Premier League 25/26

[Horatio]

With Donnarumma City will be at top soon enough. 2 goals conceded in 7.

Huge L uis Enrique

 

[Porque]

With Donnarumma City will be at top soon enough. 2 goals conceded in 7.

Huge L uis Enrique

Lads motivated.

He goes through cycles of poor seasons, but that CL win and then getting the boot certainly spunked him up.

Christmas came early for Pep. The gift he never knew he needed.

Like hair.

 

[Iniesta Ultra]

Better for Lucho to go with Cheva before Donna turned into their MATS

 

[Rassvet]

Article a few days ago from NYT:

Is this the football you want?

Those who would accuse Pep Guardiola of sucking the fun and creativity out of the game should be careful what they wish for

www.nytimes.com

Long throws are back with a vengeance. In 2019-20 and 2020-21, just six per cent of throw-ins from the attacking third were sent into the penalty area. That figure steadily increased to 13 per cent last season but has risen to more than 27 per cent this season

Goals from set-piece situations (corners, free kicks and throw-ins but not penalties) have risen to 0.7 per game, the highest in any season since 2010-11

Passes per Premier League game has fallen to 858, the lowest since 2010-11

The proportion of goal kicks taken long, which had fallen for nine consecutive seasons, has increased to 51.9 per cent.

The proportion of headed goals has risen to 19.8 per cent, the highest since 2000-01.

But while set-piece goals are up, the overall number of goals scored has fallen significantly. After seven rounds and 70 matches, we have seen just 182 goals. That equates to 2.6 goals per game, which means this is firmly on course to be the lowest-scoring Premier League season since 2014-15. Even more glaringly, the number of goals scored from open play has fallen from 2.38 per game two seasons ago to 2.15 per game last season to a miserable 1.69 per game so far this term, which is the lowest since 2008-09.

Has the game changed? @Temptation @Birdy

 

[Maradona37]

United were very lucky - Liverpool missed a lot of golden chances.

United are such a bipolar club, by the way - from fans to media. Every single time they win a semi-big game -EVERY TIME A- it's all 'is this a turning point, is this the launch moment?'

I mean teams beat better teams fairly often in league football, it's just the way it goes. It doesn't mean you are gonna go on a 20 game stream getting loads of pooints. Plus their sit back and hoof counter style (seriously, how many times did that clown Lammens hoof it to nobody on Sunday?) is a good tactic to use against top teams who will attack them. Plus, as I say, Liverpool could have 5-1 or 5-2 had they taken their chances.

They'll probably lose to one of their bogey teams, Brighton next week, then be in turmoil again. Then win the game after that and be 'back'. Rinse and repeat.

Seriously, what a pathetic club. The entire definition of being a mid-table or lower mid-table team is that you'll win some, draw some and lose some. That's what they are doing. So how they think they'll be back every time they win a game (obviously they're gonna win at least 15 games over a 38 game season, despite being a poor team) is beyond me.


Another thing that seriously pisses me off is people not knowing statistics or how maths works. Like idiots saying 'we are only three points behind team X' when it's so early in the season and we haven't had the chance to form large gaps in points totals yet. Far more instructive as a predictor for future performance is goal difference, and United's is still in the negatives.

They haven't played well this season and are very lucky to have a lot of the points they do have. They could easily have lost or drawn a lot of the games they won or drew. I fully expect them to regress to the mean soon and start struggling for points. All the signs - their goal difference, how they are playing - suggest it.