leffe186

Are there games today?

His player rating on the BBC was 9.77 The second goal was a joke. Hits a beautiful shot from 25 yards out off the cross bar - the keeper had just given it up - gets it back, lays it out wide then off the return ball spins the defender and rolls it into the corner. That’s 61 goals in 51 games this season.

We could even claim some ownership of that word tbf

Yeah, I think De Zerbi is legit. A month ago I had resigned myself to going down because despite De Zerbi’s capabilities what’s left of the squad isn’t good enough. There’s only so much he can do. What I hadn’t expected was West Ham hitting the buffers. From the game in January where they beat us to that post they got 20 points. In that same time we got four. It seemed inevitable, and we were still losing players. Like many others I’d just started working out what the plan was going to be in the Championship, and trying to look on the positive side. My main concern if we go down is making sure De Zerbi stays. If he does then there is the potential for a total rebuild and a lot of younger players coming through. I’d be very confident of coming straight back up in that case, but the financial stuff is so bonkers you can never be sure. However, if we stay up then I would absolutely expect De Zerbi to stay. He’d be incredibly powerful in the club and able to dictate pretty much everything. We’d still be able to perform a drastic rebuild, just with more options.

I dunno man, here’s one post: As for the rest - if I have more faith in Leeds winning than Spurs you can imagine I also have more faith in them drawing than us. Funnily enough I am very aware that we don’t need to win . It would be quite nice to just root for a proper team that can do proper subs and stuff.

The WSL/WSL 2 playoff between Charlton and Leicester just went to penalties.

That’s it. That’s the meme.

They’re shit, but lest we forget, against you Nuno fucked it by changing things up and they were noticeably better after he changed it back. They have players they can bring on late to freshen things up up front which could prove decisive when the chips are down. One of the podcasts suggested an approach that I am very much considering. Get a Leeds shirt, follow the Leeds game, cheer for Leeds and try not to hear anything about the Spurs match. I have more faith in Leeds winning than I do in Spurs.

That would be Northampton Town I think. It might have been roughly equidistant from the grounds tbh, but only because it was in Ohio.

Place your bet now - you should get cracking odds.

She’s a Villa fan. At our wedding the Groomsmen wore Spurs scarves and the Bridesmaids Villa. A mate of my wife got his company to make glass jars for the wedding cookies (she’s half Italian-American) that had both the badges on.

Love you too mate If there’s one good thing to come out of this, it’s a reminder of how much this shit can hurt, and how powerless we can be. I’m confident I never took the piss on here over your relegations because I’m a cunt, just not, you know, a cunt. It really hurts.

I had accepted we were going down before RDZ because of what was happening on the pitch (and in the treatment room). Was looking at financial stuff a bit, excited about all the young players that would get a chance, hoping that this would be an opportunity for a proper reset on and off the pitch. I fully expected us to come straight back up as long as we got the manager right. Maybe even Poch Then when RDZ came in, the hope was that if we could just keep him as manager in the Championship the opportunity for a proper reset was even better. He could rebuild the squad in his image from the bottom up. My main worry was - was he going to stay? It never occurred to me that West Ham would falter. They still haven’t had any proper injuries, while RDZ lost Kudus, Solanke, Simons and Vicario. They still have exactly the same players that went on that great run, able to make whatever changes Nuno wants. It’s ironic that he probably ended up having too many options against you. I haven’t looked at any of those West Ham financial articles because I’m superstitious, but you just know that they would be an absolute basket case if they went down. Honestly I would fully expect a country or oligarch to come in and buy them - maybe sling Newham Council another couple of brown paper bags of cash to properly get the stadium. Whatever. We’ll see. My wife sent me this message from the pub yesterday: “Would you be okay with watching the Sunday matches with Arsenal fans?”

