The 2018-19 All Things English Football Thread (EPL/EFL/FA Cup/EFL Cup)

[PPerfect_CJ]

I liked this tweet.🤣

[ImTellinTim]

Quote: Originally Posted by Brahvocado

Defensive football will always be viable though, especially when chasing trophies. Atletico does it, we did it under both Conte and Mourinho. Our highest league point totals have come under defensive managers, Some of the highest the league has seen. Hell, City’s supposed main challengers playing Rock N Roll Football have never broken 90 points ever, and only been above 80 like twice in over a decade. You telling me a team that has consistently finished mid-70s and below is going to jump right to the 90+ it’s going to take to beat City? Everyone keeps talking like we are at a new dawn of attacking football where defensive football has no place anymore, but literally every premier league winner in recent times aside from City has been organized and defensive, including SAF’s last couple wins. Anyway, it will be interesting to see where he goes if he can’t turn things around at United and gets sacked.

You can keep avoiding the fact that Liverpool may have figured out how to defend by dismissing them as Rock N Roll Football if you want. However, it's been almost a full year since the defensive tactics were tweaked out of necessity, and they've averaged allowing just over 2 shots on target per game, and have the best defensive record in the league in that time. And now they have one of the better CBs and one of the better keepers in the league. You want to know why people think they might be able to challenge? There you go. The fact of the matter is it's going to take City failing hard and getting bad luck for anyone to beat them.

[Brahvocado]

Quote: Originally Posted by ImTellinTim

You can keep avoiding the fact that Liverpool may have figured out how to defend by dismissing them as Rock N Roll Football if you want. However, it's been almost a full year since the defensive tactics were tweaked out of necessity, and they've averaged allowing just over 2 shots on target per game, and have the best defensive record in the league in that time. And now they have one of the better CBs and one of the better keepers in the league. You want to know why people think they might be able to challenge? There you go. The fact of the matter is it's going to take City failing hard and getting bad luck for anyone to beat them.

Yeah my post probably came out a bit wrong.

I think you guys will challenge because of your form, your squad is settled etc., but not because of the style of football you play. I never said you can't play defense at all and I'm definitely not ignoring it (with my family, I wouldn't be able to even if I wanted to).

I do tend to get a bit defensive of Jose because his style has been attacked and discredited for his entire career, while clubs like the three I mentioned in that previous post consistently finish below his teams but play nice-looking football. Of course Jose doesn't make anything easy for himself, but no other manager has to deal with the same combination of media scrutiny and flat-out contempt of basically everything that manager stands for.

As for my comment about Rock N Roll Football and all that stuff, it's mostly a response to how attacking football has become probably a bit too coveted, to the point that lots of media and fans think that defensive football is a thing of the past and everything defensive should be reviled while attacking football is the way of the future blah blah blah. Just naturally, since Liverpool will always be the most media-friendly team, they will often end up standing front-and-center as the representation of this sort of new hipster-esque, relatively pretentious attitude towards style of play. Again, I'm not saying that Liverpool is that, just that you guys will always, to some extent, represent that in the eyes of a lot of non-Liverpool fans because of amount of positive media attention you draw combined with the notorious reputation of the last few generations of Liverpool fans.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool to have attacking football at the Bridge again, it's definitely been a while and it's fun. I just don't think there is anything wrong with defensive football, and actually I really like it. If I could choose any current manager to take charge of Chelsea, I'd pick Simeone over Pep, Klopp or even Sarri.

P.S.: Just wanted to add that I did misunderstand stlducks original comment, which is what started this in the first place. Thought I should throw that out there because he definitely wasn't saying defensive football is bad.

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Jose has already used 22 players in 3 games. I don't think Burnley even have 22 players.

[Brahvocado]

Quote: Originally Posted by ~LiverpoolRed~

Jose has already used 22 players in 3 games. I don't think Burnley even have 22 players.

Just because orcs don’t LOOK like other players doesn’t mean you can dismiss them like that.

Thought we were better than this here on OS.

[ZeroTheHero]

Orcs have phenomenal physique...

EDIT: I wrote the exact same message a couple of years ago in a Shadowrun forum. Never thought something like that would fit in a football forum

[KG]

Quote: Originally Posted by ~LiverpoolRed~

Jose has already used 22 players in 3 games. I don't think Burnley even have 22 players.

I heard that stat yesterday too and IMO thought it was a little dumb. A World Cup year, injuries, and a few new signings means you’re gonna need to try different lineups/players.

Chelsea went through our last title winning year using something like 15/16 players and we paid for it the next year. Our guys were gassed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PPerfect_CJ]

Watching Palace and Swansea in the Carabao Up and I swear it looks and sounds like Liberty Stadium is an indoor stadium. Really weird. Guess it’s got a lot to do with the poor attendance.