2 weeks Ago
There’s always somebody. And it’s usually an Arsenal fan. We also have Liverpool fans being Liverpool fans and Jack Grealish speculation.
Send your views to [email protected] Did somebody call the Celebration Police? Is that Man City celebrating like they won the league? Embarrassing. (PC) Patrick Dalton, AFC READ: Guardiola reaction says everything as Man City season dares to be one of his greatest What a season.
.. I’ve never seen a season like this before.
Five teams, Forest, Newcastle, City, Chelsea and Villa fighting for the three remaining slots for Champions League places. At the other end of the table, with Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich relegated, another five teams are competing and propping the table to determine who is the best dwarf! Everton, ManU, Wolves, Tottenham and West Ham are involved in a fight to determine the worst team outside the relegated ones! Should ManU and Tottenham still be considered part of the top six group after this season’s horror show? Long live the Premier League. Carey (Thoroughly enjoying the five-horse races at both ends of the table) Yiembe Grealish to Liverpool, is it? For a while now I have wondered which team would best suit Jack Grealish if he were to leave City this summer.
Now I think I’ve nailed it, Arne Slot’s Liverpool, though not as Guardiola left winger but as a 10. I am no tactical genius so I won’t write a 10 and a half but there is a positional fluidity to Slot’s thinking and I really want to see Grealish unshackled for next season. Give me another ‘left-field pick’ for a player that looks ‘on his way out ‘ or do you reckon Jack would suit your team’s style better? But please don’t go to Chelsea Jack.
Talking of Chelsea, I would not be at all surprised if after the semi final knock-outs they are the last English team standing, as Bilbao fans have been mocking the enshittification of United and they have the opportunity to play the final in their own stadium which must get an extra percent out of all their players . I know a little on Norwegian geography but couldn’t tell you where Spurs opponents are hence they are bound to eliminate Tottenham just for the giggles. Finally, Luis Enrique has his team coached so well I now expect them to waltz to Champions League victory if not glory (sorry Pedri).
Peter (Forest for the F.A.Cup please) Andalucia Ange out? Really? As an Arsenal fan, I’m sure many Spurs fans will think I’m trolling, but I have a lot of friends who support Spurs, so believe me when I say I am not.
But when I read that Ange might be given the boot even if he wins the Europa , that seemed borderline psychotic to me. – Firstly, Spurs haven’t won a trophy since 2008 (Audi cup doesn’t count!), so they should celebrate any potential trophy as the second coming of Christ – The Europa gets you into the Champions League, and considering their performance in the League, this is a great way to keep up with the Jones’, get into the big cup, and play with the big boys – Is Ange not what you’ve always wanted? A balls to the wall kinda manager – rock and roll, who cares for defending. He’s Aussie Ardilles! – Do you not want to trust the process? Are there not green shoots there (I wouldn’t know, I don’t watch your side) – but I assume winning the Europa is a pretty clear green shoot.
– When I look at your other recent managers, I see Mourinho 2nd in Turkey, Conte 2nd in Italy and Nuno 3rd in the Prem. Do you think if Ange went elsewhere he wouldn’t do well? – What will it take for you guys to actually properly oust Levy? Like I think you’re gonna need a boycott of the club. There is a sense of entitlement in all fans (me included), but I think Spurs should have a pause, take a breath, and ask themselves if constantly changing every 2 years is the path to success.
John (I’d take any trophy right now like a starving man with a Ritz cracker) Matrix AFC Liverpool fan thinks only Liverpool should be in Champions League If Man Utd or Spurs win the Europa league, it means that SIX teams will qualify for next year’s ‘Champions League’ . It is an absolute joke that teams finishing 14th or 15th in their domestic leagues should qualify for UEFA’s premiere competition by beating equally poor teams from other leagues. Sorry Athletic Club but you did finish FIFTH in la Liga.
I would like to see the Champions League taking a few steps back and you know, teams need to be “Champions” to qualify. (plus, if they don’t qualify automatically, the previous year’s winner). Minnows would play in knockout stages until we have 32 teams, which you could then put into 4 leagues of eight.
Top two teams in each league qualify for the last eight knockout phase. Yes, there may be some hammerings, but with only two teams qualifying, goal difference would become a real thing. Alternatively, you could also invite teams that have won their domestic cups to enter at the qualifying stage.
At least they would have won something in the previous year, and it would really bring back the value of the FA cup, Copa del rey etc. A hybrid European Cup and Cup Winner’s cup! Teams who don’t qualify for the Champions League would go into a more prestigious Europa League. I would also bring back the away goals rule in the knockout phase.
