Victims of a Campaign- The Other Footy Teams Thread

I watched Marseille’s Europa League game yesterday. It ended in a 1-1 draw, but Marseille dominated possession so there wasn’t much for the defenders to do defensively, but when called on Saliba did his job. I was particularly impressed in one instance when as the right sided center back he ended up as the last defender on a player marauding down the left side of Marseille’s defense. Using his body positioning he stood the attacker up, turned him back and the threat was over.

With respect to his offensive contribution, I remain perplexed that in a transfer window in which, besides youth, a common trait of all the players that Arsenal signed seemed to be progressive passing and ball carrying, Saliba was loaned out before being given a shot. Per FBref he completed 113 of 116 passes, including 12 of 13 long passes. The total distance of his progressive passing was 689 meters, 200 meters more than any other Marseille player. In addition he was credited with 10 progressive carries for a total distance of 247 meters, second on the team. He was a progressive monster yesterday and it wasn’t just a one off.

 

for all that VAR correctly called a penalty against united - amazingly, commentator manages to squeeze out an, "i don't think that's a penalty" when shaw had his arm stuck out there - that noble missed . . .

holy shit, without going full metal jitty, someone needs to check bet365 for the referees of the leicester-brighton game. maupay was literally 2-arm hugging vestergaard's right arm so his left arm flailed when he jumped and duffy headed down into his left arm but VAR gave that a penalty (referee initially gave that a corner).

then referee and VAR waved off two separate goals from corners because barnes was apparently in line of sight of keeper. even ignoring that maupay will literally be mugging and looking for loose change in the pocket of goalkeepers every single brighton corners, most teams nowadays have someone pushing and pulling keepers on corners. hell, leno gave up a corner goal (might have been been preseason) this year while being hugged. it's fine if that's the "letters of the rule" but call it fair and even.

 

As "nice" as it is to see Chelski beat a full-strength Sp*rs at WHL by a larger margin than we got beat at Emirates, I take no satisfaction in stating the obvious of how incredibly good, deep, and balanced this Chelski team is.

 

It was the Brentford game.

 

Henri Lansbury got away with assault yesterday . . . so, yeah, reffing is inconsistent.

 

went back to look and, yeah, that 2nd goal.

i'm not trying to defend the team or claim that was why we lost but that's bullshit. dude literally held down leno's arm. and, somehow, neither commentator could be bothered with that?!? (one passing comment of, "there might have been a foul on leno".)

 

He could have been yours

Julian Nagelsmann arriving in training today [📸 fcb] pic.twitter.com/1uJ8Cu0H2C

— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) September 23, 2021

 

the concept of this goal being done by stoke is mind blowing.

Goal of the day from @stokecity ⚽️#goal #skybetchampionship #Stoke #football
pic.twitter.com/uQNOdnA1uU

— Totalfootball.gr (@totalfootballgr) September 21, 2021

 

Lol

Per WhoScored.com, after Fenerbahce’s game today, Ozil has as many goals in league play as Arsenal do. He also has a goal in the Europa League.

 

The fact they strung more than 3 passes in a row is what got me.

 

Chelsea had a pretty anemic performance against City but one stand out I thought it was Mendy. Is he contending for best keeper in the league?

 

Some interesting results from the early Prem matches this weekend. Watched City beat Chelski 0-1 at the Bridge, but that scoreline is flattering to Chelski with how much they were dominated. Could have easily been 3-4 more.

And Yanited lose to AVFC at OT 0-1 after an 88’ header by Hause put Villa ahead, then Hause is called for a PK after handball in the box…but Bruno skies the game-tying PK over and AVFC sees out the result. That turn of events feels really rich.

 

Yes, Mendy was huge. He made several big saves, and the conceded goal wasn’t his fault as it was a deflection. And Thiago had an excellent goal-line clearance to keep the score 0-0 in the second half. Overall, I think Chelsea’s defense was pretty good, they were just super pressed the entire match, and their offense gave them no relief and little support.

 

And this Brentford v. ‘Pool match is incredibly wide open and fun to watch as a neutral. There were Several goal-line clearances by both teams in the opening 10 mins. Brentford just took the lead in the 25th minute. We’ll earned. They certainly look to be set to stay up in the Prem already.

 

‘Pool leveled 4 minutes later. Starting to take more control. Tied 1-1 at halftime. Still a good match to watch, but I’m heading now out for a 10 mile run since the weather is decent and chores are done in the house.

 

You may regret that run*

Still wide open exciting stuff.

Lead has changed several times. Now 3-2 Liverpool at 71’

For the last few seasons I’ve been wanting to see Frank’s Brentford get promoted to the Prem.

Today is an example of why

* p.s. 10 mile run? Wow. Are you training for a marathon this fall?

 

Great match. Crazy end to end stuff!

Ended BRE 3-3 LIV… fair result.

Could’ve easily been 6-4 to one team or the other, had it not been for a few close offside calls, great saves, etc.

As they say, a great advert…

 

It makes Arsenal’s short handed loss to Brentford just a little more palatable.

 

i swear, some of the weird . . . justification commentators will come up with are so weird.

watching everton-norwich highlights and kabak stuck his leg out to catch allan in the box. commentator's comment* on whether that should have been a foul/penalty was, "as he makes it [contact], he was pulling his leg away". what?! what the hell does that have anything to do with that?!?!?!? it's the same bullshit as the one i keep hearing, "there was no intent in it".

*as VAR continued to review before calling on-field referee over to review, he eventually conceded that it might possibly be a penalty.

 

Yeah, I’ll catch the end of the match on Hulu.

Not training for any races, I honestly just do it or fun. (I fully realize many humans disagree with that assessment) It gives me time to disconnect and clear my head, and it does wonders for my overall health, stress, and sanity. And it gives me an excuse to eat more ice cream. I may do some 30-50 mile races in the next year or two, but I don’t have anything on the calendar yet.

 

Thanks for sharing, Yoss.
I played soccer and basketball growing up, played soccer through college. The only time I just ran was when coaches made me do it for conditioning or punishment. Once I got married, had kids, played less, steadily added pounds. My kids repeatedly said i looked pregnant. Ouch. I wasn’t huge but definitely help most of the extra weight in my stomach area. Pretty sure I was 75lbs above my HS weight then.

So I started running just to drop weight and be a better example for my kids, but got addicted to it. It’s not a punishment or chore. It’s a gift I will never take for granted.

 

that's just mean.

Listen to the fans reaction to what Mana did 😱 pic.twitter.com/EaU7rrUFUg

— AWFCLIPS (@awfclips) September 26, 2021