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The 2024-2025 Football Thread

Lioness~ said:
Gyökeres, a new hattrick ‼️
...and Haaland missed a penalty.
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Yeah. Shocked Haaland missed. It also shows how valuable Alvarez was to City. Gyokeres is gonna have clubs lining up for him
laptech said:
Where do you lot stand on this type of thing, a player getting stick from the fans because the manager put him in a place that he is not used to and thus performed poorly.

metro.co.uk

Wife of Real Madrid star blasts Carlo Ancelotti during AC Milan defeat

Ancelotti is under pressure after another heavy Madrid defeat.
metro.co.uk metro.co.uk

Carlo Ancelotti put Federico Valverde on as a winger. The problem is he is a central midfielder and in the game yesterday against AC Milan he had a very poor first half and was thus subsequently substituted at half time. Valverde's wife came to his defense in being critical of Ancelotti for putting her husband on as a winger only to be taken off at half time due to performing badly. Ancelotti for his part said Valverde was carrying back problems which he thought he had overcome because he trained well the day before.

I have never liked players being told they must have dual roles. Ferguson did this a hell of a lot at United, even to the point of buying in players for the skills of the position they play only to be put in positions that are alien to them. I have always been of the opinion that a team functions well when everyone on the team is a specialist in the position they play

Yes I understand that players will be asked to play in a different position on the pitch but in my opinion that should only be done in extreme circumstances when there is no other option.

I do not know if Ancelotti had this problem because none of the football articles I've read on the issue have indicated that AC Milan are suffering a serious injury list problem resorting in players having to play in other positions on the pitch.
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I always think family members shouldn’t mouth off about players…it never ends well

Unfortunately in the modern game. Players are viewed on their ability to play different positions even if not effectively. City do it all the time with Bernardo Silva and Gundogan. Arteta bought Havertz and Trossard mostly because of this.

Klopp did it with Ferminho and Trent, Slot does it with Trent.

Because of the sheer amount of games (which i think is now too much). Players drop like flies and then need other players to fill in and play out of position
 
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daneoni said:
Yeah. Shocked Haaland missed. It also shows how valuable Alvarez was to City. Gyokeres is gonna have clubs lining up for him

I always think family members shouldn’t mouth off about players…it never ends well

Unfortunately in the modern game. Players are viewed on their ability to play different positions even if not effectively. City do it all the time with Bernardo Silva and Gundogan. Arteta bought Havertz and Trossard mostly because of this.

Klopp did it with Ferminho and Trent, Slot does it with Trent.

Because of the sheer amount of games (which i think is now too much). Players drop like flies and then need other players to fill in and play out of position
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I understand the need to have players play in different positions. Some have the ability to be multi purpose players, a player that can adapt to multiple positions on the pitch and thus managers will train them as such but then you have players who's skill is in a specific position but then asked to adapt to an unfamiliar role. These are the players I am debating about. Should we as fans complain about such players when they are put into an unfamiliar role by their manager and them perform poorly come the day of the game? I have never ever been critical of such players because in my opinion it is not fair on them being told to play in another role that they have never played because they have only been allowed to focus on the role they are best skilled at.

To that point I agree with what Valverde’s wife did because Ancelotti put him on as a right winger knowing his best skill set is that of a central midfielder. Real Madrid fan's were on X (formally twitter) complaining that Valverde was at fault for one of the goals. AC Milan exploited his weakness as a right winger and scored a goal. His wife then defends her husband basically saying what do you expect, he is a central midfielder, not a right winger, blame the manager not the player.

We need more people like this wife to speak out. Ancelotti was wrong to put a central midfielder who is very inexperienced as a right winger into that position. AC Milan exploited that weakness and it paid off for them. Are the players going to complain at the managers decision? no, are the fan base at large going to complain at the managers decision? no. The person who will take the blame is Valverde and that is just wrong.
 
Fair point. But to me having watched the highlights Mbappe simply didn't do his job as a number 9. Many times it was Belingham who was the furthest forward which blunted Madrid's attacks

This is what happens when you buy superstar names instead of buying for the right position. Madrid went after Mbappe who is a left winger/forward even though Vinicius already plays there

Now they have to find a way to make him a centre forward. Meanwhile the team remains unbalanced and they keep shipping goals.
 
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Nov 10th

My old roomie will also be at this match. He is a full-on Spurs fan but he's ingratiated himself into some solid friendships with Wednesdayites we both met online. lol. I've still never been across the pond... :(
 
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Mitthrawnuruodo said:
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...e-reviewed-if-west-ham-suffer-everton-setback

Personally, I do hope Everton gets a result. Not because I have anything against West Ham, nor that I particularly want to get rid of Lopetegui (sp?), but because Everton needs the points (at least) as badly as West Ham does, especially after Southampton's late goal last weekend... :(
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Far too many club owners think they have a god given right to stay in the EPL and sack any manager that causes a team to drop into the bottom half of the league.

