EPT2024 - 2026 Football Thread - Page 93
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RvB
Netherlands6271 Posts
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evilfatsh1t
Australia8842 Posts
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MJG
United Kingdom1450 Posts
On October 26 2025 03:29 evilfatsh1t wrote: dont know what came over united but other than the set piece defending we looked absolutely nothing like the amorim teams we had been seeing. easily the best performance under amorim so far Michael Carrick provided some good analysis on Match of the Day on the importance of Luke Shaw's positional work during the game. A basic summary is that Luke Shaw was proactively pushing into the midfield to prevent the overloads that we've been punished by during other games this season. We may have been playing a 3-4-3 on paper, but it was more like a 4-3-3 in practice. EDIT: Casemiro's goal is a great example of just how high up the pitch Shaw was willing/allowed to press. | ||
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sharkie
Austria18624 Posts
If that is true then why is no one doing anything at the club? Slot seems to need some help. Get some other coaches into the team! | ||
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MJG
United Kingdom1450 Posts
I knew that Celtic hadn't had a great start to the season, but this still comes as a surprise to me, though I must admit that I don't really keep a close eye on Scottish football. | ||
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sharkie
Austria18624 Posts
Sorry to say but as Celtic or Rangers manager your goal number 1 is being #1 and #2 by a big point lead. | ||
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MJG
United Kingdom1450 Posts
On October 28 2025 18:50 sharkie wrote: I just checked the table after reading the news yesterday and I gotta say this one is deserved. Sorry to say but as Celtic or Rangers manager your goal number 1 is being #1 and #2 by a big point lead. I didn't realise the gap at the top was so large. I figured Celtic would only be a couple of points off the top. If Celtic don't manage to turn their season around, this could be the first time that a team other than the Old Firm wins the Scottish league since Sir Alex was in charge of Aberdeen. | ||
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Jockmcplop
United Kingdom9799 Posts
On October 28 2025 17:39 MJG wrote: Brendan Rodgers has resigned as Celtic manager, and the Celtic owner has put out a very caustic statement regarding it. I knew that Celtic hadn't had a great start to the season, but this still comes as a surprise to me, though I must admit that I don't really keep a close eye on Scottish football. I heard rumours of Rodgers regularly playing golf while the team is training and basically being absent as a manager. Which is fine when you're winning every game I guess, but they are dropping further behind Hearts every week. | ||
GTR
51574 Posts
On October 28 2025 19:01 MJG wrote: I didn't realise the gap at the top was so large. I figured Celtic would only be a couple of points off the top. If Celtic don't manage to turn their season around, this could be the first time that a team other than the Old Firm wins the Scottish league since Sir Alex was in charge of Aberdeen. | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26508 Posts
On October 28 2025 17:13 sharkie wrote: So I keep reading that Liverpool's bad form shouldn't be a surprise as the form has been dipping since around March? If that is true then why is no one doing anything at the club? Slot seems to need some help. Get some other coaches into the team! Mikel Arteta is pretty busy! On October 28 2025 19:01 MJG wrote: I didn't realise the gap at the top was so large. I figured Celtic would only be a couple of points off the top. If Celtic don't manage to turn their season around, this could be the first time that a team other than the Old Firm wins the Scottish league since Sir Alex was in charge of Aberdeen. 40 years, it’s pretty mental! We have had years where a team opens a decent gap, but it’s hard to maintain because the SPL splits in two and you have to play the big boys again. Even if the big boys start slowly, they’ve got extra chances to claw it back. It’d be great to see, Hearts are under the Tony Bloom umbrella, he of Brighton fame. I don’t follow the SPL too closely myself, so I don’t know if it’s recruitment wizardry or what, but they’re on a tear. Celtic, idk if it was recoverable on the pitch with Rodgers, but it appears that off the pitch his relationship with the board was untenable Sky Sports’ Breakdown. it’s pretty stunning stuff. Usually even if there has been a breakdown in relations, you usually get the generic best wishes and good luck statement. | ||
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MJG
United Kingdom1450 Posts
On October 28 2025 21:48 WombaT wrote: 40 years, it’s pretty mental! We have had years where a team opens a decent gap, but it’s hard to maintain because the SPL splits in two and you have to play the big boys again. Even if the big boys start slowly, they’ve got extra chances to claw it back. It’d be great to see, Hearts are under the Tony Bloom umbrella, he of Brighton fame. I don’t follow the SPL too closely myself, so I don’t know if it’s recruitment wizardry or what, but they’re on a tear. Celtic, idk if it was recoverable on the pitch with Rodgers, but it appears that off the pitch his relationship with the board was untenable Sky Sports’ Breakdown. it’s pretty stunning stuff. Usually even if there has been a breakdown in relations, you usually get the generic best wishes and good luck statement. The BBC reporters (or somebody they were quoting) described the Celtic owner as going "thermonuclear" in his open letter, which isn't a bad description. If nothing else, it's an astounding attempt at character assassination. | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26508 Posts
