A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

Sad, but true. It's not like Warner could do much nowadays to begin with.

I won't be happy until it's Blatter who gets the boot.

Good news first: Coquelin is fit.

That's it for good news for Arsenal, though. As usual, they're suffering from nerves and excessive squad rotation. Gabriel started the game instead of Mertesacker; Gibbs instead of Monreal; Oxlade-Chamberlain instead of Ramsey; and Ospina instead of Cech.

Olympiakos went ahead at a moment when I wasn't actually watching the game, so I didn't see it but I gather from the commentary that it was probably an own goal by Oxlade-Chamberlain. The second Olympiakos goal was definitely an own goal from Ospina - that is, if it was a goal at all. I'm not quite convinced, from the replays, that is was actually entirely in the goal. If it was, though, it was an own goal from Ospina.

Walcott had a fine goal - leveling the game at the time - but other than that Arsenal have looked mostly harmless. Even Own Goal, Arsenal's main striker early in the season, seems to have abandoned Arsenal for whoever happens to be their opposition.

Arsenal will need to improve quite a lot to get anything from this game. If they fail to win they probably won't get through the Group Stage this year.

Wenger is taking too many chances with his squad selection, especially in defense. There's no good reason not to start Cech and Mertesacker. Bellerin has played well so I've no complaints about that, but giving this game to Gibbs and Gabriel was too much of a risk. Alexis and Walcott are playing well but attack alone won't win you a game when everybody else is busy scoring own goals.

Famous Spanish bank BBVA will no longer sponsor the leagues in Spain, with the bond expiring next year in June.

Alexis equalises from a wonderful Walcott cross but Arsenal return to slapstick in their horrible defending, conceding an immediate reply from Olympiakos again.

Apparently Bayern are destroying Zagreb now, but that's easy; Zagreb are such a shit club they only beat Arsenal 2-1 at home.

Dinamo Zagreb is Cult Football.

Suárez saved Barcelona. They won 2-1.

Oporto won 2-1 against Chelsea.

Valencia won 0-1 against Lyon.

So, Arsenal lose at home against Olympiakos. That's the Champions League over for Arsenal this season, though with the motivation shown by Wenger and most of the squad I think it's fair to say it was already over before it began. They didn't care at all, once again. I don't know how Wenger can justify setting his priorities like that: the Champions League just doesn't matter at all in his book.

Ospina was woeful. The defenders all sucked, except for Koscielny - so of course he got injured and will probably be out for a while. Alexis and Walcott were the only players in red who played even a half-decent game, so at least I'm happy that they got a goal each. As for the rest, just as I said after Zagreb: these European teams are wasting their first-team squads by sending them out against Arsenal. Tonight, again, the reserves would've got the same result.

After Zagreb Arsenal lost against the referee who wanted Chelsea to win. This doesn't leave me with much optimism for the Manchester United game, especially with Koscielny out. At least Coquelin is back...

edited 29th Sep '15 1:42:51 PM by BestOf

So what's the buzz on this Cristiano Ronaldo documentary out next month?

And, for anyone who can't be bothered to watch the entire trailer, I've summarized all of it in a single video frame.◊

Coca Cola wants Blatter out now. Since they're one of Fifa's biggest sponsors this could be important.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/coca-cola-calls-for-sepp-blatter-to-step-down-as-fifa-president-immediately/ar-AAf343E?ocid=spartanntp

The Big M too.

edited 2nd Oct '15 5:00:02 PM by MyFinalEdits

There's four of the big names calling for DEAR LEADER to get out now.

Thing is, even if Herr Blatter does take the hint and exit stage right, he's still leaving behind him the poisonous corrupt cess pool that is the current state of Fifa. That's not going to change - there's too much filth and depravity in that organization for it to do so.

World football should take the nuclear option and get rid of it.

Every national and regional federation should resign en masse from its rotting corpse and start a completely new entity to manage global football. And hopefully not screw it up this time.

Easier said than done. It would take a lot to convince all the member nations (even just the biggest member nations) of regional bodies to jump ship all at once. Really, the only way this could conceivably work is if a massive coalition leaves in unison.

If only one or two countries want to decide on their own to sever ties with FIFA, the many self-inflicted losses taken in cutting oneself off from the rest of the world sport would far outweigh any supposed moral high ground, unless you'd really find it enjoyable watching your national team play against sides from Greenland and Northern Cyprus for such a foreseeable future.

edited 3rd Oct '15 7:27:39 AM by SeanMurrayI

Aberdeen, the league leaders who lost just 3 goals in their first seven matches, are 5-1 down against St Johnstone with half an hour left to play.

