EPL Discussion 2011-2012

[Bully]

hearing rumours that the fans are calling for kennys head and want him gone?/

See...i said before he was appointed manager, the last thing Kenny would want is to go out on a low and be remebered more so for the poor performances during his recent manager stint.

[JK]

I think a lot of Liverpool fans had doubts about Kennys ability to get us where we want to be, but his appointment was an important one at the time, even if just for the feel good factor after the H&G years.

[devilsadvocate]

I think a lot of Liverpool fans had doubts about Kennys ability to get us where we want to be, but his appointment was an important one at the time, even if just for the feel good factor after the H&G years.

I thought the same about Harry when he started - was appointed to get us out of the shite we were in, but would be shipped on after 9 months for an OS manager.

If I were Liverpool, I'd seriously consider stealing Martinez from Wigan.

[devilsadvocate]

Great piece from the Mirror:

Source: Mirror Football (Brian Reade)

One of football’s unexplained mysteries is the almost seamless reappraisal of Harry Redknapp’s managerial abilities.

Until he started to take Spurs up the table, he was patronised as an old-school ‘Crafty Cockney’, who knew the game inside out, but would never inhabit the same pedestal as the Shanklys, Fergusons and Cloughs.

Most thought winning the FA Cup for Portsmouth, aged 61, was a fitting swan-song for a colourful career, and that he would sail off into the sunset on a Thomas Cook cruise with Jamie and Louise.

Yet, three years after being handed the chance to prove his worth at a big club, he has built the most attractive side in the land and is widely viewed as the sole choice for England’s next manager.

But more than that, he has overturned the wisdom held by the chairmen of our big clubs, ever since Arsene Wenger revolutionised Arsenal, that you should look abroad for a coach, because the homegrown ones have limited technique and *knowledge, and are basically *outdated.

But who today looks the more outdated between Redknapp and Wenger?

Who most resembles Ricky Tomlinson’s emotionally-incontinent managerial creation, Mike Bassett: England Manager?

Their wildly different reactions to dropping points at Swansea offers a clue.

Despite being gutted that Scott Sinclair had equalised six minutes from the end, Redknapp’s *post-match comments were all about Swansea.

“The way they play and pass is amazing,” he said. “This is a difficult place to come to. I admire them. Not many teams will come here and win so taking a point is acceptable.”

There were no excuses or sour grapes, just a generous assessment of what he’d seen.

Compare that to Wenger last Sunday, when Swansea came from behind to win.

Just as he’d done after a late defeat at Fulham two weeks earlier, he blamed it on everyone but himself.

“The game was decided by some strange decisions by the referee,” Wenger whined. “The penalty was a complete *imagination. I am very angry indeed because it was never a penalty.”

No dignity or *generosity towards a team that had played the way he has advocated all his life, and passed his own side off the pitch.

In comparison, Redknapp looked more in control of his emotions. As though he’d learned the odd thing about some of his players’ *weaknesses in a game they were expected to win.

We have warmed to Redknapp in direct *proportion to our falling out of love with Wenger.

Despite being a few years older than the Frenchman, Redknapp seems younger, more forward-thinking, more at ease with the demands of the modern game.

More Pep Guardiola than Mike Bassett.

It’s why the bookies take Redknapp to finish above Wenger this season, and why, even if Arsene wanted to manage England, most fans would rather take Harry.

That would have been unheard of a year ago.

Almost as unheard of as Redknapp being up before Southwark Crown Court on Monday for tax evasion, yet all football talks about are his chances of winning the title.

Not much to be argued about really.

[devilsadvocate]

Another one from the Mirror:

Source: Mirror Football

Harry Redknapp has cranked up the pressure on Roberto Mancini, claiming failure to deliver trophies this season will probably cost the Manchester City boss his job.

The two managers square up in a crunch clash at City’s Etihad *Stadium today after becoming *embroiled in a cash row.

Tottenham boss Redknapp *insists he would *expect to deliver the title with the kind of spending power at *Mancini’s disposal.

But last night he went a step *further by claiming City’s Italian boss, who has recently been *waving imaginary red cards around on the touchline, is under great threat of receiving a real one from his own bosses if he doesn’t deliver success.

Redknapp said: “City are not throwing money around for fun.

“The sheikh and the club’s supporters expect *Mancini to deliver and if they don’t win the Premier League title who is to say they won’t sack him and bring in someone who can?

“Personally, I quite like Mancini and I certainly don’t blame him for spending the money he has. I would if I was in his position. But you have to accept that with it comes pressure and rising *expectations.

“City have come from nowhere in recent years after living in the shadows of their neighbours *Manchester United but, when you suddenly find yourself with the spending power to outbid any club, the past counts for nothing and people don’t want you to win things, they expect it.”

