A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

I only hope Peru stops giving material for the complaints. This better be the last funny thing to happen until the World Cup.

In a little while, Manchester City v Arsenal.

Just to get the obvious out of the way: I think this will be something like 5-0 or 7-0 for City. Maybe 4-1, but that might be stretching.

Maybe some of you have seen some of the stories that've been coming out about Cazorla's injuries. It's pretty shocking and very, very sad. There was a point where the doctors were thinking of amputating his leg to avoid the infection spreading further, and he was told he'd be a very lucky man if he ever walked again. Now, at least according to Santi himself, he expects to be registered for the Premier League and Europa League come January; he was left out of both squads at the end of the summer, but he had also been given a contract extension last season, so it's not as if Arsenal left him out because they didn't want him. With some luck, he'll play at least a few games for Arsenal again. He won't be back to his best, but maybe he'll still have a couple of moments of magic in him. He's one of the best players who ever played for Arsenal since the Invincibles.

Arsenal are also dealing with a bunch of other injuries, including to Chambers and Welbeck (who, fortunately, are at least back training with the first-team now, but not match fit). Apparently there's some issue with Holding, as well, since he's not in the squad today (even the bench) - and Mertesacker isn't in there, either. There were doubts about Kolasinac, but he's in the starting line-up so it can't have been that serious.

Wenger seems to have reverted to type, or maybe he's just reacting to the injuries: Arsenal are back to a back-4. The line-up is:

Cech
Bellerin Koscielny Monreal Kolasinac
Coquelin Xhaka
Ramsey Özil Iwobi
Alexis

That's not the actual order the players are listed in the squad announcement, so maybe I'm picturing the formation wrong. For a couple of years now, I've been hoping Wenger would experiment with 4-3-3, with a fairly deep-lying trio of midfielders securing possession and an attacking trio with a lot of freedom to roam their area of the pitch. If that's what's happening, then the formation after the defensive line is:

Ramsey Coquelin Xhaka
Özil Alexis Iwobi

That looks like a pretty decent counter-attacking set-up, but it could also mean that the midfielders are going to sit very deep and the players on the flanks are expected to track back a lot.

The bench is worth a couple of comments, as well. First of all, Lacazette is there, and not in the starting line-up. I think this shows that Wenger's pretty pessimistic about this game, and he's right to feel that way. Still, Arsenal will need at least 3 goals to get a draw, so having Lacazette in the squad could have helped.

Macey is still the back-up 'keeper, what with Ospina's persistent injury. This is the kind of situation where one regrets that Martinez is loaned out for this season, but then again, it's pretty unlikely that the back-up 'keeper would be needed, and Cech has been rested adequately.

The only defender on the bench is Debuchy. He seems to be making his way back to Arsenal's first-team, finally, and the "new" formation should suit him well. Until now, the few games he's played he's been decent as a centre-back, but everyone knows he's naturally a right full-back.

The rest of the bench is: Elneny, the only option to replace any of the three deep-lying midfielders, and a bunch of attacking alternatives in Walcott, Wilshere, Giroud, and Lacazette.

Manchester City 1 - 0 Arsenal.

Took less than 20 minutes, to no one's surprise. I was completely wrong about the formation change for Arsenal. Instead of trying a new formation, Wenger has decided to give Francis Coquelin his first ever game as a centre-back - away at Manchester City, of course.

Arsenal actually dominated the early stages of the game, conceding only one counter-attack (that came from an Arsenal corner, because of course it did). City grew into the game quickly, and by the 11th minute or thereabouts, City started to build chances (or at least half-chances) in and around Arsenal's penalty area. Sterling missed one ball that was slid to him, bypassing the entire Arsenal defence (including Cech), but Sterling couldn't quite reach that one.

The actual goal they did score came from De Bruyne, who scored in the aftermath of Cech's first save of the game.

Arsenal can't seem to clear the ball when ever they get it from City in Arsenal's defensive area. They should just punt it out for a throw, rather than try short passes to get it to midfield under almost the entire City team pressing the defender.

HALF-TIME: Still only 1-0, amazingly. Arsenal even had a good chance right at the end of the first half, and Ederson's stop was very good. It's clear that when you compare the shots opponents save against Arsenal to what Cech is doing now, Arsenal don't have a goalkeeper fit for a top-10 Premier League side any more. It's better than the Almunia years, but it makes me miss the time when Arsenal had to choose between Szczesny and Fabianski. Ospina and Cech are a step down from those days, or so it seems.

