EPL 2013/14 - The English Premier League Thread

Give us one of these please, will you, Riise:


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Sidwell. That'll do.
 
Saturday 8th February 2014

Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal
Aston Villa 0-2 West Ham
Chelsea 3-0 Newcastle
Crystal Palace 3-1 West Brom

Norwich 0-0 Man City
Southampton 2-2 Stoke
Sunderland 0-2 Hull
Swansea 3-0 Cardiff

Sunday 9th February 2014

Tottenham 1-0 Everton
Man U 2-2 Fulham
 
Brutal. Bombarded their goal, finally getting those two goals we needed and then lose it all 4 mins in overtime when we really had full control of the game (why the fuck was it added 5 mins anyway?)
 
mclarensmps said:
Besides the penalty Stevie gave away, and the almost complete clusterfuck by Mignolet and Flannagan, this was a perfect game.

On the other hand, Mo Salah looked decent for Chelsea when he came on. God damn you, Ian Ayre...
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Yeah, a very good performance by Liverpool and a nice move in the table, they are not too far off being in the race. Dunno what Wenger did yesterday, but it clearly didn't work again.

Man C are just having a blip and a bad week, they will be back to strength real soon. The loss to Chelsea has knocked their confidence a bit.

Red_Bull said:
Spurs v Everton

Should be a good match!
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Was pretty even, a draw would have been fair result too, but Spurs probably did enough to deserve the win, just.

TobiasG said:
Brutal. Bombarded their goal, finally getting those two goals we needed and then lose it all 4 mins in overtime when we really had full control of the game (why the fuck was it added 5 mins anyway?)
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To state the obvious, something is not working at Man U. Maybe it's Moyes or something else. Vidic leaving at the end of the season maybe has something to do with it, dunno.

Fulham setup well, defended well and got a bit lucky with a couple of goals.
The Man U squad looked like they also have lost their faith in themselves or something and have done a lot this season. Letting in a last minute equaliser at home, is not the Man U way and will do nothing to help confidence.

A very interesting season.

:smile:
 
Heathrow said:
Was pretty even, a draw would have been fair result too, but Spurs probably did enough to deserve the win, just.
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First half was pretty even, although it was the brilliant work of Lloris that prevented them from going behind but I think Spurs eventually asserted themselves and came away deserved winners.

To state the obvious, something is not working at Man U. Maybe it's Moyes or something else. Vidic leaving at the end of the season maybe has something to do with it, dunno.

Fulham setup well, defended well and got a bit lucky with a couple of goals.
The Man U squad looked like they also have lost their faith in themselves or something and have done a lot this season. Letting in a last minute equaliser at home, is not the Man U way and will do nothing to help confidence.
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Amazing lol. Wondered if they were going to get back after they let Fulham get away with the first goal (always sorta thought they would but they were leaving it later and later) but eventually they took control in good old fashioned Man U form, but letting their guard drop at the end was very uncharacteristic (at least of the old team, 2012 vintage anyway). Loved Rene Meulensteen's reaction to the second goal like 'yup, knew it was coming, now back to business' :lol:
 
I feel bad for Juan Mata, would sure be nice if he had a 3 week "cooling of period" clause in his new contract.. Not sure that playing for a mid-table team will help his chances of getting selected for the world cup :(

Juan+Mata+Manchester+United+20132014.jpg
 
avanti said:
I feel bad for Juan Mata, would sure be nice if he had a 3 week "cooling of period" clause in his new contract.. Not sure that playing for a mid-table team will help his chances of getting selected for the world cup :(
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Lucky for him that he is playing for a top team that just happen to be at the mid level at the moment.

Heathrow said:
To state the obvious, something is not working at Man U. Maybe it's Moyes or something else. Vidic leaving at the end of the season maybe has something to do with it, dunno.

Fulham setup well, defended well and got a bit lucky with a couple of goals.
The Man U squad looked like they also have lost their faith in themselves or something and have done a lot this season. Letting in a last minute equaliser at home, is not the Man U way and will do nothing to help confidence.
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Vidic leaving has nothing to do with anything, it's not even news. First heard about it a month or two back that this was his last season.

Fullham defended well, but United made it very easy for them as well. Too slow with the ball and all those crosses into the 5 meter box was way to predictable.
Earlier the main problem was that we lacked our main players. Now the biggest problem is that the entire teams confidence is completely shot. There is noone taking charge of the game and lead on. They all just make an easy pass to someone else and basically say "Here, you have the ball and do something with it"
The Fullham game was supposed to be the one game where we could get our confidence back and win big. And we completely dominated the game, but Fullham had about 6 touches of the ball inside our half. Got two goals out of that, while we had 81 crosses into their box, 30 something chances and only 2 goals out of that. That isn't exactly a confidence booster. When you try and try and try, but nothing works and then suddenly *BOOM* like a lightning bolt out of a clear sky the other team scores. It's bad enough when that happens in one game, but when it happens in game after game after game, then it becomes harder and harder to get out of that bad spell. But I don't see any other way to get out of it except play more games and keep trying.

