Moneyball won't win the Premiership 2012-13

http://d.yimg.com/i/ng/sp/empics/20120228/14/1339132921-soccer-carling-cup-final-cardiff-city-v-liverpool-wembley-stadium.jpg

HE'S READY.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02210/allardyce_2210093b.jpg

HE'S READY.

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/wp-content/uploads/Harry-Redknapp-Luka-Modric-Tottenham_2523027.jpg

Won't be on dis ting.

This is really well done, much as the subject matter pains me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9JyCzbBACw&

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61949000/jpg/_61949143_suarez.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/10/article-2171707-13E08686000005DC-371_468x376.jpg

motion to switch top pic for this btw

"the thinker" one from the euros is still my favourite. it's my twitter avatar now.

i laughed when i saw it pop up in an Irish Times comments section at some point

No role in the new season, no room in the thread title: A Man Who Fell Out Of Love With The Game

At least the BBC is showing it isn't against the idea of shaking things up a little with its Match of the Day coverage, even if the appointment of Harry Redknapp and Mick McCarthy to the sofa hardly represents a huge change in direction.

...

song not even on the bench. goodbye sweet prince, you are actually a player i will really miss. being able to turn the fans after two seasons of being really shit and still being able to gain our respect; song is a fan favourite.

still - diaby is officially alive and starts!

LFC bench actually looks reasonably strong today

Reina, Kelly, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson, Lucas, Allen, Gerrard, Downing, Suarez, Borini. Subs: Jones, Carroll, Cole, Henderson, Carragher, Adam, Shelvey.

Let the disappointment commence

phil dowd you clown

Michu with the first goal!

leading scorer from midfield in La Liga last season

East Stirling got an earlier one at Ibrox. I know it's not technically the start of their season, and this is the Premiership thread, but lol.

No role in the new season, no room in the thread title: A Man Who Fell Out Of Love With The Game

― Ismael Klata, Saturday, August 18, 2012 1:07 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

was expecting that to be about dmac.

love first day debut goals

Portsmouth have an all-debut XI out today

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh should be 1-0

gervinho plays a beautiful dummy round 1, half passing to himself and skins another. he then plays a simple ball across the ground to cazorla, who was unfortunately distracted by poldi running into him, making him put it a yard ward.

suarez all round play - A+
suarez finishing - D

michuuuuuuuuuuu

ok so when was the last time a team started with a whole new xi?

Guardian seems to think it's unprecedented

Cazorla is fucking everywhere

Diaby causing a fingertip save round the post

We are shooting a lot, it is v unarsenallike

borini's passing has been shocking so far

carzorla will be p.o.t.y

65 per cent possession for west brom. rodgers out.

(not really obviously, sorry bren)

Cazorla has been alright. Arsenal not really sparking as a team though

really? i think we look v good. gervinho and diaby are even passing to their teammates! its like a whole different team.

lfc still look ropey at the back, but the play thru' midfield and forward has been good. Plenty of space for glenjo down the left.

oh readingpaws

i'm only listening on radio

must make a nice change for suarez not being the one getting booed. borini's copping it today.

Ronan or someone else who may have seen it- how do Final Score sets work? Do they just have 10 big screens going at once all just off screen?

how do you mean, like how does the show work? i've seen the studio and there are about a billion tvs in there. not sure exactly how it goes tho.

there we go

Oof, Gera

That's Norwich's relegation campaign off to a fine start :(

That was a beauty

Fucking great goal tbf. Thrashed in from 22 yards on the volley.

Rodgers out

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOW is it not 1-0? Poldi goes close again. Theo-Caz-Poldi-Gerv all looking dangerous.

Yeah, I was just wondering what it looked like. Do they have someone in their ear piece saying focus on the liverpool game or whatever? i find it hard having both the arsenal game and score on.

fuck off rob green

totally forgot fulham bought petric.

colin kazim-venkys

that was truly dire from rob green.

also watching the lfc game on what i think is a swedish stream. At half-time they have a 4 man panel talking about the game. 3 people talking in swedish....and Ray Wilkins.

Villa - West Ham game has been predictably poor. Villa had the best of the first half an hour, looked tidy in possession without being able to do an awful lot with it. Karim El Ahmadi looks like he could become a big player for us. With 15 or so to go the West Ham long ball routine started paying off a bit, new Villa CB Ron Vlaar looking less like a footballer and more like an amateur wrestler atm. needs to stop giving away free-kicks.

3 people talking in swedish....and Ray Wilkins

That sounds superb. World of streaming has opened my eyes tbh, the likes of Craig Burley might actually be the hardest-working guys around - he's forever turning up where I don't expect him. No wonder nobody's got any time for research.

big michu, larry hoover, scoring goals, hallelujah

michu brace

petric brace

what is it with fulham taking under performing bundesliga strikers and getting them to score?

Agger off

Oh jeez

wtf is this, was Rodgers holding Swansea back?!

Carragher on now, at least it's for Downing

my stream has now died but i thought that was outside the box initially

Haha, what a penalty!

what happened?

It might've been a foot behind the line, but you can't argue tbh

Sunderland have given up pretending this is a football match, so we have moved Verm and Gibbs into attack, inverting the pyramid once more

gerrard gave the ball away, long ball frwd, agger runs into back of shane long.

pen, red card

xp

Just a really crap penalty, sidefooted softly a yard to Reina's right. He had to check his dive or he'd've gone past it.

Oh fuck

ok i guess verm is more a floating midfielder

another penalty?

another pen lol

"Instead of kicking the ball he missed and kicked the player" according to Garth Crooks, almost making it seem like a bad comedy bit.

Swansea 3-0!

bollocks

gotta lol really tho tbf

Giroud on for Podolski, who's done absolutely nothing

fulham 4-0

Gervinho is such an enigma

liverpool 0-2

Fuck this. It's the bundesliga for me this season. Again. I'm off to bed.

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/new+meme+That+s+the+spirit+guy.+So+i+was+watching_320213_3087913.jpg

0-4

What a miss! WBA ripping us apart there.

Sunderland trying to waste crazy amounts of time with 20 minutes to go. This is ridiculous.

swansea are just basically competent btw, with michu an outstanding handful

result is purely testament to the hughes' assemblage of complete fannies

Hughes is 10/1 to be the first London manager to leave his post. Seems enormously generous.

Commentators orgasmic about WBA attacking options, but tbh if you're counterattacking ...

0-3

This couldn't be going worse

would be particularly rude of spurs not to get gubbed too now

0-5

0-5!

hey if you're gonna lose then lets go all out

Should be 0-4 here. Actually, make that 0-7.

you know i have watched a ton of these arsenal games before, we all have. and many of them have involved rvp as one of the xi not scoring and looking frustrating. but the coverage is going to be unbearable of 'well rvp would have scored 12' if we dont score.

such a queens park rangers day

ur only saying that cuz rvp would've totally taken that giroud chance. xp

fulham 5-0!

goodbye norwich

Arshavin's back?! It's weird seeing dudes return from disgrace.

yo sunderland players you are professional athletes not little old ladies you dont have to fall down in the wind

I guess Steve Kean's job is safe.

And somehow people will still think the big story of the day is something other than Big Sam putting his critics in their place. Tss.

terms agreed with Barcelona for Song

Oh dear, what a day

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61844000/jpg/_61844451_adkins.jpg

Arsenal need to send Sahin a DVD of the 2nd half at The Hawthorns

Well, at least another team got beat 5-0, and one after us in the alphabet, to keep us off the bottom. What a depressing start. Makes me slightly happier that Liverpool got humbled though

Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Steven Taylor, Perch, Santon, Ben Arfa, Tiote, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Cisse, Ba. Subs: Harper, Williamson, Anita, Gosling, Ryan Taylor, Shola Ameobi, Obertan.

Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto, Livermore, Sandro, Lennon, Sigurdsson, Bale, Defoe. Subs: Cudicini, Vertonghen, Van der Vaart, Naughton, Jenas, Townsend, Kane.

thudd and dawson not in avb's plans i guess. strange that gallas starts over vert

Yeah, Gallas was really struggling towards the end of last season. I didn't expect him to still be around.

http://www.abload.de/img/untitled-9qoy49.gif

Raging. Optimism gone

ouch

Liverpool v Man City Sun 26 Aug 16:00

Liverpool v Arsenal Sun 2 Sep 13:30

Sunderland v Liverpool Sat 15 Sep 17:30

Liverpool v Man Utd Sun 23 Sep 13:30

it's alright, they usually up their game against Utd

They've had a fucker of a fixture list at the start of recent seasons, at least in my biased mind.

Was it right at the start of one season when they went to Newcastle and put six past them? Long time ago now.

just said on espn that all pitches have to be 105 x 68 metres this season. hadn't heard that before today, anyone know if it's a premier league rule or is it every pitch?

hope not, I get a warm glow when I think about the stat* that you can have a pitch 100m long and a pitch 100m wide ~but you can't have a square pitch~

*might be outdated by now anyway idk

Has there ever been a 100m-wide pitch? Imagine the space.

fucksake Walker

amazed Ba hasn't scored for six months!

I think the Maracana is the biggest in the world. It's 110 × 75 m

Woo! Equaliser from Defoe.

2-1 NUFC, more idiot defending to concede a pen. not impressed

AvB's excitement short-lived.

in Harry Kane Spurs have not only a fresh pair of legs but also the Prem player whose name sounds most like an early 00s nu-skool breaks producer

haw just changed dn before i saw that post

At least spurs lost. Welcome to hell.

Right then. Are we ready for some football (highlights)?

Oh my. Individual chairs? Oh my.

I do like Agger's 'Who? Me?!', as if the identity of the culprit was at issue there

Despite everything Liverpool were a little bit unlucky with finishing & decisions today. But fuck another season blaming luck, frankly.

That second Michu goal's a bit special.

Also, QPR being rent asunder by Wayne Routledge, de Guzman pinging in quality set pieces... This Laudrup at Swansea thing might just work.

going on the basis I'll never get to say this again - ingenious stuff from Steven Taylor there.

we. are. top of the league. say we are top of the league.

Nice shot of Jason Roberts in his meeja suit in the background, there.

Which Premier League manager most reminds you of your dad?

great collection of training camp tans on the touchlines today

motd

ahh clarke looks like a scary 1800s ventriloquist baby dummy

rodgers a boglin, doesnt really cut a figure on the touchline does he

liv seem to be lacking the siggy / michu decisive point man that gerrard used to be

both pens ridic tbf

this is a really fun motd, hopefully setting a standard for the rest of the year.

lol pardew is a dick

ok here we go with this

spent the rest of my evening responding to enquiries in a state of grinning shellshocked hysteria fyi

so this is what happens after a nouveau bullshit preseason selling shirts round the globe and just vaguely getting dudes fit, obv no hard work on the training ground, probably no idea what team's best (djibril on his own up front?), everyone just being wankers basically

would almost be happy it was this bad were it not for the knowledge that hughes will just buy more dudes rather than think too hard about it. probably gonna have to wait til after the transfer window for improvement

oh and one more time, fuck rob green. not even a comedy calamity gomes thing, just consistent all-at-sea what the fuck are you doing wake up you cunt as if we got him out of bed at 5am to play

made coffee missed most of spurs

vdv had a beard there right? agl

"that give us the edge" seems like an archetypally pardew statement

hate fulham tbh

idk about you guys but backheel nutmeg assist screams hubristic relegation come the end of the season imo

i dont think vlaar is a footballer

he should be a mid level crony villain in a jason stathom movie

yeah totes i was just thinking i like the look of this guy

I was only vaguely watching last night 'cos I was working - but Swansea missed half-a-dozen gilt-edged on top of everything else, is that right?

lol big sam's book report age 11

klata - yes! it was ridiculous, like playing a 4 year old at fifa.

oh federici. you are making rob green look like safe hands on this motd.

reading's kit is AWFUL. wtf is two fat hoops?

Southampton FC ‏@officialsaints

Look out for #SaintsFC drinking new Lucozade Sport Elite on-pitch today. Designed for players with the FA and Premier League. #SportElite

The bin at the bus stop by my house got blown over recently, and like 95% of the spilled contents were Lucozade bottles. I had no idea it was so popular.

its good for driving lessons. aside from God and my family, id say lucozade was the key factor in me passing my driving test.

bring back the cellophane

btw am i the only one who thought defoe was offside for his goal y'day? Probably.

Downing was waste y'day, i'd rather have suarez on the right of the front 3 and carroll at CF. There, I said it.

Gazzetta is reporting De Rossi has agreed to join City. Noooooo

Just in time for their 3 CBs experiment.

ooh hazard beautiful turn and pass for chelsea goal

Can Wigan go down at halftime?

Ramis is aiming for one of the great debuts here

Hazard causing all sorts of problems in the first 8 mins! It is only Wigan though, so not committing too heavily to his bandwagon. Ramis looks like a total flatfoot, not what you need in the first 10 minutes of your debut.

that's premier league form team wigan to you.

this ramis fella doesn't even have the right name on his shirt. ivan ramis = n. ramis?

this is spain repaying england for jonathan woodgate's debut extravaganza

that's a penalty

yah, shoulder barge when the ball not in playable distance

hazard must think this lge is a piece of piss

this ramis fella doesn't even have the right name on his shirt. ivan ramis = n. ramis?

― 4'33" (dubstep remix) (Merdeyeux), Sunday, August 19, 2012 1:43 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

everyone's thinking harold anyway so w/e

Every time i watch a match reffed by Mike Jones i have to play "Still Tippin'"

look who creepin'
look who crawlin'

mike jones' second album also features a couple of productions by mike dean

really? haha

i wouldn't say he's got the internet going nuts but there were a few puzzling decisions in that half

Torres' season was on a knife-edge there

striker wearing #2 :'(.

This is ridiculous

happy to see my new team THE TOON get a w against tottenham

Nigel has decided today's the day to give 17-year-old James Ward-Prowse his league debut in what I think is going to sort of be a 4-3-3 with Jason Puncheon and Guly operating either side of Jay Rodriguez, with Lallana providing freelance awesomeness somewhere in the middle. Lambert, Sharp and Steven Davis are on the bench. This may possibly be madness.

This league's missed us, it really has.

hope this is just a bad tweak and not a rupture

oof that's a bad penalty

lmao, did the shampton keeper point in one direction to psych out silva who shoots it comfortably into the body of the goalie falling the other direction?

xposts - lucazade now do a squirty foam drink that looks disgusting... and sells quite a lot at our shop.

yeah i legit missed southampton, not gonna front.

step offside no?

yep

we only have to play these guys twice, right?

striker wearing #2 :'(.

carrying on from this... any outfield players that wear #1?

Pantelis Kafes of AEK Athens
http://lvironpigs.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/1a1a1a1a1a1a12bn5.jpg

derek riordan was #01 for a while.

LAMBO

i yelped

WOW

wao

omg omg omg

whoa, hell of a rush

my that fellow in the crowd was tubby.

Rodwell's most significant contribution to this match

big bottom blokes all over the sky cutaway footagey wootages

spoilsport.

haha this game is nuts, the prem is fun!

This game is making up for the Chelsea-Wigan snorer that started the day.

Inevitable.

fox enters the "what not to do" textbooks

backing us to nick this 4-3

nasri got booked for pulling up his shirt but tevez didn't? howard webb hates muslims.

tbfttl he is from south yorkshire

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/480822_335783866509938_126327832_n.jpg

it was weird how apologetic ivanovic looked after scoring.

cuz torres looked like the better option but then he waited and had to take it

good finish, good player

Dr Momoh Abdul-Razaq McSionel August 19, 2012 at 10:23 pm

The day it will happen at the Emirate,Wenger and his board members’ friends would not be able to curtail the fans’ fire of anger.Tell him someone,if we don’t win a trophy this season,Gunners the world over shall revolt with one voice.

