the Barclays English Premier League thread

Sport discussions.
Forum rules
The global forum rules are found here.

NOTE: posts in this section are not counted towards your total.
alliesmeister
Registered User
Posts: 257
Joined: 02 Jan 2009, 16:03
Location: Cape Town

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by alliesmeister »

So tomorrow is the FA Community Shield from 15:30-18:30 on Supersport 3. I'll definitely be watching & cheering on Chelsea, what about you guys?
Image
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

alliesmeister wrote:So tomorrow is the FA Community Shield from 15:30-18:30 on Supersport 3. I'll definitely be watching & cheering on Chelsea, what about you guys?
I will as usual be cheering on United - but not too bothered with this trophy - just want to see if the team works without ronaldo and tevez
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

fair play on chelsea being able to take better penalties than united today - but the game was pretty evenly matched - united owned the first half and chelsea the second

what is certain though is that Chris Foy is not deserving of the FA's respect campaign and is more suited to a job as a circus clown cos he is by no means a premier league referee - he has no consistency - he stopped a free flowing game for ballack when there was no foul - then he didnt stop the game for an actual foul on Patrice Evra which allowed chelsea to go on and score

so okay united players bottled it in the shoot out - i just witnessed two of the lamest penalty kicks ever seen by players in a united shirt and on recent performance ie against Bayern Munich in the Audi Cup that takes some saying - Giggs should have taken his kick later - he always scores when he takes them 5th or 6th if it goes on til then - as for making a defender take a kick - it didnt work with Rio and it didnt work with Johnny evans - so it was never ever going to work with evra - so why rooney and owen didnt kick earlier i dont know - in a shootout the first two kickers have to score to get everyone elses confidence up - so you dont leave your best kickers till the last - you put them in first and thats what fergie got wrong there ....once again - sadly he just doesnt want to learn from the experience of having lost the last few penalty shootouts united have participated in

as for Ben Foster - if he wants that England number one shirt - i have to say it ..... he just wasnt good enough today - he had a very dodgy game and i think fergie would do well to concentrate on Tomas Kuszchak as uniteds backup keeper for now - Fabio Capello cant be pleased with what he saw from foster but he definitely can be pleased with terry and cole from the chelsea side and rooney and ferdinand from united

and i dont know if ive mentioned this already but chris Foy is a monkey - can someone just throw him a banana already - come on Football Association - referees cannot be allowed to spoil football as a spectacle - people are going to lose interest if referees are as cumbersome as this one has been - even the commentators said that chelsea were favoured by the rub of the green due directly to his actions and in some cases lack of it

i am not bitter to lose - if we were outplayed then so be it - but in this game the referee was clearly chelseas 12th man
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
ADV4NCED
Registered User
Posts: 2164
Joined: 07 Nov 2004, 02:00
Location: KZN
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by ADV4NCED »

Chris Froy is actually a top referree in England and has spent the last 7 years at this level..

He has been directly involved in adding to the beautiful game and has started several ongoing campaigns designed to remove things like violence, bad behaviour and other discipline problems which take place on the field.

However you're quite right, he had a poor game - double standards as you say

This is why I think they badly need to introduce television replays in todays game...they can make it work without taking away anything from the game or slowing it up.

Something my father thinks would work brilliantly is a similar scenario to that in Tennis...

Captains from both sides are allowed 2 challenges per match and if a captain deems a referree's decision as incorrect, he can use one of his challenges and the decision then gets based on the TV replay.....

If the captain was correct and referree incorrect, the captain is awarded his challenge back to him - obviously if the captain was wrong he loses his first challenge.

This would be so beneficial in situations like when a team scores a goal and the linesman calls it offside, or fouls in the box or whatever.

This would only use up maybe 15 - 30 seconds per challenge thus not really slowing up the game... as we sometimes wait up to 4 or 5 minutes while players from both clubs challenge a referree's decision in anycase...
Image
I am 63% addicted to Counterstrike. What about you?
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

