Around the Premier League 2013-14

Discussion in 'Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International' started by SoCalJoe, Dec 5, 2013.

  1. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    Thought we had a thread for this, but couldn't find it. December and January are my favorite months of the season because of the combo of extra games and the all important transfer window. Some great stuff yesterday:

    • David Moyes never won at Old Trafford as the manager of Everton in 11 tries, Roberto Martinez won in his initial try as the Toffee gaffer with a 1-0 win. ManUre hit the post several times and were denied by Timmy on a couple of others. Moyes, looks like a US President who after his first year in office appears to have aged 10 years.

    • Luis Suarez... Never have seen a moment of cheating rewarded at the WC like his (infamous two-handed save against Ghana), never have seen a complete nutcase move like his chomp on Chelsea, let alone his racial incident w/Evra. However, his talent is hard to ignore. I would never grace this site w/his image, but youtube 'Suarez 4 goals v Hull' (before it gets taken down) from yesterday and be amazed. The first and third goals are beyond sick, the second and fourth are really well taken goals as well.
     
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  2. AggieMatt

    AggieMatt Well-Known Member

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    On the other hand, Timmy looks like he's dropped 10 years. He is having a sensational season for Everton this year and you could argue, he's the best GK in the Prem at the moment.

    As for Moyes, the timing of SAF's retirement came as a little bit of a surprise last year. Looking at their midfield and defense, I can't help but wonder if he didn't see the trophy in one hand and the upcoming transition facing them and decide to eject a little early. They have money and can fix it, but they find themselves in a tougher spot than they're used to with a manager who is struggling to let go of his conservative nature.

    Suarez is definitely a contradiction. There are no shortage of reasons to hate the guy, but man can he play. I've never seen a player who could make me forget so much negativity and get wrapped up in the brilliance of his game. It probably doesn't hurt that he's on my fantasy team and as capt, gave me 48 pts yesterday. :banana-dance:

    Arsenal look to be for real. They are second only to City defensively since the start of last season. Ozil was a brilliant addition. Ramsey has stepped up to an entirely different level. With the offense clicking, I think Wenger has an excellent shot at ending the trophy drought.

    Southampton have hit a tough patch in the fixture list. After conceding only 3 goals from their first 9 games, they've shipped 10 in their last 5. They only have 2 wins in their last 7. One of those was against us. There have been a lot of questions about how sustainable their style of play is over the long haul. Those questions are starting to look more valid. They face City, Newcastle and Spurs in their next 3. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

    Anyone else notice that the Toon have risen to 7th? 5 matches ago, they had 11 pts and we had 10. They've won 4 of their last 5 and now sit on 23 pts. I didn't buy them as a bottom 5 team, but that's an impressive run regardless.
     
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  3. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    Wow, ManUre loses at home back to back in the Prem for the first time since 2002. Newcastle's great play continues.
     
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  4. jumpkutz

    jumpkutz Well-Known Member

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    :banana-guitar:
    Methinks Moyes is moving rapidly up the hot seat charts.
     
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  5. AggieMatt

    AggieMatt Well-Known Member

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    Everton walked into league leading Arsenal's house and beat them at their own game. :shock: That's impressive!

    I seem to recall a lot of people (on other Fulham sites) denigrating Roberto Martinez's abilities as a manager when he was mentioned as a possible FFC manager, because Wigan was relegated under his stewardship. Nevermind that they had one of the 3 lowest wage bills in the league every year he was there. :roll:
     
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  6. pettyfog

    pettyfog Well-Known Member

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    Jan 4, 2005
    Having followed Moyes from since McBride went to PNE, I'm hornswoggled. I'd thought he'd done as much with the Blues as could be done.
    I stand corrected.
    Maybe even humiliated in my estimates. Is Martinez a flash effect.. don't know, but compare and contrast of the two doesn't look good for gingers.
     
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  7. Clevelandmo

    Clevelandmo Active Member

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    While I didn't denigrate Martinez's abilities, I was one of the people who thought he was over-rated as a manager because he was regularly involved in a relegation fight which eventually ended with that very thing. I thought I had looked up the wage bill once and found it wasnt as low as you say in comparison to the league. I thought Hodgson had done more with less at West Brom but I could easily be wrong. Regardless, I'm not sure it matters now because Roberto is certainly showing his quality this season and I'm happy for him. He seems like a great guy.
     
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  8. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

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    Moyes did brilliantly at Everton. There's no valid criticism of what they achieved while he was there. The only problem that he had was that all he could see was more of the same -- enough investment to keep them up and competitive, but not enough to get them to challenge for the title. Martinez is doing brilliantly, but I don't think he has the horses on that team to keep them in the top four. similarly, once Moyes figures out who his best XI really is, United will rally and end up in the top four. Cream is cream and milk is milk.

