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The 2022-2023 Football Thread
- Thread starter Scepticalscribe
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Agreed, but he should be back soon I think.
Quality depth is a problem for pretty much every team at this point, with the exception of city. Chelsea has a huge squad, but they don't have quality depth at some positions. Arsenal getting Jesus back will be a huge boost for them, for sure.
Some good results today across the board; I only hope United and ETH learned their lessons from Wednesday and go get three points at Leeds and solidify their place in the top 4.
We'll know more about the United sale sometime next week. There were supposed to be 5 serious bids submitted. I'm a bit confused about the Qatari entry — some reports say they'll try to work around the issue of also owning PSG, others say it's a private, non-state group based in Qatar that's not tied to PSG at all. There's at least one American consortium involved, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe has enlisted some powerful partners to shore up his bid. The Glazers must be salivating right now.
Some good results today across the board; I only hope United and ETH learned their lessons from Wednesday and go get three points at Leeds and solidify their place in the top 4.
We'll know more about the United sale sometime next week. There were supposed to be 5 serious bids submitted. I'm a bit confused about the Qatari entry — some reports say they'll try to work around the issue of also owning PSG, others say it's a private, non-state group based in Qatar that's not tied to PSG at all. There's at least one American consortium involved, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe has enlisted some powerful partners to shore up his bid. The Glazers must be salivating right now.
Chelsea have a huge squad, agreed, @Silencio, but they are not yet a unit, a collective, a team; rather, in common with Manchester United (pre ETH), they are a collection of individuals, some of whom are very talented indeed, but who lack a collective vision and do not (yet) play as a drilled and trained team.
Probably the best league in the world but we have most incompetent set of officials or they just don’t want us to stay on top.
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I'm pretty sure every club's fans feel aggrieved by the poor quality of the officiating. They are just plain bad!
No.
With respect - and I'm an Arsenal fan - I beg to differ.
That is simply not true, however much one may hope that the team secures a victory.
We had several decent chances during the game and failed to convert them; and - we would do well to bear in mind that some (possibly ever so slightly dodgy) decisions went our way earlier in the season that some might have considered not quite warranted.
In other words, these things balance out, and one cannot expect every call to go our way.
Agreed.
Sal has a point but Arsenal were subpar.
That said, English officiating can be horrendous. Brighton and Chelsea were also robbed.
That said, English officiating can be horrendous. Brighton and Chelsea were also robbed.
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How were Chelsea robbed? The foul on Jarrod Bowen just before their first goal wasn’t given. So on balance I’d say that cancelled out the handball at the other end.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Saying one decision cancels out the other is rationalising poor quality.
Okay. The end result was 1-1. Their first goal shouldn’t have counted. They could have scored from the penalty. End result would probably have been 1-1.
VAR hasn’t improved the game in my opinion. We still get as many controversies as before. The only difference is the flow of the game is not as good now.
At least before VAR if you could see the ref was blindsided from the incident by another player, you could understand why they got it wrong. Now there are so many angles, you are often left scratching your head.
Don't get me wrong i'm not saying Chelsea deserved to win either.
All fans are asking for is consistency and increase in quality.
Last thing teams need is a 3rd influence in the game.
EDIT: Soton give Jones his marching orders.
All fans are asking for is consistency and increase in quality.
Last thing teams need is a 3rd influence in the game.
EDIT: Soton give Jones his marching orders.
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Regardless of the debate we played decent or not or Brentford were better team. Arsenal should be given level playing field. Officials cannot pick and choose what is right or wrong. It happens more often against Arsenal.
One example and there are many.
Im still baffled at the fact FA charged Arsenal for not controlling their players a few months back. Since that game Ive seen Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and few others do the same but nada nothing. FA and officials deemed that was ok.
Its not an officials duty to decide who played well and who deserves it more. They should stick to officiating the game fairly and be bloody biased.
Will apology win us the title if the difference is two points in the end?
I don’t believe he forgot to draw the lines.
I don’t believe he forgot to draw the lines.
How many points go the wrong way in a season because of a bad decision (both ways). Clubs have won championships, qualified for Europe and been relegated in the past due to those decisions. Why should this year be any different?
Lee Mason was also the VAR that denied a perfectly legitimate goal Martinelli scored at Old Trafford which the PGMOL later admitted they got wrong. TWICE it’s happened against us in the same season.