This is why I think they badly need to introduce television replays in todays game...they can make it work without taking away anything from the game or slowing it up.
i agree with this 100%

what irks me even more is that Ballack now admits that he did give Evra a bit of a shove (it was actually a full blown elbow into the chest from my viewing angle) yet the FA does nothing cos Foy claims he saw it and played the advantage cos United had the ball - so they deem it as sorted out during the game

now this had deserved that the game be stopped - the offending player should have gotten a yellow card ..... and i reckon ferguson's insistence that he be sent off is a bit overdone but he did deserve a caution and in the aftermath of the drama he didnt even get a card

and also united didnt get any advantage in that passage of play but chelsea got a goal - however on reflection the game itself was proof that chelsea and united are pretty evenly matched this season and united need to get their penalty takers to wake up - but now that ive calmed down from the apparent injustice - chelsea had their fair share of controversy last season in the champions league semi-final so this kind of goes toward making up for it - and i suppose now united need to concentrate on the other silverware on offer for this season

i also reckon its gonna be a season where liverpool as well as arsenal are going to be heavilly in the mix and even though i can normally deny it Man City have bought some talented players and may be in the running toward the end to break into that top four - even though i reckon a title challenge is too much to hope from from them this coming season

just waiting for this coming weekend when the league proper begins - gonna be another great season for followers of the premier league and even the spanish league is going to have some firecracker games - i particularly want to watch Real Madrid playing Barcelona

EDIT righto - i watched the video of the ballack evra incident about 100 times now - ballack is a great whacking cheat of a player - sorry to all the chelsea fans but the same hypocritical idiot was complaining when the referee didnt see the fouls against chelsea in the champions league and even went so far as to chase behind the ref gesticulating but he isnt a sportsman - he is actually a pansy - i sincerely hope someone breaks his leg for him like the way roy keane did to Alf Inge haaland - cos Ballack is an old aging has been who needs to cheat to earn his wages

it wasnt an elbow into the face - it was an elbow to the chest disguising a punch to the face - this guy is a dirty rotten cheat
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
ADV4NCED
Registered User
Posts: 2164
Joined: 07 Nov 2004, 02:00
Location: KZN
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by ADV4NCED »

Mate I just watched the replay a few times myself....and I cant see Ballack striking Evra in the face...if anything, Ballack's arm hits evra close to the shoulder and slides down into his chest forcing Evra over...

And personally after watching it a few times, I think the Ref made a good call by playing advantage to United however he should have yellow carded Ballack once Chelsea scored the goal.

You do realise that Rooney was in a offside position for United's second goal, so whether or not Chelsea's goal should have stood, same applies to United's second goal which would have taken us to a penalty shootout in any case...
Image
I am 63% addicted to Counterstrike. What about you?
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

here dude - im not gonna show an embedded version cos the video features some strong language in the end - but this is wider angled than most tv coverage - look at around 30 seconds onward

http://therepublikofmancunia.com/video- ... ty-shield/

that fist clearly goes into the facial area - anyways im not going to argue cos it wont change anything - ballack is a cheat cos i can show you links where he admitted fault and stated that he was "happy" that the ref didnt call him up for the foul - hence a hypocritical cheat that im never ever going to believe ever at all
same applies to United's second goal which would have taken us to a penalty shootout in any case...
it makes a difference to the mood in which those penalties were taken - the united players were seething angry and the chelsea players were mildly disappointed that it went to penalties so guess which side would be calmer when taking the penalties - its not a thing to be discounted lightly - one side is taking penalties fuelled by excited adrenaline - whilst the other is trying to be fuelled by anger but in actual fact anger really blinds you

the fact is so much rides on these games - clubs are spending so much on players and making so much at the gates - the takings on that day would have been shared between the FA and united and chelsea as well - and if the message goes out that any clown can decide nilly willy about incidents that will be looked at with a fine tooth comb later with tv replays then he will be forever considered a clown - foy looked bewildered at so many moments of that game i wonder if it isnt time for him to hang up his whistle - referees really need to get things right - or accept that the decision needs to be taken away from them by the actual tv replays and people with good eyesight

there has to also be consistency in decisions - earlier on ballack had pulled evra off balance and went tumbling when a combination of his own momentum and evras momentum dropped him to the ground - it was more ballacks fault - yet united were attacking at that time and the ref called the game back after some seconds had elapsed - all very well and sporting - but when the freekick was taken ballack was prancing around with a spring in his step happy that he had broken up a united attack - yet he cynically drops a player and the ref is staring at it and does nothing - it must draw questions about his impartiality - check at 33 seconds onward where he was standing and his exact view of the incident - i would really like to offer to pay for one of these for the idiot

