Association Football 2023/2024 Discussion Thread

[JGibson]

My UCL Predictions:
Group A:
Liverpool
Napoli
Rangers
Ajax


Group B:
Atlético Madrid
Bayer Levekusen
Porto
Club Brugge

Group C:
Bayern
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Viktoria Plzeň


Group D:
Tottenham
Marseille
Sporting CP
Eintracht Frankfurt


Group E:
AC Milan
Chelsea
Dinamo Zagreb
Red Bull Salzburg


Group F:
Real Madrid
RB Leipzig
Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk


Group G:
Manchester City
Borussia Dortmund
Sevilla
Copenhagen


Group H:
PSG
Juventus
Benfica
Maccabi Haifa


Group Stage Winner; Demoted to UEL Knockout Round playoffs against 2nd placed UEL group teams; Advancing to Round of 16


My UEL Predictions:
Group A:
Arsenal
PSV
Bodø/Glimt
FC Zürich


Group B:
Rennes
Fenerbahçe
Dynamo Kyiv
AEK Lanarca


Group C:
Real Betis
Roma
Ludogorets
HJK Helsinki

Group D:
Union Berlin
Braga
Malmö FF
Union Saint-Gilloise

Group E:
Manchester United
Real Sociedad
Omonia
Sheriff Tiraspol


Group F:
Lazio
Feyenoord
Midtjylland
Sturm Graz

Group G:
Olympiacos
Nantes
Qarabağ
SC Freiburg


Group H:
AS Monaco
Trabzonspor
Red Star Belgrade (Crvena zvezda)
Ferencváros



Group Stage Winner, advancing to the Round of 16; Demoted to UECL; Advancing to UEL Knockout Round playoffs against 3rd placed UCL group teams




My UECL Predictions:
Group A:
Fiorentina
İstanbul Başakşehir
Heart Of Midlothian
RFS


Group B:
West Ham
Anderlecht
FCSB
Silkeborg


Group C:
Villarreal
Lech Poznań
Austria Wien
Hapoel Be'er Sheva


Group D:
1. FC Köln
Nice
Partizan
Slovácko


Group E:
AZ Alkmaar
Apollon Limassol
Dnipro-1
Vaduz

Group F:
Gent
Molde
Djurgårdens IF
Shamrock Rovers

Group G:
Slavia Prague
CFR Cluj
Sivasspor
Ballkani

Group H:
FC Basel
Slovan Bratislava
Žalgiris
Pyunik


Group Stage Winner, advancing to the Round of 16; Advancing to UECL Knockout Round playoffs against 2nd placed UEL group teams

[JGibson]

Arsenal's perfect start got upended by Manchester United 3-1. Gabriel Martinelli's wrongly disallowed goal by VAR changed the course of the game.

[JGibson]

Thomas Tuchel got sacked as Chelsea's manager.

https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1567439740525318144

[JGibson]

Premier League matches postponed this weekend.

https://twitter.com/premierleague/status/1568185317169188864

[JGibson]

Most fixtures of the upcoming Premier League matchweek will be back; however, the Manchester United v. Leeds and Chelsea v. Liverpool games (and the Brighton v. Crystal Palace game) will be postponed.

On the UEL front, the Arsenal v. PSV game got postponed.

[JGibson]

Arsenal are top of the table, having won 6 of their first 7 matches.

I can't remember the last time they had such good form, but for the first time in a long time, I feel confident about them. I think Arsenal will have a good season.

Also in that game, the youngest ever PL debutant came on, and his name is Ethan Nwaneri, a 15 year-old. He came on for Fábio Vieira, who scored the Gunners' 3rd goal.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1571493409948405769

[JGibson]

The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup group stage is set:

https://twitter.com/brfootball/status/1583728038855946240

[JGibson]

The UECL Knockout Round Playoffs draw:

Braga v. Fiorentina is the main treat of this draw.

https://twitter.com/europacnfleague/status/1589608994464735232

[JGibson]

Arsenal will head into the World Cup and Christmas Day top of the Premier League table, thanks to Brentford's stunning 2-1 over Manchester City.

[JGibson]

US Soccer journalist Grant Wahl, who is covering the World Cup in Qatar, died while covering the Netherlands v. Argentina quarterfinal game that went to penalties in which the Argentines won.


Boston Globe:

Soccer journalist Grant Wahl collapsed and died while at Friday’s World Cup quarterfinal between Argentina and Netherlands in Qatar.

