5000-1 - The 2016/17 Premier League thread

[Crimey]

First topic message reminder :

Also, considering mine and pretty much everybody's doubts Mane has been a fantastic signing.

[Crimey]

Great goal from Andy Carroll, he's been trying to score an overhead kick since he was at Liverpool so good to see that he's finally put one away.

A draw is a disappointing result considering how long we were holding out for and the goal ended up coming from an offside cross but we lacked ambition to go and kill the game off so didn't deserve to win. Missed Clyne and Mane on the right. Pogba was dreadful, think the occasion got to him, his lead looked completely gone. Herrera is a very slimy dirty player as well. Wijnaldum has got to improve his finishing, at least twice he should have challenged De Gea but ended up just passing him the ball.

Surprised people think Rooney changed the game, for me it was yet another example of how past it he is. Had very little influence on the game, gave the ball away a lot, didn't look dangerous and United would have been better off bringing on other players off of the bench. I seriously wonder how many years Rooney can keep up with such poor form. When was his last good season now? 2010-11? That's six years ago.

[compelling and rich]

thought herrera was a great foul, exactly what we needed him to do at that point. id have been more upset if he let him go past him at that point in the game when you were breaking.

not sure pogba has a head to lose, he has all the physical attributes, good technically but just hasnt a brain. you put scholes footballing brain on him and he would be deadly.

didnt think rooney did much when he came on, the player who made the biggest difference was fellaini. thats mainly because we went long

[Crimey]

thought herrera was a great foul, exactly what we needed him to do at that point. id have been more upset if he let him go past him at that point in the game when you were breaking.

It's not the technical foul that's the problem, it's everything else that he's done over the years. Including in that game going down holding his face having been pushed in the chest. I imagine Mourinho loves him though.

[lfc91]

Yeah the foul was fine in my eyes (Would have expected a liverpool player to do exactly the same if the situation was reversed). However watching these fully grown 'men' go down like that is just pathetic. Not specific to united though most teams would have at least one of those guys. Really is just a disgusting attempt at cheating to get a man sent off.

The game itself was at the very least more exciting than the earlier fixture. Could have been 3-3 to be honest but for poor finishing/good keeping. Going in I would have took a draw based on form but being that close to the result is always going to sting. If only Wijnaldum could finish....

[TRUSSMAN66]

I don't think Mystic Meg could have seen that coming..

City and Liverpool are brothers in arms.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Said it before and will say it again, that Liverpool defence is nowhere near good enough to challenge for a title. Klopp needs to get Sakho back in there, he's five times the player lovren and klavan are.

Although it's no surprise as soon as Steven Gerrard comes back into the Liverpool setup they choke away a big game

[GSC]

batten down for the Rooney love in.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Top half

[Guest]

Top half

Kudos to the board for not pulling the trigger. I kind of thought they would.

[westisbest]

Big Sam in danger of losing his job already perhaps.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Top half

Kudos to the board for not pulling the trigger. I kind of thought they would.

They attempt to undermine first, but found the fans loved Slav, and he then got important results. But they have tried to undermine him a bit at times, some stuff on the website and comments in the press have been poor.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Lucky, lucky Arsenal

[westisbest]

Never a pen

[Dolphin Ziggler]

That race at the bottom looks really interesting, as ever. Does the relegation fight ever fail to deliver? Theres always the odd season where the title race seems poop, but the battle at the bottom is a constant great one.

I just cant see Allardyce not getting improvement out of Palace. Sunderland, Hull, Palace, Swansea, Leicester and Boro look like they're in it (i'll be kind to Watford, Burnley and Bournemouth for now)

Leicester - 21
Boro - 20
Swansea - 18
Palace - 16
Hull - 16
Sunderland - 15


I cant see Hull staying up, not enough quality and sharks circling their best player (Snodgrass)

Looks to me like Sunderland are sleepwalking to death. With Moyes at his inspirational best lately - including a great comment on how new signings wont make a big impact - I wouldn't be surprised if they twist and sell a few in a hope of raising some money to buy some real recruits rather than dodgy loans that you would expect with the kind of budget they seem to have. Owner might also ratify some sales to make the money now rather than selling for half the price at best in summer.

