*Official* English Football Season 2016-17

[Cabinet96]

Hate Ibrahimovic so much.

 

[grecian]

No justice whatsoever, but that is football for ya.

 

[Tangles]

Ibra looks like 5 times the player he was during the Euros. I'm happy I was wrong thinking he would struggle. We can be 1 dimensional but at least that's better than the LVG no dimensional.

 

[andruid]

He is a supervillain, this Zlatan.

 

[cpr]

I was hoping Barrow were going to get promoted this year but they've tailed off a bit recently. In the days when it was done by voting I thought it was unfair they were voted out just because Hereford scored a spectacular goal on Match of the Day. I make it 13 former league clubs now in the "Conference". Some have been up/down and out of business in the meantime.

Wow, I know you lower league lot are masochists but an away day to Barrow? Barrow?

Mind you, a Morecambe v Barrow match up would be pretty fun

 

[Niall]

Ibra looks like 5 times the player he was during the Euros. I'm happy I was wrong thinking he would struggle. We can be 1 dimensional but at least that's better than the LVG no dimensional.

He has been great. I would worry though about that defense however, Smalling is to error prone and Rojo while a competent centre half is a shambolic full back. Doubts over Pogba also.

This is not an acceptable performance from Liverpool here.

 

[GIMH]

Wow, I know you lower league lot are masochists but an away day to Barrow? Barrow?

Mind you, a Morecambe v Barrow match up would be pretty fun

I'm going to Barrow next Tuesday

 

[grecian]

I'm going to Barrow next Tuesday

Stop boasting.

Pretty good night for us tonight most of the rivals lost points, and we hung on, certainly arrests our slide.

 

[MW1304]

Thank **** for that. Could have had Brighton a mile off and Huddersfield right up into us.

Absurd fluke with the first goal, it's well worth a watch.

 

[Tangles]

Of course the players turn up now Ranieri is gone. Makes me want to see them go down.

 

[Nate]

Of course the players turn up now Ranieri is gone. Makes me want to see them go down.

This. No way could tactical changes from Shakespeare have been implemented within days. Very disappointing from the players, and not fair on Ranieri.

 

[Uppercut]

This. No way could tactical changes from Shakespeare have been implemented within days.

This isn't really true. Saw it mentioned on twitter than Vardy's average position was much further up the pitch than it has been, because he was staying on the last man even when Liverpool had the ball. Which is a small change, but it got them the first goal. Also might imply that he's working less hard, by not pressing.

I dunno. I can believe the story that they gave a less than enthusiastic response when the directors asked them about Ranieri last week. Which was probably the right thing to do. They're employees of the club, not Ranieri, so it wouldn't be right to pretend everything is fine just to protect Ranieri.

However, I don't really buy that they "weren't trying". I know it happens, but I don't think it happened here. You see their game against United, for example, where they scrap really hard for 40 minutes, concede one, then immediately concede two more. That to me doesn't look like a lack of effort, it looks like a psychological issue.

 

[sledger]

Possibly a case of six of one and half a dozen of another here, but I'm inclined to side with Uppercut on this one.

 

[Uppercut]

It's interesting how Mourinho and Ranieri managed to flip the usual "this improvement justifies the board's tough decision" narratives into "the players are bastards" narratives. Also interesting that the Chelsea fans went for the bastard-players story 100%, but the Leicester fans aren't buying it at all. Such a massive difference between the atmosphere at Chelsea-Sunderland last season and the atmosphere on Monday might. Suggests to me that they aren't having the "players weren't trying" stuff either.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Leicester are about where they should be. They got on a roll last season and monumentally overachieved.

 

[MW1304]

It's interesting how Mourinho and Ranieri managed to flip the usual "this improvement justifies the board's tough decision" narratives into "the players are bastards" narratives. Also interesting that the Chelsea fans went for the bastard-players story 100%, but the Leicester fans aren't buying it at all. Such a massive difference between the atmosphere at Chelsea-Sunderland last season and the atmosphere on Monday might. Suggests to me that they aren't having the "players weren't trying" stuff either.

I think this goes along with fan opinion towards players slowly worsening over the years. It makes sense this would affect Chelsea, with their incredibly expensive team, and not Leicester, who were not only inexpensive but will be folk heroes for the rest of their lives because of last season's achievement. Many hold a lot of resentment towards the wealth and lifestyle of footballers, which makes it easier for people to blame them when it appears they aren't giving it everything.

Managers have tried to deflect criticism away from their players towards themselves for a while because of this, but I definitely think things trend towards the Chelsea situation more than Leicester, who are an anomaly in every sense.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

We need to remember how bad Liverpool were too when considering Leicester. For a side who were considered title contenders not long ago they have put in a number of shocking performances in 2017.

 

[sledger]

A combination of running out of puff/not having much depth.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Plus they have that myth Coutinho

 

[Furball]

Anyone who thinks Ranieri didn't deserve the sack isn't living in the real world.