Football

[JonM]

Quite a bad story in Scotland, where Stuart Kettlewell resigned as Motherwell manager due to abuse from fans. The club is fan-owned, "community centred" and currently fifth in the SPL, in spite of one of the smallest budgets, and having turned a significant profit on player sales.

[The Masked Poster]

I hate to admit this but the Premier League is actually very competitive. 
I had dismissed it as a money fest (which I stand by) but fair do's, it's throwing up a lot of unexpected results. 

Edited February 2 by The Masked Poster

[tonyXIII]

3 hours ago, The Masked Poster said:

I hate to admit this but the Premier League is actually very competitive. 
I had dismissed it as a money fest (which I stand by) but fair do's, it's throwing up a lot of unexpected results.

"Unexpected results"?

You can say that again!

[HawkMan]

16 minutes ago, back in the day said:

I don’t follow it as closely as I used to but it seems to me that in the last decade or so there’s been a team that runs away with the league i.e. Liverpool or Man City but places 2-5 are very close and competitive.

or I could be completely mistaken.

Last three winning margins have been , 2pts, 5pts and 1pt.

Edited February 2 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

7 minutes ago, back in the day said:

Like I said I don’t follow it as closely these days

that’s really shocked me as I was under the impression that Man City was running away with it most seasons.

Man City have won the last four, a record never been done before, but pushed all the way. This  season it won't be Man City, as I type this Arsenal have gone 3-1 up against City, leaving Arsenal 6pts behind Liverpool. City will be lucky to get Champions League next season.

Edited February 2 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

31 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Man City have won the last four, a record never been done before, but pushed all the way. This  season it won't be Man City, as I type this Arsenal have gone 3-1 up against City, leaving Arsenal 6pts behind Liverpool. City will be lucky to get Champions League next season.

Latest ,4-1 to Arsenal,  Pep will be scratching his bonce tonight on MOTD.

FT 5-1 B******s !

Edited February 2 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

8 minutes ago, back in the day said:

Although I don’t have a dog in the fight it’s always good to see new teams challenging for and winning the league.

are Man City suffering from injuries or are they operating under a transfer embargo?

There's no transfer embargo....yet! They've not been found guilty of anything,  that may change. They have just splashed out in this January transfer window. Injuries and just the age of the players have caught up with them. They only scraped 22nd place out of 36 in the new Champions League format, earning them the dubious privilege of a play off with Real Madrid to even get into the last 16.

Edited February 2 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

11 minutes ago, back in the day said:

Oh god!! That champions league format sounds awful and ridiculous and exactly one of the reasons I fell out of love with the game.

Actually it just produced one of the most exciting final round of matches. During Wednesday evening last week,  City fell to 26th place, two outside the qualifying 24 , then climbed back up as other goals were going in. Only two of the final round of 18 matches were dead rubbers, with places in the play-offs,  ( 9th to 24th), or top 8 ,( avoiding the play offs) up for grabs. This contrasts to the usual dead rubber fest that regularly comes with the final group games in the 8x4 group format.

Edited February 2 by HawkMan

[gingerjon]

9 minutes ago, back in the day said:

Oh god!! That champions league format sounds awful and ridiculous and exactly one of the reasons I fell out of love with the game.

52 posts.

Nah, the Champions League format has turned out, almost counter-intuitively, to be surprisingly decent.

Of course, you could still watch football that isn't top tier if you find the formats or lack of different league winners not to your taste.

This weekend I had a Green Sweep as my boys in green - Glentoran, Werder Bremen, Aberystwyth Town and Bohemians Prague - all won. Unfortunately, Hastings lost both games I actually saw first hand.

[HawkMan]

8 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

 

This weekend I had a Green Sweep as my boys in green - Glentoran, Werder Bremen, Aberystwyth Town and Bohemians Prague - all won. Unfortunately, Hastings lost both games I actually saw first hand.

Aren't Hibernian one of your boys in green? David Gray has turned it around there alright.

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, HawkMan said:

Aren't Hibernian one of your boys in green? David Gray has turned it around there alright.

Nah. I'm on the Hearts side of the city although Queen of the South are my true Scottish team.

Hibs do seem to be on the up at the minute, though.

