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Fierce_LiNk

Football Season 2019-20

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I'll believe it when City isn't included in the next European competitions' draws. 

This will end up being a transfer ban for a year max. Mark my words :p 

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38 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Man City have been banned from all European competitions for the next 2 seasons. That's going to cost them an absolute fortune. Lovely stuff. :D 

What a terrible shame.. :grin:

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Great result against Chelsea yesterday. I don't think either side performed that well and they had a load of chances that they simply didn't take. However, I will concede that I do think that their first goal should have stood. It was softly disallowed and we did just as many wrong things in that incident as they did. I'm not even sure if our lot even complained that it should have been disallowed before it went to VAR. 

Fred was immense. Didn't stop working for the entire game and was everywhere. I'm liking the look of him and Bruno Fernandes together, so it just leaves that other midfield spot to be sorted. A midfield of Fred-McTominay-Bruno could look decent. Also pleased that we kept a clean sheet. 

The game itself wasn't fantastic and it's quite clear to see just how average we're both becoming/are. Very little star quality on the field and it was hard to see (besides one or two) which players could elevate their sides. On the plus side, it was open and chances were created, so it wasn't a dull game by any means. But, I think both sides are in that 4-8th category and quite comfortably so.

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The officials helped United almost as much as Batshuayi did. :laughing:
Its like we were playing two men down... when Utd should’ve been one man down. :angry:

Didn't deserve to lose that at all.

Edited by Kav

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The Maguire incident was ridiculous. Son got sent off for something similar the other week and I'd argue Maguire's was much worse. Kicking someone in the balls should be a criminal offence never mind a red card.

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On 18/02/2020 at 4:00 PM, Hero-of-Time said:

The Maguire incident was ridiculous. Son got sent off for something similar the other week and I'd argue Maguire's was much worse. Kicking someone in the balls should be a criminal offence never mind a red card.

Another dodgy VAR call against us today too, Lo Celso should’ve had a red but wasn’t even carded!

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28 minutes ago, killthenet said:

Fucking hell Liverpool, do us a favour. Was counting on them giving West Ham a drubbing.

Oh ye of little faith...

 

 

 

.....*finishes hyperventilating*

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It just feels so unfair to play Man City in the League Cup final. Their manager doesn't give a toss if they win it or not, it means fuck all to the players and the fans don't really give a shit either - I honestly don't know how they can find any satisfaction in it. For Villa on the other hand it would have meant a great deal, Dean Smith leading his boyhood club to a major domestic trophy, Jack Grealish captaining his side to their first piece of major silverware in over 20 years - the fans would have loved to see that happen. It was a pretty demoralising first half for the most part, their second goal resulting from a corner that should never have been was pretty annoying but it looked like they were going to smash us at that point. Our performance was much improved after that, we were unlucky not to score a late equaliser but it feels doubly gutting that A) It's crooked Man City beating us in the final and B) That their second goal absolutely falls into the bounds of 'game changing incidents' that VAR could have easily cleared up but somehow doesn't fall into their remit. 

I just hope to christ we can stay up and that Dean Smith & Jack Grealish get an opportunity to lead Villa out in a major final again before their careers are done. 

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42 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Congratulations on the win, @Fierce_LiNk. Bet you're buzzing.

Definitely! Followed the game with the RedCafe lot and it was just an insane rollercoaster of emotions. Lots of great performers today. Bruno (what a player he's been since he joined!), Fred (most improved player this season), Wan-Bissaka and Matic. We let them have the ball and they ran out of ideas eventually. Delighted with the win but there were a few moments in the second half where I thought they would score, notably after their double change with Mahrez and Jesus coming on. 

I know goalkeepers receive a lot of grief, but Ederson was at fault for both goals. The Martial goal should have been saveable (I would have been annoyed had De Gea let that one in) and he basically gifted the ball to McTominay at the end for his goal. Aside from that, we got the ball into decent areas but didn't make enough out of it. Daniel James had about 3 opportunities to play someone in and then fluffed it each time!

Overall, great game. Intense! Much improved in midfield and can already tell that Bruno will be a huge player for us in the long-term. Excited about the future of a Bruno-Fred-McTominay midfield. There's finally some fight there. Every team needs a bit of grit. 

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That result is bad news for us. Now City will be out for redemption and I fear the worst, especially after that narrow fluky 1-0 we put in against relegation threatened West Ham yesterday.

