I hate it when this place goes dormant on weekends. Surely EPL can set up a summer-long holiday schedule to keep us entertained. Instead I have to engage with my family. Blech.
Global Football Odds & Ends
- Thread starter Titans Bastard
- Start date
LOL. It’s about this time each year that I get the Football Manager itch. I can’t afford a divorce right now, so I’m holding off.
Malta vs. San Marino tomorrow at 9:00 on fs2 for the true soccer sickos out there
Oh yeah, that’s way better. I was looking at the Nations League only schedule.
I realized I had a problem when I watched Gibraltar-Andorra awhile back.
Boss Gibraltar kit though
Situation to keep an eye on - the Canada MNT is in a dispute with the CSA (Fed) over compensation, and it’s starting to affect matches. Unclear if they’ll play a scheduled friendly in Vancouver today.
new names to dislike next season Premier League appoints four new officials ahead of 2022-23 season - The Athletic
Mike Dean left some awfully big shoes to fill.
Jon Moss left some other stretched and oversized clothing.
Jon Moss left some other stretched and oversized clothing.
NBC Sports has a nice collection of Classic EPL matches on their YouTube page. They have some complete matches and also 30 minute versions. They give a little background at the beginning to tell you the main storylines heading into them. As someone who only seriously started watching the EPL in the last five years, it's got a lot of stuff I'm unfamiliar with.
In all seriousness I’m cheered that these relics are retiring and some younger and presumably less jaded officials will get a chance. I know nothing about footy refs but I know a fair amount about what baseball umps have to endure to climb the ladder. I’ll choose to be optimistic.
You can find them here. I'd kill for something like this with UCL matches. I watched a ton of them during the early stages of the pandemic when there were no sports; I learned a lot about the great teams of the past; the various versions of Fergie's Man U squads, Shearer at Newcastle, Mourinho's Chelsea, Wenger and Henry at Arsenal, etc.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-TYYMH76UE&list=PLXEMPXZ3PY1jcg8BDi5c4D9kUEnftj4gs
The old Fox Sports World (this is early 00s) used to have a weekly EPL roundup where they showed 5-8 minute condensed matches from every game that week with a little setup and banter around each one. That show supercharged my fanship. I don’t think there’s a (North) American equivalent to to that any more.
It was called the Premier League Review. It was basically match of the day without the commentary.
Anybody remember this show from the 1990s with the sweet theme music? Somebody (SportsChannel?) had the rights to rebroadcast in the US and at least in the Boston market it was always on at really weird times (maybe late on Sunday nights?) and then they would occasionally replay it at other weird times during the week. Other than magazines watching this show was my first introduction to English football.
Edit: This is the only one I can find on youtube. Both featured matches (Newcastle-Liverpool and Arsenal-ManUnited) are worth watching though. Great flair players and unpredictable games back then.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RGbYl0QRHQ
Edit: This is the only one I can find on youtube. Both featured matches (Newcastle-Liverpool and Arsenal-ManUnited) are worth watching though. Great flair players and unpredictable games back then.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RGbYl0QRHQ
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Every match from the last five seasons or so is uploaded shortly after completion to the NBC Sports YouTube page in a 10-15 minute condensed format.
sorting NBC Sports' YouTube page in reverse chrono order also works. Their channel also has kept some good playlists
Awesome! thank you. For whatever reason I never run into the YT content via Twitter which (for whatever reason) is where I see most soccer highlights these days. Subscribing now.
They also upload "Every Goal Scored in Gameweek X" after the game week ends; which is a nice way to catch up on the action that you maybe didn't see that week. They do a great job with that stuff and one of the reasons I'm happy NBCU has the EPL rights going forward.
View: https://youtu.be/IEZFA70nvXc?t=1014
Rog Bennet and John Oliver discusses Mike Dean (hilariously)
The Mrs and I went to a MiB live show a few years ago. They were drinking Bud and Jaeger onstage (both sponsors) and they were both just hammered, Rog especially so. Lots of fun.
Also highly recommend his book.
My understanding would be that a player could kick the ball (instead of throwing it) but only within five seconds of the ball going out of bounds. That incentivize the players to hustle over and boot it quickly as opposed to holding onto the ball for 30 seconds to pass it in.
I am not interested in seeing a throw in become more dangerous than a corner kick. Imagine the counter opportunities.
I don’t quite see the point then. It will take a lot more than 5 seconds to get a dangerous, practiced set piece organized. The teams that play fast on out of bounds are looking to play short and retain possession (eg, Liverpool). There’a no real difference between a quick short throw and a tapped side foot inbounds pass.
Edit: if you want more teams to play fast, positive football with possession…create a salary cap to make talent levels more even.
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Its definitely not enough time to organize a set piece but maybe just enough time to catch the other side napping with a big switch or a through ball if the defenders switched off for a second instinctively after the ball went out of play.
I don't have a strong position on the kick-in idea but I do think something should be done to speed up play when the balls goes out of bounds. This past season on average the ball was in play only 55 minutes in PL games. At the low end there are teams whose matches average 52 minutes because they are such time wasters.
They should start a 15-20 second clock or something when the ball goes out of bounds and if the team doesn't put it into play within those 15-20 seconds, then possession turns over. If they do it like three times in a game, possession turns over and whoever had the ball last gets a yellow card.
The stupid theater on every throw in of a player gathering the ball, pretending like he's going to throw it in, then eventually handing it to the fullback on that side to do the throw in instead is especially useless and annoying.
I think kick ins would improve the sport tremendously. That downside you just described sounds awesome. A big switch after the ball goes into touch? Sign me up.
It’s too radical though and imo will never happen. Probably a focus on cards for time wasting would accomplish the speed up with less controversy
It’s too radical though and imo will never happen. Probably a focus on cards for time wasting would accomplish the speed up with less controversy
Why not limit throw ins to 5 seconds? I guess a combo of the kick being more exciting as well...
if you think they're hammered during those shows, try hanging out with them at their post-live show gatherings. They usually pick a soccer centric bar at the cities they visit. Had a blast with them in DC and KC.
Small quibble, but the bolded isn't true IMO. Making a short throw-pass under pressure is actually difficult, whereas making a short kick-pass under pressure is much easier. IOW, teams can and absolutely plan around the current throw rules and in the most extreme cases some sides will practice playing the ball out for a throw as far in the attacking third as possible to generate turnovers in dangerous areas.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar_kmgqjNX8
Vasco da Gama with 63600+ fans in Maracanã yesterday. For a week 12, Série B match. Looks like the team has finally put it's shit together and should be back to Série A next year.
Vasco da Gama with 63600+ fans in Maracanã yesterday. For a week 12, Série B match. Looks like the team has finally put it's shit together and should be back to Série A next year.
That video made me go down a rabbit hole where I learned Ronaldo bought Cruzeiro (WTF?).
Would kick-ins not be subject to offsides like throw-ins? That would be … interesting.
It dawned on me today that we are only 6 weeks away from the Community Shield