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I missed having you people in the thread. Amazing what a transfer record breaking signing can do, eh? :p that's what, £64m and counting spent by Moyes? Damn. Our owners refuse to go over £10m these days thanks to the Carroll/Downing fiasco. At least Henderson turned out alright!
(SPOILER)http://thepremierleagueowl.com/wp-co...ol_2823295.jpg
All jokes aside, we could do with another midfielder with all our injuries. We'll have him back (SPOILER)for £1M.
Daniel Sturridge for £12m, what a bargain that was!Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychotic
I seriously think that with with his position, age and nationality, in current market values you could get £40m for him. 16 goals in 18 games this season is ridiculous and Chelsea are idiots.
Sturridge signing for that little is nothing short of daylight robbery.
Transfer deadline day tomorrow - I hope we sign somebody (anybody!) as our players seem to be dropping like flies at the moment.
I remember when Sturridge was at Man City I thought he would be unbelievable even at that age. I guess they wanted success right away instead of helping him progress. Chelsea on the other hand were idiots to let him go. He's world class.
I'm really hoping Newcastle can get someone in to replace Cabaye on the deadline...
In other news what a farce it was with Remy. The other lad got let off for dramatising the entire situation of a couple of heads locking and Remy still gets HIS ban upheld? come on FA, get your act together, there's more to the Premier League than London clubs and the North West.
Both players were as bad as one and other so if one gets their ban overturned the other should. Ridiculous.
I honestly don't even think Newcastle can beat Sunderland this Saturday. If we lose I won't be going home on the metro because some idiots will just run riot through the city.
IIRC Sturridge was the one who requested the transfer because he thought he wasn't getting enough game time with us because we were still putting him in prospect level. I was pissed when we let him go, especially to chelsea given that I'm pretty sure we'd just got the now forever ruined Shaun Wright-Phillips back off them. You would have thought Danny would have learnt from that lesson but apparently not.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ps6215c391.jpg
I have a United mad colleague at work who rants and raves about Januzaj and how he's world class and the best young player in the world all day. He's getting this in his inbox this morning. :)
Impressive stats for both of them for such young players! In your friend's defence, Januzaj is in his first PL season while Sterling is in his third, although that isn't to take anything away from the Sterling (I can't say much about the guy as I haven't seen much of him). In your opinion, having seen Sterling, would you say he's got the talent to be the Next Big Thing? Not sure if you've seen Januzaj play, but if you have, how would you compare the two?
EDIT: Also, where can you get those kind of stats for players?
To compare the two, they're both young players with good potential but nowhere near the finished article. If I was a betting man, I'd say Januzaj has the attributes to be better, but I'm not going to tell him that... you know me, I like the wind up! :D He was stunned when I sent him those stats, hahaha. He said the same thing you did and I said "Well, that's because he was good enough at 17 to earn that experience!"
Sterling has had a great season so far and absolutely shredded Spurs and Everton. He is going to be the Next Big Thing in so much as Wright-Phillips, Lennon, Walcott and now Andros Townsend were. I would say he is one of the fastest players in the league and he is very good at dribbling... woeful finishing. Of the four, I think he will end up as good as Walcott. So he'll be a very good Premier League player and will be in the England squad for the next 10 years... but he's not going to be the next Ronaldo or Messi.
WhoScored.com is my favourite footy stats site but there are plenty of others like Opta. They have neat little extra details on player's strengths, weaknesses and playing traits. For example, Januzaj is great at through balls but has poor discipline.
Harry Redknapp, you've got to love him. There must be TV crews camped outside his house all day. He must finish his lunch, say to his wife "Right...I'm just going to head down the shops...", and off he goes.
5live are tweeting me about Everton transfers. I've never felt like such a football fan.
My favourite part was the AFC Wimbledon twitter feed, in particular these tweets:
https://mobile.twitter.com/AFCWimble...949056/photo/1
https://mobile.twitter.com/AFCWimble...9858550784?p=v
https://mobile.twitter.com/AFCWimble...0295714816?p=v
Yeah, Wimbledon and hawkman were triumphs.
In other transfer window related news.... smurf. Well, I never wanted to qualify for the Champions League anyway. :colbert: Ian Ayre is a moron. smurfed up on Mkhitaryan, Willian and Diego Costa in the Summer and now Salah and Ukrainian Long Name Man in January. Awful.
Man, talk about "whatever can go wrong" in this game. :(
I'm listening to it on Radio 5 Live, and I think I'm driving everyone else in the room crazy. I swear, every game I watch/listen....
Doesn't look like we can break them down either. It'll stay 2-1.
God damn deflections! The same thing happened against Chelsea when we started off the better team.
charlie adam
Honestly, this is the first game that I feel Moyes has got it all wrong. It hasn't gone his way with all the injuries etc, but to put Rooney into midfield was the wrong choice. Despite that, everything has just... really not worked out at all. Wind, injuries, decisions by players, decisions by manager. Just one big load of horribleness. Despite that, I do feel the goals have been against the run of play. We've been better than Stoke in every way but goalscoring. Crazy, considering we had Welbeck, Rooney, RVP AND Mata (and Young, I suppose, since he's in form) all playing at once. Not to mention Hernandez on late for RVP.
6 points off 4th, and Liverpool have a game in hand. Not looking good for Utd. They'll finish above us, but that's not exactly a terrific achievement!
Is this the first game you've seen? He's been getting it wrong since he came here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loony BoB
charlie adam, nude and proud, standing over your exhausted body
charlie adam using up the last of your milk
charlie adam with a glorious sunset behind him
charlie adam on the phone to your mum, talking about pasta
charlie adam losing his keys down the back of your sofa and unapologetically tearing it apart
charlie adam kicking the back of your seat and listening to loud techno music
charlie adam sending you a passive-aggressive email about sending too many items to the printer at once
charlie adam belching into your ear as you sleep
I disagree, but oh well. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by CuchulainnIs this the first game you've seen? He's been getting it wrong since he came here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loony BoB
'I don't know what we have to do to win' - Manchester United boss David Moyes at a loss after Stoke defeat - Football - Sport - London Evening Standard
You don't know what you have to do to win, David? That explains everything! Here's a little tip from me to you: You score more goals than the other team. You're welcome!
Disgusting and gutless display from Newcastle...
imagine fabio borini mowing the lawn while looking down his nose at youQuote:
Originally Posted by Shoden
Almost enough to make the day brighter...Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychoticimagine fabio borini mowing the lawn while looking down his nose at youQuote:
Originally Posted by Shoden
I just cannot believe the team's self destructed, without Cabaye its back to square 1 from last season.
Mind, I think this De Jong fella could be good, bit rusty though but he did so much better than Shola Ameobi, I think even Shefki Kuqi could score more often than he could.
as you are about to finish off the last of your house of cards, kolo toure blunders in to tell you he's really sorry but he's scraped your car although to be honest if you hadn't parked so close to the line that wouldn't have happened anyway
:colbert:
How brave of Jose's Starving Orphans FC managing to defeat Megabucks Squillionaires City last night. I don't know how on Earth he did it with the mere pittance afforded to him by cruel Master Abramovich for the purchase of new players.
the worst thing is that the media are actually buying into this
Wait, which media are you referring to? I didn't even know anyone was talking about Chelsea as "poor".
Mourinho is really starting to get on my tits. First his comments about West Ham when he employed the exact same tactics when they came to Old Trafford. Then saying they're not in the title race when they're only two points from the summit. Shut it, you prick.
Fair play last night though. Chelsea were set up really well. They stifled City's attacks with their back six and countered really well with the front four. They should have had three or four.
It's just Mourinho being Mourinho, really. Still, perhaps he just needs to win something so he can perk up a bit. I don't know what Inter & Real Madrid did to that guy but it clearly wasn't pretty, because he changed.
Just look at Mourinho's media comments and how the media are hailing what he did to City a triumph. You'll see what I mean.
I also liked his accusation of West Ham playing 19th Century football for being defensive. The first international between England and Scotland took place in the 19th Century and England rocked a nifty 1-1-8 formation. The dour Scots were of course more defensive, plumping for a much more pragmatic 2-2-6.
I can see an idea for a telephone directory service advertisement in there somewhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychotic
So there's Laudrup gone. Unless he's not. Hard to tell these days!
The Mourinho comments were a joke. Not paid much attention to the media, but everyone I've spoken to about it has found it laughable.
Sign him up, United! Shelvey for £5m or Fellaini for £27m? Hell, Shelvey for £27m over Fellaini for £5m would seem like great business, even without the homegrown rule.
Newcastle fan here for my sins, I must of been a bad person in a past life to get stuck with the toon lol.
I'm going for Arsenal to win the league, though my head says Chelsea and City will be too strong in the end.
Welcome to the debate, magemasher!
Any fans are welcome here... well, any fans whose team is below mine. Everybody else's can smurf right off.
Cheers Bub (I've always wanted to say that) Who's your team?
I'm Man Utd for my sins so it's been an interesting season to say the least!
You guys had a great start. It was a shame you couldn't hold onto Cabaye.
Yeah Cabaye was a real shame,, I'd regard him as the best player I've seen live in a stadium. We could of kept him only our owners show no ambition beyond making a profit.
and I thought we could be the first ones to break the cross-town boundaries and be something special. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubba
Haha, only joking DK!
I respect pretty much everyone's opinion on this thread and try not to antagonize anyone.
