sydney_saint

I'm sure someone will quote me otherwise (bracing myself for MLG) but it always feels like they get ridiculously easy pathways in both domestic cups.

It's a huge game for both sides. Both will see a win as validating their ambitions for the rest of the season, primarily pushing for a top 4 place. A defeat and expect either set of supporters to overreact and say they are no better than a mid table plodder. My gut tells me we will cancel each other out and draw. Both teams struggle a little bit to score from open plays and neither will want to lose. It's gone under the radar because of United's ridiculous circumstances, but Leicester have seriously been boosted by penalties this season. 8 scored penalties already, which is 38% of their total goals. And that's with a couple missed as well. Not sure how it is managed to go so under the radar as that is pretty huge numbers considering we are 17 games into the season. In contrast we are near the bottom for penalties conceded so I feel our defenders are generally making good decisions around the box to prevent penalties. Where I think we hold an edge is our own set pieces. We are more likely to get more corners and freekicks around then they are a penalty. We have the best set piece taker in the league this season and Leicester have been one of the worst sides at defending set pieces this season. I think it's something like 7 goals they've conceded from corners this season + more from general set pieces like against Newcastle. The game could be similar to Liverpool in that we score from a set piece and then defend like mad.

One of the things I love about Ralph is that after his time with RBL he could have waited for a bigger job. But not only did he come here in the first place, his commitment to the job at hand has never wavered. Whilst this shouldn't be a thing of note, many others would have thought themselves too big for the role. What I hope this shows to the Board going forward is when sadly RH leaves for a bigger role, is not to get too cute on the next manager. RH instantly united the fan base with his pedigree and a clear identity of football. Clearly the players thought so too, as I remember Bertrand posting something on this. If you look at our appointments over the last decade - Pardew- huge pedigree for a league 1 club and built an excellent side, even if he wasn't the man to see it through - Adkins- Was building an excellent reputation and technically stepped down from championship, albeit to a bigger club. One of our best ever appointments. And was clearly a a manager on the rise - Pochettino- This to me our luckiest appointment. Turned out excellent and continues to be excellent. Could have been a disaster but fair enough - Koeman- Probably the biggest profile manager we have appointed in decades. Excellent - Puel- Here we started to get cute. To me an atrocious manager clearly behind modern coaching techniques, but worst of all, tore apart what we had to implement his out of date ideas. And straight away support was split on him. - Pellegrino- Even cuter, one of the worst ever appointments. No idea on what sort of football he wanted to implement, with one season of decent management behind him. A sackable offence by appointing him. And once again fans were rightfully suspicious. - Hughes- where do I begin here. A manager clearly on the decline with out of date football. Will be lucky to manage in the top two divisions again. And then we appoint Ralph, who came in with modern football and clear identity. His CV was excellent, and he has proven to be excellent. Nearly every manager we have had, outside Poch, who has arrived with clear fan approval, has gone on to be successful. When we go again, let's not get cute and appoint some second division coach, but appoint a manager who is a clear rising star with modern football and a pressing game

One thing I have noticed, as a generalisation, is that top 6 club fans compare their decisions against one another, rather than the rest of the league. So if they compare Rashford and whether he would have got a penalty- yes he would, would Werner- yes, would Sterling- fuck yes, would Auba- yes, would Son- yes. So if you solely look at that, then yes they were hard done by. But if you reverse it, would any of these players get a penalty against those clubs? Would Chris Wood- god no, Fornals- no, McBurnie- no, Joelington- no, Mitrovic- no. Etc. So often I watch a team who are more often than not our position rivals so I want them to lose, against a 'top 6' club and I think, shit they were hard done by. Liverpool were hard done by tonight as it was a fair refereeing performance, when their rivals would probably have walked away with a win.

This is to give an idea of their level of injustice Yes you have that right. They are complaining about this, even though it went clearly out for a throw in.

Get the fuck in there!! What a win!!! I could lay superlatives at the whole team. Back 4 collectively were magnificent. All minimum 8/10. Don't believe the media or Klopp narrative. They had a tonne of attacking talent out there with Firminho, Salah, Mane, TAA, Robertson, Thiago even. To keep out one of the best attacking sides of the last couple of years needs every single defensive player to be on top. JWP was the general. Always in the right place. Always calm when in possession. And got the assist. I dunno how we hold onto him. I mentioned it at half time but want to mention it again. This is what happens when you have a ref who doesn't buy all the diving bullshit from the top clubs. A performance like that and we probably would have beaten them last season as well. I'm sure Liverpool will storm about and moan, but this is what a fair refereeing performance looks like. Fans of the top clubs just aren't used to it and so think it is bias. Nah mate. The only decision obviously in our favour was the headlock. So proud of the side.

