The 2021-22 Premier League Thread - Dem Thicc Lines

[Dolphin Ziggler]

First topic message reminder :

Opening Fixtures:

Brentford v Arsenal
Burnley v Brighton
Chelsea v Crystal Palace
Everton v Southampton
Leicester City v Wolverhampton
Manchester United v Leeds United
Newcastle United v West Ham United
Norwich City v Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City
Watford v Aston Villa

[Guest]

West Ham 2-2 Manchester City. The champions come from 0-2 to salvage a draw. Mahrez missed a late penalty which would’ve all but sealed the title.

Tottenham 1-0 Burnley. Kane penalty takes Spurs into top 4.

[GSC]

Liverpool relying on Stevie g to win them the PL

[Galted]

Liverpool relying on Stevie g to win them the PL

And Villa hoping to c*ck things up for Grealish.

[westisbest]

Liverpool relying on Stevie g to win them the PL

I wouldn’t hold my breath if I was him.

I’d love us to beat city, regardless of who wins the title. Can’t see it though. As long as we give them a good game.

Ps. GSC. Watched the play off game Saturday. Christ Forest should of had the tie wrapped up at half time.
Hopefully they will do the job at home.

Hoping for a forest Luton final.

[Duty281]

A very open season with two games left. Title, fourth place, sixth place, and the final relegation spot are all up for grabs going into the final week.

And the first openly gay active male professional footballer has come out, as they say. A brave step.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61467159

[Duty281]

Newcastle humble Arsenal. It's perfectly set for Spurs to go full Spurs and lose to Norwich on the final day and finish 5th.

[GSC]

Only for arsenal to go full arsenal and draw with everton

[Guest]

Everton come from 0-2 down to beat Crystal Palace 3-2 and survive relegation.

[Duty281]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61493783

Worst news I've heard all year - Lawro's predictions coming to an end. Famous for predicting Brazil to win the last four World Cups and for predicting Liverpool to go on a 159 game unbeaten run, it's all over after Sunday. As Lawro himself said:

"if I honestly thought I could accurately predict the results of football matches, I wouldn't be here, freezing my backside off. I would be in Barbados, in Sandy Lane hotel."

[Afro]

Everton come from 0-2 down to beat Crystal Palace 3-2 and survive relegation.

The emotions of being an Everton supporter summed up in one evening.

The only thing stopping it being the perfect summation is the ultimate disappointment at the end of it.

[Guest]

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/everton-engeverton/story/4670755/leeds-burnley-threaten-everton-with-legal-action-over-finances-in-relegation-row-sources

Looks like Everton might not be safe yet.

[Afro]

The emotions of being an Everton supporter summed up in one evening.

The only thing stopping it being the perfect summation is the ultimate disappointment at the end of it.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/everton-engeverton/story/4670755/leeds-burnley-threaten-everton-with-legal-action-over-finances-in-relegation-row-sources

Looks like Everton might not be safe yet.

And there it is!!!

Cant see much coming from this tbh. It has already been scrutinised to death and it the covid costs related to the stadium, the academy and the womens team has been validated

[Guest]

Manchester City retain their PL title after a thrilling victory at the Etihad. Aston Villa led 2-0. But city got 3 second half goals in 5 minutes. A champions comeback.

Son and Salah share the golden boot 24 goals a piece.

[Duty281]

Amazing comeback from City. Gerrard falling just short of getting Liverpool the PL title (again). If Haaland clicks at City, they should dominate for the next few seasons. Liverpool always in a fragile place because of their lack of depth.

Tottenham safely into top four. Arsenal will be disappointed, but they've got a bright future with the young nucleus in their squad.

United scrape into the Europa League because West Ham failed to beat Brighton. Huge summer coming up for United after a dismal season. So much dross to get rid of and upgrades needed in certain positions, otherwise they may fall out of European football altogether. West Ham have had another quality season, but they'll be frustrated at how it's ended.

Burnley down. The decision to sack Dyche was colossally stupid, they would have stayed up had they kept him. Instead it's a sliding doors moment. I can't see them getting promoted back without significant investment, and that investment won't be coming. I wouldn't be surprised to see them down in League One in three-five years. Leeds stay up, but will struggle to do it again next year.

[westisbest]

Thought we could of held on and got something from that game.

If Watkins had his shooting boots on, could well have been Liverpool’s title. Very poor from him.
Very poor from Villa, even if it was away to City on the last day.

Pi55 poor season from Villa overall.
Glad it’s over. Big changes over the summer.

Some players linked with seem exciting, need to sign then though.

Hopefully at least 6-8 players out the door.

Luiz, Nakamba, Sansom, Ings, Traore, Trezeguet, AEG, to name a few.

[dummy_half]

So the season is over, other than the playoff final and Champions League.
A quick appraisal
City - happy with the title, but slight disappointment again to fall short in the CL
Liverpool - Fell just short in the League, but a CL win, on top of the other two cups would make for an extremely positive season
Chelsea - Best of the rest, which was some achievement given the uncertainty over the owner
Tottenham - CL place probably makes this a successful season. Can't compete with the top 3 financially
Arsenal - Work in progress, with some encouragement with the nucleus of a good young team
Man U - Woeful. Lucky to scrape into Europe
West Ham - Probably a bit disappointed after Frankfurt and then missing the final European spot.
Leicester - A little disappointing following the last 2 or 3 seasons.
Brighton - Very happy with a solid mid-table spot.
Wolves - About where expectations should have them
Newcastle - Season of two halves. Finished well after looking a relegation candidate around Christmas. Let's see what happens with the Saudi money now.
Palace - Similar to Wolves, probably happy enough overall. Never in the relegation fight, but also not really challenging the European position.
Brentford - If you'd said at the start of the season they'd be 13th, 11 points above the relegation places and never really in the conversation about going town, people would have thought you were crazy. Fantastic first season in the PL.
Villa - A bit disappointing, probably wanted to be in or around top half.
Southampton - Gave up a month ago, once safety was assured. Disappointing finishing position.
Everton - Disappointing but relieved to avoid relegation.
Leeds - Very disappointing after last season's encouraging start. Ultimately relief to stay up.
Burnley - Finally unable to punch above their weight any longer. Didn't understand the sacking of Dyche when it happened (either 2 months earlier or not this season).
Watford / Norwich - Too good for the Championshp, not good enough for the PL.

