Premier League 22-23

[simongarnerisgod]

notts forest signing everybody and anybody does not appear to be working🤣

[roverandout]

Forest are woeful at the back. Signing 35 players was never going to work. 

[chaddyrovers]

Brighton supposedly close to appoint De Zerbi as their next head coach

Talks between De Zerbi and Brighton moving forward positively - Football Italia (football-italia.net)

[jim mk2]

1 hour ago, simongarnerisgod said:

notts forest signing everybody and anybody does not appear to be working🤣

Nottingham Forest

Cooper certainly cannot complain he hasn’t been given the backing of the owners. It’s up to him now to mould a team capable of staying in the Premier  League. Cooper said tonight it’s a ruthless league and he’s finding out the hard way

[AllRoverAsia]

Looks like little Boscombe will soon become a US overseas asset.

[davulsukur]

Leicester soundly beaten by Spurs. 7 games in, 0 wind, bottom of the league. How long will they stick with Rodgers, must be on thin ice at least.

How long will Forest give Cooper as well? Signed an astonishing amount of players and that will take some time settle down but time isn't a luxury they have. Presumably they need to survive, as they must have spent a fair bit and handed out some healthy contracts to these players. 

Already lost to both Fulham and Bournemouth at home as well.

Early days for both yet but owners might start getting itchy trigger fingers if results don't pick up sharpish. 

[chaddyrovers]

Fulham looked very impressive and that goal by Joao Palhinha was great strike by him. Marco Silva has them playing really well and causing problems for all teams. 

Forest under Cooper is a work in progress, and I see reports this weekend that Forest wants to give him a new contract there. 

I enjoyed watching Son's goals yesterday and how he played after being dropped. The scoreline was harsh on Leicester overall but I don't see Leicester getting a better manager than Rodgers to be honest unless they convince Pochettino to take over I would keep Rodgers in charge. 

[roverandout]

Arsenal have named a 15 year old on the bench.  If he plays he could be England's youngest ever debutant.  

[chaddyrovers]

Arsenal have been very impressive today at Brentford. Haven't allow Toney to get into the game at all

[Atko's Engine]

I like the look of Arsenal this season. They won't win it, but a top 4 finish should be there for their taking.

[joey_big_nose]

If Man City weren't the Harlem Globetrotters you'd fancy Arsenal for the title.

The prems always struggled with the biggest spenders dominating too much, but City at the moment take the piss. There's little fun in the total dominance of teams with outrageous amounts of cash.

[chaddyrovers]

Brighton have appointed their new manager in De Zebri 

Brighton & Hove Albion (brightonandhovealbion.com)

3 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

If Man City weren't the Harlem Globetrotters you'd fancy Arsenal for the title.

The prems always struggled with the biggest spenders dominating too much, but City at the moment take the piss. There's little fun in the total dominance of teams with outrageous amounts of cash.

Manchester City have built a club there and a very impressive group of football clubs around the world. 

Arsenal and Spurs will challenge Man City for the title this season now. Liverpool is struggling at the minute 

[SuperBrfc]

On the topic of City and Arsenal, I have a couple of questions for the forum:

Is this City team under Pep more entertaining to watch than the Arsenal 'Invincibles' team under Wenger? If you had the choice, who would you rather watch between the two?

For me, it's the old Arsenal side all day long. City have the cash and can, in theory, buy whoever they want. They have played some excellent football under Pep and still do, but that Arsenal team from around 2002-04 was something else, IMO.

I don't ever remember watching Arsenal back then and finding their football boring. I looked forward to watching them whenever they were on. They were swashbuckling in style, superb on the eye and ruthless. I look at the City team today and for all their money, don't find it that exciting player wise. Of course, KDB, Haaland, Foden etc are top class.

However, for me, Pires, Ljungberg, Vieira, Bergkamp and the main man, Henry, were far more entertaining to watch. The way they used to cut through teams with Bergkamp usually at the heart of it was a joy to watch as a neutral. Admittedly, it was also a joy due to my ABU-ness. (Anybody but United). Even more joyful is the fact that our Rovers did the double over that Arsenal side in '02/03, which is no small feat looking back!

Back to today...if it is a two horse race between City and Arsenal this season, I really hope Arsenal can win it and end 18 or 19 years of frustration.

[Upside Down]

I don't think football in general is anywhere near as exciting as it was back then. 

There was a much more level playing field which made the invincibles season even more of an achievement. 

[J*B]

The current City side would muller the Arsenal invisible team. Working in Manchester I often take clients to City and United games, City break teams down physically like I’ve never seen before. It’s torment, pressure and ultimately torture and the scary bit is and they all enjoy it. Pep especially seems to prefer scoring their goals after 60 minutes because the other team are exhausted. They look different on TV but when you watch them live when they have possession they’re all collectively moving forwards at all times, it must feel like the walls are coming in to crush you when you’re defending against that. 

They’ve been desperate for a striker since Aguero and Haaland is a genetical phenom, he’s tall, strong, quick, skilful and angry. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he scored 50 goals this year. 

