2016/2017 THE Premier League Thread

[devo22]

for €105m, I'd expect from Pogba to step up in such an important game. Instead, Kante completely puts him to shame. Can't say I'm surprised.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by devo22

for €105m, I'd expect from Pogba to step up in such an important game. Instead, Kante completely puts him to shame. Can't say I'm surprised.

I'm surprised an Englishman would have such high expectations of the French!

[devo22]

too bad Mourinho and Conte don't do a Bennett/Trouba impression. All that childish bickering goes to waste without a good honest fistfight.

[Senator Clay Davis]

It was always going to be very difficult for Pogba to live up to the price tag, but he brings it on himself with the haircuts and the emoji and all the other crap that goes along with a bunch of bang average (or worse) performances. He's also not really a difference maker, you could argue he's been had the least impact of the players they bought last summer.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by devo22

too bad Mourinho and Conte don't do a Bennett/Trouba impression. All that childish bickering goes to waste without a good honest fistfight.

Watched the first half while running on the treadmills. The official is over matched on this one. Coaches are going at each other, 4th official holding people back. The first Yellow on Herrera was garbage. He just ran into him. The 2nd yellow may have been a dive. But when you are playing with a yellow and 15 seconds before the ref takes your captain and another player to stop fouling Hazard, and then you immediately "foul" (stuck his leg out behind him) Hazard, he has to pull the yellow.

Man U playing with 10. Or as one Twitter commentator wrote, Man U playing with 9 men after Fellaini brought on after Herrera's second yellow.

[devo22]

congrats to Chelsea. The better team won, without a doubt.

on to Rostov.

[Slava]

Spurs v. Chelsea
Woolwich v. City

Should be a couple great games, and hopefully sets up a NLD final!

[d_phaneuf]

Lukaku asked about signing a new contract but belgian media said no

Wonder where he goes this summer

Chelsea seem to be favorites, but to me United and arsenal should both be all over that

[cam_wmh]

Those terroristas are tapping up de Gea again.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

Kane didn't look too bad so I hope it's not long

Seemed precaution to take him out he wasn't in pain

Also they only have Southampton at home then the international break so he could be out 3 weeks and miss 1 game

He's apparently out until the end of April with ligament damage in his ankle.

[Slava]

I think he will be back for the semi-final on the 22/23rd. Really, if you were going to pick games to miss it would be now though. It's Southampton, two week international break and then Burnley and Swansea the following weeks. If he gets back at that point though then the next weekend would be the last NLD at the lane, which he has to play for.

Hopefully its minor and he comes back sooner though. It really didn't look that bad.

[d_phaneuf]

Spurs said it wasn't as bad as last time

“The injury is similar to the one suffered by the forward against Sunderland in September last year. However, it is not considered to be as severe. Harry will continue to be assessed by our medical staff while he undergoes his rehabilitation at our training centre.”

nothing about end of April

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

Spurs said it wasn't as bad as last time



nothing about end of April

Is there a particular reason that you are the only poster on this board that never posts a link to your quotes?

1. It's in the rules and
2. It's tedious and rude to expect others to have to search your citations.

And whilst, yes there is nothing that mentions the end of April, the article only mentions the possibility of him being fit for the week before.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...in-seven-weeks

[d_phaneuf]

For that quote, I mentioned Spurs said it as it wasn't from the guardian story, was their press release on twitter https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial/st...41722367451136

[devo22]

some very open and honest quotes from Lukaku on why he won't sign a new Everton contract (the current one expires in 2018) and why he wants to move this summer. Fair game to him, I can get behind that.

“Obviously stuff is changing and stuff is happening, but there were some players that we could have got, that I knew the club could have got, and they didn’t get,” said Lukaku. “And they are playing in this league. I am not saying names, but they are doing well. Everton as a football club has a great history. But the future has to be written. You get me? Because we always talk about the teams of the 80s and 70s and if you look it was great. But we as players, we want the fans talking about us instead of us talking about them.

“No disrespect, but you know what I mean. You want to be remembered as well. No matter where you play you want to be remembered. You cannot only be remembered by scoring goals, you want to be remembered by winning trophies. That is what the fans want. So instead of living in the past, you have to think ahead. How this club has to grow, how this club has to improve, which player does it want to bring in so you can challenge for the big trophies? Sometimes I will speak to Vincent Kompany who was at Manchester City when it all happened. He said, ‘Rom, one summer I just came in and boom, boom, boom, boom... Robinho from there, that guy came in, this guy came in, this guy came in (clicking fingers)’ and then everyone was criticising them, but at the end league titles, FA Cup here, League Cup there. That is what we want as players.