Are you with him, ahh? There was a throwaway in Louise Traynor's latest piece about how the board were more firmly committed to prudence than ever, after seeing Portsmouth and Rangers this summer.

DR. MOMOH ABDUL-RAZAQ McSIONEL says:
January 20, 2012 at 11:30 am

The intransigence of Mr Wenger has left Arsenal trophy-less for so long.Now this same intransigence is turning the team to a less than average crop. I humbly plead with Arsenal’s fans in the UK to do more to force a change in Mr Wenger’s transfer policy.We want to smile like other fans of other EPL teams.

idk we have spent 50m on Giround, Poldi, Cazorla, looking to get Sahin and rumours of M'Vila are building again. we are also trying to get rid of deadwood almunia etc are leaving and we aren't just buying 10 1m risks/potential bargains and instead are going for 10m genuine talents.

i feel steve bould replacing pat rice is a bigger thing tho. that one decision is the one to make it seem like wenger is listening to the fans and agrees with them about addressing our weaknesses.

so yeah, atm wenger has been working hard all summer doing the right things and i cant be against him for trying p hard to turn things around.

i also think the prudence thing is a misnomer. ok i made a stupid comment about getting rid of fringe players but they are going one by one, it does free up wages etc. and we are only 2 seasons away from the sponsership deals being open again for some sort of warrior sports/chevrolet-esque madness that i trust glazidis to be trying to negotiate.

Lawro watches Real Mallorca :o

yeah o_O moment right there

doesnt he live there half the year or something

remember him talking abt them before

can't imagine him watching football for pleasure though

Well he is the BBC's main commentator from Aug-May, so even if he did live there over the summer... Mallorca would also be in their off season.

a load of british spivs were going to buy mallorca a few years back, trying to get the expat/tourist crowd involved

he also regularly appears on Irish tv. There may be more than one of him

8 English strikers can still bully

Ron Vlaar was renowned for his power in the Eredivisie but Aston Villa's summer signing from Feyenoord evidently did not encounter the likes of Carlton Cole very often in Holland. The West Ham striker gave the Dutchman a bruising welcome to the Premier League, bullying him (fairly) on the ground and dominating in the air. Encouragingly, however, Vlaar showed signs of coming to terms with the battle as the match progressed and started to give almost as good as he got. If he continues his adaptation in that vein, he should prove an important recruit, for he clearly has the skill to play out from the back in keeping with the style that Lambert is trying to cultivate. Paul Doyle

opposite day at the graun then?

huh?

everything in that report v much the wrong way round it seemed to me

paul doyle loves his bigs iirc

song to barca for £15m complete. seems a bit rubbish considering £15m seems to be the current non-newcastle market's baseline for anyone who's possible vaguely competent.

in european terms it's about right imo

you gotta think outside the joe allen / steven fletcher / matt jarvis box-within-a-box

Van Persie starting apparently...

Carrick at centre-back though

wot u mean fletcher isn't equivalent to llorente xxp

llorente and steven fletcher have both 'been linked' to madrid in the past

the latter when he was at hibs

Noticed the English media for some reason are writing "Buttner", without the diaeresis on the 'u'.

Please don't tell me they will pronounce his last name as Butt-ner now... instead of B-U-ttner (U as in "U mad")

actually, scratch that

De Gea, Valencia, Vidic, Carrick, Evra, Scholes, Cleverley, Kagawa, Nani, Rooney, Welbeck.

valencia could be a great rb

srsly

i'd really prefer Rafael to be starting every game now

you'd rather have valencia under a 60 yard high diagonal to carlton cole, tho

Excited to see Kagawa tbh

Rafael has a decent leap on him actually. He's the same height as Evra too

xp English-language media don't do diuretics LBI - ü, ão, ñ and Ll get pronounced as in 'guts', 'ow!', 'nice one' and 'bellend'

diuretics? you taking the piss?

oh no

SAF to "fit in all these attacking type players" by playing 2 defenders and 8 attackers this season? I'd be all in favour.

Scholes looking awful

Hit the post!

Man U look a step slow all across the park. Weirdly so.

well Rooney's been on the pies/fags all summer. And Scholes is an old man. No excuses for the rest of them

That scholes yellow card tackle was hilariously typical.

Thanks IK! That must be "convenient"... Just deciding, as a whole profession, to "not do" diaeresis... o_O

if they can just write (for example) schoenberg instead, it's alright

excluding altogether is a bit crap

I guess I hadn't noticed before English media always wrote Van NistelrooY instead of what it really is, Van Nistelrooij. Bizarre.

But maybe as a Dutch guy here I am used to comply to how other nations/languages write their names etc and copy that. When I said to my English gf we were going to "Bretagne" on holiday (instead of "Brittany"), and that we could spend some time in "Par-y" (Paris) she looked at me all disgusted and said I sounded incredibly posh.

The relationship survived this sordid affair though. Back to the fitba.

I guess I hadn't noticed before English media always wrote Van NistelrooY instead of what it really is, Van Nistelrooij. Bizarre.

not just the media. it was on his shirt and i assume he had some say in the matter

I have no idea how the Spanish basketball guy LLULL is supposed to be pronounced - during the Olympics the commentators seemed to have settled for 'Yule'

Nah, he was typically Dutch in that, I am 100% positive. The ManU shirt guy told him "no no, Ruud, we write a 'y' at the end", and he would be a-ok with it. Like all Dutch people. Not saying I condone it, but I understand, because the Dutch always comply to foreign things like this. Which I actually prefer over the English/Muricans saying 'Brittany', 'Par-y' tbh

xp

Not 'Par-y", the british say Paris, is what I meant

A double 'l' in Spanish is a 'j', so that would make sense.

xxp

god we really should have gone all out to sign Fellaini

yeah Fellaini is such a likeable player

It's the second 'Ll' in 'Llull' that gets me though, wtf are you supposed to do with that?

De Gea is keeping us in this

yup. fantastic saves today. fellaini looking the best player on the pitch at the moment.

who is this de gea guy

da guy, eh?

It's the second 'Ll' in 'Llull' that gets me though, wtf are you supposed to do with that?

― Ismael Klata, Monday, August 20, 2012 9:41 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Zjuzj, is how I'd pronounce it. Same rule applies more or less for a double 'l' at the end.

But don't quote me on it, I only had two years of Spanish language at uni and spent most time in the canteen drinking coffee with fellow deadbeats tbh

we don't put 'only' in that sentence over here

Shoot me know iirc

speaking of pronunciation issues, most people seem to be getting Kagawa's name wrong

struggling to think how else to say it tbh

The stress should be on second syllable, right?

apparently not. He said in an interview it's Ka-ga-wa

double 'L' in spanish is more like the 'lli' in 'million', or the 'y' in 'young' - eg. calle = caye, david villa = viya. the 'j'/'zh' sound for a double 'L' is used in argentina - so 'pollo' (chicken) would be pronounced 'pojo'.

that's not helping with that second Ll in Llull though

Kagawa weights his passes beautifully.

woohoo!

deserved. Van Persie time then?

Quite possible, there is no football player I love more than Fellaini

Don't think RVP could do anything here tbh, there's no feeding the box

<3 Fellaini

omg Cleverly, what a chance

Who's the Scottish (sounding) commentator on Sky?

I think it's Davie Provan

I love Kagawa already btw, he's fantastic

he's been the only bright spot

Kagawa looks good enough to play for Everton.

Loving Hibbert tonight too. For some odd reason I have a lot of love for this rather dull game.

I'm not finding it dull at all.

Mm, well I do a bit, it's the beast unable to force a break (ManU) against Everton. Loving Everton though tbh.

