the Barclays English Premier League thread

[naughty]

i am so chilled im peeing ice bricks

LoL-ok, just you went into instant defensive mode of Man U. when I posted that.
I just hate having to go to two difference sites if I can help it and I'm sure you will agree.

okay - i wont go into defensive mode again - we can just discuss all the other teams if you like

[Frozenfireside]

Interesting-seems man U have started playing with their hands.

Ferguson defends Ronaldo handball

1 Chelsea 15 27 33
2 Liverpool 14 13 33
3 Man Utd 14 16 28
4 Arsenal 15 8 26
5 Aston Villa 15 6 25

Shock loss of Chelsea against Arsenal

[naughty]

but see behind ronaldo - what is Micah Richards doing to Dimitar Berbatov ...... looking like a bit of rape there if you ask me - and ask yourself isnt this similar to the maradonna "hand of god incident" ......either way it seems like the pretty boy didnt want to mess his hair by heading the ball and also didnt want to mess his good looks by letting the ball him full on in the face - but one thing is for sure - ive watched it around 100 times - no-one pushed him like Rio claims - maybe he heard a whistle or imagined he heard one - which is not beyond the realms of possibility - but even if the whistle went you head the ball in and then ask questions later - so he deserved to get sent off whatever else happened - id have gotten upset if Rooney 100th premiership goal counted for nothing after that incident

anyway good chance for the scousers to win and go up top on their own (for the moment) - cos they are playing Westham today - i dont expect them to slip up there - i suppose their decline will start at old trafford sometime in January - or maybe at the emirates before that - cos arsenal are going past the big teams easy but dropping the baton at all the new boys ie stoke and hull etc

[lancelot]

anyway good chance for the scousers to win and go up top on their own - cos they are playing Westham today - i dont expect them to slip up there - i suppose their decline will start at old trafford sometime in January - or maybe at the emirates before that - cos arsenal are going past the big teams easy but dropping the baton at all the new boys ie stoke and hull etc

So true that, the win against Chelski will do no harm

[naughty]

So true that, the win against Cheski will do no harm

yeah it was a good win for the gunners against chelski cos it leapfrogged them back above Aston Villa - Villa are looking like they will be mounting a good challenge fo rthat champions league place - but i havent written off the gunners yet in any way

i wont be very surprised if the fourth spot is being contested between man utd and villa with the top two spots occupied by the scousers and chelski - with the gunners third - the way united are playing its that time of the year that im having my doubts that they can hold on to the title - but still lots of games to go - and second half of the season only starts in Jan so still lots to play for

whoever wins im enjoying the season so far - lots of drama and excitement - though i wish more of the drama was on the pitch instead of off the pitch

[ADV4NCED]

Well a referee literally allowing an illegal goal is drama enough for me - Talk about a decision turning a match - Terrible!

[naughty]

Well a referee literally allowing an illegal goal is drama enough for me - Talk about a decision turning a match - Terrible!

its happened on many occasions - sometimes it happens for you - sometimes against you - but referees are human too - they will make many mistakes - and the only way to prevent bad decisions is to improve the technology ie tv replays and 4th officials making decisions after watching slow motion replays - but the general feeling is that this will slow the momentum of the game somewhat - hence there is resistance to the idea

lets see what happens in the future over this very issue - but i cant see them really introducing this idea - as for the decision - i assume you are talking about Van Persie being offside for the first goal - well these things even out cos two years ago in the corresponding fixture chelsea were allowed an offside goal - so some would argue - when the rub of the green goes for you sometime it will definitely haunt you later

but yeah the problem is together with that respect campaign looking at referees decisions in hindsight is becoming a huge issue now - refereeing errors are receiving a huge focus and are firmly in everyones attention - and only now are people realizing how badly they affect the game - i remember a champions league match where Berbatov was clearly offside for two goals and they goal stood whereas Rooney scored a legit goal and it was disallowed - so it clearly makes a case for those double checks via TV slowmotion IMHO

[Frozenfireside]

Seriously! WTF? 0-0 against westham? They played well but I think we just assumed we would win and didn't try hard enough. We've gone back to not being able to 'finish off a move'.

Oh well.Saw the last 15 mins after I got back from the girl friends house.
A bad end to a very good day.

[naughty]

Seriously! WTF? 0-0 against westham? They played well but I think we just assumed we would win and didn't try hard enough. We've gone back to not being able to 'finish off a move'.

