Cod Eye

I didn't want to go up anyway!!!

3 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

It was better than I expected it to be. Just depends if you're okay with it not ending properly..

Was it cancelled before everything was wrapped up? Won't even bother with it if so...

Has anyone watched Colony, and if so is it worth trying to get invested in?

Well played Brentford, hope to see you at Wembley in the near future!

They could be huge if they are managed right. I've not watched much AEW recently, so my question is can we trust AEW not to tinker and run the gimmick into the ground like the WWE would?

if he does go, it will be really strange to see him in another teams colours. When Pochettino was building his side and they were looking like genuine contenders, I'd have bet my mortgage that Kane would be the next great one-club man in the vein of Gerrard and Giggs(only without the winners medals).

If he does go, the club only have themselves to blame. They produced a player that you can put alongside the worlds best, and rather than capitalising on it and finally spending big(er)to build a team around him that he deserves, they went backwards and look to have blown it. 

i must be honest, though. I wish they had appointed a more attack minded manager instead of Mourinho, as a front three of Kane, Son and a (motivated) Bale would ave been deadly with the right tactics...

3 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

If I can be permitted one post in here this season, then here it is.

Surely, SURELY this is Brentford's year? Sorry @Cod Eyebut I think it has to be.

After the bottling last year for them to miraculously miss out on automatic promotion at the last (I am still baffled as to how they managed it) to this season AGAIN bottling automatic promotion (those 4 straight draws in late March/early April did for them) and then bottling that final (and they did, and the blame lays directly with Franks I'm afraid), they can only have learnt from last years experience.

The thing with them this season is that whilst they replaced Watkins with Ivan Toney, one of the best strikers I've ever seen at Brentford, they didn't replace Benrahma, and his creativity, and Mbuemo has not been the same player he was last year. Whenever I have seen him he has looked so devoid of confidence, and has half the goals he had last season.

Positives though are that they are coming into this in great form, just at the right time and looked really strong in those last 4 wins of the season. Vitaly Janelt has been a really promising addition as well, and they have the best defence out of the four as well.

Negatives:

If Toney doesn't perform, Brentford will struggle. 31 goals for him, but then the next highest scorer is Canos with 9 and Mbuemo with 8. Not great. 

It's Brentford. Their record in the play offs, and finals, is AWFUL. That loss last season to Fulham was so frustrating, as they belied everything that got them to that point, were defensive in their tactics, and just froze up. Such a shame...

...however, there is a slight possibility that if they had gone up last year, they'd have come straight back down, it would've obviously been played out in front of no one, so if they go up now, then at least fans will be able to see them (hopefully) in the Premier League. A slight silver lining of not going up I guess?

Absolutely buzzing for the games against Bournemouth. Be great to see fans at the new stadium as well.

Can't pretend that I have seen much of Swansea or Barnsley (games against Brentford aside) but have heard that you have a high pressing and counter attacking style so that will be good to see, and would really cause Brentford problems.

Swansea have been lucky this year on a lot of occasions so it's all set for a Brentford vs Barnsley final, with hopefully the pride of West London winning!

All the best. COYSB

 

If Brentford had not drawn Bournemouth in the semi-finals, I'd have made them big favourites against both Barnsley or Swansea. We have seemed to have their number in the league this season(and last, to be fair), but they are due a win against us. 

You are right about Toney, though. Out of all the play-off teams, none are as reliant on one player the way Brentford are on Toney. But if he is on his game, he is deadly.

Bournemouth really should be going up this year, though. Their only real weakness is that they ave Woodgate in charge. If they play to their best, they can blow the other 3 teams away.

As for the UKFF's official third team, I'm pre-conditioned to always fear the worst. Even in February, I never stopped checking the bottom of the table in fear we were going to be this seasons Hull City and drop like a stone. But I suppose we are where we are merit, and as long as the young players in the team do not crumble under the pressure of playing in front of crowds again, we always have a chance...

46 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

I assume it’s a toss up between world famous Dragons Wrexham and Harchester United for 1st and 2nd?

Wrexham and Coventry. Although, and I may be totally wide of the mark here, but I think the results were a little big rigged....

OK, so now we know that Barnsley are officially the UKFF's 3rd team, what are peoples honest opinion of our play-off hopes? 

I've supported them a long time, so I'm automatically fearing the worst, but the play-offs can be a bit of a lottery and form can go out of the window quite quickly. If we can get past Swansea, then it's all there to play for! 

I'm sure we have done this thread before!

Fans back for the Play-offs! Best news in a hell of a long time. Now just need to get a bit of luck and have my name pulled in the ticket lottery!

Deportivo Wanka? 

Talking about the little details you only notice on a second or third viewing, I've only just noticed Simon mouthing the words off the auto-cue while Alan is speaking. Is this something he has always done? 

16 hours ago, Tsurutagun said:

 

 

The guy is a genius with little things like that...