When Arsenal lose this game, a big talking point will be Wenger's decision to use a difficult away game to test Coquelin at centre-back. Sometimes it's very hard to understand his thinking. This isn't as bad as the line-up for the Liverpool game, but it's still far from ideal.

UPDATE: Approaching 80 minutes, Manchester City 3 - 1 Arsenal.

This is turning out to be a controversial game. City's second goal was a penalty in a situation where Monreal leaned on Sterling, shoulder-to-shoulder, in the box after the ball was going away. Fair enough, that's a penalty according to the rules; but it happens at least once in just about every game of a season, and it's given as a penalty maybe once per team per season. If this was given as a penalty even 50% of the times it happens, I wouldn't complain.

The third goal for City was when both the scorer and the player who made the assist were offside for the penultimate pass. It's a real howler from the linesman, at a time when Arsenal were getting back in to the game.

I expected City to win by several goals, sure, but I would've preferred to see them win it without the referees giving them all the advantages in the world.

EDIT: Seriously. Here's the offside check for the third goal◊. Note that both of the City players who are offside there will touch the ball before it's in the net. This shit happens almost every game with Arsenal, and 9 times out of 10 it's against Arsenal. It's so common that it would actually feel very inconsistent of the referees to make the right call once per game, or even a couple of times over a season. At this point, if that one had been called offside as it should've been, the headline in tomorrow's papers would've been "SHOCKING: CORRECT OFFSIDE CALL IN ARSENAL'S FAVOUR". That would be the main talking point in the press about English football over the international break.

Look at the linesman's position in that picture. He does it deliberately. This is not a mistake or an accident. He knows for certain that those two are offside (or, if we're generous, at least he knows that one of them is offside) and he decides to wrongly give the goal. I don't know if someone's instructed him, or if it's his own decision, but it's impossible to argue that this decision is anything other than deliberate. It's not as if Manchester City need this sort of favour against a mid-table club, especially at home. Why do the referees insist on doing this?

edited 5th Nov '17 8:13:41 AM by BestOf

Yesterday, we lost 1-3 against Benfica (highlights here). If we don't diminish the 8 point distance between ourselves and Braga by January, then it's unlikely we'll return to the Europa League next year.

Andrea Pirlo has retired as a player.

edited 6th Nov '17 8:34:55 AM by Quag15

So, a little bit about French football and a recent development.

Chances are, if you know of one rivalry in France, it's the one between Paris and Marseille, which was born in the late 80's/early 90's when both teams were competitive, and lead by rather charismatic (and in Marseille's case, outspoken) men. Sure it's recent, but the PSG was only founded in the 70's.

However, the actual biggest rivalry in France is not that one, it is the Lyon vs Saint Etienne one. Because aside from being older, it is one that is born from social issues. Lyon has always been a rich, bourgeois city, it was the capital of the Gaul, and was a significant European trade center during the medieval era, due in no small part to the weaving that took place there. It has also historically be a true hotspot for French cuisine, being located at a crossroads of various influences (the Alps, Burgundy, Provence in the South...), and its gastronomy is probably even more revered than Paris' today.

In contrast, only 60 kilometers away, Saint Etienne is the quintessential blue-collar city, that rose (and later fell) thanks to the industry. Coal mining easily was the main activity there, and if you are interested in weapons in general, you probably know that the rifle used by the French Army, the FAMAS, actually means "Fusil d'Assaut de la MAnufacture de Saint-Etienne" - Saint Etienne's Manufactory's Assault Rifle. One of the most famous personalities in the city is singer (and former coal miner) Bernard Lavilliers, who has always been a figure of the left-wing.

Football-wise, St Etienne got its glory days in the Seventies when they reached the finals of the Champions League and was the most prestigious team there was, but they later declined. Lyon rose in the early 2000's and won the title seven times in a row before slightly declining and then being (so far) unable to rival Paris. Lyon is usually ranked 3rd-4th today, and Sainté 5th-6th in the bookies bets at the beginning of any season.

