Premier League — Week 1

That fella we lost has just scored for Arsenal, he looks big and strong, but it's very early days, although one thing I've been impressed with, is Arsenal's defensive shape and discipline, and this is why I'd prefer 5 across the middle for Everton, especially until all the new boys are settled in.

Tony, yes I am watching that game too, Gabriel looks decent, but that goal was an opportunist one he could hardly miss, but they must have seen something they didn't feel going an extra £3M was worth it.

See we're getting linked with that Todibo again, not impressed what I've seen up to now, also the Arias link has re-surfaced. Any more news on Tomori that I may have missed?

Watching Fulham v Arsenal, Gabriel looked the part and would have been a good signing for us, but he wasn't really tested today. I will be amazed if Fulham aren't relegated, they are nowhere near good enough in any department.

Tony,

They gave Gabriel man of the match.

Yes Christy, He did well, and scored a sitter from a corner. He moves well and looks a quality defender. It's hard to read too much into it though as Fulham were really poor, I will be surprised if they are ever out of the relegation zone.

Just seen the first poor penalty decision of the season.

WooHoo! Cmon Leeds.

BTW Brent you're nuts - pen all day long on that Mo strike.

Is that game on in the US? I can't find it anywhere.

Yes Mike! It's on NBCSports.com. Stream it.

Li-var-pool as usual, twat of a decision, worst refs in Europe we have by a country mile.

Cheers, JC.

If the law says a ricochet off the body onto the arm is a pen, then it's a poor law.

Brent. The lad fucking autographed the ball mate lol. Definite penalty!

NP Mike, cheers bud.

Brian - too funny. He totally autographed that ball. Chicken wing arm style.

Didn't it hit his knee first?

No Brent. Not that I saw. Struck his arm dead on and very hard. His arm was WAY outside his body. Total 100% pen.

Nice marking on that one. Didn't know Heitinga was playing for Leeds.

I think it was knee onto arm. And Carragher says so - he's never wrong!

Ha Mike. Too true Heitinga, a centre back I never saw that never jump.

Dodgy defence by the rs. VVD howler.

We need a live forum for this game. It's entertaining AF.

Leeds are mental, can they keep this up all game?

Five goals in 32 minutes is definitely a game to start off the season.

Three set pieces.

Leeds have got a lot of third man running going on. Wide players drawing full backs out for exposing the centre backs. Shame they cannot defend.

Bielsa doesn't work on defending set pieces! But man the rest of it is mouth-watering stuff.

C'mon Koch, they don't like it up em

Some great shots of four Leeds players pressing on every Liverpool defender, reducing it to a 1 on 1.

Far too many man-buns on that pitch.

Bielsa shouting sounds like Hitler at the Nuremburg rally

Leeds went forward and had SEVEN players attacking. Insane.

More man-buns, please. Cool as the other side of the pillow.

That half was a superb advert for football in general. Great, great half of football.

JaC, I'll let you know during lockdown I came very close to sporting a man bun.

Great first half. Penalty was definitely off the knee onto the arm. Harsh.

Brent, having had the benefit of slomo it DOES come off the lads knee. Don't know what the rules on that are like.

Brian I'm also unsure on the rule now. VAR gave it so they better have got it right.

Did that penalty go for a VAR review? It looked so obvious there was probably no need for a VAR review. Imagine if the Premier League come out and say we got that penalty wrong, as VAR would have ruled it not a penalty.

Rob I might be wrong in thinking that went to VAR.

No, you're right I think, Brent. Think it went to VAR.

Good joke about the Premier League admitting they got it wrong.

It was a penalty for the shite mate, that can never be wrong!

Sir John you have to rock that.

If I man-bunned, I'd wrap that thing around to cover the slight hair-hole on the back of my noggin! Beats a comb-over any day of the week. ;0)

Maybe it did Brent, and they maybe saw it in real time, saw the ball hit the outstretched arm and said penalty. If they saw the slow motion they may have thought differently. We Deffo need clarification on this.

