General Premier League Thread - 2016/2017

SuprSi

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Th excessive praise of Spurs is getting tiresome also.

They received ridiculous amounts of praise despite not having won anything and flopping in europe.

They had a great chance to win the league last year and didn't take advantage and they drew way too many games at the start of this season.they aren't going to have too many more chances of winning it as the league is not going to be as poor as it has been in the last couple of seasons.

They received a ridiculous amount of praise because they played the best football in the league. Most goals, best defence, most entertaining style of football, top scorer - the only team to really push the league leaders in both of the previous seasons, albeit falling short in both (in very tough circumstances).

To bottle something you have to be in a position to win it. The only teams that could have bottled it last season and this were Leicester and Chelsea.

KingdomYid

West Ham were unreal tonight, we had no time on the ball and no space. Congrats to Chelsea and well done to Poch and my team they have made me proud to be a Spurs fan again.

Cant wait to be at the Lane next week to say goodbye to old place.

SlickRic

niallo27 wrote: »

In fairness they handled the pressure of beating arsenal on Sunday after watching Chelsea win. The premier league is so tough, you can perform at 100% every week.

They've not been close to Chelsea yet. If Chelsea had lost, that's proper pressure IMO.

The media can tell us all how brilliant Spurs are. They can put up all the stats they want about their points total over 2 seasons, distance covered, home form etc etc. But they've achieved little.

I enjoy this Spurs team a lot. The fawning over them is mad though, especially considering this group of players has won fúck all yet. I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard pundits try to put forward that Spurs are 'the best team' or 'the best footballing team'. Even Jamie Redknapp had to correct Stelling tonight when he asked if Spurs are actually the best 'footballing team', telling him that Chelsea may have a say since they're top of the league.

Harry Palmr

Is the race to finish 2nd back on?

Dirty Dingus McGee

SuprSi wrote: »

They received a ridiculous amount of praise because they played the best football in the league. Most goals, best defence, most entertaining style of football, top scorer - the only team to really push the league leaders in both of the previous seasons, albeit falling short in both (in very tough circumstances).

To bottle something you have to be in a position to win it. The only teams that could have bottled it last season and this were Leicester and Chelsea.

Playing well is no good unless you get some trophies and although they've played well for the last 2 seasons they haven't won a trophy yet and their window is probably closing as there is no way Man Utd and Man City will be as bad next year.

I my opinion Spurs blew it last season. Leicester drew with West Brom on a Tuesday night and Spurs were playing West Ham the next night where a win would have put them top but they didn't get the win, Leicester with an inferior group of players took advantage of the opportunity when it presented itself to them and Spurs didn't.

The Talking Bread

I find Spurs fans a tad arrogant the last couple of seasons!

Great team with some great players and a very good manager but reign the self praise in! Or at least acknowledge and accept a bit of criticism from "outsiders" you get without going on the defensive!

Morzadec

I thought West Ham were superb tonight in fairness, credit to them - they really rose to the occasion. I always think night time games get the atmosphere going a bit more and this may have worked against Spurs a bit.

Spurs had one or two good chances to open the scoring which would have been crucial and changed the course I believe. On another night they might have done it. I agree that it's maybe a little unfair to call it a bottle job - thought Spurs were decent if not spectacular - they've possibly played worse and won this season.

One of those ones that if you manage to grind it out they all say "sign of champions", (like against Palace last week), but it goes the other way and now it's a bottle job. The difference between the two appraisals could be a shot going two more inches to the left. A bit simplistic for me - Arsenal at home was probably a bigger mental test and they passed that easily so I'm not sure if it's a mental issue. Did they not show "bottle" in that game?

I just think they came up against a very highly motivated WH team with the crowd behind them. True, maybe "true champions" grind this out, but that is why Chelsea are deservingly winning this league and have been strong favourites since at least the turn of the year.

I can maybe understand people getting sick of Spurs being labelled the "best team in the league" because I think it's evident they're not - Chelsea should win it by a handy 6 points or so. But they do deserve a huge amount of credit - look at the points tally achieved and the quality of squad they've put together on a comparatively small budget, when you compare to the riches of the Manchester clubs who seemingly can't build a team despite this advantage.

It's an impressive performance from them and they deserve credit - will be interesting if they can push on next year. There's not a huge amount of work that needs to be done on that squad. Retention of their big players is far more key

KingdomYid

The Talking Bread wrote: »

I find Spurs fans a tad arrogant the last couple of seasons!

