Epl 2014/5

[KK77]

Mourinho's lucky he didn't shake Van Gaal's hand early yesterday to head off down the tunnel; he'd have gotten serious football pie on his face. Would he even have dared to try something so disrespectful with his old buddy anyway?

Does he ever dare to do it when his side are only one up?

[ArdeeBhoy]

If only...

[OwlsFan]

Why would Palace want Pardew? Ashley giving him a 5 year contract makes sense now with the compensation he might get.

Irvine sacked by WBA. Strange appointment when you consider his record:

...............................P....W....D....L... ..Win %
Preston North End.....110...45..25...40.... 40.91
Sheffield Wednesday...59...24..13...22.... 40.68

Nice guy but not sure he was of Premiership standard as a manager.

[geysir]

Steven Gerrard: Leaving Liverpool (http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/steven-gerrard-leaving-liverpool-is-the-toughest-decision-i-ever-made-30876981.html)

Say it ain't so, Stevie.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Took long enough. Lot of liabilities in that squad.

[tetsujin1979]

Sky Sports have released their new score centre app for mobiles, but it's slow and loaded with unnecessary ads, so I've written a different version of it and it's running here: http://tetsujin1979.github.io/ngSkySports/
if you're of a coding nature, you can clone the source here: https://github.com/tetsujin1979/ngSkySports

[OwlsFan]

Steven Gerrard: Leaving Liverpool (http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/steven-gerrard-leaving-liverpool-is-the-toughest-decision-i-ever-made-30876981.html)

Say it ain't so, Stevie.

Three pages, yes three pages, devoted to this story in Saturday's Irish Independent. Bizarre.

[KK77]

Three pages, yes three pages, devoted to this story in Saturday's Irish Independent. Bizarre.

Incredible, unreal, crazy. Mad stuff Ted!

[Stuttgart88]

Three pages, yes three pages, devoted to this story in Saturday's Irish Independent. Bizarre.
It speaks volumes for what really matters to the Irish football fan / viewer.

[OwlsFan]

My mistake. It was four and three quarter (the back page had a smidgen of rugby) pages for an English footballer who won one Champions League medal and never won a league medal. I can't remember how much coverage Robbie Keane got when he announced that he was going to the USA other than a lot of abuse, especially from the Indo. Never seen anything like it before.

[KK77]

My mistake. It was four and three quarter (the back page had a smidgen of rugby) pages for an English footballer who won one Champions League medal and never won a league medal. I can't remember how much coverage Robbie Keane got when he announced that he was going to the USA other than a lot of abuse, especially from the Indo. Never seen anything like it before.

Unbelievable Jeff!

[OwlsFan]

Unbelievable Jeff!

More like "Pathetic Jeff".

[KK77]

More like "Pathetic Jeff".

Doesn't have the same ring to it!

[DeLorean]

If only Stevie had met Brendan ten years ago, he'd have many titles to speak about. Sweet Lord.

[OwlsFan]

Re the FA Cup, isn't it amazing what desire, effort and commitment can do. Interesting that on Sunday, the EPL teams upped their performances having seen what can happen when you think the game is won before a ball is kicked (a bit like the Germans and us in Gelsenkirchen).

[DannyInvincible]

How much money is there in the FA Cup? With Chelsea and Manchester City having been knocked out, is it possible the big clubs aren't as interested as they once were?

Nevertheless, I did revel in Bradford's fantastic comeback at Stamford Bridge.

[KK77]

Arry gone. Dodgy knee.

[OwlsFan]

What will Sky do now for a quote on two flies racing up a wall or the womens' netball results now that Arry has gone? So obvious he was on a retainer for Sky - elbow out the window on the beamer and always available for a comment. They even got an "exclusive" on his resignation and an interview the night before on why he hadn't signed anyone.

The myopia of managers still astonishes me. After the Bolton vs Liverpool game Rogers says it was never a penalty and his side hit the post 5 or 6 times (3 to be exact). Lennon castigates the referee who game a debatable peno to his side and sent off a Bolton player for a second yellow which might have even been a straight red. Ok the first yellow might not have been justified but the tackle by his player was just idiotic when on a yellow. That's who he should have blamed not the referee.

Great game but to ease my blood pressure I should really avoid those post match interviewers: Interviewer to Sterling: "Do you think it was a tight game and that the sending off changed the course of the game?". Sterling: "Up to the sending off it was a tight game and the sending off changed the course of the game".

[Crosby87]

A Blind guy just scored for Man U.

[OwlsFan]

You may come back to Hillsboro any time you want, Nigel Pearson. I always think it is really tough for a manager who gets a side promoted to be given the bullet.

[DeLorean]

Apparently they were false reports.

[Closed Account 2]

Leicester are being suffocated tactically in some of their games, they opposition seem to get a stranglehold of possession. Pearson's got to get a grip of the players, there are a few chokers in that squad, he needs to sort them out, get them playing at full throttle

[geysir]

Andy Carroll is out for the rest of the season,
I know some are hurt by that news, not least Andy himself but for some reason it made me smile, probably just the predictable inevitability of it actually happening,

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Yet another in a long line of boneheaded mistakes from Steven Gerrard costing Liverpool in a big game.

If the only way you can show leadership and influence a game is by kicking and stamping on people...

Liverpool have been doing alright without him. I wouldn't rule out a point against this United team.

[The Fly]

Gerrard's heat map -

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAtXTnoUcAEE98H.png

[OwlsFan]

I suppose we hope the likes of Hull, Villa and Sunderland avoid the drop. Not much of current Irish interest in QPR, Burnley and Leicester. As usual far more interesting down there than the race to see who is going to make money in the CL next season.

