Arena "The Beautiful Game" - The Official JCC Football (Soccer) Thread.

Garnacho's miss

Great goal by Bilbao but Onana's positioning wasn't great. He was a bit unsighted too.

Bilbao having the better of it, United look like they've turned up expecting to win and need to fix their heads for the second half or Bilbao will put three past them


Bodo Glimt having the better of it vs Spurs but still nil-nil.

 

“Better of it” being pretty relative in this fairly dire watch.

 

I think United and Tottenham have both come into these games thinking that... they seem to have already been planning their final match against each other. If Bilbao and Bodo somehow both manage to win and overcome their aggregate deficits, it will honestly be pretty funny.

 

Terrible mistake by Bodø/Glimt on that corner, may have cost them any hope of turning this around.

 

Yeah, looks like Spurs through



edit

Lindelöf showing why those little shin pads are ridiculous

 

Yeah, now that Tottenham is up 2-0 in this game and 5-1 in aggregate.

Edit: And now United is up 3-1. So yes, these two teams are pretty sure to be in the final.

 

An all-English final in Bilbao is some 1867 stuff.

 

If United play the team that started the match, Spurs will win

If United play the team thats broadly finishing the match then they've a better chance.

United haven't beaten Spurs once this season and they've been gubbed in all their matches so Spurs will be favourites for the final



Mount has been er.... good.

He really needs to stay injury free, he's such a good player when fit

 

It’s going to be Man U’s ability to fumble their way to silverware and Spurs being Spurs vs Ange winning something in year two and Harry Kane having already defeated the abstract notion of a Tottenham curse.





Should be… well, somebody will definitely score.

 

A team will win that game, yes.

 

I like Ange as a person and Spurs don't bother me too much as a club

I think Amorim has something about him and I live in Manchester so have more of an affinity to the none sportwashed club that play in red.

I won't have an issue with either team winning if I'm honest. United winning means Spurs actually are just Spursy and as they've beaten United every time they've played them this season it's just written that United will now turn up and win in Bilbao. On the flip side though, United have been garbage against English teams this season and Ange apparently has that second season touch. Plus it would be really amusing to see Ritchies inevitable meltdown.

A team will win, whoever it is, we'll all feel a little hollow.

 

6 English teams in the CL next year is a pretty strong indicator of the quality of the PL, especially if one of those teams finished in the bottom half of the table yet can still win a European competition.
But we could conceivably have the Fa Cup, Europa League, Premier League & League Cup winners all in the Champions League, which at least means winners competing instead of just handing spots to the league champion + 4 other team that are just there.

United were rubbish last season and deservedly beat City in the FA Cup Final (having lost twice to them badly during the season), but they didn't bother turning up the previous season when they were standing between City & a Treble. So you never know which version of United will show up in a game.
Both sides are so unpredictable, the only thing United have in their favour is more Final experience having been in 3 the last 3 seasons and won 2. Both teams on their day and with their best line-ups are capable of winning, but Spurs do like to bottle it when it matters most.
Ange is no fool though, he'll know if Spurs press then United will struggle because they lack the midfield control & mobility to get out of those situations. Plus they have a striker who is more likely to score.

I don't expect a win, because that will just lead to disappointment and there's been too many false dawns for me to invest in believing anything anymore. I don't think the players care enough to really give it their all from minute 1 because they haven't done it enough for the last 2 seasons. Maybe if it's pointed out that they'll get a 25% wage cut if they fail to qualify for the CL they might suddenly become world class.
It's more likely United will win because Spurs are Spurs and will just play really badly for no reason in a final vs United actually being really good. Or Spurs will be 2-0 up in 20 minutes because United are asleep and can't track runners with 5 defenders and two DMs for some reason.

 

Also if the FA Cup winner is in that would have to mean City won it and **** that noise.

 

Champions League should be for Champions, it's preferable to give a spot to them not teams that have never won the competition or their own league for 20 years.
If you're going to be handed 6 entries, it's better if those teams are mostly all winners instead of just teams that fought over who gets to finish further behind the winner than the others.
I mean, why does the 4th best loser deserve to be in it? Participation is not enough to be handing out spots in the most prestigious club competition.

Chelsea might also qualify + be winners of the Conference League, that's surely better vs qualifying and winning nothing.

 

While I have issues with the position system - it tends to favor larger leagues owing to coefficients, which would lead to frustrating situations like how in the past the Czech domestic champions would not even automatically qualify for the Europa League while Ligue 1 were guaranteed three spots or whatever in the UCL - it's consistent and tends to favor a stronger competition, which is frankly what keeps it prestigious, and at least creates the illusion of rewarding consistent season-long performance over some knockout luck when it comes to qualifying. The EL and ECL bump are an exception to keep the incentives up to perform in those two competitions despite their considerably lower paydays. It's all a bit of a delicate balancing act and I don't think the quality of any of those three competitions is improved because one specific country happened to have more domestic trophy winners for a change, so I think you're just kind of getting fixated on a silly metric.

 

A team in 12th that wins the Conference League should be there over a team that finishes 6th.
Winners should get a place ahead of teams that don't win anything, because you reward success and silverware is success.

Spurs winning the Europa League would mean they have had a more successful season than Arsenal. Not a better season, a more successful one and ultimately that is what history remembers over whether you were runners up to someone else.
Spurs with CL Qualification & a trophy vs Arsenal with CL Qualification and no trophy is bragging rights, regardless of league position disparity.

United winning the Europa League & CL qualification is bragging rights over City even if they win the FA Cup, and if they subsequently win the Super Cup it helps them stay with Liverpool in terms of who has the most trophies. That's what it's always been about, trophies are the measurement of success as a club and a manager.

 

I’m getting on board for the bat**** crazy.

the winner of the third tier competition should get a place in the first tier competition. Tell me, does in make sense that the second placed team in the championship should get a place on the PL, when the first place team in division one does not?

 

who the **** is listing out wins in the Super Cup as bragging rights about who has more trophies?

Completely unserious question that I am worried you have a completely serious answer to ... if United and Liverpool both got relegated, and immediately bounced back up, but United did it by finishing second in the Championship but Liverpool did it by winning the English Championship Play-off Final, would that mean Liverpool had a more successful season? Because they "won" something, and United simply finished higher in the table?

 

Promotion + trophy > promotion + no trophy.
Having to win a play-off isn't as good as instant promotion, but it has the same result just like qualifying for UCL by winning Europa League.

Also, in your answer to who included the Super Cup, the answer is both United & Liverpool.
As they should.