Great team with some great players and a very good manager but reign the self praise in! Or at least acknowledge and accept a bit of criticism from "outsiders" you get without going on the defensive!

Personally i never get carried away with them, too many years of **** and pain haha. I suppose the reason we react to criticism is that most of us cant believe we are even challenging for leagues and feel its not justified. That is my feeling on it anyway.

SuprSi

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Playing well is no good unless you get some trophies and although they've played well for the last 2 seasons they haven't won a trophy yet and their window is probably closing as there is no way Man Utd and Man City will be as bad next year.

I my opinion Spurs blew it last season. Leicester drew with West Brom on a Tuesday night and Spurs were playing West Ham the next night where a win would have put them top but they didn't get the win, Leicester with an inferior group of players took advantage of the opportunity when it presented itself to them and Spurs didn't.

Wrong. Spurs won 4 - 0 away to Stoke (after Leicester had previously won) to close to gap to 5 points. Leicester then drew against Utd to make the gap 6 points, meaning Spurs realistically had to win at home against West Brom to keep things going. They stuttered to a draw, effectively ending the chase before that mad Chelsea game. Yes they drew a game they should've won but the only thing they really blew was not finishing in 2nd place, which was completely unacceptable.

As for the whole being defensive thing, there's a certain amount of defensiveness around the whole 'bottling it' thing that people seem to throw out around here. As I mentioned, to bottle something you have to be in a position to win it, a position Spurs were not in the last two seasons as they were relying on the team ahead dropping points.

And there's no arrogance either - Spurs fans haven't had a huge amount to cheer about over the last many, many seasons and are revelling in the performances and results over the last two seasons, while their team play (arguably?) the most watchable football in the league (obviously without the silverware or enough points to actually win the league) - I don't think that's arrogant?

fullstop

SlickRic wrote: »

Spurs are choking.

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Spursy

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Spurs doing a Spurs.

Johner wrote: »

Spurs gunna Spurs.

SlickRic wrote: »

I can't explain adequately just how bad that was from Spurs.

They couldn't even handle the pressure of trying to get within a point of Chelsea.

Getting into the position to challenge is one thing. It means you're a very good team. To actually handle the pressure of potentially getting to the top when it matters is a whole other story.

What a load of nonsense. They'd won, what, 9 games in a row to keep on Chelsea's tails and they lost a derby match and people can't wait to come in and get digs in and call them chokers :rolleyes: No team wins every game.

The fact that it's mostly Liverpool fans is particularly bizarre, given what their own team did a few seasons ago.

KingdomYid

fullstop wrote: »

What a load of nonsense. They'd won, what, 9 games in a row to keep on Chelsea's tails and they lost a derby match and people can't wait to come in and get digs in and call them chokers :rolleyes: No team wins every game.

Well said my friend. So many posters here were just waiting for them to lose a game to have a dig. Every team loses a game eventually, West Ham were superb tonight and beat us fair and square.

Dirty Dingus McGee

SuprSi wrote: »

Wrong. Spurs won 4 - 0 away to Stoke (after Leicester had previously won) to close to gap to 5 points. Leicester then drew against Utd to make the gap 6 points, meaning Spurs realistically had to win at home against West Brom to keep things going. They stuttered to a draw, effectively ending the chase before that mad Chelsea game. Yes they drew a game they should've won but the only thing they really blew was not finishing in 2nd place, which was completely unacceptable.

As for the whole being defensive thing, there's a certain amount of defensiveness around the whole 'bottling it' thing that people seem to throw out around here. As I mentioned, to bottle something you have to be in a position to win it, a position Spurs were not in the last two seasons as they were relying on the team ahead dropping points.

And there's no arrogance either - Spurs fans haven't had a huge amount to cheer about over the last many, many seasons and are revelling in the performances and results over the last two seasons, while their team play (arguably?) the most watchable football in the league (obviously without the silverware or enough points to actually win the league) - I don't think that's arrogant?

What I was talking about was this.


1st March

Leicester 1- 1 West Brom

2nd March

West Ham United 1 - 0 Spurs


If Spurs won that game they would have went top with 10 games left.It was a big opportunity that they should have taken advantage off.

SuprSi

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

What I was talking about was this.


1st March

Leicester 1- 1 West Brom

2nd March

West Ham United 1 - 0 Spurs


If Spurs won that game they would have went top with 10 games left.It was a big opportunity that they should have taken advantage off.They also blew that game against Stoke that you mentioned.