ManU isn't trying very hard, it seems. Waiting for them to wake up.

there's no comparison between omitting accents and employing old national terms for places

all of the major languages do the latter...mailand/cologne/parigi/londres etc

After a summer watching MLS I'm learning to appreciate superior effort when the talent might be lacking. Everton working their asses off.

good lads Everton

cracking match that

i really like everton

fellaini is a fucking horrible player

cattermole should do him

he's yaya touré-esque in the same way leon osman is andres iniesta-esque

christ, knew it was going to be tough but that was completely gutless. The rest of the team should apologise to Kagawa

ya i was wondering how much of this love-in could recall how much of a little git fellaini is

all of the big teams and liverpool who had long overseas tours look a bit tired

citeh had the easiest fixture though

there's no comparison between omitting accents and employing old national terms for places

all of the major languages do the latter...mailand/cologne/parigi/londres etc

― A.R.R.Y. Kane (nakhchivan), Monday, August 20, 2012 10:49 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I pointed already to Dutch being a "minor language", but I just prefer it that way. Mailand, for one: it sounds preposterous.

Just because the "major languages" do it, doesn't mean I have to like it.

'Monaco' for Munich is the one that throws me

the old names are valuable because they show the esteem of places in the past

if a city does not have ulterior names in foreign languages then it probably wasn't especially important

i don't hate everton but i hate all the fuss about them for just being gritty and difficult to beat year after grinding fucking year

I knew someone with a Europass who took a night train to Monaco from Rome and was surprised to wake up in Germany.

How many Everton players could barely walk at the end, there?

https://p.twimg.com/A0xTNjECEAIBQH2.jpg

How many Everton players could barely play at the beginning, there?

Stocked my FFL team full of Everton defenders at the start of the season so I'm rather fond of their grinding austerity right now.

Only watched the game this morning and though it was a cracker. kagawa was v good but the rest of utd v poor.

G Nev said before the game that Vidic is the best defender he played alongside at Utd.

There was a Utd retrospective somewhere this summer that divided the epl years into iirc Cantona era, Keane era, somebody else era and Vidic era; looked slightly strange at first but I think it's right.

G-Nev era surely? He was captain even if he was mostly injured.

i'd never really thought about it as a genre before yesterday but it struck me as exactly what you want from a monday night game, an absorbing little suspense thriller rather than blaring end 2 end clown college

vidic seemed like he'd lost a third of his body mass or something, even away from fellaini he was so much less imposing than memory suggested

yr average tabloid geezer is probably thinking united could do with a cheick tiote in there doing a bit of damage and he's probably right

I never thought about it being based on captaincy, that's kind of boring then if that's what it is. Though I think Steve Bruce was captain for the first couple of wins, and he did bestride the nascent premiership like a colossus.

Probably Ronaldo era if not.

don't forget the Djemba-Djemba era

What's happening with Adebayor this year? Is he effectively sitting it out?

Seems to be a risk he's willing to take. He knows that City want to get rid of him and it would be cheaper to pay him £4m up front than to pay his salary. If Spurs bring someone else in while he's waiting for them to cave then i'm not sure what his options would be.

yr average tabloid geezer is probably thinking united could do with a cheick tiote in there doing a bit of damage and he's probably right

― r|t|c, Tuesday, August 21, 2012 12:29 PM (1 hour ago)

if they're going to play nani, kagawa, twp and rvp then i don't see how else they're going to do it

tiote would probably cost the price of m'vila or an actually accomplished football player tho

Midfield wasn't actually the problem last night. Cleverley and Scholes actually controlled it perfectly well. The problem was having a midfielder in defence, a winger at right back and no penetration up front, with Rooney and Nani both having horrible games

are big games going to be like

twp rvp valencia
kagawa
carrick whoever

i was thinking abt this the other day, it's been so long that central midfield has been the weakest part of their team

keane is the only really great cm he has ever bought

who knows at the moment? the 4-2-1-3 should suffice for most teams in the league though

I think if a fit RVP had started instead of rooney, he and kagawa wd have fashioned a goal somehow. As it was Cleverley had a pretty gilt edged chance anyway.

Nani was p bad. Rooney didn't look fit, or played so badly it made him look like he wasn't fit.

there was an interview with Rooney a couple of seasons ago where he said he receives a detailed diet/fitness plan from Utd for the summer months which he completely ignores

i only saw the last third of the everton game but notwithstanding the dubious conditioning levels of the likes of twp, the system didn't really work

kagawa was by far the best in possession but his movement was not really right, he was very far infield just behind twp and barely seemed to change his position when he and nani supposedly switched flanks

a lot of hype about cleverley but ppl in this country can't tell the difference between a neat, tidy, possession player and a really first rate technical player......like the gap between joe allen and modric is HUGE

twp is a fat idiot after just about every preseason.....except last year iirc when he was excellent and v sharp in the first month

Nani was dire yesterday

And it's funny that with the new addition of RVP, United looked like Arsenal yesterday with good possesion in Everton's half, passing the ball around well and barely taking a shot worth mentioning.

it was all the ref's fault, carding him for nothing

Nani that is

anyway, i feel ANDESRON could be the midfield signing we need

kagawa wasn't playing on the flank nakh. nani and wellbeck were. kagawa was supposed to be central i think.

can't believe they can't even get his name right on the shirt! He's not Dutch is he?

I'm not sure what happened when RVP came on but that's what we were playing in the first half anyway

really? welbeck went off just after i started watching

when rvp went on he was #9, twp #10, nani was on one flank and kagawa was cental

i've always liked anderson and would be very happy to show his immense quality this season

i think with the injuries and his heavy build / shortness he doens't have the amazing acceleration he had when he joined

i would be all for an Anderson Cleverley midfield. He should have come on for Scholes once he picked up his yellow

I can recall times last season when he was missing more than acceleration - to wit, any desire or willingness to close down or track back when not in possession.

Pogba apparently had a great game for Juve on the weekend btw

that's why i'd worry about an anderson/cleverly midfield

carrick blocking the channels and anderson nipping at heels would provide at least a rudimentary defence in midfield

but u have to remember he was a wing-forward at porto, it's too much to imagine he's going to become javier mascherano

Did he play in the Super Coppa? I know Napoli had 2 sent-off but didn't see the game.

So De Rossi's not going to Man City but Scott Sinclair is? Has he heard of Adam Johnson?

xp

i liked how scott sinclair was benched on saturday in anticipation of his move to city, either to keep him safe from injuries or to give him a preview of how life will be for him once he transfers

Kagawa, though, was excellent defensively I thought, seemed to be in great condition and pressed teneciously.

the Trofeo Berlusconi whatever that is. Did this anyway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke7C48qwGeo

or to give him a preview of how life will be for him once he transfers

lol

dispossessing robinho in a friendly, the big time awaits

pretty cool for a 19 year old. He also had a hand in one of the goals

it's been five years, anderson is not going to happen

it took Fletcher that long

whatever happened to him? is he still ill?

played 90 mins for a reserve team during the week. He still looks really gaunt though. Don't expect him to play much of a part this season

That's really sad; you get used to guys failing through injury or lack of mojo, but illness feels like it shouldn't happen.

Hazard wins another penalty, which Lampard scores

Great header

Beautiful!

yeah that was satisfying

Wow!

what a hash by Cech

omg

he put that literally in Cech's lap.

How come there's this single midweek match?

Chelsea are in the Super Cup on the weekend

what a super cup.

Reading are holding their own and have hurt EBRJT, I am loving this.

ooof. whatever happened to closing a guy down?

two games, two big mistakes from fedders. god knows how he kept so many clean sheets last year.

Scott Sinclair is worth £5m, Steven Fletcher is worth £12m. And somewhere in the middle is Jay Rodriguez.

good and clearly offside.

too easy. and way offside.

aww poor federici. i never like seeing keepers getting punished for going up in the last minute.

I do. Not in this case though

yup, the only two acceptable scenarios are for the keeper to score or the defending team break and score. anything else is a disappointment.

Paul Robinson getting a kick in the face and a penalty last year topped either of those

yeah like jimmy glass.

Saints are delighted to today welcome Sunseeker International as a new official partner of the Club.

The Poole-based luxury yacht manufacturer has agreed a three-year contract that will see it support Saints' journey in the Barclays Premier League.
 
