2007-08 EPL Thread

[Jobu]

Mourinho is out at Chelsea.

Don't click the link if you don't want to know about CL results.

My first reaction is, "HAHAHA, Suck it Chelsea!!"

My second reaction is where is he gonna go? Who are they gonna get to replace him?

My third reaction after awhile is a touch of sadness. He really was a very good coach, and brought a renaissance of form in several of his players. It will be bad for the Premiership to lose him, and watch his protege's potentially suffer from it.

Maybe he'll coach Portugal and Scolari and come coach England?

[rk47]

i think the correct reaction is to bet on Man United to kick Chelsea's ass over the weekend.

[lamaros]

i think the correct reaction is to bet on Man United to kick Chelsea's ass over the weekend.

You're forgetting that teams typically bounce back to form under a new coach.

Not this time though, I hope.

[rk47]

true. but i had a funny exchange with a friend of mine who is crazy about football but clueless about world affairs over sms.

'wow mourinho's gone, i wonder who the fuck is the new coach'

'vladimir putin  :-D '

'who the hell is that'

'it's the russian prime minister ffs'

' omg he'll surely pick shevchenko to start everytime then'

[Hoax]

Wow, I'm still not going to believe its true that is so fucking crazy.

I just pray they aren't going to grab Juan Deramos or w/e the name of Sevilla's coach is and ruin his life.

Terrible call, I hope he goes back to Porto they have quality enough players to do better.  Or if he winds up coaching the Portuguese or Spanish national teams that'd be awesome as well.

[eldaec]

Hilarious.

You know, this shit is exactly why Liverpool, Arsenal, and Buccaneers fans never feel their position at the top of the game is threatened.

Nearly-big-3 clubs come and go all the time, and many outspend the big 3 (Spurs, Newcastle, Leeds, Blackburn, have all gone through these phases along with Chelsea over the last decade or so), but give them a little success and they always go and commit an act of such abject stupidity that I end up laughing so hard milk comes out of my nose.

See also:

Newcastle managers having nervous breakdowns, then the club going through 16 managers inside of 8 weeks.
Leeds betting the business on finishing in the top 2 every single year.
Spurs firing Martin Jol for no fucking reason besides the fact that keeping your manager would be too easy. (oops, that's the future)
Freddy Shepard.

etc etc.

[HaemishM]

Mourinho is out at Chelsea.

Don't click the link if you don't want to know about CL results.

Wahooo! Fuck that douchebag. Well, both him and Abramovich. A gaggle of assholes, and they turned everyone they recruited to Chelsea into assholes as well. If this means that every whistle doesn't bring 10 Chelsea players glommed onto the ref's ass, this is a good thing.

EDIT: I still think Chelsea will beat Man. U. this weekend. United seems in a bit of disarray at the moment.

[rk47]

Hilarious.

You know, this shit is exactly why Liverpool, Arsenal, and Buccaneers fans never feel their position at the top of the game is threatened.

Nearly-big-3 clubs come and go all the time, and many outspend the big 3 (Spurs, Newcastle, Leeds, Blackburn, have all gone through these phases along with Chelsea over the last decade or so), but give them a little success and they always go and commit an act of such abject stupidity that I end up laughing so hard milk comes out of my nose.

See also:

Newcastle managers having nervous breakdowns, then the club going through 16 managers inside of 8 weeks.
Leeds betting the business on finishing in the top 2 every single year.
Spurs firing Martin Jol for no fucking reason besides the fact that keeping your manager would be too easy. (oops, that's the future)
Freddy Shepard.

etc etc.

I agree totally with your statement, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool have one thing in common, they stayed faithful to their managers. Liverpool's Gerrard Houllier left on his own even then he left a team with a solid defense albeit with a predictable attack. Stability is key to build strength season after season. The other clubs seems to be in a hurry to achieve success that they forgot what made the big 3 up there in the first place. Newcastle is very guilty of that, and it appears Spurs are suffering from the same thing this season.

[sigil]

I wouldn't be so quick to throw Aresenal into that mix. Their troubles are coming.

[lamaros]

I wouldn't be so quick to throw Aresenal into that mix. Their troubles are coming.