Listen I know it's a really long season, and Leeds will slow down with injuries and just the pace of keeping up with the Bielsa system at the highest level of English football.

But.

I'm supremely impressed with this Leeds side. It kind of bothers me how impressed I am, because we're going to get so much fawning over this team from the press it's going to be sickening.

But they play a great style of football in my opinion.

Another disallowed Leeds goal.

Did Trent Arnold know that was offside? Would have been a great OG.

He knew Rob...,.

I know it's seems suicidal but the high line Leeds use and get so many players in the opposing half is how I want us to play given the attacking players we have.

Get in!!!

5 Leeds players in the box!

Sick

Woo hoo!!

I have a mistress, her name is Leeds.

Geeeeeeetttt iiiiiiiiin 3-3

FFS this false crowd noise is doing my head in. All sky are playing is that dirge of a song.

Just as I described. Superb goal. Every Liverpool player occupied to the point Leeds had a man free.

Can we play that way. Not until we get a quick centre back. It's an absolute imperative. We have the forward players, got and get a quick centre back, not the ‘best' centre back please!!!

I going to say something controversial and PLEASE don't hate me and I never thought I'd say it.

Surely Liverpool winning their opening games until transfer window closes is a good thing (I already hate myself), because the Fenway Group might think they won't need to invest in players to improve the squad. If they lose a few games then the Fenway Group would surely have to buy players and improve the squad which could make them more competitive. I'm sorry again everyone for my disgusting theory.

Nick -

No. They just need to lose. John Henry & Co. will eventually invest, no matter. Just lose. Don't over-think it brother.

Sir John -

If getting in a speedy CB allows us to play this style of footy, I'm all for it.

Nick that's not so crazy. And can they go another season with so few injuries?

Brent -

I know that ownership group like I know family members.

Believe me you just want them to lose. They will "improve" while coasting in first place.

Lose. You gotta trust me on this one.

Jamie #49 That should be Dirty Leeds!

FFS penalty

Bastards

What an absolutely shitty pen. Ya can't beat those jag-offs giving away two PKs.

Devils spawn.

Fucking dive.

Rob he went down, a hockey player would be embarrassed, but it was a dead cert pen.

Ah crap. Great game to watch.

Great advert for Premier League football. Penaltypool started like they finished last season.

Before VAR I used to think officials just got it wrong. It's now clear it's just corrupt.

Michael Oliver puts Liverpool on 3 points.

Leeds paid the price for sitting back for the last 20 minutes.

A dead cert pen Jamie? I remember when cheating was scorned upon, but it's acceptable nowadays and very beneficial, because football has become like basketball, with every little touch deemed a foul.

I honestly thought that Fabinho, sees the Leeds player coming, the player did very well to slow himself enough to stop contact, but Fabinho, is clever and buys the pen even though he's actually made the foul?

Opposition scores 3 goals - so the RS get 2 penalties - the second of which was played for by Firmino. Oliver proving himself sa mug yet again. So corrupt this EFL.

I hope Bielsa says something.

COYBs tomorrow WE CAN DO IT ! JUST BELIEVE FFS !!!

Agree, Tony.

No blood, no pen, I say.

FFS, just got in and I see nothing changes, 2 Liverpool penalties already!

Joe, will we get one all season?

Great to have ToffeeWeb back. Dead cert pen. And with DCL and Richarlison on our team we talk about diving.

The first one was the one that was wrong. It comes off his thigh on to his hand. I actually missed it and didn't know what Carragher was talking about. Guess VAR and Oliver did too. Sorry, I forgot they were conspiring to make sure Liverpool win the league.

If I'd have gone down like that when I was playing I'd have got a right slap........ from someone on my own team. Travesty!

1 game in and they have already doubled our tally of penalties from the whole of last season.

Shane #71
Hopefully, Carlo will teach DCL and Richarlison how to dive properly and Everton might be awarded a greater number of spot-kicks as they haven't done very well at it in recent seasons. Almost every time the other lot play there is a helping hand from some direction or other and it is becoming sickening.

