General Premier League Thread - 2017/2018

Utopia Parkway

Berserker wrote: »

Arsenal and Liverpool are closer to the relegation zone that City. Both sides have much work to do to become title contenders. The relegation battle is going to very interesting this season.

Spurs too considering they are on the same points as Liverpool and only 1 ahead of Arsenal. United and Chelsea are not much better to be honest. City just way out in front of all this season.

shamrock55

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

I think what we finally have is a top level team. We have had years of people saying the PL is great because its so competitive and anyone can beat anyone. LA liga isnt great because real and barca just steamroll teams. The reason for that was because real and barca were/ are so good and the English teams in recent years haven't been great so could be beaten by anyone. Now we have a team at a really high level and lo and behold they are walking the league just as real and barca would have done at any stage over the last 6/7 years.

We will only know if they're a really high level if they win the cl,just because they are walking the league doesn't mean a thing if the league their in is poor

Mushy

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Mushy wrote: »

This has to be the worst comeback I've ever seen online!

Seriously? You must be new around here.

Unfortunately not, it's not every day you see somebody slagging a team for winning a game.

Cantona's Collars

https://www.skygroup.sky/corporate/media-centre/articles/en-gb/sky-and-bt-agree-cross-supply-of-tv-channels

Sky and BT agree cross supply of channels,one sub for all the sports channels and good news for Virgin Media customers missing out on a lot of football and having to resort to streaming.

Rekop dog

Spurs

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

I think what we finally have is a top level team. We have had years of people saying the PL is great because its so competitive and anyone can beat anyone. LA liga isnt great because real and barca just steamroll teams. The reason for that was because real and barca were/ are so good and the English teams in recent years haven't been great so could be beaten by anyone. Now we have a team at a really high level and lo and behold they are walking the league just as real and barca would have done at any stage over the last 6/7 years.

I'd largely agree with that. Although Atletico have also been in the la liga equation a few times in the past 6/7 Years and consistently doing well in Europe. I think any one of those three la liga sides would have been utterly dominant in the Premier league in that period. Agree this City side are now the first English side in a while that could play consistently at that level.

Spain have had 5 of the last 8 Europa league winners too so the depth in quality has been there, just the three big ones have been *so* good that gives people a false notion the league isnt competitive.

GavRedKing

Liverpool

I think anyone down playing how good City have been this year or where they belong in the list of greatest PL sides, are living in denial.

Theyre on course to smash nearly every PL record in the book, goals scored, points won, games won.

The league isnt crap either, nearly any other year, Utd would probably be top with their current points total but City have being blowing away teams for fun.

I dont like City, I like Guardiola a hell of lot less but what theyre doing so far has been surreal, I dont think they'll go unbeaten but thats because the league, by and large, has a lot more quality in it now than when Arsenal done it.

19 other set of fans will rejoice when City draw or loss a game but given the lead they currently have, it will mean f**k all unless they manage to throw away the league and loss about 4 or 5 on the bounce and whoevers in the chasing pack go on to win every game.

Loafing Oaf

GavRedKing wrote: »

The league isnt crap either, nearly any other year, Utd would probably be top with their current points total but City have being blowing away teams for fun.

Yeah, people always say that regardless when they want to do down the current top team. That all 5 English teams qualified from their CL groups (and Arsenal are looking strong in the Europa), is as close to proof as we can get that the overall standard at the top of the Prem is high.

ERG89

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Yeah, people always say that regardless when they want to do down the current top team. That all 5 English teams qualified from their CL groups (and Arsenal are looking strong in the Europa), is as close to proof as we can get that the overall standard at the top of the Prem is high.

Those bottom 10 sides tho.....:P
I don't think anyone bar City has noticeably improved this season though. Liverpool as a fan have still the same glaringly obvious weakness defensively, United are still timid in big games, Chelsea are struggling to adapt to playing in Europe, Arsenal are much the same as last year but now with more serious contractual issues looming over the club & Spurs fell off a cliff for a month which came from nowhere.
City have improved so much and they don't change the way they play cause they don't need to adapt.

