Feel dirty just typing that but it's for the best.

Thought I'd create a general thread for footy for the season. Top class football started with a big shock last night as Champions League runners-up PSG were beaten at Lens in their opening game.

The Premier League starts tomorrow with Arsenal at Fulham in the early game. Looking forward to it. Really hoping that Liverpool and City will regress to the mean this season a bit, which could make it very interesting. I think Liverpool may just because of squad depth but City look primed to regain the title even with the loss of David Silva. Chelsea will be interesting given their open cheque book policy this summer.  Arsenal gained a defensive solidity at the end of last season and have strengthened that defense with two big-name signings so they may be interesting as a dark horse (I hope).

What say you?

Arsenal finished the post-COVID return strong and dominated Fulham today to kick off the new season, so I'm optimistic for the first time in a couple years. Arteta has proven to be a good fit for this current squad, and while I'm not expecting a league title any time soon, I don't see why they couldn't return to Champions League play if they keep this up.

They still need to make a couple moves at the Transfer Window to get over the hump, and they need to hold on to Auba.

Oh boy. I should have realized this earlier but it didn't even register.

"It took Willian 57 minutes to register as many assists as Mesut Ozil in 18 appearances over the last 2 seasons (3)."

Amazing. As much as I love Ozil, the writing has been on the wall for 2 years now. If Arsenal can't move him at the window I don't know what to think. Maybe he just needs to retire at this point, I dunno.

They can't move him because he's on preposterous money. He won't leave because no other club will pay him that and he won't take a pay cut. It is what it is. Blame the last regime.

Why would he leave if he can hang around and do nothing for a tonne of money.

Fulham were terrible in that game, might be a bit harsh to judge off just the first match but I think they'll find it difficult to stay up. Having Mitro fit will help them a bit but I didn't see a single thing to be optimistic about, they looked very similar to the team that barely made a dint in the league two seasons ago.

They were so poor it's hard to draw any big conclusions about Arsenal, but they did put them to the sword well. The most interesting part about their play was their formation down the left hand side with Tierney playing left centre back when defending but then pushing wide aggressively in possession, Maitland-Niles as a sort of inside wing back, and Aubameyang on the left of the front three. They'll obviously face better full backs than Dennis Odoi during the season but he really had no idea what to do.

Feel like Everton might take the step forward this season. I love their new midfield of James, Allan and Doucoure which is a huge upgrade on Sigurdsson, Davies and Schneiderlin. Had Richarlison had his finishing boots on they could have easily thrashed Spurs. Great old school header by Calvert-Lewin.

I just came here to say that Sadio Mane is my new favorite human being.

I was already partial to the Reds anyways, so fuck it -- Go Liverpool.

I'm in favour of VAR but the execution in general has just been so terrible. The changes to the rules have just been so ridiculous and have made the game so much worse overall.

I watched Uruguay vs Chile this morning and it was just a total farce. This new world where a player can ping a ball into a defenders arm from point blank range and get a penalty out of it is just ludicrous.

Oct 9, 2020 7:20:07 GMT @admin said:

I'm in favour of VAR but the execution in general has just been so terrible. The changes to the rules have just been so ridiculous and have made the game so much worse overall.

I watched Uruguay vs Chile this morning and it was just a total farce. This new world where a player can ping a ball into a defenders arm from point blank range and get a penalty out of it is just ludicrous.

Yeah VAR is doing it’s job right ok, it’s the interpretation referees have been given that’s ruining things. 

I'm not an expert on soccer, so I won't pretend I fully know how the game works, but I wonder, are Fulham fans getting annoyed with Khan's ownership, and the team being in constant promotion/relegation limbo? It seems like a Quadruple A baseball player to me (i.e. a guy that does great in AAA baseball, but struggles in the majors).

Well, we're still in the third tier of English football, so that's not good. Especially considering the current climate and our well documented financial problems.

IF fans aren't allowed back in soon or IF we aren't promoted this season, we could very well be staring administration in the face.

Oct 27, 2020 17:29:37 GMT Leper Messiah said:

I'm not an expert on soccer, so I won't pretend I fully know how the game works, but I wonder, are Fulham fans getting annoyed with Khan's ownership, and the team being in constant promotion/relegation limbo? It seems like a Quadruple A baseball player to me (i.e. a guy that does great in AAA baseball, but struggles in the majors).

I think it's probably offset by the knowledge that they were lucky to get promoted in the first place and at the end of the day you'd rather get promoted to the Premier League than continue to languish in the Championship. It is a little bit ironic that they look so similarly outclassed despite taking the polar opposite approach - first time they came up they splashed the cash and bought a bunch of high profile players who never clicked as a team, this time they stuck with the team that got them up and just don't have the quality to compete. But at the end of the day his recruitment record has been really quite poor, and that's the main responsibility of a DOF.

Khan obviously doesn't help his own image with his social media comments - much like how he's been criticised as being a money mark with AEW - he's sent out some tweets that he probably thought were a good idea to allay fans but really just undermined his manager and players. 

There's also the issue of him trying to maintain three full time jobs which is really just a bit silly.

Been lazily following Arsenal since the restart because mid table team, but I saw a stat today that blew my mind: Auba is the first Arsenal player EVER to convert a penalty at Old Trafford.

The only other two attempts were Van Persie in 2011 and Silva in 2006. Both didn't convert.

