Arry set the Levy expectation bar quite high after May 2010. The expectation of getting a CL slot with recent squads is sound. But maintaining it once sufficient UEFA games get factored in, maybe not. One advantage Sherwood has is being aware of what is in the Academy pipeline. The kids seemed to be like daylight to vampires as far as AVB went.
"Then Harry did well and Levy couldn't sack him for fear of what the fans would say. As soon as there were murmurings from the fans about Harry he was gone" Just like di Matteo at Chelsky. The finances and expectation levels may be different, but underneath it all is there really much difference between Oligarsky and Levy ??
Analysis of the table shows a number of things: 1. City, Chelsea & Liverpool owe their positions to exceptionally good home form. None have been consistent away. Each have away records significantly worse than Arsenal and Spurs (and even Utd). Utd showed a few years ago that you can win the league by home form alone, but can this form continue? Chelsea still have to play Utd, Everton, Arsenal, Spurs & Newcastle at home; City have only Chelsea of the top 8 - but that means tougher away games, of course. 2. Liverpool rely very heavily on Suarez. Liverpool's main Achilles heel in the past few seasons has been defending away from home. The list of teams which have scored 2 or 3 goals against them is ever increasing. This season they have conceded 20 goals away in 11 games (from which they have taken 15 points) - so no improvement; the trend continues. Yesterday highlighted how an exceptional player can mask shortcomings. If he's absent for any period again, they are in trouble. 3. Everton may be tough to beat (2 losses & 19 goals conceded only) but they haven't beaten a team above them - except Chelsea 1-0 back in September. In ten of their 21 games, they've scored 1 or 0 goals (4 nil-nils). They have yet to play Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Newcastle, Soton (A) and City, Arsenal, Utd (H). Top 4? Doubtful. 4. Arsenal's fixture list looks a lot kinder in the first half of the season. Their only two trips to top 7 sides so far resulted in defeat (6 at City don't forget!). So they have the other five still to play away (and Stoke & Soton) including a run of fixtures from 15th Mar (4 days after they play in Munich) to 5th April of Spurs (A), Chelsea (A), City (H) and Everton (A). Make or break time. Not over yet. No three teams pulling clear from what can see quite yet either.
Chelsea having visited the grounds of all of the current top 10 bar City and Liverpool might have a lot to do with that but lets not let facts get in the way of a good stat.
Jan to Feb seems to be evenly spread fixture wise for the current top 6. No one team IMHO has a better overall PL fixture schedule. March looks like being the crunch month for most of them. Those teams that can make hay before then, will be able to absorb the inevitable draws/losses in the "6 pointers" .
"In terms of managerial talent spotting ability, very little...they're both f**king useless." Also in terms of their hair trigger the moment either deems that 'failure' has occurred.
http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/premier-league/2013-2014/custom-table - Home table http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/premier-league/2013-2014/custom-table - Away table It's quite clear Arsenal have the best away record but what's overlooked is after tonight they'll have played all of the bottom 7 teams in terms of home form with the teams with the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th best home records still to play. Contrast that to Chelsea who have the 5th best away record in the league despite having already been to the teams with the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th best home records. Admittedly we are still yet to face the top 4 in terms of away form but given the fact we've beaten the 1st and 4th placed teams that gives us a distinct advantage over most, if not every other team. The home fixtures are going to get a lot tougher for us whilst the away fixtures are going to get a lot tougher Arsenal and City, I'd rather be in our shoes than theirs and have the tougher home fixtures, especially given our home record under Mourinho and record in the big games in general. Only Everton and Newcastle have beaten us out of the top 10.
Yeah, even though Utd won't win the title (miracles aside), there's still the chance to f*** it up for at least one of the others!
It's quite clear that Arsenal have the best away record? They're ahead of us on goal difference and that's largely down to our appalling visit to the Etihad.
That would just make City's title win more or less inevitable. Why would any United fan outside of London want City to win it above Chelsea or Arsenal? (I know what you said was in jest btw) But they do have the best away record, even if it's by a small margin and they've got an easy 3 points tonight to come as well.
Saying that they clearly have the best record implies that it's an enormous margin. I expect them to demolish an awful Villa side, but they did lose the home game on the opening day, somehow.
Sounds like he had a handicap on Madrid, bad move when they have played twice this week and are away to Espanyol.
No, he had Milan to beat Sassuolo as the last bet in his accumulator. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25684375 2-0 up after 13 minutes!
Swear he was angry that Ronaldo missed an open goal, might have been a handicap or he just wanted the game put to bed.
4 different accumulators. Two included City -1, Liverpool -1, Roma and the last I was waiting on was Madrid -1. One included Suarez, Negredo and Ronaldo to score anytime in a treble The last one included Madrid, City, Liverpool, Roma, Juventus and the last team I was waiting on was Milan. Ronaldo misses three 1 v 1 oportunities and an open net Milan go 2-0 up after 13 minutes and lose 4-3 You couldn't write it
