5000-1 - The 2016/17 Premier League thread

[Dolphin Ziggler]

First topic message reminder :

The other thread is coming to an end and I think it's nice to have a new memory to take us through this year.

And with the new season starting today, what better time to refresh things and start again. The preamble of pre-season is over: 2016/17 LETS BE AVIN YA

[Guest]

I don't care what anyone or Billy Bonds says. There's something beautiful about football being played in an Olympic arena. To me that is stunning.

[wisden]

come on you irons!!!!!!!!! It annoys me though that we don't employ an out an out striker...Zaza is a winger not a striker... how we can expect to score regular goals and win games, when we don't play a genuine forward..

[Guest]

WHU 0-3 Southampton - Austin, Tadic & Ward-Prowse

Looks a long season ahead for WHU

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Zaza has never been a winger...

We're awful. Kouyate is a Kumquat

[Ent]

The experienced winners were well past their best and needed moving on.

I just found it hilarious how quickly United fan's smug superiority vanished after just 6 months.

Evra still starting for juve and until recently France.

Need a balance, some presence in the dressing room would have been useful.

He left us with Rooney as the only senior pro!

Sounds like you're just jealous tbh.

[Crimey]

The experienced winners were well past their best and needed moving on.

I just found it hilarious how quickly United fan's smug superiority vanished after just 6 months.

He left us with Rooney as the only senior pro!

Michael Carrick? Darren Fletcher?

Nemanja Vidic and Ferdinand left after he had already gone and they were past it.

Patrice Evra's departure wasn't particularly complained about at the time, hindsight is 20/20.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Sounds like you're just jealous tbh.

I almost want to ban you for how pathetic this comment is

[Ent]

Sounds like you're just jealous tbh.

I almost want to ban you for how pathetic this comment is

That comment is the pathetic one.

[wisden]

Sounds like you're just jealous tbh.

I almost want to ban you for how pathetic this comment is

That comment is the pathetic one.

[Hammersmith harrier]

Sounds like you're just jealous tbh.

I almost want to ban you for how pathetic this comment is

That comment is the pathetic one.

[Guest]

Sounds like you're just jealous tbh.

I almost want to ban you for how pathetic this comment is

That comment is the pathetic one.

(I don't always use emoticons, but when I do....I generally get it wrong)

[dyrewolfe]

WHU 0-3 Southampton - Austin, Tadic & Ward-Prowse

Looks a long season ahead for WHU

Well as a Boro fan it gives me some hope...we have to play them next.

We were thoroughly schooled by Spurs in the first half. They could easily have had 3 or 4. We made more of an effort second half...most notably after Traore came on. Easily our best attacking player...the only one who seemed to want to run at the opposition and get past them. Spurs were more wary after he came on and gave us more time and space to play. Danced past 3 players and played a ball through to Rhodes that would have had him clean through on goal if it had been weighted better.

Annoyingly we still seem very reluctant to play wide. At one point Spurs left both wings wide open, yet our supposed wide players just stood still and passed back to the centre...SO bloody frustrating!

Also annoyed that Karanka took both Ramirez and Negredo off when bringing Traore and Rhodes on. You don't take attacking players off when you're chasing a game... At least he changed the formation to 4-4-2, which we looked more comfortable with.

In the end the 1-2 scoreline probably flattered Boro...we should have been beaten out of sight. On a positive note, we managed to hold our own against one of the best sides in the league for the second 45 minutes. Just disappointing that the one goal we did manage came from a corner and was scored by a central defender. Our strikers barely had a sniff all game.

[compelling and rich]

not sure how anybody can defend moyes stint at united, like a rabbitt caught in the headlights. you may argue couple of points but it was still a utter disastrous reign. as like any manager the buck has to stop at him, its whats he's there for

[Crimey]

Glad to get the win - this is how the Burnley game should have gone.

It would be very harsh to sack Guidolin, Swansea have put in two fantastic performances against Manchester City and Liverpool now, just seemed to run out of energy in both games. They were really good I felt.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Slav has cut the team in bits. Extra holding midfielder, three centre backs as Ogbonna goes to left back, Antonio being tried as a striker. No Lanzini makes me sad, hes our most important player

[dyrewolfe]

Well, rate that as 50 / 50 for the 1st half.

