EPL Season 2016/7

[geysir]

I see the FA are taking no chances of a premature glamour club clash and have implemented a Blatter type draw, giving all the epl clubs weaker league division opponents in the 5th round draw.
To listen to all the hyperbole about the FA cup losing its prestige, you'd think the world of football revolved around epl stalwarts such as Liverpool, Everton, Stoke and WBA. Maybe one day the penny will drop that there are football fans supporting their clubs the length and breadth of England in places like Lincoln, that in all probability have more right to call themselves football supporters than those hordes of whiners and moaners who attach themselves to the branded moneyed clubs.
Apart from the spectacle of the cup final itself, the main attraction of the FA cup is that the smaller clubs have their day out, just as Shamrock Rovers fans traveled in numbers to Turin, or to White Hart Lane to play Juve and Spurs as equals (of sorts).

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

James Morrison's goal for West Brom is, I believe, the 28th goal scored by a Scot in the Premier League this season compared to 12 goals scored by Irish players.

That is really quite remarkable considering there are probably, roughly, the same amount of players from each country playing on a weekly basis and IRL have more strikers (Walters, Long).

At least one of Morrison, McArthur, Snodgrass or Phillips seem to score each week.

[DeLorean]

This is even better now...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpaXl7kQmAw

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

How is he on television with his stupidity and xenophobia?

He can barely throw a coherent sentence together.

Listen to him.

People would rather manage Watford, Sunderland and Hull than Bayern Munich, PSG and Juventus.

:rolleyes:

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Here's a better question for them.

Where are the opportunities for black managers in Great Britain?

*crickets*

[DeLorean]

People would rather manage Watford, Sunderland and Hull than Bayern Munich, PSG and Juventus.

You could pick gaping holes in nearly everything they said. F365 (http://www.football365.com/news/mediawatch-special-merson-thompson-and-marco-silva) covered it pretty well.

[OwlsFan]

The question is does anyone really take the pundits seriously ? The screams when the ball goes near the goal! Could you imagine them at home watching the same game. They're probably asleep in front of the TV or in the kitchen having a cup of team or G and T if it's Charlie Nicholas. We are supposed to take Chris Kamara seriously on Sunday hosting "Goals on Sunday" when he is a comic strip reporter at the live games and appears in advertisements dressed up as a woman etc (not that I am knocking dressing up as a woman you understand). It's a show like Eamon Dunphy is. Not worth commenting on really but the F365 response is excellent.

[geysir]

Mark Clattenburg's gone to Saudi. I don't think he's ever reffed an Ireland competitive game. Are English ref's excluded from games involving Ireland because they might have a bias?

I have only been at one game where he was the ref. He officiated the recent Iceland home game against Turkey and he effortlessly orchestrated the whole game from the middle, keeping up a frequent dialogue with players, stopped all the (one sided) diving shenanigans stone dead. He looked like he enjoyed the whole task without trying to be all pally.

If I was going to live in Saudi I'd consider buying a Harley.

[tetsujin1979]

Dermot Gallagher was the referee for the friendly against Russia before World cup 2002, but it was allowed because he was stepping down from full internationals soon after

[DeLorean]

I like Clattenburg's style of refereeing too but he makes a lot of howlers I think.

[BonnieShels]

Dermot Gallagher was the referee for the friendly against Russia before World cup 2002, but it was allowed because he was stepping down from full internationals soon after

Him being English would have been no issue... but as an Ireland supporting Irish immigrant child he probably shouldn't have reffed it.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Him being English would have been no issue... but as an Ireland supporting Irish immigrant child he probably shouldn't have reffed it.

He's from Ringsend, isn't he?

Mad that he was allowed ref it.

[tetsujin1979]

yeah. he's from Ringsend. Discussed it recently on newstalk: http://www.newstalk.com/dermot-gallagher-referee-interview

[OwlsFan]

yeah. he's from Ringsend. Discussed it recently on newstalk: http://www.newstalk.com/dermot-gallagher-referee-interview

I saw him sitting behind me at one of the Euro games in France, the Italian one I think, bedecked in an Irish jersey so yes, strange to see him refereeing an Irish game.

