EPL 2023/2024
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Arsenal were coasting before they almost threw it away this weekend.
Amazing the different media response to Arteta compared to ten Hag a week ago when United did something similar. There is obviously a lot more context which can be applied, but ultimately the two teams went from a position of coasting to one of panic in a short space of time.
City don't look like losing or drawing anytime soon though, so this season is a bit of a formality from here on in. Their biggest test is Spurs, and it's hard to see Spurs really lifting to their game to help Arsenal win the gong.
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@Dodge said in EPL 2023/2024:
that's what happens when every manager tries to copy Manchester City / Liverpool by playing tiki-taka from the back with players who aren't good enough to do it. Football needs a Mourinho to come along and be different and break the way City etc play - arguably its what Madrid did in the quarter final. trouble is everything is so data driven now that people are terrified to buck the trends.
It's interesting to see how teams adapt. A lot of teams try to draw the other team forward to break them open with one pass or long ball. That was what Brighton were about when they were doing well - but it is a fine line and it only takes one misjudged pass for the whole thing to break down. I see teams combating City by aggressively harassing them in midfield and then releasing wide players after turning over the ball - safer than pressing high as your defence remains in place. Forest had an hour of success doing this and if Chris Wood wasn't wearing lead in his boots, they would have had a couple of goals. But doing it for a whole game is exhausting and they ran out of steam.
Bournemouth (@bayimports might want to wade in here) definitely look to hit their wide players early to get in behind an advancing full/wing back. That has given them success against the better teams.
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Leicester back up as champions - no surprise but like Sheff U, it looks like they will have to sell their best players to avoid a point penalty. Given it is likely that all 3 promoted teams from last year will go down, and all 3 relegated teams could come up, there needs to be some adjustment to the whole system - can't see it happening though.
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@KiwiPie it has, the team has become a lot fitter and we also conceded a lot of goals in adjusting to the pattern of play. But the style of football is certainly more exciting to watch.
We have also been using a winger to cover fullback due to injuries lol (Outtara). But we are creating more breaks than ever and are incredibly dangerous now on a counter. If Unal can get more accuracy with shots on target, we will create real pressure with an alternative to not just Solanke. Kluivert proving a great buy though for us too
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@KiwiPie said in EPL 2023/2024:
Given it is likely that all 3 promoted teams from last year will go down, and all 3 relegated teams could come up
Ipswich are now in the box seat having beayten Coventry.
They need one point from their last game to head off Leeds.
If Leeds win their last they will go ahead of Ipswich on GD.
Ipswich have much the easier final opponents. Both they and Leeds are at home but Ipswich face relegated Huddersfield while Leeds host Southampton
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Will be awkward if Birmingham go down as they're looking to build a 60,000 seat stadium.
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@African-Monkey They have Norwich. Plymouth have Hull both at home. Norwich have cemented a play-off place Hull still hope to do so by beating Plymouth and hoping West Brom get nothing at home to Preston - who have nothing to play for.
Brining in Rooney was a masterstroke...
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Birmingham City deserve to go down.
When Rooney was appointed, they were 6th - 18 points from 11 games.
When Rooney was sacked, they were 20th - 28 points from 25 games.Replaced by Tony Mowbray on 8 Jan, he was forced to step down needing medical treatment meaning Gary Rowett is now in charge. 7 seasons before, Rowett was in charge and Birmingham were on the fringes of the playoffs when he was replaced by Gianfranco Zola. Zola had a similar record to Rooney and they brought in Harry Redknapp to win a couple of games near the end to stay up.
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Chelsea are finally improving and becoming more consistent with performance and results.
There has been Lots of talk about replacing Poch but I think that is subsiding now.
After a couple of years of turmoil, Chelsea could do with a period of stability!
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@MajorRage said in EPL 2023/2024:
@JK said in EPL 2023/2024:
Good win for Chelsea this morning 2-nil over spurs. We needed that.
Indeed. Perhaps a turning point …. With 4 matches to play!
I thought we'd passed the turning point and were getting some pretty good results until we got thumped by arsenal 5-nil. Hoping we can do enough to get in to european football next year
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Aston Villa says thank you Chelsea
especially after our disaster in the Conference league this morning. -
Watched the first half this morning and Chelsea bossed it - they looked a lot more coherent in their structure and I noticed Cucurella (who I find hard to take seriously) was moving into midfield on attack as the title contenders tend to do and he actually looked a decent player there. Their press was causing Spurs problems as they tried to play out and the Spurs press was easily bypassed.
Wonder whether there will be a directive on blockers at free kicks and corners soon? Ben White's job is to harrass the keeper so he cannot compete for their inswinging corners and more and more, teams are coming up with routines where a player blocks off a defender so they cannot compete for the header.
Amazing number of injuries this season - too many fixtures? The first season I was aware of was 1969-70 and I was a Leeds fan (I liked the word and they were good). Found their season online and between 14 March and 4 April they played 10 games
Saturday - FA Cup Semi Final
Wednesday - European Cup Quarter Final Second Leg
Saturday - League Game
Monday - FA Cup Semi Final Replay
Thursday - FA Cup Semi Final Second Replay
Saturday - League Game
Monday - League Game
Wednesday - European Cup Semi Final First Leg
Thursday - League Game
Saturday - League GamePlayers these days don't know they're born. Leeds had a first team squad of 12 who all played over 40 games (out of 63 in total). 25 players played in total - but mainly because Leeds put out their reserve team when forced to play 8 games in 15 days.
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Luton give away the stupidest penalty in a must win game. Coach killer.
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I wonder what the kms run in a match would have been back then? I know they wouldn’t have been able to measure that but I imagine that it would be less. (Of course they were nowhere near the athletes that they are today!)
The game is more intense these days and there is more European games and more international games.
But you are right when you see those stats you wonder if it has really changed that much
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@DaGrubster Certainly the game was much, much slower back then. Attackers attacked and defenders defended so the real workers were the midfielders. I don't know whether they just made them play injured (probably) but the only time people seemed to out for long periods was when they broke a leg - although an ACL would often be career ending.
There now seems to be a group of players who never seem to be fit for any length of time. Examples below of 2 for Chelsea compared to 2 from Liverpool who are nearly always fit.
Chelsea have had 2 England full backs for the past 4 seasons - Reece James and Ben Chilwell. Except they never seem to be fit to play for any length of time. Over those 4 seasons, Chilwell has played 70 league games - averaging 17.5 per season and James has played 82 games - averaging 20.5. James has 24 in the past 2 seasons and Chilwell 36.
Liverpool have an England and a Scotland pair of full backs. TAA has 130 games average 32.5 and Robertson 122 average 30.5 and both of them have had spells of injury this season.
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Tottenham have been awful recently. Coach would want to be looking over his shoulder. Defence rubbish and attack hesitant.
