SEE YOU! A brand spanking new modern fitba thread 2021/22

For fuxake

 

I visited stoke a couple of times for childhood trips to alton towers.....reminds me of the talking heads lyric - 'people head up north, they come back down south: still got no idea where in the hell they are!'. The 'town centre' (?) is basically an industrial estate bisected by an uncrossable railway line. Has to be the grimmest place ive ever been......ignoring cumbernauld which isnt so much a place as a bad idea, unrealised.

 

Big Tam's twinkle toes

 

Let's not mention Stoke. Bastards beat us yesterday. We could have gone 5 points behind second place with a win. Austin missed a pen. Defense was shocking though. Need to improve if we want to stay in the playoffs spots.

 

I managed to catch most the game in the pub, seemed like one of those ones thats basically entirely decided by finishing. Their first was a cracker

 

Yeah. We had our chances too but it just didn't go in for us. Both of the goals we conceded could have been avoided. Ball was given away for the first and our defenders stood back like lemons to allow the Stoke player to effortlessly bring the ball forward and place the ball in the corner. No pressure on him whatsoever.

 

Austin is in patchy form this season. Missed his last two penalties too. Annoyed with that result as we had such good momentum going into the game and this is exactly the point in the season where you need to start putting your foot on the gas.

 

That's brutal hard luck on Everton.

Two goals that really should have counted ruled out.

 

Well deserved that for Everton. Absolutely bossed that all night. Arsenal now blown 2 leads on the road to lose late. That was an actual "Dogs of War" performance in difficult circumstances. Everton had the ball in the net 4 times.

 

Average position each sellik player recieved the ball sunday - pretty neat 2-3-4-1, which isnt a formation you ever see referred to. I wonder what the positions were away in leverkuson, say....id actually expect they were pretty much identical, albeit less territorially dominant.

 

Kind of funny to see. Last play of the game everybody get forward type of situation. I didn't watch much football in that era but if my memory is correct that sort of thing was pretty common even if it was 0-0 with only five minutes elapsed.

Is it rule changes or tactics that are more responsible for not seeing those sort of punts today?

 

Definitely tactics,. Much more premium put on possession and on defenders being good with the ball.

You wonder if it might not still be a viable tactic technically inferior teams tho? Just get a couple of tall strikers and add a big dolop of randomness into things

That was always my criticism of Rodgers at celtic- we were SO methodical playing out from the back every time and that works great to control the game & nullify teams when youve got superior players but against good european teams they just pressed high, got us mired in our own half then won enough duels on counter presses to punish us. In his first season before the player-revolt we actually looked much better in europe (again) with lennons more direct, mince and potatoes approach...albeit goalies 'just booting it' was still relatively rare!

 

IF YOU KNOW THE HISTORY

 

Yeah i was just wondering if there was a rule change i had forgotten about that contributed. You still see keepers knocking it down the field but only when it's spotted. Pretty rare to see the American football style punt.

 

Greatest long kick in football..

 

Barcelona going into the Thursday Cup

 

Could legit see West Ham beating them if they get drawn against each other. Leicester possibly too, but with them it depends what mood they're in.

Nice to see my boy Taarabt getting into the Champions League knockouts, as it stands. He's not the player he could have been but he always had the talent to play at this level.

 

Man United being handled by Young Boys right now.

Italian football is a mess. An absolute mixum gatherum beat AC MILAN 2-1 last night.

 

It would be hilarious to see Rodgers absolutely shiting on about beating Barcelona. He'd never stop. Moyas would be far more constrained about it..

 

Man United young boys are rubbish. Young Boys are even worse.

 

How many subs are allowed these days? Is it still 5?

YB are fucking awful. Awful side.

 

Wan Bisaaka crosses the ball, slides off the pitch, smashes into hoarding.

Keeper catches the ball.

Whistle goes.

Crowd walk off. Players walk off.

Bisaaka still on the ground on his own smashed to bits.

 

Yeah that one I think we all saw a mile away.

Bayern did what they had to do.

 

Horrible night. Empty stadium, what the Germans call "GeistSpiel" or"Ghost§Games". Very eerie macabre feel to it, watching Barcelona just crash out like they were some totally insignificant team. Which, in a way, they might be, for now at least.

Atletico got through last night.

Milan are awful. Italian football, generally, is poor.

 

Like I said everybody just fucked off and left him. He was there ages before anyone got to him.

 

Yeah just because they're called Barcelona nobody should be surprised. They have no Messi or Griezmann, and lost Aguero due to health issues. They're 7th domestically and have only scored two goals in the CL group stages. On their second manager of the season too.