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2013/14 EPL thread

Originally posted by Manch.:
Oh well, back to the hospital. My wife woke up this morning with paralysis on the right side of her face and right upper torso (arm), they are running tests, with a 50/50 chance of a mild stroke (probably when she heard that MUFC might sign a CMF).

I will check in later in the day.
Manch, hope everything will be ok with the Manchette. Keep us posted.
 
All tests seem to rule out a stroke, but she needs a MRI and she freaked when they tried because of the tight, closed in space.

They did find an aneurysm about 3 mm in the M1 section of the brain. The neurologist says that it is very small and that about 50% of the population will have an aneurysm that small. She will see a surgeon for that and they will keep track of it, real close, but chances are it will never grow and no action will be needed.
 
Fellaini put in a transfer request about 3 hours ago and the Herrera deal might have hit a snag.

If United can not get a midfielder, I think that they can drop to 5th, behind City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham. It's very frustrating that United has waited this long to make a move on players while the 4 teams I mentioned above have all spent money for decent players. They could have had a deal in place for Ozil, pending the arrival of Bale.

All this falls on Rooney and the waiting game to see if he was coming back. United looked very useless without him yesterday and the lack of a creative central midfielder and I am not sure why Kagawa wasn't out there. 9 minutes before the transfer market throws a clean sheet at the Champions.
 
Nothing official, but it looks like Fellaini is headed to United while Herrera is not.

I don't think Mata was moved, and Kaka went to AC Milan, on a FREE transfer, looks like Real was just dumping his salary, which is almost exactly what Bale will be earning.
 
For the stature of Man U, losing Herrera over the tax law in Spain over buyout clauses is kind of school boy work. Should of done what Bayern did with Javi Martinez to avoid that. That lack of a creative CM has been there for a few years now, more or less defining their limits in Europe.

Well wishes to Manch as well.
 
They could have had Fellaini cheaper before by simply activating his clause when it was active. Seems like they bought him for what they wanted for him and Bainsey combined at about 27 million pound.
 
Originally posted by LikeaG5:
They could have had Fellaini cheaper before by simply activating his clause when it was active. Seems like they bought him for what they wanted for him and Bainsey combined at about 27 million pound.
I think United misses David Gill more than SAF. Signing Fellaini for $4 million more than necessary and losing Herrera on a tax loop.
 
Originally posted by LikeaG5:
They could have had Fellaini cheaper before by simply activating his clause when it was active. Seems like they bought him for what they wanted for him and Bainsey combined at about 27 million pound.
Baines didn't leave. It was Fellaini only for the 27.5M lbs (~4M lbs more than the clause).

Chelsea sent Lukaku on loan to Everton and Moses to Liverpool.

Everton also got Gareth Barry on loan from City and signed James McCarthey to essentially replace Fellaini.

Considering all the talk in the offseason Everton is actually a stonger and deeper squad thanat F with Lukaku and Kone being added up front, not sure they adequately replaced Phil Neville at CD though. If they are still in reasonable shape at the turn of the calendar perhaps they spend some then and make a run at Europe (likely Europa and not UCL).
 
Just curious, now that the window is offically closed, who does everyone think made the best individual signing for this year's Premier League?

To me the top candidates are:

Arsenal's Ozil

City's Navas or Fernandinho

Spurs' Paulinho or Soldado

To me it's Paulinho and he gives them steel and some playmaking in their midfield which IMO they sorely lacked last campaign. He reminds me a lot of Yaya Toure (especially with how he played in the Confederations Cup).

I would've included Swansea's signing of Bony, but really strange that he didn't start their first 2 fixtures and I don't really consider them anything but a wildcard for a place in Europe.

Most of Liverpools best signings came in Jan (Sturridge and Coutinho), so they don't qualify for this discussion.


To me the most head-scratching signing of the period was Chelsea's signing of Willian.
 
Originally posted by Rishi:


Originally posted by LikeaG5:
They could have had Fellaini cheaper before by simply activating his clause when it was active. Seems like they bought him for what they wanted for him and Bainsey combined at about 27 million pound.
Baines didn't leave. It was Fellaini only for the 27.5M lbs (~4M lbs more than the clause).

Chelsea sent Lukaku on loan to Everton and Moses to Liverpool.

Everton also got Gareth Barry on loan from City and signed James McCarthey to essentially replace Fellaini.

Considering all the talk in the offseason Everton is actually a stonger and deeper squad thanat F with Lukaku and Kone being added up front, not sure they adequately replaced Phil Neville at CD though. If they are still in reasonable shape at the turn of the calendar perhaps they spend some then and make a run at Europe (likely Europa and not UCL).
That's pretty much what I said. And I don't see how Everton can crack the top 6.
 
