I suppose that's better than 0 wins away from home against bottom 9 teams.
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The 2022-2023 Football Thread
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There is an excellent and thought-provoking article by Barney Ronay about Manchester City in today's edition of the Guardian; well worth reading.
I have to second this. I would have never thought to compare city with a dystopian J.G. Ballard creation, but it fits perfectly.
[EDIT: I can only hope the United men's team are watching the women's team and taking notes. What a comeback and what a goal to defeat Villa at the death!]
Well City later in the week, so we need the points today. But I suspect you would rather we beat City! (Not going to happen!).
We can live in hope.
At this stage (and bearing in mind Barney Ronay's excellent piece about City in yesterday's Guardian) I'd love to see anyone defeat City (and not just because our - I cannot in all conscience describe it as a genuine "contest" - unfortunate encounter with them which all too clearly demonstrated the gulf that existed between us - and not just because they will probably win the title when we have been at the top of the table for almost the entire season).
What they bring to football is a cold, calculated, clinical, perfection, fuelled and funded by the finances of a body acting for an extraordinarily unpleasant and ethics free nation state.
@Lord Blackadder has made the point before that Pep Guardiola - while an exceptional manager in many ways - has yet to achieve success when resources are limited and funds tight, for his glittering career as a manager has always been with the aid of more than ample resources.
Mind you, as the Guardian's Barney Ronay rightly pointed out, citing the lamentable example of Chelsea, money isn't everything, because you also have to know who, when and where to buy.
Above all, even identifying and being able to buy (being able to afford) football talent can be a challenge if you don't know how to craft a team from out of a selection of obscenely well paid gifted individuals, or cannot identify the ideal player for a specific team in a specific position, or identify what particular player in what position will work best with what you are trying to achieve with this team, as a team.
Still, at this stage, I want anyone to defeat - or - and this is a sign of curtailed, curbed, reduced ambition - at the very least, - trouble - City.
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Man Utd’s previous dominance used to make me merely angry in a tribal sports fan kind of way…but Abu Dhabi’s dominant sports washing project at Man City has made me start to fall out of love with the game itself.
To see English fans brag about how much money their petro-autocrat owners have, to defend and show pride for being owned by them, provokes in me a powerful sense of disillusionment. Worse still are the fans that simply choose not to see it and just focus on the results. Head in the sand.
The corrupt forces in the game have won.
Meanwhile the £5-billion-bidding Qataris promise that if they get to 'own' Manchester United they'll go in for Neymar. The preceding sentence sums up pretty much all that is wrong with modern football business.
Astonishing game between Crystal Palace and West Ham, where Palace are currently leading by four goals to three.
Perennially-injured man-child who failed to fulfill his vast potential. If he went to Man Utd it would be like the second coming of C Ronaldo all over again.
Good for the neutral. Not so much for a long suffering West Ham fan.
I’ve never heard an English fan brag about the money their club had. Not once.
As for any team dominating it’s not good. It wasn’t good when it was Liverpool. It wasn’t good when it was Man Utd. It isn’t good now it’s City.
But they are hardly running away with it each year. There has mostly been a handful of points between them and second place.
Hm.
I have read that some Newcastle fans (and, for that matter, some Manchester United fans should this current bid be accepted) are not especially averse to the wealth and resources that nation state sports washing projects have bestowed upon their teams, and are not especially concerned about the records (on human rights and related matters) of these regimes.
Now, on this I am in complete agreement with you.
Yes and no.
In recent times, the margin for error has decreased enormously; thus, in order to offer a serious challenge to Manchester City, one needs to have an almost flawless season, and, in practice, most teams do not have the resources (in other words, strength in depth in the team) to be able to do this for a sustained period, such as over a full season.
Actually, I thought that West Ham - for, in recent games, you have had no difficulty (or little difficulty) in scoring from play, whereas you used to have to rely on set pieces - would manage to score another goal and would be able to claim a point from the game.