You’re dancing round the point. He’s not picking based on some Top 10 ranking - which you yourself highlight in the first part of your sentence by pointing out it’s not like for like. They are very different full backs, and Tuchel is clearly looking at what a player can do for him and how they fit in to his system. He values versatility on the pitch but within his system. The better question is what somebody else asked - why pick both Livramento and Spence? They do seem to perform similar roles, although from what you guys say Livramento has struggled this year at times (and obviously the injury). I wonder if in a squad of 26 you have room to pick players who do different things at a position and players who can be a direct replacement.

We absolutely could. RDZ is basically getting everything he can out of the available squad, but that’s showing the limitations. It’s exemplified by the Chelsea match. We had 25 touches in their box versus their 11 in ours, and an xG of 1.72 against their 0.63. RDZ just doesn’t have the attacking/creative players available. Richarlison, Tel and Kolo Muani wouldn’t get into even West Ham’s first XI, and everyone else is injured. Kolo Muani is where our attacks go to die, Richarlison is technically deficient and running on fumes, and Tel is still learning. These are players you might throw on at the end of a game to win something (Kolo Muani’s not even that) and yet they are playing every possible minute. We are generating opportunities (or more accurately, potential opportunities) with some nice play, but the final ball or touch has been desperately poor. Simons brilliantly created and scored the goals against Brighton then was crocked. Since then we’ve typically relied on a bit of luck, like a shitty Richarlison shot that Palhinha deflects in or a worldie from Gallagher. You’d expect RDZ to bring a forward on to freshen things up, but there’s nobody left. If we aren’t ahead by 60 mins or so we’re fucked. He’s ended up having to wait until 70mins to bring Maddison on because the docs have said 20mins is his maximum, and the difference is incredible. Then when you’re relying on that little bit of luck the abject refereeing has a disproportionate effect - the rugby tackle on VDV, the absurd decision not to send off a player who for all intents and purposes deliberately broke another player’s jaw. Obviously the odds are in our favour, but that’s as much because West Ham could struggle to beat Leeds as us avoiding defeat. Our home record is W2 D6 L10. It’s not like we’ve played any better than that record suggests either.

Everyone’s been terrible in general. You’d argue that Man C, Chelsea, Liverpool, us, you, have all been worse than expected. Villa, Arsenal, Fulham, maybe Palace and Forest, Leeds, Burnley, Wolves, West Ham, Brighton, Everton about as expected (generally not great with Europe being a factor with some). Just leaving Sunderland, Man U, Brentford and Bournemouth playing probably better than expected, all of whom benefitting from no Europe. It’s ended up with us all being much of a muchness.

In the world where Tuchel doesn’t want to play a system that accommodates Trent’s pluses and minuses. The revisionist attempt to suggest Trent is actually not as bad a defender as we think is not convincing to me. His defensive positioning is poor, he struggles one-on-one and his positional discipline within Tuchel’s system is questionable. Do you think that is not the case?

