2020/21 Premier League & General Football Discussion

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Neil Maupay scored a Panenka penalty in the first half and did a mock crying celebration as he ran away from the goal. The fact he conceded the penalty at the death for a stupid handball surely won't be missed by most United fans.
No not at all, you want to rub it in, you've got to take it.
 
You can't "win" a penalty. A penalty is a punishment...
Well we benefitted from Brighton conceding a penalty.

This has confused me somewhat too. It was after the final whistle. I didn't think VAR was allowed to review things after the final whistle.
The handball occurred before the final whistle, VAR looked at it after the whistle and so did the referee. I don't understand all of the rules for when VAR can review an incident, I'm often baffled by VAR, but the whistle blew after ball went out which was just after the handball. I won't complain, it should have been a penalty had the referee seen it in real time.

EDIT: According to IFAB there are no restrictions preventing VAR from checking an incident that occured before the final whistle after the whistle is blown.
 
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Is this new interpretation of the hand ball rule something the Premier League have came up with all on their own or do other leagues around the world use the same standard and the Premier League adapted it for this year? Because it stinks.
 
Is this new interpretation of the hand ball rule something the Premier League have came up with all on their own or do other leagues around the world use the same standard and the Premier League adapted it for this year? Because it stinks.
As far as I'm aware it's a standard rule used in other leagues as well.

It is rubbish though.
 
Jamie Vardy now becomes the 4th player to score a Hat-trick this season in the Premier League, and we're only on week 3. And he's done it against Man City. Apparently it's only the 3rd Hat-trick scored against Pep Guardiola, with Vardy himself and Lionel Messi the only other players to do so.

Leicester now 5-2 up having scored THREE penalties
 
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Sheffield United 0-1 Leeds
Tottenham 1-1 Newcastle
Man City 2-5 Leicester

Patrick Bamford scored his third league goal in the first three games in the 88th minute to give Leeds the win and its two wins from three for them now, Sheffield United have lost their first three.

Tottenham dominated Newcastle from start to finish and Lucas Moura gave them the lead on 25 minutes, Newcastle did have some chances but they few and far between and their first shot on target came from the late Callum Wilson penalty in the 95th minute, which was given for a frankly ridiculous decision to penalise Eric Dier for handball when he wasn't even looking at the ball!

City v Leicester has just finished and what a game! A Jamie Vardy hat-trick including two penalties, another penalty but from Tielemans and a Maddison strike were Leicester's goals, City goals came from a great strike by Mahrez and a first City goal for Ake, Great game and Leicester deserve the win...and they top the table.

West Ham v Wolves to come tonight, plus two games tomorrow.
 
Why have there been so many high-scoring games so far this season? It's not just down to penalties. Take away the penalties and there has still been what seems like a disproportionately high amount of goals.

Something to do with the psychology of an empty stadium...?
 
Why have there been so many high-scoring games so far this season? It's not just down to penalties. Take away the penalties and there has still been what seems like a disproportionately high amount of goals.

Something to do with the psychology of an empty stadium...?
One theory is the shortened pre-season has not given defences time to work on their formations. A lot of the defending is timing and positioning, particularly for playing opposition offside, and that comes with a lot of repetition during training. The attacking players in games are taking advantage of the less great defending. Time will tell if the number of goals in games start to drop.
 
Fulham 0-3 Aston Villa
Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal

Fulham were terrible with some of the worst defending your ever likely to see, the first goal by Grealish after just four minutes after McGinn put the ball in and Grealish just went past the Fulham defense like it was nothing and they didn't pick him up and the third goal was equally as bad, Hourihane floated a free kick in and Mings just ghosted in the to the box unchallenged to poke home, the second was a nicely worked goal finished off by Hourihane that Fulham couldn't do a lot about, Fulham now bottom of the table on GD and in a bit of trouble already, Villa were very briefly in the top four, until....

...Liverpool turned up!, Arsenal took the lead from Lacazette but then Mane equalised just three minutes later and Liverpool mostly dominated after that, Robertson got a rare goal to make it 2-1 at the break, Diogo Jota scored on his debut from a deflected shot to wrap the game up in the 88th minute.

Leicester stay top on GD with Liverpool and Everton behind them with all three winning three from three, bottom three is Burnley, Sheffield United and Fulham in that order.

More Carabao Cup stuff this week with the fourth round, plus more Champions League and Europa League qualifiers.
 
Manchester United have made an opening bid of €80m up front with €20m paid later for Jadon Sancho which has been rejected by Dortmund. A second bid believed to be around €110m (likely to include installments) is being prepared and will offered shortly.

Interesteingly Jadon Sancho is "ill" and has been left out of the Dortmund squad for thier game against Bayern Munich tomorrow.

EDIT: Sky Sport who broke the news of the Sancho bid have jumped the gun, no bid has been made but talks have stepped up between United and Dortmund via intermediaries today. A bid is expected to be made soon.
 
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I think Man Utd should be putting that money to use on their defence, but this seems a rumour that won't go away.

