Szumi

That was nasty looking. Caicedo went studs first into Gravenbach's ankle. He definitely had no intention of doing so and was accidental, but still just so nasty looking. Somehow the ref couldn't even tell it was a foul.

11 hours ago, LittleDaniel said:

nevermind, ending up dominating most of the game without a manager or two of our best players and the players who kinda sucked last year looked great in the new high press, gonna win it all 🏆

Definitely helped playing Austin. They are my pick to finish last in the West. Terrible last season and made no real improvement. I think Minnesota is going to be so fun to watch this year. Reynoso having a whole year with Pukki to create chances for and Bongi is definitely going to breakout this season I think!

3 minutes ago, Hobo said:

by my count, the only players starting today who didn't feature in the 4-1 win over Chelsea in the league are Endo, Gravenberch and Kelleher. There's not a whole heap of a difference between the Chelsea XI from that day either.

Counter point: 5 of the starting XI from that match are injured today, with a 6th player on the bench. That's a very substantial difference.

7 minutes ago, Hobo said:

It has been like that for everyone this year from what I understand.

Chelsea themselves have 9 players out through injury.

Injuries have definitely been huge for a lot of teams this year, but I think the difference is clear between us and Chelsea. Outside of Bajcetic, all of our injuries are guys who you would expect to be starting today. For Chelsea, it's 2 - with an argument for a 3rd - guys who would be starters. It's an absolutely massive difference.

All the questionable guys miss out. 6 of our 8 subs are 21 and under. 2 I believe could make their debut, including 16 year old Nyoni. We're cursed this year.

11 minutes ago, LittleDaniel said:

Damn I was hoping I could find pictures of him covered in dirt or slime or something so I could start a "Lio Messy" thread, but no luck

Anyway, love that it's the first game of the season and Minnesota still doesn't have a manager! At least Reynoso was only a week late to pre-show this year...and then immediately injured himself. Gonna be a good year!

Minnesota actually hired Eric Ramsey as their manager this week. He's been a coach at Manchester United and turned down opportunities at Blackpool and Swansea. He's supposed to be a highly rated coach at Manchester United, or at least that's the reporting, but he's incredibly young at I think 32. 

Aston Villa 3-1 Nottm Forest (Sat 3pm)

Crystal Palace 2-1 Burnley (Sat 3pm)

Man Utd 2-0 Fulham (Sat 3pm)

Bournemouth 0-2 Man City (Sat 5.30pm, Sky)

Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle (Sat 8pm, TNT)

In fairness, I was absolutely exhausted when I made this thread.

Also, Jakob Glesnes scored an own goal in the Union's first game last year...in the same exact minute apparently. Someone's about to investigate him for match fixing! 

4 hours ago, Hobo said:

It is a very MLS own goal

Yeah this is one of those where I can't go "this shit happens in bigger leagues in Europe too, MLS gets so much unfair criticism from people." It was the most bizarre own goal I have ever seen. It's just one of those freak moments where the first match in 3 months meets torrential downpour and wind meets losing composure. These are two of the best players in their position in MLS, and are pretty much consistently mistake free players. But oh boy this own goal will be played a lot this week!

So my beloved Philadelphia Union opened their season in CONCACAF Champions Cup a few thousand miles away down in Costa Rica. Went from 1-0 down to scoring a huge 3-2 win, plus the 3 away goals on top of it. Excellent result given the travel, it was played in a torrential downpour and extreme winds, playing in Costa Rica is always hard, and it's vs a team in mid season form. 

... However, the Union also scored an own goal for the century for Saprissa's opening goal. Just...my goodness. Make fun of MLS, I understand, totally deserved.

This thread is objectively hilarious. 

Glasner is a great get for Palace. I thought he was incredibly impressive with Frankfurt. He developed and improved so many players there, and overachieved there, especially in Europe. Europa League win, Round of 16 in Champions League, and also a German Cup final to go with the solid league success.

Crystal Palace are definitely a mess right now, so it'll be interesting to see how they do under him. Palace's recruitment has been pretty terrible when it comes to attacking quality, they're so reliant on Eze and Olise, but both are so injury prone

Holgate with the most obvious of red cards this season. Players are seeing reds for studs into the shin regularly. Holgate went in twice as high, studs into the thigh of Mitoma.

1 hour ago, Hobo said:

Hopefully, Jota and Jones aren't too bad.

There is a part of me that thinks a lot of these injuries are as much the club being super cautious as anything. I could be totally wrong obviously.

Jota was walking on both feet at HT, so hopefully it's not as bad as it looks. Jones was a knock and not muscular, thankfully. I was afraid that maybe the way he went down awkwardly hurt his calf or Achilles. Darwin Nunez was a precaution too. He said he felt something, is all Klopp said.

I will definitely say though, the next man up mentality has been amazing this year. Bradley and Quansah stepping into the first team like they've always been there. Joe Gomez playing all three defensive positions at a great level. MacAllister playing out of position as a 6 almost all year and settling into the role so well, third choice Endo being an instant top 6, the rise of Jones into more than deserving a call up, Elliott being consistently solid, and the front line connecting so well together. Salah, Nunez, Jota, and now Gakpo all have 10 goals and 10 assists each in all competitions this season. That's an incredible success.

This is phenomenal

It's finally coming back! Teaser trailer released yesterday, full reveal in May, should be out this summer.

My childhood is screaming in delight.

Darwin Nunez not only scores on a breakaway for once, but does it with an incredible chip shot too.

Who is this ravishing man!?

Ugh, elation to heartbreak. That injury to Jota is not looking good at all, and this is after Jones was forced off injured too. Adds to Alisson, Trent, Thiago, and Matip I think now as our other injuries since Robbo, Tsimikas, and Salah are all back thankfully.

Brentford 1-2 Liverpool (Sat 12.30pm, TNT)

Newcastle 2-1 Bournemouth (Sat 3pm)

Nottm Forest 2-1 West Ham (Sat 3pm)

Man City 3-1 Chelsea (Sat 5.30pm, Sky)

Sheff Utd 0-2 Brighton (Sun 2pm, Sky)

A lot of WBA fans are happy about this, so hope it works out well for them on and off the pitch!

45 minutes ago, Hobo said:

Probably best if Roy retired at this point tbh

Well he's apparently going to be sacked any day now, so hopefully he will take this as a sign he should retire.

Wasn't sure best place to say it, but Mbappe has officially told PSG he's leaving this summer.

It's now being reported 22 injuries, and 11 are children. I don't even know what to say at this point.

Just absolutely reprehensible that this is continued to be normalized and allowed in this country 

I hate this country. Really hope no one was killed.

Yeah he's not problematic at all off the field. It's been the very steady increase in his arrogant and entitled comments whenever things don't go his way, and the perception that he is ridiculously overprotected by referees. This season especially his arrogance and obnoxiousness was on full display because of the Chiefs having a string of defeats.

13 minutes ago, Maxx said:

We haven’t even really hit the point where they are signing a bunch of ring chasers for vet minimum.  They will definitely be looking that way for WR help.

And the defense is loaded up with young guys on their first contracts too. While it's probable that Jones leaves this winter, their secondary will still be together for a few more years. Chiefs will be even scarier if Mahomes eventually starts taking a pay cut to win more rings too.