2016/2017 THE Premier League Thread

[devo22]

Nothing demonstrates the sad state of English football better than Adam frickin Lallana being voted "English player of the year". Seriously, wtf ...

[Slava]

FA Cup draw for the next round:

Saturday 18 February 2017 Fifth Round Proper
Kick Off No. Home Away Live on
15:00 1 Burnley VS Lincoln City
15:00 2 Fulham VS Tottenham Hotspur
15:00 3 Blackburn Rovers VS Manchester United
15:00 4 Sutton United VS Arsenal
15:00 5 Middlesbrough VS Oxford United
15:00 6 Wolverhampton Wanderers VS Chelsea
15:00 7 Huddersfield Town VS Manchester City
15:00 8 Millwall VS Derby Co / Leicester

No PL teams play each other this round, so the following round will make for some interesting match-ups (barring a lot of upsets).

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by devo22

Nothing demonstrates the sad state of English football better than Adam frickin Lallana being voted "English player of the year". Seriously, wtf ...

I have to assume this is because he was England's best player at Euro. Not that that should mean anything, but otherwise I would think Dele Ali is the winner here.

[d_phaneuf]

It was a fan vote wasn't it?

Also it must just be England play

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Slava

FA Cup draw for the next round:

Saturday 18 February 2017 Fifth Round Proper
Kick Off No. Home Away Live on
15:00 1 Burnley VS Lincoln City
15:00 2 Fulham VS Tottenham Hotspur
15:00 3 Blackburn Rovers VS Manchester United
15:00 4 Sutton United VS Arsenal
15:00 5 Middlesbrough VS Oxford United
15:00 6 Wolverhampton Wanderers VS Chelsea
15:00 7 Huddersfield Town VS Manchester City
15:00 8 Millwall VS Derby Co / Leicester

No PL teams play each other this round, so the following round will make for some interesting match-ups (barring a lot of upsets).

Those times will change once games are picked for TV

One will move to Friday, another later on Sat and two on Sunday I think

United will get picked for a TV game for something like the 64th time in a row

[Slava]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

Those times will change once games are picked for TV

One will move to Friday, another later on Sat and two on Sunday I think

United will get picked for a TV game for something like the 64th time in a row

Yeah I just copied and pasted from the site to show the match-ups. Pretty sure that Spurs will be Sunday as they play Gent in Europa League on Thursday IIRC.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I'm not sure Mignolet would have stopped that even if he was paying attention.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Well unless Liverpool can pull out the win here, Chelsea pretty much have it wrapped up after Arsenal and Spurs drop more points.

[devo22]

Kante is a machine. What a player.

[Slava]

Not a good showing from Spurs. Disappointing, as they failed to generate good chances and just overall dominated and didn't create anything from all of it.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by devo22

Kante is a machine. What a player.

Makelele II

Good night for the Manchester clubs. A United win tomorrow and 2-6 starts to look very congested.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by devo22

Kante is a machine. What a player.

Pretty much undeniably the MVP of the last two PL seasons. Leicester are on their way to relegation without him, Chelsea on their way to the title with him.

[devo22]

Another loss for Leicester. 2 wins in the last 14 ... they'll be relegated if they don't find answers soon.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Pretty much undeniably the MVP of the last two PL seasons. Leicester are on their way to relegation without him, Chelsea on their way to the title with him.

Is this the old correlation/causation quandary? I mean he's good, but Chelsea players decided not to play for Mourinho last year, otherwise they were still a title favorite. And Leicester just looks ridiculously bad this year. Mahrez was the player of the year last year and has done nothing this season. Vardy has reverted to the mean and probably should have signed the big money deal when he had the chance.

I don't know, but it's not all Kante?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Slava

Is this the old correlation/causation quandary? I mean he's good, but Chelsea players decided not to play for Mourinho last year, otherwise they were still a title favorite. And Leicester just looks ridiculously bad this year. Mahrez was the player of the year last year and has done nothing this season. Vardy has reverted to the mean and probably should have signed the big money deal when he had the chance.

I don't know, but it's not all Kante?

No, but a lot of Leicester's success was generated because the team played a solid, regimented structure with guys like Vardy and Mahrez being able to take risks because the consequences of those risks was significantly covered by Kante.

What you see now is them playing the same structure but without the safety net and either those guys dont take the risks that had previously paid off or, when they do, they're burned for it more often.

They were a team that was more than the sum of its parts, but when one of those parts is removed you cant always play it the same way.

[devo22]

no it's not all Kante, but while Mahrez and Vardy got most of the limelight last season, it was clear that Kante was their MVP. Defensively he's just on another level, I really can't think of another midfielder right now that covers so much ground and wins so many key duels. Leicester has struggled as a whole this season and they've reached a point where things are spiraling, but it all started with losing Kante.

[Slava]

Well Mousa Dembele is a great midfielder IMO.

[devo22]

crazy transfer window for some of the bottom-dwellers. Crystal Palace managed to spend £35m on guys like van Aanholt, Schlupp and Milivojevic ... and they got Sakho on loan as well. Full panic mode, I guess. Hull went crazy too: they sold Livermore and Snodgrass for a combined £21m, but only spent £5m on two guys (Henriksen and Evandro, whoever they are) and then sealed four loan deals (Ranocchia, Markovic, Niasse and N'Diaye). Moyes raided Everton for two of his former players (Gibson and Oviedo) and also signed Lescott lol.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by devo22

crazy transfer window for some of the bottom-dwellers. Crystal Palace managed to spend £35m on guys like van Aanholt, Schlupp and Milivojevic ... and they got Sakho on loan as well. Full panic mode, I guess. Hull went crazy too: they sold Livermore and Snodgrass for a combined £21m, but only spent £5m on two guys (Henriksen and Evandro, whoever they are) and then sealed four loan deals (Ranocchia, Markovic, Niasse and N'Diaye). Moyes raided Everton for two of his former players (Gibson and Oviedo) and also signed Lescott lol.

Hes still playing? Good for him I guess...

[devo22]

quite shocking actually, he's only 34! Thought he'd be pushing 40 given his "pace" and "mobility".