Oh well.Saw the last 15 mins after I got back from the girl friends house.
A bad end to a very good day.

dont underestimate westham - they may have been having a run of bad luck - but they have some decent players - for example Carlton Cole and Matthew Upson as well as Craig Bellamy - and they came there with a plan and stuck to it

as for not trying - liverpool tried their socks off - they just couldnt penetrate through Lucas Neill and Upson - besides you have to be careful against any team thats got their backs to the wall - Gianfranco Zola is in danger of losing his job and thats when any team is at their most dangerous and the closest anyone got to a goal was when Bellamy beat Reina but couldnt beat the left upright

but either way you have no cause to complain the scousers have a 1 point lead and despite it being a slender margin it does give them the lead for now

[Frozenfireside]

Spose you are right-I just wanna win :-p

1 point lead

I'm not worried about Chelsea, my minds on Man U.

[naughty]

just as a small aside - Christiano Ronaldo has wont the Balon d' Or award - now he is also in contention for world player of the year - he has also won the FIFPRO footballer of the year award and also the champions league player of the year from last season - so many individual accolades for the lad

congratulations Christiano - even though i truly didnt like his "flirtation" with Real Madrid in the last transfer window - i feel he truly has earned these awards with his 42 goals last season

[Frozenfireside]

even though i truly didnt like his "flirtation" with Real Madrid

Maybe he just wanted to poke the owner for a raise since he was won all these awards

[naughty]

Maybe he just wanted to poke the owner for a raise since he was won all these awards

he might land up getting that too - APPARENTLY he seems set to be signing a new contract for a substantial raise ie he might be matching robinho's salary levels (remember that man city have multibillionaire owners - who could buy the glazers with their petty cash)

so from 120k pounds per week he will probably go up to 160k pounds a week - so that will go above john terry's salary level (150k pounds) and will match robinho - this translates to 2,4 million rands per week in our currency - just to pitch up to training and MAYBE play a game or two

[Frozenfireside]

This is bizzar amounts of money.

He could pay off a high end car in 2 weeks and still have enough for the rent...although I doubt he rents.

[naughty]

well i hope all the teams in the EPL get to understand the emphatic statement of intent today proved to be

Manchester United 3 - Chelsea 0

so now on wedensday united play one of their games in hand - that is against Wigan - if they win there then they are only 2 yes thats two points behind liverpool with a game in hand still as well as half a season still to play and more home matches for united who have rarely lost at home this season - Edwin Van Der saar recorded his eighth clean sheet of the season - and uniteds forwards are beginning to peak - Christiano Ronaldo is beginning to show signs of form

never ever ever write off Manchester United - and with so many home games to come in this half of the season i think its going to become a more relaxing title run in for the champions of the last two seasons - the race still hasnt even begun and the teams who peaked too early will now have to contend with the pressure whilst teams like united are just beginning to get into second gear

i've always said the title is won in May - so no use to really get too excited about standings in december - i think come May the standings will take on a more familiar shape (look at the last two years final standings of the team you support to figure out what familiar means)

as for people who claimed that united must be "running scared" - lets get this into perspective - 5 points behind the current league leaders with two games in hand which is 6 points - count those two games as wins and see where united truly are in the standings - but for arguments sake say united win one and lose one - then start from there with half the season left to go - it isnt looking too attractive for everyone else as it was a couple of weeks ago now does it

[Frozenfireside]

I really hate Man U.
Not surprised by the azz whipping-Chelsea are not in the best of form with football politics.

[naughty]

I really hate Man U.
Not surprised by the azz whipping-Chelsea are not in the best of form with football politics.

not surprising from any liverpool supporter

but to be honest after reading about Rafa's rant i can see liverpool arent that much better at the football politics too

[Frozenfireside]

but to be honest after reading about Rafa's rant i can see liverpool arent that much better at the football politics too

Well Fergie does complain about a lot of things. "we think this season is unfair to Man U. because liverpool are ontop" etc etc

Suck your gut in and let your team talk for you. It's not like they can't or won't*.

*Sorry for the rant.usually our coach is very well mannered about these things but we've all had enough of Fergie complaining.

[naughty]

we think this season is unfair to Man U. because liverpool are ontop

the team is now talking as the 3-0 result against chelsea has shown

and in fact rafa's rant was more like "this season is unfair to liverpool cos we are on top and united wont leave us there in peace"

he has actually made a fool of himself and his charge under FA investigation but not as to whether SAF is actually doing what he claims but his ridiculous assertions are under serious scrutiny - whatever liverpool fans like to think - united will not just fold down and die for you lot