[OwlsFan]

Here it is:2524

[geysir]

Dermot Gallagher was the referee for the friendly against Russia before World cup 2002, but it was allowed because he was stepping down from full internationals soon after
Maybe the rules for friendlies are a bit more relaxed that for the competitive internationals.

[OwlsFan]

Maybe the rules for friendlies are a bit more relaxed that for the competitive internationals.

Back in the day I have the haziest memory of John Carpenter refereeing an Irish international but I may be wrong.

[BonnieShels]

He's from Ringsend, isn't he?

Mad that he was allowed ref it.


yeah. he's from Ringsend. Discussed it recently on newstalk: http://www.newstalk.com/dermot-gallagher-referee-interview

I didn't get to listen to that on OTB. I was listening to that night's show though but missed the interview. I vaguely remember them saying he moved. But I assumed for years he was a 1st gen child. My mistake.

Ringsend so... Rovers or Shels...?

[BonnieShels]

Back in the day I have the haziest memory of John Carpenter refereeing an Irish international but I may be wrong.

Bit of a nightmare of a memory...

[OwlsFan]

Bit of a nightmare of a memory...

John's ok as he awarded that penalty to Shamrock Rovers in the 1978 FAI Cup Final - those in the red western part of the country still feel aggrieved about it although I am not sure this video enlightens us much

C4VFjNufaJw

[geysir]

Never a peno, not in a million years, he slipped on the mud.

Looks like that was a televised game from 1878.

[OwlsFan]

Never a peno, not in a million years, he slipped on the mud.

Looks like that was a televised game from 1878.

Handball ?

[tetsujin1979]

I was wondering who really can do it on a Tuesday night in Stoke? So I checked out the numbers - http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=1561528113939187465

[OwlsFan]

I was wondering who really can do it on a Tuesday night in Stoke? So I checked out the numbers - http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=1561528113939187465

I'd say you'd probably see the same record for Sunderland for most away games anywhere on any day of the week !

[osarusan]

Bye bye Ranieri.

I can understand the decision, but I think he'd earned the right to fight relegation himself.

Above all, he should have been allowed to quit rather than being sacked (though he may have been offered the choice).

[OwlsFan]

From a Leicester fans' point of view, I suspect that if you offered them a League title and relegation to the Championship, they would bite your hand off compared to a few seasons of Sunderland-like existence in the Premier League. He deserved loyalty after one the biggest sports achievements of the century which every Leicester City supporter will bring with them to their grave. His team is outside the bottom three, which is all a Leicester team should really expect, and in the knock-out phases of the Champions League, which they shouldn't expect. I don't understand the decision which is a disgrace and shows football up as the rotten cesspit that it is and that the only important thing is money.

[bennocelt]

Here it is:http://foot.ie/attachment.php?attachmentid=2524&stc=1

Howd you take that photo, hole in the newspaper?:p Jesus.......

[Lionel Ritchie]

From a Leicester fans' point of view, I suspect that if you offered them a League title and relegation to the Championship, they would bite your hand off compared to a few seasons of Sunderland-like existence in the Premier League. He deserved loyalty after one the biggest sports achievements of the century which every Leicester City supporter will bring with them to their grave. His team is outside the bottom three, which is all a Leicester team should really expect, and in the knock-out phases of the Champions League, which they shouldn't expect. I don't understand the decision which is a disgrace and shows football up as the rotten cesspit that it is and that the only important thing is money.

Exactly OwlsFan. BBC5 had Kasper Schmeichel on yesterday supposedly to quash talk that the players threw him under a bus. He did everything but. Never directly said anyone approached the owners but described scenarios in which the message could be conveyed. Without any hint of disdain or dissatisfaction he described how the owners are very, and I quote him here, "hands on" and are frequently in direct contact with the playing staff. They come down the training ground etc and sound people out individually on all manner of things according to KS. He never alluded at any point -nor in fairness did anyone put it to him, that there might be something inappropriate about that. Now maybe it's just me and maybe I'm in a shrinking minority but I happen to feel one of the things that's ruining football is the emergence of the "hands on" owner who thinks he's the best pal of the clubs big egos and thinks his decisive business acumen trumps his managers coaching badges.
Maybe, as a Leeds supporter, I'm hypersensetive to this sort of thing but it struck me it's not a million miles from what KS was describing to Cellino carry-on of phoning your "head coach" in-game to instruct him as to what would remedy your disattisfaction.

