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Thread: 2016/2017 Premier League Season Thread

  1. #141
    Senior Member WeWonItAll(Most)'s Avatar
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    Can one of you Liverpool fans talk to me about Rafa Benitez and his tendencies/personnel management for a moment?

    Newcastle was destroying the Championship until about a month ago. We won like 13 games in a row and it was looking to be a cake walk of a season. We have a massive squad of quality Championship players, and while we were winning, he was rotating the squad to the point that I thought he wasn't letting players playing well keep their form (and I'm a big advocate of squad rotation).

    Now we've hit a rough patch, lost to some horrible teams, and he refuses to rotate anyone. Even when we had 3 games in an 11 day stretch.

    So basically he went from almost literally playing two different starting 11s from game to game during our hot streak, to maybe making 2 changes during our cold streak. It seems counter intuitive and is frustrating.

    On top of this, our only center mid with good vision and ability to really open up the defense received a 5 game ban for supposedly calling an opposing player a "dirty Arab" (its retarded he received a more severe suspension than Augero, who tried to break a man in half). The player he's replaced him with is perhaps our worst center mid, and basically has no attacking value. And he's being paired with another defensive mid fielder, who complements Shelvey (suspended guy) very well. But with this new guy we literally have zero attacking threat through the middle. And since Rafa has abandoned rotating players, it's been the same thing over and over. It's very Mullen-esque and is really beginning to piss me off.

    Basically, did he do crap like this at Liverpool? Up to this point, I've basically refused to read up on any negatives about him at previous jobs because regardless of those negatives, he is light years ahead of any manager we've had in the past decade. But I'm getting frustrated with his personnel decisions and nervous about making it back to the Premiership next season.

  2. #142
    Senior Member War Machine Dawg's Avatar
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    Arsenal gonna Arsenal. We're 8 points behind the league leading Blues, but outside the top 4. It's time to put Wenger out to pasture if he can't challenge for the title with this group of players. While I believe he made some fair points with his comments about the holiday schedules this week, it's also another sign that he's become mentally weak and breeding it into the teams. It's also ironic and funny that Mourinho agreed with him about the fixtures. If Arsenal miss the Champions League, I think you have to pull the plug with no hesitation.

    Hull City fired Mike Phelan and replaced him with Marco Silva because the Allams are horrific owners with no f'n clue. Hull sits just 3 points from safety. There was no reason to make this move right now. But Steve Bruce, bless him, left just 3 weeks before the season he said what many Hull fans have known for a long time: The Allams are a cancer to the club. No one in their right mind will touch the job until they leave. I keep waiting for them to sell, but they always seem to find some reason to crawfish on a deal with potential buyers.
    It's the roller coaster of hope that this program keeps us on that makes it hell being a State fan. - CadaverDawg, 10/15/22


  3. #143
    Senior Member DudyDawg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WeWonItAll(Most) View Post
    Can one of you Liverpool fans talk to me about Rafa Benitez and his tendencies/personnel management for a moment?

    Newcastle was destroying the Championship until about a month ago. We won like 13 games in a row and it was looking to be a cake walk of a season. We have a massive squad of quality Championship players, and while we were winning, he was rotating the squad to the point that I thought he wasn't letting players playing well keep their form (and I'm a big advocate of squad rotation).

    Now we've hit a rough patch, lost to some horrible teams, and he refuses to rotate anyone. Even when we had 3 games in an 11 day stretch.

    So basically he went from almost literally playing two different starting 11s from game to game during our hot streak, to maybe making 2 changes during our cold streak. It seems counter intuitive and is frustrating.

    On top of this, our only center mid with good vision and ability to really open up the defense received a 5 game ban for supposedly calling an opposing player a "dirty Arab" (its retarded he received a more severe suspension than Augero, who tried to break a man in half). The player he's replaced him with is perhaps our worst center mid, and basically has no attacking value. And he's being paired with another defensive mid fielder, who complements Shelvey (suspended guy) very well. But with this new guy we literally have zero attacking threat through the middle. And since Rafa has abandoned rotating players, it's been the same thing over and over. It's very Mullen-esque and is really beginning to piss me off.

    Basically, did he do crap like this at Liverpool? Up to this point, I've basically refused to read up on any negatives about him at previous jobs because regardless of those negatives, he is light years ahead of any manager we've had in the past decade. But I'm getting frustrated with his personnel decisions and nervous about making it back to the Premiership next season.
    He did some similar things at Madrid. We would be in a rut and nothing would change. He was a very frustrating manager.

