Premiership - 13th August 2011

[Guest]

First topic message reminder :

Today sees the return of the premiership! (about time, It's a nightmare during the summer with no footy)

Today's matches:

Blackburn v Wolves 15:00
Fulham v Aston Villa 15:00
Liverpool v Sunderland 15:00
Newcastle v Arsenal 17:30
QPR v Bolton 15:00
Wigan v Norwich 15:00

How do you see the games going today?
And don't forget to join the v2 prediction league, 96 in so far!
https://www.606v2.com/t10360-prediction-league-partnership

[Derbyblue]

It wasn't a dive though, if no contact is made, then it's a dive, but he was slapped, however softly, so he didn't dive.

How was it not a dive? Yes contact was made, but contact that even a baby wouldn't have fallen over from, it was a clear dive in the fact there was probably a 2 or 3 second delay between contact and reacting.

It doesn't matter whether you think somebody else wouldn't have gone down from the slap, the fact is Gervinho slapped him and deserved to get sent off. Barton only went down because he was slapped. In the same way if a striker was running straight for goal, clear goal scoring chance and was clipped by a defender, that's a red card whether or not the player goes down or not, if you think that a baby wouldn't have gone down from the challenge is irrelevant, the offence was there.

Swearing at the ref is an offence, throwing or kicking the ball away after the whistle has gone is an offence, shirt pulling and pushing others in the box while corners and free kicks are being taken are offences, players being in the box before a penalty has been taken is an offence, please tell me how often these offences go unpunished. Yes he deserved to be sent off but Baton should be booked for going down easily, and booked for grabbing a fellow players shirt and dragging him around with it also equalling a red card, but that didn't happen. No comeback to the fact that you yourself called it a dive?

[Fernando]

personally i think a draw would of been a fair result neither side looked like scoring until frimpong went and both goals were offside

it is clear that arsenal need some new players but in better news nasri's move to man city has broken down

[Guest]

I had Liverpool to win 2-0 and Suarez to score first @ 70/1 and because the first goal was an o.g it rolled over to the second scorer

[Crimey]

It wasn't a dive though, if no contact is made, then it's a dive, but he was slapped, however softly, so he didn't dive.

How was it not a dive? Yes contact was made, but contact that even a baby wouldn't have fallen over from, it was a clear dive in the fact there was probably a 2 or 3 second delay between contact and reacting.

It doesn't matter whether you think somebody else wouldn't have gone down from the slap, the fact is Gervinho slapped him and deserved to get sent off. Barton only went down because he was slapped. In the same way if a striker was running straight for goal, clear goal scoring chance and was clipped by a defender, that's a red card whether or not the player goes down or not, if you think that a baby wouldn't have gone down from the challenge is irrelevant, the offence was there.

Swearing at the ref is an offence, throwing or kicking the ball away after the whistle has gone is an offence, shirt pulling and pushing others in the box while corners and free kicks are being taken are offences, players being in the box before a penalty has been taken is an offence, please tell me how often these offences go unpunished. Yes he deserved to be sent off but Baton should be booked for going down easily, and booked for grabbing a fellow players shirt and dragging him around with it also equalling a red card, but that didn't happen. No comeback to the fact that you yourself called it a dive?

When I said dive, I didn't mean it in the official sense, that a dive is when there is no contact but you still go down. The offence was punished because it was a more serious one than the ones you have listed, he failed to deliver a good hit to Barton, but he still hit Barton in the face a serious offence and Barton went down. I think if it wasn't Joey Barton who went down, you would say he was right to go down. It's wrong really, but in this day in age of football, because fouls and yellow cards and red cards can be so decisive, players have to make sure the referee has seen the offence.

[Derbyblue]

It wasn't a dive though, if no contact is made, then it's a dive, but he was slapped, however softly, so he didn't dive.

How was it not a dive? Yes contact was made, but contact that even a baby wouldn't have fallen over from, it was a clear dive in the fact there was probably a 2 or 3 second delay between contact and reacting.

It doesn't matter whether you think somebody else wouldn't have gone down from the slap, the fact is Gervinho slapped him and deserved to get sent off. Barton only went down because he was slapped. In the same way if a striker was running straight for goal, clear goal scoring chance and was clipped by a defender, that's a red card whether or not the player goes down or not, if you think that a baby wouldn't have gone down from the challenge is irrelevant, the offence was there.

Swearing at the ref is an offence, throwing or kicking the ball away after the whistle has gone is an offence, shirt pulling and pushing others in the box while corners and free kicks are being taken are offences, players being in the box before a penalty has been taken is an offence, please tell me how often these offences go unpunished. Yes he deserved to be sent off but Baton should be booked for going down easily, and booked for grabbing a fellow players shirt and dragging him around with it also equalling a red card, but that didn't happen. No comeback to the fact that you yourself called it a dive?

When I said dive, I didn't mean it in the official sense, that a dive is when there is no contact but you still go down. The offence was punished because it was a more serious one than the ones you have listed, he failed to deliver a good hit to Barton, but he still hit Barton in the face a serious offence and Barton went down. I think if it wasn't Joey Barton who went down, you would say he was right to go down. It's wrong really, but in this day in age of football, because fouls and yellow cards and red cards can be so decisive, players have to make sure the referee has seen the offence.

