Alone in the Park - it's the Prem 2020-21 thread

Reffing of fernandes since he joined this league is not even pretending to care about what you see.

Unreal.

warning, v indulgent post incoming.

been pondering my relationship to football recently. i don't know if i am somehow satisfied complacent or sated cos lfc have won the cl and prem in the last 2 seasons, or perhaps i was never a real 'fan' to begin with, but for a while i've felt something a little off when i've been watching the game. finally think i've identified what it is that i've been missing. the rage is gone. i've never been a particularly angry person but there would at least be a few occasions per season where football would make me genuinely angry. that feeling is missing now.

as for the cause, could be that i'm older, but tbh i was plenty mature enough 20 years ago and i don't think anger is much to do with maturity anyway. think var has made me detach from football a bit and the lack of crowds has detached me still further. it all feels v bloodless to me now and i find myself gravitating more and more towards highlights rather than full games. anyway my football related stress has gone but with it a bit of my enjoyment. i used to wish the result and performance of people i have never met representing a team in a city i've never lived in didn't mean so much to me that it affected my day, and now that it almost feels like it doesn't and i really really miss it :(

still don't want lfc to test my ennui by losing to west ham today mind you.

Definitely feel a bit of cognitive dissonance with the football these days, for all the reasons you mention. tho it's still more than capable of making me feel angry, even on an existential level

the lockdown has made things a bit weird and rubbish tbh

Including the football

the game still gets my blood up enough to curse and swear with genuine bitterness and hatred every that fucking tory twat Bamford scores

Crowds, var, the stunning resolve of the refs and those responsible for their comportment to favour man united at every juncture, and finally the utter waste of the talent and resources while producing an entertainment product of absolute shite

Also poch last year broke me to bits tbh

There’s also so much of it. Matches almost every day, everything on television, it’s not sufficiently interesting to demand that much attention.

Burnley FC

i definitely enjoyed teh football more pre-pandemic, I didn't even get to see the Wolves bedshit yesterday as I was taking my folks to get vaccinated.

I try not to get angry at sports at all anymore cos it feels like there's already so much to be angry about, I don't wanna waste the rare moments where i'm in a good mood being mad that a bunch of people did something incorrectly with a ball

yeah games at random times, i'm working so less time and attention, no pubs to watch a match with other people

gotta try and run home for half past five to watch the next FA Cup game ffs

yeah that's the other thing, I used to never watch a match of any sport without having at least 5 beers so without that accelerant, emotions run more muted

Not having anyone to meet and watch with also

Tho i had a Google meet with the lads the last night and it worked pretty well

Long ball team

oh there we go

Had been coming.

C...c...c...

Frauds and cowards

lol, I absolutely knew when Spurs had the ball on the edge of the Brighton box a moment ago they were going to end up passing it back to Lloris.

Brighton really look like the only team likely to score at the moment. I’m not sure Son has had the ball more than once.

The front three have been staggeringly disinterested in showing

The defenders are lazy cunts

If Vinicius can’t get on the pitch under these circumstances, it’s very hard to see what use he is meant to be to the club.

There he is.

Toby 4 rb imo

Is there a worse passing team in Europe's top divisions

All analysis looks at this shit like possession and where you have it and where you shoot from and its like it doesnt matter whether players are doing any of it with any individual ability or judgement or commitment at all

There isnt a manager nor a tactic in the world would take the players operating at the level of effort out there and get a result

Not that jose isnt stealing a living, he totally is.

But hes stealing a living managing a pack of cunts

idk, if three or four of the players are operating at 25% capacity, it’s the players’ problem. If all of them are, the problem is likely not on the pitch.

Nothing removes the responsibility on individuals to that extent

Yeah the manager will be removed but an incoming manager should also know he has a job to do in clearing out the dressing room in such circs

I was looking fwd to mourinho doing that tbh

I mean that's a low

Its a joint low, yes

But lads out there have dozens on performances like that under them in the shirt

And they still have the shirt

Thats what wears

It’s two fewer than they conceded against Brighton last season!

Performance was tbh worse tho

xp oscar bravo — having finally witnessed LFC climb the mountain, my perpetual angst has also dissipated but for the better overall

That five game depressive episode just passed was one of the rare glimpses back into what it was like prior to the last three seasons, now that we hit our bottom at home against Burnley I can see us going strongly for the remainder of the season - maybe not enough to catch City who still have more to come

xp darraghmac — the refereeing has always been a bit shit but it's gone miles over the hill this season; the changes to interpretations of laws midseason on the back of social media disgust, and incompetent interpretations in the first place, and not being able to use VAR with any consistency, then relying on the "clear and obvious" as entirely subjective get-out clause that negates the whole idea of correcting errors in referee.

VAR is philosophically disgusting IMHO, but the incompetency of IFAB not seeing the knock-on effects of their law changes (sleeves offside for example, attacking handball different to defending handball) and the PGMOL implementing it one way one week, and another way the next week is draining on the spirit.

also you're right fernandes is a snide

otm both posts

Great little player mind

like Erik Lamela with talent

Something to it, erik gets away with murder

Not smart enough to do it in the box alas

VAR is philosophically disgusting IMHO, but the incompetency of IFAB not seeing the knock-on effects of their law changes (sleeves offside for example, attacking handball different to defending handball) and the PGMOL implementing it one way one week, and another way the next week is draining on the spirit.

Thanks for accurately summarising months of my anger

Ideally refs could be trusted to determine offsides as "significant" or otherwise. The lines are a joke.

Refs have consistently proven themselves lackspittle cunts tho

Handballs would be penalties if the hand was away from the body, not seeing an issue here

Three months of consistency would have pundits onboard

laws of the game never designed for a var world. offside never intended to be ruled via made up lines.
hate to view the game as a 'product' but tv pays billions for the rights to show it and i reckon tv was all aboard the var train cos they thought it would make football even More televisual, instead they've made their product worse. 3 pts for a win, no handling back passes, level=onside, no tackling from behind all changes to make the game more entertaining
and now they've fucked it.

also whenever the pgmol state that they like var cos it means more decisions are correct it is both unsurprising and missing the point. when have referees ever cared if the game is actually good or watchable? that's not their concern nor should it be.

VAR offside should be provided by a single side-view shot and a team of five professional linesppl have two seconds to vote offside or not, majority passes

The approach whereby every goal is scoured for a reason to chalk it off is blatant fuckery by england tbh

Every player being turned into even more of an annoying miniature cop pretending to have a grievance with every non-decision on the off-chance that VAR does them a favour

there's been a lot of holding of faces, it will have caused certain posters chagrin

Look lads at least nobody gets robbed by opposition forwards with a blatantly offside little finger any more

Diagne might be a really smart acquisition for West Brom. He’s never not been prolific but he has massively fallen out with at least two managers.

Saka scores on his third attempt

The phrase "devoid of everything" springs to mjnd

Oh good VAR to the rescue

turn on the TV in time to see Wolves concede.

oof this season is brutal