European Football/EPL season 2018/2019

Oh, that's better. Terrific FK from Ilkay. Great header from Aymeric. 1-1. Game on!

That's 2 points dropped, or rather, 2 points given to Wolves by the officials. Just one more piece of evidence of why VAR can't arrive too soon. Lucky Wolves! They played very well, especially defensively, but I'm not sure they had a single shot on goal. Edit: I see the BBC stats say 2, can't say I remember either. They'll feel like they've just got a major win.

Andalublue said:

Seems it takes an opposing side AND a ref and his assistants to stop City these days. One-nil down at 60 mins when we should be one-nil up. Wolves' goal a clear handball and off-side. Silva clearly fouled in the box, no penalty given. Still don't understand why we haven't got VAR - we'd be leading and cruising. Never mind. Onwards.

Click to expand...

Thought the EPL did have VAR system.. or is it only goalline tech?

Sendt fra min SM-N9005 med Tapatalk

PeteEU said:

Thought the EPL did have VAR system.. or is it only goalline tech?

Sendt fra min SM-N9005 med Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Just goaline. VAR not to be introduced until next season. No idea why not.

Andalublue said:

Just goaline. VAR not to be introduced until next season. No idea why not.

Click to expand...

Because the FA are cheap.

PeteEU said:

Because the FA are cheap.

Click to expand...

I think it's more about the EPL than the FA.

Andalublue said:

I think it's more about the EPL than the FA.

Click to expand...

EPL is even richer than the FA.. and regardless, the EPL teams are so filthy rich that they easily could put in a VAR system at every stadium in the PL and Championship. When Championship teams spend 10s of millions on a single player.. then a few hundred grand for VAR should not be a problem.

Mourinho getting sacked in the morning? Spurs fans seem convinced. :lol:

Andalublue said:

Mourinho getting sacked in the morning? Spurs fans seem convinced. :lol:

Click to expand...

I think they'll give him a few more weeks, but I agree the sacking is probably imminent

You're right, they'll give him more time, but did you see the match? They were incredibly poor, especially in defence and with the one exception of Luke Shaw. Mourinho's whole reputation has been based on his teams being solid defensively and ManU are now ridiculously leaky. He bought Lindelof. He bought Bailly. Lindelof was as poor as any defender I've seen in the Prem. Bailly didn't even play. They've now got 5 easy fixtures, not one against a Top 6 side. If they take another defeat or two I reckon he'll be gone, or he'll have spontaneously combusted.

I just saw the highlights, but I was wondering what Herrera was doing playing centreback....LOL.

I also saw the Mourinho post-game press conference and I actually started to feel sorry for him a little bit, because he seems completely lost in his third year at whatever club he manages. Its like he completely loses the plot and the dressing room, and there's no logical reason why he does this.

Really, really strange

Mourinho wants to leave but wants the money as well... so he is creating a hostile atmosphere so the management will fire him. Not the first time he has done this. He is a bad manager and the world is finally waking up to see this. That they did not see this when he was at Real Madrid is one of those unsolved mysteries.

Sendt fra min SM-N9005 med Tapatalk

PeteEU said:

Mourinho wants to leave but wants the money as well... so he is creating a hostile atmosphere so the management will fire him. Not the first time he has done this. He is a bad manager and the world is finally waking up to see this. That they did not see this when he was at Real Madrid is one of those unsolved mysteries

Click to expand...

He does win trophies though. You can't deny that

Desert Storm said:

He does win trophies though. You can't deny that

Click to expand...

So did Van Gaal but he too was a ****ty manager.

No, if you look at Mourinhos trophy wins.. a pattern starts to emerge with a few exceptions.

His only real "saviour" moment was Porto.. where he got his reputation. But from then on..

Takes over Chealski, a team that has had money pumped into by the owner and more to spend. And he wins.. gets bored and then fired for not winning the CL or whatever excuse he needed.

Takes over Inter Milan as his desired destination Man U and Barcelona (yea ironic) had managers. Inter were already a top team, and with Juventus relegated, Inter had the run of the league. He manages to get a CL win with a defensive side... but he had already pissed off people and was "let go".

Takes over at Real Madrid, and instantly starts to change the club for the worse. They become defensive, and agressive. They have wonderful players, but when they play against top teams, they play like a 4th division team parking the bus. He suffers defeat after defeat to Barcalona, but the one season that Barcelona are not playing their best.. he manages to win the league... and he is "fired yet again as the whole club turns on him.

Goes back to Chealski.. wins the league but again the Chealski team was hardly a bad team to take over. Pisses off the owners and team yet again and gets fired.

And then Man U.. starts again by pissing off players and staff. There is a pattern here.. Only domestic trophy is the EFL Cup.. yawn, and yes he wont the UEFA Europa League... but considering Man U was by far the strongest team there, then a blind man could have done that.

Now we at same time again, where he does not get the players he wants.. cause no one wants to play for him.. and he takes it out on players and staff. He will get fired soon if this continues and then some desperate fool of a club will hire him in hope of glory.. Like Van Gaal.. that wont happen. His time is up.

Andalublue said:

You're right, they'll give him more time, but did you see the match? They were incredibly poor, especially in defence and with the one exception of Luke Shaw. Mourinho's whole reputation has been based on his teams being solid defensively and ManU are now ridiculously leaky. He bought Lindelof. He bought Bailly. Lindelof was as poor as any defender I've seen in the Prem. Bailly didn't even play. They've now got 5 easy fixtures, not one against a Top 6 side. If they take another defeat or two I reckon he'll be gone, or he'll have spontaneously combusted.

