Those that have said Peanuts played well, yeah that was the most positive he's been for us. Gio though, if he can't do it against Shamrock then he's got no ****ing chance. the young spanish lad who came on, falque, has always impressed me when i've seen him, he needs to bulk up a bit but he looks a good prospect. i wonder if we'll make that one permanent.
Interesting point about money Luke, because in todays game that is what makes the CL so important to teams, and the lack of it in the EL in comparison is a factor in teams not taking it so seriously.
We have the option to buy him at the end of his loan, but he's not really featured much and his favoured position seems to be playing in the hole, so his chances will be limited. Looks pretty decent though, so who knows?
Yeah he's got a very good touch & he seems intelligent on the pitch. He'll have to be patient as you say if we took him on but i like what i see there.
On a slightly more serious note, did a SINGLE (SoS- note correct usage of emphatic upper-case) corner manage to clear the first man? It was like he had a tractor beam attached to his forehead that just guided the ball into the inevitable clearance! Honestly, I used to take the corners for my sunday league team, and getting the ball BEYOND the man at the near post was something I'd mastered by the age of 13. Our set-pieces were a blotch on an otherwise promising display.
So if the Premier League really is the best league in the world, as Sky keep saying, why is it only three of the eight clubs in European competition got past the first round of their respective competitions? At least we have an excuse...
City had a hard group, United were just ****e, Birmingham are a Championship side and got a tough draw and we didn't take it seriously enough and were depleted by injuries and absentees. Fulham played 8 games to get to the group, so I don't think that they can really be said to have gone out at the first hurdle.
It's a fair question HBIC, and part of the answer is because the Prem is sooooo much more valuable than the EL, there's not really a choice as far as priorities go. The Championship actually has more money in it than the EL, in so far as promotion is a lot more valuable than winning the EL. Brum apparently rested players tonight, because they're playing the mighty Palace on Monday, that's the state of affairs now re the EL. The Prem is much more valuable than the CL too, but as CL teams aren't in danger of relegation (so far anyway) and the CL is a lot more valuable and prestigious than the EL, teams take that seriously. Look at the way the Russians and Greeks treated this tournament, both teams and fans. The EL is a big tournament for them, partly because they get to play clubs like us, even though we're not that interested. To me the Prem is the best league in the world, despite having awful teams like Stoke in it, but if someone said LA Liga is better I could go along with that. At least a 'Spanish Stoke' would be whistled off the pitch by home and away fans and quickly find themselves regularly playing with ten or nine men and losing. Incidentally, according to this we still lead the UEFA rankings and have a higher coefficient than Spain, despite this (poorish) season so far. http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/crank2012.html Note also we have the same amount of teams in the CL as Spain, and the same amount in the EL. So far Spain are not doing noticeably better than us this season, though I accept that they may have done by the end of the season. It's still highly likely though that we will be leading the 5 years coefficient table, this being one of many reasons why it is justifiable to call the Prem the best league in the world.
To be honest i just cant respect a trophy that has such a system where a bunch of teams who have failed miserbly(United,City) in another competition(champions league) are allowed to enter the best part of another tournament(europa league) whilst those that earned the right to be in it originally have not qualified...id rather 3rd placed teams in the league stages of the europa went through instead of 3rd place teams in a totally different competiton..how absurd..how money orinetated..how FIFA...bunch of fukin pricks!!!
England also comfortably leads this seasons coefficient points - way ahead of Spain - 99-79, and way ahead of everyone else too http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/ccoef2012.html So the UEFA coefficients remain strong indicators that the Prem is still the strongest league in the world (The top 4 European leagues are also the top 4 world leagues)
I agree about Gio - his heart doesn't seem to be in it at all. He was no worse than Defoe though (just about the only thing he did was score a massively lucky deflected goal from an offside position) - its not hard to see how the likes of Pav and Gio get the hump when Defoe stays ahead of them in the pecking order however bad he plays.
I don't agree Dona Mara - think of the CL knock-out stages as the top event and the EL as the consolation event. The teams in the CL league stage are by definition better than those in the EL league stage and having a 'prize' for third place in the CL league stage helps maintain the integrity of that competition via giving more teams something to play for. The EL last 32 qualification just comes from two routes - the same as the 3rd round of the FA Cup where to use your exact argument, clubs who have failed miserably in another competition (eg Blackpool in the previous year's PL) are allowed to enter in the third round alongside those who have qualified by winning kock-out matches.
