2018/19 Premier League Thread - Jose’s Difficult Third Year

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

First topic message reminder :

And we start off with news Conte has been sacked by Chelsea, with Sarri and Jorginho's arrivals imminent

[Duty281]

Strange to look at the table and realise that Tottenham are only five points adrift of City and Liverpool, with a game in hand over the former. And over the next two PL games, Tottenham might close that gap even more, despite missing Alli and Kane.

Come on Tottenham.

[Afro]

I really hope Spurs can claw there way back in to being genuine contenders.

I don't really want City to win again, and the thought of the media and Liverpool fans over the next 10 years if Liverpool win it fills me with dread.

Therefore Spurs would become the default choice!

[Guest]

Sarri will be looking for a new job this summer

[Atila]

Sarri will be looking for a new job this summer

The way todays game is going I think he'll be looking before the summer.

[GSC]

Doubt Sarri has long to go, but kinda a symptom of the way Chelsea are run these days. Players know they can get the manager sacked if they down tools.

Hazard off this summer youd guess.

[Atila]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Sarri fired tomorrow. I'm sure Mourinho would be interested in the job.

[JDizzle]

Sarri’s not helped himself - he’d have a lot more good feeling if he’d made any attempt to integrate some of the younger players (CHO, RLC, Christensen). But just picking the same team week after week, definition of insanity and all that.

[GSC]

Agree on that front but it's clearly not in the job remit at Chelsea to bring through the youngsters. Liverpool and City both at the top because they've spent money but they also have clarity in their thinking Chelsea don't seem to have. Conte to Sarri is quote the jump.

[JDizzle]

When Emenalo was running the show, there was a clear strategy off the pitch of signing young talented players from across Europe (KDB, Lukaku, Courtois etc.) and either playing them or selling for a profit. Since he lost the power struggle to Marina, we go to dropping £35m on the Danny Drinkwater’s off this world. Now, it’s a mess. We are turning down £40m for Hudson-Odoi not to play him? No overarching strategy.

[GSC]

Is 400k a week for Ramsey a typo?

[Duty281]

As long as I can remember, Serie A clubs have been able to offer stupidly high wages. I remember Roy Keane being seriously tempted due to the money he could earn over there.

One day, the financial bubble of football will burst. And it won't be pretty.

[Guest]

Chelsea banned from signing players for the next two transfer windows.

[Afro]

That's not going to be appealing to any new manager when Sarri gets the boot

[JDizzle]

Sounds like best case scenario we can drag out an appeal and potentially get the summer to sign players, but still hardly makes the job attractive. Could see Frank or Terry getting the job come the summer, depressingly.

[GSC]

Much like FFP, not entirely sure what abuse this rule is stopping

[Duty281]

Chelsea will appeal, the transfer ban will be altered to some pointless fine and the equivalent of a suspended sentence. Very little will change.

[Atila]

Sorry to see Spurs lose as I would prefer them to win title than either Liverpool or City.

[Atila]

Anybody who doesn't want City to win the title over Liverpool who isn't a Liverpool needs their heads checked. Everything must be done to stop them winning the title and hearing about it from their fans forever...where's Sergio Ramos when we need him

You're right. I did need my head checked. Screw Liverpool!

[Duty281]

Classic Tottenham. Win several games in a row missing your best striker, then lose on his return!

[GSC]

Puel gone.

Paging Brendan...

[Fernando]

Feel bad for Claude their 2 wingers away from being a solid top 7-8 side.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Feel for him. Transitioning that team from their old squad to something new. Changing their style to something more maintainable too. And actually not as four as made out. 

Sacrificed the cups for no reason though. And took on Vardy; Vardy and Kasper have a power like Frank and Terry did over Roman at Chelsea.

But they should look back on how he’s brought Gray, Maddison, Maguire, Pereira, Chilwell and Barnes into the side as a huge step forward for the club.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

United losing players by the game. Matic out before the game started. Herrera pulled hamstring inside 20 minutes. Rashford struggling with an ankle injury. Mata off after 24 minutes with another muscle injury

[GSC]

Similar story with Puel at Southampton, he just never seems to make friends or win people over. Think Brendan or whoever takes over will probably want to shift some of the bigger egos in the squad on as above though.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Quite staggering Firminho is off with an injury as well. 30 minutes in and it’s turning into a survival of the fittest

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Jesse Lingard came on to replace Mata, he's gone off after 15 minutes after redamaging his hamstring. United bench done inside 42 minutes

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Manchester United 0-0 Liverpool. Liverpool showed absolutely nothing despite United having so many injuries. Salah was crap once again

[GSC]

United were limited due to the injuries but all a bit tame from Liverpool.

Still, could be a valuable point in a couple of months

[Duty281]

I see Liverpool's awful fanbase embarrassed themselves once again. Par for the course. And Liverpool still couldn't win despite United's injuries - which Klopp will probably blame for putting Liverpool off their stride.

They might be owned and run by a despicable regime, but for football's sake, Manchester City are the only hope left, as Tottenham are simply incapable of doing their duty at crunch time.

[GSC]

Leicester have made an approach to get Brendan in before the end of the season

[compelling and rich]

but celtic are a bigger club......according to only the scottish

[GSC]

Celtic are but Brendan smashing his head against the ceiling in the SPL and it's not putting him in contention for any of the top jobs.

