FA Carling Premiership and Milk Cup thread 2024/25

[Hannibal Scorch]

Having seen an image of the car crash, I’m amazed it was not worse. Although it could see him needing to retire and which would be a real shame. Never the best forward, but lots of great moments for West Ham over the years and a cult figure. 

[Mr_Danger]

On 10/20/2024 at 11:00 AM, Mr_Danger said:

Just a fancy Fat Sam with Lego hair is Arteta.

I’m not just a witty armchair pundit. The stats back me up!

He’ll make a great Everton manager one day mind.

[mim731]

I knew I meant to update my ignore list. 

[Devon Malcolm]

38 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

I’m not just a witty armchair pundit. The stats back me up!

He’ll make a great Everton manager one day mind.

Imagine what he could do with Calvert-Lewin, Keane and Tarkowski with those corners.

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

2 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Imagine what he could do with Calvert-Lewin, Keane and Tarkowski with those corners.

We’d have scored more and picked up a fair few more points under him I’d imagine

[Mr_Danger]

The Man United Ashworth thing is very odd. You’d assume that both parties were on a level with the way things would work and what the expectations were given the trouble they went to to get him there. United’s transfer strategy for too long (or not long enough if you’re ABU) has been ‘We need someone who plays this position, oh look Real Madrid have a player they don’t want anymore’. They don’t seem to follow an analytic model like most the other clubs have adopted. Ashworth would seem to fit in to that kind of model given his work history and the clubs he’s been at. I can only conclude that Jim Ratcliffe must be a massive massive cunt.

[air_raid]

12 hours ago, Mr_Danger said:

The stats back me up!

Why do people give a shit about “expected goals,” it’s not a real thing. My mate at work used to whine all the time about how high Everton’s was and yet they kept drawing blanks oblivious as to how meaningless his own words were rendering it as a “stat.” There’s no need to put an arbitrary number on “they make lots of chances” and pretend it means something, especially when shit finishing or low confidence means the real fan can’t expect most of the chances to go anywhere.

Worst of all is analysis of the “expected goals” about one match in isolation once it’s finished. The other night apparently Spurs’ was 0.38 and Bournemouth’s was >3… yeah but why should I care if the game finished 1-0? I might have gone to bed expecting a shag but when I wake up the next day, I’m not still thinking about the expectation if it didn’t happen! Awful, awful statting the game to death.

I mean, footballs shit anyway when you support Spurs but can we please have fewer stats to prove it? Unless that “secondary assist” bollocks takes hold, and I can retcon Scott Parker into the greatest midfielder in Premier League history.

Edited December 9, 2024 by air_raid
Adrenaline, expected goals…

[Cod Eye]

7 hours ago, air_raid said:

Why do people give a shit about “expected goals,” it’s not a real thing. My mate at work used to whine all the time about how high Everton’s was and yet they kept drawing blanks oblivious as to how meaningless his own words were rendering it as a “stat.” There’s no need to put an arbitrary number on “they make lots of chances” and pretend it means something, especially when shit finishing or low confidence means the real fan can’t expect most of the chances to go anywhere.

Worst of all is analysis of the “expected goals” about one match in isolation once it’s finished. The other night apparently Spurs’ was 0.38 and Bournemouth’s was >3… yeah but why should I care if the game finished 1-0? I might have gone to bed expecting a shag but when I wake up the next day, I’m not still thinking about the expectation if it didn’t happen! Awful, awful statting the game to death.

I mean, footballs shit anyway when you support Spurs but can we please have fewer stats to prove it? Unless that “secondary assist” bollocks takes hold, and I can retcon Scott Parker into the greatest midfielder in Premier League history.

I don't like using xG myself, but I do understand why they have it now. It's just a drilled down version of the Shots/Shots on target stat but takes into account the difficulty and quality of the chance to give an indication of how a team have done in front of goal. Using the Shots/Shots on target stat was always flawed and it counted a 50 yard speculative effort from a goalkeeper the same as a 1 yard open goal tap in from a £100m international striker. With the xG stat, they figured out a way to grade each chance(and even potential chances that dont end up with a shot due to player incompetence/bad luck).

So yeah, its not a stat I will ever quote personally(mainly because I dont know the formula for working it out), but I do get why other hold it in high regard.

[seph]

David Coote sacked from PGMOL. Quite probably with Video 2 cited so they can bury Video 1's allegations.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

https://news.sky.com/story/saudi-arabia-to-be-named-as-2034-world-cup-hosts-but-questions-still-hang-over-bidding-process-13271235

 

Couldn't find a general football thread,  but some of these stadiums look mental! Not a big fan of Saudi and their 'sport washing' but if these get built and are used then it'll be stunning

[Devon Malcolm]

18 minutes ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

https://news.sky.com/story/saudi-arabia-to-be-named-as-2034-world-cup-hosts-but-questions-still-hang-over-bidding-process-13271235

 

Couldn't find a general football thread,  but some of these stadiums look mental! Not a big fan of Saudi and their 'sport washing' but if these get built and are used then it'll be stunning

The football version of Loki's 'look at the pretty missiles!' post right here.

[The Gaffer]

Even without the whole "Consider me sportswashed!" angle, in any other country they still look like the kind of dystopian, augmented reality nightmares you'd do the last fight against Heihachi in. 

[mim731]

Are these for the Rocket League world cup?

[Jesse]

These have as much chance of ending up looking anything like their concepts as that NEOM line had of being built by 2025. Bollocks.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

2 hours ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

https://news.sky.com/story/saudi-arabia-to-be-named-as-2034-world-cup-hosts-but-questions-still-hang-over-bidding-process-13271235

 

Couldn't find a general football thread,  but some of these stadiums look mental! Not a big fan of Saudi and their 'sport washing' but if these get built and are used then it'll be stunning

Very much on brand for you Grim Tim. A lot of workers will die building those stadia, are you going to post about all of them? 

Away from the Saudi death sycthe I have to say that the old sportswashing thing is pretty much over. Sport has embraced the Saudi money and fans are accepting it. I'm a boxing fan, Saudi money has revolutionised the sport, moving the traditional powerbase from the US to Saudi and creating peace between Matchroom and Queensbury, which had looked about as likely as peace in the Middle East before that. Sport has been washed and now its going to get hung out to dry.