The irony is that Steptonho is exactly who the shoutiest of our fanbase were demanding take over when Poch was burning out, yet are they accepting that what they were loudly demanding was a poor choice? Like **** they are, they're demanding Levy go for giving them what they wanted The situation would be tolerable if it appeared he was giving us some framework that could be built upon, after all Villas-Boas left Poch with the nucleus of his side that could be tweaked and refined, yet there's no sign of anything like that with us Most damning is how we clearly had a tactical plan against Man Utd that worked, only to abandon that for the entire second half and undo all that we did in the first 45, but against West Scam and Sheffield United it was like what's been said about Ramos and how he never bothered preparing for anyone outside the top six
Man United prem (h) Jan 2019 lost Leicester City prem (h) feb 2019 won Huddersfield prem (h) April 2019 won Palace prem (h) September 2019 won West Ham prem (a) Nov 2019 won Bournemouth prem (h) Nov 2019 won Burnley prem (h) Nov 2019 won Liverpool prem (h) Jan 2020 lost Man City prem (h) Jan 2020 won 9 good, enjoyable spurs performances in the premier league since December 2018...49 matches ago!!!
Scouseknapp would say that Oliverpool is the best referee in the league though, given the way he officiates his beloved Pool games.
Sadly we’ve had the golden era but still came up short in the 10s. Redknapp got it going, Poch took it beyond what we could possibly imagine without the cash. It’s clear that we need a major rebuild. Will take another 3-5 years before we can even consider the top 3 finishes Poch somehow managed with a minimal budget. The interesting discussion as always is about selling (hypothetically) Kane or last years discussions of getting rid of Poch. (I remember a poster before always going on about selling Dele). When the clubs they are linked to are the elite...who on earth do we think we’ll get in better to replace them. Totally bemuses me. But sometimes a change is needed so do get it. But the most successful clubs stick with their managers over the long term. I just think we already had the perfect fit in Poch and the blips could be overcome. Well in ten/twenty year times I’ll fondly remember the man Poch and when he had a balanced squad to choose from with many players in their peaks. (E.g 2018 squad - Lloris/Vorm, Rose/Davies, Vert/Toby/Sanc, Aurier/Trippier, Dembele,Wanyama,Dier,Winks,Sissoko, Eriksen,Dele,Son,Kane,Moura,Lamela,Llorente) Many of these names are now simply dead wood. But we won’t find better replacements for Dele, Son, Kane. Great players that will be taken by the biggest world clubs in football. Lloris, Sanchez, Sissoko, Winks, Davies, Lucas, Lamela (still). Good players. Good enough still for Top 4 going forward? But we can’t replace them all. Still have hope for Tanguy and Lo Celso (are they replacements for Dembele and Eriksen? - I don’t even know anymore). Sess to come along nicely I would think. Gedson/Bergwijn...ok. Not world beaters. The rest need to go, aged/inconsistent, or simply not good enough. New manager with the pressing/attacking style required. A long hard rebuild unfortunately. As a priority need two CBs, RB, and a ****ing back up striker. And whatever the **** is going on in our midfield. This is what happens when you lose your identity as a club. And when our last manager went transfer window after transfer window without spending. Literally years of flux coming up and possibly scraping CL football. Had the chance to kick on. But it wasn’t to be. But we had a stadium to build. No one will truly understand how much we achieved and punched above our weight. We will have a golden era in our lifetimes though where we win things. Please. So acceptance is the way forward.
I was still thinking of RAFA when they appointed Jose. I was hoping for the best,but........! I think at least RAFA would have had us playing football ....and with a defence too!
I thought playing 3 wingers and no number 10 was strange, it was all pace and no craft around the attacking third, we needed a Dele or Lamela to unlock a stubborn defense. Sissoko is a waste of a shirt when we are dominating possession and our final ball or cross is severely lacking, time and again the wrong decision is made with a key pass or cross. Once again the referee and VAR have shafted us unceremoniously, first by the bottling of an elbow by a player already on a yellow card and then by disallowing a perfectly good goal in comical fashion. After that we appeared to feel sorry for ourselves and the second half was abysmally poor, our defending was schoolboy level at best, awful. CL has gone now, 5 or 6 new players need to be brought in at LB, RB, CB, DM and ST or next season will be more of the same. Aurier, Sanchez, Dier and Davies is about an average of a back 4 as you will see and needs to be improved upon urgently.
Did anyone just see that Mahrez goal wiped out for handball in the buildup? Downright bias i would say
No. Who watched that pointless affair? I don't think that suggesting bias towards Liverpool is a particularly controversial statement, either. Don't bother replying, though.
Just pointing out the similarities between two incidents, one which got lots of re-plays and crying and the other which got shrugged off. Is there bias in refs/VAR?
Last week we had a joke of a VAR decision ruling out a goal...no one spoke about it cos it was irrelevant as we won. The same is true v Brighton on boxing day. No one is discussing the city one as the won. The decision today changed the game...along with outrageous elbow going unpunished. We benefited v Watford and Sheffield United and Norwich earlier in the season. We lost out to Leicester, Everton, Sheffield United and Newcastle. Lots of teams can say very similar things which simply proves what many fans have been saying ... 1. VAR was going to be dogshit bad 2. Refereeing standards are ****ing appalling. We deserved nothing today cos our second half was awful but if the goal had stood (as it should...even their manager said it was a joke) and the Sheffield United player sent off (he was already on a yellow) then the second half could have been very different. VAR and refereeing is killing football imho. I hated VAR when I was at matches...3 minutes to check for "clear and obvious mistakes" and still come up with **** decisions? Seriously, apart from wumming, wtf use is VAR?
One was utterly irrelevant, coming when the team was 4-0 up in injury time and in a game that didn't matter. Only somebody intentionally posting crap would miss that, frankly. Of course there's bias in refs. Only a Man Utd fan would ask that question. Get back to me after we've had a penalty against your team in the Premier League. I won't hold my breath.
I agree with most of what you say here, i have always been against VAR since it was first muted. Football is a game played by humans in real time and should be officiated in the same way. seriously, i have been amazed about the accuracy of some calls for years when replayed in slowmo on TV. We all like to think refs/linos are against us but in reality they do a great job and far better than VAR.
Bollocks man, were both decisions right or wrong, did they follow the actual rule that no goal can be allowed when a handball assisted the build up?
