Topic: The Push Square Football (Soccer) Thread

I only found out late on Wednesday- not late enough to miss the opportunity. It was probably my best round as well so pleased I didn't miss it. All correct results with 2 correct scorelines - missing out by the odd goal in few results. In fairness though, the matches were, I think, the most predictable were the winners were no surprises. I did expect Chelsea to win more comfortably (even though I wanted them to drop points...). The next round is far more difficult to predict I think...

Still not enough to put pressure on those above just yet in the league.

@ApostateMage: @BAMozzy: I've completely forgot about the super 6 for weeks now!

So Arsenal have blown the league now, Man City have started picking up points again and man utd have started their push into the top 4. Its gonna be an interesting couple of games until 2017.

Liverpools 2017 has been a complete cluster so far, I thought they had won the title in November?

@booshy89 I can see Everton overtaking Liverpool.

Chelsea
Man Utd
Man City
Arsenal
Tottenham
Everton
Liverpool

Good luck tonight Man utd. After the last terrible few days I hope you can win the cup.

Well I am extremely HAPPY to see that this didn't happen!

Funny how Arsenal had a 'bad' season and finished 5th with 75pts yet finished last season in 2nd with 71pts and a worse Goal Difference. Even Utd in 6th got 3 more points and scored more goals than last year. Liverpool and Tottenham both improved by 16pts. 6 pts separated 8th (46pts) from 17th (40pts) and Sunderland were safe on 39pts last year. 8th Last year had 60pts just 6pts behind 4th and 66pts was enough to get into CL place - although Utd missed out to City on Goal Difference yet last years 2nd points total 71 wouldn't even qualify for CL this year.

All I care about though is that Liverpool are back in the Champions League and finished above Arsenal, Utd and most importantly, Everton! LOL

@BAMozzy lol, I was trolling you back then Bam. Evertons form dropped like the mass effect Andromeda active player base. It ended up exactly how most people predicted.

Well do to man utd last night, in many ways it was a masterclass in defending and keeping shape. That's another 2 trophies for Mourinho and that's insane considering the start to the season they had and lack of goals.

@themcnoisy LOL

Despite finishing 6th, Utd though accumulated 3pts more, scored more goals and conceded fewer too than last year. Every team from 7th up did better than last season if you look at their points etc. Considering just 6 points separated 8th from 17th - the 'safe' teams, that shows why the top 6-7 scored more points. 8th this year had 46pts - that's 30pts from the 4th place team yet Liverpool, who finished 8th last year on 60pts, was just 6pts off the 4th place team last season. That's a massive difference and a big reason why teams like Arsenal and Utd - both of whom accumulated more points than last year, still couldn't make the Top 4. Spurs and LFC both accumulated 16 more points than last year, Man city accumulated 12 more points but Chelsea got 43 more points.

Looking at the top 6 'mini' table, the two teams that had the worst record, missed out on top 4 - Utd had the worst record of all. In the games they set out not to lose, often it was De Gea that kept them in games. You could see that solid wall of Utd defence last night too. It certainly helped that Ajax seemed to have one way to play and Utd/Mourinho got his tactics spot on in stifling that - coupled with the lack of experience in Ajax and it appeared that the occasion got to them more.

@booshy89 Congrats mate. I missed a lot of weeks around Christmas and a few midweek Champions League games.
I hope this Push Square league is on again for next season.

@booshy89 man that was a boss battle at the end with @BAMozzy getting within 10 points. Class.

Well done man, you are the real stato.

Wow, just looked at the League! Considering I missed the first week or two and a few midweek runs, I didn't do too badly. Congrats to @booshy89 just managed to get 2 more correct scores than me but we both predicted the same 110 correct results. Well done!

arsenal had the worst record of the top 6 mini league. utd got the same number of points as city. (and utd lost to arsenal and spurs in the last few games because mourinho had decided to put all his eggs in the europa league basket, so didn't exactly field the strongest team they could have). the reason utd missed out on the top 4 was 10 draws at old trafford, at least 8 of which they should have won - 16 squandered points that would have secured a comfortable 3rd place finish. other than ibra, nobody could score in a brothel.

top-6 against each other.
liverpool 10 5 5 0 20
chelsea 10 5 1 4 16
spurs 10 4 3 3 15
man city 10 2 4 4 10
man utd 10 2 4 4 10
arsenal 10 2 3 5 9

