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It's got that feel of Liverpool could play all night without scoring
last final they played it was a goalkeeper that swung it, same again this time. Courtois has been immense
Silence in this bar…..the only noise was my stifling my guffaw…
All over, Liverpool probably wish they hadn't been so quick to book up their open bus tour now 😂
Got to say, CL finals are disappointing affairs, Liverpool just looked poor and like they'd never score, Real just wanted to counter attack and both were happy to just play around the middle.
There’s always the League Cup
Courtois was easily MOM but Liverpool have been well off the pace for a while, we've barely won a game by more than a single goal for months. We were much better off in terms of goal difference in the league earlier in the season but City finished quite a few ahead. Afcon seemed to ruin Salah's form
Re MoM yes Courtois had a couple of worldys and deserved it but their right back was faultless. Diaz didnt get a sniff.
Liverpool just looked poor and like they’d never score
Got to say, as an ex-GK myself this pisses me off. Another day they could have scored four or five. They've just said they had 24 shots, Courtois made nine saves and there were three or four worldies in there. Give some credit where due, that was a masterclass. You make it sound like it's Liverpool's problem they never scored, there was a 6'4" big Belgian reason why they aren't taking Big Cup home tonight.
Three cup finals. No goals. The better teams handle the front three pretty well.
Liverpool looked tired and out of ideas. They seem to end seasons like that, nowadays.
Liverpool just looked out of ideas, they need something to refresh that team, i think a lot of clubs are now figuring out how to play them, and if ManU, Tottenham, Chelsea, etc all strengthen, it'll be a tough season ahead.
Got to say, as an ex-GK myself this pisses me off. Another day they could have scored four or five. They’ve just said they had 24 shots, Courtois made nine saves and there were three or four worldies in there.
I'd have to see those 3 or 4 worldies to agree, he made decent saves, but they were all around him, or at him, even that Salah one in the second half was from a tightish angle.
Courtois was MotM, but i never saw much finger tip saves over the bar or racing out to throw himself at the feet of attackers, it was for a couple of decent saves, yes on another day Liverpool could have scored, but that's like any game, when the chances fell Liverpool either snatched at the shots, or hit it too close to the keeper.
His movement and positioning are all part of his skill, but the fingertip onto the post in the first half, the one scrambling back across goal to block at the foot of the post and the one from Salah immediately stand out. That last one the angle was tight, and Salah should have kept it on the deck but that was a full strike from 6 yards away. Sure it hit his arm as much as him getting an arm to it but making yourself big and taking it as you can is all part of it.
Some of the others you'd be disappointed to let in but those three stand out .
Liverpool never produced anything that Courtois couldn’t deal with easily
I thought they looked absolutely knackered. And that’s perfectly reasonable given the season they’ve had.
easily my arse. You are doing him a huge amount of discredit.
His movement and positioning are all part of his skill, but the fingertip onto the post in the first half, the one scrambling back across goal to block at the foot of the post and the one from Salah immediately stand out. That last one the angle was tight, and Salah should have kept it on the deck but that was a full strike from 6 yards away. Sure it hit his arm as much as him getting an arm to it but making yourself big and taking it as you can is all part of it.
Forgot the first one, didn't see if he'd got fingers to it, so would give him that one.
The Salah one where he was scrambling across, if you see it from the angle, Salah actually hits it back across goal (not at goal) and hits the goalie with it, so can't count that as a save.
The last one, Salah brought that ball down, was pressured by the defender and managed to get that half a yard before hitting that shot, by the time he'd done that the angle was tight and Courtois had it covered, pretty standard save you see many times.
A couple of very good saves but Liverpool didn't work Courtois hard enough IMO, it's a CL final so you won't get any freebies (let's ignore what happened with Karius....)
You're wired to the moon if you think that was a 'standard' save.
And take it from me, if I used my footwork to get in the right position and then the ball hit me I'm absolutely counting that as a save. Best save I ever made hit me half on the shoulder and half on the ear, and went over the bar as the second part of a double save, they all count.
anyway, UEFA statement on the delay reported on the BBC
Uefa has issued a statement on the pre-match problems outside the stadium...
"In the lead-up to the game, the turnstiles at the Liverpool end became blocked by thousands fans who had purchased fake tickets which did not work in the turnstiles.
