@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
Gareth Bale has retired - where would you place him?
Bale scored twice as many goals for Real Madrid than Zidane but still the fans never warmed to him. He did score some worldies like in the CL final in Kyiv. Once his speed went he was a totally different player (see WC for Wales). I think he is the best British player to play overseas based on the titles won.
@Bovidae said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
I think he is the best British player to play overseas based on the titles won.
Steve McManaman says what?
jokes. It's still Bale. But it's only ever going to be limited to "British players who played at Real"
@mariner4life Yes, entirely dependent on which club you play for. 5 CL titles for Bale.
Keegan was European Footballer of the Year twice while at Hamburg who were pretty shite before he arrived. He also introduced the perm to European football. Bale sported a man bun.
In terms of impact then Laurie Cunningham has to be mentioned although obviously his career was blighted by injuries but I reckon Real fans old enough will remember him more fondly than Bale who whilst treated poorly realy did come across as a cock a lot of the time.
To me Bale was a highlights reel player. Scored some freakish goals but too often didn't seem interested. It's quite easy to see why he had the falling outs that he did.
@dogmeat said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
Keegan was European Footballer of the Year twice while at Hamburg who were pretty shite before he arrived. He also introduced the perm to European football. Bale sported a man bun.
In terms of impact then Laurie Cunningham has to be mentioned although obviously his career was blighted by injuries but I reckon Real fans old enough will remember him more fondly than Bale who whilst treated poorly realy did come across as a cock a lot of the time.
To me Bale was a highlights reel player. Scored some freakish goals but too often didn't seem interested. It's quite easy to see why he had the falling outs that he did.
Good points there, Laurie Cunningham was a trail-blazer.
Competing with Bale for best Welshman and British export would be John Charles.
A legend at Juventus
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
@dogmeat said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
Keegan was European Footballer of the Year twice while at Hamburg who were pretty shite before he arrived. He also introduced the perm to European football. Bale sported a man bun.
In terms of impact then Laurie Cunningham has to be mentioned although obviously his career was blighted by injuries but I reckon Real fans old enough will remember him more fondly than Bale who whilst treated poorly realy did come across as a cock a lot of the time.
To me Bale was a highlights reel player. Scored some freakish goals but too often didn't seem interested. It's quite easy to see why he had the falling outs that he did.
Good points there, Laurie Cunningham was a trail-blazer.
Competing with Bale for best Welshman and British export would be John Charles.
A legend at Juventus
pull your shorts up mate
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
@MajorRage said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
Wow, Southampton just knocked City out of EFL cup.
Great game to watch.
How did they do (I was stuck at work)? From the stats, it looked like City had all the ball and Southampton had all the shots! Forest through on pens v Wolves so Man U, Newcastle, Forest, Soton in the semis.
It was a great game. Southampton never took a backwards step. Even after two nil up they kept attacking. It really messed with the City formations. Comms were saying that City were terrible, but I don't buy that. They made chances, had good control of the ball etc. Southampton simply never once looked intimidated and attacked at every opportunity. City weren't used to it. Perhaps a blueprint.
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
Gareth Bale has retired - where would you place him?
Greatest ever Welsh player? I cannot think of anyone above him.
Greatest ever British player overseas? Probably.For a time at Spurs, he was like a force of nature - fast, powerful and with a wizard of a left foot. I'm not sure Madrid ever really got the most out of him and his career became more about moments than matches.
Never been able to separate Bale the player, from Bale the person unfortunately so can't offer anything positive.
Potter can't buy a trick at the moment Joao Felix their best player by a long way on debut, right up until he gets sent off for a reckless challenge on Tete.
The good guys go on to win 2-1 and move to 31 points.
Clamor to sack Potter from Chelski fans used to instant success grow. Potter isn't the problem. Recruiting the wrong players and a team with the experienced players all seemingly on the downward spiral is the problem.
@dogmeat Potter is in that spiral where the only way to silence it is win, a lot, and quickly
The Board come out in support, and the media go in to "the dreaded full support of the Board" and everyone assumes he's sacked
The Board come out and say nothing? The silence is deafening, the media continue to attack, and the pressure becomes immense
So he has to win. And he can't, because of a lot of the shit you have said. Once a manager reaches this point they very rarely survive.
@dogmeat said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
Potter can't buy a trick at the moment Joao Felix their best player by a long way on debut, right up until he gets sent off for a reckless challenge on Tete.
The good guys go on to win 2-1 and move to 31 points.
Clamor to sack Potter from Chelski fans used to instant success grow. Potter isn't the problem. Recruiting the wrong players and a team with the experienced players all seemingly on the downward spiral is the problem.
I can understand him taking the job, but he should have never taken the job
Wow, how toxic was CR7?
United beat City to continue their streak. City lose 2 on the bounce.
Not long ago this was a 3 to 4 nil banker for City. Now, United only a point behind City … after being the laughing stock (with Chelsea) before WC.
Lots of debate and some angry ex-professionals about the Man Utd equaliser yesterday. Rashford was in an offside position and following the ball but he didn't touch the ball or prevent anyone else from doing so.
Under current absurd wording of the offside law, probably the officials made the correct decision.
This rather good IMHO.
In my view, the second that Rashford runs along with the ball just ahead of him, he is interfering with play. If he stops dead, then a City defender comes across to whack it into the stand before Bruno reaches it. I didn't like that Salah goal the other day where the defender heads the ball to stop it reaching the offside Salah's head and it lands perfectly for his feet to score. The law says that the defender's action means Salah's previous offside doesn't matter but often the defender is taking that action due to the offside player.
Top 4 now somewhat clear of the rest as the Arse dispose of a lacklustre Spurs and Newcastle get a late winner against Fulham after Mitrovic manages a double kick penalty (poor @dogmeat ).
@KiwiPie not really that disappointed.
Obviously would have liked a point and probably on balance deserved one for the defensive effort, but to be able to compete away against the sides at the top of the table shows how far we have come.
We have now lost by one goal to Arsenal, Spurs, both Manchester clubs and Newcastle and arguably should have got something from the last three on that list.
Only club below us we have lost to (as I keep saying) is a very lucky West Ham. Shows we deserve to be around where we are.
I think Brighton are better than us and Liverpool should be, but we are in a group with Liverpool and Brentford - who halfway through the season - are sorting out 8-10 in the table and we are 16 points above the drop. There are a couple of other teams who should get their shit together in the second half, but I think we are potentially going to finish about 12-14. At teh start of the season I would have been more than happy finishing 17th on goal difference 
After pissing the Championship last season it's a great time to be a Fulham supporter. Really is a season of redemptionb for the Manager and so many of the players who had been written off as not up to the Prem, both at Fulham and elsewhere - Leno, Pereira, Willian.
Now if we can just keep hold of Mitro, Pailhinha and Silva we can build on this and become a consistent Premiership side.
