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Wasn't the greatest in terms of skill that one, was like two mid table teams battling away, ManU go 2 up with two bad errors, then break down to end up 2-2.
I bloody knew he’d do that!
It had an air of inevitability about it
was like two mid table teams battling away
That’s what it was
Lukaku is the biggest waste of money since Utd signed Veron
Steady on. Two words:
Alexis Sanchez
Someone did the maths and every United goal he scored cost us £6.5 million
Jacob Ramsey looks a good prospect. Villa could easily have beaten Utd twice this week.
Lukaku is the biggest waste of money since Utd signed Veron.
There's quite a lot of competition for that title.
Agent Rafa is gone! I wonder who they’ll replace him with? Steven Gerrard? 😂
This Leeds, West Ham game is an absolute belter!
I wouldn’t back on the Everton board making a decent appointment, anyway. I still can’t believe they appointed him in the first place! Like Jose Mourinho he’s a busted flush, stuck in the past with his negative tinkering ways and poor man management.
Good win for Leeds today. Newcastle almost certainly gone now. The squad is just so poor. Years of penny pinching by Ashley coming to a head now. We've probably got 4 maybe 5 players good enough for this league and it's really showing. Whilst teams like Villa, Brighton, Wolves and Palace have pushed on with good recruitment and coaching we've been run on a shoestring.
The worst thing about yesterday was the lack of urgency/passion/giving a **** from a number of players. No one drives play on (Shelvey reminds me Delorean - shiny and revered by some oddballs but largely gutless and unreliable). I think they know that personally, their days are numbered so are just playing out time. As for Lascelles..nice lad but he's woefully short at this level.
Things will get better but it'll need a proper rebuild in the championship next year and god willing, promotion.
Rafa back as DoF maybe? He effectively brought Staveley to the table initially and had all sorts of plans for the training ground, academy etc. He's done as a manager/coach now I think.
Steve Bruce had a better record than Rafa in the premier league didn’t he? I think you may stay up - above Watford and Burnley if we assume Norwich go. Burnley have got games piling up and just sold their only semi reliable source of goals.
Burnley’s new owners look like they’re going for the Mike Ashley school of management in selling their star player with no replacement lined up, and to one of their rivals in a relegation scrap to boot
Absolute madness!
I’ve got a soft spot for Burnley as I spent a couple of months working at UCFB at Turf Moor a few summers ago. It had a great atmosphere around the club and was really well run. It’d be a real shame if that’s all going to be sacrificed in pursuit of milking it for more money
I don't think they wanted to sell, but Newcastle met his release clause so they couldn't stop it.
Dyche should be a consideration for Everton, he can galvanise a set of players and get them working for the team. But I expect them to go for a higher profile ex player name rather than a manager with good experience.
Agree MSP but Everton fans I doubt would want him. Moyes return?
Amazing result for Leeds at West Ham - Harrison getting his first hat-trick; Leeds with an already thin squad losing two players to injury after 20 minutes to be replaced by two of the teenagers on the bench (yes Arsenal you can put some of your under 23's into your first team squad rather than make some pathetic excuse to postpone your game v Spurs); both sides having goals disallowed; a couple of open goals missed; and an all round full-on 90 minutes of exciting football.
Hope this result against one of the current top teams will enable us to kick on away from the relegation zone, especially if we can get a few of our injured first team squad back (including Forshaw and Firlo who went off today) from injury or bans, and maybe get a couple of decent signings in.
At least we aren't in complete chaos like Everton who have dropped like a stone and may fall further unless they can get a decent manager in quickly, and even Burnley who have sold their striker to their relegation rivals Newcastle, who for all their new investment and new manager seem rooted in the bottom 3.
Onwards and upwards!
#MOT #ALAW
Graham Potter is another good manager who could deserve a bigger job, but I don't know how he would do going to a team in bit of disarray. I reckon he would do well in a mid table team who are in a good place but want to push on to challenge for a cup or eufa cup spot.
Potter, Dyche and all the other good managers would have to be utterly mad to take on Everton. No one with other options should even consider it. The problems above the player and manager need fixing first. It's pretty clear that Moshiri changes his mind based on the wind. No one can fix that kind of stupid. The board seem like they don't have a clue, or the balls to tell him. They get rid of Benitez just when some of the injury problems are easing and you've already lost Digne (who had a great game, with one absolute clanger on Saturday). At some point someone has to point out they aren't a big club, they can't afford to buy players at the zenith of their career, they need to go back to buying youth, developing it and selling it on.
