General Premier League Thread 2019-20

RugbyLover123

Straight out of the Jack Charlton playbook

TheCitizen

ArielAtom wrote: »

Super duper long ball from Robertson😂😂😂

Put 'em under pressure ......... Kloppstyle.

castletownman

ArielAtom wrote: »

Super duper long ball from Robertson😂😂😂

Yeah no-one suggested that EVERY Liverpool goal came from long balls. But your one of those fans so hard to reason with

TheCitizen

RugbyLover123 wrote: »

Straight out of the Jack Charlton playbook

Germany '88 clearly left an indelible mark on the development of a young Herr Klopp

ArielAtom

castletownman wrote: »

Yeah no-one suggested that EVERY Liverpool goal came from long balls. But your one of those fans so hard to reason with

I’m not a pool fan just highly amused at the rantings of lads who know very little about football, and are probably dreading the thoughts of Liverpool winning the league.

monkey9

castletownman wrote: »

Yeah no-one suggested that EVERY Liverpool goal came from long balls. But your one of those fans so hard to reason with

The first goal tonight is nothing like Houghton’s goal against England.

TheCitizen

ArielAtom wrote: »

I’m not a pool fan just highly amused at the rantings of lads who know very little about football, and are probably dreading the thoughts of Liverpool winning the league.

You've just totally avoided the point he put to you.

Point made.

castletownman

ArielAtom wrote: »

I’m not a pool fan just highly amused at the rantings of lads who know very little about football, and are probably dreading the thoughts of Liverpool winning the league.

Only dreading the thought because per capita there are more obnoxious Liverpool fans than any other club.

ArielAtom

TheCitizen wrote: »

You've just totally avoided the point he put to you.

Point made.

Them winning really seems to be getting to you. The fact that you feel the need to keep going. Sit back and enjoy this great passing football.

Charlie19

The Ref has been brilliant in tonight's game and he's let game flow at nice pace.

monkey9

We’re obnoxious and unbearable :pac: :pac:

We’re all part of Big Jurgen’s Army.

whatawaster

Remember those Charlton teams who used to complete 800+ passes per match

BullBlackNova

I might make one last ditch effort to turn this back to football before it becomes another sniping match...

The quality on show by the end of this Christmas football spell has been really poor. Such low tempo games, one sided at times and no real urgency.

I don't this has been a bad game (but I'm a Liverpool fan so...) but this has been so one sided in comparison to most of the games we've played this season. The arsenal v man United game had totally run out of steam by about the 55th minute, and players have been dropping like flies with muscular injuries this week.

Is this level of football sustainable? Or necessary?

Klopp, Pep, etc are always accused of moaning about the fixture list but they raise valid points IMO. No other country plays four games in ten days. And there's a very logical reason for that! People dismiss it because they want to see football every day but the quality has dwindled the more it has gone on during this spell IMO.

.G.

Must be very frustrating to watch this if your a City fan or "neutral" hoping for dropped points, expecting a tough test for Liverpool, its been like a training exercise in all truth. They haven't laid a glove on the Reds.

Guy:Incognito

BullBlackNova wrote: »

Klopp, Pep, etc are always accused of moaning about the fixture list but they raise valid points IMO. No other country plays four games in ten days. And there's a very logical reason for that! People dismiss it because they want to see football every day but the quality has dwindled the more it has gone on during this spell IMO.

Theres more than enough money in football at this level to have squads big enough and with enough quality to rotate through a busy period.

castletownman

So what your hinting at is that it's the lowest quality season of modern times?

marklazarcovic

.G. wrote: »

Must be very frustrating to watch this if your a City fan or "neutral" hoping for dropped points, expecting a tough test for Liverpool, its been like a training exercise in all truth. They haven't laid a glove on the Reds.

Your being obnoxious now stop it

.G.

BullBlackNova wrote: »

I might make one last ditch effort to turn this back to football before it becomes another sniping match...

The quality on show by the end of this Christmas football spell has been really poor. Such low tempo games, one sided at times and no real urgency.

I don't this has been a bad game (but I'm a Liverpool fan so...) but this has been so one sided in comparison to most of the games we've played this season. The arsenal v man United game had totally run out of steam by about the 55th minute, and players have been dropping like flies with muscular injuries this week.