Anyway, yesterday was Saint-Etienne Lyon, and the following happened:

• The game was interrupted after a few seconds due to smoke on the field
• At the tenth minute, while shooting a corner, Sainté's Romain Hamouma cracked his thigh, missed his shot, causing Lyon's Depay to score on the counterattack. He had to be subbed.
• Lyon scored a second one before HT
• Very early in the second half, Sainté's Léo Lacroix got a straight red for an absurdly mean scissor tackle on Fékir - on the same leg that got him to miss most of last season, too
• Lyon scored a third
• Lyon scored a fourth
• Lyon, by Fékir, scored a fifth at the 84th. Then, probably still a bit mad with Saint-Etienne for Lacroix's tackle, Fékir decided to remove his shirt and mockingly show it to Sainté's kop (he got booked for that).
• Sainté's fans invaded the pitch, which stopped the game for forty minutes
• Final score: Saint-Etienne 0-5 Lyon

I knew there is a rivalry, but I didn't know the socio-economic context, so, thanks.

I saw Fekir's celebration and it was... well, it was like playing with fire.

Were there confrontations between supporters from both teams before or after the match?

Moyes is now West Ham's manager, a day after Bilic was sacked. Fans are not feeling very confident about this appointment.

Looks like there were will be some retro kits in the World Cup.

German VAR chief sacked over Bundesliga fixing allegations.

edited 7th Nov '17 7:36:49 AM by Quag15

Match fixing is a massive problem in football, and it's good that perpetrators are being caught. I really hope, though, that this doesn't transition into a movement against VAR because this case involved VAR; it's just as easy, after all, to corrupt any of the referees involved in a competition (or the administrators and staff involved in the organisations that provide referees). VAR is not more or less vulnerable than any other type of referee. At least VAR, you get an additional layer of protection against the mistakes of referees on the pitch.

The final WC qualifiers matches have begun today, with two UEFA play-offs (1st leg). Croatia won 4-1 against Greece and will likely go through, unless they choke really hard in the away match. Greece's ultra defensive plan (as in, more defensive than usual) went to shit when their GK made a foul which led to a penalty goal (and thus destabilized the team). Goals here.

Northern Ireland lost 0-1 against Switzerland. The Swiss were generally the team with the upper hand, but their penalty goal came through a very questionable decision.

Here's the official ball of the World Cup◊. The designer is probably a Minecraft player.

edited 9th Nov '17 1:52:17 PM by Quag15

Senegal have qualified for the second time ever (1st and only time in the past being that memorable 2002 performance where they defeated France and ended up reaching the quarter-finals), after winning 2-0 away against South Africa (goals here). There's still one matchday left in the group, but with things decided here, there are only two African spots/groups left.

Nigeria, one of the teams that was already qualified, drew 1-1 away against Algeria (goals here)

Sweden won 1-0 against Italy (goal here), and most Italians are pretty much in favour of coach Ventura getting sacked. They have a solid squad, but when a coach is kinda tactically clueless, puts Insigne on the bench and only decides to put him after on they're losing, while keeping old and tired players like De Rossi (who maybe should've gotten a red card for this), you know that this squad is being wasted.

The last time Sweden defeated Italy in a competitive game was 30 years and a few months ago

The intercontinental play-off between Honduras and Australia have begun a few minutes ago, while the other inter. play-off between New Zealand and Peru will begin in 5 hours.

edited 10th Nov '17 2:43:00 PM by Quag15

After having been neglected three times in a row by Ivory Coast, it was about damn time Senegal got into a WC once again.

Also, Paqueth Fail is injuried AGAIN. -_-

That aside, I haven't seen much from football these days. Though Italy losing does surprise me. I have the sour feeling that Buffon's retirement will be Retirony-flavored if Italy doesn't make it into the most ideal tournament to go out with a bang.

At least Buffon has a WC already. But yeah, a WC without Italy looks a bit weird (especially since, according to the 12 year rule streak, Italy would've had a chance to reach the final and maintain said streak).

Yesterday, both intercontinental play-offs ended with goalless draws. Honduras - Australia was a predictably non-attractive match, with the Honduran pitch partially nulling Australia's pass-driven system. New Zealand took advantage of the absence of Paolo Guerrero and put a staunch defense against Peru. Both sides had a couple of chances where goals could've happened, but NZ were superior to Peru. The match in Lima will be tense, for sure.

