The 6th Place Trophy - The 2017/18 Premier League Thread

[Dolphin Ziggler]

First topic message reminder :

The fixtures have been released, players have been signed and summer is already a bit boring, so here's the Premier League 2017/18 season thread.

Opening fixtures:

Arsenal v Leicester City
Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester City
Chelsea v Burnley
Crystal Palace v Huddersfield Town
Everton v Stoke City
Manchester United v West Ham United
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Southampton v Swansea City
Watford v Liverpool
West Bromwich Albion v Bournemouth

[Dolphin Ziggler]

In defence of Lovren, if he’s having to take painkillers to play, why is he being made to play?

[Duty281]

What great goalkeeping.

[Guest]

Well on course to concede 50+ goals. Awesome

[GSC]

At some point Liverpool's defense will stop being funny to watch.

At some point.

[Guest]

The comeback starts now. Sturridge and God are coming on.

[westisbest]

The comeback starts now. Sturridge and God are coming on.

Paul McGrath come out of retirement to play for Liverpool freek

[LionsV2]

Mignolet is statistically the worst keeper in the League since making his Liverpool debut.

[GSC]

They've already conceded more away goals than in Rafas season he finished 2nd apparently.

[sirfredperry]

Just back from Wembley. Gawd knows what the two Liverpool fans sitting among the Tottenham section in front of me made of it. Comic defending.

[Guest]

Just back from Wembley. Gawd knows what the two Liverpool fans sitting among the Tottenham section in front of me made of it. Comic defending.

Biggest crowd in Premier League history and you were a part of that, good sir!

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Djimi Traore
No way you can win trophy with that defense #TOTLIV come on @LFC wake up

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

In defence of Lovren, if he’s having to take painkillers to play, why is he being made to play?

Klopp said he wasn’t injured.

[Marky]

In defence of Lovren, if he’s having to take painkillers to play, why is he being made to play?

Klopp said he wasn’t injured.

Klopp also said he was one of the best defenders in the world.

[Beer]

Djimi Traore
No way you can win trophy with that defense #TOTLIV come on @LFC wake up

Is that the Djimi Traore that basically Cruyff turned the ball into his own net?

[lfc91]

What to say.

The stats speak for themselves. How much can you blame on Lovren/Mignolet making error after error and how much can you blame on Klopps stubbornness/over-confidence in his ability to make those players into something they aren't (ie good at football). That must be one of the easiest 4-1s any team has ever had. And could have been more. Didn't have to work particularly hard to fashion chances.

Would be worth just going for Gomez at CB with TAA at RB (until clyne recovers from whatever the hell is wrong with him!). Lovren, injured or not, just isn't good enough.

Klopps claim that there were no better CB's available was ludicrous at the time and looks even more so now. Every CB that came into the premier league in that transfer window is better than Lovren. One was playing for Spurs yesterday if I remember correctly.

Rough times ahead for Liverpool.

[Guest]

Koeman sacked

[Duty281]

Moyesy's coming home...

[Luke]

Without wishing to defend Lovern  (who was bad).  It hardly helps when Moreno is the full back on your side, Matip is your partner. And Mignolet is your goalkeeper. Hardly gonna inspire confidence.

As for Everton, always thought Koeman is over rated as a manager. Think Dyche, imagine if Moyes than alot of Everton fans would be upset.

[lfc91]

Ryan Giggs appears to have thrown his hat in the ring for Leicester and Everton jobs.

[Beer]

Phil Neville wants to follow in his brothers footsteps and have a crack at the Everton job.

[compelling and rich]

if i were a manager id be dubious about taking over at everton. they have been left with a old squad with no pace whatsoever. no striker who will get you goals and a old leaky defence. Leicester would be the easier job than turning around that everton team

steve walsh seems to have gone blameless at everton aswell, since being poached from leciester they haven't made a good signing. cant all be koeman that

[compelling and rich]

To defend Zabaleta, he’s been fantastic.

not seen as much as you but when ive seen him he's looked awful. scared of committing to tackles and has been getting torn to shreds by anyone with pace. rashfords destroyed him all game, and in the Brighton game he was petrified to go anywhere near Izquierdo. also thought spurs was going to get double figures before the red.

its not all his fault he needs protection and help from in front of him. of which he hasn't been getting at all. could not believe the united game when he was left one on one with rashford all game (then martial)

[Dolphin Ziggler]

I think you've answered your own question there!

In our poorer performances, he's been on the back foot. Saying that, I didnt think Rashford was the issue that game. And the Spurs game was an interesting one because they picked apart our mistakes rather than opened us up continually, so don't see that being a blemish on him (and i've watched that game at the ground then later again!)

He's genuinely been great, still gets up and down the pitch all game and seems to only struggle with genuine, genuine pace (which a lot do to be fair to him)

He's far from the problem, anyway

[Afro]

if i were a manager id be dubious about taking over at everton. they have been left with a old squad with no pace whatsoever. no striker who will get you goals and a old leaky defence. Leicester would be the easier job than turning around that everton team

steve walsh seems to have gone blameless at everton aswell, since being poached from leciester they haven't made a good signing. cant all be koeman that

None of that is really true. There is bags of youth and pace in the squad, and not even just with players who are no where near the team. Lookman, Davies, Mirallas, Vlasic to name a few.

