering" with the defenders is a bit of a subjective call, but I don't think Rashford shielded away any defenders from the ball enough to really qualify. It was heads-up play from both him and Bruno Fernandes to score that goal. The rule could certainly be clarified more, if the powers that be deem it necessary.

 

[Sal09]

Richarlison absolute scum.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Conte is an incredibly overrated manager. I'm so glad United steered clear of him. They've got some good attacking talent, but play really ineffective attacking football.

Arsenal are almost looking out of sight in the title race. This is reminding me about of the season when Leicester won the title, where they were the most consistent team from start to finish while the others sputtered and stumbled at various points. Unlike Leicester, this Arsenal team looks like they're built for sustained long term success.



Exactly this. "Interfering" with the defenders is a bit of a subjective call, but I don't think Rashford shielded away any defenders from the ball enough to really qualify. It was heads-up play from both him and Bruno Fernandes to score that goal. The rule could certainly be clarified more, if the powers that be deem it necessary.

No, they - Arsenal - are not (yet) out of sight.

Rather, I would say that they have a relatively comfortable cushion separating them from the teams immediately below them in the table.

Remember, we are only half way through the season (not at the almost two thirds stage that mid January would herald, normally), on account of the World Cup break.

There are 38 games in the season, and, as of today, Arsenal have now played 18, with most of the teams in the Premier League having played 19, exactly half the games scheduled for the season.

We have quite some distance to travel, yet, before the end of the season.

And I am also mindful of a number of late season collapses on the part of Arsenal in recent years, (whereby they missed out on fourth place, and thus, a CL spot), although, in truth, I don't see that happening in quite the same way this season.

 

[daneoni]

As long as Partey stays fit or at least doesn't miss too many games i think Arsenal are well on course.

Really ugly behaviour from Spurs at the end...so incredibly salty. Assaulting a player is a big no no.

Good response from Arteta throughout the match, and when asked about Mudryk he gave a calm sensible response.

Arsenal really look like a cohesive unit. Unlike Conte/Spurs, Lamps/Everton.

 

[Apple fanboy]

A solid win at White Hart Lane for Arsenal against Spurs.

Arsenal are now eight points clear at the top of the table.

This is Arsenal's first win at Spurs for almost a decade (since 2013-2014), and, this season, they have now taken all six points from both of their contests against Spurs.

Ramsdale played a blinder, and seems to have been shoved (in the head) by Richarlison and subsequently kicked (in the back) by a Spurs supporter, both occurrences taking place after the final whistle was blown, when Ramsay had gone to collect his gear which had been placed beside an advertising hoarding.

Unsporting, uncalled for, unprofessional, and downright unpleasant. Ugly and so utterly unnecessary.

It was a difficult choice for me as I’m not a fan of either team, but I guess a Spurs loss gives more hope that one of the greedy six will finish outside of European qualification.
From a neutral point of view seeing Arsenal with a 8 point cushion is not ideal, but as you say plenty of games go go yet.
Unfortunate that both Palace and Fulham lost.

 

[daneoni]

Dunno what has happened to Palace.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It was a difficult choice for me as I’m not a fan of either team, but I guess a Spurs loss gives more hope that one of the greedy six will finish outside of European qualification.
From a neutral point of view seeing Arsenal with a 8 point cushion is not ideal, but as you say plenty of games go go yet.
Unfortunate that both Palace and Fulham lost.

Well, this evening, this particular Gunner is a fairly happy Gunner.

Nevertheless, there have been days, (and weeks, and years, and seasons) where one was anything but.