Pretty scrappy and not too much to get excited about, but both sides creating a few decent chances.

Noble unlucky with his shot that came off the underside of the bar...big let off for us there. Other than that it was mostly forgettable.

Hope Byram's injury isn't too serious.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

This is so dull, Dyre. That Noble moment aside we might as well all pack up and take our clean sheets

[dyrewolfe]

Yep - we might want a refund for 90 minutes of our lives we won't get back.

[TRUSSMAN66]

A draw at home to Middlesbrough..

Must be worth another Boys night out..

[wisden]

dreadful result and performance...something needs to change soon otherwise we are in dire trouble

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Getting more solid and fighting back when down is an improvement. Other than more insight from Truss, I'm reasonably content with it. The goal was worth the 89 other boring minutes. Dimi is a genius

[Guest]

Phil Thompson was drooling over Payets goal. Looking forward to seeing it later.

[dyrewolfe]

Getting more solid and fighting back when down is an improvement. Other than more insight from Truss, I'm reasonably content with it. The goal was worth the 89 other boring minutes. Dimi is a genius

Oh please! Our defenders were idiots and pretty much let him score. I could see it coming the moment he beat the first defender and I was screaming at the TV for several seconds for someone to stop him, or at least get the ball off him.

It was like watching a car crash in slo-mo. You know whats going to happen but there's nothing you can do to stop it.

Still nice moves on his part and for getting his shot on target.


Think overall a draw was fair. West Ham have some class players but are in a terrible run of form at the moment. Hope you manage to turn your season around from here. Boro on the other hand need to up their game a few notches if we are to survive in this league.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Most goals you'll want someone to be doing better on, but that was beautiful skill, balance and composure the whole time.


I said to my dad - thats two teams who didnt deserve to win rather than neither deserving to lose. Could see it was two teams who had not been flying who wanted to get basics right and then see what happened. I found Downing's performance depressingly familiar; other than a hot 4-6 months he is a player who hides under pressure.

I do think Boro are clever enough to stay in the league. I like a side who will make smart fouls and crowd a dangerous player, which they did perfectly with Payet on all occasions except the goal. Find a semi-regular scorer and you'll survive, hopefully with Sunderland falling down in your place!

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Scouts at the club wanted us to sign Wilson this summer. Wish we had

[Ent]

Quite unbelievable United haven't scored in this half. Pogba and ibra missing absolute sitters.

[Guest]

Herrera's a lucky boy there.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Why is Lingard playing?

[Guest]

He's rumoured to be in the England squad. Puzzling

Man U 1-0 Stoke - Martial

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Mourinho tries to take the 1-0, players just knocking the ball around, United get caught out

[Ent]

This is what happens when you spend most of the game missing good chances.

[Ent]

Awful yet again.

[Ent]

Expect city to win comfortably now.

[GSC]

He's rumoured to be in the England squad. Puzzling

Man U 1-0 Stoke - Martial

Ryan Mason syndrome. Be a young English player playing for a big club and you'll get a look regardless of whether you're actually any good.

[Crimey]

Man Utd have won 13 points from their opening 7 games this season; 3 fewer than at this stage of 2015/16 under Louis van Gaal

[Ent]

We did start well last season, it was the other 7 months were the issue.

[Jermaine2015]

One dimensional Pep Guardiola once again shown up when he doesn't have Lionel Messi to mask his limitations. Tottenham quite outstanding

[Jermaine2015]

Losing by multiple goals and slap head Guardiola still makes his side pass endlessly. What a moron.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Not biased at all there.

[Ent]

City losing is great but just makes Uniteds draw even more frustrating.

[Ent]

Arsenal last minute winner went in off a hand and I think was offside.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Arsenal with all the luck in the world pinch the win

[Fernando]

Swansea sack Guidolin and replace with Bob Bradley

#WelcomeToTheChampionship
#AmericanOwnerNonces

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Harsh and odd. Nice to see their blueprint is gone and now it's survival above all else

[dyrewolfe]

Most goals you'll want someone to be doing better on, but that was beautiful skill, balance and composure the whole time.


