2021/22 Premier League & General Football Discussion

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Super-agent, chap behind all the incredibly inflated mega-transfers. Represents Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Lukaku, and the like.

I guess the "extra 20%" refers to his fees.
 
He is one of the biggest and often controversial football agents in the world. Maybe they've mistaken his inflated ego for something that needed removing. But in all seriousness, hope it is all under control and he is well soon.
 
We are only 12 days into 2022 but we have our first crazy Football story of the year.

It comes from AFCON where Tunisia and Mali were playing their group game, the referee blew for full time on 85 and 89 minutes, this was after there were a few VAR checks and a sending off so there would have been a good chuck of added on time, Tunisia were furious as they were 0-1 down and it was 40 minutes after the final whistle when tournament officials realised there was a minute still to be played so they made the players play the final minute but Tunisia refused and stayed in the dressing room whilst the Mali players just stood there whilst the final minute played out...
 
Southampton thrashed Brentford 4-1 in one of the rearranged PL games tonight and we are going to get through those games as there is another one tomorrow in West Ham v Norwich and there is two more next Tuesday and another two next Wednesday.

Burnley's Chris Wood is heading to Newcastle for a medical after they triggered Wood's release clause...which it £25 million.

£25 MILLION FOR CHRIS WOOD!!!!
He was probably going to be relegated anyway with Burnley but at least now he can get paid for getting relegated with Newscastle.
 
Spurs 0-1 Chelsea (0-3 agg)
West Ham 2-0 Norwich

Rudiger goal gives Chelsea the win and they go through to the league cup final, they were pretty dominant at times and the gulf in class between the two was pretty big, Sours were better in the second half and had a few VAR decisions go against them but they were all correct.

Comfortable night for West Ham who go fourth, Bowen with two goals.
 
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We are only 12 days into 2022 but we have our first crazy Football story of the year.

It comes from AFCON where Tunisia and Mali were playing their group game, the referee blew for full time on 85 and 89 minutes, this was after there were a few VAR checks and a sending off so there would have been a good chuck of added on time, Tunisia were furious as they were 0-1 down and it was 40 minutes after the final whistle when tournament officials realised there was a minute still to be played so they made the players play the final minute but Tunisia refused and stayed in the dressing room whilst the Mali players just stood there whilst the final minute played out...
I saw the 'highlights' on YT. I think there was also a water break that wasn't taken into account too. 😲 🙄 You'd expect something like this in a Sunday League game, and the Ref there wouldn't get the security guards these officials received.

There were a few people saying before it started that the Africa Cup of Nations tournament doesn't get the 'respect' it deserves, and then a farce like this happens! 🤔 And FIFA ranked Referee and officials too, amazingly. 😲
 
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Liverpool 0-0 Arsenal.

Xhaka red card for Arsenal on 24 minutes for a last man challenge on Jota, Arsenal defended well and were well organised, Liverpool couldn't break them down and they missed Mane and Salah badly. They only had one shot on target which is the same for Arsenal, second leg is next Thursday.

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This weekends games.

Friday.
Brighton v Crystal Palace (8pm Sky)

Saturday.
Aston Villa v Man United (5.30 Sky)
Burnley v Leicester
Man City v Chelsea (12.30 BT)
Newcastle v Watford
Norwich v Everton
Wolves v Southampton

Sunday.
Liverpool v Brentford
West Ham v Leeds (2pm Sky)
Tottenham v Arsenal (4.30 Sky)

Some big games there...at both ends of the table!
 
No league games in a month for Burnley now, they did play the cup games v Huddersfield but they struggled to put a team together for that one.

FA Cup fourth round TV games have been announced, Kidderminster v West Ham is one of them, also picked are: Man United v Middlesbrough, Spurs v Brighton, Liverpool v Cardiff, Forest v Leicester and Bournemouth v Boreham Wood.
 
No league games in a month for Burnley now, they did play the cup games v Huddersfield but they struggled to put a team together for that one.