The agreement will lead to Sunseeker branding being used on St Mary's newly-installed luxury dugout seats, which fans will get their first look at during tomorrow's game against Wigan Athletic.
 
With a philosophy based around the pursuit of excellence and a determination to break new ground, Sunseeker will prove to be perfect partners for the Club as we take our place among the country's footballing elite.
 
Nicola Cortese, Executive Chairman of Southampton Football Club, said: "I believe that our new partnership with Sunseeker is based on a set of shared values and beliefs.
 
"Both companies strive to achieve the very best, and are constantly seeking to cross boundaries into fresh territory.

they're no mister potato anyway

You going to the game wbs? It'd be nice to get a firsthand impression of these new dugout seats.

No, it seems my first game this season is gonna be Arsenal away. With my dad. In the Arsenal end. Which... Hmm.

Just abuse the Arsenal team a lot and they'll assume your one of hem.

hem=them

fackin diaaaarby what a fuckin chancer

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/08/21/ferguson-showcases-a-4-2-1-3-against-everton/

The system was most interesting when van Persie replaced Welbeck, because it demonstrated the flexibility of the front three. First it seemed Rooney was going to the left, then van Persie moved to that side, then Nani went over there.

'interesting' as in didn't actually work at all

yah it really didn't. Could barely tell that RVP was on the pitch, which considering that Utd had a lot of the ball in the last 20 mins, isn't the best. That isn't a criticism of RVP, it just didn't seem to work.

i hope he tries again tho

twp was completely useless and it's hard to carry a passenger in a system relying on acuity of thought and fast interchanges of position

Michu delivers for my fantasy team. I missed most of La Liga last year so I haven't actually seen him play but 15 goals from MF ish in a team that isn't RM or Barca was good enough for me.

Brendon who?

Hope Fat Sam gets a hiding.

I remember a time when Jaaskelainen was good too.

not usually going to link to this site but

http://www.football365.com/spanish-thing/8007663/Spanish-Thing

that was interesting, thx!

Sunderland/Reading game off due to ... rain. wtf is going on up there?

swans killin it

well well

De Gea; Rafael, Carrick, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Cleverley, Anderson, Kagawa, Young; van Persie

thee old 3-6-1

at least there is a right back this time

http://i.imgur.com/fB9Lz.jpg

i love swansea. rodgers was mad to leave.

is Swansea 3 West Ham 0 the platonic triumph of football over regimented cruelty y/n?

lol Jarvis is playing too 10 million quid hahaha fuck you big Sam

they just need some set pieces and they can get back into this

lol @ big sam's slouch

no rooney. well i'll be jiggered. makes sense given his 'performance' last week.

Shaun, a very very disgruntled United supporter, on text: "Shocking decision to drop Rooney. Our best player for many seasons now. Absolutely scandalous."

Is Nani injured number none? Not even on the bench.

shaun is obv one of the Cornish cognoscenti

thank you for your contribution, shaun

talking about platonic forms, this might be the compressed platonic form of 606 style football cant

"Shocking decision to drop Rooney. Our best player for many seasons now. Absolutely scandalous."

challop: nonsequitur: recapitulation

DUFF!!

Woeful marking from Ashley Young. Cute free kick tho.

Carrick gave the free-kick away after getting tricked on the left side of the box.

RVP cracker

nonchalant half volley on the rise. BOOM. 1-1

twp, welbeck and hernandez sat glumly in a line

valencia has been bang on it today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2f1kUG4SPY&feature=player_embedded

kacaniklic. sometimes i just like saying kacaniklic.

Kagawa!

shinji , i do love him. simple as you like. 2-1

kagawa off the post now

ugh terrible pass there from diarra

utd looking sorta swag here. god help me rafael has been excellent.

lol right on cue he scores!

petric off the bar

Hi dere. Just enjoying my final day of sunshine in Tuscanny before returning to the grim grey grind. I understand from my Dad's texts that Rafael has just made it three. :-)

young's just opened up his ligaments

villa getting a shoeing by the looks of things.

Rodgers's approach sets him apart in England, Suárez says. "There are lots of teams here that aren't very well set up tactically. He's a coach that can see that if you can work tactically you can derive a lot of benefit from that; you can be different. If you're well organised, and you can play the ball, you can be successful."

What does he mean by tactically poor? "Well," he says, starting to signal positions on the table with his fingers. "If I am playing centre forward here and I drop off the front into this area, both centre backs might come with me in England. And then a team-mate can go into the space and be one on one with the goalkeeper."

Signalling to the right-back position, he says: "Or, if you look at their line of four at the back and this guy always goes up the pitch and never comes back, then you can exploit that. Or if both full-backs go up, then you isolate the two centre-backs. When one full-back goes the other should stay and a midfielder drops in, but there are teams where that doesn't happen and you can take advantage. There are coaches who see that and coaches who don't. He sees it."

wow, who knew the standard of defending in the Prem was shit?

idk if it's that bad, there are certainly more good central defenders here than anywhere else

tactically some of the lower teams are just awful though

blaze a blaze brede hang-ga-lan-ge-land
purple haze brede-hang-ga-lan-ga-land

great back heel own goal from vidic there

Golazo!

Lukaku looks a real handful in the 2 minutes he's been on

Villa getting properly clobbered by Everton. Thing is, Villa doesn't look hideously bad, but Everton look in late season form.

which is weird for them

BAE scores!

and jenas comes on!

Weird for both Villa and Everton to not look horrible. Nice to not hear "Why do Moyes' teams always start slow?"

ah, spurs will never change

Arouna Koné plays for Wigan now?! Wow, missed that one when on holiday.

FFS Spurs.

owww!!!

was that the ball that cut rooney's leg open??!

wayne van injury here.

rodallega fell on him

no trodden on. was gonna say.

xp

ruiz should've scored there.

dembele may be the best dribbler of the ball in the prem

Feels like there's a "not the first time Rooney's been associated with a horrific gash" joke to be made somewhere.

what an odd game. Surely Utd could come up with a bit more than 5m for Dembele

was strange in that at no stage did it look like utd were particularly interested in closing the game down. They played pretty much the same way from minute 1 to 90.

4.57pm: We're into injury time at Old Trafford where Fulham have been pushing and pushing for an equaliser. Wayne Rooney is stretchered off with a dreadful gash in his knee. More extra time to come.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cock_and_Bull#Bull

He's out for a month apparently

twrvp

Villa perked up a little towards the end but tbh they looked fucking awful. Struggled to create a single proper chance on goal for the second week running, looked bereft of both confidence and ideas on the ball. Unfortunately Bent, our best player, brings nothing to the table unless those around him are up to scratch. N'Zogbia is worse than useless. We need to bring in a creative presence and a good winger to feed Bent. Otherwise it's gonna be a relegation fight all over again.

how come the first search result for ivanovic is ana, 12th best on the wta right now, rather than branislav who must be at least the sixth or seventh best footballer in the world

or even the third best given that he is now scoring more often than daniel alves, previous 3rd best player in the world (c) sid lowe 2009

interesting to see what sources close to frank lampard will be saying if chelsea don't win this

Woah Lukaku looked a fucking handful, we just couldn't cope with West Brom after he came on at all.

Spurs were all over West Brom for 60mins or so of that game and then they caused complete chaos. Taking VDV off and depriving our midfield of some passing composure probably did it. Definitely more threat needed upfront but Vertonghen looks quality already.

I dunno, weirdly encouraging signs despite the equaliser. We definitely need more competition upfront and more everything in midfield.