[naughty]

i think this thread died a bit as united went up top of the log once again - but this midweek saw some interesting games - the game between the gunners (arsenal) and the toffees (everton) was a classic with van persie smashing one past the keeper in the 91st minute to force a draw

liverpool once again dropped points with Rafa alluding to some conspiracy "i know whats happening but i cant talk about it" after his men let a one nil lead slip once again - i watched that entire game and i cant for the life of me figure out what he is talking about - besides it wasnt Steve Bruce that substituted Torres and Gerrard ...... the both men who could have still made something happen for him - and it wasnt Steve Bruce who left Robbie Keane and Xabi Alonso on the bench in favour of Ryan Babel (i still like him though) and total megaflop lucas Leiva - and i reckon Rafa needs to get his nerves in order after his sides 4th draw in a row - i would really hate it if he fell apart and if they fall back on their title challenge so early on in the season - BTW Benayouns goal in this game was a cracker - i really dont see how it could go in from such an impossible angle - but go in it did and impressively so - and the guy justify's once again why Rafa took him away from Westham

chelsea in the meantime won two nil to take second spot (on goal difference and drop liverpool down to third) and things are starting to get a bit comfortable for united who are now two points clear and still with a game in hand but it can still be easy for united to falter - we are still in the carling cup and also in the FA cup and also in the champions league - so a few extra games compared to the other rivals that are out of the carling cup - so it is still easy to go pear shaped for united due to the clutter in the fixtures and if we get a replay in our next FA cup game it means that replay comes one day before a premier league fixture - which will cause that one to become another game in hand for the red devils cause we wont play that - so im refusing to get happy yet - still around 16 to 17 more games to go in the league - so its not easy to work out who will be last man standing in this title challenge

one things for sure the football isnt boring nor is the thrill of the chase - it was becoming too stereotypical the last couple of years - and im loving it that teams like villa and everton are producing some scary moments for the top four - in fact united face everton this weekend but im sure all eyes will be on another huge game this weekend ...... chelsea vs liverpool at Anfield - its a game that neither team can afford to lose - and im gonna be keeping a close eye on that one and i await Rafa's after match interview with huge interest - to be honest though i would prefer it if liverpool win cos it will be easier for united to overcome liverpool in the end rather than chelsea merely because chelsea have more experience at the title run in so i consider them a bigger threat coming up at this time and more difficult to overcome toward the end

anyone interested in the current state of the table can view it here

http://www.premierleague.com/page/Leagu ... 06,00.html

coming weekends interesting fixtures - saturday will see united take on everton at 730 our time and sunday will see the big one liverpool vs chelsea at anfield at 6pm our time

[naughty]

and for the latest in RAFA drama

Rafael Benitez: I Don't Know What Is Happening At Liverpool
In his latest post-match rant, Rafa the gaffer has expressed his annoyance at the Reds' alarmingly average form of late...

Liverpool conceded more ground in the title race last night, drawing 1-1 with Wigan Athletic after Mido's late penalty cancelled out Yossi Benayoun's opener.

The result has seen the Anfield giants slip to third in the Premier League, two points behind leaders Manchester United and seven goals' difference adrift of second-placed Chelsea.

Rafael Benitez's men are yet to record a league in 2009, after starting the year with a handy lead, and the Spanish tactician aired his frustration with a signature set of cryptic utterances.

"I don’t know what is happening. Actually I do know, but I can’t say anything about it. It is just crazy," he told the press after the Wigan game.

"You can’t control what you can’t change. It could be like this for years.

"[Man United manager] Alex Ferguson has been here for 22 years and you can see what it means when you have been here for so long.

"The past three games have something in common I don’t like."

source

oh well always good for a laugh IMHO - cos he is now claiming that Alex Ferguson had something to do with the last three games liverpool have played - oh yes i can just see it Sir Alex "man-marking" the officials at Anfield in the tunnels as they walk out at half time as per Rafa's first Rant during these last three games ie everton at goodison in the league then everton at anfield for the FA cup and now wigan at the JJB last night

cmon Rafa you can do better than this conspiracy theory - or do you believe in ghosts too

"The past three games have something in common I don’t like."

i wonder what that is ..... oh i get it - they didnt lie down and let you win - how evil of them and i suppose they do that for united

[Frozenfireside]

erm he doesn't actually say fergie has anything to do with it. He says "The past three games have something in common I don’t like" but that doesn't mean he is saying it's fergies fault.

He just mentioned him in the previous sentence. Stop assuming he is talking about Man U., he was probably in a rush to get back into the changing room and slap some heads around. I know I would.

I know what he means when he said that-I've seen it as well. it's almost like there is something brooding in the club and I've been very frustrated with Liverpool lately. We have a fantastic start and then nothing.

Fergie is a top notch coach and he was acknowledging his abilities. One thing RAFA is, is Honest. Can't deny that.

I'm waiting for news on what's happening in Liverpool-I want to know.

[bootsie]

Rafa is a very depressed soul at the moment:

United wining the league

He cant buy who he wants

The crowd boo his substitutions

He dont like his new contract

And Keano is looking at Spurs

GLORY GLORY MAN UNTD

[ADV4NCED]

GLORY GLORY MAN UNTD

Chelsea all the way!

Dont miss sunday's game when chelsea drive the stake even further into liverpool

[bootsie]

chelsea and liverpool cn battle with each other for 2nd both - they know untd are number 1