170 replies to this topic

[freedom78]

It's hard for me to get excited about any championship determined exclusively by regular season play. Watching a great team play to a draw with a bad or mediocre team to win a title....I dunno. I'd much rather watch two teams, both highly talented, both playing strong end of season ball...in other words, what you'll get from a tournament.

[TAP]

Got the Champagne open for title 19. If Stoke win, think I'll go out and buy another bottle - if I can stop laughing anyway.

Congrats again, dammit But having the title decided on the same day as the FA Cup was a little weird - one could even dream up a scenario where a cup winner (or loser) won the title the same day - by a rival losing. Wonder how much next years City team will look like this years? Did you see the rumours of an outrageous offer for Xavi? And Cesc? And Ibra? Wonder who they will get this summer with CL next year.
Looks like mufc and lfc are fighting over Ashley Young, who has never struck me as a great player to be honest. Good yes, but....

[TAP]

It's hard for me to get excited about any championship determined exclusively by regular season play. Watching a great team play to a draw with a bad or mediocre team to win a title....I dunno. I'd much rather watch two teams, both highly talented, both playing strong end of season ball...in other words, what you'll get from a tournament.

You need to watch the lower English leagues play-offs then.

[Abaddon]

I like the idea of having a league for the championship, and then separate tournaments alongside (which can fill some of the game-by-game excitement that can sometimes be lacking). Whoever comes out on top after 9 months of competition deserves a big trophy. I don't like the idea of having a regular season and then moving on to playoffs. The tournament at the end just makes the whole rest of the season feel worthless, I think. Agree TAP that the FA Cup thing was odd. Ashley Young is one of those players who showed a lot of promise but has gone stagnant in recent seasons - which could well be down to him being stuck in a stagnant team. I would be interested to see what he'd do at another club, but I don't want him at mine. I think City will continue to struggle to bring in the big names, and I can't see them making it past the group stage of the Champions League. English teams have been so successful in recent years because the other European clubs struggle to cope with the pace and intensity of their play. City don't have any of that, so I think they'll have a tough time. We're meant to be going on a big spending spree this summer, and I hope that's the case. Think we need four or five players.

[TAP]

I like the idea of having a league for the championship, and then separate tournaments alongside (which can fill some of the game-by-game excitement that can sometimes be lacking). Whoever comes out on top after 9 months of competition deserves a big trophy. I don't like the idea of having a regular season and then moving on to playoffs. The tournament at the end just makes the whole rest of the season feel worthless, I think.

I agree. The championship should be won by the team who did the best overall against all the other teams. True that can lead to a last day anti-climax, bit not always and it means you have crucial nail-biters all season long as opposed to certainly NBA and MLB where the regular season is full of boring meaningless games. NFL is better because of fewer games I guess, but I don't watch any US team sports any more now there is so much European football on TV here - despite my new passport

Ashley Young is one of those players who showed a lot of promise but has gone stagnant in recent seasons - which could well be down to him being stuck in a stagnant team. I would be interested to see what he'd do at another club, but I don't want him at mine.

I've hardly been to any games live, but I did see England vs Hungary friendly right after the WC (got to boo Terry and Rooney ) - Young was on the wing on our side for the first half and looked average.

I think City will continue to struggle to bring in the big names, and I can't see them making it past the group stage of the Champions League. English teams have been so successful in recent years because the other European clubs struggle to cope with the pace and intensity of their play. City don't have any of that, so I think they'll have a tough time.

They really need to keep Tevez, they are a good (but generally boring) team without him, he really sparks them. Think he's been a much better City player than United - his free kick against Stoke today was almost Roberto Carlos-esque. Worth looking up if you didn't catch the game. His other goal was well taken too. He just unsettles defences which MC don't do so much with the (as you say) slow build up approach. WIll be interesting to see who they bring in.

We're meant to be going on a big spending spree this summer, and I hope that's the case. Think we need four or five players.

Snjeider?

By the way, looks like Arsenal are going to come 4th in a 2-horse race which is quite some achievement. Wonder what will happen to them over the break.

[Abaddon]

I don't actually think Sneijder would work for us - it's hard to see where he'd fit in the team. We're being linked quite heavily with Gareth Bale, which I'd really like. We have so much joy down the right with Valencia, it'd be great to have a similar threat on the left. The rumour today was that Redknapp will let Bale decide if he wants to leave if we come in for £40m. Probably bullshit, and it's a very high price, but it seems you have to pay silly money for any half decent Brit in the market these days. I'd like to get another back-up defender in. At full strength, we've got a great back four, but it only takes a few injuries and we're struggling. It's one of the reasons why we got off to such a poor start this season. I really don't want to see us having to call the likes of Johnny Evans and John O'Shea up again - both of whom I'd like to get rid of. We need a keeper obviously when Van de Sar goes. Neuer would be awesome, but it remains to be seen if we can bag him. Apparently he doesn't want to leave Germany. And I also want a defensive midfielder to help protect the back four and boss the centre of the park. It's an area we've been sorely lacking in since Keane left, and we've been dominated in the midfield quite regularly by much lesser teams because of it. Difficult to see what Arsenal can do without any money. Maybe they should finally bite the bullet and flog Fabregas to Barca. They could probably bring in Sneijder as a replacement for half the price, and they'd still have money left over to buy the gritty defenders they so badly need.

[TAP]

The world ends at 6pm today (6.05pm for SAF) #fergietime

[TAP]

Why doesn't R*** G**** just admit it, he's just making himself look like a total twat with this superinjunction bullshit.

[Abaddon]

Agreed

[Macker]

FIFA needs new blood in their management is the only thing I can say about World football at this time. Even the women are controlled by men who control the sport and place themselves in made up positions.

[TAP]

Even though the title has been decided, the last day has lots of tension/excitement - 3/4 battle for champions league auto qualifying, 5/6 for Europa place and five more teams trying to avoid the two relegation places. And with all games simultaneous, you get events at one game affecting tactics on others. I'll take that over the superbowl any day.

[Macker]

It's like college sports. There are so many variables involving so many teams all at the same time.

[TAP]

Lived up to the hype. The situation must have changed ten times in the second halves. Really sorry to lose Blackpool, and especially Holloway.

[Abaddon]

Yeah, great last day. Really enjoyable match at Old Trafford. Just a shame Blackpool had to go down. I was hoping Wigan would drop, because they've been terrible for the last couple of seasons and are really awful to watch. But credit to them for pulling it out of the bag this month. Crazy that City finished joint second in terms of points in the end. Helluva season. A rollercoaster ride at all levels from start to finish.

[TAP]

Why doesn't R*** G**** just admit it, he's just making himself look like a total twat with this superinjunction bullshit.

Ryan Giggs that is. What a great story - everyone looks bad; Giggs, Thomas, the tabloids, parliament and the judiciary. Great job everyone