2012/2013 English Premier League thread

[Addick]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

I don't think the leagues care, it's highest bidder wins

I think this is an issue on which people should be concentrating.

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

They didn't realize how backwards the CRTC is

What are those fools doing this time?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by mpaca

So who will be managing Chelsea this weekend against West Brom?

I can't blame Benitez for saying what he did, and like him a bit better after he snapped. No one forced him to take the job, but at the same time the fans have been a little too harsh I think.

RDM should have been given at least one proper season.

I think King Roman is quickly becoming bored with his toy now that he got his shiny CL bauble.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Addick

I think this is an issue on which people should be concentrating.




What are those fools doing this time?

in terms of the CRTC, I don't think BeIN can apply for their own channel easily

so what they would need to do is take over another channel (Gol seems the likeliest candidate) or sell content to a current provider

[Bagor]

A decent read. Shameful that they even go so far as to replace a picture of their CL victory with one that excludes RDM.

Brutal, you might think, but so is the fact that just inside Stamford Bridge's boundaries the huge picture that used to adorn the wall behind the West Stand, where supporters could have photographs taken beside the image of Roberto Di Matteo and his players and assorted trophies, has been replaced with another picture of the Champions League celebrations – excluding, with some precision, the manager of the time. A small ignominy, perhaps, compared with the other indignities heaped on Di Matteo. In another sense it feels like a pretty accurate snapshot of the way the modern-day Chelsea go about their business.

Everyone knows the routine by now: appoint, marginalise, isolate and sack. Then comes the pay-off – in total, £86m so far since 2004 – and then the moments when they give the impression they would happily airbrush the last manager out of the club's history. Rafael Benítez, as a politician, might not be as clever as he would like to believe but he was smart in one respect: at least Chelsea's interim manager got his retaliation in first before the lawyers became involved.

That word again: "interim". Until a few years ago people in this position always tended to be known as the "caretaker" manager. Before it became the word of choice at Stamford Bridge, "interim" felt more like office jargon. It was the name of an album by The Fall. One thing it was not was a football term. Now it is the one word by which Benítez's short, joyless reign will be associated. "A temporary or provisional arrangement; stopgap; makeshift," is the dictionary definition. It will be there on Saturday in the match-day programme against West Bromwich Albion, just as it is for every home match. It will be on the team-sheets. It is on the letterheads of official Chelsea paper. The club could hardly have done more to promote the idea Benítez was merely passing through and it is almost bizarre that Abramovich and his nomenklatura expected the team to thrive from such a position.

Sir Alex Ferguson always said the first reason Manchester United finished third in the 2001-02 season was because the players thought he was retiring in the summer and started to think beyond him. A manager counting down the months is inevitably going to struggle to exert full authority and, when the dressing room is as hard-faced and unflinching as Chelsea's, the players were always going to look at Benítez as just a short-term measure, not even good enough to get a proper title. These are basic facts of football life. They really should not need to be explained to a club of serious ambition.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...nitez-chelsea1

And most damning.

It is not an exact science but a "good dressing room" can generally be gauged by how watertight it is against the outside world. Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool all understand that and Manchester City are slowly getting there. Chelsea operate in a different way. It is a culture of leaks, strategic positioning, undermining others. Not everyone but a concerted number, nonetheless. One of the players – his identity would be a grave disappointment to Chelsea's supporters – has been behind a lot of it.

I'm guessing Lampard, or to a lesser extent Cole. Terry is too obvious a scumbag to garner disappointment.

Good times, going to be strange if he's still around for the trip to Anfield. The opposition cheering him whilst his own supporters boo him.

[d_phaneuf]

it could be JT, they seem blind to all he does with their 'captain, leader, legend' garbage

if it's not JT than Franky is my next guess

[cam_wmh]

Franky would honestly surprise me.

[carom]

It may be Lampard, but I don't get that impression from him.

My guess would be Cole. He seems like a self serving a-hole. I know it is one game, but I remember seeing his body language and reading this after the Brentford game:

Ashley Cole spent Sunday's FA Cup debacle at Brentford moaning about his Chelsea team-mates according to Bees striker Clayton Donaldson.

Up against Cole, he claims to have heard the England left-back expressing his frustrations at the Blues' forward players. Fernando Torres started the match but Demba Ba came on late in the second half.

Donaldson said: "I was obviously closer to Ashley.

"He was always mumbling something, always mumbling stuff quietly but I could hear what he was saying.

"He was just getting frustrated. He was saying about the forward players not showing and 'he needs to be there'. You could just see straight away that he was getting frustrated - that was a good thing."

It wasn't like he was directing traffic, it was just b!itching.

JT wouldn't surprise me either though.

[devo22]

I doubt anybody would be "gravely disappointed" if it was Cole. Everybody knows he's an #######.

[Locke]

Jaromir Jagr attending the Chelsea game?

[devo22]

that was just the game Shinji needed. Should be a huge confidence boost for him. Rooney also had an excellent game.

[Bagor]

Yeah, but I hope he's on the bench come Tuesday. Looked out of place and too easily knocked off the ball in the first game for my liking.

Strange seeing Vidic starting = not starting on Tuesday?

Just me or does Grant Holt look significantly overweight?

Clever.

[d_phaneuf]

Holt has always been a Unit

Coutinho looked great today for Liverpool

[Locke]

Now thats the kind of Arsenal defending we've all come to know and love.

[d_phaneuf]

Tony Adams is basically disgusted with how Arsenal defend

riveting schadenfreude television

[Locke]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

Tony Adams is basically disgusted with how Arsenal defend

riveting schadenfreude television

Watching him made my morning. What he thinks of Arsenal's defence rhymes with 'wussies.'

And, unfortunately I think it stems from Wenger, because Vermaelen and Mertesacker werent exactly shrinking violets before they got to Arsenal. These guys have been stalwarts for their respective national teams.

Tony Adams could barely stomach watching that Arsenal team, he came off as a Spurs fan. This coming from an Arsenal legend!

[Bagor]

Has nothing to do with nor did Adams suggest that they were wussies lacking in physical play.

More a point of freezing and trying to hold a high line when they should have been retreating to a new line. That and midfield getting to much time to play the perfect pass. More a cerebral issue, or .... dumb.

Monreal was at fault for the Lennon goal imo. He just stopped.

[d_phaneuf]

they don't have the right players to play a high line outside Verm (and Sagna)

Monreal has the pace but he's clearly not a good defender

Mertesacker too slow

Vermaelan always looks out of place because he's always closest, because he's always covering for Mertesacker

[d_phaneuf]

still don't think anything is decided though from 2nd-5th

Liverpool probably finish 6th because Everton have a ridiculous run in @Spurs, @Arsenal, @Chelsea, @Liverpool, vs Man City

[d_phaneuf]

oh BBC....

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Locke

Watching him made my morning. What he thinks of Arsenal's defence rhymes with 'wussies.'

I'm pretty sure he was calling out their positional play as opposed to their effort. The team did come out to play but once again, silly errors at the back cost us.