EPL Thread

[teamorange]

Not here to overreact but we winning champions league next year

[Hunter2_1]

Villa beat Everton.

 

Everton looked anaemic in attack, apart from a few dangerous crosses from Coleman. Caught on the break a few times. Terrible result for them, really, given they were the only team with a clean sheet after two and seemingly find it almost impossible to score. 

[Heimdallr]

Lets go Palace!

ManU is my team, but you gotta love the underdog. 

[Hunter2_1]

LFC's manshaming of Arsenal at home continues.

[Canadian Saint]

Man Spurs have not started the year well. They've looked unconvincing to me in 3 games. I don't completely understand why Eriksen is on the bench. Real interesting to see how they respond at Emirates next week. Maybe its fatigue?

 

 

[Hunter2_1]

10 hours ago, Canadian Saint said:

Man Spurs have not started the year well. They've looked unconvincing to me in 3 games. I don't completely understand why Eriksen is on the bench. Real interesting to see how they respond at Emirates next week. Maybe its fatigue?

 

 

And Vertonghen. What's going on there? Not sure if he started yesterday, but first 2 was definitely on bench.

Can't be fatigue this early, surely? There were no major international tournaments in the summer (LoN is only a couple games). It's probably just rust, and it will come good in a couple weeks. I would expect Spurs to give AFC a ****e time.

[kempus]

12 hours ago, Canadian Saint said:

Man Spurs have not started the year well. They've looked unconvincing to me in 3 games. I don't completely understand why Eriksen is on the bench. Real interesting to see how they respond at Emirates next week. Maybe its fatigue?

We have been very poor for the best part of a year now. Poch sets the team up wrong on a weekly basis. His tactical ability is extremely questionable, at best. He seems to have lost the plot a bit tbh, I will be surprised if he's still here next season. Top 4 is going to be a struggle, we may only make it because Chelsea and United are in transition. Unless we have a massive turn around, our wonderful few years, where we were genuine contenders, is over.

Perhaps an over the top reaction, but we have been regressing for quite a while. We seem to have lost all identity. We don't defend well, as we did in Pochs first few years. We don't press with any intensity, as we did with Poch to begin with. We don't get forward fluidly. I'm not really sure what the strategy is, other than pass it around at the back and hope that someone scores a worldie out of nowhere. I've said it before, but that fluke Champions League run masked so, so many issues. They don't appear to have been resolved with a summer of rest, new signings or settling into the new stadium. All this could be turned around, but it's looking difficult at the moment.

Edited August 26, 2019 by kempus

[rcon14]

5 hours ago, kempus said:

We have been very poor for the best part of a year now. Poch sets the team up wrong on a weekly basis. His tactical ability is extremely questionable, at best. He seems to have lost the plot a bit tbh, I will be surprised if he's still here next season. Top 4 is going to be a struggle, we may only make it because Chelsea and United are in transition. Unless we have a massive turn around, our wonderful few years, where we were genuine contenders, is over.

Perhaps an over the top reaction, but we have been regressing for quite a while. We seem to have lost all identity. We don't defend well, as we did in Pochs first few years. We don't press with any intensity, as we did with Poch to begin with. We don't get forward fluidly. I'm not really sure what the strategy is, other than pass it around at the back and hope that someone scores a worldie out of nowhere. I've said it before, but that fluke Champions League run masked so, so many issues. They don't appear to have been resolved with a summer of rest, new signings or settling into the new stadium. All this could be turned around, but it's looking difficult at the moment.

Last year, the "Air Raid" attack made sense (skipping the midfield entirely when possible because Spurs didn't have a midfield), but Spurs should be quite good this season when you look at who they have. I do have to wonder how much the contract issues with a good chunk of the squad is playing into some of the squad selection decisions, but once they have a healthy Dele and Ndombele, the midfield will be plenty good enough to warrant a return to more "traditional" Poch set-ups. Whether or not that'll happen remains to be seen, but the player quality is certainly there, which it really wasn't last season.

[lomaxgrUK]

United were truly awful against Palace. As was the case down the back end of last year, United have no clue how to break down a team that camps behind the ball and is solid from a defensive shape perspective.

They are in dire need of a creative player who can play between the oppositions defensive and midfield lines, that has top level technical ability in tight spaces. Lingard has the brain for it, but he's barely a premier league player from a technical perspective (not exaggerating with that comment, either). If he could stay healthy I would love Lanzini. I've always rated him and it appears he's back to his best this season.

A midfield 3 of Pogba, Lingard and McTominay is going to take you as far as 5th and 6th, which is where United are as a team right now. Luke Shaw is out for a month as well and whilst I don't rate Shaw at all (would love to buy a replacement), his backup (Ashley Young) is worse.

Nice to see De Gea reverting back to his form of last year too by not saving another shot he should definitely be saving.

Doom.

Edited August 27, 2019 by lomaxgrUK

[Eagles $5$]

6 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

United were truly awful against Palace. As was the case down the back end of last year, United have no clue how to break down a team that camps behind the ball and is solid from a defensive shape perspective.

