#the football league XI

[britishsportinglegends]

Stanley Matthews.

[whitehartlane]

something i’ve seen frequently in football circles especially with the rise of social media (where ppl engage with the sport in absolutely bizarre ways but that’s another topic for another day) is this longstanding obsession with ‘(winning) mentality.’ how is it quantified? how do you prove its existence? how consistent must it be for a club to acquire this ‘mentality?’ it’s just bonkers to me because you’d assume that every club and every fanbase would want to win, just some a) have better resources to do so or b) some overperform/underperform as is the case with any sport which leads to drawing some kind of conclusions about this ‘mentality’ or c) some fanbases just have a better time rationalising a potential loss within the external factors which of course also leads to drawing conclusions about this ‘mentality.’ i guess my problem with it is just that it’s become such a buzzword where teams get either praised or insulted for their mentality when it’s so subjective and influenced by other factors too (doing well, doing badly, general trajectory of the club, personal satisfaction with individual achievements, media opinion, etc).

[thefootballobserver]

My two predicted lineups for Atalanta vs Liverpool

A large part of this comes down to how serious Klopp takes this game: if he thinks there's a way to comeback, then I believe he'll go with the first XI; if he prefers to rest his places for the Run-in, then I believe he'll go with something similar to the second XI. I believe he'll likely go for a mix of the lineups - it's always difficult to predict who'll start and who won't when a coach wants to rest their players.

Ultimately, this comes down to whether Klopp believes there's a higher chance of winning the Europa or winning the Premier League right now.

First XI

Based off the loss against Palace, several players who started would be dropped out from some pretty dire performances.

Endo, Jones, Bradley (injured) and Nuñez makes way for Szoboszlai (even if his own form isn't great), Elliot, TAA, and Jota (the latter two are returning back to fitness). Mac Allister will take up the Number 6 role.

Kelleher has been Liverpool's Europa keeper this term, but Alisson may start as he builds up fitness.

Prediction: Atalanta 1-2 Liverpool

Second XI

A heavily rotated side with many current bench options playing if Klopp wants to rest his players ahead of several away games.

Kelleher would start ahead of Alisson, despite making a poor mistake for the first goal in the first leg. The Irish has been Liverpool's European goalkeeper anyway.

Robertson, Van Dijk, Mac Allister, Jones, Diaz, Salah, and Nuñez all drop from the Palace game and Tsimikas, Quansah, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Jota, Elliot, and Gakpo all start.

It's possible for Klopp to rotate this side further by dropping Konaté for Gomez, although I doubt that will happen.

TAA retains his place to build fitness, although Gomez is also an option.

Prediction: Atalanta 2-2 Liverpool

[astromeena]

English Premier League Football - Sheffield United versus Liverpool on 7 December 2023 at 1 AM IST - Tarot Reading Results and My Dream XI

[dooragnation]

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[didalexiabreakupwitholgayet]

I need to let off some steam so sorry…

I am so annoyed. Not at the players. NEVER at the players. But how the fuck can we have a good ass team with such an imbecile of a manger/coach. Like how did she manage to fuck this up. Like why didn’t Alexia start? Why did it take this long to get Jenni and Alexia on a pitch at the same time? Why didn’t Patri start? Like time for rotation is over you play your best players these games matter.

now I didn’t see the first half (seems I was lucky not to watch that) but why did Paredes come off? Was it that bad of an own goal? (genuine question) bc she has been the savior of games before and that just seems dumb to me.

montse being montse. andrea peláez interviewed her after the match and she literally just said she put the best XI out there to get them the win. 😵‍💫

irene paredes said it best here:

"i already know that you like to look for culprits. i'm not going to let you put me there. here we lose and win together. there have been mistakes of all kinds. and well-done things too. today it's time to lose, you have to know how to lose. it is frustrating to play against a few sports rules, but what is in our hand is to play football and do things right, and that's where we have to put the focus."

"we have that match for bronze. now it's fucked up, but in a few hours we have to turn it around because we have to go for the bronze."

montse, like many people at rfef, strikes me as a vindictive person when she wants to be. i wouldn't be surprised if something happened behind the scenes.

remember when she and aitana got into it during the nations league and esther had to sub on?! yeah, i would not put that past her!

[itsalinh]

It’s 5:30am here and who needs sleep when we can stay up and talk about s03e06 Jamie and Roy?

Friendly reminder, Jamie used to have Roy’s poster on his wall when he was a kid. To every young kid out there, the one on their wall was their hero, a role model that they strive for every single day. Jamie grew up thinking that someday, he’d be like Roy Kent. You know, the Roy Kent who played for Chelsea, which arguably the most successful club in London, the Roy Kent who won a fucking European Champions League. This precious and reputable UCL trophy is the dream of every footballer. Some would measure a footballer’s success by how many prizes they got, and believe me, this trophy is a rock solid proof.