Hard to say. If they do get taken over I think it'll be more along the lines of Man U than City or Chelsea. And as Utd showed under Ferguson, if you have the manager there and give him support then the 'troubles' of such a changeover can be highly imagined.

EDIT: I still think Chelsea will beat Man. U. this weekend. United seems in a bit of disarray at the moment.

Man Utd is misfiring in attack. This is not a fundamental problem and will change. To call it disarray is silly.

Meanwhile Liverpool drew in the champ league (it's friday here now - spoiler time is gone) and United got another 1-0 victory, away. If they can keep grinding out these victories in the hard times then when they get a little more sorted it's going to be fun for the whole family.

Chelsea have made that duffer they put in to police Mourinho the new coach. Abramovich is clearly getting too many fingers in the day-to-day pie and may well ruin it.

But, and this is a pretty big but when you try to concieve the long term goals, as the Rosenburg game showed despite Mourinho's success they havn't been able to build up the kind of support base they wanted. Abramovich clearly thinks that attacking football is the only way to do it. To compete with Real and Utd on the world stage they have to do more - they don't have the kind of support there at home that clubs like Liverpool and Newcastle can rely on.

I will be interested to see who they bring in an coach. If it's someone like Capello then I'll cede any rational defense of this sacking.

[HaemishM]

Liverpool may be in for a funk soon. Or I should say for this current funk to continue. Both Alonso and Agger are going to be out for a month or more with busted feet. Which means Hyppia in central defense getting run rings around him. I'm not too concerned for the midfield defense, since Mascherano and Sissoko can handle that, but those front guys are really going to miss Alonso's service.

I think United are in disarray. The injuries and suspensions have shown they are not nearly as deep as one would expect a title-contending side to be. Tevez will get better, but it won't be against a side like Chelsea. I just hope Liverpool gets a crack at United before Rooney gets back.

[Hoax]

This season should be interesting though it doesn't look good that both Everton and Blackburn couldn't do dick with their UEFA ties.

I sort of hope that BB gets knocked out now so they can focus their efforts more and avoid the fucking giant waste of games that are UEFA group stage.

[rk47]

Liverpool may be in for a funk soon. Or I should say for this current funk to continue. Both Alonso and Agger are going to be out for a month or more with busted feet. Which means Hyppia in central defense getting run rings around him. I'm not too concerned for the midfield defense, since Mascherano and Sissoko can handle that, but those front guys are really going to miss Alonso's service.

Which is why Rafa tried to poach Man Utd's defender. Fergie knew and stopped him 
Edit: Postmatch

Liverpool held to a draw. Yawn. Arsenal boot-stomping Derby "We aint scared of the Big Clubs" County. I think Newcastle deserve a smack on their face for losing against Derby last week.

[lamaros]

I'm going to enjoy it when Liverpool fails yet again this season. I've tried to be nice about it, but all the crap talking I've heard from their various fans (not just Haem) at even the slightest sign they're doing ok, and the arrogance of Benitez, has just shitted me up the wall.

Meanwhile Arsenal continue on their merry way as I expected.

If Utd beat Chelsea later tonight then we might be moving to a 3 horse race earlier in the season than expected.

If anything it looks like the biggest surprise so far is that West Ham has actually managed to shrug off last season and play like the team their list suggests they are capable. I still don't think they'll be able to keep it up like Blackburn and Everton have in the past seasons (Curbishly has a history of playing in bursts) but if they do then we might see them in Tottenham's place and Spurs in mid table instead.

City will fall fast.

[lamaros]

I think United are in disarray. The injuries and suspensions have shown they are not nearly as deep as one would expect a title-contending side to be. Tevez will get better, but it won't be against a side like Chelsea. I just hope Liverpool gets a crack at United before Rooney gets back.

This point stands as far as strikers are concerned. Everywhere else on the pitch? Hello? Liverpool has nowhere near the depth of the Utd squad.

Look at the midfield options... Giggs, Scholes, Hargraves, Carrick, Ronaldo, Nani, Andserson, Eagles, (Park), (Fletcher)

Yes Utd needs another striker, preferably one in the Saha mold, but to say they are in "disarray" is just stupid.