They are in dire need of a creative player who can play between the oppositions defensive and midfield lines, that has top level technical ability in tight spaces. Lingard has the brain for it, but he's barely a premier league player from a technical perspective (not exaggerating with that comment, either). If he could stay healthy I would love Lanzini. I've always rated him and it appears he's back to his best this season.

A midfield 3 of Pogba, Lingard and McTominay is going to take you as far as 5th and 6th, which is where United are as a team right now. Luke Shaw is out for a month as well and whilst I don't rate Shaw at all (would love to buy a replacement), his backup (Ashley Young) is worse.

Nice to see De Gea reverting back to his form of last year too by not saving another shot he should definitely be saving.

Doom.

I agree that United were awful, but a missed penalty and also Cahill should have seen red on that clear foul on Martial. He was one on one with the GK and was running straight to the goal. They also missed another clear penalty on Marital when he turned Cahill after he wasn't sent off. 

Either way, I agree that we are in desperate need of some kind of creativity. Our squad is also very thin. I don't get why we are trying to get rid of Alexis, when we don't have any other Forwards in the squad. Things are gonna get worst, because it seems like Martial is injured again. 

[lomaxgrUK]

14 hours ago, Eagles $5$ said:

Either way, I agree that we are in desperate need of some kind of creativity. Our squad is also very thin. I don't get why we are trying to get rid of Alexis, when we don't have any other Forwards in the squad. Things are gonna get worst, because it seems like Martial is injured again. 

I think the Sanchez thing is as much about a message rather than anything else. The fact is, Alexis Sanchez has proven he can't help this team achieve anything remotely successful. Him being at the club is a daily reminder that a player who is only good enough for our bench, is the highest paid player in the league and one of the highest paid players in world football. He's the personification with everything that is wrong with Manchester United.

So, just not having him around the training ground and the club (indirectly) admitting they have made a mistake is a step forward for me, regardless of what (minimal) impact we're missing out on with him not being on the pitch.

The sooner he's gone on a permanent basis, the better, and I don't care who the alternatives are.

Edited August 28, 2019 by lomaxgrUK

[lomaxgrUK]

Didn't know where to put this, but last night saw the first football club to be expelled from the English football league since 1992, and will result in the Liquidation of the football club. That club, Bury FC, is the town I was born and raised in.

I grew up in a small village called Ramsbottom (Upper Ramsbottom, seriously) within the local district of Bury. Like most kids in my school, I was brought up on the team my Dad and his Dad's dad supported which in my case was Manchester United. However, I spent 3 years of my childhood going watching Bury as it was 'a quid a kid' for youths to attend.

I had some of the best times of my childhood at Bury. Being able to sit wherever and with whoever you wanted, the smell of cheap pies and mushy peas all around, an old school low roof so it sounded like the place was rocking (even if there was only 3,000 people there) and seeing just how much a lower league team meant to a community.

My wife is (was) a season ticket holder at Bury. So are her two parents, who've been going for 60 years. Between her immediate family, there is over 180 years of support for Bury FC. My wife's grandparents who are deceased have seats with their names in the stadium that will now almost definitely be leveled for some **** new build houses that just get bought by rich landlords.

To see a local town lose the pillar of its community because of the disgusting and frankly, illegal financial mismanagement from greedy owners is so demoralising. How the football league let these con men takeover the club in the first place is something I can never explain my full anger toward.

Frankly, last night, I lost a significant amount of love for professional football. This will literally finish off older members of the community, it means that much to them. 

I can only hope a phoenix club arises and gives the community something to be proud of once again.

Edited August 28, 2019 by lomaxgrUK

[drd23]

And the same thing is going to happen to Bolton Wanderers. Or not, just saw that the administrators have accepted an offer to buy Bolton.

I'm sorry this is happening to you, your family and other supporters of the club.  Its a tragedy that the EFL hasn't/didn't do more to prevent this from happening.  The 'fit and proper' ownership test is clearly a joke

[Heimdallr]

13 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

Didn't know where to put this, but last night saw the first football club to be expelled from the English football league since 1992, and will result in the Liquidation of the football club. That club, Bury FC, is the town I was born and raised in.

Wow, that really sucks.

I've been to exactly one club match in England, and it was Bury.  Tearing down Gigg Lane would be a travesty.

[Eagles $5$]

18 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

I think the Sanchez thing is as much about a message rather than anything else. The fact is, Alexis Sanchez has proven he can't help this team achieve anything remotely successful. Him being at the club is a daily reminder that a player who is only good enough for our bench, is the highest paid player in the league and one of the highest paid players in world football. He's the personification with everything that is wrong with Manchester United.

So, just not having him around the training ground and the club (indirectly) admitting they have made a mistake is a step forward for me, regardless of what (minimal) impact we're missing out on with him not being on the pitch.

The sooner he's gone on a permanent basis, the better, and I don't care who the alternatives are.

I get it he has to go, but we lost Lukaku and now losing Alexis and didn't bring in a single replacement. If Rashford or Martial get hurt (which will happen), we just have Mason Greenwood and Tahith Chong as replacements. Just another example how poorly we are being run right now.