To be fair to Newcastle Caicedo should have been sent off in the 2nd minute.
Why do fans/players care about teams celebrating - its just bitter - a win is a win however it comes and pens is a great way to win a game - vvd was similar the weekend when utd celebrated a draw but forgot they did the exact same thing after there 2-2 v west brom few years back as an example???
similarly I quite enjoyed the game last night - the caicedo challenge was very naughty and dangerous and the ref saw it so very lucky for a yellow, as for the bruno one I loved it he was clearly frustrated and left a bit on him but it wasnt dangerous and yellow was the right call for mwe - we are in danger of multiple reds every game much like the penalty/handball debacle - Ill add the fella who holding his face after the challenge was embaressing along with sterling and gallaghers dive for me are worse than the challenge (shithousery at its finest) they all do it though
In the Grauniad today …
https://www.theguardian.com/football...the-world-2023
z
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Last edited by zelig; 20th December 2023 at 12:41.
The United game was a crime against football
In the previous prem game his review from one of LFC's own fanzine websites was:
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 6
In the first half was simultaneously Liverpool’s best outlet for making anything at all happen, and also the most wasteful player on the pitch, overhitting switches and sending passes beyond his mark or out of play. The half-time sub meant he went into midfield, at the base of the three, but not much came off for him an an attacking sense – and naturally, he’s not exactly the world’s elite defence-protector at this stage
It seems the TZ-UK pressure has got to him too!
What's going on with Klopp criticising the atmosphere at Anfield? The new Library, just in time to make Arsenal feel at home!
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The atmosphere is pretty average for the majority of games and has been for a few years now at anfield.
The only games the crowd are really rocking for are the derby and knockout European games.
The crowd has really changed the last decade at anfield. The amount of day trippers is absolutely insane. Literally people recording the game on iPads and not even knowing the words to songs.
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I’ll give Jurgen the benefit of the doubt as his thoughts could well have been taken out of context. It happens to Pep at his pressers and the headlines rarely reflect the actual meanings.
Most grounds are tourist traps and have poor atmospheres most of the time . The only one that springs to mind is Crystal Palace and theirs is orchestrated crap. Cue various fans telling us that theirs is always great ;)
Pricing out long term local supporters is happening all over the country . A fair weather tourist is much more likely to spend at the ground, in the souvenir shop etc and the people running the clubs know this.
But how do all the day trippers get tickets given it's all allocated to season ticket holders and then members?
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There’s 27k season tickets.
Membership there’s only 10k tickets available each game with apparently 250k+ members registered.
Rest are all hospitality sales which are eaten up by the tourists as and the goat says they sit there’s with bags all on the floor and their laps from the club shop.
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A few years back I’d got three tickets to a Europa League group game for my two kids and me. My daughter wasn’t able to make it and I was struggling to find anyone I knew to take the spare. I flogged it to one of the touts outside Fulham Broadway tube for a tenner, face value was £20. Better to get something than nothing eh.
Around 15 minutes after kick off rocks up an oriental kid and takes his spot with us. He’s carrying the obligatory club shop bag.
He told us he had paid £60 for the ticket, which he thought was a bargain seeing as it was Row C right behind the goal. He had spent close on £150 in the shop on three shirts. He then spent most of the match taking selfies and videos.
I’m sure it’s the same at most Premier League grounds judging by what you see on the tv of some of the crowd
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City are (IMHO) complicit in ticket sales and where they go. I know guys who have access to all parts of the ground , including The Chairman’s Lounge, The Tunnel Club Premier and all other corporate areas of the stadium, including private (read players) boxes. They can and will get you tickets for these areas. This isn’t a bloke on a corner near the ground . They can source you a table for 10 with fine dining . A friend of mine was showing m3 a text he’d received with prices for boxes for all different matches in the future at massive mark ups.
Whilst it was kind of accepted for home matches, the real kicker is that the away games are being sold off to the tourists as well. With my ticket, I have access to all away games, courtesy of a ballot to the more popular ones. I generally got a ticket for any game I wanted to go to.
Time and again in the last couple of seasons, I have been informed that my application is unsuccessful and yet there are always scores of day trippers getting tickets.
