A new thread to discuss everything about the Premier League.
You can find the link to Part 1 of the Premier League thread on here:
http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=190991
I think Chelsea should have the title sewn up by now.
Will see if Spurs bottle it tonight. If they don't then it's game on for another two weeks. I do think it's Chelseas to lose though.
More intriguing is the three way battle for 3rd-5th. Tomorrow will be pivotal in that race
I'd be amazed if there are any goals between Middlesbrough and Sunderland tonight. Both relegation fodder.
Interesting headline that has appeared today:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39716009
I think the other thread should have stayed open seeing as theirs only about 3-4 weeks left of the season. Nearly had the most posts in that thread but was pipped by Rooney
Yesterday was the biggest sign so far this season that Chelsea will win the league this season, if they were going to bottle the title then the match against Southampton is where the dropped points would have come from. They will almost certainly win their last 4 matches so even if they lose to Everton this coming weekend they will still be top at the end of the season.
I don't expect any surprises from tonight's matches but tomorrow's Manchester derby will be a very close match and I think a draw is the most likely result there.
Not sure if I want a draw or a city win tomorrow?!
I think its typical for West Ham to be cutting corners and doing things on the cheap! Takes me back to Harry Redknapp spunking the Rio Ferdinand money on a bunch of misfits.
Although without that, we'd never have the iconic Christian Dailly chant.
A very drab bunch of matches last night in quality.
What was that Sanchez's ode to Rivaldo about?
Big one tonight. Manchester United vs Abu Dhabi. Some dodgy Sheiks dirty oil money. Abu Dhabi's pet money laundering project Manchester City
Bit of a crap first half. I'd say City have got this though.
Toure should have been sent off for that dive. Jesus Christ. There are Hollywood agents in a bidding war for his signature after that audition.
They should probably have a further 2 or 3 yellows.
We perked up at the end of the half, if we get a decent shot on target we'll score for sure as Bravo is the worst keeper in the League by a country mile. As long as we hold it together at the back, Bailly usually looking shaky.
You stupid boy, Felliani.
Aguero making the most of that.
URGH
Silver lining, Fellaini should get a nice suspension for that and we showed just how resilient and hard to beat we are. We gave them too much space to play their game and never really seemed in it.
Fellaini played right into Aguero's hand who made a f***ing meal of it. Glad to see at the end while De Gea was being nice-y nice-y to the wee cheat Herrera got in between them and started having a go at Aguero.
It's absolutely not our tactic and anyone who'd watched any of our games at Burnley or Chelsea would be able to tell you that. Liverpool have played a 10 and hoof tactic more often this year than United have
Any team without Fellaini is better than any team with him in it.
Yeah the sooner we ship out Fellaini the better, been a liability for a long while now.
I knew the match would be an absolute snoozefest, just as the games away at Arsenal & Spurs will be too. Thing is, we could get away with playing for the 0-0s away at the big boys if we had mopped up all the fodder at home this season.
Watching the post-match analysis and you can see in the Carragher analysis that we were set up to take that point. No overlap by Tonio to protect the counter.
Nev is right that we missed Pogba tonight.
This top 4 battle just seems so anti-climatic in my opinion, from a league point of view I'm already looking forward to next season as this 2016/17 season feels like a write off. If Man United get into the top 4 there wont be a feeling of euphoria like you would get win you win the league.
Anticlimactic? I legitimately have no idea who will finish where between third and sixth. It could literally be any order. Right now I'd say Liverpool third, Arsenal, City, Utd sixth, but who knows? I'm loving the drama of it!
The three games between Arsenal, Spurs and United are absolutely crucial. City SHOULD be safe for 3rd now they've had the last of their really tricky games and their record against the rest is from memory more reliable than any of the teams they're competing with. Other than that I can't call it, except that Arsenal probably need four points from their two big games (preferably with the point coming against Spurs).
Well Palace vs Burnley better be a shower of goals or else it'll be the worst MOTD... ever?
Sunderland officially relegated, funny how the one season they don't change their manager, this happens...
Valuable point there for us, hopefully we don't take the foot off the pedal against Sunderland next week. Going to be cheering for all of Manchester tomorrow!
Bye bye Premier League
YAY!!!! Moyes back on the Dole!
(I'm assuming)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39746313
The boss is preparing a...unique defensive line up for Swansea.
It will be the dullest MOTD of all time today.
Bye bye Moyes and Sunderland would have been relegated earlier if they didn't have Defoe.
