Another Drive4show 'Anything goes' thread

by beninho Sun 07 Jan 2018, 12:20 pm

First topic message reminder :

Stoke have spent 10 years in the premier league, they are bottom 3 and dumped out the cup by coventry. The perspy is that they are an established prem team, hughes has them shipping goals, not scoring and being certainties for relegation. They have spent big money on wimmer who has struggled, imbula who is out on loan and berahino who cant score, bojan is well paid and on the bench for alaves. Stoke fans have perspective, hughes had no clues. Surprised he stayed this long.

My family are potters!

by dynamark Thu 03 May 2018, 9:19 pm

Good luck to Liverpool but if Roma can score 4 Real can also .

by Diggers Thu 03 May 2018, 9:56 pm

Very true DM, but wouldn't a 4 - 3 final or something like that be amazing. Plenty of goals (and howlers) in both semis, if only we could see open football like that at the World Cup this summer instead of the usual cagey matches we get.

by **navyblueshorts** Thu 03 May 2018, 10:40 pm

McLaren wrote:Are we all agreed Super is clueless when it comes to football?

Not really, no. No worse than anyone else.

by super_realist Fri 04 May 2018, 8:00 am

McLaren wrote:Are we all agreed Super is clueless when it comes to football?

...and you have a clue because you identify as an armchair football fan with a hooky internet streaming service and an eye for Michael Carrick only? Yeah, I suppose that makes you an expert. Stick to busses Mac, it's probably the only subject on this board where you might actually know more than anyone else.

As for Rangers trying to compete with Celtic, that's completely unrealistic at present, they should be concentrating on challenging the likes of Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs first, because at present, they're barely keeping their head above water there.

by JAS Fri 04 May 2018, 11:31 am

Poopie...he’s taken it. Personally don’t think it’ll work out well for either party but we shall see.

by raycastleunited Fri 04 May 2018, 12:36 pm

Can Stevie Gerrard stop Brendan Rodgers from winning the league? Why not, he's done it before!

by McLaren Fri 04 May 2018, 12:39 pm

Pretty odd decision from Stevie. At best he guides them to second.

by wiretapper Fri 04 May 2018, 12:47 pm

raycastleunited wrote:Can Stevie Gerrard stop Brendan Rodgers from winning the league? Why not, he's done it before!

It's a three year deal he's signed so he'll be here for ten in row

by JAS Fri 04 May 2018, 3:33 pm

Gerrards 1st Presser seemed to go ok, McAllister confirmed as his number 2, King also indicated about a rights issue as well. Also sounds like he’s going to be busy in the transfer market. Should be interesting watching it all unfold.

by pedro Fri 04 May 2018, 4:04 pm

raycastleunited wrote:Can Stevie Gerrard stop Brendan Rodgers from winning the league? Why not, he's done it before!

Brilliant ray. Laugh

by Be_the_ball Fri 04 May 2018, 6:01 pm

All the Liverpool & Celtic supporters in meltdown over here Laugh

by pedro Fri 04 May 2018, 8:02 pm

Ray, do you think he lets this one slip?

by Be_the_ball Sat 05 May 2018, 1:45 pm

Can't believe they didn't include Luuuuke in this but fun all the same

https://youtu.be/JrHEW5f3_U4

by Be_the_ball Sat 05 May 2018, 1:47 pm

raycastleunited wrote:Can Stevie Gerrard stop Brendan Rodgers from winning the league? Why not, he's done it before!

Classic!

by Diggers Sun 06 May 2018, 10:07 am

Doesn't sound great for Sir Alex. Love him or loathe him, you'd have to admit Fergie could manage. History now tells us that final championship win may have been his best.
I knew a girl who met him whilst waiting for a table at a restaurant, said he was utterly charming and let her go before him, no airs and graces, that said she was pretty fit so I'd imagine most men would have been nice to her.

by NedB-H Sun 06 May 2018, 5:49 pm

Scoring a bit tougher today than yesterday early on. Particularly when you’re Brice Garnett...

by Diggers Sun 06 May 2018, 9:58 pm

So my daughter came home the other day and Saadi they'd played golf at school and she'd hit the ball farther than anyone (not something her father does very often). Then we get a letter saying she's been selected for a school tri golf team.
As a teacher you'd think I'd have heard of it, but basically big plastic clubs and balls and a game element. Not exactly pure golf but good to see schools are doing something to push the game.

by Be_the_ball Mon 07 May 2018, 9:41 pm

Anyone watching the Snooker? Whaaaaa! Unreal stuff.

by Be_the_ball Mon 07 May 2018, 9:56 pm

Well done Mark Williams, can't believe it's been that long since his last. clap

by dynamark Wed 09 May 2018, 4:45 pm

McAllister went off the grid for a while when his partner was very poorly hope that turned out well.
Leicester fans trying to give their tickets away for tonights thrashing from Arsenal.Never seen the club and fans so negative even in the darker days.One fan left his season tickets on the car dash and some idiot smashed the window and left two more !

