Official Premier League 2009/10 thread

[Hobo]

Albert Reira's apparent out burst on Spanish radio where it seems to say he says Rafa Benitez "thinks he's in charge" or something to that effect. I'd imagine because well... He is

It's not like Reira's a first choice player at the moment really. I think that has more to do with what he apparently has said more than anything.

[Crybaby Bunting]

I'm guessing that he meant "he (Benitez) thinks he's in control of the team" meaning that he's lost the support of the team.

Barring that glaring error I'd say the rant was vaguely correct.

The interesting quote was "If I'm doing something badly and you are my boss, and you value me, then you are going to come and tell me what I have to do to play again"

It seems a little bit like Benitez is not communicating with anyone who he can't be bothered with... which is a horrible trait to have as a manager. Unless he thinks that he'll magically get 8m+ from selling Riera without actually playing him or training him ¬_¬

[Crybaby Bunting]

Apparently Rafa rang him up to tell him that he's been fined and suspended...

NOW he talks ¬_¬

[therockbox]

Babel could figure out why he wasn't getting in the squad, the fact that Riera seemingly can't says it all.

[Grounded Wingman]

Babel could figure out why he wasn't getting in the squad, the fact that Riera seemingly can't says it all.

Didn't Babel have a talk with Benitez about what he needed to do to get in the team?

My guess is that Rafa's answer was not "Just bitch and whine on a Spanish radio program".

[therockbox]

Babel could figure out why he wasn't getting in the squad, the fact that Riera seemingly can't says it all.

Didn't Babel have a talk with Benitez about what he needed to do to get in the team?

Think so, came after a few of his moans on Twitter (although that was purely about not playing, he didn't single out the manager for criticism).

[Lineker]

Sunderland (and Bent for that matter) all of a sudden just can't stop scoring! 2-0 up on Brum already...

[IAceI]

Bent for England? If there's any justice.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Ouch. Really could have used that point.

Wolves managing a draw didn't help either. Staying up seems extremely unlikely at this point.

[Liam]

Bent for England? If there's any justice.

I'm one of Bent's bigger fans, and I just don't think he'd do it for England. He struggles when a system doesn't use him as a focal point.

A squad place could be argued for though.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Huge game today, almost a must win really. Typical that Liverpool get players back to fitness and find some form just as they're about to play us. I'd take any sort of a win today. Based on form and everything, we should win, but this is Liverpool and it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see them throw a dent into our title challenge.

[EddieG]

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Howard Webb still up to his old tricks?

He should be banned from reffing Man Utd games based on Man U/Spurs alone.

[stokeriño]

Sigh.

All I can hope for now is that Chelsea win today and on Wednesday.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Oh shut up. Arsenal had a man sent off for barely anything yesterday and the Macherano one was without a doubt worst, so he should have been gone based on that. Of course the usual people claim every referee is biased towards us and that's the only reason we ever win games

What a result. Had me worried for a while, but a great winner from Park. Not a great performance, but the victory was what mattered.

[therockbox]

Webb really is a shit referee, the only reason he gets an easy ride is because he pushes a few players round every now and again.

His ineptitude was matched by ours though, after the early goal we reverted back to letting Carragher hoof it up towards Torres. On the occasions we did try and play it Gerrard was fucking awful (shock), losing everything that came his way. It's no surprise that our best spell of the match came when Aquilani was in Gerrard's 'position', who should have been dragged off instead of Lucas.

edit: Mascherano's foul was no way a red card. Firstly it was outside the box so it wasn't even a penalty, and Carragher was (with the speed of a paraplegic, admittedly) coming across to cover. You can't make your decisions based on errors made by referees the day before.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I hear that the Man Utd midfield did a decent job on Gerrard to keep him quiet.

JohnnyPerfect, I trust it wasn't you who thumbed down the anti-Howard Webb comments?

It's not just the few of us on here who are questioning him AGAIN.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I hear that the Man Utd midfield did a decent job on Gerrard to keep him quiet.

JohnnyPerfect, I trust it wasn't you who thumbed down the anti-Howard Webb comments?

It's not just the few of us on here who are questioning him AGAIN.

No, it's not me.

And no, it's you who comes in here every time moaning about a referee and United. Of course you bring up the Spurs game every time. Can you not just get over it and move on? It's becoming tiring that every time we seem to win an important match, you come in here and claim we won basically because of the referee.

[therockbox]

I hear that the Man Utd midfield did a decent job on Gerrard to keep him quiet.

They didn't need to. Every time he got the ball his control was awful or his pass went straight to a Man Utd player.

Gerrard is an example of why giving players that 'lead by example' the captaincy is a mistake. When they're off form they've got absolutely sod all else to offer.

[Shelty92]

Referee this, referee that. United won because we had all the possession and didn't give Liverpool a chance to get their shit going at any point of the match. Torres should've scored at the 90 minute mark, but instead he bottled it and Benayoun couldn't head it in from the "rebound". Gerrard was shit throughout the match, and Fletcher and Park exploited the Liverpool defence with ease when we scored our winner. After Torres' fuck up you never looked like you even wanted to try and get the goal, you looked pathetic. So fix those problems first - then you can complain about the referee.

Edited March 21, 2010 by Shelty92