Moshiri is a pauper by Prem standards and he needs to realise it.
They'll get Martinez or Rooney, someone like that who has their own reasons to go there. Or an absolutely deluded egomaniac who thinks he can succeed where all others have failed. What is big Sam doing, anyway?
Superb result for Leeds, showed huge heart and showed the rest of the league that they have u23's for a reason! Confident now that we won't be in a relegation scrap.
Reckon the bottom 4 will be as is. Norwich are down and Burnley too given their thin squad and amount of games they will have to cram in at some point. Toss up between Watford and Newcastle and will largely depend on the bar code signings gelling.
ALAW, MOT.
Moyes return?
Why would Moyes want to walk away from West Ham when they are in with a very shout of a Champion's League spot next season.
And Leeds – well done and much deserved too.
Mastiles - they may be in with a shout, but they won’t make it, Arsenal will be fourth. Plus he knows they’ll probably sell Rice and Bowen in the summer. He’ll get more to spend at Everton and knows the club/area inside out.
Looks like they want Martinez back anyway, so my former manager wasn’t so daft, although as a jobshare with Belgium?! What planet are they on!
Bergwijn!
Conte seems to be having an affect! Now then levy, learn from past mistakes, when you've got a good manager back him.
Go on a run and with our games in hand and games against Woolwich and Chelsea we could be in a very strong position for CL next year. However.... If there's one thing I've learnt as a spurs fan..... Even on the list day of the season there is time for a dodgy lasagna
Looks like its all going tits at Burnley, somewhat predictably. Another club trashed by parasitic gamblers with a leveraged buyout
The new owners still haven't actually come up with the money for the purchase as they were borrowing money against future TV rights revenues. They're presently scouting around for other investors and have let it be known that any player in the squad is now for sale.
How many times does this have to happen before the 'fit and proper' test becomes anything other than a complete joke?
I remember a club borrowing money against future champions league revenue, and then falling short of qualifying. Hmm, who could that have been?
16 years , 2 relegations and a 15 point deduction for going into administration before we finally got back to the Premier League. I wonder if Burnley will learn from Ridsdale’s mistakes.
MOT
I know they've played more games, but Norwich have edged to fourth from bottom tonight.
6 games played difference between Chelsea and Burnley, it's a bit of a mess at the moment
I remember a club borrowing money against future champions league revenue, and then falling short of qualifying. Hmm, who could that have been?
16 years , 2 relegations and a 15 point deduction for going into administration before we finally got back to the Premier League. I wonder if Burnley will learn from Ridsdale’s mistakes.
MOT
Different scenarios Burnley's owners have purchased the club against future profits, Leeds spent on players against future profits. Burnley have no where near the potential revenue of Leeds, it was always a very strange club to take over for a leveraged buyout, they were never ever going to make enough money to sustain premier league status it was just a matter of when Dyche's miracles ran out. I haven't seen evidence that Burnley as a football club have been run badly or financially mismanaged, it is just that clueless investors didn't know the value of what they were buying.
Derby are arguably a bigger club and they now look doomed by the dodgy dealing of the previous owner.
The reporting of scorers from the WHU vs Chelsea WSL game from Weds night.
The scorers are a matter of record, is the Sun and others pointing out the 'humorous*' nature derogatory to women's sport? Would the same have been said if it was a men's game?
* You decide - maybe I'm a bad man but I chuckled. The fact it's a WSL game is neither here nor there to me.
I looked them up, genuinely not getting the joke. 🤷♂️
6 games played difference between Chelsea and Burnley, it’s a bit of a mess at the moment
They've managed zero COVID postponements in some of the other European leagues. We are a joke of a country.
As an Everton fan, I'd like to see Big Dunc given a run of a few games. He's been in the wings for a while now, has the passion for the club and adoration of the fans. Supposedly he wants the job - no better (or worse?) time than to let him try. Him and Rooney could make a good team but it's risky for Rooney and unfair on Derby (if anyone cares).
I'm not a massive fan, but it has been a shit season. Talk of Mourinho coming in would complete my switch off from the whole soap opera.
I think at this point with Everton you have to assume the owners are the issue and no one is likely to prosper under them. I know he's spent money but it seems to have been done very haphazardly. I'm not saying Benitez was the answer but they've tried so many different types of manager and nothing has worked.
Everton fans covering themselves in glory again
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jan/22/everton-aston-villa-premier-league-match-report
MSP said
"Derby are arguably a bigger club and they now look doomed by the dodgy dealing of the previous owner."
