2011-2012 English Football Season and STEWART DOWNING WHAT ON EARTH Thread

[Rocket Edge]

I agree with BoB. I have always disliked Barca for that very reason, smugness! They are the very team to go and complain about something that happened to them & say nothing when they did the same thing they are talking about. :/ They are also the most boring team to watch when they play at home. Unless your a supporter I don't understand how a match that is one way traffic & 80% possession makes for an entertaining game. No amount of slick passing or a moment or two from Messi can make up for that in my book. Give me a competitive PL game any day. I personally would love for Chelsea to batter them. Highly unlikely but you can always hope.

The thoughts of Terry lifting the European Cup (although horrible) shouldn't evade the fact that there are members of the Chelsea squad who deserve a CL medal. I would prefer Bayern to win it, but yeah, anyone apart from Barcelona.

[charliepanayi]

People who don't like Barcelona - you're not obliged to like Barcelona, yes they engage in gamesmanship etc (who doesn't?), but frankly I'm mystified that people can actively dislike them. I can imagine if this were the 70s you'd be complaining about Total Football being overrated or too 'smug'.

Maybe I'm just grateful to a team who have spared me having to watch Man Utd win two more European Cups. Plus why should we be the only team to get stuffed by them repeatedly anyway. Everyone else should suffer!

[Loony BoB]

People who don't like Barcelona - you're not obliged to like Barcelona, yes they engage in gamesmanship etc (who doesn't?), but frankly I'm mystified that people can actively dislike them. I can imagine if this were the 70s you'd be complaining about Total Football being overrated or too 'smug'.
Why can't you understand people disliking Barcelona? Can you understand people disliking any other team? What about Manchester United? Chelsea? Real Madrid? Can you understand people disliking any of them? Why?

[Old Manus]

It's simple. You dislike any team that Cristiano Ronaldo has played or will play in.

And a word on yesterday: Toothless.

[Loony BoB]

Gutted at the Liverpool win, not because of Liverpool, but because I want Blackburn to stay up, especially over Bolton. Hopefully they can get those points they need.

Also, oh Kenny, what will you do next? More Liverpool games on Sky, please. And let Andy Burton do the post-match interviews all the time.

[Psychotic]

why is it that Liverpool Do A Thing provokes more replies to this thread than any other event in football? :lol:

Anyway yeah BIG ANDY. :kiss: I am also very pleased for Brad Jones after the sad events surrounding his son.

[Loony BoB]

why is it that Liverpool Do A Thing provokes more replies to this thread than any other event in football? :lol:
Because nobody else is doing anything amusing. :p

[Psychotic]

Mario Balotelli.

The Spurs Implosion.

Fernando Torres.

Wolves!

Liverpool beat Blackburn 3-2 is hardly prime footballe comedie.

[Loony BoB]

No, but if a manager first attempts to walk away half way through an interview and then threatens to bar a reporter from a future press conference to his face on live TV, it's always a little funny. :)

We don't have José anymore and not many managers these days are having a Keegan, so we have to make do with what we have! :D

And last time I checked, we have talked a lot about Balotelli and Torres. Wolves and Spurs struggling doesn't really amuse me much, but if we're talking serious football, I think Spurs have possibly the easiest run-in out of all the clubs in the league. Their CL spot is pretty safe as far as I'm concerned so I don't think they're going to lose out all that much from their recent form.

Wolves? Eh, going down. That's all there is to say about them at the moment, it's not rocket science. If I had to pick three teams to go down right now, I'd take Bolton, Wigan and Wolves. Just not Blackburn, if only for my mate's sake. And pleeeeeeeeease, Blackpool, win the playoffs again and come up. I want me some Ian Holloway.

[Psychotic]

Wolves are funny because they fired their manager, then said it was not a job for a novice, and then, welp.

[Loony BoB]

Urgh, have to say Wigan are deserving their lead at the moment. The disallowed goal was the right call early on, but they've been slamming us. Since the goal we've improved by leaps and bounds, but Wigan are so much better than I've ever seen them in this game. There was that time that they had that guy (Zaki?) who came in, scored a few amazing goals and then never kept his form, but beyond that... this is leagues ahead of what I've seen from them before now.

Still hoping we can at least get a point out of this, if not three. C'mon, guys. :(

[charliepanayi]

TITLE RACE OV- Wait a second . . .

Trust Wigan to start playing really well against the top bunch of teams when we play them on Monday!

[Old Manus]

I've watched every Swans game this season, and sat through all 90 minutes of each of them. But fuck me, today I had to stop watching and do something else at 65 minutes, such was our complete lack of anything resembling a formidable attacking move.

The first ten minutes were the best we had in the game. Scott Sinclair proved to us all that his very indifferent season (even though the media keep talking about him as our best player - very lazy journalism, he has been far from it this season, he's just one of the only players anyone can name) could take a further dip as he moved up a level from missing open goals from six yards (3 times this season so far) to the dizzy heights of failing to even connect with the ball in front of an empty net at half a yard. Excusable as he was in the middle of a bit of a fracas with defending players, but for fuck's sake.

Secondly, if recent performances are anything to go by, we may as well not play with a striker at all, stick Kemy Agustien in midfield and be done with it. At the moment we're pretty much playing with ten men, as our play between midfield and attack is nonexistent. It's only showing now, but Sigurdsson's amazing last few months scoring goals from midfield covered over the fact that attacking-wise, we're completely toothless. I've been wary of this all season. We had 80% of the posession in the first half against Newcastle but didn't look anywhere near scoring a goal because we just can't get the final ball in, just pass it around in midfield until a hopeful through ball goes nowhere. Danny Graham is a carthorse and I never rated him, he can't shoot without falling over.

Defensively...actually, no, it's not even worth it. I may think our attacking options are shite, but our defence is horrifically weak. I don't even care that QPR's second goal was offside, they just schooled us the whole game on how to play effective attacking football. I'll be back tomorrow once I've calmed down.

[Bubba]

Wigan played fantastic tonight. Well deserving of their win. Really hope they stay up.

Unfortunately for City fans, this brings them false hope. Five games to go. 5 points clear. Yes, I know we have a trip to the Etihad, but City still have to play Newcastle away... and us... Good luck, lads.

[Psychotic]

Liverpool's Director of Football, Damien Comolli, has been sacked. I guess that means that it was indeed him and not Kenny responsible for transfers. I did think it was weird that new signings or players that had signed new contracts would be photographed shaking his hand and not Kenny's. And given that Dalglish was a caretaker last season and had been in the job a month, well, you don't let your caretaker manager have £35m to spend on one player, do you?

That's not to say "HEY GUYS IT'S NOT KENNY'S FAULT WE'RE tit", mind you. Team selection and player motivation are two honking great parts of his role and they haven't been up to scratch. I just find the dynamics of power at Anfield under FSG very interesting. Apparently they're looking for a new director of football... I wonder if Rafa fancies the job...? :greenie: As long as he buys Alonsos and Mascheranos instead of Josemis and Pellegrinos, he'll be alright in my book.

[Loony BoB]

Liverpool's Director of Football, Damien Comolli, has been sacked. I guess that means that it was indeed him and not Kenny responsible for transfers. I did think it was weird that new signings or players that had signed new contracts would be photographed shaking his hand and not Kenny's. And given that Dalglish was a caretaker last season and had been in the job a month, well, you don't let your caretaker manager have £35m to spend on one player, do you?
They said Kenny was responsible for all transfers, but then Mancini is also saying that the title race is over, so make what you will of those kind of statements. xD

Josemis and Pellegrinos
Who? :confused:

[Crop]

I'm still sure we'll win the league, but dropping points at Fulham at all places? Ugh.
Looking forward to the FA cup matches this weekend. Predictions? I'm thinking it'll be an Everton and Chelsea final personally. Catch me later when I'm utterly wrong and it's Liverpool Spurs.

[Psychotic]

What a waste of money that Andy Carroll is. Would pay £35m for that goal every day of the week mate. :greenie: The relief is incredible. Anyway why don't we play like this in the smurfing league! Although I tell you, you never ever get used to your team going down in a massive match like that, even if they do smurfing love comebacks. Carroll and Suarez were monstrosities in that second half.

I think David Moyes was right. The whole country probably were behind Everton. Well, the whole country can just lick my balls right now. :cool:

I'd rather play Chelsea than Spurs as we have a great record against the blues, and a dire one against Spurs. But I would spend a lot of time praying that Torres is injured for the final.

e: newcastle fans were on our side though apparently. haway the barcodes :aimkiss: (it is because us winning p. much guarantees them Yuropeen football)

[Bubba]

I was definitely in the Everton camp but would like to politely decline the opportunity to lick Psychotic's balls. I've always liked Andy Carroll. My mates said I was insane to keep him in my fantasy team and to be fair... they were absolutely damn right. He was class in the second half though and Liverpool definitely deserved the win in the end.

Pretty emphatic statement from City as well. Laughing at all the City fans felating Carlos Tevez even though they are still covered in pooh from when he shat all over them.

[Psychotic]

Well, you said something nice about Big Andy so I'll let you off. He's like Emile Heskey. He's got lots of haters, has lots of pressure on him and doesn't score a lot of goals. But you just feel so sorry for him and want him to do really well and it's all "d'aww :)" when he does. Love me some Big Andy.

Also, yeah, Tevez was a tit to the City fans who loved him. But, counterpoint, Wayne Rooney. I'll say one thing for Tevez, there is no player in the league I would rather have in the run-in after what he did at West Ham. I guess he may have done A Thing at Man Utd too but I didn't pay attention. :colbert:

Also, Suarez + Tevez = BESTEST STRIKEFORCE EVER! they would only manage to play 3 games per season together but those 3 games would be like nothing this Earth will ever witness again.

[Old Manus]

The credit for that goal actually went to Carroll's Ponytail.

Also, Gylfi Sigurdsson. I can't explain how amazing this guy is at the game of association football.

[The Captain]

I think Andy Carroll needs to just embrace his destiny as our next Sami Hyypia.

Overall, was a tale of two halves to be sure. Liverpool looked lost in the first half and dominant in the second. The Distin error really took the wind out of Everton and they never really recovered.

As I keep saying, let's go out, win the FA Cup and have Kenny retire with the double and move forward with a progressive manager who can build a real new program and PLEASE, NOT JOHAN CRUYFF!


Also, what a player Aguero is. Tevez and Mario are too insane and selfish to really be counted on but Aguero is Suarez minus the baggage with a better touch around goal. I really want United to lose or tie this weekend so the Manchester Derby is for all the marbles, though I am rooting for City to win the league in the end.

Take care all.

[Bubba]

Regardless of how much of a prick Tevez has been he is still world class. Him and Aguero today looked outstanding. It makes you think where City would be if he'd been there all season. They'd have probably walked it.

Liverpool to lose in the FA Cup Final to Chelsea.

[Loony BoB]

Also, Suarez + Tevez = BESTEST STRIKEFORCE EVER! they would only manage to play 3 games per season together but those 3 games would be like nothing this Earth will ever witness again.
Just imagine! Imagine if you could also get the best player in the world to play with them, too! I mean, that team couldn't lose to anyone, right? ...right?

[Psychotic]

Best player in the world? Is that a not-so-subtle way of saying "Let's have a Ronaldo v Messi debate"? Or was it just some bizarre Loony BoB joke that nobody will get?

although he is a giant and complete and utter tit, Ronaldo for me.

