English Premier League EPL Thread

[dino76m]

no denying marketing played a big part, also the point about fans supporting players is true, teams like liverpool revived their fanbase in late 90s because of michael owen,
there are other examples,,and how can u watch something u dont know anything, u put on a match on tv, say sevilla vs valladoid ,wont recognise any players , change channels.
again no denying this teams might play better football, than aston villa and spurs which as a matter of fact im watching right now, because i see players like Bale, lennon ,adebayor,defoe etc etc..
now unless ur following all the news about leagues and upcoming players theres no other way u hear about isco or a malaga unless they shock real madrid

 

[axecutioner18]

Tell me did you guys know about Michu or the club he played before he came to Swansea? Im guessing you guys didnt! But Id seen him play for Vallecano in La Liga... and he was a decent player in the maches I saw him, but not extraordinary. However in EPL I see he has suddenly exploded and is being vaunted as one of the best alongside Rooney and RVP... which I find ridiculous. So maybe these sudden Spanish League imports catching the eye will open up more fans to the La Liga...

Because the EPL scouts and managers sure are...

 

[thecorsair]

Tell me did you guys know about Michu or the club he played before he came to Swansea? Im guessing you guys didnt! But Id seen him play for Vallecano in La Liga... and he was a decent player in the maches I saw him, but not extraordinary. However in EPL I see he has suddenly exploded and is being vaunted as one of the best alongside Rooney and RVP... which I find ridiculous. So maybe these sudden Spanish League imports catching the eye will open up more fans to the La Liga...

Because the EPL scouts and managers sure are...

The hype that occurs when an imported "unknown" has a couple of good games in our league is almost as tedious as the way our own players get built up beyond all possible expectation.

 

[thecorsair]

Fergie continues his Christmas ranting campaign,
https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/premier-league-pardew-fergie-sent-093755710.html

I wish he'd give it a rest but that being said, he's right about Newcastle being a "wee" club....this incident will likely be the only newsworthy thing that happens to them for years.

 

[RagingBull]

Tell me did you guys know about Michu or the club he played before he came to Swansea? Im guessing you guys didnt! But Id seen him play for Vallecano in La Liga... and he was a decent player in the maches I saw him, but not extraordinary. However in EPL I see he has suddenly exploded and is being vaunted as one of the best alongside Rooney and RVP... which I find ridiculous. So maybe these sudden Spanish League imports catching the eye will open up more fans to the La Liga...

Because the EPL scouts and managers sure are...

Anyone who's into football in England will know all about La Liga. It gets televised nearly as much as the Prem. Yeah Michu was a good buy & there was a lot of surprise in the Spanish Press for how cheap Swansea bought him for. He was the 9th highest scorer in La Liga last season & the highest scorer for a midfielder so he did really well playing for an unfancied team. Spain just seem to keep producing classy players, they certainly know how to play football the proper way.

 

[heon123]

https://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-...s-ronaldo-and-mourinho-to-come-to-united.aspx



Would love to see Ronnie back at OT. Mourinho, not so much.

 

[axecutioner18]

Face it... Christiano Ronaldo is not coming back... ManU just cant afford him.

 

[thecorsair]

The speculation about a return to United is likely being engineered by Ronaldo's agent to push Madrid into increasing his wages and as such shouldn't be taken seriously.

The only way he's returning to Old Trafford is to put his former team out of the Champions League....being 7 points clear in the league won't mean crap when they get chewed up and spat out by Real.

 

[RagingBull]

Ronaldo isn't going back Man Utd not for along time anyway. He'll stay at Real the only teams who can afford him is Man City, Chelsea, PSG (who still won't pay it) & a few Russian & Chinese teams & Ronaldo isn't going there

 

[thecorsair]

Bad news for United,
https://www1.skysports.com/football...r-League-leaders-Manchester-United-in-January

https://www1.skysports.com/football...ed-recruiting-any-big-name-players-in-January

Fergie actually believes this squad is among his best ever

 

[heon123]

Its not about the money in 2015. Its his desicion after all and she said in an interview when he said he was sad that money was not the issue so rumours about PSG are more unlikely because Ang(?)celotti the PSG managers has ruled CR7 out of Janurary. Plus Ronaldo wants all the attrntion he can get and not being loved in Madrid can only leave the PM. After the "reception" he got at the Etihad theres 0% chance of him going to City. Im in Year 7/12 and I dont know much about stocks and all that but a United have raised more than enough to bring him back. I think its obvious he wants to leave spain asap because of the lack of respect he gets and messi

 

[RagingBull]

Reading more into this the Daily Mail are saying PSG but I can't see it. He's desperate to be recognised as the best player in the world & if he goes there he'll never get it.
I think he would love to go back to Utd but I can't see Utd dropping that kind of cash on him & also I cant see him going to City because of playing for Utd but if Real are forced to sell I think City is who they would like to do business with most as there got some players they really want & could bring in as part of a deal like Aguero for example.