Is Old Trafford located on a ship? Never noticed how much Jol moves about when interviewed, he's making me seasick watching the video here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19304316

Vertonghen did look great. and i'm still impressed with Livermore, even though he is not the regista the team needs. sandro was great tackling and running down balls but didn't contribute going forward, not sure jenas ever touched the ball after he came on.

wait jenas is still there? did levy hand him a 6 year modric contract too?

think this is the last year of the contract extension he got under Ramos

blimey

when will clubs learn? WHEN? etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFpa4h495YM

the buildup here is almost as impressive as the goal

this season could see chelsea playing good football with generally non-hateful players and who knows maybe even terry being supplanted by luiz & cahill

chelsea fans still all irredeemable fucking wankers though

Luiz and Cahill are not good enough to supplant EBJT, if Terry is eventually pushed out of the team it'll be by a commanding mega-signing at the back.

watching MOTD this morning and some of the goalkeeping in the prem so far has been laughably bad.

terry is ridiculously slow now, cahill and luiz are much better suited to the way they play

it mostly depends on luiz levelling out his more stupid mistakes cuz potentially he is a pretty complete defender (not quite lúcio, but closer than most)

if that happens (as it seems to be) and he no longer needs terry to hold his hand, then the justification for terry's inclusion is more as a sentimental sop to the lovely chelsea fans than any kind of footballing logic

gervinho is still useless

*Nods.* This is pretty dire, I think Giroud looks promising though.

right after he does that?

You mean that hopeful lob from well outside the box? It wasn't a bad effort. More a comment on his overall showing though.

there was a simple pass on and he didn't even see it. I'd be very worried about this strike force if i were an Arsenal fan

You're not criticising an Arsenal forward for shooting instead of passing?

Liverpool: Reina; Kelly, Coates, Skrtel, Johnson; Gerrard, Lucas, Allen; Borini, Suarez, Sterling.

Sterling IN, Carra OUT. Hope this isn't the highpoint of the afternoon.

xxp Why, did they lose a player in that department who was responsible for a decent amount of their scoring last season?

By which I mean that of course their attacking threat has been decimated. Yet I think Giroud might reach the lofty heights of 'better than Gervinho' in short time.

Amongst v strong competition Stoke fans may be the most hateable of the lot.

For the haters, here's a piece on Lucas' excellent marking of Silva and Yaya Toure last season: http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/statszone/archive/2012/08/24/the-one-liverpool-player-brendan-rodgers-couldn-t-do-without.aspx

Nobody doubts his negating ability.

Sterling... he beats the man, he actually dribbles down the wing.

do you just close your eyes and stick your fingers in your ears the rest of the time. embarrassing.

I wasn't comparing Sterling to Lucas btw, was just separately astonished at wing play.

there was a simple pass on and he didn't even see it. I'd be very worried about this strike force if i were an Arsenal fan

― Number None, Sunday, 26 August 2012 15:22 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

TWO CLEAN SHEETS IN A ROW!!!! Oh yeah the other end...

tbh i'm fine with giving two new strikers a couple games to blend in, especially if we aren't conceding (and against two set-play teams! us! not conceding!).

arsenal were generally quite impressive, they looked solid throughout and arteta showed that they don't really need sahin, who might be a better player but needs time to adapt etc

giroud was getting involved and is pretty quick for someone his size, podolski fits in well

gervinho is trash oxlade chamberlain can pick up the slack on the wings til he is sold back to france for £4m next year

it's a solid sort of arsenal team, a bit more like an earlier wenger side & with only cazorla likely to do anything really amazing

What a beautiful goal.

This sounds like a decent game

It's a bit scrappy. Liverpool have wasted a lot, the City goal was fairly embarrassing. Reina all over the place.

oh squirtle.

gerrard-esque from the big man.

FFS, bet they lose now.

i sort of hate skrtel

playing sterling was a good choice imo, all the dalglish era shite on the bench

also raheeem sterling is a good name

dalglish era shite warming up.

Good performance overall, tho they never really stopped doing well against the top sides.

Nothing yet to distinguish this season from last season afaict

The style was a little different today. Sterling is really exciting too.

tbh I've only seen the last hour v WBA and the Hearts game, I think everything else will've been better than those. I'm going next week though, should be interesting

I actually thought shelvey was good today.

the radio was talking up Joe Allen

All three of the midfield were very good I thought, Gerrard included, Allen especially.

Yeah the midfield is looking good. Also, didn't even notice Coates for the whole game, I guess that's a vote in his favour. Thank fuck for no Carragher.

There was plenty chuckling at Coates' distribution fwiw. This all sounds good, but last season was all about being the better side and drawing. Albeit it's against City, but still.

yeah so pleased to see coates picked instead of carra and not particularly because coates has looked great, kind of feels depressing when you see carra's name on the team sheet. thought we looked good, allen has slotted right in and it seemed like his tidyness rubbed off on some of the other midfielders as the game went on. sterling looks the real deal, great first touch and invention, would probably have took him off after an hour though. skrtel inexplicable.

I love the ferocity of the pressing game we played.

If Utd ever got a decent offer for him I think they shud seriously consider selling him, he's not as Gud as wot people reckon he is and is no where near wot I wud call a world class striker....god knows how he got so many goals last season, in my opinion he's peaked at his career and won't get any better .

- oohaah cantona 7, Fort Myers beach, Florida, 26/8/2012 22:08

currently rated ^ 4 on the daily mail

garth crooks' team of the week features skrtel, with eden hazard in defensive midfield

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19388012

bug eyed loon.

happy enough with that from lfc y'day. Actually the best defensive shape we've had this pre-season and season so far, albeit with a calamitous error for the 2nd goal. Gerrard gave the ball away for the first goal but there was plenty of time to rectify that before the ball found the net. Feared the worst when Lucas hobbled off but Shelvey did really well. So glad Sterling is getting a chance and will more happily accept some sub par performances from him which is inevitable given his age than suffer through downing game after game.

That Garth Crooks entry on Van Persie - "I'm not entirely sure what was more surprising: the ease at which Van Persie took to the Old Trafford stage or the fact he did it so well without Wayne Rooney by his side. Exactly what Sir Alex Ferguson was up to leaving Rooney out of his starting XI was anyone's guess, but it didn't faze the Dutchman one little bit." Crikey

with 'Pipes Of Peace' Paul McCartney proves he *can* have hits without Michael Jackson

Yes if we've learned one thing this weekend its that Van Persie can score goals without Rooney next to him.

Morgan is going to get such a bullying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tHGwfwkoVg

i fucking love bren

dempsey to... sunderland?

oh clint

he did demand CL football iirc

oh wait...

oh dempseypaws

i'm not seeing much on the dempsey thing. is this from the same website i saw the squillacci news?

modric to real is official, 37m euros.

rumors I saw were on twitter

Phil McNulty ‏@philmcnulty

More Rodgers on Joe Allen: "We paid £15m for him and I said that very quickly that price would double and people probably laughed at me."

21h Phil McNulty Phil McNulty ‏@philmcnulty

Brendan Rodgers on Joe Allen: "He's five feet six but in terms of a footballer he's seven feet six. He's absolutely immense."

Yes the list of great seven feet six footballers just roll off the tongue. There's thingy and whojacallit.

i like the way he feels his hyperbole re allen was vindicated by one good performance

he is in a good situation tho, dalglish and hodgson have lowered expectations so much

a proper commitment to actual football, bit more excitement from sterling, gerrard looking interested and suarez actually converting chances and he will be well regarded even if they finish 5th or 6th

oh dear, sorry for that over the top cuntish remark yesterday ronan. i was rather drunk at the time. think i'll give the pre-match drinks a miss next time.

Joseph Barton ‏@Joey7Barton

Doesn't look like this Marseille thing is gonna happen now. 'Whatever doesn't kill you make you stronger' #heartbroken

Been forced to go back training with the kids and fellow Taliban members at 2pm today...

wait WHAT?

I expect he's talking about his pariah status rather than, y'know, Muslims.

unless hughes has moved training to gitmo

that or he has joined the taliban

t/s -- tweeting about the courteeners vs destroying the bamiyan buddhas

oh dear, sorry for that over the top cuntish remark yesterday ronan. i was rather drunk at the time. think i'll give the pre-match drinks a miss next time.

no need to apologise at all.

qpr really are signing julio cesar apparently. i take it all back, the club's being run by complete morons. scary.

so, so, so bad and uselessly disjointed on the pitch btw - as of right now i have no doubt there's not a worse side in the league functionally speaking. city and chelsea next and i'll be mildly gobsmacked if we let in under ten, regardless of who else we sign this week.

