Football Prem League weekly thread!

[Ormorof]

there it goes, 1337 minutes of clean sheet, does that make man utd leet?

 

[Vladamir]

1802: GOAL Manchester United 1-1 Blackburn
I'm not joking, honestly. 1,337 minutes after last conceding a goal in the Premier League, United are stunned. Andre Ooijer slides a cracking pass through to Roque Santa Cruz and the striker holds off Rio Ferdinand before going around Tomasz Kuszczak and rolling into the empty net. Lovely finish from the Paraguayan.

1337 minutes since United last conceded huh?

 

[Ch3tan]

If vidic and van der sar had been playing that goal would never have happened, really poor decision by kuszack to come for the ball when ferdinand had already commited.

 

[Ormorof]

not VDS in goal though so does the record still count? i mean they conceded against derby in the FA cup so not a total clean sheet record, but if VDS can still go at it for a personal thats still pretty incredible

(i believe the 1337 is since they last conceded in premiership )

 

[Corran]

kuszczak decision making is often poor. The problem there was im guessing he thought ferdi couldnt have kept with cruz... but as cruz was running away from the goal his best bet would have been to hold position. Be harder for cruz to smash a shot in then roll it in an empty net. Can see why the keeper came, but i cant agree with the decision.

Now we see what the team can do

 

[Ch3tan]

Yeah its premier league games only, since we conceded in carling and fa cup against Derby.

 

[Corran]

damn ref, whats with them keep ruling out goals that united score from corners... was perfectly fine

 

[Corran]

Gah, ronaldo losses his temper and could have got sent off... then he gets booked for diving. He really has been taking too many risks in recent weeks when comes to retaliating.

 

[Corran]

whoooooohooooooooooo

what a freekick... that both the bad and the good of ronaldo shown in the last 5 mins

p.s. we lucky not to have went a goal down before that.. burn were unlucky

 

[Ch3tan]

Can someone PM Deebs or jump in #freddyshouse on irc, with links to games? Do not know any now myp2p is down.

 

[Corran]

myp2p is back again.. they won their court case (and got paid back their legal fees. lol)

god lucky ref didnt give penalty considering who it is... would been weak one to give but they so often given

 

[cHodAX]

I am glad the record has gone to be honest, all the media hype around it was becoming a distraction. Football isn't about how long you can keep a clean sheet for it is all about who scores more and that is what I like to focus on.

Luckily the players seemed to be able to get it out of their system pretty quickly and pushed on to do what really matters in securing the 3 points, when the season is over all that matters is your points total anyway.

 

[cHodAX]

If vidic and van der sar had been playing that goal would never have happened, really poor decision by kuszack to come for the ball when ferdinand had already commited.

Crap postitioning by Kus as always, he is a good shot stopper but he is often caught out of position. I have no idea why Fergie hasn't moved him on already, as inconsistent as Foster can be he is still much better positionally and is an equally good shot stopper.

 

[cHodAX]

Can someone PM Deebs or jump in #freddyshouse on irc, with links to games? Do not know any now myp2p is down.

Football4less forums are always a good backup when the link sites are down.

 

[megadave]

I am glad the record has gone to be honest, all the media hype around it was becoming a distraction. Football isn't about how long you can keep a clean sheet for it is all about who scores more and that is what I like to focus on.

Yeah i was finding out home record to be annoying, sometimes we'd grind out draws instead of going for a win in order to keep our home record. However after losing it i didn't expect us to turn to complete shit at home :|

Anyway a pretty good day for chelsea. very relieved to win after such a bad streak and with Villa on good form, i expect they'll struggle to keep up with the same number of fixtures as the real top 4.

 

[Turamber]

Villa played dire in the first half, second half they pretty much had full control but just couldnt create that killer chance. To be fair it was a bad time to play them, after they just got a new manager most teams start of well.

That is fair comment I think. We gave them the freedom of Villa Park in the first half, seemed afraid to tackle them or get in their faces. If we'd played like we did in the second half for the whole of the match we would have got at least a point.

Oh well, in fourth place, behind Chelsea by 1 point after giving them 6 points this season is hardly the end of the world.

 

[Turamber]

the real top 4.

God I hate expressions like that. If it was cast in stone that a combination of Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool HAD to finish in the top four every season I'd give up following football tomorrow.

The Premier League needs a shake-up, the gravy train of the "real top 4" has gotten sickening and threatens the integrity of the competition.

I'd prefer the Champion's league to be - you know - for Champion's only, that would certainly help level the playing field in terms of attraction to top players and money.

 

[leviathane]

ye tbh i think the premiership should be like every other of the main leagues in europe, not instead of how it is where the top4 get the chance.

