Barclay's Premier League '15-'16 discussion V6

Paul Lambert appointed Blackburn manager with Alan Irvine as his assistant


@Art Morte

That's Blackburn back in the Premier League, then

Although their Financial Fair Play sanctions may see them have to go through the play-offs instead of automatic promotion:

BBC wrote:Debt of £79.8m
Unable to buy any players
Loan signings and free transfers cannot earn more than around £10,000 per week.

Inb4 relegation to League 1.

In other Non-PL news

"Goalkeeper James Bittner makes first Football League start - 4,991 days after first appearance as a sub"

New Harper

Just gonna leave this here

https://twitter.com/FootbalIFights/status/666007482553225216

Lennons rap beats

Watford v Man United
Watford have looked ready for the Premier League. Three out of their four losses have been against the current top-4 teams (Man City, Arsenal, Leicester). What better way to show everyone that Manchester United don't belong in the top-4 than by Watford beating them in Saturday's early kick-off?

Chelsea v Norwich
After their third straight league defeat before the international break, Chelsea start possibly a defining pre-Christmas run that consists of three easy home games (Bournemouth and Sunderland besides this one) with top-4 six-pointers in between; away to Tottenham and Leicester. This match could mark the revival of Chelsea - but hopefully the Canaries put a stop to such Blue dreams before they even get started.

Everton v Aston Villa
Aston Villa got a goalless draw against Man City in Garde's first game in charge and they have an excellent chance to keep up picking points against this shambolic Everton side.

Newcastle v Leicester
No one would have put this down as a very interesting match before the season had started, but it is exactly that. Can Leicester keep their top-4 form going or are Newcastle going to burst their bubble? Or at least dent it. Can you dent a bubble? Probably not. Burst it is. And can Jamie Vardy equal Van Nistelrooy's record of scoring in 10 consecutive Premier League games?

Southampton v Stoke
Despite Stoke are only 12th, they have conceded only 12 goals in 12 games. Southampton will be hoping for the crowd to be their 12th man to overcome the day's tough opponents, while Stoke are looking to their £12m summer signing Xherdan Shaqiri to finally open his Premier League scoring tally. The Saints' number 12, the robust defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama, will have other ideas about that, though.

Swansea v Bournemouth
It's not going well for either of these teams who have picked just 5 and 4 points from the last eight games. There was some gossip about Monk being close to getting sacked and while that sounds harsh right now... would it sound harsh if Swansea fail to get the three points here?

West Brom v Arsenal
You could have prime Ronaldinho, Messi, Riquelme, Ronaldo, Carroll, Maradona, Pele, Cruijff etc playing on the other team and this West Brom side would still make it look like a forgettable game.

Man City v Liverpool
Man City have been a little bit lucky with the timing of Aguero's and Silva's injuries as they've played against poorer sides recently (Newcastle, Bournemouth, Man United, Norwich, Aston Villa), most of which they've been able to dispose of even though their attack hasn't looked it's usualy self without those two players. Both may or may not return in this game. I bet they will, though. Anyway, could be a good, entertaining game, this.

Tottenham v West Ham
Only one match on Sunday, but at least it's a good London rivalry. Nothing but goal difference between these sides in the table and little reason for either to take a cautious approach. I promise it's going to be a cracking game.

Crystal Palace v Sunderland
*bleep* Monday night games.

Art Morte wrote:Watford v Man United
Watford have looked ready for the Premier League. Three out of their four losses have been against the current top-4 teams (Man City, Arsenal, Leicester). What better way to show everyone that Manchester United don't belong in the top-4 than by Watford beating them in Saturday's early kick-off?


Man City v Liverpool
Man City have been a little bit lucky with the timing of Aguero's and Silva's injuries as they've played against poorer sides recently (Newcastle, Bournemouth, Man United, Norwich, Aston Villa), most of which they've been able to dispose of even though their attack hasn't looked it's usualy self without those two players. Both may or may not return in this game. I bet they will, though. Anyway, could be a good, entertaining game, this.

your lot got rekt by this "poor United team".

Art pls

Watford 1 - 0 Man United, calling it now

B-Mac wrote:

Art Morte wrote:Watford v Man United
Watford have looked ready for the Premier League. Three out of their four losses have been against the current top-4 teams (Man City, Arsenal, Leicester). What better way to show everyone that Manchester United don't belong in the top-4 than by Watford beating them in Saturday's early kick-off?


