English Premier League

[Dizzy]

After Manchester United's loss to Fulham yesterday, and Liverpool's smearing of Villa today, the EPL race is getting a bit tighter. As a Liverpool supporter, I am resisting the urge to jump up and down as United are still in the driver's seat.

I have developed a relatively recent interest in European football in general, and Liverpool in particular...in other words, most of the time I don't know WTF I'm talking about.

But I watched the United - Fulham match yesterday and to my uneducated eye it appears that Man Utd are not exactly clicking as a team right now, and that they have some work to do getting it back. Meanwhile, Liverpool are finally getting healthy (you could argue that today's starting eleven are their best side), and seem to be playing "all for one, one for all" football.

I'd be interested in the assessments of some of our more knowledgeable posters (Marknhj?) regarding the EPL title chase and the UEFA Champions League quarters (Liverpool v Chelsea, etc.). I ask this on a T&FN forum because you folks (with a few exceptions) seem to be able to conduct civil discussions about most issues...unlike most of the football sites I've seen where the childish name-calling starts early. Thanks in advance.

YNWA

-Diz.

[Daisy]

Re: English Premier League

Judging from Liverpool's form in Europe too, they are definitely playing their best right now. As to the premiership, I don't follow it closely enough to know. How far behind are they? How many games do they have against Man U?

[AthleticsInBritain]

Liverpool are 1 pt behind ManUre (Guess which team I support? ) but I think Man U have a game in hand (they've played one less match so far than Liverpool).

After the past two weeks, absolutely anything could happen!

PS Daisy - we've had our two games against Man U and beat them home and away. Last week we beat them 4-1 at Old Trafford, which is fairly unheard of these days.

[eldrick]

a coupla weeks ago it seemed impossible for man u to lose it, but it's much more interesting now !

they will be 1 point ahead of liverpool with 1 game in hand ( 3 points for win )

there's about 8 games to go

bookies still have man u somethng like 1/3-on favorites & they shoud still win it ( ferguson will put the "hair dryer" setting on maximum ), but it will be mighty close !

[marknhj]

Re: English Premier League

The last two weeks has certainly been surprising. I doubt if anyone could have predicted that Liverpool would beat Real Madrid, Man U and Villa by a combined score of 13-1, in less than two weeks! When Liverpool are flying they are tremendous to watch and apparently impossible to stop. They're now only one point behind Man U with the latter having a game in hand.

Equally surprising, who would have predicted that Man U would lose 1-4 at home (worst result there since 1992) then a week later lose 2-0 to Fulham? They've gone into a bad patch at exactly the wrong time. Ten days ago they were talking about winning five trophies this year. Plus, Rooney and Scholes were sent off yesterday, with Rooney self-destructing with an immature fit of pique. But, they had a had good draw in the Champion's League getting Porto.

Until yesterday it looked like Hiddink had revived Chelsea, especially the serially sulking Drogba. They must have been kicking themselves when they saw the Man U loss, a major opportunity lost. It's a pity Liverpool and Chelsea drew each other in the Champion's League, but with four EPL teams in the draw it was inevitable that one major team would face the boot.

I think the Champion's League is up for grabs and the EPL is still Man U's to lose. It's going to be a major test of Fergie's managerial skills and Man U's character, but with their record, it would be foolish to bet against them.

Anyway, forget about that lot - Up The Hammers!

[eldrick]

mark

i'm not sure if all 4 english teams couda been kept separate - the uefa rules are a bit impenetrable

[gm]

One of the most atrocious refereeing jobs ever in the Man U-Fulham match. Appalling.

[AthleticsInBritain]

One of the most atrocious refereeing jobs ever in the Man U-Fulham match. Appalling.

That tends to be what most Man U fans say when the decisions go against them!

[Daisy]

mark

i'm not sure if all 4 english teams couda been kept separate - the uefa rules are a bit impenetrable

I'm actually surprised they don't force teams from the same country to meet early in the knock out rounds.

[Dizzy]

Well, Rafa is a genius again (where not long ago he was "cracking up"), Gerrard is on fire, and the Reds have hope. Like Eldy says, it sure is a lot more interesting than it was two weeks ago. Liverpool still need some help, but...

And in Champions League, if 'Pool make it past Chelsea and then either Barca or Bayern Munich...they may meet Man Utd in Rome...wouldn't THAT be fun?

Mark, all the best to you and West Ham...but not on 9 May!

YNWA

-Diz.

[Conor Dary]

One of the most atrocious refereeing jobs ever in the Man U-Fulham match. Appalling.

How about that red card on Brad Friedel in the Liverpool-Villa game? Pretty idiotic, but Villa was doomed already at that point. Liverpool look pretty awesome.

[tandfman]

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, all is not well in the Premier League. Here's the headline:

English Soccer's Morning After
Years of Unrestrained Growth Brought Heaps of Glory -- and Debt; 'We Are in Serious Trouble'

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124346762522860417.html

[Conor Dary]

Soccer in Europe is not like American Sports where even losers, ie the Cubs, can make money. With relegation it can be pretty brutal.

As Southampton, which was in the Premier League 2 years ago, shows losing is a direct path to going broke. Leeds United followed a similar [path a few years ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 072132.stm