Big day ahead in the Premier league on Sunday. It could be a historic and very comical day! Main thing is 3 points hopefully for Man Utd.
Our entire season now is dependent on the Europa League, there is no way in a million years we're gonna go to both Arsenal & Spurs and win, especially with Carrick now having to play at centre-back.
Meh. City only drawing at Boro is a reprieve.
0-0 would have been a more accurate result. Our penalty was a poor call and no way did they deserve that free kick. Same ref as the derby and hes a Leeds fan.
Jose's MO is always to sort out the defence first and it's worked well but to be fair he didn't have much work to do. It's not as if we shipped in much last year.
I don't buy the fatigue excuse so much for today. Sure it's a factor that we've played 9 games on an injury impacted squad but I think it's more of a case of people not really putting a proper shift in against relegation fodder - because the Semi-Final is Thursday. De Gea just watching that free kick soar past him was infuriating, he just couldn't be arsed.
I think we're out of the top4 now, we needed a win today - especially as City drew as well. If we qualify for the final then Palace are going to play against our under 23s The only hope is that Liverpool continue to be Liverpool and drop points against the bottom end of the table. The only way we leap you is by winning the game in hand and matching your results.
I think I'd say the league will finish: Chelsea, Spurs, City, LPool, United, Arsenal, Everton. I think the order all depends on what United do away to Spurs and Arsenal. If we take 4 points then it's game on with Liverpool but I don't see us taking more than 2.
Superb performance from Tottenham in the North London Derby, we have definitely have to be wary of them in a couple of weeks time! The unbeaten run could come to an end when we play them.
Nothing much happened yet between Watford and Liverpool in this match.
Massive win that for Pool, hearts in mouths when that Prodl shot hit the bar I'm sure!
The fact that one or both of United & Arsenal will drop points next week I'd say pretty much assures them of top 4 now, unless they somehow lose all their remaining matches. I expect City will pip them to third with their easy run-in but that's a minor insignificance in the grand scheme of things.
If we can just do the business in the Europa we could have 5 English teams in the CL again.
Would say Liverpool are just about the favorites to finish 3rd. City will drop points I reckon.
Only thing that makes me feel like City will be 3rd is that they've a game in hand so have a built in advantage there.
The Arsenal vs Man Utd match on Sunday will be a draw, I'm fairly confident of that. Both teams are almost as bad as each other when it comes to the league this season.
Luckily for City, our record against you is far better than against them recently.
Pretty harsh on Swansea say united weren't up for it. Thought Clement played a blinder with his high pressing tactics - they really deserved to win it imo - And Silias De Gea wouldn't have got near that free kick because as usual from Gilfy it was a cracker free kick!
Herrera was at that post until De Gea sent him back to the wall. My seat is behind that goal
The shot that was taken would have clocked Ander square in the face if he'd stayed there it wouldn't have gone in period. Lot more if's and maybe's with going via Llorente, ball would have had to come in at a different angle, a bit closer to De Gea and his usually impressive shot stopping ability.
I'm not saying we would have won, but keeping Ander at the back post would have decreased their likelihood of scoring
Everton's Aaron Lennon was detained in Salford yesterday under the mental health act near Salford Royal Hospital!
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/footballer-aaron-lennon-detained-under-12977858
Get well soon Aaron Lennon, stay strong.
Sad news to hear about.
Yeah I've got a good seat. I've a great vantage point for seeing the tactics play out
It was a stunning free kick
aaaaaaaaaaaand reliable as the sun rising in the morning, Spurs have bottled it.
Chelsea only need 2 wins from their last 4 matches to win the title now so the league will be wrapped up next Friday when they play West Brom.
That was so sweet, almost made up for how mediocre the season has been!
Hence what I said in the other thread, they're missing something that makes them extra special.
They looked absolutely shattered. Their game falls apart when they can't press, although we put in a great performance as well.
Yeah watching on football focus this morning it looked like you held your defensive line really well for the most part.
I hate to say this but...
Hey Spurs, you want to know what to do with pressure to get a result? Look at what City just did to relegation fodder.
Absolutely massive result for Swansea, back in their own hands & with far preferable fixtures.
If Hull win they'd still have to beat Spurs on the final day to send Palace down due to their inferior GD. Of course Spurs will be fighting for nothing then & could feasibly lose whilst Palace have to travel to the Theatre of Draws!
