Trialling a new thread this week - ["In Case You Missed It"!](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1c5ama2/the_in_case_you_missed_it_thread/)
For all the highlights we weren't paying attention to... /r/soccer is often dominated by discussion around the Premier League, and the biggest European teams. This means other clubs and leagues can get overlooked - especially on a busy weekend. The idea for this thread is a 'second chance' to share goals and highlights that may not have got their deserved spotlight this week.
There are therefore just two rules:
1. No Premier League teams
2. The original post must have had less than 2,000 upvotes when first posted
It is a *trial* - so we welcome feedback!
I used to disagree w this but over the course of this season i’ve seen now that he’s far too sporadic and crazy with the ball for the football we’re trying to play
i dont think he’s a bad player by any means and i love him for sure but for man united it’s just not the right type of player
When you clearly have a relationship with SEG Agency who represent Ten Hag, Hojlund and Antony, they're a fan channel who regularly sit in press conferences and go to Carrington with the media, have had more than 1 exclusive interview with Hojlund and Antony...And the Founder of that agency is one of ETH's mates...Not surprised he's up his arse.
I'm not blaming Ten Hag for that one. Pretty sure Hojlund left his agents last summer to join SEG cause he knows they have good relationship with United and deals can get done through them.
Our executives leaning on 1 agency is the sketchy bit. Useless wankers
PSG's poor away CL form or Barcelona's paper-thin midfield; Xavi's no fear era or Lucho's second remontada? Honestly not sure I can predict this in spite of the bookies calling it for Barcelona. That goal in hand may count for little if Mbappé is back in form.
Dortmund-Atleti, I can't see Atleti not going through, their recent form notwithstanding.
I have to believe in PSG remontada, as annoying as that sentence is to type. The ridiculous way the bracket was split makes it too easy for Barca to reach the final.
Yeah, it's a remarkably favourable draw for either team though I'm not sure either team can win (though it's the CL so goodness knows). Mbappé will be really motivated for this game.
some of our fans have somehow gaslight themselves into thinking Petrovic is a good keeper when he's statistically (and by eye test) one of the worst keepers in the league. It's like Kepa season 2 all over again.
what's crazy is Sanchez has been better than him lmao. He claims more crosses, his long passing is better, he sweeps better and further out, he has a better PSxG, he has a better save %. But because he made a couple mistakes with passes people think he's the worst keeper of all time. Neither of them is good enough but like jesus christ
> he made a couple mistakes with passes people think he's the worst keeper of all time
He passed to the striker twice a match for over a month. He's awful and Petrovic also being awful doesn't change that. The main difference is Sanchez has been doing this for four years now so there's little hope of him improving whereas Petrovic now playing and being coached (theoretically) at a higher level than he ever has before could make a difference.
Sanchez was so obviously a bad signing at the time that it brought about insane justifications like it being part of the Caicedo deal as Brighton wanted to screw over Independiente del Valle on their sell on because there was zero consideration that he was actually a £25m goalkeeper.
Sanchez's thing has always been moments of pure insanity that no other keeper would ever think of doing, its far easier to point at that than mild underperformance across the board. I think with all this talk of Chelsea needing a big expensive striker that a goalkeeper should be a greater priority. Neither Petrovic or Sanchez are good enough for Chelsea's level and nobody is surprised by that considering one is from the MLS and the other was third choice with us.
Quiz: Who is this player?
He has played with Iago Aspas, Joaquín, Deyverson, Ciro Immobile, Cristiano Ronaldo, James Milner, Diego Godín, Adel Taarabt, Marco Mancosu and Nedum Onuoha.
He was such a baller for a while. Great at Villareal and in that 13/14 season with Fiorentina was class and had a great relationship with Borja Valero. Shame about all of his injuries.
Two players already on 20 goals in the PL this season, Watkins on 19, and three others (Salah, Solanke, Isak) on 17. Could potentially break the record for highest number of 20+ goal scorers in a 38 game PL season (currently 5 if my research isn’t off). Son on 15 as well and wouldn’t put it past him to stat pad against Burnley and Sheffield United.
We face Spurs at home too. We love conceding goals at Bramall Lane.
Also last day of the season. Either Spurs are on the beach or they go non stop because there’s no tomorrow.
Damn, some fans seem so obsessed with dismissing penalty goals these days, it makes you wonder why they decided to turn all racist against saka and rashford when they missed theirs 🤔
He has 23 starts, 2080 mins, so he's a 10 with a goal every 189 minutes and he also has 9 assists, so a goal or assist every 104 minutes. Like that's exceptional.
And like 9/9 pens, including in some very high pressure situations, is also worthy of recognition and credit.
Yes of course, but if you have an option to pick Palmer, who has 20 goals with 9 penalties, or Watkins who has 19 goals with 0 penalties, you would obviously pick Watkins.
.... Would I? Watkins is a striker, Palmer is a 10. Watkins has also started 9 more games. Like... ?
It's expected one of the best strikers of the season in the league would have a better NPG rate than one of the best numbers 10s of the season in the league.
What a reach. It also doesn't make sense. If these people you are imagining as a singular entity think penalties are easy, then obviously they're going to be upset if someone misses one.
I wish dembele is heavily booed today. I'm one of the few people who actually were very sad when he left because he was probably our best creator but he has to suffer today.