 

[averone]

Bad news for United,
https://www1.skysports.com/football...r-League-leaders-Manchester-United-in-January

https://www1.skysports.com/football...ed-recruiting-any-big-name-players-in-January

Fergie actually believes this squad is among his best ever

I don't know, so far so good....
And the money they save will go for the next year

 

[RagingBull]

Man U have got a really good squad I hate to admit. Not many clubs can boast two forwards in the quality of Rooney & RVP. Midfield is fine. I admit the defence is a little bit iffy at the moment but the players are there & Fergie will put that right. Anyway players in the Jan transfer window are always over priced & the best players are rarely available. It's always funny seeing a team panic buy & blowing big money on an average player. Fergie is to smart for that

 

[gypsycatcha]

Reading more into this the Daily Mail are saying PSG but I can't see it. He's desperate to be recognised as the best player in the world & if he goes there he'll never get it.
I think he would love to go back to Utd but I can't see Utd dropping that kind of cash on him & also I cant see him going to City because of playing for Utd but if Real are forced to sell I think City is who they would like to do business with most as there got some players they really want & could bring in as part of a deal like Aguero for example.

I actually disagree with this. The impression iv always got of Ronaldo is that he''s out for himself and all about him.
Moving to city goes against everything he should do but the attention he would get, the money involved and the fact his profile will not lessen in anyway, It could very well happen.

 

[thecorsair]

Man U have got a really good squad I hate to admit. Not many clubs can boast two forwards in the quality of Rooney & RVP. Midfield is fine. I admit the defence is a little bit iffy at the moment but the players are there & Fergie will put that right. Anyway players in the Jan transfer window are always over priced & the best players are rarely available. It's always funny seeing a team panic buy & blowing big money on an average player. Fergie is to smart for that

Have you seen the 2 Champions League finals against Barcelona?

The Bilbao games last year?

The 6-1 humiliation by City?

Many other matches during the same period where the midfield was totally dominated?

Carrick & co may be good enough to help get the team in the top 2 of the Premier League but that midfield is not going to help win them another Champions League or even get them to another final....which is something Fergie obviously has in mind when he talks of catching Barcelona.

The whole reason the defence keeps getting exposed is due to the lack of a Roy Keane style ballwinner in the middle and the continued use of two players approaching 40 doesn't help the overall mobility of the midfield as a unit....both frequently give the ball away and can't get it back because ( suprise suprise ) they're too slow.

Any team capable of maintaining a fast pace down the middle for the whole game can control United easily....Barcelona & Bilbao did it twice and it all came through their ability to pull the paper thin midfield to pieces whenever they wanted.

The 3 donkeys masquerading as wingers may be OK for lesser clubs but for a team that's supposed to be one of the best in Europe they aren't even close to being adequate enough....the actual top teams wouldn't use any of them for anything other than selling programmes and even that might be too taxing for Nani.

Scoring goals is the one area the present squad doesn't have any issues with although it'd only take an injury to RVP to present some.

 

[RagingBull]

Barcelona no teams in the world can match that midfield on its day right now. Forgot about the Bilbao game though the players were just simply not up for it, hardly any Prem team takes the Europa Cup seriously. Don't get me wrong there's great players Utd could add to that team to make it stronger but who's going to be available in Jan to strengthen it. All the teams in Europe won't be selling any of there players & the teams like Spurs etc fighting for Europe won't be either. Unless you want to buy a 35 million Andy Carroll that is. So basically what I'm saying is you need to get your transfers done in the summer. Saying that someone could be getting a bargain soon, Walcott's contract runs out in the summer & any team out side of the Prem could get him on a free for next season. Hope he doesn't go somewhere like Barca or Real because I could imagine them getting him hardly playing him but just to sell on later. He's been looking really good playing up front, if Arsenal lose him for nothing what another complete **** up by Wenger & the **** heads on that board.