Palace go to the theatre of draws to potentially play our u23's! If we get to Stockholm no way he plays the first XI against palace and risks yet another injury
Just checking the MEN for tomorrow's squad and of the 22 that have travelled to London I count 9 academy players/grads. Pretty good for Jose allergic to youth Mourinho!
Rashford and Lingard says hai.
One is the 3rd keeper so he won't make the squad. I can see Pogba and Rashford and maybe Lingard being rested completely so there's another 3 down. I think we could see a couple of the reserve team on the bench but he's written off top 4 allegedly so if that is true I can see it coming off. I'm not ruling out him f***ing with Wenger though.
He doesn't need a ploy Woodward has shown no fear of splashing the cash and let's be honest we can afford it we topped the rich list this year and we sold like double the shirts of anyone this year with both Pogba and Ibra which has paid for our summer spending
Pretty harsh analysis of Spurs here they were always behind Chelsea and that's why Chelsea will win the league because of their huge lead and great middle portion of the season. The Potch has created a great team to watch and I hope Spurs are rewarded with a trophy at some stage in the coming years. Hope they keep their best players too as it's the second season they have punched above their weight and are consistently getting in the top 4 now which is a good thing.
Today's match between Arsenal & Man Utd is pointless to be honest, it's just banter between rival fans that is at stake today. As for Champions League qualification it's clear that we've got all our eggs into the Europa League frying pan and Arsenal are probably thinking more about the FA Cup final.
I just realised that Middlesbrough will be officially relegated tomorrow if they lose to Chelsea after Swansea beat Everton.
Liverpool were absolute dog poo today. We look defensively sound, but we could be playing for another 48 hours and we would not score Hats off to the officials too who got all the calls wrong for both sides! Top 4 will go to the wire.
Also for a supposed B side, this Man Utd side is still really good. Not like Mourinho to have a moan!
Says a lot that half our B-Squad are England internationals
Arsenal are right back in the top 4 hunt if it stays like this.
Meh. I'm not even disappointed that we lost today, the league has been a write off for a while now. Europa League victory is the only thing that matters for the rest of the season. Arsenal can have the historic 5th place if they want it.
We didn't even try to win we just playing down the clock in the league until the Europa League final. The Xhaka shot was fantastic, quality goal that.
Axel played so well. Great to see two debut's for the first team today. Palace defo playing our reserves coz they better than half the bloody first team on today's evidence.
Would be good to win all the European trophies too - gutted Liverpool can't win the cup winners cup!!
Shame to see our incredibly underwhelming unbeaten run come to end but it was bound to happen before the season ended. Herrera at fault for that first goal gotta be braver than that. Thought Tuanzebe had a great game didn't give Alexis a sniff! But credit to Arsenal they got the job done there.
Arsenal have to win the remaining 4 games, Arsenal play away to Southampton on Weds and could go above Man Utd. Slim possibility Arsenal can finish 3rd or 4th, if Liverpool and Man City come unstuck with their remaining fixtures.
Big match on Sunday Spurs against Man Utd, oooh toughie, I'm not holding my breath for a Man Utd win unfortunately... sorry... since Spurs are playing at home.
The most unremarkable unbeaten record is over.
What was that hugs and shaking hands all about in the tunnel?
N'Golo Kante is on the verge of winning the Premier League in consecutive seasons with two different teams after winning with Leicester last season. Is there any other players who have done this? I can't think of any!
I guess Mark Schwarzer technically when he in the squad for Chelsea 2 seasons ago then Leicester last year, he didn't win any medals though as he didn't make the minimum required appearances.
Before him you have to go back to Cantona who won the last First Division with Leeds then the first Premiership with United.
Middlesbrough has been relegated, no surprise there. Their defence policy backfired in the first half of the season relied too much on Negardo and Valdes.
The title beckons then for Chelsea barring some strange results.
I hope we don't have another situation where everything in the Premier League has been already decided before the final day of the season with nothing left to play for...
I can't see Chelsea losing their next two matches
Final relegation spot and 3rd and 4th look like they could go down to the wire
Wonder how long Valdez & Negredo will stay at Boro for now they're relegated?
We're back in 6th place and the banter has already started , being 5th and 6th is equally useless to be honest so why anyone would celebrate climbing up to 5th place is beyond me
We could be bottom of the table but that wouldn't change the fact that if we win two more matches in Europe then we'll get a trophy that we've never won before and automatic Champions League qualification.
Don't have to win. A draw will take us through...
