Football

[Maximus Decimus]

Everton win again at Leicester to move out of the relegation zone.

Literally, this time last week things looked very bleak for us, 4 points adrift in the relegation zone and with the hardest run-in of the three clubs in contention.

Fast forward 1 week, two excellent wins and an easier seeming set of games and all of a sudden things are looking much rosier. 

[bobbruce]

1 hour ago, Maximus Decimus said:

Everton win again at Leicester to move out of the relegation zone.

Literally, this time last week things looked very bleak for us, 4 points adrift in the relegation zone and with the hardest run-in of the three clubs in contention.

Fast forward 1 week, two excellent wins and an easier seeming set of games and all of a sudden things are looking much rosier. 

Agreed but I think there’s a few twists and turns to come down the bottom yet. 

[RayCee]

At the top end with MC winning & LFC drawing, I can’t see them losing the title race from here. Recent wins by City have also have been with more goals than the Reds so they now have a superior goal difference too. A galant chase by LFC but gave themselves too much to do.

[Wolford6]

Leeds looking down the barrel

[bobbruce]

2 hours ago, RayCee said:

At the top end with MC winning & LFC drawing, I can’t see them losing the title race from here. Recent wins by City have also have been with more goals than the Reds so they now have a superior goal difference too. A galant chase by LFC but gave themselves too much to do.

I think you are right but away to Wolves and especially West Ham are tough. Just a pity neither team have anything to play for. 

[Jughead]

 

But only when it suits. 

[graveyard johnny]

1 hour ago, Jughead said:

 

But only when it suits. 

crikey - thats one ugly bloke!

[RayCee]

Another loss for Leeds Utd. Not looking good.

[Josef K]

1 hour ago, RayCee said:

Another loss for Leeds Utd. Not looking good.

It’s amazing how many teams come up from the championship and after a good first season they have a dreadful second season. Unless you’re Norwich City then you’re up & down all the time. If i was a canary then id be peeved about their inability to stay up. 

[Josef K]

Great win for City. I have just spent the last 20mins taunting my two nephews who went off the rails years back when they became LFC fans from the age of about 11. Now they’re LFC season ticket holders, i don’t know were they went wrong but i have blamed their parents.
But the league is not won yet, there are still pts to play for. 

[RayCee]

10 minutes ago, Josef K said:

Great win for City. I have just spent the last 20mins taunting my two nephews who went off the rails years back when they became LFC fans from the age of about 11. Now they’re LFC season ticket holders, i don’t know were they went wrong but i have blamed their parents.
But the league is not won yet, there are still pts to play for. 

Well Liverpool have the League Cup. in the finals of the FA Cup and Champions League and still a longshot chance at the league title. I'm m not sure what the taunting is about but they seem to have more ammo than your good self at present. Of course LFC have not won the two cups yet but what a season. To even have contemplated a quadruple (probably impossible for any team) is some effort. 

[RayCee]

24 minutes ago, Josef K said:

It’s amazing how many teams come up from the championship and after a good first season they have a dreadful second season. Unless you’re Norwich City then you’re up & down all the time. If i was a canary then id be peeved about their inability to stay up. 

Putting on my nerd cap, over the past few seasons the dreaded second season syndrome hit Huddersfield (18-19), Sheffield (20-21) and looking like Leeds this year. I went back to the 16-17 season so it's happened twice, now maybe three times over that period. 

The first year return has been more of a problem. In 16-17 two sides went straight back down, 17-18 none, 18-19 two, 19-20 one, 20-21 two and 21-22 two more. Add the second year teams its quite striking. 

Considering the issue in RL with sides going straight back down, a one year exemption has merit in RL because it's only one side going down. With three relegated from the PL, it wouldn't be acceptable. 

[HawkMan]

What's the difference between picture above and below? 

Answer is nothing!

 

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by HawkMan

[Josef K]

15 hours ago, RayCee said:

Well Liverpool have the League Cup. in the finals of the FA Cup and Champions League and still a longshot chance at the league title. I'm m not sure what the taunting is about but they seem to have more ammo than your good self at present. Of course LFC have not won the two cups yet but what a season. To even have contemplated a quadruple (probably impossible for any team) is some effort. 

They can have the FA Cup, the Milk Cup, the Champions League as long as they don’t win the league. I remember when the European Cup used to be for clubs that finished first. Now you can become champions of Europe even though you wasn’t the champions in your own league. I think in a couple of years UEFA are going to make it even more crazier and watered down. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

1 hour ago, Josef K said:

They can have the FA Cup, the Milk Cup, the Champions League as long as they don’t win the league. I remember when the European Cup used to be for clubs that finished first. Now you can become champions of Europe even though you wasn’t the champions in your own league. I think in a couple of years UEFA are going to make it even more crazier and watered down. 