Fair enough, agreed, that was a bad result against a team Spurs have struggled with in the last few seasons. They beat Stoke 0 - 4 in that game I mentioned and at that point I genuinely thought they were going to catch Leicester but that game against West Brom was exactly like the game tonight where they needed a win and just couldn't do it.

Essentially, results earlier in the season have impacted Spurs badly this season (and last). Harry Kane not being available for 12 weeks really hurt too, especially with a misfiring backup striker against a team with the resources and players of Chelsea.

cj maxx

Tottenham

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Do you have something you want to post here! Or are you just posting to tell others what can be posted and not posted!!

Most matches don't have match threads, I couldn't give a flying fcku if Spurs fans want to have a secret thread all to their own! Its a Friday night Premier League game between 2 Premier League teams, few Premier League fans enjoying the Premier League game and commenting in the Premier League thread!

Your dead right , so on general PL news , any news on Arron Lennon ?? Or mark Clttemberg ? The Sky deal etc etc

The Talking Bread

cjmc wrote: »

Your dead right , so on general PL news , any news on Arron Lennon ?? Or mark Clttemberg ? The Sky deal etc etc

If I was looking for such info I would google it! No offence but people generally come onto football threads to discuss things, not ask questions which are perfectly answerable with a few words typed into google! It is a discussion thread, so start the discussion!

I will direct you to same!!

PS Clattenburg is no longer anything to do with the Premier League! Nor is Aaron Lennon's mental health!

https://www.google.ie/search?q=aaron+lennon&rlz=1C1VFKB_enIE686IE686&oq=aaron+lenn&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.5567j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.ie/search?q=mark+clattenburg&rlz=1C1VFKB_enIE686IE686&oq=mark+clatten&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.3710j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=mark+clattenburg&tbm=nws

https://www.google.ie/search?q=aaron+lennon&rlz=1C1VFKB_enIE686IE686&oq=aaron+lennon&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0l5.4723j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=sky+deal&tbm=nws

cj maxx

Tottenham

The Talking Bread wrote: »

If I was looking for such info I would google it! No offence but people generally come onto football threads to discuss things, not ask questions which are perfectly answerable with a few words typed into google! It is a discussion thread, so start the discussion!

I will direct you to same!!

PS Clattenburg is no longer anything to do with the Premier League! Nor is Aaron Lennon's mental health!

https://www.google.ie/search?q=aaron+lennon&rlz=1C1VFKB_enIE686IE686&oq=aaron+lenn&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.5567j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.ie/search?q=mark+clattenburg&rlz=1C1VFKB_enIE686IE686&oq=mark+clatten&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.3710j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=mark+clattenburg&tbm=nws

https://www.google.ie/search?q=aaron+lennon&rlz=1C1VFKB_enIE686IE686&oq=aaron+lennon&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0l5.4723j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=sky+deal&tbm=nws

Yes , people come into threads to discuss things , whether they're club related or not.
I also know Ramsey, Clattenberg et al have been discussed .
But it's late so

Lukker-

West Ham were class, they were winning every second ball. Good atmosphere there tonight too. Such an inconsistent team though, must wreck your head supporting them, they should be comfortably top 10.

The Talking Bread

Great quiz site for the football loving procrastinator

https://www.sporcle.com/games/pitchorneirda/epl-top-5-minefield

klose

Stuck on 12/18

The Talking Bread

klose wrote: »

Stuck on 12/18

I missed 2. Norwich, and QPR

SlickRic

fullstop wrote: »

What a load of nonsense. They'd won, what, 9 games in a row to keep on Chelsea's tails and they lost a derby match and people can't wait to come in and get digs in and call them chokers :rolleyes: No team wins every game.

The fact that it's mostly Liverpool fans is particularly bizarre, given what their own team did a few seasons ago.

The fact my team buckled in 2014 means I know what a team running out of ideas and composure when it matters looks like.

The performance last night, when it mattered, wasn't good at all.

All I said above was 'Spurs are choking' when during the game they were misplacing passes, chucking it long and just looking like they were lacking composure. I also said after that I like this Spurs team, the performance was bad, and it's one thing to get in a position to get to the top, but it's another to get to the top. They've still won nothing.

They're a very good team, but many people's fawning is OTT. That's all.