by NedB-H Wed 09 May 2018, 7:39 pm

Leicester are top half of the table for goodness sake. And they’ve had nothing much to play for recently, Burnley too far ahead and relegation well behind them. Just drifting towards the end of the campaign now. If they change manager over the summer they deserve just as much as the last team who ditched Puel. Better the devil you know.

by dynamark Thu 10 May 2018, 4:16 pm

Ned .not sure where last nights show v Arsenal came from but we have slightly bigger boots now and expect a bit more some relatively expensive players in the group.Southampton were right about Puel no question and we can aim to be 'best of the rest'I think is fair.One more game and then we can all look forward to the world cup ( he said hopefully)

by I'm never wrong Thu 10 May 2018, 9:45 pm

So far so good Ned for the mighty Shrews.

by NedB-H Fri 11 May 2018, 10:39 am

Job done for the first leg INW. Will be calling in on Sunday on my way back from a wedding reception, hoping they won’t give my sore head too much to worry about.

by raycastleunited Fri 11 May 2018, 1:17 pm

NedB-H wrote:Leicester are top half of the table for goodness sake. And they’ve had nothing much to play for recently, Burnley too far ahead and relegation well behind them. Just drifting towards the end of the campaign now. If they change manager over the summer they deserve just as much as the last team who ditched Puel. Better the devil you know.

As stated further up in this thread, Leicester had £230m revenue last year. Obviously a bit of a one off after getting further than anyone expected in the Champions League, but expectations are always going to rise and they have (had) the cash to develop the squad.

by Diggers Fri 11 May 2018, 6:49 pm

raycastleunited wrote:
NedB-H wrote:Leicester are top half of the table for goodness sake. And they’ve had nothing much to play for recently, Burnley too far ahead and relegation well behind them. Just drifting towards the end of the campaign now. If they change manager over the summer they deserve just as much as the last team who ditched Puel. Better the devil you know.

As stated further up in this thread, Leicester had £230m revenue last year. Obviously a bit of a one off after getting further than anyone expected in the Champions League, but expectations are always going to rise and they have (had) the cash to develop the squad.

Less turnover than the big 6 though I'd imagine, Everton also spent big at the start of the year. If most neutrals had to pick a finish spot for Leicester at the start of the season Im guessing between 7-9 would be as good as it got. And they'd have been right.

by kwinigolfer Sun 13 May 2018, 6:18 pm

They say the end of season League Table never lies, and I reckon it was about right this year.
Hate to see Stoke & WBA take the drop and Saints lucky after massively under-achieving most of the year. Over-achievers? Don't really see any.

by I'm never wrong Sun 13 May 2018, 7:11 pm

Job done. Wem-ber-lee on Sunday 27th. Hope you had a good day Ned.

by Be_the_ball Sun 13 May 2018, 8:57 pm

John Motson clap

A lifetime of memories.

by Diggers Sun 13 May 2018, 9:08 pm

Motty, a very hard man to take a dislike to in a game where that's not easy to say. I suspect what you heard and saw was always very genuine. Enjoy your retirement, you thoroughly deserve it.

by westisbest Sun 13 May 2018, 9:15 pm

Great commentator, footballs equivalent of Bill McLaren.

by Diggers Sun 13 May 2018, 9:56 pm

Sure, they spend a lot of cash. But fair play, 100 from 114 points is pretty amazing from Citeh...almost comparable with Woy bagging 44 points from 31 games!

by Diggers Sun 13 May 2018, 11:11 pm

kwinigolfer wrote:They say the end of season League Table never lies, and I reckon it was about right this year.
Hate to see Stoke & WBA take the drop and Saints lucky after massively under-achieving most of the year. Over-achievers? Don't really see any.

I can't think too many people would have given 54 points to Burnley, Kwini. Uninspiring to watch but very effective. Over achievers is a funny word as we've said before, but I'd say Burnley have exceeded expectations.

by kwinigolfer Mon 14 May 2018, 12:27 am

Diggers wrote:
kwinigolfer wrote:They say the end of season League Table never lies, and I reckon it was about right this year.
Hate to see Stoke & WBA take the drop and Saints lucky after massively under-achieving most of the year. Over-achievers? Don't really see any.

I can't think too many people would have given 54 points to Burnley, Kwini. Uninspiring to watch but very effective. Over achievers is a funny word as we've said before, but I'd say Burnley have exceeded expectations.

Agree with all the Motty plaudits, fantastic commentator, comparisons w/McLaren, and I'd add a couple more, spot on.

