He just signed a two year extension.
I find it highly unlikely. I would only see it happening if they bombed in the league (no CL or Europa League) and they got booted in this years CL. Then…maybe.
There is actually a larger problem for Guardiola which are the 100+ charges that City is defending itself against. That could take some points off them as well.
There was news his new contract doesn’t have a relegation clause. He probably thinks the charges are not serious
Adversity allows some transparency. Not sure why Pep has to stand in front on the City fans and hold up 6 fingers to represent titles like the fans don’t know.
Did enjoy the “you’re getting sacked in the morning chant”. Pep commented on it after the game. Funny how losing gave him rabbit ears.
New Laws season!
Yeah, running onto the pitch to interfere with play should be a red card. Stopping a ball that is on the pitch from traveling too far from the pitch while standing off the pitch? Eh. A bit much, but Coaches shouldn’t be that close to the pitch anyway. Technical Area is a yard off the pitch. There are, like, 10 soccer balls around the EPL pitch. Seconds are not going to be the deciding factor of a match. Referee can add seconds (should always add more, IMO).
Meanwhile,
The only other law set to change covers the dropped ball. Currently, if a team has possession and a pass his the referee, they get the dropped ball regardless.
The proposal is that if the pass is wayward and obviously going to the other team, then the dropped ball should go to opposition.
Referees should not have to figure out if a ball was going to go to the opposition had they not been in the way. Maybe the ref was in the way and because of that the passer couldn’t see the opposing player. Just keep it as it is, allow Referees to use the “advantage” signal when the ball reaches a same-team player and did not result in an severe advantage (i.e., a disadvantage to the opposition) to the passing team.
Dropped ball, as it is, restarts the match as close to to it was when it was stopped. (Exception for Penalty Area restarts, which are just bad luck.)
Reminds me of the ball boy who helped Tottenham take a quick throw in during Mourinho’s days.
Hmm, I don’t think the ball boys are officially officials of the home team, but I’d have to check.
EPL now has a rule against ball boys giving the wayward ball to players. They place a wayward ball on the open tee. Players can shag their own or take one off the tee.
Couldn’t find a better thread so, here:
but said players are “entitled to hold their own individual opinions”
Apparently not, unless they are all against human rights for all humans.
Funny that there wasn’t one MUN player who said, “Well, I AM wearing the jacket, and I don’t care if anyone else doesn’t.”
These athletes should watch “42,” decide whether they want to be on the right side of history, like PeeWee Reese, or the jackass(es) who got traded to Pittsburgh.
Wow. NEW-LIV was pretty damn exciting!
Fulham may finish ahead of Spurs this season…my SIL is in second heaven.
Jeez, are they all leaving?
They better get the EPL trophy this year. Really, the most important trophy for clubs in all of the sport.
EPL VAR reviews this week:
VAR review: Cast your mind back to August 2022 when Chelsea were playing Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs won a corner in stoppage time and, as a ball was played into the box, Cristian Romero yanked on Cucurella’s hair and pulled him to the ground. Referee Anthony Taylor didn’t see it and the VAR, Mike Dean, failed to send him to the screen for a red card.
This was controversial enough in itself, but a year later Dean said he hadn’t done so “because he [Taylor] is a mate.” Dean admits he wasn’t great at being a VAR, and lasted only six months in the role before he was taken off appointments in February 2023, but his comments did damage to the reputation of referees.
Eh, “he’s a mate,” so instead of “protecting him,” make him go to the monitor to see the foul. You think he’s that insecure. Or, are you too insecure if it were to happen to you? Honestly, the only reason for VAR is to have extra eyes on the play, because the Referee only has two eyes.
This is one of those seasons where the expected doesn’t play out. It’s good for football generally but not good for supporters of a team.
Fulham earned a draw against Arsenal yesterday. Tottenham lost to Chelsea in a high scoring thriller. Your SIL must be ecstatic. If only they can keep this good run going.
Man City drew with Crystal Palace. City made mistakes when it conceded and they are showing signs of being under pressure. This is probably as bad as the time Pep was in his last season at Barcelona.
Man United is firing the sporting director after Amorin had a second loss this last week. United supporters are already sounding like they did under Ten Hag. The edge of frustration is back.
My SIL’s brother is a passionate Arsenal fan….
My Spurs are driving me crazy. A top four finish seems to be unattainable this year. Will be interesting to see if their manager survives the season.
The fact that Spurs are 11th in table, have more losses than wins but a +12 GD is crazy. Only top 3 teams are over +10 and all have at least 6 more wins than losses. 5 teams ahead of Spurs are +3 or less. AV in 5th is 0. Even City in 4th is only +6 with 4 more wins than losses.
Hadn’t heard about Antonio’s car crash until this:
One of my favorite players to watch. Physical but usually not illegally so.
But, hey, don’t drive a Ferrari. Seriously not easy cars. Need to be trained for them.
Ferrari doesn’t like bad publicity. They probably going to blacklist him.
Good to know the crash tests are valid.
