Wearyourblue

That was my take but the fashionable stance seems to be that it was 100% Tuchel's fault LOL
Up to the Gordon goal we had only one attempt on goal in 55 minutes (the Stones header wide) - we were ineffective in attack all game basically. Our 5 "chances" were in minute 33, 55, 66, 66 and 79.
Having watched the game again this morning, they were clearly better than us and we were probably lucky that they opted to kick us in the first half rather than play football as I think the margin would have been a lot wider otherwise. They are FIFA's #1 ranked international team for a reason ...

I wonder if this has happened because we tried to build his body up too quickly. He's only 18, and he has put on a lot of muscle when you look at how thin he used to be. He's so much bulkier. It reminds me of Loftus-Cheek, who funnily enough also started getting a ton of injuries once he bulked up.

Sure most proven prevention for lowering ACL injuries both in men and women are strengthening the lower body, balancing glutes, quads and hamstrings and fixing the gait. Our AI friend "Tested ACL prevention programs, such as the FIFA 11+ and PEP program, focus on neuromuscular training, reducing injury risk by up to 50% through improved strength, balance, and landing mechanics." Lower body strength, body mass relative to lower body strength and fatigue are causes. If we have shown that improving balance and body mechanics significantly improves injury reduction, its not a stretch to say having worse balance and body mechanics increases risk.
Chilwell's ACL if I recall was a contact injury, partial tear and he had a very fast recovery IIRC. Both Colwill's and Fofana's were much much worse.
Traore's an interesting player I've always wondered if his size helps him or hurts him. But he is so strong in the lower body.
The differences between men's and women's ACL injuries is interesting because a women's cycle is very significant: I know people studying this trying to figure out if the differences are due mostly to hormones, elasticity, or blood oxygen during a women's cycle. Also women footballers are known to have quad hamstring imbalances way more than men. As well women do have some extra upper body mass that can change their gait.
Conclusion: ACL tear risk in skiing in women is not constant over the menstrual cycle, being 2.4-fold more frequent in pre-ovulatory (follicular and ovulatory) than post-ovulatory phase (luteal). Oral contraception seems not to exert any protective effect.

I thought the midfield was ours, even with 10 men. James was immense, made Rice look like a West Ham level player. Enzo was ok, certainly better than Rice, and showed more personality. And, comparing Caicedo to Rice, red card or not, is undoubtedly pure madness. Rice is not that much (neither is Enzo mind you), and today he was sh*te. Long may it last.

I mean, really? Over two seasons Caicedo has carried our midfield and Rice has done f**k all, least of it today when James, not a midfielder, has been twice the midfielder tHan Rice. Why is it that Chelsea fans w**k so much over Rice, an ex wet spam and present Arsenal player, to the point of thinking that Rice is today the better player than Caicedo? What’s next, saying that he is better than Kante was? Are we mad?

Thought Santos was great, but man have to give it to Neto. He got the goal, had a shot saved to just hit the post, almost assisted Gittens, almost assited Gusto, and nice run and pass to lead to the second goal.

Not sure why you'd play him over Enzo, if nothing else the Pedro/Delap combo hasn't done well, move Enzo up to the 10 and Pedro to the 9 and play Santos over Delap

I go in the order listed A,B,C,D,E
A's just too hard to break down, and could score.
B, I'd like them better with Jorginho or Kovacic over Anelka, and Bonetti over Mendy
C, Looks like the best of the lot with the ball, but maybe the worst without it
D I'd like them better with Jorginho or Kovacic over Vialli.
C could be a whole lot better; Osgood over Hughes, Cooke over Stirling, and would prefer Matic to Mata for our Chelsea turned Man U players.

Not necessarily disagreeing, just feel like if Birmingham is an unsafe area for anyone, then they shouldn't be able to host European football. If a city can't handle everyone then at minimum a change of venue should happen. I just think it's pure cowardice on UEFA's part IMO to let this happen and opens a slippery slope.

Just disagree here, the police can say the situation is unsafe, Villa can and should say then game must be empty of all fans. Either all can attend or none.