[OwlsFan]

Maybe, as a Leeds supporter, I'm hypersensetive to this sort of thing but it struck me it's not a million miles from what KS was describing to Cellino carry-on of phoning your "head coach" in-game to instruct him as to what would remedy your disattisfaction.

Pretty poor game on Saturday at Elland Road but I suppose you're not complaining. 1-1 might have been a fairer result but with 2 shots on target the whole game, one resulting in a goal and the other a penalty save, not compulsive viewing for the neutral I suspect.

When I compared that to the great performance by Southampton in the League Cup Final, it showed how far behind the Championship teams are. Genuinely (as Miriam O'Callaghan says) felt sorry for the Soton fans. Unlucky to have their first goal chalked off due to an incorrect offside call and pretty much dominated the game with some lovely football but this often happens in football. The team with the better players (e.g. Georgia vs Ireland comes to mind) are sometimes dominated by the better team but the individual ability of some players can overcome that. No doubt that Soton were the better team but Man U had the match winners in their ranks. Will it be another 40 year wait for the Soton fans? Really felt for them.

[DeLorean]

Yeah, they were kind of unlucky in their F.A. Cup Final appearance a few years back against Arsenal too I think. Well, I remember James Beattie having a header cleared off the line near the end anyway and not much else.

In terms of the gap between the PL and the Championship, obviously Southampton would be a level above as a solid top half PL team, but the promoted clubs tend to hold their own generally as well?

[NeverFeltBetter]

What's Leicester's net spend this season? And what kind of wage bill do they have now? Whatever it is, it's enough that 17th isn't really acceptable, so I understand why the trigger was pulled.

In regards the League Cup Final, definite case of more experienced heads - De Gea, Ibrahimovic, Valencia - making the difference when Southampton generally had the better of play. Saints keeping/defending for all three goals was shocking too, and they were the first they conceded in the EFL Cup apparently? Could yet turn out to be a very good year for Manchester United, if they continue on in the cups and get over the hump of the CPL places in the league. They need Mkhitarian to be fit though, huge difference when he's in the team.

[jbyrne]

What's Leicester's net spend this season? And what kind of wage bill do they have now? Whatever it is, it's enough that 17th isn't really acceptable, so I understand why the trigger was pulled.


how many times did MOTD and Sky highlight the lack of closing down and effort by the Leicester players? do they not watch these things themselves??
I would love to see players getting the sack rather than just the manager as is so often the case

[OwlsFan]

What's Leicester's net spend this season? And what kind of wage bill do they have now? Whatever it is, it's enough that 17th isn't really acceptable, so I understand why the trigger was pulled.

When Ranieri took them over, they were a team which had just avoided relegation. He leaves them as League title winners, outside the relegation zone (when he left) and in the knock out stages of the CL. I don't know about their net spend, but I know that their midfield general N'Golo Kanté was sold to Chelsea which is a huge loss. Disgraceful decision to sack.

[DeLorean]

What's Leicester's net spend this season?

A harmless enough £21.46m according to this. (http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/transfer-news/premier-league-net-spend-how-8746169)

[bennocelt]

The sacking of Ranieri is one of the worst things i have even seen in football for a long long time. FFs Arsenal haven't won the league in what, ten years, and as for Liverpool.....They have just reverted to normality this season

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

It's absurd the amount of credit I have seen Nigel Pearson get for Leicester winning the league.

They wouldn't have come within an arse's roar of qualifying for the Europa League let alone win the PL under him.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Pretty poor game on Saturday at Elland Road but I suppose you're not complaining. 1-1 might have been a fairer result but with 2 shots on target the whole game, one resulting in a goal and the other a penalty save, not compulsive viewing for the neutral I suspect.

When I compared that to the great performance by Southampton in the League Cup Final, it showed how far behind the Championship teams are. Genuinely (as Miriam O'Callaghan says) felt sorry for the Soton fans. Unlucky to have their first goal chalked off due to an incorrect offside call and pretty much dominated the game with some lovely football but this often happens in football.

