2016-17 English Football Season Thread

[Loony BoB]

tbf it's mostly Danny and you double posting. Or uhm. Septuple posting? I don't even know.

EDIT: Octuple, apparently.

[Psychotic]

Well I mean you didn't get us septuple posting about Middlesbrough v Watford and that was just as shit by all accounts.

[Old Manus]

I had one beer then took the rest out of the fridge and returned them to their box

[Bubba]

Does Octuple posting warrant a ban?

[Bubba]

This is could be a 0-0

Ignore my second prediction. I was panicking.

[Crop]

It was a boring football game.

[Bubba]

It was a boring football game.

It was no Brazil v Argentina at the Olympics.

[Crop]

It was a boring football game.

It was no Brazil v Argentina at the Olympics.

Mate don't even, I haven't enjoyed a sporting event that much ever since. I think it ruined sport for me.

[Bubba]

It was a boring football game.

It was no Brazil v Argentina at the Olympics.

Mate don't even, I haven't enjoyed a sporting event that much ever since. I think it ruined sport for me.

I think it even topped the treble in 99

[Bubba]

Why is your avatar on the bottom of my every post?

[Cell]

Liverpool/Man Utd was utter garbage for the most part, two decent stops from De Gea and a terrible header from big Zlat summed it up. Mourinho's Man Utd are not going to be pretty, he's trying to get them to be like his first Chelsea team, don't concede and pinch one if possible.

[Formalhaut]

Their domestic season may be going down the toilet, but at least Leicester is managing to raise a few eyebrows and approving nods in the Champions League. Their victory again Copenhagen gives them 3 wins from 3 games, yet to concede a goal. So they're pretty much assured to move on to the next stage unless something very extraordinary happens.

So good for them, but seriously domestically they have a lot to answer for.

[Psychotic]

To be fair City haven't been awful in the league. Ranieri has clearly prioritised the Champions League and I say why not? It's a once in a lifetime thing, make the most of it and enjoy the party while it's lasting. Most City fans I know genuinely don't even care if relegation happens!

[charliepanayi]

I think there will be at least three worse teams than Leciester anyway in the league this season.

Leicester's CL group is terrible, so not surprising they're doing well so far. But good on them anyway (rather them than Spurs), I can see them making the quarter-finals and having a whale of a time playing someone like Bayern.

[Bubba]

It's not right, I tell you. Leicester shouldn't even be there. WE SHOULD BE THERE DAMMIT.

[Rocket Edge]

I didn't mind the Pool v United game actually. It was nice to see for the first time in years United have a team unit about them. Under LVG & Moyes there was no real purpose about us. Enjoyed it for that if anything else. Jose can deserve his stigma of parking the bus at times but Liverpool were just as cagey as us for most parts from what I seen. Paul, Herrera was my MOTM also! :shrug: Although I thought Young & Fellani did well too.

I don't expect us to be as cagey against Chelsea.

[Bubba]

We never beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It would be great to do it with Mourinho at the helm. I can't see it though.

[charliepanayi]

We never beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It would be great to do it with Mourinho at the helm. I can't see it though.

We never even scored against Chelsea in recent years until last month, things can change.

[Aerith's Knight]

Any of the games today worth watching? Without spoiling, if you could.

[Crop]

The mighty Carlisle go marching on. I'm trying not to get ahead of myself, I'd be more than happy to just reach the playoffs, but they just keep going!

Might try and get to the away day at Newport if I can.

[Bubba]

70862

[Bubba]

Great point for Southampton. Thoroughly deserved.

Now for for the main event. 2-2 draw.

[Crop]

3-1 Utd.

[Bubba]

3-1 Utd.

Good call.

[Crop]

I hope your prediction is right man.

[Bubba]

I hope your prediction is right man.

Me too!

Unless we get an early second half goal though I can't see it. They were lucky with the second one but they deserve to be 2-0 up. We're not playing too badly but Chelsea are so sharp today.

[Psychotic]

3-1 Utd.

Good call.Erm.

[Bubba]

3-1 Utd.

Good call.Erm.

There was an element of sarcasm in my post seeing as we were already 2-0 down.

This is horrible. Post-Fergie Utd have turned into post-80s Liverpool.

[Psychotic]

Oh, my bad :shobon: I didn't check this thread in realtime. Still, he did say 3-1 Utd so if United manage to get one goal...!

EDIT: Never mind.

Also tbf whatever the criticisms you can make about 1990-2016 Liverpool, they never were so terrified that they came to Old Trafford and parked the bus. This is despite 1990-2016 United being infinitely better than 2016 Liverpool. Have some pride in yourselves ffs!

[Aerith's Knight]

I guess that Mourinho bandwagon crashed and burned, eh?

[Rocket Edge]

Not really Aerith. I'm 100% behind Jose for the season. @Paul - Liverpool were just as defensive as United for many parts of the game last week, up until maybe the last 20-30 mins.

Bad result yesterday but gameplan went out the window with shambolic defending 30 seconds in. There is problems with our team in how we attack that will take time to iron out.

[Psychotic]

I disagree, I don't think this Liverpool team know how to play defensively. Which isn't praise! It's why that was the only clean sheet of the season and it'll be why there'll definitely be no title this year. Klopp always seeks to play the team to their own strengths rather than adapt to the opposition's weaknesses, similar to Monsieur Wenger.

In the game itself, Liverpool had two thirds of possession, more shots (off and on target), more corners and less fouls, all of which points to a much more attacking display. Liverpool didn't do much in the first half an hour because they were just trout and couldn't even string two passes together - it wasn't for a lack of intention, just a lack of application. Of course, you can also credit United's pressing of both players and the goalkeeper for the inability to retain possession and build from the back. Regardless, it certainly was not a 10 men behind the ball thing a la Mourinho.

http://spielverlagerung.com/2016/10/19/mourinhos-midfield-pressing-and-6-3-1-halts-klopps-side/ a nice tactical review!

[Old Manus]

And now for something completely different...

http://www.swanstrust.co.uk/2016/10/20/trust-members-forum-address/

So it's all (partly) come out in the past week for Swansea City. I've been following this whole farce for a while now, and my gut feeling over this American takeover being dodgy as all hell turned out to be true. I won't expect anyone to read the whole tract from that link so I'll give you the not-very-abridged version.

