Barclays Premier League

[»Liquid Snake]

Yes.

[»Frantic]

Mancini won't ever play a 4-3-3.

Fabregas "wanting to go" and vocalizing such were two different things. Shocking you wouldn't realize this. I never said he wouldn't go for the right offer. I have always maintained he would.

I'd laugh if City actually bought nasri for 22. They'd realize pretty quick he isn't half the player Marvin Martin is. Success for City this season is winning the league and/or going to at least the semifinals of the CL. So, good luck with that 2/3 chance of success. Their actual equity is probably closer to 20% at success, at most.

Mancini is the only one in the world who can semi control Mario. He did his best with him at Inter before this. If he fails here, he will never succeed. He's not worth the trouble.

To win the title this year, you'll have to be tougher then United. Chelsea can be, City and Arsenal won't be. I think City have a very good squad, I think ours is still top 4 proof even if we lose both Cesc/Nasri and don't replace them. But the toughest team will win this year, and I bet that won't be Arsenal or City, who will smoothly round out the CL spots. (and no, this doesn't mean we should go sign Joey Barton)

[Faint 5858]

SO PUMPED

[Aaron 2030]

lol frantic just admit you were wrong. FABREGAS WANTED TO GO. He forced it into an exclusive market where Barca were allowed a cut price deal. If it was an open market, they would have got like 50M from Madrid. vocalizing? why would he ever vocalise it? you forfiet your loyalty bonus and if you don't leave, the fans turn on you. thats why his agent plants stories, he gets his friends in barca/spain squad to comment to the press etc.etc. You really are very naive/stupid when it comes to this shit it seems. Fabregas has literally forced this move if wenger's given in to a bid which I don't think is acceptable in today's market.

and nasri is a fantastic and phenomenal player who is premier league proven and is near unplayable when played where city want to play him.

balotelli can definitely be controlled. i would not say mancini is the only manager. bit of a far fetched/unfounded statement. the only other manager hes had is jose mourinho whos pretty volatile himself and said a lot of contreversial stuff about mario which would obviously piss him off. its funny people overlook that once mourinho one the treble.. fickle fickle.

[Gary Oak 846]

Manchester United - It all starts from the back

[Aaron 2030]

hmmm in the past 2 seasons how many times has park played CM for 2-3 games in a row???

what i hate about utd is their first XI is already excellent. lots of attacking talent and defensivley they have the best CBs in the league.

but what makes them even more frightening is the ammount of sleeping/dormant talents which could live up to their potential in this season or next season or the season after that. i'm talking about the likes of anderson, cleverely, welbeck etc. perfect example of this was last year with nani and to a lesser extent berbatov took leaps in productivity and kept them safe for the first 1/2 of the season.

utd's other keeps aren't bad either. if de gea turns out to be a dud or short of confidence this season, he'll shine in a latter one and they have lindegard whos very confident and i think still kuzshack.

i think utd can beat barcelona now. they did pretty well in the friendly against them. fergie just keeps getting the tactics wrong vs. them IMO. for me fergies never been tactically one of the best... hes just the best in the world at motivating and making his players hate losing combined with not being afraid to buy big young talents for big money in the market.

[Gary Oak 846]

While Park plays the wing well I just love it when Sir Alex sends him in like a fucking dog with a chip on his shoulder and he just savages 1 player haha.

You are 100% right, so many of their players could explode at any time and De Gea is certainly one of them. But I still can't believe Stekelenburg wasn't the keeper chosen. I mean there has to be an air of supersition and Stek played for the same club as Van der Sar and he also partnered as his number 2 for so many years on international level -- effectively he's been learning from him for years now. Do you think Sir Alex is expected De Gea to play for United for like 15 years like Iker for Madrid?

I think Man U could beat Barcelona and a couple of other teams as well, over 1 game. Do you think United could do them over 2 legs now?

[Aaron 2030]

liverpool lineup is a surprise. raul + kuyt on the bench for adam + henderson. flanno at RB. :S

this shits gonna be exciting. no aquilani is a puzzle.

[»Liquid Snake]

Why is Suarez taking penalties over Adam?

