The 2023-2024 Football Thread

[Scepticalscribe]

Understood. I think you’ll find that although City are dominating right now, it’s not really that much different to other periods when teams were up there. They have hardly walked away with it this year (or the year you mention that Liverpool run them close).

I take your point about certain teams having "eras", or periods, (Liverpool in the 1980s, for example), when they were dominating, or, on top.

That is undoubtedly true.

However my concern is that I think that the degree of City's current domination (and the reasons for it - such as the resources at their disposal) is extraordinarily unhealthy for the Premier League (and I would still think that even if Arsenal were not the team currently chasing and challenging City for the title - I thought it in 2018-2019, for example, and would have loved to have seen Liverpool take the title then).

 

[laptech]

Congratulations to Man United women for winning the women's FA cup for the first time. I wonder if this win will spur on United men to win their version of the FA Cup.

 

[danny842003]

Congratulations to Man United women for winning the women's FA cup for the first time. I wonder if this win will spur on United men to win their version of the FA Cup.

Seems very unlikely that anything besides man city catching Ebola is likely to spur Man U on to win the FA cup.

 

[laptech]

.......

However my concern is that I think that the degree of City's current domination (and the reasons for it - such as the resources at their disposal) is extraordinarily unhealthy for the Premier League (and I would still think that even if Arsenal were not the team currently chasing and challenging City for the title - I thought it in 2018-2019, for example, and would have loved to have seen Liverpool take the title then).

I have heard it said that City's dominance is a result of what is being referred to as 'financial doping', manipulating the system, moving money around so City can afford to buy players that they would not normally have been able to afford, not with everything else a club has to pay for. The books have to be balanced right so a club can not only spend on buying players (both men and women) but also making improvements to their stadium, training facilities, IT upgrades, local area investments, paying dividends to owners/shareholders. Sometimes something has to give due to there not being enough money to cover everything which is why you see all the other top clubs limiting their spending on certain areas one year then a different area the following year but with City, year in year out they have been able to spend on everything which has allowed them to stay one step ahead of their rivals.

With regards to the comment of Ciiy's dominance being unhealthy for the Premier league I have always wondered what the fans from France, Spain and Germany think of their leagues over the years due to the dominance of PSG (France), Real Madrid and Barcelona (Spain), Bayern Munich (Germany). The UK press never seem to do in-depth articles focusing on the dominance of those teams mentioned and the feelings of football fans of those team dominance, are they happy? annoyed? frustrated? because it would be good to gauge their thoughts about club dominance in their leagues against the dominance of City in the Premier League. Is fan feeling the same?

 

[pachyderm]

Soooo.... The team I play on this season finished last out of 4 teams,lol.
10 game season.

2 - 1 - 6

The last two games are semifinals, the following week, the final.

We beat the #1 team last night in our semi match.

The #3 beat the #2 team team last night as well.

So the two worst teams in the league are in the final next week.

p.s. We all know each other pretty well. Some of the players I coached when they were kids. My son is on my team.
Our captains get to pick our names each fall when they draft new teams and this past fall they chose "Sheffield Wednesday" in honor of me they said. lol I'm one of the last surviving players who created the league 23 years ago. And probably the oldest playing this season.

 

[laptech]

Soooo.... The team I play on this season finished last out of 4 teams,lol.
10 game season.

2 - 1 - 6

The last two games are semifinals, the following week, the final.

We beat the #1 team last night in our semi match.

The #3 beat the #2 team team last night as well.

So the two worst teams in the league are in the final next week.

p.s. We all know each other pretty well. Some of the players I coached when they were kids. My son is on my team.
Our captains get to pick our names each fall when they draft new teams and this past fall they chose "Sheffield Wednesday" in honor of me they said. lol I'm one of the last surviving players who created the league 23 years ago. And probably the oldest playing this season.

So there is a possibility that the worst team in the league can win the final lol

 

[Don Quixote]

So there is a possibility that the worst team in the league can win the final lol

he he he

 

[Lioness~]

Congratulations to Man United women for winning the women's FA cup for the first time. I wonder if this win will spur on United men to win their version of the FA Cup.

Not that I care too much about the English leaugues, but as long as Chellsea and Hayes didn't win I am all good with it. I would've preferred Aresenal though. But good for Manchester United 👍🏼

At the moment, I follow our Hockey guys in their success in Worldcup in Czechia, without having any possibility to watch all games of it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Men's_Ice_Hockey_World_Championships
It was a long time ago since our best pro's was playing together in a big tournament, so they are having a lot of fun, and it's quite obvious.

