The Beatific Exhalation of a Fresh Page Being Turned - The Midweek Football Thread

something about tutoring messi something something

He looks like a young messi too, no joke.

You won’t think it’s so funny in [redacted] years when they’re back in the prem.

Poor kid

no team will ever do the quadruple

Peps done it m9

You have to be in a really tinpot league or have a once in a lifetime team to do a quadruple. People can point to the gap, but it’s a demanding division here compared to other countries.

United in '99 are the only English side to ever do a treble. So one European treble (in 57 years, including the Heysel bans) and never a domestic treble (57 years). There are reasons. Even in '99 they had a huge amount of fortune along the way (which you need) - they were drawn at home in every round of the cup for example.

From what I can see your team is doing really well this year, Bugs. How are you reconciling this with your antibants worldview?

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The bants sound a bit sophisticated but he would fit in here if he promised to dumb it down a bit.

I really need to ween myself off social media, football forums, and the tabloid press. It’s such a fucking black hole when it comes to positive discussion about pretty much anything. Makes me appreciate this place, honestly.

For example, the red card last night. Everyone admits it’s a challenge worthy of at least a booking, some think it’s by the letter of the law a dangerous tackle. These are two marginally different opinions yet they end up as extremes of a toxic argument. Don’t get it. Then people automatically swear by the line of players swaying the ref but ignore the more plausible possibility that the assistant referee thought it was a red card.

Other examples are the Cook/Guardiola set-to. First off, Pep says it was a red card. They were arguing briefly because it looked like the Wigan players had got Delph sent off. This wasn’t true (and that stuff’s par for the course in Spain anyway, so…), and as soon as the second half was underway it was forgotten about. After the game each manager lauded the opposition. Cook wished City all the best, said it was an honour to face Guardiola, Pep in turn praised them for a solid ten minutes in his presser yet the media cobble together a snidey false quote to suit their narrative of big club losing equals poor losers.

Even the reaction to the pitch invaders is a bit pathetic all round. Stewards and police should protect the players, but it happens. Does it warrant the ‘back to the dark days’ schtick? Is a few young lads flicking fingers that offensive? Why does it and the Agüero scuffle lead to such desperate whataboutery across the board?

Find this culture of having a quick opinion being preferable to having any sort of considered, balanced one tiring, win or lose. The real story of last night is Wigan defended very well and achieved a remarkable result. Not heard a single person talking at any sort of length about, say, Burn and Dunkley’s heroic defending yet. The football itself seems secondary.

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Didn’t realise it was Chelsea v Barça tonight.

Ooooft.

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I for one am looking forward to the prof treating any contentious refereeing decisions with magnamity.

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Can’t see anything other than the Barclays BPL League firmly asserting it’s dominance over Spain (where some players feign injury and wave imaginary cards, apparently) over the next 2 evenings

Celtic won the quadruple

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Quintuple if we count the Glasgow Cup (and we do).

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Funniest outcome?

  • Chelsea Will Grigg it
  • Heavy away win
  • Tom Henning Ovrebo: The Bloodening

0 voters

Not much humour potential in a 1st leg of a 2 leg tie when the underdogs/schadenfreude targets are at home is there. Any chance of Terry falling over again?

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some sort of missed penalty situation/slim Barce win due to injustice

Can’t see it being other than a narrow, but comprehensive, away win. We need to play David Luiz for full shithouse potential.

would laugh if a load of farm animals ended up on the pitch somehow

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