You're all OK by me!
me and pauw were ranting about moyes the other day, and I was going off on one about how he should be playing pretty much how chelsea set up against us. whoever is your most fit striker as a lone striker, fat wayne, kagawa and mata as a front four who can do basically whatever they want. 5 at the back, 3 CB's to shore up the defence and cover for each other, two wing backs who can get forward if needs be and then whoever in your midfield is not crippled in the middle as a solo guy to link between attack and defence and drop back if the situation calls for it. that's what I'd do anyway.
mind you i've been heavily playing FM on my phone recently and it's given me a proper boner for the lone striker/christmas tree so that might have something to do with it
The ideal setup for us would focus on our strengths, which would mean three CA's and two CM/DM's, no wingers. None of our (outright) wingers are performing well enough at the moment.
ST: RVP, Rooney, Welbeck, Hernandez
CAx3: Mata, Rooney, Kagawa, Januzaj and Young/Nani/Valencia could probably perform in such roles if they had to, too.
CM/DM: Carrick, Fellaini, Cleverley, Jones, Giggs, shut up we don't have great options here.
And a regular back four with Rio & Vidic only starting in dead rubbers because damn, they aged badly. :(
that's what i'm saying. it's pointless packing out utd's centre mid section because you're utterly trouthouse there right now. 3 CB's gives you more cover at the back and also means old men rio and vidic have to cover less ground when they play. i personally favour more defensive minded FB's as well, so while evra and rafael could make the odd run if the situation demands it ideally they'd focus on defense. then the front four do all the work. mata and kagawa especially have the potential to be a sick combo if given free reign.
ashley young should be nowhere near any utd team ever, even at their absolute worst. I remember in the last match one thing that really pissed me off was when he spunked a chance from 6 yards wide and moyes was flailing around on the touchline all "how could you miss that?"
How could you pick him you ginger tit? He's trout. He's always been trout. You refuse to give shinji a game but persist with this trouthouse bag of balls and then appear offended when he's trout. it's smurfing stupid :colbert:
I don't even know what to think about Laudrup going. I was already in the middle of raging about Kevin Pietersen getting the chop by the ECB when I got a text from my old man with the news, so that only fuelled my displeasure. It wasn't helped by the Fulham game on at the time being the worst game of football I have seen in years.
On further reflection I just hope that the board have something up their sleeve. There must have been some real reason for the dismissal, as it couldn't really have been results; we've been doing alright considering we're still playing games in Europe and the FA Cup. Just before the Cardiff game as well! I hope Garry Monk can instill the brevity of the game into some of the players and I'm sure he will, the man bleeds Swansea. I don't much rate his ability to manage long term though. The main things I'm worried about are our big players leaving with Laudrup, and who the hell do we replace him with?
Besides that, I think some kind of table with members and their respective teams would be handy for any new people coming into the OFFICIAL EOFF ANNUAL PREMIER LEAGUE BANTER THREAD.
Old Manus Swansea City Psychotic Liverpool Loony BoB Manchester United Rocket Edge Manchester United Bubba Manchester United charliepanayi Arsenal DK Manchester City Cuchulainn Manchester United Heath Everton The Captain Liverpool Shoden Newcastle United Russielloyd RIP Blackburn Rovers
I think that's the regulars.
it's hilarious to look at that table and think back when it would have been dominated by arsenal ponces. and they try to accuse us of being glory fans. smurf off.
the laudrup thing is smurfing stupid man. there is absolutely no benefit to sacking a manager a week after the mid season transfer window closes.
also seriously, what the living smurf is the deal with KP? being given some comdey cricketing blacklisting from the england squad, what the trout. I actually feel geniunely sad for him that he's been frozen out of the team.
Don't forget "Lifelong Spurs Fan" Iceglow!
Also I may have drove panayi away before the season had even properly started this year :shobon: charlie, if you're reading this, I have a song for you.
Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn't mean it
I just want you back for good!
WANT YOU BACK
WANT YOU BACK
WANT YOU BACK FOR GOOD
i don't, i hope fairweather panayi never comes back. :doublecolbert:
Remember watching it on Match of the Day as a lad and thinking "whoa holy smurf I don't know who this Wanchope is but he is amazing and has a great name".
I wish Cz posted more for many reasons - one of them is so that Paulo Wanchope would grace the forums with his presence more often.
I miss the old Liverpool... :(
4-0 after 20 minutes, I couldn't believe it when I turned the TV on. Could it be the start of a late title push from Liverpool?
This game is reminiscent of the Newcastle 4 Arsenal 4 from a few years back, ie 2 early goals from a Centre back and 4-0 in 20 minute. It will be very interesting if Arsenal get a early goal. lol 5-0 maybe not
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
No, but seriouslyhaahahahhshaiohasiojahshaahiaohshahahahhahaoihasoihahaoihhahahhahahaahahsaihoshuashioashiopahiahahah ahahahahsauhsahsahahsahahHAHAAHAHAHAHAahiohhioashioaaihohphihhaahahahahaahahahahahahahahaha jack wilshere is a little bitch hahahahaoihshahahahaahahahahaha
It can't be their year - surely not!
I don't think it will be but I've enjoyed this season immensely - thrashings of Spurs, Everton and now Arsenal. Just as a spectacle this team is superb to watch, the power, pace and quick movement of Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling and Coutinho is pure football porn.
Liverpool have Chelsea and City to play at home, win them and they have a chance. 12/1 worth a fiver for them odds.
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co...9870-large.jpg
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co...9879-large.jpg
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/inco...Monk%2Bcropped
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...kceleb_huw.jpg
http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/a...k_1357079a.jpg
http://i1.walesonline.co.uk/incoming...39-1788347.jpg
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/...y-Monk-008.jpg
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co...2655-large.jpg
Eternal swans legend.
(SPOILER)so annoyed that brendan takes today's headlines :colbert:
Now that was unexpected.
Not since we had that run with Torres-Gerrard-Alonso back with Rafa have I actually gone in to these sort of matches and expected a win. Lately, I have been expecting a close match that probably ends in a tie.
Full credit to the entire team as frankly The first twenty minutes of this game were a joy. Relentlessly pressing, ruthlessly finishing, this looks a team that hit a higher gear than their opponent and they literally blew Arsenal off the field.
Two very important points moving forward:
Anfield is a fortress again.
We aren't a one man team anymore. Sturridge, Sterling, little phil, even skertl! Fear SSSS!
We may not win the league but my goodness I think we will really push those ahead of us. We still have home games against City and Chelsea too, so that will be exciting as well.
Take care all.
Alright well as entertaining as it was I'd like our ability to score back now please pauw :colbert:
It was good seeing some passion from Swansea when they scored the first goal, Williams embracing Monk was really nice to see. I think they'll be absolutely fine this season, I wasn't so sure about that under Laudrup.
I think the two home games for Liverpool against City and Chelsea could well decide the league, I don't think they'll win it but it'll be mighty close if they can get a result against either or both of those teams. 12/1 is well worth a punt, those are great odds.
Hahahaha!
amazing...
Apparently playing without proper/half decent strikers means not scoring goals :confused:
I wouldn't mind so much if Spurs had had more than one shot on goal before the 93rd minute.
Match summed up why Moyes is so utterly mediocre. 81 attempted crosses. 81! The most attempted crosses by a team in a game in Premier League history by a long way... against a smurfing six foot seven defender who is happy to head them away all day. Especially when you have smurfing Mata, Rooney and Van Persie, all very comfortable with the ball played to feet. Madness. Complete and utter smurfing madness. Why the smurf didn't Moyes say "Alright lads, remember that plan I had to cross it a lot? Well we've had 40 failed crosses maybe it's time to do something new." at half time? Good lord.
Have no idea how he's still in a job. "Oh, we're Man United it's not what we do!" well no trout, you had arguably the greatest manager English football has ever seen at the helm for 25 odd years, of course you didn't sack him because he didn't do trout like this. "Ahh, but in his early days Ferguson..." It was almost 30 years ago, football is a different animal now and you can't even try to compare it. Besides, despite his rocky start Ferguson had won the Scottish league (yes I know, I know, but he won it as a non-Glasgow team which is great) several times and even a couple of European trophies with a Scottish team. Moyes has won smurf all because he's useless. "Oh but transition!" Mourinho, Pellegrini, Martinez and Sherwood are all new to their jobs too, and they didn't take over the champions. I say the champions - they're actually the champions with £79m worth of talent added to them.
I don't even know why I'm ranting about this. I hope Moyes stays for the next 5 years and I do enjoy the karma of United finally getting theirs after the decades of taunts dished out to other teams by their fans :D I think just the very concept of him getting the top job in the country just because he's Fergie's mate offends me I guess.
I can't believe I'm agreeing wholeheartedly with Psychotic about a football matter and I feel dirty.
Moyes was an average manager at Everton and the wizardry being performed at Goodison Park this season by Martinez (who is also a new managerial appointment, but with a totally different style of football), as well as the fact that it's with the same team sans their best player, proves this.
Ferguson had a few rough years to start, but he wasn't doing it with the league champions. trout guys, United absolutely pissed the league last season. Nothing has changed, apart from the backroom staff and the inclusion of a few new players. Any other club with big ambitions would have got shot ages ago (I wouldn't have appointed him in the first place, it remains one of the dumbest managerial selections for a big bollocks European team ever. Ferguson dropped the ball massively here and knows it). The board have never been in this situation, and I have a feeling that they might be scared of England's Brave Bobby Charlton's reaction if they defy his old mate Fergie.
It's too late now though, they've let it play too long and now United have blown any chance of CL qualification. I honestly think they could have turned things around had they acted earlier and got a qualified manager in (SPOILER)the first place, but now they'll have to wait until next season, and even that might be too late (just ask Liverpool what happens when you drop out of Europe). Will Moyes turn things round if given a few seasons? Maybe. But Utd fans shouldn't bank on it as they seem to be doing. I don't rate him.