Redknapp maintains he has a very strong squad to *compete with City, but he isn’t deluded and says there are one or two players they have he wouldn’t have minded signing, if Spurs had the financial power to compete.

He said: “I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t like David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez.

“They are fantastic players and with them in your side you would have to fancy your chances, wouldn’t you.”

But Redknapp still feels *Tottenham can cause an upset today.

“We don’t have too many defensive players in our side,” he said.

“Sandro is injured, so he isn’t available and he’s about the only *defensive midfielder we have in our side.

“No, we will go there and attack City.

“I’m only interested in taking three points. If we get the chance we will try and rip their throats out. We went there two years ago and had to win to secure a top four finish and came away with a 1-0 victory.

“I would settle for that.

“It’s not going to be easy but we have some very dangerous *players in our side and we are more than capable of *hurting them.”

Redknapp doesn’t dwell too much on the 5-1 home defeat by City in the *opening game of the *campaign.

He added: “I don’t like to talk about revenge. To be honest I wasn’t entirely upset. What it told me was we needed to bring in a few players or we would have no chance of competing for a Champions League place. We had injuries, problems with Luka Modric and were three or four players short of having a team that could really challenge.

“But we went out and got Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor, Modric became more settled and players came back from injury.

“Come what may I’m really proud of what we have achieved.

“If I had said we would be title *contenders after our opening two games *people would have locked me away in an institution.”

What's not to like about Harry Redknapp!

Triffic

[devilsadvocate]

Won't post the whole thing, but this is a refreshing alternative to the Terry's, Berbatov's and Cashley Aole's of this world:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2089949/Benoit-Assou-Ekotto-Racism-worse-France.html#ixzz1k8RmLqwj

an excerpt:

Even when discussing such momentous achievements, Assou- Ekotto maintains his perspective, He is at his most earnest when discussing his support for the United Nations Millennium Campaign to end global poverty by 2015.

'If my career stopped today and in 50 years someone was to say, "What did you, the person who stopped school at 16 and took a gamble on football, achieve?" and all I could say was, "I scored two goals and you can go to YouTube and see them and I made money and I bought my house, maybe even before the teacher who taught me in class," that would be a sad indictment.'

Instead, he would rather be remembered for supporting a campaign that, among many admirable goals, aims to provide fresh drinking water to every community.

'That makes an unbelievable difference,' he says. 'It is so much more important than the goals I score or any of that nonsense.'


A true role model.

[Bully]

not sure on martinez for liverpool manager, would be like Roy IMO, to big of a club with higher expectations then wigan

I think that someone like Jose mourhino would be the better bet. Yes he is at Real, but Jose has always stated he wants to return to the EPL.

[JK]

I think a lot of Liverpool fans had doubts about Kennys ability to get us where we want to be, but his appointment was an important one at the time, even if just for the feel good factor after the H&G years.

I thought the same about Harry when he started - was appointed to get us out of the shite we were in, but would be shipped on after 9 months for an OS manager.

If I were Liverpool, I'd seriously consider stealing Martinez from Wigan.

Good call, I thought exactly the same about Harry but must admit he's massively exceeded the expectations I had of him at WHL

[Wedgie]

Looking forward to the early game tonight, Im on holidays so me and the son are staying up. Go Spurs!
Refreshing to hear on the advert for it that both sides were described as "football giants".

[devilsadvocate]

Spurs playing with 10 men while Defoe is on the pitch.
VDV did his best Jena impression for the opening 25.
Citeh have had the better chances, but overall reasonably even game to HT.
We have no strike threat at all without Adebayor.
I'd rather we played Kaboul up front than Defoe or Pavlyuchenko

[devilsadvocate]

Where to even start?

Lescott? Baloteli? Defoe? Webb? King?

Might just leave it as a massive FFFFFFF******************************

i hate football

[Bully]

As i said, its time to go Wenger

subs the best player for us on the day for a hack in arshavin, then arshavin loses a defencive play and they score.

Time for a fresh start for Arsenal FC.

[Bully]

Rumours surfacing that George Graham might be Wengers replacement

[Jim05]

Good win by United unfortunately Jones looks like he suffered a knee injury.
Strange decision by Wenger to sub their best player and bring on a dud who cost them the match.
Thought Spurs were unlucky, defenite penalty but Balotelli shouldnt have been on the pitch. Cant believe the linesman didnt catch him deliberately kicking Parker in the face.

[Wedgie]

Cracking goal by Bale and great comeback by Spurs, we were inches away from a goal two minutes out and then lose to a penalty from a guy a lot of people should have already been sent off.
Oh well, when we were 2 nil down the commentators did mention it might be the old Tottenham but the new Tottenham showed some great grit to almost come away with the 3 points.

