Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:42 pm  

Man City will win it this season. IMO.

Besides, this is the first title race they've properly been in. So the ''if you don't win is this year you never will'' is a ridiculous comment.

Didn't man united miss out agonisingley twice in a row ( to first leeds then blackburn?) before finally ending their wait.

I imagine many liverpool fans proudly proclaiming at the time ''you'll never win it!! haha''.

How many titles have united won since? I've lost count.

It's a matter of time with city, not if but when, despite what any wishful thinking may tell you.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:51 pm  

Wilbred T Pricklepop wrote:

Didn't man united miss out agonisingley twice in a row ( to first leeds then blackburn?) before finally ending their wait.

Ah well, you pretend to be an expert, but, in reality, know little.....

They lost out to a Cantona-inspired Leeds in 91-92, before cruising to consectutive titles in the following couple of years (after relieving Leeds of Eric... )......Then they lost out to Blackburn in 94-95 on the final day, in a race which was more a case of Blackburn almost blowing it, than United doing so.

City need it this year, otherwise the demons will take hold psychologically......If they do fail, then Mancini must go - Swap Fergie and Mancini around with these squads, and City would be home and hosed by now.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:32 pm  

Wilbred T Pricklepop wrote:

Man City will win it this season. IMO.

Besides, this is the first title race they've properly been in. So the ''if you don't win is this year you never will'' is a ridiculous comment.

Didn't man united miss out agonisingley twice in a row ( to first leeds then blackburn?) before finally ending their wait.

I imagine many liverpool fans proudly proclaiming at the time ''you'll never win it!! haha''.

How many titles have united won since? I've lost count.

It's a matter of time with city, not if but when, despite what any wishful thinking may tell you.

No, did a bit of devon loch when Leeds won it, which was before United won it for the first time since 67, at that point i thought i would never see it happen

Blackburn was a few years later 94/95, and iirc United were chasing Blackburn granted it could have been won on the last day, but i think Blackburn lead the league for quite a while

I think it's 12, and 19 so far in total.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:26 pm  

Unusually, I find myself in agreement with Dalglish's philosophy on progress. Irrespective of whether we win the league or end up trophyless, the current City team/squad is much better than it was 12 months ago. Not a little bit better, much, much better. And the City team/squad of 12 months ago was much better than the one of two years ago. Clearly our rate of improvement, relative to other teams, will slow down but there's no reason to believe it will stop or reverse.

We're not the finished article but the spine of the team (Hart, Kompany, Yaya, Silva & Aguero) is excellent and will get better. We could do with improving in a couple of positions, particularly some of the back up players, but that applies to most teams. Tactically we need to improve away from home against mid table teams. We're too patient and allow them to stay in the game and grow in confidense.

But the notion that this year somehow represents our only shot at the tiltle is simply wishful thinking.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:01 pm  

League 1 promotion race looks interesting. Charlton seemingly losing their way (although the title is pretty much theirs), Sheff Utd on a bit of a wobble, Sheff Wed are level on points with Utd since Dave Jones took over. Huddersfield are still a bit hit and miss but with Jordan Rhodes they are by no means out of the frame. Exciting stuff.

Going to Owls vs Walsall on Tuesday night, need the 3 points.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Sun Mar 18, 2012 3:46 pm  

two idiotic tackles from Zubar put his club in a very tricky situation

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Sun Mar 18, 2012 4:01 pm  

Torres scores... twice!

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:17 pm  

Cibaman wrote:

Unusually, I find myself in agreement with Dalglish's philosophy on progress. Irrespective of whether we win the league or end up trophyless, the current City team/squad is much better than it was 12 months ago. Not a little bit better, much, much better. And the City team/squad of 12 months ago was much better than the one of two years ago. Clearly our rate of improvement, relative to other teams, will slow down but there's no reason to believe it will stop or reverse.

We're not the finished article but the spine of the team (Hart, Kompany, Yaya, Silva & Aguero) is excellent and will get better. We could do with improving in a couple of positions, particularly some of the back up players, but that applies to most teams. Tactically we need to improve away from home against mid table teams. We're too patient and allow them to stay in the game and grow in confidense.

But the notion that this year somehow represents our only shot at the tiltle is simply wishful thinking.

I think it's ridiculous to suggest that this is your only shot at the title. It's just nonsense. You've got easily the best squad in the league at the moment so you should be there or thereabouts for a few years at least.

But it's equally ridiculous to suggest that it is simply a question of when, not if, you win the league. The fact is that Citeh should win the title this season because they have little competition. If you don't win the league when you are the only really good side in the league how are you going to manage if Chelsea or United improve their squads to match you?

For me a lot will ride on where Mourinho goes next season, if he does leave Real. If he goes to Citeh then I would say that numerous titles will be inevitable. But if Mourinho goes to Old Trafford or hopefully back to the Bridge I'd say your chances of winning titles look a lot slimmer.

I also think that the notion that "if we don't win it this season, we'll win it next" is poison in the minds of a club. I think that United have earned it in certain respects, but only on the back of numerous title triumphs. But in the heads of anyone at Citeh it is a joke which I hope backfires on you and makes you a laughing stock. A win is never inevitable, it's got to be earned.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:20 pm  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

I think it's ridiculous to suggest that this is your only shot at the title. It's just nonsense. You've got easily the best squad in the league at the moment so you should be there or thereabouts for a few years at least.

But it's equally ridiculous to suggest that it is simply a question of when, not if, you win the league. The fact is that Citeh should win the title this season because they have little competition. If you don't win the league when you are the only really good side in the league how are you going to manage if Chelsea or United improve their squads to match you?

For me a lot will ride on where Mourinho goes next season, if he does leave Real. If he goes to Citeh then I would say that numerous titles will be inevitable. But if Mourinho goes to Old Trafford or hopefully back to the Bridge I'd say your chances of winning titles look a lot slimmer.

I also think that the notion that "if we don't win it this season, we'll win it next" is poison in the minds of a club. I think that United have earned it in certain respects, but only on the back of numerous title triumphs. But in the heads of anyone at Citeh it is a joke which I hope backfires on you and makes you a laughing stock. A win is never inevitable, it's got to be earned.

I certainly dont think that if we dont win it this year we will automatically win it next year. I just dont agree with the view that failure this season would be the end. I still see us as an improving team with some weaknesses that are at least partly due to the speed with which the squad was put together. It may well be that other teams will improve next season but I really do think that we will too.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Mon Mar 19, 2012 3:18 pm  

Anybody watch the Liverpool game yesterday?

Am I the only one who can't fathom what the referee's aim is during the game? Yesterday, every time any forward touched a defender, it was given as a foul. Whether it was Suarez and Carroll, or Crouch and Walters, the ref would blow up every time the defender looked remotely challenged. However, as soon as it was the other way around, the ref wouldn't give anything to the forwards. Baffling.

What is even more baffling, is that, if a striker took the slightest contact in the box, the ref would happily blow up and say "there was contact in the box. End of." Yet during normal play they seem to give most of the advantage to the defenders. I haven't been able to watch half as much premier league football this year as I'd have liked, but is this really the norm in the PL every week? The only time it seems a striker can win an aerial ball is if it's uncontested, any time the striker backs up a little or tries to run at the ball with a bit of momentum, the ref's just pull it up in the defender's favour every single time.

Last thing; Stewart Downing - always said he'd come good