All things Football (soccer) related

[Zorch]

The most important sporting event of 2019 has been announced!


The 2019 NFL London Games schedule:

Chicago Bears vs. Oakland Raiders, Sunday, Oct. 6, 18:00, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sunday, Oct. 13, 14:30 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Oct. 27, 17:00 at Wembley Stadium

Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Nov. 3, 14:30 at Wembley Stadium

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

The most important sporting event of 2019 has been announced!


The 2019 NFL London Games schedule:

Chicago Bears vs. Oakland Raiders, Sunday, Oct. 6, 18:00, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sunday, Oct. 13, 14:30 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Oct. 27, 17:00 at Wembley Stadium

Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Nov. 3, 14:30 at Wembley Stadium

warspite1

Pure.Frontier.Gibberish.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Zorch

The most important sporting event of 2019 has been announced!


The 2019 NFL London Games schedule:

Chicago Bears vs. Oakland Raiders, Sunday, Oct. 6, 18:00, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sunday, Oct. 13, 14:30 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Oct. 27, 17:00 at Wembley Stadium

Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Nov. 3, 14:30 at Wembley Stadium

warspite1

Pure.Frontier.Gibberish.

No. It. Isn't.

The North is as much frontier as it can get. And here, we have no clue whatsoever about that. Polar bears, and brown bears, we know, and respect. But Chicagobears? What the heck is that?

Anyway. That it is some sort of gibberish, that we can agree upon. But it isn't our gibberish.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: warspite1


...

At least I can console myself with the fact that all this is not happening when we fall out of the Champions League places (by close of play Monday we are likely to be 6th). Stoooopid game.

even better, if rather surprisingly, its not happened [8D]

[Crossroads]

Since it is already May here where I live, I can now give a shout for the young Ajax team, very unlucky to return home from the new Spurs stadium with only a 0-1 win in their pocket. Yes, an away goal, but it could have easily been one or even two more.

Then again, they may regret the missed goals, Tottenham who are quite a technical team found a direct way to play football as well, and during the seond half made it look more like the men vs boys that it was. Son available for the second leg, nothing's lost yet, though.

A big BOO for the Finnish TV studio not inviting King Litmanen for comments. Maybe he only agreed to come for Ajax the final.

Quite a game today as well at Camp Nou, all bets are off as how it might turn out. Apart from Messi scoring a brace...

[Orm]

Is it to late to remove the month of April? At least for football?

Football is indeed stupid. At least when the manager has gone around the bend. I fear that he is so long around the bend that he have been making a full circle. Or, more likely, it is just me. I do not understand his brilliance. Letting the other team win is a viable strategy, I just have no clue.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Orm

Is it to late to remove the month of April? At least for football?

Football is indeed stupid. At least when the manager has gone around the bend. I fear that he is so long around the bend that he have been making a full circle. Or, more likely, it is just me. I do not understand his brilliance. Letting the other team win is a viable strategy, I just have no clue.

warspite1

No, As I've said, its already removed - and so is the month of May. Nothing happened/will happen in either month. OFFICIAL.

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

No, As I've said, its already removed - and so is the month of May. Nothing happened/will happen in either month. OFFICIAL.

No no no no, too late for that. May is already HERE!

Enjoy the journey, not just the destination. I should know for I only support teams that always end up losing, at the end. Getting this far surely is an achievement in itself.

[TulliusDetritus]

Interesting thoughts from Jose.

"It’s the only job where the people know more than the specialists, and thank god it’s like that, because that’s why football is what it is"

Clausewitz offers an accurate translation: "everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult"

As opposed to the everything in football is very complicated crowd [;)]

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

Interesting thoughts from Jose.

"It’s the only job where the people know more than the specialists, and thank god it’s like that, because that’s why football is what it is"

Clausewitz offers an accurate translation: "everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult"

As opposed to the everything in football is very complicated crowd [;)]

Ha, love him or hate him, he did put those / any pundits to their proper place.

Here's another article that's been widely discussed in various footie forums, with expertise analysis vs pundits saying suggesting something deeply profound like "why didn't he just go at him".

edit quote:

The game is more collective than ever, yet the players are still judged and criticised as individuals. Look at Sky’s coverage of the Manchester derby last week. The senior analysts were Roy Keane, who was the best midfielder in the league 20 years ago, and Graeme Souness, who was the best midfielder in the league 20 years before that.

and

Or might it have something to do with what City are doing? Their game is about systematically presenting the opponent with a bad choice, and a worse choice. Which is it going to be?

You are Luke Shaw and Bernardo Silva is coming at you on the edge of the box. Do you challenge him and risk getting dribbled or maybe conceding a penalty, or do you stand off and risk him shooting past you? You decide that David de Gea will probably have the shot covered and . . . congratulations it is 1-0 to City and you are already trending on Twitter, and not in a good way.

