General Premier League Thread 2019-20

rob316

Chelsea abysmal at the back, they have gotten at United plenty though, unlucky not to score a few. Still 4 nil against Chelsea is always a good result and performance.

TitianGerm

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

I just can't see where the goals are going to come from, Hazard contributed 16 goals and 15 assist in the league last season and won so many games on his own.

Probably the weakest front three on paper of the big six assuming it'll be Pulisic, Abraham and Pedro.

Turtyturd

Perfect opportunity for Mourinho to put his name out there asa replacement at the final whistle.

thebaz

Chelsea , really have fallen out of big 6 , now on par with Everton, Wolves and Leicester. Said it over a year ago , Roman has lost interest.

magma69

Honestly think the big 6 concept is going/gone. Big 3 now with Arsenal/Man U/Chelsea/Everton/Wolves/Leicester in the next category.

Berserker

Turtyturd wrote: »

Perfect opportunity for Mourinho to put his name out there asa replacement at the final whistle.

Not a chance in hell of him going back there.

Mr.Nice Guy

Strange game. Chelsea better in the first half, United in the second. One side not at all clinical, the other side very much so.

Pleased with the debuts of AWB and Maguire. Thought Pogba and McTominay were good in midfield in the second half. Not a fan of Lingard but he did well. Thought Martial was poor despite his goal. Still many problems with this team but I suspect the margin of victory will paper over the cracks for most of the fanbase.

Chelsea really bad in defence. Need Rudiger back ASAP and Kante to start games. Think they'll get a run going when this happens, but the decision to let two CBs go looks even more baffling.

Osmosis Jones

TitianGerm wrote: »

Probably the weakest front three on paper of the big six assuming it'll be Pulisic, Abraham and Pedro.

Easily, I'm not sure one of those 3 would start for any of the other 5 teams.

RoryMac

magma69 wrote: »

I don't think they'll get 4th. Arsenal would be my bet. That said I wouldn't call it a miracle if they did. It's the first game of the season. Doesn't paint a true picture. Let's see how it plays out.

It is too early to be calling it for certain but Chelsea are very weak up front and with Zouma likely to play a good few games this season they'll be poor at the back.

Hard to see how they can build a team from what they have to challenge for top 4. And thats before mentioning their inexperienced manager

shamrock55

Jesus Chelsea were horrendous, made utd look good, gonna be a huge gap from 2nd/3rd to the rest this year I'd say

TitianGerm

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

Easily, I'm not sure one of those 3 would start for any of the other 5 teams.

I'm putting Pulisic in because he's new to the PL. He's a very good player but he's not going to fill Hazards boots.

shamrock55

There is no big 6,theres top 3 and the rest are bang average, pl is piss poor only for city, pool and spurs

klose

Funny old game football, Chelsea the better the first half half, rattle the frame twice and get tonked 4-0.

Early days so you wouldn't write em off but it's as bad a start they could have considering it's against a rival for top 4. It's hard to see where the goals come from though.

Baggly

Watching sky's post match chat clip on YouTube.

Jose talking a lot of sense with no needless digs.

He must be gagging for a job.

rob316

Baggly wrote: »

Watching sky's post match chat clip on YouTube.

Jose talking a lot of sense with no needless digs.

He must be gagging for a job.

Thought he was brilliant and insightful. Day and night between him and souness.

Baggly

rob316 wrote:

Thought he was brilliant and insightful. Day and night between him and souness.

Oh I agree it was great.

My point is it's also day and night between what I have seen from him before. He was actually showcasing his knowledge instead of playing silly politics and furthering agendas.

gimli2112

Baggly wrote: »

Watching sky's post match chat clip on YouTube.

Jose talking a lot of sense with no needless digs.

He must be gagging for a job.

that's the only thing that could explain him acting so out of character

Trigger

Baggly wrote: »

Oh I agree it was great.

My point is it's also day and night between what I have seen from him before. He was actually showcasing his knowledge instead of playing silly politics and furthering agendas.

