General Premier League Thread 2020-21 - Mod Notes in 1st post. [Updated 17/12/20]

Fitz*

Southampton really pushing for the equaliser.

You get the feeling that there is a another goal in this game, either Southampton will get a deserved goal or City will score on the break with Southampton pushing so many players forward.

gimli2112

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

Bobbys chip was completely saveable

it might seem so sitting from the comfort of your armchair screaming at the tv but when Bobby's bearing down on you, your skin goes cold, your knees grow weak, the eyes are here the eyes are there, you've no chance.

the greatest crap centre forward ever

super_furry

Mahrez should be in Croke Park today. Loves chipping the ball just over the bar from inside the penalty area.

Shanotheslayer

gimli2112 wrote: »

it might seem so sitting from the comfort of your armchair screaming at the tv but when Bobby's bearing down on you, your skin goes cold, your knees grow weak, the eyes are here the eyes are there, you've no chance.

Speaking from firsthand experience Gimli? :pac:

PsychoPete

It's great having so many games on TV but then again with the cost of sky sports really every game should be televised. Anyone else expecting an absolute shambles from arsenal this evening

jayo26

Fair play to pep he helped them see out a really tough game. He building a decent team there, quality manager.

TitianGerm

jayo26 wrote: »

He building a decent team there

You'd hope so with the money they've spent since he came in.

ERG89

Holding puts Everton ahead. Carragher sounds like he's about to lose his lunch when he goes "uh" with mistakes.

Edit: Nketiah missed a great chance. Him, Willian & Pepe don't fill me with great confidence that Arsenal will get back into this.

Weepsie

Maitland niles gets a soft penalty , and Ings gets nothing? bit of consistency would be nice

PsychoPete

I wonder is this Artetas final game or will they wait till they are bet by Chelsea, they can't keep going the way they are. Most of those Arsenal players aren't good enough to get Arsenal where they should be

TitianGerm

PsychoPete wrote: »

I wonder is this Artetas final game or will they wait till they are bet by Chelsea, they can't keep going the way they are. Most of those Arsenal players aren't good enough to get Arsenal where they should be

If Arteta stays they could very well be dragged into a relegation fight at this rate.

Agent Coulson

Arsenal are lucky Sheff Utd are so far behind there is only two real relegation places left so they should survive.

However if they keep this form up they are going to be drawn into a dogfight.

yourdeadwright

Is it to early to say Fabhino is in with a shout of being in team of the season as a CB,
Haven't t seen many better this season

ERG89

Arsenal's 8th defeat of the season after 14 games. They lost 10 last season from 38 games.

PsychoPete

Arsenal will be dragged into a relegation battle against Big Sam, I don't like Arsenals odds in that fight

Arteta is taking Arsenal to the Championship if this continues.

I reckon Arsenal's owners are already on the phone to Pochettino's agent. United are going to stick with Ole for the season, that much is clear, so Poch would probably take the job because there's no point waiting for the Man Utd job. High profile London club with basically no expectations for the season except getting into the top half or if they're lucky push for a Europa league spot, sounds like a decent set of circumstances for him to walk into.

PsychoPete

Arsenal looked decent towards the end of last season, the players must have bought into what Arteta was trying to do but seems the players now have had enough and are playing like they just couldn't be arsed

Agent Coulson

I wonder how much Arteta telling the squad they had to take paycuts to save jobs and then the Arsenal board sacks people anyway has this effected the moral of the squad and trust in the manager.

Ozil refused to take a paycut as he didn't trust the board to keep their word and he was proven to be right.

I also wonder was Arteta then forced by the board to drop Ozil.

ERG89

You can change Arteta but the bounce and fall will happen with the next manager too. There are plenty of players there who failed under previous managers.
Very odd transfer deals there too. Saliba hasn't even played for them after they paid 30m for him. Mari & Cedric were signed despite proving nothing after they joined. Luiz should have been given the door instead he got a new contract. Willian has turned up for a laugh for the next 3 years. Pepe is as bad a signing as there has been in the Premier League, 72 million pound he cost & he only shows up against minnows on Thursdays.

theoneeyedman

ERG89 wrote: »

You can change Arteta but the bounce and fall will happen with the next manager too. There are plenty of players there who failed under previous managers.
Very odd transfer deals there too. Saliba hasn't even played for them after they paid 30m for him. Mari & Cedric were signed despite proving nothing after they joined. Luiz should have been given the door instead he got a new contract. Willian has turned up for a laugh for the next 3 years. Pepe is as bad a signing as there has been in the Premier League, 72 million pound he cost & he only shows up against minnows on Thursdays.

Kia Joorabchian.

I'd have always had questions about money being siphoned off in a lot of big transfer deals in the EPL, and a recent article in ghe Guardian seemed to back this up, with added claims about money laundering thrown in.

The moves you question above were all brokered by the so called Super Agent, and one wonders what the actual benefit of any of these deals was, certainly not making Arsenal's first team stronger anyway.
Case of the tail wagging the dog? With Kroenke already using the club to top up his American operations, Arsenal are a mess off the field it seems, and while I'd have no great feelings for Arteta either way, the mess on the field is only a reflection of how they are operating in and around the boardroom.

TitianGerm

Five points from the last 30 available for Arsenal. On course for 38 points this season if they keep going the way they are.

ShamoBuc

TitianGerm wrote: »

Five points from the last 30 available for Arsenal. On course for 38 points this season if they keep going the way they are.

Unreal. And as soon as Aubameyeng signed a contract, he's been literally non existent. Injured today, but his form seemed pretty good, until the contract was signed, nosed dived like Arsenals performances since.

