Premier League 2011/12 general thread

[vanpeebles]

To be fair just about all the pundits said he should of walked. Bolton looked pretty pap all over the pitch.

[toythatkills]

Of course, I guess he must be old friends with Scholes or Keane or something.

A lot like Scholes, yeah

Seriously though, he's been overly aggressive in his tackling for years and years. The "he's not that kind of player" argument just can't be applied here.

[Jebus]

I disagree. In the last 6 months he's lost his legs (cliche #1) and his tackling has gotten progressively worse, but then I think we are still over-reliant on the punt-it-to-Davo (cliche #2) type football anyway.

Double standards imo though, Scholes' tackling was ALWAYS bad, and I maintain he finished his career about 12 red cards short!

[Prototype]

I disagree. In the last 6 months he's lost his legs (cliche #1) and his tackling has gotten progressively worse, but then I think we are still over-reliant on the punt-it-to-Davo (cliche #2) type football anyway.

Double standards imo though, Scholes' tackling was ALWAYS bad, and I maintain he finished his career about 12 red cards short!

Oh yes, Scholes was in the papers before every game and saying he is going to give the other team a going over. Oh wait that was Kevin Davies this week.

[Jebus]

Yeah, for the first time in his career, and I'm honestly not sure what came over him.

Scholes never said he was gonna do it so it's okay?

It's odd though, I don't recall anyone being outraged at Evan's breaking our best players leg.

[Prototype]

Yeah, for the first time in his career, and I'm honestly not sure what came over him.

Scholes never said he was gonna do it so it's okay?

It's odd though, I don't recall anyone being outraged at Evan's breaking our best players leg.

Yes, the same Evans who was red carded. And your so called best player thinks it wasn't malicious.

"Just had a sincere phone call from Jonny Evans wishing me the best in my recovery, def wasn't intentional, just unfortunate part of the game," Holden wrote on his Twitter account.

Davies didn't apologise after the game. I don't know why you comparing Davies to Scholes and Keane. The latter two were fantastic footballers, like Zidane and Vieira. Who also were two great players, who at times could lose it. Davies is a poor player in comparison and is a thug mainly. So you can't blame the media for singling him out. Great players can get away with losing it at times, where as poor players like Davies can't.

[Jebus]

Edit: Nah, nah. Forget it.

[abigsmurf]

But if I forget that, I'm also forgetting the command to forget it which means I can't forget it but the command is telling me that I should!

*head explodes revealing a bundle of wires sticking out of his neck*

[prinnysquad]

Someone's posted an interesting link on smb to an old article from a Brum newspaper from 2006. The article is called 'The Real Failings At Blues', and was constructed around the comments of Kenny Cunningham. The parallels with our situation are astounding.

Here are some extracts:

"First and foremost the club took the decision to go into this season with only three strikers. They elected to allow Clinton Morrison to move to Crystal Palace and to move into this season with only three strikers, which was against the gaffer's mantra of the fourth striker requirement you need in this division. One of the other players was beginning his first full season in the Premiership and, although a talented player, it was obvious his style of play wasn't ideally suited to the Birmingham City style of play. I think it was a huge mistake. It was a huge gamble and it backfired badly on us. I think we really struggled in the first half of the season certainly to score goals and create goals. It wasn't until January 2006 that we could try and rectify that situation by bringing in one or two other centre forwards in." Hmm. We also have three strikers, TWO of which are unproven at this level. We also have to make emergency replacments in Gyan-u-worry.

"Just before the deadline we took the opportunity to bring Jiri Jarosik to the football club who is a fine player and is hugely talented. He has more talent in his big toe than I have in my entire body. We failed over the course of the season to integrate him into the team. We tried to integrate Jiri in the team predominantly on the left hand side of midfield, a position he wasn't comfortable in. We had no penetration on the left-hand side of the pitch and, as a result became hugely dependant on Jermaine Pennant's service from the right." Hmm. We can't seem to find a role for the undoubtedly talented playmaker Sessegnon. He's no good on the left, or as a striker. Yet he's always played there. Shame we couldn't play to his strengths and build the team around his goalmaking ability.

"The(re was a) lack of organisation, preparation and attention to detail at the football club. The only person who must take responsibility for that is the manager." Hmm. We don't have any primary tactical plan or alternative plans. Like-for-like subs are thrown on randomly, and there's no reaction from the bench to the context of the game. Take saturday - 2-0 down, and it was ages before we threw on a second striker, who scored. It felt like a roll of the dice rather than a plan.

"In relation to the injury list at this football club, luck does play a part to a small degree. I stress, to a very small degree. What people should be talking about and aren't, is the area of injury prevention at a football club." Interesting. We have players rushed back from injuries too, and breaking down soon after. We seem to have a phenomenal amount of injuries.

"A huge number of people, including the manager, agreed that man for man we were as talented as any team in the Premiership, apart from the top five and I think there is a lot of truth to it. Man for man we could hold our own against the likes of Blackburn, Bolton, and West Ham." Our manager seems to think that too! Yet rarely do they perform to anything like that standard, in any competition.

"There has been a suggestion this season that we had been relegated because we were the unluckiest team ever in Premiership history. If you buy into that mode of thinking you are burying your head into the sand and this club will never progress." Our manager thinks that too! There's always a moan, an excuse, someone else to blame. The media, the fans, agents, the refs, injuries; anyone bar the manager.

So who was this turd whose poor tactics, planning, formations, organisation and transfer decisions sent Birmingham down in 2006?

Mr STEVE BRUCE

He's learnt nothing.

[toythatkills]

Why don't you just support the Sunderland Reserves side instead for a while? How are they doing?

[prinnysquad]

I used to watch them every week at Belmont until about 2005. They were ****e too.

The Hand of Bruce extends its claws throughout the club. No-one is safe. I might concentrate on the Sunderland Youth teams under the tutelage of the club legend, Kevin Ball. Maybe his quality can dilute the effect of Magboss.

[EJG1980]

Watching Talk of the Terrace on ESPN. Frank Leboeuf is one of the guests and it struck me that the older he gets the more he's looking like John Locke from Lost.

[toythatkills]

What about Sunderland Ladies? There must be something!

[prinnysquad]

Maybe. They're quite good. I just want Bruce out, dammit!

What I need is a second team. How are Posh doing these days?

[toythatkills]

On the way down. Sorry