The last matchday of the African qualifiers is ongoing. The two matches that are left to determine the remaining spots are about to begin.

As for the rest that happened today, Gabon and Mali drew 0-0, while Zambia and Cameroon drew 2-2 (goals by Patson Daka, Zambo Anguissa, Brian Mwila and Banana Yaya). Yes, that's his real name.

In regards to the matches that matter today, Ivory Coast and Morocco will duke it out to see who will win the top spot/qualification, while Tunisia will only need a draw at home against already-eliminated Libya. Ivory Coast needs to win in order to qualify, while Morocco will only need a draw to qualify.

There have been some noteworthy friendlies, such as: Belgium 3-3 Mexico (goals here), France 2-0 Wales (2-0 goals here), or Portugal 3-0 Saudi Arabia (goals here). No need to call-up players who are already guaranteed, so Santos called some relatively new (such as Bruma and Kevin Rodrigues) and old players (Manuel Fernandes, who returned to the NT after a 5-year absence, thanks to his current form at Lokomotiv Moscow, who are top of the Russian PL, scored the opening goal) who might be worth taking into consideration (the man himself said that he has even more doubts on selecting a good, balanced squad, which goes to show that we're not short of good players upfront and in the midfield. The only area where we are short is the center-backs (since Pepe and Fonte aren't getting any younger), which is why Santos brought younger center-backs for this call-up (such as Edgar Ié).

Both this match and the upcoming one against the US are being done to raise money for the people who were affected by the devastating fires in these past few months, btw.

Outside of the international break: Vitória SC 1-4 Oliveirense [League Cup group stage]

Just embarassing. I followed it through the radio and, like the commentators, I just felt like laughing at how shite we were today. There goes Pedro Martins' ambition of reaching the semi-finals, basically down the drain.

edited 11th Nov '17 9:33:09 AM by Quag15

And Morocco have qualified, by beating Ivory Coast at Abidjan by 2-0 (goals here). This marks their return to the World Cup after a 20-year absence! Morocco also won this group stage with no goals suffered (the only goal they suffered during the qualifiers was in the second round, against Equatorial Guinea).

Morocco's coach, ironically, is Hervé Renard (who led Ivory Coast to the conquest of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations). As for Ivory Coast, they'll probably sack Marc Wilmots. Konan (who plays for the Vitória I support) entered in the second half, but there wasn't much he could do.

Tunisia confirmed their qualification after a goalless draw with Libya. Last time they were in the World Cup was in 2006. A good year for North African football, all things considered.

DR Congo won 3-1 against Guinea, but it wasn't enough, in the end, since Tunisia drew (goals by Sidibe (own goal), Keita Junior, Bolingi (penalty) and Kebano.

In 15 minutes, Denmark vs. Republic of Ireland will begin.

EDIT: Denmark 0-0 Rep. Ireland. Ireland went with an ultra-defensive approach, Denmark weren't very creative, and the match was a bit dull, apart from a couple of good saves from Darren Randolph.

edited 11th Nov '17 2:17:34 PM by Quag15

For the sake of completion: in group E of the CAF, two 1-1 draws between Congo and Uganda (can't find the goals) and between Ghana and Egypt (Shikabala and Gyasi).

Switzerland vs Northern Ireland (2nd leg) began half an hour ago. The latter are obligated to score one goal, if they want to go into extra time, or two goals, if they want to go through in regular time.

edited 12th Nov '17 9:42:31 AM by Quag15

Hazard says he'd like to be trained by Zidane.

Not sure if he's a fitting kind of player for Real Madrid, though.

Switzerland and Croatia are qualified, after goalless draws against Northern Ireland (1-0 on agg.) and Greece (4-1 on agg.), respectively.

Good for Croatia, I think they still have a great generation of players.

Too bad they have a corrupt FA...

Italy attacked, and attacked, and put a lot of pressue. Sweden had a couple of counter-attacking occasions, the ref made questionable decisions for both sides...

And, in the end: Italy failed to qualify for the first time in... 60 years! 0-0, the Swedes are celebrating, and deservedly so. To go against France, Netherlands and Italy and being able to return to the World Cup after being absent from it in 2010 and 2014 is a work of great collective strength. They have overcome the post-Zlatan hangover with this conquest.

