Official Premier League 2010/11 thread

[Baddar]

Or Taibi - hope he's the mystery GK who Gill has been talking about.

[Lineker]

What stand was that in? I didn't see it at the game. Unless it was in the West Stand in which case I wouldn't have been able to see it anyway.

[Pesci]

Saw this on a blog

The "worst Manchester United side in years" :

1. Won the league by 9 points

2. Contains the Premier League’s top scorer (21).

3. Enjoyed the best home form in Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign, winning 18 and drawing 1.

4. Picked up more points than the Treble winning side of 1999.

5. Booked a place in the European Cup final.

6. Contains the player with the most Premier League assists (18).

7. Lost 4 games, which was at least 4 games less than any other club.

8. Scored more goals than any other club (78).

9. Failed to score in just 5 games, which was less than any other club.

1. Had quite comfortably the worst set of challengers in 10 years to compete with, going by the points totals.

2. Relied on one player for 27% of their league goals.

3. Won just 5 away games.

4. Picked up less points than any title-winning team in the last 10 years.

5. Had an easy path to the European Cup final.

6. Were lucky they had a stand-out player to provide 23% of their goals.

7. Only recorded 23 wins, the lowest of any title-winning team in 12 years.

8. Conceded the second-most goals and has the second-worst goal difference of any title-winning team in the last 12 seasons.

And okay, I don't have the patience to research the last one but I'm sure I could come up with something. It's easy to spin numbers, and saying they "had an easy path to the final" is weak in particular, but in terms of league performance this hasn't been a great title-winning side. You won the title because you fucked up the least. No doubt you were the best team but in most other seasons you would have finished 2nd or 3rd and that has to be the point of comparison with stuff like this.

To be honest, though, that's the way I like it. This was an awesome season in terms of mid-table, where for the entire season a team could shoot up four or five places with one win, and the relegation places, but the title race was awful. Get a decent title race on the go and I'd rather see a team win with like 75 points than a copy of Spain where Barcelona absolutely dick it and Ronaldo can score 11 goals in the last 4 matches because he feels like breaking a record.

[Jimmy]

Seeing as people are quoting sources. One of my sources says Conor Wickham to Arsenal is practically a done deal.

Not very relevant but I'm throwing it out there so I can say I called it!

[TCO]

Sorry

I wouldn't take it for 100% truth, but it did come from a player, could be dressing room speculation!

[therockbox]

So apparently Ryan Giggs took out a super-injunction to stop the press reporting that he had an affair with Imogen Thomas.

Would never have guessed it was him.

[britneyspearsisgod]

Shocked! SHOCKED TO THE CORE I SAY!!!!

Meh. I wouldn't have cared if it wasn't him. If they want to cheat on their wives with Big Brother contestants, go ahead. Their mistake.

[therockbox]

[Summers]

Fair play to him. I would.

[hugobomb]

Ugh. We just didn't try against Spurs, we went for the draw knowing it might not be enough (which in the end it wouldn't have been). I would have been far happier had we gone out like Blackpool, fighting until the very end. After the Carling Cup victory we just didn't play well enough to justify Premiership survival. Next year is goiong to be strange with us playing Championship football and Europa League football (of which I hope we make the group stage, anything after that is a bonus).

We need to spend this summer, not to gain promotion, because I think we have the squad to do that (so long as we avoid the injuries we have this season) but to get a good Premier League squad for the year after. Mainly I want a new striker because Jerome is not a Premier League striker and never has been. Also I want Young to follow up on his promise to give us 45M to spend, but thats just being silly. I mean Young following up on a promise? That's just crazy

[Summers]

lol, that is all.

[hugobomb]

lol, that is all.

That's a fair assesment of our season.

Edited May 23, 2011 by HugoAbs

[Summers]

Fair assessment of yr club.

[brenchill]

£45m over two - three seasons maybe. Europa League or not, the only players Blues will be attracting this summer are Premiership journeymen.

[Regia]

Ugh. We just didn't try against Spurs, we went for the draw knowing it might not be enough (which in the end it wouldn't have been). I would have been far happier had we gone out like Blackpool, fighting until the very end. After the Carling Cup victory we just didn't play well enough to justify Premiership survival. Next year is goiong to be strange with us playing Championship football and Europa League football (of which I hope we make the group stage, anything after that is a bonus).

We need to spend this summer, not to gain promotion, because I think we have the squad to do that (so long as we avoid the injuries we have this season) but to get a good Premier League squad for the year after. Mainly I want a new striker because Jerome is not a Premier League striker and never has been. Also I want Young to follow up on his promise to give us 45M to spend, but thats just being silly. I mean Young following up on a promise? That's just crazy

We need a whole bunch of new players, not only to replace the ones that are leaving (whether because of loan, being out of contract or being sold), but also to make sure we have enough fresh legs to play the games next season. There is a potential of playing in Europe, the league and in the cups, meaning we could very well have weeks that are Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday.

But Mcleish needs to change his style of play. Playing for a draw all season has cost us dearly, we need to attack, we need some good strikers. I could see this being a transition season, with new, young players coming into the squad. The only problem with that is that it may also mean it will take a couple of years to get back into the top flight.

I think we should have an attempt at getting Jay Bothroyd. His contract has run out at Cardiff, and he has to be better than Jerome.

Edited May 23, 2011 by regia

[Sam]

I agree that your style was the main problem, you were so negative it was unreal. It is not a loss to the Premiership to lose that style of play. I wonder which players of yours will go though? Zigic? Danns? Johnson?

[Regia]

It was a horrible style of play, a style that not even Blues fans wanted to watch. The problem was Mcleish appeared to be going for the 'try and get a point, might get lucky and get a win' approach. If that style continues I hope they do get rid of him, because its not a style of play you can be successful with.

Apparently Jiranek is already gone, Hleb, Bentley, Martins and Derbyshire have gone back to their clubs, and Phillips, Larsson, Bowyer, Taylor and Parnaby are out of contract. I can see Johnson being snapped up by a Premier League side, but Dann's injury may put clubs off, at least until January. Ferguson and Foster may have to go because of their wages, but I hope it isn't the case, especially with Foster. There's also Talk of Zigic and Ridgewell being on their way, but by the sounds of it Gardener is going to stay put, but I guess we'll see who actually goes once the transfer window opens.

Edited May 24, 2011 by regia

[Blue Rosler]

West Ham want McLeish as the new boss. That makes sense, have the new manager ALSO have taken their club into relegation.

But they are trying to get Tomasz Kuszczak to replace Green which isn't a horrible move.

[Lineker]

Nah, they want Dave Jones, apparently.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Wait, Bentley was at Birmingham all season?! Can't say I noticed...