Topic: The Push Square Football (Soccer) Thread

@Anchorsam_9: I think its creative and worked. It also shows how Messi is much more of a Team Player - not a selfish goal scorer interested in 'records' and 'awards'. Personally I love watching creativity and flair in football, people trying the 'tricks' etc to get out of situations, beat players etc. In Spain though, they do see this as being 'disrespectful' - I know Neymar gets criticised a lot for his 'tricks' for this reason but I would rather see more of this.
A penalty isn't that different from a 'Free Kick' and nobody says its 'disrespectful' if you pass to another to shoot!

Capital One Cup final today, what's your prediction? I'm gonna say 2-2, with Liverpool winning on penalties if they get lucky. It's really hard to predict though - Man City have been in good form but it always seems to fluctuate, and Liverpool only seem to do well against the good teams

@Anchorsam_9: Obviously I really want LFC to win but I feel if I predict a score, bias will play a major part and if I predict a LFC win, it will almost certainly 'jinx' it. Funnily enough I don't think that predicting a city win would jinx them. I think I should put money on a city win as that would jinx it though

Honestly, I do think its a very difficult match to predict. Both teams can be devastating but both have also been inconsistent. Whilst Sturridge and Coutinho could be key for LFC, they have both started the last 2 matches and we only scored 1 despite all the chances - away at Augsburg was also played at a very slow tempo. You also feel that Aguero is more likely to take his chances (if/when he gets them) and with Mignolet in goal, you don't feel confident he will keep a clean sheet or not make a mistake. If it does go to Penalties though, Mignolet has done well in the past so could become a match winner.

Its a game that if one team is at 100% and the other isn't, that team could dominate and win. If that team at 100% is LFC though, I feel that they will need to get a few goals to get that win - because when City get a chance - and they will, they will take it but if LFC aren't at 100%, they probably won't take their chances. By that if its 1-0, City could always get an equaliser on every chance but LFC would probably need a lot more chances to get that equaliser - if that makes sense. I felt Augsburg could have knocked us out of Europe because we didn't take our chances and make our domination count and that concerns me about today too.

I think LFC need to start fast, get a few goals if they are to win. I think City if they are losing at half time will be a very different proposition in the second half and so need to be prepared and start the 2nd like the first. I think the first goal after half time could prove decisive too - more so than any first half goal(s). Obviously I hope these go to the Reds.

Man City to win

I want to say Liverpool with the way Man City have been playing but I really don't like the idea of Lucas at CB marking Aguero.....

One all goes to penos. Man City win.

My prediction was spot on

That was a really close game, devastated that we lost. Mignolet was excellent all match and in the shootout, but ultimately cost us by letting in a soft goal. Lucas was surprisingly excellent at CB, probably one of his best performances in a Liverpool shirt in a while, but our midfield was pretty much average - Firmino especially, considering he was offside pretty much the entire game. Coutinho, Milner, and Origi were great, but Sturridge was pretty much useless, since he was never in the box and we had pretty much nobody to cross/pass to. The shootout was awful, though - Can's penalty was the only good one, while the rest were crap, especially Coutinho's. Mignolet dived the right way in every penalty, but all of their's were so well-hit that it would be impossible to save any. Why Milner didn't take one was beyond me.

Overall, really close match - Mignolet kept us in it, but at the same time costing us it.

EDIT: Oh, and the refereeing was beyond awful yesterday, for both sides. Moreno's tackle on Aguero should've been a penalty, and I have no idea who Fernando had to kill before he was sent off. Classic lenient cup final refereeing

The goal keeper for City did well it was nice the manager kept faith in him. Benteke is another example of a player who was bought at an exagerated price and has failed to peform. Sometimes a player looks good because he is in a aston villa team that was average. He must know his Anfield career is over when he was not brought on as a sub yesterday.

@iDangerMouse_ Have a great time in London mate, we will miss you tomorrow.

Or is the Derby at the weekend?

Surprised by people saying the cup was close to be honest. I thought City played in second gear and Sterling should have buried Liverpool really. I guess the fact it went to pens means that it was close, though.

I didn't think it was a great game to be honest, and losing on pens is always cruel.

Arsenal lack that killer instinct. Plus they do not have a good enough striker its always been a shame that the manager seemed to dislike spending money on established players he nearly always went for youth. If he had bought that 50-70 million pound striker it could have been a whole different story.

@iDangerMouse_: Your last post jinked spurs. Haha.

I still think Tottenham can win it though.

Leicesters last 3 games of the run in are tough. I reckon they only need 9 points to definitely have champions league footy. Mad.

It would be a truly crazy season if Leicester won the premiere league and Westham qualified for the Champions League.

Leicester are 11 points clear for a champions league place with only 27 points to play for. Insane. If Leicester can manage a win on Monday against Newcastle they only need another 6 points to secure champions league due to competing teams playing each other below them.

My team Everton put Chelsea out yesterday too, great end to the game. Chelsea looked average, I think Abramovich has to rebuild - that team wont compete next year its not good enough. Hopefully for Everton that's the catalyst to kick on, our squad is great but we are so inconsistent. Coleman looks a shadow of the player 2 years ago, but Baines is back (finally) Lukaku is firing and Barkley has added some end product to his game.

That was an absolute screamer from Lukaku - I'm not a fan of Chelsea at all, so it was good to see them put down like that.

Liverpool's game against United at old Trafford next Thursday is gonna be huge. The reverse fixture was a really good one for us - the best thing is that we denied United the away goal and kept a clean sheet. I don't want to jinx anything, but our defence has improved over the last couple weeks (Sakho especially) and our midfield, especially Can, did a really good job of controlling the tempo. The fact that we only need to score 1 on Thursday for United needing to score 4 is a good feeling, but this match is far from over. United are very hard to beat at Old Trafford.

@Anchorsam_9: You're guaranteed to go through. There's no way we won't let one in.

Agree with you on Chelsea by the way. Would love to have Lukaku at Old Trafford to be honest. I think him and Martial could form an amazing striking partnership.

Lukaku was class yesterday show why we paid 28 million for him. When Stones came on I had a sense of dread even though it was near the end of the game. I would be happy for him to go in the summer we are a better side without him. Use the money to build up the squad in other areas. Funo is a great player but we will need another defender to come in because Jags will not be around forever. We have got some good young defenders but they will need a few more years to mature. Galloway could become a central defender I think he will be more suited to that role. Our youngsters are doing well out on loan. Our side will only get stronger over the next few years. Glad Robles has kept his place in the side he deserves it.

Glad to see Benitez back in the Premiere League I like him as a person and manager. I think he can turn Newcastle around.