Ownership of SCFC was until fairly recently shared more or less equally between Martin Morgan, Brian Katzen, Huw Jenkins (chairman), Rob Davies and the Swansea City Supporters Trust. The Trust is made up of thousands of regular fans who pay an annual tenner and get to have a say in the goings on at the club through the fan director who sits on the club board. It had been this way (give or take a few individual other local businessmen involved in shareholding over the last ten years) since 2002 when all parties, including the trust, literally bought the club on a hail mary to save it from folding altogether. I remember the people shaking buckets on match days and the posters in shop windows calling out to people to join the trust and raise the money they needed to make the (at the time, completely doomed) investment.

Of course, everyone's wildest dreams actually happened and less than ten years later we were in the Premier League. The rest is fairly straightforward, so we'll zip forward in time to early 2015 and the first whisperings of a 'foreign investment' deal (ie. shares being sold), with all shareholding parties involved in talks. Those talks fell through, which is worth remembering for the moment when we consider what follows.

So earlier this year the Kaplan and Levien show were first announced to be coming to Swansea. During the negotiations, the Trust were suspicious only by their complete radio silence over the whole thing, with nary a statement, forum, or even a tweet as to what role they were playing in discussions. It turns out now that this is because they were not party to any of these discussions, deliberately. Yes, basically what happened was that the other board members had decided to sell up and didn't want the pesky Supporters Trust getting in the way of holla holla get dolla, so did it completely on the down low.

"But Manus, surely that must contravene some sort of agreement that was made at the start?" I hear you ask. Well, you'd be right! The 2002 Shareholder's Agreement signed by everybody mentioned above should have stopped this from happening, but Huw and the gang decided that all that didn't matter and even went as far as telling Kaplan and Levien that it was invalid and that they could forget about it. When the Trust caught up to this fact and confronted them over just what the hell they were playing at, they were asked to sign a new agreement which gave the Trust some pointless extra freebies and which also confirmed that said Shareholder's Agreement was no longer valid. Obviously the sellers got told to do one.

Hidden talks continued, and once the Trust managed to find out what had actually been happening, it was too late. Kaplan and Levien had bought out the previous shareholders' stakes, and now had a 75% grip on the voting rights of the club. The previous board members had made off with their millions and will probably never be seen again (and for their own safety, they probably don't want to). Francesco Guidolin was sacked, again without any consultation with the Trust, and an untested American was installed in his place. Welcome to the New Swansea City.

A word on our American overlords. For all the fanfare in the press releases about "being drawn to the community-based club" and "wanting to work with the Supporters Trust", in reality Kaplan and Levien's attitudes towards the Trust have been lukewarm to say the least. They didn't seem particularly bothered about the mountain of deception and collusion that took place in order to get the sale done, have only had a few face to face meetings with Trust board members, where they repeatedly give no guarantees over the Trust's stake and continuing role in the football club. At the same time they maintain that they are 'keen' to work with the Trust. To be frank, if you want my opinion, these are businessmen who come from a world of American sport where the concept of fan ownership (or even, really, "supporters" altogether) is a foreign and not altogether too appealing one. I'm not holding my breath.

The fact is, the worst part of this whole sorry saga is not that the previous owners have sold up (they were a group of slightly-more-well-off fans who bought the club for a pittance and now have the chance to make some life-changing bucks, no fan would begrudge them), but the fact that they have gone behind the backs of the fans to do it. If the Trust knew that there were shares up for sale, they would have undoubtedly gone for them hammer and tongs, because the Trust's stated aim is to obtain a 25% stake and secure the future of the club.

Literally all the Trust cares about is the success of the club. It will still be there four years from now when we're back at the bottom of the Football League. It's especially sad because for the most part the sellers were genuine, lifelong fans of the club. Huw Jenkins continues to claim what he did was in SCFC's "best interests", but £7M makes people claim a lot of things. He's gone from dream chairman to local pariah in the space of 12 months.

By the way, all this intrigue was totally illegal, of course. The Trust is considering court action, but as stated earlier, all it cares about is the success of the club, and it also knows that senior exectives engaging in protracted court battles with its own fans is not going to be great for results on the pitch, so we'll see what happens.

All in all, depressing, infuriating, and sobering.

[Psychotic]

I bloody sympathise. We had some absolutely terrible American owners a few years ago that nearly put us out of business and definitely led to a huge decrease in on pitch performances. Hope it gets sorted out soon for you.

[Rocket Edge]

I disagree, I don't think this Liverpool team know how to play defensively. Which isn't praise! It's why that was the only clean sheet of the season and it'll be why there'll definitely be no title this year. Klopp always seeks to play the team to their own strengths rather than adapt to the opposition's weaknesses, similar to Monsieur Wenger.

In the game itself, Liverpool had two thirds of possession, more shots (off and on target), more corners and less fouls, all of which points to a much more attacking display. Liverpool didn't do much in the first half an hour because they were just trout and couldn't even string two passes together - it wasn't for a lack of intention, just a lack of application. Of course, you can also credit United's pressing of both players and the goalkeeper for the inability to retain possession and build from the back. Regardless, it certainly was not a 10 men behind the ball thing a la Mourinho.

http://spielverlagerung.com/2016/10/19/mourinhos-midfield-pressing-and-6-3-1-halts-klopps-side/ a nice tactical review!
Nice article. I'll side with you on it. But I think the media have gone overboard. Whenever we did go forward there was 11 players behind United many times IIRC, but this was more down to how slow we are to attack I'm sure.

The LVG method hasn't washed away yet and we are so stationary when we try to attack. Look at Ibrahimovic. He is forced to play with his back to the goal at all times because there is not one player making runs either side of him to open space. It's all too isolated. I have belief that movement in our team will come back and no imaginary wand will fix it overnight. I looked at Chelsea counter-attacking yesterday. They played through the centre and had players moving either side and that's something we should be doing. It's why Liverpool are very good ATM because of how fluid the movement is up top. Anyway, sorry if I'm going off topic!

@Manus - I find it ridiculous how a group of small individuals can upset literally millions of fans for the sake of money! I think Swansea are safe this year in the EPL at the very least.

[Aerith's Knight]

Sucks, Manus. I was actually really impressed by a team owned by people who cared. But greed always takes first place, for some reason. A real slap in the face for the fans, as well.

[DK]

Ex-England boss Allardyce in frame for Wolves job

Surely the gravest punishment ever meted out for a footballing transgression.

[Psychotic]

You say that, but don't forget the man is from Dudley.

[DK]

And can you imagine anything worse than being sent back to the West Midlands after having successfully escaped? I know I can't.

[Psychotic]

Guess what part of the country the England team is based? As a random fun fact for you all, I recently discovered one of my coworkers' mother-in-law works for the FA and sews the England badges onto their M&S suits. She has promised to bring us some spare ones in. I don't really know what I'd do with one but there you are.

