The EPL thread

[serious14]

Just trying to remember the last result at St. James'........

5-1??  Was it 5-1??  Yeah, I think it was 5-1. 

 

[bulldogmariner]

Do you remember 5-0?? When we destroyed you?

 

[fedelta]

 

[serious14]

Do you remember 5-0?? When we destroyed you?

Do you remember 95/96??  12 point lead sunshine. 

 

[FFC Mariner]

I'd love it, just love it if I made all sorts of rash promises to Fulham and walked out to take the England job that I completely ballsed up, just love it

 

[serious14]

Football365.com for the win once again.....

Question - If Liverpool are the Classical Greek Tragedy, are ManYoo the Classical Roman Orgy??

;D

 

[marinermick]

newcastle are giving everything for this equaliser

 

[serious14]

Rayne Wooney and Dimitar Berbagoal.

Love it, 2-1 to Man U at full time. 7 points clear and a game in hand.

;D

 

[serious14]

Man City 2, Aston Villa 0 (wtf??)
Stoke 2, Bolton 0
Wigan 0, West Ham 1
Blackburn 0, Everton 0
Fulham 0, Hull 1
Tottenham 4, Boro 0 (okay Dru, seriously mate, what the f*ck)

 

[dru]

Tottenham 4, Boro 0 (okay Dru, seriously mate, what the f*ck)

Okay I get that your a Merch utd fan so you just don't get what football to the rest of us is like.

at 1 nil a disallowed goal has taken away the belief of a team that is till very much in relegation trouble. Even if the same 11 beat Liverpool 2-0 when a second goal goes in it is going to be very hard to come back on the road. the last spurs goals came late in the game (last 15 or so) and the third killed off any confidence in the defence. Given that it is an away trip (home teams are more likely to win) and not every team will be close to winning every game they play

Added to that is the fact that I believed we had half a chance. blind pessimism returns now and we will be similarly murdered by Everton on Saturday in the FA cup.

 

[serious14]

Tottenham 4, Boro 0 (okay Dru, seriously mate, what the f*ck)

Okay I get that your a Merch utd fan so you just don't get what football to the rest of us is like.

at 1 nil a disallowed goal has taken away the belief of a team that is till very much in relegation trouble. Even if the same 11 beat Liverpool 2-0 when a second goal goes in it is going to be very hard to come back on the road. the last spurs goals came late in the game (last 15 or so) and the third killed off any confidence in the defence. Given that it is an away trip (home teams are more likely to win) and not every team will be close to winning every game they play

Added to that is the fact that I believed we had half a chance. blind pessimism returns now and we will be similarly murdered by Everton on Saturday in the FA cup.

Actually CHIEF, I was just saying 'wtf' in reference to your current form......

Merch United??  Give me a break - the season I was introduced to them we came 11th and won f*ck all.  Hardly a bandwagon.

 

[dibo]

The Guardian: This isn't even the most exciting league in Britain, let alone Europe

March should have been the month the title race had us on the edge of our seats, but instead we are stumbling through the most disappointing season in 12 years

Three teams, three wins; too little, too late. This was supposed to be the month the Premier League started hotting up, as Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal attempted to wrest the prize that matters the most from the reigning champions' grasp. And look what's happened. Tonight's results change nothing.

In terms of quality, from top to bottom, this is worst English top-flight season since 1996/97. That was, coincidentally, another in which a table-topping Liverpool side flattered to deceive at the turn of the year, before capitulating weakly the minute the only half-decent side in the top division finally got their chops up.

Liverpool's current woes, already comprehensively debated on this site since their weekend capitulation at Middlesbrough, were again illustrated tonight as a Torres-lite side huffed and puffed for the best part of an hour before eventually nicking past Sunderland thanks to a misdirected Steven Gerrard header and a goalkeeping mistake.

Chelsea meanwhile made it three 90-minute toils in a row at Portsmouth, Guus Hiddink's touch not so much magic as blessed, while Arsenal kept their hopes of fourth spot (fourth!) alive with an easy win at bottom club West Brom by scoring their first league goals since January. Well done everyone, but it's not particularly impressive stuff from the three clubs expected to challenge United for the title at the start of the year.

Even Manchester United, whose squad the pundits on Sky's Sunday Supplement were last weekend falling over each other to anoint the best ever... well, you can't knock their run of scrappy one-goal victories, especially as nobody else has been able to put together one of their own. But it's the least they could have done with all the much-heralded attacking talent at their disposal, and 46 goals in 26 games isn't such a grand return in such a non-descript league.