On October 28 2025 22:00 MJG wrote: The BBC reporters (or somebody they were quoting) described the Celtic owner as going "thermonuclear" in his open letter, which isn't a bad description. If nothing else, it's an astounding attempt at character assassination. It’s either that, or it’s true. Either way, part of why they seemingly choose this particular route was that the fans were giving the board tons of shit, over and above Rodgers. So it’s probably an attempt to reframe that. If it’s not true it’s deeply dishonest and harsh on Rodgers, if it is true I can’t really blame em. It must be very frustrating indeed to be getting booed and the blame based partly on what Rodgers has said if he wasn’t honest about it | ||
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sharkie
Austria18624 Posts
Arsenal are doing wonders now! Arteta seems to have solved football at the moment. We are not conceding any chances, let alone goals or shots on target. And our set piece strength is just out of this world. It's ugly but as long as we are getting the 3 points every weekend I am all for it! With Liverpool and City really struggling at the moment this will finally be our year! | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26508 Posts
On October 28 2025 22:10 sharkie wrote: Since I was called out: some positivity from me for once! Arsenal are doing wonders now! Arteta seems to have solved football at the moment. We are not conceding any chances, let alone goals or shots on target. And our set piece strength is just out of this world. It's ugly but as long as we are getting the 3 points every weekend I am all for it! With Liverpool and City really struggling at the moment this will finally be our year! Yeah, it’s scary for the league to think what happens if Arsenal’s attack fully clicks. But they’ve definitely solved problems, they’ve had pretty notable injuries, but unlike last season it’s not hugely dragging them down. The defence was already excellent, now it’s crazy, at least in terms of the numbers, not just goals conceded, they’re not even conceding many shots from dangerous positions as you say. Yeah you nailed it, I think one of the biggest factors could simply be you’re probably not looking at a season where 90+ points are needed to win the league, and if anyone is looking a candidate it’s Arsenal themselves. I think the new signings have started pretty well, but they’re surely just going to get better the more they’re used to Arteta’s demands and familiar with their team mates too. If they can get the ball to Gyokeres more frequently in danger zones, and he can be just a little quicker in executing in a league where you’ve less time, that’ll turn some of these tight games decided by a set piece into more comfortable 2-3 goal wins. That helps a lot, you don’t have to go 100% holding on to slender leads, gives more room for rotation or using the subs bench as well. Then if you can grind out narrow wins or draws in the big games and you’re probably good to go. | ||
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MJG
United Kingdom1450 Posts
On October 28 2025 22:07 WombaT wrote: It’s either that, or it’s true. Either way, part of why they seemingly choose this particular route was that the fans were giving the board tons of shit, over and above Rodgers. So it’s probably an attempt to reframe that. If it’s not true it’s deeply dishonest and harsh on Rodgers, if it is true I can’t really blame em. It must be very frustrating indeed to be getting booed and the blame based partly on what Rodgers has said if he wasn’t honest about it The BBC broke down the statement put out by the Celtic owner paragraph-by-paragraph. If you're interested in that sort of thing then it's here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cze6r1yd31po Like I said before, I'm not normally all that interested in Scottish football because the league often turns into a procession, but all this drama could make things very interesting for the remainder of the season. | ||
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MJG
United Kingdom1450 Posts
On October 28 2025 17:13 sharkie wrote: So I keep reading that Liverpool's bad form shouldn't be a surprise as the form has been dipping since around March? If that is true then why is no one doing anything at the club? Slot seems to need some help. Get some other coaches into the team! I just saw this analysis about the idea that Liverpool have been slumping for a while: The consensus from many is that Liverpool's poor form began at the start of the 2025-26 season. But the stats show that it actually started long before the first whistle in August. The real turning point seems to be that defeat by Paris St-Germain in last season's Champions League. Form prior to PSG defeat: Games: 45 Wins: 34 Draws: 7 Losses 4 Win %: 75.6 Goals per game: 2.3 Goals conceded per game: 0.8 Form since (and including) PSG defeat: Games: 26 Wins: 12 Draws: 3 Losses: 11 Win %: 46.2 Goals per game: 1.8 Goals conceded per game: 1.6 The stats are quite compelling. | ||
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sharkie
Austria18624 Posts
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evilfatsh1t
Australia8842 Posts
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DropBear
Australia4399 Posts
Ekitike has been good. Otherwise... Kerkez has been poor Wirtz has been poor Isak has been poor Frimpong has been injured the whole time Meanwhile Diaz is destroying in the Bundesliga Could really use Quansah, Tsimikas and Nat Phillips as defensive cover right now too | ||
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sharkie
Austria18624 Posts
With Wirtz most of us at least know he will become great. With or without Liverpool. He keeps showing great sparks. The others are just poor | ||
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