Football The 2012 / 2013 Season Thread

[rynnor]

I agree we need a massive clear out of squad players earning first team wages then we can go after better players.

Not easy in the short term as you are still contractually bound to pay them - otherwise you'd have to pay them off.

 

[Everz]

http://www.sportsdirectnews.com/european-football/9618-falcao-happy-in-spain.php#.UMiz5Hd373Q

What a fcking horrible image choice.

 

[Aoami]

http://blogs.thescore.com/counterat...-sampdoria-reveals-turnout-issues-in-serie-a/

 

[Vladamir]

Bradford have won more games against premier league opposition than QPR have

 

[Vladamir]

The mighty blues 1 up against Monterry, and David Luiz bossing midfield, will be interesting to see how he fares there against PL opposition over our impending 30 games in 30 days.

 

[soze]

The Sun today are saying the players are getting sick of playing "Barcelona" football. I never liked that we have been playing that football for fucking years.

The are also reporting that Bould is not being allowed to run the defensive training, he was doing it during pre season but then Wenger took over again. Which is weird as we looked good at the start of the season.

I wonder how long it will take the players to publicly turn on Wenger if they do really want Bould more involved or want to change tactics.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Defensively as a unit we don't have much of an issue.

It sounds silly but it's entirely true. We have the second best defence in the league, we don't ship large numbers of goals.

The alarming thing is that the majority of our goals from from individual errors. Statistically much, MUCH more so than all the other EPL teams.

So there's something going on in training that is not addressing player's individual flaws, which would possibly be down the way Wenger encourages his players to play football without drilling them hard on the areas they're weaker at. It's come out before that Wenger encourages training of players in the areas they're good at. We need to work our players on their weaknesses more.

 

[soze]

Yeah I really hoped bringing Bould in would help change that. It really does sound like Wenger could do with taking a step back and trust his coaches more with training?

 

[Wazzerphuk]

NSFW (ish)

Spoiler

 

[Vladamir]

Lolwut

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Oh and in case you didn't hear, the Copa Sudamericana winners are Sao Paulo.

Because the game was abandoned at half time as Tigres refused to come out for the second half after being the victims of violent actions undertaken by security and police at half time.

http://www.football365.com/news/21554/8329384/Sao-Paulo-Copa-Sudamericana-champions

 

[Wazzerphuk]

For all the stupid short-term Arsenal fans that have become entitled, here's our post WWII league finishes:

WAAAAH WENGER SO SHIT

 

[rynnor]

For all the stupid short-term Arsenal fans that have become entitled, here's our post WWII league finishes:
WAAAAH WENGER SO SHIT

He's undoubtably a good manager - I would personally wonder what the owners are telling him to do tho.

 

[Scouse]

WAAAAH WENGER SO SHIT

Actually - the graph shows two things:

1) Recently you've been steadily going down hill.
2) Since money started to have its competition-killing effect the "Premier League" there's been a lot less variation in results.


i.e. football's become boring. But we all know that.

 

[rynnor]

i.e. football's become boring. But we all know that.

Is it? Wasnt the last day of the season last year the most exciting for years?

 

[Scouse]

Is it? Wasnt the last day of the season last year the most exciting for years?

One day. Big deal.

Contested by those with the most money.

 

[rynnor]

One day. Big deal.

Contested by those with the most money.

Are you saying the season when Arsenal never lost was more interesting?

 

[Himse]

'Steady decline' being in the top 4 since 1997, gg.

 

[Scouse]

'Steady decline' being in the top 4 since 1997, gg.

Yep. If you think about the "Premier League" being incepted in 1993 and money taking time to have it's chilling effect on competition - so no wild swings any more - less competition and less teams that contest the top of the league.

Arsenal did well early on in the PL but since the swings have been elimanated (the top 4 being pretty much as-is since 2000) the graph now shows them having a steady decline.


Don't be fooled into thinking that simply looking at a graph will tell you everything you need to know. You have to think about what's actually been happening in football when the data was collected.

 

[Everz]

Are you saying the season when Arsenal never lost was more interesting?

Are you saying there is some variety?