Jamie is a great player with so much talent, he signed for Manchester City (a real deal in EPL), and he also made it to the team line up every damn time. MC is always known for their squad-depth in every position, and it’s not easy to always be on the starting XI list. I’d like to think that Jamie looked up to Roy a lot, he keeps training and training, with a hope til some day he could win trophy just like his role model.

Jamie finally got a chance to play alongside Roy. He must have been crazy about it. But their early days was not so easy. Jamie came to realise Roy had changed, he was no longer the one Jamie idolised so much as before anymore. He felt angry and disappointed. Jamie became the one in charge of the locker room, directly against the team captain. Things weren’t going well.

Luckily enough, the new manager came and steadily alternated the locker room tensed atmosphere. Both Jamie and Roy acknowledged their own problems, as well as the other one’s. They finally understood each other better. That hug, oi, it was like a big smash to the final concrete wall between them. It was not the action coming out of a spur of the moment. Roy felt the urge to comfort his team member, his younger lad, his friend. He knew a hurt Jamie needed that.

This season saw a further change in their relationship. They trust each other more and more. And this time, they even open to each other about their utmost vulnerable thoughts and memories. Roy and Jamie are not the type of people who would share their feelings to somebody else. Roy hid them under his rage, while Jamie just suppressed them because of his “dad”. For the first time, Roy admitted that he let out all of his anger on Jamie, sometimes for no reasons. And goshhhhhhhh, Jamie did not even question that, he shrugged it off immediately and literally said “For Grandad”. Such a beautiful char arcs from both of them. In return, Jamie also share some of his traumatised and heartfelt memories with his “dad” and mom. I don’t think he ever told that to anybody, even with Keeley or Ted. So this is a positive sign for their mental health, and I love to see men talking about their feelings like true heroes.

These football himbos are taking up spaces in my mind. And honestly speaking, I’ve been really sad and disappointed and depressed while watching an actual football club recently, and another lighthearted fictional football club is making my days a lot better. So guys, say thank you to Ted Lasso!

[bongaboi]

Columbus Crew: 2023 MLS Cup Champions

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Columbus Crew have turned their bold, possession-centric style into the league's ultimate prize, capturing MLS Cup 2023 presented by Audi with a 2-1 win over LAFC.

Head coach Wilfried Nancy's team produced a masterclass performance Saturday at rain-soaked Lower.com Field, resulting in the Eastern Conference club's third-ever MLS Cup after their 2008 and 2020 squads also entered the history books as champions.

First-half goals from Cucho Hernández (33') and Yaw Yeboah (37') gave Columbus a cushion to absorb a Dénis Bouanga (74') lifeline, denying LAFC's MLS Cup repeat quest. In the process, head coach Wilfried Nancy's group has climbed the 29-team mountaintop that began with MLS is Back weekend on Feb. 25.

Before raising the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy, Columbus pulled ahead through Cucho's authoritative penalty kick – helping him earn MLS Cup MVP presented by Audi honors and finish with an Audi MLS Cup Playoffs co-leading five goals. That opportunity arose when referee Armando Villarreal pointed to the spot, judging LAFC defender Diego Palacios to have handled a flicked-up touch from Diego Rossi.

The Crew, the league's highest-scoring team in 2023, quickly doubled their advantage when Yeboah capped an 11-pass buildup. The Crew's left wingback was on the receiving end of Malte Amundsen's line-splitting through ball, then sliced home an outside-the-foot finish past goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau.

But, as was so often the case in 2023, Bouanga would not be silenced. The Best XI forward slipped a second-effort shot past goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, drawing him level with teammate Carlos Vela for the most calendar-year goals (38) in MLS across all competitions (Vela's MVP-winning 2019).

The Black & Gold's late push fizzled out, though. And the hosts, after seven minutes of second-half stoppage time, were left dancing as champions.

Goals 33' - CLB - Cucho Hernández 37' - CLB - Yaw Yeboah 74' - LAFC - Dénis Bouanga

Three Things THE BIG PICTURE: Four years ago, only 1,500 fans watched Columbus beat Seattle Sounders FC for the MLS Cup 2020 trophy – a necessity at Historic Crew Stadium amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, 20,802 fans flooded to the club's new state-of-the-art venue for an unforgettable night. Factor in how last year Columbus compensated CF Montréal to extract Nancy as head coach and the club's rise is even more memorable. LAFC? They lost their third final of the year and got a cold reminder of how hard it is to repeat, something not accomplished since the 2011-12 LA Galaxy.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Yeboah's goal was champagne football in motion. What a ball from Amundsen.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Cucho! The MLS Cup MVP crowned a spectacular year and is forever a Crew legend.

