Premier League 2016-2017

[Federberg]

Chelski look annoyingly strong. Luis should have been sent off. That ref was incompetent. I reckon this season teams are going to go on streaks. I just hope ours happens at the right time

 

[Federberg]

Loving the EPL this season. 6 teams can win it I reckon. Man U starting to look ominously good. Can't wait to take them on at the Lane. Last night was an absolute pleasure, I loathe those West end boys

 

[britbox]

Good result for everyone bar Chelsea. Hats off to Spurs.

Yeah, it's heating up nicely. Bad result for us drawing with Sunderland though. We seem to be beating the top teams and then spluttering against sides we should be beating handily.

 

[Federberg]

Good result for everyone bar Chelsea. Hats off to Spurs.

Yeah, it's heating up nicely. Bad result for us drawing with Sunderland though. We seem to be beating the top teams and then spluttering against sides we should be beating handily.

Y it's bit odd. Probably not quite ready to win it all yet.

Of the top 6 we only have to go away to you guys and Man City. City I'm not concerned about and we always seem to neutralise each other these days Liverpool and Spurs I mean

 

[britbox]

Woke up in the middle of the night and caught the last 10 minutes of the Liverpool/United game only to see the Mancs equalize.... Still, a point at their place is no disaster.

After Chelsea, it's beginning to bunch up with other contenders... Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal. City got whacked by Everton 4-0 - didn't see that coming... but City are under achieving considering the money they've spent. If they don't qualify for the Champions League then we'll see another blood-letting exercise.

 

[brokenshoelace]

I've always maintained that Pep Guardiola, good as he is, is the most overrated manager in football, and I'm almost happy this is happening at City.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not in the "Pep is a fraud and only benefited of having great players" camp, as when he took over at Barcelona, they had been struggling for two years and playing some pretty underwhelming football. He definitely installed a system that worked greatly and maximized it tremendously. And his call to get rid of Ronaldinho (then one of the best players in the world and only two years removed from being the undisputed best) and Deco, and build the team around a then injury prone Messi changed football history. So credit where credit is due.

However, he had players who A) knew how to win and were used to it, B) already understood many of his possession-based ideas, and C) had the unique talent to pull it off.

Since leaving however, he's been extremely underwhelming and I think his time at Bayern is one of the most understated disappointments in recent years. Yes, he won the league very year, because well, Bayern win the league every year regardless of coaching. But he took over a team that had just won the treble and made them regress (not just in terms of results as to be fair, it's hard to improve on a treble!), but in terms of the the way they played. Lots of mindless, indirect possession with struggles to create, absolutely laughable defensive lapses and some embarrassing hammerings in the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid and Barcelona (he lost to Madrid 5-0 on aggregate including a 4-0 loss at home, which is inexcusable).

Guardiola is a rigid coach who seems to only know how to play one way. His ideas are inflexible which is a big weakness for a manager, as if you don't have the right personnel to pull them off (as Man City clearly don't), you look pretty silly. Yes, Pep likes to build up play from the back, starting with the goalkeeper, and wants his defenders to initiate the build-up process. However, City players are clearly not built for that as evidenced by the half a dozen or more wayward passing at the back that directly led to opposition goals this season, and the half a dozen or so mistakes committed by the atrocious Claudio Bravo, whom Pep took a gamble on instead of Joe Hart because of Bravo's alleged ability to play with his feet.

And yet, nobody gets a pass like he does, for the simple reason that he plays offensive football. It's funny, if you try to play attractive football but commit mistakes at the back (see Arsenal for the past decade, and Pep and Bayern and City), the criticism isn't nearly as scathing as a coach who wins by playing ugly (Mourinho or Simeone) and defending tenaciously. Manchester United are being crucified for directing long balls at Ibrahimovic and Fellaini in the last 10 minutes against Liverpool, even though it actually worked, because of this arbitrary bias towards a certain brand of football that makes coaches who employ it almost immune.