In todays sportworld, it's so many channels that compete with rights of big events. But we get fairly good coverage from our national channel at least, and I don't have to put down a lot of time on it, and still can follow their joy in the summaries of the games. A win win for my time at the moment 😀

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Jonathan Wilson has an interesting and thought-provoking piece in today's edition of the Guardian (Clubs are finding gulf below Premier League harder to bridge) which makes the point that all three of last season's promoted teams are set to be relegated, and that the gulf between newly promoted teams and the standard required to maintain membership of the Premier League is becoming more difficult to sustain for a number of reasons, resources being a key element of this equation.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Jonathan Wilson has an interesting and thought-provoking piece in today's edition of the Guardian (Clubs are finding gulf below Premier League harder to bridge) which makes the point that all three of last season's promoted teams are set to be relegated, and that the gulf between newly promoted teams and the standard required to maintain membership of the Premier League is becoming more difficult to sustain for a number of reasons, resources being a key element of this equation.

The points tally for the three teams coming up has been the lowest since the creation of the PL.
Mind you when you look at some of the mistakes they have made it’s not surprising. Burnley in particular have been awful. Trying to play out from the back when the players had neither the time or the skill. Passing across your 18 yard line in suicide in defending terms.

Sometimes the best option is kick it up the pitch or into the stand.

 

[Alphazoid]

Looks like the club are cutting their losses with Miedema. Shame but since the knee injury, not quite been the same.

And i guess the club have decided to move on. Wonder if there'll be a parallel with Jesus

In any case, Miedema has been legendary for us, and i wish her the best with City. Even though i despise City.

 

[Lioness~]

Looks like the club are cutting their losses with Miedema. Shame but since the knee injury, not quite been the same.

And i guess the club have decided to move on. Wonder if there'll be a parallel with Jesus

In any case, Miedema has been legendary for us, and i wish her the best with City. Even though i despise City.

She will come back to a good form, but cruciate ligament injuries are not to play with, it takes its time to rebuild totally and fully to not have any further consequences in the future.
It says a short contract with City in our media here - so maybe a transitional place to get things going after returning, as she played with Arsenal for some time.
I was thinking Barcelona for her.

 

[daneoni]

Liverpool showing why they couldn't sustain a title challenge.

Essentially the same team as last season without Endo on the pitch.

So easy to play through.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Liverpool showing why they couldn't sustain a title challenge.

Essentially the same team as last season without Endo on the pitch.

So easy to play through.

I also think that the fact that Klopp has announced his departure hasn't helped their form, their ambition, or their season.

 

[laptech]

Liverpool's draw with Villa makes the Spurs v man City game a very interesting one because it is a must win game for Spurs if they want that 4th Champions league spot BUT if they do manage to beat City it means handing the league title to their bitter London rivals Arsenal. The revenue from the Champions league would be a much welcome boost to Spurs and money they most probably need but is that enough to see their rivals win the league?

It does make we wonder with the PL charges hanging over Man City will City become the football version of cycling's Lance Armstrong where he was investigate for taking performance enhancing drugs throughout his career and thus stripped of all his Tour De France titles (7 of them). If City was found guilty of the charges against them would the PL and FA have the guts to strip City of their league titles.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Liverpool's draw with Villa makes the Spurs v man City game a very interesting one because it is a must win game for Spurs if they want that 4th Champions league spot BUT if they do manage to beat City it means handing the league title to their bitter London rivals Arsenal. The revenue from the Champions league would be a much welcome boost to Spurs and money they most probably need but is that enough to see their rivals win the league?

It does make we wonder with the PL charges hanging over Man City will City become the football version of cycling's Lance Armstrong where he was investigate for taking performance enhancing drugs throughout his career and thus stripped of all his Tour De France titles (7 of them). If City was found guilty of the charges against them would the PL and FA have the guts to strip City of their league titles.

Let’s hope not. Stripping titles and awarding them to the second placed teams retrospectively would not work for me.
Personally I’d rather see a points deduction spread over the next x years so it means they miss CL football for the next few years would be better.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Let’s hope not. Stripping titles and awarding them to the second placed teams retrospectively would not work for me.
Personally I’d rather see a points deduction spread over the next x years so it means they miss CL football for the next few years would be better.

Exactly.

At this stage, a retrospective points deduction would achieve nothing.

Personally, I'd prefer any points penalty to take place over the coming years - the next few seasons - rather than have it applied retrospectively.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Exactly.

At this stage, a retrospective points deduction would achieve nothing.

Personally, I'd prefer any points penalty to take place over the coming years - the next few seasons - rather than have it applied retrospectively.

Agreed. You can’t rewrite history. Although many have tried!

 

[danny842003]

Let’s hope not. Stripping titles and awarding them to the second placed teams retrospectively would not work for me.
Personally I’d rather see a points deduction spread over the next x years so it means they miss CL football for the next few years would be better.

In Australian Rugby League Melbourne Storm were stripped of a series of titles about 15 years ago. They never rewarded them in the records they just have a # next tot heir name and a disclaimer pointing out they were stripped. I think that’s the best outcome, you can’t rewrite everyone’s history but you can deny city their history.

