Official Premier League 2010/11 thread

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Just watching the Fulham-Arsenal game now and into the last 15 minutes. It seems like Fulham were purposefully throwing away their fairplay position. Sidwell's yellow card was basically pointless and Gera's two footed tackle looked so massively pre-determined - he slid from a LONG way out and flicked his feet up at the end. It seemed as though he was making sure he'd get a red card without injuring his target.

To be honest if that's what they WERE doing then I don't blame them.

[EddieG]

Manuel Pellegrini's agent claims Chelsea have made an enquiry for the Malaga coach.

Eugh no, he might've gotten us to the bottom of the league, but once he got to spend the new owners money and got the team playing he did a Dalglish and brought us back to 8/9th.

[brenchill]

Not sure how credible the source is, but this rumour seems to be gathering steam.

[url=http://www.caughtoffside.com/2011/05/25/aston-villa-to-make-shock-move-for-former-chelsea-manager/#more-61847]

[Lineker]

Personally I think that would be a brilliant appointment for Villa should they pull it off. Houllier won't last past Christmas.

[stokeriño]

Word is Ancelotti shaved £1m off his compensation fee in exchange for getting a "cannot manage in England for 12 months" clause waived, so who knows.

[Hobo]

Clearly Ancelotti is going to go to West Ham!

[stokeriño]

I think if Villa did offer him the job he'd take it happily, but otherwise I could see him sitting in the sidelines to see what comes up around Christmas.

[Pesci]

I don't really see the sense in replacing Houllier just yet. Okay, he's got his health problems, but he's got a few of his own signings there at the moment and Gary Mac seems to be doing an all right job - maybe just give him the job full time if Houllier can't carry on. It's been about 13-16 years (depending on your opinion of Parma in the mid-nineties) since Ancelotti managed a mid-table side and there's no guarantee he'll be a success. This is the guy who's just taken a strong Chelsea team to an awful 71 points.

[Summers]

If Hou can't carry on and we give Mac the job full time I'll riot. I'd take Ancelotti in a heartbeat.

[jack95]

I think when you weigh it up, anyone who'd honestly take Gary McAllister, a man who has never managed full time in the Premier League and looked distinctly middling in his spells in the Football League at Coventry and Leeds, over Ancelotti, Serie A and Premiership winner, along with two Champions Leagues, a Coppa Italia and FA Cup, needs their head examined. Never mind how "awful" 71 points are (and, being as it was the second best points total in the Premier League, it doesn't seem dreadful) he's still widely considered to be one of the best managers in the game, and would be a wonderful choice for Villa.

Now, whether the rumour is true is debatable, as it relies on the assumption that Villa would want to get rid of Houllier, and that Ancelotti would actually want the job in the first place.

Edited May 25, 2011 by jack95

[Summers]

Even if Hou is passed as healthy.. it's something to consider. His long-term health is probably always going to be at risk - he should step back. I don't want him falling ill next season too.

If Ancelotti is willing then it makes it all the easier - there's no one better our there and we should be chasing him down.

[Pesci]

Never mind how "awful" 71 points are (and, being as it was the second best points total in the Premier League, it doesn't seem dreadful)

Let's be fair. Man Utd won with a fairly poor points total and Chelsea got nine less than that. They finished 2nd so on paper it seems okay, but with players like he had he should've done better. They got fifteen points less than last season and he didn't replace proven squad members who left in the summer until it was too late. He did a bad job this season and people are glossing over it. Did he deserve to be sacked? Probably not. But it was well below par.

And different levels of football require different managers. Ancelotti was a great player so he got high-profile jobs almost immediately and he hasn't really proven he has what it takes to improve a mid-table team. But there's no denying he's a great manager. It's just the Gary Mac mark in me I suppose.

[Matt]

Gary Mac would last 6 months as Villa manager, if he was lucky. You think Arsenal over-pass, a Gary Mac team is ten times worse.

Edit: No disrespect to the guy, he's a legend but he's far more suited to being a coach/assistant than he is a manager.

[Berober]

I have started to come back around to Hou, but the report has him in a Director of Football style role, and I wouldn't mind that alongside Carlo. But it's rumour and who knows right now...

