Official Premiership 2008/09 thread

[IAceI]

Fuck me. Danny Collins will be one lucky bloke if he's earning £50,000.

Half our team would wet themselves if they made that much a week.

[Baddar]

"fire alarm" at the hotel Chelsea were staying in last night. This seems to happen before every "grand slam" match. :/

[Zaz]

Weird line up for us according to ze BBC.

Tottenham: Gomes, Zokora, Dawson, Woodgate, King, Bale, Corluka, Modric, O'Hara, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe.

Subs: Cesar, Bentley, Huddlestone, Lennon, Jenas, Bent, Campbell.

So we have both right mids on the bench and three centre backs starting. If that's correct, I'm going to guess:

Defoe Pav

Modric O'Hara

Bale Zokora Corluka

Dawson Woodgate King

Gomes

With Bale and Corluka playing wing backs and Zokora DM. Still looks a bit off, hope they've just got it wrong.

[The Future]

3-5-2 is it?

That wouldnt be completely off since Arry was trying that formation out with Portsmouth before he left.

[alldaws1]

It's proven to be more of a back four with Ledley King playing just in front of them. Not a bad formation defensively but we're doing little attacking, we need to get Lennon on so he can stretch Wigan a bit, give Defoe and Pavlyuchenko some better service.

[Zaz]

Although it came up in the match preview as I had it above, King is playing in front of Woodgate and Dawson in a DM role. It's more like:

Defoe Pav

Modric

O'Hara Zokora

King

Bale Dawson Woodgate Corluka

Gomes

So it's my Spurs formation on FM but O'Hara and Zokora are playing pretty central and only going wide every now and then.

This match is reminding me too much of their previous encounter at WHL, looks like fizzling out to a 0-0 draw.

And as much as it pains me to say it, I think Jenas would look a lot better playing in Zokora's position at the moment.

Edited January 11, 2009 by Zaz

[The Future]

Ugh Paul Jewell sighting.

[Zaz]

I can't see us getting a result with both King and Zokora in central midfield. Bring on Lennon or Bentley for one of them and shift Modric into the middle, would be much better.

Edit: Lennon on for Modric... eh, at least it gives us width, but we'd have to rely on O'Hara for anything through the centre (unless Zokora finds his feet and starts dribbling it).

Edited January 11, 2009 by Zaz

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Reports that the referee joined in the Wigan celebrations have been confirmed.

[alldaws1]

I hope we never play that formation again, it's made for a draw at best, never any chance of us scoring let alone winning. And why take Modric off for Lennon? Take Zokora off, we've still got King in defensive midfield. By taking away Modric he took away the link between midfield and strikers apart from the wingers who were never getting anywhere anyway.

[Zaz]

I just can't see Modric working in a 4-4-2 in the EPL. He's too small and seems to need at least two metres of room or he just gets muscled off the ball, and in the last couple of weeks he just hasn't been finding room. And Bent and Defoe are only good in the box, so we should have Pav on most the time as he can at least link with the midfield. I'd like to see Huddlestone and O'Hara get a go together in central midfield, they seemed to work well together once there before. And Bale just isn't good enough defensively at left back, so he either should be played at left mid or left out. Bale on one wing and Lennon on the other could go ok.

I also wouldn't mind seeing dos Santos as a second striker to Pav. He went really well in pre-season in that role but hasn't really been given a chance since. He was on the bench last week so he should be fit.

Edited January 11, 2009 by Zaz

[alldaws1]

That's rubbish about Bent and Defoe being only good in the box, they've both shown that they can pick the ball up and link with the midfield, Defoe more than Bent of course but then again Bent's the big striker, you don't want him to have to do that. Defoe didn't get much of a chance today but that was due to the horrible formation.

As for Dos Santos not being given a chance, he's been injured since before Redknapp took over. Yeah he made the bench last week because he's only just recovered from ankle ligament damage but he's still unproven in the Premier League. He was pretty poor when Ramos tried him in the league so there's no real incentive to give him a go at the moment. As I've said previously, every league game at the moment is a big one as we try and fight off relegation, this isn't the time to be giving fringe players a run out.

Edited January 11, 2009 by AD

[The Future]

Giggs matching Bosingwa for pace and winning the ball...great moment. ^_^

[IAceI]

Well this has been 30 minutes of petty squabbling.

I like Webb that he's trying to stamp on it early and trying to take control. But none of the players are going to listen to him because they're all so dense, so instead it's going to come down to a "such and such should have had a second yellow", mainly because they got a yellow early on or whatever.

[Matt]

Well this has been 30 minutes of petty squabbling.

I like Webb that he's trying to stamp on it early and trying to take control. But none of the players are going to listen to him because they're all so dense, so instead it's going to come down to a "such and such should have had a second yellow", mainly because they got a yellow early on or whatever.

This game should be about 8 vs 7 right about now.

[Adam]

This scoreline better stay the same-if so, how many more times can Liverpool get away with a slip-up!? Hopefully Everton do us a favour by losing the derby, then beating Arsenal & Man Utd the following week(s).

Dammit, Man U have scored before I even press 'Post'. Not good.

[Katsuya]

...that was an odd goal(s)...

[Hobo]

Sky are really hammering home the whole "GIGGS IS OLD" thing.

[Matt]

I like how United were complaining about their first goal not counting, when the whistle had blatantly gone about half an hour before the ball went into the net.

As for the second goal, why the fuck was Terry not marking Vidic properly? You don't take your fucking eyes off someone as dangerous as Vidic.

[TheArsenal]

I like how United were complaining about their first goal not counting, when the whistle had blatantly gone about half an hour before the ball went into the net.

As for the second goal, why the fuck was Terry not marking Vidic properly? You don't take your fucking eyes off someone as dangerous as Vidic.

Terry sucks. Simple as.