Finally, you can actually pinpoint the moment that Mata realises he's missed his chance of getting a Premier League medal.
Even I'm starting to get concerned about Moyes lately, and that's saying something because (as I'm sure you all know) I'm a fairly eternal optimist who always looks to see the good in things rather than the bad.
Now, having said that, I don't know how many of you actually watched the match but their keeper pulled off more than a few incredible saves. I'm talking me actually ranting "Oh, come on, really?" at the TV when he managed something like the fourth or fifth incredible save in the first half. We had something like 70-80% possession to boot, and we weren't only sending in crosses.
As for the goals we conceded, can I just say that I love Vidic to bits but I'm delighted he will be finishing his United career at the end of the season and I hope that Rio stops playing, too. They can't keep up with attacking players. It's not a case of "they struggle to" - that implies that they still do, but with a struggle. Rio and Vidic outright can't keep up with them. It's no shock to me that Smalling & Evans as a partnership retain a 100% win record for United. It's because they can actually run.
The reasons I'm concerned with Moyes is not for the fact we fired in that number of crosses (that was a simple side-effect of having 75% possession and some good wingers on the pitch), but for the fact we played most of the match with only one player regularly forward enough to be attacking these crosses. The moment Hernandez came on, we looked dangerous again, because Rooney simply doesn't play that far forward anymore. He used to be able to head a lot of goals, but he won't from the edge of the penalty area, will he?
The other reason I'm concerned is because, for the second game, he opted to throw all our attacking options on at once. He took off a midfielder and, rather than adding Giggs to centre mid, pushed Rooney back. Now, Rooney is more than capable, sure. You could argue he's more capable than Giggs. But there's a lot to be said for desperation without considering your defence. Valencia on for Rafael, Januzaj on for Fletcher, Hernandez on for Young. All were forward pushes. And I suppose that would be fine if it weren't for the late goal when we had three certified defenders, one which is (I'll say it again!) unable to run fast enough to defend, and only one deep-ish playing midfielder. As soon as Fulham got the ball near our box at the end, I could see the writing on the wall and I was miffed before the goal even went in.
What should have happened is that the attacking players should have kept the ball in the far corner of the pitch instead of trying to make it 3-1. If they have the energy to run around the box, they better have the energy to run back to our box when the opposition is throwing players forward at your weakened (via Vidic + Valencia, let alone Fletch coming off) defence right on the last minute. What did they think Fulham were running back for? To shake our hands and congratulate us on a win? Please.
/endrant
Still, I've kind of accepted we probably won't get CL games next season, regardless of manager, so I'm happy for Moyes to play out this season and see what he does in the summer transfer window. What Moyes and Woodward do then and how the team performs in the early part of next season will be what makes or breaks the chairman and manager.
The crossing thing is more than just a side effect. In his interviews and comments, Moyes has made repeated references to wing play and cross bombardment being the "DNA" of United. I think he is just rigidly committing to that out of a sense of obligation rather than it making any tactical sense.
I don't know if you need to see more transfer windows from Moyes - he's already had two and neither were great. Alright, yeah, the Mata signing (I do think they paid over the odds but hey ho) was a boost but was he what they needed? Is he so different from Kagawa or even Januzaj? Especially when a player like that does not fit into a team which spams crosses everywhere, which as Moyes has stated is the "DNA" of the club. I think if that's your goal, Lukaku should've been the Chelsea player to sign. Could've even done a swap with Rooney (and £10-15m thrown in from them) and a CL rival in Everton would've been weakened. Oh, yeah, and the obvious CM and defensive signings too. Moyes has now spaffed £64m (the £79m in my previous post also includes Zaha who is not a Moyes signing) on just two players. How much more money do you want to give the man? Especially if United fail to make the CL and that huge wad of cash is lost.
I also think if Fergie was put in as caretaker right now I would bet on United getting CL football.
Has he really repeatedly said that spamming crosses is the DNA of the club? I've never heard that once. I know attacking play and wide play has been mentioned and it's true that it's in the DNA of the club, but until this match it's never been pointed out as something we've overdone. I genuinely think it's a byproduct of that much possession. I watched the entire game - yes, there were a huge number of crosses but there were a lot of attacks that attempted to go through the middle, too. Interestingly Neville even complained at one point that there was nobody out wide right for United when we were attacking through the middle.
I do feel that a lot of this is not Moyes' fault. When it comes to signings, the manager is involved, but not nearly as much as the chairman and the scouts. The manager was going after very good players to my knowledge, but the chairman sucked balls at the negotiation tables and the scouts were perhaps not able to spot good alternatives at the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychotic
I'd love Lukaku! But I don't think he's going to leave Chelsea until he's forced out. He's only at Everton on loan.Quote:
I think if that's your goal, Lukaku should've been the Chelsea player to sign.
I'd want to give him one summer transfer window where the chairman isn't having his first day on the job. I think that's fair. Woodward has, to my knowledge, never been the one dealing with major signings at a football club until July 2013. He's excellent at signing commercial contracts, which is where his experience lay when he was at the club prior to this summer, but it was most definitely Gill who was pulling the strings of transfers in recent years.Quote:
How much more money do you want to give the man? Especially if United fail to make the CL and that huge wad of cash is lost.
I agree. I think if SAF was put in charge of any club in the PL he'd have them significantly better than where they are now, including every team above United at the moment. Let's face it, he's the best manager of all time. That isn't an act that will be easy to follow up.Quote:
I also think if Fergie was put in as caretaker right now I would bet on United getting CL football.
Again, I am concerned, absolutely. But it was never because of the summer transfer window which I (and most United fans at RedCafe, it seems) feel was mostly down to Woodward's failings rather than that of Moyes. Nor will I question him based on the first few months where, knowing he has time at United compared to those at Chelsea/City, was allowed the time to play everyone repeatedly and get a real idea of who he wants to keep.
What I do question is his decision to bring along Phil Neville instead of keeping one of United's existing backroom staff, whether or not he is motivating his players well enough, whether or not he will have the balls to release/sell/retire many of the bigger names at our club at the end of the season, and whether or not he can find the leaders in our youth (or elsewhere) capable of replacing the many leaders at our club. I will definitely judge him on next season's transfer window, although again that will be a time for judging Woodward, too. And I absolutely judge Moyes on his tactics during a game. I love our attacking play, I really do, but I hate it when he takes off genuine midfielders and replaces them with forwards. It just irks me. If a forward isn't doing well enough to win, take him off so he knows next time he'll have to do better. If a midfielder isn't doing well enough to feed the forwards, find a midfielder who can. Don't cut the midfield out altogether. I get that his subs got us two goals, but I'll also point that our lack of midfield/defence cost us right at the end of the game, when we needed them.
Speaking of leadership, though: Seriously, just look at past years where we were so successful. We had Rio, Evra, Vidic, VDS, Giggs, Scholes, O'Shea, Neville... now all due to retire very soon or already have. Where are our new leaders? I'm told Jones is supposed to be a natural leader but on the pitch, I don't see him leading much. I see that from the likes of Evans and Rooney more than anyone. Even Rafael shouts more than Jones! I do genuinely worry about our lack of imposing players, and I feel this is perhaps our biggest weakness now. We need players who are not afraid to yell at each other or be yelled at. We've flooded our side with quieter guys recently, and I've no idea what brought that about but I hope it can change soon. I actually feel that this is a bigger issue to United's future than what manager we have. Our players need more drive on the pitch.
The man himself: "Some people might say that one of the things that Manchester United do is play with width and cross the ball, that's in the genes here."
I don't know much about Woodward, but here's what Davey M himself said in August "Fortunately, he's left me a really strong team, which I think gives me a great chance of retaining the title". Obvious lolmoyes aside, that implies to me he didn't think he had much work to do.
I lifted those quotes from a really good piece just posted on F365 that I think sums it up nicely. Definitely worth a read - they also share my opinion on Mata and explained it far better than I could!
(SPOILER)Another week and another crisis at Manchester United. The draw at home to Fulham made it four points in their last four Premier League matches - only the three teams currently in the relegation zone have taken fewer. When you consider that those four games actually included fixtures against the current bottom two, that's pretty alarming stuff.
Sunday was supposed to be the catalyst for improvement. Fulham were the sitting duck, having lost their last three fixtures to Swansea, Southampton and Sheffield United without registering a goal, bottom of the league and with 17 defeats in 24 matches this season. Instead, United found another new way to shoot themselves in the foot and implode into utter mediocrity.
Before the game, David Moyes used his programme notes to bemoan his luck with injuries, referring specifically to the absence of Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney for large periods of the season, but such words should fall on deaf ears. Whilst Rooney and RVP have 34 PL appearances between them, Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge have just three more, and the Liverpool strike pair have started nine matches as a partnership compared to ten for United's front two. City too have been forced to deal with the absence of Sergio Aguero at a time when they need him most. It's all just empty words, David.
In fact, offering excuses for underperformance is becoming the hallmark of Moyes' tenure at Old Trafford, with injuries simply the latest in a long line. Before the season began the fixtures were blamed, with the manager's bizarre "I find it hard to believe that's the way the balls came out of the bag" rant that awkwardly made us all think of scrotums.
