Association Football 2020/21

[The Houstonian]

Thank you Fat Sam for parking that double-decker bus.

I told you he was a good manager.

He's not a good manager, lol. Slaven Bilic drew with Man City, a much better team than Liverpool¹, playing much better football. Liverpool were outplayed by Midtjylland not long ago.

"Sam Allardyce is a good manager" is something no person who knows anything about soccer has ever said.²

¹Bruh.
²Allardyce is one of the greats. I recommend you read The Mixer by Michael Cox.

[Mike88]

Portugal Primeira Liga update:

Benfica draws with Santa Clara in the Azores (1-1), and falls to 3rd place. Currently, the score for the top 5 is the following:

1º Sporting 32 points
2º FCPorto 28
3º Benfica 28
4º Braga 24
5º Vitória SC 19

On January 15th, Porto and Benfica will face off in the "Portuguese Clássico" in Dragão Stadium, Porto city.

[Santander]

Lots of transfer talk around Emi and Aarons again. I hope Norwich can keep their remaining key players together for one more shot in the Premier League. Imagine if the young core of last year's team - Lewis, Godfrey, Aarons, Cantwell, Emi - could've stayed together for a couple more years... they were such a talented team but were a bit too young and lacked quality experienced players.

[NewYorkExpress]

Several impressive upsets in the FA Cup today.

Luton Town beat Reading 1-0, Chorley beat a shorthanded Derby County 2-0, and Blackpool defeated West Bromwich Albion on penalties.

[Alcibiades]

Tottenham vs. Marine today in the FA Cup, which I believe is the biggest ever difference in tier of any FA Cup tie in history. I hope it doesn’t turn too ugly...

[NewYorkExpress]

Tottenham vs. Marine today in the FA Cup, which I believe is the biggest ever difference in tier of any FA Cup tie in history. I hope it doesn’t turn too ugly...

Anything other than a Tottenham rout would be shocking. A Tottenham team consisting of children would probably win by four to five goals.

[Santander]

Several impressive upsets in the FA Cup today.

Luton Town beat Reading 1-0, Chorley beat a shorthanded Derby County 2-0, and Blackpool defeated West Bromwich Albion on penalties.

Chorley were heavy favorites by the bookmakers and pundits to beat Derby U14s, so not sure what you're talking about.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I don't know why I get my hopes up. I should have gone to early mass today instead of watching that disaster. Still would've seen the PK and the game winner without the hour of hideous play in between. 4th would be amazing this year, but I'll try not to even irrationally get my hopes up for that now.

[NewYorkExpress]

Several impressive upsets in the FA Cup today.

Luton Town beat Reading 1-0, Chorley beat a shorthanded Derby County 2-0, and Blackpool defeated West Bromwich Albion on penalties.

Chorley were heavy favorites by the bookmakers and pundits to beat Derby U14s, so not sure what you're talking about.

I assumed Derby was using what was left of their first team, and a few reserves.

[JGibson]

Bundesliga: Schalke 04 finally won a game, as they thrashed Hoffenheim 4-nil yesterday.

[Santander]

Hard to believe Simon Kjaer is only 31, it feels like he's been around forever. There are even some people who are calling him the best defender in Serie A... (obviously, those people are very wrong - that title belongs to Koulibaly) I remember back when Kjaer was at Roma in 2012, people were calling him the worst defender in Serie A, lol.

I was interested to see if Julian Draxler would move this window, as I think he's a genuinely interesting transfer who could make a difference somewhere, unlike Sami Khedira, Christian Eriksen, or Isco, but it looks like he's going to run out his contract at PSG. The transfer window has been so quiet... literally zero deals worth talking about.

[Battista Minola 1616]

Hard to believe Simon Kjaer is only 31, it feels like he's been around forever. There are even some people who are calling him the best defender in Serie A... (obviously, those people are very wrong - that title belongs to Koulibaly) I remember back when Kjaer was at Roma in 2012, people were calling him the worst defender in Serie A, lol.