[eldaec]

Look at the midfield options... Giggs, Scholes, Hargraves, Carrick, Ronaldo, Nani, Andserson, Eagles, (Park), (Fletcher)

Yes Utd needs another striker, preferably one in the Saha mold, but to say they are in "disarray" is just stupid.

I agree that Man U aren't in disarray or anything, but you are being way too positive about that midfield.

Top class plyers on that list:

Giggs (If rather decrepit and past best)
Scholes (ditto)
Hargreaves
Ronaldo

That's it.

Carrick: Not complete shit, but not actually done nothing. Anywhere. Ever.
Nani, Anderson: Look ok, but Man U have clearly overpaid, and they will need several months to get good.

I'm not even going to discuss the others in any serious way.

I'd much rather have LFC's midfield.

Gerrard
Pennant
Babel
Alonso
Mascherano

...are genuine international class without any real reservations. Then in the Carrick/Nani equivalent range you get...

Sissoko
Kewell
Levia (I'm surprised he hasn't played more than half a competitive match, he's looked great whenever he's on the pitch)
Benayoun


Liverpool have a lack of cover in defence, and still have problems with strikers not called Torres, but drawing attention to the midfield as an example of inadequate depth is not a great argument to make.

[Hoax]

I'm still smugly saying I like the way Arsenal plays football more then anyone else in the EPL BY FAR.  Finally they seem to be netting goals from their wonderfully creative and flair-filled play.  Also Cesc has put me top the table in the fantasy league so, go me and shit.

United will figure it out, or just be the Chelsea of this year, winning a bunch of ugly 1-0 games.  They have too much talent to not do well and they play with confidence.  Liverpool often look lost, Rafa is nowhere near the manager SAF is and the culture at Liverpool just doesn't seem to be on par with the other three now that Arsenal is resurgent.  Heaven forbid that that stupid fucker RVP ever starts playing to his potential (is it wrong I hate all dutch players after the mistreatment of Kluevert? -no idea on spelling).

The only thing that could derail Utd would be Ronaldo getting injured or getting fed up with his teammates and deciding to offer less then 100%.  As long as he's at his best and Clichy and him are running at people they will create opportunities.  Also I think Tevez will find form come winter.  Here's hoping we see Tevez & Saha up front and Rooney's stupid ass on the bench.

[lamaros]

Look at the midfield options... Giggs, Scholes, Hargraves, Carrick, Ronaldo, Nani, Andserson, Eagles, (Park), (Fletcher)

Yes Utd needs another striker, preferably one in the Saha mold, but to say they are in "disarray" is just stupid.

I agree that Man U aren't in disarray or anything, but you are being way too positive about that midfield.

Top class plyers on that list:

Giggs (If rather decrepit and past best)
Scholes (ditto)
Hargreaves
Ronaldo

That's it.

Carrick: Not complete shit, but not actually done nothing. Anywhere. Ever.
Nani, Anderson: Look ok, but Man U have clearly overpaid, and they will need several months to get good.

I'm not even going to discuss the others in any serious way.

I'd much rather have LFC's midfield.

Gerrard
Pennant
Babel
Alonso
Mascherano

...are genuine international class without any real reservations. Then in the Carrick/Nani equivalent range you get...

Sissoko
Kewell
Levia (I'm surprised he hasn't played more than half a competitive match, he's looked great whenever he's on the pitch)
Benayoun


Liverpool have a lack of cover in defence, and still have problems with strikers not called Torres, but drawing attention to the midfield as an example of inadequate depth is not a great argument to make.

First, the ones you left out:

Park is injured but is a decent player when he's in.
Carrick is quality but needs consistency. Hopefully it will come.
Nani has showed a whole heap of promise and will only get better.

Fletcher is serviceable but nothing special I agree.
Eagles I've hardly seen play but he looks like a tosser with that haircut.
Ansderson will also take a while to judge to potential.

