Premier League 2020/21 Thread

[Koke]

42 minutes ago, LVocey said:

Am I the only one that is constantly unimpressed when I watch him play? He was awful against Burnley.

 

Just good at penalties and always looks like he's putting decent effort in. Pogba has had a better month in my opinion.

 

Thats because his passing isn't great, despite his assist stats. He does go AWOL during games but at the same time also effective at the right time. He's a perplexing player. He's a good player overall but definitely overrated. 

[BraunstoneFox23]

He does a lot of stuff that’s great but there’s no doubt fernandes gets lucky sometimes too. That stick your leg out and hope assist against us was probably one of the most rage inducing bits off jamminess I’ve seen this season.
 

[LVFox]

32 minutes ago, The People's Hero said:

It probably is only you and any other edgelords!

 

The guy is hugely frustrating but there's no denying his quality

Never denied he has quality, just fails to impress me more times than not. Has a wondeful knack of right place right time with his goals and assists and i'm sure thats far more skill than luck but for me there are many more midfielders in the league I rate higher.

[Fox92]

59 minutes ago, LVocey said:

Never denied he has quality, just fails to impress me more times than not. Has a wondeful knack of right place right time with his goals and assists and i'm sure thats far more skill than luck but for me there are many more midfielders in the league I rate higher.

Which makes players like him good doesn't it. Players who know what's gonna happen.

 

He winds me up, and gets away with a lot, but he is quality and his influence on the Man Utd team is massive.

 

When I think of good attacking midfielders in the league at the minute I think of De Bruyne but Fernandes would be up there too.

Edited 15 January 2021 by Fox92

[snoopy87]

13 hours ago, KingsX said:

On NBC's Spurs-Palace pregame, Tim Howard mentioned "the big six -- now I guess you'd have to say big eight".  He didn't elaborate and didn't return to the point.  He had to be including LCFC and Everton?   He sure as hell wouldn't expand the six without including Everton!

 

Then they cut to a promo for Arlo White's upcoming "Behind the Mind" show -- a Brendan Rodgers interview which will hit their YouTube channel Friday.  They promoted it, of course, by featuring his remarks on Vardy.  I sometimes think City fans are the last to realize, Jamie is a superstar.  He is one of the most promoted PL players over here.  His attractive and marketable story wins out over his less glamorous club affiliation.  And if his personality might be disliked in away grounds, it's "bigger than life" -- a must for a superstar -- and an attraction for many neutrals.

I've started watching all or nothing with Man City. Last night was the episode where they beat us 5-1 at the Etihad and the were focussing on Aguerro after the match.

 

His lad had asked him to get Jamie Vardy's shirt. We're talking about a child who's dad is Sergio Aguerro, his godfather is Lionel Messi, grandfather was Diego Maradona, but the shirt he wanted was Jamie Vardy! I had to laugh. Even Aguerro said with the shirt, "he's a phenomenon".

[Nalis]

5 minutes ago, snoopy87 said:

I've started watching all or nothing with Man City. Last night was the episode where they beat us 5-1 at the Etihad and the were focussing on Aguerro after the match.

 

His lad had asked him to get Jamie Vardy's shirt. We're talking about a child who's dad is Sergio Aguerro, his godfather is Lionel Messi, grandfather was Diego Maradona, but the shirt he wanted was Jamie Vardy! I had to laugh. Even Aguerro said with the shirt, "he's a phenomenon".

Its great isnt it? Its like it was said earlier that Vardy is box office internationally.

 

A few years in my old work one of our client came over to our office from Italy and we started chatting football. When I mentioned I support Leicester he said he loved Vardy and thought he was so intelligent knowing where to go before anyone else does so that combined with speed and finishing made a lethal combination.

 

I must admit that I never really thought about his footballing intelligence before that conversation and just focused on his speed and finishing until then. Its probably added to his longevity.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

2 hours ago, Koke said:

Man actually said Dean Smith should "zoom call the players to tell them where to play"  

 

We have been lucky we haven't had to postpone any games (touch wood). Imagine the rescheduling with EL & FA Cup as well as PL. 

 

 

They talk shit to drive traffic. You sharing it here is just enabling their shit. 

[Alan Frost]

1 hour ago, Fox92 said:

Which makes players like him good doesn't it. Players who know what's gonna happen.

 

He winds me up, and gets away with a lot, but he is quality and his influence on the Man Utd team is massive.

 

When I think of good attacking midfielders in the league at the minute I think of De Bruyne but Fernandes would be up there too.

