Football Prem League weekly thread!

[Hawkwind]

Arsenal haven't been a top prem team for some time now

/stirs the pot.

/hooked

Still good enough to beat you though! Beat Man Utd and draw against Liverpool. Doooooom! Dooooom!

/ponders and removes hook

 

[leviathane]

ye that's our problem though, we can only play against teams who are willing to attack. We really struggle against teams who just sit back all game.

 

[Corran]

/hooked

Still good enough to beat you though! Beat Man Utd and draw against Liverpool. Doooooom! Dooooom!

/ponders and removes hook

a top team is able to win any game.. Arsenal can only win a game which is open hence why they can sometimes get results against the quality teams... the moment someone sets up defensively Arsenal run out of ideas and totally collapse. No good having 90 pass move where it your central defenders passing to each other if you cant turn the posession into a cutting edge chance.

 

[Ch3tan]

BBC SPORT | Football | 'The Special One' in his own words

 

[Lucius]

What a legend. Get him back in the Premiership as soon as possible please.

 

[Wonk]

This has nothing to do with PL, but the real ronaldo, O Fenômeno, is finally ready for his comeback \o/ I would love to see him in europe again, although I doubt it will happen.

 

[Lucius]

This has nothing to do with PL, but the real ronaldo, O Fenômeno, is finally ready for his comeback \o/ I would love to see him in europe again, although I doubt it will happen.

In his prime and when he was fit Ronaldo rivalled Maradonna and Pele but I think his time is up.

 

[Wonk]

In his prime and when he was fit Ronaldo rivalled Maradonna and Pele but I think his time is up.

I would think so too, but he has always proven to be world class in his comebacks. Just look at the few matches he played for milan, the last world cup etc etc. Don't rule him out just yet

 

[Corran]

I would think so too, but he has always proven to be world class in his comebacks. Just look at the few matches he played for milan, the last world cup etc etc. Don't rule him out just yet

just offer him a tranny... that should get him playing well ;p

He used to be great, but he will be totally unfit and given his age will struggle on any big stage i feel. But the fact he back gives fans something good to look forward to

 

[Ormorof]

windass might be coming back to hull to save the day again lol

ah well if he only scores one goal make it a win on the last day of the season to keep us up (might put a £1 on that hmmmm )

 

[Ormorof]

the ol' player quotas comes back again: BBC SPORT | Football | Fifa plans talks on player quotas

personally i dont think its such a bad idea, but the article above seems to suggest it going too far and would have a massively negative impact on the game, if they FORCED clubs to have a certain number of English players starting every game in the prem it would lower the standard of the game, and also massively inflate the price of already massively over priced (in my opinion) english players (Darren Bent £18 million for example)

however a EU player scheme like they already have in place in many countries could work (and doesn't contravene any EU laws, ie that employers cannot discriminate between any EU citizen based on their nationality), i believe the favoured approach seems to be no more than 3 or 4 non-EU nationals within a squad, it could even have interesting side effects for countries like norway, and switzerland who could in theory change their rules to allow clubs from around europe to send their players in need of european work permits to play for a few years

(as norway and switzerland wouldnt be part of a EU scheme but are considered part of the EEC and so for labour purposes are considered the same as any other EU country), i believe many clubs already do this with Belgian teams and well it could end up improving their leagues considerably by having young stars from south america, asia, africa and such not only gaining valuable experience by playing in top competitive leagues, but also potentially being able to move freely around the EU without worrying about work permits!


phew rambled on a bit there i think but err, i made some points somewhere

 

[soze]

Would kill the permiership as we know it and would lose the FA so much money in TV sales I can never see it happening.

And people saying its for the good of English football need to dream on you do not need 120 english players playing in the permiership for England to win things all players that are good enough get to have a go.

 

[Marc]

Will never happen because the top teams will just threaten to set up their own league outside of FIFA rules.

 

[Lucius]

I would think so too, but he has always proven to be world class in his comebacks. Just look at the few matches he played for milan, the last world cup etc etc. Don't rule him out just yet

Marradonna and Pele are HUGELY overated in my opinion. Celebrities yes, but there have been better players. Half the people who praise them have never seen them play anyway.

 

[Marc]

Marradonna and Pele are HUGELY overated in my opinion. Celebrities yes, but there have been better players. Half the people who praise them have never seen them play anyway.

