The Official Premiership Thread 06/07

[ormy28]

Benitez cranks up Bolton pressure

Benitez (left) is no fan of Allardyce's tactics
Rafael Benitez has claimed Bolton are shown too much leniency by referees ahead of Liverpool's latest match against Sam Allardyce's team.
Anfield boss Benitez has long been a critic of what he sees as Bolton's overly-physical style of play.
"Bolton could not play this way in Spain," he said in the build-up to their New Year's Day meeting.
"Every free-kick, corner and throw-in would be a foul, but here it's not. They know this and take advantage."

So what is your point Rafael? We wouldn't get away with it in La Liga but we do in the Premiership... so what? We aint playing in La Liga, so yes, we are going to take advantage in the Premiership!

Bolton do play physical, but it's just a different style of play, same as Chelsea prefer to play a more narrow game than most in the Premiership. Most teams have different styles and there is nothing wrong with that. Occasionally it goes a little too far and a player is fouled, but was this not once a man's game?

The whole physical side of Bolton's game is way exagerated anyway. I think it originates from the armchair fan who watches his five minute Bolton highlights each week on MOTD and pretends he is a genious. Puzzled how this club that 20 years ago was in the 4th division is now in the top half of the Premiership. When the fact is that he doesn't want to admit to himself that his long standing Premiership side* has been outplayed and out-thought by them neanderthals from up north.

But we did play s**t today though for once!

* Insert here - Arsenal or Spurs

 

[1stepcloser]

Reading 6 - 0 West Ham



Cheers yertle for ipswich beating birmingham, they've finally been found out.

Well done to Leeds as well for winning, i know a lot people don't like them but as they're my local team when i'm at uni i like to see them do well. A team that was in the champions league semi-finals five years ago to potentially a team playing in the 3rd tier of english football is a horrific fall from grace and i for one don't really want to see that. Then again Man City were playing in League 1 only a few years ago but they had Shaun "feed the goat and he will score" Goater. How leeds could do with him now.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

I wish I still had radio commentary, have missed the last two games because of that, and will miss the next two away at Sunderland and home to Colchester because I'm enlisting.

I fully expect to take a point at Sunderland get tonked by the Essex mob.

 

[1stepcloser]

Right then, in 40 minutes i'm leaving my house and heading for Villa Park. I'm gonna be well annoying if when i go back to uni i'll have spent £80 on 3 games and seen no goals and points for my boys (although i did get to see Paul Scholes' goal of the season contender in the flesh).

And against the champions tonight it's not likely we'll get much ou of this game. However, we do have quite a good record against Chelsea and we've taken points from them in the last 7 meetings at Villa Park so you never know. However our best player (Barry) suspended, Petrov doubtful and an emergency loan goalkeeper starting i'm not getting my hopes up.

Expect an extremely frustrated and pissed off match report in about 6 hours time!

 

[1stepcloser]

Not a bad result in the end. Chelsea haven't won at villa park in 8 years and they didn't win tonight either. They should have won, they had 2 or 3 very good chances but failed to take any of them. Villa never really looked like scoring but i'll happily take a point.

I find it quite amusing that chelsea had over 150 million pounds worth of talent on thepitch and they failed to put a solitary goal past an emergency loan goalkeeper and 2 centre backs that came straight through our youth academy.

Also Man United played far better football when they came here a couple of weeks ago so i'll be a little annoyed if they don't win the league now, esp with the little helping hand we've given them here tonight.

 

[the rockin edge]

Also Man United played far better football when they came here a couple of weeks ago so i'll be a little annoyed if they don't win the league now, esp with the little helping hand we've given them here tonight.

no arguments here.

but chelsea don't have to play better football to win the league, they just have to get more points...that can be done the ugly way as well as the exciting way, unfortunately.


and villa can give utd another helping hand when they go to old trafford for their next league game.


oh and i just read, moanrinho is complaining about how expensive players are to buy now. ironic since chelsea are the biggest contributer to that the last couple years.

