oh well
There you have it.
Look at the choices they have...
Riches galore.
There was no compe ion LATER and they crushed the league. There are 38 games, MC have the best depth. They can handle injuries like no other club in the EPL. Pep has the luxury of fiddling around with lineups and he will. So He is by far the easiest manager to criticize.
This is definitely more of a position of need.
The EPL might be up for grabs.
Who you got Lefty?
I have...
Manchester City.
Surprise.
Its in vogue to take Chelsea.
Well City are the favorites but Liverpool is looking good tbh
And you can never ignore the possiibility of Guardiola ing things up by overthinkig , this bald mother er thinks he is Gandalf but doesn't even know how to properly use Mahrez
United? lol no
Chelsea is looking good on paper, same team that won the UCL with the add ion of Lukaku, but it was an unexpexted run and I'm wondering how they will manage expectations after winning a European le
And Giroud was a nice veteran to have around
I won't count them out either, but it's gonna be tough
Chelsea have a really good press and can sub guys easily up front.
But they might lose Rudiger in back. He is somewhat of a thug but really good for them.
MU went for ticket sales, shirts by adding Ronaldo. They have no coordinated press so their defense is easy beat. Ronaldo makes it impossible to set up a good pressing D when needed. But they are getting their jollies watching him score in European contests. Long run he will be detrimental to any PL le hopes unless they spend for new players.
Mahrez is so overplayed and just will not go right to keep the defense honest. He is not Mo Salah with the speed to transverse the entire field sideways on his left foot. Liverpool have their CB playing now and the team is calmed and know their positions more clearly. It has helped Salah immensely imo. So much so he might ask to leave which would be a huge mistake for him. The Liverpool system is perfect for him.
Tottenham is in 5th with 5 wins and 3 loses. And they are still lacking two crucial midfield spots. This is a joke that wont last.
Zero depth as well.
I will take City again. For 38 games and talent, no one better than Pep to do the job. Especially if he can keep his mood swings in check.
United’s next 3 games
- Spurs
- Atalanta (CL)
- Man City
newcastle united, to become another powerhouse team with oil money...nothing to see here, EPL from top to bottom is just more entertaining where a team can still cause an upset
The EPL has done a fantastic job in bringing in TV money.
Fulham have a Pakistani billionaire as an owner, He also owns Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL. So sometimes its not so great.
So dont get to high on Newcastle just yet. But I will say they have fantastic fan support, and they are all for the $ input.
crazy game between Everton and Arsenal
Richarlison scores : VAR, offside
Arsenal scores right after
Richarlison ties the game : VAR, offside again
Wonderful strike by Gray , hits the crossbar. unlucky but Richarlison is there fpr the tap in, it counts this time
Stoppage time : amazing strike by Gray, hits the woodwork again but it goes in this time, Everton wins
WTF
Watch the Chelsea- West Ham highlights.
Fantastic game.
I have no idea what happened with West Ham's third goal, but the ball appeared to dive after the goalie was in the air.
The damn ball just dropped off a table and into the goal. I cant tell if it was nicked or what happened?
Tottenham may postpone next PL game as it seems that entire part of London has Covid. They may not have enough players or coaches to play.
yeah saw that , 3rd WH goal was so weird lol
pgardn Belaili scored this today
Very underrated player and the reason Benrahma isn’t a regular starter on the NT
That was a wild game. I dont think the Euro teams let their guys loose for this game as the fixtures are VERY congested right now in the EPL.
Benrahma may be starting more games with West Ham through injury. (see article)
Sounds like they see him as a player who can play a variety of positions for them.
Seems he works in well with Bowen and Antonio as these guys both are quite fast and go at the goal hard. I think they can use Benrahma wide or as a really good link up for goal scorers. And he can score as well if he gets space.
https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/...st-ham-burnley
He works, they need him. Now it really shows. Teams like West Ham
(that are in the race for the fourth spot) often lack quality depth. He normally plays midfield but they are clearly moving him forward in position now. Important part of their total midfield.
Normally you would see MU, Tottenham vying for the spot in the top 4. Not so much this year. Both are in trouble even though they have shown recent decent wins.
