Moneyball won't win the Premiership 2012-13

Guaranteed 1-0 victory against Spurs on Boxing Day.

torres has been shinning them in, his touch is woeful and all round he's not looked all that much like an actual footballer. he's only had one concerted spell of 2-3 games for chelsea (last season) where he's looked like much cop and that was spent mostly out wide slinging in crosses. his golden boot & and 14 (?) goals this season are, as jonawils put it, a piece of 'high concept satire'

otoh today's was a genuinely top class goal

think mancini's jiggerypokery w/balotelli, dzeko and tevez has distracted from aguero's lack of goalscoring; besides he's been playing reasonably well from what I've seen of him

"Robin van Persie is lucky to be alive … Robin could have had a broken neck."

If Michu scores on boxing day he should unveil a 'pray 4 Robin' t-shirt

YES

daniel sturridge has gone to liverpool?

can't remember the last time he got a game for city tbh.

they're paying him to leave. Lol

totally meant imo
http://www.101greatgoals.com/wp-content/gallery/gimages/50b39e0b456ab8bc57ca373d107d6177_large.gif

no way, it came off his foot v flat and everything

I can't watch that anymore, it's too awful. It needs to fade away like the 9/11 footage.

feel like I'm risking death every time I just watch that gif

Lucky to be alive? I dunno, imagine spending every day knowing that happened and you were the one who escaped. Death would have been a welcome release imo.

don't see the joke here, a man could've died

if i ever see any of you in public i'm gonna kick a football at your head so hard (i carry one with me at all times)

Just as well they don't do stop-and-search over there

totally meant. look at how he's always looking at RVP's head all way through the kick.

“I didn’t see how he was going to get killed,” Redknapp said in this morning’s press conference ahead of the R’s Boxing Day clash at home to West Brom.

He added: “He [Williams] kicked the ball at him and the whistle had gone but I’ve seen worse things on a football pitch. I’ve got more important things to worry about than whether Williams kicked the ball at Van Persie. It wasn’t a nice thing to do but he doesn’t look that type, Williams.

“He looks a fantastic centre half. He’s been absolutely brilliant for Swansea and looks a really good sort.

“He knew what he was doing but it’s happened so what can you do about it now?”

can't see how you could say williams was looking at rvp's head there and not the ball

i still don't think it's that clear but i can't imagine Ferguson over-reacting just cos his team had dropped two points so

gonna be looking over my shoulder for a week or two for dudes carrying footballs just in case

surprised williams actually got it on target

also i guess that means redknapp will be buying williams

I don't feel safe in a Britain where murderers like Ashley Williams roams free. What if Robin Van Persie's head had been a small child?

Don't really think Ferguson was worried about dropped points - it seems crass to care about such things when a man nearly died out there. It puts it all in perspective really. How sweet it must have been for Robin to wake up this morning and know that this was the first day of the rest of his life.

Unless he's got brain damage, I suppose.

thank fuck it wasn't Rooney then, how would they tell?

idk about this levity

as for breaking his neck from sudden whiplash, that doesn't really seem feasible, i don't think there could be enough power generated from a football

could have ended up with a concussion tho

what would ferguson say abt this

http://i.minus.com/ibtVdai030kFt6.gif

It's kinda sad that Ferguson will have to do without de Gea or Lindegaard from now on, other teams are forever kicking the ball in the goalie's direction

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson is set for a reunion with Sam Allardyce by returning to the Premier League with West Ham in January.

Chelsea forward Sturridge explored the possibility of making it official in any deal that he could only play as a centre-forward.

But he has now now accepted a contract stipulating he will play as a centre-forward is not possible and is set to undergo a medical today ahead of completing his January switch.

There has also been a wrangle over agents’ fees and the claims of Sturridge’s entourage to a percentage of any future sell-on windfall.

It means Sturridge will have to take the word of Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers that he will be given the chance to impress as a central striker.

Interesting experiment for Brendan "all that matters is the team" Rodgers to sign the pathologically selfish Daniel Sturridge.

Trying to recall the last player I was super excited about LFC signing. Oh, Suarez of course and before that Mascherano which must have been 2007-8 maybe?

i don't understand this because even if nobody would give a player a clause like that, sturridge must still expect to be played as a centre forward

except that rodgers seems devoted to 4-3-3, and suarez has been exceptional as the #9

He'll mostly play where he did for Chelsea surely, RWF. With Sterling alternating or occasionally playing on the left.

i could see sturridge being useful as a sort of inside right, cutting onto his left when attacking, with a more orthodox winger like sterling on the left (except sterling seems best on the right too)

i think this is probably the best way to use sturridge outside of a two striker formation

yet sturridge seems to hate being played there

maybe like a lot of football players he just has a hugely inflated sense of his own abilities and thinks he will be able to displace suarez

Going into this season he must have thought that it was unlikely that Torres would play EVERY single game (for reasons of rotation if not form) but has now gone to LFC where Suarez will definitely (barring injury) play EVERY single game.

wouldnt discount rodgers accepting the need to move suarez in order to get more goals from other sources tbh, not pushing him out to the wing bu accommodating both centrally perhaps

There's always suspension xp, might be a better bet tbh

interesting comparison with the walcott situation

sturridge is a significantly more talented player, more refine technically and more intelligent, but unduly selfish, whereas walcott has done well to make himself a useful player despite his limitations

a few years ago i'd have said both were too small to play as lone forwards in the epl, but players like aguero and even defoe have done it successfully from time to time, and in a fast passing, technical 433 with some interchanging of positions, it could maybe work

i don't see them ever being starters at centre forward for a top team unless 442 variants become popular again, and even then they are never going to be at the level of rvp/rooney and aguero/tevez

suarez has a better injury record than torres, so unless sturridge has got some good voodoo dolls i doubt he envisages suarez spending too much time injured

deems, i would like to see rodgers try that but he does seem really attached to 4-3-3

if he could overcome his prejudices, then playing a 4-4-2 at anfield, especially vs poorer sides, could give sturridge enough game time to prevent him sulking, while retaining the 4-3-3 for more difficult games (in which sturridge would become part of the wing rotation)

At home he could tuck Sturridge in from the right a bit so that he's essentially playing alongside Suarez as long as Johnson is providing the attacking width from the right. Would leave the team v open to the counter down that side though unless Lucas shades towards that side (i think he's more comfortable shading left tho')

I didn't really see AVB playing 4-4-2 either but that's been happening lately. They have to do something - Liverpool are really over-reliant on Suarez for goals at the moment, and Rodgers has shown willingness to tinker and experiment and gradually improve things throughout the season. He might genuinely move Suarez if it means more goals overall, and Suarez's approach play is obviously fantastic.

not listened to it yet but apparently rodgers hinted in an interview the other day that he's planning on moving suarez out wide at some point.

I'm at Craven Cottage. It's quite pretty in the rain.

A win today and you'll be right on their tail. Fulham haven't accrued very much for their good start to the season.

im watching sunderland city

Fuck's sake: Scholes and Giggs starting. Are we actually trying to lose? (Ah, right on cue while I'm typing we've gone behind already)

lol, just checked BBC site saw Scholes/Giggs starting and came here to see if #0 or NBS had posted yet.

normal service resumed however.