One thing that doesn't really sit well with me during an ongoing global pandemic is international friendlies.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8946635/Sunderland-Kyril-Louis-Dreyfus-22-year-old-billionaire-linked-Black-Cats-takeover.html

Rather interesting and exciting times here at Sunderland, we're apparently in the process if being bought by Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, heir to the Louis-Dreyfus group and has a trust fund worth £1.5 billion, he is an heir to a company worth £4.25 billion. This is absolute crazy for a club that is in the third tier of English football to be linked with a takeover of this magnitude, although last year we were linked with a takeover from Michael Dell (If you believe our owners) or a investment group called MSD Capital, which I know is led by Michael Dell but it was three investors from that specific group "alleged" to be buying us. 

Some local journalists seem to be more enthused about this takeover by KLD , so much so that apparently it is in the hands of the EFL (The governing body for the Football League) and it could be approved within a fortnight. Blimey, this is just crazy. I'm not going to believe it until it's official. We've been the subject of around 3/4 takeovers in the last 12/6 months alone.

Just heard that Diego Maradona passed away today.

The GOATS just keep on leaving us this year.

Neil Peart
Eddie Van Halen
Alex Trebek
Diego Maradona

This year cannot end quickly enough. R.I.P.

Nov 24, 2020 22:08:07 GMT Jake said:

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8946635/Sunderland-Kyril-Louis-Dreyfus-22-year-old-billionaire-linked-Black-Cats-takeover.html

Rather interesting and exciting times here at Sunderland, we're apparently in the process if being bought by Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, heir to the Louis-Dreyfus group and has a trust fund worth £1.5 billion, he is an heir to a company worth £4.25 billion. This is absolute crazy for a club that is in the third tier of English football to be linked with a takeover of this magnitude, although last year we were linked with a takeover from Michael Dell (If you believe our owners) or a investment group called MSD Capital, which I know is led by Michael Dell but it was three investors from that specific group "alleged" to be buying us. 

Some local journalists seem to be more enthused about this takeover by KLD , so much so that apparently it is in the hands of the EFL (The governing body for the Football League) and it could be approved within a fortnight. Blimey, this is just crazy. I'm not going to believe it until it's official. We've been the subject of around 3/4 takeovers in the last 12/6 months alone.

Well, this takeover bid is now in the hands of the EFL and "could" be confirmed by end of next week. 

Blimey.

Today we've sacked our first team manager, Phil Parkinson. Good.

Nov 28, 2020 18:21:21 GMT Jake said:

Nov 24, 2020 22:08:07 GMT Jake said:

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8946635/Sunderland-Kyril-Louis-Dreyfus-22-year-old-billionaire-linked-Black-Cats-takeover.html

Rather interesting and exciting times here at Sunderland, we're apparently in the process if being bought by Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, heir to the Louis-Dreyfus group and has a trust fund worth £1.5 billion, he is an heir to a company worth £4.25 billion. This is absolute crazy for a club that is in the third tier of English football to be linked with a takeover of this magnitude, although last year we were linked with a takeover from Michael Dell (If you believe our owners) or a investment group called MSD Capital, which I know is led by Michael Dell but it was three investors from that specific group "alleged" to be buying us. 

Some local journalists seem to be more enthused about this takeover by KLD , so much so that apparently it is in the hands of the EFL (The governing body for the Football League) and it could be approved within a fortnight. Blimey, this is just crazy. I'm not going to believe it until it's official. We've been the subject of around 3/4 takeovers in the last 12/6 months alone.

Well, this takeover bid is now in the hands of the EFL and "could" be confirmed by end of next week. 

Blimey.

Wasn't quite the end of the week, Club confirmed the takeover in Christmas Eve, EFL checks still ongoing but we have a new owner 😎😎

I didn't know this guy was such a GIF legend but is he really this awesome?

This guys a fucking legend.

Oh my home boy SHAQIRI!

That scenary. Holy smokes.

Jan 29, 2021 22:42:09 GMT KING KID said:

Oh my home boy SHAQIRI!

LOL you didn't even know who he was until he flashed the Albanian Eagle at the World Cup

Jan 30, 2021 1:16:39 GMT thereallt said:

Jan 29, 2021 22:42:09 GMT KING KID said:

Oh my home boy SHAQIRI!

LOL you didn't even know who he was until he flashed the Albanian Eagle at the World Cup

FACT. 

Still my home boy. 

I loathe sports headlines - "Chelsea's old guard helping Tuchel rebuild in the post Lampard era"

Burnley, they beat fucking Burnely, calm down.

The SAFC Takeover is confirmed.


:rockin:

www.safc.com/news/club-news/2021/february/kld-acquires-controlling-interest-in-sunderland-afc

Feb 18, 2021 21:12:32 GMT Jake said:

The SAFC Takeover is confirmed.


:rockin:

www.safc.com/news/club-news/2021/february/kld-acquires-controlling-interest-in-sunderland-afc

Running your own football club at 23, anyone who has played Championship/ Football managers dream.

Apparently he got his interest of of the club, from the Netflix documentary. I'm just pleasently surprised the deal happened, as the old owners (feels weird saying that) decided to chase away a group of billionaires last year, although in hindsight, it's probably a good thing we didn't deal with them, as they are apparently loaning many clubs a load of money with a load of interest.


Anyway, I am just excited for what the future may hold for the club now, but I am extremely sad that it'll be the death of Charlie Methven's EDM megamix on matchday now.

Really haven't been paying much attention this season - it really isn't the same without fans and VAR is just awful. The local season is starting so I will be tuning back in a little bit so I can contribute to the conversation at my club, watched Burnley vs Arsenal last night. Xhaka is still making catastrophic errors and the handball rule is still fucked so seems nothing has really changed.