Weekend Football

[Vision]

As keepers have scored from goal kicks before, have to assume that Cheltenham have a particularly long pitch.

Not seen it but I'd assume it's as likely to be down to what part of the penalty area they kicked it from. In theory , although I appreciate its highly unlikely he kicked it from his own goal line, there's 18 yards to play with

It was a goal kick, so only six yards to play with, but yeah the theory is right. In this case though, was taken maybe three to four inches inside the six yard line.

Fair play. I don't actually recall seeing one scored from an actual goal kick before. Storm Christophe doing it's thing too I guess

[Sanguine]

Not seen it but I'd assume it's as likely to be down to what part of the penalty area they kicked it from. In theory , although I appreciate its highly unlikely he kicked it from his own goal line, there's 18 yards to play with

It was a goal kick, so only six yards to play with, but yeah the theory is right. In this case though, was taken maybe three to four inches inside the six yard line.

Fair play. I don't actually recall seeing one scored from an actual goal kick before. Storm Christophe doing it's thing too I guess

You might actually be right - the one I had in mind was Begovic's for Stoke, but had a look and that wasn't from a goal kick but from a back pass and he made contact around the penalty spot. King's might indeed be the first from a goal kick as I've found a couple of instances of Begovic's being referred to as the previous record.

[Winston Biscuit]

Brentford are the only team to have picked up more points than Shef Wed in the last 4 games in the Championship

[Winston Biscuit]

At the halfway point Man Utd are top with 40 points (though Man City could get to 41 if they win their game in hand) looks on course to be one of the lowest points totals to be champions

Man Utd won with 80 points in 10/11 (someone only needed 71 points that season to be champions, which seems weirdly low)

Liverpools 2nd place finish on 97 points looks more mental as time goes by

[Stranded]

Brentford are the only team to have picked up more points than Shef Wed in the last 4 games in the Championship

Also just noticed, that Weds will not have played a league game between 2nd and 27th Jan - only 2 cup games.

[URZZZZ]

Moyes has put together a really good side, four straight wins in the Prem and up to 4th

Possibly over reactionary but can’t think of many better midfield duos than Rice and Soucek

These roundabout managers eh?

[Sanguine]

There's some real cognitive dissonance from West Ham fans on social media about Moyes - fans who can't hold their hands up to being wrong about the chap and who are actively talking down their results still. Best one I read last night was '10 wins this season. Bet we don't win another game. Moyes will drag us back down.'

Seriously.

As for the league, it's City's isn't it? 7 wins in a row in the league now. And since they lost 2-0 at Spurs, they have conceded just four goals in 17 games in all competitions.
And next up are Sheffield United.

[Sanguine]

And Gundogan has found his shooting boots. He had 15 City goals in his first 108 league games for the club, and 7 in 8 games since.

[URZZZZ]

There's some real cognitive dissonance from West Ham fans on social media about Moyes - fans who can't hold their hands up to being wrong about the chap and who are actively talking down their results still. Best one I read last night was '10 wins this season. Bet we don't win another game. Moyes will drag us back down.'

Seriously.

As for the league, it's City's isn't it? 7 wins in a row in the league now. And since they lost 2-0 at Spurs, they have conceded just four goals in 17 games in all competitions.
And next up are Sheffield United.

City haven’t convinced me yet, whilst they’re on an admirable run, they haven’t beaten another team in the top 7 yet, and IIRC play most of them in a bunch

Interesting that Pep has adopted more of a pragmatic approach this season, similar to what Klopp did last year. Quite a few 1-0 wins for City this season which you wouldn’t normally associate with a Pep team. Much greater focus on the defence after shipping 5 to Leicester too

[Sanguine]

There's some real cognitive dissonance from West Ham fans on social media about Moyes - fans who can't hold their hands up to being wrong about the chap and who are actively talking down their results still. Best one I read last night was '10 wins this season. Bet we don't win another game. Moyes will drag us back down.'

Seriously.

As for the league, it's City's isn't it? 7 wins in a row in the league now. And since they lost 2-0 at Spurs, they have conceded just four goals in 17 games in all competitions.
And next up are Sheffield United.

City haven’t convinced me yet, whilst they’re on an admirable run, they haven’t beaten another team in the top 7 yet, and IIRC play most of them in a bunch

Interesting that Pep has adopted more of a pragmatic approach this season, similar to what Klopp did last year. Quite a few 1-0 wins for City this season which you wouldn’t normally associate with a Pep team. Much greater focus on the defence after shipping 5 to Leicester too

We'll see. In a season where many or all clubs are inconsistent, smashing the crap out of the bottom 13 clubs might be all they need to do to win the title. Their current run, since that Spurs game, includes wins at Chelsea and Southampton, and a draw at United - and draws with their top 7 rivals will be enough from here.

[Hendo]

There's some real cognitive dissonance from West Ham fans on social media about Moyes - fans who can't hold their hands up to being wrong about the chap and who are actively talking down their results still. Best one I read last night was '10 wins this season. Bet we don't win another game. Moyes will drag us back down.'