Surely all offences should be punished? Saying it's not as serious as a tiny slap doesn't really make sense, all offences are offences and all should be punished in the way that they should be. Hahahahahahahaha trust me no matter who had gone down due to that slap I would be calling it a dive, if making sure the ref has seen the incident is so important then the players should tell the ref or some official somewhere should be able to tell him that Gervinho slapped Barton without Barton going down in the way that he did which is an offence in itself.

[AberdeenSteve]

CHELSEA v WEST BROM

Chelsea: Hilario, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Mikel, Lampard, Anelka, Torres, Kalou.
Subs: Turnbull, Ivanovic, Benayoun, Drogba, Malouda, Ferreira, McEachran.
West Brom: Foster, Reid, Tamas, Olsson, Shorey, Scharner, Mulumbu, Brunt, Morrison, Long, Tchoyi.
Subs: Fulop, Cech, Dorrans, Jara Reyes, McAuley, Odemwingie, Cox.

[Crimey]

Is Sturridge still suspended?

How long will Chelsea keep starting Torres if he doesn't start scoring? Surely they'd be forced to start playing Drogba instead, and how come Kalou is starting? Drogba or Malouda would be better options I thought? Is Luiz injured?

[AberdeenSteve]

Vilas-Boas better be praying right now. If they lose at home to West Brom he'll be under pressure already. This time last season they'd already thumped West Brom!!

[AberdeenSteve]

Also, how bad were Everton today? Davie Moyes is horrendously wasted there!

[Guest]

Haven't saw Frimpong's sending off, but please tell me it was because of a foul on Suarez

Didn't get to watch the whole derby because of work, but our defence looked promising for the first half. Glad to get a win this week, still unbeaten :P

[Crimey]

Unfortunatly it wasn't Churchill, Suarez came on after the sending off.

[Guest]

Ah, kid must have a temper. Only basing this off his red card and tweeting

AVB brings Kalou off after 35 minutes. Juan Mata at Stamford Bridge. Bye bye Kalou?

[Crimey]

Ah, kid must have a temper. Only basing this off his red card and tweeting

AVB brings Kalou off after 35 minutes. Juan Mata at Stamford Bridge. Bye bye Kalou?

He started Kalou last week as well, can't understand why.

[Guest]

With Mata being brought in it's either Kalou or Malouda out the door imo. Can't see him keeping Drogba, Torres, Lukaku, Sturridge, Anelka, Kalou, Malouda and Mata all for three spots. Could probably lose Kalou and Anelka and not miss them too much. Why Malouda didn't start ahead of Kalou is baffling to me.

[AberdeenSteve]

Chelsea just seem completely lost when going forward.

Lukaku should have started with Malouda and Benayoun!

[Crimey]

Anelka has just equalised.

I think if Chelsea are going to stick with Torres, they need to show they have confidence in him and cash in on Drogba now, get rid of Kalou who I've never rated either. Anelka is still decent, and I think is more likely to be happier to take a back seat these days.

[AberdeenSteve]

All I want to know is what has happened to Fernando Torres? He just looks like he has no confidence in himself.

[Josiah Maiestas]

Torres problem is he doesn't have a properly functioning hamstring. To be honest Liverpool should have to pay a refund for damaged goods

[Mat]

I hate football.

[Bull]

haha unlucky mat ... things will get better for brom .. you heard it from me first

[Guest]

Tbf I don't think anyone expected you to pick up points against those two teams, but to have come close both weeks must be pretty annoying. Shane Long looks quite good at this level, I didn't think he'd be that impressive, but two goals in two games speaks for itself.

[Mat]

Didn't expect us to get anything but to then get close both times is really annoying.I think Chelsea were there for the taking today, we should have made changes earlier.

Long looks good, him and Odemwingie will be class together.

[Crimey]

As long as you perform like that against teams lower than Chelsea and United you should have no problem picking up points.

[westisbest]

We are top of the league, we are top of the league,

untill tomorrow.

[Thomond]

Anyone think Joey Barton got Hitler haircut,or is it just me?

[Crimey]

How many (if any) goals does everybody think Aguero will score today? I'll go for none.

[Bull]

im gona go with bolton to beat city 2-1

[Fernando]

as of 4pm the scores are

Norwich 1-1 Stoke - de laet 37th min with leon barnett s/o for norwich and kenwyne jones for stoke after 94 mins FT
Wolves 2-0 fulham - doyle 42nd and Jarvis 46th mins FT

[Guest]

Happy for Wolves at the moment. Love Mick McCarthy and hate to see them struggling at the end of seasons.

[Fernando]

Bolton v Man City line-ups
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Robinson, Eagles, Muamba, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Kevin Davies, Klasnic. Subs: Bogdan, Alonso, Mark Davies, Blake, Pratley, Wheater, Blakeman.