 

[Vladamir]

In non-PL news, 10 man Barcelona lost to bottom-placed Espanyol today at the Camp Nou. 1 point from their last two for Barcelona

 

[Corran]

In non-PL news, 10 man Barcelona lost to bottom-placed Espanyol today at the Camp Nou. 1 point from their last two for Barcelona

Their second goal was hilarious.. top class keeping... he musta watched too much David James

 

[soze]

How many coutries is the league truly open in it seems spain england germany france italy scotland all seem to send the same teams, The top four being the same has not hurt the premier league far from it its bigger now after 10 years of this being the norm than ever. But this season is interesting everything being so close i obviously do not want to miss out on Champs League but its good seeing villa sustain this push i never though they would survive this long

 

[Corran]

How many coutries is the league truly open in it seems spain england germany france italy scotland all seem to send the same teams, The top four being the same has not hurt the premier league far from it its bigger now after 10 years of this being the norm than ever. But this season is interesting everything being so close i obviously do not want to miss out on Champs League but its good seeing villa sustain this push i never though they would survive this long

aye, people really dont seem to think about the fact that most the leagues would love to have 4 teams dubbed as title contentors... alot of them only have a maximum of 3, and some as little as 2 title contentors... yes below that in other leagues may be a bit more interesting however the Uefa Cup spots of the EPL alway had alot of teams battling to get in.

But the fact it so close all over the league this year (top and bottom) shows how much improved many teams are. And there isnt many run away victories like in the past (real madrid won 6-1 tonight... dont see that often in the prem now)

 

[megadave]

God I hate expressions like that. If it was cast in stone that a combination of Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool HAD to finish in the top four every season I'd give up following football tomorrow.

The Premier League needs a shake-up, the gravy train of the "real top 4" has gotten sickening and threatens the integrity of the competition.

It wasnt meant as any sort of jibe, it's just how it's known. But if i just said "top 4" then you'd complain that it's wrong because you're there currently Personally i think Arsenal will still sneak it at the end of the season. Once (or if?) Arshavin gains fitness, and Fabregas, Rosicky and Adebayour return from injury they will be a formidable side and will probably start scoring loads.

I'd prefer the Champion's league to be - you know - for Champion's only, that would certainly help level the playing field in terms of attraction to top players and money.

That would be pretty boring. This year would basically be between Manchester United, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, the year before would be exactly the same. Doesn't sound too fun. Although maybe you would like watching games like Galatasaray vs Cluj instead of what we have now? :Z

 

[Turamber]

maybe you would like watching games like Galatasaray vs Cluj instead of what we have now? :Z

TBH most of the games in the "Champions League" are meaningless and don't get watched much outside of the teams own fans. But yes I think a game between two genuine champions would be much preferable to the gravy train that the current structure is.

Also as far as our own league is concerned I think the days when real outsiders could win the league (such as Villa in 80/81) and relative minnows could finish in the top six positions is much prefered to the procession that the Premier League has turned into.

But then I'm going to be 41 this year and remember fondly the game before the Premier League and the Champions League.

 

[megadave]

Yeah, well blame sky i suppose

It is pretty boring as it is now. United get the most money so United win the most. In the next 20 years i'd bet they win atleast 10 more league titles as well


Have to say i do love everything about the CL though. Although it's not strictly champions playing it is all the best teams in Europe and the way i see it that's the most entertaining way. Maybe they should rename it Best-teams-in-Europe league but that hardly has the same ring to it.

I think you're just a bit bitter your missing out on all of it If you manage to get in next year, maybe you will feel slightly different about it?

 

[cHodAX]

God I hate expressions like that. If it was cast in stone that a combination of Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool HAD to finish in the top four every season I'd give up following football tomorrow.

The Premier League needs a shake-up, the gravy train of the "real top 4" has gotten sickening and threatens the integrity of the competition.

I'd prefer the Champion's league to be - you know - for Champion's only, that would certainly help level the playing field in terms of attraction to top players and money.

Have to agree with everything you said, even if United missed out on CL football for those seasons we don't win the league. Allowing the top 4 sides in is a complete farce.

 

[Marc]

TBH most of the games in the "Champions League" are meaningless and don't get watched much outside of the teams own fans.

Nah this isnt the case, hence why there is so much money in the champs league. TV companies wouldnt pay what they did for the rights if no one watched these games.

 

[Lucius]

What a freekick from Ronaldo, deserved world player of the year.

 

[soze]

If the champions league changed to only champions i would see one of two things happening.

1 the Uefa cup becomes the better contest all the money tv rights ect go there so you get teams opting our of the CL

2 the super league is formed.

If it was only the champions it would be a horrid competition not to mention with that few teams Man U would have already won

 

[leviathane]

What a freekick from Ronaldo, deserved world player of the year.

lol brilliant. Has one good freekick and he deserves it, plays pretty mediocre all season and not a word til he does a freekick