Futbol thread.

[Hüftpriester]

The US Women have reached an agreement with US Soccer over equal pay.

IIRC they lost originally their court case on the grounds that they had different contracts to the men. I can only assume they’ve quietly agreed to an equal contract with the men, giving up the privileges they have and getting a load of ‘back pay’ in return for that.

If I was in charge of US Soccer, I'd tell the women they can have 2x the men's salary under one condition - they play a friendly against FC Dallas u15 and win. But if they lose, they get shipped to Afghanistan.

 

[Kerwin White]

I can't fucking stand the US women's team. They're only meaningfully competing with a handful of countries, and they have massive advantages even over those, because of the college sports funding and infrastructure. They steamroll teams of third-world amateurs and celebrate like they've just won the World Cup again, then have the nerve to turn around and bitch about equality. Apparently the judge completely dismantled their case, only for them to get what they wanted anyway because MUH OPTICS.

Of course, idiots praise them for being "so much better than the men's team", while the men are competing with basically every country in the world, many of which have had professional leagues for a century or more.

 

[Shining Wit]

Tottenham Hotspurs is quite possibly the only club in existence who can complete a league double over Man City, then lose to Burnley 4 days later, it's Spursy at its utter rawest. Poor old Conte can't handle the rigors of being a true banter club.

Results tonight have blown open the PL fully too, title race is back on with City's lead being just 3 ahead of Liverpool (who now have the better gd after mangling Leeds 6-0) while at the bottom there's like 7 clubs in the relegation scrap with no club condemned yet. Everton are only 2 points clear atm, so I'd die laughing if they went down

 

[Anchors-Away]

Results tonight have blown open the PL fully too, title race is back on with City's lead being just 3 ahead of Liverpool (who now have the better gd after mangling Leeds 6-0) while at the bottom there's like 7 clubs in the relegation scrap with no club condemned yet. Everton are only 2 points clear atm, so I'd die laughing if they went down

Brentford have Newcastle and Norwich next. Those two matches will determine a lot surrounding the lower half of the table

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

Results tonight have blown open the PL fully too, title race is back on with City's lead being just 3 ahead of Liverpool (who now have the better gd after mangling Leeds 6-0) while at the bottom there's like 7 clubs in the relegation scrap with no club condemned yet. Everton are only 2 points clear atm, so I'd die laughing if they went down

While no team is condemned yet, Norwich are my favorites to get relegated. Every time they get a little bit of momentum, they just shit the bed and lose tons of games in a row. Burnley seem like they could go down but they can always play some team competing for Europe and just put the club in crisis mode because they somehow get a win. No idea how Watford avoid relegation but as @Anchors-Away pointed out, Brentford can lose their next 2 games and it instantly becomes way more fun to watch the bottom of the table

 

[Shining Wit]

While no team is condemned yet, Norwich are my favorites to get relegated. Every time they get a little bit of momentum, they just shit the bed and lose tons of games in a row. Burnley seem like they could go down but they can always play some team competing for Europe and just put the club in crisis mode because they somehow get a win. No idea how Watford avoid relegation but as @Anchors-Away pointed out, Brentford can lose their next 2 games and it instantly becomes way more fun to watch the bottom of the table

I'd say Norwich and Watford are bolted on for the drop, but the final spot will be interesting. To an extent, I hope Brentford dont slip too hard as that might wrap it up quickly. That and all 3 promoted sides being immediately relegated is boring

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

I'd say Norwich and Watford are bolted on for the drop, but the final spot will be interesting. To an extent, I hope Brentford dont slip too hard as that might wrap it up quickly. That and all 3 promoted sides being immediately relegated is boring

Yeah all 3 getting relegated would be boring. But don't give up on the chance that Burnley doesn't recover enough. Also there is a strong possibility that Everton, Leeds, and even Aston Villa or Leicester fuck up. Villa or Leicester not so much but 7 points off the drop zone isn't as big a gap as you would think at this point in the season

 

[Anchors-Away]

I'd say Norwich and Watford are bolted on for the drop, but the final spot will be interesting. To an extent, I hope Brentford dont slip too hard as that might wrap it up quickly. That and all 3 promoted sides being immediately relegated is boring

As a Bee's fan who regularly attends games, I'd rather they didn't go down. Up until the Injuries started against Leicester, I'd say the team presented itself in a very strong manner. I think many neutrals here would say they enjoyed our home matches against Liverpool, Chelsea and City. But when Raya, Ajer and others falling like flies, it was expected that form would dip. At one point, Brentford had more than nine injuries (none of that fake coof nonsense either) and was left to use Sergi Canos as a defensive right back against Liverpool. He's like 5'6. Thankfully EVERYONE (Yes, everyone) has been declared match fit at long last for this clash with Newcastle. I genuinely hope we win. I expected us to finish 12th this season. I am content with staying 14th.

For Everton, relegation might be the thing they need to actually kick some sense into the club as a whole. Four managers worth of deadwood plague that team, with a back room management structure not worthy of Premiership level. When your attacking line-up features Alex Iwobi, Cenk Tosun, Salomón Rondón and Andros Townsend; you genuinely need to reconsider things. Plus the media really wants to force Lampard into a hero status.

