A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

Guardiola is by no means a bad coach, but he can get cocky at times. He had the privilege to manage two of the most powerful teams in Europe (Barcelona and Bayern). Now he's struggling with a team that has never (despite being advertised as otherwise) been a heavyweight team, and there is where you have to triumph by your merits as a coach, as players won't do miracles and thus will need to do things humanly.

This logic can apply to any coach, including succesful people like Mourinho, Ferguson, Ancelotti, Simeone, Gallardo and Rueda.

Mourinho at least took a team that weren't heavyweights, in spite of their historical status, to a Champions League trophy (I'm talking about Porto, of course). And winning a Champions with Inter was not an easy feat either, even if they had players like Sneijder, Eto'o, Zanetti or Milito and Inter was a relateively strong team as a result in those days.

I haven't yet seen Pep triumph with a "tier-2" club like Mourinho did.

edited 11th Jan '17 9:02:19 AM by Quag15

I'm only "against" Guardiola in so much as I'm backing a different horse in the EPL title race. I just couldn't resist the opportunity there for a bit of light banter.

More on point, though, specifically on the issues concerning Claudio Bravo and City's goalkeeping that had been brought up again, I've been voicing strong criticism of this whole story ever since Joe Hart was suddenly dropped from their starting lineup at the very beginning of the season precisely because I deemed those actions in and of themselves to be a terrible judgement call—NOT because I have feelings "against" City's current manager.

Now, if City still looked like they were in in the title race (if not, still leading, like they were in September), this topic wouldn't still be coming up (and *I* definitely wouldn't be talking anymore about it and would hope my initial criticisms were quietly forgotten), but, instead, dumping Joe Hart has had consequences that have left City a weaker squad than they were before, and, objectively speaking, that's the sort of thing which should ordinarily reflect poorly on both club and manager—any manager—and nothing even a Guardiola had accomplished in the past should have to factor into or even excuse such mistakes. "A car dealer is only as good as his last sale" and all that.

EDIT: Ferguson first made a name for himself guiding a Scottish team outside of Glasgow to a European Cup Winners' Cup victory (back when that tournament actually meant something) over Real Madrid

edited 11th Jan '17 9:50:57 AM by SeanMurrayI

Southampton are currently leading Liverpool by one goal to nil at home in their English Football League Cup match. No sponsor for the trophy this year, at least no third-party one? Shows how much that it means, eh.

Other odds and ends in the news today:

• Claude Makelele has joined Swansea's coaching staff, assisting new head coach Paul Clement
• The world's oldest professional player, Japan's Kazuyoshi Miura, has agreed to a 1-year contract extension with J-League's Yokohama FC that will take him past his 50th birthday (coming up at the end of February)
• Alex Iwobi, Aaron Ramsey, and Per Mertesaker may have a future with the Harlem Globetrotters or something, in case "this soccer thing" simply doesn't work out.

Southampton beat Liverpool by one goal to nil in that match I posted about earlier. They're probably kicking themselves, as they play Liverpool at Anfield next for the replay, and I've no doubt the Kop faithful will spur the Reds on to a much better performance next time.

Southampton have been a tricky team to beat at home over the past year. Year-to-date, the only teams to get a win over the Saints at St. Mary's are Chelsea (twice), Tottenham, and West Brom—the last two clubs earning their victories just the last two weeks (and possibly a sign that Southampton's overall run of form may be beginning to decline).

Giroud, Coquelin, and Koscielny have all signed contract extensions. All of the deals are to 2020, which is probably a good length for their contracts - enough that there's no need to think about a new contract any time soon, but not so much as to tie the club or player too much if, 2 or 3 years from now, the player has to go.

The timing is probably meant to put pressure on Özil and Alexis to sign, too. When Walcott was stalling on his contract talks a couple of seasons back Arsenal also gave some of the other players new contracts and made some noise about it. I've no idea whether that sort of thing works at all.

