5000-1 - The 2016/17 Premier League thread

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

First topic message reminder :

Liverpool have given Lovren a new 100k a week long term deal

Lol

[Fernando]

They are playing Middlesbrough at home.

If anything is a banker it's that cos Boro as always will go down with a wimper.

[Guest]

Walter Mazzarri will leave Watford at the end of the season

[Crimey]

Walter Mazzarri will leave Watford at the end of the season

Watford could do with a little bit of stability, must be frustrating for the players having to impress a new manager so often.

[Guest]

Marco Silva or Ranieri to replace? Horrible squad to take on, just a mish mash of average players

[Crimey]

Not that it's at all conclusive, but The Guardian article has put Firmino as Liverpool's best player this season.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/who-scored-blog/2017/may/17/premier-league-clubs-player-season-eden-hazard

[GSC]

Do Liverpool even have a standout player.

[lfc91]

Not really, the Attacking quartet of Coutinho Mane Firmino & Lallana have, at different points of the season, all be lauded as vital, most important player etc etc.

[GSC]

Yeah there's not a Suarez in that group for sure, but not sure there's even a Sturridge type from that same season.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Walter Mazzarri will leave Watford at the end of the season

Watford could do with a little bit of stability, must be frustrating for the players having to impress a new manager so often.

Tbf it doesn't seem to have hurt them so far - on the way to being pretty well established as a PL outfit at this point

[Crimey]

Walter Mazzarri will leave Watford at the end of the season

Watford could do with a little bit of stability, must be frustrating for the players having to impress a new manager so often.

Tbf it doesn't seem to have hurt them so far - on the way to being pretty well established as a PL outfit at this point

They've been up for two years but both managers have ended the year really badly. All it takes is one poor managerial appointment and that could be them done for.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

It does get somewhat over-egged in this country, Watford have been a relative success ever since these owners have come in and this is what they've done the whole time

[GSC]

José Mourinho in rant about having to play football game.

[daraghj82]

Walter Mazzarri will leave Watford at the end of the season

Watford could do with a little bit of stability, must be frustrating for the players having to impress a new manager so often.

Tbf it doesn't seem to have hurt them so far - on the way to being pretty well established as a PL outfit at this point

They've been up for two years but both managers have ended the year really badly. All it takes is one poor managerial appointment and that could be them done for.

agree with you on this , also the saints have changed managers a lot and they have coped well with this, marco silva's name is being mentioned a lot as his replacement

[GSC]

Players are more important it seems.

Watford have access to a vast network through the portfolio of clubs their owners also own.

Southampton keep developing and recruiting well.

[Guest]

It seems to me that the owners are the most important determinants of a clubs success or failure - even if it just means good delegation.  For example Arsenal's steady success seems to be associated with delegation to Wenger and others.  The problem is that they haven't been able to adjust to the next level, when other clubs learnt from Wenger's "new methods" and kicked on including a willingness to spend and spend (although spending alone doesn't necessarily bring success - it can ruin a club if they overspend etc - I think Portsmouth were an example of this).

With regard to Watford - the owners seem to know what they are doing - and the two seasons they have spent in the Premiership - they never even looked like they were in relegation trouble - unlike teams like Leicester and Crystal Palace - who were sinking like stones at one point.

[Ent]

FA have approved retrospective punishment for simulation.

Not entirely sure about the implementation they are proposing.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

How ridiculous - they have nothing good to do so just play the PR game.

[Hammersmith harrier]

I'm all for it personally, such blatant cheating shouldn't be rewarded.

[Ent]

The implementation proposed is actually very poor and promotes more inequality within the game in terms of decision making by the officials.

[GSC]

What a nonsense ruling that is.

Look at actually implementing real time replays for assistants if you want something to do.

[owen10ozzy]

Agreed....headline sounds great...delve deeper and as said its publicity stunt with little substance. The punishment only occurs when a player actually wins a penalty or gets a player sent off. By this point that single moment of cheating has had the impact and a retrospective ban does little.

If anything this will just create a need for players to actually improve their ability to dive. It almost becomes even more of a skill than it already is. Players should be getting banned whether they have successfully duped the official or not. Do it properly or dont do it at all!

[Dolphin Ziggler]

It's still daft. You're getting over-excited about one type of offence. It seems to me like it's one of the least evident examples of players trying to cheat to get an advantage.

[Guest]

There are clear cut dives and then there are grey area dives / falling over / fouls / evasive actions against potential leg-breaking challenges.  I think there are enough clear cut dives to ignore the grey area ones for now.  I agree with those that say it should be done in game - like in rugby.  There is more money in football than in rugby so they should be able to afford the appropriate infrastructure for such a system.