Then Alex Ferguson received the flak. Moyes had been left with a shell of a squad, a car with no engine, a roast dinner with no meat, and other such weak analogies. The defence was aging, the midfield was aged and the wingers were inconsistent. The only reason that United won the title last season was because their rivals were so poor, we were told, completely ignoring the fact that Manchester City have actually only picked up one point more than at this stage last year, whilst United have 21 fewer. "Fortunately, he's left me a really strong team, which I think gives me a great chance of retaining the title," were Moyes' words last August.
Finally came the referees. Speaking after the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg defeat to Sunderland, Manchester United's third consecutive defeat for the first time since 2001, Moyes branded Andre Marriner and his officials "terrible". "We're having to play them as well as the opposition at the moment. We're actually beginning to laugh at them, that's the thing." It landed him an FA charge.
Well David, here are some home truths. Even accounting for all of your reasons, you're doing a rotten job of managing Manchester United, the Premier League champions. You have been in the job for only eight months and yet have already equalled Manchester United's record number of losses in a Premier League season. Your team, which was good enough to win the title last year, is now nine points off a Champions League place, and nearer to Crystal Palace than Chelsea.
On almost every level, Moyes is failing to do his job to the required level. In the broadest terms, the remit of a football manager is to get as many players as possible playing to the height of their potential. The greatest (and that evidently includes Ferguson) take this further, actually making the team greater than the sum of its parts.
Moyes is a long way from the former, simpler goal. It could be argued that Rooney is the only one performing at a higher level than last season, and even he is far from his peak form. Almost every other player without exception is performing at a lower level than they did even ten months previously. Rafael may have last month issued the stock quote expected of a player in such a situation ("I don't know why everyone is looking at the manager. It is the players who have to do the job on the pitch"), but this falls on deaf ears. The regression of individual players may be seen as an anomaly, but when 12 or 14 professional footballers suddenly begin to struggle almost en masse, the buck stops with the manager.
As I said in my piece after the game yesterday, United's squad is indeed in need of an overhaul. Moyes spent £37million on Juan Mata, but this was a luxury purchase when what United lacked is steel and solidity. Mata may well prove to be an excellent signing, but this was akin to installing a hot tub in the bathroom when the shower still needs fixing. Improvements are needed almost all over the pitch, particularly when you consider that Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Ryan Giggs, Robin van Persie and Nani could all feasibly follow Nemanja Vidic out of the door. Captain, vice-captain, longest-serving player and top goalscorer.
The nagging question, however, is whether Moyes is the man to oversee such changes. Currently, the answer to that looms startlingly clear to all but a loyal band of Moyes supporters, a large proportion of whom are presumably simply refusing to believe that things can get any worse. But worse they are getting.
A comfortable defeat against Arsenal on Wednesday and the case for the prosecution is coming close to resting its case.
Dude, I can talk a lot.So he said the "in the genes" thing once, and he's played one match where we had the highest number of crosses in PL history since something like 2006. Man, you should work for the media if you managed to grab those two things and turn it into "Moyes doesn't know how to do anything but tell his players to cross the football." Come on, dude, you of all people are better than stooping to writing headlines for The Daily Mail. :p
I think it's safe to say that Moyes is probably well aware of his failings (and that of his players) so far but backs himself to rectify them. I don't think he genuinely believes that all is dandy at United like he says in his press conferences, and those excuses are the exact same kind of excuses that Sir Alex Ferguson would use every single season when we lost a game. It's just press officer 101, or at least Manchester United press officer 101. Complain about fixtures, complain about referees, bemoan bad luck and injuries, etc. This is all par for the course. SAF never criticised himself publically and I don't expect Moyes to.
Moyes does have work to do and it will have to start with clearing out the old guard and bringing in a new group. As mentioned earlier, he'll need to get mentally tough players as well as the bigwigs (preferrably someone who combines the two) as we're desperate for leaders on the pitch, where it matters.
I do wonder if he will improve his coaching team. I really just don't see them being as good as he seems to believe they are. I really wish we still had some of the old crew, particularly the man managing the side we faced yesterday. Not as bothered about Phelan, I feel we played better football when he wasn't assistant manager, but oh well.
Personally, I do think that if we had used Smalling, Evans and Jones instead of Rio/Vidic then we'd be in a considerably better position than we are. I think Moyes wanted to give them their shot, and now he's been forced into bringing them back again because of injuries. I think we should have got a central midfielder in the summer, but Woodward buggered that up. By the time Winter came, none of the big-shot central midfielders would have wanted to come anywhere near us... they had CL football and we, well, at the moment we're not looking like we'll be getting it. Getting any player during the winter is tough, though. I was surprised we got Mata, I thought we'd be getting nobody at all, honestly.
As for "But you guys didn't need Mata, you needed a solid defence and a few central midfielders" - while it's true that we are not shy on attacking options, you only need to look to the goals scored and goals conceded to see we've failed to score as much as any of the top four this season. We are struggling in defence? Only one goal worse than Liverpool, and one goal better than Spurs in 5th. Meanwhile in goals scored, we're 22 goals worse off than Liverpool. The closest of the top four? Chelsea, at the top, with six goals more than us. We're an attacking side by nature while chelsea are a defending team, though, so I prefer to compare to the other sides. Did we need Mata? Not really, but we needed players who would improve us and I think he is one of the few available that would have.
What we really need to do is break the bank next season. And I mean really break the bank. We need to drop Rio along with the alread leaving Vidic, we need to spend as much as is required to bring in a high quality central midfielder or two and we need to build on that with a new central defender and a couple of wingbacks. There are no more Sir Alex Fergusons available to us to do the magical thing where they rise a group of players up 15 points per season beyond what they would normally get. That means we have to get rid of players who are not good enough without him. We are now competing with the likes of City and Chelsea who can afford to buy superstars that could compete for a title under any decent manager. If we want to compete with that... we have to, financially. Woodward can certainly bring in commercial contracts, but we need to see if he can bring in the players, too.
And Moyes will, indeed, need to show that he can manage them into a winning position.
Okay, after typing up all that I realised it's length. :shobon: tl;dr: I agree with the middle of that article where they talk about his management of players and how he is perhaps not getting enough out of them, but don't think the former half is much more than typical tabloid sensationalism where someone picks out some quotes and turns them against the person.
For everything said about United under Moyes, the players yesterday could have been playing for SAF, they were battering Fulham (and not just through crosses). Sadly, Fulham were immense in defence, particularly their goalkeeper who stopped them from suffering a 4-1 scoreline at half time. It reminded me of a Sunderland game a long time back under SAF, where we spent the entire game camped in their half while they were fighting relegation (or were already relegated?) and they came away with a point. Only this was actually more entertaining than that awful game, as I believe it ended 0-0 on that one. What Moyes got wrong was over-swamping the attack because of this, and when the counter came in with one minute to spare, the attacking players did not work hard enough for their defence (and Vidic was Vidic, too old).
Come on yourself. He's said words to that effect more than once. One match of crosses? You watch them week in, week out, you should bloody know it's all they do. If you don't believe me and think I'm fishing, look up the stats. United have the highest average attempted crosses per game in the Premier League this season - incidentally, Liverpool have the lowest. On a random tangent, Liverpool have the highest through balls per game and Man United have the joint lowest.
Either way, do you really want to turn this into an Aaron Freed [citation needed] war? I shouldn't have to provide detailed evidence and multiple sources when it's as bloody obvious as this. Man United play crosses a hell of a lot more than most teams. Fact. #rafa
Can you get last season's stats, too?Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychotic
I'm not arguing against us throwing in a lot of crosses, we do, you could almost say it's in our genes. I'm just saying that it's tabloid sensationalism to say that it's the only way we know how to attack. If you look at the two goals we got, one was from a diagonal pass (you could amost call it a through ball) from Mata and the other was a deflected shot from central midfield. If you think those were the only two attacks that weren't crosses, you'd be sorely mistaken. There were a lot of crosses, sure, but how often does United get 75% possession? Less often than you might think! We were never a possession-based side under SAF, at least not that I recall.
Citation: I watched the whole match!
Quote:
Citation: I watched the whole match!
Anecdotal evidence is useless. I will need a peer reviewed study of your television activities from an independent source. The Radio Times with circles in biro in the Sky Sports column at the very least.
Someone get me my biro.
Also, just checked. We average 29 crosses per match. 81? Yeah, that's not the norm, dude. Before that game we averaged 26-27 crosses per game, and last season we averaged 25. Fact! #martintyler
I never said 81 was the norm, although it highlights how ridiculous the tactics in that specific game were - cross a lot - against a team with a six foot seven defender.
Have fun though: Premier League Team Statistics | WhoScored.com (I sure am! I've become a stats nerd today :shobon:)
That's the site I just used, it got suggested to me by someone earlier in this thread. ;D What's most surprising, going through those stats, is that we're so eerily similar to last season's team when it comes to so many things. But it's just not clicking for us. :( Roughly the same amount of shots per game, possession, pass succession... they're all marginally worse, which was expected with an aging side, no Scholes, RVP/Rooney being injured etc. But we've been marginally better for things like shots conceded per game, shots on target per game et. to balance that out. Even where we spend time on the pitch, where shots come from... overall I don't think the stats really change much at all.
