2011-2012 English Premier League

Man U probably should have won, but, damn, Tim Krul was all over the place saving shit... Hard fought point. I'll take it.

 
RIP GARY SPEED

Legend... met him on numerous occasions, and was a true gentleman.

Still can't believe it was suicide? He was on Football Focus yesterday... ?! WTF?

 
crazy about gary speed. Rest in peace.

Reminds me a bit of robert enke...that was a terrible time.

Anyway, city and liverpool draw. Still hoping for that city loss unfortunately.

 
ahh, well this makes things interesting

betting has been suspended on steve bruce being the first in the sack race, hopefully a good sign he is off

o'neill or mark hughes please
 
yup, lots going on with us, pundits saying he isn't leaving, micky gray on twitter said he was, few others saying he is

betting suspended, i wonder what tomorrow will bring, we haven't been the same since bent left
 
If Spuds had lost it would have been a perfect weekend. I'm still worried about the run of upcoming games though. I just hope AVB is still around in January.
 
Ahhhh the dark side....

I agree - but who's going to take over? Look at the shit blackburn are in... i think they should stick with Bruce through Jan and buy some players....

I dunno - we can't say much as we're fucked up as a club, however - somehow, Pardew has turned out to be a great manager for us (so far!) and we have a little bit of stability and have bought some absolute quality. The main reason behind newcastle's success recently has been the scouting network and staff we have in europe (mostly france!)

 
yeah, you are looking pretty stable now, just wondering if a mid season collapse could happen a la us last season

ive heard mark hughes is being lined up, benitez among others

just pray we dont get lee clark, not proven at a higher level
 
Effectively doing what Wenger did that led to Arsenal's success in the late 90s and early 2000s. France can be a goldmine of talent, if you know where to look. The best young french players tend to all play a few seasons in France to make a name for themselves, then move on to italy/spain, or sometimes england. They don't stay in France. Though with the huge amount of money PSG now has at their disposal, I wouldn't be surprised if the overall quality of the French league goes up, leading to young french players staying there longer.

Blackburn has been strange this season. They overall are not a terrible team and should really be doing a bit better than they are. If it's not the manager's fault then i can't figure out where exactly the problem lies.
 
Think there's going to be 3 big French clubs that will emerge over the next few seasons. Money at PSG won't guarantee success but I'm sure they'll start to bring quality players in who will make a difference. Also think Lille will improve, they've got Joe Cole who, while maybe not an incredible player is probably too good to be playing in a second rate european league. The trend of Oligarch buying French clubs will catch on too, most clubs in the PL are owned by filthy rich owners now. Maybe Lyon could be next to be bought, I'm sure with a bit more money they'd challenge for the Champions league.
 
what's funny is how until mourinho showed up and reversed madrid's fortunes against them, lyon did well to challenge for the Champions league and managed to do well in the knock out stages. Just lacked that final push.

I think lille will do well, but probably short term. Unfortunately for them, they will lose hazard. It's become as inevitable as fabregas leaving Arsenal was. And he's a huge player for them, so unless they can spend that money very well, they'll struggle for a bit.

I agree that clubs will be bought up though, for me it's a question of whether the next one to go will be OM or OL. Marseille would be a perfect purchase for some rich owner. It's got a huge fanbase, a consistently good team, a good manager, and a new stadium on the way. Throw some money at them, and they could become top notch.

All I need is rich owner to buy Valenciennes...my team. Dancing with relegation this season...
 
I played with a French dude this summer and he suggested one of the reasons players leave, other than to play in bigger leagues for bigger clubs, is that in France they get taxed up the ying yang. The French league definitely has potential for investment though. Probably unlike the EPL and La Liga (to a lesser extent) where you already have many established, heavily backed clubs to compete with. So it will be interesting to see what happens when or if the money comes.

One thing that's great about these smaller leagues though is the price. I went to the Lyon match last week and paid 15 Euro for front row seats. Chelsea vs. Spurs in December would cost me 150+ if I'm lucky.
 
The French players also get paid hee haw compared to what they make in the Prem or italy / spain.

 
haha yea gotta love that. I got 2 free tickets to a lyon game about a year ago because I bought a jersey in their pro shop. Unfortunately I was only visiting some family for a week, so the match was after I had to go back to london, but at least my aunt and a friend went for free.