I remember one time in the football thread I said Drogba was better than Ronaldo and Cuchulainn flipped out at me. I also remember saying Messi wasn't very good because debuting out-of-position Alvaro Arbeloa (now at Real Madrid!) marked him out of the game and charliepanayi flipped out at me. And that's my view of the Messi v Ronaldo debate. I judge everything by who gets angry at me in the football thread. :shobon:

[Loony BoB]

Best player in the world? Is that a not-so-subtle way of saying "Let's have a Ronaldo v Messi debate"? Or was it just some bizarre Loony BoB joke that nobody will get?
Messi. If nobody gets the joke, I'm stunned.

EDIT: Oh, Suarez. I read it as Aguero. How the hell could Suarez be involved in an unstoppable force?

[Psychotic]

I don't know, maybe you should ask half your team. They seemed to have a bit of a problem with the whole stopping him thing. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM4O4Da4sDI)

[Rocket Edge]

You can't avoid the conversation now Pauly! Messi just about shades it for me. It deserves to be mentioned though that he is playing with the likes of Fabregas, Xavi, & Iniesta, who will assist you about 20 times during a game, where its hard to not look good at playing football. But he's still unique at what he does. I have great time for Ronny though. I will always love him!

[Psychotic]

Messi-in-the-Barca-team is a better player than Ronaldo, but in terms of who is the best unconditionally, I am leaning towards the Portugese winker. He did it in the Prem, he does it at Real, and I think he has been better for Portugal than Messi has been for Argentina.

[Loony BoB]

I don't know, maybe you should ask half your team. They seemed to have a bit of a problem with the whole stopping him thing. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM4O4Da4sDI)
Yeah, it takes the best of the best of Liverpool strikers to get past a back four of Rafael, Evra, Brown and Smalling. Lucky we didn't have our four first choice central defenders that day or we'd have really been in trouble! ;)

In fairness, though, Smalling and Rafael should have done better in that game. Brown... well, Brown. :)

EDIT: For me, Messi and Ronaldo are about on par with each other and have been for some time, but because Messi plays in the Barca team and has been winning and isn't viewed as an egotistical prick, people have always given him the nod ahead of his Real Madrid counterpart. Ronaldo edges Mess in some areas and vice versa, but overall it's too close to call it one way or another. Different styles due to different strengths which they both are more than happy to make use of.

[Psychotic]

Then how come Raul "is a very good player who liverpool will miss" Mereiles, for example, did not do the same thing to this terrible and awful yet championship-winning back four all day long? :greenie:

[Loony BoB]

I dunno, but Mereiles has been missed by Liverpool as far as I'm concerned. He's one of the few quality players Chelsea have (well, I say "few", but that's in comparison to how many they used to have :p). He's not an amazing game-changer, but he's managed more assists than all but one of Liverpool's midfield this season.

[Bubba]

Ronaldo is a much more devastating player than Messi. You can put Ronaldo in any side and he will have much more of an impact because he doesn't rely on other players to be effective. I still think Messi is 'technically' better though.

Neither of these players can touch Ashley Young for his diving ability though, good effort today, lad!

As a Utd fan though, I was really nervous today... there was a big guy at the bar who I thought was trying to steal my pint as we romped to a 4-0 win.

[Psychotic]

Neither of these players can touch Ashley Young for his diving ability though, good effort today, lad!Was a real beaut. I was just looking at a gif of it!

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e373/photobucketamazingness/157oj15.gif

I was hoping United would lose though, just to make the Etihad showdown mean something - regardless of which Manchester team eventually wins the title. It'd just be a nice dramatic game to watch. But, y'know, Aston Villa.

Also, welp, bet I am going to end up regretting making fun of Torres and Mereiles now. I swear you're going to get a slightly drunk post from me soon, about how they're like ex-girlfriends who broke my heart and I'm just lashing out because it hurts, and they were great really. :( Still, Liverpool v Chelsea! That's original! 85 minutes of some of the most dire football ever played, 5 minutes of insane drama. Hurrah.


~REDKNAPP~
~*~4~*~
~ENGLAND~

[charliepanayi]

No idea why Ashley Young was diving today, not like you need to dive to beat this Aston Villa side.

[Old Manus]

Best case scenario is Spurs' recent bad form convinces the FA not to hire him, and so Brendan Rodgers stays at Swansea and all will be well with football.

Also, Ashley Young is Man Utd's new Ronaldo. For all the wrong reasons.

[DK]

I dunno, but Mereiles has been missed by Liverpool as far as I'm concerned. He's one of the few quality players Chelsea have (well, I say "few", but that's in comparison to how many they used to have :p). He's not an amazing game-changer, but he's managed more assists than all but one of Liverpool's midfield this season.

not exactly difficult when liverpool's strikers have scored about 10 goals between them all season

[Old Manus]

Also, don't know if anyone else just saw this pearler

http://i.imgur.com/XwkXW.gif

SAVED YOUR LIFE JOHN

[Loony BoB]

I dunno, but Mereiles has been missed by Liverpool as far as I'm concerned. He's one of the few quality players Chelsea have (well, I say "few", but that's in comparison to how many they used to have :p). He's not an amazing game-changer, but he's managed more assists than all but one of Liverpool's midfield this season.

not exactly difficult when liverpool's strikers have scored about 10 goals between them all season
I did think about this when making that post, but then I remembered that Chelsea are playing with Torres, and I think that speaks for itself.

Re: Ashley Young - hard to feel sorry for Villa when he's been doing such things for them for many a year. :p But would rather he stopped it. Sounds like SAF will be having a word considering he conceded he makes a meal of such things.

[charliepanayi]

Nominees for PFA Players' Player of the Year award for 2011-12 are: Sergio Aguero (Man City), Joe Hart (Man City), Scott Parker (Tottenham), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), David Silva (Man City).

Nominees for Young Player of the Year award are: Sergio Aguero (Man City), Gareth Bale (Tottenham), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea), Kyle Walker (Tottenham), Danny Welbeck (Man Utd).

[DK]

Van Persie must be a shoe-in for player of the year, with Dave Silva being my vote for second. Out of the list of young players Sergio has been the best for mine, but I don;t think he's really all that young, not compared to someone like Oxlade-Chamberlain so who knows. I would just give it to Sergio because he is lovely <3

[Psychotic]

why wasn't andy carroll nominated for young player of the year what the fuck

Also yeah Manus I saw that gif and saved it. I fucking love Luis. Just no point whatsoever to doing that xD

[Old Manus]

I fucking love Wigan

[Psychotic]

Seriously. What is it about them and the last couple of months of a season? Every god damn year.

[Rocket Edge]

About a few months ago I wrote off Wigan completely, I will never do that again as I do it every year.

Great performance by Chelsea tonight. Barca wasted plenty of chances, can't see them not scoring at home. Please god let it be a Chelsea VS Bayern final!

[DK]

Jesus christ man. If we don't do a City and fuck up against Wolves today (which I am not ruling out in the slightest), the derby is going to be the worst game to watch in the history of my footballing life.

[Loony BoB]

Seriously. :( At least one of us will be happy by the end of it.

[Old Manus]

>Man Utd

http://www.chokeanddie.com/IMAGES/choking.jpg

Even with 5 minutes of Fergie Time

[Rocket Edge]

Horrible the way we let Everton back in again and again. To be fair they had their finishing boots on. Wolves ain't playing too badly at the moment. Eh... City just scored a second, game over. Sets the derby up nicely though.

[Psychotic]

I'm glad the Manchester Derby is for All The Marbles. I'll actually be watching it now! :D

Also smurf me. 65% possession. 28 shots, 12 on target. 15 corners. Woodwork hit twice. How the smurf does this keep happening? No, seriously. Again and again and again this has happened. Every now and then you get games like this but every single one? You can say "they're tit" but that's too easy, and in all things but scoring, they're really not. Just look at the stats, they really do not lie. They're dominating teams for 85 minutes, raining down utter destruction on them. Luis Suarez pulls teams apart single handedly. But when it comes to scoring, not a single one of them is capable of doing it. What the smurf is going on? Did we get a gypsy curse put on us? :confused:

wake me up when it's the fa cup final, this league season is a horrendous abortion that needs to end. New goal: Try to finish in the top half!

[The Captain]

So, am I released from my sentence of having to watch the rest of the Liverpool league games this year? I will watch the FA Cup but man, I can't take anymore of these games. My only hope is that the extraordinary bad luck of this year will result in amazing good luck next season with crazy goals going in that we have not had this campaign. Still, changes need to be made. How has a defense gone from such a strength to looking so suspect at times this year?

What's the lowest a team finished in the league and still won a double? We may challenge that record.


Call me crazy but I kind of think Man City may just pull this out. I never would have thought Tevez would be such a vital player for them this year or frankly ever again but he may just be the X factor. Unless Super Mario kills him in the build up to the game, which is always possible.

I also can't wait for the smug off on the sidelines between Mancini and Ferguson. I kind of don't want either team to win.

Also, I have to give serious props to Newcastle. Talk about sustaining a run from out of nowhere. I really think they and Arsenal end up being the other two Champions League teams and WHOA, who saw that coming earlier this year?

Take care all.

[Old Manus]

My only hope is that the extraordinary bad luck of this year will result in amazing good luck next season with crazy goals going in that we have not had this campaign.

Next year is our year!

[Psychotic]

we're gonna sign that icelandic bloke by offering him a shed full of money and then you'll be sorry :colbert:

I say shed but I sort of envisage it being like the finale of the Crystal Maze. Replace Richard O'Brien with Pepe Reina, I guess.

[charliepanayi]

Arsenal finished 10th in the league in 1993 and won both the FA Cup and League Cup that season. The only other teams to win both domestic cups in one year are Liverpool in 2001 (part of their treble) and Chelsea in 2007.

[The Captain]

Arsenal finished 10th in the league in 1993 and won both the FA Cup and League Cup that season. The only other teams to win both domestic cups in one year are Liverpool in 2001 (part of their treble) and Chelsea in 2007.

We may definitely give that "record" a run for the money.

Take care all.

[charliepanayi]

**** you Barcelona. I'm off to be sick somewhere.

[Old Manus]

Holy sweet lord what a game.

[Psychotic]

lol john terry

just

fucking lol

[DK]

Torres goal was hands down one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life.

Barcelona, just a shit Swansea F.C.

[Bubba]

Amazing. Simply amazing.

Topped off by Gary Neville becoming the first commentator in history to have an orgasm on air...

[charliepanayi]

Nah, I'm sure Martin Tyler had one when Sunderland scored their winner against Man City back in January (JHEE!!!), as well as when Arsenal scored their second goal in the 2002 FA Cup final.

[Old Manus]

You're forgetting Jack Van Gelder on Denis Berkgamp's goal against Argentina in 1998.

[Loony BoB]

Bayern obviously are going to win with all seven of those players they have on yellows getting another yellow, along with a central defender who is not on a yellow being given a straight red.

It will be an incredible final with no defenders.

[Rocket Edge]

Last night was one of the best games I ever seen in my life! Torres goal was amazing, I was jumping around the place. Delighted Barca are out. Now all i need is Bayern to go through (which I think they will), and it set's up the best possible final, with Terry not eligible to lift the cup!

[charliepanayi]

Pfft. tonight's game is already miles better than last night's.

