Football The 2015/2016 Season Thread

[Raven]

Yeah I watched it, I watched a left back have some of the better chances for Spurs.

 

[caLLous]

That's funny, Davies had one of his worst games for us that I can remember.

 

[Raven]

Yet still had your first shot.

 

[caLLous]

Honestly I don't remember us having any significant chances tonight. Kane missed a few but I don't think they were "proper" chances. Bilic really threw a spanner in the works by changing to a back 3 without telling anyone ( ) and we were ineffective all over the pitch but they were brilliant to be fair. We had 34 shots on target against Swansea and I could probably count our on target efforts on one hand tonight.

We beat them 4-1 at WHL but they didn't have Payet playing then - they're a completely different side with him fit.

Bring on Saturday.

 

[Bahumat]

Wow that has shaken things up a bit!

 

[Calaen]

Did you see the bit where West Ham played excellently from start to finish or are you just cherry picking an opinion from the scoreline alone? They're 6th and in serious contention for the Europa (if not Champions) League. Yes we were poor but West (fucking) Ham didn't put a foot wrong.

Anyway, Cech is out for at least one week, he pulled a muscle or something running up for the corner at the end. Also Koscielny with a calf problem.

Rubbish @Calaen, Spurs had won 6 on the trot before tonight. We're not done yet.

I don't think you're done but you've got Arsenal and the Europa league in the next few weeks and it's hard to maintain the intensity that Poch expects when the games are as close together.

Arsenal still have you and Man city to come and they both look horrible at the minute. It looks like Utd could even creep into the automatic spots for the champions league. Could you imagine Guardiola coming to a team not in the champions league haha.

 

[Raven]

Arsenal fans at work think Wenger should go at the end of the season, if they cannot even look like title contenders in a season where the traditional title contenders have fallen apart so much then they never will.

Massive game on Saturday.

 

[caLLous]

He looked properly shaken in his post-match interview.

 

[CorNokZ]

Even when all the regular competition fucks up, Arsenal still manage to clutch 4th. Wenger is a work or art!

 

[Embattle]

Arsenal fans at work think Wenger should go at the end of the season, if they cannot even look like title contenders in a season where the traditional title contenders have fallen apart so much then they never will.

Massive game on Saturday.

Yes but then they generally have done the last few years and they soon forget with either a piece of silver or a good part of the season.

Yes Spurs aren't out of it but you still tripped up.

 

[caLLous]

The supporters won't swallow that this year though. Not only Leicester but having SPURS in front of them at this point of the season is just not cricket. There's a revolution coming. Hopefully, like a certain other team who replaced a long-standing manager not very long ago, after Wenger inevitably goes, they will take a few seasons to find their feet again.

 

[Shagrat]

Good set of results for Leicester tonight!

 

[CorNokZ]

6pts clear in the top of the league after beating the team that took out United

Us > United

Fuck yeah, logics!

 

[Raven]

Guardiola, it is said, has decided to join Manchester City for a new experience - he will get one. The Europa League...

 

[caLLous]

Champions League does not need likes of Leicester, says US sports executive

Begone with your money-grabbing shite.

 

[DaGaffer]

Champions League does not need likes of Leicester, says US sports executive

Begone with your money-grabbing shite.

In other words, the NFL.

 

[Calaen]

It's nothing like the nfl though is it. The nfl setup actually gives the less well off teams a chance of success because of the draft and the financial restrictions. What he wants is a champions league where only the so called best teams play each other. Which is a shit idea, perhaps if they only entered teams that actually won theit respective leagues it would start to add value to it again.

 

[caLLous]

He wants a Champions League made up of teams based on their financial might no matter where they finished in the league. It's a piss poor idea from someone who is only interested in money (they only have 1 league over there so it's not like he has any concept of promotion or relegation). It should be merit-based, exactly like it is at the moment. If you finish in the top x of a country's league, well done you're in the Champions League. Where would the incentive be for "smaller" clubs to do well in the league if they knew they wouldn't get a CL spot even if they won it? It's such a shit idea.

 

[Bodhi]

Doesn't shock me however, when I was in California last week I spent 15 minutes explaining to one of the locals the concept of being relegated from the Premier League. He seemed to be of the opinion that no matter how bad a season you've had, you should stay in the top division - to protect the franchise owners. As you can imagine this idea went down well with the Villa fan at the table, not so well with the others.

Bless....

 

[caLLous]

To be fair Villa have been so poor I think they'd get kicked out even if we only had 1 league.

 

[Embattle]

They are so poor unless they improve they won't manage to even stay in the championship.

 

[DaGaffer]

It's nothing like the nfl though is it. The nfl setup actually gives the less well off teams a chance of success because of the draft and the financial restrictions. What he wants is a champions league where only the so called best teams play each other. Which is a shit idea, perhaps if they only entered teams that actually won theit respective leagues it would start to add value to it again.

The draft and the salary cap only really work because the NFL is a domestic competition, with no alternative for players; it couldn't really work in Europe because of labour rules and huge income tax differentials, plus, everyone would just fuck off to China or the Gulf; and of course there's no real equivalent of college football which essentially is a free player development network (and athletic scholarships are a fairly horrible idea in the first place).

What this guy wants to introduce is like the NFL inasmuch as he wants franchise controlled competition; but without any of checks and balances that make it remotely workable.

 

[CorNokZ]

How about distributing the CL spots evenly throughout the leagues across Europe?

 

[Moriath]

That would be aweful. Like getting san marino games in the euro qualifiers at the beginning. Should be the best teams in europe winners of respective leagues. Withe bonus places shifting around more often on strength of clubs in countries.

 

[Raven]

Bet placed on 3.1 to Spurs. I think after their crap performance the other day Poch will have stuck a rocket up their arse, arsenal however seem to be happy with bottling, they have been doing it for years.

Slight caveat though, I have Arsenal to score first.

 

[Calaen]

I fancy Arsenal to bounce back today, and almost gifting the league to Leicester, while the were beaten by Swansea mid week they had a shit load of chances to put the game to bed. I'm willing to mark that down as a freak result.

 

[caLLous]

What about the shit loss before that, and all the other tepid performances?

 

[Raven]

Arsenal are so weak on the ball.

 

[Embattle]

Francis being a prat.

 

[Shagrat]

Coquelin, what a tool