The Prem Big Guns are pants!

mike65

Overall this season

Chelsea playing crap - Scolari out!
Arsenal playing crap - Wenger Out!
Liverpool playing crap - Rafa Out!
Man Utd playing crap - Fergie er in (cos no one dares say Fergie out and 15-odd years of success buy a lot of credit)

Whats the hells going on? Have the rest simply found ways of stopping better teams or are the managers tired and/or inapropriate?

invincibleirish

Nothing lasts forever

Frisbee

mike65 wrote: »

Overall this season

Chelsea playing crap - Scolari out!
Arsenal playing crap - Wenger Out!
Liverpool playing crap - Rafa Out!
Man Utd playing crap - Fergie er in (cos no one dares say Fergie out and 15-odd years of success buy a lot of credit)

Whats the hells going on? Have the rest simply found ways of stopping better teams or are the managers tired and/or inapropriate?

Their all still in the top 5, how is that crap?

DSB

I honestly think the decline of the Italian league has had alot to do with it. Lower teams have been able to sign better players than they might previously have been able.

LuckyLloyd

mike65 wrote: »

Overall this season

Chelsea playing crap - Scolari out!
Arsenal playing crap - Wenger Out!
Liverpool playing crap - Rafa Out!
Man Utd playing crap - Fergie er in (cos no one dares say Fergie out and 15-odd years of success buy a lot of credit)

Whats the hells going on? Have the rest simply found ways of stopping better teams or are the managers tired and/or inapropriate?

Look at the table from 8th through to 20th. Compare it to this stage during previous seasons.

There is no patsy. There is no three / four teams from which the other two must surely come.

The elasticity of the league has changed from previous seasons. Whether this will be a trend going forward or is simply an aberration remains to be seen...

_blank_

invincibleirish wrote: »

Nothing lasts forever

...and we both know hearts can change

mike65

Is that Power ballard?

_blank_

mike65 wrote: »

Is that Power ballard?

:eek:

Not A power ballad mike, THE power ballad.

November Rain, GnR

mike65

Thought the lyrics were bad enough to be!

SantryRed

It's only three of them.

United have won 6 in a row and haven't conceded since November

invincibleirish

I'd post the video for epic naffness, but i'll leave it alone

mike65

SantryRed wrote: »

It's only three of them.

United have won 6 in a row and haven't conceded since November

Utd have got results of course but in nothing like the imperious fashion of the team at thier best (last nights rout hardly counts)

Headshot

mike65 wrote: »

Utd have got results of course but in nothing like the imperious fashion of the team at thier best (last nights rout hardly counts)

ya fair enough utd havent been themselves but its still a very good thing to scrape a win when the team is playing bad


utd can close down a game too

delspeed78

A few weeks ago it defintely looked like the league that nobody wanted to win but it is hard to look beyond Utd now.

MIN2511

Every year we rant the same and then next year we say the boys played better 09, it would never be enough!
These footballers have lives, they have families and problems which affects play regardless of what people would say.
1. Stephen Gerrad arested for brawling
2. Robinho for Sexual assault
3. Mikel Obi drunk driving...

@ the end of the day we the top guns will always be at the top and why because they have invested time and patience into their players.

The pressure from the fans is unbelieveable...

YDMHSSB

hmmm united are playing crap u say? 29 points from 33, no goals conceded in 11 and hammer chelsea and beating main rivals away in that period along with 5 other away games. hmmm, sounds terrible form to me and ooh yes, won a world club title in the mean time and qualified for the carling cup final.
:rolleyes::rolleyes: and more :rolleyes:.

sound likes an annoyed liverpool fan to me this evening?

eagle eye

YDMHSSB wrote: »

hmmm united are playing crap u say? 29 points from 33, no goals conceded in 11 and hammer chelsea and beating main rivals away in that period along with 5 other away games. hmmm, sounds terrible form to me and ooh yes, won a world club title in the mean time and qualified for the carling cup final.
:rolleyes::rolleyes: and more :rolleyes:.

sound likes an annoyed liverpool fan to me this evening?

Who did they last lose to? Was it Liverpool?

redout

eagle eye wrote: »

Who did they last lose to? Was it Liverpool?

Think it was Arsenal at the Emirates 2 - 1 back in november.

D.S.

The Premier League is the richest league in the world. Best TV rights deal, richest collection of clubs, excellent attendances across the board, several millionaire owners distorting the market with their cash..

..from top to bottom, it's a very wealthy league relative to the others. Even the lower teams are not only investing big sums, but also this season getting bang for their buck, in part linked to the decline of the Italian league as mentioned but also due to the attractiveness of the set-up in England relative to Italy/Germany/France.

The gap has simply shrunk this season from two ends - 1) the lower teams have improved greatly, and 2) the top four imo are all underperforming:

- Chelsea - queries about Abramoviches ongoing involvement, rumours of player unrest with manager, questionable manager tactics at times
- Man U - thrown out of synch by Japan trip, struggling to score goals (Berba slow settling in, Tevez unrest/not getting game, Ronaldo injury/off form).
- Aresenal - key player injuries, out of form, lacking experience
- Liverpool - early run of form now stuttering, Torres injury, Robbie not settling in

The gap between the bottom of the league and 10th is 7 points. Gap between 7th and bottom is 15 points.

Any team at the lower end of league on the day I believe could take points of any of the top teams.

