EPL Season 2017/8

[DeLorean]

One of his legacies for me at least will be his tirades against decisions which went against his team and how "I didn't see it" was his response for any decisions which favoured Arsenal. They became so tiresome and Klopp is going this way as well.

Well it didn't make it into The Examiner's top ten! They did tend to focus on the positives though bar number ten - https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/wenger-invincibles-his-crowning-glory-469715.html

[DeLorean]

I still think things will blow-up for Klopp eventually. He hasn't won a trophy in six years, neither have Liverpool. Obviously the CPL is still a possibility, but if they get past Roma you'd fancy Real or Bayern against them. It's all well and good banging in the goals on occasion and playing football the media fawn over, but without something to back it up, the worm turns: you can see people starting to turn on Pochettino for example.

Yes, turning on Pochettino because bringing Spurs from a Europa League team to a Champions League team simply isn't enough, they have to back it up by winning trophies it seems. In fairness, I doubt the vast majority of Spurs fans see it that way, yet at least. They've probably been the best PL team over the last three seasons, consistency wise, unfortunately for them they haven't been the best over any of those seasons individually.

I think this CL run, regardless of how it ends, will keep Klopp in the good books for a long time. They've gone from struggling to even qualify for the competition for most of the past decade to dreaming about winning it again. They could easily win a one off game against Bayern or Real too, especially Bayern. Hopefully not though. Keeping Salah long-term is already starting to look like mission impossible, if the Suarez/Coutinho sales are anything to go by. On the plus side, he must be worth £200m+ in the current market.

[OwlsFan]

Keeping Salah long-term is already starting to look like mission impossible, if the Suarez/Coutinho sales are anything to go by. On the plus side, he must be worth £200m+ in the current market.

Yes, but what is the point really for what used to be one of the biggest clubs in Europe if they have to keep selling their best players to Barcelona once they show an interest, other than making money for the shareholders of course, if they can't build on success ?

Enjoyable game but I did channel surf over to Derby v Cardiff on occasion and got my wish in seeing Derby score 2 goals and Warnock's team lose. Then went back to Liverpool to see Roma score their second goal. Fun...

[DeLorean]

I watched the second half of the Championship game myself. Hopefully Fulham can pip Cardiff, they will need to drop points at Hull this weekend for that to happen I think.

Agree completely about Liverpool selling their stars. It will depend mainly on Salah himself I guess, if he wants out, he'll get out.

[OwlsFan]

Team..........P GD Pts

Wolves.......44 46 98
Cardiff....... 44 28 86
Fulham...... 44 34 85
Aston Villa.. 44 31 82
Middlesbro.. 44 20 72
Derby.........44 19 71

Other than Cardiff, the rest were reasonably predictable. Might have expected Sunderland to have been in the mix. Amazing how most of these clubs which drop out of "richest league in the world" usually do so deep in debt,

[NeverFeltBetter]

I was sure Coleman would drag them out of the mire, but he seems to be just another in a long-list of short-term managers who can't get things working there.

[OwlsFan]

If you don't bounce back straight away, it become more difficult as time goes on as the parachute payments disappear Wednesday are now 18 years out of the top flight and still a long way off. Villa need to get back this season but to use the cliche, the play-offs are a lottery. It says a lot for the standard of the EPL, outside the money bags teams, that clubs like recently promoted Huddersfield and Brighton look as if they're going to stay up and previously clubs like Bournemouth, Watford, Burnley and Swansea have stuck.

[OwlsFan]

Alex Ferguson is rushed to hospital: first item on RTE News! That the Scottish Manager of an English football team is admitted to hospital is deemed worthy of pride of place on the Irish news to me is bizarre.

[OwlsFan]

The three promoted teams stay up. Says a lot really about the standard of the EPL outside perhaps the top 6. The Championship is a mini EPL with many clubs there having more top flight experience than a fair few of the EPL clubs. Have to hand it to Huddersfield. Drawing away to both Chelsea AND Man City to secure their place next season. Swansea on a run of winless games and drawing blanks: quelle surprise, their manager is the ex-Wednesday manager who was let go because of a winless streak and drawing blanks :)

[OwlsFan]

Another payday for Big Bung Sam as Everton give him his walking papers https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44136661 Everton look like a club perpetually underachieving. They seem to have been happy to coast along under Moyes with top 10 finishes and it's even slipped a bit since then. They are a big enough club to be competing with the likes of Arsenal and Spurs but it just hasn't happened.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Moyes gone too. It really is a merry go round.

[OwlsFan]

So the EPL loses Swansea, WBA and Stoke and gains Cardiff, Wolves and Fulham. I'd equate Swansea/Cardiff, Wolves/WBA but Stoke are a bigger club than Fulham whose ground capacity is only 25K. All three promoted sides stay up. Another weakening of the also-rans in the EPL I think, cementing the hegemony of the Big 6. The objective now for everyone outside the Big 6 is to avoid relegation. At least some years ago they'd have a stab at a Cup. Now it's play the reserves and gear up for the league game against Bournemouth or Watford the following week.

The Championship is now really a mini-EPL in its own right with Villa, Leeds, Derby, Stoke, WBA, Wednesday, Ipswich, Norwich, QPR, Notts Forest, Blackburn and others not long ago in the higher echelons. The only clubs which I wouldn't regard as big clubs, albeit some with top flight experience, would be Millwall, Brentford, Bristol City (though I remember them in the top flight), Preston, Hull, Reading and Rotherham.

[OwlsFan]

Interesting that Villa now needs to engage in a "fire sale" to raise at least £50 million. It's nearly always the same. If a team which is relegated from "the richest league in the world" isn't promoted back to that division within two years (i.e. when the parachute payments are available), the financial alarm bells kick in. Very few clubs come down rolling in dosh and yet the league is supposed to be the nirvana of football clubs.

[OwlsFan]

Man U beat the mighty Cardiff, Huddersfield and Bournemouth and all is well in the Old Trafford world. Does the media never learn?

Liverpool are now favourites for the title. Perhaps after Thursday they might be but I won't be putting any money on them until after that game.

[OwlsFan]

Huddersfield manager leaves by mutual consent. Mein Gott, what do you have to do to keep your job in the EPL. Gets them promoted, keeps them up a season and now that they're struggling, it's auf wiedersehen. I suppose the owners of these clubs look at the likes of Bournemouth and Watford and think that should be us as well.