Yeh which annoys me English players proven in the championship like Nugent and Rhodes don't get a chance instead they bring in overpaid players from other leagues as soon as they get promoted!
Congrats to Chelsea, was pretty much nailed on from about January but even so. Almost as impressive a climb as Leicester from 14th too.
Now let's see how they cope with European football and if the players turn into snakes again!
Hardly impressive as 10th wasn't a real result for Chelsea last year!
Congratulations to Chelsea another showing of the rat, Terry lifting the trophy. Was there crowd trouble at all, heard something that there was.
Now don't turn into snakes now Chelsea and please not another false dawn in Terry leaving the club.
Congrats to Chelsea. I really like Conte, he's a good football guy.
That spell where they won 13 games in a row really won it for them as they were unspectacular before that. It will be interesting to see what happens in the summer, I think they will keep the brunt of their squad (Courtious, Costa, Hazard the question marks) and invest in 2-3 great players. I fancy them to do well in the Champions League next year.
Chelsea did do something right to win the title. Barkley will leave Everton.
My point, quite f***ing obviously, was that context is important. The 2015 champions going from 10th back to 1st with fundamentally the same team because their players are snakes and their performance was deflated in 2016 as a direct result of their players actions is not impressive, it just further underlines their shitty actions last season.
6th to 1st would not be an "outstanding achievement" for United. 6th is an underperformance - not that we're winning the league next season anyway.
6th to 1st for last year's 6th placed team Southampton would be an "outstanding achievement".
Once more, context is king.
Chelsea deserved to win the league and it was never really in doubt since December, if Antonio Conte thinks it's going to be this easy every season then he will have another thing coming from next season onwards.
I'm glad Man City got the win just now against Leicester, hopefully Stoke will win today and Liverpool will win tomorrow. I want Arsenal to finish 5th and feel the humiliation of being the ONLY team in the top six to fail to qualify for next season's Champions League providing that we win the Europa League final. That will shut up the Arsenal fans that have been saying "6th", "Europa League club" to us all season long.
I think Mark Hughes could be gone at the end of the season as Stoke manager. Stoke could be in danger next season for relegation.
I don't even care anymore. So many united players demonstrating yet again why they aren't fit to wear the shirt. Fire sale in the summer please
We were in equal parts unlucky and completely abject there. Our heads completely went as soon as you broke away for the third goal.
After ending Tottenham's title hopes, it was clearly one favour too many for Arsenal today. Assuming Boro won't be much of a problem if yesterday was anything to go by.
Hull are relegated after losing 4-0 to Crystal Palace, this means that the only issue which could potentially go to the last day is fourth place which is what happened in the 2012/13 season. It looks like it could be quite an uneventful day next weekend.
I knew that we would lose today, I didn't even bother watching the match because it's not important and I couldn't be bothered to search for a stream to watch it on. If this was season mode on FIFA then these last few league matches would get a quick sim and just skip straight to the 24th of May.
We finally scored an away goal at a top 6 team!!
Ended up watching the whole thing. Some good points with Martial playing well and the subs made a good impact. On the flip side this really proved that the whole strong squad thing is a complete myth we need a fire sale. Rooney, Smalling and Jones can all go immediately.
It is starting to in parts of the fandom but they need to get a grip.
The difference between the Moyes/Van Gaal era's is that outside of the negative set-ups vs the top6, we have by and large been playing much better football than at any point over the three proceeding seasons.
Another season where the title race and the relegation battle doesn't go until the final day of the season.
Fantastic to see Swansea survive, what an amazing job Paul Clement has done there!
I do feel a bit for Silva & Hull though, he also did remarkably well to keep the fight going on as long as it did.
Yeah another damp squib of a Premier League finale this season.
Yup. The final weekend is going to be the battle for 3rd/4th/5th. I can't see it changing from the Net Positions (ie City winning game in hand to take them to 3rd) unless one of City or Liverpool f*** up royally on their remaining games and Arsenal don't.
I think it'll be 5 wins from 5 for those three so Arsenal face Europa.
With Palace safe the starting XI for Stockholm will 100% be no where near the pitch or bench for that match. We can't go down to 7th and the EFL cup already secured us Europa for next year so we've literally f*** all reason to waste players against palace.
Battle for 8th might be interesting. With the winner of the FA Cup getting European football through league a Europa spot drops to 7th and if United win then their EFL Europa spot goes to 8th. West Brom could make Europe!!
