Premier League Thread 2015-16

They really haven't - both the same ability as they were when they left saints.

 

wheres he from Beefy?

 

Walcott is better than he was at Saints purely because he has acquired some maturity and football knowledge. But any progress he may have made due to his transfer to a bigger club is concerned, I think is highly dubious. I honestly think that if he had stayed with Southampton FC he would be a much better player today, simply because we improve players at all ages.

OXO has barely improved one single jot, imo. In fact, one could make an argument that he has gone backwards slightly. He hasn't even had the natural improvement with maturity. He is no longer the pacey winger who made accurate crosses and sometimes did something unpredictable and brilliant. He's had his 'danger' coached out of him. I'm sure he could still do it, but he doesn't. His strengths, that made Arsenal want him, are simply not called upon these days.

 

Ex-Udinese.

 

That umm....must be it...yes....err....

I went to the cinema instead.

 

Watching Barca now is making me feel better. 5-0.

 

On the Liverpool - Man Utd game.

 

This is unquestionably one of the strangest editions of the Premier League in many years. Compare it to 2012-13, which (not coincidentally, IMO) was the last year of the old TV deal. Seven teams finished on better than 60 points, and they were exactly the teams you'd expect. Five finished on 70+. No one else cracked 50; every team from eighth through twelfth had significantly more losses than wins. Six of the seven top clubs had goal differentials exceeding +20...the top clubs weren't merely winning against most other opposition, they were thrashing them most weeks, and no one else had even a sniff of the European spots.

This year, twelve teams are on pace for 50+, and with almost two-thirds of the season played, there are fourteen teams that can credibly claim that they have a shot at reaching the top seven and qualifying for Europe. It's a weird old jumble in the middle, and it's pretty great.

 

Agreed. The top teams aren't necessarily going backward too much, but the middle teams have improved in standard quite a bit. This is undoubtedly due in part to successive big TV deals coming on stream, the latest of which has kicked in this month. All I can infer from that is that the competition will get even closer. This may not be so great for the top teams and their fans but it's a hell of a lot better for the fans of all the other PL teams. It has greatly heightened the unpredictable element which is the spice of sporting entertainment. And the PL will be stronger for it.

 

However it looks like manager Ronald Koeman has bowled himself into a selection nightmare. With Shane Long in good form, Graziano Pelle still to return and Dusan Tadic and Ward-Prowse scoring goals, it will be very interesting to see where he plays new signing Charlie Austin.

Austin can score goals but not without a particular type of service. The other players mentioned have more than goals to their repertoire - so it looks like Sadio Mane could be on his way.

Garth Crooks's non-sequitur of the week.

 

It never ceases to amaze me that pundits think they know better, even in full knowledge that a football club has said that there will be no players leaving during this transfer window. Why don't they do the easy thing sometimes and just believe the football club, at least in public. Then they wouldn't look such idiots when nothing comes to pass.

Of course, nobody holds the pundits error strewn views up for later scrutiny, so they get away with it. Must admit, it would almost be worth opening a Twitter account so that, when the dust settled, one could send a message to the odd pundit with the single response - Wrong.

 

Yeah, it's a nightmare that we might actually have options and the ability to make meaningful substitutions. Damn this average attacking depth of ours!

 

Surely with all that attacking force, we don't need a goalkeeper. Forster could be on his way. Crooks hasn't thought this through clearly.

 

We need United, as they are the only team looking likely to push Spurs out of the top four. For that reason alone, I want them to keep winning. Starting from after next weekend, of course.

 

Someone needs to tell Garth Crooks that we already got rid of Caulker to make way for Austin. So far, he's scored 0 in 2 up top for Liverpool.

 

For those who think it's only Saints who are victims to the big clubs' recruitment methods, note that Arsenal have nicked Leicester's Head of technical Scouting.

 

Anyone got knowledge enough of theoretical physics, wormholes etc. to explain what happens if Spurs secure their target signing of Moussa Dembele from Fulham? How will they deal with the Mousa Dembele they already have, and will Fulham have a third Moussa Dembele behind him, ready to sell to Spurs in a few years' time?
Or will the world simply implode?

 

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Never heard of the guy. Then again, I'd never heard of Ranieri before he joined Leicester so maybe this'll be the guy to change swansea's fortunes

 

It's fine. The Dembele effect is well-known in space travelling circles and is part of the technology to create faster-than-light speeds in spacecraft. It involves creating a subspace bubble around the vehicle which can then theoretically exist in all parts of the universe simultaneously. When it goes wrong, as it almost invariably does, the only thing which is destroyed is the bubble itself and its contents, in this case, Tottenham and Fulham.