I think we've simply got a side who not only lost the best manager in the world, one of the best midfielders in the world (Scholes was considered the best midfielder in the world by Xavi, no less), we've lost a good solid group of backroom staff (while I understand the reasoning of wanting your trusted team, I never felt the Everton contingent were an upgrade)... not to mention the other clubs strengthening here and there. But I do feel we've had worse luck than most sides. Normally we would win games such as the one in Fulham because we would have someone like Giggs just standing in a corner as far from our goal as possible with his foot on the ball, winding down the clock. Instead, we had a group of younger over-enthusiastic attackers with no defensive backup. I would have preferred they took off Rooney than take off Fletcher. Dunno how fit he (Fletch) is though. :(
Instead of strengthening in the summer, we had a farce of ambitious transfer attempts at unrealistic targets with insanely below-par bids. I hope Woodward has learned a really big lesson. Perhaps Moyes is not used to spending a lot of money, either, and was hoping to ensure he stayed on bargain terms. But what was it? We valued Fabregas at £40m and paid £28m for Fellaini? :stare: Not sure who was making those calls, but they were wrong, wrong, wrong. I still think we could see Fellaini be a good player for us for all I know (apparently according to statistical analysis he's one of the best in Europe!?), but we'll have to wait and see.
less football freedism more giggling at old french man falling down :colbert:
BASED MONK RETAINS UNBEATEN RECORD
BENT RETAINS ABILITY TO NOT SLOT IT IN FROM 6 YARDS
#EPL
Horrific few weeks for the swans coming up. Everton away in the FA Cup, then Napoli (yes guys we're still playing in Europe) home and away with Liverpool away in between. The next two league home games are must wins against Palace and West Brom, then the away fixtures are Arsenal and Everton again.
If we can claw at least 5 points from that it's (relatively) plain sailing from then till the end of the season, with the only big dog fixture being Chelsea at home.
It's funny, there's the stereotypical "This year is our year!" view of Liverpool fans but whenever it is suggested we may be dark horses the response is now "LALALALA CAN'T HEAR YOU SHUT UP" and that is how I feel too. I can't help but think back to the City and Chelsea games - games we should have won but not for blah blah injuries bad referees excuses and think about what might have been. As karma for all my Moyes bashing we're going to end up losing at Old Trafford and that'll cost us something (the league, fourth, whatever, just something) or if we do finish fourth, Moyes will win the CL and we won't be in it next year!
Think last night was a poor result for Arsenal and United. If either is to meet their goals (1st, 4th) then playing for draws is not enough and to me that seemed to be the goal for both teams off the back of their poor weekend results. Not good enough from either manager to do that. Interested to see Moyes come out and say "Yeah United play well over the second half of the season it's fine". Dave, mate, the second half of the season began ages ago. We're in the final third. In your last five games you have got five points. That is relegation form. Not saying United are going down by the way Daniel ;) but a point-per-game is what teams get relegated with. 11 points to make up, 12 games to do it. And hell never mind Liverpool's form, Spurs are showing no signs of letting up either. Gonna need both of them to implode - or maybe Arsenal, who seem to be really flagging - to do it.
Spurs are a weird case. Before their last match, they were 5th on a goal difference of 0. That's just weird, however you look at it. Looks like they've hit a bit of form now. But yeah, still weird. I mean, we've had a shocking season where you may as well flip a three sided coin in order to predict the result regardless of what team we're facing (lose against the bottom team, win against the top team... make what you will of that). But despite that, Spurs were positions and points ahead of us with (before last game) a goal difference of 0! Crazy.
I'm not expecting CL next season at the moment, but I do feel that Moyes needs to move us into a good run of form or this summer will be very interesting or very worrying. Or both.
As for the Liverpool game at Old Trafford, I'll say it again: Flip a coin, that'll be the result. xD
I believe if we win the CL (ha!) and you finish fourth then England just get five teams in the CL. Not sure if that's a certainty but I'm sure they mentioned that possibility in UEFA somewhere along the line. As for both teams playing for draws, I didn't see it that way - I think both teams had attacking intent but it was a poor game regardless, if not for the lack of goals then for the general scrappiness all over the pitch. There was the occasional bit of good football being played but it was generally outside the box, which is a shame. Shocking developtment, though. Vidic to play a full game (and Rio half of it) and we kept a clean sheet. Did Not Expect.
Our form is rubbish points-wise, but our play last weekend was really good and to get a point away at Arsenal isn't a terrible result, although you'd still hope for better in the circumstances. I think Ince has echoed my thoughts recently in that we have no leaders on the pitch, and I do feel that is the big issue right now. There is definite talent, although the Rio, Vidic, Giggs and Scholes of last season simply aren't good enough this season (or in Scholes' case, aren't playing at all). If you look at the games we've lost this season, we haven't been battered by any means, with the possible exception of Chelsea away and City away, the two hardest games we'll get. When you are losing by a scrappy goal or having draws pounced on you at the last minute (we've lost a lot of points late in games this season) then you have to say that the mentality of the players is getting weaker than what we're used to.
We control matches and lose them because the players don't know when to slow a game down, when to time-waste (we never do this anymore, at all - it's weird when you miss Giggs messing around with a foot on the ball in the far corner of the pitch). If half of those losses were draws and half of our draws were wins, we'd have eight more points. Surely some good strong leaders on the pitch could have managed us that.
One incredible scene was right at the end of the Arsenal match. BT Sport had Moyes inset on the corner of the screen while showing what the players were doing. It was the 93rd minute with three minutes of extra time, and we were just on the edge of Arsenal's third of the pitch with the ball at our feet. Moyes was yelling at the players to attack. The next thing you see is him holding his arms wide with a dumbfounded expression when the players instead slowed the play down and started pushing the ball back to the keeper. Admittedly they were on the far side of the pitch and probably couldn't see or hear him, but you my reaction was pretty much the same as Moyes'. Where is the late hammering of the goal? We could have snatched something at the final minute but instead Young, Rooney, Carrick and Evra - all champions last year - were looking around and then passing back into our own half. Shocking.
It looks like Raheem Twattybollocks was taught the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart technique from Kill Bill.
I'm glad the gif didn't show Howard Webb's next four steps.
Love Raheem, smurf Webb.
Also why does every Man United fan call him Stirling and not Sterling? No excuses Bubba, it's right there on his shirt in the gif!
My apologies, Psy. I wouldn't let it slide if it was one of our players so... fair play.
Original post fixed.
How not to defend: THE GAME
To get nerdy, you know in RPGs where you can bump stats up and down when making a character? Brendan Rodgers has actually decided to dump defence in order to pump up the attack. Seriously like remember the mid-90's when Newcastle used to challenge for the title by boasting the likes of Ferdinand, Asprilla, Ginola, Shearer etc. and their mantra was "yeah we've got a trout defence but we don't care, we'll hammer you anyway"? That is literally Liverpool. Martin Skrtel is 2014 Phillipe Albert.
Liverpool have now scored more goals than any other team in the league this season... and have conceded more than the likes of West Ham, Hull and Manchester United.
I can't let it go without some form of taunt though. Old Manus did you enjoy Nathan Dyer being shredded by England's Glen Johnson and England's Raheem Sterling? Ho ho ho. Delicious.
Post-EoFF Football Thread Superbowl thoughts:
1. thank you based shelvey
2. we are looking much better than we did with laudrup
3. not often you score 3 goals against Liverpool at Anfield and go home with nothing
4. smurfing Jonathan Pearce and Danny 'remember me?' Mills talking bollocks about the penalty decision. Skrtel had his arms all round him. Tell me where in the rulebook it says that is not a foul
(SPOILER)I'm not bitter
For all the trash we've got about our defence this season, it's actually not been much worse than previous seasons, if at all. Our highly touted attack has been the area we've struggled in. I think we've conceded less than a few of the teams above us. In conclusion: Smalling and Evans are obviously more world class than Rooney and RVP. Wait, what?Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychotic
How weird is it that I went to find another instance of this happening and was actually surprised that it's the first time this season? With Liverpool's high scoring games this season, I genuinely thought "Ah, but it can't be the first time it's happened, can it?"Quote:
Originally Posted by Manus
Oh I was just having bantz :greenie:
Heard some suggestions that England should just line up like Liverpool with Sturridge, Sterling, Gerrard and Henderson all performing their club roles, and then have Rooney doing Suarez's job. Thoughts on that? (I guess Wilshere is Coutinho)
>implying Hodgson has any intention of playing football Brendan Rodgers style
>implying it won't be hoofball from Hart to Andy Carroll for 90 minutes
>implying Gareth Barry will not play every minute of every game
Gaz Baz has had a pretty decent season at Everton. I would prefer to see him play than the likes of Wilshere or Hodgson's personal favourite Tom "TC23 The Brand" Cleverley.
I think Rooney and Suarez are two different kettles of fish these days, and Suarez is rather central to Liverpool's play. Still, it's not a bad shout - I always felt that England would do better if they simply focused on a specific club when selecting their players. Fair? Perhaps not. More likely to win? I think so.
EDIT: Watching this game is painful, and I'm not just talking about it being on a very horrid ITV broadcast. Seriously, what the hell. Anyway, back to the game... you may as well title this match "Manchester United: An Experiment in Playing Without a Midfield". Actually, you could call a lot of our games that this season, but none more so than today. What the hell. We're playing long ball because there is literally nobody in our midfield. At all. We are out of the centre circle pretty much at all times. Carrick plays deeper than ever before. Cleverley was in midfield for a little bit but mostly was floating from flank to flank. All the other players (sans defence) were sitting up top. Olympiakos aren't just beating us, they are dancing around us and having a lot of fun.
ITV are indeed the absolute worst.
Anyway, I know it might be wrong but I sort of fancy David Moyes :shobon:
It looks like even RedCafe have finally given in. This is all so delicious but at the same time I don't want it to end. UNBAN CUCHULAINN GOD DAMN IT
It will be such a sad day when they finally grow a pair and fire him. I was hoping they might have a run to the semis to give him a longer stay in the job to do more damage.
