#NoToGattuso is trending on Twitter, in large part due to his history of racist, homophobic and sexist comments.
An interesting article by Tariq Panja about the implosion/disruption of Ligue1/TV-deal (maybe more interesting for me, because I don't follow Ligue1 much) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/sports/soccer/LFP-mediapro-telefoot-ligue-1.html << And for the many of you who don't subscribe to NYT you should be able to get around their paywall to a large extent... here's an article that might help: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/t...ading-the-new-york-times-online-for-free.html >> Anyway, basically, the prior TV deal with MediaPro collapsed, then Canal+ came in to pick up the scraps. But then Amazon negotiated a much cheaper deal and Canal+ now says they refuse to pay the higher rate that they'd previously agreed to. You contract lawyers might wanna weigh in on whether they have a leg to stand on. But beyond that, there are probable implications for our beloved team and league... Are Ligue1 teams going to be forced into fire sales of their quality players, and might Arsenal benefit from that? Would be nice. Is EPL heading for plummeting TV deals like is happening in France (as well as Italy & Germany)? Seems probable. Obviously the first one seems a short-term potential gain. But the second one seems much more ominous on a longer-term horizon... for our club, our league, and beyond.
That’s been the assumption on on this board for a while. It’s the major reason the rumored fee for Aouar is less than half of what they were holding out for last season.
Haven't watched a minute of Euros live, until just now. As I noticed Hungary with a 1-0 lead and as it stands at 35', sending Germany home? But I don't necessarily expect that to be the result at 90' But I'm here for the moment rubber-necking a possible road kill. In a viscous downpour of rain. Edit: meant to type "vicious" but I suppose it could've been viscous too... just hard to tell over TV. Rain is over now and at 52' the scoreline stands. Hmm...
Germany were forced to equalize twice and they ended up with a draw which took them from 4th to 2nd place. And they're off to play England in R16 supposedly. A matchup with some real history but based on the way both teams are playing it might not be the best football ever.
And UEFA has done away with the away goals rule starting for all UEFA club competitions starting next season.
Yup they had telegraphed that a bit, so part of me is not surprised. But OTOH this is a rule that's been with us for so damn long it's hard to fathom that it's really gone. I get why they came up with it in the first place, but for the most part I won't miss it.
I'm not entirely against the change, but if this leads to more ties being resolved via shootouts then I reserve the right to be angry.
Welp, England vanished one demon at WC Russia '18 with a win on penalties. Will they vanish another KOing Germany out of a competition?
Yeah I'm pro-away goals; gives the away side in the 1st leg motivation to have a two-legged tie in their favor.
I feel like UEFA heard people complained about the away goals rule in extra time, and they were like "To hell with it all then!"
Dumb change. Now away teams will just bunker in the first leg whereas before they really needed to score once.
I'd be down with that. I never quite understood why the NASL took so much grief for that innovation. p.s. I think you mean a game-ending shootout, rather than just PK's during the course of the match, which I still believe should be taken from the spot.
And there’s still no evidence that the away goals rule made any difference to this alleged ‘problem’.
Belgium vs Portugal feels like the last hurrah form both teams, Vermaelen at 35 in center of Belgium’s defense vs 36 year old Renaldo with 9 combined starters in their 30s. Belgium win the game, but I can’t see them winning the tournament, tournaments with games every 3 or 4 days are a young man’s game.
This is Belgium's last run. I guess the World Cup is only 18 months away, but they have a lot of dudes at or on the wrong side of 30. Portugal could be a Ewing Theory candidate and could improve once they move on from building the entire team around Ronaldo. They have Dias and Cancelo in defense, Fernandes, Sanches, Bernardo Silva and Neves in midfield, Andre Silva, Jota and Felix in attack. That's a lot of good young talent, Cancelo is the oldest at 27. #deBoerOut
Well, next season will provide some evidence. Probably have to compare it to 2019 to get a good apples to apples in terms of fan impact on home/away matches. But it will be interesting to see if scoring in the knockout rounds declines.
Too small a sample size. I think we’ll have to compare at least several years before and after the rule change.
Seems like today was maybe the day to watch some Euros live. Not that I really could. Except that I just tuned into ET of FRA 3-3 SUI. Some very tired French legs from the looks of it. (Xhaka too... looks like a dead man walking) But Giroud comes on fresh for ET so maybe he'll seek glory.