This slump will not last forever and it is only a question of time before everything clicks back in place and the United machinery will start running again on full steam. One big game can change everything (Arsenal on Wednesday?)
 
TobiasG said:
When you try and try and try, but nothing works and then suddenly *BOOM* like a lightning bolt out of a clear sky the other team scores. It's bad enough when that happens in one game, but when it happens in game after game after game, then it becomes harder and harder to get out of that bad spell. But I don't see any other way to get out of it except play more games and keep trying.
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But isnt that indicative that whatever their strategy is, it isnt working? All they did in that Fulham game was cross from wide into the box and blindly hope someone got onto the end of it*. They were sloppy and lazy at the back, and have been for a while. Fulham had no business even drawing that fixture let alone lead for 60 odd minutes. I like Man Utd and I hope they come good, but something needs to change, and I dont think it's all down to the manager.

*actually that seems to be the only tactic for most teams in the EPL :p
 
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The plan was for sure to get around on the sides and put a cross in. That's how United have done it for 20+ years. But you can change and mix where you put the cross in. That's where they failed and that's more down to the players than the manager. A manager can only give a general idea on how to play, he can never micro manage exactly how to do it. All in all there are some minor details here and there that needs to be fixed. More pace, movement, better concentration and a bit more creative and accurate when delivering the ball. Just improve those aspects a little bit and it will make a huge difference.
 
https://twitter.com/TJRostance/status/432584517258190849

Rene Meulensteen commenting on United's tactics. You can't be a team at United's level and be this one-dimensional. You speak of 81 crosses as if it's a point of pride, I'm not sure it is. When you've tried something 81 times, and you've only had success 2, maybe it's time to wonder if the approach is working.

Another statistic from the last two United games, is that Rooney and RvP have passed the ball to eachother a total of 8 times. And 4 of those have been kick-offs. These players are supposed to spearhead the United attack.

We're over half way in the season, can you really just keep waiting for things to click?
 
81 crosses and only 2 goals I said. Not sure where you got a feeling of pride from that.
As I said, they should have mixed it up a lot more. But with a team with no confidence, I guess they went for the sure thing that has always worked for them in the past. But the quality was not there.

This season has been pretty much written off already. Sacking Moyes as many are now screaming for will make no difference what so ever because the bigger question is who is going to take over now? There are no good candidates out there at the moment.
So we keep working and keep trying til we get it right. There is nothing else to do.

What happens next season however is a more open discussion. One thing we do know is that over half the team has to be replaced as they are not up to the job anymore. Either too old or have lost the hunger. Either way, many will be gone during the summer.
What happens to Moyes is another discussion. I don't know and personally haven't made up my mind yet about it. Will evaluate at the end of the season.
 
Tuesday 11th February 2014

Cardiff 0-0 Aston Villa
Hull 0-1 Southampton
West Ham 2-0 Norwich
West Brom 1-1 Chelsea

A full mid-week EPL program this week, today & Wednesday, becuase of FA Cup this weekend and no UCL this week yet.

Chelsea were ahead with just three minutes to go, then WBA equalised. :rolleyes:

Chelsea stay on top, unless Arsenal or Man C win tomorrow.

West Ham are now in tenth place at the top of the drop-zone, after their win.

(Man U are at the Arsenal tomorrow, tasty!)

:smile:
 
It's really weird how the top contenders keep dropping points against teams they really shouldn't be dropping points against.

It's pretty great for a neutral though :D
 
How about Suarez, if Liverpool don't make the UCL or even RvP if Man U don't? :think:

(.. and before you Liverpool or Man U fans start giving me stick, it's only a hypothetical with the honourable FG member from Milano, Italia . :p)
 
avanti said:
Its incredibly frustrating, after a few excellent matches the "not being able to kill matches" problem is back.

There is no doubt we need a 20+ goals a season striker this summer, but who??
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But, but....you've got Torres, right?!
 
Heathrow said:
How about Suarez, if Liverpool don't make the UCL or even RvP if Man U don't? :think:

(.. and before you Liverpool or Man U fans start giving me stick, it's only a hypothetical with the honourable FG member from Milano, Italia . :p)
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RvP would be quite a gamble, considering the fact that he's injury prone and will be 31 years old in August. They'd risk only adding to their list of very expensive strikers who don't perform.. :)

Suarez would be an option, he'd be brilliant in pretty much any team in the world. Whether he'd have as much reason to leave Liverpool is the question, I think they're going to get CL football next season.

Someone like Diego Costa is also an option.
 
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