[Guest]

Decent time to go into Leicester. Following Ranieiri was a hiding to nothing for Shakespeare & Puel. Title euphoria has worn off now, and the expectations lowered. Not a bad squad, especially with Chilwell, Maguire, Barnes, Gray and Maddison to build around. Needs to be ruthless, and shift the remaining core of that title winning side. At 32, I’d be moving on Vardy ASAP, but I’d imagine he’ll try and stink the place out on that big post-title contract he’s on.

[superflyweight]

but celtic are a bigger club......according to only the scottish

Other than financially - they (and Rangers) are bigger on all objective levels. How much success and revenue could Leicester generate on the pittance that Scottish clubs get from TV.

[GSC]

About the same as Forest or Leeds?

[Duty281]

Good step back up the ladder for Rodgers to be back in the PL. But Leicester are a horrible club.

[Afro]

Fortunate enough to be at the Everton game at Cardiff last night. Went with dread from our recent performances, but a good night in the end and can go into the derby on Sunday with at least some hope.

Silva pulled a surprise by starting Schneiderlin with Gomes on the bench and Davis nowhere to be seen - assumed injured. Schneiderlin rewarded him with a good performance which also gave Gana more licence to go box to box.

Richarlison off form, as is Walcott. Walcott should be dropped for Bernard, who showed more in his time pitch than the other two put together. Richarlison has probably earnt a bit more time.

Highlight of the match the third goal, where Gana controlled a long ball forward with a chest flick over the Cardiff player in one movement, controlled it and megged another, before playing the through ball for DCL to finish.

Cardiff offered zero other than a couple of moments from Zahore and I would be really worried for them. 32% possession at home is shocking

[Duty281]

Tottenham's season in danger of complete collapse. Two straight losses, now a goal down at half-time in the North London derby.

From title contenders to desperately scrapping for fourth place...it's 2011/12 all over again.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Spurs once again reliant on dodgy decisions to get an undeserved equaliser. Danny Rose kicked Bernd Leno in the chest and the ref bottles it and only gives a yellow. Kane gets a penalty despite being clearly offside. Embarrassing

[Duty281]

Danny Rose's infringement was merely reckless, so a yellow was the right call. Yes, Kane was offside, but it was so marginal, and there was a queue of players obstructing the linesman's vision, that I can't expect the linesman to give it. VAR would have done, mind, after about five minutes.

Both penalty calls seemed harsh, Arsenal's moreso. Tottenham probably fortunate to get a point.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Everton 0 Liverpool 0. Liverpool full on choking. No heart

[Guest]

Liverpool have regressed massively from last year. Crippled by pressure, and it’s resulted in them now limping towards an inevitable title failure, and City retaining.

[GSC]

City had a tough spot around Xmas/NY, now Liverpool are hitting theirs. Watford game aside, they haven't fired up front. Get that going and it remains winnable

[Duty281]

Both teams have similar run-ins to the end with perhaps two difficult fixtures for each - Liverpool have to play Tottenham and Chelsea at home, while City have to play Tottenham at home and United away in the space of five days. Other than those obstacles, it's a pretty clear run for both.

City have the added complication of still being in the FA Cup and will soon be in the CL QFs, whilst Liverpool are probably going to be knocked out by Munich this week and will only have the one focus afterwards. And City's injury list is piling up, with De Bruyne, Fernandinho and Laporte out for several weeks.

Close race.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

The key difference is city have an all time great in Aguero up top. Whereas Salah is mediocre. His only ‘big goals’ this season have been 1x Napoli and 1x Arsenal. He’s been absolutely crap in all the other big matches. Is it any real surprise? Certainly not as last year was a fluke. Throw in that Klopp has no goal scoring midfielders, it was merely good fortune Liverpool where top

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Liverpool are "bottling" and have "regressed massively" despite the fact they have been leading a very good Man City team for a long time and their blip is two goalless draws away at their biggest rivals in Man United and Everton.

Salah has a goal less than Aguero and one more than Aubameyang and Kane, whilst having one assist more than Aguero. Salah is likely to end his second real season in English football on 23-25 goals. Mediocre.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I believe it’s 4 wins in 10 since the turn of the year in the league for Liverpool so I think it’s fair to question them - pretty clear to see their performances have dropped off and in particular the past two weeks Klopp’s substitutions have been questionable at best

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Salah has a goal less than Aguero and one more than Aubameyang and Kane, whilst having one assist more than Aguero. Salah is likely to end his second real season in English football on 23-25 goals. Mediocre.

Salah has one goal against the top 6. He's merely a minnow basher. Mediocre and that's why he fits in at Liverpool. Born chokers

[Dolphin Ziggler]

There’s questioning and then this. They’re a point behind City, the City who tore the league apart last year and are favourites for each of the competitions they’re in. 

He clearly feels, and I think he’s right, that Salah is better out wide at this moment in time, so I can let him off not using Shaqiri more. I think their squad is clearly second best and I’m unsurprised it’s getting a little exposed right now. But there’s a long way to go, City should have an insane April to deal with.

Didn’t Aguero go over a year without scoring away from home in the league?

[GSC]

I feel like you've been here long enough to know who you're responding to Dolph.

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