'Even allowing for inflation, this thread is not worth 198 Terry Francises' - EPL 2017-18

I really resent you not killing off Chelsea's top 4 chances before we play them yet, team's being nearly as profligate as the fucking cowboys building the new stadium at times, of course apart from we play you!

i found lamela v busily running, turning out the way of defenders and industriously persevering until he'd run a full circle and looking totally confused about what had just happened quite relatable

now's not the time to criticise dele when kane and dembele and dier have been so off the pace. dier's passing is incredibly bad for a midfielder who has started nearly every game for a top 4 club, but poch is clearly wedded to building the team around someone dependable in that position, a bovine david luiz. i guess the only upside to having both dembele and dier on against a team like watford is that eriksen gets to run all over the place niftily stroking it about, but with kane looking like me when I've been rudely awakened after only a cpl of hours sleep, son wishing he was playing in an actually incisive team and dele dutifully running back and forth in his little danger zone, there was never much on for him. things actually improved when sissoko came on. still, jan and davinson remain a joy (so much respect for jan's lack of patience and breaking into the box) and who wouldn't take a slightly creaky and boring win atm?

all otm

ive come around to the belief that alli's playing shit but being killer effective two or three times a game is evidence of a higher plane of achievement that i dont see except in the brownian motion, the kind of implacable shit-to-win that late fergie, mou entiere and italians in aeternum have embraced as the true aesthetic of the game

also....passing being awful last night aside, i thought dier had started to look good in dm the past few games again.

but rumours of willingness to sell wanyama....no

in games like last night's dele seems the epitome of Pochian pragmatic hustling, making himself ready to capitalise on any rare bit of luck or skill or positional mistake. all quite attritional and drab ofc but yes at high levels where everyone's playing sensibly it's a v tempting way to play

i can only remember dier passing forward to trippier. the midfield does need something, and it might be better balanced with eriksen playing deeper

that one sanchez long pass last night my god this kid

I really resent you not killing off Chelsea's top 4 chances before we play them yet, team's being nearly as profligate as the fucking cowboys building the new stadium at times, of course apart from we play you

If we beat West Brom on Saturday, Chelsea are out of Top 4 race if they don't beat Liverpool.

Which would be great news for your lot as I imagine they would probably rest some players for a game three days later with the FA Cup final coming up in under two weeks.

Really hoping Huddersfield and Swansea both stay up.

The West Ham dream is still alive.

Looking at it, Everton appear to be the pivotal team in the relegation fixtures, if they decide to put their feet up against West Ham and Southampton then everything is wide open.

Also City's last three fixtures being Huddersfield, Brighton and Southampton. The whole thing is a clusterfuck.

Everton's football might be boring their fans to death, and they might be disappointed the £200m spend just seems have made them defensively solid. But they are a tough nut to crack for goal shy, lower table dross like us, West Ham and Southampton.

saying that, they've conceded 54 and have -12 gd. Solid as a rock!

Looking at the table, barring some end of season calamity from Spurs, Chelsea's Top 4 aspirations are over.

Even if they win on Sunday, Liverpool's vastly superior GD means they'd only need to beat Brighton in the last game to guarantee finishing above Chelsea.

saying that, they've conceded 54

Only 6 more than Arsenal tho

Arsenal in fairness have dropped points to pretty much every relegation-threatened team except West Ham and Huddersfield.

if

lfc drop below us

and win the cl

does it start to get .... nervy

I don't think so unless they somehow contrive to finish fifth.

And that would also require Chelsea finishing third. Seems very unlikely if not impossible.

Even if Liverpool finish 5th the top four would qualify anyway, wouldn’t they?

I thought they'd changed it now that if club from outside Top 4 wins CL, Top 4 still all qualify.

Think only way 4th can miss out was if CL & Europa were both won by PL clubs outside the Top 4.

lookit let me be its unnatural not to be shitting it at this stage

poch in

just working out permutations that could relegate Crystal Palace despite us being 11th, having literally the easiest finish possible in playing the bottom two, and coming off a 5-0 win

that permutation would be 'sell zaha'

there'd have to be points deductions and spontaneous combustion of Zaha on pitch for that shit to fly!

proposal: team finishing bottom of fair play league drops two places

*team finishing top of fair play league drops two places

i'm just thinking of next season

We're not a one man team, guys

<audible noise from earpiece>

I'm sorry, I'm just hearing that yes, we are in fact a one man team

He hasn't scored that many

He never has in his entire career.

Looking at it, Everton appear to be the pivotal team in the relegation fixtures, if they decide to put their feet up against West Ham and Southampton then everything is wide open.

P sure The Big Sam would like to stuff West Ham on his way out the door from Everton

on the way to Arsenal

https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/31706371_1607225499376145_5134000212519419904_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeEVdizCQ5ppi4XvDQemywEBmaRKCwrT_U9DO3TI1yy2oRYVMcx3UTA5b5n7nFLACU7FDBBL8y7buUPqgLunRSfsV4RCF8MY2sR8Yrc_3VTguQ&oh=1da18be09052c5212855620e38561ace&oe=5B90150A

Apropos of nothing, but this beauty got shared on fb by a friend. This is one for ye lads. Charlton Athletic v Huddersfield Town, 1947

a classic fixture, whether in the mud, whether 7-6, whether breaking lee clark's 'unbeaten run', whether tony watt briefly tantalising all of scottish football, or whether renewed next season ;)

We might be a bit shit right now, but not abject enough to be twice relegated :p Lol at the days of Lee Clark's Geordie-boy hubris, and the most boring and pointless record breaking unbeaten streak ever!

Oh I only meant once relegated. You know we're pretty much in the playoffs for sure? :D

(turns out Lee Bowyer is one hell of a manager, who knew?)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/47/ce/85/47ce856d4247365ab6a79b8b14feb784.jpg

The Valley was the largest football ground in the League, drawing crowds in excess of 70,000

o_O Love how the stadium looked around the 40s.

Time was, eh?

Do we have a thread for football of yore

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5a/f4/0e/5af40e1c4141d207dd93b0ef04a976eb.jpg

oi stadium designers, this is what a real stand looks like!

https://odysseyonline-img.rbl.ms/simage/https%3A%2F%2Faz616578.vo.msecnd.net%2Ffiles%2F2016%2F09%2F14%2F6360948027775480071537775930_hgjhgjhfj.jpg/2000%2C2000/jHtS8OmtRQD3I%2BaL/img.jpg

congrats to the albion but ffs that was a shocking united performance. pogba was shit, rashford looked like a player severely lacking games, and i never want to see fellaini start for us ever again

Despite your pretty mediocre season tho you're still going to finish second and have a good chance of winning a trophy to boot

let them moan

It was an absolute atrocity. I really just can not go on supporting ManU. Not with the devil, the great destroyer, at the helm.

xp Finishing second. Yeah, what a beaut. That might suffice for Spurs fans (ducks for the 51s) but yeah, no.

a pox on u

united fans suffering suffices for this spurs fan

Srsly tho, Spurs are a dead entity. No prizes, no capital to match the big shots. Always playing for second place. Stuck in limbo innit. #fp'd myself so u lot dunna be othered. Truth talk tho.

are you

are you serious

netherlands cocaine surplus crisis deepens ;)