Premier League Round 33

[hatterson]

That West Ham corner was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.

 

[Live in the Now]

Pretty much guaranteed of CL football next season now, would take the worst collapse in history (not really, but you know) to miss it. Good season.

 

[Havre]

You got to wonder where Chelsea go from here. Old team. So much 4$4)@: on what is probably very high salaries. I think last summer will cost that team for many years. Not easy to get in to the top 4 these days.

 

[hatterson]

Pretty much guaranteed of CL football next season now, would take the worst collapse in history to miss it. Good season.

Chelsea basically has to win out to have any change. Even that would still only force Liverpool to earn 8 points in home games against Bournemouth, Stoke, and Brighton and a trip to the Hawthorns where there's a chance WBA is already mathematically down. And that includes Chelsea winning at Anfield which seems.....unlikely to say the least.

 

[Savant]

Chelsea basically has to win out to have any change. Even that would still only force Liverpool to earn 8 points in home games against Bournemouth, Stoke, and Brighton and a trip to the Hawthorns where there's a chance WBA is already mathematically down. And that includes Chelsea winning at Anfield which seems.....unlikely to say the least.

Wont sleep easy until LFC are 7 points up on 5th when Chelsea come to Anfield.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

You got to wonder where Chelsea go from here. Old team. So much 4$4)@: on what is probably very high salaries. I think last summer will cost that team for many years. Not easy to get in to the top 4 these days.

I don't think their transfers this season have been that bad. By the end of 2017, they were in second place. That's when rumours of large issues in the dressing room started showing up, and it has clearly affected them. Twelve points in their last eleven PL games.

Replacing Conte with another high quality manager would put them right back up again IMO.

 

[Halladay]

The game is at Stamford Bridge.

 

[Havre]

I don't think their transfers this season have been that bad. By the end of 2017, they were in second place. That's when rumours of large issues in the dressing room started showing up, and it has clearly affected them. Twelve points in their last eleven PL games.

Replacing Conte with another high quality manager would put them right back up again IMO.

You might as well argue their start of the season wasn´t sustainable.

It´s not a bad team (I thought they were going to end up 2nd this season). But it is ageing and it is pretty clear Morata and Bakayoko will never live up to their price tag. I guess they can only pray some Chinese clubs magically come knocking again. Bringing in a couple of hundred millions for Luiz, Fabregas, Pedro etc.

Not suggesting we will see a stable top 4 as in the "old days", both Chelsea and Arsenal could get in next season (finding the next Salah would help as an example), but I think there is a bit of a gap opening between the current top 4 and Chelsea/Arsenal.

 

[S E P H]

Auba and Welbeck are starting to form some great chemistry together, they're reading off each other in quite remarkable ways.

I still want to sell every single defencive player on Arsenal's back line besides Monreal. Just all GTFO.

Also Nelson is the best prospect from Arsenal, Spurs, United, and Liverpool combined. He's going to become an unbelievable player.

 

[Live in the Now]

Also Nelson is the best prospect from Arsenal, Spurs, United, and Liverpool combined. He's going to become an unbelievable player.

No. I think the guy who just played in the CL as MOTM this week might take that one.

 

[S E P H]

No. I think the guy who just played in the CL as MOTM this week might take that one.

AA is a damn good player, but he's also a year older and plays in the worst football position on the pitch. Nelson is RW and should have a better impact. Now if Klopp is playing AA as an RB since he's too young as RW that would make sense, but all I see is him as a RB. An RB simply cannot be the best prospect in England. No way.

 

[Cassano]

I'll take Rashford

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

In terms of talent I think Marcus Edwards beats them all. Sadly his attitude is apparently incredibly shitty.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

I'll take Rashford

He's pretty established now.

 

[Live in the Now]

AA is a damn good player, but he's also a year older and plays in the worst football position on the pitch. Nelson is RW and should have a better impact. Now if Klopp is playing AA as an RB since he's too young as RW that would make sense, but all I see is him as a RB. An RB simply cannot be the best prospect in England. No way.

TAA is actually a central midfielder, another reason I'm not worried about Liverpool's injury crisis. He should play there on Tuesday once subs are made.