Not complaining but neither am I under any illusions. Neither team are in the form that's taken them to where they currently stand. The defending was shocking for the goal, the lead up to the penalty and the subsequent corner.

I similarly empathised with the Saints. A trophy that would've meant something real and tangible to them is just something for Mourinho to point to when his detractors come calling.

[CraftyToePoke]

Hang on, hang on, did not all bar one (Kante) of Leicesters star guys turn down moves to sides they would never have expected to be interested in them in their careers, to stay and play for Ranieri and Leicester not even six months ago ? They,(and in doing so bucked a trend which I feel is destroying modern football) showed remarkable loyalty. Everyone expected Schmeichel, Drinkwater, Mahrez, Vardy and more to go.

Are none of you willing to even consider that from that starting point, to his sacking last week, that Ranieri must have really and repeatedly fupped up, to kill that ? Because he did. And it started with how he was sending them out to play, and setting them up to play, and demanding they change to conservative negative containing football, the opposite of the strength of that group (considerable strength too, strong enough to win a league) And it was downhill from there.

It wasn't just that either, have any of you read how the backroom staff were changed in the off season, one a sports psychologist Ken Way was badly treated. He had been very well regarded by the players, he had earned their trust, and it was known he was getting sacked before he himself was told. It was a Ranieri decision, as were plenty more which sapped the good will from the most beautiful story in sport in my lifetime.

Whatever he achieved last season, he was going to get them relegated this, and he has no one to blame but himself because his actions and decisions made a pigs ear of a title win. It was the correct decision. Its to my mind, lazy uninformed cliched thinking to just blame the dressing room for this and it doesn't stand up to even mild scrutiny.

[CraftyToePoke]

A piece from a blog on a Leicester board tonight, which is absolutely on the money regarding the fabricated mock outrage & nonsense around this.

Do they love Claudio - yes, always and forever.
Do they want a statue of him outside the ground, - yes please.
Do those who actually regularly watch this side play (me included, been watching them as a neutral since 2002 now) feel he had to go - yes, sadly but absolutely, yes. He fu*ked it.




If you missed the online bookmakers’ stunt involving a hearse and a flower arrangement that read “RIP football” at the King Power Stadium on Monday night then you were not alone – were the gambling commission also to regulate lame ideas, it would have earned an immediate charge.

Best not to go through the excruciating detail, other than to say that it was supposed to signify what Claudio Ranieri’s sacking meant for the soul of the game because when people look for answers to the big questions of the age, obviously online bookmakers tend to be the first port of call. The response was so underwhelming even the bookies in question, a publicity-ravenous operation, quietly dropped the whole thing.

Not for the first time the mood of football fans was called wrong, and the true answers were to be found by watching the reaction of the Leicester City fans who attended the King Power. There was no mass outpouring of rage at Ranieri’s sacking, rather it was heartfelt thanks for what had been achieved, expressed most notably in the 65th minute when the mobile phone lights were turned on and his song was sung.

There was a march to celebrate Ranieri’s achievements, the occasional homemade A3 message and someone reworked their bedsheet banner to read “Dilly ding dilly wrong” but no-one called for the removal of the owners, the Srivaddhanaprabha family, or proclaimed the end of football as we know it. One week on from the sacking of the manager who steered Leicester to the title and the outrage has largely come from outside the club.

It has come from those who believe that Leicester’s Thai owners should be so eternally grateful for the 2015-16 season that their manager should have stayed indefinitely. Leicester were patronised to death in winning the title and now again in losing it.
Over and again, we have been told that Ranieri “deserved the chance” to stay at Leicester although four of the five managers who won the six previous Premier League titles have also been sacked or replaced.

It is an interesting question. How low does a title-winning manager deserve to take a team in the following seasons before that nebulous quota of goodwill is extinguished and someone is compelled to say, “Sorry Claudio mate, but we’re out of contention for the Vanarama play-offs, I think it is time to make a change”?

On BBC Five Live’s 606 show, Robbie Savage told a Leicester fan who called in to support the owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, that as a player he would have accepted “eight or nine years” in the Championship and “the odd season” in the Premier League in return for that one title.