"This created a build-up of fans trying to get in. As a result, the kick-off was delayed by 35 minutes to allow as many fans as possible with genuine tickets to gain access.
"As numbers outside the stadium continued to build up after kick-off, the police dispersed them with tear gas and forced them away from the stadium.
"Uefa is sympathetic to those affected by these events and will further review these matters urgently together with the French police and authorities, and with the French Football Federation."
From reports and the video it looks like the French police were focused on Liverpool fans, UEFA are jus being UEFA, regurgitating what the French police told them, the French police do tend to be ones that can be heavy handed, Spanish police can be like this at times, but to actively handle both sets of supporters differently, and using kettling and tear gas on one set is not a good thing, and from the reports, lying about the reasoning is even worse.
Nothing will happen though, UEFA have made their minds up, they'll be back to focusing on how to make more money next year, French police couldn't care less about English fans so expect lots of nothing.
Just the small matter of the biggest prize in football left. COYRs!
Play offs are bonkers!!
Yeah, this is the richest game in football today, the winners get over £100 million guaranteed, the losers get to try again next season, it truly is a winner take all game, unlike the CL final, where there's probably £5-10 million between winner and runner-up, sometimes the runner-up makes more than the winner!
I did find out this week that the losers take the whole gate from the Wembley final which isn't a bad gesture, the winners won't miss it.
Hope for Cooper to make the dream come true with him clocking one with 1 point from 7 on the board when he took over. Hudds are very well drilled though, that corner routine they have going is one of those things where you think you've seen everything in football buy new ideas still exist.
Annoying my toddlers bath time is the best part of an hour bang in the middle of the game! :/
bit of dirt never hurt anyone.
Would be good to have Nottingham Forest in the prem, just as a name I associate with football from my childhood.
Your wish has been granted
Congratulations Forest.
From a disappointed Town Fan.
Ooooohhh so good to win that game (2017 penalties).
Terrible game but good to have Forest back. My nephew is a Forest fan so it'll be good to have Leeds/Forest bants in the Prem, instead of Champ/League 1 for a change!
At least one of those pens should have been given though......
Interesting summer for Forest given most of their best players are on loan.
..... Although we proved that a great manager can keep an average Championship squad up.
At least one of those pens should have been given though……
Yep, only game of the season that they had var for, and it came up short.
Interesting summer for Forest given most of their best players are on loan.
As much as I wanted them to win for nostalgia, nothing I saw today makes me think they have a cat in hells chance of staying up next season.
Well this feels surreal...
One of those pens should have probably been given but we've had our fare share of bad luck over the season so feels like it's evened itself out today.
Either way it was going to be a re-build as the loanee's would have gone back and Johnson would have been off, I'd say 50/50 at the moment, he may stay for a season to cut his teeth rather than be a bench warmer with a huge fee hung around his neck.
Game sounded like both teams cancelled each other out pretty much so not much of a game to watch
Cooper does do well with the kids though (Spence was in Borough reserves before Coops made him a 15-20m player) so I'm hoping we'll have a mix of up and coming youngsters and a few decent loanee's, I fear we're terribly light though and need an at least another Cook in midfield, and someone with a bit of creativity in the middle. It'll be interesting to see who comes in but trust Cooper to not panic and to have done a methodical amount of homework as ever.
The footage from the St Etienne Auxerre riot is crazy. The French police response is very different to that in Paris
Well done wales - hung in there against a good Ukraine team. First World Cup since 1958!! Decent group as well - Iran, USA and England.
Gives me someone to follow now my lot have failed to qualify yet again.
Should make for a spicy World Cup group, Iran v USA and England v Wales.
I don’t think City will rest until they are the PSG of the PL and the only question is whether they will win the CL too.
So a bit like Chelsea in the past, or Utd, or Brac, or RM, or Bayern - for Blackburn Rovers ...
Great to see Forest back 0 used to watch them during Uni days (79-81) - when they were the elite team (with a tiny ground). I get the feeling that they may be a dead cert to return to the Championship.
Just finished watching on catch up. I was just saying how happy we were to be going to Qatar to get kicked out in the first round, but I reckon there's a chance in that group.
Congrats to Wales.