Via his twitter account, the controversial midfielder expressed his love for the club and asked Stephane Mbia to stay at Marseille.

“J'espère que vous resterez frère (I hope you stay brother) Vous êtes un grand joueur, j'aimerais jouer avec vous (You are a great player, I would love to play with you),” tweeted Barton.

now imagine how i lolled when his move collapsed

has julio cesar had a spectacular collapse in ability over the last year or is this signing really that mental?

i am kinda more interested in why he always looks like a normal bloke photoshopped to look fat, it's genuinely bizarre

hahaha

i remember a few lolworthy performances the last time Inter were in the CL. Don't know about his general form.

£50k a week to rob green then dumped after two games

nb it's the first part there that's the real problem

no even for a mediocre player green's form has been unexpectedly and bewilderingly bad, like mental issues bad

even still ffs hughes he hasnt had his arms and legs blown off maybe coach him a bit, find out what's up idk? play a reserve keeper for a bit if you really have to? no let's just write off 50k a week for the next two years and sign someone else for (a reported) 80k

it barely fucking matters anyway, even if we were signing gigi buffon what the fuck miracles is he supposed to perform behind a bunch of guys that either havent met or haven't particularly been told to do anything

something in hughes has mutated horrendously awry since city (the realisation of his delusions of grandeur, he will brook no blame for it), this awful mix of "good players should know what to do" cash n carry redknappism motivated by a blank hoddle-ist contempt for players he was better than in his day

but then with some office management profesh speak chucked in as well, not the fun adkins moneyball loony shit just the pure brutalist stuff

who on earth could feel love for this terrible man

he is your leader, you'd go over the top if he told you to

honestly klats who could have ever doubted you were a liverpool fan

no way Dempsey went to Sunderland

heh xp

Dempsey hasn't gone anywhere yet as far as I can tell. Wouldn't bet against some other club coming in and hijacking the move but I dunno, there's a decent attacking midfield building up at Sunderland. With a useless/injured collection of journeymen strikers to pass it to.

Offtopic since obv. not playing in Prem but Zlatan cultists may be surprised at where he turned up. As you were.

I love that interview

something in hughes has mutated horrendously awry since city (the realisation of his delusions of grandeur, he will brook no blame for it), this awful mix of "good players should know what to do" cash n carry redknappism motivated by a blank hoddle-ist contempt for players he was better than in his day

but then with some office management profesh speak chucked in as well, not the fun adkins moneyball loony shit just the pure brutalist stuff

who on earth could feel love for this terrible man

Harry Redknapp will be at Loftus Rd proclaiming Park Ji Sung a triffic lad by October.

we won't have a paella thread till friday's draws but i'm annoyed i didn't see udinese-braga is on until now. ten minutes of extra time to go, 2-2 on ag.

and holy crap! udinese should be winning if not for a TERRIBLE first touch right there, on a little chip that gave the guy an incredible amount of space in the box.

Braga manager being a dick to Pasquale as he tries to take a throw in. I absolutely nothing to base this on but I don't like Braga.

Penalties on ITV4.

From the Bleacher Report: "In what looks like a 'Hail Mary' in the waning days of the summer transfer window, Tottenham Hotspur Chairman Daniel Levy has reportedly given new manager Andre Villas-Boas the go-ahead to spend all £30 million the club received for selling midfielder Luka Modric to Real Madrid."

I actually read "hail mary" as "mail harry."

oh dear

lmao panenka fuck up by udinese

just reading about moussa dembele to spurs

Park, Santos, Mertesacker, Arteta and Benayoun in

Braga through, all because of a silly silly panenka.

Ismael, ?

Spurs' strategy reminding me of your lot last year is all

in picking up sensible, half decent deals like vert, siggy and ade for the price of 1 superstar? sure, i see that.

(Udinese are kind of the reason Watford sacked DYCHE, so no sympathy from these parts)

And we've got our first win! Against Stevenage, but it was away, so that's something.

Also, does anyone know if Zambian international forward Emmanuel Mayuka is any good? We've signed him from Young Boys Berne according to Twitter.

Dembele's going to Tottenham. BOOOOO! :(

yeah, i'm a bit miffed

ritchie de laet is as good as it will get for belgians in salford

             Friedal
Walker    Vert    Kaboul   BAE
             Sandro
Lennon   Dembele  Siggy   Bale
            Adebayor

??? there needs to be a deeper playmaker type, you know, a modric. or is avb hoping to have dembele as he used ramires as p much his best player last season? either way that team is top heavy without anyone doing the hardwork to create/win the ball.

Vertonghen's distribution is excellent, he might come to resemble something like a deep-lying playmaker.

Wait, a hoy hoy... How the hell do you think Sandro should be in the first team?

Also, Aaron Lennon seems to have slowed down a lot in the past couple of years. I think we need something new on the right side.

I read today we're linked with a goalkeeper from... France or something. I still think Friedel is our best choice for one more year. How could he not be? AFAICT he did well last year.

yeah, Hugo Lloris. He's kind of a big deal

Slow Lloris jokes.

oh. Seems like it's a done deal anyway. Don't see how you'd be displeased with that, as long as it doesn't come at the expense of a few more outfield signings

utd bid 5m for him, the cheeky cunts

dembele has been playing in central midfield and winning lots of plaudits for his tackling, possession, and dribbling. still not a great passer maybe, but he was the best option for deep playmaker of all the names linked with spurs, outside of moutinho who was way too expensive.

we'll be bidding 30m in a couple of years no doubt

i posted this on the spurs thread, but here are some stats on dembele vs utd in comparison with spurs cms from last weekend
http://news.5minstokickoff.com/index.php/moussa-dembele-still-totes-awesome/

speaking of belgians and utd, i thought utd were gonna buy steven defour, has he been any good for porto?

It was Defour that Fergie sent that weird love letter a few years back wasn't it?

yeah, when he was injured iirc

I saw him for Porto once or twice last season, he didn't stand out and I don't believe he's an automatic starter. Their regular midfield now is Fernando, Moutinho, Lucho Gonzalez iirc.

Porto incidentally have a new Colombian forward whose career matches : goals scored record is 169 (154), so watch out.

Dembele can be the playmaker in midfield then. Fine. I watched 0 minutes of Fulham last season (despite being a Jol Out fan) so I don't know what I'd be looking at. I like the look of this Dembele chap. I mean I like his hair.

What's left is to sort out these Defoe to QPR/Macclesfield/Bognor Regis/Abu Dhabi rumours. I think he's gotta go. I have been a very happy man to have Jermain Defoe at our club for so long but, like Aaron Lennon, we need to start making room for new people, and we need to start looking at a younger and, dare I say, more international team right now. Defoe and Lennon are Martin Jol-era players. Think about how long ago that was in Spurs years.

maybe it was just those individual matches but MD resembled a Ramires type much more than a Modric. Which is fine but it will be a big change and you'll have to hope avb's distinct fast pace game pulls off. the first thing chelsea did this summer was buy a bunch of playmaking types like hazard and oscar)

Crikey, Walcott actually probably is leaving then? For some reason I had this filed under 'things that might happen next year'.

I don't really agree with that Dembele article. Livermore isn't intended to be a Modric or anyone replacement, he's an obvious stopgap/player in development. Dembele is no more of a Luka replacement than Livermore, from what I can se e he's a box-to-box type rather than a playmaker.

Assuming Spurs don't make any more midfield signings then it'll be one or two DMs with Dembele and/or Siggurdsson bombing up and down. What that loses in vision and guile it makes up in urgency from central positions. To put that into context we had to rely on Jenas for that a couple of years back.

Also how long has Dembele actually been has good as in that United game? Signing a player on the basis of a few eyecatching performances, dunno could be a Palacios situation.

he ripped liverpool to bits at craven cottage last year. take from that what you will/won't.