 I only see enough of LCFC players and not enough to attempt relative comparisons of players De Bruyne and a fit van Dijk who are quality IMO. Fernandes i rate quite a bit lower but he's certainly very overhyped largely because his arrival coincided with Man U going  from bad to reasonably effective not necessarily directly due to Fernandes. Man U do have a player of  De Bruyne/Van Dyke class potentially in Pogba but fortunately IMO  OGS is unlikely to get hin playing at 100%, although lately something seems to be improving him and I have my theory about that. The good news is that we have Fofana and Soyuncu back and Thielemans playing better than ever. Potentially those 3 add up to  something pretty close to De Bruyne  plus 2, or Pogba plus 2, and CS and WF are almost certain to further  improve. I don't mind the media who are full of football hype (sometimes known as bull shit ) concentrating on L'pool , and the Manchesters. It helps both BR and the team IMO.

 

I'm more impressed by Youri's interview stating what a pleasure it is to play for the current LCFC team than any amount of media hype. If  Youri a quiet Belgian feels like that I'm pretty sure the whole team feels like that which confirms BR's acknowledged skill as a club and man manager. It means a lot of other things are right as well.

Edited 15 January 2021 by Alan Frost

[mozartfox]

Everton, Southampton, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Leicester have all made it to the top of the EPL at some stage this season.   Manure have just made it there (for the first time in 8 years) and they and many of the people at Sky Sports and TalkShite seem to think they have won the league after 17 games.  There is a long way to go yet.

[Footballwipe]

On 14/01/2021 at 12:54, Nalis said:

Why is there a modern obsession with combined teams whenever two teams play each other?

Absolutely mind numbing stuff. Everyone is at it, even the Athletic. It's literally petrol on the fire of football partisanship and that's all.

[TJB-fox]

5 hours ago, Blue Fox 72 said:

Just been listening to TalkSport and heard Jim White discussing the Liverpool v Man U match this Sunday. Calling it a "Cup Final" like it is a title decider as if no other team is involved in the title race. Unbelievable hype when you consider how tight it is at the top of the table.

 

@UpTheLeagueFox have a word please.

Why do Leicester fans get so offended by this. The radio/media is a product and he’s there to sell it. Clearly worked too. 

Also my friend please don’t listen to talksport then moan about it’s (terrible) content 

[Free Falling Foxes]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55675775

Pretty unusual situation........... or is it?

[Tuna]

41 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55675775

Pretty unusual situation........... or is it?

Van Ginkel and Kenedy are also still at Chelsea.

[Alan Frost]

Kasper,  Danny Ward,  JJ, TC, Pereira, Thomas, Cags,  Fofana, Jonny Evans, Ndidi , Thielemans, Madison, Albrighton , Barnes, Under, Perez, Vardy,  I don't know but I guess BR's strongest team would come from these 17 players depending slightly on opposition. Seventeen players, all class IMO and with several very and unusually, flexible players. Rotation is never going to be a problem.

 

What about injuries ,well from 17 players , many flexible, you could given average luck deal with both injuries and rotation especially as I believe we're not running a ballet school and performer rotation should be minimalised.

 

However for the worriers not  much below this level (IMO) Mendy, Amartey, Fuchs, have all performed well when asked to play. If we had to, including one of these would not significantly affect a team with ten of the first list. And even below this list Iheanaco, KDH (IMIO),Choudhury, we could get away with for odd selected matches. Sorry, Captain Wes I know that you would give everything if in list A. I'm saving you to come on ,go forward for a corner, and get the winning goal at Wembley, and I 'm not entirely joking. I like happy endings.

 

What are we going for? TOP 4 now getting very difficult but well possible I think given that squad, FA cup, means a lot more than it should to many of us but our draw so far good and in any case improving the level of that squad would be expensive and still would n't guarantee it.We're capable . Euroleague ,apart from AC Milan, Leverkern and Villa Real not much to worry us although there are a lot of banana skins ,including Spurs and maybe drop throughs from ECL. AND we have BR as manager who seems to be getting an awful lot right.

 

I know I've said most of this before but some don't like to read more than 500 words. This is the shorter ,simple version. Covid and post Covid effects including finance worry me more than injuries and rotation at the moment.

[Koke]

Clattenburg admits to referee bias towards Man Utd

 

But then, almost as an afterthought, in an attempt to evidence his assertions, Clattenburg outright admitted that referees were biased towards Manchester United, particularly in Sir Alex Ferguson’s era at Old Trafford..

 

Don’t worry though, that bias has “eased”…

“He is wrong to suggest there is an aura around United that sees them given favourable decision. 

 

There used to be when Fergie was there, but that has eased massively since he left.

I am the only referee to give three penalties to the opposition at Old Trafford, and that was for Liverpool, of all teams, in 2014.

 

[Koke]

In an attempt to have a dig ar Klopp , Clattenburg casually admitted that United under Ferguson used to get favourable decisions. Mental tbh. He basically validates all the theories that opposition trams would get nothing at Old Trafford. One crazy decision I remember was the Nani goal against Spurs. 