 

[jimmmm]

Normal service has been resumed,


Standings Member List
Rank Team Points
1 notonepennyglazer 1,519.50
2 25-a-side 1,504.00
3 Sparta Chorley 1,061.50
4 YourSkipperTerry 1,009.50


On the overall league, once again a big leap, up to 22,699, & on the fans of Man Utd league, up to 7,043, if only I'd realised from the start I could change players from game to game!

 

[jimmmm]

OOOOUUUUCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Just seen a clip of Anti Niemi's horrific fall the other day, how in God's name he hasn't sustained serious, permanent damage is anybody's guess, thank God he hasn't, it made me feel sick to the pit of my stomach seeing it, hope he makes a full, & speedy recovery.

 

[jimmmm]

1Step, after last nights result, does that make Villa the first team to not lose to Chelsea in the league since Mourinho tookover them?

 

[1stepcloser]

1Step, after last nights result, does that make Villa the first team to not lose to Chelsea in the league since Mourinho tookover them?

At home yes, but we got beaten by them last season at stamford bridge i think. Either way they've still got an awful record against us whether they're funded by abramovic or not!

I wonder if Chelsea will try and sign sol campbell this month. If i was sol i'd stay at portsmouth, he seems to be enjoying playing outside the pressure cooker atmosphere of one of the 'big four' teams and he's always guarrenteed a starting place at portsmouth.

 

[jimmmm]

I meant in one season, draws at The Bridge, & now at Villa, I think they're the first to avoid defeat in the league in one season to Chelsea under Mourinho.

 

[1stepcloser]

yes perhaps they are. Just goes to show the kind of domination Chelsea have exercised over the league in the last 2-3 years. It's taken this long.

 

[jimmmm]

Looks like Larsson will partner Ole up front for United on Sunday.

LARSSON AND SOLSKJAER TO PAY AGAINST VILLA

By Ed Wednesday 3rd January 2007

Rooney to rest whilst Saha is injured for Cup match.

Fergie:

"I didn't take Ole to Newcastle because he has played two games in four days,
"I thought he would be better resting ready for Sunday's match.
"He will play along with Larsson.
"Saha has a groin injury and he may be out for two weeks, but hopefully not

Fergie should keep his fingers & toes crossed on that, if Balsa Boys recovery from injuries in the past is anything to go by!

 

[the rockin edge]

well even if saha is out for 2 weeks he would only miss the 2 games against Villa at home...

i really hope larsson settles into the side quickly, any idea where exactly he'll play?

 

[jimmmm]

Bindippers heading for a g$£&er type fiasco? Read on.....


LIVERPOOL SUITORS ONLY AFTER PROFIT

By Editor Thursday 4th January 2007


There’ll be little investment.

From the Telegraph:

Liverpool, who are being bought by an investment company effectively owned by the Dubai government, could be sold again in seven years' time, according to a confidential document seen by The Daily Telegraph.

The document also reveals that Dubai International Capital are planning to borrow up to £300 million to finance their £450m purchase of the club.
DIC see their investment in Liverpool as purely a business deal built round the new stadium Liverpool are planning at Stanley Park.

When they sell in seven years' time they are hoping to make a huge profit, providing a return of around 25 per cent on their investment for every year of ownership. There appear to be no plans to invest in new players.

The seven-page document, which outlines the investment rationale, has been circulated to major City investors to attract them to join the consortium.
The great investment opportunities that Liverpool provide, as DIC see it, are set out in a section entitled “The Opportunity”.

The document says: “Opportunities exist to boost returns by unlocking 'hidden' value. We believe there is potential for multiple arbitrage if real estate/leisure is developed on the current Anfield site. Such an investment would allow the Middle East region to leverage on a strong brand with an equally strong international fan base.”

The document tells potential investors that over the next five years a return starting at 19.3 per cent could rise to 29 per cent in year five.

Only speculation at the moment, but as they say, there's no smoke without fire.

 

[1stepcloser]

well even if saha is out for 2 weeks he would only miss the 2 games against Villa at home...

i really hope larsson settles into the side quickly, any idea where exactly he'll play?

doesn't matter where he plays, he'll be in Gary Cahill's pocket all game anyway

































*famous last words*

 

[the rockin edge]

how bout ronaldo? which villa player is gonna stop him?