He was brilliant towards the end of last season on Bein. It will be good to have on Sky and makes a change from the usuals

Osmosis Jones

Jose's a good pundit and they can rely on his name alone to bring in viewers, so they don't need him spouting nonsense just to get outrage views like they do with the likes of Souness and Merson.

ERG89

Chelsea look noticeably weak at centre back now, maybe if Rudiger comes back it will improve but I've never viewed him that highly. Final third as others point out is weak, honestly look at who Leicester or Wolves have in those positions & are they better??? I don't think so.
They are relying a lot on players who are inexperienced at a high level like Mount, Abraham & Tomori and others who they hope get some form to be regulars like Zouma, Barkley and when they return Loftus Cheek & Hudson Odoi.
That's a lot of gambling to make with an inexperienced manager. Cant say he took the job at an easy time as it's the weakest Chelsea squad in 16 or 17 years at least.

rob316

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

Jose's a good pundit and they can rely on his name alone to bring in viewers, so they don't need him spouting nonsense just to get outrage views like they do with the likes of Souness and Merson.

I enjoy listening to managers and some ex-players who have had success at the highest level. The likes of Jamie Redknapp, Robbie Savage, Danny Murphy, Michael Owen offer absolutely nothing.

JP Liz V1

Good debuts for MU newbies, impressive display

fyfe79

33 goals in 50 PL games for Aubamayang... had no idea he was that prolific.

ERG89

fyfe79 wrote: »

33 goals in 50 PL games for Aubamayang... had no idea he was that prolific.

Well he was joint top scorer last season

fyfe79

ERG89 wrote: »

Well he was joint top scorer last season

Sure, but thought he'd played more games than that.

AidoEirE

fyfe79 wrote: »

33 goals in 50 PL games for Aubamayang... had no idea he was that prolific.

For a lad that was rumoured to have an attitude problem at Dortmund he's been dead quite in that regard.
Easily one of my favourite strikers in the league and would love to have him at United.

SlickRic

The hard on for Maguire after yesterday, not necessarily with Utd's fanbase even, but around reporters and correspondents is fascinating.

Honestly, I thought he was fine yesterday.

But Chelsea opened that defence up a few times, and it's not like he didn't do anything any competent CB wouldn't do. He ate up high balls to the much smaller Abraham, and he passed the ball competently. There were no real moments where he showed miraculous skills of recovery, or bailed anyone out from nowhere - stuff you see VVD, Varane, Koulibaly etc do.

I saw Henry Winter resorting to talking about him pep talking McTominay at the end as proof of how great he was.

I'm not saying Maguire won't be those things at some stage, but nothing yesterday suggested anything other than him being a good central defender.

Just give him time. You're putting Liverpool fans' obsession with VVD to shame already.

Liam O

SlickRic wrote: »

The hard on for Maguire after yesterday, not necessarily with Utd's fanbase even, but around reporters and correspondents is fascinating.

Honestly, I thought he was fine yesterday.

But Chelsea opened that defence up a few times, and it's not like he didn't do anything any competent CB wouldn't do. He ate up high balls to the much smaller Abraham, and he passed the ball competently. There were no real moments where he showed miraculous skills of recovery, or bailed anyone out from nowhere - stuff you see VVD, Varane, Koulibaly etc do.

I saw Henry Winter resorting to talking about him pep talking McTominay at the end as proof of how great he was.

I'm not saying Maguire won't be those things at some stage, but nothing yesterday suggested anything other than him being a good central defender.

Just give him time. You're putting Liverpool fans' obsession with VVD to shame already.

While I think that's a bit more blunt than I'd have put it, I do see where you're coming from.

Liverpool's defensive setup last year was incredible. Mainly based around the 3 in the middle being able to plug a lot of gaps as they were much more disciplined than the previous season. The obvious addition of Van Dijk seemed on the face of it to have solved the issue but when you have 3 of Fabinho, Milner, Wijnaldum, Henderson and Keita all busting a gut to get around the midfield it makes a huge difference.

