The Football Thread 2017-18

[SandyCoin]

Clever play from Rashford there

First good bloody cross we've done and we score.

[PurplePenguin]

Oh look what happens when you don't take a corner short...

[SandyCoin]

Nice. Thought that was off at first.
Poor from Stoke there. Terrible way to give the ball away.

[PurplePenguin]

Nice tackle by Darmian on the build up to that goal.

[Denster]

Get in!

[Skippy]

Didn't count for much but what a strawberry floating save from De Gea

[SandyCoin]

Jones

Knew we'd need another.

[PurplePenguin]

What the hell is Jones doing there

[Denster]

strawberry floats sake.

[SandyCoin]

Tough game as expected.
A few wasted chances from us but probably a fair result. I think Rashford should have come off earlier though.

[PurplePenguin]

Yeah one or two little mistakes crept in today. Jones was all over the place for Stokes second just looked like he wasn't ready as the ball came in.

Overall I'm still happy with our start to the season. Just got to make sure we beat Everton next week.

[Denster]

yeah it was a fair result. Thought we were better but not by enough to bemoan a point. Lukaku had a good chance to grab the winner there but hey ho. Kudos to Stoke. They played well, made it a very tough game for us and were decent going forward too.

[7256930752]

Glad we bounced back with a 3-0 win.

I think it says a lot about Arsenal that we lose 4-0 to Liverpool and the club and fans go into meltdown. Liverpool lose 5-0 to Man City and it's just put down to a bad day at the office*.

I realise Liverpool had a man sent off but that is no reason to capitulate like that. Again, the same thing happened to us against Bayern (who are far superior to Man City) and it was seen as the biggest embaresment in English football even before the second leg was played.

[Curls]

Liverpool were god awful today, however they were on top before the 1st goal...they really were and the game could have gone either way. When a man down they just gave up, the weakness was down the right wing and they stopped capitalizing on that , which they still could have done with ten men, and it was a realy shame to see them concede so much.

On the other hand, a few weeks back, there wasnt a single point in the game where arsenal looked like the better team, and there wasn't any factor of luck or points where the game could have gone either way, it was fortunate it only ended up 4-0 for Arsenal it could have been 7 or 8.

[7256930752]

The point is that had the same thing happened to Arsenal the fans and media would have had a break down. Arsenal are one of the best teams at being on top of opposition only to go one and lose.

I'm giving a backhanded compliment to Liverpool fans for not getting distraught despite some glaring problems.

[Psychic]

I think the thing is that the Arsenal fans are going through the slow decline of Wenger, so it's more a case of one long breakdown with flare-ups. I think that's why when the bad results happen, the discussions seem to based around the same subjects over and over like the managers ability, Kroenkes willingness to invest out of his pocket etc. I do feel for Arsenal fans a little, it must be an unpleasant experience to watch arguably the clubs most iconic figure tar his reputation, especially over a number of seasons. It wasn't fun seeing Dalglish struggle to get results during his last season in charge and that was over a much shorter period.

[DML]

I think history will be far kinder to Wenger. Even in some of his supposedly bad seasons like the last, he still won the FA Cup! His record overall is still magnificent, theres way more competition for Arsenal than there was 15 years ago when it was literally them and United.

[DML]

DOUBLE POST

[Corazon de Leon]

I think history will be far kinder to Wenger. Even in some of his supposedly bad seasons like the last, he still won the FA Cup! His record overall is still magnificent, theres way more competition for Arsenal than there was 15 years ago when it was literally them and United.

I completely agree with both of your posts. I think that the EPL now is completely different to the one where Arsenal were regularly challenging for titles - there are more teams at the top with a lot of money, as you say. Wenger is one of the most successful football managers in the history of the game in England and ultimately, his legacy will reflect that.

[Saint of Killers]

I think history will be far kinder to Wenger. Even in some of his supposedly bad seasons like the last, he still won the FA Cup! His record overall is still magnificent, theres way more competition for Arsenal than there was 15 years ago when it was literally them and United.

I completely agree with both of your posts. I think that the EPL now is completely different to the one where Arsenal were regularly challenging for titles - there are more teams at the top with a lot of money, as you say. Wenger is one of the most successful football managers in the history of the game in England and ultimately, his legacy will reflect that.

Aye, but the barren league run, which would have been a footnote in history's mention of him had he left at the right time, grows into its own chapter, with new pages being added with each passing season where he remains.

Yeah one or two little mistakes crept in today. Jones was all over the place for Stokes second just looked like he wasn't ready as the ball came in.

Overall I'm still happy with our start to the season. Just got to make sure we beat Everton next week.

Absolutely. Dropped points are never ideal, but at least they're creating chances and, more importantly, playing better than the past few seasons.
My tolerances/expectations I think are higher/lower than most peoples on here and so I'm pretty blown away with the start they've made.

First I'm hearing of this...

Germany’s stand on ‘despicable’ fans puts silent England to shame

After a win in Prague, Joachim Löw and his players strongly criticised supporters’ offensive actions. Why won’t Gareth Southgate and co speak out when England fans behave badly?

...

It isn’t usual to hear a manager speak this way but, then again, these weren’t usual circumstances. A section of Germany’s support had disrupted a minute’s silence, abused one of their own players, Timo Werner, and followed up the traditional chants of “Sieg” (victory) towards the end of the game with an echoed “Heil”. It was an abomination and, at the final whistle, something happened that the people who follow die Mannschaft tell me they have never seen before. Germany’s players refused to go to the away end. They didn’t wave, there was no clapping, zero appreciation. It was a choreographed protest, a public disavowal and a clear, defiant message that they didn’t want any association.
...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/bl ... -southgate

Truly despicable.