Funnily enough, if you go back 20 years, including 1996-97, that is roughly what Leicester have done – 10 in the Premier League, 10 in the Championship and one in League One in 2008-09. Even so it goes without saying: exactly from whom is this trade-off available? Because you would be pretty sure that Ipswich Town, among others, would be eager to sign up.

It also begs another question, why should Leicester not have ambition? It is the case that having had their season in the sun they simply must go away and bother no one again, or accept a Blackburn Rovers-style decline.

Leicester never expected to be champions but having done so they are entitled to protect their status even if it means sacking a decent, likeable man.

The notion that Leicester are a nonentity who should simply be grateful is somewhat undermined by their place in the trophy roll call of recent years. If one goes back to 1997, taking into account the three domestic trophies won in that year, and every year since then, the picture is quite striking.

From the 1996-97 season Manchester United have won the most with a combined total of 17 Premier League titles, FA Cups and League Cups. Next come Chelsea (14); Arsenal (9); Manchester City and Liverpool (5) and, in sixth place, are Leicester with three.

Historically they are ahead of clubs such as Tottenham, on two trophies since 1996-97, and Swansea City, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Birmingham City, Portsmouth and Wigan Athletic, all on one.

It should be said, as politely as possible, that the likes of Everton, West Ham, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion – we could go on here – have won none at all in those 21 years.

There is no Leicester fans’ song for Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the joke being that they keep running out of syllables, but perhaps there should be. It is he who spent around £120 million on the club. He also pledged £2 million towards building a new children’s hospital in the city. He gave £100,000 to the fund to rebury Richard III and £23,000 to a fan who was raising money for research into his son’s rare genetic disorder.

For a billionaire who commutes in a helicopter perhaps it is not such big a deal but it has been remembered, which is why the notion of hounding him out is considered utterly ludicrous. It does not mean he will get it right every time, but he has got it right enough times.

The League Managers’ Association chief executive Richard Bevan said that Vichai’s decision to sack Ranieri had “undermined the profession”, so it will be interesting to hear from all those managers who refuse to work for Leicester on a point of principle. As things stand, Roy Hodgson looks a good bet and he was de facto LMA president for the four years he was England manager.

It is notable that Leicester’s most famous fan, Gary Lineker, described the decision more in terms of the sadness it evoked rather than a sense of injustice. He did say though that Leicester should be building statues fir Ranieri rather than sacking him and of course, the generous Thai owners may yet do that.

In the meantime there are two crowdfunded appeals for Ranieri statues that have been launched by separate groups of Leicester fans, one which quotes its project at £100,000 and the other at a cut-price £10,000.

By lunchtime on Wednesday they had raised £90 and £817 respectively which suggests there are other issues rather more pertinent to Leicester fans than big bronze statements to reassure the rest of the football world they care about Ranieri’s feelings.

[DeLorean]

It's absurd the amount of credit I have seen Nigel Pearson get for Leicester winning the league.

They wouldn't have come within an arse's roar of qualifying for the Europa League let alone win the PL under him.

Can't say I've noticed it to any major degree. He deserves a lot credit for getting them promoted to the Premier League and keeping them there with a brilliant run at the end of the 2014/15 season, which can ultimately be looked back upon as the turn in form that eventually led them to the title.

I'm not sure what tributes you're referencing though so it's hard to know if it's been overblown or not, but he picked up 22 points from a possible 27 in his last nine games there which is Championship winning form in itself, granted over a less relevant time frame.

The likes of Morgan, Simpson, Albrighton, Drinkwater, Vardy, Mahrez and Ulloa were all his signings as well so I think he's obviously an important cog in what eventually happened. I agree that it's highly unlikely they would have won the league under him, but then it was highly unlikely that they would have won it under anybody. I think it's more than fair to say that he set the wheels in motion.

[DeLorean]

Interesting posts Crafty. I don't necessarily agree or disagree with the sacking, just think that it's sad the way it's panned out, regardless of who's to blame. I remember thinking it was a disgrace when Southampton sacked Nigel Adkins but in stepped Pochettino and they haven't looked back since. Basically I think sitting on the fence is a good place to be with these kind of developments. Clubs and owners will live and die by their actions and if Ranieri's sacking triggers an upturn in Leicester's form and keeps them out of the Championship (where I think they were heading to be honest) then I'll be convinced it was the correct decision. Loyalty only gets you so far and the club has to be put first.