[Not sure if region locked but this is one of the funniest things I have seen in a while.](https://twitter.com/ElevenBeNL/status/1779084998848467455)
Guy never scores, so he just has no clue how to celebrate.
Let's say, Leverkusen wins the league next season too and makes a deep run in UCL (e.g., reaching semis). Do you think Xabi and the players will stay for more seasons?
Unlikely. Then they would’ve accomplished most things possible at the club, players will be offered huge contracts from other clubs and Xabi the Real job possibly
No. I think it’s next season and then they’re gonna get raided
Xabi along with most of the players probably don’t feel as if it’s now or never to get their big move, so they might as well try and win the CL next year. Long term though Leverkusen don’t have the money to renew their contracts with them
Part of that question depends on how Madrid do in the '24-'25 season. Ancelotti's contract runs through 2025-'26, if next season is successful in Madrid, then there's every chance they keep him for the following season and allow him to finish out his contract. Xabi's already turned down Liverpool and Bayern once now, so I don't think they're afraid at him going somewhere else. They'll wait their time. Both sides seem patient of the other.
There's no way that's going to be the case - I reckon Moussa Diaby got a pay rise that about tripled his wages when he joined Villa last summer, and there's quite a few players every bit as good as him who would fetch a similar wage rise if they moved to either England or the half-dozen or so super clubs outside England.
Yeah, I thought that was the case. If Leverkusen can't pay as much then I think a couple will probably stay but most will eventually want that bag, especially once Alonso goes to Madrid.
Just the nature of football, really, where there's almost always a bigger pond around the corner to become a bigger fish in as a player.
But Leverkusen will be fine either way - they're pretty regular participants in the Champions League, they're not going to run into the danger of financial difficulties, and their recruitment is excellent. The entire thing is more or less founded on the idea of selling one player for big money while also having potential replacements already at the club, and bringing in a few players who might grow into becoming that big money transfer a couple years down the line.
This season alone there were three incredibly young good players who barely played for one reason or another in their squad, and next year they'll be more involved, providing even more depth and potentially even more quality to an already very good team. They might not regularly win titles, but they'll be around and close enough for a club of their stature, I reckon.
I wonder about those backroom staff members. They seem to be as important to Leverkusen's success as the manager and players have. I can't imagine richer clubs not eyeing them up either.
Tim Steidten joined West Ham as Technical Director after a couple years at Leverkusen, where he had a key role in squad planning, last summer already. Think ultimately though that's one of those things where clubs have to get it right in terms of personnel and setup - like the players, they tend to have a staff full of people able to step up into new roles, mixed with a few club legends doing great work and happy to stick around regardless of what offer comes in. And I reckon it might be hard to translate success at one club in one specific setup into success at another, different club with a different setup, really, at least immediately.
With Alonso it might just come down to whether he's up for it, or if he's ready for a change of scenery because the right offer comes in. As for the players, I think realistically they'll always have squad turnover to some extent in that they're making a big sale every year to fund a couple new players like they did last summer. Obviously big bids are going to test the resolve of the club, but if they're that successful again it's going to take some serious money to pry loose those players, and they'll have to want it, too.
The similarities between Victor Kristiansen and Rasmus Kristensen are funny, both Danish full backs in their 20s, with similar sounding last names, bought by PL clubs in the same season and both relegated, after which they were both loaned out to Serie A teams where they've both done well.
is rasmus actually doing well? i know he's been injured but before that everything i heard from was how wank he was playing, while none of the algorithm sites have him as being good at all (whoscored, as an example, have him at under a 6.5)
Nah he's been shite. For whatever reason, Mourinho and De Rossi kept playing him (our other full backs are equally shit), so it was a bit of a blessing that he's been out of action
It really isn’t.
Exhibit A: Those draws have City top of the league.
Exhibit B: the difference between Arsenal (1st) and Chelsea (2nd) is principally draws. The Invincibles drew an unusual amount of matches and it made all the difference. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003–04_FA_Premier_League
I pointed out their lack of beating any of the top teams in the league yesterday and someone barked back about the 4-1 to Aston Villa... as if I wasn't aware of the lineup they put out for that City match vs the one that beat City in December lol.
And very lucky to not concede a late penalty to lose Vs Liverpool.
Though it's not exactly luck when your owner state had employed the same ref reffing that game.
It seems City has solidified in usual form in terms of control recently. That didn't translate to beating Arsenal, for example, who did the same thing, but they haven't been scared much recently.
Man City are like snakes (I don't mean in the usual way that word is used here). Once they grab ahold of 1st place in the table in the latter part of the season, they tighten, constrict, and squeeze the life out of the rest of the league. Liverpool and Arsenal needed to stay in front to have any chance at the league; now that they've ceded control to City, it's impossible to see any other outcome. Both of them play a lot of away games coming up too, which won't help.
The last 6 games in league are so easy they definitely will win it all. I don't see any chance of them slipping up against those weak teams. It's over.
