A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

Just saw the highlights of Arsenal's win against Norwich. 1-0. Wasn't impressive, although as I said I only saw the highlights so I don't know for sure.

Wenger and Özil have been talking about how finishing in the top-3 will have to do for this season. They're right, after February and March, but it shouldn't be that way. I'm convinced that a random fan as manager and the under-18 side would've got more points between January 1 and now than Wenger did with the 1st team. Actually, they didn't even need the under-18s. A lottery for first-team starts between the players of all of Arsenal's youth teams would've yielded a better and more committed team between January and now.

If Arsenal manage to scrape 4th this season they'll be extremely lucky, considering that they've played to by far the worst standards since Wenger arrived. Of course he'll say that few other teams could've hit rock bottom for a 20-year spell and be in the top-4 until round 36 or so, but it's obvious that this season, if any, in the last 10 years was one where just being absolutely average - or even mediocre - would've yielded a league title. Arsenal could've played their worst season in 20 years by a slightly tighter margin and won the league. That's how poor the league's been this season, and how shit Arsenal have been.

Any team that finished between 5ht and 20th this season would've probably been relegated in any of the last 10 seasons. Arsenal's standard this season has been poor enough that they would have been struggling to stay in the league every season if they'd have been like this for the last 10 years; yet they'll likely finish in the top-7, possibly even the top-4.

Man City have a game in hand over Arsenal and a vastly superior goal difference. If Wenger wants to keep his job Arsenal better keep winning. If they lose or draw and Man City win their games, not only will they lose their number three slot but also stand a chance of losing their top four place as well.

Well, today could be the day! Here's hoping Leicester make it happen on the first attempt!

I think a lot of people fail to give Leicester and Tottenham enough credit. Certainly the big names have not performed up to the mark, but to deny that Leicester and Tottenham have been the best sides in English football in the last nine months by merit (and maybe some luck, but definitely great performances by players like Vardy, Mahrez, Kanté, Schmeichel et al (for Leicester) and Kane, Alli, Alderweireld, Lloris et al (for Tottenham) ). Yes, Arsenal have done badly, but it is very tiring to say that Leicester and Tottenham are top only because everyone else have been terrible, not respecting their performances that have gotten them there.

Those area basically the only two sides in the league that have been playing anywhere near as well as their normal level; and they've actually even exceeded expectations.

If they had been playing like this in the 2013-14 season, though, they would not have been in the top half of the table. Everyone was much better that season.

I don't know enough about football to know how true that is, but either way, it's an amazing achievement for Leicester if it happens.

Which isn't today as the result was 1-1, with a man sent off for Leicester in the closing stages. But that point means that Tottenham need 3 wins from 3 - 8 points behind, 9 remaining. Chelsea could give Leicester the title with just a draw tomorrow night.

Robert Huth pulls Marouane Fellaini's hair, Marouane Fellaini elbow's Robert Huth in the face.

Whatever your personal take is, it don't matter because it doesn't come close to measuring up to what Louis Van Gaal has to say.

He went so far as to tug on his interviewer's hair (off camera) to make his point when speaking with Sky Sports (although that's FAR from the greatest highlight in this interview).

On the other hand, Van Gaal was ever so slightly more reserved when speaking with BBC Sport, in so much that this interviewer was thankful to Van Gaal for not actually pulling his hair...

edited 1st May '16 10:36:14 PM by SeanMurrayI

Chelsea 2 - 2 Tottenham.

Leicester are now champions.

I think this is the reason so many people in the audience of the final session of the World Snooker Championship have ignored the many, many warnings to turn their phones off. Several went off at once when it was announced - Mark Selby, who is on the brink of winning the final, is from Leicester himself.

This looks like a good night to be from Leicester.

Congratulations, the 5000-1 underdogs (a word virtually redefined by this...) have done it!

I've been waiting 17 years for Claudio Ranieri to win a league title at Chelsea...

Fun fact - Chelsea have never won a game in the premier league when they've been two or more goals down at half time. Before today, their record in that situation was 1 draw, 30 losses.

Spurs must have thought it was in the bag at half time, but nope!

One of the greatest sporting achievements in history, this rates as. Certainly in all of football, but even beyond that to any sport, it's hard to think of a matching one. That's not even hyperbole, I honestly can't.

edited 2nd May '16 2:40:57 PM by EruditeEsotericist

LOL!

Spurs themselves actually hold the dubious record of losing the most Premier League games after leading by two goals at halftime (4). They also hadn't won a match at Stamford Bridge in over 26 years. Lord knows what their confidence was really like at halftime, but the important thing is they blew it, anyway.

