Official Premier League 2009/10 thread

[Adam]

Yeah, no problem. Beating Malaysia 3-2 clearly shows that Man Utd are gonna romp to the title this season.

And what are the odds that's the last goal Owen scores in a Man Utd shirt for sometime? He'll probably break his ankle in the next game

I can't believe it's still a month 'til the season starts. At this stage I couldn't call who is lookign strongest for the title as the big four collectively haven't signed any 'major' new players (bar Glen Johnson and maybe Yuri Zhirkov).

[Thrilla]

Much like house shows in the WWE, games in Malaysia don't count in the record books >_>

[therockbox]

Beyond senior players not picking up any injuries and building up their fitness levels, friendlies mean as much now as they ever have - absolutely stuff all.

[IAceI]

They have their uses.

McShane out for 3 months! Woohoo

[Crybaby Bunting]

Not sure where to put this, but what do Liverpool fans think of the Gerrard situation now video footage has been found that see him completely in the wrong?

At first I was sure it was just part fabrication part overaction, but Gerrard's ever-changing story, the grounds for the argument and Gerrards mates also being apart of it have completely turned things around.

I wonder if this will also come with an unofficial ban from International games, regardless of outcome... not that the FA have ever been inconsistent with those ¬_¬

[Pesci]

He'll probably have to do a few hours of community service or something

[alldaws1]

BBC Sport reports Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson are all doubts for the first day of the season against Liverpool. They suggest Huddlestone and Corluka could fill in with maybe Dorian Dervite coming in if necessary. Pavlyuchenko and Keane are also doubts for the Wembley Cup against Barcelona and Celtic

Forget the other transfers, we need some defensive depth and quickly.

[Adam]

I alway thought Gerrard was as guilty as they initially said-it was always reported that he threw some punches. He'll get a fine and maybe some community service, which will be nothing to him.

The FA would be daft to ban him from playing for England, especially in a World Cup year. I can't imagine many people being happy about that!

[therockbox]

Gerrard's always been a cunt, it's not a secret.

[IAceI]

I read "smooth it over" way to many times in regards to the scrap.

And yeah, Gerrard's your typical lad - whose just pretty good at football as well. He'll get a telling off and a fine and everyone will stop caring. If anyone's currently care at the minute anyways.

[Zaz]

BBC Sport reports Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson are all doubts for the first day of the season against Liverpool. They suggest Huddlestone and Corluka could fill in with maybe Dorian Dervite coming in if necessary. Pavlyuchenko and Keane are also doubts for the Wembley Cup against Barcelona and Celtic

Forget the other transfers, we need some defensive depth and quickly.

We have heaps of defensive depth, all teams will struggle with their top 3 centre backs out injured.

[alldaws1]

Most teams have more than three centre backs in total.

What we have now isn't enough with how many injuries our current players get. Hutton and King are always carrying injuries, Woodgate and Dawson have their fair share and Bale's had his troubles before too. It's a rubbish excuse to use when you know how injury prone your players are. I'd rather get another player or two in than have to play people out of position all season long.

[Zaz]

Most teams have more than three centre backs in total.

What we have now isn't enough with how many injuries our current players get. Hutton and King are always carrying injuries, Woodgate and Dawson have their fair share and Bale's had his troubles before too. It's a rubbish excuse to use when you know how injury prone your players are. I'd rather get another player or two in than have to play people out of position all season long.

So do we? King, Woodgate, Dawson and Corluka could probably get a start at the majority of clubs in the league, then we have Dervite as our up-and-comer and Huddlestone and Chimbonda as fill ins when necessary. Even with the injury concerns, you'd think two of the top four would be able to start each game.

[alldaws1]

I meant proper centre backs. The others (barring Dervite but he's yet to play a senior game for us) would be filling in, CB isn't their natural position. It's fine having people who can cover there for a game or two but it's not ideal to have them playing there for long stretches of the season. Not only are they out of their comfort zone, it stretches the squad even further.

[Zaz]

tbf not many players would be interested coming in and being fifth choice centre back. At the very least Dawson and Corluka should be there for most of the season, King should be able to make as many appearances as he did last year and Woodgate's gone to the US to get his groin checked out, so he'll probably miss the start of the season at least, but will hopefully be fine after that.

[Clawson]

"It's City isn't it? They're a small club with a small mentality. All they can talk about is Manchester United; they can't get away from it," he said.

Does somebody want to remind Alex Ferguson that he's been the one bringing up City a lot lately while Hughes refuses to get drawn into any battles? What a child.

[therockbox]

He moaned when Benitez referred to Everton as a small club.

Double standards, eh?

[IAceI]

Can someone please get Evra some public relations training? He was comparing Man Utd to Michael Jackson and pretty horrifically botched it all when mentioning his death. Was cringeworthy.

[Zaz]

Evra is awesome. He's got some funny videos up on YouTube. Any PR training will just kill that.

[The Future]

Evra is hilarious!.

His interaction with Tevez and Ji Sung is epic, someone does need to give him shooting lessons though since he managed to miss an open net against the Chinese team