Football 2013-2014

[TheGayTent]

Man Utd missing Carrick? I thought he was shit?

[pink_triangle]

.

Liverpool winning seems logical to me. Suarez in form, Spurs having played in the Europa on Thursday, lack of star factor. I think the question depends on who scores first tbh. If Spurs keep it tight and control midfield I fancy them to get through Liverpool, but Suarez can do anything.

Edited December 13, 2013 by pink_triangle

[kaosmark2]

I also think its down to the balance, as I have said earlier I think Liverpool will be stronger without Sturridge and Gerrard because they will pick a more balanced team. Im not sure Rodgers has the balls to drop a big name player for the sake of the team and this takes the decision out of his hands.

[Bobs]

Man. City 2-0 Arsenal

Spurs 2-2 Liverpool.

Thats' my prediction

[pink_triangle]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25375166

Have to admit I missed Henrys punditry debut, but the punditry team for the world cup is looking very underwhelming. They want to get some (fairly) recent British footballers and choose Rio and Philip Neville, neither are really known for their interesting opinions on the game. Thank god they have retained Seedorf.

[kaosmark2]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25375166

Have to admit I missed Henrys punditry debut, but the punditry team for the world cup is looking very underwhelming. They want to get some (fairly) recent British footballers and choose Rio and Philip Neville, neither are really known for their interesting opinions on the game. Thank god they have retained Seedorf.

[pink_triangle]

City were awesome going forward today. 3 points behind with half the season left and also with the best squad, they have to be favourites in my opinion. I don't think arsenal should get too down about taking a bit of a battering, city away is one of the hardest games in football and they were competitive.

Only lowlight was Owen as co-commentator. I can understand (although not my preference) how he could play the role of bland studio pundit, but commentary is not his thing.

[kaosmark2]

City were awesome going forward today. 3 points behind with half the season left and also with the best squad, they have to be favourites in my opinion. I don't think arsenal should get too down about taking a bit of a battering, city away is one of the hardest games in football and they were competitive.

Only lowlight was Owen as co-commentator. I can understand (although not my preference) how he could play the role of bland studio pundit, but commentary is not his thing.

[thetime]

Just watched the city game(the joys of night shifts), fantastic game and so much creativity.

Big game for arsenal next week as lose that they could be down to third.

Will be nice watching the title race as a neutral haha.

[pink_triangle]

Let's face it if you had offered arsenal even a 1 point lead at this stage of the season with away trips to old trafford and the etihad already passed, they would have snapped your hand off. Home to chelsea to me is the big game. In the past you never felt confident when they played the real top teams, that game will be a marker of how far they have weakly come.

[Osama Jim Laden]

Cannot believe we've sacked Clarke! Must've been fans pressure, we're looking at offering him a new deal in the new year..

Can't think of any managers is like (within our range)..

These idiots are expecting us to push for Europe! EUROPE!!!!!

We finished eighth last season which is, realistically, as high as we can finish in this league.. The top seven are so far ahead financially & with these 'fair play' rules coming in, even a benefactor couldn't propel us as they've no power anymore..

We're on a dodgy run, it can happen, we overachieved last season, maybe the season before too.. However, success breeds greed & now we're most likely going to struggle..

I liked Clarke, he got stuff wrong but so does Wenger, Ferguson, Mourinho etc.. How does a club like ours survive in this league? Is it worth it?

I don't think so.. We can't win it, we can't get in champions league, we ain't gonna get 6/7th.. What's the point of us being in there? Incentives? To occasionally pull off a result against Manchester City, Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea?

Disillusioned is an understatement.. Clarke will bounce back, he's good, he'll get better.. Given time that is..

[kaosmark2]

I was initially shocked about Clarke getting sacked but then I saw this passage on the bbc:

"You have got to look at this in the context of this calendar year. They have played 34 Premier League games and scored 31 points. Since they were third in the heady days of 2012, they have played 41 Premier League games and they have only won nine of them. Their chairman Jeremy Peace is ruthless. He is unsentimental.

