A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

Sounds reasonable enough, to be honest. The FA shouldn't be having this much trouble complying with those demands.

Well, it IS the FA. They've been historically snail-paced when it comes to waking up and smelling the coffee.

"Racism in football you say? Rubbish."

Easiest game of the season so far about to start for Chelsea. I said a week or two ago that if Arsenal's injury crisis lets up, they can finally get started with this season. Surprise, surprise: no such luck. Arsenal are still not really involved in this season's Premier League - it's just an empty shell, trying to scrape into the top-6 against all odds.

This time, the position that's causing the most trouble is central midfield. Wilshere's loan - and the fact there's no recall option - is really hurting at the moment. Coquelin is the only fit first-team central midfielder.

If everything was OK, the central midfielders would be Cazorla and Xhaka. The former has been injured for months, and is expected to be out for at least a month more. The latter is on #3 of a 4-game ban.

The next two candidates for that position are Coquelin and Ramsey. Coquelin is actually fit. Ramsey, though, got an injury in the previous game, expected to keep him out for 3 weeks.

Elneny and Wilshere would be the next two options there. Elneny is in Africa with the national team, while Wilshere - quite understandably, considering that this is his current standing in the squad - asked for and got a season-long loan at a club where he'd play more.

So, out of 6 players, 1 available. Who's going to be in the other central midfield slot? It'll have to be Oxlade-Chamberlain, who isn't a natural for that position but has sometimes played well there.

This feels very much like the season opener against Liverpool, when Arsenal's first 3 choices for centre-back were all unavailable; except this is much worse, with 5 out of 6 players out for two slots. Chelsea should be able to send out their reserves and get a 5-0 win with a half-assed training-ground performance. If Arsenal snatch a draw, in these circumstances, it will be more embarrassing for Chelsea than Arsenal's defeat at home to Watford was earlier this week.

UPDATE: Chelsea 1 - 0 Arsenal.

Extremely positive surprise: it took over 10 minutes for Chelsea to get the first goal. That's embarrassing for them, but I suppose as long as you're ahead it's all good. Even more surprising is that Arsenal have actually managed to get a couple of half-chances together. I don't think anyone expected Arsenal to get the ball into the attacking third in this game.

Bellerin is injured now. Let's hope he'll at least survive this game, or Arsenal are in for a shock against Sutton. It's concussion, so hopefully he'll recover. It's Gabriel at right-back now.

EDIT: A replay of the goal by Alonso shows that he actually caused Bellerin's concussion by keeping his elbow high while he jumped on Bellerin. So he scored and got an Arsenal player injured. If Arsenal were doing that, it would be a red card and goal disallowed. That said, nobody expects the referee to be on point in a game like this, and Arsenal always lose players against Chelsea, for whom it's at least as much a goal in these games as actually winning it.

HALF TIME: Chelsea 1 - 0 Arsenal. This is absolutely shocking from Chelsea. They've only scored once, and Arsenal have actually forced about 4 or 5 fantastic blocks or saves from Chelsea's 'keeper and defenders. Still, Chelsea have been in control. They should get 4 or 5 goals in the second half, if they can be bothered.

EDIT: I've seen more angles now of Bellerin's injury/Chelsea's goal, and I've got to say, that should prompt an investigation and suspensions on Alonso. Absolutely shocking how he goes in with his elbow high, as if he's trying to cause Bellerin a concussion. Definitely not a normal 50-50 challenge for a high ball. Disgusting.

UPDATE: Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal. Fantastic strike by Hazard, after poor defending from Coquelin and Koscielny.

I absolutely don't understand why the commentators keep saying this is hurting Arsenal's "title challenge". I honestly don't understand how they think someone is going to believe that there's a title race on, at least involving Arsenal. With the injuries and suspensions and such, Arsenal are barely in the top-6 race. The media should be honest about that, and say that this is damaging Arsenal's unlikely challenge for a top-6 spot.

Actually, the fact that Arsenal are still near the top-4 shows how much the top of the Premier League has declined in the past couple of years. Since the 2013-14 season, Arsenal have been shit almost every week. They shouldn't be anywhere near the top-10 of the Premier League with those performances. Fans of other leagues often say that the Premier League is overrated, and I always say that the bottom and mid-table sides in the Premier League are almost on par with the 5th or 6th team in most other European leagues. That's probably still true, but I doubt that Arsenal would be in the top-4 every year in La Liga, Serie A, or the Bundesliga. Arsenal are so poor, some weeks, that they'd barely win the Austrian Bundesliga or Switzerland's Super League, as demonstrated by Champions League performances that barely carry Arsenal through the group stages.