Next Up CLB: End of 2023 season LAFC: End of 2023 season

[burninglights]

I need Botswana to stop being so deeply unserious just once. the anglos have found out about the names of our football teams are we REALLY going to face our former colonisers in the sport they pioneered with team names like this???

ID: a cropped screenshot of the Premier League Botswana match tables, with the flag of Botswana in the top right hand corner. On the left hand side is the club logo for the team Police XI, with the team name in small font underneath, and on the right hand side is the club logo for Prisons XI, with the team name in small font underneath. In between the clubs is the match score, a nil-nil draw. A grey error bar reading “result only” lies under the match fixing. /End ID.

[tartt9]

who is jamie fucking tartt, anyways? // a guide to the public's knowledge on richmond's #9, divided into three sections: non-football watcher, casual watcher, football fan

for the non-football watcher //

• you'd probably know of jamie as a footballer the way people would know of haaland or kane or saka. he's not beckham-level famous [ yet ] but he is a big deal in english football and very talented • if you're a reality tv watcher, your primary exposure to jamie would be his stint on the uk's number one show, lust conquers all. on lust, jamie very much played up a prick attitude, very much the smug sort of guy who knows he's sexy and will talk about it. he cheated on amy [ who he'd proposed to in a bathroom ] with denise by having jacuzzi sex, leading to his elimination from the show. • if you're from manchester, there's drama around him - he left man city two weeks into the 2020-21 season to do lust conquers all. united fans already disliked him, but jamie's abandonment of city led to pretty widespread dislike of him in his hometown. • if nothing else, if you find yourself around richmond with no knowledge of the team/jamie, he's loud, bubbly, bright - a very different person than he was on lust conquers all. you might see him kicking a ball around with kids on the richmond green, or chasing around a dog to wear it down for their owner, or training with roy kent [ who is a beckham-level big deal. you would know of roy kent ] and talking his ear off while he does names you'd know - roy kent [ current richmond manager, very fucking famous ], zava [ formerly of many teams, a striker, very fucking famous. played in america his last season (2022-23), with lafc ].

casual football watcher //

everything up ^^ there, plus... • jamie tartt is richmond's #9. he played striker while on loan with richmond in 2019-20 and is now a midfielder. he's from manchester and grew up in the manchester city academy system, making his premier league debut young. he plays for england and has begun to make himself a regular in the three lions' xi. • he played under pep guardiola for multiple years, and was a part of the premier league winning teams in 2017-18 and 2018-19. • he left manchester city to do lust conquers all, and was not welcome back to city. he rejoined the world of football with richmond while they were in the championship. they earned their promotion that season and returned to the premier league. • they were not expected to do well in the premier league, but after a shift of strategy after zava's departure from the club in 2021, richmond ended the season on a long win streak to finish second in the premier league, qualifying for richmond's first-ever run in the champions league. • jamie has won premier league player of the month twice and goal of the month three times. • jamie's got something going on with roy kent. he never fails to lavish praise on his manager when he's given the opportunity, despite kent's stubborn demeanor. • if you're an american, you may know ted lasso, richmond's former manager. he went viral for dancing in the locker room after leading his division ii wichita state shockers to the d2 championship game and winning the division ‎‎‎• ‎‎subnote to that^^ even more intense d1 college football watchers would probably only know him as the meme. d2 college football is not widely consumed in america - i'm an avid cfb watcher, and i couldn't tell you without googling who won d2 last year. names you'd know - sam obisanya [ richmond midfielder & nigeria international ] // isaac mcadoo [ richmond captain & centre back ] // dani rojas [ richmond striker & mexico international ]

