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On May 19 2021 06:24 Jockmcplop wrote:
Roy Hodgson leaving Palace at the end of the season, and probably retiring (never say never though).
He doesn't make headlines but I always thought he was a class act, and he has done really well at Palace.
Hodgson did incredibly well at Palace. They were never at fear of relegation at all. Confirmed mid table finish for many seasons.
Also no way chelsea wont beat aston villa. They (villa) totally lost steam
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Norway28874 Posts
Ya, Hodgson is a gentleman. Funny how his career basically went full circle - as a youth player, he started out in 1963 playing for Crystal Palace, before playing for 7 other lower level clubs. Then he spent the next 45 years managing 16 different teams in 8 different countries - he coached the Norwegian club 'Viking' (yes, that is the name of a Norwegian football club) in 2004-2005 (which was after he had been the manager of Inter Milan, Blackburn and Udinese), before ending up in Crystal Palace in 2017.
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Norway28874 Posts
On May 19 2021 06:26 InFiNitY[pG] wrote:Show nested quote +On May 19 2021 06:17 sharkie wrote:
tuchel's job is safe for another few months!
leiceister need to field all their strikers in the final game of the season to get many goals now Chelsea can still drop out of top4 quite easily tho. For anyone wondering, if Liverpool and Leicester finish even on points and goals, Liverpool will finish fourth due to their head to head score (3-0 vs 3-1).
Has to be identical goal difference though, like, 70-40 is considered better than 69-39 in the premier league. Different leagues have different tie break systems, PL considers H2H less important than some other leagues.
Serie A has a really exciting top 4 race too. There's Atalanta at 78 points, Napoli 76, AC Milan 76, Juventus at 75. But here, Atalanta is safe, because they beat Juventus on H2H, which Serie A prioritizes over goal difference. (Now, Atalanta also has a 9 goal lead on Juventus, so not like they'd be in danger anyway - but either way. )
Final matches are AC Milan - Atalanta, Napoli vs Hellas Verona and Bologna vs Juventus.
Juventus loses H2H against Milan, they won 3-1 away but lost 0-3 at home.
Vs Napoli they won 2-1 at home but lost 1-0 away - which I think Serie A considers equal. However, Napoli also has a 9 goal lead. Consequently, Juventus is out of top 4 if: They don't win vs Bologna (they're 100% out with a draw), or if they win vs and both Milan and Napoli win (they're 100% out if both Milan and Napoli win).
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Top 4 race in PL, top 4 race in Serie A, La liga top spot still somewhat open. That's the way it is supposed to be :D
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I don't see how anyone can think that was a penalty to Chelsea in the first half. Tielemans had possession of the ball and swung to kick the ball. Werner put a leg in the path of the swing. Werner did not have the ball, did not get the ball, and prevented the player with the ball from kicking the ball. It was a foul by Werner. What I find bizarre is that reversing the roles would see a penalty given to Chelsea. If Werner had the ball and swung to kick the ball when Tielemans put a leg in the way then it would be a penalty, so how can it be a penalty when Tielemans does it to Werner and when Werner does it to Tielemans?
Chelsea outplayed Leicester and deserved to win but they were also disgraceful. They kept Maddison under control by immediately fouling him (almost) every time he touched the ball. Chelsea players threw themselves to the floor many times. Rudiger started a fracas by pushing Ricardo after Ricardo fouled Chilwell.
Worst of all though, when Azpilicueta was subbed he was twice told by the ref to leave on the opposite side to the bench because he was on the far side of the pitch and he ignored the ref completely. The first time he could argue he was handing the captain's armband to Jorginho, but after that he was still on the far side of the pitch and told by the ref to leave that side but he refused and slowly walked across the pitch. He was booked for it but the booking is completely irrelevant. That was the Chelsea captain sending the message to everyone watching that you do not need to do what the referee tells you to do.
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Northern Ireland27230 Posts
It was a bloody woeful decision, what is the point of having VAR if that’s a penalty.