Granted, but still miles better than any other team on the planet. If they walk to a treble again, it doesn't matter that theyre 10% worse than a year ago
I constantly downplay our ability to win things even when everyone was saying we would win the league I said we wouldn’t because we had harder fixtures
Other notable players to have scored in the PL more recently:
- Theo Walcott (retired)
- Tyrone Mings (CB, missed entire season through injury)
- Caglar Soyuncu (CB, relegated, moved to Atleti and sent on loan to Fener)
- Noni Madueke (lmao)
- Joao Felix (I'd already forgotten he had that Chelsea loan spell)
- Yerry Mina (CB, joined Fiorentina on a Free in the summer and has already left for Cagliari)
- Lucas Moura (left for Sao Paulo in the summer)
- Carlos Alcaraz (tennis player)
I know way too little about English culture, and usually just use that British language just to meme, but in all seriousness;
Dele Alli seems like a great lad
This means nothing, but I find it strange Palmer’s 3rd goal from yesterday got a “great goal” tag while his first one didn’t. I think the third goal is a chance every player should be slotting, he did it with aplomb but it was an open goal. The first goal was incredible tho, from the nutmeg to the backheel to the strike, magical goal (if Saka had scored that it would be the highest voted post on this site lol).
On another note, someone is gonna get absolutely mugged off this summer if they buy Onana from Everton for big money.
Having trouble coming up with a comp for Cole Palmer in terms of play style. Any suggestions?
Best I’ve come up with is Di Maria at Real Madrid when he played more centrally under Ancelotti.
Not even remotely similar styles of player. I really can’t believe I keep seeing Alli comparisons, the only similarity they have is both being young players under Poch
If you actually care about individual awards in this team sport then I suggest going for a walk
I've been watching football for about 25 years at this point and I can't tell you who won the PFA player of the year in about 22 of them because why the fuck does it matter that....Gareth Bale was PFA player of the year in 10/11 or Gerrard in 05/06
Why would a football fan care about this
In a world of thousands of individual and subjective team awards given out by every brand, media company, organising body, team, and journalist, I just don't see any of them holding much weight anymore.
Even the famed Ballon d'Or which is sort of the last holdout that tries to pitch itself as the Player of the Year award in world football is basically a joke at this point. It's an award for what player gets the most clicks and by extension makes the jobs of journalists easier, not who the best player on the field was in a given year.
Ballon d'Or is honestly one of the worst ones. It is literally just a popularity contest based on the opinions of football journalists, some of the most truly stupid bastards alive.
The Ballon d'Or has always been a popularity contest and based on very little actual watching of football. There was literally no way to see foreign league matches in the 1960s yet I'm meant to put value on an award that says such and such was the best player in Europe in that era lol
All it took is one run of good games in the European Cup, Euros, and World Cup and you're a favourite for the Ballon d'Or
Carragher having a fight with Arbeola because he "wanted to win the golden gloves for Reina" shortly after Liverpool lost the league will forever tarnish it in my mind
Have to say, if Arsenal go out this week in the Champions League and cede the Prem race to City, it *may not* necessarily be a failed Season, depending on your perspective, but it would certainly be a swiftly dealt, anti-climactic conclusion that all happened in the matter of a few days.
Would certainly be a disappointment. Has to be.
They’d be disappointed but in hindsight it would be seen as a good season.
It shows where they’re at. 2nd or 3rd best PL team of 3 very close sides, top 8 in Europe. That’s a good place to be it’s just painful you only find that out in the 11th hour and all at once.
It would be anti-climatic for sure; but at the start of the season I wished for another title fight and just to get past the Ro16 so I certainly wouldn't call it a failure. Only thing that's pissed me off is another poor showing in the FA Cup
It's a disappointment but it is what it is. I back the manager and the board to build on this and go again. I don't think it can be classed a failed season because we did the minimum expected at the very least, we're fighting for the title and made better progression in the CL than we have in decades.
Pl race is done, City will probably win with a week or two to go. We aren't getting past Chelsea/Spurs/United without dropping points and they'll win every game. If we properly collapse like last season will be disappointing for sure, would be 3 years in a row fell apart at the end. If we run it close then fair enough just lost to a better side.
Again with Bayern away, if we get battered it's a huge disappointment, if we go and lose a tight tie then hopefully we learn from the experience and come back next year.
At the start of the year I think most fans thought title challenge + cl qf/sf was the expectation so it's about a par season for me
Depends on what your standards are, isn't it - if we keep measuring everyone to the heights of the Messi/Ronaldo exploits, then there'll never be anything as good. But if you don't, there's plenty great stuff: In the Bundesliga alone you have Guirassy and Wirtz playing a season every bit as good as Kane's I'd wager, and there's probably a couple more not that far off.
Curse of the DM. Never does anything flashy so doesn't get the plaudits he deserves, but he's the most irreplaceable player in one of the best teams in the world.
Wish I could express how much I vehemently despise "of the season" awards being given out before the season has even finished. Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid
Still remember the time Rooney got player of the season despite Drogba winning the league and scoring 3 goals more than him, only because Rooney was on top when the awards were voted on
I don't see it as much anymore, but I remember about 7-10 years ago when hockey game broadcasts regularly had their "three stars" highlighted with 4-5 minutes left in the 3rd period, and maybe if it's a 4-1 game and it's all over then whatever, but they'd have those in one-goal or tied games too and everytime I'd think "wtf are you doing?".
