Football (Soccer) Thread

[Gups]

After the last two of his sketches that I have checked, David Squires is under suspicion for being a Liverpool fan.

He supports Swindon I think.

[bogh]

With our second 3-1 defeat to ManCity Copenhagen is officially out of Champions League. Not much chance of us progressing past ManC, but a good run all told.

Hopefully we can win the league again and come back next year for another underdog campaign.

[celedhring]

After the last two of his sketches that I have checked, David Squires is under suspicion for being a Liverpool fan.

He supports Swindon I think.

Yeah, that famous "life of a small club supporter" cartoon he made years ago struck me as something from the hearth.

[FunkMonk]

Arsenal through to the Champion's League QF, their first QF appearance since 2009/10.  The team is top of the league on goal difference and in the title race for two seasons running.

Mikel Arteta took over in 2019 and reshaped the entire club in his image, taking it back into Europe's elite. The guy is 42 years old and in his first managerial job of his career. That is genuinely insane. I had huge doubts about him but the guy is honestly frighteningly good at his job. Well played Mikel.

[Duque de Bragança]

Beating on penalties the worst Porto in the last 20 years is no great achievement, however.

I was a bit hopeful (worst part over?) when the penalties started, but Galeno (best player in the first leg) and Wendell did not score theirs, thanks to Raya who was great during the game.
Great pass by Ødegaard to Troussard for the equaliser.

[FunkMonk]

That's fair. Arsenal were not at their best last night, though much of that was because Porto were so stodgy and stopped the game as much as possible. They played excellent terrorist ball. I don't watch the Portuguese league so you'd have to tell me but it feels like Porto is the type of team who will "play up" to their opponent's level if Porto are the underdog and play like crap against poor teams they should probably beat.

Porto's manager also appears to be a huge hothead.

[Josquius]

Arsenal through to the Champion's League QF, their first QF appearance since 2009/10.  The team is top of the league on goal difference and in the title race for two seasons running.

Mikel Arteta took over in 2019 and reshaped the entire club in his image, taking it back into Europe's elite. The guy is 42 years old and in his first managerial job of his career. That is genuinely insane. I had huge doubts about him but the guy is honestly frighteningly good at his job. Well played Mikel.

I do wonder how he was able to get the job. The closest recent example I can think of was Solskjaer, but he came with some  past experience and didn't provide an example to replicate.

Intended as just a temporary stop gap until their real target was available?

[Duque de Bragança]

To give you an idea, when Arsenal was thrashing Sheffield Wednesday 6-0, Porto had inflicted a 5-0 on Benfica (2 C1s back in the day) and still one of the top three, second right now. Benfica being admittedly crappy lately, though as in relying on favorable refereeing to beat the ones of Toulouse F.C in the Europa League.
As for the defensive play, i.e hoping for a deadly counter (which almost worked) that's fair though I could mention Arsenal's budget being 5 times bigger than Porto's, but did you watch the away game in Porto? Because Arsenal did not show much, not even a shot on target, whereas Porto had at least two, one ending in a goal.

As for being Sérgio being a huge hothead, same goes for Mikel with his hyperbolic arm gestures rudely telling Sérgio, staff and players to beat it at the end of the game. Iberians are a bit more volubile, shall we say.  Compared to the Portuguese league, Sérgio has been reasonable actually. 

Also, great game by Languish's favourite player Pepe (≠Pepê), 41 and still great at the best level. Still no quality replacement available be it in Porto or the national squad.

[FunkMonk]

I agree. It's a cup competition and anything could happen. THE MAGIC OF THE CUP

Pepe is a funny one. He infuriated me as a player when he was at RM but now I just have this weird respect for him, like he's some wise old dark wizard who knows the secrets of the world. 

[Gups]

Arsenal through to the Champion's League QF, their first QF appearance since 2009/10.  The team is top of the league on goal difference and in the title race for two seasons running.

Mikel Arteta took over in 2019 and reshaped the entire club in his image, taking it back into Europe's elite. The guy is 42 years old and in his first managerial job of his career. That is genuinely insane. I had huge doubts about him but the guy is honestly frighteningly good at his job. Well played Mikel.

I do wonder how he was able to get the job. The closest recent example I can think of was Solskjaer, but he came with some  past experience and didn't provide an example to replicate.

Intended as just a temporary stop gap until their real target was available?

I don't think so. Arteta had been highly  rated as a potential manager as part of Pep's team at City and nearly got the Arsenal job earlier but they went for Emery instead.

[FunkMonk]

Yeah, Arteta was in line behind Emery originally. Unai Emery was the "safe" choice. After he failed then the Arsenal executives in charge of the club went hat in hand to Arteta to say sorry we messed up and asked him to take over.

At the time we did have a temporary manager in charge of the team. Freddie Ljunberg coached the team for like three games before Arteta became head coach.

[Tamas]

Despite Chelsea's best efforts, Chelsea beat Leicester in the FA Cup quarter-final.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, Arteta was in line behind Emery originally. Unai Emery was the "safe" choice. After he failed then the Arsenal executives in charge of the club went hat in hand to Arteta to say sorry we messed up and asked him to take over.

At the time we did have a temporary manager in charge of the team. Freddie Ljunberg coached the team for like three games before Arteta became head coach.

Although I think that was probably for the best for him. Even though Arsenal hadn't been triumphing on all fronts I feel like you probably want to be the guy after the guy when succeeding someone like Wenger or Ferguson (though they're still searching for their guy after the guy after the guy afer the...) - and, I suspect, Klopp.

[FunkMonk]

Yeah, Arteta was in line behind Emery originally. Unai Emery was the "safe" choice. After he failed then the Arsenal executives in charge of the club went hat in hand to Arteta to say sorry we messed up and asked him to take over.

At the time we did have a temporary manager in charge of the team. Freddie Ljunberg coached the team for like three games before Arteta became head coach.

Although I think that was probably for the best for him. Even though Arsenal hadn't been triumphing on all fronts I feel like you probably want to be the guy after the guy when succeeding someone like Wenger or Ferguson (though they're still searching for their guy after the guy after the guy afer the...) - and, I suspect, Klopp.

Seems like that is the case with Alonso now deciding to stay at Leverkusen for another season. Probably realizes being the "guy after" is a bridge too far. Presumably he'd be after the Madrid job the next summer or even Liverpool again if the guy after Klopp fails.

[FunkMonk]

Nervy game today against City led to a scoreless draw at the Etihad. In their two league matches last season Arsenal were outscored 7-2. This season Arsenal outscored City 1-0.

Progress.