When is the EPL Fixture list announced, is it the end of this week? How are they squeezing in A 6 week break into pretty much the same duration? As far as England in the WC I'd be interested to what extent fatigue plays a part, going all the way in the Euro's, then into another heavy fixture list, this mini tournament this summer (I have no idea what's going on here tbh) then into a more compact schedule that normal?
We'll ever be flying as the players will be hitting their full stride, or they'll be absolutely knackered, cant help think it'll be the latter.
As a Forest fan we have a huge rebuild job on anyway which could be too much of an ask, but I feel squad depth will really play a part next season, especially post WC.
Wonder if the fatigue factor - if it is a factor - will be less as the WC isn’t at the end of the season?
Wonder if the fatigue factor – if it is a factor – will be less as the WC isn’t at the end of the season?
Possibly offset by baking heat.
God knows how this season is going to work, WC2022 between November and December, final one week before Christmas and then what happens with the countries that usually have a winter break, the European Cup comps as well will have a bit of a break, can see this season being an absolute nightmare, and all to fit in a tournament that nobody wanted.
The whole thing is an utter farce! No organisation that wasn’t completely corrupt would even contemplate madness like this, but then we’re talking about FIFA.
A tournament nobody wants, in the most stupid and inappropriate location imaginable, watched over and milked by human rights abusers, interrupting and disrupting the domestic leagues of every country involved who’s only legacy will be a load of unused white elephant stadiums sat rotting in the desert
Absolutely ****ing insane!
If it was a summer cup, usual is to turn up put in a performance that isn't too shocking, but gets em kicked out in enough time for a decent summer holiday with the WAG/Kids. I'm waiting to see what tricks are pulled out of the bag to get some time off, an example will be the player getting silly bookings that mean under totting up that they get a three match ban over Xmas.
I reckon a lot of managers and players will be looking at an already congested fixture list, weighing up their priorities and we see an epidemic of phantom groin-strains and players pulling up with tight hamstrings around the first week in November
Only to miraculously recover to reconvene the premier league season, as fresh as a Daisy, Having spent it watching it on the telly with their feet up in Alderney Edge
International football has increasingly been the poor relation to domestic and champions leagues (I couldn’t care less if there was never another international played ever again) but the farcical nature of this World Cup has really crossed a few boundaries. This one could be te equivalent of the League Cup, where for the top teams managers and players, it’s just not anywhere near the top of the priority list
I, for one, could not give a toss about Qatar. Doesn't even feel like a WC.
All it needs is a massive statue of Sepp Blatter left crumbling in the desert alongside the abandoned stadia for future generations to ponder over.
'Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair'.
I reckon a lot of managers and players will be looking at an already congested fixture list, weighing up their priorities and we see an epidemic of phantom groin-strains and players pulling up with tight hamstrings around the first week in November
Certainly something Roy Keane in colusion with Ferguson used to do pretty often. 67 caps over 15 years. Plus 1 contrived walkout.
A tournament nobody wants
I'm looking forward to it but I get that Man Utd fans have a chip on their shoulders about the national side.
in the most stupid and inappropriate location imaginable
Any nation that plays football is an appropriate location
watched over and milked by human rights abusers
so no different from Argentina 78, arguably USA 94 *depending on your worldview**
interrupting and disrupting the domestic leagues of every country involved
Just not true, in fact the WC regularly interrupts the season of Southern Hemisphere countries, this year levels the playing field and will be outside of the Argentine league season as an example.
who’s only legacy will be a load of unused white elephant stadiums sat rotting in the desert
I'm sure that these stadiums are built in urban locations and you didn't intend for this part of the rant to have the faint whiff of stereotyping about it 😉
Absolutely ****ing insane!
Hope so, looking forward to it massively.
Have to side with Binners, Qatar is the smallest place ever to host the world cup, it's smaller by area than the Falkland Islands! It's not really set up for the incoming fans you'd expect, or support network for a World Cup.
Don't get me wrong, i'll bet the Qatari organisers will do everything within their ability to make this a success, but they're having to fabricate the whole thing, which is crazy, you're going to have a lot of fans, teams, etc in a very small area, i believe 7 of the 8 stadiums are in or around Doha, so within 10 miles of each other, they also expect about 1 to 1.5 million fans to visit Qatar during the tournament, i think they have hotel capacity for about 200,000, it's going to be interesting!