As a fan I don’t really like how it interrupts the flow, how it’s lead to offsides measured in atoms in a sense that doesn’t dovetail with the spirit of the law.
If there is one thing it’s supposed to do, it’s avoid decisions like that being made without reversal, so what is the bloody point in having it?
I think expectation generally was in that vein, for example historically spotting something like Henry’s handball in the France vs Ireland World Cup playoff, that kind of egregious and obviously illegal act that a ref has missed.
If it’s fucking with the flow of the game and still not nailing decisions, or being restricted to ‘clear and obvious’ mistakes as it’s supposed to be, why even have it?
Being blessed/cursed without the bias that comes with being a fan I’m not really approaching this in a ‘my team have suffered disproportionately under VAR’, just for its effect on the game as a spectacle.
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On May 19 2021 06:32 sharkie wrote:
Also no way chelsea wont beat aston villa. They (villa) totally lost steam
They're beating Spurs away haha but I don't expect it to last until FT.
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Northern Ireland27230 Posts
Oh come on Leicester not again 
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On May 20 2021 05:28 plasmidghost wrote:
There is a very good chance we end in 7th since we play Brighton while Spurs play Leicester and Everton plays Man City. Hell, we might even get sixth if West Ham somehow bottle it vs Southampton
West ham is 4 points above arsenal?
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Norway28874 Posts
ya they had to bottle it vs WBA today also. But West Ham took the lead in the 82nd minute, he mightve posted it at any point prior to that as there was only a 2 point difference at that point.
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Because of Covid, River just played (and won 2-1) a copa libertadores match without bench (literally, 0 players) and the midfielder having to play as a keeper
That was one of the most incredible matches i've ever seen and i dont care about either team lol
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Any thoughts on the Conference League? Is it just a Tier 3 for European football? Is there anything in it for a big clubs like Arsenal, Spurs or Everton or even a team of PL calibre in general?
The winner qualifies for Europa League, which could be huge for smaller clubs. It feels like there's always going to be some bigger fish around to control the final rounds though.
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I'm totally cluesless about the Conference League apart from it existing. I think the 7th place finisher in the Bundesliga goes there? Might be the same in PL, Serie A and La Liga if I had to guess. Sure I'm gonna look at the scores every now and then but before proven otherwise I'll expect that teams like Spurs or Arsenal would field a U23 to save power for league games.
Anybody excited for the euro? Personally I couldn't care less. Never been a national team guy and after Dortmund clinched a cl-spot last weekend I had a big sigh of relief thinking: Thank god, I can calm down for a solid 2-3 months. Sure there are exciting battles going on: Can Lille do it? Promotion and relegation battles in Germany and England that I'm interested in. But afterwards... only football I wanna hear about is transfer stuff  (But there totally will be days when I got nothing to do and on those days I'll enjoy spain-sweden or england-scotland).
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Norway28874 Posts
Basically cheering for these teams this weekend:
Atletico (they win La Liga through beating Real Valladolid)
Napoli, AC Milan and Bologna (if Bologna steals a point or Napoli+Milan win their games, Juventus is out of top 4)
Lille (PSG not winning French league is shocking)
Leicester, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace (I don't mind Chelsea nor Liverpool, really, but I prefer Leicester getting top 4)
Lewandowski to score one goal.
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The Conference league is in the same spot as the old Intertoto Cup was, remember that one? Yeah don't worry, nobody else does either.
It's an idea I'd like to like, but it's probably too small to interest the clubs from the bigger leagues, and not big enough to bring media attention for the teams from the smaller leagues. I'm afraid it will be economically unviable and matches are mismatches where champions from the smaller leagues can occasionally upset the u23 teams of the big league clubs, but the competition only becomes relevant at ro8 stage or something when it can mean a spot in Europa League for teams like West Ham or Bologna and such that won't get there by league placement that season.
Euros are going to be super exiting! Finland in for the first time, and Scotland as well after a long hiatus. Also at least Belgium, France, England are once again fielding really strong teams and games between those will be a treat to watch.
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EPT