 

[jimmmm]

Doubt if Ronaldo will play on Sunday, Rockin Edge, I think Fergie will rest quite a few first team regulars, line up could look something like this,

Kuczak, Heinze, Brown, Silvestre, O'Shea, Fletcher, Carrick, JS Park, Richardson, Solskjaer, Larsson. Subs, EVS, Nev, Rio, Scholesy, Rooney.

But then again I don't pick the team so it'll probably look nothing like that!

 

[jimmmm]

FA Cup predictions anyone?

Barnet 1 Colchester 2
Birmingham 2 Newcastle 0
Blackpool 3 Aldershot 1
Bristol City 2 Coventry 1
Chelsea 5 Macclesfield 1
Chester 1 Ipswich 1
Crystal Palace 1 Swindon 1
Derby 3 Wrexham 1
Doncaster 1 Bolton 3
Hull 1 Middlesbrough 1
Leicester 1 Fulham 0
Liverpool 2 Arsenal 1
Nottm Forest 2 Charlton 2
Peterborough 1 Plymouth 2
Portsmouth 2 Wigan 0
Preston 2 Sunderland 0
QPR 2 Luton 1
Reading 3 Burnley 2
Sheff Utd 2 Swansea1
Southend 2 Barnsley 1
Tamworth 0 Norwich 2
Torquay 0 Southampton 3
Watford 2 Stockport 0
West Brom 3 Leeds 0
West Ham 3 Brighton 1
Wolves 2 Oldham 1
SUNDAY GAMES
Cardiff 1 Tottenham 1
Everton 2 Blackburn 0
Man Utd 2 Aston Villa 1
Sheff Wed 2 Man City 1

No shocks there then!

 

[jimmmm]

From the Beeb's sports page;


Bayern name price for Hargreaves

Bayern Munich will consider selling Owen Hargreaves to Manchester United - but not for less than £20m.



About £8mill. too much imo.

 

[jimmmm]

Roman Abramovich has announced he is to sell Chelsea, stating personal reasons for his decision to pull out of the West London side, many are speculating its to do with marital problems, & later on Jose Mourinho also stated his intentions to leave the club at the end of the current season, stating "If he fucks off, how in Gods name will we be able to ever afford anyone else, or even pay this lots wages, no sir, I'm off while I've still got a reputation."
















































































Carlsberg don't post messages on Interference, Put 'Em Under Pressure, but if they did, they'd probably look like this!

 

[1stepcloser]

From the Beeb's sports page;


Bayern name price for Hargreaves

Bayern Munich will consider selling Owen Hargreaves to Manchester United - but not for less than £20m.



About £8mill. too much imo.

haha and i bet you end up paying it too. Hargreaves is better than Carrick and united still ended up paying 18m for him.

Shame he signed that contract to bayern not long ago.

interesting to think that had hargreaves not featured in the world cup, united would arguably be looking at a totally different player to sign. Or even have perhaps signed a player in hargreaves' mould this summer gone. It's obvious United really want him and i think they will sign him eventually. Probably for something between 15-20 million.

 

[1stepcloser]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/01/03/sfninv03.xml

You don't see many of these. An article sticking up for Chelsea.

I think John Inverdale still misses the point though about why people don't like Chelsea. I don't care whether you can buy beer and chips at a football game or have prawn sandwiches.

I don't like Chelsea because they buy players so other teams can't have them, competition for other players against them in the transfer market is impossible because of their financial superiority. They hve unlimited funds, they have spent 400m odd in the transfer market and still play ugly football. You would have thought they would at least be able to play attractive football with the best players in the world.

The difference in watchable football between chelsea and man united when i went to watch both of them play against villa was so big. It was a pleasure to watch some of united's passing and movement and hopefully one day with o'neills management and mr lerners money we might be able to get somewhere near that level but i can't think of any team that would want to aspire to be like chelsea.

and i haven't even mentioned the diving...

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

FA Cup predictions anyone?