Wahl’s brother Eric, posting on Instagram, wrote that Grant Wahl was given CPR and taken by Uber to a hospital, where he died, according to his wife, infectious disease expert Dr. Celine Gounder. Wahl, a renowned soccer writer for Sports Illustrated for more than two decades, had gone to the World Cup to work both for CBS and his own subscription newsletter.

[...]

He made headlines early in the tournament by trying to enter a Cup venue in a rainbow T-shirt, “in support of LGBTQ rights in a country where same-sex relationships are illegal.” Wahl reported he had his phone taken from him during a long confrontation at the stadium media entrance, though he was eventually allowed to enter without changing the shirt.

[JGibson]

Arsenal come back from a 1-nil halftime deficit to win 3-1 over West Ham with former Manager Arsène Wenger in attendance at the Emirates. They go 8 points up on Manchester City (7 on Newcastle), pending the City v. Leeds game Wednesday.

The PL is back.

[JGibson]

Arsenal 7 points clear on New Years Day if this result holds... Who would've predicted this?

January transfer window will be very interesting.

I knew they'd be Top 4 at this point, but 7 points clear of title favorites Manchester City? Makes me happy.

[JGibson]

Arsenal have a chance to up 6 or 8 on Manchester City later today, should they either draw or win against Tottenham.

Midweek, both Manchester City and Manchester United have a chance to chip away at Arsenal's advantage.

[JGibson]

Juventus gets handed a 15-point deduction that sees them dropping from 3rd to 10th/11th in Serie A.

https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1616538725571330064

[JGibson]

Good news for Arsenal: Tottenham beat Manchester City 1-nil, as Harry Kane scored his 200th Premier League goal.

Manchester City cannot take advantage of Arsenal's slip-up, thus the Arsenal lead stays 5 points.

[JGibson]

Arsenal threw away their 8-point lead in the table, as they lost 3-1 to Manchester City. The teams are level on points, but City have the superior goal differential, thus City are on top. Arsenal still have a game in hand.

[JGibson]

Arsenal regain their place at the top of the Premier League table with a come-from-behind 4-2 win over Aston Villa and the fact that Manchester City threw away two points in a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.



They have a 2-point edge with a game in hand over Man City. 

[JGibson]

With Union Berlin drawing Schalke nil-nil and Dortmund thrashing Hertha Berlin 4-1, we have a 3-way tie for 1st (Bayern is #1 due to much superior goal differential) in the Bundesliga table.

https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1627377729204023298

[JGibson]

St. Louis City SC played their first ever MLS game and got their first ever win to take home 3 points.
They took a 1-nil lead, then lost it to go down 2-1, and recovered to win 3-2.
Tim Parker scored the team's first ever goal, Jared Stroud scored the match-tying goal to level it 2-2, and João Klauss scored the winner.

[JGibson]

What an epic comeback win by the Arsenal. Down 2-nil, we came back to win 3-2, thanks to Reiss Nelson's last-second winner at the death.

The lead stays 5 points over Manchester City.

[JGibson]

Liverpool delivered a caning session to Manchester United, as they beat them 7-nil.

[JGibson]

BBC's Match Of The Day programme (program for the American-minded) will be presenterless and punditless today in solidarity of presenter Gary Lineker's unfair dismissal from the program over his comments on Twitter that rightly criticized the Sunak Government's cruel asylum policy.

Jim Waterson at The Guardian:

Match of the Day will be broadcast without presenters, pundits or its usual commentators this weekend, after the main host, Gary Lineker, was suspended from the BBC for breaching impartiality guidelines after criticising the government’s asylum policies.

In a dramatic and unexpected escalation of a crisis that has been brewing all week, the corporation took the decision to remove its highest-paid presenter from its flagship football show after he was criticised by Tory MPs and the rightwing media.

His suspension immediately led to displays of solidarity from Lineker’s co-hosts Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, who publicly announced that they would not be turning up to present Saturday’s show.


Faced with an effective strike by its on-screen staff and unable to find willing replacements, the BBC took the unprecedented decision to announce that the Premier League highlights programme would go ahead without any hosts or studio presentation. It will feature only match footage.

[JGibson]

Arsenal beat Fulham 3-0 today to restore the 5-point advantage.

[JGibson]

Arsenal lose to Sporting CP on penalties 1-1 (3-3 aggregate) [5-3], go out of the Europa League at the Round of 16. 🤬🤬🤬

We got a Premier League title to win.

[JGibson]

UECL Quarters:

https://twitter.com/europacnfleague/status/1636719447258943491