[CraftyToePoke]

Interesting posts Crafty. I don't necessarily agree or disagree with the sacking, just think that it's sad the way it's panned out

I would agree, and that's the overriding sentiment. There is a difference between wanting someone out and regrettably seeing the need to reluctantly change it or play Burton etc instead of Liverpool & co next season.

[CraftyToePoke]

It's absurd the amount of credit I have seen Nigel Pearson get for Leicester winning the league.

They wouldn't have come within an arse's roar of qualifying for the Europa League let alone win the PL under him.

I don't think you can say that, not to a certainty. It was such anomaly, it's wrong to apply 'what would have happened' to it. And neither have I seen this surge of credit to NP of which you speak, there had been nothing but recognition of CRs remarkable achievement season in my opinion.

What one can say though, and with some degree of confidence is that CRs needless dismantling of the workings and nuts and bolts of the NP regime have coincided directly with this collapse. The side had come from L1 remember, constant season upon season improvement and two promotions. The aspects I particularly refer to are the sports science (in which Leicester were tremendously resourced and forward thinking, a model for others in fact) including the fore mentioned sacking of Ken Way. Recruitment, several dud signings who never impacted first team from CR. Set up, way of playing, completely changed and for what ? Not better results certainly. So there is some residual credit due to NP based on the evidence coughed up by this seasons results as his vision was fully replaced.

On Monday, Craig Shakespeare - a survivor of the NP times - set them up like they used to be set up, like they were signed to play, to their qualities as players and they duly dismantled Liverpool, coincidence or more evidence ? We shall see, it could have been a dead cat bounce result but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it weren't. Interesting to watch what happens next though, definitely.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Spectacular bottle job from Kevin Friend in Man Utd/Bournemouth game. Mings stamps on Ibrahimovic's head, the Swede nails him with an elbow seconds later. Not even a yellow card for either, and he sends some other Bournemouth player off for dissent?

Edit: he actually gave Ibrahimovic a little shove for a second yellow. Bizarre.

[CraftyToePoke]

Claudio Ranierwho ? :)

[DeLorean]

Spectacular bottle job from Kevin Friend in Man Utd/Bournemouth game. Mings stamps on Ibrahimovic's head, the Swede nails him with an elbow seconds later. Not even a yellow card for either, and he sends some other Bournemouth player off for dissent?

Edit: he actually gave Ibrahimovic a little shove for a second yellow. Bizarre.

The only decision I thought he actually bottled was not giving Arter a second yellow having already sent off a Bournemouth player. He would have been doing well to spot Mings stamp and even better to determine it was deliberate from one viewing. The Ibrahimovic one was probably a bit more clear but again hard to gauge the intent on one viewing, especially when he didn't know Zlatan was seeking retribution. Surman can consider himself unlucky alright but stupid to get involved when he was on a yellow.

[OwlsFan]

The interview by Ibrahimovic afterwards was a joke for the barefaced lies. Firstly he claims he didn't know who trod on him and yet you can see him looking up after the stamp and then the ridiculous comment about Ming heading his elbow. I think there was intent in the stamp for retribution for the stamp by Ibrahimovic in the same incident.

[OwlsFan]

Claudio Ranierwho ? :)

The guy who won the league for the first time in their history and lead them to the play off rounds of the Champions League and outside the relegation zone of the EPL when he was sacked.

[DeLorean]

The interview by Ibrahimovic afterwards was a joke for the barefaced lies.

Well he was hardly going to tell the truth. :)

[CraftyToePoke]

The guy who won the league for the first time in their history and lead them to the play off rounds of the Champions League and outside the relegation zone of the EPL when he was sacked.

Who would have followed all that with a relegation. Because as I detailed above, soon as he got his tinkering hands and a bit of time on the title winning set up he inherited, he promptly delivered a nosediving tailspin through needless at best and egotistical at worst changes.

Did LCFC owe Ranieri a relegation ? Yes or no answer please. Because that is what was coming.