The problem has been Koeman not using them properly (or at all) and trying to squeeze Rooney and Sigurdsson into the same team.

Also Steve Walsh getting loads of stick and if internal rumours are to be believed, may need to find himself a new job soon

[compelling and rich]

there not exactly big first team players. lookman, vlasic and davies are just kids with hardly any prem experience between them. would be a bit hard to rely on them (although davies has looked good so far). mirallas is hot and cold, more often than not cold. defence and a striker would be the biggest worry though. suprised at how poor youve been at the back under koeman, he always had southampton well drilled

[Luke]

But at Southampton, he was riding on the side Pochettino built. 
To be fair to him, some of the signings in the summer looked goodish (Keane & Klassen particularly looked good signings). They've just not working out (which Koeman must take alot of the blame).Rooney was always a vanity signing, but he needs to be up top. It was in my opinion more the number of signings.

[GSC]

Jose playing not to lose in a big game as per and Spurs are lacking a Harry Kane sized cutting edge. Stalemate

[Guest]

In that case then he's already settled for 2nd.

[compelling and rich]

Don't think united are playing for a draw, spurs are parking the bus against mourinho

[Duty281]

Hugo Lloris is world-class.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Dreadful game won by a long ball. Spurs probably had the best chance before that, can imagine expected goals was low.

The beauty of a Lukaku up front, who can mix it up when needed.

[LionsV2]

Tottenham seemed worried by the counter all game whilst United looked happy enough to wait for the one chance they needed. The two best defences in the league up against one another was never going to result in an exciting game.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Only one team in north London and its never been those clowns called Tottenham

[LionsV2]

Only one team in north London and its never been those clowns called Tottenham

1. Man City
2. Man United
3. TOTTENHAM
4. Chelsea
5. ARSENAL

You were saying?

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Only one team in north London and its never been those clowns called Tottenham

1. Man City
2. Man United
3. TOTTENHAM
4. Chelsea
5. ARSENAL

You were saying?

League table means jack in October...

And in terms of success I’m sure the 3 FA cups in 4 years superseded Tottenham’s last decade

[LionsV2]

Last season means nothing to the current season by that logic, at the current time Tottenham are a better team than Arsenal.

[Guest]

Fair point, NJ, but when Arsenal's selling point was always Champions League football and is NOW not then it's fair to say Spurs are THE team in North London. The power has shifted.

That's without even looking at the two squads. Good luck replacing Ozil and Sanchez in the summer.

[Duty281]

Only one team in north London and its never been those clowns called Tottenham

Arsenal 0-1 Swansea.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

I don't think there's a THE team in North London these days, which is the big deal really. It's that Tottenham have now gone from fodder to fancies.

Ayew on fire, goal was gorgeous and his play has been brilliant. Both our goals have been lovely.

[Holymiky]

I think if Tottenham lost Harry Kane and Dele Alli, they wouldn't be as highly rated as a team.

IMO Eriksen deserves even more credit as a player and is better than Alli.

[Guest]

I think if Tottenham lost Harry Kane and Dele Alli, they wouldn't be as highly rated as a team.

No sh!t, Sherlock!

This applies to almost any half decent side.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

You wait till you see what Antonio did on Match of the Day. What a Muppet. 

Shout for Joe Hart today though, made some excellent, excellent saves

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I think if Tottenham lost Harry Kane and Dele Alli, they wouldn't be as highly rated as a team.

IMO Eriksen deserves even more credit as a player and is better than Alli.

I think if Chelsea lost Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante they wouldn’t be as highly rated as a team.

[Holymiky]

I think if Tottenham lost Harry Kane and Dele Alli, they wouldn't be as highly rated as a team.

No sh!t, Sherlock!

This applies to almost any half decent side.

I mean in terms of overall talent, the rest of them aren't nowhere near as highly rated as those two and a lot of it comes down to them being English however Kane is obviously doing extremely well at the moment.

[Holymiky]

I think if Tottenham lost Harry Kane and Dele Alli, they wouldn't be as highly rated as a team.

IMO Eriksen deserves even more credit as a player and is better than Alli.

I think if Chelsea lost Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante they wouldn’t be as highly rated as a team.

Yes they are two of our better players however the squad overall is better in quality than the rest of Tottenham's squad.

[Hero]

Squad is, not so sure on first xi

[Holymiky]

Well it's bias of me to say i'd prefer the first xi in fairness but i do believe we have the best overall squad.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Only one team in north London and its never been those clowns called Tottenham

Arsenal 0-1 Swansea.

Arsenal 2-1 Swansea

Maybe wait until full time before acting like a clown.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Eriksen is the most influential player for Tottenham. He's the brains of the squad. Top class player

[Duty281]

Only one team in north London and its never been those clowns called Tottenham

Arsenal 0-1 Swansea.

Arsenal 2-1 Swansea

Maybe wait until full time before acting like a clown.

Well, I enjoyed it.

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