The whatever footie that's going on (with actual fans) thread

Stevo_666

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Might go over for the Boro vs Man City game like. And double it up with a good wee-wee up

You may as well, we've got nothing to lose as nearly everyone expects City to win. And if we do win, City will never live it down - not on this forum anyway

city_boy

Stevo 666 wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Might go over for the Boro vs Man City game like. And double it up with a good wee-wee up

You may as well, we've got nothing to lose as nearly everyone expects City to win. And if we do win, City will never live it down - not on this forum anyway

I'm sure we'll cope

Manc33

I wouldn't be poking fun at Man City if they lost to Boro, after all Boro did slaughter them 8-1 that time.

I certainly don't expect City to "just win" the game lol.

I reckon they will struggle a lot and possibly get a tight win from a set piece courtesy of you know who (FF).

shockedsoshocked

Tickets are a tenner apparently. Rude not to go!

Stevo_666

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Tickets are a tenner apparently. Rude not to go!

I know that atmosphere at the Twatihad is reputed to be a bit tame, but do they have to drop the prices down to non-league levels to fill it for a cup match?

Stevo_666

Back to business tomorrow - predictions, anyone with a crystal ball?

I would say come on you scousers but they're not really up to much at the moment.

Manc33

My crystal ball is in for a recharge, I'll have to use my glass one.

Sunderland 1 Liverpool 1
Everton 1 Man City 2
Leicester 2 Aston Villa 0
West Brom 0 Hull 0
Burnley 1 QPR 0
Chelsea 3 Newcastle 1
Swansea 2 West Ham 2
Crystal Palace 1 Tottenham 3

---

Arsenal 2 Stoke 1
Man Utd 4 Southampton 0

pinno

'3 legs' will win the Czarevitch stakes at Newton Abbot, Burnley will beat Huddersfield in the National Pie eating finals and Nobby 'Chub' Arkwright will win the BMX race across Alsager.

Stevo_666

Normality has been restored at the top of the league 8)

Looks like City's jammy run has ended, just when they get their strikers back. Buy a few more I say

tim_wand

Is it just me? Or is Gary Lineker morphing into a Jimmy Hill look alike?

Manc33

Give us a crisp Gary.

Man City drawing games they should be winning, love it. 8)

Stevo_666

tim wand wrote:

Is it just me? Or is Gary Lineker morphing into a Jimmy Hill look alike?

Not unless he has a face stretching op.

Stevo_666

Manc33 wrote:

Man City drawing games they should be winning, love it. 8)

I'm predicting they draw with Man U later this season

chris_bass

I reckon 2-1 to united today, they'll play badly but still win as they seem to do these days. Arsenal to draw against Stoke I think, although Hughes' record at Arsenal is terrible so Arsenal could win, or maybe Stoke (think that covers it, unless it is postponed I suppose!).

pblakeney

Manc33 wrote:

Man Utd 4 Southampton 0

Ah well. There, there now. Always next season.

slowmart

Van Gaal has collected the same number of points through 21 fixtures as Moyes had last season. :shock:

cornerblock

Manc33 wrote:

My crystal ball is in for a recharge, I'll have to use my glass one.

Man Utd 4 Southampton 0

You might want to send the glass one in as well, better still just smash it to pieces, that's if you haven't done that already!

chris_bass

Slowmart wrote:

Van Gaal has collected the same number of points through 21 fixtures as Moyes had last season. :shock:

but luckily for Van Gaal most of the other teams seem determined to make him look good by having even less points!!

Stevo_666

tlw1

Stevo 666 wrote:

no inner beauty there

Manc33

Shower of bastards. :x

cornerblock

Now now that's no way to talk about your team.

Manc33

Cornerblock wrote:

Now now that's no way to talk about your team.

OK... shower of unskilled tossers then.

Di Maria shoots for goal too much and wastes it. Can't have him up front again.

chris_bass

United are just really lucky this years premier league is very poor, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and United have all been very poor for long spells and as a result they could all still finish top 4.

My money is on United and Arsenal to finish behind Chelsea and City (in either order). I'd love Southampton to get 3rd or 4th but can't really see it.

Manc33

It was just the timing of it, we were due a loss. :roll:

Its a shame we didn't play them when they were losing 5 in a row.

Correction: Its a shame we didn't play them twice when they were losing 5 in a row. :oops:

lostboysaint

Chris Bass wrote:

United are just really lucky this years premier league is very poor, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and United have all been very poor for long spells and as a result they could all still finish top 4.

My money is on United and Arsenal to finish behind Chelsea and City (in either order). I'd love Southampton to get 3rd or 4th but can't really see it.

Why can't you? Only Chelsea and Man City to play of "top sides" away before the end of the season and currently in third after beating Arsenal, Man U (should have been twice) and having passed the halfway point of the season.

chris_bass

lostboysaint wrote:

Chris Bass wrote:

United are just really lucky this years premier league is very poor, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and United have all been very poor for long spells and as a result they could all still finish top 4.

My money is on United and Arsenal to finish behind Chelsea and City (in either order). I'd love Southampton to get 3rd or 4th but can't really see it.

Why can't you? Only Chelsea and Man City to play of "top sides" away before the end of the season and currently in third after beating Arsenal, Man U (should have been twice) and having passed the halfway point of the season.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if it happened, its just arsenal have the habit of sneaking in at the last minute and i think united will win enough given that they don't have that many games to play and will probably buy a few players in the next month. There is always the chance of Southampton losing some players either through transfers or injuries and i don't think they have the squad to cope.