"The 20% win percentage in 2013 is a major blow to the club's prospects. They put a lot of money into the first-team squad. They smashed West Brom's transfer record twice in the space of a couple of hours before the window shut."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25385000

In the side analysis. That stat about Albion have won only seven of their 34 Premier League games in 2013 is telling. Harsh but those stats are worrying. I still don't think you were in any danger of relegation though.

[Bobs]

Cannot believe we've sacked Clarke! Must've been fans pressure, we're looking at offering him a new deal in the new year..

Can't think of any managers is like (within our range)..

These idiots are expecting us to push for Europe! EUROPE!!!!!

We finished eighth last season which is, realistically, as high as we can finish in this league.. The top seven are so far ahead financially & with these 'fair play' rules coming in, even a benefactor couldn't propel us as they've no power anymore..

We're on a dodgy run, it can happen, we overachieved last season, maybe the season before too.. However, success breeds greed & now we're most likely going to struggle..

I liked Clarke, he got stuff wrong but so does Wenger, Ferguson, Mourinho etc.. How does a club like ours survive in this league? Is it worth it?

I don't think so.. We can't win it, we can't get in champions league, we ain't gonna get 6/7th.. What's the point of us being in there? Incentives? To occasionally pull off a result against Manchester City, Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea?

Disillusioned is an understatement.. Clarke will bounce back, he's good, he'll get better.. Given time that is..

[TheGayTent]

Allardyce is a local lad. Take him.

Pretty please.

[TheGayTent]

Presumably Jol must be favourite to go back to West Brom?

[eFestivals]

If Giroud had been in goalscoring form it could have been a different result even though City were the better team.

or even different linesmans calls (not that they were all necessarily wrong).

City were undoubtedly the better team but as you say, Arsenal were competitive. And good on Wenger for going for it too, even tho he was the first to admit that it was a mistake for the goals that were conceded as a result.

Fantastic game. More of those please.

[The Nal]

City are going to walk the league. They get forward like Franco Baresi. Unreal. Kompany back now too. The league table is going to look vastly different in 3 weeks.

[kaosmark2]

or even different linesmans calls (not that they were all necessarily wrong).

City were undoubtedly the better team but as you say, Arsenal were competitive. And good on Wenger for going for it too, even tho he was the first to admit that it was a mistake for the goals that were conceded as a result.

Fantastic game. More of those please.

[kaosmark2]

Henderson's been excellent today.

[pink_triangle]

Henderson's been excellent today.

[Jackmypie]

Liverpool absolutely destroying spurs. Hendog,Lucas, Suarez and of course Flanno all playing really well.

[kaosmark2]

I think this Suarez performance is better than the one against Norwich. Scored 2, assisted 3, in a 5 goal win away at a rival with a miserly defence. Much more important display and both his goals were fantastic, as was the assist for Flanagan.

Edit: Updated with the excellent latest assist.

Edited December 15, 2013 by kaosmark2

[TheGayTent]

I think Liverpool will really struggle for goals this season

[thetime]

So tight at the top, you can see Arsenal down to 4th come 10pm Monday.

[Bobs]

Starting off with how poor Spurs were. They were dire. None of this 'Let them gel' crap, they were awful. That though is 100% down to Liverpool being 100% class act today, from start to finish, they had players snapping at Tottenham heels from the start, the Spurs players didn't know what to do with the ball, in the end, they decided giving it to Liverpool worked well for everyone.

Liverpool, made it look like they were playing boys, and Suaréz is a class player. At the moment he's simply unplayable (Unless you're Hull), and Henderson was excellent going forward.

That result well, that's just a unkind reminder to Daniel Levy, that he let this chump spent £125m this summer (Albeit largely Bale money), for a player who can't get in the team (Lamela), a Striker who really isn't cut out for the prem (Soldado), and a lot more for players who are yet to make an impact. I'd like to think £55m could rebuild a squad for most teams in the premiership, yet Spurs find themselves, on the end of a 5-0 spanking at home, to a team who duly deserved everything they got.

Brendan Rogers may bang transexuals, but he did today, get his tactics spot on today.