Then its Allardyce's usual trickery, Swansea's recent signings and new manager awakening some of their quality, and two sides above that who are not looking like doing much this season.

Boro were poor and Karanka seems reluctant to play any attacking football. As such, they might not kick on and go at teams when the pressure is on and wins are a must.

Leicester: surely they have to wake up? Once they fall out of Europe it'll start to work, you'd think, but if they wanna get anywhere again they need to realise that some of their average players played well above themselves last year and can't be left in the first team based on that.

[NickisBHAFC]

Sunderland and Hull for sure.

3rd is anyone's guess.

[Hammersmith harrier]

Part of me wants to see Leicester go down just for the ridiculousness of it.

[Fernando]

Hull Midfielder Ryan Mason is in hospital with a fractured skull after a collision with Gary Cahill.

Shocking news, Hopefully he makes a full recovery. It doesn't matter weather your a fan,steward,staff or player no one deserves to go to football and not come home again.

*edit*
Hull Update

The Club can confirm that Ryan Mason sustained a skull fracture in our fixture at Chelsea this afternoon.

He was taken to St Mary’s Hospital where he has undergone surgery.  

Ryan is in a stable condition and is expected to remain in hospital for the next few days.

Everyone at the Club would like to express their sincere thanks for the excellent and swift care given to Ryan by both the Accident and Emergency department and Neurosurgery Unit at St Mary’s Hospital

[GSC]

Aitor Karanka into 1/3 to leave next.

[owen10ozzy]

Plenty of the fans, including couple of the lads on the forum were hoping Aitor would go last season when he threatned to walk out on the club. It almost cost us promotion and most certainly cost us the automatic route.

At the time plenty derided the idea that we should and would be happy to see the back of him, however the simple facts were he had by far and away the best squad in the division and whilst we were battling in the top 3 spots we were making promotion far more difficult than it should have been.

He seems to rub plenty of his players up the wrong way and his stubborness when it comes to tactics is absolutely mind boggling. Dont get me wrong, i expect us to be in the bottom half but when you look at the way we have lost points this season its a reoccuring theme from his 2 years in charge...we take the lead and then sit getting deeper and deeper and deeper until punished. I cant remember where i saw, Premier League Preview show i think, but this season we have given up the most points from a winning position in the last 15 mins of a game...factor in those points wed be top 8!! Throw in the head scratching signings ....Rudy Gestede and Bamford when we only play one up front anyway..?! Pointless..that money would have been far better off elsewhere ..a more mobile and creative CM?! Another winger with some composure and ability to deliver quality crosses?!...

Long story, not very short i know, but wouldnt be sad to see him go...but given Gibson has given him the funds and isnt in habit of firing im not sure I see him pulling the trigger until end of Feb/March

[mystiroakey]

Hi, If you remember me and liked me/tolerated me.

Hi to all even if you didn't. I am a bit more chilled theses days mind

I remember all of you posters. noting changes does it? (well bar a few new additions.)

I am seriously doubting big Sam at present. I am not sure if we can stay up.

[mystiroakey]

Great goal from Andy Carroll, he's been trying to score an overhead kick since he was at Liverpool so good to see that he's finally put one away.

A draw is a disappointing result considering how long we were holding out for and the goal ended up coming from an offside cross but we lacked ambition to go and kill the game off so didn't deserve to win. Missed Clyne and Mane on the right. Pogba was dreadful, think the occasion got to him, his lead looked completely gone. Herrera is a very slimy dirty player as well. Wijnaldum has got to improve his finishing, at least twice he should have challenged De Gea but ended up just passing him the ball.

Surprised people think Rooney changed the game, for me it was yet another example of how past it he is. Had very little influence on the game, gave the ball away a lot, didn't look dangerous and United would have been better off bringing on other players off of the bench. I seriously wonder how many years Rooney can keep up with such poor form. When was his last good season now? 2010-11? That's six years ago.

i think he will take the 1m a week on offer in china...

[Guest]

Mysti

I've missed your ramblings!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Plenty of the fans, including couple of the lads on the forum were hoping Aitor would go last season when he threatned to walk out on the club. It almost cost us promotion and most certainly cost us the automatic route.