Loafing Oaf

ERG89 wrote: »

Those bottom 10 sides tho.....:P
I don't think anyone bar City has noticeably improved this season though. Liverpool as a fan have still the same glaringly obvious weakness defensively, United are still timid in big games, Chelsea are struggling to adapt to playing in Europe, Arsenal are much the same as last year but now with more serious contractual issues looming over the club & Spurs fell off a cliff for a month which came from nowhere.
City have improved so much and they don't change the way they play cause they don't need to adapt.

I don't think many people would agree that United haven't siginificantly improved with the signings of Lukaku and Pogba, even if they aren't everything people were hoping.

Mushy

ERG89 wrote: »

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Yeah, people always say that regardless when they want to do down the current top team. That all 5 English teams qualified from their CL groups (and Arsenal are looking strong in the Europa), is as close to proof as we can get that the overall standard at the top of the Prem is high.

Those bottom 10 sides tho.....:P
I don't think anyone bar City has noticeably improved this season though. Liverpool as a fan have still the same glaringly obvious weakness defensively, United are still timid in big games, Chelsea are struggling to adapt to playing in Europe, Arsenal are much the same as last year but now with more serious contractual issues looming over the club & Spurs fell off a cliff for a month which came from nowhere.
City have improved so much and they don't change the way they play cause they don't need to adapt.

This.

In fairness, Burnley have improved big time.

Jayop

Everton

United have improved massively but miles behind City unfortunately. I don't think we can say it's a particularly weak league either. The title may be over but everything else is up for grabs and very close. All the English sides bar Chelsea topped their CL groups and Spurs battered Real one of the markers for quality European sides. Whether any win it we won't know but they're certainly capable and a cup largely depends on luck as well as talent. There will be a few of them in the mixer at the late stages no doubt.

Harry Palmr

City's owners plan for world domination.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/15/manchester-city-football-group-ferran-soriano

Mushy

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

https://www.skygroup.sky/corporate/media-centre/articles/en-gb/sky-and-bt-agree-cross-supply-of-tv-channels

Sky and BT agree cross supply of channels,one sub for all the sports channels and good news for Virgin Media customers missing out on a lot of football and having to resort to streaming.

Do you know how this works in relation to Vodafone tv? I currently pay for sky sports on Vodafone, thinking of switching to bt (can get sky go easily), but this would be handy

batistuta9

Mushy wrote: »

Do you know how this works in relation to Vodafone tv? I currently pay for sky sports on Vodafone, thinking of switching to bt (can get sky go easily), but this would be handy

BT will still be sold by eir here until 2019

Rekop dog

Spurs

Wouldn't be surprised if Spurs bring an end to City's run tomorrow, on their day they're arguably the best equipped to put it up to city.

Reckon a few of their relatively under payed stars will see this as a good shop window game with January looming.

Muff_Daddy

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

I think what we finally have is a top level team. We have had years of people saying the PL is great because its so competitive and anyone can beat anyone. LA liga isnt great because real and barca just steamroll teams. The reason for that was because real and barca were/ are so good and the English teams in recent years haven't been great so could be beaten by anyone. Now we have a team at a really high level and lo and behold they are walking the league just as real and barca would have done at any stage over the last 6/7 years.

I think you have a very short memory there. Finally the Premier League has a top level team? From 2007 until 2011 Man Utd contested 3 of the 4 Champions League finals. Were they not top level?

There has been a good few teams in the Premier League era who have steamrolled their opposition similar to how Guardiola’s City are doing this year (let’s not forget they haven’t actually won anything yet). Several different United teams, the Arsenal invincibles, Mourinho’s first spell at Chelsea come to mind.

Iused2likebusts

Liverpool

Muff_Daddy wrote: »

I think you have a very short memory there. Finally the Premier League has a top level team? From 2007 until 2011 Man Utd contested 3 of the 4 Champions League finals. Were they not top level?

