Sport - for discussions of all sporting events

[leftieliberal]

Arsenal 0 Aston Villa 2 (and Villa hit the woodwork twice when the score was 0-0). A memorable day for the Villa (and for the Blue half of Manchester too).

[mercian]

Yes - did the double over them. It must be a few decades since that happened.

[leftieliberal]

Despite him being a Labourite, I've always had a great deal of time for Sir Alex Ferguson. Here's a good story about how he helps other up-and-coming managers: www.theguardian.com/football/2024/apr/22/how-sir-alex-ferguson-became-a-fairy-godfather-for-young-managers

[pjw1961]

Regarding the Kookaburra v Duke ball debate, a glance at the County Championship Division 1 table after three rounds of matches suggests that there is one team that is pretty good with both.

[johntel]

Football's a funny old game. Forest outplayed Man City for most of the time yesterday - had double the xg but just didn't take their chances. Guardiola complained that the pitch was 'too dry' for them to play their normal game , despite the fact that it had rained heavily for 12 hours prior to kick off.

I'm fully expecting the relegation battle to go down to the last game. Forest play Burnley away - a 6 pointer if ever there was one.

[leftieliberal]

Everton call in insolvency advisers amid fresh doubt over 777 takeover

It would be tragic if they now go down because of the 10 point deduction for going into administration.

[leftieliberal]

Meanwhile in the most important news of the day Erling Haaland says "If you want my Golden Boot, you'll have to take it from my cold dead foot" as he slams four goals past a Wolves defence who probably think they are on the beach already. So, it's as you were in the closest title race for years.

[athena]

Probably my one and only reference to football here or anywhere else... About 20 mins into this edition of Newscast there's a brief discussion on the psephological significance of Starmer's new habit of doing victory photocalls at non-league football grounds.

[leftieliberal]

As a Villan, I'm relieved that while we're throwing points away in the Premier League, Tottenham are becoming their Spursy self again. They really shouldn't drop points against either Burnley or Sheffield United, but with Villa 7 points ahead with a better goal difference Spurs will have to beat Manchester City for it to go to the last game on May 19th.

[leftieliberal]

Forest lose their appeal over their points deduction.
So it's Chelsea at home and Burnley away to save their season, while Luton have West Ham away and Fulham at home and Burnley have Spurs away before the final match against Forest. With Spurs in their current generous form, I can see Forest needing to get a point at Turf Moor to be sure of staying up.

[leftieliberal]

Sucks to Tom Brady and Ryan Reynolds, we've got Tom Hanks! Up the Villa and fingers crossed that Man City will do us a favour by beating Spurs tonight, so that we don't have to worry about getting points at Crystal Palace.

[mercian]

Champions League here we come! Emery is a fantastic manager.

EDIT: The youngsters won the Birmingham Senior Cup, beating Racing Club Warwick 9-0 in the final at Villa Park. Emery's son came on as goalkeeping sub at half time, though I don't suppose he had much to do.

[leftieliberal]

Guardian reporting that Villa are going to buy Ross Barkley from Luton. He deserves the chance to show what he can do with a top club.

[leftieliberal]

England's provisional Euro 2024 squad

published at 14:00

Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal), James Trafford (Burnley).

Defenders: Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Jarell Quansah (Liverpool), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle), Kyle Walker (Manchester City).

Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), Curtis Jones (Liverpool), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace).

Forwards: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Jarrod Bowen (West Ham), Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), James Maddison (Tottenham), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ivan Toney (Brentford), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).

Not surprising. Southgate has essentially gone for the players in form. I'm glad to see Alexander-Arnold in as a midfielder because of his range of passing.
This 33-man squad will get whittled down to 26 after the friendlies against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland on 3 and 7 June. Unless one of the goalies get injured I expect James Trafford to be dropped from the final squad. I'm also a bit dubious about Jack Grealish because he hasn't performed for Man City this season and I think Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins will be fighting for one place in the final squad. While, naturally, I would like to see Ollie get it, there really is little to choose between them when you think of them as the backup striker to Harry Kane. 

[leftieliberal]

Morecambe in serious danger of going under. 

Morecambe directors have warned the League Two club faces a “catastrophic outcome” unless the current owners agree to sell. The club was put up for sale in September 2022 by Jason Whittingham of Bond Group but with no deal concluded, the club are in turmoil.