Meanwhile at liverpool:

Gerrard is as good, or better, than Ronaldo. No question.
Alonso is genuine quality, but all he has going for himself compared to Scholes is age. Scholes is a better player on his day.
Pennant. Don't make me laugh. He tries had but he has serious issues. To compare him to Giggs is insulting.
Babel looks like he could be really good. But he has to sustain it first. He's just come in so there's no reason one should get excited so soon - no more than they should about Nani.
Mascherano is not better than Hargreaves

Sissoko - Sometimes great, sometimes meh.
Kewell - I love Kewell but he's always injured. Until that changes he cant be counted.
Levia - Yawn. Lets talk about players who'd played.
Benayoun - Nothing special so far.

The only thing Utd have been missing on that area of the park is a strong holding player, this was shown by AC Milan last year when they got bullied around, and in Hargreaves they now have that. Otherwise the midfield is very very strong. Even discounting Nani, who is very frustrating atm but has oodles of skill, in Ronaldo and Giggs Utd still have two of the best wingers in the game. Pennant is not a quality player.

Meanwhile in defence, Brown, O'Shea, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Siilvestre, Evra... Utd have more quality and depth there.

Like I said, they just need another non Tevez/Rooney-ish striker.

Anyway:

Villa wins, annoying. Newcastle bounce back against the hammers and Utd get the result with Tevez on the board. Saha scores another. Pompey pops up with another good result. Pity Kanu missed that penalty the other week.

Spurs can't get over Bolton. How much longer can Jol last? Jol out before the new year and Berbatov to Utd, please.

Edit: Pity my fantasy league doesn't count assists, N'Zogbia had another good weekend.

[Luxor]

Mourinho is out at Chelsea.

Don't click the link if you don't want to know about CL results.

My first reaction is, "HAHAHA, Suck it Chelsea!!"

My second reaction is where is he gonna go? Who are they gonna get to replace him?

My third reaction after awhile is a touch of sadness. He really was a very good coach, and brought a renaissance of form in several of his players. It will be bad for the Premiership to lose him, and watch his protege's potentially suffer from it.

Maybe he'll coach Portugal and Scolari and come coach England?

A couple of interesting articles regarding Mourinho in the weekend papers, it looks like Abramowhotsit will be pulling the strings a bit more blatantly under the new coach.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,,2175208,00.html

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2175101,00.html

[Simond]

It is (almost*) always amusing when a chairman decides that he can do a better job at managing a team than the professionals he hired to do it for him.


*Disclaimer: Only when it's happening to some other team. ;)

[HaemishM]

Look at the midfield options... Giggs, Scholes, Hargraves, Carrick, Ronaldo, Nani, Andserson, Eagles, (Park), (Fletcher)

All of which means shit if those guys don't actually play. And they haven't been. How many games has Hargreaves gotten? Anderson? Both have been used so sparingly, it's no surprise that the midfield lacks chemistry. And they seriously lack chemistry this year, even with Ronaldo out there. Nani can be quality, but again, he's not getting the playing time. Ferguson has played people like Eagles, Park and Fletcher OVER Carrick, Hargreaves and Nani and I can't fathom why. None of those 3 are as good as any of the Liverpool midfielders.

Which is exactly the problem Liverpool is having (or was before the injuries), only they are having the problems up front because Rafa can't stand to not fix what ain't broke. I watched both the Liverpool and Man U games this weekend. Liverpool should have had Torres on from the off, and I can't think of one good goddamn reason he wasn't. As the announcers said, you aren't saving him for Reading in the Carling Cup. So why is he on the fucking subs bench? Kuyt and Torres have shown great chemistry, if you are going to start Voronin, then start Crouch as well. Kuyt and Voronin are just too similar.

Whereas with Man. U. they put out a side that wasn't their best but they at least won their game. I think if Mikel hadn't have been sent off, that would have been a draw. The sending off was ridiculous, though. I am happy to see Chelsea floundering and I'm becoming convinced they will be the ones to drop out of the top 4 and not Arsenal. Somehow, Arsenal's just taking care of business like they should be. Chelsea lost that game because of their defense. I expect them to keep dropping points because Abramovich is going to insist on Schvechenko being out there.

Arsenal may just run away with it, and I totally can't see how. I expected them to have big time trouble scoring goals, but they have been tearing it up. So that shows what I know about football. 