[The Masked Poster]

1 hour ago, back in the day said:

I don’t follow it as closely as I used to but it seems to me that in the last decade or so there’s been a team that runs away with the league i.e. Liverpool or Man City but places 2-5 are very close and competitive.

or I could be completely mistaken.

I'm talking about things like Fulham beating Newcastle away, ditto Bournemouth. And the position Forest are in (even if It turns out to be a one season wonder)

I'm genuinely surprised by some of the results. 

[RayCee]

Man City conceded 34 goals in 38 games last season. This year so far it's 35 goals in 24 games. 

[sam4731]

Haaland with 9 touches today.

[HawkMan]

As a fan I'm obviously interested in transfer deadline day , particularly if Spurs are buying anyone,  on the cheap of course and will probably flatter to deceive,  but Sky’s transfer show is OTT nonsense.

It's on for over 12 hours, everything else pushed aside, so called pundits rambling on about rumours that mostly are just that, who actually sits and watches this? A two hour show starting about 9pm would be good IMO and all you need.

Edited February 3 by HawkMan

[JonM]

World cup next year could suddenly get interesting. Co-hosting by USA, Mexico and Canada is looking a bit shaky at the moment?

[HawkMan]

6 hours ago, JonM said:

World cup next year could suddenly get interesting. Co-hosting by USA, Mexico and Canada is looking a bit shaky at the moment?

Why ? Have I missed something? Trump is apparently in favour,  schmoozing FIFA with promises of Billions of dollars in profit, and that is all important to Dear President,  tariffs not withstanding.

Edited February 3 by HawkMan

[Adelaide Tiger]

15 hours ago, back in the day said:

Oh god!! That champions league format sounds awful and ridiculous and exactly one of the reasons I fell out of love with the game.

Totally agree.  Throughout the 70’s, 80’s I use to follow the results of the English and Scottish team in the European Cup.  But since the round robin introduction in 97/98 I gradually lost all interest in the tournament.

IIRC it was Silvio Berlusconi that proposed the ‘rebrand’ as his AC Milan side missed out on European Cup qualification for a few years.  Since then, the Introduction of the co-efficient that guarantees 4 clubs from the top 5 leagues qualification means that the top sides continually eat at the trough.  

Now, IMHO, this league of god knows how many teams is designed to act as a safety blanket to help a top team - this time Man City - to sneak into the knock out phase whilst losing three games. Absolute tosh!

 

 

 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, JonM said:

World cup next year could suddenly get interesting. Co-hosting by USA, Mexico and Canada is looking a bit shaky at the moment?

We need to come up with some show of opposition much like taking the knee but obviously a lot cruder and more disgusting to suit Trump.

[OriginalMrC]

2 hours ago, back in the day said:

100%

it’s all about protecting the bigger and more richer sides if they are going through a bad spell.

same with increasing the number of subs in both champions league and premier league from 2 to 5 or 6 what ever it is it gives the advantage to the bigger and stronger teams.

Think you are wrong there. It's the narrative that's often put out when changes are made but there's plenty of evidence that extra subs has allowed more tactical fluidity for smaller teams and allowed them to hang onto leads by bringing fresh players on.

The new champions league format has given more opportunities than ever before for smaller teams to make money and play big games. If anything its made results less predictable and given smaller clubs an opportunity to progress further in the competition.

[HawkMan]

1 hour ago, OriginalMrC said:

Think you are wrong there. It's the narrative that's often put out when changes are made but there's plenty of evidence that extra subs has allowed more tactical fluidity for smaller teams and allowed them to hang onto leads by bringing fresh players on.

The new champions league format has given more opportunities than ever before for smaller teams to make money and play big games. If anything its made results less predictable and given smaller clubs an opportunity to progress further in the competition.

100% agree, it does make me chuckle when supposed footy fans say this nonsense. The Champions League format this season has allowed unfashionable teams like Lille and Leverkusen automatic passage to the last 16, and with a play off has allowed the following teams to fight for a last 16 place, Atalanta,  Brest, PSV, Feyenoord and Club Brugge. Under last season format these would struggle to get out of a four team group in 1st or 2nd place. 