Chelsea will win the final anyway, I just know it :(

[Old Manus]

And lo, in years to come they will compare their future semi-finals with the drama and madness of 2012

Ronaldo missed his penalty and that's all that I wanted. Something about them Germans and spot-kicks.

[Croyles]

And lo, in years to come they will compare their future semi-finals with the drama and madness of 2012

Ronaldo missed his penalty and that's all that I wanted. Something about them Germans and spot-kicks.

(Mostly) cool heads and beastly goalkeepers, i think. Not really a bayern fan but happy for a german team to be in the final again, and at home. I think they were the better side over both legs.

[Rocket Edge]

You really couldn't ask for better semi-finals of the CL. It been a while since I've been that absorbed in a game where I wasn't even a supporter of either club to begin with. Did everyone know before Cristiano stepped up to take that spot kick he was going to miss? I knew he would. Remnant's of the CL semi & final of 2008. I do have a tiny bit of sympathy for him in one way though. He already used his penalty card before doing it again under pressure.

Ramos' penalty was an absolute joke. I always thought if I were in their position at such a stage I'd just bury it down the middle. 95% chance of scoring give or take because the goalie will dive anyway and it'll be on target. I thought both keepers did well last night in the shootout though.

Looking forward to the final. It's a good final in the sense that both sets of players have felt heart-ache before at this stage recently and there will be a victor. I hope Chelsea do it, as they are the underdogs. I think Ramires & Ivanovic are big losses. Luiz & Cahill in defence don't exactly fill you with optimism as a great defensive partnership. Gotta love the end of the season, big game after big game. Now onto the derby!

[Loony BoB]

I'll be gutted if Chelsea win it, if only because I really want to see Newcastle beat the odds and get the 4th CL position. Even Spurs, to be honest - basically I just want to see new teams in the CL outside of "the usuals".

[Psychotic]

So you want Man United to come 5th then :greenie: Also Spurs and Newcastle have both had pretty good CL runs in the past anyway :confused:

Hell, let me try and name every English team to qualify for the CL since it became the CL: United, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, Blackburn (remember when they won the league? ...KING KENNY :love:) Newcastle, Leeds..... Everton..... oh wait they lost in the qualifiers! :jess:

How did I do charliepanayi? (you are our resident trivia master now) Did I get 'em all?

[Loony BoB]

Obviously I want my team to win everything, I'm not stupid. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy seeing how the likes of Newcastle and Spurs do in the CL. In the years I've watched football, it's been "the (old) big four" every year with the exception of City this season and Spurs the season before. I might have watched the last time Newcastle were playing in the CL, but I'm not sure. It was very early in my football-watching days and I likely didn't watch as much.

[charliepanayi]

Hell, let me try and name every English team to qualify for the CL since it became the CL: United, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, Blackburn (remember when they won the league? ...KING KENNY :love:) Newcastle, Leeds..... Everton..... oh wait they lost in the qualifiers! :jess:

How did I do charliepanayi? (you are our resident trivia master now) Did I get 'em all?

I believe that is all of them yes :)

[Psychotic]

How the hell could Suarez be involved in an unstoppable force?well daniel

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e373/photobucketamazingness/luissuarez.gif
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e373/photobucketamazingness/suarez2.gif

hope this answers your question.

ps: with the cup final coming next week, would you mind saying andy carroll is crap and couldn't possibly score 8 goals against chelsea in one game? cheers. :aimkiss:

[charliepanayi]

I hope Norwich are that rubbish next weekend. A draw between Chelsea and Newcastle on Wednesday would be helpful too.

Southampton back in the Premiership! I'd like Blackpool to make it up through the playoffs, not crazy about the other three teams.

[Bubba]

OK, fair play, that was a quality hat trick. The lob was perfection.

It really pains me to say this but... Suarez is an absolute twat.

Ooh, that wasn't painful at all!

[Loony BoB]

Andy Carroll is crap and couldn't possibly score 8 goals against chelsea in one game. ;)

Agree regarding Blackpool. Reeeeeally hoping they go up.

[Shattered Dreamer]

Steve Kean must be the worst manager involved in professional sports. Setting up a team in danger of relegation to defend for 90mins. Absolutely shocking, I feel bad for Blackburn I really do.

[Psychotic]

Alex McLeish is worse. The likes of Steve Kean and Terry Connor are just out of their depth.

[Old Manus]

Weren't Blackburn after Kaka or something last season?

[charliepanayi]

So . . . Hodgson huh.

[Old Manus]

<img src="http://home.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/kakapo.gif" width="250" />

This means after weeks of worrying it may just look like Sir Brendan will stay at Unemploymentville for at least another season. I know the FA would come through.

Seriously though, I think he's a good choice. He has bags of experience at a national level, european level and big team level, something Redknapp does not have (that, and he can read and write and knows how to fill in a tax return). The overwhelming public support for Arry though means he's doomed from the start. Lose to France in the Euros? SEE, GLORIOUS ENGLISH HARRY SHOULD HAVE BEEN MANAGER. HODGSON OUT.

[charliepanayi]

With the endless press support for Redknapp, they'll have their knives out for Hodgson from the off. I feel sorry for the poor guy already.

[Loony BoB]

Roy Hodgson is apparently the first person they have ever appointed that has prior international experience. He has proven himself at being capable of taking teams that have never been that good and moving them up to have their best ever rankings and qualifying for tournaments they had not qualified for in decades. Hey may do just that with England, taking them to the heights of semi-finals or something.

More than likely, he'll do rubbish for the same reason all the others do rubbish, and get blamed for everything because clearly no other person can ever be at fault but the manager.

[Old Manus]

taking them to the heights of semi-finals or somethingWoah, now.

[DK]

Actually yeah the more you think about it the more Woy makes sense, purely because he's at his best when he's taking a team of shit and making it do better than it should, and no matter how blind most England fans are the squad and pool of players to pick it from is atrocious compared to the other big nations in World football. Plus he will rub his face when England inevitably fail. I am looking forward to this!

[Rocket Edge]

Agree. I always rated RH as a good manager and I wish him the best. But I think no matter what will happen, to some degree the media will always compare him to Harry Redknapp.

The big match is only hours away. What are peoples scoreline prediction for the match? I think, 2-3 win to the away side. :smug: I think City will go for it from the off as they need the win. Can see Tevez giving us big problems.

[Bubba]

'Uuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!'

This is the noise I'll be making throughout the entire game.

As I watch the game behind my pint, my hands and my aura of fear...

I think City will be too strong with them being at home. I'm going to say 2-1 to the home side.

[Psychotic]

Who wants my opinion on Roy Hodgson? :greenie:

Thought not. ;)

England are international Liverpool. Unrealistic pressure and expectations placed on them by their fans and the media, and generally can never meet the high standards set for them given the intense amount of pressure and scrutiny. Hodgson will not be able to take the heat imho.

He seems a nice enough bloke though, like a grandad or something. I felt bad that he didn't succeed at Anfield, as I really wanted him to. Rather him than Harry. But rather Capello than either one of them.

Also I couldn't possibly predict the outcome of the Manchester Derby. But like I suspect 99% of United fans were in the Merseyside semi-final the other week, I'll be supporting the blue team tonight. ;)

[charliepanayi]

No, England are international Newcastle. Both convinced they're a big side despite winning nothing in decades.

[DK]

Fuck me, that last half an hour was horrible. Absolutely horrible. Still, yesssssssssssss.

Now all that's left is for us to have beaten United in this most important game ever, and to lose to Newcastle anyway. I BELIEVE (in city being city)

[Psychotic]

Ho hum. Game on. It will be a travesty of justice if United win the title now. City have beaten them home and away and are clearly the better team imho.

Mind you, we were the better team and twatted United home and away in '09 and look how that turned out. ROBBIE KEANE :argh:

[Rocket Edge]

A really scrappy game. Not one United player was allowed any room to perform tonight and that was down to City's good play & set-up. They made that second half become frustrating & hard to watch - completely slowing the game down. Yaya Toure was key for them, using his strength through-out. It's a pity from a United point of view that Vidic wasn't there for that goal. We have missed him all season. I thought Ferdinand was the best of an average bunch for us tonight.

I think the title should be over now. Cannot see even Newcastle away slowing down their momentum.

[DK]

Best part of the game by far was Red Nose and Mancini giving each other the good news, that was hilarious.

[Old Manus]

I love how the coverage just passed over the Swans next week as a done deal and Gary Neville talking about Utd putting 8 past us. He's entirely right, of course, our defence is an absolute horrorshow.

[charliepanayi]

Well so was theirs against Everton.

[Bubba]

If there is one player who deserved to score the winner tonight then it's Vincent Kompany. A leader and a winner right there...

Its not over though. 38 games.

[DK]

God damn right, I'd say he's easily been our best signing in the last 10 years, better than Dave or Sergio or any of them. Love him and his spooty misshapen head. :heart:

[Loony BoB]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah, piss arse and bollocks.

[Old Manus]

http://h11.abload.de/img/untitled-8zjkh2.gif

Just...take a bow Papa Cisse.

[DK]

Yeah Jesus Christ. Very possibly the best goal I've ever seen in my life, just for the sheer ridiculousness of it.

Fucking Newcastle, congrats on the title United. :colbert:

[charliepanayi]

I can see it coming. We're either going to finish outside the top four, or 4th (behind Spurs) and then Chelsea will win the European Cup :( - I just can't trust us to win the last two games and seal things.

[Shoden]

Both his goals were absolute stunners, I was expecting Chelsea to get a goal in the 10 minutes extra time but that was such an absolute shocker, just, wow. I feel sorry that Ba still didn't get a goal but damn he came close and he tried and tried. What a match.

[Bubba]

Yeah Jesus Christ. Very possibly the best goal I've ever seen in my life, just for the sheer ridiculousness of it.

smurfing Newcastle, congrats on the title United. :colbert:

Jesus Christ, DK. You're worse than me for your defeatist attitude.

Newcastle are a top team but I reckon City will have too much quality over 90 minutes.

[DK]

I support a team that thought it was a good idea to buy Paul Dickov twice. I'm being worryingly optimistic about this if you keep that in mind.

[Rocket Edge]

That goal was outstanding! The fucking swerve of it! Some serious technique is involved there. It's good from a United point of view that Newcastle will be going for the fourth spot big time come next weekend. I honestly really can't see City slipping up with such momentum behind them and for what is at stake, but with Papiss, there is always hope. What a player, take a bow. I loved at the end of it you see Drogba applauding the goal. (http://youtu.be/1Bruu3NPQ7k)

[Shoden]

Its going to be a very tough match against City, regardless of Cisse's two scorchers the whole Newcastle team really did play well, when Tiote went down and got taken off I thought "that's it, they're going to get one here" but I was wrong. We held on, Cisse scored THAT. There's nothing that can describe that goal. I've watched it over and over and I get nothing I can think of that I can use to fittingly describe it. I'm in disbelief myself haha.

[Rocket Edge]

Well, if City get the points at Newcastle, nobody can deny they deserve the PL title.

[charliepanayi]

In any season, the team that finishes top of the league deserves to win the title.

[Loony BoB]

In any season, the team that finishes top of the league deserves to win the title.
That's what Juventus said.

[Bubba]

I support a team that thought it was a good idea to buy Paul Dickov twice. I'm being worryingly optimistic about this if you keep that in mind.

Say what you want about Paul Dickov, but if it wasn't for him you woudn't be in the position you're in now. Nowhere near, in fact. In 1999 he scored the most important goal in the history of your club. He'd be a legend if it was my club.


