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English Premier League thread

beachryan said:
I think that was the last time Fletcher scored for us :(

I do think you'll win tomorrow, but hopefully it won't change anything.

Also, looks like Mancini is terrified of FFP:

"We need to improve our team every year and in the summer we need to buy the players who can make the difference, important players that can improve our team.
"We want to spend less money if possible but every time we go to buy one player the price is high. We try to spend less but we can't."

"But if we have the same team and instead you put Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa in United's team...We made a mistake. It can happen. We can't be perfect."

Particularly like that last one about having the same team. Lovely for Rodwell, Sinclair and Garcia that (especially as Garcia cost the same as Kagawa...)
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TBH, I agree what he is saying but it's not something you should shout about to the press.

It's the other quotes that are ridiculous

"I don't know how much money we can spend," Mancini said. "I don't know this. But United in the past did spend a lot to buy important players. Now they don't need to spend every year, £100m. United are a top team, they just need to buy one top player every year because they are strong. For us it is different, we need to do it this way and may be in three or four years we need only buy one player in the summer because we have a strong team."
 
For those that think that phrases like 'wage bill as % of turnover' and 'net loss' are nothign to do with football, don't bother. But for those who have some concern about the future of clubs, here's the latest brilliant stuff from The Guardian's David Conn, on the precarious nature of the premier league's finances:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/apr/18/premier-league-finances-club-by-club

Most impressive for me is Everton - their wage bill is about 50% of Liverpool's, yet they've been great this year. Madness.

Man City have the highest wage bill, which is 6x higher than the team with the lowest wage bill (Swansea city). More madness.
 
Interesting article beach. I'm surpised there are actually clubs without net debt. People always speak of Arsenal as a well led club, we now know that Swansea is the example and on top of that they won more silverware than Arsenal.

And this in a good year for Welsh football. With Cardiff's promotion, next season we might see 3 Welsh teams in the EPL: Swansea, Cardiff and Gareth Bale !!!
 
gerd said:
Interesting article beach. I'm surpised there are actually clubs without net debt. People always speak of Arsenal as a well led club, we now know that Swansea is the example and on top of that they won more silverware than Arsenal.
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They won more silverwear this year....but I think if you look over the years we have a few more trophies :SMUG:

gerd said:
And this in a good year for Welsh football. With Cardiff's promotion, next season we might see 3 Welsh teams in the EPL: Swansea, Cardiff and Gareth Bale !!!
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:)) good one
 
Defenders getting overlooked again...

PFA Player of the Year award shortlist: Bale, Carrick, Hazard, Mata, Suarez and Van Persie

Young Player of the Year shortlist: Bale, Hazard, Benteke, Lukaku, Welbeck and Wilshere

Not sure why those 3 are there. Should be swapped for Michu, Raphael and Nastasic.

No Michu = mega:FAIL:


Anyway, imo, POTY=Bale and YPOTY=Lukaku
 
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Hazard should only be among the young players of the year. It's not good for him that he is already on the shortlist.

Player of the year: Suarez or Mata. As a Spurs fan i don't want it to be bale, because all the big team fans dislike towards him will grow if he is player of the year. But there are quite a lot of arguments to vote for Bale. Personally i prefer Mata or Suarez. I like them more (as a player).
Young player of the year: i'm not sure. But since you mention Lukaku, IMO both other Belgian players are better IMO (although Lukaku has surprised me enormously).

On these shortlists you can see ho much hype there is around Belgian players. Hazard, Benteke and Lukaku are on the shortlist. I'm not sure that they are better than: Mignolet, Mirallas, Dembele and Vetonghen. And what about Fellaini ? I'm not saying all those players should be on the short lists. I'm only talking about the hype.

To put it all in perspective: two seasons ago Vermaelen was seen as fantastic, now he is on the bench...at the time i already said that he is not as good defensive, but at the time he scored some goals and people didn't notice that he had defensive shortcomings....Now it seems as if he is underachieving, he isn't...the hype is gone because he scores less...


PS: i agree that Michu should be there, but you can say that about other players: Begovic, Cazorla, Baines (BAINES !!!), Touré, ...
 
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I chose Lukaku over Benteke partly because he's only 19 and has had to deal with a huge transfer fee and being loaned out to WB.

POTY could be Suarez, RVP or Bale and you wouldn't hear a complaint from me, however, 20+ goals from mostly a midfield position(albeit a free role/am) is a superb achievement.

Call me biased but Nastasic should be winning YPOTY. He has been the best defender in the best defence in the league. But I guess we've got to have some english players in there with Welbeck (a forward who scored once every 1800mins or something) and Wilshere (a player who has barely played half a season?) I rate both of them but they don't deserve to be on the list.
 