Man City v Liverpool
Man City have been a little bit lucky with the timing of Aguero's and Silva's injuries as they've played against poorer sides recently (Newcastle, Bournemouth, Man United, Norwich, Aston Villa), most of which they've been able to dispose of even though their attack hasn't looked it's usualy self without those two players. Both may or may not return in this game. I bet they will, though. Anyway, could be a good, entertaining game, this.

your lot got rekt by this "poor United team".

Art pls

He hasn't said we were stunning, has he

iftikhar wrote:

B-Mac wrote:

Art Morte wrote:Watford v Man United
Watford have looked ready for the Premier League. Three out of their four losses have been against the current top-4 teams (Man City, Arsenal, Leicester). What better way to show everyone that Manchester United don't belong in the top-4 than by Watford beating them in Saturday's early kick-off?


Man City v Liverpool
Man City have been a little bit lucky with the timing of Aguero's and Silva's injuries as they've played against poorer sides recently (Newcastle, Bournemouth, Man United, Norwich, Aston Villa), most of which they've been able to dispose of even though their attack hasn't looked it's usualy self without those two players. Both may or may not return in this game. I bet they will, though. Anyway, could be a good, entertaining game, this.

your lot got rekt by this "poor United team".

Art pls

He hasn't said we were stunning, has he

no but his City v Liverpool preview suggests that Liverpool are somehow a superior team listing United in the poor sides City has faced recently and that facing the "mighty Liverpool" now is some superior test for City ....yet United sits 4th and Liverpool 10th

We were stunning.

The French national anthem will be played before every PL kick-off this weekend.

So ridiculous. This ish is way over the top ffs, why stop there, why not include Nigerian, Lebanese, Syrian,etc national anthems too?

Oh that's right, because none of those people's live are deemed as valuable.

Utter joke.

I have nothing against the French, and my annoyance is not towards them, rather this hoopla going on right now. The show of solidarity before the Eng-Fra friendly was more than enough and it was done the right way. This is just overboard now.

Who sanctioned that?

RED wrote:The French national anthem will be played before every PL kick-off this weekend.

So ridiculous. This ish is way over the top ffs, why stop there, why not include Nigerian, Lebanese, Syrian,etc national anthems too?

Oh that's right, because none of those people's live are deemed as valuable.

Utter joke.

I have nothing against the French, and my annoyance is not towards them, rather this hoopla going on right now. The show of solidarity before the Eng-Fra friendly was more than enough and it was done the right way. This is just overboard now.

I thought about posting a similar reaction, but thought it would just get hate, lol.

But yeah, I totally agree. It's going too far now. I don't think anything like this has been done before, no? This is too much and has a tacky feeling of riding the grief & sympathy train just for the 'likes' now.

RealGunner wrote:Who sanctioned that?

The Premier League, I suppose. The chief, Scudamore, commented that it's an act of "solidarity and remembrance".

RED wrote:

why stop there, why not include Nigerian, Lebanese, Syrian,etc national anthems too?

Oh that's right, because none of those people's live are deemed as valuable.

Disclaimer: I have not fact checked this.

http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/stats-shocker-torres-chelsea-record-better-than-diego-costa-4104262

The Mail on Sunday reports Costa's current minutes-per-goal ratio (440) is even worse than Fernando Torres in 2011-12 (317), 2012-13 (321) and 2013-14 (314). Only Torres in 2010-11 (762) saves him from being deemed in entirely worse form than Chelsea's infamous £50m flop.

Torres.

I am sure Liverpool will put a brilliant performance against City, although we might lose in the end because we wont be able to finish our chances

RealGunner wrote:Premier League team of the season: the best XI so far



http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/nov/11/premier-league-team-season-so-far?CMP=share_btn_tw


Replace Van Dijk with Koscielny and Coquelin/Delle Alli with Fernandinho and it's a spot on team

Every year the Southampton change  their defenders.
Every year the Southampton defenders are in top 11.
Even Dejan Lovren.

Agreed on France. Not to sound insensitive but it's getting a bit ridiculous.

Pelle in starting 11

Well this is interesting, Martial and Fellaini are injured, Rooney will miss the Watford game due to illness and Van Gaal says the only remaining striker, Wilson, is not fit to play 90 minutes. Will Depay get a chance to disappoint in the striker's role?

I'm sure they can find some kid with a hyphenated name to fill in.

Some-kid?