https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jul/25/everton-unveil-plans-new-stadium-liverpool-docklands-area

Everton look like they are finally going to build their new stadium, although still a long way to go. I remember the excitement when we were at a similar stage in our planning.

Asterix wrote:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jul/25/everton-unveil-plans-new-stadium-liverpool-docklands-area

Everton look like they are finally going to build their new stadium, although still a long way to go. I remember the excitement when we were at a similar stage in our planning.

Happy for them. Like the apes down the road, they're copying Dortmund with a Big Blue Wall. Wish we had something like that to help raise noise levels at the Grove 

So, watching ICC with Real v. Atletico.. Atletico are up 3-0 within 19 minutes. Real looks a proper mess, their defence looks worse than ours.

Sheesh, 5-0 by halftime. Stupid red card by Sok or we woulda smashed this lot. They look a shambles

4 goals and a red card. Just another day at the office for Diego Costa.

That retaliation is old school football.
Even the RM players know Carvajal deserved that and are not going mad at Costa.

IFAB adopts changes to the handball rule
(courtesy of deepl.com/Translator)

The ruleskeepers of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) have made two changes to the handball rule . In addition, there will soon be red cards for coaches, the substitutions should be less time play possible and attackers may no longer be in the free kick wall.

The General Assembly of the IFAB, which determines the football rules, decided on Saturday (02.03.2019) the changes at their meeting in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Hand play - unintentionally can now be punishable
Two changes to the hand game were accepted.

1. The "unnatural enlargement of the body area" becomes part of the rules. An arm posture above shoulder level will thus in future lead to a punishable hand play in the event of contact with the hand or arm. However, there should be exceptions: For example, when the ball rebounds from another part of the body or when an arm is used in a straddle for support. Even below the shoulder level an "unnatural enlargement of the body area" should be punishable.

2. Unintentional handball is partially punishable . And that is when such a handball game creates a goal or even a goal - a so-called "clear advantage". One example is the goal of Mönchengladbach's Christoph Kramer on the 17th Bundesliga match day at Borussia Dortmund. Such a hit will no longer count in the future. The rule only concerns the offensive. Anyone who unintentionally prevents a goal by hand will continue to escape with impunity.

Both changes bring a little more selectivity, but the discussions are likely to remain. David Elleray, technical director of the IFAB, described the gray area in hand-play in the run-up to the General Assembly as the "English Channel" : "Now we are trying to make a Rhine out of it." Not only for fans, players and coaches the borders should become clearer. The video assistant may also be helped with the changes so that he can better justify his (non-) intervention. It is the first change in the handball rule since 1902, as the historian Petra Tabarelli from Ockenheim researched in advance .

That the term "intention" deleted from the hand rules or a "dial" to determine the punishable arm posture of a player, was never a consideration, as IFAB CEO Lukas Brud told sportschau.de. Many media had speculated about such changes.

I agree that I can see pictures / videos from Twitter.
More changes in the game
In addition to the hand game, the following rule changes were accepted:

Substitutions : If a player is substituted, he must leave the field immediately at the next line. This should prevent time play, but will also represent a visual change.

Free kick wall : Players of the team who make the free kick may not stand in the wall anymore. You have to stand one meter away from the wall. The condition for this is that the wall consists of three or more players.

Goal kick and free kick in the penalty area: The ball does not have to leave the penalty area as before, before a teammate can accept it. As a result, a time game was previously possible because kick or free kick must be repeated. A faked inattention brought so far a few seconds. Also, that will bring a visual change, because now a "short kick" in the box is conceivable. Enemy players must always be outside the penalty area. If the distance in the free kick to the penalty area is less than 9.15 meters, then the 9.15 meters distance must be observed.

Punishments for Officials: One more visual matter for more transparency: The referee will signal club officials on the bench, such as coaches with yellow and red cards, if they warn them or refer them from the interior. Exciting detail: If the culprit can not be identified (eg co-trainer, fitness trainer, press officer), automatically gets the head coach's punishment.

Goalkeeper in the penalty: The goalkeeper must have only one foot at the height of the goal line, not both. This is to make the goalkeepers clearer, which movement scope they have in a penalty. In addition, such situations will be easier for the referee and video assistants to assess.