At the time plenty derided the idea that we should and would be happy to see the back of him, however the simple facts were he had by far and away the best squad in the division and whilst we were battling in the top 3 spots we were making promotion far more difficult than it should have been.

He seems to rub plenty of his players up the wrong way and his stubborness when it comes to tactics is absolutely mind boggling. Dont get me wrong, i expect us to be in the bottom half but when you look at the way we have lost points this season its a reoccuring theme from his 2 years in charge...we take the lead and then sit getting deeper and deeper and deeper until punished. I cant remember where i saw, Premier League Preview show i think, but this season we have given up the most points from a winning position in the last 15 mins of a game...factor in those points wed be top 8!! Throw in the head scratching signings ....Rudy Gestede and Bamford when we only play one up front anyway..?! Pointless..that money would have been far better off elsewhere ..a more mobile and creative CM?! Another winger with some composure and ability to deliver quality crosses?!...

Long story, not very short i know, but wouldnt be sad to see him go...but given Gibson has given him the funds and isnt in habit of firing im not sure I see him pulling the trigger until end of Feb/March

Would be utter madness to get rid of your best manager in what a decade? Only remit this year should be to stay up and you're currently in position to do that.

[owen10ozzy]

Disagree...I would completely trust Gibsons decision to get rid if he felt that it was for the best of the club. Lest we forget that we aren't privy to what goes on behind closed doors. By all accounts he struggles to hold the dressing room when times get tough; he showed to a degree his inability to handle the pressures when he went off on one after Saturday's game.

Like I said, he's done fantastic getting us to where we are but both Gibson and fans know what happens when you fail to pull the trigger early enough and as a club we can't afford to go down again and have the potential of another 5+ years in the doldrums. It almost cost us our club last time and I'm sure that's a factor in any talk of potential sacking.

It's also very easy to say Karanka has been our best manager for past decade...but he was the first in almost 5 years who was given the proper funds to push the club on again...the likes of Southgate, Strachan etc had to try and get promotion whilst balancing the books and stripping club bare to do so.

[mystiroakey]

Mysti  

I've missed your ramblings!

Hey man. I had to have a break. I hope you are well/

[Crimey]

Who would you replace him with though? Better the devil you know.

There aren't exactly a load of managers out there who you could hire and have a lot of confidence in. Raiding the Championship would likely be the best option. Garry Monk has done well with Leeds and did alright with Swansea so he could be an option. Gary Rowett is an option I suppose.

If you were going to sack him, unless Middlesbrough looked in real danger of going down, it would make more sense to do it in the summer. Even that's a big risk.

[mystiroakey]

Pardew is a decent option - rumours where he exited himself (you can not talk to th enew owners like that and stay) as he didn't want to live 24/7 with his wife any more.

Middlesborough is far away enough so he can get a bachelor pad in use once more!

Many Good Champ managers just can not make it first time a round.

[Guest]

Mysti  

I've missed your ramblings!

Hey man. I had to have a break. I hope you are well/

All good thanks, buddy. Nice to see you back.

I think your boys will just about have enough to stay up. I think you have the players to put a mini run of results together.

[mystiroakey]

I dunno mate - I am very pessimistic.

You are right that we have the squad(probably better than half a dozen). but is that enough

[guildfordbat]

Mysti - wrong thread but we've missed you calling the odds on the cricket section too! Welcome back!

[mystiroakey]

of course Cricket

hey pal.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Allardyce needs to Allardyce that squad. A lot of players who are not good enough.

[compelling and rich]

apart from zaha, hey mysti

[mystiroakey]

hey C&R

Still a fan of him of course! but a bit gutted about the FA not doing enough to keep hold of him.

/this will be my only post on him for days

promise

but he has been CP's only decent player this season so far

[compelling and rich]

welcome back, been very quiet on here recently so id take talking about zaha over actually working

[owen10ozzy]

Gaston Ramirez has handed in transfer request...Gibson has said in past it would take £15 million to tempt them to sell...given Snodgrasses fee that's reasonable..big problem is, we are bang in trouble if we do sell him; couldn't possibly see us staying up without him.

