Weekend Football

[Sanguine]

He's different, that's why I like him, we don't really have many of that type of direct runner in the final third. Absolutely wouldn't have him in the first XI, but for me he remains a more than useful squad option.

[Royal Rother]

Not a big fan, but we don't seem to have anyone else consistently on the end of cross balls at the far post to knock in from a yard or 2 out.

[Franchise FC]

Not a big fan, but we don't seem to have anyone else consistently on the end of cross balls at the far post to knock in from a yard or 2 out.

That’s not his best attribute though, is it ?
How many close range misses does he have to have before we accept that finishing isn’t his strong point ?

Yes he’s fast, in. Michael Gilkes who ran so fast it cut off the blood supply to his brain type of way
(Sorry, Gilkesy, you were one of my very favourite players but …)

[Royal Rother]

Not a big fan, but we don't seem to have anyone else consistently on the end of cross balls at the far post to knock in from a yard or 2 out.

That’s not his best attribute though, is it ?
How many close range misses does he have to have before we accept that finishing isn’t his strong point ?

Yes he’s fast, in. Michael Gilkes who ran so fast it cut off the blood supply to his brain type of way
(Sorry, Gilkesy, you were one of my very favourite players but …)

I find him intensely frustrating, but my point is that he often DOES get in the right place to knock them in from a yard out (any further and he’d probably miss) but now that he’s finally out of favour, I’m not sure we have anyone else who will be on the end of those “gifts” consistently.

[Sanguine]

Before he left City he was averaging around 15 PL goals a season, 20 in all comps. I reckon the crap finishing stuff is a bit of a myth. That or he's as good at finding space in the box as the likes of Michael Owen, and he should really have 30+ a season.

[Sanguine]

I like this. And so did Neil Warnock.

https://twitter.com/UpshotTowers/status ... 8779233746

Warnock said he didn't want applause or anything congratulatory when he finally quit.

"I want them to be chanting 'Warnock's a oxf*rd' over and over again".

At what looks like being his final game as a manager, he got his wish.

[Royal Rother]

Before he left City he was averaging around 15 PL goals a season, 20 in all comps. I reckon the crap finishing stuff is a bit of a myth. That or he's as good at finding space in the box as the likes of Michael Owen, and he should really have 30+ a season.

Stats indicate that 39 of 106 goals scored by Sterling were from inside the 6 yard area = 37%

Haaland has 28 out of 105 = 27%

Rashford 13 of 77 = 17%

Kane 45 of 214 = 21%

Salah 29 of 174 = 17%

Callum Wilson 17 of 82 = 21%

Whatever else one might read into the above, (and the myriad of other stats available) it certainly indicates that Sterling is good at getting on the end of chances close to goal, as I suggested earlier. (And I suppose he is less of a striker than the others, whatever interpretation that little factor might lead to.)

[Franchise FC]

Before he left City he was averaging around 15 PL goals a season, 20 in all comps. I reckon the crap finishing stuff is a bit of a myth. That or he's as good at finding space in the box as the likes of Michael Owen, and he should really have 30+ a season.

Stats indicate that 39 of 106 goals scored by Sterling were from inside the 6 yard area = 37%

Haaland has 28 out of 105 = 27%

Rashford 13 of 77 = 17%

Kane 45 of 214 = 21%

Salah 29 of 174 = 17%

Callum Wilson 17 of 82 = 21%

Whatever else one might read into the above, (and the myriad of other stats available) it certainly indicates that Sterling is good at getting on the end of chances close to goal, as I suggested earlier. (And I suppose he is less of a striker than the others, whatever interpretation that little factor might lead to.)

Would like to see his conversion rate
It doesn’t feel like it would be that high

[6ft Kerplunk]

At what looks like being his final game as a manager.

Ah bless, how naive. We all know he'll be back somewhere soon enough. Much as I dislike him, I have a begrudging respect that he wants to keep on working. Its what keeps him going, he'll be dead within 12 months if he did really retire.

[Winston Biscuit]

Cheltenham are the only team in the top 10 divs in English football yet to score

[From Despair To Where?]

.....in the right goal.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66435590

[Sanguine]

Cheltenham are the only team in the top 10 divs in English football yet to score

Can't be many teams that have failed to score in their first eight games of an English league season.

Most consecutive games without a goal is 11, jointly by Coventry (1919-20) and Hartlepool (1992-93), although neither from the start of a campaign. Most remarkable about Hartlepool's effort is that they were going well in 4th in the table when their run started in early January 1993. By the time they scored again on 13th March, they were 16th.

Coventry were awful in 1919-20, managing to finish behind the might of South Shields and Clapton Orient in the second tier. They scored four goals in their first 8 games and lost them all, before embarking on their scoreless run. So they had four league goals after 19 games.

[Winston Biscuit]

Looking forward to the north London derby for the first time ever.

Worst big name derby in existence.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Pundits and ex players weighing in on every handball decision is tiresome. I don't particularly like the handball rule as it is, but applying it, that north London derby handball is a stonewall penalty. So stop blaming the ref and VAR just because it was different in your day.

[Orion1871]

Pundits and ex players weighing in on every handball decision is tiresome. I don't particularly like the handball rule as it is, but applying it, that north London derby handball is a stonewall penalty. So stop blaming the ref and VAR just because it was different in your day.

So stonewall that they spent ages looking at it.

[Royal Rother]

I said Pre-season that the one position Arsenal REALLY needed to focus on was getting a top class centre forward.

They didn’t address it for some utterly bizarre reason and will continue to suffer the consequences until they do.

[Royal Rother]

Pundits and ex players weighing in on every handball decision is tiresome. I don't particularly like the handball rule as it is, but applying it, that north London derby handball is a stonewall penalty. So stop blaming the ref and VAR just because it was different in your day.

So stonewall that they spent ages looking at it.

I think some of that time was checking whether Gabriel had committed a foul as the cross came over.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Good game between Arsenal and Spurs, very cagey towards the end however. Feel like the Rice injury cost Arsenal a bit but nevertheless, Maddison is a very good player, dictates all the Spurs attacks and Bissouma looks a completely different player under Postecoglou although Spurs still have a long way to go.

Mad to think how many teams there are currently who only need a top striker to really change their fortunes and yet there are so few at the top level. Haaland, Kane, Lewandowski and (I guess) Mbappe would score a lot of goals in any league and that's about it the top level. Any one of those 4 would take so many teams to the next level.

[Franchise FC]

I said Pre-season that the one position Arsenal REALLY needed to focus on was getting a top class centre forward.

They didn’t address it for some utterly bizarre reason and will continue to suffer the consequences until they do.

They did address it, they bought Havertz







I didn’t say they addressed it well

[Dirk Gently]

Only five PL matches played and it looks like the three relegation places are settled already.

It'll take Sheff Utd a long, long time to recover from a stuffing at home like this one, and you can't see Luton having the class or resources to be competitive. Burnley are maybe the only team not nailed on for relegation so far.

All IMHO, of course.