2015/2016 Barclays Premier League Thread

[GirlySports]

The pace of this game so far is incredible.

[GirlySports]

Vardy scores on his 11th straight!

[Senator Clay Davis]

United simply has nothing on offense. It's basically hope Martial creates something or a good bounce to set something up.

[devo22]

United 2015-16 is like Bayern 2010-11. Uninspiring, ball-hogging BS without any creativity, it's painful to watch.

Great header by Schweinsteiger. Obviously completely undeserved, but I'll take it.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Schweinsteiger was being held and could have gone done and gotten a penalty. Good job fighting through it, Leicester has been shaky in corner coverage all game. Maybe calls for Fellaini in the 2nd half.

[White Out 403]

Way to go Leicester!

[d_phaneuf]

United are a worse version of Jose's first Chelsea squad

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

Outside of Neymar is there another 22 or 23 year old scoring better than Kane's pace the last 12 months in the top leagues in Europe?

Stones is widely regarded as one of the best young CB's in the world, Pique put him in his best world XI so far this season last month

I'd add Shaw, Barkley, Alli, and Sterling as well

is it likely they all reach that no but that list is just as strong as any other country that could be put forth at this point, and it shows with how the youth set up has been doing the last few years

I have a question. What do you think of a guy like Tom Carroll (born 1992) and how do you think Spurs are developing him? He signed at 18 and has been loaned, here, loaned there, loaned everywhere. He's hasn't even played 100 matches in 5 years. Is this good development for a young U19 international? I think if he were born in France. and played for a Spurs-like team in Ligue 1 (Marseille? Montpellier?) or if he was born in South America he's start for a top-flight team in Argentina/Brazil, he'd be in their starting lineup since 19-20 years old, have 200 matches under his belt and be bought by a team like Spurs.

So do you think this is the correct way to use him? Is he being held back? Are managers scared to play him cause it might lead to losses? Or is he not good enough? Is the Premier League too good for young English players?

[d_phaneuf]

the short answer is that he's been passed internally by other players (Mason/Bentaleb the last few years, Winks and Onomah this year) and he's likely not good enough to be anymore than a squad player for a club that have top 4 ambitions

2 years ago a lot of people had him penciled in to the team as the 3rd or 4th CM behind Dembele/Paulinho/Sandro and he had a poor preseason, went to QPR in the championship, played well but not exceptional and came back

last year same thing, but at this point he had been passed by Mason and Bentaleb from the youth set up, so this time went on loan to Swansea and again did ok not great.

This year same situation but now with Dier and Alli there he's not going to start, he's made 5 sub appearances but that likely only has to do with Bentaleb and Mason's injuries

I imagine he's sent on loan in January

I do think he's a PL player, but more likely a mid-table player

In terms of his development I don't know for sure how they handled him, but in terms of bringing through youth I would say in the last 5 years Spurs are right up there with Arsenal and Southampton as the 3 teams who do the best job of it.

Eric Dier and Dele Alli are both starting regularly at 19 and 21 respectively, Bentaleb was at 20 last year, Kane was at 21, Walker was at 21. Bale was at 20. Going back further Jenas/Lennon/Huddlestone were all in the same spot

So in general I have no problem with what they are doing. Just think some players slip through or dont progress based off their initial potential.

[GirlySports]

Carroll and Masons careers almost mirror each other. I do agree that the other youth players have passed them. Bentaleb is foriegn so i thought he was getting more matches cause hes not british, having played in Belgium.

But in thecase of Alli. Hes getting matches.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

Outside of Neymar is there another 22 or 23 year old scoring better than Kane's pace the last 12 months in the top leagues in Europe?

Stones is widely regarded as one of the best young CB's in the world, Pique put him in his best world XI so far this season last month

I'd add Shaw, Barkley, Alli, and Sterling as well

is it likely they all reach that no but that list is just as strong as any other country that could be put forth at this point, and it shows with how the youth set up has been doing the last few years

I wouldn't say that at all and suggest you might be having a touch of English homerism.

Good players? Yes. World class? No? Likely to be? I say no.

e.g. You say Stones is regarded as one of the best young CBs in the world but the fact of the matter is he hasn't played against the top attackers in the world, In fact all of that list is pretty much unproven at the top level in Europe.

You say the players playing in Italy/Spain/Germany argument is silly? I disagree. It is totally relevant in context of players playing at the very top levels (Champions League).

Look at the make up of the top sides in Germany, in Spain, in Italy as opposed to England regarding home based talent

Spain/Germany/Italy have at least (and often most of the squad) playing for the top teams in the country so have champions league experience against the best year in year out. Add to that, those that weren't in the Munich/Dortmund/Madrids/Barcelona moved to other countries and played for teams that regularly qualified for the champions league. English players don't/can't do that therefore they lose out on regular CL football.

I suppose my point is you can't really judge Stones on anything yet as he is nothing more than an excellent PL CB and an unproven at any other level. Same for a lot of the England squad due to inexperience at the top club level.

Whereas Germany and Spain go to tournaments with a squad full of players that have played regular champions league football against the best England will be lucky if half their squad has any sort of experience. So, yeah I would say the ability to move abroad counts for a lot. Those Germans and Spaniards and Italians are moving around and coming to England and getting CL football at the expense of the English.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Carroll and Masons careers almost mirror each other. I do agree that the other youth players have passed them. Bentaleb is foriegn so i thought he was getting more matches cause hes not british, having played in Belgium.