Too big to go down?
Sheffield Utd look like going down with a record low points total.
So that's probably 2 from Arsenal, Fulham, Burnley, Brighton and West Brom.

Arsenal should survive but really should never be in the position.

SlickRic

VAR really is a broken system.

That's a dive.

Agent Coulson

Seriously what's the point of VAR it just cost Fulham 3 points for not calling a blatant dive!

TitianGerm

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Seriously what's the point of VAR it just cost Fulham 3 points for not calling a blatant dive!

Was the Fulham player sent off as well?

Agent Coulson

TitianGerm wrote: »

Was the Fulham player sent off as well?

Yes

ERG89

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Seriously what's the point of VAR it just cost Fulham 3 points for not calling a blatant dive!

Well it was 2 points. Newcastle played 10 men for 30 minutes and did f**k all.

Ikozma

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Is it to early to say Fabhino is in with a shout of being in team of the season as a CB,
Haven't t seen many better this season

Id neerly go so far as to say he's better then virgil

ShamoBuc

Ikozma wrote: »

Id neerly go so far as to say he's better then virgil

The fact that he can be said to be anywhere near Virgil is testament to how well he is doing.
It must be added that he has played with so many different partners but still plays brilliantly.
He looks so comfortable when playing.

Shanotheslayer

ShamoBuc wrote: »

The fact that he can be said to be anywhere near Virgil is testament to how well he is doing.
It must be added that he has played with so many different partners but still plays brilliantly.
He looks so comfortable when playing.

To be fair Shamo. Only 1 person has said this and it's a Liverpool fan. He's not even close to Virgil.

Albeit he's been an excellent stand in

Agent Coulson

Even Mr Newcastle Shearer say it was a dive.

ShamoBuc

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

To be fair Shamo. Only 1 person has said this and it's a Liverpool fan. He's not even close to Virgil.

Albeit he's been an excellent stand in

I think he's been an excellent stand in also. He's not supposed to be as good as Virgil though, he's a CM who is excelling at CB.
Currently, how many CB's are playing better than him? He's not perfect of course, but he shows a coolness and has a real nack of sticking the foot in just at the right time.

He is central to why Liverpool are top of the league at Christmas, despite a shocking injury hit start to the season.

I'm biased though as he is one of my favourites in an awesome squad.

Shanotheslayer

ShamoBuc wrote: »

he's a CM who is excelling at CB.

I think this is a bit of a cop out answer. It's been quite public that he can play CB as cover, he knows how to play there. I don't think the fact he can play CM means he should get any bonus points.

Currently, how many CB's are playing better than him?

I'm not sure about better but Zouma and Vesteergaard(Probably spelt wrong) have been very good this season also. But aside from those 3 nobody is a real stand out.

Konsa/Mings/Keane I've noticed to be quite good but when teams are conceding left right and centre it's hard for many stand outs :pac:

eigrod

Red card for Lundstrom following VAR review by ref, overturning his original yellow. Right decision.

Fitz*

Thought it was a very strong yellow myself. I wouldn't have given a red card. Genuine attempt at winning the ball, and did win the ball first but followed through and caught the man.

RasTa

Never a red.

rob316

Worth mentioning too that Van Dijk had Fabinho playing in front of him, breaking up play. While Henderson is brilliant in the no.6 he's not as good as Fab. When Matip is fit he's probably one of the best in the league so Liverpool don't suffer much defensively.

Where Liverpool miss van dijk is the aerial presence and threat he carries. His long range passing from the back is excellent too.
Then the knock on effect is we miss fabinho from midfield and is a large reason why our away form hasn't been great. He is the best in the league at breaking up play.

eigrod

Fitz* wrote: »

Thought it was a very strong yellow myself. I wouldn't have given a red card. Genuine attempt at winning the ball, and did win the ball first but followed through and caught the man.

I’d say it was the “excessive force” interpretation that did it

callaway92

eigrod wrote: »

Red card for Lundstrom following VAR review by ref, overturning his original yellow. Right decision.

RasTa wrote: »

Never a red.

*Why reffing is a thankless job

rob316

Have Sheffield just accepted relegation? Go back down Wilder and hope he can bring them back up?

eigrod

Burke clearly offside in build up to that Sheff Utd goal. VAR fails again.

Bridge93

Maybe that’s the luck Sheffield United need to get going. They’ve had enough go against them this year.

Agent Coulson

Arsenal will be happy with this result if it stays like this.

Potential Underachiever

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Arsenal will be happy with this result if it stays like this.

I'd say Arsenal fans couldn't give a flying f00k about the result tbh. All the Arsenal relegation talk on here lately is surely nothing but a wind up, they will be nowhere near being relegated, I think that's quite obvious.

cj maxx

I had a quick peek into the arsenal thread. They seem to think by giving Arteta time he'll improve. That ain't happening imo. The improvement that is.

ERG89

Chris Wilder seeing that win flash before his eyes. To be fair Brighton should be beating Sheffield United whether its 10 man Sheffield or 11.

cj maxx

Potential Underachiever wrote: »

I'd say Arsenal fans couldn't give a flying f00k about the result tbh. All the Arsenal relegation talk on here lately is surely nothing but a wind up, they will be nowhere near being relegated, I think that's quite obvious.

I don't think arsenal will go down, but I'm sure Leeds and Newcastle both thought they'd survive and were too big to go down. This arsenal team don't have the fight to get out of a relegation battle

Slattsy

Maddison does go down rather easily.

Agent Coulson

Rodgers always bottles it against Jose I can't see this being any different to be honest.

I'd love to see Jose lose though.