If Pepe is Ronaldo level good, we might just close the gap to City to under 20 points.

Qwiss! wrote:

So City not that good?

West Ham were truly dire defensively, to be fair.

Qwiss! wrote:

Great from Sterling. Gonna get Vatred again.

Feel this might not be great for Auba.

Might take a few off Auba, but he'll gain some too. It will be damn good for Arsenal though, 100% sure of that.

goon wrote:

If Pepe is Ronaldo level good, we might just close the gap to City to under 20 points.

Thats why we need young players, no point being where Liverpool are now (CL aside), we just need to be ready once City regress, no one stays on top forever.

Sterling to win ballon d’or in 2020.

Declan Rice looked way out of his depth today, I'm not quite sure what the big deal is.

goon wrote:

Declan Rice looked way out of his depth today, I'm not quite sure what the big deal is.

He's the new Mark Noble.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Qwiss! wrote:

So City not that good?

West Ham were truly dire defensively, to be fair.

Nope. City and Pool yesterday are just that good. People were saying Norwich were awful defensively yesterday. They will be saying that about a ton of teams this season. Reality is that the top two are miles ahead of the rest. Klopp and Guardiola are today's Ferguson and Wenger. We think the league is ultra competitive but it's not. The league has a funny way of becoming tougher, the shitter you become.

They may as well engrave city's name on the trophy now. I watched on a fantastically clear German stream. I didn't need to understand a word but i did get a chuckle when they said exodus at the sight of West Ham supporters leaving early.

Qwiss! wrote:

goon wrote:

If Pepe is Ronaldo level good, we might just close the gap to City to under 20 points.

Thats why we need young players, no point being where Liverpool are now (CL aside), we just need to be ready once City regress, no one stays on top forever.

Totally. That's why I'm so against Zaha. There's no point signing him just to get up back in the CL (there's plenty who can help us do that for <70m), only for us to have to replace him when we're reaching a stage to challenge.

goon wrote:

Declan Rice looked way out of his depth today, I'm not quite sure what the big deal is.

I like him as a potential centrehalf, but think way too much is made of him as a centre midfielder.

Out of interest on VAR calls, is it also able to call when the ball was struck to the same level of accuracy? They didn't mentioned anything in The Atletic article I read. It's a bit pointless if that's being decided by a human.

On today’s basis, VAR will kill the magic of football.

As fans we have to now wait 30msecs before celebrating a goal? This is going to kill football man.

deardevil wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

West Ham were truly dire defensively, to be fair.

Nope. City and Pool yesterday are just that good. People were saying Norwich were awful defensively yesterday. They will be saying that about a ton of teams this season. Reality is that the top two are miles ahead of the rest. Klopp and Guardiola are today's Ferguson and Wenger. We think the league is ultra competitive but it's not. The league has a funny way of becoming tougher, the shitter you become.

Perhaps you're right, but, in all likelihood both Norwich and West Ham will be in the bottom third of the League for goals conceded this season. They're both highly susceptable to gettting ripped open by strong attacks.

So when I say West Ham are dire defensively, I am right. When other people say Norwich were awful defensively (I didn't watch the game), they're probably right.

How good City and Liverpool attack generally has nothing to do with the point being made. If Norwich or West Ham were defensively good, or even decent, outside of games against those two clubs you would have a point, but they aren't and won't be. It is accurate to say they are dire defensively.

goon wrote:

What kind of moron doesn't pick Sterling for FPL

Salah, Sterling and Kane crew checking in  8)

Ricky1985 wrote:

goon wrote:

Declan Rice looked way out of his depth today, I'm not quite sure what the big deal is.

I like him as a potential centrehalf, but think way too much is made of him as a centre midfielder.

I'm still to be convinced by the Rice hype. Same goes for Foden who Guardiola keeps praising to high heaven. He managed peak Messi and he says this
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/49133205

Sicario wrote:

On today’s basis, VAR will kill the magic of football.

As fans we have to now wait 30msecs before celebrating a goal? This is going to kill football man.

It didn't kill the Champions League last season, did it?

(Cue the jokes aboout the futility of asking an Arsenal fan about the Champions League!)

If anything, it just adds to the up and down drama that fans love so much. Look at Sterling's offside 96th minute 'winner' against Tottenham last season. The drama was something else.

Bold Tone wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

I like him as a potential centrehalf, but think way too much is made of him as a centre midfielder.

I'm still to be convinced by the Rice hype. Same goes for Foden who Guardiola keeps praising to high heaven. He managed peak Messi and he says this
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/49133205

Pep loves his hyperbole, all talk yet hardly any gametime. 

That being said, Foden does look class to me. 

Ricky1985 wrote:

Sicario wrote:

On today’s basis, VAR will kill the magic of football.

As fans we have to now wait 30msecs before celebrating a goal? This is going to kill football man.