Well, if City get the points at Newcastle, nobody can deny they deserve the PL title.


In any season, the team that finishes top of the league deserves to win the title.

Damn straight. You can talk about countless incidents throughout the season but over 38 games, no-one can say you don't deserve it. If City win the league then I'll be the first to congratulate them.

I'll be cheering United on in both games on Sunday though!

[charliepanayi]

There's been 19 managerial changes in Serie A this year - blimey. Also, Juventus might still not win the league despite being unbeaten with two games left (they're one point above Milan).

[Rocket Edge]

I hope Juve do it because they were such a dangerous team in the 90's that I'd like to see them back at the pinnacle once again. Amazing record this season.

[charliepanayi]

So long as they're not fixing games again :D

[Crop]

A lot has happened since I last posted and I can't be bothered to make a long post so:
Gutted about the game
Capello>Hodgson>Redknapp - so I'm mid way happy, thankfully no 'arry.
Cisse's goal made my jaw drop to the floor, more of that on...hmmm, let's say Sunday please. :greenie:

[Loony BoB]

Dammit. :(

[DK]

http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2012/04/19/264904-yaya-toure.jpg

[Bubba]

Fair play, DK. Enjoy it!

City were by far the better team. Mancini got his tactics spot on. Have more faith in your team now, my friend!

Just waiting for the first goal in this 13-0 Utd win!

[DK]

I'm not going to be dancing until we beat QPR. I refuse to take anything for granted xD

But yeah, love Mancini so much. I really hope the rumours about De Jong being moved on at the end of the season weren't true either, he is a hero and I love him and this "fuck the useless twat Nasri off for Nigel and let Yaya play further forward" tactic is great. Yaya such a beast, total god tier, makes me feel more and more guilty every game for being utterly underwhelmed when we signed him from Barca for what at the time seemed to me to be way too much money, especially because of his old role at Barca being primarliy a defensive midfielder and we had like 5 of them anyway when we got him. But god damn, what a legendary hero he has turned out to be.

But yeah that being said, still convinced United are going to win both their next games 10-0. I kind of just want to get the season over and done with, no matter what the result. It's getting way too painful xD

[DK]

Also now the games over, really hope Newcastle beat Everton and Fulham wreck Spuds in their last games, Newcastle definitely deserve the 4th spot and Spurs are utter filth.

Also, 2-0 now, oh god. It's coming xD Manus do something about this you awful man.

[Old Manus]

I think the Swans played well and deserved a goal at least. Ashley Young man of the match was the factually wrong decision, it was in fact Joe Allen. I didn't hear the United fans over the course of the whole game. My £2 punt on the Swans to win by four goals at 1000-1 went down in a sudden realisation that that was never going to happen. That is all.

[Psychotic]

where's stephane henchoz when you need him...?

[charliepanayi]

How we still have a chance at third is beyond me. Of course to do that actually requires us to WIN a game, and that's surely too outlandish a concept for the team at the moment!

[Psychotic]

This isn't a "smurf the FA Cup I never wanted to win it anyway :smug:" sour grapes post, because I did want to win and the result genuinely hurt me, but I do feel I have a legitimate question here.

Why is winning the FA Cup considered to be better than winning the League Cup? The HISTORIC PRESTIGE BBC MATCH OF THE DAY BLOP BLOO crap doesn't count, I mean as a purely footballing achievement. It is literally the exact same teams in an almost identical format. Yes I appreciate there are non-league teams in the FA Cup too, but despite the ~*ROMANCE OF THE CUP*~ or what have you they achieve smurf all every year and it hardly makes it more of a challenge. Heck, if anything the League Cup is harder to win because it has a tricky two-legged tie for the Semi.

[Loony BoB]

Heck, if anything the League Cup is harder to win because it has a tricky two-legged tie for the Semi.
I agree and disagree with this... I agree the League Cup is arguably harder to win, but I think it's because you're more likely to face tougher opposition in the League Cup.

Still, I really want to watch United win an FA Cup, because so far I've never seen them do it since I began supporting the club.

[Old Manus]

I remember in Premier Manager 98 you could assemble the greatest ever team, win the Premiership, FA Cup, Champions League, Super Cup and Charity Shield but you'd be damned if you tried to win the League Cup. It was almost impossible.

still a sore loser

[Rocket Edge]

Losing this PL title on goal difference is hard to swallow, but we shot ourselves in the foot and we don't deserve to be champions. City are rightful champions. They bet us in both ties in the league, so not really any complaints. I'm happy for the likes of Kompany, Aguero, Hart, Y Toure, the likes who have completely earned the medal. Tevez on the other hand now.

I will always remember this season for that Everton game though. :/

[DK]

Why is winning the FA Cup considered to be better than winning the League Cup?

Because it's not sponsered by Carling. Anything endorsed by the worst lager in history is immediately devalued.


Heck, if anything the League Cup is harder to win because it has a tricky two-legged tie for the Semi.

I hate the two-legged semi. Completely buggered up my Shrewsbury team's stamina in Fifa :colbert:

[DK]

Former Prem champions Blackburn relegated. Somewhere out there, Russielloyd is crying his eyes out. And to that I say, hahahahahaahahahagaghahgahgahjagahgahjgahagha what a ponce he was.

[charliepanayi]

Not like this is the first time they've been relegated since winning the league to be fair. Feel bad for the fans and for Steve Kean - he's not an especially good manager, but the club is atrociously run and I can't imagine he's had much assistance.

[DK]

No, but it just makes it that much better. Mind you, this is not so much me not liking Blackburn and more just the glee of knowing Russielloyd will be raging. Not sure if you were around when he was, but god damn. He was the absolute worst. Most deluded fan who has ever posted on EoFF, I wish he didn't get banned. Well I'm glad he did, but still.

[charliepanayi]

Yeah, he was a prat as I recall.

[Loony BoB]

Gutted, personally, as a friend of mine supports them and he sits opposite me at work. Football talk at work is always better when your teams are in the same league.

[Old Manus]

It's also better online when your teams are in the same league :cry:

[Psychotic]

It's also better online when your teams are in the same league :cry:i sincerely look forward to my football team not beating yours at the weekend

[The Captain]

Final League Standings Top Half:

Man City - Champions, based on Goal Difference
Man Utd - Fact that Scholes is still their best midfielder means investment is a must.
Arsenal - WHAT?! Can't believe they'll finish here.
Newcastle - Fancy them to win over Everton while Spurs draw with Fulham
Spurs - Poor Harry, no English team and no CL. Could also see Bale leaving.
Chelsea - Ugh, they played awful today. Better pick it up in two weeks.
Liverpool - Expect them to win their last game because it doesn't matter
Everton - I think Newcastle will beat them and seal their place.
Fulham - Dempsey is a beast. Team is not.
West Brom - Farewell Hodge

And Relegated along with Blackburn and Wolves..............QPR, as Man City beats them and somehow, someway, Bolton beats Stoke.

Finally, I think, the home advantage really plays a big part and Munich edge Chelsea on what else, penalties. Damn Germans always win on penalties.



Liverpool thoughts:

Overall, a dreadful year. One cup keeps it from being a total wash but far too little from too many. The days of relying on Gerrard are over clearly, as he will not play a full season. When he's on the field, he is still dynamic but they clearly need to fortify midfield because when he isn't there, they haven't a clue. Some real positives from Carroll late on which make me think he may yet prove a good foil to Suarez, but I would still like to see another Striker, a real poacher, join up, especially since I have no doubt Suarez will get suspended at some point next year too.

I would like to maybe see Glen Johnson made a winger and have Kelly become the full-time back as Johnson has proven he is great going forward and gives more of a threat then Henderson or Maxi or Downing. Also, want to see more of Sterling next year.

Farewell Dirk, farewell Maxi, maybe farewell Bellamy as I think all will be sold or leave. Also, I think next year is Carra's last. Dirk especially will be missed. Loved his hustle, loved his heart. Glad he won at least something for all his service.

As I said before, all the bad luck should swing back a bit next season but unless some real good signings are made, Liverpool will struggle to break the Top 6 again. We may remain tough in Cup competitions, but the League calls for some drastic changes.

Take care all.

[charliepanayi]

This will be only the second time a side has played a European Cup final on their own ground, and the previous one lost (Roma, to Liverpool in the 80s). So I wouldn't say Bayern being at home necessarily brings them an advantage. That and Chelsea are a bunch of jammy, lucky gits :(

Less than a month now until Euro 2012, thank god.

[Old Manus]

How I look forward to the Euro 2012 thread, where we will hopefully have more of Herr Croyles and his German trolling, that Dutch guy whom I forget the name wanting to celebrate coming second, and Cuchulainn just generally being inflammatory.

[charliepanayi]

Especially if Ireland wind up playing France.

[Rocket Edge]

A friend of mine went to Paris a couple of years ago on holidays & he said several people apologized about what happened. Water off a ducks back really, unless you think your a great lad & down-talk everything french. Nothing to do with the country really.

My starting Liverpool team would be (4,5,1): Reina, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Jose Enrique, Bellamy, Henderson, Gerrard, Lucas, Suarez, Carroll.

I think they need a new defensive midfielder, a playmaker, & a poacher. I'd play Suarez on the wing because he isn't a striker really. I actually think that team would do plenty of damage then.

[charliepanayi]

So it's West Ham v Blackpool in the playoff final - the game I wanted really.

[Old Manus]

Dobbie nets the first for the Tangerines, he will now have played in three consecutive playoff finals. He scored in last years' one and we will forever be grateful.

[Rocket Edge]

Same, the final I wanted. I don't mind who wins, although I wouldn't mind Blackpool to do it for comic value.

[Loony BoB]

Don't want West Ham, they have never interested me much. Really want Blackpool, for that sweet Ian Holloway goodness. It's always nice to have a manager say what he thinks and say what he likes. More often than not, it's the things everyone else is wanting to say, too. It's comical on occasion, sure, but the sentiment behind most of his statements is spot on.

[charliepanayi]

I want the team who isn't managed by Sam Allardyce to get promoted. Holloway is amusing but he doesn't half talk rubbish a lot of the time.

[Psychotic]

How I look forward to the Euro 2012 thread, where we will hopefully have more of Herr Croyles and his German trolling, that Dutch guy whom I forget the name wanting to celebrate coming second, and Cuchulainn just generally being inflammatory.Let's not forget the random Portugese members appearing out of nowhere to post garbled insults after they knock England out.
My starting Liverpool team would be (4,5,1): Reina, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Jose Enrique, Bellamy, Henderson, Gerrard, Lucas, Suarez, Carroll..Is that a 4-2-3-1 with Henderson in the central role? I wouldn't be opposed to that I suppose, but I think Suarez would be best in the central role and then Liverpool sign a pair of proper wingers. And by proper I don't mean Stewart Downing :p

A key and huge part of Liverpool's season and the way it's turned out have been our best two players missing games. Lucas is our best player and here is a fun statistic:

12 games with Lucas 22 points (70pts season pace - 3rd place)
24 games without Lucas 27 points (43pts season pace - just managing to stave off relegation)

Says a lot really, doesn't it? :greenie:

And we were of course without Suarez for 8 games, and he has only just started finding form since the ban. The incident clearly messed with the man's head. Regardless of what side you take it is pretty obvious Suarez himself believes he is innocent. It's why he refused to admit guilt and refused to shake Evra's hand. If you were falsely accused of racism and had thousands of people booing and abusing you every weekend for it, it'd mess with your head too. Now, I am not asking for sympathy for poor little Luis, but it is an explanation as to why his form dipped for a few months.