[SuperBrfc]

On 19/09/2022 at 00:33, J*B said:

The current City side would muller the Arsenal invisible team. Working in Manchester I often take clients to City and United games, City break teams down physically like I’ve never seen before. It’s torment, pressure and ultimately torture and the scary bit is and they all enjoy it. Pep especially seems to prefer scoring their goals after 60 minutes because the other team are exhausted. They look different on TV but when you watch them live when they have possession they’re all collectively moving forwards at all times, it must feel like the walls are coming in to crush you when you’re defending against that. 

They’ve been desperate for a striker since Aguero and Haaland is a genetical phenom, he’s tall, strong, quick, skilful and angry. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he scored 50 goals this year. 

That's a fair shout, as you will be able to appreciate what they do more by seeing it live for yourself. I've only ever seen them on the telly and they do come across as relentless.

I'm still rooting for the invincibles though, (as if this match is happening) maybe nostalgia is playing a part. It would have been a heck of a game to see though. Oh and yes, agree on Haaland, that guy is frighteningly good.

As it's Premier League nostalgia and we're on the subject, I'll post a few of my favourite Arsenal goals from back then, just for how good they were, IMO.

 

 

 

 

[Upside Down]

That pirez goal was absolutely first rate.

[roverandout]

Football in the 90s was far more real. You had players like ronaldo Zidane shearer Baggio Bergkamp rivaldo.  Nowadays you only need one good game and you are  a legend 

[riverholmes]

On 18/09/2022 at 18:10, joey_big_nose said:

If Man City weren't the Harlem Globetrotters you'd fancy Arsenal for the title.

The prems always struggled with the biggest spenders dominating too much, but City at the moment take the piss. There's little fun in the total dominance of teams with outrageous amounts of cash.

The grotesque money in the league has always been a problem but I have a feeling things might get more toxic, in some ways, as the billionaires and venture capitalists slug it out. Todd Boehly, the new Chelsea owner has been talking recently about relegation play offs and All Star games to raise revenue and reach of the league, albeit, with some talk about using some extra income for redistribution down the pyramid.

I think back to Emiliano Sala's death and wonder why it was necessary for the player to fly back to the UK on a suspect private plane with a suspect pilot at 9am on Monday morning (though the flight was pushed back to the evening), after returning to Nantes for the weekend, after his medical in Cardiff.

Sala had been invited to watch Cardiff's game against Newcastle that evening, on Monday 21 January 2019, but the flight delay meant he wouldn't make it anyway. Cardiff didn't have another game for eight days.

Whether such private flights are routine in the game or not (I suppose they might be), it should be a reminder that players are not mere commodities. Unfortunately, the financial stakes and dubious oversight means that, most probably, football has not learnt from this - at least, not in the general sense of player welfare, as commercial interests dictate. 

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by riverholmes

[Mattyblue]

You can have two thoughts at once, I.e Man City are a top class football team in every facet of the game, taking it to new heights of individual and collective quality on the pitch … but also such petro-state sportwashing clubs are terrible for the competitiveness and sporting integrity of the English game.

Edited September 20, 2022 by Mattyblue

[SuperBrfc]

17 hours ago, roverandout said:

Football in the 90s was far more real. You had players like ronaldo Zidane shearer Baggio Bergkamp rivaldo.  Nowadays you only need one good game and you are  a legend 

I agree. It sounds like a cliche, but the game had proper characters back then. Players had more freedom to express themselves on the pitch, especially top drawer players like Bergkamp, Zola, Zidane, Nedved, Figo, Del Piero etc. It's all so rigid today, I feel.

How exciting was it to see proper wingers back then too? Not just Ripley and Wilcox and then Duff for us, but others too like Ruel Fox, Gillespie (Newcastle), Overmars, Kewell, Guppy, McManaman, Ginola etc. The game has changed so much and not for the better in terms of entertainment, IMO.

There aren't as many truly top class players around today. Take forwards for example. I can name Lewandowski, Haaland, Mbappe, Benzema, Kane maybe. The world's best central midfielders today? I'm struggling to name them.

The word 'legend' is banded about too easily these days. Divock Origi. Liverpool legend, apparently.

[Upside Down]

The wealthy teams would always have the most longevity and consistency over the whole season but I think you have to go back to the 60s or something to find a time when the playing field was pretty even. 

Apart from the very top top teams, of which we were once one, the league was fairly competitive. Anyone could beat anyone and every team had at least one or two first class players that really were a joy to watch.

When city were bought out it really was the final nail in that era. Year after year it has become less and less competitive and more and more predictable and boring. 

So as incredible as it is to watch an all star cast in sky blue totally dominate and destroy teams, it is also somewhat boring.

[chaddyrovers]

Man City are domaining the Manchester derby so far. 

Foden scored a good goal.

[chaddyrovers]

Brighton was excellent at Anfield against Liverpool. Watch the full game last night and Brighton deserved at least point. Brighton should have been 4 nil before Liverpool scored. Alexander-Arnold was awful defensively, and I thought the back 4 were all awful aswell. 

Gallagher scored a good goal for Chelsea to win the game for them in the 90 minute. 

Arsenal looking strong to be Man City closer title rivals. Good win against their local rivals Spurs. Spurs was poor tbh yesterday. 

Newcastle and Everton good solid wins. Newcastle shown how to win and well against 10 men. Coady was solid for Everton in their win yesterday

 

[chaddyrovers]

City outstanding so far. 

Haaland is quality and his movement is Shearer like