Image

for that particular match Foy was ineffective as a referee - so many incidents for example in the first 5 minutes berbatov was cautioned for blocking a free kick - but that was kicked straight at him yet to my mind that happened cos loads of people had bet on rooney to be the first player booked in the match (this was a bookie pocket saving move) - then the booking of Evra for a tackle from behind - but he got the ball first - and the man fell with the follow through - its the type of tackle every defender strives for - you cant claim intent to play the man if the ball was touched .... it is part of the rules - yet evra gets booked for it (same happened to fletcher which meant he couldnt play in the champions league final ..... but thats for another argument) - so besides for the other two controversial decisions Foy had a howler of a game - i hope this isnt a sign of refereeing to come over the season

yes there were times when united did away with stuff and i dont like that too cos it makes our players complacent - ronaldo was the worst offender but he isnt there anymore - so referees need to be fair about these decisions now - take assistance from the linesman when its required and some form of tv decision needs to be allowed - even if it means stopping the game for him to watch a replay for 30 seconds - cos there are times when 90 minutes seems too long for a game of football and games become flat - so they cant say that there isnt enough time cos most games go through a phase where the side thats currently winning is wasting time - so cut down on that nonsense by allowing the decisions to be made correctly - this will also cut down on the number of fouls when players realize that they wont get away with it hence will play with the relevant caution and wont just lunge in with "hospital tackles" - i think it will make for more competent refereeing cos most refs will realize that going back to the tv replays makes them look incompetent - so they will referee with more diligence

BTW we cant change the result of the game - chelsea won on penalties - and any united fan saying that the victory wasnt deserved would just be sour grapes cos our penalty taking to be kind to the penalty takers was "PATHETIC" at the very best - i could add more adjectives there but we cant change any of that - what has to change is the attitude of the referees and referees need to be instructed that if they dont do the job properly they will be replaced by people who will do the job properly especially since theres so much at stake for EVERY club concerned - i dont mind decisions going against us if the ref was correct and replays show that i have to accept it but if refereees are not correct then steps need to be taken to ensure that they get every bit of assistance to be correct
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
ryanrich
Forum Moderator
Posts: 8465
Joined: 07 Jun 2003, 02:00
Location: Adelaide, Australia

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by ryanrich »

Well after the opening weekend the only two teams of the big four that looked in good shape were Arsenal and Chelsea. United won, although not an inspiring performance. Liverpool were outplayed by Spurs, although in all fairness I think they should've got a penalty near the end there, although that's no excuse...
ADV4NCED
Registered User
Posts: 2164
Joined: 07 Nov 2004, 02:00
Location: KZN
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by ADV4NCED »

Chelsea were a bit patchy, I wouldnt really say good shape but they did play some good football at times.

Same story with United imho, not bad at all, pretty much the same as the way they played last season, only difference was their finishing lacked (Tevez and Ronaldo - lets not forget how good a finisher both these players were). Last season United would have put away more chances and ended that game 4-0 winners, this time it was only 1-0 but they got the 3 points so job well done in the end of the day.

lol and yes naughty, we did see Berbatov getting stood on in the box :lol:
Image
I am 63% addicted to Counterstrike. What about you?
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

ryanrich wrote: United won, although not an inspiring performance.
they did play good football - all they lacked was finishing - they dominated the game largely for most of the time and they played well enough - they had great possesion and for a makeshift defence (no vidic - no rio and o'shea in central defence partnering johnny evans - which means only one recognised defender there plus Fabio on the right covering for rafael - his natural position is on the left where he will never overtake evra as long evra is at united whilst rafael is on the right) they were solid enough - so at the end of the day i reckon it was inspiring enough for me
although in all fairness I think they should've got a penalty near the end there, although that's no excuse
are you talking about the handball or the one where assou ekkoto seemingly shoved aside Voronin - the handball was firstly no handball - the guy did not stick out his hand - and he put his hand toward his body - so there was no intent to handle the ball and every effort was made to avoid a handball - plus it would be considered ball to hand instead of hand to ball ie if a ball is kicked at you from point blank range you dont have time to react - so it could never ever be considered a deliberate handball which is what the foul is called

as for the other one - two guys going for the same ball which neither had under control - it could equally have been called a free kick for spurs - which again goes to demonstrate that the refs need some assistance sometimes - the refereeing gets poorer as the season wears on - so dont think its over on that issue yet - i think we are going to see loads of decisions that people are going to moan about