Don't want West Ham, they have never interested me much. Really want Blackpool, for that sweet Ian Holloway goodness. Yes!

Also good news charliepanayi - Neil Mellor is retiring. You can sleep soundly in your bed now :)

[Rocket Edge]

Yes 4-2-3-1. Liverpool are already difficult to break down & able to keep possession handily so bombing forward with attack minded wingers & wing-backs would be my way of going.

[charliepanayi]

Shall we get some snap predictions for tomorrow and next weekend?

1st - Man City
2nd - Man Utd
3rd - Tottenham
4th - Arsenal

Relegated - QPR

European Cup - Chelsea :(

Promoted to Premier League - West Ham

[Loony BoB]

Shall we get some snap predictions for tomorrow and next weekend?

1st - Man City
2nd - Man Utd
3rd - Tottenham
4th - Arsenal

Relegated - QPR

European Cup - Chelsea :(

Promoted to Premier League - West Ham
There is nothing that I like in this picture you are painting. :( Sadly, I think it will come true with the exception of Chelsea. I think Munich will get this one.

[Bubba]

1st - Man City
2nd - Man Utd
3rd - Arsenal
4th - Tottenham

Relegated - Bolton

Promoted - West Ham

Champions League - Bayern Munich


City will beat QPR convincingly but I can't see Bolton winning away at Stoke so QPR will stay up even after getting a hiding.

I called Bayern for the Champions League when the Quarter Final draw was made. No-one at work listened and now they can shut the hell up. With home field advantage and quite a few Chelsea players missing I think they'll be too strong.

[Crop]

1st Man City
2nd Man Utd
3rd Spurs
4th Arsenal

Munich will beat Chelsea, Blackpool will go up (hopefully), Everton will finish above Liverpool, and Bolton will beat Stoke and stay up. I also don't think City will beat QPR well, I think it'll be a tense 1 or 2 nil.

Also, have you seen the new Man Utd kit? Looks god awful.

[DK]

FEIUFSOQHEWASFDCQWI
ASDZ XNHUSIDHCNQ
X QJM
SDJAW
SCKJMW
ZEFSJCW
S0ZD[CXPLIODFJEWK
SZDFC Wms
dQAWZ]
WJ

SERGIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[DK]

dude the wrost part of the whole thing, i was literally opening in the thread, the thread was open as i was coming in to post like how i was right that city are city and you all are wrong, i was literally scrolling to type it as dzeko's header went in behind me, i wasn't even happy i just thought "why give me this false hope fucks sake 3 minutes left" and then sergio, oh my god sergio, the noise i made fucking hell. i can't even, oh man. oh man. :heart:

[Psychotic]

one word old manus, just one, and i will ban you forever :colbert:

also in less important news, what a smurfing finale. Made up for City. Truly only one team deserved the title this season and I'm glad the right team won it. :) It was a glorious day for football all round. Almost.

Also respect to Alex Ferguson for this. Although he did not win, he got the best out of a relatively (compared to the United teams of the past 20 years) weak United squad and pushed City all the way. Incredibly talented man.

[Shoden]

I'm in awe, well not really, Newcastle lost hard but we still finished 5th at least but dat finale... When City were trailing I was hoping, for the first and hopefully the last time in my life for Sunderland to score a goal but good god dat game! gqeljkqklj3gkljklhf MY HEAD ASPLDOED

[Old Manus]

one word old manus, just one, and i will ban you forever :colbert: The circle is complete.

Also, WAT. I was on a 3 hour bus journey from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen, flitting in and out of areas with phone signal, refreshing the BBC live text commentary over and over. Everything was perfect at half time with City winning the title and QPR going down and the Swans not conceding, but holy shit balls.

I got onto a train at Carmarthen with 20 minutes of normal time to go in all games, and watched in awe as the news of turnarounds and counter turnarounds slowly filtered through the carriages. Someone shouts 'ONE NIL SWANSEA, DANNY GRA-HOLY SHIT IT'S 3-2 MAN CITY' and suddenly peoples' phones are going off and all we want is to get off the train and ensure we weren't part of some Jeremy Beadle comedy show. We pulled into Swansea and are joined by all the Liverpool fans leaving the ground (including two heathen pool fans who were from Manchester). None of them cared about the game, the only talk was of events at the Etihad.

Football, bloody hell.

[charliepanayi]

Phew, just about limped over the line but very glad to have secured 3rd after a chaotic season.

And oh yeah, Joey Barton probably shouldn't go near Old Trafford any time soon.

[Bubba]

Wow. Absolutely incredible. It would have been a massive injustice had we won the title. City have been the best team in the premiership by far. They should have won it more comprehensively to tell the truth but I suppose that just wouldn't be City!

Enjoy your night, lads. Come back when you've won 19! (did I really say that??)

[Shoden]

Joey Barton vs The whole Manchester City squad || 13/5/12. - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=150odRPpBj0) I dunno how to embed videos so this will have to do. Is it just me or, does Tevez elbow Barton first? I mean yeah sure Barton didn't START it but he sure as hell finished it, woosh...
Anyone know what happened with Cahill and Cabaye?

[Psychotic]

Enjoy your night, lads. Come back when you've won 19! (did I really say that??)Steady on. I used to quite enjoy saying "come back when you've won 18" and look where that got me...!

Joey Barton incident is hilarious. I always thought it would be funny if a player, after getting sent off, immediately went and crippled the opposition team's star player for a laugh.

Also Cahill and Cabaye are both nasty :bou::bou::bou::bou:s so it's hardly surprising they'd get involved in a bit of aggro. :p

[Shoden]

I liked how Balotelli was at first trying to square upto him then ended up trying to chat to him in a friendly manner, such an amusing character he's turned out to be!

[charliepanayi]

BBC Sport - BBC Sport asks 'Who are the champions?' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14388154)

God knows what Mark Bright was thinking.

[Psychotic]

I think there's been at least one, if not more, pundit per year who has predicted Liverpool to win the league ever since the early 90's. I stopped getting my young hopes up about 10 years ago, apart from a brief period 3-4 years ago :shobon:

[Loony BoB]

Let the conspiracy theories begin: Barton did it because he wanted City to win the title! ;)

But seriously, yes, Tevez did make the first move, but you won't get the red unless your opponent screams agony. Barton didn't know this, apparently, but Tevez did. Doesn't excuse Barton one little bit - what a moron. I have no idea what went through his mind. Still, didn't matter that much, I don't think Joey would have made a major difference to how QPR were playing. They still would have been liable to a header at the last minute.

I'd kind of preferred it if City had just thrashed QPR from the start, to be honest! But even when the United whistle had gone, I just felt like the City goal was going to come because once they equalised, the determination (and the talent) was obviously there to get the final goal.

Time for the silly season now! Will be interesting to see if City continue spending big or if they sell many of their bigger players now that they have to consider balancing out the cash for FFP. They spent only £10m more than United did last season, but I expect their wages are through the roof, and at the moment their income is still supposedly at the level of Spurs. By the time FFP kicks in, I'm guessing that United will be able to once again compete with City in the market. Hoping!

[Old Manus]

So, with another season over, let's review some of the highs and lows of the Football Thread with Old Manus' Official EoFF Quotes of the Season With Budweiser^TM


Mind you, he's [Fernando Torres] had a Summer to rest and sadly, I expect him to flourish next season.


Scholes was a once in a lifetime player, but we can't just expect for another talent like him to come through the ranks.


If there is one thing I never am confident about, it's Manchester United winning a Manchester derby.


I really think no European football will help them [Liverpool] focus much better against the lesser teams, which has been their biggest issue the last few years


Relegated: Newcastle


Once I was hit in the groin/vulva by a soccer ball when we were playing in high school. But I made the block.


Mertesacker is a good player


7th is the best I'm realistically hoping for for Everton.


[After drawing 0-0 at home to Swansea] We're going to come 7th!


I have to say, as a long term Spurs fan


When I saw the picture Old Manus posted I hadn't read the post and just saw the picture at a glance, and immediately assumed it was like, a picture of a Swansea game on TV that he'd gone to and been caught on camera in the crowd and I was looking for a welsh guy that looked like Bez from the Happy Mondays, and it took me a while to realise what was actually going on. I kind of thought he was the gimpy looking dude with the fur hood on but something didn't seem quite right. And now I know why.



[Aimed at Cuchulainn] ps: at least liverpool are from my country's league


http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e373/photobucketamazingness/s4064h.gif




Liverpool will easily finish above Spurs. It took them until the last couple of games to do it last season, and you have to bear in mind we had a face-rubbing lunatic and an emo spaniard for half of it. I GUARAN-DAMN-TEE we will finish ahead of Spurs. If we do not, I will willingly put on a Harry Redknapp (or Gerry Francis!) avatar for a month afterwards!


And finally, I just want to say how proud I am of the Swans this season. If someone offered me 17th on goals scored at the start of the season I would have bitten their arm off. Instead we stuck to the football that got us promoted, and it paid off, we ended up as the top ranked promoted team in 11th (missing out on 10th on...goals scored), with a bunch of players who'd never played Premier League football before. A season I'll never forget even if we go down next year.

[Psychotic]

hey you can't use posts from me from before we signed stewart downing :colbert:

[Loony BoB]

What's that, 'arry?

[Cuchulainn]

hey you can't use posts from me from before we signed stewart downing :colbert:

If, as suspected by the press, King Kenny is in the process of getting sacked I'm putting it down as a downing assist.

[Psychotic]

Well the press will always hate Dalglish given his... friendly... attitude to them so I take anything they say with a pinch of salt. On the subject of that, it has been a pretty woeful season but my view is that given all the man has done for the club, he should be given another season. He's earned that. I'd be disappointed if he was fired. If I were him though, I would give resignation some serious thought. As long as he accepts responsibility for being worse than Graeme Souness and believes he can take the club forward, he has my backing.

Also, no to Martinez please. Look, I like the bloke, I do. But hiring a man on the back of successfully avoiding relegation a couple of times is not the standard required for the aims of the football club. It's like hiring Roy Hodgson all over again. Midtable manager who was the "in thing" and well, yeah. I know Roy is the in thing again but make no mistake about it, he was a fucking disaster and definitely worse than Kenny. If you aim to stay midtable, yeah, alright, go hog wild, but the owners have made it very clear the goal is Champions League football again. Capello, that bloke who was at Valencia or even AVB are the targets I'd prefer us to be looking at, if anyone.

[Cuchulainn]

First off, Kenny doesn't HAVE to be press friendly. It's not in his job description. The press are parasites, and that does not exclude the :bou::bou::bou::bou:s that do the post match interviews. They know exactly what they're doing, asking annoying questions when emotions are still high. That's why Fergie doesn't give interviews if he's angry anymore. Too many touchline bans. However, it really does pay not to piss of every fucking interviewer by being a short tempeted moody cow literally EVERY time you're interviewed. It really helps your position to be on friendly terms with at least SOME of them.