17 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

In his defence, he is still very early into his managerial career.

Whether he should've been given the position is a different argument, but he was definitely bought in to be given time to build. (At least I think he should be)

 

Of course, you're right. It is very early and I think the job might be too big for him as a first job(but it is what it is). 

To me though, he just feels like a coach or assistant, rather than the main man(and there is nothing wrong with that). 

As a neutral, my issue with Arteta is that he is just so nondescript. I cant work out what his tactical identity is for the life of me. All the top manages/coaches have an identity that you can see in their teams week in, week out. Guadiola is the pretty tippy tappy football guy, Klopp is the 100mph high press master, Mourinho is the make your team solid and really hard to beat, but gets beat all the time guy. Even the likes of Moyes and Dyche have a style, so despite their limitations, you know what you are getting.

Also, he seems really really boring. I can't imagine any player getting motivated by his team talks. 

You would have thought they would put a few dark matches on for the paying crowd. Even if they are just local indie guys, at least it adds a bit of value to the ticket price...

6 hours ago, PowerButchi said:

Kwame Thomas had about 12 for Wrexham before he got crippled the other week. 

 

So I'm going for Darren Ferguson for Wrexham in 2002-03.

 

For Wrexham. 

 

Wrexham. 

@PowerButchiSeeing as no body has mentioned them for 6 hours, what is the feeling like around the club at the minute? Have the new owners set out how much investment they are looking at making in the playing side, infrastructure, etc?

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

Had to look up what I'd said.

The absolute state of it.

Ah yes. A front 3 all getting in the way of each other. What could possibly go wrong.

Kane and Vardy would be great together, with a bit of work. Vardy could replicate the role Son plays alongside Kane, so I don't think your a million miles off with that front 3(except Sturridge, obviously). I know if I were Southgate, I'd be trying to talk Vardy into going to the Euro's, as cover or an impact sub of nothing else.

Anyone thinking with their head and not their hearts, or those who didn't let club allegiances cloud their judgement could see he was never going to be a one season wonder. Kane just looked like he was totally at home from those first few games as a true first team player and his record since has backed that up. 

I really hope he stays at Spurs and they get someone in charge who can take them to the next level(and who gets the financial backing Pochettino should have got). Seeing him playing for someone like Man City would be like Giggs playing for anyone other than Utd. It's just not right...

13 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

After seeing the thread title I knew I was going to be disappointed when it wasn't a guy asking if anyone recognised the ring in the picture, but thanks for at least making it funny to take the sting off.

I'm still gutted we didn't get a conclusion to that thread...

35 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

@PowerButchi can we have it next season that only people who also like cricket can post in the football threads?

I second this @PowerButchi. Only the best people like both football and cricket!

7 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

That Balbuena red card is absolute disgrace. Sure I’m pissed because it’s West Ham, but I don’t even think it’s a booking, let alone a sending off. And with another 15 minutes played with stoppage time, that could have cost us an equaliser. VAR really is shite isn’t it?

 

Nothing to do with VAR(the technology). The problem is two-fold as 1, the decision is still being made by humans and 2, too many rules in football are open to interpretation. It's worked with cricket and tennis as the majority of the rules are black and white, with little room for interpretation. The LBW rule in cricket for example, has 3 simple things that need to occur. Does it pitch outside, leg? If yes, does it hit in line with the stumps, if yes would it have hit the stumps. Three "yes" to those and it's out, which is why it works so well with Hawkeye tech.

Football doesn't work like that though, which is why it's all over the place. In my opinion, two things need changing. Firstly, they should develop an "umpires call" type of thing for the refs/linesman. So, as an example, a marginal offside call happens and the forward goes on to score. The linesman's call should be classed as a "soft signal" on if he thinks they are off or not(lets say he gives it offside), then the video ref, rather than trying to decide if he is categorically on or off, should just be trying to find evidence of a bad call(with "umpires call" style margin of error). As it stands at the minute, we might as well develop technology that replaces the officials all-together as you're taking the decision out of their hands.

Secondly, I'd change what VAR ref can look at. Anything that can be interpreted differently by different people should not something the VAR ref can look at. Anything like that, can be viewed on the screen by the match ref, but that's it. Keep the VAR for offsides, goal line, and confirming if a foul takes place in the box or not(again, all barring the goal-line tech should be based on the refs "soft" call with margin of error).

1 minute ago, Mr_Danger said:

Who’d have thought that the bloke who was shagging his brothers wife whilst repeatedly cheating on his own wife was a massive twat.

I don't think anyone didn't think he was a twat after the sister-in-law shagging, but this(if true and convicted) send's him into mega-twat territory...

He's going to have to quit the Wales job isn't he, or be sacked for bringing the game into disrepute?

Although he's only been charged at this point, and not convicted, you would think this is a massive weight to have on his shoulders, which will effect his job performance.