I was interested to see if Julian Draxler would move this window, as I think he's a genuinely interesting transfer who could make a difference somewhere, unlike Sami Khedira, Christian Eriksen, or Isco, but it looks like he's going to run out his contract at PSG. The transfer window has been so quiet... literally zero deals worth talking about.

I'm honestly shocked 1. that Simon Kjaer is still around 2. that he is considered in contention for best anything.

I very much agree about Kalidou Koulibaly, the impenetrable wall of Naples.

[JGibson]

Mesut Özil's Arsenal tenure is all but done and dusted, as he is set to terminate his Arsenal contract. He will be headed to Turkish Süper Lig team Fenerbahçe.

Sky Sports:

Arsenal and Mesut Ozil are close to finalising an early termination of the midfielder's contract, after which he is expected to join Fenerbahce as a free agent on a three-and-a-half year deal.

The 32-year-old, who is Arsenal's highest earner, has not played for the Gunners since March after being frozen out by manager Mikel Arteta.

[NewYorkExpress]

Mesut Özil's Arsenal tenure is all but done and dusted, as he is set to terminate his Arsenal contract. He will be headed to Turkish Süper Lig team Fenerbahçe.

Sky Sports:

Arsenal and Mesut Ozil are close to finalising an early termination of the midfielder's contract, after which he is expected to join Fenerbahce as a free agent on a three-and-a-half year deal.

The 32-year-old, who is Arsenal's highest earner, has not played for the Gunners since March after being frozen out by manager Mikel Arteta.

That probably makes Turkish football somewhat watchable.

Meanwhile tomorrow's the big game between Liverpool and Manchester United.

We'll finally be able to find out if Manchester United are contenders this season.

[Santander]

Mesut Özil's Arsenal tenure is all but done and dusted, as he is set to terminate his Arsenal contract. He will be headed to Turkish Süper Lig team Fenerbahçe.

Sky Sports:

Arsenal and Mesut Ozil are close to finalising an early termination of the midfielder's contract, after which he is expected to join Fenerbahce as a free agent on a three-and-a-half year deal.

The 32-year-old, who is Arsenal's highest earner, has not played for the Gunners since March after being frozen out by manager Mikel Arteta.

Considering how massive his wages are, it should allow Arsenal to save up some money to go after a quality player during the summer. For political reasons, I think Fener (and maybe Basaksehir) was basically the only club that could both afford him and be willing to take him on. For pure creativity, I'd put him up there with de Bruyne, James and Bruno Fernandes at the top of English football, so he definitely still has a lot to give, even if there will be a de-rusting period.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

https://twitter.com/CalcioDirect/status/1351668833917022219?s=20

Unreal Coppa Italia match.

Your quarters are Napoli/Spezia, Inter/Milan, Juve/SPAL, Atalanta/Lazio (or Parma). Not much chaos at all, but that was certainly a nice small moment of fun.

[Battista Minola 1616]

https://twitter.com/CalcioDirect/status/1351668833917022219?s=20

Unreal Coppa Italia match.

Your quarters are Napoli/Spezia, Inter/Milan, Juve/SPAL, Atalanta/Lazio (or Parma). Not much chaos at all, but that was certainly a nice small moment of fun.

SPEZIA

SPEZIA

SPEZIA

SPEZIA

The Eagles soared in Rome! City pride through the roof!

[LAKISYLVANIA]

big fan of Koulibaly. He used to play in Belgium.

[NewYorkExpress]

Talk about a European Super League reaching a boiling point. FIFA is threatening to ban players who participate from international play.

In light of recent media speculation about the creation of a closed European “Super League” by some European clubs, FIFA and the six confederations (AFC, CAF, Concacaf, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA) once again would like to reiterate and strongly emphasize that such a competition would not be recognised by either FIFA or the respective confederation. Any club or player involved in such a competition would as a consequence not be allowed to participate in any competition organised by FIFA or their respective confederation.