[devilsadvocate]

Thought Spurs were unlucky, defenite penalty but Balotelli shouldnt have been on the pitch. Cant believe the linesman didnt catch him deliberately kicking Parker in the face.

Lescott should have been off too in about the 75th too for a deliberate elbow on Kaboul. Let's hops both incidents receive appropriate punishment from the FA.

I think we need a name change from Tottenham Hotspur to Tottenham Unluckyspur.

At the end of the day though, if Defoe has managed to get a bit more on Bael's 93rd minute cross, we'd be sitting 2 points off Citeh and I'd have woekn up the neighbourhood singing Glory Glory.

[OnSong]

Well, I'm in need of some sound counsel.
My team is destined to be relegated, it is evident now there is no way back.
The weekend's loss to QPR seals the deal for me and I'm consigned to the fact the dream run in the Premier League for perennial strugglers, Wigan Athletic, is coming to an end this season.
Any tips to cope with relegation out there?

Also, maybe it's just me, but does anyone else think the quality of goals scored on the weekend was fricken outstanding?
There were about 10 absolute belters from memory, varying from volleys, drives, stunning free kicks, you name it.

[devilsadvocate]

Well, I'm in need of some sound counsel.
My team is destined to be relegated, it is evident now there is no way back.
The weekend's loss to QPR seals the deal for me and I'm consigned to the fact the dream run in the Premier League for perennial strugglers, Wigan Athletic, is coming to an end this season.
Any tips to cope with relegation out there?

Chat to a Baggies fan?
I'm mixed around Wigan going down. Martinez is a great manager who plays an attractive brand of football with limited resources. But they're a small club in a traditional rugby town who rarely sell out games and bring pultry travelling suuport away from DW.
Big kudos for what they've achieved over the last 4-5 years though.

Also, maybe it's just me, but does anyone else think the quality of goals scored on the weekend was fricken outstanding?
There were about 10 absolute belters from memory, varying from volleys, drives, stunning free kicks, you name it.

Yep. Robbie Keane's 2 goals were top drawer screamers. And Bale's effort was special overnight.

Although Lescott's goal was scored with his arse by accident. So he can geffugged.

[Jim05]

Well, I'm in need of some sound counsel.
My team is destined to be relegated, it is evident now there is no way back.
The weekend's loss to QPR seals the deal for me and I'm consigned to the fact the dream run in the Premier League for perennial strugglers, Wigan Athletic, is coming to an end this season.
Any tips to cope with relegation out there?

Also, maybe it's just me, but does anyone else think the quality of goals scored on the weekend was fricken outstanding?
There were about 10 absolute belters from memory, varying from volleys, drives, stunning free kicks, you name it.

I dont mind Wigan, rate Martinez and they play a good brand of football. They have 4 or 5 quality players but the rest are battlers at best. They have a good stadium with one of the best playing surfaces in the EPL. Unfortunately as DA said Soccer is a distant second in this Rugby mad city, their crowds are poor and their travelling support is virtually non existant. Cant see you coming back for a while if you go down although you never know. You have had a good stint compared to some of the other promoted sides over the years. Dont give up just yet though, still a lot of points left in season and I wouldnt be suprised if it comes down to the last week

[OnSong]

Well, I'm in need of some sound counsel.
My team is destined to be relegated, it is evident now there is no way back.
The weekend's loss to QPR seals the deal for me and I'm consigned to the fact the dream run in the Premier League for perennial strugglers, Wigan Athletic, is coming to an end this season.
Any tips to cope with relegation out there?

Chat to a Baggies fan?
I'm mixed around Wigan going down. Martinez is a great manager who plays an attractive brand of football with limited resources. But they're a small club in a traditional rugby town who rarely sell out games and bring pultry travelling suuport away from DW.
Big kudos for what they've achieved over the last 4-5 years though.

Also, maybe it's just me, but does anyone else think the quality of goals scored on the weekend was fricken outstanding?
There were about 10 absolute belters from memory, varying from volleys, drives, stunning free kicks, you name it.

Yep. Robbie Keane's 2 goals were top drawer screamers. And Bale's effort was special overnight.

Although Lescott's goal was scored with his arse by accident. So he can geffugged.

There was a volley from a Sunderland player which was pretty special. Can't remember who it was.
The two free kicks in the QPR v Wigan game were superb as well.
Come to think of it, all four goals were pretty damn good.

As for relegation, we have no more "stars" in our line-up.
Some up and comers in Di Santo, Rodallega, Watson and Jordi Gomez (to an extent).
Ali Al-Habsi (GK) is by far our best player.
Our line-up used to include Antonio Valencia, Leighton Baines, Henri Camara, Charles N'Zogbia, Paul Scharner amongst others I can't think of.
Now we have......nothing.......and not a hope in hell of attracting anyone half-decent at the foot of the table. We are done!