Moneyball won't win the Premiership 2012-13

You mean mad initial fanfare leading to inevitable disappointment?

― Matt DC, Thursday, 25 April 2013 12:04 (21 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah p much

there's another 20m already on the table for schurrle by most accounts but yeah whether roman will be persuaded to spend similar on defensive midfield is the question. probably won't be jose having much say in who he gets either

even with this year's squad i don't think it's too absurd to imagine jose might have at least had 2nd place cemented within 6-7 points of united

Like finishing 6-7 points behind this current Man Utd represents any sort of success?

Given they could beat Chelsea's 95-point record, yes.

yeah not so long ago people were talking about what a good squad Chelsea had, i think that's probly still true, no surprise if Rafa perhaps didn't get the best from them.

there's probly half a dozen viable squad players down the back of the couch/on loan somewhere too

But I do think the two best teams of both Spain and Germany play better football than in the EPL (ManU being the only exception). The "influx of talent" of "television" cash will not change that.

seems reasonable to me to think that more talented players might make teams more talented

Not sure. The epl isn't suffering from a lack of talent, except maybe from the very elite players who rarely pitch up here.

ManU do not play good football a lot of the time, swansea, to pick an obv, play better stuff, chelsea under rafa play better stuff,

add Falcao and Lukaku (and a midfielder to replace Lampard maybe) to that Chelsea team and they're going places. Not sure where Torres is going though

Chelsea's squad player for player is good, but not anywhere near title-winning. The midfield in particular is an incoherent jumble of different eras and footballing styles and managerial approaches and is a monument to several years of bad/short sighted squad building. One world-class marquee signing a year doesn't change that.

They also need two more central defenders and a better defensive midfielder and players who can play out wide when Hazard and/or Mata are injured or need a rest.

they've got Moses, Marin, and De Bruyne who can all play wide. Should be good enough as backup at least. There's also Bruma, Piazon and maybe McEachran (not sure what's happened to him), who you'd think would be capable squad players too

Oscar ffs

yeah he's good

Oscar is an attacking central midfielder, have they ever tried to play him out wide?

I keep forgetting Marin is even there. He's not even out on loan is he?

Ive not seen enough of him to declare him as impressive as i think, if that makes any sense at all

xp ive seen oscar play on the right im sure

as we all know, Southampton play the best football in the EPL

Liverpool you mean. I'd been starting to look forward to next season finally being a normal season - squad in place, something to build on, hit the ground running, all that. Looks like that won't be happening after all.

They also need two more central defenders and a better defensive midfielder and players who can play out wide when Hazard and/or Mata are injured or need a rest.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 25 April 2013 15:22 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

bit harsh. mourinho's won leagues with albiols, arbeloas, del hornos, he can can probably hype gary cahill up into doing a job too. think they've got a good czech lad out on loan in holland to return as well

marin is waste and de bruyne will be out on loan again but schurrle can cover wings as well as not very secretly replace torres. ramires is a right sided midfielder at heart too

screen in front of the defence is the most glaring weakness for a jose side, someone dominant there over/alongside mikel and they ought to be contenders

forgot they've also got nathan ake and nathaniel chalobah for dm, not that jose's likely to use them but still

so many players ffs

imo probably the most burning question in football today is: hey florent malouda and paolo ferreira, whatcha been up to this year

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly6hv6BgSP1r72wi0o1_500.gif

forgot they've also got nathan ake

Didn't he do 'the sky was ink'?

What are the big rumours going around?

Lewi to Utd
Schurrle and Falcao to Chelsea
Jovetic to Arsenal
Hummels to Barca
Cavani to Real or City
Bale to Real
Rooney to PSG

Any more? This summer looks like fun.

Does anyone seriously get any enjoyment out of these gigantic summer transfer sagas? Was so fucking sick of Hazard and Modric by the end of last summer.

I feel like I missed a season, so I'd kinda like the reset. Also the lols of bumper tv deals at cardiff etc.

I pay no attention at all over the summer and then spend most of the autumn wondering where players have gone and who all these new people are.

"It is the severity of the ban that has hurt most," said the Northern Irishman.

"That is something we are bitterly disappointed with - not so much the ban because everyone has seen it and Luis was very open and honest to know it was wrong.

"I felt it could have been 12 games but with a six-game ban and six games suspended, looking at his future behaviour.

"I don't think anyone could have argued with that.

"I can't help but look at it and look at the sanction which has been put on Luis and I honestly feel the punishment has been against the man rather than the incident."

Rodgers, who was speaking before the club received the panel's written report into their decision, felt there should have been an element of rehabilitation as well as punishment.

"That (the ban) tells the player that it is unacceptable what he did on the field - and everyone here knows that," he said.

"But you have to put the carrot in front of the player to help him improve his behaviour and help in the rehabilitation.

"What has happened in this case is there has only been punishment. There has been no through of rehabilitation - unless something dramatic comes in the report that tells me otherwise.

"It is just a straight 10-game punishment.

"The player needs a bit of help and that is something we will look to provide at the club - something I would expect any club or any business to do: to look after their employee if they make a mistake.

"The objective is to make sure it does not happen again and that is something which is at the forefront of our minds at this moment.

"But the bottom line is he has received a punishment we don't believe is fair and matches the incident that happened."

today- liverpool won't be appealing the ban

Bren otm, and you know there are other reasons not to appeal. He needs a rest for one, plus aiui he'll be summering at Shamrock Rovers (please do this).

it was also Suarez's decision whether or not to appeal, maybe he's somehow self-aware enough to want to reduce just how much of a dick he looks here.

or he decided he could use the time off

congrats to van persie for the golden boots, nonetheless

The man survived an attempt on his life, you can't grudge him winning this minor honour.

i bloody hate it when the beeb put a photo of the goalscorer celebrating on the front page. yeah ok the score's already there on the right but at least allow that one small moment of childish reveal

during a match i mean obv

We're not working on corner marking, amazing.

Quiet for saturday?

the real action is in the proper divisions

load of camra cobblers

Lolz

Sorry DM, but come on the Wigan

Im not anti wigan, but whyyyy always us

I was gonna put fifty quid on us to finish fifth but odds wont be worth it now

what a shower

good save lloris

Saints falling to pieces

spurs not remotely in this game

^wrong

and yet
xp

i was quite right at the time

clever ball thudd

No fuckin good to us

sorry to all itt but i'm p annoyed at that tbh, want villa to suffer