[Bubba]

Guess what part of the country the England team is based? As a random fun fact for you all, I recently discovered one of my coworkers' mother-in-law works for the FA and sews the England badges onto their M&S suits. She has promised to bring us some spare ones in. I don't really know what I'd do with one but there you are.

Get her to sew it onto one of your suits to add some realism when you're playing Championship Manager.

[DK]

Guess what part of the country the England team is based?

...this explains everything.

[Bubba]

Haha, our season is going from bad to worse! Herrera should never have been sent off and we've actually played really well. I honestly feel though that Tom Heaton's performance has earned Burnley their point. Well played, lad.

[Loony BoB]

Seriously, 32 shots so far and a number of them were more than decent. Tom's been a monster.

EDIT: Oh man, Ibra, what the hell is wrong with you today? :( Rashford needs to start front and center, seriously.

EDITRA: 37 shots from us altogether. Ibra fluffed the easiest chance of those 37, probably. Mata hit the post. Crazy. Reminds me of a game against Sunderland back when they were fighting against relegation about a decade ago, back when Ruud just couldn't find net and Sunderland defended all match, was so gutted that day.

[Psychotic]

Zlatan's been kinda paff for a few weeks now tbh. tbf he is 35 and playing in one of the most physically demanding leagues there is. Give him a rest for a game or two!

EDIT: https://www.instagram.com/p/BMI1ef_hdJG/

I have no idea what the fuck the Liverpool official Instagram has been smoking but I never want to try it. Seriously, look at that gurning Klopp nightmare in the bottom right.

[Psychotic]

It's 3-2 and it's only half time, absolutely ridiculous. Let me just quote this forever and be done with it.

Oh good I've missed having 5 minutes of our Champions League quality attack eviscerate an opponent before 40 minutes of praying our Championship quality defence don't smurf it all up.Liverpool Football Club are a beautiful disaster.

[Bubba]

I'm not gonna say it could be your year because that might jinx it for you.

But yeah... it could be your year.

[Crop]

Arsenal, City or Liverpool.

I think City will take it personally. Arsenal will drop off, Liverpool will drop points.

[Psychotic]

Yeah, the "We'll score one more than you" strategy has never won the title. See: Keegan, Kevin and Rodgers, Brendan. We're riding our luck at the moment and it's scintillating to watch, but it ain't gonna last forever. Sooner or later it'll catch up to us and we'll spectacularly crash and burn. For now though, can't take my eyes off it. It's ridiculously entertaining football. The attacking play is so fucking good.

[Old Manus]

Kevin and RodgersWorst comedy duo ever.

[Psychotic]

I would love outstanding character.

[Cell]

Yeah, the "We'll score one more than you" strategy has never won the title. See: Keegan, Kevin and Rodgers, Brendan. We're riding our luck at the moment and it's scintillating to watch, but it ain't gonna last forever. Sooner or later it'll catch up to us and we'll spectacularly crash and burn. For now though, can't take my eyes off it. It's ridiculously entertaining football. The attacking play is so smurfing good.

I think if Keegan didn't have the mental stability of a speedfreak, Newcastle would have won the title that year. After the 1-0 defeat to Man Utd, he was constantly making terrible choices in terms of substitutions and tactics and after a while you knew it was all going to fall apart.

I think Man City might be able to do it as nobody else in the league is convincing in the slightest. Man Utd are unbalanced, Spurs don't score enough, Arsenal are well, Arsenal and Liverpool aren't quite a title challenging side yet.

[Loony BoB]

City are the favourites at the moment mostly because they have a team who have, for the most part, proven they can win the PL, and they are sitting at the top. But after Leicester showed what can happen in the PL last year, I won't be counting out anyone just yet, and I'd say all of the top four are in a pretty excellent position.

But no club is really slamming down their claim. I mean, if you go by current form, the top side is Chelsea (four wins in a row), then Stoke (three) then Liverpool (two) and no other club has two consecutive wins in a row at present. It's a very open league, again!

[charliepanayi]

You know this poppy business is out of control when FIFA are the reasonable side in a dispute. Hope they deduct 50 points each from England and Scotland.

[Loony BoB]

I actually think it's fine for the players to decide what they want to do in these instances. I think a black armband should be something that every player in the world can have the option of adding to their kit to show an act of mourning the loss of anyone they bloody well please. Dead uncle? Wear an armband, whatever man. Players should ultimately be the ones to decide all this kind of thing, nobody else. And if a German wants to wear an armband for the same reason as the British players do (or don't), then power to them. Every death is a death in the end.

But yeah. Either never wear a black armband, or wear it as often as you like, that's my personal stance.

[Cell]

But no club is really slamming down their claim. I mean, if you go by current form, the top side is Chelsea (four wins in a row), then Stoke (three) then Liverpool (two) and no other club has two consecutive wins in a row at present. It's a very open league, again!

Chelsea just needed to give a few of their players massive kicks up the arse as they massively underachieved last season.

They're still a threat to anyone on their day and Conte is a clever manager. I wouldn't be surprised if they were top four once again this year.

[Old Manus]

dimitar fucking berbatov

[Psychotic]

Emmanuel Adebayor is a free agent too while you're at it.

[Cell]

But who has £250,000 a week to spend on two past it lazy bags of shite?

[Bubba]

Good old Swansea! They certainly know how to make a sh*te team feel better about themselves.

[Psychotic]

Paul Scholes will be inconsolable.

[Aerith's Knight]

Best goal this week was by Middlesbrough. Talk about underdog rising above the ranks.

[Crop]

Great goal by Pogba, and a good game overall for us. First half could have had 5 or 6.
Definitely feel sorry for Swansea fans though, if any premier league club deserves better, it's them....apart from Sunderland, they deserve to be out of the relegation zone :shifty:

Not too happy about having the international break though! Wouldn't mind riding this momentum into the Arsenal game, especially after their second half.

[Old Manus]

Absolute garbage, the worst I've seen since, uh, last week. Brad Bobley better be pulling something out of the bag sharpish or I will lose any faith I had left in the hope that he was appointed for a single reason other than just being American.

Even Ibra scored.

[Aerith's Knight]

Ugh, the friendly game against Belgium is just turning out to be the worst. Nothing of the previous' generation of football excellence is basically gone. Watered down, at least.

[charliepanayi]

USA are playing Mexico in a World Cup qualifier tomorrow. That should be fun in the current climate.