Meanwhile, Morgan Schneiderlin, who I always figured was bought to United only to deny other clubs the opportunity to sign him (as United were already stacked in that position), has signed for Everton. With add-ons, apparently, the fee will amount to almost the same as what United paid for him, so at least they didn't make much of a loss on that one. I hate to see a player get wasted like that, though. When he was at Southampton he would've walked into almost any Premier League team, and now he's probably lost his touch somewhat due to not playing as much as he should have been. It might take him some time to get back to his level, but he'll be very valuable for Everton when he's there.

Atlético, Barcelona, Celta, Alcorcón,^note yes, THAT Alcorcón, the one Madrid got curb-stomped by in a 2009 Copa del Rey match. Thanks a lot, Pellegrini Alavés, Real Sociedad and Eibar made it into Copa del Rey semifinals. The final contestant will be defined between Real Madrid and Sevilla. Madrid won 3-0 in the home match, and right now they're playing the away match (so far Sevilla is winning 1-0 after an own goal from Madrid by Danilo).

EDIT: And I have to say, even if Sevilla is winning due to a Madrid own-goal, they're really playing well. It's a very thrilling match.

edited 12th Jan '17 12:45:43 PM by MyFinalEdits

Well Sevilla 3-3 Real Madrid, with Sevilla blowing a 3-1 lead. It's all about la Remontada for Madrid...

edited 12th Jan '17 2:51:49 PM by Quag15

There's nothing more dangerous than declaring a wounded dragon defeated before the clock strikes twelve. We've had Champions League winners this way (Manchester United, 1999; Liverpool, 2005; Real Madrid, 2014)..

Liverpool 2005 is a dragon now?

A few more hours until Swansea v Arsenal. It's an easy game for the home team, but I hope with some luck Arsenal will be able to pull off a surprise and get at least a point.

Bellerin is injured, apparently, but it's not serious. He's projected to miss just this game. Walcott is not ready yet. Welbeck should be on the bench. Cazorla and Mertesacker are still out. Özil's finally recovered from what must have been a very bad flu. Gibbs might be on the bench. Coquelin is out. No news on Debuchy, so he's probably not ready yet. Koscielny will probably be on the bench, since he's just recovered from an injury.

Cech
Jenkinson Mustafi Gabriel Monreal
Xhaka Ramsey
Alexis Özil Iwobi
Giroud

The bench should be: Ospina, Gibbs (hopefully), Koscielny (hopefully), Debuchy (hopefully), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lucas, Welbeck.

I'd prefer to have Lucas starting instead of Iwobi, with Alexis on the left, but Wenger doesn't like having two out-and-out strikers on the flanks. Alexis and Giroud have to start, considering their form. (Alexis has been arguably the best forward in Europe so far this season, as he was the first in the top 5 leagues to reach a combined goal+assist tally of 20.) Özil is essential, as well.

My prediction is: Swansea 2 - 1 Arsenal. The winner will probably be a late goal, and Fabianski will get about 5-10 highlight reel saves. The goal for Arsenal will be to try to get at least a point to stay in the top-6 picture, while avoiding any new injuries.

EDIT: The line-ups are in. For Arsenal, it's mostly as I predicted. On the right, it's Gabriel instead of Jenkinson. Jenkinson's pending transfer (presumably to Crystal Palace) is close enough that he's not in the squad at the moment. Koscielny and Mustafi are the centre-backs.

Reine-Adelaide and Maitland-Niles are both on the bench. That means Gibbs and Debuchy are still injured.

The rest of the starting eleven and bench are as I predicted.

HALF TIME: Swansea 0 - 1 Arsenal.

For the first 35 minutes, the only interesting thing about this game was the way Naughton kept kicking at Monreal whenever Monreal was about to dribble away from him. The referee talked to Naughton for this three times, but no card. If two Arsenal players had combined to commit Naughton's fouls, there would have been two first-half red cards (two yellow each). That's how it goes.

