Lets Talk Football

That's pretty epic lol

Looks like a bird to me.

On a serious note, that's a gorgeous stadium. And I got that just from watching it on the telly. Imagine being there. I am assuming you are a Spurs fan, and so congratulations.

2-0 or better will tonight will be a decent result.

Congrats to Spurs for last night. Does Kane have to be off the field for Son to score? Probably not going to be enough (I'd expect City to win fairly comfortably at home. Especially as they know they need to win) but a good result nonetheless. Bad news for Kane though. Looks like that's him out for the rest of the season, which probably isn't good for England in the summer either.

Pretty easy for Liverpool from what I heard. Salah should've been sent off though. Or should he? Is that an obvious mistake or a ref making a decision that, IHO, it wasn't a red? Should VAR have made the ref aware? Or should it be left for obvious mistakes and goals?

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

FC Porto should have done better. At least 2-1. We started the game showing we play good football, then they score a lucky goal, the second goal was an individual mistake, after that is history. I believe anyway. I'll pay for my ticket. Sallah? Red card, I believe. About the 3 penaltis. Probably agree on the referee decision's, but I believe he would not make the same decision against Porto. Our greatest scored, Marega pucked the entire day, Alex Telles had clear physical problems.

Regarding Salah, for me, it was a red. Should have at least been a yellow. But I read somewhere that VAR can only give red or no red. And the VAR refs either chickened out or were done in by the Porto player's zero reaction.

As for the performance, we were professional and offered a controlled performance, something that is now a norm this season. Porto had their chances but were saved by Alisson, Van Dijk or just wasted. We lost steam in the last 20 minutes and seemed to be happy with the result.

We should go through, with the kind of defending we have put this season, but you never know. An early goal by Porto and things could get interesting.

As for today, it would be typical of Man Utd to get a get a freak result. However, they will most likely lose.

Son scored against Palace with Kane on the pitch lol
Although we defended well, I think we were very fortunate, harsh VAR pen but with "the letter of the law" I get it, even if none of the city players appealed (the law is changing on June 1st, just in time for the CL final) it'll be a few seasons of trial and error before we get the finished article I guess. United were unlucky

Also, what the hell is going on with the rise in pitch invasions? Jack Grealish getting punched a few weeks ago, Tottenham supporter confronting Fabian Delph and Ajax being investigated over a supporter getting close to CR7 during his celebration!

I know it's easy to say people are idiots. But it's true. I know it's easy to say people are angry. But it's true and I know it's easy to say people get drunk, but it's true. I don't think there's any one explanation, but I do think all these things come to bear as well as an almost pathological collective narcissism which has enveloped society (it appears to me) which leads to people being validated even for negative acts which give their otherwise meaningless lives (in their mind) meaning and attention.

If you watch the crowd reaction to the Grealish incident and you want to be recognised/loved/attention/whatever then that's a good way to get it. I've no idea if the offender regrets his actions now or not. I think that might be more telling than the incidents themselves.

I think the guy with Grealish basically pleaded "temporary insanity" saying he didn't know what came over him. The Spurs supporter must be gutted, getting a lifetime ban from the new stadium on their 2nd official game

don't even get me started with the recent uprising in racism too, I work with a lot of Italians who say it's nothing new, it's just that it's only now being brought to light in the media worldwide. When I heard that a Spurs supporter was abusing Son I was pretty disgusted. LIFETIME BANS FOR EVERYONE!!!!!!!

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can i have one of those buttons?

So unfair, FC Porto showing Liverpool whose the boss and another lucky and not sure valid goal.

City v Spurs, what a game! i'll be singing VAR's praises from now on

Porto were by far the better side up until we scored. Porto had 14 shots with 2-3 on target and we had zero shots. But I don't think there was any issues with the goal.
In the second half we seemed to be in control.

@Doolallyfrank
Congrats mate. Bet you slept with a big smile on your face, though how is your heart?
And more importantly, I hope your players at least get a draw on the weekend.

Yeah, after that goal was nothing else to do, I saw the referee taking so much time to make a decision, I knew was probably goal. I can comprehend the team giving up after that.
Anyway, Liverpool is probably the best team in the world right now, I was a little pissed because we didn't score with so many miss chances, we played the same way Liverpool normally play in the first half, three fast forward players and long distance shoots from the defense to offense because we knew any midfielder losing the ball was probably a counterattack goal. I believe they are both teams that play the same style, very-very aggressive, but Liverpool is way better up front, not even comparable, speed, coordination and finalization but... Liverpool paid more for there goalkeeper than the entire Porto team combine together. I believe either Liverpool or Barcelona win this year.

Our finishing used to be atrociously bad when Klopp took over. It took a lot of time to make us this lethal.

As for the spending power, have to thank Michael Edwards who has maximised our players' value. Under him we have sold players worth 5 to 8 millions for 20+. And not to forget Coutinho's sale, which has pretty much financed Van Dijk and Alisson. And the TV money.

Of course, if Marega had finished his chances in both the legs things could have been different.