Lol just had a look on RAWK. Hilarious moaning about the ref. Apart from the headlock on Salah, most of the decisions have been correct. I guess they aren't used to having a ref not wanking over their forward line just throwing themselves to the ground.

I totally bottled the last few minutes. Watching on a stream and ended up looking up whether we had made it through to half time. Fortunately the side has more bottle than me. Lots of good performances throughout the side. Nearly everyone playing at a minimum of 7/10. Special mention to JWP who really is a fantastic player. Breaking up moves, calm passing, even winning headers. Also think the ref is doing okay. Apart from that clustofuck of a decision at the end to give a corner (reckon both him and the assistant took their eye off it) which I think was an innocent mistake, I think he doing a good job. Given a couple of bookings to Liverpool which most refs wouldn't. A couple of freekicks I would have given, but I'm also very biased. If he keeps this up, we stand a chance. And yes, it is a pathetic, but sad state of affairs that to beat a big side we need a strong ref. Big half coming up. Our second halves have been atrocious too often.

Whisper it quietly. But so far very strong refereeing.

I think we haven't adjusted to the fact that other teams have caught on to why we pass it round the back. We passed it round, waited for opposition to move forward and then attacked the space. Now teams will hold back and make sure there is no space. We need something new. Personally I would like to try and beat then on the outside more often. Even KWP often runs inverted or cuts in. Everything is too narrow. Djenepo is the only one who gets down the outside, and it's only a couple of times a game. Nothing wrong with been found out, but the sooner we accept our attacking play has then the sooner we can make adjustments

After the man city game I felt really proud. Despite defeat, I loved that we played our football courageously against a side that is hugely more expensive. The last two performances in contrast have been utterly cowardly. Content to sit out a draw with little urgency or courage. At this point of the season, a point does very little. We ain't going down so the next best thing is to aim for Europe. To do that we need to win a lot of games. If we had gone more attacking we may have beaten Fulham but on flipside lost today. We get more points. I want us to be braver and really go for the win, but most importantly play football to be proud of. Maybe we need some tactical adjustments to do this, or different players. The one thing I know solves neither is throwing fucking Long on the pitch. One side point, I do find it odd those blaming our left back for our blunt attack. He snuffed out their best chances, but sure if we had a better left back we would have won 3-0 easy...

I love our 4 2 2 2. Anything that gives us a clear identity and style of play. But feel today we are crying out for someone to float centrally in a cam position. So much space there and when one of ings or che drops into it we look better.

It was a very good goal. But a classic Redmond goal in that it was calm and sweetly finished with the game already wrapped up. His record when scoring under pressure is pretty woeful in my opinion. I just went through his EPL goals in the last 2 seasons. Sheffield United- scored the 3rd in a 3-0 win Norwich- scored the 3rd in a 3-0 win Palace- good boy scored the 1st in a 2-0 win Chelsea- scored 2nd in a 2-0 win Brighton- scored 2nd in a 2-0 win That's not to say that scoring the 2nd in a 2-0 win isn't important. Of course it is and secures us the points. But in theory we could have still won the game even without it. And I feel he struggles to convert in vital moments. Like that chance against Arsenal. I bet if we were still winning he would have buried it. Compare him to Djenepo, who has only scored 3 goals for us, but every single goal has been vitally important. I would bring Redmond on in this game if we are winning, but I certainly would not be starting him or bringing him on if we need a winner/equaliser.

Sorry for blurry picture, but this to me shows it. Boot starts coming up here And by the time he's heading it is here Other angles show it as well. He also follows on Ings. At the very least it should have been an indirect freekick, you can't be sticking your foot up there! You learn that in the under 9s.

20 years ago I would agree. But let's look at why handballs are given. Is there distance between first contact and handball- yes. Did he gain an advantage by ball hitting his arm- not 100% as don't know who was at edge of box, but likely yes. Could the arm have been in a different more natural position- yes. By the standards set not just this season, but last few, it's a handball. And I would be willing to bet my left nut it would have been given against us

Just finished watching on replay. First thing that needs to be said. I was surprised dean managed to get peps cock out of his mouth to blow full-time. The only decision that went our way was KDB getting booked. Other than that, the assistant on the far side gave us more than the fucking referee. There are two refs I dread when playing a big side. Mike dean and Kevin friend, and dean did not disappoint. I'm a former ref, so I tend to remove bias as much as possible (recogise not fully) but we were short changed today. Give us a Michael Oliver today and we get a penalty. There are many decent refs in this country, they need promotions and chances rather than the same tired guys, who were not even good to begin with. I could rant all day about the referee structure in the uk and it's issues, but Mike dean still officiating at the top level represents everything that's wrong. Proud of the lads. A team that probably cost 5x as much as ours was time wasting from the 60th minute. That's all you need to know about the efforts our team put in, and the quality of our football. Sure, we should/could have worked the keeper more. But what I love is that we didn't just defend and hope for something, or grind out a 0-0. We played our football, stuck to our guns. That's all I ever ask and so proud despite defeat.