Is this level of football sustainable? Or necessary?

Klopp, Pep, etc are always accused of moaning about the fixture list but they raise valid points IMO. No other country plays four games in ten days. And there's a very logical reason for that! People dismiss it because they want to see football every day but the quality has dwindled the more it has gone on during this spell IMO.

It has to change. All teams should be getting 3 days break per game. Half play on the 26th, 29th and 1st. Other half play on 27th, 30th and the 2nd. Follow it with the FA cup third round and then immediately start the winter break. Having that in Feb is a joke.

Guy:Incognito

.G. wrote: »

Must be very frustrating to watch this if your a City fan or "neutral" hoping for dropped points, expecting a tough test for Liverpool, its been like a training exercise in all truth. They haven't laid a glove on the Reds.

Either could the team in 2nd. The team in 3rd didnt fair much better.

Utopia Parkway

Great control from Liverpool in some recent games which you don’t always associate with Klopp sides. Sign of a mature side.

SuperTortoise

BullBlackNova wrote: »

I might make one last ditch effort to turn this back to football before it becomes another sniping match...

The quality on show by the end of this Christmas football spell has been really poor. Such low tempo games, one sided at times and no real urgency.

I don't this has been a bad game (but I'm a Liverpool fan so...) but this has been so one sided in comparison to most of the games we've played this season. The arsenal v man United game had totally run out of steam by about the 55th minute, and players have been dropping like flies with muscular injuries this week.

Is this level of football sustainable? Or necessary?

Klopp, Pep, etc are always accused of moaning about the fixture list but they raise valid points IMO. No other country plays four games in ten days. And there's a very logical reason for that! People dismiss it because they want to see football every day but the quality has dwindled the more it has gone on during this spell IMO.

Pressue is on the FA now to do something about it, no winter break is not the only culprit though, you have international tournaments seemingly every year, 6 week pre-season tours, players just don't get a break now.

ShamoBuc

What should have been another really tough test against a very good team, Liverpool made it look pretty easy in truth.

They had around 70% possession and made it count. Never really allowing Sheffield get a foothold in the game.

This really is an astoundingly good Liverpool team.

A joy to watch them break records with an unassuming but confident ease.

Long may the run continue.

It wont come around again for a very long time.

citytillidie

Match Day 21 Game Highlights

Brighton V Chelsea

Burnley V Aston Villa

Newcastle V Leicester

Southampton V Spurs

Watford V Wolves

Man City V Everton

Norwich V Palace

West Ham V Bournemouth

Arsenal V Man Utd

Liverpool V Sheff Utd

citytillidie

58 Liverpool
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45 Leicester
44 Man City
43
42
41
40
39
38
37
36 Chelsea
35
34
33
32
31 Man Utd
30 Spurs Wolves
29 Sheff Utd
28 Palace
27 Arsenal
26
25 Everton Southampton Newcastle
24 Brighton Burnley
23
22 West Ham
21 Villa
20 Bournemouth
19 Watford
18
17
16
15
14 Norwich

Agent Coulson

Right now it's looking like the most in form Man U keeper is playing for Sheff Utd.


Henderson is going to be a top class keeper.

rosser44

marklazarcovic wrote: »

Your being obnoxious now stop it

He's not being obnoxious, he's being unbearableðŸ˜ðŸ˜

citytillidie

Who was at the chippy breaking their new years resolutions already, such a salty smell in the air tonight in here tonight.

Wish Ireland played like that under big Jack

Hammer Archer

Same points gap between 1st and 4th as between 4th and 20th. That's insane.

redzerdrog

969 hoofballs is crazy. Ball must not have been on the deck at all

Gbear

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Great control from Liverpool in some recent games which you don’t always associate with Klopp sides. Sign of a mature side.

It hadn't been this season to begin with, but it was there all year last year.

Liverpool conceded 4 goals in their opening 10 games last season, and games like Palace and Leicester away were prime examples of that kind of thing.

theoneeyedman

BullBlackNova wrote: »

I might make one last ditch effort to turn this back to football before it becomes another sniping match...