Click to expand...

It's also crazy to me how much deadwood is still at that club. Players like Fellaini, Mata, Herrera, Smalling, Valencia etc still getting regular games. These are players bought by Fergie and Moyes. Players that were supposed to fill in gaps are now starters whilst young players like Rashford still sitting on the bench.

Higgins86 said:

It's also crazy to me how much deadwood is still at that club. Players like Fellaini, Mata, Herrera, Smalling, Valencia etc still getting regular games. These are players bought by Fergie and Moyes. Players that were supposed to fill in gaps are now starters whilst young players like Rashford still sitting on the bench.

Click to expand...

I agree. Dead wood everywhere (Ander Herrera anyone?) and few of Mourinho's additions have been any better. I think they're about 6 players short of a decent squad, but if I were the MUFC board (God forbid!) I'm not sure I'd trust Mou with another 200-300 million.

Andalublue said:

I agree. Dead wood everywhere (Ander Herrera anyone?) and few of Mourinho's additions have been any better. I think they're about 6 players short of a decent squad, but if I were the MUFC board (God forbid!) I'm not sure I'd trust Mou with another 200-300 million.

Click to expand...

Yes there is a lot of deadwood at Man U... but Herrera ain't one of them. Smalling, Jones, Young and a few more are quota fillers in my opinion. With Lingard and Rashford they can afford to get rid of one but they would have to find a replacement...which is a problem with Mourinho.

Biggest problem with Man U is Mouriho 's tactics... he does not have the players for it but does have the players for an offensive tactic he does not use.

On top of that there is no leader on the pitch.. no one to organise the team basically. The team is not flexible and can't really adapt to the opposition. Add to that, the lack of team harmony and you have a problem.

Sendt fra min SM-N9005 med Tapatalk

PeteEU said:

Yes there is a lot of deadwood at Man U... but Herrera ain't one of them.

Click to expand...

Never seen him play a good game. Ditto Lindelof and Jones. Smalling and Young are both good players, but Young is past his best.

Andalublue said:

Never seen him play a good game. Ditto Lindelof and Jones. Smalling and Young are both good players, but Young is past his best.

Click to expand...

Agreed and Herrera is a dirty little so and so.

Andalublue said:

Never seen him play a good game. Ditto Lindelof and Jones. Smalling and Young are both good players, but Young is past his best.

Click to expand...

He rarely plays (relatively) and when he does it is as defensive midfielder which he aint.

Jones is and always has been crap. Lindelof is not but when the defenders he plays with are so **** and the defensive midfield is made up of offensive players... no one is that good.

Sendt fra min SM-N9005 med Tapatalk

PeteEU said:

He rarely plays (relatively) and when he does it is as defensive midfielder which he aint.

Jones is and always has been crap. Lindelof is not but when the defenders he plays with are so **** and the defensive midfield is made up of offensive players... no one is that good.

Click to expand...

Lindelöf is absolutely terrible. Point me top a single game in which he's played well. I'm not a big fan, but Chris Smalling is twice the defender Lindelöf is. Not that that is saying a huge amount.

Andalublue said:

Lindelöf is absolutely terrible. Point me top a single game in which he's played well. I'm not a big fan, but Chris Smalling is twice the defender Lindelöf is. Not that that is saying a huge amount.

Click to expand...

Never said he played well. First off he does not get many games in a row, and secondly having Smalling calling the shots in the defence aint exactly the best..or any of the other central defenders. If Lindelof was allowed to lead the defence like he did at the last club and like he does on the national team then it is a whole other ball of wax. Chris Smalling is horrible btw, and always has been.

Quite an even distribution of teams in the CL draw. No really easy groups, no Group of Death either.

Group A: Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, Monaco, Club Brugge - evenly matched, I'd say. Predict Atéti and Monaco to qualify.
Group B: Barcelona, TOTTENHAM, PSV, Inter Milan - Tough group for Spurs, but if they continue their strong start to the season I could see them qualify with Barca.
Group C: PSG, Napoli, LIVERPOOL, Red Star Belgrade - two from the first 3 to qualify. No, going to stick my neck out and say Liverpool and Napoli.
Group D: Lokomotiv Moscow, Porto, Schalke, Galatasararay - anyone's guess, mine would be Lokomotiv and Porto.
Group E: Bayern Munich, Benfica, Ajax, AEK Athens - Bayern surely, and then possibly AEK.
Group F: MAN CITY, Shakhtar, Lyon, Hoffenheim - City, Lyon. Feel fairly confident with that.
Group G: Real Madrid, Roma, CSKA Moscow, Viktoria Plzen - Real and CSKA or Roma. I think I'll plump for CSKA.
Group H: Juventus, MAN UTD, Valencia, Young Boys - Juve and either Valencia or ManU. Neither Valencia nor United have started the season well, but they've got time to get up and running. I'm going to go for Valencia because it would be perverse of me to go for United.

Any thoughts?

The group stage matches I'm most looking forward to seeing? PSG v. Liverpool will be good. Real v. Roma. Juve v. United. Barca v. Spurs and all six of City's games, maybe with the slight exception of Shakhtar away.

Nice draw for Ajax. They wont get 1st place, but 2nd spot is definitely attainable

Luka Modric beats Mo Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo to UEFA Player of the Year. Good choice! Personally I'd have gone for KdB, but y'know...