There is the battle for 3rd and 4th. Not sure Watford and Boro will just roll over for Man City and Liverpool. I expect Everton to fully roll-over, but it could be a tense/nervy afternoon..
Not really, more of a battle for 4th. City are now certain of CL football and need a point for 3rd regardless of other results. Battle is between Pool and Arsenal. As long as Pool match Arsenals result then you get 4th (3rd if you win and city somehow lose - Arsenal then certain for 5th regardless as their GD is inferior to City)
Right now the top 7 are in their final positions I reckon. If Soton win tomorrow (possibility given the half strength team we've sent) then they'll have 8th sorted I think. If we beat soton (can't see it) then a potential Europa spot is what is up for grabs on the last day other than pride. Three way scrap for it between Soton, West Brom and Bournemouth. I'd love it to go to Bournemouth personally!
United offered me a ticket to Soton away this morning despite being 2 years and 2 games off eligibility. Mid week rescheduled game on south coast with nowt to play for. Not surprised tbh
I don't believe 8th place get Europa actually. Remember reading about it somewhere, I think only 7 teams maximum from one league can get European football. Might be wrong but that would explain why West Brom have been on the beach since Christmas.
If Arsenal draw 1-1 & Liverpool lose 2-0 there would be a play-off for the final CL spot. Could you imagine!
We've mathematically secured 6th place now after tonight's results. It's only positions 3rd - 5th that have not been guaranteed yet within the top 7.
Well, at the very least that's now finishing in every position in the top 7 in the PL ticked off
To be honest we deserve to finish 6th, we made that position our home for the majority of the season , it reminds me of when we were in 7th place for months during the David Moyes season and we ended up finishing there.
The battle for 4th on the final day between Liverpool and Arsenal. I'll be surprised if Liverpool lost to Boro.
Romero is the one true god
That was never a penalty tho. It's like 3 yards outside the box. Right call on the handball though. Fab save by Romero
Apparently he's save 30% of the penalties he's faced in his career.
Watford will be looking for a new manager on Sunday after Mazzarri is going.
It's always sad in the final weekend of the season imo
Yeah I'll miss Premier League football at the weekend but on the other hand I've felt this season has been pretty underwhelming on the whole with the title pretty much sewn up by Christmas & no exciting relegation battle. Already looking forward to all the ridiculous transfers throughout the Summer!
I feel the same way about the last weekend of the season, thinking about the possible standard of weekend television in June & July is already giving me withdrawal symptoms and there is no major international tournament this year either to make things worse.
I think it's ultimately for the best though speaking as a Man Utd fan and as a general football fan. Every team will have a fresh start in August to try to improve from where they went wrong this season, I really hope that whatever happens next season that it will be more competitive in all areas of the league and if it's possible that issues in all areas of the table go to the last match like it did in 2011-12.
The final World Cup qualifiers aren't until 12th June then we have the Confederations Cup from the 17th of that month!
Tottenham 7-1 Hull
One thing you can always rely on last day is a TON of goals.
Hull & Watford both absolutely embarrassing today!
Bizarre final day. Watford and Hull just rolled open.
Very pleasing to win the 4th place trophy! Hopefully we get a good draw in the qualifying stages.
Cracking debut for a tonne of United players today! Fab to see Gomes get a debut after winning u18 player of the year at the POTY awards. Fab goal by Harup. Mitchell and McTominay performed commendably. One of our best performances for months though we understandably tired towards the end with more than half the team being academy grads and a massive chunk of debuts
Champione ole ole ole who started that chant?
Controversial John Terry lifting the trophy, wtf was that guard of honour from Sunderland in the 26th minute. Is this surely we see for the final time of it?
Leicester broke the record set by Chelsea last season for worst defence of a Premier League title after finishing 12th.
In your view who do you think deserves these from this season in your opinion:
Best Player:
Best Game:
Best Manager
Best Goal:
Best Signing:
Worst Flop:
Are we still in the Premier League? I will say yes, for now. Moyes has quit as Sunderland manager. (I assume because he doesn't want to manage a Championship club.) I suspect the Hull manager will follow suit based on what he has said.
David Moyes statement: "I would like to thank Ellis Short and the Board for giving me the opportunity to manage Sunderland and the fans for always being so passionately supportive of their club."
