English Football Thread 2013/14

[MasterBlaster76]

Utd much improved against Arsenal I thought, although we could've paid for our sloppiness in the second half. The defence looked a lot better - hopefully Vidic won't be out for any amount of time. Rooney was brilliant as usual and RvP delivered his usual goal.

Utd right back in it now - only five points behind. This season is straight out of the Twilight Zone! I can see four or even five teams still in the running for a very long time.

Oh - and nice to be ahead of City once again, despite the millions they spent in the summer. Great result for Sunderland - Poyet has really turned that club around!

 

[thedon5]

I thought United were very average but so were Arsenal. Rooney was the only bright spot and maybe Smalling and Carrick.

We could barely string together any passes for a lot of the game, especially in the final third. We really missed Rosicky and Mertesacker. Clearly we are allergic to asserting ourselves at Old Trafford still, nothing has changed. The game against Southampton after internationals will be tough, but most of the players except Sagna, Koscielny and Giroud will get a nice rest hopefully. Giroud will be even more jaded.

Ozil was looking a bit like a German Aspas in that game. The guy clearly needs some rest. Cazorla wasn't too much better.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

there's the squad depth issue though, Arsenal missing one centre back were punished defensively, man u played 45 minutes missing 3 and kept arsenal quiet throughout.

well, Ozil's performance is probably one of the interesting points to take from the game. Heard the term Sch?nwetterspieler thrown about a fair bit in the wake of this and plenty of people noting, despite is general excellence in La Liga, he was always dross in the classicos.

 

[thedon5]

there's the squad depth issue though, Arsenal missing one centre back were punished defensively, man u played 45 minutes missing 3 and kept arsenal quiet throughout.

well, Ozil's performance is probably one of the interesting points to take from the game. Heard the term Sch?nwetterspieler thrown about a fair bit in the wake of this and plenty of people noting, despite is general excellence in La Liga, he was always dross in the classicos.

Not a depth isssue mate, that's not the definition of depth. Mertesacker is simply much better than Vermaelen so it showed.

In the end the extra pressure didn't cost us a goal though, it was a corner. That was definitely not due to the quality of their CBs lol, let me tell you.

Ozil hasn't set the league on fire yet at all yet, not just this game, his play has been good but he's still not close to even matching Cazorla's contribution last season. He has been tired for the last few games, he needs a rest then we'll see the best of him.

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Also half our team had the flu including Ozil, and it kept Rosicky and Mertesacker out.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

the Ozil thing I'm just mentioning because I've seen it a lot. you can go back and check my posts but you're probably sick of me saying it, I said arsenal needed to take points off their peers this season to win the league, I also said I wasn't convinced Ozil was going to make a huge difference in this regard and that arsenal have too thin a squad (for any guarantees to be made, I'm definitely not saying you're out of it, everyone has been iffy this season).

I also said man u would still be in the hunt for the league because van persie and rooney can come up with goals and win games.

that's kinda along the lines of what did actually happen.

also, surely man u's defense deserve some credit, arsenal barely had a sniff (pun not initially intended). for having three players out that's not too bad against the league leaders.

 

[thedon5]

Ozil definitely can play big games. His best performance was in his debut against Sunderland, and against Napoli it was vintage Ozil, other than that he's been very far from his best, and he's been getting worse in recent weeks as he gets more fatigued, and this Man Utd game was his worst yet. Players half as good as Ozil don't misplace 5-yard passes, he was doing it all night. He had the flu, he is tired, and he is off form. That's why he was crap and has been for the past few weeks, not because he can't do it in big games. Hopefully Low actually rests him, I can see him really destroying Southampton. He'll finally have someone to get on the end of his through balls in Walcott, and there will be space for both him and Walcott there unlike most of our home games as Southampton actually play football no matter who they're up against.

We'll see how Man Utd do the rest of the season. Rooney has been in stunning form, van Persie not at his best and they have been playing badly. Can they keep it up all season, these two? Also worth noting van Persie always falls off in the second half of the season. Rooney is also heading into the last year of his contract next season, his head will possibly be elsewhere after January.

Generally you're not going to be able to string together an attack when guys like Ozil, Ramsey and Cazorla keep messing up 5-yard passes. Our best players played like a bunch of Andersons. We barely had any attacks due mostly to how poor we were, and defensively the fullbacks and midfield of Man Utd did a lot more than their CBs. Smalling and Jones put out standout performances, Cleverley was good, Carrick was good but not excellent, and the rest of them didn't do much.

 

[thedon5]

Mythbuster: Why over-hyped Townsend is no longer justifying his Tottenham selection - Goal.com

Goal.com spot on for once, they seem to have really improved over the last few months.

Townsend is probably the most overrated player in Europe right now, no doubt. He is incredibly wasteful and simply does not provide that much. Yet England fans especially treat him like he's Bale.

Lamela is so much better than him, so is Eriksen and so is even Sigurdsson.

 

[War]

Most over-rated in Europe right now? Ha not at all.

Sure people talking about him, but whatever praise he has gotten has been to the point i'd say.

Interesting article speaking about how his style is affecting the effectiveness of Soladado though, because for England at least those things to date have had an opposite, positive effect.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Mythbuster: Why over-hyped Townsend is no longer justifying his Tottenham selection - Goal.com

Goal.com spot on for once, they seem to have really improved over the last few months.

Townsend is probably the most overrated player in Europe right now, no doubt. He is incredibly wasteful and simply does not provide that much. Yet England fans especially treat him like he's Bale.

Lamela is so much better than him, so is Eriksen and so is even Sigurdsson.

Have you seen his England performances?

 

[Haarithan]

That was as good a derby there ever was. Wow!

Neither side deserved to lose imo - Everton much the better side, but should have been down to ten men (Mirallas). Mignolet was godly and single handedly denied Everton all three points. Flanagan at LB surprisingly went well, but the decision to NOT start Sakho at CB was baffling and Lukaku made full use of it.

Last but not the least, Henderson's left foot > Joe Allen.

 

[shravi]

What a game! One of the best Merseyside derbies I've ever seen!

I thought that the back four was to fragile to handle Lukaku, and that proved to be the case.

I wouldn't be too harsh on Allen. It was a really, really bad miss, but it happens. He is still working his way back into the team. I hope this doesn't affect him too much.

 

[War]

Barkley was outstanding, such a performance makes you wonder why Hodgson didn't start in in the friendly vs Germany last week.

 

[thedon5]

He was just so selfish though.

 

[Bevab]

And Boruc now returns to his eccentric self after some surprising consistency.

 

[thedon5]

City have been sooooo strong at home this season it's insane. I am certainly not looking forward to our game with them.

They thrashed Norwich as we know, other than that, they have played some quality sides and made light work of them. Newcastle, Hull, Man Utd, Everton and Spurs have been thrashed, Hull the least of the lot tells you something really...

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Have you seen his England performances?

Read the name of the article...