**Official** English Football Season 2023/24

[Skipper Pup]

Controlled much of the game, but Utd created far more decent chances and Rashford should've won it in normal time. That 2 of the Liverpool goals came via deflections as well should highlight the issues.

Meanwhile, in League 1 my lot with their best win of the season to put promotion almost in sight (and hopefully the title too).....

Fair I guess maybe our luck ran out. Not the worst fixture for it to happen, hopefully the lads have a good few weeks off and we start getting some bodies back for the run home

 

[Molehill]

Fair I guess maybe our luck ran out. Not the worst fixture for it to happen, hopefully the lads have a good few weeks off and we start getting some bodies back for the run home

Yeah, deep down I suspect you'd sooner win the league game than this one.

Looks like an all Manchester Final now, although Chelsea (for some reason) do seem to cause City more problems than most.

 

[sledger]

FA Cup is definitely a poisoned chalice for teams that have any serious aspirations imo. For teams that are either chasing loftier goals or attempting to avoid relegation it is nothing more than a distraction that only creates increased exposure to potential injuries and fatigue. For teams that have already won it loads it has little to no appeal. It's probably very spoiled and entitled of me to say this, but I would take Arsenal sacrificing the FA Cup every year if it meant them increasing their chances in competitions that actually mean something. There have been so many times over the years where Arsenal have slogged their guts out to grind out a win in the 4th or 5th round of the FA Cup, only to then be knackered for the next league game and lose (and then go out in the next round of the FA Cup anyway). It's exactly why I was pleased that they lost to Liverpool, and said at the time it was a good result. One less nuisance to worry about. A place in the CL and/or the chance to have a serious crack at winning the league = much more appealing than another token win in a competition they've won about a million times anyway which has decreased massively in importance over the last 20 years.

 

[wpdavid]

Bad news for Forst this afternoon, and now they're really regretting Luton's late equaliser at the weekend.

Still, it's good news for @Pothas and myself.

 

[Aidan11]

 

[Pothas]

Bad news for Forst this afternoon, and now they're really regretting Luton's late equaliser at the weekend.

Still, it's good news for @Pothas and myself.

Haha Palace are 100% fine.

Don't really want to be relying on points deductions to stay up but can't say this is not welcome after our result on Saturday.

 

[Aidan11]

4 points. Could have been worse.

 

[Arachibutyrophobic]

4 points. Could have been worse.

It could but why the PL thought that 8 was reasonable is beyond me.

 

[sledger]

People getting bent out of shape about Ben White making himself unavailable for England selection need to calm tf down.

 

[andruid]

People getting bent out of shape about Ben White making himself unavailable for England selection need to calm tf down.

But a mean old Assistant coach questioned his passion for the game. Someone must be crucified for this

 

[sledger]

I don't care about that, even if it's true. But if bloke doesn't want to play for England then his reasons are his own. Fair play to him. Let him get on with it.

 

[Molehill]

I don't care about that, even if it's true. But if bloke doesn't want to play for England then his reasons are his own. Fair play to him. Let him get on with it.

I don't get the clamour either - not like we're short on quality right backs either. Although, if he'd been playing in the middle for Arsenal and became an alternative solution to a more problem position, then I might get it a bit more.

But it's his call, not like he's contractually obliged to play for England.

 

[Socerer 01]

People getting bent out of shape about Ben White making himself unavailable for England selection need to calm tf down.

the entire saga is ****ing weird and its in a position where England are stacked af

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

 

[Aidan11]

There was a time when England playing Brazil, even in a friendly, was a huge thing.

Now I doubt I'll even be watching it tomorrow.

 

[Molehill]

There was a time when England playing Brazil, even in a friendly, was a huge thing.

Now I doubt I'll even be watching it tomorrow.

Ironic given this is almost certainly the best England team I've seen in my lifetime.

Anyway, I'll be on a plane so won't see it....and the first score I check when I land will be Derby's trip to Northampton!!

 

[Chin Music]

Currently in the Indian Himalayas. Therefore missing international week. Couldn’t care less. I watched the 1990 pre World Cup friendly when it was quite an entertaining match, The first time I watched the full National team at Wembley. Many friendlies have been utter dross since the time of Eriksson.

 

[wpdavid]

There was a time when England playing Brazil, even in a friendly, was a huge thing.

Now I doubt I'll even be watching it tomorrow.

There was a nostalgic piece in the paper the other day about how these games gave a glimpse of what we could expect from the South American sides in the forthcoming world cups. I think that was more relevant in the days before most of their best players were regularly seen in the Champions League. But the obvious example mentioned was the 1981 friendly against the outstanding Brazil side of that era. I suppose the other example would be the 1980 friendly against Argentina that I attended, which gave us a glimpse of a very young Maradona almost doing what he actually did for his second goal against us six years later. I suppose time will tell we will be able to say something similar about Endrick.

As for Saturday's match, I watched the first half before our guests arrived I thought Brazil were better than us in those 45 minutes and should have been a couple of goals ahead at the break. The commentators were banging on about how Watkins should have buried the chance that came his way, but replays showed that the defender got a toe to the ball first, deflecting it onto Watkins' shin and then over the bar. That being said, Ollie's no Kane, so let's hope that Harry is fit and firing in the summer. Obviously we missed Saka too, and I thought that Foden was, not for the first time, pretty ordinary at this level. Bellingham will need to learn how to handle the attention that's going to be coming his way. I wasn't surprised to read that he'd been given a red card in Spain a little while back, and I do worry that he's a contender for the Beckham-Rooney award in a tournament game. Beyond that, most of the England payers have more important games coming up in the next few weeks, so perhaps it's no surprise that they weren't at 100%.

 

[Arachibutyrophobic]

Ironic given this is almost certainly the best England team I've seen in my lifetime.

Anyway, I'll be on a plane so won't see it....and the first score I check when I land will be Derby's trip to Northampton!!

It was glorious viewing.

 

[Himannv]

La Liga is horrible.