A team who wins without playing well will get more points than they ought to and the result merchants amongst us will deduce that the cause of the extra points is some unspecified quality of the team rather than luck.
I don’t think anyone will be saying any of those things about Utd. Still a work in progress at an early stage. A collection of individuals rather than a team. Inconsistent, not just from game to game, but over the course of a single game.
Early days, but not noticed much that’s too positive so far. It’s all dysfunctional and disjointed. It looks like a number of very good individuals have been thrown together without any instructions or direction. There is talent - look at Garnacho’s finish for the winning goal - but I’m not sure he’s worked out how to harness it. There is too much rotation of players. Some are round pegs in square holes. How do Eriksen and Fernandes fit in the same team? How many wingers/forwards do you need? Who plays left, right and through the middle? It changes every game. Casemiro has done well in midfield but has come when his career is on a downward trajectory. Ditto Varane, Ronaldo & Eriksen, although the latter would probably thrive in a better team. The defence still makes mistakes individually and collectively. I hope he has a plan because teams who challenge to win things have a clear identity and play as a team. Relying on individuals to produce occasional excellence only gets you do far.
Ronaldo’s hit out at Man Utd, gone for ten Hag too. That’s him absolutely done there then. Wonder if they’ll come to an agreement to cancel his deal so he can move for free in January.
Can't PSG just sign him so we can at least see Messi and Ronaldo on the same team for a few months? Screw Neymar, he can go and cry in a corner somewhere.
Just seen Newcastle have just five players heading to Qatar. We have 11, by comparison. City have 16. United have 15. Arsenal have 10. Liverpool have just 7. But back to the Toon - this plus no European football to juggle has to be an enormous help for them.
Yeah but making a foul in the centre circle (unless you’re last man) is so minor compared to taking someone out in the box
Looking at it another way, how do they keep their squad match fit with no competitive football for 6 weeks?
Take them to Saudi Arabia for warm weather training and it's like a pre-season tour. They have matches set up whilst there.
Football folklore says that you need competing matches to stay fully fit though. Doesn't mean it is true though.....
Oh well, which players miss the rest of the season with broken legs thanks to Saudi refs following Mark Clusterfuck's teachings?
I think that Arsenal got a lucky break when the game v City was cancelled.3 points saved for a rainy day(?). Now they are the 1-0 kings. If Spurs had turned up.......!? Talking about lucky breaks....who will get Ronaldo until the end of the season. I'm sure he could work wonders for someone.....even though he's totally peed at United.
Indeed, isn't six weeks longer then the between season break? This hasn't been done before so while we assume there will be some advantage to not going to the WC in terms of fitness (maybe down the line), it isn't clear cut. They will probably need some kind of pre-season to get up to the speed of the players who where in the later stages of the WC. Another odd factor is that players will be returning to their clubs at different times depending on WC (lack of) progress, so everyone will need a separate training plan.
All of these variables will have some effect, but I doubt it has been thought through by the FA or FIFA. How it will impinge on the PL we will see but it might open the door for someone like Newcastle too upset all the pre season predictions. They were, if I remember correctly, that City and Liverpool would win everything. It doesn't look so cast iron now does it.
Blackburn are currently 3rd in the Championship, having lost 9 games. West Brom are in 21st place. They've lost 7.
Cristiano Rapenaldo appeared on Piers Moron's show on TalkbollocksTV to moan about being disrespected With that much "Get in the sea" energy, Ofgem might actually consider capping prices