Firstly I just want to say that was very, very, very funny.

But what a game. Thank you Spurs. Thank you Pep for sticking to your principles and not controlling the game as pretty much any other manager would and should instruct his team to do to their best to ensure victory. Thank you Lloris for playing at a level I've not seen you play for two years at least (Spurs fans might well have seen him have a game that good, but I haven't), thank you Raheem Stirling for backing up my argument that he's now an elite, top 10 world player and I really can't see any argument against that. Thank you Kevin De Bruyne for reminding everyone just how good you are and what we've all (not just City fans) have missed for much of this season. Thank you VAR for providing the correct decision. Thank you Son for scoring, yet again, when Kane was unavailable. Personally I think the pace and movement up front works better against the very best teams, as their defences have more trouble with that than they do a single striker, no matter how good he is.


And now, a few other things which came to mind while watching.

I wonder how the United board were feeling during and after that game? Unless they'd been told unaquivically that he wouldn't come to United this summer, Poch should've been the #1 target. We could always have given Ole the job at the end of the season or after. It's not about next season. It's about the long term. We already have so much ground to catch up.

Was the first 20 minutes the worst defending from both teams all season? Can you remember a game with two teams of such calibre who both defended so poorly for 20 minutes?

Was Llorenete's goal a goal? I've heard some people talking about the rule saying an arm "can't play a material part in a goal" but is that what happened? For me, it hits his arm, onto his hip and goes in. The arm doesn't put the ball in the goal, but is that what "material" means? As usual, we're talking about interpretation.

Also, on the VAR theme, did the ref see all the angles? Because it didn't look like he did. Or was he just shown views the people at VAR thought were relevant? Or just the broadcasters replay? The slo-mo that they kept showing definitely didn't disprove it and, if that is all the ref saw, (and it's all I can remember him looking at when we saw his screen) then his decision was correct But the view from behind the goal clearly shows that the ball hits his arm, then onto his hip and in. That view wouldn't disprove it, but it would then come down to interpretation. After the call the ref seemed to indicate that it came off the players hip and went in.

Sadly, City being beaten does mean that Barca are probably odds on to win the CL. Which is a shame for me. That was the only good thought in my head as Sterling wheeled away having 'won' the game with his hattrick.

But an amazing game. I can't wait for Spurs/Ajax. If I could only watch one tie that's the one I'd choose. After they beat Real I felt a bit like the Ajax and Marselles teams of the 90's, but I didn't believe. Now I do. Come on Ajax. Win it all before the big boys come in and pick you apart.

I think the Llorente decision was the correct one, not because I'm a Spurs fan, the arm wasn't away from his body, his elbow was in and touching his hip, it barely touched his arm before hitting his thigh/hip and going in, there was no advantage with the use of the hand as the ball would've ended up in the same place without it. Rio Ferdinand was saying "look at the skin on his arm" which did ripple a little as the ball brushed it but that's just crazy. You could also argue that Laporte had his hands on Llorente thus creating the momentum for Llorente. If City had scored that goal I'd be annoyed but it would still be the correct decision. Offside is definately easier to make a decision with VAR, last week VAR was against us with the handball, this week it went for us. For United v PSG it went for them. there will be contraversial moments, but all in all it is a fairer system. the only thing now is I can't complain about VAR in the semi's (and hopefully the final) if it goes against us as we wouldn't even be there if not for VAR

I don't know who I'd want to face in the final at the moment, it'd hurt less losing to Barca but Barca is the harder match, but Poch will want to beat Barca so badly due to his Espanyol ties. I'm not underestimating Ajax at all though, I knew they'd beat Juve, but Poch has been watching Ajax all season pretty much and he knows Tadic from his Southampton days I think, should be an exciting game (but it can't be as exciting as the City game, surely!)

correction: Tadic was Koeman's first signing after Poch left

I'm with you but this is where the definition of material comes in. For me, it's not, but if someone decides that this a part of what happened to score the goal? Whether it's intentional or not is not included in the wording of the law and, therefore, irrelevant.

But I do agree it's a fairer system and will result in more correct decisions, which is what matters the most.

but say, for instance, if it had been in our box and it hit a defenders arm in the same way, would it be a penalty? because you can't give it just because it's offence. Again it's down to interpretation but I wouldn't give handball for it regardless of which team it goes for/against....

except maybe West Ham

But for a defender it wouldn't be handball because it's not intentional. Intent isn't relevant in this law, so it isn't the same.

BTW, I've since learned that this mention of "material in the goal" comes in to effect from 1st June, so not currently the law.

My main problem with the whole thing is did the ref see all the relevant angles and, if not, why not? For me it's about making VAR as smooth and transparent as possible. If he didn't get all the available angles, why not? Was it because they weren't available or because someone else decided that those angles weren't relevant?

Obviously it isn't all going to work properly straight out of the box, but the procedures need to be sorted so everyone knows where everyone is coming from and why decisions have been made. We also need everyone (and I mean everyone) to realise what VAR can and can't be expected to do

Yeah June 1st, just in time for the final lol