It didn't kill the Champions League last season, did it?

(Cue the jokes aboout the futility of asking an Arsenal fan about the Champions League!)

If anything, it just adds to the up and down drama that fans love so much. Look at Sterling's offside 96th minute 'winner' against Tottenham last season. The drama was something else.

We will see how much drama it will be mate when it goes against us.

Imagine an Auba last min winner v Spurs rules out because he was milmeters offside.

Sicario wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

It didn't kill the Champions League last season, did it?

(Cue the jokes aboout the futility of asking an Arsenal fan about the Champions League!)

If anything, it just adds to the up and down drama that fans love so much. Look at Sterling's offside 96th minute 'winner' against Tottenham last season. The drama was something else.

We will see how much drama it will be mate when it goes against us.

Imagine an Auba last min winner v Spurs rules out because he was milmeters offside.

I'd rather that than lose to a last minute goal in the NLD that should have clearly been chalked off. 

I don't think it will make it better or worse in terms of a spectacle, it'll just be different and will take some getting used to.

Point is, it's still drama, really intense drama. Even when it goes against you.

[Twitter]

If it's the correct decision, I will never complain about VAR.

goon wrote:

I don't think it will make it better or worse in terms of a spectacle, it'll just be different and will take some getting used to.

I definitely think it hurts it as a spectacle, at least for fans, neutrals wont care but to have that emotion of a big goal be diminished I think is undeniably a bad thing. Whether its worth it for fairness is the only debate.

i never complain about the correct decision. forget all that human error is a part of the game bullshit. the only errors need to be from the guys playing the game, not some referee.

Qwiss! wrote:

goon wrote:

I don't think it will make it better or worse in terms of a spectacle, it'll just be different and will take some getting used to.

I definitely think it hurts it as a spectacle, at least for fans, neutrals wont care but to have that emotion of a big goal be diminished I think is undeniably a bad thing. Whether its worth it for fairness is the only debate.

I don't think it will diminish the emotion, fans will still celebrate like crazy unless they think it might be offside or dissallowed for whatever reason, and 9 times out of 10 there probably won't be a decision to make. 

Also there's an added layer of suspense for both sets of fans while the decision gets reviewed, it's not the sort of thing we're used to in football hence why I said it's different, but it's still drama.

The 3PM games have been dog shit.

Impressive by Brighton & Hove to win 3-0 away to Watford. Some really good attacking football at display too. Potter will surprie people this season.

That Spurs away game last season. Still infuriating. Good decisions in that puts us in the CL this year.

Haha, come on Vilaa!

Honestly in about 10 years time people won't be able to believe that we went this long without VAR. Sure they may need to be tweaks (and this season will have the most teething problems) but overall its nothing but a huge net positive

Very nice goal.

Villa look great on the ball just as they did in the playoffs, good addition to the PL.

Mirth wrote:

Honestly in about 10 years time people won't be able to believe that we went this long without VAR. Sure they may need to be tweaks (and this season will have the most teething problems) but overall its nothing but a huge net positive

I really think so too, but I get why it's a touchy subject.

The application of VAR on the game will evolve to become much smoother if we give it time, and referees will be trained from the ground up to make use of the system. Players will conversely learn that they can't get away with everything just because the referee has his back turned. It's a big upheaval but it's going to be brilliant in the end. There was always gonna be friction during the transitional years, but VAR is the only way to preserve the integrity of the sport. The game is moving so quickly nowadays that the referees have zero chance to keep up. A stupendous amount of high-profile games have been decided by pure chance and incorrect calls over the last 5-10 years.

If we had started with this in the early 00s the transition would have been much smoother, but FIFA is the football world equivalent of the GOP: Old prats ruining it for everyone else right up until they die off or get indicted.

Klaus wrote:

Impressive by Brighton & Hove to win 3-0 away to Watford. Some really good attacking football at display too. Potter will surprie people this season.

Yeah that was a pretty shocking result.

Klaus wrote:

Impressive by Brighton & Hove to win 3-0 away to Watford. Some really good attacking football at display too. Potter will surprie people this season.

It's an incredible start for your man Potter, mate. I heard the Brighton fans can't believe the difference in football from last season.

Spurs are looking very average here. One dimensional in attack, ragged in defence.

Klaus wrote:

Mirth wrote:

Honestly in about 10 years time people won't be able to believe that we went this long without VAR. Sure they may need to be tweaks (and this season will have the most teething problems) but overall its nothing but a huge net positive

\The application of VAR on the game will evolve to become much smoother if we give it time

You can really tell who does and does not follow American sports that use similar replay systems by people who make statements like this. In reality, the scope will only increase and the rules are likely to become more arcane in order to accommodate the creeping influence of the replay booth. America literally went through this identical hype cycle about 15 years ago and I think it was largely a mistake in hindsight.

Cool.