God the ref could not wait to blow up there, despite only 2 minutes worth of play at the end. I'm a former ref so usually try to be sympathetic. But that last 15, fuck me. The freekick against Vestegaard in the Arsenal penalty box, the freekick against JWP, the freekick which they nearly scored off, the Djenepo penalty shout. Even gabriel could have been sent off earlier as he committed 3 to 4 yellow card challenges. These were 50/50 that all fell in Arsenal favour. That said, at end of season this will still look like a decent point and the boys overall did well. The penalty shout was annoying. In a season where you get a penalty for breathing on someone, it seemed pretty stonewall that he ran straight into the man with possession in the penalty box and nowhere near the ball I say this after most games, but we still need more from the middle '2' in the 3 sets of '2'. Djenepo, Armstrong and Redmond not doing enough and to me is the most critical position to improve. Other than that we were good, but lacking a true creative player. Mind you, they are difficult to find so don't blame the card for not having one. I know it is shithousing tactics, but in situations like this I would like to see someone like Redmond or Djenepo try and cut across and buy a soft freekick. JWP is arguably the best in Europe right now for freekicks, we should try and be sneaky and win some more especially if a side is sitting deep.

Arteta has done a fantastic job in developing one of the most successful PR exercises in football. A coach who has never managed before got what is still one of the biggest jobs in world football based on....well based on this idea that he is a master tactician and deep thinker. A master tactician who often starts with 250m worth of purchases and has led them to 15th with barely a goal from open play and has alienated a number of players. Whenever I see Arsenal play, it seems to be largely focused on keeping organised at the back and slinging crosses into the box. Crosses targeted at one of the most lethal finishers around...whose heading is not his strength. But because Arteta is suave and well spoken, it's all part of this 'master plan'. If he was built like a builder with half his ass crack hanging out, people would be calling his tactics archaic and clueless. Onto the game itself, judging by Cedric's twitter it looks like he is starting today. We know there is a real opportunity there. Neat and tidy on the ball, but we've seen before how he loses his head under intense pressure. Opportunity for Vestegaard to play his quarterback role and get some balls into that space for someone like Djenepo, Redmond or Walcott to get onto and run at him. Could see someone like Benarek scoring today off a set piece as well. Gabriel (who does look good) will be trying to keep our flying Danish juggernaut quiet, which means someone else good in the air could target Cedric. I know there is Holding as well, but think he is quite poor. Overall feeling reasonably confident going into this. If Auba decides to wake and play well it could be a difficult game. But if Arsenal focus on crosses, then I feel we have one of the best centrebacks in the league to see that out. Didn't think I would be saying that 12 months ago given our issues with heading! We have quite a few different routes to goal with Che and Ings playing beautifully off each other, set pieces, or even pinged long balls, and 1 goal might be enough here as weird as that seems.

Fuck me, that Sheffield United might as well be wearing steel boots, it's probably the slowest team I've ever seen in this league. We could bring back ole Rickie for this game straight from a pub lunch and he would still manage to run rings around them. Might as well play a high line for this game, McBurnie and Sharp are hardly Son and Kane. We've has issues in the past with teams that sit back and hit us on the counter, but I ain't worried about that here. Huge game for the middle set of '2'. I think for a while that all of a Armstrong, Redmond, Djenepo and Walcott haven't been playing nowhere near their best. All likelihood is that Sheffield United will sit back so won't be much space for Che and Ings, so Armstrong and Walcott need to play well. Walcott to wriggle around and find a bit of space, and armstrong to hit one from distance. If we score an early goal we can probably pin them back quite easily for the rest of the game. Overall it is definitely a bit of a banana skin, but we should win this one.

Sheffield United come across as a plucky team fighting against the odds. Which is somewhat true. But it has gone a bit under the radar that they have spent a reasonably amount of money since coming up. They spent 64m last season, and 56m according to Transfermarkt. That's with very little recouped in sold players. In the same period we have bought 52m and 35.2m respectively, and received 24.5m and 23.6m. Of course, we have built up a more developed squad over a number of seasons, and that the money that they have spent is still little compared to most other sides. But I think it would surprise people how much they have spent and a 1 point return is pretty fucking dreadful for that outlay. I think we will win this one. We have scored in all EPL games this season except the opening game and have scored 2 goals in a match 8 times. Ings back, Che looks the business, JWP freekick threat, and even Vestegaard threat off set pieces and I think we should be okay scoring a couple. I look at Sheffield United's attack and think, will they score 1, let alone 2 against us? Probably not in all honesty unless the defense does something dumb (Bednarek I'm looking at one of your little air swings). Especially if Vestegaard plays like how he did Monday night. It'll be tough, they will fight and scrap. But ultimately we will win. 2-0.