As others have inferred above poor refereeing decisions are probably the biggest issue in football at the moment.  But no-one at the FA wants to lay blame at the referees.

[westisbest]

On the subject of diving, just watching the Luton v Blackpool game,
Hylton just blatantly dove to win a pen to give Luton a 3-1 lead(5-4) on agg.

Not good to see, glad something is being done about it.

[GSC]

Like what? Blackpool still got the penalty, if they hold this lead they'd consider it well worth it.

[GSC]

Luton even

[westisbest]

It's a 2 game suspension isn't it?

In fairness it was a quality taken pen.
Reminded me of Yorkie taking them back in his claret and blue days.

[GSC]

Rather he missed 1 game in L1 than none in L2...

[Guest]

Sam Allardyce makes the point - what about penalties that weren't given that should have been given. What about players that were booked for diving who didn't dive. He wants game time technology to be introduced not retrospective diving panels.

[Guest]

Kane - 75 PL goals (23 years old)

How near Shearer (260) will he get? At this rate, by 26, Kane could have notched 150

[Jermaine2015]

Kane can do well at a club realistically never expected to win anything. Soon as he gets to big club he'll get exposed. The new Robbie Fowler

[Hammersmith harrier]

Why would he need to move to a 'big' club when Tottenham look to cementing there place as a Champions League team, not sure playing with better players would expose him either. Despite my initial assertion that he was a one season wonder, he simply knows how to score a bucketload.

[Crimey]

And Robbie Fowler is a weird analogy considering he never joined a bigger club than Liverpool. It was injuries more than anything else that curbed Fowler.

[Ent]

Have to see how the season at Wembley goes.

Also might leave the PL at some point in his career - very early to be talking about records.

[NickisBHAFC]

We have just signed some random German. Guess I can post this in here now

[Ent]

Video ref used to send off a player in u 20 world cup. Took 4.5 minutes to restart play despite it being a relatively quick/easy decision.

Can of worms this.

[Atila]

I'm a Man Utd man, but I have to be honest and say that I don't want Arsenal to beat Liverpool to that 4th spot. Since Utd have fallen from power, I'm more concerned with improving our results rather than hating on Liverpool. It would be more amusing to me to see Arsenal miss out.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

There's as much chance of Norwich signing Lionel Messi this summer as this is of Middlesborough getting anything at Liverpool today

[Dolphin Ziggler]

We've gone into the last game of the season with 6 players on the bench.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

All over as soon as Atkinson bottled the blatant pen and red card for Lovren bundling over Bamford

[Dolphin Ziggler]

We've ended up 11th with the same points as West Brom

[GSC]

Living the dream

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Just a bit funny really, we looked a good relegation candidate and they were having their best season, but this year has been weird. One point off 8th.

Those two wins in the last 3 have moved us up about 5/6 places and earned £10m, as well as a less embarrassing position when looking at transfers in the summer

[Guest]

WBA had the worst end to the season gaining two points out of a possible 27 from their last nine games.

de Silva at Hull has sullied his copybook in the last three games of the season, losing them all, two at home and one away, conceding 13 goals and scoring one.

All top seven teams beat their last seasons points tally
Chelsea: from 50 to 93: +43
Tottenham: from 70 to 86: +16
Man City: from 66 to 78: +12
Liverpool: from 60 to 76: +16
Arsenal: from 71 to 75: +4
Man Utd: from 66 to 69: +3
Everton:: from 47 to 61: +14

[Guest]

Harry Kane wins the golden boot with 29

13 of those goals came in 4 games (WBA/Stoke/Leicester/Hull)
16 of those goals came in 26 games

[GSC]

Even the bottom half is a respectable rate though.

After years of mediocrity at the top, this felt like a step in the right direction for the PL. Would expect the Manchester clubs to close that gap next season

[GSC]

On West Brom, think I read something earlier this year where statistically they weren't much different to the season before, bar converting a much higher % of their chances. Seems that wasn't sustainable.

Anyway you know what you're getting with Pulisball and West Brom seem content to just be aboard the PL gravy train. Which seems a slightly depressing reality to me, but I guess preferable to mental owners and instability.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

WBA literally hit 40 pts and went to the beach

[Hammersmith harrier]

These mid game send offs are always so embarrassing especially when an over-rated scumbag is the focal point.

[GSC]

Was a bit reckless that from Koscielny but a straight red seemed slightly harsh

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