Sancho's number look very good, but every time I have seen him for Dortmund or England, he's been anonymous. :boggled: England is sort of understandable, because few players play their best for England, :rolleyes: but maybe I have just been unlucky enough to see his few Dortmund dud's.
 
I've seen him play very well for Dortmund, he's not fantastic every match mind, but I think he is good more often than not. Of course anyone can play well for one club and flop in another setup (look at Barcelona's recent big flops, Coutinho, Dembele, Griezman all great before their Barcelona moves) so Sancho isn't a guarenteed success. But for what he is doing at his age he is worth the money compred to other players.

He won't solve our defensive issues though, we really do need a fast centre back who can pair up with Maguire. Maguire and Lindelof are good at certain things, but they are both slow and a fast partner would be a huge help to one of them.

The whispers are that we were interested in a CB if the right one became availalbe earlier in the window but we're looking at a LB as backup to Shaw instead now and trying to tie up Telles from Porto. That's probably becuase we can't afford a Sancho type signing and a good enough first choice CB after we bought Van de Beek.
 
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I've seen him play very well for Dortmund, he's not fantastic every match mind, but I think he is good more often than not. Of course anyone can play well for one club and flop in another setup (look at Barcelona's recent big flops, Coutinho, Dembele, Griezman all great before their Barcelona moves) so Sancho isn't a guarenteed success. But for what he is doing at his age he is worth the money compred to other players.

He won't solve our defensive issues though, we really do need a fast centre back who can pair up with Maguire. Maguire and Lindelof are good at certain things, but they are both slow and a fast partner would be a huge help to one of them.

The whispers are that we were interested in a CB if the right one became availalbe earlier in the window but we're looking at a LB as backup to Shaw instead now and trying to tie up Telles from Porto. That's probably becuase we can't afford a Sancho type signing and a good enough first choice CB after we bought Van de Beek.
Was van de Beek a priority ahead of defender for the defence! :eek: I would say they know what they are doing, but from recent evidence, that may not be the case. ;)

You're right about players playing well for one club and not the other. I thought Sanchez would have been the perfect replacement for Suarez, but after seeing what he did, or didn't do, at Utd, I think that was a bullet dodged. :boggled:

Werner looks a shadow of the player he was in Germany, even though he is scoring goals like tonight. he seemed a lot more involved in games for RB Leipzig. But it is early days for him into a team with so many new faces needing to gel.
 
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Spurs and Chelsea has gone to penalties, finished 1-1 in normal time with Werner getting his first Chelsea goal in the first half and Lamela equalising just seven minutes from time, Chelsea have new keeper Mendy making his debut and will not face a shootout.

Edit: Spurs win 5-4 on penalties!, All penalties were converted until Mason Mount stepped up and put it wide with the last kick, Spurs through to the quarter finals.
 
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Spurs and Chelsea has gone to penalties, finished 1-1 in normal time with Werner getting his first Chelsea goal in the first half and Lamela equalising just seven minutes from time, Chelsea have new keeper Mendy making his debut and will not face a shootout.

What did Mourinho and Lampard get into it about on the touchline? I couldn't turn the sound on here at work but I saw a quick little clip of them going back and forth.
 
Was van de Beek a priority ahead of defender for the defence! :eek: I would say they know what they are doing, but from recent evidence, that may not be the case. ;)
We're run by accountants (I shouldn't be critical as I am one), it's all about making and saving money above all else. I think Van De Beek became a priority when Villa slapped an £80m price tag on Grealish. We did need a quality forward thinking midflieder who could step in for Bruno or Pogba when needed. So I don't mind that deal. Whether it was more important than a CB is debateable, but he will be an important singing IMO.

You're right about players playing well for one club and not the other. I thought Sanchez would have been the perfect replacement for Suarez, but after seeing what he did, or didn't do, at Utd, I think that was a bullet dodged. :boggled:

Werner looks a shadow of the player he was in Germany, even though he is scoring goals like tonight. he seemed a lot more involved in games for RB Leipzig. But it is early days for him into a team with so many new faces needing to gel.
Yes I was thrilled when we signed Sanchez but what a dissapointment he was. And to then come out and say he wanted to tear up his contract after 1 training session, after we had paid him £350k per week to sit on his arse. He has no right to criticise United, he was stealing that wage, he was shocking for us.

Chelsea are still an unknown for me, some great buys, but so many buys it will take time for them to click. Werner scored a cracker tonight, we'll have to see how he is playing in the 2nd half of the season I think. It's too early to tell how good he will end up being at Chelsea or how good this Chelsea team will end up being.
 
What did Mourinho and Lampard get into it about on the touchline? I couldn't turn the sound on here at work but I saw a quick little clip of them going back and forth.
There was no sound of what they were saying, but it will be interesting to see what went on. Because of the penalties at the end, Dier running off to go the toilet, :eek: :lol: that has not been talked about. Lampard due to be interviewed next. Maybe they will ask him.

Edit: They didn't ask him. ;)
 
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Its going to be a busy few days for United until the window shuts on Friday, Pereira to Lazio loan deal with an option to buy, Roma potentially making a new bid for Smalling, AC Milan interested in Dalot and we may be going for Dembele on loan as Dortmund continue to reject our bids for Sancho.
 
