Sportsbet.io's English Premier League Football Pool Discussion Thread

[DireWolfM14]

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Turning out as I suspected, high scoring and even though LFC is winning the possession game, Arsenal seems more dominant when they have the ball.  That was a brilliant start for Martinelli, good to see him active in the scoring.  Jesus gave me quite a scare seeing him motionless on the ground.  When I saw the replay I was afraid he may have torn his ACL, the way he came down on his right foot to avoid stepping on Odegaard was pretty awkward.

So much football excitement today, including the American kind.  That was an amazing game held at Tottenham's stadium.

ETA: For the second week in a row Arsenal give me an exact prediction!  That was an amazing match!

[swogerino]

ETA: For the second week in a row Arsenal give me an exact prediction!  That was an amazing match!

For me it was a close one as I had it 2-1 because in all honesty I was not expecting that much a win of Arsenal tonight but they showed that they are a serious title contender this year as they won with goals against Liverpool.This week has been one of the best for people who use to bet regularly on the Premier League as all the games ended like predicted,at least the strong teams all won their games.

It remains Manchester United to have a win in the game that starts after a couple of minutes but against Everton it surely will be difficult considering the recent results of Everton which I consider somewhat good.

[Trofo]

- TAA had a problem with Martinelli, and the media thinks he is terrible. They're wrong. Yes, his mistakes have directly lead to 2 goals already this season, but his aggression up the pitch: chances created, stealing possessions, and even shots on goal are at his highest in any season so far.

TAA has become serious problem for Liverpool, he was never much of a defender but his attacking returns more than made up for it. Also as you pointed out when other players around him are in top form they cover most of those mistakes and they aren't that obvious then. This season whole defense plays on a lower level and TAA mistakes are what pushes them over the limit. Every manager knows that and it will just get harder and harder for TAA.

Too make things even worse it seems clear to me that he isn't even interested in defending. At this point Klopp has to have a serious conversation with him and probably adjust the formation in a way that somebody else covers RB position when defending and play TAA as a winger.

I am not really a supporter of what Southgate is doing for national team but not calling TAA has been a good decision. James is miles in front when defending and just maybe a little weaker when attacking.

[Harkorede]

- TAA had a problem with Martinelli, and the media thinks he is terrible. They're wrong. Yes, his mistakes have directly lead to 2 goals already this season, but his aggression up the pitch: chances created, stealing possessions, and even shots on goal are at his highest in any season so far.

TAA has become serious problem for Liverpool, he was never much of a defender but his attacking returns more than made up for it. Also as you pointed out when other players around him are in top form they cover most of those mistakes and they aren't that obvious then. This season whole defense plays on a lower level and TAA mistakes are what pushes them over the limit. Every manager knows that and it will just get harder and harder for TAA.

Too make things even worse it seems clear to me that he isn't even interested in defending. At this point Klopp has to have a serious conversation with him and probably adjust the formation in a way that somebody else covers RB position when defending and play TAA as a winger.

I am not really a supporter of what Southgate is doing for national team but not calling TAA has been a good decision. James is miles in front when defending and just maybe a little weaker when attacking.

I'm really finding it hard to ever place any blame whatsoever on TAA because he was used for his attacking abilities, the whole team is shit and TAA need to be absloved of every form of frailty, he's probably the third best attacking player after Diaz and Firmino, for a team that's got the almighty Salah who's beem nothing but an absolute burden to the team, the fact that he's playing on the same flank as TAA makes TAA even more vulnerable imo. I'd agree TAA is not at his best, but we must all agree that so is Salah, if yes then what's the absolute point of having both players on the field at the same time ? because that means in attack you have only one player TAA on that flank, and in defense you have next to zero player on that flank, I'd rather Klopp deviate a lot from the 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 for the time being, he'd be better with off with a 3-4-3, 3-5-2 where there is at least 5 players (4 minus TAA) when defending and an extra body in attack... The typical 4-4-3 and 4-2-3-1 is becoming more obselete except if you've got wing backs with high defensive awareness and your wide attacking players aren't much of a defensive burden like Salah and TAA having been.

[slaman29]

Congratulations to Arsenal fans for finally proving they can beat a top side, with Spurs and now Liverpool conquered, the only things left is to beat Chelsea and City to prove you are title contenders.

Amazing match, and I even managed to watch until 2-2, I thought it was going to be even more!