Born in Manchester 🤔.
You missed the part where the FA charged United and Palace this week. Really, the FA should charge their own officials for failing to control the match — they let too many things go before tempers boiled over. Yet another example of their overall incompetence.
I love seeing the resilience from United. ETH has done a great job of building up that belief and shared purpose in the squad again. They were undermanned and looked vulnerable at Elland Road today, but turned up big in the second half.
Brentford were the better team, and are a nice, compact, team that are difficult to defeat.
Besides, Arsenal have had the benefit (and I write this as an Arsenal supporter) of some dodgy decisions, or lucky breaks, already.
I don't buy the argument that officials are baised against us; we should have taken - and put away - our chances yesterday, and didn't.
Having said that, we have had an excellent season so far, and Mr Arteta's plans are taking shape; neither of the Manchester teams are unbeatable, and Newcastle, while also difficult to defeat, are far from a finished product, as fewer victories come their way than they might have envisaged, or hoped for, eearlier in the season.
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If Lee Mason is allowed anywhere near a professional game again then Howard Webb needs to have his head examined.
I like to give people the benefit of doubt. But 3 catastrophic decisions within 2 seasons, from a veteran, suggests gross negligence...or outright corruption.
VAR isn't the problem. The referees continue to be, and are effectively stealing a living at this point.
The game is populated by foreign players, maybe it's time to get foreign referees in and pay them if they're actually decent.
The guy who ref'd the WC final is arguably head and shoulders above anything England has to offer...and that was just one game
On to the league, it seems the teams that set the pace early on are faltering, and the teams that were behind are kicking into gear.
I don't see Arsenal beating City (home and away) now frankly. And if anything, Utd might be the ones who make it interesting.
But Arsenal will get their original aim...top 4.
Soton and Bournemouth will go down, and now i think Leeds will join them.
Hopefully Burnley sustain their run and get promoted. It'd be nice to see another successful black manager besides Viera in the EPL.
I like to give people the benefit of doubt. But 3 catastrophic decisions within 2 seasons, from a veteran, suggests gross negligence...or outright corruption.
VAR isn't the problem. The referees continue to be, and are effectively stealing a living at this point.
The game is populated by foreign players, maybe it's time to get foreign referees in and pay them if they're actually decent.
The guy who ref'd the WC final is arguably head and shoulders above anything England has to offer...and that was just one game
On to the league, it seems the teams that set the pace early on are faltering, and the teams that were behind are kicking into gear.
I don't see Arsenal beating City (home and away) now frankly. And if anything, Utd might be the ones who make it interesting.
But Arsenal will get their original aim...top 4.
Soton and Bournemouth will go down, and now i think Leeds will join them.
Hopefully Burnley sustain their run and get promoted. It'd be nice to see another successful black manager besides Viera in the EPL.
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With Jones having been given the elbow, Southampton might just about have time and quality enough to scrape back into the bottom half of the table, but outside the relegation zone.
My concern, as a Saints fan, is the manager they get in to replace Jones. If they thought Jones was a good hire after sacking Hassenhuttl, I have little faith in the board's ability to choose a good manager.
Our recruitment through the transfer window was actually OK - we got a couple of young, hungry attack-minded players in and a couple of others who can help prevent goals going in at the other end - they just need direction (and of course we need our best players to NOT be playing in the B teaminstead of starting Premier League matches).
Yes - we are odds-on to finish dead-last, but if you look at the bottom half of the table, all any team down there needs is a run of two or three wins in a row, a couple of draws and boom - you're finishing in 15th.
My concern, as a Saints fan, is the manager they get in to replace Jones. If they thought Jones was a good hire after sacking Hassenhuttl, I have little faith in the board's ability to choose a good manager.
Our recruitment through the transfer window was actually OK - we got a couple of young, hungry attack-minded players in and a couple of others who can help prevent goals going in at the other end - they just need direction (and of course we need our best players to NOT be playing in the B teaminstead of starting Premier League matches).
Yes - we are odds-on to finish dead-last, but if you look at the bottom half of the table, all any team down there needs is a run of two or three wins in a row, a couple of draws and boom - you're finishing in 15th.
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Refs boss Webb summons officials to emergency meeting amid calls to sack Mason
VAR official Mason, a former on-pitch referee, made an error when he failed to rule out Brentford's equalising goal from Ivan Toney at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon
www.mirror.co.uk