football fan //

everything up there ^^ plus... • jamie has a lifelong hatred of manchester united. he will play harder in those matches, and he scored a hat trick against them at richmond in early 2023. • jamie grew up on a council estate, and was recruited for man city's academy when he was 8, starting with them when he was 9. • jamie wore 51 at city for all of the years he played there. • jamie's city senior debut was in 2015, when he was 17 years old, and he played with them from 2015 through 2020, when he left to do lust conquers all. • jamie was loaned to afc richmond for the 2019-20 season, where he made a name for himself. his chant is sung to the tune of baby shark. he scored 11 goals for richmond, keeping them solidly mid-table, until ted lasso's arrival. • his loan was cut short in february 2020, and he returned to city to play the rest of the season with his home club. • richmond was relegated to the championship after the 2019-20 season when jamie made an assist in stoppage time with man city to end the match 2-1, city. • jamie's return to richmond was not without controversy - he was hotheaded and kept the ball more often than he passed it while he was on loan. his relationship with his teammates was tumultuous at best, downright bad at worst. on the first match day of his return, afc richmond mounted a protest against their main sponsor, dubaiair. richmond lost that match, leading to the end of an 8-week tie streak. • jamie has publicly been very supportive of his teammates since then, especially in more recent years. he frequently ends games with an assist or more to his name, and is widely regarded as the central cog of richmond's team. • jamie wears 24 when he isn't starting for england, a tribute to sam obisanya. • jamie grew up a roy kent fan, and many of his plays mimic roy's from roy's prime. • jamie's england debut was in 2022, at age 24. • jamie is transitioning into playing more midfield for england, though their gaffer has commented in the past that jamie 'doesn't have the skillset to play centrally for england'. when in the xi, jamie typically wears the 7 or 8, though he has worn the 11 a handful of times, too - showing his dynamic ability to play just about any spot on the pitch. • as of october 2023, jamie has three assists and one goal for england, and is on the hunt for more. • jamie is a player with a mind for the game unlike most others', regularly seeing the game two to three passes ahead of where it is. he can play box-to-box incredibly efficiently, and has saved more than one goal from going in. he's a hard worker and always seems to be enjoying himself on the pitch during hard-fought games, though he has been publicly dismayed at hard losses before, such as a 5-0 loss to city in the fa cup semifinal in 2021. • he has a summer football camp in manchester named after him that he sponsors, providing free boots, shin guards, and other equipment to the kids who grew up like he did, without many resources but with a love of the game, and helps them get in front of academy recruiters. jamie is frequently seen training with these kids during his summer break. • as of present day, it's public record that jamie donates money to domestic violence, sexual abuse, and women's charities, as well as the nhs names you'd know - ted lasso [ former richmond gaffer ] // nathan shelley [ former west ham gaffer, current richmond assistant ] // the rest of richmond's regular starting xi, listed on my carrd // paddy o'gara [ former manchester city centre back, a mentor of jamie's ]

[thefootballobserver]

My predicted lineup for tonight's Barcelona vs PSG UCL match.

Changes from last starting XI:

In: Cancelo, Araujo, Koundé; Pedri, Gündogan, de Jong; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Yamal

Out: Alonso, Christensen, Fort; Roberto, Romeu, Lopez; Félix, Roque, Torres

Unchanged: ter Stegen; Cubarsí

Brief Explanation:

Christensen and Roberto are suspended for this match due to yellow card accumulation.

Xavi played a much rotated starting XI for the league game, with rare starts given Alonso, Fort, Romeu, Lopez, and Roque, all of whom are not expected to start today.

Koundé, Pedri, Yamal, and Raphinha all featured as substitutes and are expected to start.

Key players Araujo, de Jong, and Gündogan were not subbed and are almost certain to start.

Lewandowski and Cancelo were suspended for the weekend game and should also start.

There's a case to be made with the wingers, as it's possible Félix could start after a stunning winning goal, but given Raphinha was rested, the Brazilian should be starting.

Match Prediction: Barcelona 2-2 PSG

[astromeena]

Liverpool versus Lask Europe League Football match on 1 December 2023 at 1.30 AM IST - Tarot Reading Dream XI Team

[magicfootballstuff]

there was a lot of things that were awful today, the mindset first of all, Arsenal is one of the most inconsistent clubs ever, if you are a top class club you can’t afford this kind of performance, especially if you want to fucking improve and have some concrete goals like winning the league, if we stick with this mindset, we are lost.

there are also some other evident problems, like poor players, and I will always stick to my opinion that Jonas is not a good manager, such poor playing choices, we can’t go on like this, it’s really embarrassing.

+the evident refereeing problems, it’s ridiculous that at this level we can’t have some fucking decent referees

overall, it’s an huge amount of shit.

ultimately if the reffing had been at least partially competent we would’ve won the game but that doesn’t change the fact that every game we play is such a mediocre performance from 90% of the players on the pitch, it always seems to be 1-2 players having a moment of magic that wins us games not the overall team performance and that’s why our GD is so shit

i’ve been giving jonas the benefit of the doubt because the pool of available managers who are up to standard is so small if he goes i don’t know who they get in who would be any better but you’ve gotta start questioning him. he’s clearly an incredible people manager, that’s why the team vibes are good and all the players love the club and he’s shown he’s got good football intelligence when he does punditry too but the style of play and lack of an arsenal identity on the pitch is 100% down to him. he needs to be doing more in training during the week to give them a winning mentality and needs to be better in choosing the team and subs so they’re all fighting to show how good they can be. there’s just too much complacency from the starting xi and not enough hunger from the subs who come on to prove themselves. for me that’s the difference between jonas and emma hayes and ultimately the only reason chelsea win everything, not because there’s a massive difference in quality of the players in both sides

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Newport County 2-4 Manchester United

We don't make it easy do we...