Patrick, combine dive training with getting into the box more often and we've nailed it.

Every footballer dives Shane, or 99.9% do anyway, and it's ruining the game imo.

Maybe I need glasses, but I thought Fabinho “put his knee” into the Leeds defender because he was expecting to, but hadn't been hit, and it was actually a foul the other way?

I've been saying it for years, but if they brought back the indirect free-kick rule inside the box, players might not be so quick to go down, and this might help to eradicate a bit of the cheating, “But” it's a television sport,(especially at the minute) and controversial decisions get people talking.

You don't need glasses Tony.

Funny Brian, I will tell Dave you're gonna be drinking those desperados out the bottle😷

No seriously mate that rs jumped into that dive. Pisses me right off. They must practice it for sure.

Tony, anything that fuels the drama element will only get changed when unavoidable, the bread & circuses angle is certainly not lost on some at certain levels. Controversy sells.

Remember when they were going to "Get tough" on this - Niasse being the first victim, then ONE other player in the Prem. since, I think.

No genuine motivation to do anything.

Of course not Will. I've just spoke to one of my sons who hates Liverpool and he thought it was a pen. Shane and Jamie did as well, whereas a few of us have a different opinion on the matter.

The only thing we can ask is that the refs stay truly consistent, and that alongside the diving is my biggest gripe, because I'm certain on another day Michael Oliver might not always give that decision?

I dislike diving and fakery too - but even moreso the inconsistency.

I don't know the answer, and I could type pages. I know that I've seen many penalties engineered in various ways, and multiple examples of blatant diving in recent seasons, we all have; and yet it will continue. Nothing gets done.

Anyway, let's see when we get our first penalty!

I will donate £1Million to VAR if we get one off Martin Atkinson tomorrow Will, and even if that smug bastard was reading this now, he still wouldn't give us one, unless we were already three goals down, crying bastards the lot of us!

Now THAT'S a bold statement, Tony! I'll give you a tenner towards it if the unexpected happens...

Come on, Jack #92. Couldn't have been two clearer penalties. Rodrigo was an absolute idiot on that second one and he cost them a point, simple as that.

Mike is correct. Rush of blood to the head on Rodrigo's part. Leeds were not intimidated and the Reds looked vulnerable.

The late pen was a pen as far as I'm concerned.

More significantly by far, newly promoted Leeds, with a team comprising players I've largely never heard of, three times equalised away against the Premier League champions.

Hmm.

We haven't come close to matching such enterprise for decades. Maybe Kenwright's coaches need to examine themselves as to why.

No fear, and a genuine belief in yourself Don?

Just tuned into this thread and read all the comments. Agree with Mike at the end – the Don't know what the Leeds guy (was it Rodrigo?) was thinking when he flapped his leg in front of Fabinho who was always going to go down like he'd been felled, but worse than costing Leeds a point, he gifted Them 2.

I don't watch the rs, even highlights, so haven't seen these latest incidents which resulted in favourable decisions for them. Some on here saw them as clear penalties whereas others did not – the question I'd pose is "If two identical incidents occurred in the Spurs area today, would we get two penalties?"

The answer I think is that we'd be lucky to get any. For me, this does not demonstrate any inconsistency by refs and VAR, rather a clear consistency resulting in decisions given in favour of the rs and their ilk.

Until this bias in favour of certain teams is addressed (I'm sure we're in for a long wait!) we'll never have a level playing field.

Mike #89 "Come on, Jack #92. Couldn't have been two clearer penalties."

Wow! Mike, at #89, anticipating what Jack at #92 was going to say!!

Mike, what's the result from today's game at Spurs. I've got a few quid I can put on it.

I watched the Liverpool v Leeds game yesterday, and am even more convinced that they are in league with the Devil (and the ref) 2 dodgy penalties Leeds had 2 disallowed goals. The bearded lady was beaten several times.

Leeds enjoyed 52% possession, no wonder Bielsa was fuming at the end.

Derek, it's rigged.

