+1 although I expect Villa to do a lot worse and get relegated, Sunderland will survive comfortably.
Iâm not sure where you are getting that optimism from. We look fucked to be honest.
Hoping at the start of the season to finish with 50 points or so. Was always going to be a difficult season, giving Bent the captaincy then taking it off him and dropping him was bizarre and it has backfired. We have a shit squad but Lambert I think must have overrated some of the players in the squad when he came in. Someone like Charlie Adam would walk into our team, the midfield roster is so bad. He is trying a diamond in midfield but Bent needs players out wide. No improvement in Gabby, Ireland and Nzogbia. Guess he isnât helped by Dunne being out and Given being finished. Vlaar has been an improvement on Collins and Benteke looks a find. But the young lads at full back arenât even an improvement on Hutton and Warnock thus far.
St Martin left us in the shit. Still paying for his transfer policy. He looks finished as a manager too, repeating the same mistakes at Sunderland he made at Villa
Huh? He took over Sunderland when they were in the relegation zone and they finished comfortably in mid table.
2 wins in 20 league games?
Villa tended to finish the seasons shite under him too as he plays the same eleven pretty much week in week out. Inevitably they start to burn out towards the end of the season and results suffer. Happened with Sunderland last season. Had a habit at Villa of playing Luke Young left back, at the same craic with Bardsley at left back. Also had the likes of Milner, Reo Coker, Gardner and Barry at full back on occasion just to fit players in. Bottling selection decisions basically, no change at Sunderland. Gardner and Collback now full backs for Sunderland.
Watched them against Liverpool a month or so ago. They were ghastly. Terribly negative against a very average Liverpool side. They dont look like scoring fuck all this season either. Workhorses throughout the side but no quality on the ball aside from Fletcher. Of course his scouting team still havent got passports sorted either, 26m on Fletcher and Johnson is horrendous value for money. If he scouted Danny Rose at all, another indictment of his transfer policy. Hopeless player that lad. Left backs arent his speciality. 13m or so spent on Shorey and Warnock at Villa. Still the same yes men in the backroom staff.
I could go onâŚ
Clubs that Martin OâNeill departs from certainly slip down the ladder allright. However, they do perform well under him when he is at the club. Did very well at Celtic, even though Strachan surpassed him in the Champions League. Three consecutive Top 6 finishes at Villa. Leicester were in dreamland under him. All collapsed when he left.
His transfer policy is rather odd allright. Putting the likes of Emile Heskey on long term contracts on massive wages. As said above, Shorey and Warnock were not top class left backs. Shorey did well with Reading but always looked vulnerable when caught upfield and was unable to track back after a pacy winger. I would forgive him Stephen Fletcher though. Stephen Fletcher is scoring goals and they were not going to get him for any less. Wolves are one of the few football clubs that prior to the sale of Fletcher and Jarvis actually had 25 million in the bank. They were under no pressure to sell. What other strikers could OâNeill have bought within his wage budget?? He wouldnt have a lot of clout with the foreign clubs, and his only other option might have been to gamble on someone like Samaras from Celtic.
I think Fletcher is a good player. Scored goals at shit clubs playing shit football for neanderthal managers. But 7m would have been the right price for him not double it. He doesnt even attempt to do business with clubs outside Britain, 26m can buy you a lot of talent but its just pure laziness and ego I reckon. If he isnt great at spotting players, then get in lads who can. Surely from working with Clough he can appreciate the importance of a good number 2. cant understand this nonsense about manager who bring in an entourage of yes men with them from club to club. You would think they would bring in people who would test them.
Shorey and Warnock were bizarre in that they were destroyed against Villa not too long before we signed them. Signing Heskey was when he lost it at Villa, changed a team going very well to fit that mule in. But there were others Habib Beye, utterly bizarre signing. Harewood, Sidwell, Reo Coker, Knight, Davies, Carson, Maloney. Selling Gary Cahill. It was far from all bad but the days of handing huge money to managers like MON, Allardyce, Pulis etc just to splash on EPL journeymen is surely coming to an end.
Strachan surpassed him in the SPL too
nutsy has surpassed lambert in the SPL
what is it with Martin o neill and centre halves??..always buys 2 big lumps who are fooking uselessâŚhe hates the idea of a footballing centre halfâŚabsolutely hates itâŚwith midfield area so congested these days he´ll want to have a rethinkâŚ
nutsy going to rovers in near future?..
Stevie G comparing Everton to Stoke after being outplayed and outclassed in the Merseyside derby-bastard.
Yeah, good one pal- Liverpool bossed the first 20 mins in either half before Everton started kicking lumps out of them and got back into it. Liverpoolâs schoolboy defending cost them again here as Everton were dead and buried only for two calamities at the back.
The stats say Everton were the more accurate passers, had more possession and shots on goal and gave away less frees mate. I didnât bother me hole watching the game. Stevie G is an absolute bollox of a man.
Stats me hole. A draw was a fair result even tho that goal at the end should have stood- The linesman said after that he âthoughtâ it was off side, the cunt. The wonderful Gary Neville pointed out, via video evidence, that the linesman did not flag for a good 10 seconds after the ball was in the net and it was not until the Everton defenders appealed for offside did he do it. But it would have been harsh on Everton alright who I thought really raised their game, as the smaller clubs often do, and deserved the draw.
I saw that goal alright and he was clearly onside-karma for the cunt I suppose. I think itâs a disgrace that Clattenburg is getting all the abuse just because the United Chelsea game involves two big names and then there is a far worse decision in a mid-table scrap like this and thereâs barely a dicky bird about it. Fucking politics has no place in soccer.
Midtable!! The arrogance- I can easily see both teams battling it out for a prestigious Europa league place.
Everton will finish 6th and Liverpool will finish 8th mate so youâre not far wrong.
If Liverpool can get top six I will be happy enough- Considering all the shite over the last 2/3 seasons. Itâs a fairly young team still gelling and at times have played some great football. A striker badly needed, as is another goalkeeper- to take the no.1 shirt or put Pepe under pressure for it because Jones is not up to it. Some of the decisions against the reds have also been shocking this year, and with some impartial officiating could easily be 6 points better off, tho I doubt man yoo fans would like the see the introduction of impartial refereeing being brought into the league.
CM, I think we need 2 new keeper, Pepe hasnât been good at all this season and has cost us games with his mistakes, I think Pepe wants a move and Jones well the less said the better. I think Rogers should have got Owen on a year long contract, I believe he could have done a job for us until the January transfer window. Hopefully in January we get a striker and a couple of good keepers, I have a feeling Pepe will be going in the Summer.
Iâve already told you they will finish 8th Paulie. Not buying another striker in the summer was insanity and Borini is not up to it either. If Suarez could learn where the goal is, they may push on a bit but thatâs unlikely. Liverpool get as many bad decisions against them or for them as any other team. Interesting article in the Guardian today about how United were due a decision at Chelsea after years of getting robbed there. Personally, I think that the big teams get the majority of decisions in every league, same in Spain, Germany and Italy. Look at any Real or Barca game-United get rub of the green more than most in EPL but Liverpool get plenty of them at Anfield too due to the persecution complex of their fans leading to shrieks of indignation from the fans which puts lots of pressure on referees.
Bollox.
Look at the Liverpool v Utd game at Anfield this year. The officiating in Utd games in particular have been shocking this year.
And games canât be reffed on the basis of past games, pal.