If arsenal gave tickets with jerseys I'd pretty much be a season ticket holder by now
 
I love following Ligue 1. There's a damn high level of play, passionate supporters (they have actual terraces still at many of the stadiums!), and I feel like there is a lot more parity between the clubs than in many other leagues. France and Holland have the most evenly matched top-level leagues in Europe.

 
it's also nice to follow a league that changes up. Since the end of lyon's dominance, it's been a new team every year. And some of the winners don't even maintain it. Look at bordeaux, won the league, and are midtable now. You just don't see that in most other leagues.
 
Even when Lyon was winning every year, Many of the seasons they won the league, they took it on the final day of the season, or close to it. Besides the years from 04-07 (when they simply dominated France in just about every facet), they never won it by more than 4 points during any of their championship seasons in that streak - Which makes it all the more impressive - they were able to hold off on final matchday so many times.

 
hughes, o'neill and an unnamed foreign manager have all been interviewed in the last day or so

hope we get one of the first 2

 
Ohhh Lucas tackles Mata and is out for the season from it. Can't say I'll complain, he keeps that midfield rolling and it probably helps our chances. I never really liked the guy but he's turned into a fine player, unlike a certain Nigerian wonderkid.

Too bad about Bruce as well. I haven't followed the situation too closely but you have to feel for a guy who had both Bent and Gyan walk out on him on short notice.
 
Got to admit I never though Lucas would become the player he has.....good on him.

Little harsh on Bruce who really had no strikers this season.
 
some players are hilarious too.

Szczesny and wilshere are great. Wilshere in particular tweets a ton.

RVP was funny for awhile when he couldn't figure out what twitter was or how to use it.

Interesting to get some insight as to what their daily lives are like.
 
SO....

Newcastle v Chelsea tomorrow...

Predictions? I'm quietly confident about this and Newcastle maybe taking the 3 points.. A draw at the least?

Chelsea fans - this game must be seen as a tough away day tomorrow against a very good Toon side.

Chelsea never travel well to St james's... and have been indifferent on the road this season....

We have no Jonas though, and Tiote is still out. Could be a good open game - hopefully one which Newcastle will win.

 
and Martin O'Neil to the Mackems..!

Must admit - i'd never of thought he'd go. But then there is the irish connection over there in the dark place.
 
Score truly didn't reflect the Chesea v. Newcastle game. Chelsea got super lucky at points, but at the same time has tons of chances themselves they didn't capitalize (Drogba, Sturridge). Happy we could get the 3 points today.
 
Didn't watch the full match, but based on extended highlights Newcastle's defense looked a bit shit this morning. Unfortunate too, as I was hoping for a draw.

Mikel Arteta scored a nice one for Arsenal this morning. The type of goal we don't often get to see from a wenger side, especially not since henry and the gang left.

Manchester City rolled along effortlessly again.

Haven't found any proper highlights from the tottenham match yet, but I've read there was a questionable red card that made things a bit easier. I have to say though, despite how much i dislike them, tottenham are a decent side this season. Whether or not it'll last all season is debatable, but they seem to be cruising at the moment.

And manchester united had the late kick off...and are leading 1-0. C'mon villa!
 
Newcastle wet the bed on defense worse in that match than they have all season... that said, some of those chances that Chelsea actually scored on were a bit luck all the way - call it my homerism, but I call em as I see em.
Either way... we got 1 point out of Novembergeddon... which was my minimum expectation... with 4 pts being my highest hopes.
...Now we get back to playing normal clubs, which hopefully means we get back to winning matches. These last 3 matches have been rough sex in the butt.
 
loving me some van persie, as usual. Scored an excellent volley today to win it.

Of course man utd and liverpool also won though...
 
We are so boned... Losin Steven Taylor is huge... and then for the canaries match, we had no Colo nor Tiote...

Yeah.. When you lose every main defensive player you have, goals will be conceded. Damn Damn. Still in 6th.
 
yea they really blew some golden opportunities.

Also just watched some of the 125th anniversary celebrations before the game...good stuff. I like seeing some of the old guys out there again. And seeing bobby pires at the emirates makes me day. One of my all time favorites.
 


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Here's the goal....unfortunately YouTube versions don't stay up long so if its down check out either Arsenalist.com or 101greatgoals.com
 
really shows how high his confidence must be right now to even attempt that volley. Tim Howard was rooted to the spot
 
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