English Premier League 2019-20

[throbber]

9 minutes ago, JMDP said:

They are only still European champions as the campaign hasn't been finished yet - weird to highlight that as a positive this season given how they were dispatched from this year's tournament. 

Given their incredible league season and strength of their team, I'd suggest they have underachieved this year in only winning one trophy.  

Mental that people are still slagging Henderson, the guy is a fantastic player and has been for years. 

Well if you’re going to judge this Liverpool team as being the best team to win the league or not then I think the fact the same team won the champions league a year ago and got to the final 2 years ago whilst returning an outstanding number of points in the league in the process is an important detail. They’re definitely in with a shout of being the best ever Premiership team.

[JMDP]

12 minutes ago, throbber said:

Well if you’re going to judge this Liverpool team as being the best team to win the league or not then I think the fact the same team won the champions league a year ago and got to the final 2 years ago whilst returning an outstanding number of points in the league in the process is an important detail. They’re definitely in with a shout of being the best ever Premiership team.

Again, it's a weird thing to bring up and completely irrelevant. It weakens the argument if anything, that a team so dominant in their own league was dispatched from the Champions League so  unceremoniously - in the round of 16 - by losing home and away to an injury ravaged side that was 6th in La Liga.

They are an excellent side, but one who only focused on two competitions - winning one and struggling in the other, where the evidence points that the Barclays isnt very strong this year given the houndings Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool have suffered. 

Edited June 26, 2020 by JMDP

[Mr. Brightside]

Henderson is the Danny Drinkwater of the Liverpool team.

[throbber]

28 minutes ago, JMDP said:

Again, it's a weird thing to bring up and completely irrelevant. It weakens the argument if anything, that a team so dominant in their own league was dispatched from the Champions League so  unceremoniously - in the round of 16 - by losing home and away to an injury ravaged side that was 6th in La Liga.

They are an excellent side, but one who only focused on two competitions - winning one and struggling in the other, where the evidence points that the Barclays isnt very strong this year given the houndings Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool have suffered. 

I was responding to TGIG who laughed at the idea of then being the best team to win the league. I don’t think they are the best but I certainly wouldn’t go laughing it off. 
 

They got dumped out of Europe but it wasn’t as unceremonious as you are trying to make it out plus Atletico have a habit of knocking out good teams in the CL and I don’t think the result reflects badly on the English game. Liverpool put all their focus on winning the premiership this season as well.

[JMDP]

6 minutes ago, throbber said:

I was responding to TGIG who laughed at the idea of then being the best team to win the league. I don’t think they are the best but I certainly wouldn’t go laughing it off. 
 

They got dumped out of Europe but it wasn’t as unceremonious as you are trying to make it out plus Atletico have a habit of knocking out good teams in the CL and I don’t think the result reflects badly on the English game. Liverpool put all their focus on winning the premiership this season as well.

They didn't have a shot on target in the first leg. They were horrendous and were out fought, outplayed and out thought. For all the mewling about the second leg, let's remember that but for poor Morata finishing, Atletico would have been taking a 3-0 lead to Liverpool. Felix, Costa and Morata were miles away from being fit, other key players like Gimenez were out and they were on an awful run (some fans even calling for Simeone's head) and had been pumped by Eibar just before the tie. They were 6th in the league at the time.

Yet they took apart the runaway Barclays winner, beating them home and away. Also, Chelsea and Tottenham have been pumped put before the quarters - it definitely reflects on the quality of the Barclays this year, beyond the top 2 it is very poor.

To compare them to the treble winners, who were engaged and successful across a range of competitions is very premature. They're an excellent side, who have won in a poor season, just like Leicester were a good side who won in a very poor season. 

[Derry Alli]

14 minutes ago, throbber said:

Liverpool put all their focus on winning the premiership this season as well.

Hard to disagree with anything you said - then you said this. It's an absolute nonsense. 

[throbber]

34 minutes ago, JMDP said:

They didn't have a shot on target in the first leg. They were horrendous and were out fought, outplayed and out thought. For all the mewling about the second leg, let's remember that but for poor Morata finishing, Atletico would have been taking a 3-0 lead to Liverpool. Felix, Costa and Morata were miles away from being fit, other key players like Gimenez were out and they were on an awful run (some fans even calling for Simeone's head) and had been pumped by Eibar just before the tie. They were 6th in the league at the time.

Yet they took apart the runaway Barclays winner, beating them home and away. Also, Chelsea and Tottenham have been pumped put before the quarters - it definitely reflects on the quality of the Barclays this year, beyond the top 2 it is very poor.

To compare them to the treble winners, who were engaged and successful across a range of competitions is very premature. They're an excellent side, who have won in a poor season, just like Leicester were a good side who won in a very poor season. 

Yet Liverpool still threw the tie away because of a goalkeeping error from their second choice keeper after Firminho put them ahead in extra time. If Alison was playing then no way would that have happened, those are the breaks in CL football and Atletico are a great side. They also had a similar points return the season before when all 4 of the European finalists were English teams but I’m guessing that doesn’t matter to you because they lost to Atlerico?

Ali I’m not saying Liverpool weren’t trying in the CL, they were just so unrelenting in the premiership that I think it caught up on them v Atlrtico and they weren’t at their best. 

[8MileBU]

2 hours ago, throbber said:

Yet Liverpool still threw the tie away because of a goalkeeping error from their second choice keeper after Firminho put them ahead in extra time. If Alison was playing then no way would that have happened, those are the breaks in CL football and Atletico are a great side. They also had a similar points return the season before when all 4 of the European finalists were English teams but I’m guessing that doesn’t matter to you because they lost to Atlerico?