Speaking of EPL records, Spurs also just set a record high of 9 yellow cards shown in a single match. It's a wonder nobody saw red, but match officiating in England has been utter 'shite' as of late.

edited 2nd May '16 2:53:24 PM by SeanMurrayI

From what I was hearing, it definitely should have been a red card right at the game's end that was basically ignored.

This was always going to be an ugly game (I wouldn't have put it past Chelsea to basically let Leicester win if it game to that match to decide the title) and it certainly proved it.

From what I was seeing, there could have been, maybe, 5 possible dismissals for Tottenham players towards the end of the game (two of them for Eric Dier alone), either through picking up a second yellow or shown a straight red.

Mousa Dembélé is all but certain to face retrospective disciplinary action for eye-gouging Diego Costa before halftime. Érik Lamela, too, after the match officials decided to turn a blind eye to him deliberately stepping of Cesc Fabregas's hand. Dele Alli is already serving a suspension for the remainder of this season after being charged with violent conduct by the FA after Tottenham's previous match.

edited 2nd May '16 3:11:09 PM by SeanMurrayI

Eric Dier was the one I was referring to.

A rather ignominious end to the season for Spurs it seems...

It has actually been a good season for Spurs, considering that they would usually consider 4th place to be a good finish in the league. It just happens that their good season has been the same season that Leicester City has done the football equivalent of defying gravity.

Incredible, just incredible. Well done, Leicester.

Congrats to Leicester, obviously. They were the only team in the league that was exceptional, and they deserve a trophy for that.

The other interesting result this weekend, from my point of view, was Manchester City losing to Southampton. They threw away the advantage they had against Arsenal.

This season will obviously be remembered primarily as the one Leicester won so sensationally, but the other legacy will be that of the lowest quality of football, overall, in the history of the Premier League so far. Arsenal were the worst they've been in 20 years, yet it looks like they might be able to stay in the top-4, or even finish 3rd. They absolutely don't deserve to be in the top-10 for the level they've been at this season, so almost every club in the league was obviously total shit this year.

Again, that doesn't negate Leicester's incredible achievement. They've proved that you can win without massive loads of money if you play as a team, get relatively few injuries, and (most importantly of all) keep a consistent style and quality of play through every game of the entire season.

edited 2nd May '16 3:42:55 PM by BestOf

They've also kept a consistent squad - the same first XI started 13 games, the most of any title winners since the 17 games started by Manchester United's 93 winning team.

Ultimately other teams might have not been up to par, but you can only face the teams in front of you, logically Leicester still shouldn't have been able to do. And it's not like they had a top rated squad either, a whole load of free transfer and failures from bigger clubs that were left unwanted in the summer.

Interesting fact from the BBC live text (or rather, Twitter as quoted on said) - a four-way bet of £1 on Leicester, Burnley, Wigan and Northampton to win England's top four divisions would net you over £10 million.

Plus Man U, who can potentially take 4th place with a game in hand.

Evidently, City had both eyes set on Wednesday's trip to Madrid.

edited 2nd May '16 4:13:46 PM by SeanMurrayI

Long time since I last made a post here (got a job at a startup, so long hours et al ). It's been an amazing season for Leicester and for Spurs; the former for being the Cinderella story to end all Cinderella stories and the latter for having blossoming talent fulfilling their potential. If tickets at WHL weren't so expensive, I would've been out of my mind to see the (normally) excellent soccer Eriksen, Kane, Alli, Son, and Alderweireld have been playing. For that (and likely making it to the Champions League), it's been one hell of a ride.

It's a shame to see the title hunt end so poorly. I dunno if it's because the team's tired of being bullied by Chelsea or if they've taken the role of being this season's Big Bad to heart, but Dembele, Dier, and Lamela were shocking today. I'm certain both will face disciplinary action, which I think is probably deserved to be quite honest. Our defense has been much improved over last season (acquiring Alderweireld and getting rid of Fazio has really helped), but I think the pressure got to our defense as seen by the two goals given away in the second half.

Even so, I actually still feel happy for Leicester City. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't give them a chance to survive last season let alone get anywhere close to where they are now this season. However, Vardy, Mahrez, and Kante have really stepped up to lead a team of what many would consider to be castoffs and misfits to the club's first ever top-flight title. Rainieri will surely be a Leicester legend as well; his tactics have really gelled with the team and budget he had. Offering pizza for every shutout win probably helped too.

Ultimately, while I'm disappointed as a Spurs fan that we didn't make it this time, I'm happy as a soccer fan for Leicester to win. Well done Foxes.

edited 3rd May '16 1:20:21 AM by sanfranman91

Will there ever be a season as banterous as this one again?

The next one.

What would be a good dinner to have while watching the World Cup, I wonder?

Unless Bob Ley is covering soccer news, ESPN anchors can't ever bother to get this shit right.

Looking forward to reading more satirical pieces like this during this summer's Euro tournament.