Originally posted by Rishi:
Just curious, now that the window is offically closed, who does everyone think made the best individual signing for this year's Premier League?

To me the top candidates are:

Arsenal's Ozil

City's Navas or Fernandinho

Spurs' Paulinho or Soldado

To me it's Paulinho and he gives them steel and some playmaking in their midfield which IMO they sorely lacked last campaign. He reminds me a lot of Yaya Toure (especially with how he played in the Confederations Cup).

I would've included Swansea's signing of Bony, but really strange that he didn't start their first 2 fixtures and I don't really consider them anything but a wildcard for a place in Europe.

Most of Liverpools best signings came in Jan (Sturridge and Coutinho), so they don't qualify for this discussion.


To me the most head-scratching signing of the period was Chelsea's signing of Willian.
Even though Arsenal's bigger concerns were a CB, GK, and a forward I still have to go with Ozil. And in regards to Liverpool's signings, I'm not sure how you can't put Mignolet and Sahko in. The only other keeper who might be better than him in the EPL is Begovic. Sahko would walk into pretty much anybody's 11 bar perhaps City when Nastasic comes back.
 
Man of the match for The Arsenal in today's win has to be Martin Atkinson. I can't ever remember a center gifting us with calls like he did in the second half.
 
Originally posted by seminoleed:
Man of the match for The Arsenal in today's win has to be Martin Atkinson. I can't ever remember a center gifting us with calls like he did in the second half.
That's gonna cost you a transfer fee for Atkinson, he has handed out more PK's to United than Howard Webb!
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Arse looked good today, Ozil is gonna make a big difference!
 
Gotta admit the Scousers look like the most consistent team in the EPL at the moment. In years past, 'Pool would have folded like a tent if Swans had scored in the first 90 seconds. This year's side simply ties it 90 seconds later, then calmly takes the lead. Game getting a little chippy here in the second half.
 
What a weird game for Shelvy: scores one Swan goal, assists on the other, gifts both Liverpool goals, and picks up a yellow to boot. Man of the Match, no doubt.
 
Nice work today from United--the RVP/Rooney show was in fine form. And how nice that Valencia got a goal for all his hard work out there.
 
After the United game on Fox Sports 1 yesterday, that new Regis show was on. There was a former NFL player (Trevor Price, maybe), anyway, the idiot referred to Valencia as Nani, said that Ronaldo leads the "Spanish League" in scoring every year and he didn't know the name of the team that Real played.

Horrible sports TV.
 
Crazy day in the CL: Celtic outplays Milan and loses 2-0, Dortmund (and especially Kopp) have a total meltdown against Napoli, and Chelsea somehow conspires to lose--at Stamford Bridge, no less--to Basel. Yes, Basel. Der Komissar is not going to be pleased.

Oh, and 2-1 to The Arsenal over Marseille away.
 
Originally posted by minernole:
Just wait for Fox's broadcast of the 2018 World Cup.
I know, right, FOX sucks. I am very impressed with NBC's Premier League coverage, it's quality.
 
Originally posted by TexasGooner:
Originally posted by minernole:
Just wait for Fox's broadcast of the 2018 World Cup.
I know, right, FOX sucks. I am very impressed with NBC's Premier League coverage, it's quality.
Loved hearing Martin Tyler over the weekend.
 
I think that Fox does OK with their coverage, I like the studio team of Stone, Wynalda and Barton (McBride is just plain awful). It's the non-soccer shows that really lack.

NBC is doing a phenomenal job with their TV coverage. Their on-line coverage is above average, just a notch above ESPN, which is recycled news.

Great showing from the EPL in Europe this week.

City actually won a road UCL match.

Arsenal won a big road match in the Group of Death against Marseille.

United showed signs of life against Bayer Leverkusen.

Chelsea tripped over midfield line while being defeated at home against Basel. Basel drew, beat and knocked MUFC out of the UCL in 2011/12. The Swiss then defeated Bayern 1-0 before being trounced 7-0 in the first knockout round. Basel knocked both Zenit and the Spurs in last year's Europa before being sent home by Chelsea in the semis. Those were some big wins over teams not named Young Boys or Grasshopper, so, to me, it's not that much of a shock that the press made it out to be by winning at Stamford Bridge.

I'll tell ya, what a massive win it was for the Swans at Valencia. Pleased to Michu, hope you guess my name.

Tottenham and Europa legend Jermain Defoe hammered Tromo.