@leucocyte Maybe in some of the matches against so called 'lesser' teams but the draws against Liverpool both home and away were 'lucky' to a degree. You could argue that Mourinho set up not to lose and De Gea certainly put in Man of the Match performances. In a lot of Utd games, De Gea got points for Utd - either helping them to get a draw or to stay ahead. Against most of the Top 6, Utd were criticised for being so defensive, set up not to lose and maybe, if lucky, get a goal on the break or from a set piece. Not the Utd we were used to seeing under Ferguson whose teams dominated possession and looked to take the game to the opposition. Its possible that maybe if some of the 4 draws (2 of which they should definitely of lost) against the top 6 would have helped those teams get more points. I know that most of the Top 6 had matches they deserved more from. Liverpool against Burnley - 80% possession, a lot of shots but still lost and as I said De Gea got Utd a lot of points they didn't 'deserve' too.

Its no point talking about what could have been. Maybe if LFC hadn't put out the kids in the last month of last season, they could have got Top 4 as they were only 6 pts away in the end - like Utd and this year. Maybe the gap to Arsenal would have been closer, maybe Tottenham would have had more fight for 2nd but Utd were already behind everyone else. in the Top 6 when they opted to treat the EPL as 'matches' they didn't want to be playing because of the Europa. Maybe if LFC hadn't thrown points away against Bournemouth, Swansea, Palace, they could have challenged Chelsea - as they were at Christmas.

A season is often full of 'what-ifs' for teams that don't hit their objectives.

@Kyroki not for me mate. Good idea but I forget the super 6 until last minute, fantasy footy would be a nightmare!

@Kyroki I'm more concerned about Boro finding a good manager for a start

@Kyroki

Heres my predictions just for you bro;

Harry Kane going to Real Madrid

Danny Rose going to Barcelona

Tobi Alderweirald going to Man City

Jansen staying at Tottenham

Have a great season......

@Kyroki haha, it does depend who Tottenham get in this summer. The champions League campaign last year was a disaster, it will be interesting to see how Kane, Ali and Sun manage next year.

Can anyone else here dribble a soccer ball? I was pretty good at that though my overall shooting and goalkeeping abilities weren't quite as good..."they were atrocious lol". xP

I'd really like Liverpool to get a new defender or two - as great as it sounds, I don't think we can do well in the Champions League with James Milner at left-back. Van Dijk is a good shout but I doubt we can get him for cheap, then there's also Benjamin Mendy but I doubt we'll get him.

@Anchorsam_9 Its no secret Liverpool need to invest in some key areas if they want to be competitive in both the EPL and Champions League. Domestic Cups can also have an impact on squad depth but LFC, like other big clubs, could use these to give youth and fringe players a chance.

There are areas though that need investment for their 'main' starting 11. Milner certainly did a reasonable job at LB but wasn't exactly the 'best' at defending, not exactly the quickest and very predictable when supporting attacks - always getting the ball on his right foot, slowing the attack down as he was reluctant or unable to whip in a cross on his left. Sturridge is still our 'best' striker but unreliable from a fitness PoV. Firmino was great but not 'clinical' enough or fast enough to get beyond defenders. Then of course you need great alternatives if any of the main 11 are not available. With Mane, we had pace to go with the skill but without that pace, we struggled to get behind defences. LFC may have a good 9/11 or so players if ALL are fit. Some that will do a 'good' job if needed in some areas but in others we are limited. You can't play the same 11 in 60+ matches with no impact - especially towards the end of a season. You basically need two squads - each roughly similar and a number of fringe players that can come in. Coutinho, Can etc had to come back into the team before they were fully fit and that also showed in their performances.

A bigger squad can also help push players to improve - No doubt Karius had an impact on Mignolet - more so than Bogdan!! . I just hope FSG put the money into the Squad and enable Klopp to buy the players and increase the depth. I don't want to see us struggle to compete in all 4 competitions, run out of steam at the end of next year and drop back out of European Football.

Solanke could be a good bit of business but I don't think he is necessarily going to be our first choice next season unless he really impresses when given his chance - more for the future I think but some youngsters obviously are worthy of their place - look at Owen, Fowler, M'Bappe for example but maybe could be an Origi...