Man City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov, Milner, Barry, Toure Yaya, Silva, Dzeko, Aguero. Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Clichy, Savic, Johnson, Tevez, Balotelli.

Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)

[Guest]

The Norwich red card was never a sending off, and never a penalty. Got to feel for Norwich because they were well in control when it was 11v11.

[Josiah Maiestas]

Stoke are really a horrible "team" to be playing in this league. Pulis why don't you like any 5'10 players always huge rugby boys?

[Crimey]

I like Stoke. I don't know why, but I do like them, I think they play to their strengths and it has worked, I would get bored if every team tried to play "the Barca way".

[Beer]

Agree with Crimey, i like them, as physical as they are they bring a different edge to the PL, i hope they do well in Europe.

[Fernando]

Breaking News: Chelsea have agreed a 29m euro's deal to sign Valencia's Juan Manuel Mata

[ncfc_Tooze]

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
It wasnt red,outside box,De Laet was behind Barnett
didnt play badly for a team with several changes to it though. if play how we did yesterday we will pick up some decent results through the season. Tough game saturday away to chelsea

[Soldier_Of_Fortune]

personally i think a draw would of been a fair result neither side looked like scoring until frimpong went and both goals were offside

it is clear that arsenal need some new players but in better news nasri's move to man city has broken down

I do think Livepool were the better side before Frimpong got sent off. But he has only got himself to blame, he was lucky he wernt sent off earlier. But he is the type of player Arsenal have been missing.

I think that we would have won the game when Suarez and Raul came on regardless of the sending off. Your defense didnt have enough legs left to cope with the constant movement. Probs what Kenny had in mind before the match, giving Suarez a rest plus knowing he would have an impact, especially after seeing the fitness levels at the sunderland game.

Think with Song and Geveninho back in the team you should get into the Champs league, but CB is a must now.

[Crimey]

I agree with SoF, I felt we were the better side for most of the game, Arsenal were pretty good on the counter, but I was pretty happy with how our defence managed to cope with it.

And it seems we've finally managed to get around one of our main problems for years; depth. To have the team we had, then be able to bring on Suarez and Raul is very encouraging, as well as the fact we still have players like Gerrard and Johnson to come back from injury.

I do think we may have to sign a new striker next summer though, I would be slightly worried if one of Carroll or Suarez got a major injury.

[Fernando]

Man Utd: De Gea, Smalling, Jones, Evans, Evra, Nani, Cleverley,
Anderson, Young, Rooney, Welbeck. Subs: Lindegaard, Berbatov, Giggs, Park, Hernandez, Carrick, Fabio Da Silva.

Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Livermore, Kranjcar, Bale, Van der Vaart, Defoe. Subs: Gomes, Huddlestone, Jenas, Pavlyuchenko, Bassong, Corluka, Townsend.

[Irish Curry]

[quote="fernando"][b]Man Utd:[/b] De Gea, Smalling, Jones, Evans, Evra, Nani, Cleverley,
Anderson, Young, Rooney, Welbeck. Subs: Lindegaard, Berbatov, Giggs, Park, Hernandez, Carrick, Fabio Da Silva.

[b]Tottenham: [/b]Friedel, Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Livermore, Kranjcar, Bale, Van der Vaart, Defoe. Subs: Gomes, Huddlestone, Jenas, Pavlyuchenko, Bassong, Corluka, Townsend.[/quote]

Spurs should really be tryind to give Bale the ball as much as they can so he can have a go at Smalling who is really a CB not a RB. Doesn't look to be happening though

[dondelero]

Utd 3 Spurs 0

The Utd youngsters were excellent last night. Smalling though not a RB kept the "gale force" very quiet indeed and Jones, Welbeck et al did the business. Spurs got exactly what they deserved for their lack of ambition although it wouldn't really have mattered that much as they youngsters were on fire especially in the second half.

They will need a rest as the season goes on but for now it is a joy to see them play.

[Davie]

Jones looks like he'll fit in very well.

Angry, surly, arrogant and petulant

[Irish Curry]

[quote="Davie"]Jones looks like he'll fit in very well.

Angry, surly, arrogant and petulant[/quote]

[dondelero]

Jones looks like he'll fit in very well.

Angry, surly, arrogant and petulant

Thats a little harsh isn't it? Sounds like you don't like Manchester United very much!

[Davie]

His nickname could be Angrily, to go along with Cleverly, Uglily, Sulkily, Aggressively, Twitterly, Dodgily and Granny-Loverly

[ADMIN]

His nickname could be Angrily, to go along with Cleverly, Uglily, Sulkily, Aggressively, Twitterly, Dodgily and Granny-Loverly

Granny Loverly I can work out.

Is Twitterly or Uglily Rio?
And who's the rest?

[Davie]

Apart from Twitterly and Granny-Loverly (who could also be Uglily), then they are all pretty much generic names. Except Cleverly of course

[dondelero]

How old are you guys?

[Davie]

My age is over there on the right along with my name, join date and location

[Beer]

My age is over there on the right along with my name, join date and location

Have your eyes gotten so bad that you need him to remind you how old you are?

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