Championship League mid-carder, Wigan, played a gem again Waregem to gain their first points ever in their 101 years of existence, in European play. Congrats to the current FA Cup holders! I didn't see the match, nor did I catch any highlights, heck I didn't even read the report, but I assume that Wigan's loanee from Man United, Nick Powell was the MOM.

United is at City on the 22nd (after playing on the 17th in the UCL), at home vs Liverpool on the 25th (League Cup) and then at home vs West Brom (who is the most underrated 19th place team ever). City plays the Derby on the 22nd and then again on the 24th against a team that kicked Mancini's ass out the door, Wigan!! Liverpool should be ready to go in the League Cup as they host Southampton on the 21st, travel to MUFC on the 25th and then get an extra day again as they travel to relegated in-waiting Sunderland on the 29th (Suarez should be back after his 10 match league ban against United). I don't have the time to look up who Liverpool played in Europe over the past week. Tight schedules, almost all the way around, because of Europe and League Cup fixtures.

Guess who is the match official for Sunday's Manchester Darby (City is unbeaten in their last 11 matches that this very special guest referee has officiated)???





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Arsenal 3-1 over Stoke, and moves to the top of the table. Ozil with 3 assists and leads the league in that category. Who saw this coming after the Villa debacle to start the season?

Now to settle in for the Manchester derby. Just saw Bambi is out with a thigh injury. Where have I heard that before?
 
I didn't think Arsenal played very well with a lot of bad passing and loss of possession, but they took their set pieces well and sometimes that can be the difference.

It's crazy that they're top of the table, I would have never guessed it, but I just hope they are still in the title race in January so they can get another striker and add some depth to finish the season.

Also, if Tottenham win by 3 goals today, they will be top of the table.
 
Where's Kagawa? Or even Nani? I don't understand Moyes.
This post was edited on 9/22 12:29 PM by TexasGooner
 
I'm glad Moyes is there! Hope we can ask ourselves about his tactics etc for years to come! :)
Posted from wireless.rivals.com[/URL]
 
Originally posted by TexasGooner:
I didn't think Arsenal played very well with a lot of bad passing and loss of possession, but they took their set pieces well and sometimes that can be the difference.

It's crazy that they're top of the table, I would have never guessed it, but I just hope they are still in the title race in January so they can get another striker and add some depth to finish the season.

Also, if Tottenham win by 3 goals today, they will be top of the table.
No sweat. They had to get ONE at the death for their win, so it's still all good. Hey, first is first, no matter what time of the season. Enjoy it while we can.
 
The Capital One Cup, though not of any real importance to any of the bigger clubs, certainly can come up with some fun games to watch. Today, Arsenal played people I didn't even know were in the squad, and it showed. 1-1 after full time, and after two 15 overtime periods, and off we go to PK's. W. Brom keep made a finger tip save of Arse's 2nd goal, giving the advantage to the Baggies. But with a chance to wrap it up, they hit consecutive penalties wide, Gunners convert, and the visions of last year's match with Bradford City disappeared. Good stuff.
 
For the bigger clubs, it's a chance to play the kids, players coming back from injuries and players who are generally subs, but for United/Liverpool, the match was bigger than the Cup and it looks like both teams brought their B+ teams. Great up and down match with some great play by the keepers. Suarez looks like he didn't miss a beat and Rooney looked great.

Hopefully this gets United back on track, as four of their first 6 games were against 3 of the top 5 teams.

As much as I like Arse getting Ozil, I think Tot did really well spending their Bale money, with plenty left over. City looks tough at home, but like last year, mediocre on the road.

Qualifying for the CL is wide open this year with: Arse, Tottenham, City, Chelsea, Liverpool and United all chomping at the bit, so winning the League or FA Cup might be the only chance some teams get to play in Europe next year.

Ed, United plays West Brom this Saturday, did they play their A team yesterday?
 
I am shocked that United didn't draw a top 5 team for the 4th round, as they play Norwich at home and a chance for the kids to play. Arse gets Chelsea at the Emirates. City at Newcastle........

13 of the16 left are EPL teams. Birmingham City (18th in Championship), Burnley (2nd in Championship) and Leicester (3rd in Championship and with Kasper Schmeichel in net) have survived and will play a team from the EPL.

Birmingham beat EPL Swansea 3-1.

The draw:


Tottenham Hotspur v Hull City
Newcastle United v Manchester City
Burnley v West Ham United
Arsenal v Chelsea
Birmingham City v Stoke City
Manchester United v Norwich City
Sunderland v Southampton
Leicester City v Fulham
 
Manch, Arse sent out a B-B+ side; the fact Bendtner played the entire match should tell you something.
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There literally were players on the pitch I'd never heard of other than in passing. And one of them scored the only regular play goal for them.
 
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