I've also never seen so many sports presenters and pundits (on air and social media) come out so quick to tell me this wasn't a bottle (which it wasn't). But the rush to make sure we know how awesome Spurs are is a bit fúcking strange.

irishman86

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Great quiz site for the football loving procrastinator

https://www.sporcle.com/games/pitchorneirda/epl-top-5-minefield

15/18
Stupid Nottingham Forest, QPR and Westham

yabadabado

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Great quiz site for the football loving procrastinator

https://www.sporcle.com/games/pitchorneirda/epl-top-5-minefield

Missed one :mad:

SlickRic

Chelsea

SlickRic wrote: »

Tonight was abject.

It wasn't a bottle job, but it was the one time they could really ask a question of Chelsea by getting close, and they failed.

The lines you draw are abitary though if it was to go top you would say they bottled it or to go within a point or 4 points clear. As was said no team plays 100% all the time. And a bottle job is just lazy tabloid analysis.

SlickRic

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The lines you draw are abitary though if it was to go top you would say they bottled it or to go within a point or 4 points clear. As was said no team plays 100% all the time. And a bottle job is just lazy tabloid analysis.

I specifically said in this thread it wasn't a bottle job.

Twice.

Failing doesn't equal bottling.

The Talking Bread

Another dull enough 3pm lineup but you never know, Palace could nick a draw! That is exactly the result which should keep them up, realistically

GreNoLi

Manchester United

Open start, Silva scores the opener.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

I wonder how close this starting 11 will be to the one Guardiola has at the end of the summer window?

The Talking Bread

Andersonisgod wrote: »

I wonder how close this starting 11 will be to the one Guardiola has at the end of the summer window?

Look at that front 6. If a manager in the Premier League can't work with that in their first 11 (albeit an aging Toure), surely there is something wrong and he isn't quite the messiah.

I think he should focus on inadequacies he has in organising his defence. Of course they need new faces in that back 4 but Pep has to take a fair bit of blame for how they have performed at the back at times. He will also have Gundogan back

yabadabado

Yup those attacking players are as good as anyone in the League.2 full backs and possibly a midfielder and there is no excuses for them not having a proper run next season.

The Talking Bread

I would love if Palace go down if they are naive enough to think they are so safe they don't need to make an effort.

If they lose this, lose to Hull next week and Swansea win their remaining fixtures (not exactly that unreasonable of a prediction), that means they are possibly down as their chances of beating Man Utd, you would assume, on the last day of the season aren't exactly great

Hull have Sunderland today and a Spurs team with nothing to play for on the last day of course so them pulling out 9 points is not unreasonable also.

Remember Oldham......

Trigger

Chelsea

The Talking Bread wrote: »

I would love if Palace go down if they are naive enough to think they are so safe they don't need to make an effort.

If they lose this, lose to Hull next week and Swansea win their remaining fixtures (not exactly that unreasonable of a prediction), that means they are down as their chances of beating Man Utd, you would assume, on the last day of the season aren't exactly great

Remember Oldham......

And then they nearly score

GreNoLi

Manchester United

Palace exploiting city's gung ho approach, good game.

The Talking Bread

astradave wrote: »

And then they nearly score

They must have read my post! Sam Allardyce doesn't strike me as a Mathematical whizz Kid so maybe he thought they were safe regardless!!

deaddonkey15

Chelsea

yabadabado wrote: »

Yup those attacking players are as good as anyone in the League.2 full backs and possibly a midfielder and there is no excuses for them not having a proper run next season.

They could do with a decent back up to Caballero too.

Harry Palmr

Palace are muck.

3-0

GreNoLi

Manchester United

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Palace are muck.

4-0

FYP

GreNoLi

Manchester United

Five now, Otamendi with last header of the game.

Agent Coulson

Leicester

You can see the disappointment in Big Sam not with the result but that the speech he prepared before the game on how he schooled Pep can't be used now.

The Talking Bread

Palace are going down! I would f'king love it! Hate Big Sam.

--If Swansea win their last 3 games (Everton, Sunderland and West Brom) - not beyond possibility

-- and Hull beat Sunderland today, beat this "already on the beach" Palace team next week and pull a massive performance out of the bag against a Spurs team with nothing to play for, not even a higher place,

--Then Palace are down as I can't see them getting 3 points against United on the final day, which is the only thing that would save them.

GSPfan

Niall Quinn is some fanboy. The amount of gushing he does over the most ordinary of things is sickening. Seems like a very likeable guy but he is hard to listen to.

theoneeyedman

Agent Coulson wrote: »

You can see the disappointment in Big Sam not with the result but that the speech he prepared before the game on how he schooled Pep can't be used now.