[Psychotic]

I sincerely hope Mexico score a tasty free kick by floating the ball right over the USA wall.

[Aerith's Knight]

Such a grave insult, they would certainly pay for that!

[charliepanayi]

Scotland are so bad they make England look good.

[Bubba]

I don't think Scotland played too badly, particularly in the first half. They just have zero quality in their team.

[charliepanayi]

Holland currently making heavy weather of Luxembourg.

[Bubba]

Holland currently making heavy weather of Luxembourg.

At least they're winning :-)

[Aerith's Knight]

Holland currently making heavy weather of Luxembourg.

At least they're winning :-)

If the game has to be saved by Memphis Depay, you know you're in deep trouble.

[Cell]

In regards to the England game, we generally did okay. We're just utter gash in the areas where it matters.

[Psychotic]

what the fuck even is iago aspas

[Old Manus]

Iago Aspas scored against England

These are truly dark times

[Bubba]

It was great to see Ander Herrera get his first cap for Spain. Thoroughly deserved!

Conceding two late goals isn't great but I was impressed by our performance overall.

[Crop]

Oh my god, 97th minute Carlisle winner. Almost makes up for the Utd game. At the start of the season I'd have been happy with sneaking into the playoffs, and now we're 10 points clear and 4 from top!

[charliepanayi]

https://twitter.com/WengerTactic/status/800001696755843072

I hate West Ham and their awful fans so, so much.

[Cell]

https://twitter.com/WengerTactic/status/800001696755843072

I hate West Ham and their awful fans so, so much.

Like most teams in London, our fanbase is full of mongs and cretins.

[charliepanayi]

Remember Ali Dia?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/nov/22/ali-dia-story-20-years-on-southampton-souness?CMP=share_btn_tw

[Rocket Edge]

I had no idea who he was haha. Read up about him a little there, what a hero.

EDIT: So read up a bit more about this subject. Anyone hear of Carlos Kaiser? (http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/soccers-ultimate-con-man-was-a-superstar-who-couldnt-play-the-game) He's was footballs ultimate conman. His story is hilarious.

[Bubba]

Feyenoord fans making a lot of racket outside my office window. Should be a decent atmosphere for the game.

We've been piss-poor in Europe so far. It'd be nice to at least make the knock-out stages.

[Psychotic]

I'll say what I said last year, the Europa is what you make of it. If you throw yourself into it wholeheartedly it's a hell of a lot of fun. ...until you inevitably lose to Sevilla in the final and then it feels like shit.

[Bubba]

Yeah, I've kind of made my peace with it now. I really don't think the players have though. They just seem to have no desire to be playing in at all. It's a shame because it's probably our most realistic chance of getting Champions League football next season!

[Rocket Edge]

Best two things about tonight - The return of Rooney's confidence and Mkhitaryan.

That was United's best game of the season so far for me. All goals from play and a great TEAM performance.

[Bubba]

Yeah, fantastic performance. It was a pretty poor Feyenoord team that turned up but some of our football was sublime. Still missing too many chances though... even though we took four!

At least we're creating plenty unlike Van Gaal's three chances per game.

[Psychotic]

Makes a mockery of Mourinho's camp's spin that the squad isn't good enough. It really bloody is.

[Old Manus]

the premier league

[Psychotic]

the premier leagueis there a timelapse of alan pardew's face i need to see it

[Old Manus]

thank you based murica for saving our season

[Aerith's Knight]

No matter how bad it looks lads, it can always be worse. I spend half an hour watching some middling USA teams yesterday. Downright embarrassing, that was.

[Bubba]

It's bad. Lots of fans on Twitter saying we need to focus on the Europa League in order to get Champions League football next year. Christ... we're already getting embarrassed in the Europa League, it'd be even worse if we were playing the likes of Barca, Munich et al.

[Psychotic]

Mourinho has had a shocking 18 months. Someone like Simeone would be top of the league with the same players.

[Rocket Edge]

Doesn't help that the FA seem to bloody hate him. Graham Poll suggested a 6 game touchline ban. :p

[Psychotic]

In other managerial news, David Moyes, fresh from extending his record high score of never winning at Anfield to 13 games, had this to say. “If I was a foreign coach I would’ve been praised for that.” What, losing 2-0 with 20% possession? Jesus wept.

[Aerith's Knight]

Mourinho out?

[Psychotic]

I don't know about that, but I do think he shouldn't get the hundreds of millions that he keeps angling for through his friends in the media. He's spent £150m already! Let's see him get the most out of these players before throwing even more money at him. He has to show he can be trusted with it. Maybe start actually using Mkhitaryan for one, the guy is a total boss.

[Aerith's Knight]

I think the problem lies with practice. You see wonderful combinations played every now and then, but it happens so rarely. Maybe after a year of practice together they'll get a feel for the team. Of course, by that time the coach and players will have switched again, so that'll be out the window.

[Psychotic]

Yeah but then you look at Conte - he's been there as long as Mourinho and look what he's done. He's even found an unwanted Victor Moses down the back of the sofa and found a way to make him into a Premier League footballer.

[Cell]

Mourinho has a huge rebuilding job to do. Ferguson knew exactly when to quit as the squad he left was out on it's arse. Moyes go no backing so LVG and Mourinho are burning money trying to paper over the cracks.

Still think Man Utd will finish top 6 and get in the Europa League again, which makes me smile just to see that.

[Psychotic]

I'll quote Football365 here:

Fewer points in their last ten Premier League games than Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Watford, Stoke, Everton, Southampton, Bournemouth and West Brom. The squad is not perfect, but it’s nowhere this bad.


At the start of the season, Mourinho talked about winning the title and many pundits backed them to do it too. As is it with football, everyone's immediately forgotten that. I also don't think Fergie left a bad squad at all - they were the Premier League champions, after all! Also most of the top teams have entirely rebuilt their First XI's since then anyway - using Liverpool as an example, only Henderson remains of Ferguson's era.

[Kappy]

Outside the Premier League, my club Reading are flying in the Championship under the leadership of one Jaap Stam. His first ever senior managerial role as well!

[Cell]

I'll quote Football365 here:

Fewer points in their last ten Premier League games than Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Watford, Stoke, Everton, Southampton, Bournemouth and West Brom. The squad is not perfect, but it’s nowhere this bad.


At the start of the season, Mourinho talked about winning the title and many pundits backed them to do it too. As is it with football, everyone's immediately forgotten that. I also don't think Fergie left a bad squad at all - they were the Premier League champions, after all! Also most of the top teams have entirely rebuilt their First XI's since then anyway - using Liverpool as an example, only Henderson remains of Ferguson's era.

