Pata

Roma 1-0

28 minutes ago, Decky said:

They have 1 team in the quarters of the Conference and none in the quarters of the Champions League, which should surely count for much more than the other two competitions.

I prefer it this way, the top elite teams will qualify to CL every year in any case. Taking into account the 5-7 placed teams in Europa and Conference almost equally makes a lot of sense considering they are usually the ones taking that potential extra spot.

1 minute ago, Big Geordie said:

Pep isn't 'all that'

Walker was embarrassing on the goal. Bellingham clearly behind the halfline but he has his arm up. Then plays Vini onside but raises his arm. Ball watching and leaving Rodrygo alone and again arm up right away.

These quarter finals have been absolute class, tomorrow should be fun.

So stupid from Cancelo, absolutely no need for that.

Massive dive but think it’s a red, Araujo had his arm on Barcola’s shoulder.

4 minutes ago, Erikse said:

 

People tried to tell you that his general play is better than you made it out to be (based on stats). And then, despite playing just a few games with his new team mates, he is showing just that. But I suppose that's just a coincidence.

Please do explain why his xA numbers are 4-5x better than they were at Leicester during five seasons if his general play has always been so good.

2 hours ago, Erikse said:

 

It says "Based on this Barnes basically only scores goals." Are you still under this impression? All he does is score goals?

Based on the 10000 league minutes he played at Leicester, yes. His xA numbers were not that different to Almiron. As I said, I don't know what has happened this season but it's a massive outlier to his previous career.

47 minutes ago, Erikse said:

  

 

  

 

Looking at all the xA posts from last summer is funny now. Turns out you can't judge players based on xA number, and that actual assists may be a more accurate parameter after all? @Pata wasn't the only one btw, I just picked some. The narrative was that his assist stats was lying, and that he's really just a finisher. From what I've seen of him, the actual assist numbers seem to line up better with reality than his xA.

I don't really get your logic at all, just plain dumb.  If you want to disregard five seasons worth of data with 537 minutes with us you can do that but I really don't see what's funny about that.

Oh look, his xA numbers have taken a massive jump this season too! It's a really small sample size but either his attributes fit Howe's system better, his role was different at Leicester or he links up really well with Isak and Gordon (or it's a really small sample size). I've definitely been positively surprised with his overall contributions and not just his finishing, hope he can keep it up. 0.95 non-penalty xG+xA per 90 would mean he's an absolute elite player statistically in this league. Isak is at 0.78 and Gordon at 0.58 just for reference.

30 minutes ago, Super Duper Branko Strupar said:

Up the toon! Get the fuck in, lasses. 

Rare Branko sighting. 

Andersen is class but would cost too much considering his age.

5 minutes ago, David Edgar said:

Palace look awful. We should have a comfy win against them on this showing.

They’ve been really good and should have scored more than 1.

What a game!

Jota has to score there.

Just now, Joe1984 said:

It was mostly the crowd. You can't book the fans. Not yet anyway...

Nah, both Robertson and Anderson were claiming for pens way too enthusiastically.

Anyone claiming for a pen for those should get booked. Anderson did it yesterday too.

Anderson and Murphy as wingbacks?

Scamacca!

2 minutes ago, JUICE690 said:

Their wins only effect 5th place champions league? Or do the results trickle down to other european places?

Trickle down as far as I know.

I fucking hate this 'race for the fifth CL spot'. I don't want to have to support fucking Liverpool against Atalanta or West Ham against Leverkusen.

Nee idea what match to watch. Milan-Roma is the obvious choice but a bit boring due to it being a same country tie.

30 minutes ago, duo said:

I'm still not against FFP as an idea and wouldn't want us to go all Chelsea/Man City even if we were allowed.

It's just impossible to create a system that's fair to everyone. In theory when it was first invented every team should've been on the same starting line. Chelsea/Man City took the piss for ages but are now big enough due to the earlier limitless spending that they don't really have to worry about anything. Others from the big 6 were big and well ran at the right time before FFP kicked in (outside of Spurs who have done an impressive job).

I have no idea what the solution should be in 2024 but it's a complete joke right now where they make shit up as they go (Everton and Forest deductions) or limit a club like us to not spend a penny in January in the midst of the worst injury crisis humanity has ever witnessed.

9 minutes ago, Ritchie said:

One of my pet peeves is when they put subtitles on for someone who speaks perfectly good English.

It’s due to the mobile era, right? People can watch that video in public spaces without sound.

He’s also like a target man in midfield. You can launch the ball towards him and very often he actually gains possession from it and not just flick it forward and hope for the best.

He really is a unique player, physically dominant but also has a very good technique and touch due to his background playing further up the pitch. General passing is his only weakness but I can see him getting better and better at that too. That’s the one thing that shows he has only played a couple of seasons deeper but he’s really motivated to get better based on hiring individual coaching during the dark days.

His versatility is also very important, you can play him pretty much anywhere outside of defense and you can expect to get a good performance. Hope the new contract gets confirmed soon, would be massive.