I said to my dad - thats two teams who didnt deserve to win rather than neither deserving to lose. Could see it was two teams who had not been flying who wanted to get basics right and then see what happened. I found Downing's performance depressingly familiar; other than a hot 4-6 months he is a player who hides under pressure.

I do think Boro are clever enough to stay in the league. I like a side who will make smart fouls and crowd a dangerous player, which they did perfectly with Payet on all occasions except the goal. Find a semi-regular scorer and you'll survive, hopefully with Sunderland falling down in your place!

Actually I thought Downing was one of our better players. For once he seemed to actually be doing his job of getting down the wing and putting crosses in. I'm also pretty sure he set up Stuani's header.

Agree though that he has an annoying tendency to go missing. Our full-backs Friend and Barragan have been our best wide players so far.

Think you summed it up well, that it was a game played by two teams short on confidence, who just wanted to make sure they didn't lose.

We have some good goalscorers - we just need the rest of the team to start providing them with some decent service. Karanka has used the 4-2-3-1 formation most of the time, which has left our strikers isolated. I noted we went 4-4-2 (or 4-4-1-1) against West Ham and we seemed to have more of a threat going forward. Hope he takes note of that.

[Guest]

Weird - Guidolins results were as good as could be expected early this season: defeats to Liverpool & Man City are to be expected.  Away defeats to Southampton & Leicester are also not a disaster given how well those two teams played last year.  A defeat to Hull was not good but Hull had a very good start to the season.  A win away to Burnley was a good result as was the home draw with Chelsea.  

Premier League
Swansea 1-2  Liverpool
Swansea 1-3  Man City
Southampton 1-0 Swansea
Swansea 2-2 Chelsea
Leicester 2-1 Swansea
Swansea 0-2 Hull
Burnley 0-1 Swansea

EFL Cup
Swansea 1-2 Man City
Peterborough 1-3 Swansea

I wonder whether he could claim for unfair dismissal?  I suppose they will pay out his contract?

[Crimey]

Very harsh on Guidolin, they've not been in great form but for me have shown enough to think he deserves longer. Fair enough if they replaced him with somebody better but Bob Bradley is new to the Premier League and hasn't had a particularly impressive career.

[dyrewolfe]

Swansea sack Guidolin and replace with Bob Bradley
2
#WelcomeToTheChampionship
#AmericanOwnerNonces

Hardly surprising for American owners to want to pick a fellow countryman to manage the club. Doesn't matter whether they have any knowledge of English football or not, as long as they have the same accent and get each other's jokes about "dumb Limeys".

Feel a bit sorry for Di Matteo too. Hardly given a chance to turn things around - just 12 games. Only lost 4 of those too. Had a better record than Black and Garde.

Wonder if Swansea's owners will stick with Bradley if they are still close to the relegation zone come January?

One reason (of many) I hate foreign owners...especially ones who don't even live in this country and have any active involvement in the club - let alone attending matches. They sit in their offices 1,000s of miles away, watching games on TV, or just reading reports from their minions and make huge decisions that can have long-lasting effects on the club, without really understanding the consequences.

All they see is that something isn't working and of course, the easiest thing to do is get a new manager in. They just try to treat the symptoms, instead of looking at the underlying causes.

Basically they think they can run football clubs like high-street chain stores. Try to buy success and get rid of anything (or anyone) who doesn't deliver immediate results). Repeat ad nauseaum...or until they get bored and sell up.


#InstantSuccess
#NothingElseMatters

I regularly gives thanks that Boro's chairman is a Teesider born and bred, who supported the club as a kid and bailed it out in 1986 when it went into liquidation. He sticks by managers longer than most and has stuck with the club through numerous relegations and promotions. He's never tried to change the name or the colour of our strip...

#SteveGibsonIsABoroLegend
#OneOfUs

[Guest]

According to the BBC Swansea say they interviewed a number of people for Guidolins job including Ryan Giggs and decided to go with Bob Bradley who had been managing a French 2nd division side.

From the BBC "The club's hierarchy spoke to several potential candidates, including former Wales captain Ryan Giggs. ... Swansea's American owners Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien and chairman Huw Jenkins were impressed by Bradley's experience and character after meeting the 58-year-old."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37542434

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Guidolin was a weird appointment in the first place and Swansea had a rubbish window because of it

Right decision to get rid imo

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