I think the Premier League is in decline, and has been for a few years. That's why Arsenal, despite being shit, are still near the top-4. If the league starts improving soon, Arsenal will be left behind. They deserve it, too.

Less than 10 minutes to go, and I'm amazed it's only 2-0. Chelsea haven't taken this one seriously. They could and should have grabbed some more goals - if they had Cech or Ospina in their goal instead of Courtois, Arsenal would have scored 2 or 3. That's how good he's been. still, Chelsea have controlled this game and if they were trying they could have scored more.

Arsenal's next game is at home against Hull City. Hull are obviously favourites to win that, with Xhaka still suspended and Elneny probably resting after his international games. With a much better performance than today, assuming Bellerin will be able to play after he got deliberately knocked out, Arsenal might just about scrape a draw.

And as I was writing this, Cesc scored Chelsea's third, after Cech passed the ball directly to him. Almost an own goal.

Chelsea 3 - 1 Arsenal now, goal by Giroud. Neither team even tried to play today, and Chelsea could have won 6-0 if they had wanted to, but I suppose it's nice to see at least something today.

If Arsenal lose to Hull by fewer than 3 goals, I'll be happy. That'll count as overperforming at this point. If Arsenal lose to Bayern by fewer than 6 goals, I'll be happy with that. This season has been another disaster, and it's 90% about injuries. I don't know what needs to happen for this crisis to end. Maybe Arsenal should just get demoted to the Championship for a season or two, something like that. At least there would be 20 teams in the Premier League again. Right now it's 19 teams and Arsenal.

edited 4th Feb '17 6:23:43 AM by BestOf

The mayor of Vigo warns that the Celta-Real Madrid match will not be played due to safety issues.

What.

The.

Heck.

Hull City 2 Liverpool 0.

... Oh dear. This is,... actually a huge surprise.

Most all players put their arms out when going in for a header like that, and I don't see how anyone could infer deliberate intent from Alonso to cause injury when (1) his eyes are fixed on the ball, and (2) he kept is arm as steady as possible as he jumped to meet the ball.

If Alonso had actually swung his elbow when he left the ground a la De Rossi-on-McBride, I could sing a different tune, but that goal isn't any less fair play than Koscielny's overhead kick that very nearly could have taken Jordy Clasie's head clean off his shoulders.

EDIT: That "Robin Hood of the EPL" meme is gonna need another update.

edited 4th Feb '17 8:56:30 AM by SeanMurrayI

He leads with his elbow, and it's raised. I don't care if he holds it steady, it's positioned so that if Bellerin tries to reach the ball he'll hit the elbow instead. That's intent to cause an injury. When Fellaini or Crough or Giroud does it's it's usually a yellow card, and even that's only because they're not moving so fast that the risk of serious injury is raised. Alonso was going very fast there, which is why Bellerin had already lost consciousness before he hit the ground. If Giroud had done that to a Chelsea defender, you know it would have been a red card and the press would've been talking (justly) about how players are too violent in these situations.

Not that it made all that much of a difference with the result, what with Arsenal playing like a non-league side. I expect a similar performance against Hull. Since they beat Liverpool today, they'll be on a high. Earlier I said I'd settle for a 2-0 loss, but it looks like it's going to be much more. I wonder whether Xhaka's return might put Arsenal on track for a top-6 challenge, or maybe it's too late by then.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Marco Silva has been a good manager for most of his career and he will definitely turn Hull around and hey, he might end up saving their season. We'll see how Hull does against Arsenal.

Yesterday: Paços de Ferreira 2-0 Vitória de Guimarães

Can't really complain. They scored two top notch goals that took some of the will out of the team. Highlights here.

Still, at least some of our away fans who faced the rain and the fast winds gave a good show.

Btw, in about a hour, there will be a Porto vs Sporting CP. Depending on the result, the title race could end up becoming exciting once again.

Monaco continues to deliver as they defeated Nice 3-0 (goals here, including two by Falcao, who is definitely making a comeback). Leonardo Jardim is arguably the best Portuguese [club] coach/manager at the moment.

edited 4th Feb '17 11:37:50 AM by Quag15

Whenever there are two opposing players reaching for a loose ball, there's always the likelihood of a collision between them. That's simply the nature of the sport. Shit just happens. There's no clear intent to injure an opponent if two players are going into a 50-50 challenge with their eyes on the ball, and the eventual ball winner shouldn't have to be automatically punished if the "loser" (for lack of a better word) happens to pick up an injury—any injury.

