General Premier League Thread 2023-24 Mod Note in op 27/6/23 And 21/05/24

I actually think they did a pretty good job for the first goal.

On field decision was goal, it was checked, there was no available conclusive footage to say it was out, so the on field decision stands. I wish every process could work as well.

I don’t see how you can imply that picture is conclusive evidence the ball was out. His thigh could be obstructing the view of the ball being (just) in. Any part of it only needs to be above any part of the line.

Van de Ven's injury has killed Angeball defending.

Yeah, not sure how anyone could moan about VAR in this instance. Without VAR, this is a goal. With VAR, there is no clear evidence showing the ball is out, so VAR can’t change the onfield decision.

This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen anyone post on this forum. Thousands of people put very similar cabling all around their gardens when they install robot mowers. Costs a couple of hundred quid per garden maximum. Even multiply that by ten to allow for a full pitch and it's just a couple of grand, and you think a premier league team can't afford this.

Laughable

TV payments are about a hundred million a season alone for a PL team.....whinging about 250k and 4k per game certainly is a silly idea.

There's obviously a degree of salty Gunner in my position, but complaining that a one off fee and potentially a few grand a game is cost prohibitive is pretty stupid.

Teams like Luton who come up maybe once every two decades.....and have to spend money getting their stadia up to PL standards already..... we're talking about a drop in the ocean here. It really isn't the complaint you think it is. Between the massive increase in TV money and parachute payments if they don't stay up, no team is going to go broke because they spent an extra million or two getting up to standard. The huge increase in income from getting to the PL more than counteracts any upgrade costs multiple times over.

Once you lads have the field entirely ringed and the ball microchipped, what is next?

Microchips on every arm so that natural position can always be determined to the millimetre?

Sensors in the jersey that react to a defender grabbing a handful at a corner?

Or should we skip all that and just jump straight to 100% E-sports?

Nah this is the future

I wouldn't be a huge fan of Moyes, but he's doing a good enough job there. Hell vet a team to that level given backing, towards 5th/6th/7th/8th in the league. He'll do ok against the big sides, because he can sit in a low block and keep it scoreless, maybe snatch a goal. The issues come when the opposition do the same.

His, and West Ham's questionable is, how ambitious do they want to be? West Ham are no longer a small club - with the new (cheap) stadium and the hinterland they are taking in of most of East London as well as the affluent Essex etc, is finishing 7th or 8th success any more, or is it par for the course? In terms of attendance and wages, where are they in the league table? (genuine question, I don't k ow). Are the fans happy to stay at that level, bloodying the big lads noses now and then but reverting to the mean as the season progresses? They did try to upgrade a few years ago, but went back to the safety of Moyes again. They are at a bit of a crossroads, do they stick where they are or twist to try to make the real big time.

On last night, their defending was excellent, really disciplined. As others have said, Arsenal were playing for penalties and diving at every opportunity, but the Hammers stood on their feet and didn't dive into tackles to give the ref a chance to award an easy spot kick.

Looking at city's fixtures they've probably started their winning streak the other day, their next 5 fixtures are all on paper, handy enough wins, only tricky fixture is Newcastle who are in bad form, Sheffield, Newcastle, Burnley, Brentford, Everton their next 5 on the league. Then around mid February they play Chelsea, Bournemouth and United in between their champions league games V Copenhagen.

I think City will click in the 2nd half of the season baring big injuries etc.. We have seen this last season (and before) with City where they had a minor (sometimes very minor) wobble before going on a massive run. There's nothing to suggest this year will be any different.

They have been playing without De Bruyne for a long time now and his service into Haaland is missed. With them back in and if they stay fit you can see City putting up 10/11/12 wins on the bounce.

Liverpool while top at the moment, actually don't look like they have enough in the tank to me. Their business in the summer was good I thought but the team just doesn't look like it is fully there yet. The attack looks disjointed at times. The midfield is unbalanced and as a result, the defence can be got at, especially with the injuries. They do however still have 3 absolute world-class players in Allison, VVD and Salah.

Arsenal never kicked on - they just don't look like they can put up the fight they put up last season. If they had that run this season they'd win it. Partey is a big miss. If they can get him back on the pitch in the 2nd half of the season then who knows.

The title race will be decided by City - if they hit form I don't think the rest will be able to keep pace, it won't really matter what the rest do. If they don't then the door opens up for both Pool and Arsenal. Liverpool have the experience, the players who have been there. Arsenal should have the hunger but don't have Allison, VVD or Salah level players.

And Trent…

Ah... Yeah.

The same questions remain about Trent to be honest. His on the ball ability is unquestionable but there's no denying he's below par defensively for a player operating from a defensive position.

Seen him floating more around midfield when in possession. That suits him a lot better and he'll benefit the most when a better quality Defensively minded midfielder is added.

This conversation has been done to death though. Do you move him to midfield to better protect etc..

Wouldn't argue too much with calling him world class if you want

Even Artera has said it is what it is and it’s time to move on.

Seems fans who don’t support Arsenal are just using it as an excuse to call Arsenal fans pissy over something most have moved on from.

Not sure where to put this but it looks like Spurs could be in for Gallagher. If true its mad that Chelsea would sell one of their most consistent players but I suppose that's Todd for you

Doing their bestest to

Great 2nd goal for Burnley - who'd have thought when they're down to 10 men.

Some dive that

Gary Neville is such a pain when on co-commentary on Man Utd games. I can tolerate bias and excitement or disappointment at what’s going on, but he spends almost the entire game analysing it from their perspective only. Nada, nothing on Nottingham Forest so far from him. I wouldn’t be surprised if doesn’t know half the Forest players because he simply says nothing about them.

This Forest v United game is the worst match I've seen during the festive period.

This is a very dramatic summary of what happened, but there’s definitely an alternative universe where that pen isn’t given, and there isn’t that much outrage about it. But he does take the obvious bait and clumsily kick him, so VAR is (correctly) never overturning it