United yesterday had McTominay and Pogba. Pogba isn't a fan of putting in the work on defence. This left them under pressure as he normally does. He put the foot in a few times but the trade off with having him in the 2 is that the team are much more fluid with the ball. Individuals like Maguire and Wan Bissaka will look better than individuals like Smalling and Valencia and the fact none of the mistakes led to goals(luckily so) makes it seem a bit better than it actually was but the system still needs fine tuning in order to find the balance.

Kind of got sidetracked but the original point I was going to make is that when a defender in the United system has a good game it looks a bit more spectacular due to the lack of protection they get. Chelsea had a lot of chances yesterday and there is still a lot Maguire has to do to convince me he's worth the outlay.

gimli2112

I didn't see the Utd game but you can sense the wolves lying in wait for Maguire. Liverpool were carved apart several times by Norwich on Friday. I think Maguire will prove a solid signing. Doesn't mean we won't have fun at his expense when things go wrong.

SureYWouldntYa

Games like Chelsea where there isn't any real high press and United got ahead early won't be the telling of Maguire

It'll be the games where United are expected to and need to go for it where it'll be seen if he's an 80m man

MD1990

Man City's 5-0 of West Ham was very worrying.

Beat Spurs saturday & I think they win all there games in September & October.

I not really anticipating a title challenge from Liverpool this year. Think we will have a similar season to Spurs last year. Still a 2nd/3rd place finish & winning another trophy still a good season.

gimli2112

It'll be some feat if Liverpool can beat their record points haul for coming second.

ERG89

MD1990 wrote: »

Man City's 5-0 of West Ham was very worrying.

Beat Spurs saturday & I think they win all there games in September & October.

I not really anticipating a title challenge from Liverpool this year. Think we will have a similar season to Spurs last year. Still a 2nd/3rd place finish & winning another trophy still a good season.

Do you know what was also concerning Saturday?
The fans reaction the goal being chalked off.


Realistically City will probably get 98-100 points again this year as there ain't much stopping them. Liverpool won't match that, not when they didn't improve the squad & were half blessed last season with the key men Salah, Firmino, Mane & Van Dijk not missing much time plus they dug down deep time and time again. City brought in Cancelo, Rodri & pardon the cliche but a fully fit De Bruyne is like the new signing in terms of impact.

rob316

City have the best XI and squad still but Liverpool not that far behind.

Liverpool's bench is still pretty good, they have 3 forwards who can create something from nothing, 2 of the best wing backs in the league, the best DM in Fabinho, best CB in the world and a midfield that will run you off the park.

Liverpool still has better depth and XI than Spurs, I would be disappointed to see them finish lower than 2nd.
Injuries will be the deciding factor on how close Liverpool finish to City, complacency won't set in these players are winners, only a few nearing their peak and lots of potential still for the rest.

Liverpool just need to worry about winning their own games and not losing to City. What also has to happen though is the Top 6 have to take points off City this season. They only lost to Chelsea, whereas Liverpool- lost to City, drew with Chelsea, arsenal and United.

SlickRic

rob316 wrote: »

City have the best XI and squad still but Liverpool not that far behind.

we're miles behind. everyone is.

City legitimately have 2 teams that could compete for the title if you could put wither one out every week.

nobody else even has close to that.

their bench is eye watering, and they don't even have Sane on it currently.

fyfe79

SlickRic wrote: »

we're miles behind. everyone is.

City legitimately have 2 teams that could compete for the title if you could put wither one out every week.

nobody else even has close to that.

their bench is eye watering, and they don't even have Sane on it currently.

Even Jose said yesterday that only 4 teams are capable of mounting a title challenge and one of them is Manchester City B!

citytillidie

ERG89 wrote: »

Do you know what was also concerning Saturday?
The fans reaction the goal being chalked off.


Realistically City will probably get 98-100 points again this year as there ain't much stopping them. Liverpool won't match that, not when they didn't improve the squad & were half blessed last season with the key men Salah, Firmino, Mane & Van Dijk not missing much time plus they dug down deep time and time again. City brought in Cancelo, Rodri & pardon the cliche but a fully fit De Bruyne is like the new signing in terms of impact.

Which reaction are you talking about the West Ham fans cheering?

Liam O

SlickRic wrote: »

we're miles behind. everyone is.