I'd love to be wrong though.

lostboysaint

Forget transfers this month, unless someone offers us mental money (and that's NOT the £25m for Morgan - he's worth a lot more than that and is unlikely to leave for a team that is below us and has less chance of CL football currently. Injuries are something that every team has to cope with, but don't forget we drew with Chelsea without our first choice full backs (one injured, one ineligible because he's on loan from them) and beat Arsenal comfortably still without our first choice RB, without Morgan (suspended) and having to substitute Mane before half time and Toby just after. Oh, and we beat Man U with Toby going off after 20 minutes and without Mane (African Cup of Nations) and Tadic not starting. So not exactly a first choice line up - but a very clever manager who gets results out of the team that he is able to field.

Of course as we fly so low under the radar ("Chelsea go clear at the top, Man City are second, Man Utd lose ground and slip to fourth and Arsenal close the gap in fifth" - was just a typical example) that you, and many others, won't have realised that. Our biggest problem at the moment is Gary Neville telling everyone what we've known for years, that Morgan and Victor are the best holding partnership in the Premiership and either (or both) could drop into any top side in Europe, we've got the best English full backs in the PL (if not the best full backs regardless of nationality), we've got the best academy, the best manager, the best recruitment staff and, for the first time in a number of years (we played one round of UEFA Cup in the noughties) the best chance of European football for many seasons - and it's not luck that we're there.

tim_wand

Of course as we fly so low under the radar ("Chelsea go clear at the top, Man City are second, Man Utd lose ground and slip to fourth and Arsenal close the gap in fifth" - was just a typical example) that you, and many others, won't have realised that. Our biggest problem at the moment is Gary Neville telling everyone what we've known for years, that Morgan and Victor are the best holding partnership in the Premiership and either (or both) could drop into any top side in Europe, we've got the best English full backs in the PL (if not the best full backs regardless of nationality), we've got the best academy, the best manager, the best recruitment staff and, for the first time in a number of years (we played one round of UEFA Cup in the noughties) the best chance of European football for many seasons - and it's not luck that we're there.

All this is fantastic to hear, and despite being a Gooner , I genuinely wish Southampton well.
What I d like to know is how there has been such a contrast and a turn around since last year?

Six Months ago Southampton appeared to be a club in total turmoil! Owned by a Trust whos executive chairman could not agree a business plan with them, and the subsequent departure of a promising young manager in support of that Chairman.

The club then haemorrhaged its star players and looked as though premiership survival was a pipedream.

Some kind of miracle has occurred at Southampton, and its very applaudable (especially to us Gooners) in contrast to the way Levy has operated at Tottenham, Pochettino must be scratching his head at the very least!

I don't think Southampton's Youth academy has been a well kept secret, With products such as Bale, Walcott ,Ox Chambers , ( Shaw possibly) and now Klyne . However the way they get top dollar for these players but continue to produce possibly better back into the squad is nothing short of miraculous.

I genuinely wish Southampton well, but your not having Fourth ! You know how entitled us Gunners feel to that spot.

However if you could flog us Schneiderlin on the cheap then upset LVG by getting his love child Strootman off of Roma that really would make me like the Saints More.

lostboysaint

There's a few things to deal with there.

1. Ronald Koeman - the bloke is a complete genius. He's had an answer for just about every situation (in the PL - we've been guilty of complacency against Sheff U and Ipswich in the cups). Tactically brilliant and a manager that the players clearly look at and think "well if anyone knows what they are talking about it's you!"

2. We didn't lose our best players. We lost 6 very good players, but we didn't lose the best CMs in the PL (with the possible exception of Matic and Toure), two of the best defenders (England's new RB and a top drawer CB) and we signed unbelievably well - a CL winning LB (and the best English LB by a country mile), a CL finalist and Spanish League winning CB (and WC 1/4 finalist), the two highest scorers in the Dutch League (one of whom also had the most assists) and England's second best keeper (when there was nothing wrong with the keeper that we had!!

3. The new Chairman is a very, very shrewd guy. Nothing wrong with Cortese (although he was very Marmite) and he did a stunning job of getting us to where we were but this guy is clearly another genius. Whilst he wasn't "a football man" (neither was Cortese!) he clearly is a very shrewd business man and motivator and has worked within sports at elite level for years.

4. The club is about more than just a manager or chairman - ironically it was Cortese that put the structure in place that made the club more about the sum total of all the parts and less about the individual in one position. He gave a famous speech at a Leaders In Sport conference where he said Pochettino was "just a head of department" and got roundly criticised for it. Well both he and Pochettino were just "heads of department" because they've both gone, been replaced and it's business as usual!

5. The investment in the club (which in net terms isn't that much) has been used to improve every aspect of it. Our new training facility is state of the art. A lot of that comes down to Les Reed (DoF) and Cortese who scoured the world to understand what the best of the best looked like and put all those bits into a coherent facility.

6. Our recruitment - although the Head of Recruitment has gone to Tottenham (there's a shock!), the team that he worked with and the infrastructure is ahead of anyone else and continues to progress (again it's part of the Les Reed empire).

7. Our medical team is one of the best. Look at how few injuries (particularly soft tissue) that we get. Look at how many of our former players suffer injuries, alongside their new teammates, when they leave (and Arsenal are the worst and have been for years - have a look at Theo's, Alex's and Calum's record for us and then for you guys - it's just embarrassing!).

And that's just off the top of my head.

Don't get me wrong, if you back in the thread you will see that I completely understand how fortunate we are to have had the Liebherr family rescue us - but even then we had the stadium, we had the training pitches (not the building) and the infrastructure that made us attractive to buyers. I'd like to think that we'll never be arrogant having been where we've been and come back from there (it was noticeable for the first time at SMS this season that the City fans have now turned into obnoxious, arrogant arses rather than the great bunch they used to be). And I would be happy for anyone to give me a slap and remind me where we've been if ever I get like that!

And no, your sense of entitlement means nothing to us