Looks like Buffon won't have a final World Cup performance... As for Ventura, he is so gonna get sacked (and might not leave the house for a few days).

(The irony here: who were the organizers of that 1958 WC that Italy failed to qualify to? Sweden.)

Whoever says that 0-0's aren't entertaining should watch this match.

EDIT: Buffon has retired from international football. He also cried in the post-match interview, understandably so.

edited 13th Nov '17 2:20:47 PM by Quag15

Buffon had already announced his intentions to retire after the World Cup. Italy failing to qualify simply expedites the matter.

It's a shame he's not going to get that World Cup sendoff (following elimination in the group stage) that he had been hoping for.

Chile, Italy, USA, .... this World Cup is going to have a drastically different flavor without them.

Hopefully it will still be exciting and fun.

edited 14th Nov '17 8:47:05 AM by MyFinalEdits

Ireland did scored first, but it was too early. Denmark then recovered and curb-stomped the Irish. Ireland 1-5 Denmark (goals here, including a great hat-trick - yes, all three goals - by Christian Eriksen). Oh, and a penalty goal by lord Bendtner.

With this qualification, for the first time ever, there are 3 Nordic teams in the final stage of a World Cup.

Let's wrap up the CAF qualifiers. Burkina Faso won 3-0 against Cape Verde (I can only find the first goal), while Senegal beat South Africa by 2-1 (goals by Opa Nguette, Percy Tau, can't find the other goal).

Noteworthy friendlies yesterday and today:

Kosovo 4-3 Latvia (goals here).

Turkey 2-3 Albania (goals here).

Argentina (without Messi) 2-4 Nigeria (goals here). Also, apparently Aguero fainted in the dressing room and had to be taken to the hospital.

Russia 3-3 Spain. Russia is making some progress, and might end up reaching the round of 16.

Germany 2-2 France (goals here, including a brace by Lacazette).

edited 14th Nov '17 1:52:18 PM by Quag15

Only one berth remains. Come on, Peru!

Well, two. Tomorrow there's also Australia x Honduras.

Portugal 1-1 US (goals here). Not a good performance, with the exception of a few players (e.g. Manuel Fernandes, Antunes). Our goal was quite lucky, thanks to that huge mistake by Horvath. Santos will probably have a clearer decision on who to pick for the final squad next year, after these two games.

Most of the US players called up are young and eager for an opportunity, and it showed. Fair result, all things considered, though I wouldn't complain if the US had won. They showed a lot more motivation and had more chances (one of which hit the bar). Oh, and here's an amusing kung-fu fighting scene between Beto and Carter-Vickers.

edited 14th Nov '17 3:09:33 PM by Quag15

You probably already know, but anyway, Australia has qualified after winning 3-1 against Honduras at home. Freekick by Jedinak, penalty by Jedinak, penalty by Jedinak again, and a consolation goal by Honduras at the end (can't find the last two goals).

In a few hours, the last qualififer between Peru and New Zealand will begin.

Marc Wilmots leaves the Ivory Coast NT job after failing to qualify.

Italy sack Ventura.

La Liga will have VAR in the next season.

Oh, and here's Valderrama teaching the importance of checking your balls.

edited 15th Nov '17 12:03:18 PM by Quag15

You could say Italy's..... ad-Ventura is over.

Bad joke, I know, but Italians cannot be depressed for life. There's always a next time. Besides, as soon as he had the balls to say that he was "the most effective coach in the last 40 years", any remote chances of him continuing in the job were obliterated. That's what I call a deliberate lack of self-critique.

It is hinted that Ancelotti will be the new manager, but I'm worried over whether or not he has lost his touch, considering his less-than-impressive ordeal in Bayern.

EDIT: Sweden's new hero is injuried... he might not make it into the WC. Ouch.

edited 15th Nov '17 12:49:04 PM by MyFinalEdits

So, the only Home Nation side still in the World Cup process is England? Again?

This is really going to go well next year. I can read the back page headlines begging everyone to support that side now.

And it's really funny that Scotland are going to try to replace a failed manager in Gordon Strachan, with another failed manager in Michael O'Neill.

Worse, Brazil already did that when they brought back Dunga after Scolari's downfall in 2014.... and things only got bleaker for the national team until Tite put things back in track.