The quality on show by the end of this Christmas football spell has been really poor. Such low tempo games, one sided at times and no real urgency.

I don't this has been a bad game (but I'm a Liverpool fan so...) but this has been so one sided in comparison to most of the games we've played this season. The arsenal v man United game had totally run out of steam by about the 55th minute, and players have been dropping like flies with muscular injuries this week.

Is this level of football sustainable? Or necessary?

Klopp, Pep, etc are always accused of moaning about the fixture list but they raise valid points IMO. No other country plays four games in ten days. And there's a very logical reason for that! People dismiss it because they want to see football every day but the quality has dwindled the more it has gone on during this spell IMO.

Gotta agree in the main.

Blanket coverage over the last fortnight, I was jaded going into tonight's game, let alone what the players felt like

But seriously, too many games over the Xmas period really. All teams were wrecked, really heavy on their feet, and several injuries in these series of games through muscle strains.

Was there an extra round of games this year, the round between Stephen's Day and New Years? Someone mentioned it might be because of freeing up a week in February for a 'winter break', makes little sense if you ask me. I love the Xmas games on the telly, but the quality of the games was poor overall over the Xmas, and the quality of the product isn't being maintained.

Easy work by the Champions-Elect tonight, against a tough opponent. Had to work for it, but managed the game pretty well, conserved energy well with an injury addled squad.

castletownman

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Right now it's looking like the most in form Man U keeper is playing for Sheff Utd.


Henderson is going to be a top class keeper.

Agree. Even if he got beaten between the legs for the opener. Looks the part though

citytillidie

theoneeyedman wrote: »

Gotta agree in the main.

Blanket coverage over the last fortnight, I was jaded going into tonight's game, let alone what the players felt like

But seriously, too many games over the Xmas period really. All teams were wrecked, really heavy on their feet, and several injuries in these series of games through muscle strains.

Was there an extra round of games this year, the round between Stephen's Day and New Years? Someone mentioned it might be because of freeing up a week in February for a 'winter break', makes little sense if you ask me. I love the Xmas games on the telly, but the quality of the games was poor overall over the Xmas, and the quality of the product isn't being maintained.

Easy work by the Champions-Elect tonight, against a tough opponent. Had to work for it, but managed the game pretty well, conserved energy well with an injury addled squad.

No there was not an extra round

noodler

Absolutely brilliant stuff the last two pages.

KathleenGrant

That way of laying out the table with the points view is superb.

Harry Palmr

It's crackers that the winter break is in mid February.

Another nice win.

Brilliant stuff on the previous page. Loving the fume!

~Rebel~

TheCitizen wrote: »

I think the point is they build a template in their games initially with long ball football. They get ahead and then maybe they play a bit.

The initial long ball is into spaces utilising the pace of their attackers. It's not necessarily to the feet of their attackers, they're happy enough to put the opposing defence under pressure. Let the opponent have it but under pressure in their half. It's the sort of thing that critics find foul with depending on who's playing it. Some had a problem with Jack Charlton's Ireland team when they did it.
Klopp's Liverpool are essentially bypassing midfield as the main attacking base of their game.

It bares a certain comparison with Big Jacks football I suppose, but only in a very basic superficial sense.

First of all, would totally disagree with your opening small paragraph there - what they do is much more dictated by what the opposition does.

So, Charlton's plan was to lump it forward all the time, and hope you can win a knockdown, or that if they win it, the ball drops favourably. And there's merit to that, do it enough times and you'll get a few lucky breaks amidst the chaos.

Klopp's is quite different. Liverpool actively demonstrate a tonne of different ways of playing, finding different ways of creating an overload. As Pep once said, football is all about making the opposition think you're going one way, then you go the other way. Pep usually does this horizontally - filling one side of the find to create space on the other side - his teams trademark back post tap-in.

Klopp often does the same thing, only he also does it vertically - playing out from the back, and passing around midfield, drawing the opposition out to try to put pressure on the ball. When the opposition does this, Liverpool drop the ball back, and hit the long accurate pass into a positive matchup. Rarely a ball to be headed, but something that drops to chest or feet, or is played in front of the attackers run. It's all about speed - if you've tricked them into being in the wrong part of the pitch, you need to take advantage quickly before they can reset. Which is why instead of looking like tossing it into the mixer, it looks more like scalpel - one incisive long pass, with a goal within 4 or 5 seconds of it finding its man.

