English Premier League EPL Thread

[a-dev]

It won't last I'm sure but that's pretty funny.

 

[thecorsair]

Fergie says he has no plans to come out of retirement,
https://www1.skysports.com/football...out-return-to-management-at-manchester-united

If United are still looking like missing a CL spot at Christmas and the resulting dip in share prices forces the Glazers to quickly rectify their mistake by kicking Moyes & co into touch I can't see Fergie turning down a request to step in on a temporary basis until the end of the season.

Gary Neville talks a lot of sense, but this time he's sticking too closely to the party line,
https://www1.skysports.com/football...s-not-going-anywhere-for-at-least-three-years

Moyes won't get 3 years, not in today's environment where revenue is just as important as what happens on the pitch.

He misses Champions League qualification once and he's done.

 

[heon123]

So any predictions then?

I'm going to say 3-2 to Shaktar

 

[thecorsair]

In order to make the Moyes era more bearable I am strongly considering playing the following music during each game,

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnHmskwqCCQ[/ame]

It's comical nature is very fitting for the club post-Fergie.

United have only scored from open play in 2 games this season, a very telling statistic, not that it stops Gollum from playing the best creative attacking central midfielder currently on the books on the left wing and leaving Wilfried Zaha in England

If the board want to rectify their mistake they have the perfect opportunity to do so whilst the first team squad is in Russia.

I'm sure Mr Putin could arrange to transfer several players and the manager to Siberia FC if they asked him nicely.

3-0 to Donetsk.

EDIT
My lack of Sky Sports 4 prevents me from watching a United lineup with a midfield consisting of Valencia, Cleverley, Carrick, Fellaini and Welbeck....by far the weakest in modern United history.

RVP returns to the starting lineup but Rooney isn't in the squad and I'm not seeing any info relating to a late injury so another transfer request is probably imminent.

2ND EDIT
1-0 at half time. Fellaini gets his first assist in a United shirt....for Welbeck.

1-1 at full time

 

[heon123]

Played well but fell under poor defending I guess, disappointing to say the least.

 

[axecutioner18]

Shakhtar is no pushover specially at home. To come back with a point from there is a very good result no matter who you are.

 

[heon123]

"I am a United fan for a long time. I am not a plastic fan. I am young, but I have been supporting United since I was a litlle boy.
I am not a glory hunter. I do not care about the result. What really matters here is the way we play. We can not win everytime
In the semi-final of the previous Champion League when we clash we Real Madrid, a Spanish Titan with much more expensive and qualified player than we do.
We LOSS the match, yet our Red Devils played the way United is meant to play. We played that match with a braveheart and a nerve of steel. I could say that we lacked luckiness.
That was one of my favorite yet regretful match, even we loss, because I can feel the fire in our way of playing
We are called Red Devils not only for the red devil crest we bear on our United shirt. We're called Red devils because we have played with enthusiasm in every move
We are proud to be call so. We are known to instill fear into our enemies with fast and furious attack. Our players are known to have focused on every second of the match.
We have played with a heart of a lion and a mind of a fox. We have walkled like real champion, making other at once respect us and fear us
And look at what we are now. The coach, Moyes, keeps talking negative nonsenses on the TV. He says like we are not champion because we lack good players. Good point. But what we really lack is our Red Devil's blood, which I can only feel in Wayne Rooney
We played defense. We let enemies take the ball and wait for counterattack. We netted one goal, then we turn onto defense. That's like a fighter who always defenses but never hits. That's a chagrin, a passive and degrading style.
Every match I have watched since the summer tour is a stroke to my heart. No fire. Real enthusiast like Kagawa and Nani got benched. Real moron like Young and Welbeck got to play. Moyes even fear the old players like Giggs and Ferdinand and he let them play, even if they are incompetent. We looked a lot like Everton now, how irony.
I had my belief in Moyes. But after, like 7 games, I saw no improvement in our nonsense tactics and even degradation in our morales. We are dominated in the middle, we are breached along the wings.
I saw the our Devils, who once went spearhead with titans like RM, now are fearing Shakstar Donestk and even West Brom. I do not feel regretful, I only think that we deserved our bad results
I understand some of us prefer Jurgen Klopp, even if he had no experience in the PL. Why?. Because of his character. He is real manly man with a braveheart, who crashed RM and others, who know how to link and motivate players. A potential reincarnation of Sir Alex.
Not this Moyes, a craven who FEAR EVERYTHING, inluding enemies and his troops.

Sir Alex choosed Moyes. I respected his decision, but there are no certainties that he was correct. And about the comparison, please stop. Sir Alex built the squad from a bunch of losing players. He didn have the champion squad or the wealthy benefactors to depend on."