Found some more info.
ONe of Moyes assistants absolutely loves the guy. Gave Benrahma a lot of personal time on how to break into the lineup and apparently this assistant sees his multiuse capability in the midfield. He is VERY popular with this team. They dont need him for speed. They need him to know where to be given the opponent and apparently he is VERY good at understanding how he fits in so well.
Last edited by pgardn; 12-12-2021 at 12:05 PM.
Wild game indeed
Although I’m not to keen on some players like Belaili and Bounedjah playing in the Arab Cup before AFCON
Compe ion wise it’s good because they will be sharp in January, plus they get a taste of playing in Qatar before the WC (hopefully we get out ticket for that tournament) but I’m crossing my fingers they don’t get injured
Very interesting stuff on Benrahma thanks for sharing
He has actually started a few games aslongside Belaili with the NT, but that’s when the coach wanted a more offensive lineup- Belaili on the wing and Bemrahma as a 10 behind the striker
And in turn I hope this gives Qatar some good ideas on how to handle a full load of teams coming and going.
That game appeared packed.
And here in the US in San Antonio Texas we got some very strange commercials about exhibits and the 3 themes for the world along with putting different flags of all the different countries under one of the three themes. All while talking about this very interesting and quite intricate metal sorta of bridge looking structure and what the design was for... not used to that kind of material here.
Did you get that "commercial" and listen to it? I am still trying to figure out what it was all about. I think it was during halftime.
West Ham fans are getting what they always want in their lineups. Goal scoring and open play. They absolutely did NOT expect this group would have them in 4th place though. They are perfectly happy being near the middle of the table (around 10th) while playing watchable games. They score quite frequently and in turn get scored on. So the fans could not be happier. And its good they are happy because thats a big working class bunch of people. They have a large following in London. As big as Arsenal, Tottenham or Chelsea if not bigger. They just dont have as much money to spend on players as any of those clubs, especially Chelsea.
Probably going to shut the whole thing down now.
Covid out of hand.
Both Liverpool and Spurs starting a really strange 11.
Bunch of players are sick.
The fans are being let in without a mask check when told there would be one but appears a small number for a match like this.
England is experiencing 90K cases per day now and Medical facilities are getting overwhelmed again in heavily populated regions.
There are really very few restrictions apparently but because the Spurs have missed 4 EPL games now, the show must go on?
Wacked...
lol at Dele
But what if he scores the game winner
No red for Kane (no surprise)
No penalty for that foul on Jota
wtf
I take it back, the ref is not biased he just sucks lol
Conte has done one major thing with Spurs.
Made them a true counterattacking side while putting forth effort.
But this only works for so long because they just dont have players who are good enough.
The best player, by far this season, is Son. Today was not his greatest game but this season he is the only reason they can actual attack on the counter. (Well actually it helps to have Kane as he has played a role of coming back into the midfield to start the attack.)
And I have sort of given up trying to understand cards given these days. They are allowing much more physical play this year, they told all the teams this.
As an example: if you are shielding the ball the defender is basically allowed to beat the crap out of you as long as its above the knees. So the player with control has decided to fall on the ball forcing a decision. Then players shielding the ball started overusing this tactic. Now they have also decided if you fall on the ball with your body or hand on it to force a call, the defender can just kick it out from under you or its a handball. I cant keep up with this stuff anymore.
Its not like the above is a new tactic, its just that when they allowed so much more ramming the upper body I cant keep up with what is actually a foul.
Last edited by pgardn; 12-19-2021 at 01:51 PM.
Now the EPL says going forward. All the money in this may drive them to put bizzarre lineups on the field (what players will be interesting as Liverpool just played with a weak midfield and Spurs midfielder Hojberg who had played every game an obviously was well rested did not play for the first time) Those we strange lineups. No Virgil? A midfielder I have never even heard of...
So our footy streaming might have actually forced the hand to play. Because the Covid is hitting most of the teams now.
Imo this gives MC a leg up on their lead. Chelsea boss insisted their game be postponed due to players sick but they had to play and dropped 2 points.
All these stuffed up holiday schedules bring huge viewing audiences, but how many in the stands will be interesting.
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