Yeah I’d say this was almost entirely my thinking. Anybody saying they can’t see any reason why Jordan Henderson or Spence (for example) have been picked is either being dim or disingenuous. You can disagree with the decisions but the reasons are obvious. I think Tuchel’s earned some trust. At various points in the last year I’ve seen or had arguments with people who swear that at least 10 players now not going should be locks. It’s very clear that Tuchel is mainly concerned with the team and systems both on and off the pitch. I think you’d struggle to argue with him just based on his competitive results. I’d absolutely disagree with him on a few choices but again, each time I can see his thinking. I haven’t seen all that much of each player individually but I can guarantee he has, and I haven’t seen anything of how they’ve been working with him and obviously he has. Generally there’s an emphasis on versatility, ball-playing and positional discipline. There are a handful of decisions that seem very close to me but will have been tipped by how they performed with him in practice and in games. There are also one or two players who it feels like are there not because they’re the best football player but because they’re the best person to fulfil a particular role on or off the pitch. Henderson obviously, Toney, and I think Spence. Henderson was always going to go and it’s bizarre that people still think there was a chance he wouldn't. Aside from Pickford and Kane he’s probably the third name in the squad. We all know why, we might disagree, but Tuchel has told us. I think Toney is there because there’s simply nobody else that can lead the line in his style who’s ready. I wouldn’t have been surprised with DCL, but he’s a very different player. Spence is there because he’s incredibly fast, can do a job across the whole back line and is an extremely good defender one-on-one. And he’s done well for England and presumably well in training. Again, you can disagree, but those are the reasons. Of the others, the ones that I’m on the fence with are Mainoo and Eze in midfield, Madueke up front and some of the defence. You guys probably have the other two keepers in the mix and everything you’ve said this year means I guess those three are the best options. I don’t know enough about Mainoo or Eze to def take them over Wharton, Palmer, Foden, MGW or anyone else I’ve forgotten there but I’d say he’s picked two from those guys and you could probably toss a coin as to which two. Madueke up front feels like a guy who can do a particular role and has done it well for Tuchel. The other choices would be presumably Bowen or Barnes (anyone else?) and again it’s close but not a surprise. The defence is the one with the most question marks but again there aren’t any wild surprises. We’ve got a lot of guys who are very similar and that’s part of the reason why toys have gone out of the pram. I’m surprised Tuchel didn’t pick Hall because he’s a proper left back and I know you’ve fallen out of love with Livramento a bit, but clearly Tuchel rates him and his versatility. I feel like it was something of a choice between Burn and Maguire, and despite Maguire being a man with a very particular set of skills I think he gets found out at the very top level on a regular basis. I can’t help but feel that the reaction to his omission tells a bit of a story about him off the field. The other defenders have been picked for versatility partly because there aren’t many standout exceptional players - they’re all about the same. Versatile, decent on the ball, disciplined. The ones I’m on the fence with are Stones and Quansah but again they fit that mould.

He was looking right at Spence, ignoring the ball, smashes him with his elbow and breaks his jaw. If we go down this weekend I’ll burn Stockley Park down myself. Sick of this nonsense. Edit: safety wink, officer.

No, very old, that’s why I suggested it . If I was new I’d get sucked in.

It might all be real, it might not, but I’m fucked if I’m going to say anything until it’s actually announced. Why feed the beast?

These leaks and all the nonsense around them are incredibly tiresome.

It is still going to vary year-on-year, naturally. You guys had to face Forest, Wimbledon, Chelsea, Brentford, Arsenal and Liverpool, and Liverpool themselves faced West Ham, Brighton, Southampton, us and you. However, this year Man City won it by beating Huddersfield, Swansea, Brentford and you before beating Arsenal. Tough, but not especially gruelling. Chelsea got to the FA Cup final this year by beating Charlton, Hull, Wrexham, Port Vale and Leeds, which I'm sure Man U would rather have faced in last year's Europa than Twente, Porto, Fenerbahçe, PAOK, Bodø/Glimt, Viktoria Plzeń, Rangers, Steaua Bucharest, Real Sociedad, Lyon, and Athletic Bilbao. I broadly agree with KI but I think the Europa is harder to place becuase it's such a different competition. Ultimately to win the final of the League or FA Cup you're probably going to have to beat at least two teams better than anything you'll find in the Europa. However, the amount of obstacles you have to face to win the Europa are huge and you're not going to get many bites of the cherry.

I also remember that day because it was that crazy Isner-Mahut match at Wimbledon too. IIRC it started the day before, then we watched some of the restart before the USA game. After the game we ended up at another pub and it was still going - we might even have watched another entire World Cup match. It ended up finishing the following day.

Me, my wife and a close friend (one of our groomsmen) were on a bit of a pub crawl around London. Squeezed ourselves into a pub just off Trafalgar Square, atmosphere was mental. Turns out one of the barmaids was Slovenian so my wife was being very (drunkenly) magnanimous during the game, but when Donovan scored she lost her shit and was celebrating in her face