 

[Federberg]

They're more than underachieving. Their defence is a complete mess, and Bravo is shockingly bad. I'm almost afraid to say that as we're going to Eastlands next. Just my luck if they somehow do us. But I'll be honest, I'm finding it difficult to imagine anything other than a Spurs win

 

[Federberg]

I've always maintained that Pep Guardiola, good as he is, is the most overrated manager in football, and I'm almost happy this is happening at City.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not in the "Pep is a fraud and only benefited of having great players" camp, as when he took over at Barcelona, they had been struggling for two years and playing some pretty underwhelming football. He definitely installed a system that worked greatly and maximized it tremendously. And his call to get rid of Ronaldinho (then one of the best players in the world and only two years removed from being the undisputed best) and Deco, and build the team around a then injury prone Messi changed football history. So credit where credit is due.

However, he had players who A) knew how to win and were used to it, B) already understood many of his possession-based ideas, and C) had the unique talent to pull it off.

Since leaving however, he's been extremely underwhelming and I think his time at Bayern is one of the most understated disappointments in recent years. Yes, he won the league very year, because well, Bayern win the league every year regardless of coaching. But he took over a team that had just won the treble and made them regress (not just in terms of results as to be fair, it's hard to improve on a treble!), but in terms of the the way they played. Lots of mindless, indirect possession with struggles to create, absolutely laughable defensive lapses and some embarrassing hammerings in the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid and Barcelona (he lost to Madrid 5-0 on aggregate including a 4-0 loss at home, which is inexcusable).

Guardiola is a rigid coach who seems to only know how to play one way. His ideas are inflexible which is a big weakness for a manager, as if you don't have the right personnel to pull them off (as Man City clearly don't), you look pretty silly. Yes, Pep likes to build up play from the back, starting with the goalkeeper, and wants his defenders to initiate the build-up process. However, City players are clearly not built for that as evidenced by the half a dozen or more wayward passing at the back that directly led to opposition goals this season, and the half a dozen or so mistakes committed by the atrocious Claudio Bravo, whom Pep took a gamble on instead of Joe Hart because of Bravo's alleged ability to play with his feet.

And yet, nobody gets a pass like he does, for the simple reason that he plays offensive football. It's funny, if you try to play attractive football but commit mistakes at the back (see Arsenal for the past decade, and Pep and Bayern and City), the criticism isn't nearly as scathing as a coach who wins by playing ugly (Mourinho or Simeone) and defending tenaciously. Manchester United are being crucified for directing long balls at Ibrahimovic and Fellaini in the last 10 minutes against Liverpool, even though it actually worked, because of this arbitrary bias towards a certain brand of football that makes coaches who employ it almost immune.

I agree with what you're saying. But I'll just comment that I've never understood why the media say that Atletico play ugly football. I think it's exhilarating. They are intense, they press, and when the counter attack the skill level and execution is about the best in the world. Personally I think they're one of the most exciting teams to watch, and in a way they are the spiritual successors to the great Italian teams

 

[Federberg]

Oh my stars... For anyone who hasn't seen the premium section of the new White Hart Lane, enjoy!

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/...rom-inside-new-spurs-stadium/10016609.article

 

[Federberg]

What a shocker! Didn't see that Liverpool - Swansea result coming

 

[britbox]

Oh my stars... For anyone who hasn't seen the premium section of the new White Hart Lane, enjoy!

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/...rom-inside-new-spurs-stadium/10016609.article

Looks like an airport on the inside. I did see some more good pics the other day, will try and remember where and post them. What's it going to hold? 60k?

 

[britbox]

What a shocker! Didn't see that Liverpool - Swansea result coming

Terrible. Only thing was that nobody else really capitalised... no doubt Chelsea will though.

No chance of competing for the title now... Top 4 at best.

 

[Federberg]

Looks like an airport on the inside. I did see some more good pics the other day, will try and remember where and post them. What's it going to hold? 60k?

61,000, so that it's bigger than the library just up the Seven Sisters Road

 

[Federberg]

Terrible. Only thing was that nobody else really capitalised... no doubt Chelsea will though.

No chance of competing for the title now... Top 4 at best.

It's not over yet. But I'm hoping Hull do us a favour

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

Chelsea are over the hills and far away..10pt lead. with other teams slipping up I can't see too much drama in the run-in.

