The Football Thread

[NobleHelium]

[Krill]

nm.

[BRickAstley]

From what I can tell from following very little of the premier league, looks like Moyes was unprecedentedly bad? At least as far as Man U standards go.

[Krill]

Hey Brian, you owe me an avatar.

You have a choice between Cromwell and Suarez.

[Twinkletoes89]

I wouldn't call it completely unprecedented as the team was pretty much drained of its last title-winning cojones last season. Yeah we shouldn't really be so far from 4th spot, but it happens.

Too many fickle fans makes it a bit distasteful but it was getting pretty inevitable

[Gaspar]

From what I can tell from following very little of the premier league, looks like Moyes was unprecedentedly bad? At least as far as Man U standards go.

I think the last couple Man U teams weren't very good and ol' Red Noses ability to bully referees and get the best out of his players masked what was a very mediocre squad.

I think the damning thing for Moyes is that the league was very soft this year. City and Chelski were always going to need a year to get used to their new managers but if Liverpool ends up winning the league with that exceptionally mediocre squad + Suarez, well, none of the traditional top 4 sides have any excuse for letting that happen. Before someone pops up with Sterling/Sturridge or LOLHenderson - what I mean most specifically is that Liverpools defense would easily be the worst to win the title since I've been paying attention to the PL (1998.)

[Ichabod]

Liverpool is all about Coutinho.

It was thrilling to see Gerrard crying after that 3x2 win against Man. City. That guy deserves an EPL title.

[Brian Shanahan]

Hey Brian, you owe me an avatar.

You have a choice between Cromwell and Suarez.

Cromwell, he may have killed 1/8 of my ancestors' fellow countrymen, but he's got two things going for him:
1) Us Irish were always a shower of bollixes anyway.
2) He's no cannibal.

[Brian Shanahan]

From what I can tell from following very little of the premier league, looks like Moyes was unprecedentedly bad? At least as far as Man U standards go.

Well there are a number of factors:
1) The club is in financial meltdown, with (in reality) north of £1bn in debt, about five years ago they supposedly magiced away £400m of their then £900m before rolled up interest, and the only possible way they could have done it, given that before that the club couldn't service the interest on the loans and the Glazers US businesses had gone bankrupt, was by essentially pulling an Enron, and shoving the debt into special purpose vehicles (and there were a flurry of related companies set up in countries with lax reporting regimes at that time), and a group of owners using the club as a cash cow in order to keep themselves in the high life.
2) Corollary to this, the team got old, with players like Giggs and Scholes expected to be able to hare around the pitch like young fellas in their late 30's.
3) A lot of questionable purchases, and quite often when a good player was bought, underuse of said player. And paying £10+ for players of the likes of Smalling, Jones and Carrick (plus quite a few more) is highly questionable as to ability to judge quality.
4) Wayne Rooney. He's a lard ass shaper, and was never up to playing at the highest levels either club or internationally*.
5) Ferguson. He stayed around too long. I honestly think he should have stuck to his guns when he first decided to retire, but he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory rather than as a man who finished second to Arsenal and lost to Madrid at home in the CL, so stuck around too long and made purchases based on immediate returns rather than long term needs. For example while buying van Persie galvanised Utd last season and he's undoubtedly a top player, there were areas which were far more in need of remedial work than up front.

[darrelljs]

Krill, didn't you take Chelsea against the field in a bet with me? Your avatar will be:



Darrell