That being said, the traditional gap between the front 5 and the rest of the league still remains. Quite possible that this is an aberration as mentioned.

Flipside for this season is that the relegation battle is going to be intense..

Ardscoil Ris

eagle eye wrote: »

Who did they last lose to? Was it Liverpool?

Tomthepost

Des wrote: »

...and we both know hearts can change

How did we get on to a conversation about the SPL from here:D

Savman

DSB wrote: »

I honestly think the decline of the Italian league has had alot to do with it. Lower teams have been able to sign better players than they might previously have been able.

This has some merit actually, it's not that the Top 4 have crumbled (silly) but that thankfully the PL has opened up after a prolonged period of dominance.

eagle eye

Well its not all that close really, take a look at the team in 5th(Arsenal) who are 10 points clear of the 7th(Wigan) who are 11 points clear of the relegation zone.

So there are five teams really marching away from everyone, and then Everton, and then the rest.

Statistically if you take the top five right now and the points they have accumulated, its actually a stronger top five than most seasons excluding last season. But there is no doubting that the top five are not coming back to the rest, they are still maintaining the gap. Even though Arsenal are fifth they still have 42 points which is the highest points total for a 5th place team after 23 games over the last six years.

Here are the total points after 23 games over the last couple of seasons accumulated by the top 5.

2009 235 (United have only played 22 games) avg. 47 pts per team.
2008 242 avg. 48.4 pts per team
2007 233 avg. 46.6 pts per team
2006 233 avg. 46.6 pts per team
2005 234 avg. 46.8 pts per team
2004 230 avg. 46 pts per team

The average this season for the top five teams is 47 points, the combined average over the previous 5 years is 46.88 per team.

The gap has undoubtedly closed between the other teams in the league but the top five still remain as powerful as ever if not more powerful.

Spud83

redout wrote: »

Think it was Arsenal at the Emirates 2 - 1 back in november.

Wrong.

Derby 1-0.

redout

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

Wrong.

Derby 1-0.

Is this discussion not about the league ?

Boggles

mike65 wrote: »

Man Utd playing crap - Fergie er in (cos no one dares say Fergie out and 15-odd years of success buy a lot of credit)

Because if they did at the moment they would be dragged off to the funny farm. :rolleyes:

Spud83

mike65 wrote: »

Overall this season

Chelsea playing crap - Scolari out!
Arsenal playing crap - Wenger Out!
Liverpool playing crap - Rafa Out!
Man Utd playing crap - Fergie er in (cos no one dares say Fergie out and 15-odd years of success buy a lot of credit)

Whats the hells going on? Have the rest simply found ways of stopping better teams or are the managers tired and/or inapropriate?

eagle eye wrote: »

Who did they last lose to? Was it Liverpool?

redout wrote: »

Is this discussion not about the league ?

OP didn't mention anything about the league.

And the question was who did they last lose to. Not who did they last lose to in the league.

EDIT: there has been as much talk about G'n'R as the league in this thread.

redout

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

OP didn't mention anything about the league.

And the question was who did they last lose to. Not who did they last lose to in the league.

EDIT: there has been as much talk about G'n'R as the league in this thread.

Well excuse me for thinking so in a thread named "The Prem Big Guns are pants! "

Spud83

redout wrote: »

Well excuse me for thinking so in a thread named "The Prem Big Guns are pants! "

Doesn't say they have been pants in the premier league. Just that they are pants in general.

redout

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

Doesn't say they have been pants in the premier league. Just that they are pants in general.

Al lets just take it that practically everyone else takes it to be about the league and you dont.

Call Me Jimmy

pedants are pants

PHB

United have been playing poor, but grinding out results. Not exactly the end of the world because we all expected United at some point to click, and start being amazing again. That might be upon us now.

Fergie just won two leagues in a row, and won the CL last year. We had a poor start to the season but are now 2 points ahead with a game in hand, and if Liverpool and Chelsea draw next week, assuming we win our matches, we could be 7 points ahead!!! Who in the world would want to get rid of him?

p.s. he also convinced our best player to not leave and stay with the club.

Scolari is new and adjusting, people calling for him to quit are a bit silly imo.
Wenger is working on a shoe string budget, shoe string, and still managing to keep Arsenal in the top 4 (although maybe not this year). Them being in the top 6 alone is an outstanding achievement, let alone the top 4, let alone challenging for the league last year. There is, imo, nobody who could do that well on a shoe string except maybe Fergie.
Rafa I think the calls are a little more justified personally.

IMO people still buy into the crap that the PL teams outside the top 4 are ****e compared to the teams in La Liga or Serie A. I think thats crap, I think they are just as good if not better. They are taking more points off people this year, just like they threatened to do last year. The money is finally spreading around.

eagle eye

PHB wrote: »

IMO people still buy into the crap that the PL teams outside the top 4 are ****e compared to the teams in La Liga or Serie A. I think thats crap, I think they are just as good if not better. They are taking more points off people this year, just like they threatened to do last year. The money is finally spreading around.

Do you read what other posters have said before you post?

I have posted the stats for a number of years which completely disprove the notion that the League is closing up. Its clear that teams who would have faced almost certain relegation in their first season in the PL might have learned how to cope better, given this seasons results if its not just a once off. But to think that the top five or the old top four have come back to the pack is just rubbish based on the last six years of Premier League stats.
If you read my post how could you believe what you are saying here in all fairness?

ziggy

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