The association football 2009/10 thread...

[MickeyG]

Yeah, Villa did play well, but second half once Fergie had brought on Berba and Owen there was very little width. And Villa had been solid as a rock down the middle, so Obertan should have been added not Berbatov. I wish United had Agbonlahor instead of either Owen or Berbatov. Even off his game he offers a speed threat.

Rooney did dive and was rightly booked. I'm not sure Chelsea will run away with it as they are having their own problems, But United seem to stall every few weeks. Apart from losing to Burnley it's usually when they play someone decent which suggests the squad isn't good enough at the highest level. Yes, they put Spurs away, but they were lucky against Arsenal. Chelsea, Liverpool and Villa have all beaten them while Sunderland were unlucky not to win. That's 4 defeats already and were not even at Christmas yet.

Edited to add: United were lucky to beat shitty City too, so that's 3 decent teams they've beat.

[MickeyG]

Wolves rolling over tonight masks the fact that Fergie's team isn't good enough to dominate this league as it has done in the past.

[Hellsinkey]

The third goal was nice.

[MickeyG]

I'm not sure how much Berbatov knew about that overhead flick going to Valencia though.

[pieceofme]

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LAST 16 DRAW

Stuttgart v Barcelona
Olympiakos v Bordeaux
Inter Milan v CHELSEA
Bayern Munich v Fiorentina
CSKA Moscow v Seville
Lyon v Real Madrid
FC Porto v ARSENAL
AC Milan v MAN UTD

I'm not too concerned with drawing a Kaka free Milan. They certainly aren't the team we faced two years ago. Even though I like Leornado I don't rate him that highly as a manager. So Long as we have some of our players back we should go through.

Chelsea vs Inter is the game of the draw.

[Hellsinkey]

ManU was poor, not even decent chances at goal. Fulham pretty much dominated. I hope ManU get new people soon, this team is too workmanlike, they could use some inspiration.

[MickeyG]

I wish Ferguson would retire.

[jellyheadrobertson]

I wish Ferguson would retire.

You can have Rafa...tomorrow

[MickeyG]

I saw the Liverpool match before I went out, that was shocking too.

Manchester and Liverpool are really suffering right now. City and Everton aren't great either.

If Fergie thinks no money needs to be spent he has definitely lost his marbles.

[coatsy]

mark hughes to be sacked tonight, mancini to come in as interim manager, uncomfirmed reports. watched benitez being interviewed after the portsmouth game today, he looked like a broken man.

[MickeyG]

Mancini signed a 3 1/2 year deal according to what I just heard on tv.

The north west is in turmoil. Cockneys for the title this year.

[coatsy]

Mancini signed a 3 1/2 year deal according to what I just heard on tv.

The north west is in turmoil. Cockneys for the title this year.

it would seem that is the case, brian kidd as no2 is a possibly according to reports.

[pieceofme]

ManU was poor, not even decent chances at goal. Fulham pretty much dominated. I hope ManU get new people soon, this team is too workmanlike, they could use some inspiration.

I agree.

My prediction of Chelsea winning the league seems likey to come true.

Villa are running good. Wonder if they will implode in March like they did last year. Can't beleive their fans booed them after the home game loss against Wigan. Talk about fickle.

[Sammi_Curr]

[MickeyG]

Villa are running good. Wonder if they will implode in March like they did last year. Can't beleive their fans booed them after the home game loss against Wigan. Talk about fickle.

To be fair, wasn't that the first game of the season? They were probably very disappointed with that result and maybe they thought they were in for a long hard season of Liverpool proportions after losing to Wigan.

Expectations are much higher now for those that have, and lower for those that have not much.

I mean, look at me wanting Fergie out after all he's done. Although my disappointment has been brewing since Ronaldo left and wasn't replaced properly.

[pieceofme]

Villa are running good. Wonder if they will implode in March like they did last year. Can't beleive their fans booed them after the home game loss against Wigan. Talk about fickle.

To be fair, wasn't that the first game of the season? They were probably very disappointed with that result and maybe they thought they were in for a long hard season of Liverpool proportions after losing to Wigan.

Expectations are much higher now for those that have, and lower for those that have not much.

I mean, look at me wanting Fergie out after all he's done. Although my disappointment has been brewing since Ronaldo left and wasn't replaced properly.

It was, but still I thought it was harsh booing in the first game of the season.

[SLASH1976]

I don't think another team is gonna match Barca's past year. They won everything there was to win

Very impressing

[Sleazyjack]

Villa are running good. Wonder if they will implode in March like they did last year. Can't beleive their fans booed them after the home game loss against Wigan. Talk about fickle.

To be fair, wasn't that the first game of the season? They were probably very disappointed with that result and maybe they thought they were in for a long hard season of Liverpool proportions after losing to Wigan.

Expectations are much higher now for those that have, and lower for those that have not much.

I mean, look at me wanting Fergie out after all he's done. Although my disappointment has been brewing since Ronaldo left and wasn't replaced properly.

It was, but still I thought it was harsh booing in the first game of the season.

It was not harsh at all, we were at home against a poor team and we were shite, we had just sold our best player and bought no replacement for Laursen at that stage and looked in trouble, thankfully O'neill made a great signing in Dunne and all is well - cheers City, ended up with7 million and Dunne for Barry, and Milner is a much better player in that position anyway!

[pieceofme]

It was not harsh at all, we were at home against a poor team and we were shite, we had just sold our best player and bought no replacement for Laursen at that stage and looked in trouble, thankfully O'neill made a great signing in Dunne and all is well - cheers City, ended up with7 million and Dunne for Barry, and Milner is a much better player in that position anyway!