Just having a quick look at that squad now, the main points:

De Gea: At this point still green, but improving.
Rafael: Decent, but easily rattled and mistake prone.
Evra: Very good, but starting to wane.
Jones: Capable of more than three games in a row?
Ferdinand: Another one towards the end of his career.
Evans: Solid, but hardly a world beater.
Valencia: An honest, but pacy mediocrity.
Berbatov: Played 0 games.
Rooney: Can't argue with this one.
Giggs: another on his way out.
Smalling: Still learning at this point.
Lindegaard: Barely played.
Hernandez: the super sub, underrated.
Vidic: Another guy moving towards injury prone twilight.
Carrick: No arguments over what he brings to a team.
Nani: Erratic, occasionally brilliant, often not.
Young: Dive happy but useful.
Wellbeck: Underrated but a shite finisher.
RVP: Fergie's last season was probably his best. More fragile than a SJW's emotions.
Kagawa: Quality, but a misfit in this side.


Other than De Gea, Vidic (for another season or so), Evra, Rooney, Carrick, RVP and Wellbeck there really was a shortfall of quality. I've not mentioned Fletcher, Cleverly, Januzaj or Zaha as they didn't emerge until later or were fading out of the first team picture.

[Old Manus]

New England manager Gareth Southgate says his side have the potential to give him closure by winning the European Championship in 2020.

[Cell]

Aha, great way to lower expectations.

[Aerith's Knight]

Chelsea going for another premier cup, the way they are playing.

[Aerith's Knight]

The hell just happened? Two red cards. Wow.

[Psychotic]

Now that has been a long time coming.

[Cell]

...and West Ham capitulate at home to Arsenal. Urgh.

[Old Manus]

I'm sick of football ruining my weekends now.

[Bubba]

We're gonna win 3-0 tonight.

[Psychotic]

We're gonna win 3-0 tonight.delete

[Rocket Edge]

God I love Mhkitaryan so much. Delighted he's getting the game time he deserves now.

[Bubba]

I was close!

[Psychotic]

Not close enough. You have shamed your ancestors. What would Brian McClair say if he were still alive today?

[Aerith's Knight]

Not close enough. You have shamed your ancestors. What would Brian McClair say if he were still alive today?

People don't die just because they're dead to you, Paul.

So I suggest you just ask. Or check his twitter.

[Aerith's Knight]

That first Watford goal. Made it worth waiting out this boring game just for that one moment.

[Old Manus]

USA USA USA

[Psychotic]

Nothing more satisfying than a shithouse dirty team parking the bus conceding a 95th minute goal.

[Aerith's Knight]

Nothing more satisfying than a trouthouse dirty team parking the bus conceding a 95th minute goal.

Let's be honest here, it was a goal only made possible by the substitute keeper. Liverpool wasn't exactly overpowering.

[Psychotic]

Liverpool were easily the better team but it was a pretty shit game all round.

[Rocket Edge]

I thought it was funny to hear the likes of G Nev say Chelsea 'can do anything'. I've been more impressed with the likes of Arsenal & Liverpool this season to be honest. Only having 1 game a week is looking like a huge help.

[Aerith's Knight]

Liverpool were easily the better team but it was a pretty trout game all round.

I agree, it'd have been nice if they'd shown it. Was not a great game to watch, but here we are, and I did it anyway.

[Psychotic]

Liverpool's show of power proves they have left Manchester United behind (https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/liverpool-show-of-power-proves-they-have-left-manchester-united-behind/104020).

[Aerith's Knight]

Liverpool's show of power proves they have left Manchester United behind (https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/liverpool-show-of-power-proves-they-have-left-manchester-united-behind/104020).

While I mostly agree, why did it go on a tangent and talk about snacks for half the article?

[Psychotic]

Oh gosh, I didn't notice that. Hmm. How very strange.

[Bubba]

Liverpool's show of power proves they have left Manchester United behind (https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/liverpool-show-of-power-proves-they-have-left-manchester-united-behind/104020).

Far too early to suggest this when they still haven't won anything yet. Also, Utd have looked great in the last month. We'll see if we can keep it up but the gulf is nowhere near as big as I thought it was.

To be fair though, Liverpool are by the far the best team to watch in the league this season. They were awesome tonight.

[Psychotic]

It's just a joke article about the food offered at the Christmas press conferences fellas, don't take it too seriously. I just thought it was a funny bit of #bantz.

On that subject,
USA USA USAdelete.

[Old Manus]

So we learn our lessons taking a punt on an unqualified outsider who's not managed in the Premier League before... by going for Paul Clement/Gary Rowett.

[Cell]

Still 0 votes for Chelsea, but boy do they look ominous this season.

[Aerith's Knight]

What a night for Bournemouth. A hard defeat to swallow for Arseanal.

... :D

edit: Did I speak too soon?

edit2: I might've spoken too soon. But man, that was a weird offense for a red card.

edit3: I spoke too soon. Man, that was a weird last 30 minutes. Unsatisfying tie, although deserved on both sides.

[Psychotic]

wtf did you do that for

[Aerith's Knight]

I'm sorry, I jinxed it.

[Psychotic]

You wanna make up for it by saying winning the title was such a wonderful thing for Chelsea?

[Old Manus]

Or that relegation is probably what Swansea needed?

[Aerith's Knight]

You wanna make up for it by saying winning the title was such a wonderful thing for Chelsea?


Or that relegation is probably what Swansea needed?


Chelsea's a shoe in for the cup, I mean, they can't possibly lose it at this point. But Swansea's going down the drain. They'll never reach even 6th this season. And I have a bad feeling on Liverpool. They'll probably lose 4 out of the next 5 games.

[Cell]

I don't care as long as West Ham remain comfortably mid-table.

[Loony BoB]

West Ham just need to go and sit in a corner and think about what they've done.

[Old Manus]

I'm currently enjoying reading wall-to-wall praise for England's Brave Wayne Rooney in the British media, who are making sure to universally condemn the British media for their ridiculous over-criticism of England's Brave Wayne Rooney in the last 12 months.

[Shoden]

Newcastle had a 1-1 draw with Birmingham and Mitrovic injured.
WELL, COULD BE WORSE. Could definitely be worse.

[Cell]

West Ham just need to go and sit in a corner and think about what they've done.

Generally everything we can possibly do wrong we are doing. Christ knows what the owners and that fanny Brady are thinking.