 

[YNWA14]

Woodburn, Brewster and Jones are also better than Nelson.

 

[Savant]

In terms of talent I think Marcus Edwards beats them all. Sadly his attitude is apparently incredibly ****ty.

Ravel Morrison 2.0

 

[Savant]

TAA is actually a central midfielder, another reason I'm not worried about Liverpool's injury crisis. He should play there on Tuesday once subs are made.

Hadn't even thought of that but with Clyne back...

I think Klopp would need to commit to Trent at CM though and let him train there; but that's not going to happen until he regains trust in Clyne or Gomez proves he is healthy

 

[Stray Wasp]

I've been wondering about the probable punishment for the HMRC thing.

A fine gets all the money back and then some. Certainly the quickest and easiest way to settle it all and not really rile up the supporters in a meaningful way.

Although it seems Luton may have received a 10pt deduction for a similar type of tactic. This would be tragic and, as things stand, send Newcastle into 17th level with Southampton. I would be shocked if such a thing would happen in season, though.

Would the Premier League actually inflict the punishment or could the FA go over their head?

In Luton's case the FA administered the punishment. It's worth noting, meanwhile, that a few sympathetic journalists claimed that although Luton had broken the letter of the law, they hadn't broken it's spirit.

Based on the High Court summary explaining it's rejection of NUFC's appeal over the seizure of documents relating to the case, if the club is found guilty there will be no such wriggle room to claim they intended no harm. HMRC intimated a flat out conspiracy to commit fraud respecting VAT, national insurance and income tax.

These are fundamentally antisocial crimes to be accused of at any time, let alone the Austerity era, and the public (rightly in my view) has little mercy for those who'd avoid paying their fair share towards the common good. This in turn holds out the possibility of the matter being politicised.

So, let's hypothesise that NUFC are found guilty- hard though it is to conceive of a Mike Ashley-run business trying to dodge financial obligations. If the powers that be wished to make a token gesture to the effect that English football is serious about stamping out financial crookedness (and the I reckon FA would prove able to wheel out a suit that could say this publicly without the least ironic smirk or hint of shame), Newcastle would be heaven-sent candidates to take the fall. A high-profile club, but crucially one without the political clout either within the game or the wider world. And an owner who a healthy number of politicians and media outlets alike would be happy to hang out to dry. Which means little blowback from south of the Tyne.

As usual, it's prudent to expect the worst.

 

[phisherman]

Woodburn, Brewster and Jones are also better than Nelson.

Yes all Liverpool youth players are better than Arsenal youth players. I guess you watch all of Nelson's matches to be able to compare as well.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Ravel Morrison 2.0

Sadly, it seems so. I don't know the specifics however. The information about it has been rather vague. Poch talked about it in his biography (what didn't he talk about in that biography, lmao) saying that he has authority and behavioural issues, that's all I've got really.

 

[Evilo]

it is pretty clear Morata and Bakayoko will never live up to their price tag.

Wow.

 

[Savant]

Yes all Liverpool youth players are better than Arsenal youth players. I guess you watch all of Nelson's matches to be able to compare as well.

Do you watch all of Liverpool's youth games to compare to Nelson?

I think it's safe to say Woodburn is the best of that group. I haven't seen enough of Nelson (or Jones) to say one is better than the other but I'd say Brewster has a better resume at this point; but Brewster has to come back from his injury.

 

[phisherman]

Do you watch all of Liverpool's youth games to compare to Nelson?

I think it's safe to say Woodburn is the best of that group. I haven't seen enough of Nelson (or Jones) to say one is better than the other but I'd say Brewster has a better resume at this point; but Brewster has to come back from his injury.

I didn't make any comparison though.

 

[Live in the Now]

Need to see Nelson play more senior games. Obviously Woodburn does have a leg up because he played senior internationals and scored against a good team, but unfortunately he has been on the periphery of the squad this season. I can only assume that they are training him to run as much as James Milner in order for him to play.

Speaking of Milner, he's out of contract after next season and I think he has a lot of football left. Wouldn't want to lose him, he has to be one of the fittest players in this league.