Premier League 2013/14

[Iron]

Do you seriously believe that Fergie managed to intimidate whole squads of grown men, and that even hardened referees were intimidated by this gentleman in his sixties?

Come on, you're just baiting, aren't you?

If you seriously believe that Man U comfortably won arguably the toughest league in the world last year because of Fergie's brooding presence, I'll have some of whatever you've been smoking!

Jeff

it's called intimidation!

[superfrank]

i only smoke Marlboro!

seriously tho it was a sh1t league last year - Man City had a hangover after winning a trophy for the first time in 300 years, Chelsea were crap under whathisname and the rest were their usual selves.

modern refs aren't hardened mean, bunch of old woofters more like. you underestimate the aura Fergie managed to create with that angry head - i think opposition managers often just went there hoping to keep the score respectable and move on to the next game. they knew that the odds, in both footballing and refereeing terms were always going to be stacked against them.

[Iron]

I'm still very dubious of that theory - Moyes can also get very worked up on the touchline, but it hasn't done much good so far!

BTW, Zaha may have been scoring away from the pitch - with Moyes's teenage daughter! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... ghter.html

Incidentally, the following comment from Ferdinand in the above article is interesting:

“This manager is a bit different in that he doesn’t name the team beforehand,” Ferdinand said. “You don’t really get to know the team.

“The old manager used to give you a kind of a little bit of an idea if you’d be playing and stuff. When you know you’re playing the intensity goes up a little bit more on match day and that’s what you need to try and make sure you’re doing.

“It’s hard to do that mentally because you spend a lot of nervous energy thinking: 'Am I playing?’ ”

It's come to something when a senior player who should know better comes out and criticizes the manager like that...

Jeff

[Euler]

RVP out for a month

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25369639

[Iron]

There was a time when SAF was manager when there was a serious injury crisis, but the players who didn't normally make the starting 11 really dug deep. I seem to remember that Diego Forlan suddenly started finding the back of the net with great regularity, which was nothing short of a miracle!

Hopefully, Moyes will start Chicarito up front, and Chicarito will go all out to force his way into the starting 11 and make a huge impression. More likely though is that Moyes will play Rooney as a lone striker or, even worse, pair him with Danny Wellbeck...

Jeff

RVP out for a month

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25369639

[Consty1]

Or Moyes could just play an elite 10 in Kagawa in his best position?!

[Euler]

FYI, not all EPL games but some ratings for today

B Munich vs. Hamburg - 154%
Osasuna vs. Real Madrid - 142%
Barcelona vs. Villarreal - 132%
Chelsea vs. C Palace - 126%
Everton vs. Fulham - 120%
Man City vs. Arsenal - 116%
Newcastle vs. Southampton - 104%
West Ham vs. Sunderland - 100%
Cardiff vs. West Brom - 100%
Hull vs. Stoke - 86%

[Euler]

City 6-3 Arsenal sort of sends out a message doesn't it?

City almost into evens for the championship

[Euler]

3-1 - B Munich vs. Hamburg - 154%
2-2 - Osasuna vs. Real Madrid - 142%
2-1 - Barcelona vs. Villarreal - 132%
2-1 - Chelsea vs. C Palace - 126%
4-1 - Everton vs. Fulham - 120%
6-3 - Man City vs. Arsenal - 116%
1-1 - Newcastle vs. Southampton - 104%
0-0 - West Ham vs. Sunderland - 100%
1-0 - Cardiff vs. West Brom - 100%
0-0 - Hull vs. Stoke - 86%

14 goals in the top four games
3 goals in the bottom four games

I hope by posting up the ratings people can see the variations and how they can apply to strategies.

[marko236]

Did anyone back man utd at odds of 32 last week?

They are now trading at 23 and have 3 easy games ahead, can see there odds droping to around 12 to 15 if they do well.

[Euler]

AVB has to be in trouble now, two thumping defeats despite £100m spent on the squad.

Zero shots on target for Spurs as well.

[stevequal]

Peter, I am interested to see what rating you'll come up with for Man City v Liverpool on Boxing Day.

[Iron]

AVB has to be in trouble now, two thumping defeats despite £100m spent on the squad.

It would be ironic if AVB lost his job, despite being above last season's champion's in the table.

Jeff

[marko236]

Peter, I am interested to see what rating you'll come up with for Man City v Liverpool on Boxing Day.

Most people will go for a high scoring game,

I'm thinking Liverpool will defend and try and score on the break, you'l get good odds on 0-0.

[stevequal]

It would be ironic if AVB lost his job, despite being above last season's champion's in the table.

So no manager above Man United in the table should get the sack?