Football season 2020/2021

[Northern Goblin]

Qatar coming to EU to play friendlies? My expectations were low but how the fuck can they justify this during a pandemic?!

We've had internationals during the pandemic. I think they play in lieu of competitive games due to auto qualification.

So long as the squad and staff are isolated, it's no risk.

[jonnysensible]

never seen this thread so alive since slenderman died

[Northern Goblin]

never seen this thread so alive since slenderman died

And for Thursday night football of all things.

Good to see you all, hope you're all staying safe and well.

[Henx]

We've had internationals during the pandemic. I think they play in lieu of competitive games due to auto qualification.

So long as the squad and staff are isolated, it's no risk.

Well, I don't see the point of playing friendlies at this time. The risk is most likely insignificant, but considering that a lot of services and etc have been cancelled due to the pandemic, there can't be any argument for why these games should be played when they do not contribute to anything and still impose a risk. Leagues, CL, qualification games are competitive games and therefore more justified to be played.

[Northern Goblin]

Well, I don't see the point of playing friendlies at this time. The risk is most likely insignificant, but considering that a lot of services and etc have been cancelled due to the pandemic, there can't be any argument for why these games should be played when they do not contribute to anything and still impose a risk. Leagues, CL, qualification games are competitive games and therefore more justified to be played.

They're in lieu of qualifier games for the world cup. As host nation they don't have the qualify, but still need competitive fixtures ahead of the tournament. It wouldn't be fair if everyone else had international matches to sharpen up.

[Xanjori]

Spurs fan looking for new team to support. Must have flashes of brilliance and play decent football but not actually win anything.

[Northern Goblin]

Spurs fan looking for new team to support. Must have flashes of brilliance and play decent football but not actually win anything.

I mean, there's Arsenal?

[crusadernero]

Yup. Im familiar with the corruption and that makes it so difficult to influence these things, sportswashing as a term was new for me (seen the principle in other fields). Players and nations would most likely get support from 99% of all fans if they were to boycott the tournament, but the nations' football federations will most likely say it is troubling and go there anyway. And the players will still talk about equality on their social media accounts while uploading it from Qatar.

Qatar coming to EU to play friendlies? My expectations were low but how the fuck can they justify this during a pandemic?!

Yeah. How top football works and operates today is highly complicated and requires alot of time to understand. With that said, many clubs are now obviously being used to better the owner(Be it a company or state). Companies ofte buys clubs and transfer debt over to them, cause debt in a football club is better to handle than in the company. So in short, you screw a football club over to save your own ass. Like Glazer does with MUFC, or the new owners of Burnley. Burnley, a club with positive net result last year, now has 45 mill pounds in debt after American owners stepped in.

Qatar obviously have achived what they want through sportswashing, cause most federations dont give a shit how they got WC, the violations of Human rights within Qatar, thousands of dead workers and the funding of proxy wars. I mean - even when Saudi Arabia wanted to buy Newcastle, most fans seemed ok with it. People dont care what the owners do, aslong as the club can swim in a ocean of money.

PSG & City are obvious proof. Both with owners with blood on theyre hands, but every football expert out there do nothing but praise them and refuse to even discuss ownership. Qatar Airways, Emirates and so much more have been normalised for EU people. Quite effective sportswashing if nothing else. We gottta understand that from top(Owners) to bottom(TV pundits) theres work and alot of money at stake. Which pundit would discredit Qatar WC 2022 while knowing they probably get sacked? Same with leaders in each federation. AFraid of consequeneses(left out, lose money), so they just ignore it all.

Qatar plays EU friendlies cause they dont have a qualify, so in any case its understandable. Since everyone else is playing, so should they.

[Sughs]

Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund

Porto vs Chelsea

Bayern Munich vs Paris Saint-Germain

Real Madrid vs Liverpool

[DingDongKing]

Would expect Man City, Chelsea, Bayern and Real Madrid to go through. Though, they're all very tricky ties.

[Jessicka]

I think City will struggle at Dortmund, they're better at doing what United did to them than United are.

[sheffield]

ManUtd vs Arsenal in the EL final most likely but after seeing Zagreb yesterday, it won't be easy

Utd also have to play the winner of Ajax/Roma in the semifinal so that should be a good matchup

[Miyagie]

Looks like Bayern fixed a bit the defence problem and all players are fit. 3 days before the match they have to face Leipzig and they are close behind with 4 points.
Neymar will maybe play but without any games in 2 month.
I think once PSG will open up Lewi, Sane and Müller will tear them apart.

[Xanjori]

I mean, there's Arsenal?

The worst bit is Im a fan of Odegaard, I want to see the lad do well.

[Henx]

They're in lieu of qualifier games for the world cup. As host nation they don't have the qualify, but still need competitive fixtures ahead of the tournament. It wouldn't be fair if everyone else had international matches to sharpen up.

Hmm tricky situation imo. The host nation should be able to play games obviously but still feel like there should be some kind of restriction to games without "meaning".

- - - Updated - - -

Looks like Bayern fixed a bit the defence problem and all players are fit. 3 days before the match they have to face Leipzig and they are close behind with 4 points.
Neymar will maybe play but without any games in 2 month.
I think once PSG will open up Lewi, Sane and Müller will tear them apart.

Thankfully the defence has improved a little, Mbappe and Neymar would destroy as it has been. The midfield and the attack seem to be in good form atm, so as long as our defence doesn't screw it totally up, Bayern should progress!

[Tommy T]

never seen this thread so alive since slenderman died

Scrambling for relevance mate

Don't suppose you still have that EP pic? Fucking quality.

[jonnysensible]

Scrambling for relevance mate

Don't suppose you still have that EP pic? Fucking quality.

think that was a few laptops ago

[Miyagie]

Thankfully the defence has improved a little, Mbappe and Neymar would destroy as it has been. The midfield and the attack seem to be in good form atm, so as long as our defence doesn't screw it totally up, Bayern should progress!

They just destroyed Stuttgart with 10 players (early red for davies) and Lewi scored 3 times.
35 Goals already in the BL RIP Gerd Müller.

[DrMcNinja]

Frank de Boer proving his incompetence once again by selecting two strikers who have under 5 goals this season instead of a guy who scored 17 in 26.

Boring manager.

[Henx]

They just destroyed Stuttgart with 10 players (early red for davies) and Lewi scored 3 times.
35 Goals already in the BL RIP Gerd Müller.

Yup saw the game, wonderful attacks (and the whole team played well). The team seem to improve all the time, which is perfect going into the most crucial part of the season.