The Barclays Premier League Thread 2013/14

[Lineker]

Laudrup was going at the end of the season anyway, I reckon. Hope they get a good replacement in.

[Gorka]

It's not surprising, quite sad to see him go but any other club would've sacked him with the record he had since the cup win.

[brenchill]

I dunno about you guys, but I really got the impression he didn't give a fuck this season.

Last season he was being touted as the next Real Madrid boss. Now he'll probably end up at Fulham or something.

[FLiam]

Fulham are definitely getting relegated from the evidence of tonight's replay.

[Liam]

We are playing an incredibly meh side though. Most of our......ahem, best......players aren't/weren't playing.

[Jimmy]

Also ruled himself out of the Spurs job cos he didn't wanna leave somewhere in mid season. I know his record's bad, but I definitely wouldn't have sacked him.

[The Lusophone]

I still think there was some intent in what he did.

Graham Poll tells a story in his autobiography from just before the 2002 World Cup. The World Cup referees were all put in a room and explained how certain rules would be applied etc. At one point they're shown a challenge where one player elbows another whilst going up for the ball. Almost every referee there said it was a foul and a red card. The great referee and recurring Pro Evolution Soccer cover star Pierluigi Collina disagreed.

His reasoning was that it wasn't intentional because the players fist wasn't clenched, which it would've been for most players if he's trying to put any force behind it. It those kind of instances (adn in the Carroll challenge) body language can be an accurate indicator of intent, I'd reckon. Carroll's body language doesn't suggest any intent there.

(side note: it's really bad that I forgot who the ref's autobiography I read the anecdote from and had to search 'three yellow cards' to discover it was Poll).

[Gorka]

Eight wins since March 2012, one win in ten isn't bad enough to sack someone?

[brenchill]

As I said, he hasn't seemed interested this season. Probably a smart move from the Swansea board. They aren't going to go down this year, so why not get a new man in now? There have been rumours going around that he was leaving at the end of the season anyway.

[The Lusophone]

More like why he wasn't allowed full control over transfers. Crazy decision four days before a derby. Isn't the first time Laudrup has parted ways because of a bad relationship with the directors because of transfers, also happened at Mallorca, Getafe and Brøndby.

Wasn't Mallorca partly because of players not being paid?

[MJB]

As I said, he hasn't seemed interested this season. Probably a smart move from the Swansea board. They aren't going to go down this year, so why not get a new man in now? There have been rumours going around that he was leaving at the end of the season anyway.

They're only two points above the bottom three.

I wouldn't like to predict who's going down. Apart from Fulham

[brenchill]

I forgot they lost to West Ham.

But still, there are some pretty shit teams down there, I'd be surprised to see Swansea go.

[MJB]

To be honest, so would I.

Fulham look most likely at the moment. Norwich aren't too far behind. And Palace have only scored 15 goals in 24 games, so they'd probably be my third pick to go.

[The Lusophone]

I think Palace might pick up a bit now. They did some good business on deadline day.

[MJB]

To be fair, anyone from 10th downwards could still drop. Villa look bloody dreadful most weeks and are somehow in the top half.

[brenchill]

Fulham's upcoming fixtures aren't great either:

Man Utd (Away)

Liverpool (Home)

West Brom (Away)

Chelsea (Home)

Cardiff (Away)

Can't see them getting much from those games.

[MJB]

Now look at Norwich's last four. They've essentially got 10 games left to get enough points.

[Summers]

To be fair, anyone from 10th downwards could still drop. Villa look bloody dreadful most weeks and are somehow in the top half.

That's putting it nicely tbh.

[brenchill]

At this stage, I'd say it'll be Norwich, Fulham and Palace.

[NicklasBendtner]

More like why he wasn't allowed full control over transfers. Crazy decision four days before a derby. Isn't the first time Laudrup has parted ways because of a bad relationship with the directors because of transfers, also happened at Mallorca, Getafe and Brøndby.

Wasn't Mallorca partly because of players not being paid?

According to wikipedia: "Laudrup resigned from his job, following the firing of his assistant, Erik Larsen. Laudrup cited that great frustration with Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, the club's Director of Football, leading to a bad work climate as the main reason for his resignation". So probably a mixture of many things.

I still don't think it was a good idea, firing Laudrup. Only two points above the relegation zone and how will all the Spanish players react to the firing? Monk taking over, who was fighting with Chico Flores at a training not that long ago. I think they will go down this season.