The Ongoing Serie A, La Liga, All English Football, Champions League Thread - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 55

[BlackFox]

Great win for Leeds 1-0 away at Everton, much needed 3 points and good display from them.

 

[Iceman]

Yeah Leeds had fallen to just above the relegation teams so I’m glad to see them pick up a win. Sheff Utd unfortunately lost again, and to lowly West Brom. Looks like Utd are in teal trouble this year, still with only a point.

 

[Zantera]

2-0 Saints at half time and I'd say it's not unfair by any means. We had some good chances and in another game we could have been up 2-0 but Greenwood missed 2 sitters and Saints look solid.

 

[Iceman]

Utd get 1 back. I did think they might struggle against the Saints today.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Cavani, even at his age, is way too good for us. He won the match for us today, showing a display of class we don't really have. Not even Bruno has that.

 

[Iceman]

That 3 points was all about Cavani. He’s still got it.

 

[Zantera]

Sad thing is I can't even feel happy about the win. Wins like this is what keeps us afloat in mediocrity land instead of drifting down into reality check land where we might do something that could benefit us long term. The Glazers aren't going anywhere and neither is Woodward but someone like Pochettino is available but nothing will happen after results like this one.

 

[B]

Cavani, even at his age, is way too good for us. He won the match for us today, showing a display of class we don't really have. Not even Bruno has that.

Safe to say the reservations I did have about him prior to joining were wrong. Even in his brief appearances before today, I think I did actually mention it in here to you or @Iceman, you could tell he is/was a world class goalscorer purely from his movement(s) on & off the ball & he would more than likely bail us out of a few holes this season.

I think he's definitely shown he's a lot closer to, in terms of usefulness, Ibrahimovic than Falcao. The latter being which I think most United fans including myself thought we'd get from him.

Overall we didn't play particularly well today, however I did think going in at half-time being 2 goals behind was quite harsh as we did have a couple of decent chances.

 

[Iceman]

Neither Spurs nor Chelsea able to take advantage at the top after a goalless draw.

 

[Iceman]

Safe to say the reservations I did have about him prior to joining were wrong. Even in his brief appearances before today, I think I did actually mention it in here to you or @Iceman, you could tell he is/was a world class goalscorer purely from his movement(s) on & off the ball & he would more than likely bail us out of a few holes this season.

I think he's definitely shown he's a lot closer to, in terms of usefulness, Ibrahimovic than Falcao. The latter being which I think most United fans including myself thought we'd get from him.

Overall we didn't play particularly well today, however I did think going in at half-time being 2 goals behind was quite harsh as we did have a couple of decent chances.

Yeah, I remember you saying. It’s natural to have doubts about players coming to the PL past their peak years as we’ve seen many come here for a payday and not taking it quite as seriously as they took playing for their core clubs in their prime, or just having lost a yard of pace/agility and not being the same player. But this is very promising early on from Cavani. These are crucial match winning goals and hopefully he can continue like this.

 

[BlackFox]

Cavani even at his age is showing what are younger players lack today, that high level quality and understanding of your position and roll in the team. Its a tough one as he probably cant start every game for us and what an impact player off the bench but you kind of wish we had got hold of him 5/6 years ago as he really proved he has the quality for this league in the last few games not just this one.

It gives Ole something to ponder for upcoming games at least and got him out of jail today when he looked in a bit of a mess but Cavani and Bruno showed they are the best we have at the moment to win us a game when things arent going so well. Our defense, and keeper, are still a bit of mess though and will always hold us back you feel at least for this season. Still the 3 points keeps us interested at the right end of the table as many above us dropped points and we have a game in hand on a few of them as well, win that and we might find ourselves in the top 4 all of a sudden, just goes to show how unpredictable this season has been thus far.

I guess Spurs will be slightly happier of the two sides with an away point, they could have made a statement getting all 3 but it keeps them top and you feel Jose will be happy with that for now. Its tough to really say if Spurs and Chelsea are really in a title race or if we are just waiting for Liverpool to go through the gears and brake away, still makes it more fun this way, mind you its taken an awful lot of injuries just to bring Liverpool back a little to the rest, get some key men back and they might charge off again.

 

[Zantera]

I was also worried Cavani would be more of a Falcao than Ibrahimovic but what I really like is that he has that old school 'fear factor' that world class strikers have. I think Greenwood has potential, Rashford for me is still too inconsistent and Martial maybe even more so. When these 3 have a great game our attack looks good but I never go into the big games and feel like one of them will be that key player to win it for us. Cavani has that, and it's only a shame he's 34 and not 24.