Thing w/Burnley tho' Digs, is 54 pts might be a lot for them, but were you really surprised they came 7th? A bit of a reach, perhaps, but not that much. I was thinking Man Utd to be second would have been a surprise to me in August.

by beninho Mon 14 May 2018, 7:34 am

Burnley 7th is a great achievement and totally unexpected. Bottom 3 all deserved to go down and city had arguably the greatest league season ever. Hopefully liverpool win the champs league and both teams lose the cup final.

by Be_the_ball Mon 14 May 2018, 7:44 am

Tony Pulis probably having a quiet laugh to himself over 2 of the 3 relegated. Shows the dangers of trying to become a"footballing" side.

by wiretapper Mon 14 May 2018, 9:15 am

Stoke maybe, although it did take three seasons for them to go down after they gave him his jotters, and did finish 9th in two of those. West Brom had been honking under him for some time - check out his points after safety graph, it makes for very poor reading - but then made the mistake of hiring that joker Pardew.

And Mark Hughes can continue to claim he has never been relegated as a manager. He's also never been involved in a car accident although he's witnessed a couple of really bad ones in his rear view mirror...

by beninho Mon 14 May 2018, 9:37 am

Stokes relegation has nowt to do with getting rid of pulis. Played good football and had 3 top 10 finishes, first time ever I think. They went down due to terrible signings and poor management. The squad is decent but with no strikers or pace.

by Diggers Mon 14 May 2018, 6:31 pm

kwinigolfer wrote:
Diggers wrote:
kwinigolfer wrote:They say the end of season League Table never lies, and I reckon it was about right this year.
Hate to see Stoke & WBA take the drop and Saints lucky after massively under-achieving most of the year. Over-achievers? Don't really see any.

I can't think too many people would have given 54 points to Burnley, Kwini. Uninspiring to watch but very effective. Over achievers is a funny word as we've said before, but I'd say Burnley have exceeded expectations.

Agree with all the Motty plaudits, fantastic commentator, comparisons w/McLaren, and I'd add a couple more, spot on.

Thing w/Burnley tho' Digs, is 54 pts might be a lot for them, but were you really surprised they came 7th? A bit of a reach, perhaps, but not that much. I was thinking Man Utd to be second would have been a surprise to me in August.

I think it's a surprise when you look at the squad , or rather I wouldn't have been that surprised to have seen them finish 17th. That said I haven't seen them play that much because when I have it tends to very dull.

by kwinigolfer Mon 14 May 2018, 6:47 pm

Agree Burnley need to find more goals (getting either Ings or Rodriguez back could help), missed Brady badly, but they've quietly improved their squad and would be surprised if they slipped back significantly next season - unless Dyche leaves in which case all bets are off.
Thought Gudmundsson had a terrific year.

by Diggers Mon 14 May 2018, 7:20 pm

Is Dyche appealingly to a big club where fans demand style? Can't see Arsenal or Spurs or Chelsea asking. Everton ignored him last time around and their fans are complaining about a lack of flair this year with Fat Sam. Limited options really, Newcastle if Rafa moves on? Not that appealing again. West Ham? Again style issues.

by kwinigolfer Mon 14 May 2018, 7:40 pm

If WHU don't get their sh1t together, the only top level team playing there after next season will be the Red Sox . . . . . . .

by super_realist Mon 14 May 2018, 8:56 pm

Of course they'll never reduce the number of teams in the league, but I think we've seen just how many bad teams are in the league. Reducing it to 18 would be sensible from a football point of view.

40 points used to be what you needed for survival. This year 6 teams had 40 points or fewer.

by Diggers Mon 14 May 2018, 9:05 pm

I don't thinkyouv needed 40 very often, it's the number people talk about to be safe. Think the average needed, at least in the past decade, is more like 37.

by super_realist Mon 14 May 2018, 9:25 pm

Could be Diggers, still think there's far too much rubbish in the league. The bottom third is pretty terrible.

by kwinigolfer Mon 14 May 2018, 9:38 pm

super_realist wrote:Could be Diggers, still think there's far too much rubbish in the league. The bottom third is pretty terrible.

It's getting more uneven as multi-gazillion pound deal follows the one before.
Might as well have 6 teams.

by pedro Mon 14 May 2018, 10:55 pm

How many different teams have won the EPL in the past 25 years? Or 40? Or finished on the podium? It’s the same teams we’re talking about, give or take few. Can’t really see the league has become more uneven.

by Diggers Tue 15 May 2018, 7:35 am

I can count about 11 in the past 40 years or so. We used to talk about the big 4 back in the day, the fact we have a big 6 is an improvement. It's probably more competitive if in terms of top teams than any other European league, certainly in the past 4-5 years has produced a different winner most times (including a 1000-1 shot).

by super_realist Tue 15 May 2018, 7:56 am

I'd say the Championship is the most competitive Diggers.

by **navyblueshorts** Tue 15 May 2018, 9:10 am

Money at the top end is a joke - someone should investigate Citeh, as I can't see how being funded by a sovereign wealth fund (i.e. a State) is in any way what should be happening. Then again, the 'fit and proper owner' thing has always been a farce, but it's what you get when the game is run by a bent organisation out of Switzerland.
The 'top 6' don't give a **** about anyone else and Wenger was correct recently re. a Euro 'super league'. In fact, none of them give a **** about anyone else.
They should reduce the EPL team numbers, but they won't. It's never, ever, been about quality - only money.

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