WC2026 will be hosted by Canada, USA and Mexico, which will have the complete opposite issue, it's crazy how the hosting is done these days.
I'm not normally one to agree with Binners' hyperbole 😉 but I agree in this instance, it stinks.
Chapeau to @martinhutch for that reference. Also can we have a separate WC thread so we can talk about the WC and not have to wade through boring PL rubbish? 🙂
Seen the "most valuable player" list? There is some serious Spanish league and Barcelona bias going on there. Vinicius Jr above Haaland, and not quite sure how De Jong and Torres make the top 10. Barca overpaid for Torres as it was, because city allowed them to pay in instalments, and he has done ok but no better than expected since the switch, certainly not set the world on fire.
How is MÜller still playing, he must be in his mid 60s now?
How is MÜller still playing, he must be in his mid 60s now?
Yeah, 32 years old, still got another couple of years at the top, he just keeps going on, one of those players that doesn't make huge headlines, but just wins stuff every season and never misses many games for club or country.
Mrs Binners just made the same point. She wandered in just as his name was mentioned and said “Muller? Is he not about 110 Years old?”.
This was then followed by a Google of the oldest outfield players to have played in the Premier League.
Teddy Sheringham
Mrs Binners just made the same point. She wandered in just as his name was mentioned and said “Muller? Is he not about 110 Years old?”.
We're on about Thomas Muller, not Gerd 😂
Never question her football knowledge.
Just ask her nicely if she’ll tell you who she’s betting on. She’s had her account suspended by two bookies as she was winning too much, and she only ever bets on football
I regard it as some kind of vengeance on the world of football for the affliction of being a Bolton fan 😂
Nice penalty that was!
Can’t be many better penalty takers around than Kane! He’s very positive with them. Le Tissier I think scored 48 out of 49 or something similar.
But the best goal he scored was sublime
My fave is at no. 2
That le Tissier vid is just awesome. Love the goal at #2 as well - a bit like Gazza's against Scotland. Only better.
Le Tiss could have been an absolute all-time great if he could've been arsed!
That most valuable player thing is clearly heavily weighted towards younger players, there's barely anyone over 23.
I'm with Binners about the world cup, I don't care. It's such average football compared to club level and I don't get the impression that the players hearts are truly in it however much they say otherwise
A lovely article re-run today in the Guardian - who among us wouldn't buy an old turnstile from their childhood club?
LeTissier showreel is ace!
Any predictions on when Kane will release his trademark dive in the CBA cup. Recovering from illness so have to watch.
Sweet Jesus! This looks like a second division play off 😂
More atmosphere in the Covid matches.
Don’t think I’ll bother. Life’s too short
Remember it’s behind closed doors with school kids in! Good match so far though!
Seems like I missed a tedious and pointless thrilling nil nil on Saturday. Hey ho
I see the daily mash have summed up the mood of footy fans in the nation pretty accurately today regarding Qatar
Britain could be watching World Cup now if not for ****ing Qatar
It's a bit depressing watching these nations matches, it's just friendlies, but they're never ending, and after a hell of a long season for players around the world, and after this they'll be getting back into the season and straight into a world cup, then back into the season again and no doubt playing catch up.
I was a bit optimistic with my early assessment of the game - it slipped into tedious mediocrity after I typed that up there about a good match! Completely pointless games at a time where none of the players want to be playing.
Ooft, this is a bit of a kicking for England!
Provided a hearty chuckle in this house.
Crikey! Almost as bad as Scotland v Ireland the other day.
Crikey! Almost as bad as Scotland v Ireland the other day
Not if you're Irish.
True! But we showed, er, Armenia a thing or four tonight!
Back to the ‘proper’ football I see that as Citeh, Liverpool and other big squads strengthen further for the upcoming season, we’re presently being linked with pretty much everybody but haven’t actually signed anyone
https://twitter.com/mamphela24/status/1537691162135478273?s=21&t=2HfBbanck9G6Rh4E8jTQ_Q
I expect that, as usual, we’ll sign none of the big names we’re being linked with and hugely overpay for a selection of over-rated donkeys at the eleventh hour 🙄
Tevez is available again?