Secondly I don't care how much he's revered at Liverpool if he was literally ANYONE else in the world he'd of been sacked by now. I can't remeber Liverpool being this poor, maybe the last time was the Evans era. Not to mention how he handled the Suarez incident. He needs to go for his sake as well as livepools. I agree with you Liverpool do not need an all out attacking coach like Martinez. Not yet. Their squad isn't one that's favourable to that style of play. I think they need to go abroad for a coach. Nothing i England is good enough really.

However as a United fan of many many years I can honestly say I wouldn't mind them not sacking Kenny. One fierce rival being better than us is bad enough, we don't need another tyvm

[Rocket Edge]

That moment when Aguero scored it was like someone ripping my stomach out. :stare:

We will never see an end to a season more dramatic than that. It was incredible. They deserved to be champions, but like always United will be back next season. I am interested to see how City do in Europe next year. I could see that team give anyone problems. Now onto the silly part of the year. Will Hazard go to Man U or City? I really like him as a player, I'm hjoping the red half.

[Psychotic]

I agree with most of what you said Cuch, although to be honest I wouldn't hope any manager would be fired after that. We'll have had four managers in four years if Kenny is replaced, and that's bordering dangerously into Chelsea territory. I don't like the "What do we want? INSTANT SUCCESS! When do we want it? NOW!" culture that has crept into modern football.

I suppose another aspect depends on how much of your club's identity you're willing to sacrifice to bring success. Do I support Liverpool, or do I support the idea of winning trophies? I don't doubt the club would be more successful if we left Anfield for a 70,000+ or whatever sized stadium, but would it still be LFC? Is treating a club legend like dirt really worth it? I genuinely don't know how I feel on the matter. I'm a weird Liverpool fan in that I didn't grow up with us spanking the league left right and centre for 20 years. I'm used to the failures and the oh-so-nears and the next year will be our years. I really want to win the title one day but then what's another 20 years of mediocrity? :p

Also the Evans years weren't too bad you know! Compared to the Souness years at least...

[Loony BoB]

Will Hazard go to Man U or City? I really like him as a player, I'm hjoping the red half.
From my understanding, it's almost a certainty that he will be going to City. Yet I do find it strange that Mancini is wanting the owners to continue to spend a lot of money. He's already significantly in the red when it comes to UEFA Financial Fair Play. Does he want the club to be banned from Europe? Or is he betting on UEFA not making such punishments until much later on?

I think we'll get Kagawa, a fullback and perhaps another player or two.

[Rocket Edge]

According to Lille TV he was reported as saying 'You'll never see me in the red of Lille again. It will be another red next season'. Don't know if it's true or not. Hard to turn down City though when they will offer you anything you want on a platter.

[Loony BoB]

There are a lot of rumours running around about what colour he said he will wear next season. "It's the blue that I'll be wearing next season. Definitely the blue." is one quote that is often thrown about. What was actually said in that interview? Apparently (although who knows, maybe this, too, is fabrication!) he was asked what colour he prefers out of blue and red, and he said - referring to Lille - "The stand is blue and my kit is red. I like both." Another answer is apparently ""I like both. They're both nice colours. I think they both suit me."

I mean, how many quotes can you get out of one question? Insane. And is there any actual recording on air or statement in a magazine? Nothing I've seen. Only thing I've found is a YouTube link and I can't check it at work. mUEylWkUnmQ

Whatever he said, I still reckon he'll go to City. I think he's a great player but uncomfirmed at the highest level, so yeah... I would like to see how he would do in our shirt, but at the same time I'm not going to drop my head in despair if he goes elsewhere.

[Psychotic]

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Man City), Rob Green (West Ham), John Ruddy (Norwich)

Defenders: Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Man United), John Terry (Chelsea), Joleon Lescott (Man City), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Leighton Baines (Everton)

Midfielders: Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Stewart Downing (Liverpool), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Gareth Barry (Man City), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Scott Parker (Tottenham), Ashley Young (Man United), James Milner (Man City)

Forwards: Wayne Rooney (Man United), Danny Welbeck (Man United), Andy Carroll (Liverpool), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham)

STEWART DOWNING IS IN ENGLAND'S EURO 2012 SQUAD

OH MY GOD :|

Glen Johnson and Phil pissing Jones ahead of Micah Richards

Oxlade smurfing Chamberlain. Theo Walcott.

JERMAINE PISSING DEFOE

Oh sure let's pick Frank Lampard and a god damn crippled Stevie G but no sight of Michael Carrick what the smurf he is literally england's best CM right now.

John Terry! JOHN GOD DAMN TERRY

well you guys

well well well

I said Roy Hodgson was a bag of arse cakes :colbert: Stewart. Downing.

on the plus side at least big andy is going :shobon:

edit:

Birmingham keeper Jack Butland is among the list of five standby players, which also includes Manchester City winger Adam Johnson, Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge, Everton defender Phil Jagielka and Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson.

are you smurfing serious

smurfing smurf jordan henderson what the living smurf. There is no room for michael carrick or micah richards even in the standbys? Jesus christ roy. Downing ahead of Johnson, Defoe ahead of Sturridge, Terry ahead of Jagielka, smurfing hell.

[charliepanayi]

Downing? Good lord.

[Bubba]

Jesus Titty-f***ing Christ.

[Psychotic]

donal

donal you must marry my sister

that way I can be Irish

it is the only way

DONAAAAALLLL!!!!

[Psychotic]

wait

scott parker is injured and if he doesn't recover in time

that means...

JORDAN HENDERSON

JORDAN HENDERSON ON THE PLANE

You motherfuckers. All of you. I warned you about god damn Roy. I warned you. OH HA HA SILLY LIVERPOOL IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT YOU WERE CRAP. No. Roy Hodgson is bad. Roy Hodgson is the opposite of good. ROY HODGSON IS LOONY BOB IN FOOTBALL MANAGER FORM

OH M YGOD

JRODAN HENRDERSON STEWART DOWNIONG ROY HOGDNSON

YOU FUCKERS RUIN MY CLUB NOW YOU RUIN MY COUNTRY

THANK FUCK CHARLIE ADAM IS SCOTTISH

:crying2:

[Rocket Edge]

xD Ahaha. Yeah some strange decisions indeed. I have never been the biggest fan of Carrick but he had a good season, I feel he should have at least earned a place. Why bring Downing?! I would have taken Beckham before Downing in a heartbeat. It depends on how fit Bent is but I would have definitely have brought him. No love for warwhale either, I think DK will be depressed. I think your pessimism over RH may turn out to be very real Paul.

I'd like to hear your starting team with that squad lads.

[Old Manus]

Stewart smurfing Downing? Stewart smurfing Downing? Mother of God. How? Both him and Carroll have had totally tit seasons yet they walked into the squad. HOW, GODDAMMIT?

Actually, I'll tell you how. They play for Liverpool. That is literally the only reason. There's only 3 players in that entire squad who don't play for one of the top six sides and one of them is the backup keeper. Absolute bollocks. Stuart smurfing Downing...

EDIT: GLEN smurfING JOHNSON? GLEN smurfING JOHNSON? FFFFFFFFFFFFFF~*carrier lost*~

[DK]

My starting XI from that squad would be: Joe Hart, Andy Carroll. Best chance for any semblance of victory right there. Phil Jones xD seriously?

[Bubba]

My prediction for the starting XI against France.

Hart
Cole
Terry
Cahill
Johnson
Young
Lampard
Parker (if fit)
Gerrard
Walcott
Carroll

[charliepanayi]

King Kenny departs!

[Cuchulainn]

35962

Damnit Kenny's been sacked...liverpool might turn useful again

[Psychotic]

Well there's Downing's assist, just in time for the Euros.

Today is not the best day in football I have experienced.

[Old Manus]

Look on the bright side Psybeans, the best case scenario is that Henderson, Downing and Carroll (yes, even Andy Carroll) all break their legs in Kiev, and with Kenny gone, the stage is set for Rafa to make his amazing return and start the new season with some different players!

[Psychotic]

NO, NOT ANDY CARROLL!

NOT MY ANDY!

:argh:

Four managers in four years. We're like Chelsea without the money.

[The Captain]

In the end, it was the only real choice to make. For as much as Kenny is a Liverpool Legend, the team's home form has been beyond awful. In any sport, protecting homefield is first and foremost and when you can barely do that, changes must be made. Thanks for the early good feelings and thanks for making us play a more fun brand of football. You can enjoy your retirement knowing that you did end Liverpool's trophy drought, even if it was the CC.

As I have been saying for a while, this is a vital moment for Liverpool. They must find a manager who can really reinvigorate the side. Someone who will help with the basics that we are so often lacking in games now. I keep coming back to Germany and their pipeline of fine young talent or perhaps to Spain who seem to have three new dynamic players emerge each year. Yes, obviously, Liverpool is English, but it is an international game now and we should really consider another voice from outside. We went all in with English this year and it was a diaster.

I can only hope that FSG is as ruthless about players as they are with management.

Let the speculation begin!


As for England: What did you guys expect? Hodgson was never going to be innovative. Especially with less then a month to really prepare this team. Ironically, he picks Gerrard NOW to be Captain after he is past his prime and somehow Terry remains on this squad. What does this guy have to do to be dropped? Literally kill someone?

The Downing/Henderson double is amusing but frankly, I saw that coming too. These squads seem as much about potential as about results and both players at one time had the potential to play well. Do they live up to it? No, of course not, but each new manager thinks HE has the key to unlocking them. Likewise, Gerrard/Lampard.

The keeper picks himself as Hart has been in good form. Beyond that, this is a team that essentially doesn't need to be motivated to play well in theory as it's full of vets. However, it will need to be coached to play as a group and THAT is the real rub (Get it?) for Roy.

I see England getting out of the group and depending on who it draws, crashing out in a blaze of long-ball glory.

Take care all.

[Rocket Edge]

In the end I don't think Kenny Dalglish departing will be a bad thing for the club. He will still remain a legend & he did bring some silverware, but I felt he had to go after that season. He is a little unlucky though, as many results didn't go the clubs way throughout the campaign. As Cap'n was saying, I think all Liverpool really need is for someone to invigorate the team - give them some cutting edge.

I can't see England starting with both Gerrard and Lampard in the same team unless it's a 4-5-1. Didn't this team have problems before with this scenario? Great going forward aright but their positional sense tracking back isn't great.

Terry remains on this squad. What does this guy have to do to be dropped? Literally kill someone?
This is why the FA have lost so much credibility. It was caught on video evidence, yet they will only sanction him after the euros. If Suarez was English the same would have happened. Rio Ferdinand has now lost out on the chance to go to this tournament because of him, while the only excuse RH can say is it's 'football reasons'.

[The Captain]

I think the Suarez incident and how Kenny handled, or rather mishandled it, was the beginning of the end. The Red Sox are having a terrible season in the states and the owners have shown that they won't tolerate when their club is making headlines for the wrong reasons. They fired their previous manager, who by the way, had led them to two World Series titles for the first time in nearly 90 years, because he had lost the locker room and because it came out that his players were drinking beer and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse rather then getting their work in. The Suarez incident was a black eye to Liverpool and to the owners of the club and Kenny did himself no favors by seeming to come out in support of a racist incident.

Kenny's legacy is intact and no one can take away what he has done for the club. Beyond football achievements, the way he carried himself during some of the worst tragedies in football history will keep him a legend for all time. It was just time to move on.

I just hope Liverpool find someone with real ambition to restore the team to the top, not someone who can make us competitive, which is what I fear Martinez would bring.

[Crop]

Didn't Capello give Terry some slack and he got a bollocking for it, which eventually led to his being fired...sorry: departure? What gives?