As someone who was a huge RVN fan growing up it's nice to have that type of striker in the team. I just don't see Rashford or Martial ever being a Kane/Aguero level striker with 25-30 goals a season and I think a top team needs a player like that because when all 3 up front are 'good on their day but kinda invisible some games' it's not too hard to put up a solid defense against our attack. I just hope Cavani gets to start some games because he offers something that the others don't.

 

[Iceman]

Arsenal losing 2-1 to Wolves at home. They were 14th in the table before this so things still challenging for them.

 

[Zantera]

Arsenal look bang average sadly. They used to be great to watch even if they lost but now they play badly and lose. Even under the last days of Wenger you could count on Arsenal creating 10-15 chances bombarding the other team even if they ended up losing 1-2 at home to Wigan.

 

[BlackFox]

Arsenal really are in a dire spot at the moment, they beat us rather easily but thats not saying a lot these days and they really seem to come unstuck against teams that are full of energy like the Villa's and Wolves and dont let them settle into their rythm. Arteta is a lot like Ole in that the bigger teams offer a better chance of success sometimes rather than being able to break a side down. Really dont know what has happened to Aubameyang, he was the best striker in the league 6 months ago now can barely get a chance, although iits probably the supply lines which are struggling at the moment to find him and let him do his thing.

Cavani now facing a ban after moronic social media posts, no defending the indefensible though, deserves what he gets, lessons need to be learned and after all his hard work yesterday but just when we think we have found a solution to a problem its all set back and rethinking needed. Going to hinder our progress no doubt.

 

[Zantera]

Arteta & Ole being handed 2 of the biggest clubs in the world with no merit and then being backed by fans saying "if they got the same money City spent under Pep they would do well" is just such a baffling reality to me. You got other managers grinding out their experience doing a good job at smaller clubs not even being looked at, yet these former players are treated like saviors.

It just feels weird to me I guess.

 

[Iceman]

In a bit of a surprise Fulham are 2-0 up away to Leicester. Valuable points for them if they can finish the job.

 

[Iceman]

Leicester get 1 back but Fulham hold out for the 3 points. 2-1 final score.

 

[Iceman]

Ogbonna Puts West Ham 1-0 up against Villa.

 

[B]

Arteta & Ole being handed 2 of the biggest clubs in the world with no merit and then being backed by fans saying "if they got the same money City spent under Pep they would do well" is just such a baffling reality to me. You got other managers grinding out their experience doing a good job at smaller clubs not even being looked at, yet these former players are treated like saviors.

It just feels weird to me I guess.

Barcelona & Real Madrid have been doing the same sort of thing on & off for years occasionally appointing lesser known managers & former players with varying results. Guardiola himself is a product of the type of appointment Solskjaer & Arteta have been.

In his first venture into management he was appointed the Barcelona B team manager & won the league in his 1st & only season in charge, sounds impressive right? Not really, it was the 3rd or 4th tier of Spanish football, so effectively you're talking League Two/Vanarama National/U23 Premier League equivalent & it's largely filled with semi-professional teams while Barcelona B I believe are completely or at least mostly professional with obviously access to top notch youth prospects. He was given the reigns of the Barcelona 1st team with 1 year of managerial experience.

At least Solskjaer had 3-4 years of experience as the U23 Manchester United manager winning a few leagues, then a further 6-7 years managing in Norway which is in & around Championship or maybe low Premiership sort of level again winning 3 or 4 league titles. I believe his Molde side dusted Celtic a few times in Europe so that should tell you that the league is of a decent enough standard.

Arteta on the other hand has gone into the Arsenal job completely cold with no prior experience at all, even Lampard had 1 season with Derby before Roman handed him the keys & a bunch of new toys.

 

[Iceman]

Villa get 1 back through Grealish before Bowen gets the winner for West Ham. 2-1 final score and West Ham are now up to 5th!

 

[Iceman]

FA Cup third-round: Non-league Marine land Tottenham - BBC Sport

 

[Iceman]

The reasons why football is set for major change

 

[Iceman]

Sounds like a serious virus issue going on at the Toon.

https://www.themag.co.uk/2020/11/ne...until-further-tests-ensure-safety-sky-sports/

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Real Madrid, now third in their group after losing to Shakhtar today!