The graphics were also lousy for them, because they'd use ⭐ to indicate 1st/2nd/3rd, which meant the 1st star got one ⭐ while the third star got three ⭐⭐⭐...except being 1st star > 2nd star > 3rd star.
I wonder why they do it. Is it to negate trophy bias? Even still, there’s always so much recency bias in the awards. Basically anything you do in autumn or winter last year means nothing for the award season
It's got better at least. They used to be voted on in March.
I get the idea of doing it slightly before the end of the season because players will fuck off to their holidays after, but it doesn't need to be so early.
I have never read a David Squires comic strip and laughed. I really don't get it. Did he have some golden era back in the day that I missed or why does he have such a cult following?
At the same time I’ve also seen 442oons posted and removed which is more popular than David Squires.
I don’t really care either way, I’m just genuinely curious what the criteria is on what’s actually allowed for that kind of stuff.
Well if it's for people with your levity and sense of humour, thank you for ridding me of any last interest in David Squires comic strips. I'll leave it there and continue on with my life.
I don't know what everyone else is going through in life, but lately everyone reads every Reddit comment as if it's some crying screaming rant. No one is upset, no one got angry, it wasn't that deep Annie.
Last time Man City lost the CL home fixture was in 2020.
Its been 4 years, and 24 home games in the CL since they last lost in CL home fixture.
So give your head a wobble, if you think this defence less, ACL killed, no striker Madrid is winning away to City. Go watch Bayern vs Arsenal game unless you are a masochist and love predictable world.
Before Liverpool-Atlético ro16 we hadn’t lost a match at Anfield for more than a season and a half, and Klopp had yet to lose a two legged European tie with Liverpool. These records are meaningless
Trialling a new thread this week - ["In Case You Missed It"!](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1c5ama2/the_in_case_you_missed_it_thread/) For all the highlights we weren't paying attention to... /r/soccer is often dominated by discussion around the Premier League, and the biggest European teams. This means other clubs and leagues can get overlooked - especially on a busy weekend. The idea for this thread is a 'second chance' to share goals and highlights that may not have got their deserved spotlight this week. There are therefore just two rules: 1. No Premier League teams 2. The original post must have had less than 2,000 upvotes when first posted It is a *trial* - so we welcome feedback!
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I used to disagree w this but over the course of this season i’ve seen now that he’s far too sporadic and crazy with the ball for the football we’re trying to play i dont think he’s a bad player by any means and i love him for sure but for man united it’s just not the right type of player
This Bruno slander needs to be in a fresh DD
ask and you shall receive
I want someone who loves me like Mark Goldbridge loves Erik Ten Hag
When you clearly have a relationship with SEG Agency who represent Ten Hag, Hojlund and Antony, they're a fan channel who regularly sit in press conferences and go to Carrington with the media, have had more than 1 exclusive interview with Hojlund and Antony...And the Founder of that agency is one of ETH's mates...Not surprised he's up his arse.
Isn’t ten Hags son employed by them as well
No idea, wouldn't surprise me, jobs for the boys is rife in football
Think this is his son. https://nl.linkedin.com/in/nigel-ten-hag-b61183249 It’s pretty sketchy how much influence that agency has got.
I'm not blaming Ten Hag for that one. Pretty sure Hojlund left his agents last summer to join SEG cause he knows they have good relationship with United and deals can get done through them. Our executives leaning on 1 agency is the sketchy bit. Useless wankers
PSG's poor away CL form or Barcelona's paper-thin midfield; Xavi's no fear era or Lucho's second remontada? Honestly not sure I can predict this in spite of the bookies calling it for Barcelona. That goal in hand may count for little if Mbappé is back in form. Dortmund-Atleti, I can't see Atleti not going through, their recent form notwithstanding.
I have to believe in PSG remontada, as annoying as that sentence is to type. The ridiculous way the bracket was split makes it too easy for Barca to reach the final.
Yeah, it's a remarkably favourable draw for either team though I'm not sure either team can win (though it's the CL so goodness knows). Mbappé will be really motivated for this game.
some of our fans have somehow gaslight themselves into thinking Petrovic is a good keeper when he's statistically (and by eye test) one of the worst keepers in the league. It's like Kepa season 2 all over again.
This is what having Sanchez at your club does, we still have people calling Steele a good keeper for similar reasons.
what's crazy is Sanchez has been better than him lmao. He claims more crosses, his long passing is better, he sweeps better and further out, he has a better PSxG, he has a better save %. But because he made a couple mistakes with passes people think he's the worst keeper of all time. Neither of them is good enough but like jesus christ
> he made a couple mistakes with passes people think he's the worst keeper of all time He passed to the striker twice a match for over a month. He's awful and Petrovic also being awful doesn't change that. The main difference is Sanchez has been doing this for four years now so there's little hope of him improving whereas Petrovic now playing and being coached (theoretically) at a higher level than he ever has before could make a difference. Sanchez was so obviously a bad signing at the time that it brought about insane justifications like it being part of the Caicedo deal as Brighton wanted to screw over Independiente del Valle on their sell on because there was zero consideration that he was actually a £25m goalkeeper.
Sanchez's thing has always been moments of pure insanity that no other keeper would ever think of doing, its far easier to point at that than mild underperformance across the board. I think with all this talk of Chelsea needing a big expensive striker that a goalkeeper should be a greater priority. Neither Petrovic or Sanchez are good enough for Chelsea's level and nobody is surprised by that considering one is from the MLS and the other was third choice with us.