I get why supporters for an injured player or his team (and his club manager) could feel aggrieved, but when I'm hearing even Lee Dixon and Thierry Henry chime in on TV coverage and deem it all fair play, I can't say there's really much else about Arsenal (or Chelsea) to get worked up about that one wouldn't have already been worked up about.

edited 4th Feb '17 12:40:53 PM by SeanMurrayI

Barcelona 3 - 0 Athletic Club

Barcelona is now only one point behind Real Madrid, thanks to the Diabolus ex Machina pulled by Vigo's mayor, as Madrid will now have two pending matches (the first one is against Valencia after they had to postpone it to play Club World Cup). Disgusting.

It's not a 50-50 challenge if you're holding your elbow out. Usually that's given as a foul. If it's head clashing against head, or even heard against shoulder, fine. If your elbow is held out stretched and high, you're doing it in order to hit the other guy in the face. I honestly don't understand why this is one where, both online and from the commentators in the broadcasts, there's so much of the "50-50" talk. If both players were elbowing each other in the face, maybe (although it would still be wrong).

You're not allowed to hit people try to get the ball. It's worse than shoving someone (which is not allowed) or pulling someone's shirt (which is not allowed) or even pulling someone's hair (which is not allowed) because it comes with a serious risk of injury. If you jump for the ball, you're not allowed to spread your arms out and/or stick out your elbow in front of the other player's face to keep them from getting to the ball first. I know it happens often (and is punished often), but I think this is one where too much is tolerated. It's not rare to get injuries from this, either.

I think the protocol for a head injury, especially if you lose consciousness like Bellerin did, is to go to A&E to get checked for concussion or worse brain damage. I really hope Bellerin will be OK to play against Hull. Even with him Arsenal are not the favourites in that game, but without him they're set for massive odds against them.

It's not as if Chelsea needed to do something like that in this game. Arsenal have been shit all season, with only a couple of good games overall, and Chelsea would have taken them out with a routine performance. They didn't need to cheat like that to win it. It would be like Usain Bolt going into the qualifying rounds for a race and pushing someone who isn't even expected to make it to the final. Why would you do that? You're much better anyway, just do your half-assed jog and get into the final.

Players raise and outstretch their arms when jumping for headers all the time, especially in aerial duels where it helps them create space to win the ball. Even Bellerin threw his arms up and out in front of him as jumped in attempt to meet the ball. I don't think that was with direct intent to hit anybody in the face.

Novel highlight elsewhere in the A-League: Tim Cahill was shown a straight red before he could even step onto the pitch as a substitute for Melbourne [Manchester] City for swearing at the ref (or possibly his assistant).

edited 4th Feb '17 2:52:32 PM by SeanMurrayI

That's where context comes in. Are you moving so fast that it's dangerous? If so, you need to adjust your approach so that you don't cause undue danger. It's the same with tackling: a tackle that might be OK from one angle, for instance, might be a red if you do it from another angle, or a tackle that wouldn't necessarily even be called as a foul from a normal pace might become a red card offense if you're springing full-speed before you start the slide.

Ideally, no one would be raising their elbows in front of them when jumping for a ball. If they do, though, they need to at least make sure not to do it when they're jumping from a sprint - it's dangerous, and usually it's either a yellow or a red card, even if no injury happens to result that time. (It is, after all, down to luck if you're not in control of what your body is doing because of the speed.)

Swearing at referees must be a very frustrating thing. Everybody seems to do it, and usually the refs just take it. (They shouldn't have to.) You can get carded - or even sent off - for going too far, and probably sometimes for the first time you do it. What you'd want there is consistency from the referees. If they're going to send off player N for using a particular swear word, they must also send off players O, P, and Q for the same thing.

Obviously, it's hard to tell the exact words that a player is using, especially if they're not speaking a language you know. (Not that most of us - myself included - fell compelled to pay attention to that sort of thing, anyway, to the extent of bothering to try to read lips.) That's why I don't think there's much more to say than I hope all referees in that league observe the same standard in every case.

One player's running pace over another's is hardly an issue when two are vying to move into the same space and, again, creating a 50-50. Alonso wouldn't even have likely made a run like that had Bellerin not left the area completely open for a blue shirt while making a failing effort to close down Costa on the initial attempt on goal, before Bellerin had to quickly double back and try (and fail again) to close down Alonso. An attacking player has every right to take full advantage of an opportunity just like the one that presented itself to Alonso when a defender plainly moved out of position. A player isn't afforded protection just because he tries to correct his own defensive error while running at half the pace of his opponent; that just more greatly infers which player is the one arriving to the ball late.

I'll maintain that any injury is an unfortunate thing to ever see happen... But not all injuries evidently are committed fouls, even in player collisions.

edited 4th Feb '17 10:30:55 PM by SeanMurrayI

Probably nothing to make our pulse tremble, but...