[Loony BoB]

I was more referring to the constant crowd troubles but yeah sure that too. ^^;

[Cell]

I was more referring to the constant crowd troubles but yeah sure that too. ^^;

We're West Ham, that's to be expected. Our support hasn't been gentrified yet like Arsenal or Spurs.

[Psychotic]

Having a stadium that wasn't really built with that in mind doesn't help either by all accounts.

[Old Manus]

So how many strings has BoB had to pull down in Zurich in order to get the WC expansion and ensure New Zealand will qualify again in 2026?

[Psychotic]

Pretty awful decision, as was expanding the Euros. Diluting the tournament with more participation award teams means less quality. It annoys me to no end that people are citing Wales and Iceland (both good teams that probably would've qualified anyway) as a reason why this is a good thing, as if the funeral dirge that was the group stages didn't happen.

[Old Manus]

I'm looking forward to getting drawn with the Falkland Islands and Chechnya for the group stage. The latter had a tough qualification group but just about managed to finished 7th out of 8 and secure their place at the finals that do not have a location yet.

I'm trying to figure out whether FIFA is being operated from Switzerland or the Persian Gulf. Think of all the extra advertising time for Qatar Airways and Coca-Cola!

[Psychotic]

I'm going to run for FIFA President with the promise that I'll make a 256 team World Cup.

[Cell]

Merge the European Championships and the Islands Games, can't wait for Shetland vs Spain and the Isle of Man vs Hungary.

[charliepanayi]

RIP Graham Taylor

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38599231

[Crop]

Do I not like that.

[Loony BoB]

So how many strings has BoB had to pull down in Zurich in order to get the WC expansion and ensure New Zealand will qualify again in 2026?
Exactly no strings. At least not in Zurich. That place isn't a safe haven anymore. :shifty:

Not gonna lie, delighted at the idea that NZ could get the Oceania spot every single World Cup, should Oceania get assured of one due to the expansion...

I don't really mind more teams that much. I mean, they're right in that being involved definitely boosts the sport in the nations where it isn't the primary choice (such as NZ) and I've seen other "minnows" get a lot of love over the years. I can certainly see the upsides. What would be really cool is if they actually reinvested that money into grass roots football. But... yeah, good luck with that.

[Old Manus]

AMERICANS PLEASE GET OUT

If I see any more dumb Facebook remarks about how the Swans made a mega boohickey call by firing MVP Bob Bradley (عليه السلام) from Layton in Michigan I'm going to go and support Newport County instead. The man was shocking. I can't believe it only took 12 months to dismantle a very smoothly run club into several broken, obese pieces.

[Psychotic]

At least you have a beautiful piece of art from the legendary Andy Carroll to enjoy.

[Cell]

What a goal. Just a pity he's never fit for more than three games at a time.

[Psychotic]

January 20th: Trump becomes president
January 21st: Swansea beat Liverpool
January 22nd: Dale Winton finds an ancient artifact granting him incomprehensible power; enslaves the human race

[Old Manus]

There is no GOD but Gylfi Sigurdsson and Tom Carroll is his prophet

[Psychotic]

He is the False Prophet and the False Carroll.

Also thank fuck Rooney finally broke that record. It was insufferable having commentators (looking at you, Martin Tyler) "IS THIS THE FATED HOUR OF DESTINY?" or somesuch variation thereof everytime he touched the ball in the opposition half.

[charliepanayi]

So, Chelsea to win the title by March huh

[Aerith's Knight]

You wanna make up for it by saying winning the title was such a wonderful thing for Chelsea?


Or that relegation is probably what Swansea needed?


Chelsea's a shoe in for the cup, I mean, they can't possibly lose it at this point. But Swansea's going down the drain. They'll never reach even 6th this season. And I have a bad feeling on Liverpool. They'll probably lose 4 out of the next 5 games.

Sorry fellas, my jinxing becomes confused when you play each other.

[Cell]

West Ham on a roll, up to 10th now. :)

[Bubba]

So yeah, Andy Carroll scored the greatest overhead kick the world has ever seen.

Never mind Donald Trump, if this doesn't signal the start of the apocalypse then I don't know what does.

[Cell]

The greasy one is a very decent player, when fit. Pity he's six foot three and fourteen stone of wafer biscuits.

[Bubba]

71631

[Psychotic]

What the fuck is that knock off Chinese kit you can buy from a dodgy London tourist trap badge?

[charliepanayi]

Liverpool taking a leaf out of the Arsenal playbook by aiming to end their season by February. Of course Arsenal are still on course to do the same!

[Aerith's Knight]

Saved by the Dutch player.

Dang, that's shameful.

[Old Manus]

I...I...want to believe

[Psychotic]

You wish. Big Sam is going to dine on roasted Swan and sup on your tears as he gets you relegated.

Of course there is the very real prospect that he dines on fox instead...

[Cell]

Big Sam will probably do his best to relegate you then bring in overpriced pish in the Championship but get you up in 2nd.

[Bubba]

Why does every goalkeeper come to Old Trafford and play an absolute blinder? Tom Heaton and Eldin Jakupovic are better than De Gea... only when they play us though.

[Psychotic]

Nobody is better than Anfield De Gea.

[Bubba]

You wait and see how sh*te Hull are today against Liverpool. Jakupovic will revert back to being crap and Hull just won't turn up.

Liverpool haven't been playing great but they'll come away 1-0 losers today, you watch.

[Psychotic]

You, sir, are delusional. 3-0? Not even 3 points, I suspect.

[Bubba]

"You can tell Conte now if he's watching... we're still fighting for this title. He's got to host Middlesbrough and get something and... and I'll tell you, honestly...

...yeah, it's pretty much all over"

71650

[Crop]

I can't stop watching Coquelin trying to stop Hazard.

[Bubba]

You wait and see how sh*te Hull are today against Liverpool. Jakupovic will revert back to being crap and Hull just won't turn up.

Liverpool haven't been playing great but they'll come away 2-0 losers today, you watch.

Being right is a curse, I tell you.

[Psychotic]

Glad to be a service of dispelling another myth as to why Mourinho is failing. :p You'd think all the offside goals for United would be a counter to his favourite "the referees are against us" conspiracy but it shows no signs of abating yet.

[Bubba]

Eh... benefit of doubt to the attacking team :D

Have you seen how many times we have hit the woodwork this season? Almost double any other team.

It's lovely to see Klopp with a worse record than Moyes and Van Gaal though :)

[Psychotic]

Klopp didn't take over the champions or spend a quarter of a billion pounds either...!

And he's still ahead of Mourinho...

[Bubba]

And he's still ahead of Mourinho...