[DannyInvincible]

Today, we reached peak Phil Jones:

http://giant.gfycat.com/SingleUntriedBudgie.gif

Did that count as two headers (of the ball and ground) in the match stats?

[OwlsFan]

Rogers declares "I've always said if the owners want me to go, then I go," said Rodgers.

I don't think you'd have any choice in those circumstances, Brendan. It was the first time in 52 years that Liverpool had let in six goals in the league which is an amazing stat in itself.

[DeLorean]

There should be a book of Rodgers' quotes.

The Red and White Kop forum have their very own Paul O'Shea (http://www.balls.ie/football/one-liverpool-fan-on-rawk-made-a-stunningly-accurate-season-prediction-back-in-august/294320)



I've said it before and I got pilloried for it, but I'll say it again.

This is going to be a car crash of a season.

Even had we not sold Suarez, I expected us to suffer a severe hangover from last season. I wrote in May that most teams similar to us (teams that punched above their weight and unexpectedly challenged for a league title but ended up failing), generally suffered from a hangover the season after. ****ing hell, I'm nowhere near over not winning it last year. I don't have a clue how we can expect the players to be.

I just don't see, psychologically, how we can "go again". After such highs, can the players go through the mundane few weeks of the season without feeling a major difference? Take the opening game at Anfield vs Southampton. There'll be no welcoming parade. It's back to normality for everyone. Can they accept that without there being an impact?

We have a horrible start to the season, fixtures wise. 2 away trips to City and Spurs is the last thing this team needs so early on. If we have a bad start, I feel there will be a horrible sense of deflation within the fanbase and the squad- from the captain and everyone else. I feel they'll start feeling sorry for themselves over what happened in May, over losing Suarez and it will take a lot of time for us to recover.

Losing Suarez is an absolute nightmare for us. I strongly feel it will have hurt every single one of those players in the squad. A minority on here try to downplay Suarez's importance to us, but I'm sure the players know just how much he brought to the team. You do not lose a player like that and move forwards or sideways (unless you're a team that is used to winning trophies on a yearly basis). Suarez's contribution was not just about goals and assists: it was about fight, sacrifice, dedication and leadership.

I mean, look at this Coutinho interview:

Coutinho was asked what he felt when he was excluded from the Brazil World Cup squad: “Anger. Not because I’m selfish, but because I could have offered something.

I’m going to use this anger and push myself to my limits. I saw how Luisito (Suárez) was a maniac in training. At this point, my body and mind feel like clay. I will mold it the way I envision, and I will use my fire to make them harder.”

It's simple psychology. How much did a thumbs up from Luis push Raheem Sterling on? How much was Suarez's acceptance important for someone like Jordan Henderson? How much did Suarez's name on the team-sheet petrify opposing defenses, before a ball was even kicked?

Add that to a host of new players we need to bed in, Champions League football for the first time in 5 years (And the first time in Rodgers' career), and a horrific pre season where we lost key players to injuries, failed to bed in our 3 most expensive signings and missed out on our seemingly only 2 attacking replacements for Suarez (For different reasons), and it doesn't look good at all for us.

Not convinced by our signings at all too. Lovren has had 5 good months in the last 3 seasons (he was basically chased out of Lyon and was poor in the 2nd half of last season). Lambert is passable as a 3rd striker, but is nowhere near suitable for our style of play. We're a Sturridge nigggle away from having him lead the line at the Etihad and White Hart Lane, which would be horrific. Markovic and Can are exciting talents, but we surely can't expect too much from them in their first season at such young ages. Lallana will have missed all of pre season, have had no friendly games to adapt to the team and will be thrust in with a big price tag on his head. Far from ideal.

This term, we'll have the season we all expected us to have last year. We'll challenge for 4th but end up missing out. I'm fine with that, but I suspect the narrative will be that it was a failure and the fact is, that would mean that we went backwards. A bad start, and there will be a huge cloud around Anfield that won't be lifted for a while.

I predict 6th. No doubt that many will call me a moaning and negative ******* but that's what I expect. Hopefully we'll get a cup run to set the pulses racing, but I foresee a season of transition for us.

[KK77]

Rogers declares "I've always said if the owners want me to go, then I go," said Rodgers.

I don't think you'd have any choice in those circumstances, Brendan. It was the first time in 52 years that Liverpool had let in six goals in the league which is an amazing stat in itself.

I'll take a punt and say he knows that!

[DeLorean]

But is he 150% sure (http://www.thisisanfield.com/2015/05/brendan-rodgers-150-sure-hell-keep-liverpool-job/)?

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Scroll..

http://www1.skysports.com/transfer-centre/

Anyone hazard a guess as to why Ryan Taylor & Jonas Gutierrez are wearing Northern Ireland track tops?

[Hitman]

Scroll..

http://www1.skysports.com/transfer-centre/

Anyone hazard a guess as to why Ryan Taylor & Jonas Gutierrez are wearing Northern Ireland track tops?

"...Taylor, who is undertaking his coaching badges with Gutierrez in Northern Ireland, told Sky Sports News HQ..."

http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/gutierrez-and-taylor-upset-over-newcastle-actions-4079904#.VWzklkaRZlk

[OwlsFan]

On the showing of £32.5 million worth Benteke in the FA Cup Final, my granny must be worth at least £20 million.

[KK77]

James Milner signs on at Anfield. A welcome addition.

[OwlsFan]

Watford manager gone. Making too high wage demands apparently. Fifth manager in a year and still successful.