Football 2012-2013 Season

[Rob]

There's NFL and NBA threads for each season, but there isn't one for football and there's enough fans I think to have a running thread.



Seeing as I am posting this during the England vs Brazil game, how can Chelsea want to get rid of Lampard? I don't rate him as a n England player but for Chelsea he is probably in the form of his life and is virtually their best and most loyal player of the last 10 years.

[Jennifer]

Yeah. They're mental. His value's very obvious. If you have 25 registrations then he's worthwhile as a guy in the squad, even if he doesn't have the legs to play a full game. He's been an impact sub how many times for Chelsea this season?

[Rob]

Their stats with him and without him are incredible, it was something ridiculous last I saw like lost zero, drawn 1 and won all the rest with him in the side whilst without him was very average, lost something like 3 or 4...

[Cory]

Fucking Wenger. That is all.

Fantastic transfer windows.

[Rob]

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/crystal-palace-chase-peter-odemwingie-8484483.html


No thanks

[Kirk]

One of the reasons that Lampard is and should be on his way is that Chelsea will never get a manager who can put his own stamp on the club while the likes of Lampard, Terry and Cole are still there. Chelsea have to get rid of those players or just admit that they are the ones running the club and give them the manager's job. Just look at AVB. He's a very good manager who never had a chance at Chelsea because players lie Lampard thought they knew the best way to run the club. It also doesn't help that Fat Frank is best mates with the press as well. Chelsea will never sort themselves out while he is at the club.

[Rob]

I think that's a bit harsh to be honest. Cole is arguably the best English left back for a long, long time. Lampard whilst never been good as an international midfielder, has been wonderful for Chelsea and probably one of their best players of the last 10 years.

The issue for me with Chelsea isn't the fact those 3 are at the club. It's the fact they continually bring in managers who have never spent money before in previous jobs or are just uneasy with it. They go from extreme's of buying inexperienced, unknown players that never manage to shine or the chairman goes crazy and decides he wants to fork out a LOT of money for players that are old, not worth it, or are simply just a name on a brand that is going to sell some tshirts, like Shevchenko.

They need someone that has a plan that can come in and tactically build a team around that. I'm going to appear foolish for suggesting this but it's a similar thing as to what Freedman and co did at Palace at the beginning of the season. Tactically, they found out what kind of formation and game they were going to play. Then they bought in players that could enforce that and tactically, made sense to buy. Rather than buying extra players for the sake of buying players. People like Demba Ba don't make sense because he is a player that works at his very best in a 4-4-2 formation with solid, defensive teams who can cut out passes in and around the 18 yard area.

They need to start looking at their team and think who have we spent a shit load of money on over the past 5 years that hasn't produced but is still getting regular game time? I think there are probably 2 or 3 that just are not proving their worth and need to be cut from the time. The problem for me is they have a lot of individuals speaking a lot of different languages but there is only a few that pulls all that together. Which for me at any rate is a LOT different to Man City who at least have had a team which has been built over a few years and these players have been given the time over a long period to work together and learn each other.

Chelsea rotates it's first 11 every week and they struggle because of that. They have too many players that play in the same position. Hazard, Mata, Oscar, I'm sure there are others. All are good players, but there's no stability. There's no leadership. There's no consistency at the top in the manager's position. It strikes me as strange that the team has been under-performed for it's value for years now but all the top managers in the world are to blame rather than the mediocre players who have been bought for silly numbers.







Also, because it's been a while since this started. That whole Nigel Adkins/Brian McDermott thing was complete shite. Neither manager should ever have been sacked, they both did wonders for their respective clubs! Insane world we live in that 3 or 4 successful seasons on the trot mean nothing when you might get relegated from the Prem!

[Dorling]

Re: Frank Lampard.

Great player in the Premier League, playing fantastically. Best season from an English midfielder this year. They're mad to want to get rid of him. He keeps his head down and contributes. I'd take Lampard at Arsenal in a heartbeat.

Age isn't the same as it used to be in football. Look at Giggs. Frank has more time if he wants it, the drive is there.

[Rob]

Results last night were very interesting...


But United have the league won. It's a shame City didn't lose cause I think Mancini is close to being sacked and it would've been good to see Spurs have a chance to go past them

[Jerry McClean]

I think that Spurs should be looking down not up tbh. Bale, Defoe and Lennon out at least for the moment they need to be careful. They might not be the same when they return.


And I think it'd be the FA Cup that saves Mancini as opposed to anything else. I'm not sure if he can get away with winning NOTHING as well as failing in the Champions League

[Kirk]

I think Spurs can start looking up the table again. Lennon will be back for their next game and they made City look very average. If they can play like that second half against Chelsea, they have every chance of ending the season as the top London club... obviously they will still Spurs it up and finish 5th, but it's still been a good season for them regardless.

How can we have a topic like this and no congratulations for the Champions. It wasn't a great season for Utd but they were still miles better than anyone else in the league. A few signings in key positions and next season might be over by the end of February. Well done, lads. Can we please buy a few midfielders this summer?

[Rob]

Because outside of Man United fans, nobody likes Man U lol

[Cory]

All im saying is German teams are freakishly good, or Real and Barca are the most overrated teams in history.

[Dorling]

All im saying is German teams are freakishly good, or Real and Barca are the most overrated teams in history.

It's probably neither, being objective.

Barca especially are getting on a bit now. Xavi isn't the player he was, the team plays as a parody of itself and has got narrower and narrower, removing all width from their game. Teams finally got wise.

I wouldn't say they were overrated - their achievements justify all of the praise, and when was the last time they got beat by 4...? Yeah, I don't remember either.

[Cory]

I will say Michu's exclusion for the PFA nominations list was horrendous, and the most hot/cold player won.