Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Fri Mar 16, 2012 7:22 am  

Wnidyone2012 wrote:

If wolves play like they did against Blackburn then Utd will run riot.

If united play like they did against Blackburn, they won't.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:32 am  

flipper wrote:

If united play like they did against Blackburn, they won't.

United won't play that bad again all season. Right now their league form is outstanding and they just look too strong for anyone.

If City drop points in the next few weeks it could be the nightmare scenario of United winning the title on derby day at The Etihad.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:58 am  

Wow, heard some ridiculous overreactions to Utd's exit since last night . As someone rightly pointed out this is a team in transition and when you throw in the ridiculous amount of injuries we've had this season, along with the patchy form shown by our "star" players (Rooney, Rio etc) then it was always an uphill task to do anything in Europe. If we can somehow win the league this season that would be a phenomenal achievement & would again be testament to the resolve of Fergie & the players. FWIW, I'm glad we're out of the EL as we shouldn't have been in it anyway, the whole "get knocked out of one cup & get put into another" is a farce.

Good luck to Bilbao, btw, excellent team & as previously stated, top bunch of fans. I've never been one of those fans who's adopted a 2nd team but may just change my mind!

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:24 am  

I don't think United particularly minded going out of the EL.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:34 am  

I think United clearly missed Vidic in Europe. The foundation of their success (or near success) in Europe over recent seasons has been the defence, take out your best defender and stick in a new goalkeeper and the results are as shown. United's midfield clearly isn't capable of doing a proper cover-up job, United fans have been asking for a Keane replacement for years (Hargreaves, for a year), I think more than ever they're in dire need of a proper defensive midfielder in the Mascherano mold. Fernando at Porto's a good'un, if Fergie's reading.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Fri Mar 16, 2012 12:43 pm  

Premiership - best league in the world

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Fri Mar 16, 2012 1:42 pm  

Saint77777 wrote:

Premiership - best league in the world

Quick question; what constitutes to being the best league in the world? During the 'big four' reign, the premier league only had four top sides in the league, the rest were average, yet the league was deemed the best because the big four dominated most sides in Europe.

Now the league itself is more 'competitive', IMO, we have more sides competing for the top four places than we did when the top four dominated the CL. Is the league now weaker, despite it being more competitive?

Over the years when the top four dominated, England had the same four sides in Europe for years, but countries like Spain had sides like Sevilla, Villarreal, Valencia, Atletico and Osasuna; does that mean their league is/was stronger because they were more competitive at the top?

You could say similar things about Serie A and the Bundesliga. People laugh when people say the premier league is the best in the world, but not many step forward and name the league they think is the best. Spain is often dismissed as a bigger Scotland, Serie A is seemingly forgotten these days and surely the Bundesliga can't be considered the best, they only have three CL places.

[John_D]

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Fri Mar 16, 2012 2:40 pm  

Roddy B wrote:

and surely the Bundesliga can't be considered the best, they only have three CL places.

What if it has four? Like, y'know, it does.

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Fri Mar 16, 2012 2:50 pm  

Roddy B wrote:

Is the league now weaker, despite it being more competitive?

yes

Clearly not a vintage United team
Worst Chelsea team since who? pre Vialli?
Obviously it's a 'better City' than usual
Arsenal are doing what Arsenal do, and clearly not a patch on the best Wenger teams
Spurs doing better than usual but looking in danger of implosion

Re: The Football Chat (cont) : Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:18 pm  

John_D wrote:

What if it has four? Like, y'know, it does.

Sorry, don't know why I said that. I actually remember saying a while back that the Bundesliga had overtaken Serie A. School boy error.