It’s a stronger competition now than it ever was in the past precisely because it has multiple top teams from Europe’s strongest leagues.

 

[Josef K]

1 hour ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

It’s a stronger competition now than it ever was in the past precisely because it has multiple top teams from Europe’s strongest leagues.

 

The only time the champions league gets interesting is when the league format is finished. 

[gingerjon]

2 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

It’s a stronger competition now than it ever was in the past precisely because it has multiple top teams from Europe’s strongest leagues.

 

Yes but, perhaps uniquely in Europe, it is still *additional* to the league title which remains the one that the fans and boards seem to judge their managers on.

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Josef K said:

The only time the champions league gets interesting is when the league format is finished. 

The group stage is deathly to anyone but the fans of the clubs involved but there are enough of those fans to means that that's fine.

The competition gets more bloated from season after next, I think.

[Josef K]

24 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

The group stage is deathly to anyone but the fans of the clubs involved but there are enough of those fans to means that that's fine.

The competition gets more bloated from season after next, I think.

It looks dreadful but the big clubs are happy about it. It’s the Conference league and the UEFA cup (or whatever it’s called) that fan’s are not keen on. 

[gingerjon]

2 minutes ago, Josef K said:

It looks dreadful but the big clubs are happy about it. It’s the Conference league and the UEFA cup (or whatever it’s called) that fan’s are not keen on. 

Even then though, once you get through to the knock outs, everyone is all in for it. The teams that don't care are gone by then.

[Gerrumonside ref]

2 hours ago, Josef K said:

The only time the champions league gets interesting is when the league format is finished. 

Tends to separate the wheat from the chaff, whereas the older format allowed ‘powerhouses’ like Malmo to reach the final.

 

[Gerrumonside ref]

44 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Yes but, perhaps uniquely in Europe, it is still *additional* to the league title which remains the one that the fans and boards seem to judge their managers on.

Depends upon what they’ve achieved previously I feel.

No question that for hierarchy of PSG and Manchester City, the Champions League represents a holy grail of sorts - same for Man Utd back in the day when they used to have competitive teams.

With the best will in the world they’re not investing such huge sums to win solely in France or England.

 

[gingerjon]

3 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Depends upon what they’ve achieved previously I feel.

No question that for hierarchy of PSG and Manchester City, the Champions League represents a holy grail of sorts - same for Man Utd back in the day when they used to have competitive teams.

With the best will in the world they’re not investing such huge sums to win solely in France or England.

 

They may or not be. And investing in PSG with their walk to the Ligue 1 title is a little different.

The league remains the biggest deal here regardless.

[Gerrumonside ref]

1 minute ago, gingerjon said:

They may or not be. And investing in PSG with their walk to the Ligue 1 title is a little different.

The league remains the biggest deal here regardless.

I’m not sure it’s that cut and dried.

The League and the Champions League are on a level playing field for me with different challenges.

In fact I’d even go as far to say that the league is getting increasingly devalued year on year in terms of level playing field.  Just look at how dominant Manchester City and Liverpool have been this season.

Many would say there’s maybe 6 big clubs (of which only three might be truly regarded as elite at a time) and 14 rotating ‘lottery winners’ making up the numbers.  It’s not a great state of affairs really domestically and the other competitions are almost ‘reserves’ sideshows.

I’m not decrying City’s looming achievement which will be deserved or calling for the European Super League farce to be rerun. Just offering an alternative view.

Personally I like the thrill of playing to be European champion and the prestige it undoubtedly brings.

 

 

 

[Anita Bath]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

The group stage is deathly to anyone but the fans of the clubs involved but there are enough of those fans to means that that's fine.

The competition gets more bloated from season after next, I think.

Changes announced from 2024 have more teams included and all clubs beyond the qhalifying round being in one league. Each team to play 8 different teams home or away based on a seeding system. so a league in which each team does not play each other. top eight qualify for round of 16 and the next 16 play off for the other 8 spots.

 

All about trying to reduce further the infintesimal chance that a ‘lower’ team will actually progressto the later stages of the comp.

 

Off course it wont matter for that lot at Old Trafford…they dont qualify anyway

Off course it means more games so bigger TV contracts.

 

The other Euro comps will follow a similar structure.