Jeff Stelling to Phil Thompson yesterday when previewing Birmingham’s visit to Arsenal on Soccer Saturday:
“They’ve drawn with Bolton away and been held to scoreless draws at home to Wigan and Liverpool. Their fans surely have a right to expect better results against bottom half teams, Phil?”
:lol:
Noone is getting better bar City and maybe Spurs. The quality of the league is decreasing each season. Has Carricks form completely gone, he used be a great flat track bully player but now it seems everyone is targeting the United midfield.
Rooney will come good though. His personal life is probably a bit of a shambles at the mo but he is too good a player to stay down for long. Last season he played more up top with the two wingers. Fergie seems to have changed it back to 442 this season. He needs to revert back to the 433/451 I think.
Great assist there from Coleman. Has played well so far in the right wing.
Blackpool giving Man City loads of it here.
Jammy goal there.
Clear offside.
Relative to what? Still comfortably in the top five leagues in the world in terms of quality I’d say.
It actually could be a genuinely open exciting league for once this year in contrast to what everybody’s main criticism of the league has been over the past number of years.
Chelsea could still run away with it but don’t look as invincible as before.
Top teams aren’t as good as they were but middle rank teams and even some of the lower ranked teams have got a bit better. Certainly would prefer that to two or three brilliant teams running away with it as happened before.
I think the quality in most European leagues is poor outside top few times myself. That is the way leagues are going with big teams getting stronger and rest generally regressing and gap getting bigger and bigger. I think it is ridiculous to say like shan has that you can’t rotate in the EPL as if somehow all the teams are so strong that you can’t get away with it. There were several cricket scores in the first few weeks alone were there not.
The teams at the bottom of the league are nowhere near the quality of those at the top so of course players can be rested or whatever and I’d be interested to hear why you think the middle rank teams and lower ranked teams have improved. Even if they have what team will possibly challenge for the EPL this season or next without huge investment? I find it humdrum myself and if this is a supposedly exciting season I’d hate to see a boring one. It seems pretty obvious to me that there are max three teams who could win the league this season and I actually think that is being generous as to my eye Chelsea probably have it wrapped up already.
couldn’t agree more Larry.
how many teams could realistically win the Seria A or La Liga? :rolleyes:
Read the first sentence of Larry’s post again. Why so defensive of Mother England?
Steve Bull had a nice piece on Motd2 there… Thoroughly alright sort.
Seems there is more speculation that Rooney wants to leave. 60 Million woud be a great price if United could get it.
Yes his post was contradictory and nonsensical.
Aping NCC only highlights your fall from grace. Irony in the extreme from a poster who defines his Irishness by a trip to Mother Britain.
Yeah, it would help reduce the debt to £740m I suppose
It was only nonsensical if you took a comment on the marginalization of lesser teams in the bigger leagues across Europe as a personal slight on your beloved Englishness.
Irrespective of the fact you’re too defensive to appreciate the point I think it’s a good one. Looking at the Barca-Valencia game the other night Valencia had a good go at winning that but the whole perception of them as rank outsiders is very different to a few years ago when La Liga was wide open. Dortmund are going well in Germany but Bayern are still obvious favourites. The situation is probably worse in England where the top 3 rarely changes. But it is a problem and your affections for the English league shouldn’t blind you to that.
what a point about most european leagues being dominated by the top few teams and then later deride the EPL because it is predictable…yawn. Again more horsehit from Glasgow Celtic supporters who prove their Irishness in two team bigot league that was last competitive when perms were in fashion. Mother England - your having a laugh, I think most people will see through your hypocritical pettiness
Bayern have won 7 of the last ten Bundesliga titles - a benefactor based championship in there for FC Volkswagen in there too
The last time neither Barca or Real won the La Liga was 2003/04
Inter Milan have won the last five Seria A titles.
If I bothered checking through any other leagues I’d probably find the same results, hey its not even soccer most sports have teams that dominate. Seeing the winners change every year might be interesting but hardly a guarantee of quality quite the opposite in fact I’d argue.
Deride the quality of football played in the EPL all you want, (though a mid table EPL side Fulham got to the final of the Europa League in case you want to bring up that argument). Uefa sold it soul a long time ago and the problems in the EPL are reflected across Europe. I’ve found both this season and last have seen a significant drop in quality in the EPL - a decent argument could be made there if you bothered, the loss of Alonso, Ronaldo, clubs living beyond their means etc etc then again you dont watch the EPL do you? Probably due to some inferiority complex you have against the place where 95% of Irish footballers, yes Irish not Scottish, have made a living for the last 80 years or more.
Back to the EPL, anyone else think Man United are set for a fall of Liverpool esque proportions? Seems to be a terminal decline in some players - Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Hargreaves (though its hard to know if he is even still alive at this stage). The players coming in Anderson, Evans, Da Silvas are nowhere near the quality of the players they are replacing. Monumental debt being serviced by a successful enough team at present but a couple of seasons outside the Champions League could be fatal. Chelsea seem to be organising their finances for this 70% wage cap thing, their squad is aging and very light this season as a result. Arsenal still no better without the ball. I really think City have a good chance of winning the league this year but how they will be able to make this 70% wage cap will be anyone’s guess. Spurs to me look in a pretty good position, they always had good finances but they have a good young team now bar a top centre half. They have an awful stadium but with some Champions League money will probably expand like Arsenal. Good time to build in London too. I think Levy is well aware of Redknapp’s excesses but in the next few years I can see them being a big force.
I don’t think you’ve made any sort of effort to read my post so no point responding to that drivel. Your gut instinct is to defend the EPL by comparing it to the very leagues I criticised for being predictable.
A typically inane post regrettably.
Is the third Arsenal or City, larry? I think Chelsea will win it again alright but I’d say United, Arsenal and City are contenders, with United and Arsenal more likely than City imo. City have flattered to deceive a wee bit and Mancini’s tactics are questionable - they’ll be hard bet but may get too many draws. Talented squad though so if they get on a roll, you wouldn’t know. Overall though I think the gap between the top teams and lower teams is closing slightly, probably caused by the top teams getting weaker, so in terms of quality the league has probably dipped, but I think it makes it more interesting and open.
It is hardly an outlandish statement to say that Man Utd are in trouble. They sold one of the world best footballers a couple of seasons back for 80 million and have barely spent any of the money, which shows that they are in effect a selling club. There is talk now of their other best player leaving. Their team is very ordinary and seem to rely on the likes of Scholes and Giggs who are aging to get them out of trouble. They will still finish in the top 3 this season.
Chelsea look the best team in the league given their sheer consistency. They have big players in terms of the EPL, players who have done it many times before - Cech, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Essien, Drogba, Malouda, Anelka. Top players in terms of the EPL.
Man City also have good players but were lucky as fuck to beat Blackpool yesterday. They are far too inconsistent - they may beat the big teams but it is the mid table teams that they wiill suffer against.
Arsenal, contenders? . Ah come off it Clarkey, they can’t possibly compete without 1) A half decent goalkeeper 2)A defence capable of keeping a few clean sheets every now and then 3)An out and out goalscorer. Plus they are far too lightweight.