to be honest if liverpool were playing well i would have felt some sympathy for them on not getting that voronin decision - but they played absolutely terrible football with spurs dominating most of the game - if robbie keane played like a typical premier league striker it still would have been maybe 5-1 to spurs - maybe 5-2 if liverpool got that decision but liverpool were mostly outplayed on the day - their problem is that now Gerrard needs to drop back deeper to cover the hole left by Xabi Alonso's absence so he cant play as a second striker - which now means that torres needs to play a completely lone role up front - and one striker vs 2 centre backs is not an ideal thing even on the strikers best day - and that particular day was far from torres's best day - remember though with ledley king marking him he did have his work cut out though cos king is no mug when he is fit enough to play
we did see Berbatov getting stood on in the box :lol:
not too concerned about that one - you get some and you dont get some - that wasnt one that changed the course of a whole game - so nothing to complain about - thats the way the cookie crumbles with some ref's - and this ref was officiating in his first game involving united - so im sure he decided he wasnt gonna do them any favours cos of the mere fact that they were champions in the last three seasons - so good on him
Same story with United imho, not bad at all, pretty much the same as the way they played last season, only difference was their finishing lacked (Tevez and Ronaldo - lets not forget how good a finisher both these players were)
actually tevez only scored 5 in the premier league last season - and then in the carling cup got 4 in one game - so thats 7 out of his 15 in total last season) but he didnt have many vital goals last season and in fact Macheda scored goals at more important times than tevez did - so we wont miss him as much as we could have - we will miss ronaldo's goals but im still glad we can play great possesion football with us dominating most of the game and building from the back with one touch passing and devastating breakaways with pace in our counterattacks - as you state - only the finishing lacked but im sure that will come with time - in the same way that im sure that chelsea will sooner rather than later get used to their diamond formation and liverpool will soon manage to get torres and gerrard playing like last year - but they wont do it with lucas in the centre of midfield or voronin as torres strike partner nor with Babel on instead of Benayoun - in fact Benayoun did more in the last 23 minutes that he came on than Babel did for the whole of last season (okay okay i know thats an exaggeration :lol: :lol: but thats how it seemed) - cmon Rafa - start with your best players - Benayoun is class - babel is not so good out of his preferred position which is striker and not in the sides

did anyone else notice - no draws - so 10 sides with 3 points and 10 sides with 0 points so far

but anyways well done arsenal - that was an awesome display of finishing - on their day arsenal play the closest to the one touch perfect control spanish style that barcelona play - only thing is barca are consistent - whilst on the days that arsenal get it wrong then they dont look so clever but maybe there will be less infighting amongst them with adebayor and toure gone - so possibly they might gel better as a team this season and give us all a surprise - so well done gunners - that was definitely a game worth watching
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
lancelot
Registered User
Posts: 7162
Joined: 13 May 2003, 02:00
Location: Cape Town

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by lancelot »

Image

I liked it! Who knows, another season is upon us.
ryanrich
Forum Moderator
Posts: 8465
Joined: 07 Jun 2003, 02:00
Location: Adelaide, Australia

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by ryanrich »

United losing 1-0 to Burnley?! :o
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

ryanrich wrote:United losing 1-0 to Burnley?! :o
thats a knockout punch that im going to have to take on the chin

the guys who were laughing at Michael Owen being signed - you are now being justified - he did absolutely nothing on the pitch against Burnley

ferguson did some stupid things in the midfield ie Giggs in the centre despite him doing okay there with anderson on the left - that anderson bit left me incredulous - and Carrick really is over rated IMHO - ive never really liked him and besides for the penalty miss he is far short of a classy midfielder/playmaker ...... that actual penalty was decently struck but the keeper made a brilliant save - so penalties have been united's achilles heel so far

but anyone writing us off - remember that valencia and berba came on late - remember too when Owen heargreaves comes back and i never thought id ever see the day coming when i have to say fletcher partnering hargreaves in the midfield with valencia out right and Nani out left will give our midfield a bit of steel

the actual selection of players used yesterday was what made united seem like a woeful side - if you are going to use park it has to be in combination with the best of the rest cos they have to cover for him being sub par - and you cannot play guys like anderson out of position - the guy was a born attacking central midfielder - and out on the wing he will be exposed brutally