[britneyspearsisgod]

The whole "Chelsea only got 71pts" can be argued about Blackpool getting relegated on 39pts. I think it's not so much Chelsea, Man Utd or Arsenal being weaker as much as the rest of the table getting that little bit stronger where what would have been 3pts to a top 4 team turned into 1pt.

Although you also have to consider that 2nd is no bad thing in itself. This is the guy who won the Champions League with AC Milan and the double with Chelsea last season (09/10), so he's shown he's more than capable.

For Aston Villa, it would be a good fit. I would do it even if Houllier is healthy. Houllier, for all his strengths, hasn't quite found the formula at Aston Villa yet. And he holds great experience in youth development and organizing the structure of a organization. The work at Liverpool to implement Melwood and his work for the French national team proves this. In my view, you're getting the best out of him here. McAllister makes a good coach (although they wouldn't miss his services should he leave, I imagine) and in Ancelotti you have one of the best managers in Europe who holds experience in European competitions.

I'd call it a win-win in my book.

[Lineker]

West Ham have reported Sunderland to the Premier League for an illegal approach for striker Demba Ba.

The Hammers believe the Black Cats have contacted Ba, who is still under contract at Upton Park, about a move north, without their consent.

Sunderland have denied that they have approached the Senegal international.

The Premier League has said it has received a complaint from West Ham and will investigate the matter to see "if there is a case to answer".

A Sunderland spokesman said: "Sunderland AFC is fully aware of the Premier League regulations pertaining to player recruitment.

"If we are interested in any player currently under contract with another club, we will speak directly to that club, in line with the regulations."

Premier League regulations state that a club cannot approach a contracted player at another club, directly or indirectly, without written consent.

Ba is among a group of West Ham players whose futures look to lie away from Upton Park, following the club's relegation from the Premier League.

The 26-year-old, who scored seven goals for West Ham, has been linked to a number of Premier League clubs after impressing since his move from German club Hoffenheim in January.

[stokeriño]

The fans who have been happy with Ancelotti's departure have not so much pointed towards "2nd/no trophies isn't good enough" or "71 points is awful". They've mainly talked about things like his apparent inability to make any successful tactical changes during a match (if indeed he tried any at all), or an inability to motivate players for big games, or how even when half the first team were playing awfully he never tried to mix things up or give the kids a chance (a favourite example of theirs, no doubt aided by hindsight, is Carlo's refusal to try Sturridge in any meaningful way even when Drogba/Anelka/Malouda/etc. were all misfiring for weeks on end).

Not saying I agree with every one of those points, or more importantly that it justifies the way in which he was sacked, but those are the arguments.

[IAceI]

If Gary Mac get's the job then rightly Summers should riot. There's a precedent being set where caretaker managers are given the job full time because they don't do too awful in their stint. Ricky Sbragia springs to mind for us, he took over after Roy Keane spat his dummy out and won a couple and was given the job full-time. How much of that is down to his doing? How much of it is the team just responding to any sort of change?

If you want to be a manager then go to Rotherham or Northampton, hell even Woking or Kettering and work your way up but not given the job because you worked there and took over after the last manager. Anyways, that's a minor gripe for another time. Fact is if Ancelotti is available he should be at least considered somewhat before Macallister is even considered.

Mind you going from managing a team where you can sign players for £20m, £50m etc. and then going to a team where you're probably expected to recoup some if not most of what you spend would be a much different challenge for Ancelotti and you wonder if Villa would be better suited to a manager more used to working under tighter budget constraints. Either way you'd imagine Villa would at least speak to Ancelotti and it makes sense if they want rid of Houllier or are worried about him that it'd be best to do it while he's away from the game somewhat.

PS. Yay for Sunderland cheating! Bout time we caught up with the rest of the world.

[TCO]

I thought Demba Ba was only on loan. Shows how much I noticed/cared about West Ham.

I'd take him at Newcastle though. The same can be said with any decent Premier League striker.

[IAceI]

Demba Ba is a player who came to my attention at Hoffenheim and I was shocked when he agreed to go to West Ham as I thought he could go to a better Premiership team (at least a stable, mid-table team). And yeah, I think there was a lot of confusion over Ba's signing because he fell out with Hoffenheim and stomped his feet for a move but I don't think Hoffenheim wanted him to go but relented in the end.

Interesting that looking at his wiki page he was actually on the books at Watford as a youth player but was let go in the end and went back to France.