I think there is quite a difference between Brexit and race. With Brexit, the debate is/was around how the UK positions itself in the world both economically and culturally. There is no ‘right’ way to do this and therefore easier to become entrenched. Here though we are talking about the right of people to live their lives without discrimination, either individually or systematically, simply due to the colour of their skin. There is no justification for this and they are not morally equivalent positions. Over the last couple of years I have worked with many members of the BME community in and around Bristol. And listened to many stories. Some of them smaller. And some of them absolutely heartbreaking. I truly believe that every single person who would spend some time going through the communities and hearing many of the stories will come out a more informed person no matter who they are. I certainly have. In fact, there have been experiments on this showing how people’s opinions change when they are forced to sit down and have a dialogue. Of course the BME communities do not speak with one homogenous voice as the lived experiences varies from individual to individual, to family to family. Yet there are some common narratives. One that is strong is frustration at what you said about the bigger issues. There is a feeling that there is such strong opposition to even the small things that the debate can’t get to the things that they want to talk about. How can it be expected for people to engage on some of the systematic issues when so many dig their heels in, get their back up over such minor things? You can even see comments in this thread to back that up. I’m sure there will be many that will oppose even what I am saying in this post. It often feels like opposition at every single little move. It’s also worth noting that many of the minor things are not been brought up by BLM or BME members, like cancelling Fawlty Towers episode or Peep show etc. A few twats on twitter don’t represent a movement, yet there has been such disproportionate weight given to them. Every argument has twats, and I encourage people to treat them like twats, just like how they would like the twats on their side to be treated. People want to focus on the bigger issues, but are struggling to even get the conversation close to it. Just quickly on the knee itself, I haven’t had much opportunity to speak to people about this. If I were to guess though, one narrative I have heard is frustration about been told what to do. What slogan they should use, what dialogue they should have, what mechanisms they should use to create change. My guess, and it is purely a guess based on those conversations, is that a few will be questioning the impact of the knee (I spoke to someone a month back who did), but the decision to remove it should be an empowered one, rather than been forced to remove it by booing fans. I think it is also worth pointing out, because it does gets lost, that with my dialogue with members of BLM and/or BME community that there is strong recognition for other discrimination and calls for action on it. There is discrimination around class, disabilities, gender, sexuality etc. All causes that BLM and other similar organisations have supported. I’m probably not going to respond to messages to this as I genuinely find it has a poor impact on my mental health and I have quite strong anxiety, especially as I’m sure some will attack this post. And I wasn’t going to post this, cos it is making me anxious already, but I felt it important to try and relay some of the conversations that I have had. I would say though that maybe for some people it would be great to go out and have these conversations yourself, or read primary first hand experiences without any media (either left or right) filtering the information. If that leaves you in the same position you are now then that is fair. But it may also show things that maybe aren’t so visible at the moment. One little tip that might help dialogue as this thread keeps going. Is if the words you are saying, and the tone that is been used, would you use it to someone face to face in the pub? Or would you use kinder and softer language? IF the answer is no you would use different language, then it is probably worth using. I can be guilty of this as well, but I do find it a helpful technique.

I actually wasn't so much referring to you, but more this comment 'It’s insanity when referring to a black man as a black man is considered racist. .. I think that quote does fit in with what I said, that it is other people determine what is and isn't offensive when they are not on the receiving end. It's not just words, but the tone, inflection and delivery which is important. Clearly in this case he thought it was said in a derogatory manner? Who am I to say otherwise? I believe in kindness, so calling a stranger the bald guy or the ugly guy I wouldn't do either. Why upset someone when you could just use their name? The world has enough problem without unnecessary adding to it.

Once again it is white people determining what black people can and can't get offended by, and what is and isn't racist... Try listening rather than shouting over

Think he's sitting on 3 in a row. Would have been 4 which is just ridiculous.

Great result. 3 points against a decent side when playing pretty poorly, especially the first half. Personally think that decision was utter rubbish. Those writing the rules really do need to revise what is a penalty, given a penalty is very likely to end up as a goal. Let's be honest, there wasn't 'that' much danger when KWP was brought down. We essentially got a goal from a 50/50 call from a chance that was probably only likely to be 20% of scoring. BUT. There have been so many soft soft penalties in the league this season, and today the gun was pointing at Brighton. Next time it will probably be pointing at us. And you know what, I don't really care this game because that seems to be rules this season. But I would like to see them revise it, as why spend time crafting goals with intricate play, when you get a soft penalty and the result is the same. Agree with other people, JWP would have scored anyway. One little annoyance, and it is little. A few minutes later ref gave us advantage when we had a freekick in prime JWP territory. Advantage for us is to give us the bloody freekick,