Martin #94, even cursed, unlucky, poor (insert made up bias against Everton) Everton would have got the second penalty. The first one I'm baffled by.

Had Oliver sold his soul to the horned one he had the perfect opportunity before the penalty where he disallowed a Van Dijk header for a fairly innocuous bit of contact between the young lad that scored against us in the Cup and a Leeds fella.

Funny that wasn't mentioned on the thread. Let's move on to things concerning the Blues.

Firminho tripped the player up Shane, and the whistle had gone before Van Dyke had his first touch.

It's a pen in the modern game, a game with very little sportsmanship, but plenty of brinkmanship, in a sport that always reflects the sign of the times, imo!

I've never seen this, shocked me to be honest.

West Brom have on their seat covers:
The Lord is my Shepherd.

I've never seen overtly religious quotes or adverts in England? Why is that there? Anyone know? Curious.

It's what the West Brom fans sing, Jamie

Really Colin? Thanks for answering. I had no idea, and I find that fascinating.

Cheers.

I think Colin is extracting the urine, Jamie!!

Brent, I pick stocks too.

I predict you're going to send me a big chunk of money to invest for you.

Don't know if it's just me being a blue but watching match of the day last night the look of relief on Michael Oliver's face with whistle in his mouth pointing to the spot for there second penalty was something else,or is it just me?

Mike #104, sounds as if you're playing footsie with me.

The RS game was typical of them. A draw being a fair result but getting a pen. after 4 minutes and then yet another with 4 minutes to go just sucks. Please don't let Carragher commentate on their games, he sucks too, almost as bad as Gary Neville.
It's going to be another season of cock-ups by the officials so we have to get used to it.

West Brom fans do sing The lord is my shepherd.

I've never heard it Darren. How does it go?

The Lord is My Shepherd, reportedly first sung at Goodison.

Rob

You would have heard it dozens of time.

But I never saw you in church when they were teaching the lyrics so you probably wouldnt recognise it.

They actually stick to the words of the Hymn

Jesus saves but Rodríguez tucks home the rebound.

Google it Rob and you will recognise it straight away

Probably heard it but it didn't register what it was.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Piu8xPKizao

All 3 new signings start!!! Fantastic news

Amazing. It used to annoy me when Moyes preferred to bed his signings in over about 2 years before they got picked!

The Gooners seem to getting their act together,Chelski have now a very strong squad,City will no doubt continue to impress and Leeds looks like they will be playing their style whoever they play,but it seems more and more footy pundits are talking about US Blues...and to me that's all matters!

Just came back to this link to ask a question, but before I do, WBA fans:

Link

I think that's very, very cool.

Now my point:

Gareth Bale is rumored to possibly go to Spurs. I'm not being funny here: Do they need to pay back the CV19 loan they poached from the government and taxpayers before dropping 30 to 50 million in the transfer market???

Levy is pond scum. I hope they nose-dive down the table. Lamentable.

Jamie, if you think WBA fans were good go on YouTube and enter Hibs fans sing ‘Sunshine on Leith ‘ at the 2016 Scottish Cup Final.
Spine tingling.

Haha. I'll check that out Ray. TY!

Ray (119), great choice Ray, absolutely brilliant the way the Hibs fans sang on and on and on, was Alan Stubbs manager of Hibs that day?

I think he was Dave, it's quite a moving piece though.

Best one I've ever seen Ray, awe inspiring, and inspirational, it reminds me of coming out of The Feyenoord stadium in 1985, with the Evertonians singing “our song - we shall not be moved - just like the team that's going to win the fucking lot” we never beat United, but the memory has never faded, in fact it still gives me shivers to this day. THATS WHAT WINNING DOES, IT CREATES JOY AND MEMORIES, and it's been way to bloody long!

Dave and Ray -

I think Stubbs was manager. I just looked it up, and Stubbs was right at the beginning of my Blue life, so I'm 99% sure it was him.

Amazing video of that Cup Championship for Hibs. Brilliant. TY Ray.

Tony - some day.