Today's Football 2018-19 Season

[Eggs]

Took a few years off me that game. Watching that can't be good for the old ticker.

....congratulations, an amazing game and good for Spurs that they were able to carry a threat, especially without Kane. I do think Guardiola played into your hands by playing Kompany and not playing Fernandinho. Exploiting the space beyond Kompany defending on the half-way was a real benefit.

I said it last season, it’s a massive Champions League advantage not being involved in a domestic title race. Only Bayern of last season’s semi-finalists were fighting for their own league and they got knocked out at that stage.

Spurs can win it. Hope they do.

 

[Old Blue 2]

....I don’t know why some on here dismiss the Reds. It’s folly. They could easily blow Barcelona away in the home leg and will be a threat at Nou Camp. Barcelona looked defensively weak at United.

Barcelona would have a better chance in a one-off against them but I can’t see the Reds losing a two-leg semi final.

The difference this time, Eggs, is that the first leg is at Barcelona. In the previous two rounds they built up a first leg lead at home, so didn't have to chase anything in the second leg. This time, they could be chasing a deficit at home, with the attendant ramifications of playing more openly and playing into the hands of Barcelona having a lot more space in the RS half, ergo a far greater chance of an away goal or two at Analfield.

Only speculation, I know, but it's a scenario they have not yet come up against in the knockout stages...

 

[Eggs]

The difference this time, Eggs, is that the first leg is at Barcelona. In the previous two rounds they built up a first leg lead at home, so didn't have to chase anything in the second leg. This time, they could be chasing a deficit at home, with the attendant ramifications of playing more openly and playing into the hands of Barcelona having a lot more space in the RS half, ergo a far greater chance of an away goal or two at Analfield.

Only speculation, I know, but it's a scenario they have not yet come up against in the knockout stages...

...very good point, i didn’t realise the first leg was in Spain. Weird, it was always seen as a big advantage being at home 2nd. I can still see the Reds scoring in the Nou Camp, though.

Dreadful time at the moment, two massive games for City coming up. I think the outcome of the league will be a lot clearer by this time next week.

 

[KaiserEFC]

City quite rightly getting slated today

 

[toffeejack]

'It was an emotional shock!' - Sissoko
Man City 4-3 Tottenham (Agg: 4-4 - Tottenham win on away goals)

L'Equipe
And just when you thought it couldn't get any crazier...
Moussa Sissoko told L'Equipe that he did not realise Tottenham had gone through to the Champions League semi-finals until a member of the coaching staff informed him in the dressing room that Manchester City's last-gasp goal had been disallowed.
The French midfielder, who was replaced in the first half due to injury, was so distraught after Raheem Sterling scored that he immediately walked down the tunnel and did not realise the goal had been ruled out for offside a minute later.
"I was on the bench when I saw the goal that made it 5-3," he said. "I was so upset that I returned directly to the dressing room.
"I was alone, no-one had accompanied me, no TV screen was broadcasting the game. In my head we were eliminated. Then one of the staff members entered the dressing room and told me: 'Incredible, we did it!'
"I said: 'How did we do it?' At that moment, he told me that the goal had been disallowed. So I put on a t-shirt, I forgot about my injury and I ran outside to join the others, not to miss the celebrations for such a historic moment. It was an incredible, emotional shock."


haha, great stuff. VAR is brilliant for the game, it needs to be improved no doubt, i mean an offside call doesn't have to be made by the ref, they can have a 4th official to do that. After all, the ref doesn't make the call on the field, the linesman does. And with all the tech these days with drawing yellow lines where the defender's boot is etc. It's something that should be determined within seconds.

But the right team has gone through at the end of the day, how many teams have won the CL and got an incorrect call in their favour which has helped them progress and become undeserved champions?

 

[ToffeeTim]

I still don’t think the decision was wrong.

And really don’t have an issue with the time things are taking.

It clearly hit his forearm though. What's the point of VAR if a goal like that is not ruled out?

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

View attachment 57040
City quite rightly getting slated today

Shame really, as the story should be vindication for Spurs as opposed to people giving City pelters

 

[toffeejack]

But got the handball wrong. If var is not 100 per cent conclusive. Scrap it

i'm sorry but that's ridiculous. It's never going to get everything right, same as the referee won't. Scrap VAR? So what then, we have the Ref making split-second decisions without being 100% conclusive themselves. Football is opinionated, the tech is brought in to help get the right decisions more often than if it wasn't there. If the offside rule went back to what it used to be, before all this interfering with play nonsense, they could get all offsides right with VAR.

 

[toffeejack]

I for one can't wait for the introduction of the if it hits your hand and goes in it is a handball and no goal rule. To me it seems to be pretty common sense that in FOOTball, a sport that has a central goal of winning by playing and scoring without hands or arms, it would be made expressly illegal to score with ones hands or arms. Yet every time a goal like the Llorente one happens I see online all this nonsense about was it intentional and natural positions and all this other stupidity. He scored a goal with his hand so it shouldn't count none of this other stuff should bleeping matter.

Sorry about the rant if you actually read all that but it just gets me really pissed.

not that i've ever watched hockey, but don't they have a similar rule where if it hits your foot, accidental or not, play is stopped. I think i agree with you, before i wasn't so sure, but now there's way too much controversy.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

i'm sorry but that's ridiculous. It's never going to get everything right, same as the referee won't. Scrap VAR? So what then, we have the Ref making split-second decisions without being 100% conclusive themselves. Football is opinionated, the tech is brought in to help get the right decisions more often than if it wasn't there. If the offside rule went back to what it used to be, before all this interfering with play nonsense, they could get all offsides right with VAR.

Exactly

VAR was NEVER going to provide a 100% success rate, but it will make the current rate HIGHER, so it's better by proxy

Some people are just inherently techno-phobic I feel and VAR just pushes their buttons for that reason

 

[ijjysmith]

It clearly hit his forearm though. What's the point of VAR if a goal like that is not ruled out?

I’m still convinced it did.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

I’m still convinced it did.

And this is a key example of how VAR won't fix EVERYTHING, because some of it is still opinion based

 

[jaycee]

And this is a key example of how VAR won't fix EVERYTHING, because some of it is still opinion based

A change of interpratation of rules would fix a fair bit,for example passages of play,either some one is offside or they are not,make clear handball rules and so forth rather than relying on one persons view of an offence

 

[Alanbileysfeathercut]

View attachment 57040
City quite rightly getting slated today

How about.
The manager you should have hired is in the semis after beating your noisy neighbours.

 

[TheBigIguana]

not that i've ever watched hockey, but don't they have a similar rule where if it hits your foot, accidental or not, play is stopped. I think i agree with you, before i wasn't so sure, but now there's way too much controversy.

Ice hockey or field hockey? Field hockey yes any foot touch stops it. Ice it isn't like that at all. A guy scored with his face in a playoff game a few days ago in the NHL.