as for a pairing of owen and rooney upfront - it never worked for england - you have to have either berbatov and rooney - or berbatov and owen - but owen and rooney is gonna leave you in tears - we also miss vidic greatly as we also miss rio - without th etwo big central defenders our defence is a shambles - if one of them is there partnered with johnny evans we dont look so bad but without either one there we dont have a central defence - if both are there no matter who is on the right ie take your pick of o'shea, gary neville, rafael, wes brown it wont matter - as long as evra is there on the left

yesterdays side selection would have been okay for a carling cup match against a lower league side - not the pick of them though like burnley were last season

anyways united didnt look like a team that will present any form of title challenge based on that game and the main reason in my mind was woeful team selection - we could have had a better team out there despite so many injuries right now
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
ryanrich
Forum Moderator
Posts: 8465
Joined: 07 Jun 2003, 02:00
Location: Adelaide, Australia

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by ryanrich »

Yeah it was a pretty woeful display by the title holders, but I think as you say it was mainly down to team selection, and they will no doubt improve as the season progresses. Judging by the first few games it's going to be a very interesting season!
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

ryanrich wrote:Yeah it was a pretty woeful display by the title holders, but I think as you say it was mainly down to team selection, and they will no doubt improve as the season progresses. Judging by the first few games it's going to be a very interesting season!
yes indeed - i think it will be tasty season thats going to be hard to predict but to my (admittedly) feeble mind chelsea will take the title this season and city, spurs, villa or everton will not break into the top 4 by any means

but im still going to cheer on united till the very end :wink: - cos we normally start slow and when it comes down to a sprint at the end we finish very strongly

but as ive emphasized somewhere in this thread last season - never ever start predicting positions until after christmas so even i am taking my predictions with a pinch of salt and a whole dollop of pepper
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
lancelot
Registered User
Posts: 7162
Joined: 13 May 2003, 02:00
Location: Cape Town

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by lancelot »

Chelsea?? naughty, naughty what are you smoking my friend? Chelsea have not shown any real surprises this season, albeit so new. Win? They are going to have to improve a great deal, I will be looking at both Arsenal and Liverpool to show some guts this season.

This is the one I am waiting for:

29 Sat Add to Calendar Barclays Premier League A Manchester United 17:15 SS1
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

lancelot wrote:Chelsea?? naughty, naughty what are you smoking my friend? Chelsea have not shown any real surprises this season, albeit so new. Win? They are going to have to improve a great deal, I will be looking at both Arsenal and Liverpool to show some guts this season.

This is the one I am waiting for:

29 Sat Add to Calendar Barclays Premier League A Manchester United 17:15 SS1
some teams have the ability to win when they play badly - the gunners dont have that ability - they have to be ticking like a swiss clock then everything comes together for them but have one or two players making mistakes and that swiss clock falls apart and then they will lose to teams like hull etc like they did last season

chelsea, liverpool and united have that something where even when they play terrible and havent got a clue what they are doing can still score an ugly goal in the last minute and win a game - and right now i can see chelsea feeding off that ability - as happened in their first game

why im writing united off is that they have won three in a row and recently whenever we have tried for some record or the other and focus has gone onto it we have failed merely because everyones attention is on that record - so i think that a record 4 times is out of our reach for now - but we will still be competitive - maybe a year or two to settle down and buy some replacement players to compensate for the loss of star players but we will win lots of trophies in the coming future

liverpool will go on like they have for the last 17 or so years since the inception of the premier league ie every year is their year but yet its not

arsenal will have the usual tale of two stages per season - while their confidence is on a high right now - expect some good wins - but let one player get injured - and boom they will go from divine to rubbish in a stroke - and with the fragility of the players they have right now - an injury like that is a given - its not a case of "if" but "when"

besides - its early days yet - last season at around this stage united were sitting at around 15th after the draw against newcastle - around 5 games later they still hadnt even made it back into that top 4 - but we all know how the season finished

and why i say chelsea will win is that they have the most settled side - they havent made any major changes in terms of players - united have lost christiano ronaldo and tevez whilst liverpool have lost Xabi Alonso and arsenal have lost toure and adebayor - and despite those clubs buying players - sometimes it takes an age for new players to settle and gel with a teams methods of playing - and you tend to miss vital players at that stage

its nothing to do with guts - the other teams dont lack guts - its all about the matter of squads and strength in depth - which not a lot of teams have - united did have which is why they were so strong - but its going pearshaped for them in the midfield department - so the team with the strongest squad will win ie the team with the most talented cover when the regulars get injured especially when you are fighting on many fronts ie carling cup/fa cup/premier league and also champions league or europa league - its as simple as that or at least this what my logic of observing the premier league for so many years tells me
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
lancelot
Registered User
Posts: 7162
Joined: 13 May 2003, 02:00
Location: Cape Town