Inner David Moyes: I've ruined Man United, Real Sociedad and now Sunderland. My work here is done! ()
On a serious note his reputation as a manager is severely diminishing with each new role that he is given, if he stayed at Everton then none of this would have happened probably because they were a stable club while he was there although it looks like Everton have improved since he left.
I can't believe Moyes has resigned. What a f***ing failure of a human. Like who does he think will take him???
CAN!?!?! Ya dirty Scouser!
Mkhitaryan v Sunderland on Boxing Day clearly best goal. The fact that it was 'offside' and it still winds up the ABUs 5 months on is what really makes it truly special.
It's more that Giroud's technique was better anyway.
Best Player: Hazard
Best Game: Swansea 5-4 Crystal Palace
Best Manager: Antonio Conte
Best Goal: Emre Can vs Watford (as much as I love Carroll, this one defied physics more)
Best Signing: Batshuayi. Kante, although in terms of value for money there's probably others and Jesus looks like it in the long run
Worst Flop: Zaza, obviously. Gokhan Tore runs him close
I went for Can because the technique of his goal was better than Mkhitaryan's in my opinion. He hit the overhead kick first time while keeping his eye on the ball and running almost backwards the whole time.
Emre Can's goal was amazing. There have been some great goals scored this year, but the technique displayed that that particular goal is something else. Carroll's was also unreal but Can's tops it for me as his goal almost defies physics!
And yes John Terry's guard of honor was a complete farce. Only John Terry could have thought of that. I suppose he probably is the club; most decorated player ever though...
Chelsea did something similar a couple of seasons ago with Drogba where the team carried him off the pitch during the first half (coincidentally also against Sunderland). Don't think anything came of that so doubt it will here.
Best Player: Kane
Best Game: Bournemouth 4-3 Liverpool
Best Manager: Eddie Howe
Best Goal: Mkhitaryan v Sunderland on Boxing Day
Best Signing: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Worst Flop: Zaza
Allardyce has resigned as Crystal Palace manager:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40021059
Chelsea have cancelled their victory parade on Sunday because of the tragic events in Manchester on Monday night.
Hull's Marco Silva has resigned as manager fuelling rumours he'll take over at Watford:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40043130
I've seen a lot of debate about this over the past few days so I'll ask the question here. Out of the top 6 teams who had the best season?
My order would be:
1. Chelsea
2. Manchester United
3. Tottenham
4. Manchester City
5. Liverpool
6. Arsenal
Chelsea undoubtedly had the best season so I would have them at first. I put Man Utd in second because they achieved the same goal of qualifying for the Champions League as the teams who finished 2nd-4th but they also won 2 trophies (3 if you include the Community Shield). 3rd to 6th in my list is according to the who finished higher in the Premier League, if Liverpool somehow manage to fail at the Play Off round in the Champions League then Arsenal would have had a better season than them in hindsight because they won a trophy and Liverpool didn't.
This does raise the debate over which is better, top 4 + no trophies or outside the top 4 + trophy/trophies. There has been a lot of abuse thrown at Tottenham lately for having their best season in decades but not winning anything.
United had a terrible season. Yes they won Europa, via a grand total of zero memorable games or performances and some real crap opponents, but I don't know if anyone could honestly recall a single occasion in 2017 on which United played with any verve or zest. They're crushingly boring to watch. Football is more than just a position in a table, it's being entertained for 90 minutes every week, and United comprehensively failed to deliver that.
Well no, we had an extremely underwhelming league season no denying that but by becoming so hard to beat that paid off in the cup competitions too. Jose rightfully had a lot of critics this season but to win 2 big trophies in his first year at the club & achieve the absolute minimum target of CL qualification - it's been a fantastic season. Sure, Spurs for example scored practically twice as many goals as us but who will remember a team that so far in its current era has won absolutely nothing?
It definitely wasn't a terrible season for Man Utd, in the league it was disappointing no doubt about that but as a whole it was successful. It doesn't matter whether there were no memorable games or whether there were crap opponents, you beat the team is put in front of you. Not many English teams can say that they've won the Europa League recently or ever in their entire history and it's not likely that the trophy will stay in England next year either.
Chelsea who won the league this season didn't play with much verve or zest either but they managed to get results week by week. Tottenham were the team who played the most attractive football this season and ended up empty handed in terms of trophies but still qualified automatically for the Champions League.
Simone Zaza was just funny! Went to one game at Old Trafford and he had a shot from just outside the area.
Went out for a throw in.