When ever a manager is struggling, I always think of the great Sir Matt Busby 'Busby babes' team and what he achieved at United, their dominance in Division One and within a few years all of that is blown away when Busby retires and many of players, including the 'Holy Trinity' (as they were called) of Best, Law and Charlton having left the club, the club get relegated to Division Two under the stewardship of Tommy Docherty. The club bounced right back into Division one the following season.

Managers should be allowed to get themselves out of trouble. Those who appear not able to then yes they should be sacked but still, in my opinion managers should be given the chance to get their struggling team out of trouble, especially those who are seen to be trying extremely hard. But no, instead what we end up seeing is club owners protecting their bottom line (money) and sack the manager because the club owner does not want the club to be relegated. So what if United or Liverpool of Spurs or Arsenal was to ever get relegated, that's football, that is what makes it great. Allow teams to fail so they can learn to be successful again.

Unfortunately that is never ever going to happen because football is no longer football anymore, it's a commercial business and in business protecting the bottom line (money) is the most important thing.
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...e-reviewed-if-west-ham-suffer-everton-setback

Personally, I do hope Everton gets a result. Not because I have anything against West Ham, nor that I particularly want to get rid of Lopetegui (sp?), but because Everton needs the points (at least) as badly as West Ham does, especially after Southampton's late goal last weekend... :(
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Well I hope we get the win. I mean I don’t think this is quite a six pointer as I don’t believe either side will go down, but whoever wins does the other no favours.

As for our manager, I’ve not seen anything yet to suggest he is an improvement on David Moyes. I mean he could turn it around, but will he? I’m not convinced.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
Well I hope we get the win. I mean I don’t think this is quite a six pointer as I don’t believe either side will go down, but whoever wins does the other no favours.

As for our manager, I’ve not seen anything yet to suggest he is an improvement on David Moyes. I mean he could turn it around, but will he? I’m not convinced.
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If the football press are to be believed, your club spoke to Amorin and Tuchel before settling on Lopetegui. Mistake maybe?
 
Apple fanboy said:
Should just have left Moyes where he was. That was the mistake.

That and spending an absolute fortune.

We don’t get a decent ROI in East London.
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I agree but we are in the minority here because the majority of the fanbase were drunk on success and they wanted it to forever continue (in my opinion). First season in charge gets them to 16th, second season 6th, 3rd season 7th and 4th season 14th which is when the fans started to turn on him calling for him to be sacked. I mean come on, a 6th and a 7th, then a blip and fans want him sacked!!!. To me it appeared the huge majority of the fan based wanted the good times to forever continue are were not happy the club finished in 14th place and thus immediately wanted Moyes sacked.

Side note: Having delved into some of the recent history of West Ham, it appears that when the club hit's 12th or below in the league the fans start calling for the manager to be sacked.
 
laptech said:
I agree but we are in the minority here because the majority of the fanbase were drunk on success and they wanted it to forever continue (in my opinion). First season in charge gets them to 16th, second season 6th, 3rd season 7th and 4th season 14th which is when the fans started to turn on him calling for him to be sacked. I mean come on, a 6th and a 7th, then a blip and fans want him sacked!!!. To me it appeared the huge majority of the fan based wanted the good times to forever continue are were not happy the club finished in 14th place and thus immediately wanted Moyes sacked.

Side note: Having delved into some of the recent history of West Ham, it appears that when the club hit's 12th or below in the league the fans start calling for the manager to be sacked.
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From what I’ve read the complaints were more related to the negative style of play rather than league position.
But you have to play to the strengths of your team, not in some predetermined way that is beyond your players ability.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
From what I’ve read the complaints were more related to the negative style of play rather than league position.
But you have to play to the strengths of your team, not in some predetermined way that is beyond your players ability.
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This is why I am always cautious of fans mouthing off as to what they think is wrong. Moyes got West Ham to 6th then 7th in the league, got them a European trophy and now a large portion of the fan base were complaining that he had a negative playing style!!!. I mean come on.... a 6th and a 7th and a European trophy, is that the result of a manager playing a negative style of football?. Fan's were not happy with their team being in 14th and as a result were looking for excuses to explain being in 14th. Everyone loses focus at times in their lives but then they work through it can get back to normal. Maybe Moyes was have an 'off' time but the fans refused to allow him to see it through. Look at the great Sir Alex Ferguson. He add 'off' seasons. Wins the league 3 times in a row then stops winning it for 3 years. His past successes proved he could get through his 'off' period'. West Ham's owners should have done the same for Moyes.
 
daneoni said:
Pep loses 4 matches in a row for the first time in his career.
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I have no dog in this fight, but City always become stronger after Christmas... and with the January window, I can see them getting in some reinforcements as well as maybe selling some of their high wages elder players who are starting to show a steady decline.
 