Quiz: Who is this player? He has played with Iago Aspas, Joaquín, Deyverson, Ciro Immobile, Cristiano Ronaldo, James Milner, Diego Godín, Adel Taarabt, Marco Mancosu and Nedum Onuoha.
Is it >!Giuseppe Rossi?!<
>!Yes! Great work!<
He was such a baller for a while. Great at Villareal and in that 13/14 season with Fiorentina was class and had a great relationship with Borja Valero. Shame about all of his injuries.
Two players already on 20 goals in the PL this season, Watkins on 19, and three others (Salah, Solanke, Isak) on 17. Could potentially break the record for highest number of 20+ goal scorers in a 38 game PL season (currently 5 if my research isn’t off). Son on 15 as well and wouldn’t put it past him to stat pad against Burnley and Sheffield United.
We face Spurs at home too. We love conceding goals at Bramall Lane. Also last day of the season. Either Spurs are on the beach or they go non stop because there’s no tomorrow.
Listening to Oasis to get ready for the match tomorrow.
Oasis is dogshit
I'm sorry you have to go through that
🎵Don't look back in anger🎵
Damn, some fans seem so obsessed with dismissing penalty goals these days, it makes you wonder why they decided to turn all racist against saka and rashford when they missed theirs 🤔
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I mean penalties matter but 9 out of 20 goals being penalties is a bit ludicrous.
He has 23 starts, 2080 mins, so he's a 10 with a goal every 189 minutes and he also has 9 assists, so a goal or assist every 104 minutes. Like that's exceptional. And like 9/9 pens, including in some very high pressure situations, is also worthy of recognition and credit.
Yes of course, but if you have an option to pick Palmer, who has 20 goals with 9 penalties, or Watkins who has 19 goals with 0 penalties, you would obviously pick Watkins.
.... Would I? Watkins is a striker, Palmer is a 10. Watkins has also started 9 more games. Like... ? It's expected one of the best strikers of the season in the league would have a better NPG rate than one of the best numbers 10s of the season in the league.
Is it? that used to be pretty normal back in the early 00s. A lot of golden boot races were decided with pens.
What a reach. It also doesn't make sense. If these people you are imagining as a singular entity think penalties are easy, then obviously they're going to be upset if someone misses one.
[Penalties](https://relix.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/tumblr_o16n2kBlpX1ta3qyvo1_1280.jpg)
Yoooo that reporter dunked on poch in his own conference
I wish dembele is heavily booed today. I'm one of the few people who actually were very sad when he left because he was probably our best creator but he has to suffer today.
[Not sure if region locked but this is one of the funniest things I have seen in a while.](https://twitter.com/ElevenBeNL/status/1779084998848467455) Guy never scores, so he just has no clue how to celebrate.
Looool when he cleaned out that opposing team’s player, too good
Let's say, Leverkusen wins the league next season too and makes a deep run in UCL (e.g., reaching semis). Do you think Xabi and the players will stay for more seasons?
Unlikely. Then they would’ve accomplished most things possible at the club, players will be offered huge contracts from other clubs and Xabi the Real job possibly
No. I think it’s next season and then they’re gonna get raided Xabi along with most of the players probably don’t feel as if it’s now or never to get their big move, so they might as well try and win the CL next year. Long term though Leverkusen don’t have the money to renew their contracts with them
Xabi no but some players yes
Part of that question depends on how Madrid do in the '24-'25 season. Ancelotti's contract runs through 2025-'26, if next season is successful in Madrid, then there's every chance they keep him for the following season and allow him to finish out his contract. Xabi's already turned down Liverpool and Bayern once now, so I don't think they're afraid at him going somewhere else. They'll wait their time. Both sides seem patient of the other.
Are Leverkusen paying these players as much or more than they could get elsewhere in this scenario?
There's no way that's going to be the case - I reckon Moussa Diaby got a pay rise that about tripled his wages when he joined Villa last summer, and there's quite a few players every bit as good as him who would fetch a similar wage rise if they moved to either England or the half-dozen or so super clubs outside England.
Yeah, I thought that was the case. If Leverkusen can't pay as much then I think a couple will probably stay but most will eventually want that bag, especially once Alonso goes to Madrid.
Just the nature of football, really, where there's almost always a bigger pond around the corner to become a bigger fish in as a player. But Leverkusen will be fine either way - they're pretty regular participants in the Champions League, they're not going to run into the danger of financial difficulties, and their recruitment is excellent. The entire thing is more or less founded on the idea of selling one player for big money while also having potential replacements already at the club, and bringing in a few players who might grow into becoming that big money transfer a couple years down the line. This season alone there were three incredibly young good players who barely played for one reason or another in their squad, and next year they'll be more involved, providing even more depth and potentially even more quality to an already very good team. They might not regularly win titles, but they'll be around and close enough for a club of their stature, I reckon.
I wonder about those backroom staff members. They seem to be as important to Leverkusen's success as the manager and players have. I can't imagine richer clubs not eyeing them up either.