You're missing my point. It was the first game of the seaon. MON has done wonders for you. And your fans start booing. Most fans wouldn't do that, especially if their team had done what Villa had done the previous season.

[pieceofme]

Saw the Man Utd game today. As has been stated a real lack of creativity from Man Utd but still a workman like performance to get a 3-1 win. Even though Berbatov scored he still isn't living to his £30 million price mark.

Even though Rooney's backpass led to the Hull goal, he still had a really good game.

[MickeyG]

Giggs had a shocker today and the midfield as a whole was poor.

In previous seasons if the other main title challenger, Chelsea in this case, had only won 1 of their last 5 league games United would have been clear by now. It shows how bad they are that Chelsea are still in front despite their problems.

[pieceofme]

Giggs had a shocker today and the midfield as a whole was poor.

In previous seasons if the other main title challenger, Chelsea in this case, had only won 1 of their last 5 league games United would have been clear by now. It shows how bad they are that Chelsea are still in front despite their problems.

Agreed. It will be interesting how they deal with key players leaving for the African Cup of Nations. Although I think the next few games are quite easy for them and they do seem to have more strength and depth than us this year.

[Hellsinkey]

Even though Berbatov scored he still isn't living to his £30 million price mark.

He's a good team player and has assisted in many goals, but for that price he should score a lot more. Tevez was overpriced too, but he has scored more in a few games. Darren Bent was a bargain for Sunderland and he's done well.

[MickeyG]

Just watched City own Wolves and there's no comparison in the work rate of Tevez and Berbatov.

Tevez may lack the subtleties of Berba, but at least he looks like he's trying. Berba is too casual for me.

[Tommy]

Question....

So I'm admittedly really green when it comes to the EPL. But I watched Hull/Man U the other day. The announcers were all giddy that Hull was hanging in there and what not. Yet in their voices it seemed like Hull had no chance to begin with.

My thing is it seems like it's totally a league of haves and have nots. I know that they find young kids and then sign and develop them yet there is no draft in like in US sports (I could be wrong). So how exactly are teams like Hull supposed to compete with the likes of Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea......etc...?

[pieceofme]

[quote="Tommy"]Question....

So I'm admittedly really green when it comes to the EPL. But I watched Hull/Man U the other day. The announcers were all giddy that Hull was hanging in there and what not. Yet in their voices it seemed like Hull had no chance to begin with.

My thing is it seems like it's totally a league of haves and have nots. I know that they find young kids and then sign and develop them yet there is no draft in like in US sports (I could be wrong). So how exactly are teams like Hull supposed to compete with the likes of Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea......etc...?[/quote]

They basically don't unless they get a huge investment from a rich arab or russian owner.

[Tommy]

Question....

So I'm admittedly really green when it comes to the EPL. But I watched Hull/Man U the other day. The announcers were all giddy that Hull was hanging in there and what not. Yet in their voices it seemed like Hull had no chance to begin with.

My thing is it seems like it's totally a league of haves and have nots. I know that they find young kids and then sign and develop them yet there is no draft in like in US sports (I could be wrong). So how exactly are teams like Hull supposed to compete with the likes of Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea......etc...?[/quote]

They basically don't unless they get a huge investment from a rich arab or russian owner.

And that's just "the way it is" I gather?

[Hellsinkey]

Question....

So I'm admittedly really green when it comes to the EPL. But I watched Hull/Man U the other day. The announcers were all giddy that Hull was hanging in there and what not. Yet in their voices it seemed like Hull had no chance to begin with.

My thing is it seems like it's totally a league of haves and have nots. I know that they find young kids and then sign and develop them yet there is no draft in like in US sports (I could be wrong). So how exactly are teams like Hull supposed to compete with the likes of Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea......etc...?[/quote]

They basically don't unless they get a huge investment from a rich arab or russian owner.

And that's just "the way it is" I gather?

Sadly it's a lot about the money. Since the beginning of the Premier League in the early 90's, ManU, Arsenal and Chelsea have been the champions, except once when Blackburn won.

[MickeyG]

The interesting thing about Hull is that a few years ago they were on the verge of going out of business before someone with money took them over. I think they were in the 3rd division, or 4th tier of the ladder at the time.

The investment they received made them a "big boy" amongst the teams around them. With that investment they climbed the ladder to the Prem which they had no chance of doing without that money. So yes, Hull technically have no chance of competing with United or Chelsea, but compared to many others they are far luckier. Wigan are a similar story to Hull. Without Dave Whelan owning them, they would still be in the bottom division fighting to stay in the league and not become part-timers.

[Sleazyjack]

It was not harsh at all, we were at home against a poor team and we were shite, we had just sold our best player and bought no replacement for Laursen at that stage and looked in trouble, thankfully O'neill made a great signing in Dunne and all is well - cheers City, ended up with7 million and Dunne for Barry, and Milner is a much better player in that position anyway!

You're missing my point. It was the first game of the seaon. MON has done wonders for you. And your fans start booing. Most fans wouldn't do that, especially if their team had done what Villa had done the previous season.

I disagree , I remember a season (admittedly a while ago ) when Man U had just won the treble and we beat them at Villa Park 3-1, there fans were booing them and that was the first game of the season.

MON - is the best manager in the prem, yes we got spanked by Arse and deserved it as well, but we will be back , hopefully tonight against the scousers and we still have money to spend in Jan - Now if Blues would just stop doing so well , i'd be happy - bastards!! lol!!