[westisbest]

https://www.facebook.com/awaydaybible/videos/668108526683566/

Interesting listening to this Liverpool fan

[owen10ozzy]

Wow...that Karanka press conference! 2nd season in a row our own manager seems intent on destroying the season...

Intrigued to see what Gibsons response to the very public criticism..

He said he hadn't strengthened the squad...way to feed confidence to players...stated he wasn't sure what he has is good enough to stay up...great confidence builder for those who are working socks off each week...and then to top it off he claims he's unsure why he couldn't attract the players he wanted....ermm perhaps because of the absolute dire football on show! Your not at the most fashionable club as it is...or in an affluent area...add boring football to the equation you will struggle to sign players!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

He's just stating the truth tbf...

[lfc91]

Not very optimistic about this match tonight. Usually under Klopp I would always fancy us against the top 6 sides, home or away, even after a poor result. However, the way we have been playing for over a month now it is hard to fancy us against any team...

Hopefully doesn't start Mane. Don't think he will he is usually quite cautious with that sort of thing. Guy needs a rest, or he will end up burnt out like some of the others look!

[Crimey]

I'd be surprised if there are any Liverpool fans who are optimistic for this match.

Only thing to keep in mind is if they do win, could be a real turnaround moment for the season. I'm not sure what team I'd start as I want Lallana to play in the middle, but Mane won't be fit enough and Sturridge and Origi are too out of form to start in the front three. If I were Klopp I'd be tempted to start Woodburn as the right winger, go with Wijnaldum, Henderson, Lallana in the middle. Seems we could be getting Hazard up against Trent Alexander-Arnold as well which doesn't fill me with confidence. 

Could always try and match their 3-4-3 and go:

Mignolet

Lovren - Matip - Klavan

Woodburn - - - Henderson - - - Wijnaldum/Can - - - Milner

Lallana - - - - - -  - Coutinho

Firmino

Will either be genius or end in disaster. 

[Born Slippy]

Seems very high risk to go 3-4-3 - Spurs have three high level centre backs so can do it. Liverpool are probably best sticking just to Matip-Lovren who seem to work well as a pair.

I think Chelsea will be too strong tonight though. It's the last real chance to throw a spanner in their title run though so, for the good of the league, I'm really hoping Liverpool can do it.

[Crimey]

Seems very high risk to go 3-4-3 - Spurs have three high level centre backs so can do it. Liverpool are probably best sticking just to Matip-Lovren who seem to work well as a pair.

I think Chelsea will be too strong tonight though. It's the last real chance to throw a spanner in their title run though so, for the good of the league, I'm really hoping Liverpool can do it.

I agree, I'm just really concerned that with Lallana further forward he won't perform as well and TAA is a big risk as a right back if Clyne isn't fit.

[mystiroakey]

Palace NEED 3 points tonight. And certainly no more lapses of mentality last ten minutes.... please .... for the love of god

Fingers crossed for Klopp - surely the best loved recent manager to the Prem.

[Crimey]

Disappointing first half.

Better performance but far too sloppy when it mattered and stupid goal to concede. Need to pay attention. Bad foul to concede as well.

Was kind of hoping Terry was going to come on because think he'd struggle with the press more than Luiz. 

Hoping Mane isn't properly injured as we need his pace, kept catching them on the break but didn't have the pace to do any damage.

[JDizzle]

Outside of Luiz, Chelsea really don't have anyone in centre of the park who is really comfortable on the ball (Azpi is okay - Cahill, Matic, Kante... Not so much). Hence they will always struggle against a team who can press well. Especially given Cesc is too immobile for big games.

[GSC]

1-0 Burnley.

At what point does it get uncomfortable for Ranieri

[Scott is Back]

Palace NEED 3 points tonight. And certainly no more lapses of mentality last ten minutes.... please .... for the love of god

Fingers crossed for Klopp - surely the best loved recent manager to the Prem.

Is he? He was when he came from Dortmund, but now i think he has shown he has a very bitter, whingy negative side. Screaming in the 4th officials face last night was a perfect example.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

He should be fined/banned for that behaviour last night

[GSC]

Might be some legs to the theory that the pressing game just doesn't work in a league where the Xmas period features more games rather than a break. Klopp might need a rethink or a bigger squad for next season

[Sponsored content]