 

[thecorsair]

Barcelona no teams in the world can match that midfield on its day right now. Forgot about the Bilbao game though the players were just simply not up for it, hardly any Prem team takes the Europa Cup seriously. Don't get me wrong there's great players Utd could add to that team to make it stronger but who's going to be available in Jan to strengthen it. All the teams in Europe won't be selling any of there players & the teams like Spurs etc fighting for Europe won't be either. Unless you want to buy a 35 million Andy Carroll that is. So basically what I'm saying is you need to get your transfers done in the summer. Saying that someone could be getting a bargain soon, Walcott's contract runs out in the summer & any team out side of the Prem could get him on a free for next season. Hope he doesn't go somewhere like Barca or Real because I could imagine them getting him hardly playing him but just to sell on later. He's been looking really good playing up front, if Arsenal lose him for nothing what another complete **** up by Wenger & the **** heads on that board.

I don't think "not being up for it" is a valid excuse for the Bilbao games, they were simply outplayed and considering Bilbao aren't even the top team in Spain it told me all I need to know about La Liga....it's blatantly in a different class to the EPL.

A fair enough point on the transfers although Evra and Vidic were both signed in the January window so it's not like it's impossible to sign good players.

Even if they wait until the end of the season there needs to be a clearout of at least 7 players and some DECENT replacements brought in to replace them, no more rubbish like Young or "prospects" signed on the cheap that only ever get 2-3 games a season because Fergie would sooner play the old guys.

I'm resigned to it not happening whilst Fergie is there though and look forward to the day when he finally buggers off as the club needs a fresh approach especially when it comes to the Champions League.

 

[RagingBull]

I don't think "not being up for it" is a valid excuse for the Bilbao games, they were simply outplayed and considering Bilbao aren't even the top team in Spain it told me all I need to know about La Liga....it's blatantly in a different class to the EPL.

A fair enough point on the transfers although Evra and Vidic were both signed in the January window so it's not like it's impossible to sign good players.

Even if they wait until the end of the season there needs to be a clearout of at least 7 players and some DECENT replacements brought in to replace them, no more rubbish like Young or "prospects" signed on the cheap that only ever get 2-3 games a season because Fergie would sooner play the old guys.

I'm resigned to it not happening whilst Fergie is there though and look forward to the day when he finally buggers off as the club needs a fresh approach especially when it comes to the Champions League.

You can't judge like that. Put it this way since 2004-05 a Premiership team has made it to the Champions League Final 8 times, La Liga on the other side have had 3 all being Barca. This is the Elite competition were talking about here which any team would want more than anything else. Now if teams like Bilbao were so much better than Man Utd why aren't they getting to Champions League final? Other than the League & Champions League, teams of Utd's calibre are half assed about any other competition and this isnt me taking anything away from La Liga because it is an incredible League but them & the Prem are pretty even & you should give Man U (& I hate em) the credit they deserve.

 

[thecorsair]

You can't judge like that. Put it this way since 2004-05 a Premiership team has made it to the Champions League Final 8 times, La Liga on the other side have had 3 all being Barca. This is the Elite competition were talking about here which any team would want more than anything else. Now if teams like Bilbao were so much better than Man Utd why aren't they getting to Champions League final? Other than the League & Champions League, teams of Utd's calibre are half assed about any other competition and this isnt me taking anything away from La Liga because it is an incredible League but them & the Prem are pretty even & you should give Man U (& I hate em) the credit they deserve.

3 wins out of 8 isn't bad but had Fergie responded properly to the first defeat by Barcelona and started rebuilding the midfield I think they would have had a far better chance of winning the second one.

Instead he stuck with the same players and they got their arse kicked again and nearly 2 years later he is still trying to reach Barcelona's level with more or less the same players, some of whom are fading fast due to the effects of age and injuries and others that continue to prove that they aren't good enough to wear the red shirt.

Carrick, Nani, Valencia, Young & Welbeck can't even deliver in the technically backward confines of English football so I have to question why the man who masterminded the Treble still seems to think they can cause problems against the real heavyweights of Europe.

Is it because he can't get the funds to buy all the players he needs?

Or is it because he's getting on a bit and losing his marbles?

Past United squads got my full support because they were generally of a lot higher standard, the only players worth watching now are RVP and Hernandez.