[Koke]

Imagine the uproar if United are given a questionable penalty this weekend...

[Alan Frost]

1 minute ago, Koke said:

In an attempt to have a dig ar Klopp , Clattenburg casually admitted that United under Ferguson used to get favourable decisions. Mental tbh. He basically validates all the theories that opposition trams would get nothing at Old Trafford. One crazy decision I remember was the Nani goal against Spurs. 

Eased maybe, I listened to the radio commentary, Man U v Burnley, The commentators ignored Luke Shaw's tackle totally and then when Mcguire's goal followed and presumably following Burnley protests reluctantly it seemed ,it was looked at.Then they wondered if Shaw would be red carded. Since then I've seen it and he should have been IMO. And McGuire's goal was disallowed rightly IMO. In Scotland for years Rangers were favoured disgracefully IMO. I live there but I'm not Catholic.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

12 minutes ago, Koke said:

Clattenburg admits to referee bias towards Man Utd

 

But then, almost as an afterthought, in an attempt to evidence his assertions, Clattenburg outright admitted that referees were biased towards Manchester United, particularly in Sir Alex Ferguson’s era at Old Trafford..

 

Don’t worry though, that bias has “eased”…

“He is wrong to suggest there is an aura around United that sees them given favourable decision. 

 

There used to be when Fergie was there, but that has eased massively since he left.

I am the only referee to give three penalties to the opposition at Old Trafford, and that was for Liverpool, of all teams, in 2014.

 

Referees are ****ing *****. How on earth in a job where you are paid (well) to be impartial and under intense scrutiny can you favour a team? Is this institutional directed by the PL due to payoffs and pressure from the biggest clubs? Or is it just referees being pathetic weak minded worms? The mind boggles. All I can say is this shit doesn't seem to happen in World Cups where there must be strong temptations for reasons of political, geographical bias etc 

[UniFox21]

21 minutes ago, Koke said:

In an attempt to have a dig ar Klopp , Clattenburg casually admitted that United under Ferguson used to get favourable decisions. Mental tbh. He basically validates all the theories that opposition trams would get nothing at Old Trafford. One crazy decision I remember was the Nani goal against Spurs. 

The man needs to keep his mouth shut. Some of the crap he has started to come out with to sell papers and space is poor 

[Raw Dykes]

1 hour ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

Referees are ****ing *****. How on earth in a job where you are paid (well) to be impartial and under intense scrutiny can you favour a team? Is this institutional directed by the PL due to payoffs and pressure from the biggest clubs? Or is it just referees being pathetic weak minded worms? The mind boggles. All I can say is this shit doesn't seem to happen in World Cups where there must be strong temptations for reasons of political, geographical bias etc 

Are you having a laugh? Did you not watch the 2002 World Cup? That South Korea vs Italy game was the most disgustly bent-reffing I've ever seen. It was absolutely shameless.

[deep blue]

2 hours ago, Koke said:

In an attempt to have a dig ar Klopp , Clattenburg casually admitted that United under Ferguson used to get favourable decisions. Mental tbh. He basically validates all the theories that opposition trams would get nothing at Old Trafford. One crazy decision I remember was the Nani goal against Spurs. 

The Muzzie penalty at OT was probably the most blatant ever cheating by a ref in the Premier.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

1 hour ago, Raw Dykes said:

Are you having a laugh? Did you not watch the 2002 World Cup? That South Korea vs Italy game was the most disgustly bent-reffing I've ever seen. It was absolutely shameless.

Host countries have always been the beneficiaries of suspect officiating throughout the history of major tournaments. It's one of the perks of being the host. Even England benefited in '66 and Euro 96.

[Dan LCFC]

6 hours ago, Koke said:

Clattenburg admits to referee bias towards Man Utd

 

But then, almost as an afterthought, in an attempt to evidence his assertions, Clattenburg outright admitted that referees were biased towards Manchester United, particularly in Sir Alex Ferguson’s era at Old Trafford..

 

Don’t worry though, that bias has “eased”…

“He is wrong to suggest there is an aura around United that sees them given favourable decision. 

 

There used to be when Fergie was there, but that has eased massively since he left.

I am the only referee to give three penalties to the opposition at Old Trafford, and that was for Liverpool, of all teams, in 2014.

 

Who does he think he's kidding  

 

All just to protect the current crop really. I'm sure somebody will come out and say similar about this era.

[StanSP]

3 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

Who does he think he's kidding  

 

All just to protect the current crop really. I'm sure somebody will come out and say similar about this era.

Already have haven't they, with the guy that said we can't have too many Leicester City's?