If the match isn't safe, why should any fans be allowed to attend. The match should be played in front of an empty stadium?
If Roman was forced to sell? Shouldn't Sawiris also be forced to sell if he condones this?

Could always play behind closed walls, ie no supporters.
Villa won't like it, loss of revenue.
Heavy police escort for players coaches.

This only comes AFTER the fact that they had already been banned from attending. It may be their decision to stop selling tickets, but it wasn't their decision to ban fans from attending.

I'm conflicted on this.
I'm all for banning sets of fans from a being allowed to enter a country and attend a game because of reprehensible behaviour, but when has that ever happened in the past? I've seen and heard the worst things from football fans, but never once have I seen an entire fanbase banned from attending a game in this country.
Why now? Why are Celtic fans allowed to attend games in England when they constantly sing pro IRA songs and killing English soldiers? Shouldn't they be treated the same way? You're inviting accusations of anti-Semitism if you're not going to handle these situations equally.

To me UEFA agreeing with either of those points is defensible, has some validity and is debatable. But that should be UEFA's call
Aston Villa doing it on their own can be seen as nothing more than anti semitic, and reprehensible, and should result in a ban of European competitions for AV. The only way I wouldn't ban AV for saying no to Israeli fans is if they say no to all fans and play in an empty stadium.

To me UEFA agreeing with either of those points is defensible, has some validity and is debatable. But that should be UEFA's call
Aston Villa doing it on their own can be seen as nothing more than anti semitic, and reprehensible, and should result in a ban of European competitions for AV. The only way I wouldn't ban AV for saying no to Israeli fans is if they say no to all fans and play in an empty stadium.

To me UEFA agreeing with either of those points is defensible, has some validity and is debatable. But that should be UEFA's call
Aston Villa doing it on their own can be seen as nothing more than anti semitic, and reprehensible, and should result in a ban of European competitions for AV. The only way I wouldn't ban AV for saying no to Israeli fans is if they say no to all fans and play in an empty stadium.

To me UEFA agreeing with either of those points is defensible, has some validity and is debatable. But that should be UEFA's call
Aston Villa doing it on their own can be seen as nothing more than anti semitic, and reprehensible, and should result in a ban of European competitions for AV. The only way I wouldn't ban AV for saying no to Israeli fans is if they say no to all fans and play in an empty stadium.

Such a funny take on Sarri. Sarri opened up the game for Hazard to shine. Hazard had 44 G+A in the 3 years combined and with Sarri, he had 31. Rudiger, RLC, Hazard, and Alonso all played their best for us under Sarri, and he started the change to Kante's game that Tuchel continued that led to our CL win.

Such a funny take on Sarri. Sarri opened up the game for Hazard to shine. Hazard had 44 G+A in the 3 years combined and with Sarri, he had 31. Rudiger, RLC, Hazard, and Alonso all played their best for us under Sarri, and he started the change to Kante's game that Tuchel continued that led to our CL win.

Such a funny take on Sarri. Sarri opened up the game for Hazard to shine. Hazard had 44 G+A in the 3 years combined and with Sarri, he had 31. Rudiger, RLC, Hazard, and Alonso all played their best for us under Sarri, and he started the change to Kante's game that Tuchel continued that led to our CL win.

Such a funny take on Sarri. Sarri opened up the game for Hazard to shine. Hazard had 44 G+A in the 3 years combined and with Sarri, he had 31. Rudiger, RLC, Hazard, and Alonso all played their best for us under Sarri, and he started the change to Kante's game that Tuchel continued that led to our CL win.

You said a whole lot of nothing here.
We can only accomplish what is in front of us. Does not matter if we won the CWC due to the time Roman owned the club. We are World Champions because of this team and these current owners.

Or maybe the fact that our top striker from last year became our 3rd choice option at the Club World Cup, and maybe Maresca is better than we thought, he just didn't have enough up top to compete.

Or maybe the fact that our top striker from last year became our 3rd choice option at the Club World Cup, and maybe Maresca is better than we thought, he just didn't have enough up top to compete.