EPL 2023/2024
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On Sunday morning I sat through the second half of Man U v Fulham and then all of Bournemouth v City. United really are poor for a side with top 4 aspirations, no idea what their patterns of play are and so easy to open up. Only after Fulham took the lead did United start to play and press Fulham's goal. Soft keeper error to allow an equaliser and with United going all out for the win, Traore beats the useless Maguire on half-way and Iwobi with a nice finish. Fulham look very much like a mid-table team, too many weaknesses to push higher but much too strong to be in relegation danger.
Bournemouth tried to press man for man v City which was brave but too risky against a team like City and they were lucky not to concede more in the first half. Second half, Bournemouth played really well and were unlucky not to get a point. More compact but not sitting too deep and any turnovers and they released their wide men (Semenyo looked good) but too often the final cross/pass wasn't good enough. A bit like Fulham, destined to be mid-table and safe this season and with the style they play (and the purchases they are making), they could be much better next season and look to "do a Brighton".
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Thought arsenal looked even better with jorghino back. It’s a decent 3-horse race.
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@KiwiPie can’t wait to get home, been travelling for a while, but it has allowed me to watch the games live.
Second half from Bournemouth was one of the best halves of football from the cherries for a while. I thought we were unlucky not to find a point or more. At least we should be able to take confidence from that after a month of disappointing results. Semenyo and kerkez were my highlights, but also thought we could have gone to the bench a bit earlier as well.
Then watched Arsenal take apart Newcastle. Newcastle have some serious defensive issues right now. Can’t see them finishing much higher than mid table either and given their investment must be a failure as well
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Sooner Klopp fucks off the better.
God I'm sick of him. Yesterdays cup final was an awesome match, Chelsea absolute blew it in regular time missing at least 3 chances which they should have taken.
Come extra time though, Klopp showed faith in the young players and got them over the line. Can't say they didn't deserve it.
Neville's comments very very cutting.
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@Bovidae said in EPL 2023/2024:
Everton gain 4 pts after their appeal, so jump from 17th to 15th.
There is still their potential penalty for the second breach (although will that be next season) and the same for Forest. They should have the appeal decisions announced during the final round of fixtures to increase the drama.
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Rashford scored a peach of a goal. Then spent the rest of the match being absolute pants.
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@Billy-Tell said in EPL 2023/2024:
Rashford scored a peach of a goal. Then spent the rest of the match being absolute pants.
He was - he and Garnacho were very poor at actually holding the ball to get the team up the pitch. Thought Bruno was good but after the goal and a couple of other potential breaks, they hardly had a sniff. And the complaint about a Walker foul before the City goal would have been more valid had Rashford not fallen over with very light contact on his arm.
That was Foden's game, consistently the most dangerous player and 2 very good goals. He's what Rashford should be, works his socks off the whole game. Haaland did miss the most open of open goals in the first half - that was truly awful.
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@KiwiPie said in EPL 2023/2024:
@Billy-Tell said in EPL 2023/2024:
Rashford scored a peach of a goal. Then spent the rest of the match being absolute pants.
He was - he and Garnacho were very poor at actually holding the ball to get the team up the pitch. Thought Bruno was good but after the goal and a couple of other potential breaks, they hardly had a sniff. And the complaint about a Walker foul before the City goal would have been more valid had Rashford not fallen over with very light contact on his arm.
That was Foden's game, consistently the most dangerous player and 2 very good goals. He's what Rashford should be, works his socks off the whole game. Haaland did miss the most open of open goals in the first half - that was truly awful.
Yeah awful. Sure Walker put a hand on but he needed to keep going for goal, not dive.
England really should go far in euros but Gareth Southgate strikes me as the Ian foster of soccer coaches. They have some great talent on offer such as Foden.
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I don't think Southgate is brave enough to pick
Pickford
2 full backs, a fast central defender and Stones with Stones moving forward on attack.
Rice
Foden & Bellingham
Saka, Kane and someone on the left (nobody is claiming that spot at the moment).Foden is wasted playing on the left, much more dangerous when he can roam infield.
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@KiwiPie Sadly I agree. Southgate has done a great job treating the England squad like a club side and getting a real spirit going. The downside is a reluctance to change the squad or the tactics.
Jordan Henderson's leadership and Maguire's reliability will be cited when he picks them to face Serbia.
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once again, not EPL but have to post this, Wimbledon beat MK Franchise in the 94th minute, every win we get just proves they shouldn't exist, look at those scenes!
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@Kiwiwomble I don't get the point. Yes the owners back in the 90's shafted you but that gives you a rivalry and a new club.
Most Dons fans wouldn't have been born back then I'm guessing.
Great that fans and players have cause to celebrate. Savour it.
Rivalries are what makes football special and they change and evolve over time. When I started following Fulham Hounslow Town didn't even feature. Now I know for younger fans, they are the club they least want to lose to.
For me it's always the mob up the road who only exist because we wouldn't move to a swampy cabbage patch.
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@dogmeat its because their main argument at the time (that the FA bought into) was that it was effectively impossible in modern football to actually work your way up the leagues and MK "deserved" a professional football team...at "fact" we have disproven by not only making it back to the football league within 9 years but also overtaking MK (in previous seasons)
we have rivalries with teams like crawley and even Luton as we were fighting with them for promotion through different leagues or Palace because they are local and we shared a ground for so long.....this is a grudge
we didnt get given a new club, we made it starting with open trials in the local park
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@Kiwiwomble said in EPL 2023/2024:
we didnt get given a new club, we made it starting with open trials in the local park
and good on you, but I have to wonder if it would have worked without the impetus of the grudge.
Either way one of the best football stories of the last 30 years.
I just think some of the grudge is a bit pathetic (like the underarm thing here). Like not putting their name up on your scoreboard etc.
You seem to be blaming MK but surely the impetus and blame lies with the Wimbledon ownership of the time. Yes MK wanted a football club but first Ron Noades and then the guy that ultimately did the deal were all in favour. Thye'd have moved anywhere Dublin or Belfast.
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@dogmeat people dislike the MK fans because they mostly seem to love being hated, they love chanting that they took someone else's spot in the league, that they stole a club, of course the owners at the time are largely to blame, more importantly for getting us into a situation where moving had to be considered but almost everyone is long gone and so all that left is a toxic tiny group of fans that love being hated
we didn;t put the "dons" up on the scoreboard once back in like 2012, and accordingly got fined, it is one of the contentious points as it seems a deliberate piss take seeing as the club has officially given up all rights to the Wimbledon History
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City United was surely the most embarrassing game for United in many a year.
Rashford scored an absolute screamer, then complete duffed two brilliant opportunities that could have changed things. Then Haaland missed one that would be infinitely easier to score, then miss.
But the United game plan seemed to be allow City to attack them wave after wave after wave. I said to my son at half time it would be 4-1 to City. It was utterly absurd.
I'm fully on the ETH out bandwagon.
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@MajorRage Yeah, they way he's go them set up is like a team fighting for relegation/mid table championship. They sit so deep, almost on the 6 yard box, they're slow and old, they don't know how to play in posession, and rely heavily on playing on the break with the simple long ball over the top.
The concerning thing about Ten Hag is how he has the team playing. Look at Tottenham, Brighton and Bournemouth. Yes they're 5th, 9th and 12th, but the way they play in posession is a joy to watch.
Man U just sit 10 men behind the ball and hope for the best (which hs worked well for them as they somehow sit 6th when 14th would be a fairer reflection on how they play).