Or maybe they listen to the people who have seen them play? I did see Maradona in his pomp and the only players who have come close to him, in my opinion are Zidane, Ronaldinho (in his pomp) and Ronaldo (the fat brazilian). Gascoigne had the raw talent to be as good as, if not better than Maradona.

 

[Lucius]

Or maybe they listen to the people who have seen them play? I did see Maradona in his pomp and the only players who have come close to him, in my opinion are Zidane, Ronaldinho (in his pomp) and Ronaldo (the fat brazilian). Gascoigne had the raw talent to be as good as, if not better than Maradona.

I agree with Zidane, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo being some of the best ever (in their primes of course).

 

[Marc]

Villa out of the wafer cup

 

[Lucius]

Villa out of the wafer cup

They're gonna do a Liverpool. I still see Arsenal getting the 4th spot.

 

[Marc]

They're gonna do a Liverpool. I still see Arsenal getting the 4th spot.

Everton would have got that 4th spot if they hadnt of lost last seasons midfielder of the year and heir apparant to Ronaldos world player of the year, Mikel Arteta

 

[Lucius]

Everton would have got that 4th spot if they hadnt of lost last seasons midfielder of the year and heir apparant to Ronaldos world player of the year, Mikel Arteta

I still think Everton have a better chance than Aston Villa, although without Arteta I am not so sure.

 

[Marc]

I still think Everton have a better chance than Aston Villa, although without Arteta I am not so sure.

If everton finish 6th, am I right in thinking that if 2 teams contest the FA cup final, who have already qualified for europe, then 6th place gets the wafer cup spot?

 

[Lucius]

If everton finish 6th, am I right in thinking that if 2 teams contest the FA cup final, who have already qualified for europe, then 6th place gets the wafer cup spot?

Yes but didn't 6th place get the spot last year anyway?

 

[Marc]

Yes but didn't 6th place get the spot last year anyway?

Im not sure, but I know for sure that this year, only 5th place gets it through league qualification

 

[Turamber]

You do realise that Villa rested eight first teamers this evening? Effectively we threw the competition. I don't like it but I do understand why it was done.

We are miles ahead of Everton and they've lost their best player as well as having the FA Cup to play for. That said I still think 2nd to 5th positions are pretty much wide open.

 

[soze]

You do realise that Villa rested eight first teamers this evening? Effectively we threw the competition. I don't like it but I do understand why it was done.

We are miles ahead of Everton and they've lost their best player as well as having the FA Cup to play for. That said I still think 2nd to 5th positions are pretty much wide open.

I would be beyond mad if Wenger threw away Europe just to play for 4th i think that's a bad choice to make. A Villa fan in work (arm chair) said he thinks MON was gutless for this, did not like the way it was going so would rather let the reserves take the hit than risk his first team getting beaten and losing confidence?

 

[Turamber]

rather let the reserves take the hit than risk his first team getting beaten and losing confidence?

I think he's more concerned about tiredness. The daft thing is they are tired because our season started a month before everyone else with games in the intertoto.

I'm not happy about it and if we fail to beat Stoke on Sunday I think there will be a few complaints...

 

[soze]

I think he's more concerned about tiredness. The daft thing is they are tired because our season started a month before everyone else with games in the intertoto.

I'm not happy about it and if we fail to beat Stoke on Sunday I think there will be a few complaints...

Could be a brave move if you get 4th if you miss out could be a big mistake very ballsy though.

Funny thing is the shit we got for playing reserves in the worthless now its happening in the uefa too spuds did similar too no?

 

[Corran]

brave move throwing the euro competition out the pan, but remember the arguement that managers make all the time for their team - We want to get into europe.... when you actually look at what the smaller teams do then you realise what they mean is "we want to get the money from getting into europe".

If i remember rightly Wigan already stated something like "if we get into europe i will have to play my reserves in it as squad isnt large enough to cope with so many extra games."

Getting into the champions league will bring alot more money then getting through another game or two in uefa cup. The prestige of getting into CL will bring new marketing oportunities etc so from a business view you can see why they want to focus on the league... especially as it Chelsea next up for the villa.

 

[Influenza]

The 2 favourites to win it , Valencia and AC , got knocked out tonight , if villa played thier strongest team and got through they would have had a really good chance of winning it.

 

[Lucius]

I think there is something contradictory about sacrificing the latter stages of European football just to get into European football the next year. I mean, it defies belief, what is the point in striving for Europe if you aren't going to bother and try and win it? I bet you the same will happen next year.