English Premier League EPL Thread

[farrrs]

man city had the best defence last season! i didnt believe that either!

after selling £60M worth of players,recieving £30m in tv rights,£30m for CL qualification,most expensive tickets in the league and corporate hospitality making more money per season than i ticket sales! wenger has finally spent some cash on much needed depth to his squad! £50mil in one day! glad cos i dont want it to be a race between two manc clubs!

£20m for crouch and palacios spurs to stoke! bit much!

 

[VASith]

Should have sold Modric....

And BCM, I think you're going to be plenty worried by City in the coming months and years...

This.

Arsenal made some decent purchases....the german and brazilian will help us on the back line...arteta will be a nice playmaker in the midfield...just wish we had splurged and gotten a true striker.

but we are better off than 7 days ago...plus still have 20 mil in the bank for jan transfers.

 

[bcm77]

And BCM, I think you're going to be plenty worried by City in the coming months and years...

You wrongly assume I care that much.

Football is not something I'm heavily into these days but it only takes a bit of knowledge to form the opinion that City's plan does not guarantee anything.

Real Madrid use a similar approach and they've not done anything in the Champions League for years and are routinely beaten by Barcelona in their domestic competitions.

Chelski have had their share of success but they've not dominated the English game and were denied a Champions League win by United.

If you operate a "revolving door" policy of playing & coaching staff forming the sort of consistent structure that is the key to sustained success over a long period of time is impossible....Abramovich doesn't get this and the Arabs at City are so blinded by their desire to win their pissing contest with United that they don't either.

 

[gypsycatcha]

The way they dominated the "mighty" Swansea & Norwich and wannabes like Spuds should have the Premier League & European elite really worried

The same could also be said of United only having beaten West Brom, Spuds and a severely depleted Arsenal.

Both teams have made great starts and played some nice football but the league isn't won in the first month of a season, something City fans seem unable to comprehend.

Keeping all those egos happy takes a manager with a strong personality and there's already been evidence of Mancini being unable to maintain discipline.

United's centre midfield is fine, Anderson finally seems to be delivering some quality and Tom Cleverley looks like a decent player as well.

All the talk about Sneijder was just that....United never made any official bid because Fergie trusts his younger players over another overpriced "name" who's only intrested in a big payday.

Uniteds centre midfield is not fine.
Carrick would struggle to make any of the other top 5 sides along with fletcher and anderson. None of those are world class players.
Cleverly looks decent but again, still learning his trade.
Against the very best and you could probably include madrid, possibly Inter into the equation, they will come off second best.
How Fergie has not addressed it when it was so painfully obvious it needed better quality players is strange.

 

[bcm77]

Uniteds centre midfield is not fine.
Carrick would struggle to make any of the other top 5 sides along with fletcher and anderson. None of those are world class players.
Cleverly looks decent but again, still learning his trade.
Against the very best and you could probably include madrid, possibly Inter into the equation, they will come off second best.
How Fergie has not addressed it when it was so painfully obvious it needed better quality players is strange.

Unless there's a few injuries Carrick will barely get a game and hopefully Fletcher won't either.

Anderson is looking like a far better player this season and will hopefully maintain the improvement....he's still young enough to do so.

It may take a couple of years for Cleverley to fully develop but if they stick with him now he's likely to be a far better investment in the long term which IMO is better than signing another foreigner who's only intrested in the money as a short term "fix".

With the added threat of Ashley Young, Tom Cleverley and the emergence of Anderson as a positive influence they have more than enough for the rest of the Premier League and should have another good CL campaign.

Even with a weaker midfield United won the league by 9 points and reached their 3rd CL final in 4 years.

All their rivals would have loved a season like that.

 

[gypsycatcha]

Unless there's a few injuries Carrick will barely get a game and hopefully Fletcher won't either.

Anderson is looking like a far better player this season and will hopefully maintain the improvement....he's still young enough to do so.

It may take a couple of years for Cleverley to fully develop but if they stick with him now he's likely to be a far better investment in the long term which IMO is better than signing another foreigner who's only intrested in the money as a short term "fix".

With the added threat of Ashley Young, Tom Cleverley and the emergence of Anderson as a positive influence they have more than enough for the rest of the Premier League and should have another good CL campaign.

Even with a weaker midfield United won the league by 9 points and reached their 3rd CL final in 4 years.

All their rivals would have loved a season like that.

It will probably win you the league and United are pretty much expected to reach later stages of the champs league nowadays but the center mid will show how out of depth it is when playing the likes of real, barca....
Youngs a great signing and looks like he will go up another level but if you cant win the ball and control the run of play thru midfield against the top sides, you wont beat them no better team at doing that not only with ball possession but also winning back the ball than Barca and by a long way.

 

[SixMillionDollarMan Guy]

Need some help with this whole EPL thing.

Why is this league doing transfers in the beginning of the EPL season? Isn't this the equivalent of free agency in american sports, which is done in the off-season?

 

[Wanderer]

Uniteds centre midfield is not fine.
Carrick would struggle to make any of the other top 5 sides along with fletcher and anderson. None of those are world class players.
Cleverly looks decent but again, still learning his trade.
Against the very best and you could probably include madrid, possibly Inter into the equation, they will come off second best.
How Fergie has not addressed it when it was so painfully obvious it needed better quality players is strange.

I had to quote this for the sheer comedy value.
Misinformed, ignorant, clueless

 

[VASith]

And the infighting between the MANU fans starts for another season.