Bearing in mind that I’m kind of semi corporate where I sit , how your average Joe is supposed to continue supporting the club is beyond me.
Thanks for the very interesting contributions, suppose that's what happens when you are optimising the league / the club for commercial gain. I still don't think the arrival of private equity is something the fans should have cheered for. And those Middle Eastern "businessmen" do want a return on their vanity investments as well.
I completely stopped watching the Champions League and am not really interested in Premier League fixtures anymore. Give me St. Pauli against Kaiserslautern any day off the week, home or away.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Funnily enough the most improved crowd atmosphere is probably Arsenal now, although the club have hired 'ultras' (Ashburton army) to try and drum up a bit of fervour.
Still not a match on Bundesliga atmospheres but my understanding is that Bundesliga clubs get actual supporters of their teams at the matches right? Maybe there's something to be said for that.....
Tonight could see Villa go to the top of the Premier League and Man City crowned best club side in the world.
The lack of connection between fans and clubs is nothing new and the fact that they want the daytrippers has been the case for years - think back to Keane and the prawn sandwich brigade - its all down to matchday spend and commercial revenue - its been the main down fall for me at united and one of the reasons I stopped going to OT and dropped my ST some time ago and focussed on away days as you do get the die hard fans in attendance as opposed to people walking round with match day scarves, programmes that will be in the ground an hour before ko spending money with the club etc etc etc
Gimme an away day to a newly promoted team anyday of the week over a glamour match at Old Trafford - The demand for Luton away this year will outstrip any match at home or similar when you visit a team who you havent played in years are the most sought after among the hardcore fan base - also another reason why fans still love the FA cup due to the increased allocation
Football is a business and has been for some time now - with united its exactly the core reason why the protests have never amounted too much as there is a day tripper waiting in the wings at all times behind every loyal fan - so much so that for some time now I think it was circa 2018 that Ed Woodward CEO said “Playing performance doesn’t really have a meaningful impact on what we can do on the commercial side of the business,”
To further emphasise the point uniteds PR team were gleefully celebrating that Garnachos overhead kick vb Everton got more engagement on social media than Man Citys treble win - That tells you everything
All the teams who have enjoyed recent success or are on the up are now seeing similar focus from the top hence the issues with atmosphere among match going fans
The day-tripper phenomenon is something we don’t have at Newcastle and don’t want either, although I accept that it would be an unavoidable consequence should success come our way. Maybe our location and weather might work in our favour for once.
On a train from Oakham to Brum for a few Black Eye Friday drinks, then off to Villa Park to watch us go top. What a job Emery has done.
PS we’re without Mings, Buendia, Tielemans, Torres and Kamara but we’ll try to cope.
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Brilliant Sheffield United performance. Being that organised and disciplined for almost 100 minutes is unbelievably hard. Zaniollo shouldn’t even be playing, he’s the prick that grassed up Tonali to save himself.
Given the Villa result I'd take a draw at Anfield now - win would be great but Liverpool are formidable at home.
McAtee would grace any midfield in this league.
Such a good footballer.
Holders of just the five trophies for chequebook Pep and his mercenaries.
A proper manager would’ve won the League Cup as well.
Urgh, imagine having to watch football like that every week. Fair play to Wilder, it's not his job to roll over for teams, but can't say I enjoyed watching their 6-4-0 formation. And of course it had to be Archer who scored their goal, FFS! Still, if you'd offered me the chance to be second or third going into Christmas, at the start of the season, I'd have snapped your hand off. Hopefully we can batter Man U on Boxing Day to make up for last night's disappointment.
I was banned for bad language so couldn’t reply last week, last seasons fan incidents were released !
Liverpool fans not even in the top 10 for arrests / issues at games.
It was West Ham, City and United top 3 for most arrests at games home and away.
United I can understand as they have the biggest home and away following in the country.
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Can we just take a moment to get our heads around this stat. The number of trophies Pep has won in relation to the number of games in his managerial career averages out at a trophy every 23 games. That is ridiculous.
I just hope all the Arsenal fans and players make it home safely. Thoughts and prayers to these brave people.