Couldn't happen to a more deserving team. That banner about city, abuse of Leeds when they went down, mockery of Arsenal whenever they collapse and how much they enjoyed Hodgson at LFC and the club being a day away from administration... Karma is a bitch, ain't it? (no offence to the decent United fans btw. But there are some proper whoppers in your fanbase, as indeed there are with LFC!)
I'm actually starting to sway into the negative camp about Moyes now. I know he can do so much better than what he has done with us because I've watched Everton play decent football. Hell, I've watched them play pretty well against us on occasion under his management, better than we played last night by a long distance. I don't know what it is but he seems to really struggle to get United to do the things that Everton did well. Just a seeming incompatibility. One part of me still really wants him to be given time so he can get the players that will do well for us, but the other part of me is disgusted at last night's game and is fed up with him.
But not just him. Many of our 'big name' players. People are very quick to criticise the likes of Cleverley, Smalling etc. when we play games like we did last night, but they were no worse than any other player we had on the pitch. It was just that crap by every one of them and I would expect better from a side that had no manager at all. I don't care who the manager is, basically - the players should have done so, so much better last night. It was trash.
Nope, that is pretty much how Moyes's Everton played and you're on course to do just as well in both the league and the cups as Moyes's Everton did.
On the subject of players, no, they're clearly not performing. They're title winners, though, so they're clearly capable of performing. And so whose job is it to motivate them and to give them the tactical instructions to ensure they perform at their very best? Buck has to stop somewhere.
Never thought I'd be saying we were better than Napoli over both games and didn't deserve to go out. It's like something out of one of my old Championship Manager games. Bony was absolutely #REKKING their defence, it was glorious. I'm quite pleased with the vitality that Monk has managed to inject into the squad. We just look so much more up for it.
Also Roy Keane go and eat a dick. Just because your precious Man United are making an absolute cat's arse of their European campaign doesn't mean the whole league is just as bad as you. A team fighting against relegation from the PL just took the team in third place in Serie A all the way over two legs and damn near humiliated them. If we played like that against Olympiakos we would have given them a hiding.
During Benitez's time at Liverpool we beat Barca, Real Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Arsenal and Chelsea in European competition. He can now add Swansea to that list of scalps.
Roy Keane is a trout pundit. He never adds any actual insight, he is just employed to say something controversial and quoteworthy. Oh, and make Adrian Chiles trout his pants just by being in the same room as him.
what now psychoticQuote:
Originally Posted by BBC live text
what now
idgiQuote:
Originally Posted by Old Manus
Also the last three League Cup winners have been Football Thread teams.
I thought you hated Pulis
I did but it's kind of fading this season. You simply have to give him a shower of respect for what he's done with Palace so far, as they easily have the worst squad in the league.
Maybe it's just Stoke I hate. Charlie Adam is a perfect god damn fit for them, what a nasty piece of work. I say that but I do love his apparent mission to end Gareth Bale's career.
Roy Keane hasn't had a single good thing to say about a current United side since he got thrown out of it (and, one could say, before that too).Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Manus
He may be a United legend for his work on our pitch, but since leaving he's been nothing short of a dick. I don't even care if that's blaspheme for a United fan, because ugh...
what now old manusQuote:
Originally Posted by England v Denmark
what now
:doublecolbert:
It's sign of how things have changed when there are five Liverpool players in the starting line-up.
Man Utd players used to dominate the England team.
WAAAAHHHHHH!!! I DON'T LIKE CHANGE!!!!!!!!
United have the potential to have a lot of players in the starting lineup but they simply have been crap this season and can only blame themselves.
Craig Maskell got the "best" treatment there. As for Gordon Cowans, when I look at the photo I can actually see how that happened and tbh the picture doesn't do him too much disservice (or should I say, the photo is actually worse than the picture).
The guy has apparently done the entire 93-94 sticker album. You can actually still see one or two stickers from that year on my brothers wardrobe, though 94-95 dominates.
Also Steve Bruce hasn't aged a god damn day.
Looking more and more likely that it's Chelsea's league to lose, I'm not convinced Liverpool are capable, while Man City could have one hell of a fixture pile up on their hands, especially if they beat Wigan..
Jose is a beast at this stuff!
Yep, title race is over today. Media will try to hype up Liverpool and Arsenal playing Chelsea but they will not drop enough points. Pity, Chelsea play such dire football.
Way too early to say the title race is over. If City win their three games in hand, they'll leapfrog Chelsea on goal difference. There will likely be some awkward results for both sides yet to come, and both sides are capable.
I see you've bought into Jose's propaganda machine! :p The three games in hand include a visit to Old Trafford which I suspect United will win. For all the Moyes mockery I quite fancy United to go on a run for the rest of the season and Fellaini to be in top form. While I think the CL will be a step too far for them, I anticipate they will claim 5th.
Anyway, why I am talking about the Manchester teams instead of Chelsea I don't know! They have two more fixtures against teams in the top half. Liverpool and Arsenal - both teams need a win to keep their title hopes alive and Jose will park the bus and claim a point in each fixture, effectively eliminating them both from the race and making the title Chelsea's.
Those are pretty brave assumptions to make. xD Chelsea, while in great form, are still not without blips of their own - if not against top four sides, then against sides lower down the order. In fact, while City did lose to Chelsea recently, that's the only loss they have had in the league for quite some time. They drew to Norwich, but in the same "last ten games" Chelsea drew to West Brom and West Ham.
Essentially they both have eight wins in their last eight league games, so I wouldn't write a team off and say "the title race is over". The title race, even if there were even games played and a four point gap, would still well and truly be on with nine games still to go. A likely winner? Maybe, but that doesn't end the race.
I'd have said it was over if City had beaten Wigan. Fixture congestion wont be as huge of an issue now. But they still have a lot of catching up to do. Games in hand don't really mean a whole lot if you have to play 2 games a week constantly. Chelseas run in is very kind.
Meanwhile City have to play Arsenal, United, Liverpool and Everton away some of which will have to be played after midweek matches. Even if Chelsea stay in the CL and City go out. They could end up having to play a lot more matches before the end of the season than Chelsea have to deal with.
I'd agree with discounting Arsenal and Pool, Simply on the face that they have to play a lot of the big teams yet.
Hahaha! If we win that I will post a picture of my arse in ChatQuote:
Originally Posted by Psychotic
I think we'll limp towards the end of the season but still might just finish in 5th place. Having no European football next season would be disastrous for our summer recruitment.
In terms of the title, It will be between City and Chelsea. I think Liverpool will take third ahead of Arsenal. The title will go down to the final day though and I have a feeling Chelsea will edge it.
EDIT: Yeah, pretty much what ES said
I do think if Chelsea progress in the CL they might find things tricky. They've often suffered European hangovers this season and if they get to the semi-final then the Anfield game is sandwiched between these. Liverpool do play a very intense and energetic game. On a related note, given that United will have played two extra games in the past week compared to Liverpool (and I hope Olympiakos goes to extra time :D) it will be interesting to see the impact that has on Sunday.
The Olympiakos game going to extra time won't really have an effect our game with Liverpool considering you are our next game :p We play them the week after.
Having a bit of a break between games isn't always a good thing though as you can lose some momentum. Though saying that I can't remember any point in this season where we've had any momentum. Considering the way both Utd and Liverpool are playing at the moment... I would be more than happy with a draw.
michu returns
premier league prepare your collective anuses
Lescott vs Messi. Oh dear. Even just seeing photos of them together sort of offends me.
Lescott got away with murder last night... mainly due to one of the worst referees I've ever seen. However, the skill involved in his assist for Messi was phenomenal. Only a handful of players in the world could have pulled that off.
Big weekend coming up for the top end of the table. Any kind of gain on Spurs will be a successful weekend, even if it's only a point. Though with Liverpool and Arsenal on the same points then everyone is going to be up for it.
First decent Super Sunday in quite a while!
Wake up you guys, it's Football Thread Christmas! Someone is going to get horribly mocked and taunted for weeks on end! Will Luis Suarez attempt to one-up himself by trying to bugger Tom Cleverley? Will Moyes break down in tears or will Brendan make excuses by rambling on about the group's mental strength? Will someone get their knob out on this "Google Front Row" business?
...if it's a draw, we all laugh at Old Manus for the Swans losing at home to West Brom.
I'm starting to think my Utd shirt is cursed, and I'm genuinely thinking of not wearing it for the game today for this reason.
Urgh, horrible game from us so far. Well, not horrible, we're not playing as bad as we have in other games and we've had good moments going forward, but when playing Liverpool we should be picking it up a level and we simply aren't.
I agree with the penalty decisions in favour of Liverpool, but I don't think I'll ever understand the handball rule as the rest of the world seem to see it. How can it be that a player who is 1-2m from someone who boots the ball can with any reason be expected to know where the ball is going to be and where not to put their hand? Rafael was running to a stop and his hand movement, when played at full speed, seemed completeley fine. If anything, he saw the football moving and tried to snap his hand to his side but at that speed he's never going to get it there. I've seen decisions both for and against us for players right in front of the opposition getting balls kicked into their arms and getting carded for it and I've never quite felt it justified.
Baffles me almost as much as how often shirt-pulling doesn't lead to carding.
Best moments for us are when Rooney/Rafael/Januzaj actually bothered to run at the opposition. Reminded me of why I started supporting United. Wish our players would do it more often.
EDIT: Van Persie is rubbish today, same with Carrick.
can't pass can't score can't beat smurfing west brom at home
where is jonjo to deliver us from this footballing affliction
Sturridge you diver, Vidic didn't even touch you and you didn't even need to change your footing to keep running. At the very least drag your feet. :p
Destroyed.