 

[britbox]

I simply cannot believe that Leicester sacked Ranieri. Unbelievable. What a fricken joke.

Takes Leicester to the Premier League title at odds of 5,000-1 and still in the Champions League. Just speechless... at the stupidity of the Leicester board.

 

[Federberg]

I simply cannot believe that Leicester sacked Ranieri. Unbelievable. What a fricken joke.

Takes Leicester to the Premier League title at odds of 5,000-1 and still in the Champions League. Just speechless... at the stupidity of the Leicester board.

Well.... I would agree if it was easy to sack the Leicester players. Unfortunately this is the easy way to try to change things. For what it's worth, selling Kante was really really stupid. I remember arguing this with friends who reckoned Mahrez was their best player, and I told them, the only player I wanted from Leicester was Kante.

And by the way... I think that Pearson is not given enough credit for last year. Their run started the previous season. I'll credit Ranieri for not getting in the way of what was already going well

 

[Federberg]

I'm almost starting to get hope again that the title might still be possible. But I'm trying desperately not to get my hopes up!

Btw @britbox how are you feeling about the Ranieri sacking now? Astonishing turn around. I can only wish we'd got to play Leicester away before this happened

 

[britbox]

I'm almost starting to get hope again that the title might still be possible. But I'm trying desperately not to get my hopes up!

Btw @britbox how are you feeling about the Ranieri sacking now? Astonishing turn around. I can only wish we'd got to play Leicester away before this happened

If Leicester stay up and it's looking likely then I still won't feel any different. I just can't marry up a sacking with a guy who won the Premier League the previous year and still had his team still in Champions League contention. Least of all Leicester!! It was just beyond belief IMO. I mean, it's not even certain they were going down with Ranieri - far from it. It spells everything wrong with modern day football IMO.

I was fuming when Liverpool sacked Dalglish the second time around. He wasn't the long term solution but he'd just won a trophy! They said they'd have sacked him even if he'd have won the FA Cup too. 2 trophies and a sacking! Qualifying for the champions league trumps everything in this era... I don't know about you, but when I was a kid dreaming of scoring the winning goal... it was a last minute winner at Wembley to win the FA Cup, not to secure 4th position and a Champions League place.

I think you're too far back to be honest to mount a challenge but a couple of bad Chelsea results and you could be back in it... I just think you're starting to run out of games. You'll need City and United to both get at least draw and you'll have to beat United and Arsenal. Not impossible... and then hope for a bit more stumbling along the way. Hope you beat them in the Cup and go onto win it. A decent consolation.

 

[Federberg]

If Leicester stay up and it's looking likely then I still won't feel any different. I just can't marry up a sacking with a guy who won the Premier League the previous year and still had his team still in Champions League contention. Least of all Leicester!! It was just beyond belief IMO. I mean, it's not even certain they were going down with Ranieri - far from it. It spells everything wrong with modern day football IMO.

I was fuming when Liverpool sacked Dalglish the second time around. He wasn't the long term solution but he'd just won a trophy! They said they'd have sacked him even if he'd have won the FA Cup too. 2 trophies and a sacking! Qualifying for the champions league trumps everything in this era... I don't know about you, but when I was a kid dreaming of scoring the winning goal... it was a last minute winner at Wembley to win the FA Cup, not to secure 4th position and a Champions League place.

I think you're too far back to be honest to mount a challenge but a couple of bad Chelsea results and you could be back in it... I just think you're starting to run out of games. You'll need City and United to both get at least draw and you'll have to beat United and Arsenal. Not impossible... and then hope for a bit more stumbling along the way. Hope you beat them in the Cup and go onto win it. A decent consolation.

Lol! Yes I remember we used to play that game called Wembley. Don't recall one called getting top 4!

Don't get me wrong, I think Chelsea are still nailed on. But look at the next two games. Chelsea could easily get one point from the next two games, City and then Bournemouth away. Spurs have Swansea away and Watford at home. If we got 6 and they get 1, we would be just 2 points behind them. Not saying it'll happen, but...

Also they've been sooooo lucky with injuries so far