Neil, LFC, USA Liverpool fan wants to pre-empt your criticism With the league title hopefully only 1 game away, the “rubbish league, gifted to them, no one else turned up” pundits and commentors are going to be out in force. But is this true? Let me get my retaliation in first. What criteria do we apply and how do we judge “competitiveness”? There are after all, the exact same number of points available every season.
Do we judge it by the number of teams who were in with a shout of winning or do we judge it by the spread across a number of teams? Depending on which camp you are in, the stats can be interpreted either way. Compare this season, still with 5 games to go, against 2023/24. Only 2 teams have realistically challenged as opposed to 3, however those 3 teams amassed a staggering 262 points, it’s 205 to date so the 262 is safe.
Those teams scored 273 goals, currently 189, another safe stat. The distance between 2nd and 10th was 40 points, it’s currently 18, the first team to have a negative goal difference are currently 12th, last season it was 8th. The bottom 3 have have 50 points and a GD of -138, last season they amassed 50 points and a GD of -138.
In my opinion this shows that teams in 4-17 have improved considerably and are therefore more competitive, the title contenders have failed to take as many points from them as before, whilst they have also taken more points from the relegated teams. The counter argument is that they have collectively “got worse”, which is gibberish. With the obvious exceptions of City, MUFC and Spurs, ask supporters if their team has played better football than last season (and you could even include Spurs if you ignored games 1-10 from last season} and the answer will be yes.
Title winning Liverpool will/have amassed /amass enough points to win many a title yet have scored a lot less goals than previous winners, what does that say in terms of the quality of the other teams. The old saying “you can only beat what’s in front of you” really applies and this season LFC have been presented with more “what’s in front of you” challenges than anyone for a long time. Howard (what happens if they get better) Jones Grow up, Mike.
. If we just aside the valid criticisms of West Ham from Mike in the Mailbox , what the hell are you doing chucking bottles around and needing to go for a drive to calm yourself down after a home draw with Southampton for? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve lost my shit at United losing before now, but I was at worst a young man still coursing with testosterone. If you’re a father and middle aged, you really need to be getting a grip of yourself.
Throwing tantrums in your 40s or 50s because your team didn’t get the result you wanted is frankly pathetic. Grow up. Lewis, Busby Way Random thoughts on Man Utd and their direction of travel It’s a slow day so I was reading the mailbox and I came across Mike’s email .
Aside from the short termist Utd fan comment I found myself nodding along and sympathising. The most frustrating thing is seeing nothing change and people make the same mistakes. Over and over and over again.
This is pretty much the same thing that has been going on at Utd incidentally. Take ETH for example, he’s a good coach (don’t be surprised if he pops up at Napoli or Dortmund), but his downfall was a lack of experience. The first season was really good, we were tight at the back, a couple of players were having good seasons (Shaw, Bruno, Casemiro and notably Rashford), we got to a couple of finals and he delivered top 4.
However, the second season he introduced a radical playing style which was completely at odds with what the squad had been doing for the last few years (even under Ole we were pretty much reliant on counter attacking). The whole team looked out of sync, loose and baggy. An experienced manager would have kept more of the building blocks which had served Utd so well for the 2022-23 season (i.
e. a mid/low level defence, transition heavy style etc). At this stage the board should have realised that maybe ETH’s lack of experience was a factor.
A top tier coach like Ancelotti, Pep, Mourinho, Tuchel, Emery etc wouldn’t have made that mistake. Why – because top level coaches who have had success across various countries recognise they may have to tweak their style to be successful. Perhaps most importantly, they are willing to do so.
ETH was not willing to make any such amendments and paid for it by getting sacked. Enter Ruben – dear God we have jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. I have never seen a coach that I have believed in as little as this guy.
He is more rigid in his playing style and has even less experience of tweaking his vision to suit the needs at the time. None of the players are anywhere near their level with the exception of Bruno and Diallo. From what I have see I don’t believe he has the tactical know how, experience or man-management skills for this role and whoever approved his appointment should be squirming uncomfortably in their seat.
At no point during the course of the season have the squad even remotely looked like they are getting to grips with his formation. When we do have good passages of play it tends to be 2/3 players playing on instinct and being on the same wavelength rather than anything the manager has instigated. Ruben is strange, in fact he is very strange.
Nearly every other coach on the planet is happy to adapt their set up – some play 4-3-3, 4-5-1, 3-5-2 etc and the top tier coaches will even change their formation halfway through the game to ensure they have bodies in the area of the pitch where they feel they can hurt their opposition most. Ruben doesn’t do any of that, he sets up his team in the same way regardless which makes him predictable. Worst still it makes him ineffective – we were playing 10 man Lyon with 5 at the back at one stage.
I can’t believe I am saying this but part of me looks forward to the day he gets sacked. Surely the next guy can’t be worse than this. Ibrahim (don’t even get me started on Onana and his main character energy) Khalid.