[charliepanayi]

Please, please, please can Bayern win tonight. I don't think they will though :(

[Rocket Edge]

Bayern are favourites and I completely expect them to win charlie. Chelsea are going there without key players, while Bayern are relatively alright. I hope for Chelsea to win though! Wouldn't it be grand for the blues to win and see Terry not lift the trophy. Guys like Lampard & Drogba really deserve it.

Disappointed for Blackpool now that the game is over. I said I didn't mind at the start of the match who won, but now I'm gutted for them. :(

[Loony BoB]

Bayern are favourites and I completely expect them to win charlie. Chelsea are going there without key players, while Bayern are relatively alright. I hope for Chelsea to win though! Wouldn't it be grand for the blues to win and see Terry not lift the trophy. Guys like Lampard & Drogba really deserve it.

Disappointed for Blackpool now that the game is over. I said I didn't mind at the start of the match who won, but now I'm gutted for them. :(
Gutted about Blackpool as well. I want Ian back in the Prem!

As for Chelsea: Terry has been given permission to lift the trophy. So I hope that changes who you are rooting for. Because that would be sickening.

[DK]

I don't know who to support to be honest. Bayern win, JT does not get to lift the trophy and will probably cry, brilliant. Chelsea win, Spurs don't get CL football, brilliant. I can't decide which I want to see more.

[Loony BoB]

Chelsea missing out is more appealling than Spurs missing out to be honest. Spurs always miss out so it would be nothing unusual. Chelsea haven't missed it for, what, ten years?

[charliepanayi]

Can someone just hand them the trophy now :( - jammy gits doesn't even begin to describe this.

[Bubba]

Come on Bayern! At least they've had a go. Talk about Smash and grab. They've had their shot in Europe now. Let Harry and the Spurs have a go!

[charliepanayi]

Just awful. **** you football.

[Loony BoB]

I'd just like to thank whatever player it was that blocked Terry from getting to the front so you couldn't actually see him at all when they lifted the trophy.

EDIT: Ah, it was Bosingwa. :)

[Old Manus]

EBJT http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh279/RealDavester/783.gif

[Bubba]

Ridiculously shit season all round. Can't wait for the Euros so I can feel just as bad about my country.

[Psychotic]

Drogba deserves it you guys.

[Bubba]

Drogba deserves it you guys.

He deserves smurf all the dirty, cheating bastard.

[Cuchulainn]

35970

[Rocket Edge]

35970
Ahahaha. JT, the man who can get away with anything.

I was actually delighted for Chelsea. Great for the EPL. I was sickened when I heard that JT would lift the trophy, but in the end there was plenty of people there who deserved it. Call Drogba what you want but the man carried Chelsea in that final, and at 34 it's great to see him win it. Same with Lampard. It was extremely dramatic aswell. I still felt for Bayern in the end as they should have won the game.

EDIT: Look what I found Paul. :D

I don't get how you can win Fantasy Football and get it so wrong, Donal! Liverpool will easily finish above Spurs. It took them until the last couple of games to do it last season, and you have to bear in mind we had a face-rubbing lunatic and an emo spaniard for half of it. I GUARAN-DAMN-TEE we will finish ahead of Spurs. If we do not, I will willingly put on a Harry Redknapp (or Gerry Francis!) avatar for a month afterwards!

Sorry but finishing above Spurs is all I have left in football, okay?

[charliepanayi]

It's not good for the Premier League, it's good for Chelsea.

[Psychotic]

WILL YOU CELTIC TYPES STOP QUOTING THAT POST :colbert:

AND STOP BEATING LIVERPOOL AND GET YOUR OWN BLOODY LEAGUES WHILE YOU'RE AT IT :doublecolbert:

:whimper:

euro 2012 fantasy football anyone?

[Bubba]

Yup, I'm definitely up for Euro 2012 Fantasy Football. Let's have it!

I quite fancy the Irish to do well. In fact, the Irish will easily finish above Spain. In fact, I GUARAN-DAMN-TEE they will finish above Spain. Smurf it, they're gonna win the whole thing. If they do not, I will willingly put on a leprechaun avatar for a month afterwards!

Seriously though, let's do Fantasy Football.

[Rocket Edge]

It's not good for the Premier League, it's good for Chelsea.
So having a Premier League team winning the European Cup isn't good for it? Aside from Spurs, it's great promotion for it.

Yeah I'd be up for that Paul. I actually have already done my team.

McDonald's Euro 2012 Fantasy Football (http://en.euro2012fantasy.uefa.com/)

I just created a league. League code to join: 63501-21271

My Team
GK - Given (Ireland) 4.5M
GK - Lindegaard (Denmark) 4.0M
DF - M. Olsson (Sweden) 4.0M
DF - Piszczek (Poland) 5.0M
DF - Sivok (Czech Republic) 5.0M
DF - Terry (England) 6.5M
DF - Strinic (Croatia) 4.0M
MD - Van der Vaart (Holland) 8.5M
MD - Ozil (Germany) 10.0M
MD - Fabregas (Spain) 8.5M
MD - Larsson (Sweden) 6.5M
MD - Polanski (Poland) 4.0M
FD - Keane (Ireland) 7.0M
FD - Gomez (Germany) 11.5M
FD - C. Ronaldo (Portugal) 11.0M

Couldn't resist putting the boys in green in there. Keane ftw, always good for a goal! Most likely will change though.

[charliepanayi]

As if the Premier League needs promoting! I never buy this 'English team winning is good for the league' line, it's the sort of daft thing you get from ITV commentators.

[Loony BoB]

I'm with Edge on this one. It is good for the league, through co-efficients, "best league in the world" debates, etc.

[The Captain]

Joined! With no team in the fight, I can just sit back and enjoy the matches! Team is "American Party Crash"

Team so far:

Cech
Given

Abate
Kadlec
Olsson
Strinic
Jodlowiec

Polanski
Xavi
Ozil
Gerrard
Van Der Vaart

Jelavic
Klose
Van Persie - Captain

I fancy Germany could take this. I think Spain may or may not bow out before the finals, especially due to their strikers. Is Torres going to be in their starting lineup?

Take care all.

[Rocket Edge]

Torres is expected to travel. The only thing that bugs me about the FF so far is that they don't have the proper teams to pick from. :/

Germany are my favourites as well. Hard to look past Spain though.

[Loony BoB]

The year is 2019. Liverpool, featuring players such as Reina, Bassong, Suarez, Gervinho, Shawcross and Douglas Costa have just won the Barclay's Premier League, finishing above Chelsea with a 9 point lead and having scored 11 more than any other team.

The Manchester sides make up 3rd and 4th - United and City respectively. F.C. United of Manchester, managed by Daniel Towns, have just entered the Premier League. Their pre-season friendlies are underway and they have just drawn with a City side that still feature Kompany, Milner, Clichy, Nasri, Hart and Aguero. Walcott has also joined them from Arsenal, who finished 6th last season. Arsenal still have Sagna, Fabianski, Song, Ramsey, Wilshere along with newer signings Hazard and Cabaye.

Chelsea finished just above Arsenal, and they feature the likes of Cech, Ramires, Mata, Fellaini, Rodwell and Seamus Coleman. Oh, and Hernandez, who signed from United in 2016. United now have Valencia, Rooney, Hamsik, Evans, Smalling, Cleverley, Sigurdsson, Rafael (two of them, actually - apparently Fabio was signed away but I'm suspicious they actually just gave up on guessing who was who and got Fabio renamed), De Gea and Jones.

According to Football Manager 2012, City will hold on to their title in 2012/2013, 3 points ahead of United. Arsenal will play comeback after that, and United will fall to 7th - but that is obviously enough of a wake-up call to kick them back to the top of the pile in 2015. Liverpool take the title in 2016, United grab it back after that, then Chelsea, then we reach 2019, the season detailed above, with Liverpool getting their 20th title, one short of United's 21. Cham21ons?

The Swans? Er, not so lucky. Relegated in 2011/12 in this game and never came back. :( Sorry, Manus.

[Psychotic]

I quite fancy the Irish to do well. In fact, the Irish will easily finish above Spain. In fact, I GUARAN-DAMN-TEE they will finish above Spain. Smurf it, they're gonna win the whole thing. If they do not, I will willingly put on a leprechaun avatar for a month afterwards!Oh that does it! I am not the only one who made mistakes about where my team would finish... you should wear this lovely t-shirt instead!

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e373/photobucketamazingness/bQpqX.jpg

as an aside, I think you lot are stretching the "CHAMP19NS" and "CHAMP20NS" thing too far. Just say "20 time champions" or something jesus christ.

[Old Manus]

The Swans? Er, not so lucky. Relegated in 2011/12 in this game and never came back. Sorry, Manus.
You're a disgrace to football for not coming to them in their hour of need.

Then again, in my game Mick McCarthy ended up taking them to 6th in the Premiership and winners of the Europa League with the likes of James Milner. I DON'T KNOW IF I WANT TO BELIEVE

[Psychotic]

Eden Hazard: Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaareeeeeesssssssssss

@edenhazard10: i smell my own farts mmm mmm they are like a lovely pumpkin

[Old Manus]

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO OUR CLUB PSYCHOTIC

[DK]

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO OUR CLUB PSYCHOTIC

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05/05/article-0-026756FE0000044D-28_306x423.jpg

[Loony BoB]

Eden Hazard will undoubtedly play well for whoever he joins, but man, Ronaldo was considered an introvert so if he ever becomes as good as Ronaldo, then bloody hell, he'll never shut up. He probably won't shut up anyway, but yeah. He'll do well at Chelsea as they don't have someone already in the role that he wants to play in.

Hoping we get Kagawa wrapped up soon, because I like the prospect of him playing for us. Hopefully he can play a bit further back than he currently does, though.

[Psychotic]

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO OUR CLUB PSYCHOTICWell sir

you may have won the battle

but I think you just lost the war :smug:

And to think you thought it was a punishment to make me use Brendan as an avatar! :bigsmile:

[Rocket Edge]

I actually really like the look of Kagawa more then Hazard, I'd be delighted if we brought him in. As for BR, I feel for you Manus.

[Old Manus]

fuck.

I'm gutted. This'll put the Sigurdsson deal dead in the water, and with Sinclair's contract due to end this summer I can't see him re-signing. Whispers that Liverpool are after Joe Allen. I'm struggling to think of a replacement as we seem to have gone through all the managers who play our type of football (they all got fucking poached by bigger teams within two years!). I hope Huw Jenkins had already drawn up some contingency plans during all the Redknapp speculation or we're in deep(er) trouble. Alan Curbishley 8/1. For fuck's sake.

Farewell ladies and gents, the dream is over. After all those years chasing it, I'd better dust off those Hotels In Barnsley leaflets again. We'll have one more season-long bash in the football thread together, then I'll see you all in another twenty years.

[Psychotic]

Some of the reactions from Liverpool fans is utterly pathetic. I get that it's because Kenny is a Liverpool hero. As I said before in this thread, I don't agree with the sacking and think he should've been given one more year, but there it is. It aint Brendan's fault and he is a promising coach though.

Is he better than Dalglish? Particularly as Rodgers cost £5m? Well, I imagine some of you will say so, all based on one season, but I imagine it's the same among you that thought Hodgson was better than Benitez because the media said so. :greenie: No, of course he isn't at this point in time.