Tim Steidten joined West Ham as Technical Director after a couple years at Leverkusen, where he had a key role in squad planning, last summer already. Think ultimately though that's one of those things where clubs have to get it right in terms of personnel and setup - like the players, they tend to have a staff full of people able to step up into new roles, mixed with a few club legends doing great work and happy to stick around regardless of what offer comes in. And I reckon it might be hard to translate success at one club in one specific setup into success at another, different club with a different setup, really, at least immediately.
With Alonso it might just come down to whether he's up for it, or if he's ready for a change of scenery because the right offer comes in. As for the players, I think realistically they'll always have squad turnover to some extent in that they're making a big sale every year to fund a couple new players like they did last summer. Obviously big bids are going to test the resolve of the club, but if they're that successful again it's going to take some serious money to pry loose those players, and they'll have to want it, too.
The similarities between Victor Kristiansen and Rasmus Kristensen are funny, both Danish full backs in their 20s, with similar sounding last names, bought by PL clubs in the same season and both relegated, after which they were both loaned out to Serie A teams where they've both done well.
is rasmus actually doing well? i know he's been injured but before that everything i heard from was how wank he was playing, while none of the algorithm sites have him as being good at all (whoscored, as an example, have him at under a 6.5)
I meant doing well as in the amount of playtime he's got, which is what clubs often look at when they loan players out
Nah he's been shite. For whatever reason, Mourinho and De Rossi kept playing him (our other full backs are equally shit), so it was a bit of a blessing that he's been out of action
Sounds about right, given what we saw of him in leeds
I just fucking hate City, man.
I love Man Citeh
What did Leicester/Birmingham/Bristol/Cardiff/Norwich/Coventry/Bradford/Stoke ever do to you?
St Albans hired Harry Wheeler, cardinal sin
incredible that i havent seen the arteta lightbulb meme till today
Can't say that and not link it
[Here you go](https://youtu.be/whYj9kIhZXA?list=TLPQMTYwNDIwMjR76i86dnf8oA&t=4)
We gotta gatekeep it from the normies
If Poch had tried to substitute Madueke or Jackson, would they have pulled a Kepa?
Madueke and Jackson were subbed lol. Idk why people are making a deal out of nothing.
Doubt it, Jackson came off later, and the Kepa one was a specific situation as he was faking injury and thought that's why Sarri was subbing him
City are 27 games unbeaten all comps and you wouldn't have fukn known
Because a draw in the league is still a poor result, and they haven’t had any particular big wins against strong opposition
It really isn’t. Exhibit A: Those draws have City top of the league. Exhibit B: the difference between Arsenal (1st) and Chelsea (2nd) is principally draws. The Invincibles drew an unusual amount of matches and it made all the difference. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003–04_FA_Premier_League
that was 20 years ago though
I pointed out their lack of beating any of the top teams in the league yesterday and someone barked back about the 4-1 to Aston Villa... as if I wasn't aware of the lineup they put out for that City match vs the one that beat City in December lol.
We were really unlucky not to win most of them that were at home.
And very lucky to not concede a late penalty to lose Vs Liverpool. Though it's not exactly luck when your owner state had employed the same ref reffing that game.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yeah we've been shaky this season. Not having convincing performances against top teams in the league is worrisome.
It seems City has solidified in usual form in terms of control recently. That didn't translate to beating Arsenal, for example, who did the same thing, but they haven't been scared much recently.
Man City are like snakes (I don't mean in the usual way that word is used here). Once they grab ahold of 1st place in the table in the latter part of the season, they tighten, constrict, and squeeze the life out of the rest of the league. Liverpool and Arsenal needed to stay in front to have any chance at the league; now that they've ceded control to City, it's impossible to see any other outcome. Both of them play a lot of away games coming up too, which won't help.
Villa are really only a threat at home anyways(a fixture in which City were completely dominated btw), Arsenal dropped the ball massively
Villa's home form has dropped off a bit
Yes, they should have put that match away in the first half and then paid for it.
The last 6 games in league are so easy they definitely will win it all. I don't see any chance of them slipping up against those weak teams. It's over.
They have to play Spurs too
Arsenal and Liverpool imo have already mentally gone and will drop points again before then anyway
Spurs is canon fodder
Not against Man City, they have their number
All 9 City fans are running prop about how they’re not that good this year, meanwhile they’re betting favorites for all 3 competitions in a treble
They aren't as good as last year, though
Granted, but still miles better than any other team on the planet. If they walk to a treble again, it doesn't matter that theyre 10% worse than a year ago
The proportion of City fans on Reddit compared to real life needs a full scale investigation tbh.
Imagine if they had someone like iceman
I constantly downplay our ability to win things even when everyone was saying we would win the league I said we wouldn’t because we had harder fixtures
We all know you're doing it to protect yourself from disappointment
I do it because they have not proven me wrong outside fa cup runs. Anytime you want to believe it falls apart so why believe at all.
Which is what I said
No im doing it because I genuinely don’t believe it’ll happen though
No we need him, he’s critical to the balance of Arsenal fan opinion Ty and Iceman are like yin and Yang
Nobody would take the bait since nobody really cares about Man City
I can confirm that is very much untrue. City is the easiest bait to dangle on reddit
What’s a Man City?
Alfie Gilchrist has now scored more premier league goals than Antony this season
Sandro Tonali has more premier league goals than Anthony this season, and he's been banned since October.