Don't worry LFC_Bitcoin and buwaytress and all Liverpool supporters. It was time to come down for a little while, just relax and build. I know how it feels like

[Trofo]

- TAA had a problem with Martinelli, and the media thinks he is terrible. They're wrong. Yes, his mistakes have directly lead to 2 goals already this season, but his aggression up the pitch: chances created, stealing possessions, and even shots on goal are at his highest in any season so far.

TAA has become serious problem for Liverpool, he was never much of a defender but his attacking returns more than made up for it. Also as you pointed out when other players around him are in top form they cover most of those mistakes and they aren't that obvious then. This season whole defense plays on a lower level and TAA mistakes are what pushes them over the limit. Every manager knows that and it will just get harder and harder for TAA.

Too make things even worse it seems clear to me that he isn't even interested in defending. At this point Klopp has to have a serious conversation with him and probably adjust the formation in a way that somebody else covers RB position when defending and play TAA as a winger.

I am not really a supporter of what Southgate is doing for national team but not calling TAA has been a good decision. James is miles in front when defending and just maybe a little weaker when attacking.

I'm really finding it hard to ever place any blame whatsoever on TAA because he was used for his attacking abilities, the whole team is shit and TAA need to be absloved of every form of frailty, he's probably the third best attacking player after Diaz and Firmino, for a team that's got the almighty Salah who's beem nothing but an absolute burden to the team, the fact that he's playing on the same flank as TAA makes TAA even more vulnerable imo. I'd agree TAA is not at his best, but we must all agree that so is Salah, if yes then what's the absolute point of having both players on the field at the same time ? because that means in attack you have only one player TAA on that flank, and in defense you have next to zero player on that flank, I'd rather Klopp deviate a lot from the 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 for the time being, he'd be better with off with a 3-4-3, 3-5-2 where there is at least 5 players (4 minus TAA) when defending and an extra body in attack... The typical 4-4-3 and 4-2-3-1 is becoming more obselete except if you've got wing backs with high defensive awareness and your wide attacking players aren't much of a defensive burden like Salah and TAA having been.

That is my point as well, I am not blaming him, this is more on Klopp then on him. TAA has always been poor in defense but his team managed to hide that. Now they can't and it is on Klopp to find the way to use his attacking prowess without sacrificing the defense as much. When I say poor I mean it only compared to the very best full backs in the world and he is the best full back if you take into account just the attacking part of the game.

He needs to be made a winger or played as RWB in 5 man defense.

[swogerino]

Did anyone else notice that almost all games except Bournemouth come as expected in the pool and many people including me moved up several places.This shows that the pool is really doing well and that we should never lose hope because a single round like this one while competing with more than 60 persons can move you from 15-25 positions up in a single round.

The good news is we will have a lot of Premier League action during October,including many midweek games so now is the time to hopefully do better in the pool and remember that there are much more than 10 winning positions this time.

[buwaytress]

I am not really a supporter of what Southgate is doing for national team but not calling TAA has been a good decision. James is miles in front when defending and just maybe a little weaker when attacking.

When your team is having problems with creativity is when you need to rework your formation and talent. That makes TAA and Maddison a painful exclusion (he sees their team's failures rather than their individual worth, this is what I don't get), which I didn't agree with. He already rebuilt the team to be strong defensively, that's great, now take some risks at least near the end of the game and try to score.

I totally agree it's about formation and style, but I wouldn't blame Klopp either for Trent's case, I blame myopic viewpoints. We won titles and cups, and played some of the best football in my memory, and Trent had a huge part in that -- it's just a different style, which works when your CBs are awesome, which England squad generally I would say has no issue.

I honestly cannot understand why TAA is getting all the bad press when he's improved in what he's been tasked to do, and generally maintained same defensive frailties he's always had. I guess because he's English and you don't get juice picking on VVD?

He needs to be made a winger or played as RWB in 5 man defense.

He's definitely been discussed to move into that or midfield yeah, given his creativity and accuracy with crossing. Everything about his training actually fits into that mould.

In any case, yeah, give him a rest, let Milner play there even... as long as we continue to get creativity from the middle, because without Trent, Thiago and Elliott will really need to provide better.

[cryptofrka]

Damn, I forgot to put my predictions in for Friday and Saturday once again. That happened twice already in 8 rounds.

Regarding Liverpool - it is not just Trent. He's horrible, don't get me wrong - but Dijk has been horrible since the start and Matip was worse than Trent yesterday. Trent is an easy target because he was never good at defending, but it's a team effort.

We lack the pressing game, and our midfielders are used to an extra man there - we started with 2 + Jota again yesterday. It is all to accomodate Nunez, who I hope won't prove to be the new Andy Carroll. He's on a good way though.