Ourplayed in every department. One shot on target. Bereft of confidence. Waiting for something to happen as opposed to making it happen. Moyes has had long enough now. Him and his team are not up to the task.
On the other hand, Liverpool were awesome today. Worked hard with and without the ball. Quick, incisive passing and great movement. Genuine title contenders.
Sturbridge dived for their third penalty though. Should have had two others which weren't given though.
I'm off now to cry my own tears whilst simultaneously masturbating over the DVD of our treble-winning season.
this was a good weekend for football in general
No it f***ing hasn't
Mata looked truly rotten. I think he could well become the next Kagawa - unless United get a new manager. I tell you what, if a United manager can't motivate his team for an Old Trafford match against Liverpool, what match can he motivate them? Five more years of the Moyesiah please.
Our strikers didn't look that great today. I think if they were in their usual form you'd be looking at 5 or 6. In good news for England, Sterling, Johnson, Flanagan and Henderson were outstanding, but bizarrely I think the best player on the pitch might have been Joe Allen. Well, even a broken clock...
Incidentally, for all the whining from United fans about Sturridge diving (guess they missed Rooney jumping into Skrtel then screaming at the ref...) think Suarez deserves some props for not going down when Fellaini clearly kicked him early on in the game.
The difference between Rooney jumping at Skertl and screaming at the ref and Sturridge's dive was that justice prevailed with Rooney and didn't with Sturridge. Also, loads of players were jumping at other players this match. Lots more shoulder barging than normal, but then, it is Manchester United vs. Liverpool. Ironically (?) two of the seemingly most civil people on the pitch were... Suarez and Evra!?
Justice was served by Gerrard missing the third penalty but my goodness that was a complete performance by Liverpool.
I love the confidence we play with on ball and the willingness we have to tackle, track back and throw our bodies in to the defense. Gerrard, Allen, henderson, even Sterling were flying all over the pitch today. Man utd just looked a defeated team as soon as the second penalty happened.
We need, need, need to take care of business in our upcoming fixtures but if we play like this at home against Chelsea and Man City, anything is possible.
Take care all.
This is the front page leading story on BBC Sport right now. Danny Mills. Danny '19 caps' Mills' opinion is news.Quote:
Manchester United might not win the Premier League title again for another decade, according to former England international Danny Mills.
BBC Football: Bringing you football news 30 minutes after Sky Sports News since 1995! NOW WITH 30% MORE ROBBIE SAVAGEQuote:
Originally Posted by Old Manus
I disagree. I think it was a penalty but I also think it was a dive too. I don't think it always has to be one or the other.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Captain
I think this is similar to the handball scenario. The recklessness of the tackle can earn a foul even if there is no contact, likewise a handball can earn a foul even if there was no intent.Quote:
Originally Posted by PsychoticI disagree. I think it was a penalty but I also think it was a dive too. I don't think it always has to be one or the other.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Captain
Though it was quite poetic for Vidic to be sent off one last time.
Take care all.
This is it! This is the game where we we turn our season around! IT'S GOING TO BE TONIGHT I TELL YOU!!!
We're going to win 5-0 tonight and that will spark an amazing end of season run where we win all our nine remaining league games without conceding a goal and we storm to the final of the Champions League defeating the mighty Real Madrid comfortably 3-0 in the final whilst at the same time Man City are deducted 20 points for excessive use of Weetabix before games and David Moyes will be heralded as a future manager of the millennium due to his insistence on sticking by Marouane Fellaini who develops into the most complete midfielder the world has ever seen surpassing the likes of Scholes and Zidane who both freely admit that they aren't in the same league as him and the entire United squad is built around his genius leading us to countless honours in Moyes' glorious 30 year reign in which he eclipses even Sir Alex Ferguson's achievements resulting in a re-naming of Old Trafford to David Moyes' Theatre of Dreams and there was much rejoicing in the red side of Manchester.
Yey...
Attachment 52464
Where did you get Moyesy's diary entry for every Saturday of the last 6 months?Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubba
Obviously I want us to win and winning 5-0 would be amazing, but I mostly want us to win 5-0 tonight purely because it would immortalise that post of yours, Bubba. xD
I want United to win 5-0 so that poor clown gets to stay in the job longer. :D
Great win. I seriously just want to stay in the champions league so I can hear that awesome theme and get that irrational hopeful feeling in my stomach for as long as possible, who knows when I'll hear it again!
Much better performance. Closing players down, winning tackles, better movement. We'll see how we get on in the next two games before I start getting excited though.
Also, Fellaini has taken his first steps towards immortality. He came on and wasted a good two-and-a-half minutes of time by keeping the ball in the corner. Legend.
Look out Zidane, he's coming for you!
trout has gotten interesting again league wise. Hopefully United beat West Ham so they carry some sort of momentum and form into the Manchester derby. I feel bad for Moyes, very glad they managed to get that win midweek.
Have we really said nothing about this weekend? Christ.
I welcome the new dynasty of ex-swansea managers bossing the league
I walked through the Cardiff City Stadium car park on the way to Asda during the game there. (SPOILER)I've now been to more Liverpool games this season than Psychotic
Not for a want of trying. It's a 10+ year wait for a season ticket and for the general sale, all twelve tickets leftover are snapped up within less than 30 seconds of them going online. We can't all support teams that are only supported by six toothless shepherds, a man in a giant swan costume with the crotch missing and a three-legged border collie. (SPOILER)You are one of the shepherds.
I'm insulted. I'm definitely the border collie (SPOILER)because of my third leg :smug:
Who is Garry Monk going to lead to glory in 2016?Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Manus
The Swans, of course. That Johnstone's Paint Trophy is practically ours.
Unbelievable amount of goals at the weekend. I can't decide between Rooney or Tete for the best goal though... so I'll probably go with the 45 yard run and chip over the keeper that I scored on FIFA on Saturday evening.
God damnit, Old Manus. You were 20 minutes away from having charliepanayi spinning in his grave. Never mind Swansea City, the REAL City are in the process of throwing the title away. smurfing losing to Yeovil god damnit. Eh? Manchester derby? Who cares.
I stand thoroughly corrected.
We could have won that, too, if the referee didn't bottle it and blow up for full time just as De Guzman went through on goal.
I also love how the media seems to have stopped caring about Man Utd's car crash of a season and instead is focusing on City's title credentials. I don't think anyone expected United to get anything but thrashed last night.
edit:
http://giant.gfycat.com/WindySpiritedBallpython.gif
I want to piss in charliepanayi's cornflakes.
I own a Yeovil jersey. Mon the glovers :D
Relevant: One of my first ever porn magazines contained a girl wearing nothing but tight shorts and a Yeovil scarf.Quote:
Originally Posted by EtcherSketcher
Come back when you've won 20
Could this be their year?
It could! My Liverpool supporting colleague noted they still have to play City & Chelsea at home, so if they win both of those games then you never know...
I don't know. It'd be incredible, and I think it'd be great for English football to have a team with so many young English players and not backed by squillionaires win it. I also don't think any player in the world deserves it more than Steven Gerrard. I don't know though, I've had over 20 years of the hordes of fans born in the 60's and 70's chirping about it being our year - I always find it hilarious when you level that kind of thing at me, I had no idea what football was when we last won it - and the Liverpool dominated punditry industry constantly predicting it, and I start to believe and I get my heart broken.
I do think it might happen in the next 5 to 10 years - Liverpool were left for dead in the Sky era and the Billionaire era through woeful mismanagement in the off the pitch side of things (and on the pitch sometimes too, but even Roy did better than the last owners did - trust me!) but now the new era is soon to be upon us - FFP. These new owners are different. They're lining up lots of international commercial deals, the social media strategy is also very international, and they're also focusing on things like the women's team to gain more fans abroad - WOMEN'S SOCCER being very popular stateside. I also think this is the worst time for United to be in a slump. I'm going off on a tangent here but here's a great article about how FFP will hit Man United.
Whatever happens, after the utter dross we've had for the past four years, a season where we'e utterly spanked the likes of Everton, Arsenal, Spurs (twice) and United playing some utterly sublime attacking football is going to live long in the memory.
Didn't that happen last season? I don't think Liverpool are much poorer than the people backing us, considering we're probably more in debt than you guys are.Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychotic
I heard this for a long time, and I'll give him credit where it's due: He's slightly more loyal than Wayne Rooney.Quote:
I also don't think any player in the world deserves it more than Steven Gerrard.
I am 100% not worried about United satisfying FFP rules. We spend less than 50% of our revenue on wages and our commercial income continues to shoot up at the moment, signing record deals even when we're struggling (our training shirt deals are comparable to the best main shirt deals in the league, and we're looking to sign a £65m per year deal - or at least £50m per year (I won't entertain the £100m per year some sources have been throwing about, that's surely a mixup between $ and £...). While it's not certain that we'll manage to get that deal sorted, I think it's safe to say that any deal we do sign will easily be in excess of £30m per year. There is also no notes on there regarding the new shirt sponsorship deal we have in place which starts this year - it's £53m per year. This replaces a £20m per year deal with Aon. And that's not even touching upon the various other deals we have... if there is one thing I have full confidence in when it comes to Ed Woodward, it's his ability to sign up corporate deals. Pity he's so crap in the transfer market.Quote:
We've been one of the only teams in the league to consistently record an increase in revenues. I think we have enough money saved from the past four or so years (remember, FFP counts not just a single year, but many) to compete financially. If anything, FFP should help us because it is, rather controversially, designed to allow the most financially stable clubs (such as United) to spend the most money, while those who do not live within their means (Barcelona, Real Madrid, City, Chelsea) are all supposedly the ones that should be penalised, but the day Barcelona and Real Madrid are penalised... well, I don't gamble, but I'd put a wager on this not happening for the next decade regardless of what they spend.