Leeds, whether they want to admit it or not, know that a lot of the fault of what they have ongoing is self-inflicted. The team was overwhelmed with injuries from day one and yet the tactics, nor the formation is altered. Even when the winter window came around, they didn't even attempt a loan to mend the defensive woes. Everyone facing the drop either renewed contracts or found solutions. Leeds instead refused transfers and seemingly content on current affairs. By all accounts, they should be thankful that somehow five other sides have been playing worse than them.

Newcastle, I don't care much for. I don't like sports-washing nor do I want them to exploit the softer Premiership finance rules. The EFL would have them under an intense microscope in the Championship. But much like Everton, going down would actually fix a lot of the deadwood woes they have ongoing. This is another team that isn't so much in need of patch work, but rather made of rotten timber. This isn't a fix, it's a rebuild that no logistic amount of money can amend without an amazing outsell strategy. With the new loan rules implemented too, they can't just pull a Chelsea and mass-export the undesirables and see if they improve elsewhere. Buying Wood from Burnley has only backfired too.

Subject of Burnley, what a get has been Wout Weghorst eh? Guy is such a brickhouse, he is perfectly pulling in defenders for Burnley to make space and get the much needed points to go from bottom to sitting 2 points adrift from safety. Huge fan of Sean Dyche as a manager that can work with limitations. Reddit types and zoomers deem them the anti-football side are clearly the types who don't actually watch football beyond the safety of Sky Sports. Genuinely think they'll stay up.

Watford's game of musical chairs with it's other "network" teams isn't going to work in the Premiership. It never will. The owner is far more content on bouncing back and forth, cashing in the parachute payments to his delight and min-maxing with his fathers side; Udinese. Nobody likes them, nobody wants them. They wish they was apart of London deep down, yet will forever be a motorway based metropolitan parasite.

Norwich did the same mistake they've done every time they've won promotion. Instead of building upon the team that won promotion and supporting the backbone, they decided to just buy a whole other squad. Dean Smith, I like the cat. He was involved with Brentford and helped right the ship after Warburton's departure. But fuck me is he going to have one hell of an uphill battle in the Championship with his recruitment system. I 100% foresee him raiding his former sides. Don't be shocked if you see Conor Hourihane and Julian Jeanvier signed by Smith.

Prediction:

14th: Brentford
15th: Burnley
16th: Everton
17th: Newcastle
18th: Leeds
19th: Norwich
20th: Watford

What I actually want:

14th: Brentford
15th: Burnley
16th: Leeds
17th: Norwich
18th: Everton
19th: Newcastle
20th: Watford

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

Newcastle, I don't care much for. I don't like sports-washing nor do I want them to exploit the softer Premiership finance rules. The EFL would have them under an intense microscope in the Championship. But much like Everton, going down would actually fix a lot of the deadwood woes they have ongoing. This is another team that isn't so much in need of patch work, but rather made of rotten timber. This isn't a fix, it's a rebuild that no logistic amount of money can amend without an amazing outsell strategy. With the new loan rules implemented too, they can't just pull a Chelsea and mass-export the undesirables and see if they improve elsewhere. Buying Wood from Burnley has only backfired too.

Actually, Newcastle will have to wait a while before they get any financial rules. The rules for FFP are in 3 year cycles and Mike Ashley's shrewd business style running Newcastle with profit margins for the past few years is going to give them years worth of overspending. Newcastle staying up will give them more financial power to just continue purchasing lots of players to stay up. Deadwood might be hard to get rid of but it won't really hinder them too much. They can be on the books but just not be registered. Surprisingly, Mike Ashley has set Newcastle up for massive success over the next 2 years

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

So West Ham vs Wolves tomorrow has some implications on how Europe will go but at this point, it kinda looks like it will be down to Arsenal and Tottenham since United keep deciding 1 point is good enough to get when they have 3 more games played than others. I don't see Wolves competing really with most of the european spots but West Ham are good enough to stick around to the end. Plus you can't count out the possibility of both Arsenal and Tottenham just shitting the bed because that's what they are both known for

Newcastle are no longer clawing themselves out of the relegation battle, they are sprinting away from it. Brentford got put back into the disaster and have 27 GP vs others on 25 and 26. Leeds look like they are in a dangerous spot to go down right now and are probably the third choice at the moment with Watford and Norwich

 

[Tom Nook's Gloryhole]

Tbh with Trippier out I legit thought Newcastle would just sink and that'd be the end of the fight, but with Howe there it legit looks like Newcastle might actually finish close to the top half by the end of the season. Insanely positive football and at JUST the right time to avoid the shitshows at Everton and Leeds.