 

[laudel7]

I always try and stay away from football topics,even though I love football.. I was over at old Trafford last sunday enough said

 

[gypsycatcha]

I had to quote this for the sheer comedy value.
Misinformed, ignorant, clueless

Really lol ? which part of that do you not agree with and tell me which of those midfielders would start in the arsenal, liverpool, spurs, city, chelsea midfield let alone Barca, Inter and madrid

 

[laudel7]

They managed to win the league and get to the champions league final with that midfield

 

[OSA]

With any other manager Utd's midfield of last season won't last, only Ferguson have instilled a winner mentality into them . A lot Utd fans didn't rate the midfielders they had last season, especially Carrick.

Going to be another interesting season. Have watched City a few times they look good, that's if they play attacking football and not hold back.

Arsenal for the title!

 

[gypsycatcha]

They managed to win the league and get to the champions league final with that midfield

Its one of the weakest central midfields iv seen in a united team for many years and was mainly due to the fact chelsea went thru a to long difficult patch to catch them and Arsenal not having the depth.
City at that point were not ready to mount a challenge and needed a top 4 spot.
Fergie does get the best out of his players and installs a winning mentality but it was all plain to see in the champs league final Barca are streets ahead and United needed and still does a better central midfield.

 

[laudel7]

Fair point, though I think their midfield this season looks much better. Barca again look a different class.

 

[gypsycatcha]

Fair point, though I think their midfield this season looks much better. Barca again look a different class.

They have improved but its mainly due to the arrival of Ashley Young adding more pace, more goals and something a bit different. He also looks to have built a great understanding with Rooney.
Scholes has not been replaced and they lack leadership through the middle and when you name Uniteds spine and come to the middle, its a pick of three who are not quite good enough imo.
If they would have gone all out and added someone like nasri, modric, sneijder and maybe someone like diarra, they would have been pretty awesome and would be alot closer to Barca than they already are.

 

[bcm77]

Really lol ? which part of that do you not agree with and tell me which of those midfielders would start in the arsenal, liverpool, spurs, city, chelsea midfield let alone Barca, Inter and madrid

A midfield that was so bad the team finished above Chelski & City ( by 9 points ) , Arsenal ( by 12 points ), Spuds ( by 18 points ), & Liverpool ( by 22 points ) and also got further than Inter & Real in the Champions League.

Losing to Barcelona in the final is immaterial because nobody else would have beat them.

The only outright donkey in the United midfield is Carrick and I can't see him getting that many games with the improvement of Anderson and the emergence of Cleverley.

Phil Jones can apparently play centre midfield too and from what I've seen of him so far he looks like he could be one of the next "greats", there's an assurance about his play that is rarely seen in such a young player....compare his performances with some of Wenger's kids at Old Trafford

 

[gypsycatcha]

A midfield that was so bad the team finished above Chelski & City ( by 9 points ) , Arsenal ( by 12 points ), Spuds ( by 18 points ), & Liverpool ( by 22 points ) and also got further than Inter & Real in the Champions League.

Losing to Barcelona in the final is immaterial because nobody else would have beat them.

The only outright donkey in the United midfield is Carrick and I can't see him getting that many games with the improvement of Anderson and the emergence of Cleverley.

Phil Jones can apparently play centre midfield too and from what I've seen of him so far he looks like he could be one of the next "greats", there's an assurance about his play that is rarely seen in such a young player....compare his performances with some of Wenger's kids at Old Trafford

Im sure xavi, iniesta and fabregas will be quaking in there boots with the improvement of anderson, cleverly and co
Im really not sure how you can say the Barca game is immaterial because no one can beat them lol
United now are chasing Barca and they have improved the squad but they got run ragged in central midfield and looked out of there depth.
If I was a United fan, that would have been the first position I would have wanted strengthened.
If you can name me one of those players that would walk into one of the top sides in europe... well, I doubt you can
For me they are squad players. Cleverly looks decent but is still young and lacking prem/champs league experience. Andersons doing better but couldnt really get much worse.
Carrick and fletcher, erm.............Well we sold Carrick to you and fletcher probably makes a nice cup of tea.
For United to be the dominant force in years to come and to win in europe, they need a world class player/leader in midfield.

 

[bcm77]

gypsycatcha,
Instead of making fun of United's midfield I suggest you focus on your own team or maybe not....how many league titles have Spuds won exactly?

2, the last as recently as 1961. 17 more to catch up then.

Or European Cup/Champions League final appearances, let alone actually winning the competition?

Never happened. Reach and win 3 out of 5 finals and you'll perhaps be considered a decent club.

Whatever gap there is between United & Barcelona it is at least closeable.

 

[gypsycatcha]

gypsycatcha,
Instead of making fun of United's midfield I suggest you focus on your own team or maybe not....how many league titles have Spuds won exactly?

2, the last as recently as 1961. 17 more to catch up then.

Or European Cup/Champions League final appearances, let alone actually winning the competition?

Never happened. Reach and win 3 out of 5 finals and you'll perhaps be considered a decent club.

Whatever gap there is between United & Barcelona it is at least closeable.

Im very much focused on my own team aswell as to watching and taking an interest in others
And your approach back is to brag about how many trophies you have won and when you did this/that...... pretty childish
Im actually supprised you even knew when we won the title or double even but google is a fine search engine
Anyway if you cant handle debate or criticism about your beloved team, I suggest you go back to eating those prawn sandwiches!