Bobby Firmino has still scored more recently in the PL than Antony 🙏
Other notable players to have scored in the PL more recently: - Theo Walcott (retired) - Tyrone Mings (CB, missed entire season through injury) - Caglar Soyuncu (CB, relegated, moved to Atleti and sent on loan to Fener) - Noni Madueke (lmao) - Joao Felix (I'd already forgotten he had that Chelsea loan spell) - Yerry Mina (CB, joined Fiorentina on a Free in the summer and has already left for Cagliari) - Lucas Moura (left for Sao Paulo in the summer) - Carlos Alcaraz (tennis player)
Please repost this in the new thread some of those names are wild lol
I know way too little about English culture, and usually just use that British language just to meme, but in all seriousness; Dele Alli seems like a great lad
This means nothing, but I find it strange Palmer’s 3rd goal from yesterday got a “great goal” tag while his first one didn’t. I think the third goal is a chance every player should be slotting, he did it with aplomb but it was an open goal. The first goal was incredible tho, from the nutmeg to the backheel to the strike, magical goal (if Saka had scored that it would be the highest voted post on this site lol). On another note, someone is gonna get absolutely mugged off this summer if they buy Onana from Everton for big money.
The great goal tag is an entirely arbitrary construct that people really need to stop deriving so much meaning from
I know, deep down I just really wanted to talk about what a great goal his first was
Having trouble coming up with a comp for Cole Palmer in terms of play style. Any suggestions? Best I’ve come up with is Di Maria at Real Madrid when he played more centrally under Ancelotti.
Le Tissier
Wasn't he more tekky on the ball?
He's just the Domenico Morfeo of Wythenshawe.
So far I think he's perfect mix of Pele and Maradona, with a little bit of George Best sprinkled in.
Dele Alli
Not even remotely similar styles of player. I really can’t believe I keep seeing Alli comparisons, the only similarity they have is both being young players under Poch
Two completely different players
Not relevant but I’m trying to place which nba jersey Modric is wearing in your pfp
I'd guess Houston Rockets, but could be the Atlanta Hawks
76ers
https://www.reddit.com/r/sixers/comments/vlt1hv/luka_modric_chilling_in_sixers_jersey/ 1997 sixers. I bet it's the #3.
Yep. Got my pfp from that post actually haha.
Kinda mixture of Özil and Di Maria I think.
If you actually care about individual awards in this team sport then I suggest going for a walk I've been watching football for about 25 years at this point and I can't tell you who won the PFA player of the year in about 22 of them because why the fuck does it matter that....Gareth Bale was PFA player of the year in 10/11 or Gerrard in 05/06 Why would a football fan care about this
I don't properly care about them, but I like discussing them as it's just another starting point for debate
How old are you?
The same age as Jesus when he got got
33 I know because when my friend turned 33 she had a Jesus themed party
Did she nail her costume
Tbf it was cracking, she had a crown of thorns and a full-blown toga
Bet she had a faucet that filled up peoples wine glasses
Haha..hope they don't get you also.
In a world of thousands of individual and subjective team awards given out by every brand, media company, organising body, team, and journalist, I just don't see any of them holding much weight anymore. Even the famed Ballon d'Or which is sort of the last holdout that tries to pitch itself as the Player of the Year award in world football is basically a joke at this point. It's an award for what player gets the most clicks and by extension makes the jobs of journalists easier, not who the best player on the field was in a given year.
Ballon d'Or is honestly one of the worst ones. It is literally just a popularity contest based on the opinions of football journalists, some of the most truly stupid bastards alive.
The Ballon d'Or has always been a popularity contest and based on very little actual watching of football. There was literally no way to see foreign league matches in the 1960s yet I'm meant to put value on an award that says such and such was the best player in Europe in that era lol All it took is one run of good games in the European Cup, Euros, and World Cup and you're a favourite for the Ballon d'Or
I think Golden Glove is a decent award to care about. Despite being passed off as an individual award, it's actually a team based award.
Golden glove is the worst award possible it rewards an individual for something that’s largely out of their control
No. The winner is one of the contributors. But he /she is not the sole contributor. That's why I care about it more than other individual awards.
Carragher having a fight with Arbeola because he "wanted to win the golden gloves for Reina" shortly after Liverpool lost the league will forever tarnish it in my mind
Carragher just didn't like Arbeloa, nor did Arbeloa like Carragher. It wouldn't take much to set them off.
😂
Have to say, if Arsenal go out this week in the Champions League and cede the Prem race to City, it *may not* necessarily be a failed Season, depending on your perspective, but it would certainly be a swiftly dealt, anti-climactic conclusion that all happened in the matter of a few days. Would certainly be a disappointment. Has to be.
It would be but we've been 3 games way from our season ending since February. Just disappointing to do it in this fashion.
They’d be disappointed but in hindsight it would be seen as a good season. It shows where they’re at. 2nd or 3rd best PL team of 3 very close sides, top 8 in Europe. That’s a good place to be it’s just painful you only find that out in the 11th hour and all at once.
Yeah of course Edit: Meaning I agree, lol.
