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Soccer

Mourinho's Tottenham fall to Manchester United... in a world that has gone completely feet up... where I'm cheering for Manchester United.

Liverpool easily handle Everton in the early portions of their crunch time that Liverpool FC have in front of them, where they will play upwards of 14 games in 8 weeks, which likely will also include a split squad for the League Sponsor Cup and the FIFA Club World Milk These Players Till They Die Cup, in motherfucking Qatar! Everton was game 4 of 14.

Manchester City drew again against Newcastle on the 30th, though Chelsea lost on the same day, which puts Man City back into third, but 11 points behind Liverpool. Leicester City is holding form and remain 8 points behind Liverpool. Leicester have been extremely stingy on defense, having given up just 9 goals in 15 games.

Liverpool has only dropped 2 pts so far this season... and if you include last year, they've dropped only 2 pts over the last 20 or so games.
 
Liverpool handle Salzburg and move onto the knockout round in the Champions League in mostly comfortable fashion, after a bumpy first 10 or 15 minutes. They join Napoli from their group. Chelsea appear to be moving on as well. Semi-finalists Ajax appear to be on the way out unless they can turn the tables on Valencia.

Man City and Tottenham have already punched their tickets for the knockout round with one game remaining.
 
steve_bank said:
https://protips.dickssportinggoods....ons-the-numbers-player-roles-basic-formations

I don't know much about soccer positions and tactics.

Looks like a 'zone defense'. Players have responsibility for specific areas. That explains why it seems like people do not move much except for one or two players.

Similar in general to American football. A few play makers.
Click to expand...

It's easier to move the ball effectively than to run with it, so the game is more positional with a lot of passing. Sometimes the forwards have to chase a ball or attack, and fullbacks need to chase them / the ball. With that in mind the teams who tend to score the most usually have the best ball control - high possession with the ability to make tight passes or crosses to create space for shots.

Beyond that the over-arching strategy often depends on the strength of the two teams. If one team is obviously superior offensively, the other team will usually play more defensively and opt for a draw or win via counter-attack (good offensive team plays deep, defensive team exploits lack of defenders hanging back). But if the superior team goes ahead, then the defensive team becomes more open and offensive because one way or another they're losing points. If both teams are equal there tends to be more balance between attacking and defending

And beyond that there's a ton of minutiae that I know nothing about.
 
Bill Shankley: "Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple.". The modern game has changed a bit since Bill's time but his philosophy fundamentally still holds.
 
TSwizzle said:
Bill Shankley: "Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple.". The modern game has changed a bit since Bill's time but his philosophy fundamentally still holds.
Click to expand...

Unless you're Messi, then you just do whatever you want and average a goal per game.
 
Champions League draw came out. Liverpool plays Athletico Madrid. Man City draw another La Liga side Real Madrid. Chelsea draw Bayern Munich. As a reminder, Liverpool drew Bayern in this round last year, while Ajax eliminated Real Madrid likewise in the same round. Tottenham drew Leipzig (or some spelling like that). They are first in the Bundasliga, so while such a name might make teams feel safe, not so safe this year.
 
Nearing the end of the Holiday season craziness. Liverpool have won every game, except for the U-9's they fielded against Aston Villa in the Sponsor League Cup. Liverpool managed to scrape by and win the Club World Cup... oh goody! They can toss that on the scrap pile with the Super Cup.

VAR continues to be a pain in the butt, and Liverpool benefited legitimately both times against Wolves, but the offside was ridiculously cruel and something needs to be done about monitoring the margin of offsides that is going to be called.

Manchester City can't buy a break, having their keeper sent off in the first 10 minutes, and dropped a couple more points. Leicester City was hammered by Liverpool and are 13 points and Liverpool has a game in hand. Liverpool have to have a major collapse while Leicester or Man City win out to not win the title this year. Man City won the last 13 games last year. It isn't impossible, and I'll wait until March to start ordering balloons.

Meanwhile in Germany, Bayern Munich isn't in first place still... and it is almost January. Really, there are just a short run of good form from being in first, but the Bundesliga is up for grabs, in theory, for a few teams.
 
Liverpool seem unstoppable now. I expect when the finish line is in sight they will take their foot off the gas and blood a few more youngsters.
 
Liverpool defeat a deflated Tottenham. Again, LFC didn't terribly overpower the opponent for 90 minutes, possibly due to fatigue, and Tottenham had chances, but Allison is really one of the two incredibly important pieces to the LFC puzzle that is leading to this ridiculous success. They have six consecutive clean sheets (shutouts) in EPL play. The league isn't their yet, but Man City or Leicester City would pretty much need to win out to even have a chance, and both teams don't look like they are of the form to pull that off. Liverpool have to lose 6 games at this point in order to give other teams a shot.

So it is less now as to whether Liverpool will win the EPL, but whether they'll finish as the second team to go undefeated... and maybe with only a few draws, which will provide a remarkable point total. And of course, there is the Champions League ​and FA Cup.
 
Liverpool sealed their first EPL championship on Sunday. Probably before Sunday but no team will catch them now. Even Pep has come to this realization. With 16 games left I think it is inevitable Liverpool will drop a few points here and there on the way to claiming their crown but they are so far ahead it won't matter. Poor defending by Man Utd again to allow Van Dijk the header. Liverpool's second goal was interesting. Again poor defending. Salah left on his own on the half way line. De Gea was told to stay back instead of going up for the corner. However, he should have positioned himself closer to Salah but why there was nobody on Salah is a mystery. And when the Utd defender caught up with Salah, he was out muscled. Terrible, he should have been aware of how to deal with such a situation.



OLE: "I had to do it" as he walks off the field :)
 
Well, the best defense is to not let Salah off of a tether. That is one of the benefits of having an Allison in net.

Really, not much sense in tackling him from behind. Get a three game suspension for at best a continued attempt at making it a draw to remain just 27 points back?
 
It's one of the biggest rivalries in the EPL. It's a matter of pride. Roy Keane would have kicked Salah into the stands even if Utd were down by four just on principle.
 
Thankfully, not everyone is like Roy Keane. Besides, Keane would have done that regardless of who he was playing for.

Meanwhile, I ponder the pressure on Liverpool right now regarding the Champions League. With a hand on the EPL title, yippee!, but if they break Manchester City's point record, I wonder what the disappointment would be if they drop the Champions League, which is hardly a sure thing for them. Yes, the EPL will mean a lot! But if this team is to become a legend, they need at least the double.
 
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