[Hoax]

Honestly I like Arsenal this year.  Lehman is a crazy bastage but they play the best football in England and have only gotten younger, faster and more talented over the last two years from where I'm sitting.

*cough* I pwn *endcough*

They play with the flair Man Utd had last year.  Their problem is that they dont have anyone who can really handle the "stuck in" mentality of many English teams.  There is a reason Wenger was so unhappy after the Rovers game, that style of play is dangerous to his team both mentally and physically.  They will not win the title I'm afraid because they dont have a super deep team and I expect teams to start tackling them harder and harder as the year goes on esp considering the pathetic job most EPL refs do of protecting attacking players from ugly tackles.  See SAF's comments about Joe Cole's bullshit challenges on Ronaldo.

[lamaros]

7-4


!!!!

[sigil]

It's like an LA Galaxy game broke out there :)

[rk47]

7-4


!!!!

that sucks. that's gonna ruin the betting odds on total goals for Reading in the future.  :-(
Chelshit is struggling at the moment, and Man United grind yet another 1-0 result. Arsenal is slowing down on goals as well, it could be the champions league factor.

[HaemishM]

Fucking Setanta Sports dicked me over on my Liverpool game this weekend. Showed the game only once at 8 pm, then fucked up the tape at 10 minutes in, skipping ahead to the 2nd half. Then showed the 2nd half AGAIN after that. Luckily I got to see Benayoun's fantastic goal. The Reds are really missing Alonso in the middle.

Saw the Everton game, and Middlesborough just had no real punch. Now that Howard's back, maybe I'll get some fucking points out of goal in the fantasy league. I've no idea what the hell is wrong with Reading this year.

[Hoax]

Damn even w/ Christiano scoring I still slipped to second in the fantasy league...  My goddamn strikers have been leaving much to be disired, if only Benni would remember that he's supposed to want to play football...

The weekend went perfectly for me almost.  Blackburn & Everton got max points, Arsenal still tops the table.  I wish Liverpool would lose more, now that Spurs have been crushed I need the reds to fall apart so I can laugh at all your misery.

[sigil]

They're not dead yet.

This was the game they celebrated their 125th anniversary.

In a funny bit, the Villa fans, having gone 4-1 up on Spurs, started singing happy birthday.

Spurs came all the way back to tie.

[Hoax]

Spurs are done, Jol will be sacked before the winter break and they will spiral into mediocrity.  I will laugh.  Say what you want.

[rk47]

They're not dead yet.

This was the game they celebrated their 125th anniversary.

In a funny bit, the Villa fans, having gone 4-1 up on Spurs, started singing happy birthday.

Spurs came all the way back to tie.

....coming back from 4-1 down is no slouch, but to let that happen in the first place...at your homeground. on anniversary even, there's almost nothing right about it. Jol's gone.

[HaemishM]

Spurs have no defense. Their offense can be awesome, but if they are always playing on the backfoot, they'll never get above mid-table.

[Jobu]

Spurs have no defense. Their offense can be awesome, but if they are always playing on the backfoot, they'll never get above mid-table.

I bet Mourinho could do it. If he fancies coaching another London club mired in historic under-accomplishment.

If Sven can make Manchester City play well.... there's still hope for Spurs. 4th place hope though, let's not get ahead of ourselves.






p.s. Liverpool got frogstomped! hahha, pathetic

[HaemishM]

Pathetic is right. I'll have more to say once I'm done crying my fucking eyes out over the double of Liverpool/Cubs from yesterday.

[Luxor]

For those Americans who think that Sakkah is a game played by diving primadonnas the prosecution presents exhibit A - Dida from AC Milan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h213GJo76sQ

The general consensus is that the fall wasn't because he was slapped but because the Celtic fan got upwind of him.....

[lamaros]

For those Americans who think that Sakkah is a game played by diving primadonnas the prosecution presents exhibit A - Dida from AC Milan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h213GJo76sQ

The general consensus is that the fall wasn't because he was slapped but because the Celtic fan got upwind of him.....

Hope Dida gets sanctioned just as much as Celtic.

Man Utd - Roma was a good game to watch, despite what the scoreline might indicate.