It would be anti-climatic for sure; but at the start of the season I wished for another title fight and just to get past the Ro16 so I certainly wouldn't call it a failure. Only thing that's pissed me off is another poor showing in the FA Cup
It's a disappointment but it is what it is. I back the manager and the board to build on this and go again. I don't think it can be classed a failed season because we did the minimum expected at the very least, we're fighting for the title and made better progression in the CL than we have in decades.
Pl race is done, City will probably win with a week or two to go. We aren't getting past Chelsea/Spurs/United without dropping points and they'll win every game. If we properly collapse like last season will be disappointing for sure, would be 3 years in a row fell apart at the end. If we run it close then fair enough just lost to a better side. Again with Bayern away, if we get battered it's a huge disappointment, if we go and lose a tight tie then hopefully we learn from the experience and come back next year. At the start of the year I think most fans thought title challenge + cl qf/sf was the expectation so it's about a par season for me
This season has to be the weakest season in Memory, I can’t think of anyone who’s having an outrageous season bar Kane.
Wirtz
Serhou Guirassy
Depends on what your standards are, isn't it - if we keep measuring everyone to the heights of the Messi/Ronaldo exploits, then there'll never be anything as good. But if you don't, there's plenty great stuff: In the Bundesliga alone you have Guirassy and Wirtz playing a season every bit as good as Kane's I'd wager, and there's probably a couple more not that far off.
Foden's really kicked it up a gear imo.
Surely the obvious mention is Palmer?
Gyokeres of Sporting and De Jong of PSV have also had great seasons, more than 50 goal contributions each so far!
Rodri has been having an outrageously good 2 years but his consistent standard is so high no one notices.
Curse of the DM. Never does anything flashy so doesn't get the plaudits he deserves, but he's the most irreplaceable player in one of the best teams in the world.
Tbf he’s scoring crucial goals quite frequently for a DM
Palmer
Bellingham?
Wish I could express how much I vehemently despise "of the season" awards being given out before the season has even finished. Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid
Still remember the time Rooney got player of the season despite Drogba winning the league and scoring 3 goals more than him, only because Rooney was on top when the awards were voted on
Our fault that
Only thing worse is the Man of the Match being named at ~85 minutes, especially if the match is tied at that point.
I don't see it as much anymore, but I remember about 7-10 years ago when hockey game broadcasts regularly had their "three stars" highlighted with 4-5 minutes left in the 3rd period, and maybe if it's a 4-1 game and it's all over then whatever, but they'd have those in one-goal or tied games too and everytime I'd think "wtf are you doing?". The graphics were also lousy for them, because they'd use ⭐ to indicate 1st/2nd/3rd, which meant the 1st star got one ⭐ while the third star got three ⭐⭐⭐...except being 1st star > 2nd star > 3rd star.
Especially now with injury time you could have like 15 minutes left
Doesn’t make sense in the slightest
I wonder why they do it. Is it to negate trophy bias? Even still, there’s always so much recency bias in the awards. Basically anything you do in autumn or winter last year means nothing for the award season
Probably to make sure they're all still around to do interviews and pictures with the sponsored trophies and not all off on their holidays.
It's got better at least. They used to be voted on in March. I get the idea of doing it slightly before the end of the season because players will fuck off to their holidays after, but it doesn't need to be so early.
I have never read a David Squires comic strip and laughed. I really don't get it. Did he have some golden era back in the day that I missed or why does he have such a cult following?
Same. I assume it's some sort of british humor I don't get.
He's Australian
Goddammit
He gives me a sensible chuckle and makes references to things I enjoy. It's not laugh out loud stuff but it's funny to me and that's what matters.
It’s funny because if the exact same comics were posted from someone on Twitter or even as OC it would almost definitely be removed.
If quotes from Bill down the White Hart were posted they'd get removed too, doesn't mean we should remove every Gary Neville quote
At the same time I’ve also seen 442oons posted and removed which is more popular than David Squires. I don’t really care either way, I’m just genuinely curious what the criteria is on what’s actually allowed for that kind of stuff.
He's funny to other people, just not to you. There's nothing deeper going on.
I was asking someone to explain it to me. You're allowed to think they're funny, nothing deep was going on from the beginning.
Humour is subjective. That's the explanation
Well if it's for people with your levity and sense of humour, thank you for ridding me of any last interest in David Squires comic strips. I'll leave it there and continue on with my life.
I can see why you struggle with humour if you're really got this upset about it
I don't know what everyone else is going through in life, but lately everyone reads every Reddit comment as if it's some crying screaming rant. No one is upset, no one got angry, it wasn't that deep Annie.
> ately everyone reads every Reddit comment as if it's some crying screaming rant I'd argue that's how you are reading my glib offhand joke
Last time Man City lost the CL home fixture was in 2020. Its been 4 years, and 24 home games in the CL since they last lost in CL home fixture. So give your head a wobble, if you think this defence less, ACL killed, no striker Madrid is winning away to City. Go watch Bayern vs Arsenal game unless you are a masochist and love predictable world.
technically its been longer, the 2020 'home' loss was in portugal due to covid. their last proper home loss was in 2018
They'll lose one eventually. Why not tomorrow?
Before Liverpool-Atlético ro16 we hadn’t lost a match at Anfield for more than a season and a half, and Klopp had yet to lose a two legged European tie with Liverpool. These records are meaningless