FA Carling Premiership and Milk Cup thread 2024/25

[Ironic Indie Lad]

7 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

We've played Qarabag, Ferencvaros, Alkmaar, Galatasaray, Rangers, Hoffenheim, Elfsborg, Alkmaar again and Franfurt. 

Most of those aren't very good so it's no surprise. 

The giants of European football...AND Rangers

[Mr_Danger]

12 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

We've played Qarabag, Ferencvaros, Alkmaar, Galatasaray, Rangers, Hoffenheim, Elfsborg, Alkmaar again and Franfurt. 

Most of those aren't very good so it's no surprise. 

Fond memories of Liverpool scraping past SK Brann, FC Vladikavkaz, Skonto Riga but coming undone once we played a half decent Spanish or French team.

The league format in Europe this year has definitely thrown up some anomalies but you can only beat what’s in front of you and there’s plenty of good teams in all the European competitions. Some even take it half seriously.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

11 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

Fond memories of Liverpool scraping past SK Brann, FC Vladikavkaz, Skonto Riga but coming undone once we played Celtic in 2003

Great memories! Glad you brought it up

[air_raid]

Ange rested Solanke, Johnson and Maddison the other day but I don't think it's enough.

Remember, when he fields the Under 15s on Sunday, it's keeping everyone fit for the Europa semi, not consigning Arsenal to 2nd. Nothing like that.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

Ferencvaros

The only team Millwall have ever played in the UEFA Cup. Not only did we lose we were also comprehensively out racisted, which takes some doing given the less than enlightened nature of a section of our fan base. 

[Mr_Danger]

38 minutes ago, Ironic Indie Lad said:

Great memories! Glad you brought it up

I preferred the game we won where Steve McManaman dribbled from the halfway line and scored to the one we lost and El Hadji Diouf spat on some fans tbh.

[thevestofdeanambrose]

On 4/24/2025 at 7:06 AM, SuperBacon said:

Absolute scenes on Sunday when the entire away end joins in the pitch invasion and celebrations

That will be up there with the away end celebrations of the title win in 2004 I reckon. Just a lot more sad and pathetic which suits you boys I guess.

[air_raid]

Let's be fair, denying Arsenal the title only to hand it to Liverpool? We're all losers here.

[Mowgli]

5 hours ago, thevestofdeanambrose said:

That will be up there with the away end celebrations of the title win in 2004 I reckon. Just a lot more sad and pathetic which suits you boys I guess.

Hahahaha the bitterness towards a light hearted comment. Arsenal have only themselves to blame for not winning the title in the last couple of seasons. It was there for the taking. 

With regards to teams doing poorly in the league and getting far in Europe, when Villa won the European cup they finished bottom half of the league. So its not without precedent a team will not perform in the league but do well in Europe. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Liverpool have pissed the league with no decent striker, a DM who's not a DM, and Kostas Tsimikas. Arsenal blew it.

[tiger_rick]

Are strikers dying out? United don't have one. Arsenal are playing without theirs, who isn't really a striker anyway. Chelsea probably have 17 but still don't have one to play. Liverpool have a good one but he's broken half the time. Brighton have an 86 year old Danny Welbeck playing. Villa have dropped theirs for a guy who couldn't get a training game at Man United. Spurs spent a fortune on Dom Solanke and his 3 good games look worth it.

There's Haaland, obviously, and Isak, who is good but now worth £150m because there aren't any others.

The third best striker in England might be Chris Wood. What on earth happened?

[Ironic Indie Lad]

51 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

The third best striker in England might be Chris Wood. What on earth happened?

Everybody started wanting to be a winger 

[JLM]

Yeah the all purpose hybrid “forward” has made playing with a typical centre forward less standard than it used to be. Salah has scored more than all the proper strikers this season. Last time we won the league it was with Mane and Salah glued together by the falsest of number 9s. City also had success with no striker when Aguero was on the way out, with combinations of Bernardo/Foden/Sterling/Jesus etc.

It’s been tiresome to see struggling to break teams down/not scoring enough goals/dropping silly points all boiled down to “they need a striker” when it’s been proven you can win without one. It can be a factor and I’m sure for some teams it is what they’re lacking, but I don’t think it’s necessarily that simple. 

That said, I do miss teams having star centre forwards. Haaland and Lewandowski feel like a bit of a throwback now. During my peak football fandom in 2001-2005ish they were everywhere. Shevchenko, Raul, Inzaghi, Crespo, Larsson, Vieri, Adriano, Trezeguet, Luca Toni, Eto’o etc etc etc. 

I do also enjoy Wissa and Mbeumo doing a bit of a Cole and Yorke tribute act as you don’t see that as often these days either. 

[SuperBacon]

2 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Spurs spent a fortune on Dom Solanke and his 3 good games look worth it.

Yeah gonna have to take umbrage with this.

Dom Solanke has had the hardest job of any striker in the league this season.

He's fed off absolute scraps, has zero service, presses like a demon, his hold up play is brilliant, he never gives up and runs himself into the ground every single game.

Your assessment is wrong.

[air_raid]

3 hours ago, JLM said:

That said, I do miss teams having star centre forwards.

Big Les, Mike Newell,

Lee Chapman, Rodney,

Brian Deane, Rushy,

Choccie and Sparky

David Hirst, Lineker, 

David White and Niall Quinn

Mark Stein, Robert Fleck,

Alan Shearer, Dublin

 

Whittingham, Sheringham, 

Andy Cole and Yorkie, 

Dean Saunders, Alan Smith,

Mark Bright and Wrighty

 

Chris Sutton, Dalian,

Graham Sharpe, Bully,

Collymore, Armstrong

Ally Mc and Durie

On 4/23/2025 at 3:16 PM, SuperBacon said:

WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE!