English Premier League

[sammivalentine]

Originally Posted by dauls

The second half of the Premier League season should be interesting this year. Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal to battle for the title and fill the top 3. But Liverpool are going to have a tough time fighting for 4th place against Spurs, Man City and Aston Villa.

Man U fans shouldn't go knocking the FA Cup. If it wasn't for their win against Crystal Palace in 1990 Fergie would surely have been sacked following 5 trophy-free seasons. Twenty years of success have been made on the back of that FA Cup win.

the catalyst was more like the mark robins header away at notts forest that saved his job - one goal changed it all, he was 7 mins from getting sacked. cant win an FA cup if you are sacked

[dauls]

Originally Posted by sammivalentine

the catalyst was more like the mark robins header away at notts forest that saved his job - one goal changed it all, he was 7 mins from getting sacked. cant win an FA cup if you are sacked

Speculation about Fergie's job ran throughout the season and I bet finishing the season 5 pts above relegation at 13th place in the league didn't make him feel safe. Then trailing 3-2 in extra-time to Ian Wright's second goal he must've thought he'd dodged the bullet for the last time. Trust Mark Hughes to score the equaliser and force the replay.

It's such a shame Crystal Palace couldn't convert any of their chances in the replay. I was in a bar at university watching both games hoping, along with most of the other drinkers, that Palace would beat the Scum, and Fergie would lose his job (he was a total back then too). But no luck.

Looking back the amazing thing about that final is the make up of the two teams.
- Palace had 11 English starters and 2 English subs.
- Man U had 8 English, 2 Scots and 1 Welsh, plus a bench of Robins (Eng) & Blackmore (Welsh).

The only change in the replay, Man U's goalie Leighton (Scottish) dropped for Sealey (English).

Only 3 non-English players involved. Can't believe it was only 20 years ago.

[sammivalentine]

Originally Posted by dauls

Speculation about Fergie's job ran throughout the season and I bet finishing the season 5 pts above relegation at 13th place in the league didn't make him feel safe. Then trailing 3-2 in extra-time to Ian Wright's second goal he must've thought he'd dodged the bullet for the last time. Trust Mark Hughes to score the equaliser and force the replay.

It's such a shame Crystal Palace couldn't convert any of their chances in the replay. I was in a bar at university watching both games hoping, along with most of the other drinkers, that Palace would beat the Scum, and Fergie would lose his job (he was a total back then too). But no luck.

Looking back the amazing thing about that final is the make up of the two teams.
- Palace had 11 English starters and 2 English subs.
- Man U had 8 English, 2 Scots and 1 Welsh, plus a bench of Robins (Eng) & Blackmore (Welsh).

The only change in the replay, Man U's goalie Leighton (Scottish) dropped for Sealey (English).

Only 3 non-English players involved. Can't believe it was only 20 years ago.

Ah yes, football did exist before the premier league, selling TV rights to Mr Murdoch etc...!! and how different it was

[dauls]

Only 2 out of 10 Premier League ties survived the weather this weekend. But with Arsenal and Man U dropping points it hasn't all been bad news.

As usual Fergie managed to get 6 extra minutes in a second half without that many delays. It clearly wasn't enough, do you think he'll ask for 10 minutes next weekend?

A newspaper item this week said the stats show Man U get on average between 90 seconds to 2 minutes more time added on if the are looking for an equaliser or winner compared to when they are leading after 90 minutes.

Originally Posted by dauls

As usual Fergie managed to get 6 extra minutes in a second half without that many delays. It clearly wasn't enough, do you think he'll ask for 10 minutes next weekend?

A newspaper item this week said the stats show Man U get on average between 90 seconds to 2 minutes more time added on if the are looking for an equaliser or winner compared to when they are leading after 90 minutes.

I see he also had his usual moan about the ref - basically, he's doing a good job if the decisions are going their way, such as giving the 'controversial' equalizer (I haven't seen it yet, so don't know if it was or not) but then he's doing a bad job when they're not - such as sending-off Fletcher.

According to the papers today, it seems that he could be having a player clear-out as well, with Berbatov set to be the first out the door.

[dauls]

Originally Posted by Natalie_J

I see he also had his usual moan about the ref - basically, he's doing a good job if the decisions are going their way, such as giving the 'controversial' equalizer (I haven't seen it yet, so don't know if it was or not) but then he's doing a bad job when they're not - such as sending-off Fletcher.

According to the papers today, it seems that he could be having a player clear-out as well, with Berbatov set to be the first out the door.

It was a soft second yellow card for Fletcher. Whilst I enjoyed seeing them reduced to 10 men, I was surprised the ref thought it was worth a booking. Earlier in the game he failed to book Paul 'Dirty Bastrd' Scholes for a tackle that was much worse.

Unfortunately the replays did show that the Man U players behind Scott Dann were onside in the run up to Dann's own goal. The 'controversial' aspect was the referee overruling the linesman who raised his flag as the goal was scored. The ref went over to the linesman for a few words before confirming the goal. I wonder what they said? ["Did you get the envelope of cash from Fergie at half-time?" "Yeah." "OK, it's a goal."]

If they do have a clear out, I wonder how much of a loss Man U will have to swallow on Berbatov? No one will pay anything like the ?30M he cost. Surely a loss is covered by the Ronaldo profit, and if their finances are really stretched they can always sell Rooney.

[deaflad78]

Pity that you all don't talk about the championship. I still support Newcastle united and the number one club. I am so laughed so hard at Manchester united's loss in the face cup.

What a big headed team they are, and I think fergie should better get an retirement package very soon.

[sammivalentine]

Fergie is no idiot, whinging about injury time to the media dusts over the fact they really are struggling without Ronaldo, highlighting how he carried them for the last two seasons - fact.

It also papers over the "100 games+ of fergie rotating players", something that Rafa got publically "media raped" for... even when Rafa was winning..:P

Its pretty much nailed on that most of the money Man Utd get from a clear out will go the same way as the funds from our sale of Robbie Keane, Alonso and the current Anfield "mini clearout" went... to pay off ridiculous interest.

Hicks, Gillette, Glazer and co really need to be driven out of football.

Ahemmm. x