Actually, Gibson (Middlesbrough, and Wyckham wanders to a lesser extent) are ****ing them. Spurious claims to damages by both clubs for about 35mill means the EFL (chaired by Gibson, massive conflict of interest) have said they need to resolve these claims before they can get cash owed them. The points deduction is the punishment. There are also complaints going that derby are not selling their players at a massively reduced rate FFS. Until the claims are resolved no-one is going to buy them (and that's before you realise the ground is still owned by a seperate company so you get players and a name).
IIRC Middlesborough missed promotion and Wycombe went down in another season at Derby's benefit, in hindsight because they were fiddling the system over player wages and FFP, etc. Consequently there is a clear material loss to these teams as a result.
I'm not saying I agree, but you can see why these clubs feel aggrieved. If an idividual cheats in sport they are DQ'ed and titles reassigned. Lance, for example? Morally what's the difference?
Everton fans covering themselves in glory again
I imagine there was quite a bit of booing.
While grum seems to have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with Everton he's got a point. The booing was one thing. The chucking of full bottles at Digne when they scored was another. One guy arrested. Weirdly, soccer players are so used to going down the bottle seemed to hit the ground and two Everton players went down holding their heads.
I doubt Ferguson is really ready for the Prem. Neither is Rooney come to that but at this point it probably doesn't matter to Everton. It would probably do irrevocable damage to Rooney's burgeoning career.
The Southampton game was a cracker. Salisu stuck another 200k on his transfer fee.
Belting match and a superb performance by Southampton. They really gave Citeh a game. Salisu was excellent
Salisu is the main reason that none of us saints fans were bothered when Vestergaard went to Leicester. We knew we had a (better) replacement in place already
Salisu was insane yesterday. he had everybody after him after his season in spain and fact that southampton got him as a backup last season i thought was a great bit of business. maybe he thought he could go the VVD route and step up to a top 6 team. I think tottenham should pair him with romero or screw it liverpool should just drop him next to virgil long term.
real advert for english football the everton villa game was absolute carnage. looked like something out of game of thrones combined with a transformers movie. 'mistake raises the decibels' was a quote from commentator which sums up the EPL IMO
leicester actually a bigger threat to brighton than chelsea were who were really predictable and had kante doing nearly all of their creative work. no wonder RW/LW cant get the ball and only have it in poor positions. sportsbetting3.com have dropped chelsea odds. they just cant get goals from CHO, pulisic, ziyech, werner, havertz etc and nothing in midfield from barkley and RLC. carrying about 8 players.
Liverpool would be in trouble here if Palace had anyone who could actually finish
Luckily for them, they haven’t
Hoping that the Chelski/Spurs game is a feisty affair. I remember watching ‘The Battle of The Bridge’ with daughter number one (who plays centre back) and both of us wondering how pretty much everyone hadn’t been sent off. 😂
One of the most insane games of football I’ve ever watched. The ref had completely lost control after about 5 minutes. It was brilliant!
Agree Bonners, hasn't he gone on record since saying he stepped back and decided to let the players fight it out. FFS.
It was Clattenburg. Here’s the quote:
“I went in with a gameplan: that I didn't want Tottenham Hotspur blaming Mark Clattenburg that they were losing the title. There should have been three red cards to Tottenham.
"I allowed them to self-destruct so all the media, all the people in the world went, 'Tottenham lost the title'.
"If I sent three players off from Tottenham, what are the headlines?, 'Clattenburg cost Tottenham the title'. It was pure theatre that Tottenham self-destructed against Chelsea and Leicester won the title."
I thought that only 3 red cards was being generous. And probably the same for Chelski. Insane! 😳
Back to today: Palace are deservedly back in this. They should be level or ahead. Liverpool’s second goal shouldn’t have stood. This is getting really lively!
It is very topsy turvy Liverpool were dominant for the the first half hour or so but have totally lost it. Very open at the back.
Liverpool’s second goal shouldn’t have stood.
It should have stood more than Rashford's from Cavani's offside assist.
Neither should have stood as players were interfering with play from offside positions. Which raises the obvious question: what’s the point of VAR?
This really is a game of two halves, isn’t it?
I only reffed at local league level, where sadly the brawl was a bit more frequent than we see in the pro game but memorably one time as it kicked off one of the uninvolved players yelled at me 'Ref! Ref! Aren't you going to stop them!'
Nope, I'm going to stand here and write numbers down while those fists are flying around.