Barnet 1 Colchester 2
Birmingham 2 Newcastle 0
Blackpool 3 Aldershot 1
Bristol City 2 Coventry 1
Chelsea 5 Macclesfield 1
Chester 1 Ipswich 1
Crystal Palace 1 Swindon 1
Derby 3 Wrexham 1
Doncaster 1 Bolton 3
Hull 1 Middlesbrough 1
Leicester 1 Fulham 0
Liverpool 2 Arsenal 1
Nottm Forest 2 Charlton 2
Peterborough 1 Plymouth 2
Portsmouth 2 Wigan 0
Preston 2 Sunderland 0
QPR 2 Luton 1
Reading 3 Burnley 2
Sheff Utd 2 Swansea1
Southend 2 Barnsley 1
Tamworth 0 Norwich 2
Torquay 0 Southampton 3
Watford 2 Stockport 0
West Brom 3 Leeds 0
West Ham 3 Brighton 1
Wolves 2 Oldham 1
SUNDAY GAMES
Cardiff 1 Tottenham 1
Everton 2 Blackburn 0
Man Utd 2 Aston Villa 1
Sheff Wed 2 Man City 1

No shocks there then!

You're being far too harsh on Tamworth, I think.

 

[jimmmm]

That wouldn't be a little dig from a tractor boy, would it?

 

[gav6519]

this is going to be great weekend......... larsson in a man utd jersey..... ive waited a long long LONG time to see this....

 

[jimmmm]

Re: Inverdale's article, & the Chelsea fans sticking up for them, 1Step, there's non so blind as those who WON'T see.

I've had a similar debate with a Chelsea fan I know(has been all his life,not just since Abram.)Its not jealousy as such, more annoyance, football is a sport, which over the years has become more business orientated, admittedly, but until Abram. came along it was played on a NEARLY level playing field, I know that might sound rich coming from a UNITED fan, but even UTD couldn't go out & buy anyone they fancied, & never bought a player just to prevent a rival from buying him, & in the not too distant past Utd themselves were a selling club to the Continental "giants," but Utd built themselves up into the force they were in the game Pre-Gl$£er, through astute business practice, allied to playing attacking, exciting football, which opened up the global market,which United were the first to capitalise on.
The Chelsea fans, or most of them can't, or won't see, that if Abrams. money wasn't there, they WOULDN'T be where they are now, its that simple, Abrams. money got Mourinho there, his money is getting the players there, without those 2 factors Chelsea just wouldn't be where they are. Money alone doesn't guarantee success, a good coach is required, with a good squad of players, & good team spirit, take Abram. away, Chelsea have none of those.

 

[jimmmm]

MAY 19th, 2007. According to SkySports News thats the day the new WEMBLEY STADIUM will officially open, sweepstake anyone, I'll go for October 2009!

 

[1stepcloser]

On my way to the villa vs chelsea game i noticed something quite amusing. There's always little stalls outside the grond selling various merchandise like t-shirts ect that have been made independantly. There's always a couple of villa stalls, not normally an opposition one. But there was a chelsea one on tuesday night and i had a quick look at what they were selling.

One of the t-shirts there said 'Eat football, drink football, sleep football, HATE Man United'.

I found this to be very amusing as it suggests that either they're locals (which they aren't) or they're the team that everyone hates. 5 years ago that t-shirt might have had some relevance but it's ironic now that that kind of t-shirt is being made by the team that everyone hates NOW.

I imagine John Inverdale might wear it.

 

[jimmmm]

[B

I imagine John Inverdale might wear it. [/B]

Yeah, him & a few other cronies at the beeb!

Even funnier than the chelsea shirt, over Xmas, I saw a guy in Grimsby town centre, with a GTFC shirt on, with that self same shit on the back, GTFC fan- Man Utd WTF is that about,? I nearly asked, but thought better of it, I'd probably only have got a load of verbal abuse, or even worse, knowing the ways of the inhabitants of lovely GY, bunch of knuckle scraping, window lickers, who don't take kindly to outsiders! I've often thought it must be a government experimental town, Grimsby, something they pump into the air, or put in the water, don't know for sure, but they certainly are a strange breed.

The only thing I can think of as regards the chelsea shirt, is if its a dig at The Cockney Reds, there's always been a large match going following of Cockneys at OT, so maybe they're having a dig at them.