They were deducted three points by the English Football League last season for failing to pay players on time and Whittingham was fined £10,000. He was also given a suspended fine of £20,000, which is due to be activated on 31 May unless he deposits a sum equal to 125% of the monthly wage bill to cover any future delays.

Morecambe, who finished 15th this season, are also manager-less after Ged Brannan left to become No 2 at Accrington Stanley and have five players under contract. The contracts of 16 players have expired – 12 were not offered new terms and four rejected new deals – while five loanees have returned to their parent club. Farrend Rawson, the club captain, was among those who turned down a new contract having previously described the running of the club as “a shambles” and appealing for Bond Group to sell.

[leftieliberal]

Congratulations to Southampton on winning promotion to the Premier League.

[johntel]

There should be a Law to stop cricket teams just flooding the ground if they think they're going to lose 

[nickpoole]

Cricket - Scotland were so bad that Australia beat them when trying to lose.

Football - would be cruel to mention Scotland at this point.

So big question is - for England will it be Trent or Wharton? Smart money is on Trent starting but I reckon the place will eventually/soon be Wharton's.

[nickpoole]

Serbia manager says they plan to attack.

That would be mad as Iceland gave a perfect template on how to beat England which is basically on the break.

[mercian]

I don't watch a lot of football these days, but I did watch most of the England match tonight. One thing that struck me as odd was the number of times when one of the England defenders passed back to Pickford who then belted it long up the pitch. Why couldn't the defender just do that?

[leftieliberal]

From The Conversation How America’s Fastest Swimmers Use Math to Win Gold 
This is something that I am surprised no-one else has done before. I understand the use of accelerometers, but I am not sure what they mean by force paddles unless they mean something attached to the skin of the hands or legs that measures the force on the surrounding water.

[johntel]

"Fish cake fury sees Norwegian game cancelled after VAR protest"

The match in the Norwegian top flight between Rosenborg BK and Lillestrom was suspended on Sunday after fans showed their displeasure with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) by throwing fish cakes onto the field.

The protests started from kickoff. After a two-minute bombardment of fish cakes, the referee stopped the match and sent the players to the dressing room.

The match was restarted, but the protests intensified, with tennis balls and smoke bombs being thrown onto the field. The referee abandoned the match around the half-hour mark with the score 0-0.

VAR has stirred controversy in the Norwegian Eliteserien, with several clubs' supporter unions claiming that the time referees spend making decisions using the system ruins matches.

It has faced criticism in other leagues also, with Sweden's top leagues deciding in April not to implement VAR due to opposition from clubs.



www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40614668/lionel-messi-honoured-inter-miami-copa-america-win

[mercian]

What do people think about spectators paying to see men beat up women at the Olympic boxing? It must be stopped surely.

[leftieliberal]

Man Utd sack Ten Hag
Poor man didn't even make it as far as November; I do rather wonder whether there is anyone who can manage Man Utd now.
His record in his two full seasons: 2022-23 Carabao Cup winners plus a Champions League place, 2023-24 FA Cup winners. Most owners would give a manager with a trophy a year at least one more season but, after sacking Sir Alex as a Club Ambassador, it was clear that Jim Radcliffe lacked any appreciation for anything other than money. It is characteristic how both the previously all-conquering Sky Cycling team and the Americas Cup sailing crew have failed under his leadership.

[mercian]

Oct 28, 2024 16:53:16 GMT leftieliberal said:

Man Utd sack Ten Hag
Poor man didn't even make it as far as November; I do rather wonder whether there is anyone who can manage Man Utd now.
His record in his two full seasons: 2022-23 Carabao Cup winners plus a Champions League place, 2023-24 FA Cup winners. Most owners would give a manager with a trophy a year at least one more season but, after sacking Sir Alex as a Club Ambassador, it was clear that Jim Radcliffe lacked any appreciation for anything other than money. It is characteristic how both the previously all-conquering Sky Cycling team and the Americas Cup sailing crew have failed under his leadership.

Manchester United have to lose their sense of entitlement. Football goes in cycles. In the Premier League era we've had periods of dominance by United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City interspersed with other periods when they weren't so dominant - e.g. Chelsea and United now. Even in this age of money being so important and fewer clubs have much chance, it's not so long since Leicester won the League. 
---------------------
Anyway the first ODI v WI is in play. England all out 209. I can see that the Test players need a rest, but surely this is pretty much a B team? I don't follow cricket as closely as I once did, but I'd never even heard of some of them.