[»Liquid Snake]

Suarez is forgiven.

[Aaron 2030]

flanno has been shit. kelly was immense last season.

i know most of our fans are on a kenny is god hype but kenny got the selection very very very wrong today. aquilani should be atleast on the bench. henderson over kuyt is cos kuyt is immense and one of our 4 goal threats i feel confident in in the whole squad.

oh well fuck it. come on suarez.

[Aaron 2030]

Why is Suarez taking penalties over Adam?

if dirk kuyt was on the pitch...

[»Liquid Snake]

Well that was ridiculous. Always trying to hoof the ball up to Carroll in the air, players like Meireles and Aquilani who can actually play a decent pass along the ground not involved.

[Gary Oak 846]

Well that was ridiculous. Always trying to hoof the ball up to Carroll in the air, players like Meireles and Aquilani who can actually play a decent pass along the ground not involved.

Exactly, utterly ridiculous.

For anyone who didn't watch the game and cannot watch Match of the Day etc, I'm gonna do like mini-coverage so if you see I've done a game, check it out for line-ups, key moments etc.

Liverpool vs. Sunderland coverage.

[stein_dragon 39]

Great result for the toon, can't complain and seems like an amazing game to watch

Qpr got humped tbh, match of th day gonna be good tonight

[Aaron 2030]

i hope gervinho is the new joe cole for arsenal

[Gary Oak 846]

Match coverage: Stoke vs. Chelsea

[Aaron 2030]

boas got the selection wrong yay.

[heaven 488]

Yo gary maybe put this in there aswell

http://www.mysoccerplace.net/video/video/listTagged?tag=MOTD+Highlights

all the highlights

[»Liquid Snake]

I don't see anything wrong with Villas-Boas' selection.

[Gary Oak 846]

I don't see anything wrong with Villas-Boas' selection.

I wouldn't have started Kalou. Playing Stoke you need Drogba and Ivanovic, the latter was injured fair play but Drogba has scored in his last 2 games against them, although Fernando played a very good game, Drogba is just essential for defensive as well as offensive duty against Stoke.

I said it guys, De Gea's confidence is breaking! United can score as many goals as they want, if he keeps on howling this season is going to be amazing for non-United fans lol!

[Faint 5858]

Torres was MOTM, and Drogs clearly wasn't needed for defensive duty given Chelsea didn't concede...lol

[»Liquid Snake]

Torres was MOTM indeed and Ancelotti tried Torres+Drogba on occasion last season and it failed every time, Chelsea are a 4-3-3 team. Until Villas-Boas brings in the new Midfielder and Winger he wants that is the best team he can play except for Luiz or Ivanovic over Alex when they're fit and Drogba over Torres is arguable but Torres played well enough today to justify his selection.

[stein_dragon 39]

New Season same old bullshit

[Aaron 2030]

Kalou starting for me wasn't the right decision. Anelka/Drogba were definitley needed considering Torres has a really bad goal record with chelsea atm. They needed another reliable source of goals and Drogba/Anelka for me are the ones. Thats not to mention as Igor said, Ivano + Drogba are so physically perfect for these kinds of matches. I was pretty speculative of even having Mikel on the pitch past the 60 min mark, no offense to him but he served little use for the last 20 or so minutes when Stoke looked a bit threatening on the break, he was highly ineffective in defending and attacking.

Torres's MOTM was a tad overhyped by the commentators IMO. He was definitley Chelsea's best player but for me, Begovic grabbed it. They just seemed to be creaming over him a little too much for me just because he had a good game. And just because one manager can't make two of the best strikers in the world play together in the same first XI, doesn't mean it can't work. Give Drogba and Torres to Ferguson and I'm pretty sure he'd win a title with them.

I hate this "failed everytime" shit. Against us (liverpool), Drogba/Torres/Anelka was frightening. It didn't quite work because our formation was adapted to their game plan (tactical masterclass from Daglish) but I was honestly scared everytime the ball came into our final third because those three are such massive threats.

De Gea LOL. but once again bailed out by his cuntish team mates.