In the Europa League the following unfashionable teams are in the last 16 automatically,  Bilbao, Frankfurt, Lyon and Olympiakos. These are in the play-offs,  Bodő/Glimt,  Anderlecht,  Steau, Plzen,  AZ 67 Alkmaar, Twente and Sociedad.

If we reverted to 70s and 80s format,  only the top three in Europe , one in each competition,  then they'd be no fighting for Europe places down to 8th, with teams last season in 12th place on the last day still in with a chance. If only say Bayern were in the CL from Germany or Man City and Real Madrid from England and Spain,  getting the dosh, it would ruin the competitiveness of the leagues. It'll be stale, fans would lose interest as would broadcasters. The product as a whole sport is engendering global appeal, the old pauper days aren't coming back. 

Edited February 3 by HawkMan

[Gerrumonside ref]

The new format is a sop to football’s middling clubs to buy off attempts by the leading clubs to coax other clubs to form a breakaway continental super league.

Its worked in that sense by creating extra revenue through an elongated format.

[Adelaide Tiger]

17 hours ago, HawkMan said:

100% agree, it does make me chuckle when supposed footy fans say this nonsense. The Champions League format this season has allowed unfashionable teams like Lille and Leverkusen automatic passage to the last 16, and with a play off has allowed the following teams to fight for a last 16 place, Atalanta,  Brest, PSV, Feyenoord and Club Brugge. Under last season format these would struggle to get out of a four team group in 1st or 2nd place. 

In the Europa League the following unfashionable teams are in the last 16 automatically,  Bilbao, Frankfurt, Lyon and Olympiakos. These are in the play-offs,  Bodő/Glimt,  Anderlecht,  Steau, Plzen,  AZ 67 Alkmaar, Twente and Sociedad.

If we reverted to 70s and 80s format,  only the top three in Europe , one in each competition,  then they'd be no fighting for Europe places down to 8th, with teams last season in 12th place on the last day still in with a chance. If only say Bayern were in the CL from Germany or Man City and Real Madrid from England and Spain,  getting the dosh, it would ruin the competitiveness of the leagues. It'll be stale, fans would lose interest as would broadcasters. The product as a whole sport is engendering global appeal, the old pauper days aren't coming back. 

Sorry, but IMHO the current set up is poohey!  Let’s take the 2023/24 Premier League.  Aston Villa finished a whopping 23 points behind Man City but qualify for the CL!  League winners Man City only win 3 out 8 games in the CL monster, monster league and finished 22nd but could win the CL!   There are so many safety nets for the big clubs that it becomes a farce!

You say that the new format gives an unfashionable teams like FC Brugge a second chance to progress.  But, to me this is just a sop to clubs like Brugge in response for further protection of the big clubs. Brugge have as much chance of winning the Champions League as I have playing for Cas at the age of 61  ….. on second thoughts I shouldn’t have thrown my boots away!

IMHO, the old European Cup/ECWC and UEFA Cup format with the straight knock out format meant that top clubs could draw each other in early rounds - remember Liverpool as holders drawing Nottingham Forest, league winners, in Round one - giving unfashionable clubs an easier path to the Final like Brugge did in the UEFA Cup in 1976 and the European Cup in 1978.  You could also throw in unfashionable clubs like Malmo, Panathinaikos and Steau Bucharest that reached European Cup Finals.

P.S. Your comments about the 70’s and 80’s are wrong if you are referring to only 3 English teams qualifying to play in Europe.  Yes, the team winning the league went into the European Cup.  Let’s say that the team finishing second won the FA Cup and therefore went into the European Cup Winners Cup. It then left teams finishing in third to sixth place to play in the UEFA Cup.  This number could be increased by one or two IF English teams won European trophies - as they automatically qualified for the following season’s tournament - meaning teams finishing seventh or even eighth could even qualify for Europe.

[HawkMan]

Bit disappointed in Pep, he wouldn't or COULDN'T  solve City's predicament without recourse to £180m new signings. I was hoping his " genius " would come into play. No doubt of his tactical acumen and he improves players,  but he hasn't proved to be other than a chequebook manager.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

I'll be at Beverley Town v East Riding Rangers tonight in the quarters of the East Riding Senior Cup, Norwood Park is gonna be rockin'!!