Spurs are, rather ludicrously, being linked to moves for Dzagoev and Moutinho as well as Dembele this morning, possibly with VdV getting shipped out.

are we sure we wanna spend this week here rather than the transfer speculation thread

"I am a bit surprised, but I am delighted to have been given the opportunity by QPR to come to London, learn English and play in the Premier League," Cesar told Sportv News.

"It all started during my summer vacation, when Inter suggested that I reduce my salary. No player in my situation would have done that - I am not a hypocrite and I can talk openly about this."

"It became a tough situation for both parties. I then spoke to my representative and I thought this was a good choice."

i, er... no yeah ok fair dos big man

130k per week on goalies. Can any club anywhere match that? Actually Casillas is probably on more than that I guess.

Sterling work here from the club who renewed Kieron Dyer's contract for another year.

hey now, 40 mins and an assist vs walsall from super kieron yday is pure value

loving this downing at left back madness. why don't we just see if he can play in goals?

Assuming Jose Enrique isn't injured or anything so they're basically telling Downing not to expect to be on the pitch any time soon.

i guess, tho enrique was woeful in the final few months of last season.

hmmm

http://www.givemefootball.com/premier-league/wayne-rooney-fears-manchester-united-axe?state=7d970a59d050438e90532ece672663ce

hmmmm indeed

But should the former-Everton forward become available next year every major European team would surely be interested in securing the services of the United star.

Haven't we had this discussion before, back before Fergie had even replaced him?

can sunderland raise the funds??

Playing with big club players like Ricky Carvalho, Julio Cesar and SWP

Lucas out for 3 months

Was wondering who'd be significantly improved by Rooney for £40m.

argh Lucas

have woken from my nap to the news that lucas is out for 3 months. :(

this walcott staying or going thing is weird. He can do what he likes, just 'cos the club say, or the press anyway, that 'ooh he hasn't signed his deal so we'll sell him in the next 48 hrs' doesn't mean he has to just accept that. Pretty sure they can't physically stop him leaving for nothing in 12 months if it takes his fancy.

fields of salmon, wb etc but that's some serious concentrated wrongness in that post re: lennon, sandro

i mean, i try to lurk but i couldn't let that shit pass

aha!

god bless all here

http://www.newstalk.ie/programmes/all/offtheball/

anyway, get thee to podcasts and sample the john giles fireside chats segment, tho rly it's all vg stuff, do yr footy ears a favour

real talk

football sucks. its all about the money these days. not like in the old days.

Trinity Mirror's Sunday Sun has suffered a sales decline of more than 20% in the first six months of the year, with the publisher blaming the circulation drop on the paper's local team, Newcastle United, doing too well in the Premier League last season.

The Magpies' strong end to the season saw more of their matches during the run-in switched from Saturday to Sunday for broadcast on Sky Sports.

Just three of Newcastle's last 11 Premier League games were on a Saturday, robbing the Sunday Sun of a day of readers digesting match reports, comment and analysis.

wb dmac obv

wb darragh. i trust you are in the fantasy league?

football sucks. its all about the money these days. not like in the old days.

Robert Smith (of The Cure) trotted out this line in this weeks issue of Hot Press when asked about QPR's chances in the Prem this season.

he has been saying that since like 1995 tbf

load of bollocks anyway

i try to lurk but i couldn't let that shit pass
― starfish entryprize (darraghmac), Wednesday, 29 August 2012 18:22

I wondered what had happened to you. Is this a long term commitment to lurking?

this giles podcast is fairly tedious...

Wayne Rooney ‏@WayneRooney
Read the nonsense in the papers and heard what people have to say.absolute rubbish. #heartostay

#hashtags

is Hear to Stay a Stereophonics album?

excellent

apparently Roque Santa Cruz is signing for Malaga...

on loan

lol

roque sante cruz european career

13 years

275 games

63 goals

On 5 August 2012, Santa Cruz played 73 minutes in the Manchester City's 4-0 friendly victory over Limerick.[131] On 10 August 2012, it was reported that Werder Bremen had been wheedled to within an inch of making a bid for Santa Cruz.

would it be fair to say that even when he isn't injured, roque is not really much/any better than carlton cole

idk this is all a bit talking points but in retrospect it seems strange that after one big club persisted with him through years of failure, another then bought him for £17m

his transfer from blackburn to city went on for aaaaages iirc. its kinda funny that he never really played.

he was p legit at blackburn, way out of cole's ballpark

city arent equiv to bayern even now let alone in 2009 under hughes

he scored a lot of headers from david bentley crosses

bentley/santa cruz 2k8 was the high watermark for EPL overspending until dalglish went to town

he hadnt really had a good last season there (injuries?) before city splashed that much out for him is probably the weirdest thing

i spose this was the early days when city still had to beg dudes to let them put 75k pw in their bank accounts

ie like us with dawson

huh roque was 2k9 actually

so in one year they went from him to silva and yaya touré

kinda like psg going from gameiro to ibra

http://www.qpr.co.uk/cms_images/fernandes-cesar-hughes-64064-341376_478x359.jpg

ah and right on cue

four year contract, sigh

cat that got the c.r.e.a.m.

I assumed the transfer was purely because he was Hughes' favourite at Blackburn?

http://i.imgur.com/fekKV.jpg

also how did tony fernandez get to be as big as big julio cesar

levy sold him avb's ladder for 7m

Mirallas has gotten two in the first-half against Leyton Orient

Number None, heard Buttner had his debut in the under 21 ManU team tonight? Do you know how he did?

didn't see any of it but just from reading forums and the like people seemed fairly impressed

oh and Berbatov to Fulham seems to be a thing now, which would make the Dembele transfer all the more galling

No way will he go for Fulham over Juventus or Fiorentina.

"family reasons" says the rumour mill

James Horncastle ‏@JamesHorncastle
Fiorentina slam the “arrogance of other clubs” in hijacking Berba deal.

6m James Horncastle ‏@JamesHorncastle
Fiorentina furious. Claim they got green light from United and a verbal agreement from Berba. Paid for tickets to Florence. Never turned up

8m James Horncastle ‏@JamesHorncastle
Fiorentina issue strong statement on Berbatov. “He doesn’t deserve our city and our shirt” http://it.violachannel.tv/dettaglio-societa/items/la-fiorentina-berbatov-e-i-confini-della-lealta.html …

berbatov to fulham then? my faith in football is renewed.

Stoke City make a £5m bid for Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam!

so i've not seen a kick but for a very depressing spurs/newcastle and the excellent lfc/city matches

AVB is trying to change too much too quickly and is focusing on the wrong things anyway. Doomed to fail and disastrously imo. The only bright spark in it is that he seems to be very sure of the players his system requires and is willing to act on this certainty, which is broadly positive were he right. Which he isn't.

Shipping or attempting to ship out dawson and vdv is fuckin madness, basically. One striker with lil jermaine as backup while packing in a few more central midfielders is chronically incompetent, the same brand of squad planning that left redknapp bereft of vital cover after a dreadful jan tran win this season gone.

A willingness to jettison our only right winger is similarly 'confusing'.

Going ahead with the cutprice sale of pienaar seems a weird one. He could feasibly have 80% replaced modric without any outlay at all, leaving us 30m odd to balance a centrally-bloated squad.

Far from convinced that a 15m dembele has improved our first xi one iota.

Other than that, we'd only need lloris, lb cover and to clear out gallas, rose, dos santo, jenas, bentley and i'd be happy enough.

Thudd stays, ideally.

jettison our only right winger

clear out dos santo [sic]

This is the part I find 'confusing', wb though.

ty ty all i'm sure

Gds has never really impressed in any role at whl and realistically it's not gonna happen now, i've embraced that

that wasnt sic that was me btw

Vertonghen should be excellent for you though, £9m seems way too low to me.

p cool that the CL draw could see the champions from England, Italy, Spain and Germany all in the same group!