    I would love for him to have come here this summer, but our only chance to have gotten Martinez was shot by Swansea allowing us to beat them on the last Sunday.
     
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  9. AggieMatt

    AggieMatt Well-Known Member

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    What the heck has happened to Tottenham's defense?!? After conceding 6 goals in their first 11 league matches, they've shipped 15 in their last 5. :shock:

    Mo, I wasn't referring to anyone on this site when I said that about Martinez. It was more a criticism of the "got Wigan relegated, not Prem quality" types who are so quick to dismiss just about anyone as a candidate for Fulham manager.

    As for Moyes, there's been little things inferred about the atmosphere being better since he left. They're playing a more open style under Martinez, so that could be part of it. Someone at Utd (Ferdinand, I think) mentioned that he picks his squad late on and that the players prefer knowing days in advance whether they'll play or not. We heard similar rumblings about the players feeling a little too constricted under Roy once we were clear of the relegation places and looking like we might be able to push up the table. It could be a factor, however I think the biggest thing at present is that Everton are just a better team. They aren't as deep, but they haven't needed to be so far.
     
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  10. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

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    I watched the Spurs v. Liverpool match and the number of goals conceded was affected by the fact that Spurs played with 10 for most of the second half and -- despite their lead at the time -- Liverpool never took their foot off the gas. They got a good ass whuppin, but Liverpool looked lethal out there. I'd like to see what would happen if they played that way against City or Chelsea.
     
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  11. Clevelandmo

    Clevelandmo Active Member

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    You know what I say? F&@K Liverpool!
     
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  12. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

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    Liverpool run over your dog, Mo?
     
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  13. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    Boxing Day craziness as Sunderland, Crystal Palace, and Fulham all won on the road and that bottom third of the table tightened up big time.
     
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  14. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    JP-STL touched on it on the Swansea thread, but worth repeating; Chelski has 39 shots to Spam's 1 and it finishes 0-0 :shock: . That point coupled with Sunderland's win over Stoke and it's back into the relegation zone for our lads. The upcoming home match against Southampton is rather important to say the least.

    At the top of the table, Citeh goes into White Hart Lane and blitzes Tottenham 5-1. In 2 matches against them the best team money can buy outscored Spurs 11-1 :shock:
     
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  15. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    Well after the disaster of the last 2-3 weeks where all the teams at the bottom seemingly picked up points and firmly rooted Fulham at the bottom of the table, it's not too early to start begging for help (especially with our woeful GD) so......Dear Chelscum, Chelski, Dog trackers, aka The Undead will you please do us the favor and beat West Brom today?? Not proud for having to ask, but not too proud either :roll:

    The strangest team in the Prem, Aston Villa has more away wins than home victories, so hope that trend continues at Cardiff today.

    Spam and Norwich at sitting on 25 pts. each, so hard to root for more than anything else than draw, but think we have a better chance at finishing ahead of Norwich, so a cheats win wouldn't be terrible.
     
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  16. AggieMatt

    AggieMatt Well-Known Member

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    Well, that's what you get begging Chelsea. Good job Joseph. :roll:

    I think Norwich and Cardiff are going down. The way I see it, that means we need to drag one of WBA, Palace or Stoke into the mix. Of course, that presumes we can climb over Norwich and Cardiff, which is questionable. Every team listed above are far more capable of nicking a result at home through their defense than we've shown to be.
     
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  17. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    :angry-banghead: Yep, I deserve getting my chops busted for this one. Caught the last 30 minutes and for the life of me not sure why the Scum looked content to try and sit on the one goal lead. WBA damn near won it. At least the Baggies only got 1 point. Combine Cardiff only drawing and Norwich losing and it wasn't a bad day for Fulham supporters.
     
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  18. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

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    When you're bottom of the table, if you're looking for help in survival, you're looking for THREE teams to really suck down the stretch. That's not realistic. Those of us who only observe and suffer have to stop hoping for other sides to crater. One or two may do so, but that won't do it for us by itself.

    We need to get points where we got none. We need to pull out the occasional point when overmatched as we did Sunday. We have to get three points where we have even a reasonable chance to do so.

    We have 13 matches left and 20 points in the bag. Five wins and five draws will give us 40 and it won't matter a bit what anyone else does.

    COYW. As we SA Spurs fans are apt to say, "We need some nasty."
     
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  19. dcheather

    dcheather Administrator

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2005
    Man City v Sunderland called off due to inclement weather.

    Everton and Crystal Palace called off too.
     
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  20. astroevan

    astroevan Well-Known Member

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    Seriously? That's a red card for my fantasy team. I had five players in those matches and with only four subs... Hopefully the rest of my team plays.
     
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