The Premier League Thread - Part II

Indeed.

There are two sensationally massive PL games next weekend. Liverpool - Man City, and Fulham - Norwich. You can pretty much forget about the other matches.

Given those final four fixtures of Norwich's that you've listed, and given that Fulham would be just two points behind Norwich (with a nice fixture list to come) should Fulham win, I honestly do not think it is stretching it to say that Norwich's whole season boils down to this one game.

I'm not saying that they're relegated already - if they beat Fulham, they almost certainly survive. But it is, basically, all down to this one game. And they've given it to a rookie manager...

 

Why sack him now for christ sake? Could have done it months ago as their form was the same. I like Hughton. Their squad isn't great and no one else would be doing that much better. Fans should have shown him a bit more respect, as he is a decent guy, and didn't deserve some of the stick he got. I hope they go down now to be quite honest, and there is every chance they will.

 

[video=youtube;eFmuO6xJ36g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFmuO6xJ36g[/video]

 

They're exceptionally lucky that the bottom of the table has been this dire, as well; in most years they'd need to win the Fulham match and get a result against one of the other four to have a shot. Last time a team survived with fewer than 35 points? West Brom in '04/'05...don't think any reminder is needed concerning how that came to be.

 

no. Everyone had written off the last 4 games, which is crazy. It may mean nothing now, but I would still have expected them to pick something up... that is what happens in football.

 

As far as I'm aware, 04/05 is the only time it has happened, not just the last time.

Nearly spat my drink out earlier when Sky suggested that West Ham might still want another point or two, as the survival line might yet be above 38.
EXCUSE ME SKY??!!! You think two of that bottom four are getting 38+ points?!!

 

Indeed, I believe that it is.

Heh, if (as is possible, though not terribly likely) the 11th-placed team finishes on 40 points, can we petition for the entire bottom half to be relegated? What a nutty season.

 

Yeah, there's a reason why they're bottom 4: they're ****!

 

Mauricio is now the 7th longest serving-manager at a Premier League club. Madness.

 

12. The next highest is 7, we've had 3.

 

Looks like the referees want Liverpool to win the league then.

 

Looks like they've been helping them for some time. In the 12 years since the 2002-3 season Liverpool have been awarded 73 penalties, the highest of all the current PL teams. Obviously, not all of today's teams have always been in the PL for that period.

We've had 15 pens for the 5 seasons we have been in the PL since 2002-3 and missed none.

http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Premier_League_Penalty_Statistics.html

 

Jason Roberts ‏@JasonRoberts30 2 hrs
Quite amusing that people are awaiting my response rather than having some serious thoughts about why we have no black managers in the game.

Jason Roberts using the race card as to why Hughton got sacked.

 

I think that there is a bit of institutional racism, but remove that and there'd still be a fewer black managers in proportion to the amount of black players there are, as well as a lower % of FL managers who are black than the % of people from the UK who are black. Maybe, on average, black people are less interested in managing a club, you shouldn't force them into managing. There are more male doctors than female doctors, maybe men have more of an interest in that profession?

 

Has Sol "I'd be a better captain than Beckham" Campbell had his say yet?

 

On SSN now, Spurs are to replace Sherwood in the summer and Pochettino is made joint second favourite with De Boer at 10/1. Van Gaal clear favourite though at this time.

 

http://www.squawka.com/news/2014/04/07/reports-spurs-set-to-replace-tim-sherwood/2014040793393?

DON'T PANIC

 

New Norwich City manager Neil Adams and Chief Executive David McNally in live press conference now - on BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/26435081

 

McNally: "We gave him (Hughton) every opportunity to improve the club's fortunes. Norwich City fans will tell you, the football this season has been... inconsistent."

"Well firstly, we will not go down."

 

It's quite odd, they've got the club captain in the press conference too.