You are Matteo Darmian and Raheem Sterling is bearing down on your defensive line while Sergio Agüero makes a run in between you and Chris Smalling. Do you follow Agüero’s run and leave space for the advancing Sané, or do you guard the space and let Sterling play Agüero in for a one-on-one? You decide to go with Agüero, then you have to backpedal when Sterling passes to Sané and . . . congratulations, it is 2-0 to City and you are about to have your manhood questioned on live television by the world’s funniest, angriest football pundit.

There is a seductive simplicity about the notion that it’s all about character and desire: desire to get to the ball, to make the tackle, to block the shot. But this ignores how the game has changed over the last few years. There’s still only one ball – but that ball is a lot more elusive than it was in Roy Keane’s day.

edit 2 I should just quote the full article, but this is intriguing as well:

For the state of the art in 2018-19, look at Liverpool. Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are two of the most dangerous old-school wingers in the Premier League – which is to say, players who set up goals for team-mates by crossing from high positions. Robertson’s 11 assists are already a new Premier League record for a defender; Alexander-Arnold has nine so he too could easily match the old record of 10 this season.

The only “true” wingers with comparable assist numbers are Sané and Ryan Fraser. Robertson and Alexander-Arnold have done this while simultaneously being part of the meanest defence in the division. Moreover, despite playing with two full backs who operate as wingers and in theory leave huge spaces behind to be exploited, Liverpool have yet to concede a single goal on the counterattack in the Premier League all season.

The level of tactical organisation required to pull this off is phenomenal. It underlines the reality that football is less and less a battle between individuals, and more and more a contest of systems. At some point maybe the ex-pros who analyse the game on television will understand this and stop judging players by the standards of a sport that no longer exists.

[TulliusDetritus]

Excellent article, Crossroads. So looks like the islanders finally embraced the "overrated" pass the ball dark side of football [:D] Or simply put, they were totally uncapable of doing it before and now they are quickly learning and adapting.

Welcome aboard

[Crossroads]

Thanks [:)]

PS Passing is overrated anyway

[TulliusDetritus]

You're welcome. I will remember this sharp journalist: Ken Early.

It's overrated if there are no proper talented players to play that style. If you can amass the most skilled, talented players and make them play parking the bus football, I suspect they will be unstoppable too. To Mourinho, the very foundation of his theory is this simple hypothesis: possession is a weakness. And from there he built his whole system. But he was an extremist imo

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

You're welcome. I will remember this sharp journalist: Ken Early.

It's overrated if there are no proper talented players to play that style. If you can amass the most skilled, talented players and make them play parking the bus football, I suspect they will be unstoppable too. To Mourinho, the very foundation of his theory is this simple hypothesis: possession is a weakness. And from there he built his whole system. But he was an extremist imo

Just joking with the passing comment [:'(]

Football being a game nowadays played between systems rather than individuals per se, as suggested by the article: why not. Mourinho's preferred system should work well against say Klopp's system, where they kill the opposition on transitions. There's no transition if there was no possession, right.

At best it makes for interesting comparisons, almost like you have to watch each game a few times to really appreciate all the nuances, moves, and counter moves.

At worst of course, like for instance the defensive slugfests between Mourinho and Benitez few years ago, quite awful. Like watching two stupid robots doing the same ineffective moves over and over. Then into penalties, to sort it out.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

ORIGINAL: warspite1

No, As I've said, its already removed - and so is the month of May. Nothing happened/will happen in either month. OFFICIAL.

Enjoy the journey, not just the destination.......getting this far surely is an achievement in itself.

warspite1

I can't enjoy the journey - I support Spurs. I am just waiting for the wheels to fall off and it's just a case of when does that happen? Do they fall off early doors or do Spurs give me hope by reaching a semi-final - only to see that brief glimmer of hope extinguished in a vat of tears, frustration and heart palpitations?

Is getting there achievement in itself? No not really - especially as Arsenal are going to win the Europa league just to rub it in [:@]

Spurs can claim a Champions League spot tomorrow... they are playing Bournemouth. It would be so Spursey, and thus so predictable, for us to lose that game. Thank-goodness all May football has been cancelled. Stoopid game [:@]

[terje439]

Not being able to watch the game, just the written commentary in the papers;

are Spurs fielding a wrestling team today? Two direct red cards [X(]

[loki100]

I actually think this thread should be locked every May ... its not as if any football is played then so no need for comment or discussion? Or get rid of May?

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: terje439

Not being able to watch the game, just the written commentary in the papers;

are Spurs fielding a wrestling team today? Two direct red cards [X(]

And lucky to even have just two of them? Madness. I admit my naivety in suggesting this thread should discuss any football during April or May. Especially about Spurs [X(]

[loki100]

Is May finished yet?

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: loki100

Is May finished yet?

think its best to ignore the idiot who wrote that. So as a summary of the 'race' to be 3 or 4 in the PL this is as good as any:

Blimey, Spurs produce a run of leggy rubbish results culminating in yesterday’s witless shitshow implosion and somehow we’ve not so much got away with murder this weekend, but we’re standing over the body, blood all over us holding a knife and the whole thing has been live-streamed to all 8 billion people on the planet and yet somehow we’ve got off on a technicality

I’m going to church this week