Referee ball : Here are some changes: If the referee interrupts the game and continues with a referee ball, he plays in future a player of the team to the ball that was last on the ball. The exception is the penalty area, here the goalkeeper gets him leaked. A distance of four meters was introduced for all other 21 players. Also new: If the referee or an assistant is hit, there should be a referee ball - but only if the ball contact could result in a goal, a chance to score or a ball possession change. The principle "The referee is air" then does not apply.

Update: In addition to the rule changes announced on March 2, IFAB announced further minor rule changes on March 12. The referee podcast "Collina Erben" has been summarized on Twitter.
https://www.sportschau.de/fussball/abstossregel-ifab-verhindert-trick-lupfen-koepfen-fangen-100.html

https://www.sportschau.de/fussball/abstossregel-zeit-fuer-neue-tricks-100.html

[Twitter]

I'm not going to laugh because I saw the video and it's a horrible break. But you got what was coming to Shawcross.

Ok I will bite. Serve him right asshole.

Not gonna lie, when I saw the photo in the article I actually celebrated a little.

Bold Tone wrote:

That retaliation is old school football.
Even the RM players know Carvajal deserved that and are not going mad at Costa.

That is being a stand up teammate.

I am sure Simone would have given Costa a pat in the back, dirty play from Carvajal.

Ricky1985 wrote:

[Twitter]

I'm not going to laugh because I saw the video and it's a horrible break. But you got what was coming to Shawcross.

Karma is a beautiful thing.

Just saw this. Poor guy. Wish him the best.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9619647/phil-jones-overhead-kick-man-utd-kristiansund/

We have Shkodran. But United have Phil. Incredible

My hero.

That's justice, fuck Shawcross.

***Replied in this thread as i didn't want to post a Liverpool video in the Arsenal section.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

That he is a poor player is not in dispute but i think that even the best CB in the world, van Dijk, would have his work cut out given the frequency of attacks our defence has to deal with. At Liverpool he has a hard working Milner and the immense Fabinho shielding him so he has less to do.

I agree. Mustafi is a very poor defender because he doesn't read the game well and has poor concentration, and he's too slow, short and weak to compensate for those shortcomings.

That said, we have a midfield that can't defend, doesn't work really hard, and consequently leaves the defence far too exposed.

Van Dijk is a good example; he's obviously a top player, but talk of him being the overriding difference between kamikaze Liverpool and the clean sheet machines we saw last season, is a huge exaggeration.

It's a combination of their changing to 3 very hardworking and discplined midfiielders; they had their only real bad spell last season when Klopp foolishly played around with a 4-2-3-1 to try and accommodate Shaquiri in the team, and also another time when he tried Firmino at 10 and Salah up front. Unsurprisingly the removal of Milner or Henderson and the addition Shaquiri made them much more porous defensively, and van Dijk was still there doing his thing.

An even better example is last season [17/18], after van Dijk joined in January. Fabinho hadn't been signed yet and they hadn't really changed the team shape yet in the immediate after-math of Coutinho's departure. They were still high up the pitch, pressing like maniacs and trying to directly replace Coutinho's attacking midfield role. And they were very average defensively, the two legs againat Roma is some of the worst defending you will see at the highest level, outside of Arsenal of course, and van Dijk was right there at the heart of it.

Even this pre-season, and amittedly not too much should be made of it, but without Mané and Salah keeping teams honest and stationed a bit deeper, their midfield perhaps not working quite so hard, they're getting smacked up by everyone. Every time I see a result of theirs they've conceded 3 goals. With Napoli beating them 3-0 at Anfield last time out. Van Dijk was there playing, as was the rest of their starting back 4 and midfield.

What concerns me as far as Arsenal is concerned is I don't see any indication of Emery even contemplating a 3 man midfield. It looks like he is intent on playing Özil or maybe even Lacazette in that attacking midfield/second striker position. And when the guys behind them are Xhaka, Guendouzi and Ceballos each of which can't really tackle and aren't particularly physically gifted, and Torreira, who can do the tackling part but has no physicality or athleticism at all: It all screams porous defence to me, and makes the fact that we already have a weak pool of defenders to choose from all the more concerning.