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

Bielsa out at Leeds with Jesse Marsh as his replacement? No idea how true this rumor is but big if

 

[Anchors-Away]

Newcastle are no longer clawing themselves out of the relegation battle, they are sprinting away from it. Brentford got put back into the disaster and have 27 GP vs others on 25 and 26. Leeds look like they are in a dangerous spot to go down right now and are probably the third choice at the moment with Watford and Norwich

Dasilva's first game back in months after injury and gets sent off in the first 10 minutes via some VAR nonsense. It felt like such ref-ball bullshit to aid Newcastle, but life goes on. Norwich is next. Can only aim to win that and cushion ourselves between Leicester and Palace for some brief comfort.

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

Dasilva's first game back in months after injury and gets sent off in the first 10 minutes via some VAR nonsense. It felt like such ref-ball bullshit to aid Newcastle, but life goes on. Norwich is next. Can only aim to win that and cushion ourselves between Leicester and Palace for some brief comfort.

Yeah for Brentford, you can't let the Newcastle loss hurt you for these next 3 points. These are too important

 

[Dojima's Dragon]

Whats everyones opinion about 2022 qatar world cup

 

[Chad Holdenford]

Whats everyones opinion about 2022 qatar world cup

For the first time in my life, I'm not enticed at all to follow it. And I speak this as someone who, at certain points, ditched college classes and work to watch matches.

And not just me: Brazil as a whole is no longer willing to commemorate the World Cup. Seriously, all cities decorated their streets with the flag's colors and words of incentive for the NT. It was the sole reason people down here became flag-waving patriots. And now, we no longer do that, partly because of the 7-1 trauma, partly because nationalism is now verboten unless you don't mind being called a Nazi-fascist.

As for the event itself, really, nothing we haven't seen before: Europe will dominate it easily, while the others are left sucking their thumbs. Just add a layer of politisperging to complete the shitshow.

 

[Anchors-Away]

Whats everyones opinion about 2022 qatar world cup

Even if we ignore the questionable political and humanitarian aspects surrounding the event, it's still one of the worst countries of choice and will likely be forgotten about as quick as it ends.

It actively fucks with the Football calendar across the Europe, which no doubt angers UEFA and it's precious Champions League. It's an incredibly humid and cultureless (football wise) country; Arabs are the embodiment of plastic fans. I'd rather suffer the vuvuzelas of South Africa again than these vast bowls of bland. Plus with the shift in dates, they somehow expect an abundance of tourism/fan support between the months of November and December. Post covid economic collapse and protentional proxy war with Russia? Fuck off, I am gonna be with my family for Christmas. From a non-competitive standpoint, everything about this cup is going to suck.

As for the quality of competition? It's a matter of how the heat is handled inside the stadiums. If this apparent "cooling system" they claimed to have implemented is just what we all expect it to be, PR speak, it's going to be some dire gameplay. Lots of 1-0's and possession play nonsense that Americans stereotype the sport upon. The respective standard for Middle-Eastern and Asian football isn't high enough either to warrant hosting, nor will it ever be. It's vastly cheaper to export prospects from Africa and South America. Hosts are ensured via mathematical probability to get at least one European side and either one African or American (North/South) team drawn against them. Both of whom I'd rate much higher to qualify.

Than we have the general apathy ongoing from some nations involved. @Yuuichirou Kumada addressed above that most of Brazil seemingly don't care. It's not just them. A number of sides from South America and Europe are undergoing rebuilding or transitional periods. Argentina continue to tactically focus upon Messi, failing to prepare them forward to when he retires. Wales, if they fail to qualify aren't going to ever reach the heights they once had with Bale and Ramsey on the way out. Either Italy or Portugal won't be attending either, unless Turkey somehow meme's both out. Germany continue to self-destruct, opting to go the Chinese route and throw out citizenship to whoever. England will continue to force useless additions into the squad via Southgates bias. Just saying we'd have likely beat Italy if we actually had a set-piece specialist like Ward-Prowse and not Saka. France historically are known to blow up at one another during training. Which leaves it to Spain, the only country that actively amended it's faults since there loss to Russia.

Frankly it's going to be an immense shit show.

 

[LetterlandMafia]

Whats everyones opinion about 2022 qatar world cup

I've struggled to get excited about it. I'm not 100% sure why, maybe it's the timing being fucked up. It also feels like this tournament has less hype around it than previous versions. Maybe it's also all the things swirling around it, from the big (human rights in Qatar; Russia) to the small (weather; Europe fucking with its quali format; FIFA rambling on about a WC every two years; the upcoming WC expansion)

Maybe this is just all in my head, but that's the impression I get.

 

[Tom Nook's Gloryhole]

I like to think that the Qatar World Cup will fall apart at some point in the near future, especially if FIFA violently backs Russia and tells Poland, Czech Republic and co to just eat shit and die.

There's been a load of moving pieces that seperate this from other shitstorms like Russia, South Africa etc. Covid basically confirming that if pushed, football CAN be delayed and a literal world response against Russia. I legit see a few countries putting 2+2 together and going "hey hang on a minute, why not boycott the whole fucking thing?" given that they're risking getting thrown out of it anyway by not playing Russia.

 

[Kerwin White]

The only thing I'm interested in is how the England team plan to balance their commitment to social justice, with playing in fucking Qatar.