The Football Thread.

RaymondLin

Teams should start practicing hitting purposely at defender's hands...I bet they would get at least 10 goals a season out of that.

See a defender inside the box...aim for it.

It would be like bring in a throw-in specialist to train the team, now it is an "Advantage specialist" in exploiting the rules.

TeleMaster

DesVegas said:

yep, not one shot on goal for Mbappe, that is how you beat them, by shutting them down

It works against Haaland, who still manages to have this thing hanging over him that he doesn't score against big clubs even though he has 19 G/A contributions in 19 games against the big 6. Doesn't seem too bad to me, but he doesn't have as much impact in finals and semi finals.

I see this same criticism levied against Kane, who is a better player in weaker teams, but is it literally just a case of marking these players out of the game rendering their ability to realistically do anything impossible?

thecolourbox

RaymondLin said:

Teams should start practicing hitting purposely at defender's hands...I bet they would get at least 10 goals a season out of that.

See a defender inside the box...aim for it.

It would be like bring in a throw-in specialist to train the team, now it is an "Advantage specialist" in exploiting the rules.

With our players, the best way to tell them to aim to kick the ball at the opposition's players' hands would be to tell them to not aim at the opposition's hands, maybe aim at the corner flag or something

DesVegas

RaymondLin said:

Teams should start practicing hitting purposely at defender's hands...I bet they would get at least 10 goals a season out of that.

See a defender inside the box...aim for it.

It would be like bring in a throw-in specialist to train the team, now it is an "Advantage specialist" in exploiting the rules.

that's how liverpool got the first goal against spurs in the champions league final.. well played Mane!

TTony

And I was just about to post that WHU's back 11 had played well tonight

TeleMaster

TTony said:

And I was just about to post that WHU's back 11 had played well tonight

What a roller-coaster. They're a much better side than us and we defended amazingly for much of that game. Could've/should've scored early on from Kudus too.

I didn't expect us to get a result there really, and the home leg will be tough because we've lost Paqueta and Emerson to yellow cards. Paqueta can be so petulant and takes silly risks and he was lucky he didn't get send off. 

I've no idea how we're going to beat them next week, they look so good and I don't think we can hold possession against them, and they don't even need to attack us now so the counter attack may be difficult, so I don't know where the goals will come from. 

There's no shame going out to them in any case, these are champions league level teams and this year's competition is very tough, but let's give it a proper go. 

Oh and Fabianski is brilliant. 

guitars4you

TeleMaster said:

TTony said:

And I was just about to post that WHU's back 11 had played well tonight

What a roller-coaster. They're a much better side than us and we defended amazingly for much of that game. Could've/should've scored early on from Kudus too.

I didn't expect us to get a result there really, and the home leg will be tough because we've lost Paqueta and Emerson to yellow cards. Paqueta can be so petulant and takes silly risks and he was lucky he didn't get send off. 

I've no idea how we're going to beat them next week, they look so good and I don't think we can hold possession against them, and they don't even need to attack us now so the counter attack may be difficult, so I don't know where the goals will come from. 

There's no shame going out to them in any case, these are champions league level teams and this year's competition is very tough, but let's give it a proper go. 

Oh and Fabianski is brilliant. 

But you must take some pride in the way your ex humiliated Liverpool 

Plus there is some hope you might score 2 goals at home to take it further - Very unlikely LFC will score 4 to win in Italy and will they even dare take it on with the PL title at risk 

Either way looks like both results have harmed the PL's chance of getting 5 clubs into next years competition - So probably a straight fight between Spurs and Villa for the 4th and final slot 

TeleMaster

There's some hope but I'm not hopeful really. If we get one early then it's game on but we have a weakened squad now, with suspensions and zero depth. We have Fulham on Sunday too and the squad will be knackered. If Antonio gets injured we are in serious trouble.

Yea, everyone has underestimated how good this competition is. 

guitars4you

TeleMaster said:

There's some hope but I'm not hopeful really. If we get one early then it's game on but we have a weakened squad now, with suspensions and zero depth. We have Fulham on Sunday too and the squad will be knackered. If Antonio gets injured we are in serious trouble.

Yea, everyone has underestimated how good this competition is. 

It is a strong final 8 and maybe the strongest I've seen/recall for many years - But that is good as it has been seen as a weak CL for to long, even to the points that PL teams don't want to finish 5th - Just wish they would move it away from a Thurs - You travel back late late Thurs, or early Fri - Light training at most on Friday PM and ditto Sat - Match on Sunday with no time to train/plan etc 

TTony

TeleMaster said:

There's some hope but I'm not hopeful really. 

There's always hope, and an earlyish goal would change the whole feel of the tie, particularly with an up-for-it home crowd.

I'll certainly be watching (though in a comfortable chair and from a safe distance).

TTony

TTony said:

Lestratcaster said:

Nice one Utd haha. But not much has changed, think its a point that separates us, Liverpool and City so all to play for still.

Well, with the way that Liverpool are dropping points, looks like it's now a straight 3-way race between Arsenal, Man City and Spurs ...

Hmmmm, I might now accept that Spurs aren't really in the running for the title.

That was another disappointingly poor performance.  Newcastle played well in stopping us playing, but we didn't learn and kept on getting turned over.  They attack, they look like scoring.  We attack, we look like we don't really know where we're going.

Still a couple of players away from the full team.  When Son and Maddison aren't on it, we're not so good.

And I don't recall us playing a decent game when wearing that awful strip.

swiller

tactics spot on for the toon. Spurs good on the ball so NUFC played the closing down game perfectly. With half the top players still out, a performance reminiscent of last season which is encouraging to see the usual sub benchers performing that way.

Lestratcaster

Tottenham lost. I'm happy. That's all.

RaymondLin

Spurs’ remaining fixtures looks tough…they could potentially lose all but 1 of them.

BigBearKris

Robbed against MUtd today - not convinced about Smiths handball for their 2nd goal and 50/50 penalty for us in the end.
We were far better side and deserved 2 more points. Shame...

RaymondLin

Well done to Wrexham ! 

scrumhalf

We were crap today.  We defend narrow, Newcastle attack down the flanks. Our defence may be good going forward but as defenders they leave something to be desired, the goals against column is proof of that.

BigBearKris

Reds dropping points at home vs Palace... interesting.

TeleMaster

Anyone wanna bet against City now?

Lestratcaster

I feel sick. What the hell happened.