Newport 1-1 Newcastle (Newcastle win 5-4 on pens)
Burnley 0-3 Man City
Brighton 0-3 Man United
Everton 4-0 West Ham

Newcastle just managed to get through by the skin of their teeth, Newport took an early lead through Abrahams after Gillespie let the ball slip through his hands, Newcastle only managed to equalise in the 86th with a nice strike by Shelvey and then Taylor and Cooper missed their penalties for Newport, Joelinton missed his penalty.

Comfortable wins for both City and Everton, Sterling scored twice and Torres got his first for City, Calvert-Lewin continued his great form with another hat-trick and Richarlison got the other for Everton.

Another comfortable win also for United, McTominay got the first first goal with a nice header from a Mata free kick, Mata then scored in the second half after a nice bit of play and a nice assist from Van De Beek and Pogba finished it off with a fantastic free kick with took a slight deflection from the Brighton wall.
 
Brentford 3-0 Fulham
Aston Villa 0-1 Stoke
Liverpool 0-0 Arsenal (Arsenal win 5-4 on pens)

Fulham were mostly terrible again and its going to be a long season for them, Brentford were very good and I cant believe that Said Benrahma is still a Championship player, he was man of the match and bamboozled the Fulham defense with his pace and trickery, someone in the PL needs to snap him up!

Liverpool mostly dominated like they did on Monday and Leno had to make some big saves, he saved two penalties in the shootout too, great win for Stoke.

Carabao Cup quarter final draw.

Stoke v Tottenham
Brentford v Newcastle
Arsenal v Man City
Everton v Man United

games to be played on December 22/23.
 
Games this weekend, schedule is a little different.

Saturday
Chelsea v Crystal Palace-12.30, BT
Everton v Brighton-3pm, BT
Leeds v Man City-5.30, Sky
Newcastle v Burnley-8pm, Sky

Sunday
Leicester v West Ham-12pm BT
Southampton v West Brom-12pm BT
Arsenal v Sheffield United-2pm Sky
Wolves v Fulham-2pm Sky
Man United v Tottenham-4.30 Sky
Aston Villa v Liverpool-7.15 Sky

So six games on Sunday and I think there is a few reasons for this, first there are a few teams who played in the League Cup and in the Europa League only last night (Villa, Fulham, Arsenal and Liverpool in the cup and Spurs in Europe) Secondly there is an international break next week and I think clubs have to release their players to their countries after Sunday so no Monday night Football.

Sheffield United have signed striker Rhian Brewster from Liverpool for a club record £23.5 million, Liverpool have got a buy back clause of £36 million for the next three years.
 
Chelsea 4-0 Crystal Palace
Everton 4-2 Brighton
Leeds 1-1 Man City

Tale of two halves for Chelsea who were a bit rubbish in the first half but dominant in the second with all four goals coming from that half, Chilwell got his first Chelsea goal and then assisted Zouma's goal for the second, two Jorginho penalties in three minutes sealed the win.

Calvert-Lewin continued his recent run of great form with another goal with two from Rodriquez and the other from Mina for Everton, Maupay and Bissouma got Brighton's goals and Pickford made a bit of a howler for Maupay's goal.

Leeds-City has just finished at a very wet Elland Road. It was all City in the first twenty minutes and Sterling scored on 17 minutes, but Leeds turned up after that and they did really well, Ederson met a corner with a week punch and the ball fell to Rodrigo to poke home for his first Leeds goal, City had a lot of shots but 14 on target and only one goal, Leeds were fantastic and their work rate was superb and they are up to fifth now on 7 points, great game to watch.
 
Edinson Cavaini is flying to England tomorrow to finalise his move to Manchester United.

I hope he does well for us, but I despair, it smacks of one of Woodwards desperation "ta da" signings.
 
Cavani has been unattached since... what, May? June? A desperation signing from Man United. A 33 year old desperation signing to replace the 31 year old desperation signing who only arrived in January. Man United are a mess.
 
Chelsea 4-0 Crystal Palace
Everton 4-2 Brighton
Leeds 1-1 Man City

Tale of two halves for Chelsea who were a bit rubbish in the first half but dominant in the second with all four goals coming from that half, Chilwell got his first Chelsea goal and then assisted Zouma's goal for the second, two Jorginho penalties in three minutes sealed the win.

Calvert-Lewin continued his recent run of great form with another goal with two from Rodriquez and the other from Mina for Everton, Maupay and Bissouma got Brighton's goals and Pickford made a bit of a howler for Maupay's goal.

Leeds-City has just finished at a very wet Elland Road. It was all City in the first twenty minutes and Sterling scored on 17 minutes, but Leeds turned up after that and they did really well, Ederson met a corner with a week punch and the ball fell to Rodrigo to poke home for his first Leeds goal, City had a lot of shots but 14 on target and only one goal, Leeds were fantastic and their work rate was superb and they are up to fifth now on 7 points, great game to watch.

Yeah that Man City-Leeds game was fun to watch. End to end for most of the match. De Bruyne is a threat on a free kick from just about anywhere.
 
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