Small rant...

If Arteta fails to win anything this season, then he needs to face serious questions. Even though i'm a fan of what he's done.
He has been found wanting whenever he doesn't have his first choice 11. Happened with losing Saliba and now losing Odegaard. For someone who has spent north of £700m thats unacceptable

His stubborness with picking his favorites can also be annoying. He has largely picked the same 11 for the last 3 games and we've lost them and failed to score. Any sensible person would've mixed things up.
We've become predictable and almost pathetic just looking for, and waiting for set pieces.

City have the license to be under par after dominating for 6-7yrs. Arteta doesn't. And City will probably find new gears in the coming weeks.

If we had our own -ish together we'd be taking advantage of this dip but somehow we're just as bad if not worse, Maybe we really are cursed to be nearly men.
Good on LFC for taking advantage. Actually don't really mind who wins the title as long as its not City or Spurs.

Villa's recent results highlight why i'll never get on their hype train. They turn up for 2-3 'big' games every season and then ride mediocrity for the rest.

And it seems Martinez is starting to believe his own hype. A chunk of Argentine players (except Messi ofc) have dropped their levels.
Enzo cant even get into the Chelsea team. Romero continues to be a liability. L. Martinez remains meh at Utd.
 
Liverpool looking good. You can talk all day about the quality of the squad and stability of the footballing org, but so far Arne Slot looks like the real deal and deserves credit for fine tuning a team that was stuttering under Klopp a bit.

RVN had a successful interim tenure: 3-1-0, albeit not against the strongest competition. Something for Amorim to build on after the international break, hopefully with some more players back to fitness.
 
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Amorim had a perfect send off.
Two behind at half time to see his players pull every effort for a final result of 2-4.
The changes at half time didn't hurt either.
 
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What a brilliant result and performance for us yesterday. The first win had been coming but to do it at Tottenham who I have to say were really poor is tremendous.

The first half was the perfect away performance. Soaked up some pressure and made our attacks count to go 2-0 up and Kieran McKenna at 1-0 made a really good tactical change to stifle Son on the left and it worked wonders. Second half we had to ride a bit of a storm for the opening 20 minutes or so but apart from that we kept Spurs at arms length and fully deserved the win which our performances in recent weeks have warranted.

2 week break now before the media circus is in Town for Amorim's first game in charge. The narritive around it with McKenna up against his former side as well, But we can really go into it full of confidence.

COYB 🔵⚪
 
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It will be interesting to see what Amorim thinks of United now than back in 2016-2017 when he was doing a postgraduation course in psychomotor education (from wiki) where he did a one week internship at the club. Jose Mourinho was manager at the time.

The timing of his move is also interesting because he is joining the club whilst players are on international duty, something many of the papers have reported on because it means he will be missing 13 first team players who are out on international duty. Not good when your expected to hit the ground running, he will be able to get started with the players who are not on international duty but then have to do it all over again when the 13 players come back off international duty. He could however work in the background allowing RVN to carry on doing what he is doing and then when all the players are back from international duty then take over from RVN, introduce himself to the whole squad outlining his plans for the teams.
 
laptech said:
It will be interesting to see what Amorim thinks of United now than back in 2016-2017 when he was doing a postgraduation course in psychomotor education (from wiki) where he did a one week internship at the club. Jose Mourinho was manager at the time.

The timing of his move is also interesting because he is joining the club whilst players are on international duty, something many of the papers have reported on because it means he will be missing 13 first team players who are out on international duty. Not good when your expected to hit the ground running, he will be able to get started with the players who are not on international duty but then have to do it all over again when the 13 players come back off international duty. He could however work in the background allowing RVN to carry on doing what he is doing and then when all the players are back from international duty then take over from RVN, introduce himself to the whole squad outlining his plans for the teams.
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Mourinho is always very friendly with developing Portuguese managers and even today it's difficult to find anyone saying that he's no longer at his best despite that being obvious.

The timing was supposedly a demand from Sporting because they had a difficult schedule until the international break. And probably something to soften the blow with the fans.
 
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Well with Amorim apparently having delays with his work visa he could spend the next few days chilling out at home on his game console (if he has one) playing EA football manager setting himself up as Man United manager and see how he does in the game :)
 
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