  4. #144
    Senior Member WeWonItAll(Most)'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DudyDawg View Post
    He did some similar things at Madrid. We would be in a rut and nothing would change. He was a very frustrating manager.
    That's exactly how it is right now for us. It just goes against what's logical in my mind..which would be to rotate less when you're playing well and rotate more when you're in a slump.

  5. #145
    Senior Member DudyDawg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WeWonItAll(Most) View Post
    That's exactly how it is right now for us. It just goes against what's logical in my mind..which would be to rotate less when you're playing well and rotate more when you're in a slump.
    Yeah that doesn't surprise me. But I think he's a good manager. Just sometimes feel like he thinks he's smarter than he is or needs to be.

  6. #146
    Senior Member WeWonItAll(Most)'s Avatar
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    Anyone in here play FIFA 17? I started a season with Newcastle on world class, and I'm reaching the point of fury trying to figure out crossing in this game. When I'm pushing down the wing to cross it in, one of two things happens every time: my players running into the box will suddenly stop on the edge, or they will not attack the ball if they do actually continue their run unless it's literally right at them.

    If anyone has advice, please share. I've tweaked player instruction and team tactics to try to fix it. But the only way I can cross with any sort of success at the moment is basically thru slowly building up, passing it out to the wing and trying to create enough space to get one in (I suck at this on world class).

    Trying to find any helpful FIFA advice through a google search is futile due to the sheer amount of crap that's out there.

  7. #147
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    I knew we were gonna miss Mane but dang, I didn't think it would be quite this bad. We are fading fast and it looks like Chelski might run away with the title. Liverpool's goal has to be to stay in the Top Four now.

  8. #148
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  9. #149
    Senior Member War Machine Dawg's Avatar
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    #WengerOut It's time. But do Arsenal have the balls to do it? I think not.

    Can someone explain to me why a player's yellow & red cards follow them from league to league? Seems to me they should be wiped out when you switch leagues. I know this is a total noob question, but asking is the only way to find out.
    It's the roller coaster of hope that this program keeps us on that makes it hell being a State fan. - CadaverDawg, 10/15/22


  10. #150
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    Big win for Liverpool over Spurs today to halt the slide. It looks like Chelski is going to win the title going away but the race for the rest of the top four is going to be something. There are 5 teams in it at the moment. Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool, City, and United.

  11. #151
    Official Elitedawg Weather Forecaster TheRef's Avatar
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    I don't know what is wrong with the Foxes, but we have hit a complete wall. Players are disgruntled, Ranieri is losing fan support, and some of the newer fans have started booing in the stadium. It's been a sad state of affairs, actually.
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  12. #152
    Senior Member BrunswickDawg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRef View Post
    I don't know what is wrong with the Foxes, but we have hit a complete wall. Players are disgruntled, Ranieri is losing fan support, and some of the newer fans have started booing in the stadium. It's been a sad state of affairs, actually.
    Unfortunately, I think the Foxes are a team that somehow captured lightening in a bottle in an inexplicable way and it isn't sustainable. It is just impossible to comprehend going from a Third Tier squad to a Premier Championship in 8 seasons - especially when they were fighting off relegation from the Premier just a year before winning it all. I think you will see Bournemouth face a similar challenge this year or next.

  13. #153
    Senior Member DudyDawg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRef View Post
    I don't know what is wrong with the Foxes, but we have hit a complete wall. Players are disgruntled, Ranieri is losing fan support, and some of the newer fans have started booing in the stadium. It's been a sad state of affairs, actually.
    I think I mentioned it last year, but a ton of it has to do with the amount of competition. Last year Leicester was out of the FA Cup (and I believe the league cup) early. They are still in the FA cup and also the champions league. Having one game a week is a lot different than having 3 every week. They just don't have the depth. Also, teams adjusted. No longer do they press high and allow balls over the top to Vardy. Other than Marhez, they don't have the quality to break down teams who sit deep and don't allow Leicester to beat them with the counter. They beat City earlier in the year when they did press, but it seems everyone else is sitting back and inviting them forward and they can't break people down. Oh yeah, and they lost their most important player in Ngolo Kante.

  14. #154
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    Ranieri sacked by Leicester City. WOW. Catching lightning in a bottle last year counts for nothing this year I guess. You really can't blame Leicester though. They are squarely in the relegation battle.

  15. #155
    Senior Member War Machine Dawg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Liverpooldawg View Post
    Ranieri sacked by Leicester City. WOW. Catching lightning in a bottle last year counts for nothing this year I guess. You really can't blame Leicester though. They are squarely in the relegation battle.
    I'm not a Leicester fan, but I've got really mixed emotions about the firing. Part of me thinks Ranieri should have been given the full season based on what he did over the last 18 months there. He saved them from relegation two seasons ago then won the title last year. They're fighting against relegation now, but that isn't entirely Ranieri's fault. Ownership sold N'Golo Kante to Chelsea, and he's arguably a Top 5 player in the world. Losing someone like that disproportionately hurts a small club like Leicester. That said, they were damned if the kept Kante against his will.