However, what I like about Rodgers is that he is a very modern manager and can clearly see the way the wind is blowing in football. Dalglish, meanwhile, is still living the 80's dream. In three years time I believe and hope Rodgers will have surpassed Dalglish.

This instant success business is very very ugly. 8th, Cup, Cup final. For a club that is called a midtable club by its detractors, the same ones that say we had a bad season, that isn't actually terrible. I'm worried because I think Rodgers is the manager we need, but not yet, and it will take time for him to grow into the role and for the team to start to reflect his vision. I'm worried that if we're in 8th in December or something he's going to get booed and the press will start to call for his blood. I hope, barring a disastrous season (HINT: finishing 8th is not a disaster, I mean full on relegation battle, Hodgson-style) he is allowed to see out the supposed 3 year contract he has, for better or worse.

I think Rodgers has an advantage in that this team genuinely is not as bad as the league table suggests. There is of course the Lucas issue, as I highlighted earlier - with him fully fit, the team earns twice as many points. The other is this apparent jinx or voodoo on the team. 29 woodwork strikes. Keepers suddenly becoming the second coming of Lev Yashin. Missed penalties galore. Dominating teams for 90 minutes only to lose or draw anyway. I have genuinely never seen a season like it, it has simply been bizarre. If he'd been allowed to stay on, I think Dalglish could've improved on this season by 10 points without even doing anything differently.

I think as a long-term change, this is good for LFC. I am hoping we can quietly and slowly build up our strength without any of this "THIS IS OUR YEAR!" "WE ARE TEH BIGGEST CLUB" nonsense. The expectations need to be like those of Newcastle or Everton, rather than trying to compare ourselves to even Arsenal and Chelsea, much less the Manchester clubs. Hopefully we can also avoid debacles like Suarez-Evra. I also hope the lowered expectations mean that the likes of Carroll, Downing and Henderson receive less scrutiny. I think people forget that two of those players are still very young - I guess the instant sucess monster rears its ugly head again. In a few years, hopefully under Brendan, they and other young players like Kelly and Shelvey can form part of a very good team. Exciting times ahead.

[The Captain]

I want to echo much of what Paul said. I think the move is a good one for Liverpool, as it brings someone who can clearly bring a progressive approach to the squad. For all the love Dalglish has brought, he was a bit out of the times, though ironically, someone like Ferguson keeps on rolling with the changes of football despite being now in to his 70's.

I think with a healthy Lucas and as I keep saying, with a real poacher striker, Liverpool can absolutely build on this season. Having someone who can actually be a playmaker in midfield when we don't have Gerrard would do wonders as well.

Finally, I think this about sums up my feelings for one of Liverpool's now dearly departing players:

Farewell to Dirk Kuyt, Anfield cult hero -- James Tyler - ESPN (http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/blog/_/name/tyler_james/id/8003621/farewell-dirk-kuyt-anfield-cult-hero-james-tyler)

Thanks for the hard work and glory Dirk. You will be missed. Though we still have yet to replace Xabi Alonso's artistry in midfield, replacing Dirk's heart and lungs may be equally as tough.


Take care all.

[Rocket Edge]

Manchester United have gotten Kagawa, very happy with his signature. I think we need a new center back & maybe a new midfielder.

[Loony BoB]

Manchester United have gotten Kagawa, very happy with his signature. I think we need a new center back & maybe a new midfielder.
A mass of United fans are saying this and I honestly can't understand it.

Strikers (3): Rooney, Welbeck, Hernandez. Next in line at the moment is Keane.
Wingers (3): Valencia, Nani, Young. Argument could be made for Park or Giggs, but both are played in central positions more often than not.
Central midfield (7), where people think we need more players: Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Cleverley, Kagawa, Giggs, Park. I'm not going to include Fletcher just yet.
Fullbacks (2): Rafael, Evra. Fabio is to go on loan next season. Backup are all central defenders naturally.
Central defence (5): Vidic, Rio, Evans, Jones, Smalling.
GK (3): De Gea, Lindegaard, Amos.

The areas we are weakest in are the areas that all United fans want to strengthen in. Why is that? I can understand "But they aren't good enough!" comments, but if we get an injury there, at least we have loads of cover. If we get injuries in the fullback position, we are relying on players who are not fullbacks to cover. If Evra is out for the season, we are relying on Evans as left back. We need fullbacks, and bugger all else. It should also be noted that in the Everton game (amongst others), it was highlighted that the faults were with the fullbacks. So perhaps they are the ones who aren't good enough, not the central mid and the central defence!

[Psychotic]

Yep, full-back is your biggest weakness. I would rather rely on Evans than Evra at full back. Evra is a shockingly bad player to see play for Manchester United and you need a new left back stat. Get Jordi Alba. If you get Leighton Baines I will shake my head.

[Loony BoB]

Evra isn't as bad as people make him out to be, and I put Liverpool fans quite high up that list given that he and Suarez obviously exaggerated the dislike between Liverpool and Evra. Evra isn't what he used to be, but the same can be said for Rio who was still great last season. Evra just needs someone to share his position with because at the moment he plays almost every game each season. 40+ games, a brother dying, your legs going, racist abuse and people getting on his back for actually having the balls to complain after said racist abuse? I'd say he's had a very rough year.

I'd take Baines. I don't think there are any world-class left backs available at the moment so it's a difficult position to buy for. If there were vastly superior left backs in the world, I'd obviously prefer them, but Baines obviously is capable of doing a job in the Premier League as he has proven time and again for Everton. Alba is wanted by Barcelona and I doubt he'll come our way once that happens.

Shame Fabio has had so many injuries or he'd be a great prospect, although I still think that he and Rafael are both better suited to winger roles (not quite Valencia/Nani/Young level when it comes to goals, but the one game they have played on the wings was against Arsenal and they were epic).

Evans is far from better than Evra at playing left-back. That goes without saying to most people. :p

[Rocket Edge]

Baines is a name I've been hearing float around the last few days. I'd take him all day long.

I do agree that we have a mass of players in our centre midfield & defence, but I think our best players lie in our strikers & wingers. Rio isn't getting any younger, nor Vida, and I dunno, I'm not certain on the likes of Evans, Jones, & Smalling just yet. Maybe another experienced defender would do nicely in the ranks. Jones & Smalling can play right back fairly comfortably anyway. As for midfield, on further thought your probably right, although sometimes last season I felt we ran out of ideas within the park. Apart from Scholes, Giggs, and to a certain degree Cleverly, none of our other central midfielders are great at holding onto the ball & have the ability to do intricate passing, something we miss when we play against Barcelona or even Bilbao.

[Loony BoB]

I would say that's more down to our seeming inability to hold onto a ball against sides that focus on extreme pressing when they do not have the ball. Bilbao, Basel and Barcelona (I wonder if it's a B-thing? :p) all did it to us. Our best holder of the ball is Anderson as far as I'm concerned, he can keep players off us easily. But the overall passing ability belongs to Carrick and Scholes, who were still beaten by these teams. It's not a passing issue, it's an inability to cope with pressing. It could well be the entire strategy of the evening set by SAF, who knows? We've missed Fletcher, too, but I'm not so sure he'd have made all the difference on his own. When we have right backs who aren't right backs and left backs who have play 180 minutes a week, every week, then eventually we get caught out.

The only way Smalling, Evans and Jones are going to become more experienced with our team is to play more, and bringing in a third experienced defender is going to stop that from happening. I think Smalling has rarely let us down, and Evans proved a big doubter (me) wrong last season by not getting sent off at every opportunity. :p So they are clearly learning. I think Jones needs a bit more training, if any of the three, really. He can leave us wanting at times.

Every club goes through transition once in a while and we are currently training up the future. We have the players to train in almost every position... but no backup at all for Evra, let alone players to train, as Fabio is going away.

Rumours say Alba, Baines and Clyne are our options. The latter seems most likely, as Evra will still probably play more games than the newcomer and Baines/Alba won't be so intersted in playing second fiddle. I mean, I assume whoever comes in will be second fiddle, otherwise why would we send Fabio away to get more gametime? Unless Evra is going to take the back seat, which is possibly the reason Fabio is going on loan - because he lacks the experience to properly take over? Dunno.

[Psychotic]

Being a Liverpool fan has nothing to do with what I think of Evra as a football player; stop buying into media hype and sensationalism. I genuinely don't give two smurfs about the Suarez-Evra incident anymore, it was stupid and boring. Apart from the always magnificent Donal, I am the most logical and unbiased person in this thread*. For god's sake man, I think Michael Carrick is a bloody fantastic talent. I fucking want Dimitar Berbatov at Liverpool, and it is so fucking depressing you got Young and we got Downing.

I think Johnny Evans has developed quite nicely this season and is nowhere near as bad as you seem to think he is. And I think Patrice Evra is the worst Manchester United captain I have ever seen, and the worst first choice left-back I have ever seen. The man is a liability. Now, don't get me wrong, he used to be pretty bloody good and with the exception of Chelsea, would've walked into any Prem team 2-3 years ago. Now he would not get into any of the top 8 apart from United, obviously. He is simply not Manchester United quality. He's not even Liverpool quality for god's sake. He wouldn't even get on our bench and we're smurfing awful. To be honest with you, the idea of Alba or Baines being the back up to Evra is laughable. They're miles ahead and he'd be the one getting bench time.

BRING BACK DENNIS IRWIN

*shut up manus yes I am, you take whatever quote you want to make and shove it up your bum. :colbert:

[charliepanayi]

Michael Laudrup for Swansea? Interesting...

[The Captain]

I was thoroughly confused when I couldn't log in on my first few attempts, only to realize that I must be Martin Kelly now. Just glad I'm not Charlie Adam.


Take care all.

[charliepanayi]

Shame Redknapp has left Spurs :(

[Old Manus]

Laudrup 25/1 to shit on south wales and head to Spurs. If this happens, I will personally butt rape every Tottenham fan on EoFF. As in I will actually go to their house and rape them in front of their family. I don't even give a shit if it's fucking Ice 'lifelong spurs fan' Glow. I DON'T EVEN CARE. LOSING TWO MANAGERS IN 3 WEEKS WILL MAKE ME DO THIS.

[Rocket Edge]

Redknapp losing his job is a shambles. Players will leave, and who is a better equipped manager to take over an English side? One of the strangest sackings I've ever seen in the PL, what a farce the backroom staff at Spurs are.

[Psychotic]

I hope they get Moyes. That'd be funny.

I hope they don't get Rafa. That'd be scary.

[Rocket Edge]

I'd say Martinez might get it. He'd suit their style of play I'd imagine, and has a good philosophy about how the game should be played. Apparently Villas-Boas is the favourite according to Sky Sports, can't see the logic there.

[Old Manus]

http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Photo/competitions/General/01/46/69/36/1466936_w2.jpg

All is forgiven, Liverpool. Cheers for the £5M.

[Psychotic]

Should probably wait for the Gylfi situation to be resolved before forgiving us.

Also £5m? Pff. That's like Andy Carroll's toenail clippings.

[charliepanayi]

Fixtures for the new season are out - opening day in the Premiership is:

Arsenal v Sunderland

Everton v Manchester United

Fulham v Norwich City

Manchester City v Southampton

Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur

Queens Park Rangers v Swansea City

Reading v Stoke City

West Bromwich Albion v Liverpool

West Ham United v Aston Villa

Wigan Athletic v Chelsea

Complete fixture list:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/fixtures