[Duty281]

Quick thoughts:

City - Turning into United of the early-mid 90s. Dominating English football, four titles in five years, but while the CL eludes them Pep will be frustrated. Never mind, chuck another few hundred million at the problem might solve it. If Haaland clicks, it's game over for everyone else.

Liverpool - Soon to reach a tipping point. A number of their key players are approaching past-prime age, Salah/Mane/Firmino/Virgil/Henderson are all 30+, and they'll need to manage the transition effectively with quality signings or they will fall away. Diaz was a great signing in January, they need more of that.

Chelsea - Fell apart in the winter with a high number of injuries which ended their title chances, then the ownership question put a cloud over their season which they didn't recover from. Still in the leading group with a good young core in their squad, but they need to find a quality goalscorer over the summer because Lukaku and Werner haven't been the answer.

Tottenham - Have to keep Conte, have to keep Kane, have to keep Son. They're in a very fragile place at the moment. Another side in need of big upgrades to keep their delicate hold on 4th.

Arsenal - Very promising season for their young squad, but couldn't last the pace after a rubbish January in the market. One quality goalscorer away from 4th place.

Man Utd - In a total mess. Fortunate to scrape Europa football, but they'd probably prefer to miss out altogether and focus on the league next year. Need a huge clear-out of total dross in the squad, and a clear-out behind the scenes. They've probably been the worst PL club in the transfer market over the last ten years and it's showing. Expecting them to be a mid-table club for the next few seasons unless huge renovations are made.

West Ham - Overachieved maybe a little, but Moyes is doing a fine job.

Leicester - Usually start strong and fade away, this time it was a little in reverse. Highly disappointing to only finish 8th, but relegated on the xG table. Could be a time of peril for Rodgers over the summer.

Brighton - Another top season for a side with limited resources. Potter is one of the best managers in the country. I wish he was managing England. I hope one day he gets a chance at a CL club, but his nationality will hold him back.

Wolves - I'm surprised to see them this high, I thought they'd be for the drop. They play some nice football, but their performance levels collapsed after January. 16th in the xG table.

Newcastle - A season of two halves. They looked done for at one point, but they were a top eight club in the second half of the season. Will be interesting to see the signings made over the summer.

Palace - Dull club that will never go anywhere. Vieira is in a dead-end job.

Brentford - Excellent season for them, but reckon they'll go the way of Sheffield United and drop next season.

Villa - Aimless and directionless without Grealish.

Southampton - Equally aimless and directionless. I like Hassenhuttl, but Southampton may be moving on from him.

Everton - Very fortunate to stay up, but a side with their quality shouldn't be losing 21 games out of 38. Don't expect to see them this close to the drop next year, though with Lampard at the helm it's possible.

Leeds - A defensive shambles. Managed to stay up because Burnley sacked Dyche.

Burnley - Relegated because they sacked Dyche, one of the best managers in the league. Won't see them in the PL again in my lifetime, in all probability. Hope Dyche gets a job at a club with more prospects, but he's probably typecast forever by what he's done at Burnley.

Watford and Norwich - Up and down, up and down. We'll see Norwich again in 23/24. Watford need new owners.

Overall, a poor season. Expecting City to dominate next season. Tottenham got top four because they were less worse than the chasing pack. A lot of dross at the bottom end of the league.

[Guest]

Real Madrid win their 14th European Cup by beating Liverpool 1-0 at the Stade de France. Vinicius Jr the hero.
Liverpool’s ‘quadruple’ ends up as winning two secondary cups.

‘Don’ Carlo Ancelotti wins record 4th CL as manager - Blue side of Merseyside must be delighted.

[GSC]

330 minutes played in finals this season and no goals, 2 trophies is an achievement

[Duty281]

Bit of a comparison for Liverpool and United. United made three Champions League finals between 2008-2011, managed to beat a PL club (Chelsea) in one, but lost to the same La Liga opponents (Barcelona) twice. Now Liverpool have made three CL finals between 2018-2022, managed to beat a PL club (Spurs) in one, but lost to the same La Liga opponents (Madrid) twice. 2011 was the nearing of an end of an era for that United side, it may be the same for Liverpool as well in 2022.

Courtois deserves MOTM for his immense goalkeeping. Trent's defensive limitations were exposed for the goal. Madrid have rope-a-doped their way to the trophy. And Ancelotti never seems to get the same credit as Mourinho/Pep/Klopp, but he's won four CL titles as a manager and five league titles in five different countries. Don Carlo, indeed.

[Guest]

Ancelotti’s record in finals(competitions with more than 4 teams) is pretty outstanding
7 wins
1 loss - worst night in Milan’s history(yes I’m still bitter)

[Duty281]

Nice to have Forest back in the Premier League.

[GSC]

Hey

[Guest]

Manchester United sacked Ralf Rangnick from that ‘consultancy role’.

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