There has been a good few teams in the Premier League era who have steamrolled their opposition similar to how Guardiola’s City are doing this year (let’s not forget they haven’t actually won anything yet). Several different United teams, the Arsenal invincibles, Mourinho’s first spell at Chelsea come to mind.

If you read my post again I said 6/7 years. The period from 04-10 was probably when the English league was at its strongest.

Muff_Daddy

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

If you read my post again I said 6/7 years. The period from 04-10 was probably when the English league was at its strongest.

Apologies, I misread, I took it to mean you meant the entire PL era.

Berserker

Rekop dog wrote: »

Wouldn't be surprised if Spurs bring an end to City's run tomorrow, on their day they're arguably the best equipped to put it up to city.

Reckon a few of their relatively under payed stars will see this as a good shop window game with January looming.

Was thinking the same but I reckon it'll be a draw for Spurs at best. I can't see City losing at home. I actually think that Leicester are a decent shout to beat city in the league cup next week.

Rayne Wooney

The shít thing for everyone else is City will probably sign some great players in January with players looking to jump on the title bandwagon. Leaving everyone else again to play serious catch up looking beyond this season.

Sanchez, VVD you could see jumping ship and possibly others.

Turtwig

Considering how often Sanchez loses possession for Arsenal (and did for Barca too) you really have to question if City of all teams should be going for him.

Rayne Wooney

Wouldn’t be a great deal more than the likes of Sterling and Sane and you have to consider he is probably taking the píss at Arsenal now.

His head has been gone since last summer.

Loafing Oaf

Turtwig wrote: »

Considering how often Sanchez loses possession for Arsenal (and did for Barca too) you really have to question if City of all teams should be going for him.

Don’t see how he improves their first XI. Could turn out to be Guardiolas asprilla.

RichT

The Leicester v Crystal Palace Premier League match is showing live now on Sky One (106) right now. Probably not the most exciting match in the world, but it's free footy.

irishman86

Everton

Benteke!!!

Harry Palmr

First goal of the season I think.

KERSPLAT!

Liverpool

RichT wrote: »

The Leicester v Crystal Palace Premier League match is showing live now on Sky One (106) right now. Probably not the most exciting match in the world, but it's free footy.

Hadn't spotted that, cheers!

Mushy

Good goal there. Thought Benteke messed it up

GreNoLi

Liverpool

Zaha is repaying Fergie's faith in him, good goal.

Loafing Oaf

No reason Palace shouldn't be playing like this most weeks. They have arguably the best attacking players in the bottom half. Potentially...

Rekop dog

Spurs

For all the criticism the "old guard" managers took for walking into jobs too easy they're by and large all doing great so far.

irishman86

Everton

Assist and goal now from Benteke, manager killer alright :rolleyes:

Lukker-

Rekop dog wrote: »

For all the criticism the "old guard" managers took for walking into jobs too easy they're by and large all doing great so far.

They always tend to do well for the half season they join in. They can get teams to pull themselves up by the bootstraps no problem, but it's after that when problem's kick in. Usually in the second full season, when actual development needs to happen, it's the same managers that seem to stagnate.

Gbear

Liverpool

Muff_Daddy wrote: »

I think you have a very short memory there. Finally the Premier League has a top level team? From 2007 until 2011 Man Utd contested 3 of the 4 Champions League finals. Were they not top level?

There has been a good few teams in the Premier League era who have steamrolled their opposition similar to how Guardiola’s City are doing this year (let’s not forget they haven’t actually won anything yet). Several different United teams, the Arsenal invincibles, Mourinho’s first spell at Chelsea come to mind.

Well Guardiola's teams are breaking records left and right so nobody has been this good, however you're quite correct that they haven't won anything yet.

I think quality is relative.

Since Ronaldo went to Real and Messi developed at Barca we've seen a new level of quality at the pinnacle of club football.
These hyper teams have been better than anything the PL has ever seen.