    At the same time, I admire the balls to make the move. Sacking the guy who basically did the impossible over 18 months is ruthless, but if you don't think he will get the job done, why keep him? From that aspect, I like Leicester having the guts to take the heat and make a hard call. As an Arsenal fan, I envy ownership that has balls to make a hard decision for better or worse. Our ownership will just keep letting Wenger make the decision for them when they should be making the tough call. But that's a totally different discussion.
    It's the roller coaster of hope that this program keeps us on that makes it hell being a State fan. - CadaverDawg, 10/15/22


  16. #156
    Senior Member DudyDawg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by War Machine Dawg View Post
    Ownership sold N'Golo Kante to Chelsea, and he's arguably a Top 5 player in the world.
    Lol, no. Not even close. You could probably make a decent arguement he's not even top 5 in London. Good player, in a very important role in his team and system, but not even close to top 5 in the world.

  17. #157
    Senior Member WeWonItAll(Most)'s Avatar
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    Newcastle won the Championship on Saturday, and today the club announced Rafa is staying on for next season. Not sure if he was actually a threat to leave or if he was just using his leverage to make sure our owner gave him the money to sign transfers that'll make us competitive in the PL next season.

    It was fun being the big dog this season, but I'm thrilled to be back in the PL. My biggest takeaway from the Championship: the refs are absolutely appalling. I will never complain about Premier League refs again after the horrors of Championship refereeing

  18. #158
    Senior Member BrunswickDawg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WeWonItAll(Most) View Post
    Newcastle won the Championship on Saturday, and today the club announced Rafa is staying on for next season. Not sure if he was actually a threat to leave or if he was just using his leverage to make sure our owner gave him the money to sign transfers that'll make us competitive in the PL next season.

    It was fun being the big dog this season, but I'm thrilled to be back in the PL. My biggest takeaway from the Championship: the refs are absolutely appalling. I will never complain about Premier League refs again after the horrors of Championship refereeing
    Thanks for bumping a good thread that seemed to have run out of steam. Guess with The Ref having nothing to root for with the fall of the Foxes, there was no one to make sure the discussion kept going....

    Anyway - I work with a Newcastle native, and he is ecstatic. Rafa was a godsend for them.

  19. #159
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    I'm still following as usual. It seems few others here were, or cared enough to post. Liverpool are limping home. We aren't the same team without Mane. Him being gone to the AC of N cost us any real shot at the title. His injury is putting the top 4 in jeopardy. A win last weekend would have nearly cemented it but it didn't happen. Thanks to Arsenal beating the Mancs we still have our fate in our hands but it's on a razor's edge. We need all six points from away to West Ham and at home to relegated Boro to be sure. Hopefully the Gooners and the Mancs will keep dropping points to make it easier. I had hoped Spurs might catch Chelski but I don't think it will happen.

    Back to Liverpool, what happened to the results with Mane's and other's absences points out just how little depth we have. We still need major investment WITHOUT losing the people that play that we have. Unless you catch lightning in a bottle with injuries and other absences quality in depth iswhat wins titles. We just don't have it. Rumor is there will be major money spent this summer. We will see.

    The other rumor making the rounds is that we may be about to pull the trigger on the second phase of the expansion of Anfield. That phase was always listed as "at a later date" and was assumed to be a few years out. Evidently the game day revenue from the Main Stand expansion has been a good bit more than expected. The word is if we make the Champion's League it's going to be announced this summer and started very soon afterward. By some accounts it will happen whatever happens with the Champion's League. FSG have planning commison approval to expand the Anfield Road End but it expires if it's not started by the end of 2018. If it isn't underway by then they have to go back through the planning approval process again. In England that's expensive, time consuming, and never a sure thing. Hopefully it will happen and we will see a 60+k Anfield in 2-3 years.
    Last edited by Liverpooldawg; 05-12-2017 at 09:39 PM.

  20. #160
    Senior Member DudyDawg's Avatar
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    ive been watching as always but the thread seemed to taper off so I stopped posting. The only real drama left is relegation, who finished fourth, and whether or not Wenger will go.

    As far as in Spain, Real need 7 points from their last six to win the league and have knocked atleti out of the champions league for the fourth straight year en route to our third final in 4 years. Will be a hell of a battle with Juve.

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