They don't just do it as a matter of course, they wait for the right matchup, and the right overload, and strike. All of this is pretty bloody hard, cause of course you need to play several different ways to a very high level, to have players that will as often as not be the winner in a matchup against the defender, and have incredible passers all over the field both long and short. But if it's working for you, it means teams can't as easily plan to stop you as you have different ways to beat them depending on what they do. And it's exactly why 20 games into the season, they've found a way to win 19 of them.

Fitz*

There is a difference between a long pass to feet which a player can control in order to create a chance for a teammate and a long ball to a head hoping it will fall beside a teammate who can then create a chance.

gimli2112

No-one could genuinely hold that view without being horribly biased. I kind of think it was simply posted to get a reaction from the unbearables The funny thing is that the attempt to introduce this particular narrative was during a game Liverpool successfully completed almost a thousand passes, comedy gold. I wouldn't bother trying to arguing against such flat earther beliefs.

theoneeyedman

Wesley potentially out for the season for Villa following that Ben Mee tackle on new years day, knee ligaments.

Cheap, horrible, cowardly tackle.

Dr. Bre

theoneeyedman wrote: »

Wesley potentially out for the season for Villa following that Ben Mee tackle on new years day, knee ligaments.

Cheap, horrible, cowardly tackle.

Also heaton injury could be long term- villa could go down . It’s Man City next for them

Trigger

Dr. Bre wrote: »

Also heaton injury could be long term- villa could go down . It’s Man City next for them

Heston confirmed out for season now

Weepsie

Liverpool need 10 wins now to guarantee the title I thnk. They play Everton in 10 games time and Palace at home the week after. Those 2 games seal it.

BullBlackNova

Weepsie wrote: »

Liverpool need 10 wins now to guarantee the title I thnk. They play Everton in 10 games time and Palace at home the week after. Those 2 games seal it.

That's not quite right - if Liverpool win those ten and Leicester and City drop the same amount of points as they did in the last ten, they'll seal it by Patrick's Day.

But Leicester can still get 96 points I think. So to top that, Liverpool need another 13 wins, technically.

Weepsie

Did my maths wrong and had Leicester for 86 which is title winning in most seasons

gimli2112

gimli2112 wrote: »

No-one could genuinely hold that view without being horribly biased.

I'm not sure he is biased.

I think he is genuine, and just confuses and conflates the long ball popularised in the late 80s by Wimbledon, John Beck and seen in both Charlton's Ireland and Taylor's England, and long passes. Of course the point about long ball is that it was designed primarily to present an aerial threat, to be met be a tall centre forward to knock it down for another striker or midfielders.

He points to Aldridge's time up front for Ireland as evidence. But of course the whole point about Aldridge up front for Ireland was that, because we played long ball rather than long passes to his feet, he spent his first 20 plus games for Ireland running around aimlessly and didn't score one goal.

Cork Boy 53

Harry Palmr wrote: »

It's crackers that the winter break is in mid February.

The Premier League should really follow the example of the SPL and have a complete break in the first 2 weeks of January. Maybe start the League a week earlier than at present, have a 2 week break after the Christmas fixtures and come back around the 15th January. The way it is being done this year is a half assed job with the break not happening until February and even then being split between the teams.

Fitz*

They best option is to get rid of the 2 leg semi final of the League Cup. Move a PL game away from 2nd - 10th January week and move it to the end of January midweek League Cup slot. Replays are already gone from this, which is a step in the right direction. Replays should remain in the FA Cup though, imo. The really smaller clubs rely on replay/away game income.

5starpool

Weepsie wrote: »

Did my maths wrong and had Leicester for 86 which is title winning in most seasons

Leicester won't get 86, never mind 96 points. City will likely end up with somewhere between 83-90 points. Even a record of 10-4-4 should see Liverpool ease to the title, although I obviously hope its a little more comprehensive than that.