FA Cup fourth round TV games have been announced, Kidderminster v West Ham is one of them, also picked are: Man United v Middlesbrough, Spurs v Brighton, Liverpool v Cardiff, Forest v Leicester and Bournemouth v Boreham Wood.
They obviously read @Famine 's post about not showing any lower league/non league teams last time around... :D
 
Brighton 1-1 Palace
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
Newcastle 1-1 Watford
Norwich 2-1 Everton
Wolves 3-1 Southampton

Man City now 13 points clear after De Bruyne's great strike in the second half, deserved victory for City who dominated large parts of the game, Great game last night between Brighton and Palace with another late Brighton goal, A point apiece for Newcastle and Watford, Ward-Prowse scored a 40-yard free kick screamer for Southampton but Wolves get a deserved win, Two goals in three minutes gets Norwich the win and there was an Everton fan walking on the pitch towards Benitez to confront him before he was escorted off.

Spurs v Arsenal game tomorrow is off and its a controversial one, its from the Arsenal side who said they couldn't put a team out but they played fine on Thursday night and they have let a few players go out on loan during this window.

Villa v Man United to come, I'm not confident about the game with that team we are putting out!
 
That much, as it turns out.
The only way for Benitez to have worked was to have hit the ground running with some form, as there were too many Blues fans against him because he managed Liverpool. And some would never forgive that no matter how successful he would have been. As it was, he has been far from a success, and pays the price for that.

My mate said he was listening to the local radio in Liverpool following Benitez's sacking, and some of the Everton fans were apparently talking about Wayne Rooney as their next manager! 😲 🤣

Then again, they have had two of the most experienced managers who have not been able to do much with that squad, so an inexperienced (by comparison) option may work. I wouldn't be putting money on that option working out though. ;)

It is going to be interesting to see who they get next.
 
West Ham 2-3 Leeds
Liverpool 3-0 Brentford

Surprise result at the London Stadium in a great game, Leeds started well and had two more injury problems in the first half with two players going off, They took the lead twice and held on to it with a Jack Harrison hat-trick.

Comfortable win for Liverpool with Fabinho, Ox-Chamberlain and Minamino getting the goals.

Rooney, Lampard and Graham Potter reportedly in the frame for the Everton job, no surprise that Benitez went because of the bad form (one league win in 13.) but Everton is a bad job to take right now as I dont think they have a plan and know what they want.
 
So Burnley v Watford was supposed to take place tomorrow night but its now been postponed again, Burnley obviously still struggling right now and have been since before Christmas, it could get worse for them as they are now bottom of the table and the games are piling up.

Here are the now three games over the next two nights.

Tuesday.
Brighton v Chelsea (8pm)

Wednesday.
Leicester v Tottenham (7.30)
Brentford v Man United (8pm)

All three games are live on BT Sport. There is also the league cup semi final second leg between Arsenal and Liverpool on Thursday night live on Sky.

Also Covid related is the latest testing figures from the PL, there were 33 positive tests from the over 13,000 players and staff tested in the latest round, and that 33 is the lowest since December 3rd...
 
Brighton-Chelsea finished 1-1 and it was a good game, Brighton were excellent and Webster was magnificent at the back and he got the equalizer, Ziyech got Chelsea's goal and it was a really good finish, Chelsea looked tired and missed the chance to go second, no win in the last four in the league for them but Brighton are now unbeaten in five.
 
I agree, the Brighton v Chel$ki was a very good match. End to end action, and both teams evenly matched, and I think a fair result. You can see why Potter is getting attention after games like this, but I think he's in the best place atm.

I love Lamptey, he seems to have no fear, and is always looking forward. Glad that he has come back to form quickly after a long term injury.
 
Leicester 2-3 Spurs
Brentford 1-3 Man United

So you know that United are sometimes known as second half FC with the explanation being that they would on occasion be terrible in the first half but amazing in the second?? Well tonight second half FC turned up! Awful first half with United hanging on at times and Brentford having several chances and De Gea making some great saves but it was still 0-0 at HT, and then in the second half we upped the tempo with quicker passing and that made the difference, goals from Elanga, Greenwood and Rashford (all academy players!) made it three nil with two assists from Fernandes, Toney got a deserved goal for Brentford late on but it was only a consolation, much needed win for United and only two points off fourth with a game in hand.