A bit before 40 minutes, Arsenal had just wasted a glorious chance - probably their only in the game until that point - but Alexis kept the ball in play and put in a decent cross. It was met by Özil, who headed the ball into the feet in a defender. (Presumably he was going for goal.) The first player to react to the loose ball was Giroud, having just recovered from that wasted chance, and he scored.

Instead of celebrating, he signalled the bench to be substituted, and soon after that, Oxlade-Chamberlain was shown getting ready to come of. Giroud kept signalling for the substitution for several more minutes, but eventually signalled that he didn't want to come off, after all. Who knows which player will be on after the break.

There was some controversy late on the first half, with Ki dribbling into Arsenal's penalty area and trying to get past Koscielny, who stretched out his leg and appeared to bring Ki down. Instead of a penalty, which I thought was coming, the ref gave Ki a yellow. The replays showed how Ki bought the foul, in the manner that usually does win you a penalty. I suppose it's unfair that referees don't consistently give a penalty when you dribble just past a defender and run into them, but I've never been in favour of getting a penalty essentially by committing a minor foul yourself, so I don't mind this.

Approaching 55 minutes, and Arsenal finish a long series of shots that were blocked or saved by finally getting through. Iwobi's deflected shot went in, so who knows whether he'll get the credit for it. Might be an own goal.

Giroud is still playing, BTW.

Arsenal have been much better in the second half than they were in the first. Alexis and Ramsey are playing it too intricate, though. Too many times, they've had a simple pass or shot opportunity and they've instead gone for a very unlikely final pass.

Fabianski has only had one fantastic save (and a bunch of routine ones) so far. That's probably the main deviation from my prediction of how the game would go. I expected Fabianski to replicate his performances from last season and get 5 or 6 magical saves in each half. Arsenal haven't had all that many clear-cut chances, and the goals were kind of weird, so maybe that's where the real difference is. Usually, Arsenal don't score when it looks like it would be easy to do it. Now, they score when the build-up or shot looks like it'll be wasted.

67 minutes, and Naughton tries to block Iwobi's cross into the box. Unfortunately for him, he only manages to deflect the ball into his own goal. Swansea 0 - 3 Arsenal. Iwobi might end up getting two assists for Swansea own goals today, depending on how his goal gets recorded in the end.

About 5 minutes later, an over-elaborate build-up play by Arsenal in and around Swansea's box results in a half-shot, half-cross from Ramsey. It flies in front of Alexis, who kicks it into the goal. He's now the leading scorer in the Premier League, apparently, with 14.

I feel sorry for Swansea because it's never nice to concede a bunch of weird goals that depend a lot on the attacker's luck to go in, but there you go. Arsenal need this sort of luck to maintain a top-6 challenge. The confidence from this game will certainly help.

edited 14th Jan '17 8:33:23 AM by BestOf

I may be blind and not be aware of it, but Arsenal is playing way better in this match.

Also, Barcelona 4 - 0 Las Palmas (ongoing). How Las Palmas managed to defeat Atlético in Copa del Rey (despite still being eliminated due to goal average) is beyond me. It's a really weak team.

Arsenal are way better than Swansea, yes, and better than they've been in the past couple of months. Still not at their normal level, where they would be with Cazorla. I'm really worried about Giroud's injury - it might derail the season further. It's nice to see Welbeck back, though. (He came on for the last 15 minutes or so.)

Alexis is really passionate, but sometimes a bit annoying. At 4-0, when he had scored, he got substituted. We keep getting shots of him protesting it in various ways. Come on, mate. You've already put in a shift, and there are players who legitimately need those minutes. Özil took getting subbed off very well, which isn't always the case, and I wish Alexis could also get some big-picture perspective on this. After the Bournemouth game, there's been speculation about his body language, suggesting that he wants a transfer. I think the more accurate interpretation is that he was just frustrated not to win. He's this angry at getting substituted when Arsenal are up by 4, including a goal by him. That's just how he is.

FULL TIME: Swansea 0 - 4 Arsenal.

Arsenal were by far the better side in the second half, but Swansea were better in the first and I get the feeling that if Arsenal's hadn't had those lucky goals (#2 and 3), Swansea might very well have equalised and then won the game, as they usually do against Arsenal.