Mourinho trophies: 21
Klopp trophies: 5

[Psychotic]

You've got me there. You didn't even mention how much harder it is to win trophies at minnows like Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United compared to multi billionaire clubs like Mainz05, Borussia Dortmund and of course, Liverpool, who have enjoyed a stellar and trophy laden 25 years.

[Bubba]

71651

[Psychotic]

It was all Weird Al Jankovic's fault. He never plays that well otherwise don't you know.

[Bubba]

Man, Leicester are garbage. What the hell has happened to them?

[Psychotic]

Kante. imho the best player in the league. City wouldn't have won the title last season without him and Chelsea wouldn't win it this season without him either.

[Formalhaut]

The amount of posts I place in this thread is proportional to how badly Leicester is doing. It's now kinda boring again. The top six are predictable. Arsenal is in their comfortable fourth place. The biggest surprise I can muster is possibly Man United being 6th.

[Cell]

Colleague at work put a tenner on Leicester to go down- he's fairly confident he's going to win something now as they look awful.

[Old Manus]

All I'm saying is that if Leicester go down the only difference will be they didn't have Nathan Dyer

[Psychotic]

He does have more Premier League winners medals than Raheem Sterling after all. Less goals, though.

[Cell]

Christ Sterling is taller than Dyer as well, what a midget.

Less talent, less goals, less height...but one league winner's medal.

[Psychotic]

Meh, I've seen better 4-0 vs Barca games this season. Not remotely biased because I happened to be at the other. What do you mean pre-season friendlies don't count?

[Old Manus]

I can't believe I totally forgot to gloat after this weekend. I was at the game and Leicester were really, really poor. I mean usually when your teams win you like to think it was because your team dominated rather than the other team just being crap, but it was the latter this time. Foxes players were so static in the field, like a team that knew that they had to win, and knew what they had to do to win, but just didn't know how to do it. I don't think the Swans really got out of third gear.

Super Paul Clement. My pub talk in the days running up to the game was that if we win I will actually start to believe, so I'm starting to believe. Palace and Sunderland just don't have the quality in their squads I think to stay up. Neither do Hull, but they're managing to pull results from somewhere. Leicester have plenty of good players and on paper they should be doing just fine, but God knows. It's a four way between Swansea, Leicester, Middlesbrough and Hull for 18th place.

[Psychotic]

Don't care, Leicester are winning the CL and getting relegated and it'll be worth it.

Also I don't know which Crystal Palace with no squad quality you're thinking of, but a team with Benteke, Remy, Zaha, Townsend, Puncheon, Cabaye et all is good enough to finish mid-table. Pardew, the ultimate confidence manager, was always going to see the team to this but surprised that the Big Sam Rescue Mission has fallen flat on its face. Maybe more pints of wine are needed.

[Old Manus]

I just don't rate any of those players, apart from maybe Cabaye. Everyone is still waiting for Benteke to return to his form for Villa but I wonder if that spell was the anomaly rather than the other way around. Remy isn't the kind of player I'd want in a high-stakes situation like the one Palace are currently in, and I dislike Wilfried Zaha's face.

[Psychotic]

I don't think Benteke was actually bad at Liverpool. 9 goals in 29 games is decent enough, particularly when most of those games came off the bench. But then the guy would not press or chase at all which made him Satan to old Jurgen so off he went.

[Cell]

Zaha's great at looking very good at football but produces virtually nothing.

Loic Remy is distinctly average.

Jason Puncheon is also average.

Benteke is good in the penalty box and strong in the air but wouldn't chase after a £50 note. A liability in a struggling ream.

[Psychotic]

Well, depends what you been by average! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying any of them should move to a ~*Big Six*~ club. They all have proven track records as being some of the better players in midtable Premier League sides which is what Palace should be rather than relegation fodder.

[Psychotic]

Arsenal. Arsenal. Christ. Every bloody year. I just feel bad for Wenger now. What has become of me?

[Formalhaut]

Capitulation is the team mantra at this point.

[Cell]

Arsenal on Stars in Their Eyes doing Guided By Voice's "Do the Collapse".

[Old Manus]

It's that time of year again...

HAS WENGER'S TIME COME??????? IS WENGER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN GENUINE TROUBLE??

Then we can forget all about it by the summer.

[Crop]

Genuinely putting a bet on for Arsenal to win the return leg 3-0.

[Cell]

Genuinely putting a bet on for Arsenal to win the return leg 3-0.

To keep a clean sheet against anyone not decent?

Brave.

[Aerith's Knight]

HAS WENGER'S TIME COME??????? IS WENGER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN GENUINE TROUBLE??

Then we can forget all about it by the summer.

If he does retire, we should give him a runners-up trophy. For the most second places for any trainer in history.

[Cell]

Arsenal beat Sutton crisis over.

[Psychotic]

Claudio :(

[Formalhaut]

The writing was on the wall, but yeah. Pretty sad downfall, all around.

[Crop]

Utterly ridiculous.
Win the premier league at 5000-1 odds, top your champions league group, have a realistic chance of getting to the Quarters of the champions league, get fired.

Don't even have a certain replacement for the job! Wow.

[Bubba]

Yeah, great decision Leicester. Let's just get rid of the manager of the year and then replace him with Alan 'P45' Pardew.

Idiots.

[Cell]

Shows how integral Kante was to them. His mobility and ability to break up attacks was absolutely priceless to Leicester. Without him their slow centre back pairing get exposed time and time again.

[Bubba]

If we end up winning this it will be theft of the highest order. Outplayed from start to now.

[Psychotic]

I'm pissed off too as I'd just signed that Gabbiadini fellow for my FF team without realising he wouldn't be playing in the Prem this week.

[Bubba]

71762

[Formalhaut]

Was Kante really that essential? Without doubt he was a key part of their success, but to lose one player and to be in a relegation battle seems strange. A team shouldn't crumble so readily.

[Psychotic]

Was Kante really that essential? Without doubt he was a key part of their success, but to lose one player and to be in a relegation battle seems strange. A team shouldn't crumble so readily.Chelsea didn't have him last season. They have had him this season. Nuff said.

[Formalhaut]

I just find it strange that a team game like Football can be decided on the merits of one player.

[Bubba]

Was Kante really that essential? Without doubt he was a key part of their success, but to lose one player and to be in a relegation battle seems strange. A team shouldn't crumble so readily.Chelsea didn't have him last season. They have had him this season. Nuff said.

Nah man, perfect example of player power.

Chelsea wouldn't play for Mourinho. Leicester won't play for Rainieri.