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That penalty decision was nonsense. The most obvious shoulder to the ball ever but somehow it's a handball? Fucking rubbish. Villa's individual errors aside we've been screwed over by the officials quite a bit recently. Going from 1-0 down to 2-0 completely changed the game, took us from almost being back in it to well and truly beaten

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Absolutely gutted tonight :hmm,:

Liverpool were brilliant for 95 minutes.. and then we crumbled after a terrible error from Adrian.

If only we could have got the second goal before the end of the 90 minutes.. :cry:

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5 hours ago, nekunando said:

Absolutely gutted tonight :hmm,:

Liverpool were brilliant for 95 minutes.. and then we crumbled after a terrible error from Adrian.

If only we could have got the second goal before the end of the 90 minutes.. :cry:

His errors have cost us a couple of games now.

Fair play to Athletico. They know how to play against us. As always, possession is pointless if you can't break through and score a goal. 

To be honest we haven't looked right ever since returning from the winter break and have been scraping wins since. It really messed with our rhythm.

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The lengths people are going to so they don’t have to watch Liverpool win the Premiership!

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9 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

The lengths people are going to so they don’t have to watch Liverpool win the Premiership!

Given our recent form I dont think they had anything to worry about. :D 

Very happy to see all the football being cancelled/postponed. It needed to happen in order to stop the spreading of the virus.

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But I can only wonder what might happen if this virus sticks around for the long term. Do we abandon the season and start again from scratch next season, or do we finish this and rightfully crown Liverpool as the Premier League champions which is gonna be rescheduling hell? Naturally that is wholly dependant when the virus is no longer a major threat that we can resume as normal. I mean this 3rd of April restart seems like incredibly wishful thinking with how the virus has yet to reach it's peak yet.

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It seems highly likely that UEFA will postpone Euro 2020 until next year though so if the season is suspended until the end of April then they could feasibly catch up with only a few extra weeks, with teams playing midweek and weekends. The season could end in mid June and next season could be delayed an extra couple of weeks to give teams enough time off. 

Given that the winter break was only bought in for the first time this year they could scrap it next year so the season finishes in plenty of time to have a break before the rescheduled Euro's

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But the virus is predicted to reach its peak in June/July. If games can’t be played by then, the season must be declared void and restarted as we were at the start of August. It wouldn’t be fair to award any titles/promotions/relegations as things stand, as the affected clubs could sue the hell out of the league. Teams relegated could have strung together a series of results. And what about teams who had games in hand? Finishing the season based on the position teams are in now is completely unfair. Sad as it may be for teams like Liverpool and Leeds. 

And no, this has nothing to do with me being a Bolton fan :D  We are staying up!!!

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I propose they use Football Manager to simulate the results of the remaining fixtures. They can run the simulations several times and take an average result of each to determine the scoreline. As long as they make it independently verified and are open about how it all works then I think the club's wouldn't kick up much of a fuss over the final standings. 

Seems the fairest way to do it without extending the season after the outbreak subsides.

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There is absolutely no way that a new season can start until the current one is finished. It's really as simple as that. There's too much at stake with relegation places, promotion spots, European positions, etc. This all has to be cleared up when it is safe to do so, but there's no way that the new season can start before this one is finished. Neither should this season be considered a write-off, either. I say this as a die-hard Man Utd fan on the verge of seeing Liverpool win their first Premier League title. The remaining games have to be played at the first opportunity of doing so. 

There are implications, of course. Players will have to find ways to train at home and they won't be as sharp as they would be if the games were to be played tomorrow. But, unfortunately, there's no logical way around that. What is logical is that each team is given the opportunity to play against each other team in the league both at home and away, at some point during the season. There are always unknown variables to take into account to some extent, such as players picking up injuries at unfortunate times (e.g. if a team was about to play their local rivals), or suspensions, or freak weather events such as snow or flooding. Of course, this is a whole other level that we have never experienced before. The safety of the fans, players and anyone involved in the game is paramount, for sure. So, I fully understand why the season has been stopped. But, at some point, it needs to be finished for the simple sake of closure. Yes, there will need to be some additional thought to cup fixtures, Euros/international fixtures, etc. They will need to be moved/rescheduled/rearranged. 

The worst case scenario for me is that this season is classed as a write-off and void. It can't and shouldn't happen. 

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On 14/03/2020 at 6:55 PM, Fierce_LiNk said:

The worst case scenario for me is that this season is classed as a write-off and void. It can't and shouldn't happen. 

I do completely agree... but it would be pretty darn funny!

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