Seriously.

As for the league, it's City's isn't it? 7 wins in a row in the league now. And since they lost 2-0 at Spurs, they have conceded just four goals in 17 games in all competitions.
And next up are Sheffield United.

City are certainly going to take some stopping, although as we have seen with Liverpool, a couple of key injuries in the back line could complicate things.

[URZZZZ]

There's some real cognitive dissonance from West Ham fans on social media about Moyes - fans who can't hold their hands up to being wrong about the chap and who are actively talking down their results still. Best one I read last night was '10 wins this season. Bet we don't win another game. Moyes will drag us back down.'

Seriously.

As for the league, it's City's isn't it? 7 wins in a row in the league now. And since they lost 2-0 at Spurs, they have conceded just four goals in 17 games in all competitions.
And next up are Sheffield United.

City haven’t convinced me yet, whilst they’re on an admirable run, they haven’t beaten another team in the top 7 yet, and IIRC play most of them in a bunch

Interesting that Pep has adopted more of a pragmatic approach this season, similar to what Klopp did last year. Quite a few 1-0 wins for City this season which you wouldn’t normally associate with a Pep team. Much greater focus on the defence after shipping 5 to Leicester too

We'll see. In a season where many or all clubs are inconsistent, smashing the crap out of the bottom 13 clubs might be all they need to do to win the title. Their current run, since that Spurs game, includes wins at Chelsea and Southampton, and a draw at United - and draws with their top 7 rivals will be enough from here.

Not so sure they’re smashing the lower clubs though:

1-0 win at Sheffield United
1-0 win against Arsenal
2-0 against Newcastle
1-0 against Southampton
1-1 against West Brom + Leeds
2-0 against Fulham
2-0 against Villa (where the first goal arguably shouldn’t have counted)
1-0 against Brighton

Albeit a win’s a win, but there’s quite a few 1-0s in there, which you’d never really expect from a City side

Their recent form may put them slightly in pole position, especially considering their next two are Burnley and Sheffield but I’m seeing a lot of people on social media conceding the title to City already and on betting sites, I’m seeing odds of 2/7 for City to win the league which seems to me a bit over the top

Regardless, I do hope they don’t run away with the title as it looks a decent battle up there, at the very least you’d expect a good battle for the top four where you could perhaps argue there are still 10/11 teams in the battle, even at this stage

[Sanguine]

Alvaro Morelos' discipline has improved, but the red mist descended again at Hibs last night. Somehow the referee deemed this only to be a yellow.

https://twitter.com/andyscottisme/statu ... 6715211779

[Pepe the Horseman]

Alvaro Morelos' discipline has improved, but the red mist descended again at Hibs last night. Somehow the referee deemed this only to be a yellow.

https://twitter.com/andyscottisme/statu ... 6715211779

Jesus. Do they not have VAR in the SPL?

[Winston Biscuit]

Accrington 4-1 up after 28 minutes

A team I have been keeping an eye on due to their games in hand (though they lost 2 recently and spolit some of that)

[URZZZZ]

Accrington 4-1 up after 28 minutes

A team I have been keeping an eye on due to their games in hand (though they lost 2 recently and spolit some of that)

League One a strange one

3rd place Doncaster (and Accrington) has played 5 fewer games than 9th placed Crewe

Quite difficult to gauge who’s in and around the top with such uneven distributions although Oxford are on a roll with I believe 9 wins on the bounce. Possibly playoff hangover there?

[Winston Biscuit]

Rotherham just made the bottom of the Champ very interesting.

Birmingham fans must be getting a sick feeling right about now

[WoodleyRoyal]

David moyes doing a cracking job at West Ham. Always thought he’s had a lot of unfair criticism. Good manager.

[URZZZZ]

David moyes doing a cracking job at West Ham. Always thought he’s had a lot of unfair criticism. Good manager.

Did a poor job at Sunderland and United (although arguably set up to fail there) which damaged his reputation

Made some fantastic signings, Coufal and Soucek spring to mind with the likes of Bowen, Benrahma and Watford’s reserve CB Dawson too! Lingard started positively obvious

Some will still write them off but they’re certainly not out the equation for a top 4 spot. Feel they need a little more ambition in certain games, they were disappointing against Liverpool on Sunday

[URZZZZ]

City’s defensive statistics since losing to Spurs on the 21st November are sublime. Furthermore, they’ve overturned a deficit of 8 points behind Spurs to 14 points ahead of them in just 13 games

However, these are where the tricky games come in, starting with Liverpool on Sunday. If they remained unscathed after this run, the title will be theirs, but as you’ve seen from Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs now - one poor result at the summit of the table can cause you to plummet so perhaps, for the sake of a close title race, we need Liverpool to beat City

At the other end of the table, bottom 3 looking more and more likely to fall away although Sheffield’s form has drastically improved. Not sure who the team to catch will be as Burnley look like they have enough to stay up and Brighton are picking up strong results. Possibly Newcastle?