Do you think...
- Thread starter Janie
- Start date
Ky
Stupid is as stupid does
Contrast West Ham and Wigan with Sunderland. Sunderland are going down, no doubt and they are doing so because you cannot stay in the Premiership by spending no money. West Ham brought in Benayoun (what a player he is turning out to be), Danny Gabbidon, Roy Carroll (whose had a good season so far, suprisingly to me) and Konchesky, who should be in the England squad over playing Carragher as a left back as, well, he's left footed for a start.
Wigan have brought in players too. Sunderland have brought in nobody, showing a complete lack of ambition; Mick McCarthy isn't Premiership quality as a Manager in my opinion.
Liverpool are doing shockingly; Rafa Benitez has bought crap IMO - maybe players that are suited to European football but lack the fight, tenacity and guts in the Premiership and right now, I don't see them finishing anywhere near a CL spot.
Man United have a team with bags of talent but they really lack cohesion and understanding at the moment. I don't think Rooney and Van Nilsterooy work that well together and Ronaldo, whilst not roasting French birds, is lacking in most games at the moment. They also have central midfield issues. Scholes is playing like an absolute muppet and without Roy Keane a la 5 years ago, they lack bite and ball winning power.
Spurs are suprisingly good this season. They seem to have a decent manager and have bought well - lots of young English players throughout the team who have the desire and tenacity to want to win matches. King, Carrick and Defoe have been outstanding this season.
Arsenal have sucked so far - without Henry they are toothless in attack and have NO PLAN B! Not much width and if the passing game doesn't work, they just can't break teams down. Lots of work for Wenger to do in the January transfer window IMO.
However, no one is going to catch Chelsea. They have a World Class XI backed up with another World Class XI. Money talks I'm afraid.
Wigan have brought in players too. Sunderland have brought in nobody, showing a complete lack of ambition; Mick McCarthy isn't Premiership quality as a Manager in my opinion.
Liverpool are doing shockingly; Rafa Benitez has bought crap IMO - maybe players that are suited to European football but lack the fight, tenacity and guts in the Premiership and right now, I don't see them finishing anywhere near a CL spot.
Man United have a team with bags of talent but they really lack cohesion and understanding at the moment. I don't think Rooney and Van Nilsterooy work that well together and Ronaldo, whilst not roasting French birds, is lacking in most games at the moment. They also have central midfield issues. Scholes is playing like an absolute muppet and without Roy Keane a la 5 years ago, they lack bite and ball winning power.
Spurs are suprisingly good this season. They seem to have a decent manager and have bought well - lots of young English players throughout the team who have the desire and tenacity to want to win matches. King, Carrick and Defoe have been outstanding this season.
Arsenal have sucked so far - without Henry they are toothless in attack and have NO PLAN B! Not much width and if the passing game doesn't work, they just can't break teams down. Lots of work for Wenger to do in the January transfer window IMO.
However, no one is going to catch Chelsea. They have a World Class XI backed up with another World Class XI. Money talks I'm afraid.
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these days 
Treebeard
Ranger of the North
Haven't seen to many games that didn't involve Arsenal this season so can't comment on a lot of the other teams but I would say that the table will have a very familiar look to it at the end of the season.
Its not unusual for teams to come up and have a good period at the start of a season but one or two bad results for West Ham and Wigan and the confidence and excitement of playing in the Prem fades and the struggle starts. Over the 38 games is when it counts and most of these teams don't have the staying power although it would be nice to be proven wrong.
As for the G00ners. Not many teams have a plan B either. Chelsea didn't yesterday, neither did Man Yoo the day before. Liverpool don't even seem to have a Plan A at the moment. Our problem is nothing to do with plans, our game is to pass around people and score, that's how we play. We just don't have the clout to compete with Chelsea. Before Ambramovich, although Man Yoo always spent money, we could still compete because imo, we had a better manager who can spot untapped talent at a 1000 yards. Now its silly money where one team can buy who they like, and if they can't, they can make it so that no one else buys the player either.
We've had a couple of bad games, but the 3 we have lost this season were to a goal of blind luck to Chelsea in a very even game, a game against West Brom where we had twice as many shots on target as they had shots in the whole game, and against Middlesbrough where both of their goals were shockingly fortunate and we had twice the number of chances again. If anything we don't need a Plan B to create more chances, we need finishing practise.