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by lancelot »

We will chat again later when I but you a non alcoholic cocktail and you buy me a Scotch! Later in the season, that is.
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

lancelot wrote:We will chat again later when I but you a non alcoholic cocktail and you buy me a Scotch! Later in the season, that is.
sure dude - anytime :wink:

BTW heres one of the funniest football web orientated things ive ever read

http://www.football365.com/john_nichols ... 06,00.html

definitely something to give a good chuckle - i think i need to join in this blogosphere cos i can easily match him for most of those points
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
lancelot
Registered User
Posts: 7162
Joined: 13 May 2003, 02:00
Location: Cape Town

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by lancelot »

You make the grade, naughty! :maniacallaughter:
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

well that game has come and gone Lancelot - hope it turned out worth the wait :P - and all i can say is thank you Abou Diaby :wink:

first half was an insipid cagy affair with only one goal creating any excitement - the second half was definitely a game between two title contenders - this time it finished in uniteds favour but i wouldnt expect otherwise at old trafford it might have been a different result at emirates

the end was marred a bit by the officials being a bit stupid over trying to get wenger off the pitch - all he did was kick a water bottle in frustration - it would have been different had he kicked the fourth official (who in all fairness deserved a kick for that stupid bit of offciating in the last minute of the game)

liverpool as usual had to pull a rabbit out of a hat to pull back a win from an almost embarrasing draw at the reabok stadium from bolton - the sending off was another thing that didnt surprise me - they always get players sent off at vital times in games they are losing - look at the stats from last season to verify this

chelsea are now trucking on and they are showing why they are favourites - but its still early days - the race isnt even begun - its only still on a buildup up until around christmas time and then it will properly start - especially when the games are coming thick and fast with champions league and carling cup and fa cup matches inbetween all the league games - thats when the men start getting separated from the boys - and surprisingly its actually spurs and Man city that will benefit the most at that time cos they have fewer games to play
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
Frozenfireside
Registered User
Posts: 2618
Joined: 26 Apr 2007, 02:00
Location: Westcliff, Johannesburg
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by Frozenfireside »

I'm so upset with Liverpool :( :evil:
Soon Google will know everything...including how to divide by zero :(
Image
lancelot
Registered User
Posts: 7162
Joined: 13 May 2003, 02:00
Location: Cape Town

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by lancelot »

Manchester United got the three points, all that matters at the end of the game, but it was not well done.
Diaby, what a mistake, nothing more to say. Yes it was worth watching, disappointing but worth it.
As a game it was worthless, Arsenal was better on the day but who cares.
naughty
Registered User
Posts: 2707
Joined: 18 Feb 2003, 02:00
Location: durban
Contact:

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by naughty »

Arsenal was better on the day but who cares.
they are better than most other clubs on any day - they play entertaining fantastic football - and IMHO they are one of the most exciting sides to watch in full flow besides for Barcelona - but their problem is still that sometimes they cant play that game thats geared to get an ugly result

when they play a difficult opponent - they have to be prepared to sacrifice some of the great football just to eke out a result and that unfortunately goes against wengers grain

but to be honest IMHO they play the most attractive football in the premier league and i have to say that i admire them for it - there isnt much to chose between most of the big four clubs in the premier league but the others just dont play as slick and as easily as arsenal manage to play BUT the one advantage that the others have is that when they are losing or playing badly (even terribly) they are always still capable of winning ugly - as united did in that instance and that makes a huge difference to the destination of the trophies at the end of the day
Asus Z68-V Pro/Gen3, i5-3570k, 16GB Kingston Hyperx DDR3-1600, Gigabyte Radeon HD6970 OC graphics card, Corsair H100 liquid cpu cooling, Lite-on Blu-ray burner, Western Digital Raptor X HDD, Gigabyte Sumo 5115 modded case, Samsung P2770 monitor
lancelot
Registered User
Posts: 7162
Joined: 13 May 2003, 02:00
Location: Cape Town

Re: the Barclays English Premier League thread

Post by lancelot »

Good points!
Post Reply