Football 2015/16

[The Placid Casual]

 

1 minute ago, The Nal said:

Yeah LFC fans got a bit carried away alright. 

Who'd have thought?

The league has been so interesting so far, it's seen Leicester top at this stage. That doesn't mean that some of the big teams haven't underperformed. City & United have underperformed up until now, Arsenal can possibly be forgiven due to their injury woes and the more said about Chelsea the better.

[eFestivals]

4 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Yeah LFC fans got a bit carried away alright. 

I reckon top 4 is stretch this season for them, unless Leicester crash and burn. Or Utd, come to that.

 

 

[The Nal]

3 minutes ago, The Placid Casual said:

Who'd have thought?

Can't blame them really. Hes a legend of a bloke and after the end of Brens reign of Brent any improvement is welcome.

I reckon top 4 is stretch this season for them, unless Leicester crash and burn. Or Utd, come to that.

Think Utd are too organised to crash and burn like that. A steady and boring top 4 is much more likely.

Edited December 7, 2015 by The Nal

[Wooderson]

2 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

I reckon top 4 is stretch this season for them, unless Leicester crash and burn. Or Utd, come to that.

Utd too gnarly to drop out of the top 4. You may have a point about Leicester. Could just be one of those years.

 

[GlastoSimon]

Wouldn't surprise me if Rodgers went back to Swansea, either that or a nice leftfield appointment a la the good old days of Paulo Sousa (although for Swansea's sake I'd hope whoever they appoint is better than Paulo Sousa)

 

EDIT: Just seen Sousa is now in charge of Fiorentina, who are 2nd in Serie A. My apologies for underestimating your ability Paulo. 

Edited December 7, 2015 by GlastoSimon

[mrtourette]

1 hour ago, Wooderson said:

Lot of footie yet to play this season pal

That's my point

[The Placid Casual]

I think Liverpool will finish in the top 4. Well, them or Spurs. I can't see Leicester carrying on their run of good form until the end of the season.

[jackarmy]

1 hour ago, The Placid Casual said:

I have a strong feeling they'll go for Moyes, despite any qualms about their style of play. They'll want an experienced boss to bring them out of this mess, but I feel they'll also see a benefit in a fresh face, keeping Rodgers out of the running for the time being. I disagree with this and think the best man to hire is Rodgers but we'll see.

Trust - it won't be Moyes.

Apparently Colin Pascoe is back in Swansea, could be the pre-cursor to teaming up with his old pal Brendan again.

[eFestivals]

26 minutes ago, jackarmy said:

Apparently Colin Pascoe is back in Swansea, could be the pre-cursor to teaming up with his old pal Brendan again.

I don't get why Rodgers has big appeal. Yes, he knows the club and once got it promoted, but is he really the guy to come in to sort a dodgy situation? I'd have thought his manner was about the last thing you'd want at the moment, tho perhaps he'll be a bit more humble having failed at Liverpool.

[jackarmy]

4 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

I don't get why Rodgers has big appeal. Yes, he knows the club and once got it promoted, but is he really the guy to come in to sort a dodgy situation? I'd have thought his manner was about the last thing you'd want at the moment, tho perhaps he'll be a bit more humble having failed at Liverpool.

The appeal with Rodgers is as you say, that he knows the board, most of the backroom staff, and a large bulk of the playing squad. He'd also quickly get us back to our passing fundamentals, under Monk this has disappeared almost completely - we're just another percentage ball team, struggling to string together more than 6 passes!

For our new manager, it's not so much a question of coming in and assembling a new squad in January, but more like getting the most out of the talented players we already have in the squad. I think Rodgers would be very successful in doing this, our players used to love him telling them how brilliant they all were.

Whether or not he'd want it? He may see it as too much of a step down, I think a deal until the end of the season could really be beneficial to both parties (He can still see it as putting himself in the shop window for a bigger club)

[pink_triangle]

6 hours ago, eFestivals said:

I'm thinking the next few games (Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Man City) are going to expose Leicester ... but if it doesn't, they're probably going to be comfortably in the top 4.

 

To me the trouble with Leicester is they are very dependent on 2 players for goals and they concede quite a lot.  As always happens as the season progresses their lack of squad depth compared to the big boys will be crucial

4 hours ago, eFestivals said:

Clough is back at Burton, but I think Swansea are getting Moyes.

Would Rodgers or Moyes want the job? What are the expectations of a club like Swansea.  I suspect they are in the bottom half of the table for budget, so I think it may be a job with everything to lose and not much to gain.  However if you leave it too long, then you may become irrelevant over time.