Ali I’m not saying Liverpool weren’t trying in the CL, they were just so unrelenting in the premiership that I think it caught up on them v Atlrtico and they weren’t at their best. 

Would agree with that.

[jagfox]

Good to see Frank Lampard winning more titles for Liverpool than Steven Gerrard ever did though...

[JMDP]

7 hours ago, throbber said:

Yet Liverpool still threw the tie away because of a goalkeeping error from their second choice keeper after Firminho put them ahead in extra time. If Alison was playing then no way would that have happened, those are the breaks in CL football and Atletico are a great side. They also had a similar points return the season before when all 4 of the European finalists were English teams but I’m guessing that doesn’t matter to you because they lost to Atlerico?

Ali I’m not saying Liverpool weren’t trying in the CL, they were just so unrelenting in the premiership that I think it caught up on them v Atlrtico and they weren’t at their best. 

So that "threw the tie away" Walter, but Morata's chances didn't? Why is it only Adrian's mistakes count? Again, it is weird that you are literally talking about them being the best this season, then refer to last season. Why do you keep mentioning last season when your own argument is about this season?

Do you think it reflects well that they lost both home and away to the 6th best team in La Liga whilst they were injury ravaged and went through a crisis? Nothing to do with the 6th best side in La Liga besting them, just that they weren't at their best? And the Tottenham and Chelsea poundings in terms of your "best ever" argument?

[Diamonds are Forever]

10 hours ago, 8MileBU said:

Quit the yoof speak you old hipster.

With the exception of the odd player (usually enforced by injury/suspension) Liverpool’s starting 11 has been largely predictable in all comps throughout the season, lending itself to form and consistency.  In Man City’s case, you could argue that Pep-roulette has been part of the problem and he needs to stop tinkering with the side as much as too few of their players were ever able to be consistent or hit a run of form, albeit long absences of key players and nailed on starters (KDB and Laporte) probably didn’t help.

Just a different type of player but equally effective as ‘the greats’. Henderson might not have the finesse of the likes of Scholes etc, but he’s the engine in a well oiled machine. 

Exactly this. The posters slagging off Henderson were probably raving about Kante performing a similar-ish role for Chelsea the last time they won the league. Both have played against numerous top midfielders and shown that despite coming up against some of the best players, being a busy b*****d and an absolute fucking pest who doesn’t tire or leave you alone all game is more than a match for most.

 

Yip. There's a slight similarity with someone like Darren Fletcher at his peak. Relative to the players around them they are/were both a lot poorer technically, but you need someone like that in your team. Every great side has someone who is there to provide some leadership, be a pain in the arse to the opposition and be everywhere on the park when needed to allow the better players to shine. Fletcher did it with Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney, Berbatov etc, and Henderson does it so that the likes of Mane and Salah don't need to track back as much, or so that TAA and Robertson can spend the whole game bombing forward with cover. I actually have more respect for guys like Henderson and Fletcher because they have clearly managed to max every last bit out of their potential, there will be hundreds of players who at youth level were better footballers than them but never carved at that type of career.

In Fletcher's case it was people not understanding this which led to Scotland fans criticising him because they expected a Man Utd player to be running the show for us. Henderson seems to be growing into his role with England, but think he still gets a bit of stick from England fans from what I can tell.

[throbber]

1 hour ago, JMDP said:

So that "threw the tie away" Walter, but Morata's chances didn't? Why is it only Adrian's mistakes count? Again, it is weird that you are literally talking about them being the best this season, then refer to last season. Why do you keep mentioning last season when your own argument is about this season?

Do you think it reflects well that they lost both home and away to the 6th best team in La Liga whilst they were injury ravaged and went through a crisis? Nothing to do with the 6th best side in La Liga besting them, just that they weren't at their best? And the Tottenham and Chelsea poundings in terms of your "best ever" argument?

Are you Supras?

[Thistle_do_nicely]

1 hour ago, throbber said:

Are you Supras?

 I'm fairly sure Supras isn't on the site at all at present after his weird Ched Evans related "rape apologist!!!! RAPE APOLOGIST!!!!!!!" meltdown, unless he's significantly changed the way he posts (which is possible tbf, but I doubt it.)

 if he *was* back there's no chance that, as an example, he would be able to resist posting at least occasionally about the "dude legalise every drug going lmao" idea he regularly championed.

Edited June 26, 2020 by Thistle_do_nicely

[Arch Stanton]

 

 

[NorthernLights]

 

[Distant Doonhamer]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-53203765

[Bishop Briggs]

Another borefest at Villa Park so far.

I expected much more from Wolves.

[Derry Alli]

Glenn Hoddle

"Look! Nuno is clapping. Nuno is a happy boy!" 

How is he still getting gigs on commentary?! 

[Scotty Tunbridge]

Is the crowd noise guy a person that works in the stadium playing it over the tannoy? Or is it someone that works at the tv station playing it over the broadcast?

Because this is definitely the worst of them I’ve heard so far. A massive delay between the incident and the noise. Boos getting played when the home team gets a foul?

[eez-eh]

1 minute ago, Scotty Tunbridge said:

Is the crowd noise guy a person that works in the stadium playing it over the tannoy? Or is it someone that works at the tv station playing it over the broadcast?

Because this is definitely the worst of them I’ve heard so far. A massive delay between the incident and the noise. Boos getting played when the home team gets a foul?

It has to be someone doing it on the telly otherwise you wouldn’t get the choice of watching without it.