We are not very far away from where we have been the last 10 seasons or so. A top CB to play alongside the phenominal Toure when Campbell is out, and an experienced play maker in midfield.
Injury list recently hasn't helped matters either:
Henry
Hleb
Freddie
Campbell (again)
Reyes
Cole
Gilberto (on and off)
Its not unusual for teams to come up and have a good period at the start of a season but one or two bad results for West Ham and Wigan and the confidence and excitement of playing in the Prem fades and the struggle starts. Over the 38 games is when it counts and most of these teams don't have the staying power although it would be nice to be proven wrong.
As for the G00ners. Not many teams have a plan B either. Chelsea didn't yesterday, neither did Man Yoo the day before. Liverpool don't even seem to have a Plan A at the moment. Our problem is nothing to do with plans, our game is to pass around people and score, that's how we play. We just don't have the clout to compete with Chelsea. Before Ambramovich, although Man Yoo always spent money, we could still compete because imo, we had a better manager who can spot untapped talent at a 1000 yards. Now its silly money where one team can buy who they like, and if they can't, they can make it so that no one else buys the player either.
We've had a couple of bad games, but the 3 we have lost this season were to a goal of blind luck to Chelsea in a very even game, a game against West Brom where we had twice as many shots on target as they had shots in the whole game, and against Middlesbrough where both of their goals were shockingly fortunate and we had twice the number of chances again. If anything we don't need a Plan B to create more chances, we need finishing practise.
We are not very far away from where we have been the last 10 seasons or so. A top CB to play alongside the phenominal Toure when Campbell is out, and an experienced play maker in midfield.
Injury list recently hasn't helped matters either:
Henry
Hleb
Freddie
Campbell (again)
Reyes
Cole
Gilberto (on and off)
Vightan
Chelski Scum
imo both Arsenal and Man Utd are going through a transitional period.
Man Utd "you'll never win anything with kids" side are all getting old (damn they're same age as me) and Fergie hasn't imo bought good enough replacements. They still have some class but the weak areas are too weak for a club like that.
Same goes for gooners, 2 kids under 20 can't replace Viera. They still play pretty football though. Just predictable and not as effective as before.
Man Utd "you'll never win anything with kids" side are all getting old (damn they're same age as me) and Fergie hasn't imo bought good enough replacements. They still have some class but the weak areas are too weak for a club like that.
Same goes for gooners, 2 kids under 20 can't replace Viera. They still play pretty football though. Just predictable and not as effective as before.
Treebeard
Ranger of the North
Losing Vieira didn't make us less effective in the way we play, it did effect our strength and drive though. I can remember some wonderful Vieira passes through the opposition defense but for everyone 1 great one, 20 went astray.
Vigh has it right to say that we are going through a period of change where the French influence on the field is becoming less and we are blooding a lot of new youngsters.
I can't agree with the thing about teams sussing us out. Its taken them 10 years? We've created 150 chances in about a dozen games. Thats a good 12 on average per game. That in itself dosen't say a lot but way over half of them have been on target and a few games the goalkeeper was MOM.
We definately have issues that need sorting, mainly finishing and confidence in front of goal (Reyes hasn't scored this season and has had about a 3rd of all of our chances!!). Wenger needs to buy in January though you're right there. A world class CB is priority.
Vigh has it right to say that we are going through a period of change where the French influence on the field is becoming less and we are blooding a lot of new youngsters.
I can't agree with the thing about teams sussing us out. Its taken them 10 years? We've created 150 chances in about a dozen games. Thats a good 12 on average per game. That in itself dosen't say a lot but way over half of them have been on target and a few games the goalkeeper was MOM.
We definately have issues that need sorting, mainly finishing and confidence in front of goal (Reyes hasn't scored this season and has had about a 3rd of all of our chances!!). Wenger needs to buy in January though you're right there. A world class CB is priority.
Vightan
Chelski Scum
With regards to Viera i was refering to his influence on the pitch more than what he actually did. As an opponent it would be a relief to know your not playing against him. He did alot of what Makalelelelelelele does for chelsea but kicked harder, not flash just effective, and was a leader in the Keane mold (so thats why they got on so well).
I think Hleb has been a great purchase for you Tree, natural for the English game, just a shame hes picked up a knock now.
I think Hleb has been a great purchase for you Tree, natural for the English game, just a shame hes picked up a knock now.