But in thecase of Alli. Hes getting matches.

ya thats why I wouldn't write Carroll off yet, because many did Mason before last year

for Bentaleb I included him because hes been with the club since he was 17

I think at that point they are in the youth set up

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Bagor

Look at the make up of the top sides in Germany, in Spain, in Italy as opposed to England regarding home based talent

Spain/Germany/Italy have at least (and often most of the squad) playing for the top teams in the country so have champions league experience against the best year in year out. Add to that, those that weren't in the Munich/Dortmund/Madrids/Barcelona moved to other countries and played for teams that regularly qualified for the champions league. English players don't/can't do that therefore they lose out on regular CL football.

I suppose my point is you can't really judge Stones on anything yet as he is nothing more than an excellent PL CB and an unproven at any other level. Same for a lot of the England squad due to inexperience at the top club level.

Whereas Germany and Spain go to tournaments with a squad full of players that have played regular champions league football against the best England will be lucky if half their squad has any sort of experience. So, yeah I would say the ability to move abroad counts for a lot. Those Germans and Spaniards and Italians are moving around and coming to England and getting CL football at the expense of the English.

Definitely a little bit of bias, I know the English players better than the foreign ones

disagree on Stones lack of experience except based on his age, he's gone up against Aguero/Suarez/Silva/Costa/Ozil/Sanchez etc.

in terms of playing abroad, that has everything to do with money, unless they are good enough to play for and wanted by Madrid or Barca where they get the same or better money they wont

[devo22]

Pep Guardiola is understood to see Manchester United as his preferred option when he makes his next move, potentially next summer, which would give the club a decision to make as to whether they part company with Louis van Gaal.

Bayern Munich, Guardiola’s current club, want to resolve his future over the winter break and would like the 44‑year-old to sign a new contract to follow his deal that expires next summer. However, the club that the German champions believe Guardiola has ambitions to manage above all are United, where Van Gaal is contracted for one more season after this.

United would have to part with Van Gaal if they were to land Guardiola, although given Guardiola’s status, and the new culture of regular change at the top of Europe’s biggest clubs, it is unlikely they would baulk at a pay-off of around £7 million for their Dutch manager.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...next-move.html

Hopefully there's some truth to this. I'm sure Guardiola will go to the PL at some point anyway, I don't think Bayern is a huge challenge for him ... the league title is done and dusted very early every year, so it's basically "CL or bust" for him. Pretty sure the competition in the PL is something that would really tempt him.

And like I said, United 2015 remind me of Bayern under van Gaal 5 years ago. Most of the pieces are in place to be really successful, you just need a top manager to take them to next level. The fans have turned against van Gaal already, pretty sure the players will too at some point. Maybe the timing with Guardiola is right this time ... and hopefully the club isn't set on the terrible Giggs idea.

[Slava]

I thought I read a few weeks ago that he wanted to be in London? I guess things change and who knows for sure.

Not a great game this morning for Spurs. Not bad, but they just couldn't get a goal. The biggest story might have been the benching of Diego Costa and even in a game where Chelsea seemed to have chances and he might've converted. At the start of the season you would take the draw and be happy but with Chelsea playing so poorly I was hoping that they could capitalize and be Chelsea's dagger.

Hopefully Arsenal finds a way to lose to Norwich today.

[White Out 403]

Norwich ties it up before the half. Very nice.

[Locke]

This is a prfetty good game between Swansea and Liverpool, I see some good things but I also see some problems.

Klopp's high tempo game is great to watch while Liverpool blitzed them for 25 minutes but they got nothing out of it and after it they were out of gas allowing Swansea to be on the front foot for the next 10 minutes or so.

Further, while they're rushing Swansea into playing poor balls and conceding possession they're rushing themselves as well. I cant remember the last time I saw a professional match where the players couldnt control to ball out of the air and errant passes, holy crap. Just passes that totally miss.

Benteke's got to get his screwed on straight, hes the biggest guy out there and has legitimately flopped 2-3 times. Further, its obvious that the strategy is to look for him in the box and that has resulted in absolutely nothing.

Initially I was impressed with Firmino, he makes a mistake and then he busts his ass to make up for it, makes another mistake and then works hard to atone and then I realized that the guy is just making mistake after mistake after mistake. Poor passes, not enough power on his passes, in attack hes excellent but in transition the guy is turning it over constantly.

And who the hell is wearing #23? It says Emre Can and it looks like him but all of a sudden I see an excellent box-to-box midfielder whereas before I wanted to launch him into the sun. Hes having an excellent game so far.

[GirlySports]

liverpool pressure finally pays off as they convert a penalty.

[d_phaneuf]

Hope Sanchez isnt hurt too bad but that looked ugly

[Locke]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

liverpool pressure finally pays off as they convert a penalty.

We got lucky, that was a lot of dominance without any real attacking substance. It was a good penalty call but we should have been able to win that one without needing a penalty.

In some ways its good and in some ways its bad, some players had excellent games but most were very off so it was a game where they dominated but it was painfully sloppy.