*Official* English Football Season 2013-14

[sledger]

I thought Willian looked very good as well actually, though he probably benefited greatly by the absence of a City midfield. Was quick, tidy, efficient and precise - very much a Mourinho attacking player.

 

[Jarquis]

Surely Marcuss can't have watched the game, to still be saying that.

Yesterday was far and away their best performance of the season and they clung on to a 1-0. There's too many holes in their side. Cahill and Terry haven't and won't play like last night every game and whoever they play up top is just meh. Matic was a great signing but, again, Luiz won't play as well as he did last night or come up against Demichelis every time.

Last night Chelsea were very good and City were someway below their best, it doesn't change that for large parts of the season the opposite has been true

 

[Ray.]

I think Chelsea should seriously challenge for the title from here on closely followed by City and Arsenal we've almost played our main title rivals both away and home United and CIty.
Plus Chelsea have one big advantage over both City and Arsenal - Jose Mourinho.
He knows how to cope up with pressure and he knows how to win the league and he certainly got the squad to win it. And both Manuel Pelligrini and Wenger hasn't won anything since ages I can see them stuttering from now on mainly Arsenal. City can cope it up because they've got the squad but Arsenal doesn't. I hope Liverpool crush Arsenal this week and United will obviously beat Arsenal.

Yesterday was far and away their best performance of the season and they clung on to a 1-0. There's too many holes in their side. Cahill and Terry haven't and won't play like last night every game and whoever they play up top is just meh. Matic was a great signing but, again, Luiz won't play as well as he did last night or come up against Demichelis every time.

Last night Chelsea were very good and City were someway below their best, it doesn't change that for large parts of the season the opposite has been true

Cahill and Terry have both been performing like that since last 10 matches so please. We've just conceded 2 goals in last 10 matches.

 

[Uppercut]

Last night Chelsea were very good and City were someway below their best, it doesn't change that for large parts of the season the opposite has been true

They're still level on points, though, and Chelsea have the easier remaining fixtures. I don't know if I really believe that Citeh being better so far without pulling ahead makes Chelsea's position ominous, but it feels that way.

 

[sledger]

I think the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Last night demonstrated that Chelsea are probably quite a bit better than most of us had previously given them credit for, but at the same time, I'm still not convinced that they won't make a mess of things later down the line. Can still see them dropping points they ought not to. Probably because of the reasons Marcuss stated about Terry/Cahill having lapses and a lack of a really dangerous striker.

Can see them getting a few results not dissimilar to the one against West Ham the other day, in other words.

 

[Jarquis]

They're still level on points, though, and Chelsea have the easier remaining fixtures. I don't know if I really believe that Citeh being better so far without pulling ahead makes Chelsea's position ominous, but it feels that way.

I'm not saying I'm absolutely not worried about Chelsea but I'm probably not as worried about City as I should be according to the media. I think looking at the bookies we're absolutely value at 9/2.

 

[grecian]

Whilst, I don't believe Carroll's elbow was a red, I'm enjoying the utter over-reaction and talking of going to court. the FA were never going to rescind it, as long as they've got some mealy-mouthed way of upholding it.

3 Matches out and he's their only tactic though, so I could actually see them take utterly pointless legal action. Guess some Shuff U fans might be smiling ironically.

Oh and apparently the divot posted "DISGRACEFUL" on Twitter, way to get a charge of disrepute too

couldn't happen to a nicer bunch, oh it does highlight webb's incompetence, and the way the FA laud everything he does, but we knew that anyway.

 

[sledger]

Lol, oh dear Andy.

 

[sledger]

Can't wait to hear what Wham's legal challenge is going to be based on. Can't really see on what grounds they could dispute their appeal being turned down.

 

[Pothas]

3 game ban does seem ridiculous but yeah we always knew the appeal would fail. It always does in cases like that.

 

[Tom Halsey]

I still think City are the marginally better side than Chelsea and they're better equipped to win the league as well, as it always slightly favours attacking sides because of the points payoff. Two points gained relative to a draw for winning compared to risking only one point in relative terms for losing always favours the more attacking side and Chelsea are more prone to results like their 0-0 home draw against West Ham than City are. "Bang average" is perhaps strong wording but Marcuss is right that Chelsea winning last night was the far better result for Arsenal, IMO.

 

[Pothas]

Laudrup gone then. Sounds kind of stupid.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Yeah it does. Seemed lately like it was always going to happen sooner or later but I've not really worked out why.

 

[sledger]

Seems rather illogical, but at the same time I'm not especially surprised. Swansea's results have been pretty poor/underwhelming for a while now.

 

[Pothas]

Was talk of him leaving in the summer, guess his relationship with club has been bad for a while, despite their poor form I don't think it is justifiable on football grounds.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

So many teams struggle when they make Europa Cup.

Harsh on the guy but the way football is these days.

 

[Cabinet96]

So many teams struggle when they make Europa Cup.

Harsh on the guy but the way football is these days.

Found this interesting:

James Maw ‏@JamesMawFFT 14m
In the last seven years, Fergie is the only League Cup winning boss to still be in the same job by the day of the following season's final.

Which says a lot about both how regularly coaches get sacked, and also how unimportant the league cup is. With the big teams often not taking it fully seriously, much easier for a side who's not built for European football to win the thing.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Says it all Cabinet.

 

[Furball]

Yeah, like I said with my last post, I think whether or not it's deliberate should definitely play a role. It just ****s me a bit when things like the Danny Rose incident last week occur. Basically killed the game by giving City a goal and sending Rose off just because his tackle was mistimed.

Meh, tackle better (ok, maybe doesn't apply to the Rose incident). I don't have any sympathy for clumsy defenders who can't tackle.

 

[Tom Halsey]

**** sake. We were owed pens here.