Go watch some of the videos of Man United fan Mark Goldbridge on youtube and you will see an English fan bragging about money.
As for sports washing, you will find there are many many English fans who do not care. All they care about is that their precious club win the league and the champions league.
In addition to Barney Ronay's excellent piece about Manchester City in yesterday's edition of the Guardian (read it if you haven't), today's edition of the Guardian has a second excellent piece on Manchester City by Jonathan Wilson.
Read them both; to my mind, these are examples of excellent, intelligent, thoughtful and thought-provoking football writing.
Read them both; to my mind, these are examples of excellent, intelligent, thoughtful and thought-provoking football writing.
It is indeed a good read. The money situation with the English premier league is a problem neither the premier league of the English FA will do anything about because both are giddy on power and hungry on the amount of money being brought into the premier league by billionaire owners. This has allowed many English clubs to have a strong presence internationally putting England on the world global map and there is no way the English FA is about to put a stop to that because they want to see English clubs shown and promoted around the world.
It is no longer a case of has money ruined football, money has ruined football and it will continue to do so.
It is a case of short-sightedness in the part of national FAs, and it is permitting the disintegration of the distinctiveness if the leagues. Is there really anything that different between Man City and PSG, for instance? Apart from the domestic fan base, little of either club is particularly ‘English’ or ‘French‘ anymore. And the domestic fan base are no longer the clubs’ primary source of income. They are almost expendable.
Sort of like Exxon, Shell, BP…different nationalities but all really the same thing.
There is a terrific, thoughtful and thought-provoking interview with Trent Alexander-Arnold (of Liverpool) by Michael Segalov in today's edition of the Guardian/Observer which is really well worth reading.
Manchester City defeat Fulham (who fought all the way, to their credit) by two goals to one, to go top of the table.
Meanwhile at the bottom things are becoming clearer.
I’d say Wolves and above are now safe. We probably are. The bottom five though are in deep trouble.
Southampton are 7 points from safety and I’m sorry to say, for me are gone. Hard to call from the rest. I think Leicester will get out of it. A game in hand and a superior goal difference gives them a better situation than Forest.
I’d say Wolves and above are now safe. We probably are. The bottom five though are in deep trouble.
Southampton are 7 points from safety and I’m sorry to say, for me are gone. Hard to call from the rest. I think Leicester will get out of it. A game in hand and a superior goal difference gives them a better situation than Forest.
Yes, I think that Southampton are in deep trouble, and will be astonished to see them survive.
They have only managed six victories all season; another two wins (which are vanishingly unlikely) will still not see them safe, as they are seven points from safety, as @Apple fanboy points out.
Indeed, in order to secure any degree of safety, they will need to win three games - having won only six all season - with only five games remaining, - a tall order - and that still does not take into account what the other teams threatened by relegation will achieve in the meantime.
Yes, I agree that Wolves, and the teams abve them, are probably safe, and I also think that West Ham - barring a disastrous sequence of results for them, and for others in their vicinity, - are probably also safe, as they are currently on 34 points, four points ahead of their closest relegation threatened rival, with five teams sitting immediately below them in the table.
Everton, with a mere six victories to their name all season, are also in deep trouble.
They have only managed six victories all season; another two wins (which are vanishingly unlikely) will still not see them safe, as they are seven points from safety, as @Apple fanboy points out.
Indeed, in order to secure any degree of safety, they will need to win three games - having won only six all season - with only five games remaining, - a tall order - and that still does not take into account what the other teams threatened by relegation will achieve in the meantime.
Yes, I agree that Wolves, and the teams abve them, are probably safe, and I also think that West Ham - barring a disastrous sequence of results for them, and for others in their vicinity, - are probably also safe, as they are currently on 34 points, four points ahead of their closest relegation threatened rival, with five teams sitting immediately below them in the table.
Everton, with a mere six victories to their name all season, are also in deep trouble.
