2013-14 English Football Season

[supernaps]

Great win for the Gunners today; amazing assist by Ozil (see, that is why I love this player, he doesn't delay and turn around with the ball, he passes it by the time he sees an opening) great finishing by Giroud, and a Ramsey on fire (who would have thought, huh?).
I can't believe we're smurfing first on the EPL, I cannot remember when was the last time. (still, Liverpool has a game less, but let me enjoy that moment)
I got a feeling, that this year it's gonna be really, really tight, it seems the usual top-5 teams don't differ as much as previous years.

[sorry for the double post, but since my previous was days ago, it should be okay.[

[Old Manus]

psychotic you planned this all along

[Psychotic]

Agent Shelvey strikes again.

Honestly I am just pleased this game is tonight - I thought it was Saturday. I was away for the wedding and was like "smurf me, if we get beasted Manus is going to think I panayi'd him". Yes, this is a genuine concern I had.

[supernaps]

Shelvey has basically scored three times so far, this is ridiculous.

[Old Manus]

if sterling scores I am leaving eoff forever

[Psychotic]

jonjo will score the winner, but I don't know in whose net it will be

e: fair enough

[Old Manus]

I think that game just sums up Jonjo Shelvey. Amazing when he's good, a liability when he's bad. Dat flick-on header. 2-2 probably a fair result, as much as I hoped we'd nick it at the end.

[DK]

Jonjo is such a herioc bastard. on mine and J's recent fifa quest to make liverpool good again we were playing leciester in the FA cup and they were utterly wasting us it was brilliant, ended up being a 3-3 draw and had to go a replay, which ended up being even more insane and we were again drawing 3-3 with them until I got the ball with Jonjo in our own half, full on PES-stormed up the pitch past everyone and smashed the ball in from 25 yards out. probably my favourite goal of the season so far, either that or Big Andy scoring with a backheel. <3 Rodgers is such a tit to have sold them both.

To get back to real football, pellegrini out

[Psychotic]

I think that game just sums up Jonjo Shelvey. Amazing when he's good, a liability when he's bad.

pretty much, yeah. He is still a very young player though and he will learn from his mistakes and eliminate those errors as he gets older. Despite the oh so hilarious Twitter bantz, I still think he can develop into a very good player.

[Old Manus]

Sunderland confirmed as the new QPR

Back down to League 2 where you belong, Paolo.

[Psychotic]

Didn't he spend a lot of money, sign 14 players, and then they sack him after 5 games? Ridiculous. What the hell are they doing?

Also, Man United confirmed as the new Liverpool...? Aha. Quite why David Moyes is whining about the fixture list I don't know. You're Manchester United. You're meant to respond to a tough group of fixtures by beating all of them. Roy Hodgson. Graeme Souness. I'm telling you! They'll continue to beat the lower teams in the league but Moyes just does not have the experience in matching bigger teams - he always set up Everton to go for a draw against the top sides.

[Loony BoB]

Knee-jerk reaction to say he can't beat the big sides, I'd say him going 4-2 in UEFA wasn't bad, and even SAF managed to lose 5-1 to City. It's extremely early to judge him, I'll wait 'til the end of the season. I'm not expecting us to win the league, either, but I do expect us to remain top four. If we don't manage that I'll say he's done a bad job. But yeah, so far it's not been great but a new manager with only one of the players being his own signing (although I'm yet to be sold on that one...), I'll give him time.

What I don't like is his insistence on playing Ashley Young. Why has Kagawa not been playing? Where was Nani? Was Fabio injured as well as Rafael? Our technically brilliant players need more time on the pitch. The words doing the rounds involve Moyes saying he wanted to keep the playing team consistent through the tough early period and then start tinkering. Well, he better tinker and he better do it soon. We have great players who have not played at all despite being fit. I like Welbeck, too, but if he keeps fluffing his shots then at the very least bring on Kagawa or Hernandez when we're 4-0 down if only to give them some minutes on the pitch!

Fingers crossed we'll see more of our players sooner rather than later.

[Psychotic]

It's not a knee-jerk when he's not done it in 10 years. Oh, and you can give him time if you want, but he has had more time than, say, Manuel Pellegrini...! Still, it's the "OH NO, HARD FIXTURES " attitude which would concern me more rather than the on-pitch performances. If that's your manager's attitude and he's coming up with excuses before the games have happened, then it doesn't really fill you with much confidence, does it?

PS: It was 6-1 to City And to be fair, the 4-1 loss was worse. United were down to 10 men in the 6-1, and three of the goals were in the last few minutes when United were going all out to score.

[supernaps]

What I don't like is his insistence on playing Ashley Young. Why has Kagawa not been playing?

Ashley Young is a mediocre player, there's no comparison with Kagawa, that is mind-baffling; it's true that it's still early to judge Moyes, but so far Utd has been playing bad, just bad. (for Utd's standards anyway) They are lucky they have gotten that points they've gotten in most of the league games.

In other news, TOP.OF.THE.LEAGUE. hehehe, nice feeling.
I said from the beginning of the season that Arsenal might not have the mega-star players (with the exception of Ozil) but the team has been gelling the last couple seasons, and that's the most important thing in modern football; a solid team where teammates have been playing together for years and know each other, their positions, how to cover each other and such. We need a couple more signings come January and we're totally set.

[Old Manus]

"OH NO, HARD FIXTURES "

Inorite. Has Moyes seen our start? Man Utd opener, followed by Tottenham away, West Brom, Liverpool, Palace, and Arsenal next week. And we're on equal points. Suck it the smurf up, Dave.

EDIT: And that's not mentioning Valencia away midweek.