I dunno if Arsene is the only one who'd have to leave. Arsenal needs to get people with a winning mentality and that seems to be completely absent from the head to the toes. Not to mention getting decent people to work in the player's physical training, the whole injury crisis is ridiculous by now.

Should've watched both matches, but I was watching Porto's 2-1 win over Sporting.

Yesterday, Burkina Faso got the third place after defeating Ghana by 1-0. Good run by them, good team, and Paulo Duarte has been a good coach.

Today, Cameroon have won 2-1 against Egypt and are, therefore, the African champions! It's their fifth AFCON title, and the first one since 2002.

Goals here. Egypt did scored first, but a Cameroon that was not filled with top players from the top European leagues (due to the their FA not wanting to pay some of the players' bonuses) fought back and had a tremendous resiliance, which paid off (the winning goal is a beauty and was scored by Aboubakar).

So, Cameroon will join group B at the Confederations Cup (alongside Chile, Australia and Germany).

EDIT: Some corrections.

edited 5th Feb '17 3:39:21 PM by Quag15

Happy Birthday to Cristiano Ronaldo and happy birthday to me. I'm rather pleased to have received some... novel Chelsea swag today: One T-shirt which should be guaranteed for a good wind-up for, what, another three months, at least; that'll be fun for now... and another fairly clever shirt which will probably be more often mistaken for supporting my local police in this corner of Trumpland the more I think about it.◊ Thanks, England, much appreciated.

edited 6th Feb '17 8:38:13 AM by SeanMurrayI

Nice shirts (the Blue Flag one is quite good) and happy birthday, Sean!

edited 6th Feb '17 12:53:54 PM by Quag15

Say, Quag, remember a long while back when we observed the sheer overabundance of advertising sponsors on team kits in Argentina (and South America in general)? One lower-league club is now shattering their own world record for most kit sponsors.

And Howard Webb is slated to begin a new job in the United States overseeing "the development and education, assessment, and assignment of Video Assistant Referees."

Wow. There are more sponsors in that kit than there is in a summer music festival poster/flyer. They should consider rotating some of the brands per match, if those sponsors want to be actually seen by the crowd, though.

Deportivo Alavés have reached their first Copa del Rey final ever, after defeating Celta de Vigo with this lovely goal. Player and fans' celebrations here.

Wow, Celta. I'm very disappointed. There's no way Alavés is going to win Copa del Rey, so the trophy is already secured for Barcelona.

And it's already a given that the final will not be in Satiago Bernabeu.

Arsenal v Hull tomorrow. Hull are favourites to win, obviously, but something in my heart says there just might be a draw in this for Arsenal.

This will be the last game of Xhaka's suspension. It's good to have him back. Cazorla and Ramsey are out, obviously. Bellerin might be on the bench, or maybe not - the extent of his head injury is not fully clear yet, at least as of the press conference. If he doesn't play, I'd like to see Jenkinson start - but it'll probably be Gabriel. Elneny has returned from Africa and might play.

Welbeck and Walcott should start either side of Alexis, to give Arsenal a lot of width and movement. That's essential against a side that will probably sit deep and press hard.

If Arsenal win this, there's still a marginal chance of a top-4 finish, and decent odds of at least a top-6 push. It would also help for the upcoming game against Bayern - at least the team wouldn't be totally devastated before the game begins.

That said, while I really hope Arsenal can win or at least draw, I'm about 80% sure they'll lose. Hull are usually better than anything we've seen from Arsenal in the last couple of weeks, and there's no reason to expect an improvement.

Alexis does seem to snap again and again pretty often. And let's face it, he is a big reason Arsenal is even fighting the higher places and is alive in the Champions. Pretty much everyone knows that he wants to win and be a contender for the championship and he is never gonna get that with the Gunners. The more Arsenal wastes chances the more Alexis is to leave the Gunners the first chance he gets.

edited 10th Feb '17 5:14:37 PM by Blueace

Alexis is very keen to win trophies, but I don't actually think he's currently on the verge of leaving. When he does play well, or when the club publish videos or pictures of training, he looks very happy. It looks like he's got some genuine chemistry with many of Arsenal's players (and Wenger).

That said, if Wenger leaves after this season - which is looking pretty likely - players like Özil and Alexis, who picked Arsenal specifically because they wanted to work with Wenger, might start to rethink their future with the club. If Arsenal appoint a new manager that doesn't have a reputation for developing players consistently like Wenger, there are players all through the squad who might want to move to another, even smaller, club if it means they'll feel that they're improving as footballers.