Sorry to say Paul, but you'll get twatted by 'new and improved' Leicester on Monday night.

[Formalhaut]

Why wouldn't Leicester play for Rainieri? Besides Kante leaving, what else changed over that summer period?

[Bubba]

Why wouldn't Leicester play for Rainieri? Besides Kante leaving, what else changed over that summer period?

Its easy though play for anyone when you're winning. You don't even need a manager when things are going well. It's during the struggles when a manager earns his money. Its just a shame they don't get a chance to show that these days.

[Formalhaut]

Yeah, managers get tossed aside very quickly.

[Bubba]

Sorry to say Paul, but you'll get twatted by 'new and improved' Leicester on Monday night.

I say "sorry" but I forget you're a Leicester man. Who do you want to win?

[Psychotic]

If you'd asked me a week ago I'd have said Leicester.

[Crop]

Great cup final. Did we 'deserve' it? Hard to say. I think Southampton deserved better than what they had, but we have the cup and I'm ecstatic.

I'l regret celebrating on a school night, with a 9:00am meeting tomorrow, but screw it. Any excuse to party!

[Bubba]

It seems Liverpool FC were pretty sure we were gonna win yesterday. They actually changed their Twitter bio the day before :lol:

71778

[Cell]

Was Kante really that essential? Without doubt he was a key part of their success, but to lose one player and to be in a relegation battle seems strange. A team shouldn't crumble so readily.

Leicester have little effective cover in midfield now. It's a combination of Kante going and Mahrez/Vardy being totally out of sorts.

[Psychotic]

If you'd asked me a week ago I'd have said Leicester.Looking at the league table makes me keep this answer. Absolutely crucial win on the cards.

[Bubba]

Sorry to say Paul, but you'll get twatted by 'new and improved' Leicester on Monday night.

Yup.

Leicester players should be ashamed of themselves.

[Cell]

Expect Leicester to now go on a four or five game run. :/

[Psychotic]

Sorry to say Paul, but you'll get twatted by 'new and improved' Leicester on Monday night.

Yup. Underperforming teams just love to change their manager right before playing Liverpool and then shred them. Hull and Swansea are other beneficiaries of this tactic this season. Still, Liverpool's Robin Hood quest to take points from top teams and give them to the bottom half of the table will continue with a victory over Arsenal I don't doubt.

On the Leicester side of things, who needs Kante when you've got Ndidi? Absolutely bossed that midfield. Still don't think it was right to sack Ranieri, I lean more to the emotional side of football than the business side. I agree they should be ashamed the lazy buggers.

[Formalhaut]

The only side of football I really get is the emotional side, so yeah, screw your guys, Leicester!

[Crop]

That was the most frustrating game of football I've watched since the first game against Hull, but at least we won that game!

[Psychotic]

Still, Liverpool's Robin Hood quest to take points from top teams and give them to the bottom half of the table will continue with a victory over Arsenal I don't doubt.The only thing surer than Liverpool losing to bottom sides and beating top sides is Manchester United being in 6th forever no matter what they do.

[Old Manus]

So, uh...whew. How many Arsenal fans did we have left again?

[Psychotic]

I miss Cz and Resha.

[Fox]

So, uh...whew. How many Arsenal fans did we have left again?

Somewhere between 10 and 2 I think.

[Old Manus]

So, uh...whew. How many PSG fans did we have left again?

[Psychotic]

I miss Endless.

[Bubba]

Not a bad game at the Camp Nou by all accounts. I missed it. I thoroughly enjoyed our treacherous 1-1 draw in deepest, darkest Russia though.

[Psychotic]

I just realised that this Chelsea team are peak era Ferguson United. They ambled about a bit in August and September before becoming an unstoppable machine marching to league and cup success.

Good, fun game last night too. It's nice when two of your least favourite teams play as you can be a true neutral. I rather enjoyed both Marcos Rojo making Diego Costa his bitch and N'Golo Kante making Paul Pogba his bitch - everyone's a winner! And throw in a bonus Mourinho tantrum (doesn't matter who he is managing tbh) as well as some tasty fouls and tackles and I'm a happy lad.

[Rocket Edge]

Ugh Chelsea. I hate them more than any other team in the league by a long shot.

Hate the manager. 'They went out to kick Hazard' - Hazard is by far the most fouled player in the league yet you keep it until now against Mourinho to say something about it. Hazard actively looks for fouls & it's a big part of his game in helping the team. I dunno. Hate the players. Costa is a baby and his antics last night were embarrassing trying at every opportunity to get Rojo sent off. Hazard was diving around the place like he was in the Portuguese league. Hate their defensive style of play all season. Just hate everything about them.

My thoughts on some of the players after the match:

Kante - Took his goal well but didn't really have anything to do in the game after the red card, but since he's the overwhelming darling of the media this season he does a few good things and he's the MOTM all of a sudden. Don't get me wrong I think he's amazing but the reaction to him last night was confusing to me.
Hazard - I somehow forgot how good he was. Chelsea's best player by a mile. He's some player.
Rojo - Should be starting every game for United from now on, was terrific all game.
Valencia - Great performance with Rojo. Think he's my favourite Man United player atm.
Pogba - Did decent up until the sending off and then was a passenger all game. You could argue that it was a lot to ask going forward with 10 men at Stamford Bridge but he has to be involved more in the game for the reputation he has.

I thought the game was awful boring after the red card. It ruined it. Bias aside I really didn't think it was a sending off but Herrera should have known better. A part of much doesn't mind too much now that we can focus on Europe & CL qualification without any distractions as it's the number one aim. When we do get to play Chelsea at Old Trafford this season I just hope we win.

[Scruffington]

Man, every year I tell myself I'm going to watch the Premier League and I never end up doing it.

Is it too late to start watching this season? Which team should I cheer for? (my closest friend is a Chelsea fan, but I'm honestly pretty uninformed about all of the teams)

[Psychotic]

Don't support Chelsea, everyone will hate you.

Here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/robinedds/which-english-premier-league-team-should-you-support

Although I got Everton so... :erm:

[Rocket Edge]

Haha I got Villa. :jess:

[Formalhaut]

Damn, Leicester's into the last eight of the Champion's League! Quite the achievement for a first-timer.

[Old Manus]

>Fraudiola EXPOSED

[Psychotic]

But can he do it on a wet rainy night in Stoke?

[Bubba]

Craig Shakespeare to pull a Di Matteo and win the Champions League with Leicester.

[Cell]

Jamie Vardy and Samir Nasri, cheats in arms.