A post by a guy on the Man Utd facebook page, if your bothered reading the whole thing, it'll be worth your time (if your a United fan who supports Moyes and preaches thatwhole "Give him time" stuff)

 

[thecorsair]

Fergie's negligence when it came to the midfield issues and aging defence played their part in the decline but he never once wrote his team off in public the way Moyes has.

He built every player up into believing they could beat anyone at any time, he made them fearless.

Moyes has turned that completely round and United are playing scared, the average players can't rise above themselves any more and the good ones like RVP are looking increasingly isolated.

 

[greygoose]

Being a Liverpool fan, it pains me to say it but deep down I feel sorry for Utd fans. David Moyes is really out of his depth and will drag Utd down to his average Everton level. No Champions League spot this season and Utd will be in a terrible financial position.

(Although I do see Utd finishing in the top 4, there's no way the owners could let that not happen).

 

[thecorsair]

Being a Liverpool fan, it pains me to say it but deep down I feel sorry for Utd fans. David Moyes is really out of his depth and will drag Utd down to his average Everton level. No Champions League spot this season and Utd will be in a terrible financial position.

(Although I do see Utd finishing in the top 4, there's no way the owners could let that not happen).

Terrible financial position?

The same club that's getting £357 million over 7 years from General Motors from 2014?

The same club that in the financial year ending in June 2013 made a profit of £363 million, a rise of 13% on the previous year?

The same club that has lucrative sponsorship deals with over 30 companies worldwide?

The same club that are in negotiations with Nike to close a 13 year deal worth $1.57 BILLION?

Missing out on the Champions League money would possibly make a blip on the records, but it wouldn't be catastrophic.

The biggest danger from missing out on the Champions League is that the few decent players they have left will leave and attracting replacements will be extra difficult especially if Moyes is still in charge.

EDIT,
Moyes insists he's the right man for the job,
https://www1.skysports.com/football...he-is-the-right-manager-for-manchester-united

He seems to operating on the belief that because Fergie handpicked him, nobody should question him.

As great as he was, Fergie wasn't always right and recommending Moyes as his successor was his biggest mistake.

 

[greygoose]

Terrible financial position?

The same club that's getting £357 million over 7 years from General Motors from 2014?

The same club that in the financial year ending in June 2013 made a profit of £363 million, a rise of 13% on the previous year?

The same club that has lucrative sponsorship deals with over 30 companies worldwide?

The same club that are in negotiations with Nike to close a 13 year deal worth $1.57 BILLION?

Missing out on the Champions League money would possibly make a blip on the records, but it wouldn't be catastrophic.

Let's hope you drop out the top 4 so we can see the results.

 

[thecorsair]

Let's hope you drop out the top 4 so we can see the results.

The General Motors deal and others were completed last year so that money is already guaranteed.

Ed Woodward messed up the transfer window but all those sponsorship deals were down to him, so unlike Moyes he's not been completely useless.

So whichever way you look at it United will remain a money making machine whether they miss out on next year's Champions League or not.

The real questions are whether the Glazers will allow enough of that money to be spent to rebuild the squad properly and whether Moyes has the ability to bring in the right players as well as moving on the ones that aren't good enough.

 

[heon123]

United can spend but the question is, do they know who to spend it on?

Predictions today,

I'm guessing a 3-1 win to United, but a 1-0 defeat seems more likely

Madrid to win 4-0, Madrid probably seek to do better in La Liga after their defeat to their rivals, unlike United.

Scrap that,

https://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11667/8957865

2-0 loss for sure.

 

[thecorsair]

The starting lineup is,

De Gea
Rafael
Vidic
Jones
Evra
Carrick
Cleverley
Nani
Januzaj
Rooney
Van Persie

 

[heon123]

Sunderland's parking the bus, United's tactics are too predictable. Unlucky to concede the first goal though, poor touch from Vidic. Again, probs our strongest line-up minus Kagawa and we're losing to a relegation fighting team.

 

[thecorsair]

Same old story, way too light in the centre of midfield.

Difficult to see them turning this one around.

The one good performance came from Januzaj, he already looks light years ahead of Nani, Valencia or Young.

 

[heon123]

Very lucky to be leading. On comes Welbeck and Valencia

 

[thecorsair]

Great league debut for Januzaj.

Resolving his contract issue should be top priority but Moyes seemed very complacement about it during his post match interview

 

[Wanderer]

The boy is class and a Muslim too so he's an automatic top player in my eyes . A United superstar is born.

 

[heon123]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfyUS-HR15w"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfyUS-HR15w[/ame]

Post Match Interview.

As for the game, barely scrapped past Sunderland. Thought United were going to concede in the last 5 minutes. Again, felt sorry for Kagawa, I hope he leaves to the place where he made his name, Dortmund, they certainly need him as well after Lewondowski's departure to Bayern. Rooney looked off but played decent, Van Persie should have scored that chance but it was a difficult angle :/
Not bothered touching on defence or midfield but United do really need to step up their game to get into the top 4, let alone top 10.