The domination of English club football between 2004 and 2008 was partly down to some excellent teams in England, with Mourinho and Chelsea's billions and Ronaldo's blossoming at Utd and their best team coming to fruition, as well as Benitez' teams ability to punch above their weight in Europe, but also there was a relative drop in quality on the continent, with Italy collapsing after Calciopoli and an ordinarily good Spain only roughly on par with what England was offering and frequently losing to those English teams.

Since then English teams have been far behind.

Utd might've contested two more finals but they were swatted aside by Barca.

In that time, of course, PSG have arrived on the scene, and Juventus, if not Italy as a whole, have recovered.

City still aren't at the level of Real or Barca at their best but they're probably getting to the point where they can trade blows.

Rekop dog

Spurs

Lukker- wrote: »

They always tend to do well for the half season they join in. They can get teams to pull themselves up by the bootstraps no problem, but it's after that when problem's kick in. Usually in the second full season, when actual development needs to happen, it's the same managers that seem to stagnate.

As opposed to what, Crystal Palace kicking on to European glory? There's only so far you can realistically take a side like that. Obviously we can all use the Leicester example to prove anything wrong but by and large it's almost impossible to compete with financial power of the top few.

Its the most flawed argument when it comes to Big Sam in particular.

Unearthly

Everton

Great call by the ref there

Edit: and i jinx it with a terrible decision right afterwards

Loafing Oaf

No Ndidi.:P

Esse85

When a dive in the penalty box is that blatant, it should be a straight red card.

irishman86

Everton

Jesus Martin easiest penalty

Lukker-

Rekop dog wrote: »

As opposed to what, Crystal Palace kicking on to European glory? There's only so far you can realistically take a side like that. Obviously we can all use the Leicester example to prove anything wrong but by and large it's almost impossible to compete with financial power of the top few.

Its the most flawed argument when it comes to Big Sam in particular.

I think it's down to players and management. Players just seem to down tools when they know a manager is on the way out. New guy comes in and the players are keen to impress, maybe some fresh ideas spark things and they survive. Next season, they are in the same position mid season, rinse and repeat.

Case in point would be Pardew at WBA. Are they playing better than under Pulis? Yes, definitely. Is Pardew a better manager and a man to do well long term? I don't think so.

Minderbinder

Lukker- wrote: »

Rekop dog wrote: »

As opposed to what, Crystal Palace kicking on to European glory? There's only so far you can realistically take a side like that. Obviously we can all use the Leicester example to prove anything wrong but by and large it's almost impossible to compete with financial power of the top few.

Its the most flawed argument when it comes to Big Sam in particular.

Case in point would be Pardew at WBA. Are they playing better than under Pulis? Yes, definitely.

Are they? Three games, two points, no goals since he took over.

Pardew is the only manager who has taken over a new club recently who you could say has immediate impacts that tail off. Sam Allardyce has almost always done a good job whether it’s been short term or longer term; Roy Hodgson and David Moyes are not known for having instant success.

GreNoLi

Liverpool

Leicester's run comes to an end, good performance by palace, they should stay up without much bother.

KERSPLAT!

Liverpool

Nice finish from Sako

Bret Hart

Liverpool

Roy has really has turned Palace around. Undefeated in there last 7 games. 3W 4D.

Lukker-

Minderbinder wrote: »

Are they? Three games, two points, no goals since he took over.

Pardew is the only manager who has taken over a new club recently who you could say has immediate impacts that tail off. Sam Allardyce has almost always done a good job whether it’s been short term or longer term; Roy Hodgson and David Moyes are not known for having instant success.

2 more points than what they would’ve got under Pulis

Harry Palmr

Stoke v West Ham could be called off due to local power failure.

ERG89

Harry Palmr wrote:

Stoke v West Ham could be called off due to local power failure.

Wonder was it Hughes :pac:

GreNoLi

Liverpool

ERG89 wrote: »

Wonder was it Hughes :pac:

Sparky plug?

Harry Palmr

4 KO at the Britannia, Huddersfield open the scoring at Watford

Rekop dog

Spurs

Wheels falling off the Watford wagon. An average team playing good open football is the hardest thing to sustain in this league. I'd say Silva is borderline naive at times.