As per the FIFA and confederations statutes, all competitions should be organised or recognised by the relevant body at their respective level, by FIFA at the global level and by the confederations at the continental level. In this respect, the confederations recognise the FIFA Club World Cup, in its current and new format, as the only worldwide club competition while FIFA recognises the club competitions organised by the confederations as the only club continental competitions.

[NewYorkExpress]

Liverpool's in a bit of a cold spell. They've dropped to fourth in the Premier League, and Manchester United just knocked them out of the FA Cup.

[Santander]

Liverpool's in a bit of a cold spell. They've dropped to fourth in the Premier League, and Manchester United just knocked them out of the FA Cup.

Liverpool. Is. Not. A. Very. Good. Team.

Man City is the only truly great team in the Premier League, in that they have complete balance and depth. Liverpool over-performed the last couple seasons because the game had yet to fully catch up with Klopp's tactics, (credit to him for that, of course) but since the restart, they've been far from unbeatable. You would have to say, as flawed as Man Utd's squad is, and as much as they've grossly overpaid for many of their players, they have the better team, although they are being managed by a clown who is way out of his depth.

[Alcibiades]

Liverpool's in a bit of a cold spell. They've dropped to fourth in the Premier League, and Manchester United just knocked them out of the FA Cup.

Liverpool. Is. Not. A. Very. Good. Team.

Man City is the only truly great team in the Premier League, in that they have complete balance and depth. Liverpool over-performed the last couple seasons because the game had yet to fully catch up with Klopp's tactics, (credit to him for that, of course) but since the restart, they've been far from unbeatable. You would have to say, as flawed as Man Utd's squad is, and as much as they've grossly overpaid for many of their players, they have the better team, although they are being managed by a clown who is way out of his depth.

I wouldn’t say Man U are better than Liverpool. Fernandes is world-class, as is Pogba when he can be bothered, but their defence is a joke.

[Santander]

James Rodriguez 

[The Houstonian]

Liverpool's in a bit of a cold spell. They've dropped to fourth in the Premier League, and Manchester United just knocked them out of the FA Cup.

Liverpool. Is. Not. A. Very. Good. Team.

Man City is the only truly great team in the Premier League, in that they have complete balance and depth. Liverpool over-performed the last couple seasons because the game had yet to fully catch up with Klopp's tactics, (credit to him for that, of course) but since the restart, they've been far from unbeatable. You would have to say, as flawed as Man Utd's squad is, and as much as they've grossly overpaid for many of their players, they have the better team, although they are being managed by a clown who is way out of his depth.

All of their senior center backs are out, so their best options in that position are two midfielders and a 19-year-old who was playing sixth-tier football last season. I don't know of any team that would perform well under those circumstances.

[Santander]

Liverpool's in a bit of a cold spell. They've dropped to fourth in the Premier League, and Manchester United just knocked them out of the FA Cup.

Liverpool. Is. Not. A. Very. Good. Team.

Man City is the only truly great team in the Premier League, in that they have complete balance and depth. Liverpool over-performed the last couple seasons because the game had yet to fully catch up with Klopp's tactics, (credit to him for that, of course) but since the restart, they've been far from unbeatable. You would have to say, as flawed as Man Utd's squad is, and as much as they've grossly overpaid for many of their players, they have the better team, although they are being managed by a clown who is way out of his depth.

All of their senior center backs are out, so their best options in that position are two midfielders and a 19-year-old who was playing sixth-tier football last season. I don't know of any team that would perform well under those circumstances.

They were defensively suspect post-restart even with Gomez and Van Dijk, who is extremely overrated. Maguire, on the other hand, is perhaps underrated, in that he's not a garbage player at all, rather just not worth his price tag, something he does not control. But how many teams in Europe, let alone England, really have two great central defenders right now? For me, it's basically just Man City and Juventus. (both have 3) It's no surprise both have such standout defensive records.