Crazy finish to the other game, Leicester were 2-1 up on 94 minutes but two quick goals from Bergwijn sealed the dramatic Spurs comeback, winner came in the 97th minute!
 
Leicester were 2-1 up on 94 minutes but two quick goals from Bergwijn sealed the dramatic Spurs comeback, winner came in the 97th minute!
It's worth noting that at 94 minutes, 52 seconds, this is the latest time in a game in Premier League history that a team has been winning and lost.

Or losing and won. Either/or.
 
Leicester bottled that completely, they have been on the slide this season.
 
Very much a game of two halves against Brentford, quality of finishing proved the difference. Brentford could have been 2 or 3 up by half time if they had a Ronaldo or Greenwood to finish, but some good saves and poor finishing combined to keep us in the game.

Second half was a different story, United pressed better, closed down quicker and it didn't take long to get the opener, which was well taken from Elanga. It was still far from a vintage display, but we got the 3 points which is most important and another win under Ralf will hopefully give some of those players a bit more confidence to start upping thier game.
 
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Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool (0-2 on agg)

Diogo Jota with two goals puts into the Carabao Cup final where they will face Chelsea, I didn't see all the game only the last half hour or so but both goals were great, Partey was sent off late on for two yellows on his return from Ghana duty, Arsenal played a full strength team juts a few days after postponing the Spurs game and whilst Partey was with Ghana at AFCON Arsenal didn't play a single league game...

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This weekends games.

Friday.
Watford v Norwich (8pm Sky)

Saturday.
Brentford v Wolves
Everton v Aston Villa (12.30 BT)
Leeds v Newcastle
Man United v West Ham
Southampton v Man City (5.30 Sky)

Sunday.
Arsenal v Burnley
Chelsea v Tottenham (4.30 Sky)
Crystal Palace v Liverpool (2pm Sky)
Leicester v Brighton
 
Derby have had an offer to buy the club from a US family, bid is worth £28 million and its very timely as Derby can get liquidated in nine days unless they find a buyer!
 
Derby have had an offer to buy the club from a US family, bid is worth £28 million and its very timely as Derby can get liquidated in nine days unless they find a buyer!
£28m?

Firstly, that's 40% of what Mel Morris values the entire stadium at, which is part of Derby's problem. It's also about the same value as Chris Wood, which is a part of an entirely different but still related problem.

More importantly though, it's about half of the compensation Middlesbrough and Wycombe are after.


Anyone coming in to bid £28m for a club when there's a £51m compensation claim against it and they don't even own their £80m stadium is absolutely off the charts insane.
 
A solid win from United today, still not playing at out best, but we're starting to see improvements after the disastrous first half of the season. Finally a win where De Gea isn't a man of the match contender, and for good reasons, he wasn't having to pull of save after save today.

It was a game that we dominated without needing to play that well, West Ham were not very good today, but it's another win under Ralfs belt and slowly slowly the confidence is returning and hopefully with that we can start to put in better performances.

Good to see Rashford score again after coming on as a sub, his confidence has seemed shot lately, the last two games can only help.
 
Watford 0-3 Norwich
Everton 0-1 Villa
Man United 1-0 West Ham
Brentford 1-2 Wolves
Leeds 0-1 Newcastle
Southampton 1-1 Man City

Emi Buendia scored a great header from a corner right on half time, then the Villa players celebrated right in front of the home fans and thye then got pelleted with missiles, an arrest has been made in relation to this. Only the second league win of the season for Newcastle with Shelvey getting the only goal, City drop points but still well clear at the top.

Marcus Rashford got a late winner in a tight game and United now move above West Ham into fourth with a game in hand on them, crazy second half last night between Watford and Norwich with Sargent scoring twice and one of them was a scorpion like finish and there was a delay because of a floodlight failure, there was also a delay in the Brentford-Wolves game because of a drone and Thomas Frank was sent off at full time for arguing with the ref.
 
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