The Barclays Premier League thread 2015/2016

[DavidMarrio]

Third place is good...enough I suppose. Bronze medal, champions league place etc etc. 

Least I won the score predictor

[Adam]

I'm also happy with 4th, I usually do terrible at Fantasy League and have actually had a good year. I'm set to win the money league between me and my mates, which has never happened before.

[Lineker]

Chelsea and Tottenham have been handed fines of £375,000 and £225,000 respectively following the fall-out from their feisty Barclays Premier League encounter at Stamford Bridge on 2 May. The case was heard by an independent regulatory commission, at which both clubs accepted the charges and were also warned about future conduct.

Everton’s plans to relocate from Goodison Park to a new stadium on nearby Walton Hall Park have been scrapped. The scheme, Everton’s third attempt to move from its historic Goodison home in recent years, has been beset by controversy with local residents campaigning against a stadium, retail and housing development on the park. Everton’s chief executive, Robert Elstone, and Liverpool’s mayor, Joe Anderson, were also involved in a public dispute last year over the lack of progress on the Walton Hall Park plans.

Antonio Conte has been acquitted of allegedly failing to prevent a match-fixing scandal when in charge of Siena in 2011. The Italian judge Pierpaolo Beluzzi said Conte was acquitted because the accusations of sporting fraud were baseless. Conte, who has already served a ban imposed by the Italian football federation in connection with the case, has always denied any wrongdoing.

[DavidMarrio]

Everton could have been gracing the same fields where my illustrious amateur centre back career was at it's peak...those were the days 

[Stevie B]

 

8 hours ago, Gazz said:

So, let's talk about the real greatest prize in the Premier League, the EWB fantasy football league.

As it stands, with only Man Utd vs Bournemouth left to play, @Stevie B's Inter Shikari hold a 3pt advantage over @Summers' Aston Valencia.

But potentially, Summers is the favourite to win, as he has 2 Man Utd players in his squad (DDG and Smalling) compared to Stevie's 1 (Rashford). A clean sheet for Man Utd would probably clinch the title for Summ, unless Rashford bags a goal or two at the other end.

I seem to have done alright in my first Fantasy Football that I haven't forgotten about after the first game. I brought in Giroud this week... I really should have made him captain! First time i've topped the group at the last hurdle... just need Rashford to have a blinder and Bournemouth to nab a couple of goals. Maybe a sending off for Smalling or something.

[Nerf]

11 hours ago, Lineker said:

Chelsea and Tottenham have been handed fines of £375,000 and £225,000 respectively following the fall-out from their feisty Barclays Premier League encounter at Stamford Bridge on 2 May. The case was heard by an independent regulatory commission, at which both clubs accepted the charges and were also warned about future conduct.

Okay, my hatred for Chelsea far outweighs my hatred for Tottenham, but that is absolutely ridiculous.

[Baddar]

7 hours ago, Stevie B said:

 

I seem to have done alright in my first Fantasy Football that I haven't forgotten about after the first game. I brought in Giroud this week... I really should have made him captain! First time i've topped the group at the last hurdle... just need Rashford to have a blinder and Bournemouth to nab a couple of goals. Maybe a sending off for Smalling or something.

Through the years, I've probably started 8 or 9 Fantasy Football games but never touched them outside of the first week. I just can't get on with them. There was one that was run very well on another site which had everyone given a starting budget and people had to bid on players. Everyone had even, but completely different squads, and could then transfer players between one another. That's more my kind of thing, but I was late to the party. 

On topic, tonight is kind of pointless, isn't it? Win or draw and we're 5th, lose and we're 6th and still have a second chance at automatic Europa League qualification on Saturday. Yay. 

I can't remember, but did LVG address the crowd at the end of the last game, last season? I'd be interested to hear the reaction if he does so tonight. I'm sure he'll cling to the fact that we're in a final. 

[Benji]

1 hour ago, Nerf said:

Okay, my hatred for Chelsea far outweighs my hatred for Tottenham, but that is absolutely ridiculous.

Seriously, I thought I misread that at first.

[brenchill]

22 hours ago, MDK said:

My favourite goal will always be Trevor Sinclair's overhead from outside the box. The Beckham one is up there as well.

PICK THAT ONE OUT YOU BEAUTY! 

It's good, but it's not Dalian Atkinson good

 

[Jimmy]

1 hour ago, Nerf said:

Okay, my hatred for Chelsea far outweighs my hatred for Tottenham, but that is absolutely ridiculous.

It's purely to do with past offences, otherwise it would be beyond ridiculous. 

Quote

Prior to this fixture, Chelsea had breached FA Rule E20 on four separate occasions and Tottenham Hotspur twice since November 2014. Following the Independent Regulatory Commission hearing, both clubs were also warned as to their future conduct.”

 

[Nerf]

2 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

It's purely to do with past offences, otherwise it would be beyond ridiculous. 

 

I feel dirty for saying this, but honestly, I don't see that Chelsea actually did anything wrong other than get kicked around the park for 90 minutes.

[Jimmy]

8 minutes ago, Nerf said:

I feel dirty for saying this, but honestly, I don't see that Chelsea actually did anything wrong other than get kicked around the park for 90 minutes.

I dunno, we were undoubtably worse, but Costa, Fabregas and Willian were all at it. A lot of accounts say Fabregas is the reason the brawl broke out at the end, because he went around flicking people in the groin and taunting the Spurs players in Spanish (which sounds about as petty as you'd expect in a football game, from both sides, especially to get annoyed by it). They were definitely not blameless, I think a lot of it started with the build-up, but we lost our heads completely and were by far the worse of the two in the game.  

[Nerf]

Just now, Jimmy said:

I dunno, we were undoubtably worse, but Costa, Fabregas and Willian were all at it. A lot of accounts say Fabregas is the reason the brawl broke out at the end, because he went around flicking people in the groin and taunting the Spurs players in Spanish (which sounds about as petty as you'd expect in a football game, from both sides, especially to get annoyed by it). They were definitely not blameless, I think a lot of it started with the build-up, but we lost our heads completely and were by far the worse of the two in the game.  

Didn't the brawl break out when Danny Rose fouled someone? (Fabregas?)

[Twist]

5 minutes ago, Nerf said:

Didn't the brawl break out when Danny Rose fouled someone? (Fabregas?)

I'm assuming he meant the post final whistle brawl?

[Nerf]

1 minute ago, Twist said:

I'm assuming he meant the post final whistle brawl?

Oh, there was another one? I pretty much turned it off as soon as the game was finished.

[Twist]

Just now, Nerf said:

Oh, there was another one? I pretty much turned it off as soon as the game was finished.

Yeah, shit kicked off.

[Adam]

2 hours ago, brenchill said:

It's good, but it's not Dalian Atkinson good

 

Incredible, some amazing goals in there - mostly from Villa! That last one from Dwight Yorke is sumptuous.

I swear they still use that song on Match of the Day now? I've definitely heard it on some kind of goals competition in the last year or two.

Also, is this footage from the coverage of the FA Cup Final that was Sheffield Wednesday's last Wembley appearance? How very appropriate if so, as they booked their trip back to the big stadium last night.

[Gazz]

That's 'The Life of Riley' by The Lightning Seeds, seminal football song.

[Adam]

Ah thank you, don't know why I didn't know that.

[stokeriño]

I still don't buy the idea that the Spurs players 'lost their heads'. Maybe in the last 10 minutes after we drew it back to 2-2, but they were throwing themselves into crunching tackles at 0-0 and even when 2-0 up. They evidently went out onto the pitch with the full intention of kicking the shit out of their opponents.