On the plus side, I think having a front line that has both Aubameyang and Pépé in it, should help us push teams back in the same way Mané and Salah do for Liverpool. And I think it will help if we are able to get in Tierney and a quality centreback. Until we tighten up that midfield though, and have their primary job be to control the game and protect the back four, I think we're going to be vulnerable no matter what we do elsewhere.

I do think we could form a hardworking flat 3 in midfield of Torreira, Guendouzi and Ceballos and it could do the job, but, as I said, Emery doesn't seem interested in that kind of a midfield, and it seems more likely Xhaka is named club captain than is dropped out of the starting XI. The shape and idea behind what the midfield is designed to give to the team is by far the most important part though. Xhaka would have much more chance defensively, too, if he had two hardworking guys next to him that stayed behind the ball and put defending before attacking.

This guy instead of Xhaka with Tierney and a CB would solve most of our problems.
***
Add Saliba and we are mounting a challenge, imo.

He's a quality player, for sure. Wanted him here when he was at Monaco. You get the impression this summer's transfer team would have been all over him if he were still at Monaco considering his quality, age and potential for improvement.

The thing is, he's not other worldly good. There are quite a few holding midfielders that can do what he does. But I think Torreira is our answer to that role, and whilst he doesn't have Fabinho's physciality, he reads the game as good as anyone.

His passing is underrated to be honest. Incredibly consistent and quality with his forward passes

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

I think Torreira would lose half those battles as he was knocked over quite a bit last season due to his size.
A big guy is essential in that position with Torreira covering the mobile all action Milner role like he did for Uruguay in the World Cup.

Big guys like Gattuso, Makalele, Kante, etc?

Claudius wrote:

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

I think Torreira would lose half those battles as he was knocked over quite a bit last season due to his size.
A big guy is essential in that position with Torreira covering the mobile all action Milner role like he did for Uruguay in the World Cup.

Big guys like Gattuso, Makalele, Kante, etc?

Them guys would all get roasted by Messi unlike long-limbed Fabinho!

I know a couple of Fabinho's successful tackles are in the video, but Messi took him to the cleaners in both legs of the semi-final. He streaked through the middle time and time again and left Fabinho standing. The only way the latter could get near a couple of times was with those desperate lunges you see in the video.

You really think Messi took him to the cleaners in both legs?

At the Nou Camp, Liverpool had the better of the first half with more chances and Barca's goal did not involve Messi.
The first time Messi opened them up was after 65 mins and even then it was a pass as his path to goal was blocked.
It was only after 75 mins that he was amazing.

"Liverpool played well in defeat but couldn’t take their chances on a night when Luis Suarez and Leo Messi put them to the sword."
https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2019/may/01/barcelona-v-liverpool-champions-league-semi-final-first-leg-live-messi-van-dijk-suarez-mane

Anfield was total domination by Liverpool you must be the only person in the world who thinks Messi took them to the cleaners there.

‘Shameful. There is no other adjective’ – Spanish press on Barcelona’s defeat
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/08/press-reaction-barcelona-defeat-liverpool-anfield-semi-champions-league

It's not just Messi in the vid, btw, as you see a who's who of top players getting dispossessed many times by him being a massive roadblock in their path or succesful dispossessions from behind, when they are past him, as he uses his long legs to get a toe poke the ball to his defenders. You also see him use his height to win headers and physicality to knock players off the ball. Torreira, for all his ability, cannot do any of these due to his stature.
I actually agree with you that he is not other worldly special as we can easily find another DM with his attributes who could do the same.

Claudius wrote:

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

I think Torreira would lose half those battles as he was knocked over quite a bit last season due to his size.
A big guy is essential in that position with Torreira covering the mobile all action Milner role like he did for Uruguay in the World Cup.

Big guys like Gattuso, Makalele, Kante, etc?

David Batty, Dennis Wise, Joey Barton. We need a shortie with a Napoleon Complex. I have big hopes for Torreira this season.