Hahaha listening to the comments from Man United fans above is hilarious and the posts are made with a complete lack of context! For the self proclaimed biggest club in the world to come 6th and play football which is t in their tradition at all isn't great imo. I mean if fergie was still the boss and this was 10 years ago do you think 6th for a second successive year would be good enough?? Of course you can only beat who is put in front of you in the cups and you need a slice of luck in them but that doesn't mean it's good enough for man united, a club that can splash 90m on a player they sold 5 years previous for less than 10m, come on!!
#WELCOMEHUDDERSFIELD
Well done Huddersfield indeed - when were they last in the top division? 1974!?
Favs for relegation regularly in the championship the manager really has turned them around!!
And why does my placing of Manchester United in my own opinion based ranking of the season provoke so much reaction? I asked the question to everyone here for everyone's separate opinions.
I don't think it's been a particularly good season for us at all. We won the EFL by being one of like 4 teams that actually took it seriously despite previously treating it like a joke. We likewise have gone all in on the Europa elevating it to a status it perhaps didn't warrant.
That being said, I get it. Most of the team have joined since 2013 with the fire sales instigated by Moyes and Van Gaal - typically not selling the right players - so what we've been left with is a squad whose only real experience of winning was the 2016 FA Cup. So getting us a couple of tinpot cup wins serves a purpose in that it gets these players used to playing in finals. The Europa Final sort of took on more weight than it would have ever otherwise given the events of 7 days ago. Being able to deliver a win under that pressure and in that environment is a positive sign.
The way we played against Chelsea at home and against Leicester home and away are positives. It's not been 64 dull games and even some of the frustrating draws did provide some form of entertainment. Lots to improve over the summer so we shall see what presents Ed brings.
I disagree that spending money is 'short-termism' at all. We've been spending a lot this past 12-18 months on the academy and investing heavily in the clubs future. So not all money necessarily is just for the short term. Had we spent on Ibra that'd be short-termism. He came on a free and scored 28 across all competitions, you can't argue with how vital his goals have been for our season.
City are spending £300m this year having spent Billions of dodgy oil money on getting to where they are - is that short-termism? They've invested heavily in their academy creating one of the best suite of facilities in the country.
Chelsea have spent billions since the arrival of Roman and aside from last years snake inspired blip, its brought them returns.
I think it's disingenuous to take the spending figure and call it short-termism, especially when we're not the only club spending heavily. Last year we spent actual cash on three players. Oldest is 27. Bailly and Pogba are both young and can be with us for a number of years. Bailly in particular could be here for a decade. That's most certainly not short-termism. Ibra was, but we never pretended he was anything other than a quick fix while we lined up a suitable option for 17/18 onwards.
Let's not forget we actually spent less than City last year and unlike our neighbours actually have something to show for it.
That play-off final summed up my initial thoughts, that they were two of the worst teams that have made it to that stage. Both have performed well above their expectations but are ultimately a bit rubbish, delighted Huddersfield went up of the two but fear they'll end somewhere between Derby 07/08 and Sunderland 16/17, five of their key players were on loan!
I support a team who stayed in the division on goal difference, and saw them deservedly batter both Huddersfield and Reading only last month.
After all that......
Wenger is staying at Arsenal on a two-year deal:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40073103
Two more years of comedy, rants and banners!
Seriously though Arsene Wenger deserves to stay after winning the FA Cup and building a good legacy over the past 20 years.
The drama will never be over with Arsenal and Wenger but he's probably more than 50% of the reason I support them so it's good news in my book.
Could be a long season for Huddersfield, I fear. Great to see them in the league. Hoping not for a few stuffings from other teams.
Huddersfield's only goal in the play-offs was an own goal in the semi-final. Has any other team managed to win the play-offs without any of their players scoring?
Watford, Crystal Palace, the three promoted teams all contenders for relegation next season, I reckon.
I think Newcastle will stay up next season, not so sure about the other promoted teams. New fixtures for 2017/18 get announced on June 14th at 9 AM.
I renewed my season ticket earlier this year and I've just got an email offering me a parking spot for the year for every home game, this'd be fab if I had to travel into the stadium no doubt. But it's in car park N4, which is genuinely further from the stadium than my house is
Craig Shakespeare has named as the permanent manager of Leicester City. No surprise there really.
It looks like Zlatan Ibrahimovic isn't going to be offered a new deal by Man United and he will leave. I will miss him a lot if he goes but it's not surprising because of his injury, it looks like he will be out of action for most of the 2017/18 season.
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