Again, credit where it's due (and this time in a less sarcastic manner): Liverpool have been playing some fantastic football this season and have earned their CL spot.Quote:
Whatever happens, after the utter dross we've had for the past four years, a season where we'e utterly spanked the likes of Everton, Arsenal, Spurs (twice) and United playing some utterly sublime attacking football is going to live long in the memory.
I don't mind getting hammered tonight 5-0.
I just want want to see a bit of fight... come on lads
We did alright! People are criticising us for not having more posession but we're facing a CL winning side coached by Guardiola... so yeah. I think we had more shots on target despite their posession, and arguably better chances (that were missed, sadly) too. I still don't expect us to go through but I have more hope now.
I was more than happy with the performance. Yes, we have had a lot of criticism for the way we set up but I don't really care. Any other system would probably have resulted in us getting soundly beaten. Obviously I would love us to have played beautiful, free-flowing football but you have to work with what you have. The league doesn't lie and we're in 7th place (and more than likely will stay there) for a reason. I'd be happy to see us use these tactics again in the return leg. I still feel it will be too difficult a task in the Allianz.
I only saw up to the penalty in the Chelsea game but think they might struggle in the return leg. A 2-0 win isn't out of the question though!
Man United play better football than any Guardiola team. Never understood the love in for sterile domination and pointless possession hoarding. Dire to watch. Mix that in with the gamesmanship his teams employ - if Rooney did dive then good, they deserve it - and it is the most godawful football on the planet.
Hope united win. That is how much contempt I have for Pep.
Leicester promoted back up, smurf yes! :) I just wish my Grandad could've been alive to see it happen.
So, hypothetical situation. Liverpool vs. Leicester, final game of the season. Liverpool need a win to take the league and Leicester will be relegated if they don't get a point.
Who do you go for?
It's like the 90's all over again xD Only both the bad outcomes happened :( I think it would be a sucker punch either way. I think I'd have more faith in the Foxes coming up again than Liverpool having another shot at winning the league.
I still bear a slight grudge against Leicester for beating Tranmere Rovers in the League Cup final all those years ago.
you know you've got a thrilling day of football when auntie beebs trademark "4 marquee player collage" picture they use for the live text is made up of Papiss "2 goals" Cisse, Leon "2 caps" Osman, Steve "Did I really play for Chelsea?" Sidwell and Paul "Are the rest of the players really so bad that they turned to me" Lambert.
that being said lol spurs, love Matej Vydra, signed him on FM2014 on my iphone and he's an utter god tier tiny ball of Czech fury.
City/Pool consistently been the most entertaining fixture in the prem for the last few seasons, and nothing changes there. That's a proper contenders match that. Far more upset about Yaya being crippled than dropping the three points, if anything's going to bugger us in the last few games, it'll be that.
Love Dave forever. :heart:
Absolutely bonkers game. Absolutely agree, the return fixture was also incredible. Still can't believe we won. Also Henderson is a huge loss, can't believe he did that.
Wow, just wow.
I watched this match from a bar full of soccer/football fans and we were screaming, yelling, and in the end, overwhelmed and spent. What a match, swinging back and forth.
Liverpool have made a habit of starting quickly and this game was no exception. What a player Sterling has become this season. I am still not a huge fan of Sturridge and think he is far too selfish at times but my God what an attack we have. To think we almost sent Sterling out on loan too!
The Yaya injury was a big loss as he is just an immense player. Losing him really changed things for City. Full credit to them for fighting back, Silva specifically was just magic out there.
Finally, what can be said about Gerrard. Liverpool fans seem to have come around full circle on him as he has been our lifeblood, at times was a one man club and even seen as selfish but this year especially proves that he is a legend. We've spent years searching for the next Xabi Alonso from midfield and he was it all along.
Watching him be the calming force all season and then at the end of the match, tears in his eyes, screaming, cursing, imploring his teammates that they are on a mission, to stay focused on the task at hand. Sometimes you just see a look in someone's eye and know. That's the look I saw today.
4 games left, plenty of football left and Jose is always wily, but having the game at Anfield means a world of difference.
Games like this one, like the comebacks we've had, or the ones we had to fight back to claim, are what make champions.
You'll never walk alone.
Take care all.
"Football, bloody hell" - Alex Ferguson
"Football... it's a funny old game" - Jimmy Greaves
"I just couldn't settle in Italy. It was like living in a foreign country" - Ian Rush
"If Liverpool win the league I'm going to lie on my back, stick my legs in the air and attempt to drown myself by urinating into my own mouth" - Danny Blockley
If Liverpool do it, if if if, I don't know why it is such a bad thing. Yes there are plenty of insufferable reds fans but I assure you there are just as many obnoxious United fans, more, in fact - as there are more United fans! There are obnoxious Arsenal, Chelsea, god damn Ipswich Town fans. Life is full of bell ends.
Anyway, it's an exciting attacking team with young British players and a young British manager. Can only be good for British football.
I don't think it's about the fans so much as the general rivalry. Most football club fans I know are pretty great. Thankfully I don't spend my time discussion football with morons very often. ;)
Aye, it was probably an exaggeration.
They are the most exciting team in the Premier League to watch. The run they're on is simply phenomenal. They fully deserve to be where they are and I reckon it will still be down to three teams on the last day of the season.
As as far as Utd go, we'll have to make do with sixth place if we can pip Tottenham to it. It will mean no European football unfortunately. Fifth is definitely out of reach now as it seems teams from Merseyside simply don't drop points anymore. Would love to see Everton finish fourth ahead of Arsenal... especially after all their wanking over Ozil and saying they were going to win the league a few short months ago.
Never thought I'd be relying on Liverpool to drag the swans out of the mire by hammering Norwich this week.
I believe that as City won the League Cup, a UEFA spot will go to the 6th placed side. 5th place has always been UEFA, the other two go to Carling Cup winner and FA Cup winner. For the FA Cup, the runner up gets the spot if the winner is already in Europe. I don't think that goes for the Carling Cup as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubba
I thought it was based solely on the FA Cup?
If Arsenal win it then the runner up will get the Europa League spot... I don't know, can the Liverpool fans here confirm Europa League qualification... being quite well versed in it?
:p
Stoke qualified as runners up in 2011 when City beat them in the FA Cup final.
Yeah, that's what I meant in my previous post.
Europa Spot #1 given to 5th placed Premier League side.
Europa Spot #2 given to League Cup winner. If the League Cup winner already qualifies through their Premier League placement, Europa Spot #2 is passed on to the 6th placed Premier League side. As Manchester City won the League Cup this season, the 6th place side will go to Europa through this rule.
Europa Spot #3 given to FA Cup winner. If the FA Cup winner already qualifies through their Premier League placement or through winning the League Cup, Europa Spot #3 is passed on to the 6th (or 7th, if 6th already qualifies for Europe thanks to Europa Spot #2) placed Premier League side. As there is a side (THE HULL THAI GRRRZ) in the final that will be outside of the Premier League entirely this season and Arsenal (the other FA Cup finalist) are looking to get 4th or 5th place through the league, Hull will be heading into the Europa League.
thank you based bale
http://giant.gfycat.com/FloweryZestyCapybara.gif
Sometimes I feel sorry for him having to play for such a godawful national team.
He'll never be half the player Ian Rush was.
So, Sunderland drew with Man City, well Sunderland is still going down fingers crossed but denying Man City some easy points on the way down? Good enough for me!
Mind, finding entertainment in the struggles of other teams is more interesting than Newcastle atm, I'll be at the match against Swansea this weekend so I hope we can win, I WAS MEANT TO BE REHEARSING FOR BAND STUFFS BUT DECIDED TO GET CHEAP FOOTBALL TICKETS FOR A CHANGE... If we don't win, I feel I made the wrong choice.
Then I will, subsequently blame my misfortune of bad decision making on Pardew. Somehow.
Well everyone else is doing it!!
Park, Park, wherever you may be.
You eat dog in your home country.
it could be worse, you could be scouse
Eating rats in your council house.
I love that song. Shows off the racist and Tory views of United fans perfectly ;)
I don't know who I want to win the title. Liverpool are Liverpool and I'm supposed to not like them as a United fan, but I never held a grudge against any team apart from teams like Chelsea or City because they come in and try buy titles (though, it appears that's what DM is trying to do at United atm).
Liverpool deserve it, would be fitting that it would be on the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster and a player like Gerard really should have a league medal to his name. I looked at the odds and its outstandingly in Liverpool's favor to win, but it all boils down to the game at Anfield against Chelsea. I don't mind who wins between them tbh because who doesn't like Mourinho? It's a case of when they win I'll know who I wanted and didn't want to succeed.
Already looking forward to next season. I just hope to god DM starts Kagawa and Mata together more often. They are great together!
WELL... That was absolutely disappointing, its not as bad on a TV because of the camera angles making things seem more dramatic but this long ball BS is just horrific and boring to watch... that and giving away a penalty in the last minute... >.>
Lee Trundle white, Raheem Sterling and Glen Johnson black. Coincidence?Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Klanus
Augh, we've played so bad today, it's like watching Arsenal in the days where they used to pass it around the outside of the box endlessly... no penetration. How is it that we can play so well in Europe and so crap in the league?