The English Premier League Discussion Thread

[Pogba4Now]

Hm, let's consider. According to Whoscored, you most-used, best-scoring 11 has been:

De Gea; Rafael, Smalling, Vidic, Evra; Carrick, Cleverley; Valencia, Rooney, Janujaz; van Persie.

Let's compare that with the other top sides:

Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy; Navas, Yaya, Fernandinho, Silva; Dzeko, Negredo.

Mignolet; Johnson, Skrtel, Sakho, Cissokho; Allen, Gerrard, Henderson; Sterling, Suarez, Coutinho.

Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Lampard; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Eto'o.

Sczeszny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Arteta, Ramsey; Walcott, Ozil, Cazorla; Giroud.

Howard; Coleman, Distin, Jagielka, Baines; McCarthy, Barry; Mirallas, Barkley, Pienaar; Lukaku.

Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Rose; Paulinho, Dembele; Townsend, Eriksen, Sigurdsson; Soldado.

I won't get into a subjective analysis of those teams (without even getting into the subject of depth or the validity of Whoscored's stats) but ManU being in the top 3 out of those is very debatable, with or without Moyes. It doesn't help that Moyes is probably the 6th out of the 7 managers of those teams whereas Ferguson was probably the 1st for the last 5 years but I don't think your squad has been particularly good since you had Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo in that front-line.

ManU wouldn't crack my top 4 out of those squads, and it might not even get 5th. Moyes isn't the only one to blame although he's definitely not helped the club progress at all.

You forgot Mata, Jones and Kagawa. Using Whoscored isn't an accurate way at all of determining the best lineup. That moron is just not using the right players, particularly Kagawa and Jones.

But I get your point, a Fergie-less United team would be difficult to break into the top 3 but SHOULD be better than Tottenham, Everton and maybe Arsenal. Should be top 4 or 5. Not top 3.

 

[Mandieta6]

Like I said, this wasn't about Whoscored's merits. Otherwise you'd have Sturridge, Aguero, Matic, etc. to consider.

ManU have had glaring weaknesses for years. The bubble burst.

 

[Bobby]

The defense got old and the backups aren't good enough. Jones has the potential to be if they'd actually play him there. But Buttner, Evans and even Smalling? Champions League players?

 

[Pogba4Now]

Lots of flaws but still shouldn't have dropped from champions by 11 points to 7th straight away.

Moyes wasted 3 whole months last summer only to buy Fellaini for 27.5 millions when he could have been bought for 23. He put in a very late bid for Coentrao that couldn't be processed in time because of paperwork, he failed to sign De Rossi because he bid for him too late (De Rossi himself confirmed that and he was going to sign if things went through) and let go of the chance of attempting to sign Thiago A when he was available for peanuts. All the problems with the team could (or should) have been solved at the beginning of the season.

 

[Pogba4Now]

I'm delighted with the Mata transfer and he is my favourite player at the moment but that wasn't the smartest of moves. Now we have 3 quality players competing for the AMF position (Rooney, Kagawa) while quality is clearly lacking everywhere else but attack. He just signs players just for the sake of signing and showing that he is doing something, not to necessarily improve the team.

 

[Haarithan]

Lots of flaws but still shouldn't have dropped from champions by 11 points to 7th straight away.

Moyes wasted 3 whole months last summer only to buy Fellaini for 27.5 millions when he could have been bought for 23. He put in a very late bid for Coentrao that couldn't be processed in time because of paperwork, he failed to sign De Rossi because he bid for him too late (De Rossi himself confirmed that and he was going to sign if things went through) and let go of the chance of attempting to sign Thiago A when he was available for peanuts. All the problems with the team could (or should) have been solved at the beginning of the season.

De Rossi also added this once the deal fell apart

Daniele De Rossi 'would have taken his own life' at Manchester United - The Guardian

 

[clash]

i'm glad moyes left but i have to disagree with some of my fellow united fans here. i do not see the midfield including carrick and fellaini (not to mention young, cleverley) being good enough to win the league. same goes for the defence - rio, vidic, evra are all fucking legends but past their best. phil jones and rafael too, true fighters, love rafael's passion but are they good enough to compete with chelsea, city and shitpool, tbh, i wouldn't say so.

i do agree that moyes has never been good enough either and his lack of authority among players and little knowledge when it comes to tactics has had a major role in our shit season, but i couldn't blame it all (or 99%) on moyes. some players are just not good enough and are still starting just beause of their old merits, some have never been good enough and some just need a boot in the ass so they could regain their lost motivation and passion. we have to let go of more than just moyes, need to rebuild the squad.

 

[Mandieta6]

Did anyone else realise Delap has retired? He wasn't much of a player but he was certainly unique and made things interesting.

 

[Seán D]

I did, mind you it would be news over here. He only used the long throw well into his 30s. He wasn't a bad footballer when he was younger but never kicked on.

 

[Seán D]

Everton score twice only to be 2-0 down. Spectacular own goals.

 

[Mandieta6]

Great finishing from Alcaraz and Coleman.

 

[B9Goal]

Great finishing from Alcaraz and Coleman.

Tim Howard's brilliance has always been overshadowed by shoddy back lines.

 

[Mus]

Dembaaaaaaa

 

[Deisler]

When you bound to fail, you always do it with your best player.

 

[Mus]

I hope he misses a penalty too

 

[Mandieta6]

Brilliant. That reminded me of when we last won the Prem and on the 2nd to last gameday Liverpool had the power to give us the title or hand it to ManU and Gerrard assisted Drogba for the winning goal. Glad to see Kalas getting a run-out, hope we hold on and Mou brings Ake on for Schurrle or Ba to see the game out (or Azpi or Cole or Ivanovic, actually).

Sunderland thrased Cardiff. Right now the bottom sides are Cardiff, Fulham and Norwich with Sunderland, Aston Villa, WBA and Swansea still at risk of going down. Norwich and Cardiff look certain because their schedules are fucked. Fulham face two midtable sides that are safe while WBA's is slightly riskier so my favorite trio to go down (WBA, Norwich, Cardiff) could still happen.

 

[Mandieta6]

That was a FIFA counter. Great stuff. Now all we can do is hope Everton beat City and Liverpool get demoralised and choke.

 

[fender]

Well done Chelsea, job well done.

 

[Deisler]

You almost want to feel bad for the Reds, although I have a feeling Crystal Palace will get points out of City.

 

[N-Razvan]

You almost want to feel bad for the Reds, although I have a feeling Crystal Palace will get points out of City.

And from Liverpool too