 

[laptech]

In Australian Rugby League Melbourne Storm were stripped of a series of titles about 15 years ago. They never rewarded them in the records they just have a # next tot heir name and a disclaimer pointing out they were stripped. I think that’s the best outcome, you can’t rewrite everyone’s history but you can deny city their history.

That is the way it should be done. Lance Armstrong was stripped of his 7 Tour De France wins but the titles were not given to the 2nd placed riders. The same happened when Juventus was stripped of their league titles, they were not rewarded to those that finished in 2nd place. I feel the same could be applied to City, have their titles stripped away and not be given to the teams that finished in 2nd place.

Your point of denying a team their history is a good one because that is how individuals and teams get better sponsorships, better money and better deals by being able to say they are holder of X amount of awards/titles. Remove that history and you remove the increase in earning potential.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Alas, poor Tottenham Hotspur; the dismal and depressing inevitability of yet another soulless City victory has all too readily come to pass.

 

[daneoni]

Son looks like he's all but finished. Spurs look like a team that still needs 4 players.
Ange looks absolutely livid. Presumably he is coming to the realisation of the culture of Spurs from top to bottom.

Villa rightly celebrating their top 4 finish. But alas, i feel they'll end up like Newcastle next season and will have a rude awakening in Europe.
They were already flagging in the conference league.

Ortega had a good game. But City didn't really have to get out of second gear.

Means they've caught up...predictably. Even the GD has been completely nullified.

 

[laptech]

As much as I will not be happy with City winning a 4th title in a row, I am not immune to the fact that it has not been made easy for City to win some of their PL titles. In my opinion only 2 seasons did City show their sheer dominance over others which was season 2017-2018 & 2020-2021 where it just so happens that the 2nd place team was Man United. The other seasons where the won the league both Liverpool and Arsenal pushed City all the way making sure it was not easy for City to win the title meaning they had to win it the hard way (grind out hard fought wins)

2017-2018 - Dominated the season
2018-2019 winning by one point over Liverpool
2020-2021 Dominated the season
2021-2022 again winning by one point over Liverpool
2022-2023 Arsenal dominated but ran out of steam allowing City it win it by 5 points

So, whilst City have won 5 titles in 6 years, 3 of those years it was not made easy for them which means the title could have gone either way. This season again both Liverpool and Arsenal have pushed City all the way not making it easy for them. I could therefore understand the distaste for City if they dominated every season they won the league because then the distaste for them could be justified but 3 of those winning seasons could have gone to Liverpool or Arsenal.

To many fans eyes, the 3 seasons where City were pushed right to the end of the season, it is a case of not City winning it with some ease but a case of both Liverpool and Arsenal loosing it. Some will say the same again with Liverpool having lost too many of their season ending games, games fans felt they should have won. If Liverpool had not faltered they could have been league champions.

This is why I am not so frustrated or overly annoyed at City winning the league so many times in a row because other teams who should have won it faltered in the later stages of the season which allowed season to take the advantage. This to me is not a club that is being dominant in the league, in my view the only reason why City have won so many league titles in the past 6 years is because of the failure of the other teams to maintain high level of consistently to see out the season for the win.

 

[Apple fanboy]

The Premier League are going to vote on whether to scrap VAR after a motion tabled by Wolves.
I really hope they do. It’s not improving our game at all. Just bringing in delays, not reducing controversy and reducing the experience for fans.
I don’t expect it to be dropped, but one can hope.

 

[laptech]

The Premier League are going to vote on whether to scrap VAR after a motion tabled by Wolves.
I really hope they do. It’s not improving our game at all. Just bringing in delays, not reducing controversy and reducing the experience for fans.
I don’t expect it to be dropped, but one can hope.

The technology behind VAR works and works very very well. In my opinion my VAR fails is because of the human element. Ever since it's introduction it has never been used properly. Those who use it fail to use it properly time and time again. Also, VAR technology error margins are so finite that it causes it's human operators to make errors.

VAR can be a very powerful tool if used properly and in my opinion it is not. Fans do not want to see offside decisions made due to a toe or a knee. Fans do not want to see every off the ball incident flagged up. The system needs changes for it to work properly and those changes need to be human related. Yes there has to be an experienced FA qualified ref at the VAR controls but it also needs a very experienced video technician, specifically the ones you find in TV station control rooms who are responsible for cutting/editing video feeds in the split of a second because let's face it the world of television is extremely fast pace, especially when it is live broadcasts. VAR needs these kinds of people operating the technology, someone who can rewind game footage in the blink of an eye allowing the VAR ref to review the footage in a split second.

VAR should be there to assist the on field ref, not to control them which seems to be the case these days because many times we will see VAR interrupt the ref telling them they need to review an incident which causes the game to be interrupted. In my opinion VAR should stay quiet until called upon by the ref.