I would say Xhaka is more of our Fabinho in midfield, with Torreira being more similar to Keita/Milner from the Liverpool midfield.

Thank you!
I said as much, 5 hours ago.

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

This guy instead of Xhaka with Tierney and a CB would solve most of our problems.
***
Add Saliba and we are mounting a challenge, imo.

Ricky1985 wrote:

[Twitter]

I'm not going to laugh because I saw the video and it's a horrible break. But you got what was coming to Shawcross.

Genuinely pleased for him.

deardevil wrote:

Claudius wrote:

Big guys like Gattuso, Makalele, Kante, etc?

David Batty, Dennis Wise, Joey Barton. We need a shortie with a Napoleon Complex. I have big hopes for Torreira this season.

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

Thank you!
I said as much, 5 hours ago.

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

This guy instead of Xhaka with Tierney and a CB would solve most of our problems.
***
Add Saliba and we are mounting a challenge, imo.

I fear Ndombele would be like this for Spurs as well.

Na, you're way off Ndombele, mate. He is not a tackler at all. Much more like a bigger, stronger Dani Ceballos than anything resembling Fabinho.

Hmm yeah, reminds me of the time when most people thought Yaya Touré was a tough tackling defensive midfielder.

Or Pogba. In fact he's very like Pogba but smaller, slightly less skillful maybe and way less goal threat.

Ndombele is much more of a centre midfielder than Pogba. He stays behind the ball a lot more. Some similarities in their first touch and change of direction that cause havoc, but beyond that Ndombele is closer to Elneny in the final third than he is Pogba. That's where his game falls down; he can't really shoot, his final ball is average and he's not one to make runs beyond the ball. But you can't get the ball offf him in the middle third, that's his great strength. That's why I mentioned Ceballos, he appears to have that same quality too.

I'd say a really good comparison would be Moussa Dembele and the way he played at Tottenham. He was a top class CM for a few years for them; the way he could protect the ball and drive with it, but was ineffectual in the final third. I'm hoping that the difference in size to Dembele is what trips Ndombele up a little in the Premier League. Dembele was so good because he was 6'2" and crazy strong, so he'd win most duels he went in for, Ndombele isn't anywhere near as strong and only 5'11". He might find the Premier League hard going at first, especially from a defensive standpoint.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Ndombele is much more of a centre midfielder than Pogba. He stays behind the ball a lot more. Some similarities in their first touch and change of direction that cause havoc, but beyond that Ndombele is closer to Elneny in the final third than he is Pogba. That's where his game falls down; he can't really shoot, his final ball is average and he's not one to make runs beyond the ball. But you can't get the ball offf him in the middle third, that's his great strength. That's why I mentioned Ceballos, he appears to have that same quality too.

I'd say a really good comparison would be Moussa Dembele and the way he played at Tottenham. He was a top class CM for a few years for them; the way he could protect the ball and drive with it, but was ineffectual in the final third. I'm hoping that the difference in size to Dembele is what trips Ndombele up a little in the Premier League. Dembele was so good because he was 6'2" and crazy strong, so he'd win most duels he went in for, Ndombele isn't anywhere near as strong and only 5'11". He might find the Premier League hard going at first, especially from a defensive standpoint.

"Ndombele is closer to Elneny in the final third than he is Pogba."

Wow! He must be a dud.

Hey! Elneny scored against Barcelona

Denilson scored many screamers but to be compared to him or Elnothing means you are truly shit.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I'd say a really good comparison would be Moussa Dembele and the way he played at Tottenham. He was a top class CM for a few years for them; the way he could protect the ball and drive with it, but was ineffectual in the final third. I'm hoping that the difference in size to Dembele is what trips Ndombele up a little in the Premier League. Dembele was so good because he was 6'2" and crazy strong, so he'd win most duels he went in for, Ndombele isn't anywhere near as strong and only 5'11". He might find the Premier League hard going at first, especially from a defensive standpoint.

I was thinking Dembele too but he was just so strong compared to Ndomble and much better defensively too. I see Ndombles strengths more on the ball, he's got great feet but yeah it might take some settling in. I've seen better mids take time to adjust.