What the fuck is happening?

• Barcelona defeated 2-1 by Sevilla.
• Chelsea defeated 1-3 by Southampton.
• Manchester City won 6-1 against Newcastle, with a goal quintet courtesy of Kun Agüero.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester United in 6 minutes!!!

I was extremely pessimistic going into this. I'm very happy that the squad are proving me wrong. Before the first goal there was a fairly obvious foul by Schweinsteiger against Gabriel that could easily have been a penalty, but rather than lose their confidence from the decision against them Arsenal chose to pick up their pace. Alexis scored the first, and Özil scored another instantly. That's a goal and an assist for Özil within 6 minutes of the game. Walcott assisted Özil's goal.

3-0, Alexis again. Walcott's second assist. Both of Alexis' goals have been very beautiful. He looks set for a remarkable hat trick.

3-0 at HALF TIME. One save from Cech. Just about everything else was all Arsenal. This result would see Arsenal rise above Manchester United in the table.

This is what Arsenal can do when they're paying attention to the game. I can't understand why they're not at this level in the Champions League, but there you go. They're clearly thinking about the Premier League first and foremost.

Every Arsenal player except Mertesacker has shined. Can't pick a best player of the first half because Özil, Walcott, and Alexis all have a total of two goals and/or assists each. (An assist is as good as a goal in my book.)

Aside from that one missed penalty call the referee has been good. That's often been a decisive factor in Arsenal's games this season, especially against Chelsea and Liverpool. When the referee is at least fairly decent and Arsenal are focused this is what happens. They have so many players who can rush into the box for each attack, similar to the first half of last decade. Bound to score.

Arsenal's pace is probably the key for them. Monreal and Bellerin are fast; Coquelin is quick for a defensive midfielder; Özil and Ramsey are very quick for playmakers; and, most importantly, Walcott and Alexis are very fast, as well. Rush all of them forward and you'll probably concede but have one or two stay back a bit, one or two spearheading and one or two as second wave and it's next to impossible to stop them without parking the bus.

FULL TIME: Arsenal 3 - 0 Manchester United.

The visitors were the better side in the second half but Arsenal came closer to scoring in the end. Alexis had to be substituted due to some sort of groin problem but it didn't look serious at all. I won't mind if he misses the international break, though, as long as he's back right after it. Özil and Walcott were also taken off for Oxlade-Chamberlain and Giroud, probably just to make sure they don't pick up an injury.

Good, clean game where both sides entertained and the better side won in the end.

edited 4th Oct '15 10:10:52 AM by BestOf

To the surprise of nobody, Bayern is winning 5-1 against Dortmund. We all know their prominence is shown in Germany, but nowhere else.

Reading FC released a music video intended to be played before all their home games, with lyrics co-written by their 76-year-old chairwoman, Khunying Sasima Svrikorn. I don't know what her past songwriting experience entails, but... eeeesh...

Nonetheless, I suppose it helped rally the club to a 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough yesterday...

Key Moment: The rap verse @ 2:30. Somewhere right now, John Barnes is saying to himself, "Yeah, I could have done better than that."

EDIT: I also just noticed that the music video blows all their HD video B-roll of paid actors in Reading colors in the first minute and twenty seconds.

edited 4th Oct '15 10:28:00 AM by SeanMurrayI

Dick Advocaat had his contract with Sunderland terminated. Same with Rodgers and Liverpool.

I can sort of get Advocaat getting sacked but I think Rodgers deserved more time.

Advocaat didn't get fired; he announced he was quitting before yesterday's game against West Ham, regardless of the match result. And it's appearing that more of Sunderland's backroom staff is looking to follow suit.

It never rains, but it pours.

I suppose it's better for the club that he resigned - at least they don't have to pay him a severance fee.

Hopefully the next one to resign or be kicked will be Benítez. Holy snap, that match was horrendous. Real Madrid has never has these many draws in the past.

Come on. It's his first season. Real Madrid are 1 point form the top of the league (as are a couple of other clubs). It's not reasonable to expect him to win a trophy on his first season anyway, and even if it was it's not as if Real have dropped that many points or anything. They're doing fine.

But they already had three draws this season. Benítez is too defensive for the style of Madrid, which has always been about offensive play.

So Rodgers has left Liverpool then. Wonder who's next to drink from THAT particular poisonous chalice?