[KTChampions]

Damn, I forgot to put my predictions in for Friday and Saturday once again. That happened twice already in 8 rounds.
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That is why I make my predictions in advance (for all three pools), but then I don’t even remember what results I predicted and watching the games I don’t know what result I need to worry about 

By the way, does anyone have any ideas about the Liverpool vs City game on Sunday? I don’t want to bet on City because it will be a complete disaster for Liverpool, but I don’t really believe in a positive outcome either.

[swogerino]

Damn, I forgot to put my predictions in for Friday and Saturday once again. That happened twice already in 8 rounds.
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That is why I make my predictions in advance (for all three pools), but then I don’t even remember what results I predicted and watching the games I don’t know what result I need to worry about 

By the way, does anyone have any ideas about the Liverpool vs City game on Sunday? I don’t want to bet on City because it will be a complete disaster for Liverpool, but I don’t really believe in a positive outcome either.

Sunday is far away,today is Monday and we have the last game of the actual round tonight.I would not worry much for Sunday games from now but since you are asking if you saw Liverpool in yesterday game you probably should not have difficulties to guess that in 99.99% of the cases Liverpool is going to lose that game and only a miracle can make them draw because I don't believe in a miracle of winning so far.Liverpool is completely out of the title fight and the maximum they can do is to limit the damage by winning with small teams and try to get a place in the Champions League for next year and I am saying this in all honesty as a Liverpool fan.

[Welsh]

I don't know what's worse at the moment, Liverpool's results or my predictions. They've both been incredibly dire. I started off the season okay, not terrible, but it has been all down hill from there. Liverpool play Manchester City next, so I think that's probably a easy prediction for most users. Not sure, if they just chance it, and see if Liverpool can get something out of the game, despite how big of a miracle that would be required. At least, that's what it feels like at the moment.

Also, Haaland has been absolutely insane. Even when he isn't playing great or had minimal touches he still manages to find the back of the net. I suspect players will adjust to his play style eventually, but at the moment he's having a field day.

[Harkorede]

I don't know what's worse at the moment, Liverpool's results or my predictions. They've both been incredibly dire. I started off the season okay, not terrible, but it has been all down hill from there. Liverpool play Manchester City next, so I think that's probably a easy prediction for most users. Not sure, if they just chance it, and see if Liverpool can get something out of the game, despite how big of a miracle that would be required. At least, that's what it feels like at the moment.

Also, Haaland has been absolutely insane. Even when he isn't playing great or had minimal touches he still manages to find the back of the net. I suspect players will adjust to his play style eventually, but at the moment he's having a field day.

I don't think Haaland will be slowing down soon, and the fact is that he doesn't need to do too much in the current City setup, he just needs to conserve his energy for those 4-5 attempts he'd get every game, and it will take while before teams will be able to adjust to his style because of the minimal involvements he often gets in the plays, and focusing on him might be costly to when you the likes of Foden and De Bruyne lurking around.


It's likely going to be a vastly one sided prediction in the pool, I guess. However, Liverpool just seem to always find away with City, sometimes it's always due to Guardiola trying to tweak the team too much, or playing a formation that only him probably have an explanation too. I'll likely go with Man City to win, but I don't think it's going to be a landslide victory for them.

[buwaytress]

Don't care. Putting whatever money left I can spare on Liverpool v City. 4/1. This was better odds than Community Shield.

It does reflect the sad state of affairs with the Reds. But we're playing at home and Anfield will take us over the line.

I don't know what's worse at the moment, Liverpool's results or my predictions. They've both been incredibly dire. I started off the season okay, not terrible, but it has been all down hill from there. Liverpool play Manchester City next, so I think that's probably a easy prediction for most users. Not sure, if they just chance it, and see if Liverpool can get something out of the game, despite how big of a miracle that would be required. At least, that's what it feels like at the moment.

Also, Haaland has been absolutely insane. Even when he isn't playing great or had minimal touches he still manages to find the back of the net. I suspect players will adjust to his play style eventually, but at the moment he's having a field day.

I know which are worse. I started off season at bottom of pool and am more or less still there.

I looked up our Roy Hodgson season, and we were at 10 games only with 6 points, so... yeah, we are at our worst since Klopp took over, but at least we're actually doing alright in Champions League itself -- while playing well, well below what should be our average.

What hurts me most is that we were the hungry wolves, chasing down everything in packs, mowing down opponents, biting back and running harder than everyone else.

We're still doing that with about a third of the team but it's just not working out...