City legitimately have 2 teams that could compete for the title if you could put wither one out every week.

nobody else even has close to that.

their bench is eye watering, and they don't even have Sane on it currently.

Ah first 11 to first 11 the teams are very close. City have more flair but Liverpool harder working.

SlickRic

fyfe79 wrote: »

Even Jose said yesterday that only 4 teams are capable of mounting a title challenge and one of them is Manchester City B!

there'd be a chance of City not winning it if Pep wasn't there, but you can't have the best coach, best team, best squad and most funds and not be insane favourites to win the League.

the Champions League is different, because they're not invincible. they can be beaten by another elite team on any given day.

SlickRic

Liam O wrote: »

Ah first 11 to first 11 the teams are very close. City have more flair but Liverpool harder working.

oh absolutely. but the squad and manager make it so unlikely that you can beat them in the League.

gimli2112

I was looking at the West Ham fixture last week thinking there was a potential banana skin for City. As usual in things like this, I was wrong.

ERG89

citytillidie wrote: »

Which reaction are you talking about the West Ham fans cheering?

Yeah to me it was like they all were well aware it was delaying the inevitable and only did it to wind up the City fans not to support their own team still technically being in a contest. I think that's kinda sad tbh especially when you are a team with a 50m striker making his debut.

citytillidie

ERG89 wrote: »

Yeah to me it was like they all were well aware it was delaying the inevitable and only did it to wind up the City fans not to support their own team still technically being in a contest. I think that's kinda sad tbh especially when you are a team with a 50m striker making his debut.

Leicester fans also cheered when Wolves goal was disallowed in that game. Just going to be a side effect of VAR now when goals are not awarded.

ERG89

citytillidie wrote: »

Leicester fans also cheered when Wolves goal was disallowed in that game.

That game 0-0 at the time. I find it weird to be ironically cheering when your 2-0 down and being battered.

citytillidie

ERG89 wrote: »

That game 0-0 at the time. I find it weird to be ironically cheering when your 2-0 down and being battered.

Fans will cheer for decisions for their team, sure you seen it when teams had gone off celebrating a goal only then to see the flag up for offside, the defending teams fans then cheer as the goal has been chalked off.

Agent Coulson

I wonder how Lampard will react if the season isn't going well and the players start to revolt as they normally do at Chelsea to get the manager out.

He should see it coming since he was involved in having a few managers sacked in his time there.

I wonder is that part of the reason he was happy to see Luiz go getting out a vocal player who would have Roman's ear.

gimli2112

Agent Coulson wrote: »

I wonder how Lampard will react if the season isn't going well and the players start to revolt as they normally do at Chelsea to get the manager out.

He should see it coming since he was involved in having a few managers sacked in his time there.

I wonder is that part of the reason he was happy to see Luiz go getting out a vocal player who would have Roman's ear.

I think he's fired the pre-emptive shot by getting rid of Luiz. I don't know the background to the move but the timing was odd.

Mitch Connor

Agent Coulson wrote: »

I wonder how Lampard will react if the season isn't going well and the players start to revolt as they normally do at Chelsea to get the manager out.

He should see it coming since he was involved in having a few managers sacked in his time there.

I wonder is that part of the reason he was happy to see Luiz go getting out a vocal player who would have Roman's ear.

Hazard gone, Luiz gone - they don't have the players to revolt. Abrahams, Mount, James etc will all see Lampart staying as their best chance of making it at Chelsea.

They were missing a few players, it was their first comp game as a team together. Way too early for such talk, imo.

Fitz*

Luiz & Hazard were big characters for sure and they are now gone, but Willian is a very disruptive character himself and Azpilcueta & Kepa didn't exactly cover themselves in glory last season either.

If there is no disruption this year, we should have a fair idea of who the disruptive characters over the last few years really were.

shamrock55

SlickRic wrote: »

we're miles behind. everyone is.

City legitimately have 2 teams that could compete for the title if you could put wither one out every week.

nobody else even has close to that.

their bench is eye watering, and they don't even have Sane on it currently.

So liverpool finishing a point behind city is miles behind is it, well **** me hand them the title now and cancel the league quick