UEFA Europa League 2019/2020

[Deanburn Dave]

Arsenal thought the game was won after the first leg. Just had to turn up and the opposition would crumble. Oh dear how wrong could they be.

[Trackdaybob]

The amount of time taken to confirm the (most fucking obvious in a long time) red card in the Man Utd game was comical. FFS!!!!  Get VAR in the bin  

[Derry Alli]

1 hour ago, DG.Roma said:

Hartson's raging! Sounds like he's fighting the tears. No a good night for the big man right enough

 

1 hour ago, NorthernLights said:

John Hartson sounds like he is on the verge of tears.

Glorious. 

Arsenal do seem to have a rather large following of greetin' faced gobshite fans. 

[Deanburn Dave]

There is so much wrong at Arsenal you can't see them getting back to being a challenger in the next few years. Dodgy keeper. Defenders that cannot defend. Midfielders who cannot pass. Lazy attackers. And don't get me started on Xhaka and Ozil.
The Emirates is quieter than a crypt 90% of the game and the fans get the fear awfully easy which spreads to the team.

[Salvo Montalbano]

There is so much wrong at Arsenal you can't see them getting back to being a challenger in the next few years. Dodgy keeper. Defenders that cannot defend. Midfielders who cannot pass. Lazy attackers. And don't get me started on Xhaka and Ozil.
The Emirates is quieter than a crypt 90% of the game and the fans get the fear awfully easy which spreads to the team.

It's a strange one. Arteta has made a difference in terms of intensity and the way he sets the team up with the full backs moving forward more and Xhaka slotting back to provide cover but they still lack so much defensive solidity that there's almost no point looking at anything else. The co-commentator (I think Karen Cairney) was saying how good Mustafi had been but he is a liability and totally lost the flight of the ball for the Olympiakos opener. David Luiz is spoken of as some sort of leader but he is prone to some awful decision making like ducking for the second goal. Xhaka has done well to recover from being stripped of the captaincy but still makes so many poor decisions with passing and refuses to take responsibility for anything as seen in the poor back pass that led to the second goal. They went out and brought in a centre half in January but it looks like he's still injured (they also brought in Cedric Soares on loan and he's still injured) when they needed someone who could come in straight away and improve the defense. There are a few decent players but they are so far away from even challenging for a top 4 place, the owners have to decide now if they'll be happy to plod along in mid table or if they'll back Arteta in the summer while also complying with FFP. It's a tough gig and fair play to Artera for taking it on.

[pozbaird]

4 hours ago, Deanburn Dave said:

There is so much wrong at Arsenal you can't see them getting back to being a challenger in the next few years. Dodgy keeper. Defenders that cannot defend. Midfielders who cannot pass. Lazy attackers. And don't get me started on Xhaka and Ozil.
The Emirates is quieter than a crypt 90% of the game and the fans get the fear awfully easy which spreads to the team.

Good times for clubs come and go. Liverpool were kings, now thirty years before top dogs again. Man Utd under Fergie. Chelsea under Mourinho. Arsenal’s invincibles. The problem with Arsenal, to my eyes at least, is that they had a team with a core of hard cnuts. Dixon, Adams, Viera, Parlour... even their fancy dan johnny foreigners playing up front could put themselves about. Looking at Arsenal teams in recent years, where are the characters you’d want in the trenches? Their teams always seem full of soft-as-shite sand-dancers. No dig, no fighters, no dirty barstewards. In recent Arsenal teams, who would you want beside you in a tough situation? 

Edited February 28, 2020 by pozbaird

[GNU_Linux]

Istanbul Basaksehir vs FC Copenhagen
Olympiacos vs Wolves
Rangers vs Bayer Leverkusen
VFL Wolfsburg vs Shakhtar Donentsk
Inter Milan vs Getafe
Eintracht Frankurt/RB Salzburg vs FC Basel
Sevilla vs Roma
LASK vs Manchester United

Games played 12 & 19 of March

[Barry Ferguson's Hat]

I'd love to see pozbaird's 'trench warfare' XI. 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

1 hour ago, Barry Ferguson's Hat said:

I'd love to see pozbaird's 'trench warfare' XI. 

Ole Gunner Solskjaer  at the wheel.

 

[RawB93]

2 hours ago, pozbaird said:

The problem with Arsenal, to my eyes at least, is that they had a team with a core of hard cnuts always try to walk it in.

 

[Blootoon87]

 

Did you see that ludicrous display last night?

[54_and_counting]

17 hours ago, Trackdaybob said:

The amount of time taken to confirm the (most fucking obvious in a long time) red card in the Man Utd game was comical. FFS!!!!  Get VAR in the bin  

That was a joke, not even close to accidental hand ball, the defender literally dived to punch it away and the VAR still told the ref to have a second look at it, utterly embarrassing lol

[Derry Alli]

That's the first - and probably the last - time I've ever seen Lee Dixon and Ray Parlour called 'hard c***s'.

[craigkillie]

They weren't even part of the Invincibles team either.

[just me 2]

Think ray parlour was

They weren't even part of the Invincibles team either.

[craigkillie]

Aye, just checked and Parlour was still kicking about as a fringe player.

[Robin.Hood]

"There are people who are scared of UEFA, but I'm scared of the people close to me contracting this disease by going to the main epicentre of it where 262 people have died in two days."

The Getafe president says his team will not travel to Milan, even if it means losing the tie.

Like to see what response UEFA give here

[George Parr]

Pleased to see the Spanish government have told UEFA to f**k right off with their request to allow an exception for Roma flying in to play Sevilla. 

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by George Parr

[craigkillie]

It's presumably a private jet with only club staff and players on board. If everyone on board was tested and was negative then it wouldn't necessarily be an issue. I don't really see why you'd be annoyed about the attempt to get the game on, but also the Spanish government are well within their rights.

I think people are somewhat underestimating the enormous financial cost associated with postponing and rescheduling weeks worth of football matches, or even playing games behind closed doors. Eventually it reaches a point where health is paramount and measures have to be taken, and we're possibly at that stage now, but it does nobody any favours to pretend that this is a straightforward decision to make as though it's the local pub cancelling the darts league for a few weeks.

[CM.]

A minutes silence there at the Man Utd game, which is behind closed doors