“If you don’t win a trophy there is something that has gone wrong because if you have the belief that you can do something, you can do it. Nothing is going to stop you. That is how I think. Sometimes in my games I am like, ‘today it is going to happen’. And it happens. Sometimes it doesn’t happen but at least you have to give it a go.”

Asked directly if he felt Everton’s board was ambitious enough, Lukaku said: “I don’t know, I don’t know what the board’s plan is. I don’t really know. We want the best for the club because we have great facilities, good fans. An example like Everton in the Community who work hard and you have a good bunch of lads. But at the end of the day fans want to see trophies, players want trophies so we need to try more, give a bit more. That is the only thing I would say. You should not shy away from it.”

[...]

“I’m really happy but I can’t say that I am overjoyed. There have been parts that we could have done better. We have a team that has a lot of quality and a lot of ability but we let ourselves down before Christmas. One win in 10 games? That’s where we let ourselves down. At the time we were adapting to the way the manager wants us to play. When you play in a certain way for a number of years, then there is change to the system, then for us it is difficult to adapt. You are used to training a certain way. Your body is used to certain things. Now it is a totally different regime. Ok, now we are doing well. Everyone is happy. But we have to become stronger, we have to become technically and tactically better. We have to start winning big games. That is what it is all about.”

Lukaku says, but for Koeman, he would have sought a move last summer.

“If I didn’t think I would have learnt something from him I probably would have left,” he said. “I probably would have said, ‘You know what, I don’t have the energy or whatever’. But from our first conversations when I was at the Euros in France they were really honest, we spoke a few times and he explained how he wanted to play, how he expected things and stuff and I was just listening to what he had to say. I told the manager it will take a few weeks, but once I get it, don’t worry, it will be fine.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/...n-world-class/

[Senator Clay Davis]

So if I was Arsenal, I'd be looking to swoop in for Koeman and bring Lukaku along with him. But then, you know, Kroenke.

[rich76]

Originally Posted by devo22

congrats to Chelsea. The better team won, without a doubt.

on to Rostov.

No mention at all of Marcos Rojo's filthy stamp on Eden Hazard then?

After all your recent faux outrage directed at Tyrone Mings, I assumed you were on a personal crusade against violent behaviour in football.

Mings 5 games
Rojo 0 games

One rule for the big clubs, another rule for everyone else.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by rich76

No mention at all of Marcos Rojo's filthy stamp on Eden Hazard then?

After all your recent faux outrage directed at Tyrone Mings, I assumed you were on a personal crusade against violent behaviour in football.

Mings 5 games
Rojo 0 games

One rule for the big clubs, another rule for everyone else.

Rojo is a dirty ####### and you'll never see me defend him. It should have been a red card and it's farcical that he's escaped three clear red cards and bans this season because the refs ####ed up.

Still, Mings deserves his ban. And I would even add a game or two for his "lol" tweet for that matter. I can even understand the "top teams get different treatment" sentiment, but let's not get carried away here. Ibrahimovic deserved his ban and accepted it, Mings did not. Man up to your mistakes.

[rich76]

Originally Posted by devo22

Rojo is a dirty ####### and you'll never see me defend him. It should have been a red card and it's farcical that he's escaped three clear red cards and bans this season because the refs ####ed up.

Still, Mings deserves his ban. And I would even add a game or two for his "lol" tweet for that matter. I can even understand the "top teams get different treatment" sentiment, but let's not get carried away here. Ibrahimovic deserved his ban and accepted it, Mings did not. Man up to your mistakes.

At the time, I was convinced that Mings' stamp was deliberate.

The more I've seen it over the past 10 days, the less convinced I am.

Here's the official club statement;
http://www.afcb.co.uk/news/article/2...s-3615694.aspx

The FA should never have tried to influence the "independent" panel of referees by releasing a statement beforehand indicating the likely severity of the punishment. Guilty before the trial had even started.

Ibrahimovic's misdemeanor was obviously deliberate, Mings' considerably less so.

[devo22]

I mean, you can never be sure if was deliberate or not. Rationale tells me you have to be a bit of a psycho to deliberately stamp on another guy's head, so it probably wasn't ... but then I watch the scene and swing back to intent because it just looks like he knows what he's doing. He even looks down just before it happens.

It's a judgement call for sure and you'll always piss off somebody with those. But even if Mings thinks he got the short end, behaving like a small child won't change anything about it. He comes across like an utter bellend.