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I agree with Godotelli actually, Nastasic has been a phenomenal defender in this season his ommision from the shortlist and Welbecks inclusion is a massive balls up.

Of course I think Benteke should win the award because he's been a bright spark in a otherwise abysmal Villa side,
 
gerd said:
Hazard should only be among the young players of the year. It's not good for him that he is already on the shortlist.

Player of the year: Suarez or Mata. As a Spurs fan i don't want it to be bale, because all the big team fans dislike towards him will grow if he is player of the year. But there are quite a lot of arguments to vote for Bale. Personally i prefer Mata or Suarez. I like them more (as a player).
Young player of the year: i'm not sure. But since you mention Lukaku, IMO both other Belgian players are better IMO (although Lukaku has surprised me enormously).

On these shortlists you can see ho much hype there is around Belgian players. Hazard, Benteke and Lukaku are on the shortlist. I'm not sure that they are better than: Mignolet, Mirallas, Dembele and Vetonghen. And what about Fellaini ? I'm not saying all those players should be on the short lists. I'm only talking about the hype.

To put it all in perspective: two seasons ago Vermaelen was seen as fantastic, now he is on the bench...at the time i already said that he is not as good defensive, but at the time he scored some goals and people didn't notice that he had defensive shortcomings....Now it seems as if he is underachieving, he isn't...the hype is gone because he scores less...


PS: i agree that Michu should be there, but you can say that about other players: Begovic, Cazorla, Baines (BAINES !!!), Touré, ...
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This. How can a player of his quality and consistency not be on that list?!
 
I never think too much about those lists. The voting is inexplicably in February, done by footballers and it's often a popularity contest. I mean Ryan Giggs won it like 2 years ago when he was mediocre at best.

For me:

POTY: RVP (cause his goals will win the trophy that matters); Suarez; Mata; Carrick; Michu; Bale (in that order)
YPOTY: Benteke; Lukaku; Nastasic; De Gea; Rafael;
 
I'd give RVP the main award simply because his talisman efforts have resulted in a league title, nothing is more important than winning.

Nastasic and Shaw should be on the young player list, Hazard has had a solid season but isn't a worthy candidate IMO, Michu not getting recognition from his fellow professionals says more about them.

Voting around Christmas for an award based on a whole season is just silly.
 
Surely if you don't put Hazard in the player of the year short list (which i agree with). He should be on the list for young player of the year. He's certainly better than both Lukaku and Benteke.

Don't agree with RVP, for me it's only between Suarez, Mata and Bale.
I do agree with Wellbeck however, with the national team and in the CL he showed that he is a class player.

How can "they" forget Baines...jesus.


Anyway, football is a team sport. Those individual awards are only good for discussions like these, otherwise they are totally irrelevant...
 
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Suarez has some serious problems.
 
After negritogate, now bitegate...for the second time.
I really feel for Chelsea that he scored the equaliser.
 
gabe.paul.logan said:
the akward moment when John Champion and Jim Beglin are the commentators for the Liverpool - Chelsea game this afternoon
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It was amazing how upset they were at the first goal. It was like all the air had gone out of 'em.

I hate that. Niall Quinn is the worst. Sky stuck him on a bunch of United matches, and he loathes everything about them. Is it too much to expect some impartial commentary?
 
Looks like Suarez has bit off more than he can chew.

Although I heard PSG are interested in him, as he can add a bit of bite up front and he has a great appetite for the game!!!


FD
 
My favorite Fergie stat: Since Fergie first won the premier league in 92/93, on only 1 occasion (Mourinho's Chelsea) has United failed to win the title after losing out.

In other words, in the last 20 years, United have won at least every other league title. Fergie does not like losing his trophy.
 
Not the best week for Villa. I really hope they can stay up because despite their defensive weaknesses, at times they play very attractive football.
 
I REALLY want Villa to stay up. They have some great talent, and it's not their fault they're unable to spend beyond their means. Weimann, Benteke, Lowton all look premier level talents.

Will be sad either way on the last day, I like both Wigan and Villa. Why couldn't QPR just beat Stoke and force them into it! It'll make the world a better place!
 
Historic club who belong in Premier League.

EPL missed Newcastle when it wasn't here, and similarly it would miss the likes of Everton and Aston Villa. It's been rough for them the past couple of years but as one of its oldest and most traditional clubs, it would be a shame to see them relegated.

Wigan (by all means a small club and a minor one compared to Aston Villa) who have previously dodged the bullet on the final day on numerous occasions are a more worthy candidate for going down and there are others as well.
 
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