[cryptofrka]

Agreed, the odds on Liverpool's win vs City offer great value. Still - I feel I'll skip it.

We have so many issues currently - not just with our bad performances, but also with injuries. If Trent and Diaz are unavailable, our first 11 will be decent but we'll be without options from the bench.

City is the in-form team with a striker hunting records. I hope we'll match them on the day, but I would not put my money on it.

[swogerino]

So Villa could not grab a victory against one of the opponents that are the easiest regarding their ranking in the table together with Leicester.I think Nottingham is the team that took one point yesterday while Villa lost 2 points in yesterday game.They,Villa equalized early and kept attacking but could not finalize another goal.In the pool I needed so much this 1-2 that I had predicted to end a fantastic round for me but I am still happy.

We are going to have a lot of action in the coming week in Premier League both in midweek games and both in weekend.

[Welsh]

Don't care. Putting whatever money left I can spare on Liverpool v City. 4/1. This was better odds than Community Shield.

It does reflect the sad state of affairs with the Reds. But we're playing at home and Anfield will take us over the line.

Spoken like a true red. I'll never bet against Liverpool that's for sure. I did predict a draw the other day with the Arsenal game, that nearly came in. I'll be betting on a win for Liverpool, and nothing less on the weekend. My predictions themselves in the pool might be a little different. However, since I'm sliding down the leaderboard every week, I might as well chance it since most in the pool will be predicting a high scoring win for City.

I know which are worse. I started off season at bottom of pool and am more or less still there.

I looked up our Roy Hodgson season, and we were at 10 games only with 6 points, so... yeah, we are at our worst since Klopp took over, but at least we're actually doing alright in Champions League itself -- while playing well, well below what should be our average.

What hurts me most is that we were the hungry wolves, chasing down everything in packs, mowing down opponents, biting back and running harder than everyone else.

We're still doing that with about a third of the team but it's just not working out...

I'm normally pretty decent with predicting results, but this season is something else. I'm finding teams like Wolves, and West Ham who have been formidable over the last few seasons, absolutely awful as of recent. Same goes with Liverpool, and my loyalty to Liverpool has really impacted my scoring since they've basically lost or drawn every single bloody game.

At the end of the day, I love Klopp, and even if we had three seasons of this I wouldn't want him to leave. He did the impossible, and turned that side into a winning team. Alison scored a bloody header for Christ sake. So, I won't stop supporting the boys, Diaz is a massive loss, but I think the Trent injury might benefit us in the short term. Obviously, Trent is world class, but at the moment he's having a rough time. Gomez could potentially build some confidence in that position, and steady our defense a little.

Time will tell.

[Trofo]

Agreed, the odds on Liverpool's win vs City offer great value. Still - I feel I'll skip it.

We have so many issues currently - not just with our bad performances, but also with injuries. If Trent and Diaz are unavailable, our first 11 will be decent but we'll be without options from the bench.

City is the in-form team with a striker hunting records. I hope we'll match them on the day, but I would not put my money on it.

Seems like Diaz could be out for long time, when you see somebody with braces that big over the knee, I am thinking not gonna see him until after WC.

Trent should be able to play but maybe Liverpool would be better off without him. Foden on that side and Haaland in the middle will have a free rain and I don't see how Liverpool can shut down City attack. Maybe they can win with some kind of freak result like 4:3 but I am sure City is scoring a couple of times.

[Welsh]

Seems like Diaz could be out for long time, when you see somebody with braces that big over the knee, I am thinking not gonna see him until after WC.

Trent should be able to play but maybe Liverpool would be better off without him. Foden on that side and Haaland in the middle will have a free rain and I don't see how Liverpool can shut down City attack. Maybe they can win with some kind of freak result like 4:3 but I am sure City is scoring a couple of times.

Yeah, Diaz is probably out for a while. I'm hoping it was more of a precaution. We should be due some news though. Likely would've had the scans now, and determined the treatment plan.

What I will say is Liverpool do tend to step up against City. Alright, we're abysmal, and we're now facing a injury crisis once again. However, if anything is going to make us step up it'll be City. Who knows, it might be the complacency check we need, and we start playing some real football after. Call me a delusional Liverpool fan if you want, you might be right .

[cryptofrka]

It has been reported already - TAA out for 2-3 weeks, Diaz until after the WC.
Matip will miss the game vs City too - he's out for 2-3 weeks as well. We'll be really thin at the back - potentially even Milner having to fill the gap there at some point.

City is fast and direct and we'll defend them with Konate and Gomez. Not the worst thing in the world - but still something to be aware of if you're putting some money in it.