All of which would be perfectly tolerable had England still a title race to enjoy. The quality of football in the other big European leagues isn't great either, but at least there's some excitement on offer to the paying punters. Real Madrid may have been embarrassed by stuttering Liverpool last week, but at least they've been delivering week in, week out domestically, and are putting some serious pressure on Barcelona. Conversely, Bayern Munich are capable of winning by five goals at one of the top 16 teams in Europe, yet are the stragglers in a four-team pack chasing Hertha Berlin (who last won their national championship in 1931) at the head of the Bundesliga.

Lyon seven-in-a-row Lyon are four points clear in France, but Paul le Guen's resurgent PSG are closing, with Marseille and Bordeaux in hot pursuit. Even in Scotland where, interminably, it's the same top two yet again it'd take a brave man to decide which way the coin will land between Rangers and Celtic.

Of the big leagues, only in Italy is there currently a bigger gap between first and second. Juventus trail Inter by seven points, three more than Chelsea and Liverpool trundle along after United, but they have had the decency to only play the same number of games. Should or, maybe, when United win their two matches in hand, they'll be ten points ahead with ten still to play. Such an embarrassing gap hasn't been seen in England since 1999/2000, when United finished 18 points ahead of Arsenal, but at least they had rattled in a spectacular 97 goals along the way, which offered Arsenal, Leeds and Liverpool an excuse they could grab with both hands.

When United won their Treble in 1999, they had to hold off an excellent Arsenal side one that, had Dennis Bergkamp's penalty gone in at the end of that semi, would probably have won the Double themselves while eliminating better-than-decent Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich teams in Europe. This season United are on for a Quintuple; the only thing is, unlike that Treble side, they've as yet had nobody to play. There's a very good chance Alex Ferguson's side could go into the record books this season but, in these barren times, going down in legend may prove harder altogether.

 

[dru]

Actually CHIEF, I was just saying 'wtf' in reference to your current form......

Merch United??  Give me a break - the season I was introduced to them we came 11th and won f*ck all.  Hardly a bandwagon.

We have current form? apart from the anomaly of the last two games we hadn't won in the leaue since November (yes one of the games was a cup game but you know what I mean), this was more a return to form.    the fact of the matter is that when a team that was 2 points ahead of you on the table smashes you 4 nil it's hardly a good day. Don't forget the same club held you goaless for 120 minutes in the cup final recently so hardly demoralised themselves.

Chief, I've never called you or any of the other red devils fans on hear bandwagoners (ok maybe once to stir you), I have refered to your team as Merch utd for longer than the Mariners have been around and will continue to do so as it isn't about the fans but about the massive revunues they have worldwide from merchandise. 04-05 and 01-02 are about the only seasons you have failed to win silverwear in the last 10 seasons or so isn't it? Hardly a case of being unused to winning stuff. 128 years it was for boro and we are now up to 4 seasons without one.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Lovely reply on the Fulham (unofficial MB) to a poster who said "I want my team to win every game, what does that make me?"

Reply = A Manure fan, you live in London and want to follow a team that wins every week.

Real football for 99.9% of clubs just doesnt work that way.

 

[Paolo]

The Guardian: This isn't even the most exciting league in Britain, let alone Europe

i cant say i agee with this comment. It may not be exciting for the big 4...but for the rest of the league this is one of the most exciting/nerve racking in years as a shitload of teams are still in the run for a european spot but at the same time in danger of relegation.....outside the top 4 is the real competition.

p.s 4-0 Come of you spurs!!!

 

[loyalist]

Disagree, championship ftw

 

[David Votoupal]

The quality of any league fluctuates from one year to the next. We see it in our own A-League.

But has the overall standard of football improved or worsened compared to a generation or two ago? Too much emphasis on athletes and not natural footballers has hurt it IMHO.

 

[Bear]

West Ham in 7th place =

one of the most exciting/nerve racking in years

Something I do not expect James to understand

 

[serious14]

West Ham in 7th place =

one of the most exciting/nerve racking in years

Something I do not expect James to understand

That is a downright lie and you know it - do you recall the last day of the 07/08 season when we watched it at Dwyer St. last year??  How utterly chewingmynailszomg nervous I was until Giggs slotted home the second goal against Wigan, and then to keep checking and rechecking Football365 live scores, then the sheer elation as Bolton equalised against Chelsea, whilst at the same time keeping track of Fulham's game against Pompey??  Then this from you in reaction to my face for the last 15 minutes when it was clear we were going to win the title again: "Just once, I want that feeling you've got now".

You goose.

 

[Bear]

Can anyone who is not James spot the difference between finishing 1st and finishing high enough for europe?

YOU goose