On the positive side, United scored four - including Kobbie Mainoo's first senior goal for the club. Antony also got both his first assist and goal of the season respectively, despite typically being as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

United started brightly away at the League Two side, making them look every inch the relegation candidates their league position depicts them as. Two goals inside 14 minutes from Bruno Fernandes and Mainoo seemed to be the beginning of a nasty rout... but then United whiffed several chances (Garnacho and Antony specials) before conceding a wicked deflection wondergoal from Bryn Morris.

Newport adapted to United's wing back overload approach midway through the first half, so the expectation was that United would adapt at half time to Ten Hag's new plans and we'd carry on the beating. Instead, former Bala Town and dairy farmer Will Evans scored to draw the game level at 2-2 - and had the Newport ground roaring with excitement.

United regained control and looked the likely winners, but it's worrying how little a gap in quality there was between the two sides after that first 13 minute blitzkrieg period. Is it a mental issue where players can't handle more than one tactical approach and forget to adapt? Or is it poor strategy from Erik Ten Hag in disrespecting a League Two manager and that his team could adapt? Surely even if he was disrespectful he could fix up at half time?

Antony managed to bag a goal off a rebound in the 68th minute and collapsed to pray as his celebration - which got more stick on Twitter from pissed off United fans than County fans.

Hojlund got a deserved goal and the fourth to wrap up the result, but his celebration was a release of the frustrations of working with two greedy wing forwards in Alejandro Garnacho and Antony dos Santos. Having one player as an 'inside forward' (Football Manager term) is fine. Having two is predictable, and ours are greedy and wasteful.

So yes, United won and go through to the next round against either Bristol City or Nottingham Forest, but I don't feel confident against either side, and post-match Bruno Fernandes conceded it was a win but not anywhere near the fashion it was supposed to be from a near perfect starting XI against a much, much inferior team on a respectable quality pitch for League Two in fair weather. It was poor, and another example of United being unreliable this season.

[footiehoemcfc]

People who do not understand why Cole is doing so good at Chelsea, clearly don't understand football i am convinced. Because and no disrespect but most of Chelsea's players currently are children compared to prem standards. Many of them have very little prem experience, little to no experience playing in a competitive league. And on top of that, they are being coached my Poch and no offense but getting coached by poch and getting coached by arguably the greatest football manager ever isn't the same. The biggest reason why Cole couldn't get into City's starting xi is because there were too many world class players. Cole is amazing but their was someone amazing with more experience to chose from. He's been coached by pep, played with so many world class players at city and has experience playing in cl and prem–no wonder he's doing great at Chelsea. And I mean if you're surrounded by not world class players (yet), you are going to look great with little effort if you already have good experience and skills compared to when you had to fight for your position against the likes of haaland, mahrez, alvarez, gundo—

Bottom line, Chelsea fans want a de Bruyne and Salah situation soooo bad cause now they look idiots for letting go of them.

Didn’t say he was doing bad at chelsea, i just said it’s annoying and dumb how people try an compare him to foden. People really believe this myth that phil has been on the bench ever since he started on the main team at city. And people use that to belittle him and his success. 100% its way harder to shine at city bc of what ypu said, but wouldnt that say much more about phil though? World class players and he has managed to be in the starting 11. I have also said and no offense (lol) that is kinda embarrassing that our “bench” academy player is chelsea’s best player. But again what you said, ofc he would be he was coached by pep, he played with arguably one of the best teams the prem has seen. Its not that i dont see why he is playing well at chelsea, my whole thing was why are people thinking he is doing better than phil and he chose the right path over phil? Yk?

[cryingforcrocodiles]

4, 35, 40 !

4 – Which league is your favorite?

premier league, always. nothing beats it 🙌🏿

35 – for how long have you been a football fan?

since 2018! i was mainly an american football watcher growing up (my uncle's influence, funny enough.) but with the 2018 world cup, it made me fall in love with the sport. it's also how my love for the les bles came about.

40 - Put together your dream XI

oddly, i don't rlly have... one? can i say the morocco team ☠️ i truly can't even fix one up in my head and to me, they're perfect. in every way. 🙏🏿