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Arsenal did well early on in the PL but since the swings have been elimanated (the top 4 being pretty much as-is since 2000) the graph now shows them having a steady decline.

Wut? The first few seasons of our Premiership period has two of the worst league finishes since the mid-70s.

It was only when Wenger came in late mid-90s that we started doing pretty well. The Prem had been going for a few years before that.

And funnily enough Wenger came in, started doing well and we're now more consistently competing than we ever have done in the past.

 

[Himse]

Come on, do either of you watch the PL? 6 points between 4-13th is nothing. Teams like Everton, West Brom & Swansea playing well and being competitive. Rather than it being Utd - Arsenal - Liverpool.

Edit- Even though they are further down the table, Newcastle, Southampton, Sunderland are all giving people surprises, don't see what your point about the PL being boring is? More goals, more competitive teams, more interesting football.

 

[Scouse]

For starters - I'm not arguing that Wenger is a bad manager.

It was only when Wenger came in late mid-90s that we started doing pretty well. The Prem had been going for a few years before that.

Lol - mid-90's. PL started in 1993. You had some swings. Money took effect. You did well when Wenger came in.

And funnily enough Wenger came in, started doing well and we're now more consistently competing than we ever have done in the past.

The consistency is, I've already argued, more down to the fact that money is more important than anything else. Top 4 or 5 has been reasonably steady since 2000. A mere 7 years of money being the dominant factor in football to bland-it-up...

Arsenal did well in this "early" period - but since 2005 you've been slowly going backwards. You're not going to drop out of the league or anything silly - you've too much money - but don't fool yourself that you're competetive.

There's only 2 competetive teams at the moment - 3 if Chelski get their act together.

The rest of the entire league is now also-rans (including Liverpool - so I'm putting myself in the same pot as you).


3 teams, max. And a league of also-rans. What great fun.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Stop talking shite. If you can't tell that being in the top 4 (not 5) for the last 15 seasons is more competitive than dropping to mid table nearly every other/few year(s) then you're mad.

 

[megadave]

So its like every other league then?

It's more exciting than ever, more teams competing for the champions league spots than before, title race going down to the last kick, relegation battle engulfing half the bottom half of the table. Ok so maybe not for Liverpool, boo hoo.

 

[soze]

Take away the fake money and it will be no different. Man U turn over enough to pay 2 strikers £500k a week. Arsenal would go back to being 1st or 2nd everyone else would also be also rans. The only way to change that is a salary cap which is a non starter.

 

[DaGaffer]

Whether you like it or not, 10 to 5 years ago Arsenal were competing for the 1-3 spots, now they're consistently mixing it with the bigger 4-10 group, an inherently riskier proposition. Is it because the chasing pack have got better or Arsenal have got worse? Its both, and its mainly (not completely, but mainly) financial, and Scouse isn't wrong in that regard; the big three spenders are opening up a gap and Arsenal are on the wrong side of it. That's what I was getting at in an earlier post; Arsenal getting third is an exceptional season for them now, in reality they're competing for that single fourth place slot. The one thing that seems to work in their favour is that they tend to be strong finishers to the season.

 

[Raven]

The same teams win the league but week by week the premiership is still the best league around and over 38 games a 10-15 point gulf and the top 3 being decided in the last few games isn't that uninteresting. At least it's not 30odd points like other, less interesting European leagues.

 

[Scouse]

Whether you like it or not, 10 to 5 years ago Arsenal were competing for the 1-3 spots, now they're consistently mixing it with the bigger 4-10 group, an inherently riskier proposition. Is it because the chasing pack have got better or Arsenal have got worse? Its both, and its mainly (not completely, but mainly) financial, and Scouse isn't wrong in that regard; the big three spenders are opening up a gap and Arsenal are on the wrong side of it. That's what I was getting at in an earlier post; Arsenal getting third is an exceptional season for them now, in reality they're competing for that single fourth place slot. The one thing that seems to work in their favour is that they tend to be strong finishers to the season.

This.

And I consider a boring league one where only 3 teams can realistically win it.

 

[Himse]

This.

And I consider a boring league one where only 3 teams can realistically win it.

So, every important league in the world?