This will be very useful for Arsenal. Whatever kind of knock Giroud had, he was able to keep playing for a pretty long time with it, so hopefully it's not serious. He's got just over a week to recover from it, as well, before the next game. By then, Bellerin should be back in the squad, and Gibbs and/or Walcott might be in, as well. Then Arsenal can get going again, still not at full power, but hopefully enough to make for a top-6 challenge.

edited 14th Jan '17 8:54:00 AM by BestOf

The African Cup of Nations began today, with hosts Gabon equalizing 1-1 against Guinea-Bissau (this is the latter's debut in the competition). Aubameyang scored first, but in the second half they let G-B take over the match and at the 90' mark, Juary Soares equalized. Looking forward to see how they perform (since they're one of the Lusophone nations, their kit looks a bit like Portugal's (mostly red with a bit of green), and most of their squad players play in the Portuguese leagues - in fact, Juary plays at C.D. Mafra, in the Portuguese third league/tier). So far, so good. Getting a draw against the hosts in your debut performance is fairly amazing.

edited 14th Jan '17 10:11:20 AM by Quag15

And what many media (at least in Latin America) are talking about instead is the vuvuzelas.

True. I had no audio when watching the stream, but I think there weren't many vuvuzelas in the stands during the match, judging by all the crowd shots I saw.

Burkina Faso 1-1 Cameroon. Group A will be an interesting one to follow during this tournament. I didn't watch this match, though, since I decided to watch...

Feirense 0-0 Vitória de Guimarães

Not many chances, poor quality, lack of a coherent attack plan on both sides, and Tiquinho Soares played his last match for us, since a Chinese club (Henan Jianye) has bought him for €7M. If it's well managed, it will be useful to pay part of the debt (that I talked about here a couple of years ago) that the previous president had left.

On another note, Benfica drew 3-3 with Boavista in a highly controversial match (highlights in the link) and Sporting drew 2-2 at Chaves' home in what was an exciting match.

edited 14th Jan '17 2:34:53 PM by Quag15

Everton 4 Man City 0.

Welp, what more needs to be said.

http://www.fraudio.la/

Also, this◊.

Meanwhile, in the AFCON, another surprise as Algeria draws 2-2 with Zimbabwe, with Mahrez scoring Algeria's goals Goals here.

edited 15th Jan '17 10:52:02 AM by Quag15

Another caption I found going with that same image.◊

Wasn't able to watch much of City's performance, but I did manage to catch the opening of the second half, see the space open up for Everton once Touré was dispossessed, followed by the ball sliding just past Bravo. The subsequent camera shot of Pep in the dugout said all the rest.

Seeing lots of bantz about the following two goals I missed, though.

EDIT: Holy crap, everything wrong with City on that fourth concession.

edited 15th Jan '17 11:44:12 AM by SeanMurrayI

Does City really have a goalkeeper? I know that I am a couch player, but I am pretty sure that a Courtois, a Lloris or a De Gea would have stopped at least one or two of those shots.

It doesn't take "a Courtois, a Lloris or a De Gea" to do a better job of defending a goal than Bravo. There certainly can't be many keepers in the EPL (or reputable leagues elsewhere) posting comparable or even worse stats than this.

Narrower figures illustrating recent form suggest that more than half of all shots hit on target that Bravo faces are conceded goals.

Sevilla 2 - 1 Real Madrid.

The streak remained in 40 matches for Madrid. Both teams played incredibly well, and it was only two unexpected mistakes from Madrid which decided the duel in favor of Sampaoli's team.

As for City.... now that is a defeat that will leave a hard-to-heal crevice.

So, didn't talk about it, but Chile beat Iceland 1-0 for the China Cup. While the tournament itself isn't that big right now (although China will try to change that), it's good news for Chile since, after all, we still have relatively few world level players, our "Golden Generation" only has so much and we are prone to get yellow cards, so seeing other players prove to be viable options is always good.