Official Premiership 2008/09 thread

[TheArsenal]

Oh, Sparky. Just £35million and you can have Emmanuel Eboue!!

Come on, that's too good to resist!!

[Hobo]

Motherfuckers.

That is all.

[King Ellis]

To be fair to Big Sam, he was comparing RSC's worth to Blackburn to that of the financial bonuses of being in the league. If they sell him for 10-20m but go down because he's not there to score the goals to keep them up then what have they gained?

In other news, Liverpool draw and Man U stay top because no one felt like marking Tim Cahill.

[TheArsenal]

Liverpool are a good team but they just aren't playing like a unit. Torres isn't playing anything like last year and signing Robbie Keane and trying to fit him into their system seems to have hindered them more than it's helped them. They are off of the top of the league now, and honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if they don't get back there. United are looking strong enough to keep them off the top.

Liverpool are 3 points away from Villa, and 6 points away from Arsenal.

Chelsea are 1 point away from Villa and 4 points away from Arsenal.

I think if those two teams don't start bucking their ideas up, they could BOTH struggle to make the top four. Aston Villa and Arsenal are certainly more on form then Liverpool and Chelsea at the minute. Arsenal were 12 points behind Liverpool a couple of weeks back. Now the gap is 6 points.

[Hobo]

Can't really blame Torres, he's had injuries. Keane to me is the square peg when Torres plays. Plus when Keane & Torres play Gerrard is negated.

Personally, I'd play Torres or Keane. Not both.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I've disliked Everton most of this season but fucking love them right now for getting that late goal. Oh how things have now turned around

[TheArsenal]

Can't really blame Torres, he's had injuries. Keane to me is the square peg when Torres plays. Plus when Keane & Torres play Gerrard is negated.

Personally, I'd play Torres or Keane. Not both.

I don't blame Torres, but the facts are that he's not putting up the numbers he was last year. It was commented on when Liverpool bought Keane that they would have to change their system to play him. I don't think Keane can play effectively up front on his own. And I think playing 4-4-2 also limits Gerrards play somewhat, as when they had 5 across the midfield he could venture forward without leaving the midfield short.

[Zaz]

How many late goals has Cahill scored this season? That's all I hear about Everton >_>

[Anderson]

United can only lose the title now.

Go on ... argue with me

[therockbox]

Can't really blame Torres, he's had injuries. Keane to me is the square peg when Torres plays. Plus when Keane & Torres play Gerrard is negated.

Personally, I'd play Torres or Keane. Not both.

I don't blame Torres, but the facts are that he's not putting up the numbers he was last year.

It's kind of difficult when he's been out a number of times throughout the season with hamstring injuries though, isn't it? And as we've learned with Michael Owen, when you come back from one of those you can take a while to get going, especially if you've got a history of them.

Anyway, Manchester City have managed to cheer me up after last night. First they lose out on Kaka and then Robinho gets in a huff with Hughes and goes back to Brazil. Brilliant.

[stokeriño]

How many late goals has Cahill scored this season? That's all I hear about Everton >_>

Five in the league?

That's what his record is in my fantasy football squad anyway.

So glad he was the one to score. If I'm going to lose Reina and Squirtle clean sheet bonuses then at least I got something back. >_>

[Zaz]

Quick line from The Daily Mail, who report that Martin Jol will use the money from Manchester Citeh's purchase of Nigel de Jong to sign Tom Huddlestone.

Apparently Jol wants Huddlestone to take de Jong's place in the Hamburg midfield. And then some.

I think this is just one of those random link stories. 'Hmm, Jol's selling a centre mid, Huddlestone has just been a sub lately, Jol used to coach Huddlestone, I know!' But if Huddlestone does get sold when Redknapp doesn't want to sell Jenas, I'll fly myself to Engerland and take to Redknapp's knees with a metal pipe :@

[FLiam]

Robinho has walked out of City's training camp, lol.

[R.W.]

I can imagine it went something like this:

Robinho walks into Mark Hughes' office.

Robinho - "So, when does Kaka sign-up?"

Hughes: - "Bad news, he fancies staying at a successful club - on the plus side, here's Craig Bellamy!"

Robinho: "..."

Robinho walks out

Edited January 20, 2009 by Rabid Wolverine

[Crybaby Bunting]

Amongst the hundreds of reports talking about the direct consequence of KAKA not going, I found an interesting rumour that Robiniho asked to go to Brazil for his 25th birthday party - which resulted in an argument about him not being allowed to go followed by him walking out.

[IAceI]

They're mega rich so in theory they should tell him to fuck off and sign someone else. But because all they can sign at the minute is Craig Bellamy, they're going to slap him on the wrist and call it a private matter and get him back in the team as quickly as possible.

Edited January 20, 2009 by IAceI

[Crybaby Bunting]

Actually, during this transfer market the only players that have been confirmed as having made a bid by City are.

Craig Bellamy - Got

Scott Parker - Withdrawn

Santa Cruz - Withdrawn

Wayne Bridge - Got

De Jong - Pending

Kaka - No

Technically as soon as the De Jong deal goes through they'll have signed half of their targets this transfer window.

They have time to bid for another player or two but I have a feeling the key players have already become not-for sale on the basis that a replacement would never be made between now and the end of the window.

[Crybaby Bunting]

I've just suddenly realised...

Why the hell was there a Man City training camp in Tenerife? Surely jetting there and back would be the main cause for Citys jetlagged performances.

Or is this a camp for the foreign talent only, causing cohesion problems with the Man City squad.

[King Ellis]

I assume it's because they're out of the FA and thus have fuck all to do this week.

[Matt]

Plenty of teams go abroad to train for a few days, they'll usually play a friendly game too to try out fringe players or new ideas.