Yea, schooled him by playing Townsend practically as a right back, lasted about a minute.
Re Spurs, they are a good side but ultimately (and proven now) not to be good enough to win the league. Their lack of cut and probably ambition in the first half of the season has cost them. They were too far behind Chelsea to catch up. Their recent run has been very good, but they were always going to drop points, we're never going to win 14 or 15 in a row.
Tbh, I can see them dropping off in the coming years. They are effectively going to be 2 years without a real home game now (1 year in Wembley, 1 in the new WHL). The focus will be on off field matters, and if they get off to another slow start, the vultures will circle around their better players, if they aren't at it during this summer.
Can't help feel they missed the boat last year.

Paully D

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Palace are going down! I would f'king love it! Hate Big Sam.

--If Swansea win their last 3 games (Everton, Sunderland and West Brom) - not beyond possibility

-- and Hull beat Sunderland today, beat this "already on the beach" Palace team next week and pull a massive performance out of the bag against a Spurs team with nothing to play for, not even a higher place,

--Then Palace are down as I can't see them getting 3 points against United on the final day, which is the only thing that would save them.

Palace will stay up even if they don't take another point between now and the end of the season IMO. They're essentially 7 points ahead of Swansea because of goal difference.

Just shows how important those 3 completely unexpected results against Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal last month were.

yabadabado

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Palace are going down! I would f'king love it! Hate Big Sam.

--If Swansea win their last 3 games (Everton, Sunderland and West Brom) - not beyond possibility

-- and Hull beat Sunderland today, beat this "already on the beach" Palace team next week and pull a massive performance out of the bag against a Spurs team with nothing to play for, not even a higher place,

--Then Palace are down as I can't see them getting 3 points against United on the final day, which is the only thing that would save them.

Palace will stay up and may not even need another point to do it.

If you think Palace are going down ,14/1 in bookies.

The Talking Bread

yabadabado wrote: »

Palace will stay up and may not even need another point to do it.

If you think Palace are going down ,14/1 in bookies.

Eh, I was just stating the mathematics of it all. If they get a point next week they are 100% safe If Swansea or Hull don't win today they are 100% safe.

I was just outlining the scenarios where they could go down. Very doubtful but 14/1 is actually a very low price (and also most bookies are citing lower prices, between 10 to 12/1) given the media and general opinion they are safe already and would indicate the bookies, too, are apprehensive as to their fate. Realistically, if they were so assured the bookies would be offering far bigger odds for them to go down.

As I said if Swansea and Hull win today, those odds will go down a few notches and into single fixtures.

My "Palace are going down!" shouldn't be taken in a literal sense! It was taken in a "I hope they do sense!"

ERG89

Grosicki looks like Berbatov's doppelganger & to a lesser extent Joe from Impractical Jokers.

Harry Palmr

Collective 92 or so minutes played and not a goal to be seen. Looks like last weekend all over again.

yabadabado

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Eh, I was just stating the mathematics of it all. If they get a point next week they are 100% safe If Swansea or Hull don't win today they are 100% safe.

I was just outlining the scenarios where they could go down. Very doubtful but 14/1 is actually a very low price (and also most bookies are citing lower prices, between 10 to 12/1) given the media and general opinion they are safe already and would indicate the bookies, too, are apprehensive as to their fate. Realistically, if they were so assured the bookies would be offering far bigger odds for them to go down.

As I said if Swansea and Hull win today, those odds will go down a few notches and into single fixtures.

My "Palace are going down!" shouldn't be taken in a literal sense! It was taken in a "I hope they do sense!"

No need to get so defensive .Merely saying what I think may happen.

The Talking Bread

yabadabado wrote: »

No need to get so defensive .Merely saying what I think may happen.

I wasn't getting defensive, not in an emotional manner anyway! It isn't the most sensitive of topics for me personally!!

Just explaining my post in case you misinterpreted it!

I actually am going to stick a tiny fiver on them at 12/1. Can't find any better odds? Realistically, it will take a bit of asking, but by my logic it is not the most absurd of wagers!

Jayop

Chelsea

fullstop wrote: »

What a load of nonsense. They'd won, what, 9 games in a row to keep on Chelsea's tails and they lost a derby match and people can't wait to come in and get digs in and call them chokers :rolleyes: No team wins every game.

The fact that it's mostly Liverpool fans is particularly bizarre, given what their own team did a few seasons ago.

Haha great post. Look for me you could possibly say spurs bottled it last year but certainly not this seasons. They're the only team that's been able to make a decent race of it against a very good Chelsea side. No way is this bottling it.