[TheGayTent]

There's at least one more FA Cup game at the Boleyn  

[LondonTom]

19 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

There's at least one more FA Cup game at the Boleyn  

All home games to the semi final and a last parade down Green Street

[zahidf]

sturridge injured again. strained his hamstring. out for several weeks

and lvg in!

[ThomThomDrum]

Wow! This Sturridge thing is utterly crazy! 

[DomDom1984]

It's actually fairly predictable at this point.

[thetime]

And that's why United don't attack..

[zahidf]

5 minutes ago, thetime said:

And that's why United don't attack..

smalling is injured as well, so they may have to...

 

i think lvg wanted to lose, when he replaced mata with nick powell...

[eFestivals]

57 minutes ago, thetime said:

And that's why United don't attack..

they'd have a better attack with Sturridge in the squad, tho. :P

[ThomThomDrum]

35 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

they'd have a better attack with Sturridge in the squad, tho.

Sturridge is currently doing more for Utd than LFC where he is! 

[kingcrawler]

That's Garry Monk been sacked by Swansea. It seems a bit harsh given last season but he wasn't showing any signs of ending this awful run and to be honest his sacking was inevitable really. I reckon he'll get a decent job in the championship no bother.

[eFestivals]

1 minute ago, kingcrawler said:

That's Garry Monk been sacked by Swansea. It seems a bit harsh given last season but he wasn't showing any signs of ending this awful run and to be honest his sacking was inevitable really. I reckon he'll get a decent job in the championship no bother.

I reckon that's a far more respectable time into the season to do it than Liverpool managed. And fair play to Swansea for giving him the chance in the first place too.

I've not seen much of Swansea lately, but isn't their problem that they sold Bony, didn't buy someone else, and lacked goals ever since? You reap what you sow.

[jackarmy]

4 hours ago, eFestivals said:

I reckon that's a far more respectable time into the season to do it than Liverpool managed. And fair play to Swansea for giving him the chance in the first place too.

I've not seen much of Swansea lately, but isn't their problem that they sold Bony, didn't buy someone else, and lacked goals ever since? You reap what you sow.

Yes, and no. I would argue we did like Liverpool with the Suarez, and invested the money in other areas, we believed we had a read-made replacement in Gomis (of course he's not up to Bony's level, but very few in the league are IMO).

But it's more than that, the way Monk was setting up was to restrict the opposition and try and nick a winner, it worked lots last season (doubles over Man Utd and Arsenal) - but this year teams have worked us out.

Ultimately it was the right decision, and the new man will have time to assess the squad and get his targets for January. Don't be surprised if you see Gus Poyet back in the Premier League soon if rumours are to be believed...

[pink_triangle]

On 1 December 2015 at 6:20 PM, eFestivals said:

55 minutes ago, jackarmy said:

Yes, and no. I would argue we did like Liverpool with the Suarez, and invested the money in other areas, we believed we had a read-made replacement in Gomis (of course he's not up to Bony's level, but very few in the league are IMO).

But it's more than that, the way Monk was setting up was to restrict the opposition and try and nick a winner, it worked lots last season (doubles over Man Utd and Arsenal) - but this year teams have worked us out.

Ultimately it was the right decision, and the new man will have time to assess the squad and get his targets for January. Don't be surprised if you see Gus Poyet back in the Premier League soon if rumours are to be believed...

Out of interest what are your minimum expectations for Swansea. I'm not sure how they can significantly improve without big investment.

Good wins for Chelsea and Arsenal, you just know the former will end up with genk in round 2!

 

[jackarmy]

8 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Out of interest what are your minimum expectations for Swansea. I'm not sure how they can significantly improve without big investment.

Minimum - 14th position, seeing as this is the "Strongest squad in our history" according to Monk. Survival will always be the main target, especially this season with the new TV deal about to come in.

However, our fans and the board expect to achieve this playing a certain style of football. Monk had sadly eradicated this style of play, preferring to make us "structured" and "hard to break down". I see no reason, why we can't equal a 12th placed finish this season (our lowest finish in the PL)

Survival and a decent cup run every now and then, with the occasional foray into Europe is as good as it's ever gonna get for us. But let's at least have some entertainment for ourselves and the neutrals in doing it...

What odds a Valencia vs Man Utd draw in the Europa League?!

Edited December 9, 2015 by jackarmy