General Twitter Thread

[IN_RAFA_WE_TRUST]

He got booked too. The *******ss didn't win. Hazard scored to equalize. The French do interviews at half time and hazard was one of them, after the interview he was about to walk down the tunnel but stopped ,took his shirt off and gave it to a kid.

[doogle]

UpTheAndMiddle Upthe Andmiddle
If ye played table tennis @EmmanuelF4 ye'd benn Frimpong daeing ping pong! LOL. Joking bud. Yer a guid player like but ye hurt wee Lucas
26 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

[Shaggy]

JosephPepper Joseph Pepper
Incredible statistic. United have conceded more shots on goal than any other team in the PL this season.

[BringbackBiscan]

Unfortunately, Torres had a **** load of them.

[Exiled_red]

JosephPepper Joseph Pepper
Incredible statistic. United have conceded more shots on goal than any other team in the PL this season.

[dww]

Bet a lot of them are from miles out though. Spurs in particular just shot from anywhere - the crapness of De Gea in the charity shield accounting for a lot of it.

I also still think their DMs evacuate the area in front of their defence too quickly - a good side should get chances against them. unfortunately at the minute they looke excellent at the other end.

[Kenneth]

Yes, I think teams get a bit desperate, especially when they're losing badly, and lash it any chance they get.

[Alex]

http://xerography.wordpress.com/2011...-five-ratings/

Thats really worth a read

Premier League Top Five Ratings
by xerography on September 21, 2011
This is a post where I’ll rate the players of the top five clubs in the Premiership. I know not everyone plays 4-4-2 but for the purposes of the article I needed 9 positions that I could fit players into and the 4-4-2 strategy worked the best, so deal with it.



Goalkeepers: Two teams have established world-class goalkeepers, two have promising talent and Manchester City have a potentially world class keeper in Joe Hart. Of all five teams, it’s hard to look past Pepe Reina as the best goalkeeper in the Premiership and one of the best in the world. Below him, Petr Cech’s form has been slipping while Joe Hart continues to improve, but I’m going to plump for the Czech here. On his day, he can be simply unbeatable and if he can recapture the form of 04/05 then Chelsea can mount a serious title challenge. I fancy David De Gea over Wojiech Szcezney anyday. De Gea has proven himself in the Spanish league and although it may take him a while to adjust to the Premiership, he’ll get there eventually and prove himself to be a world-class keeper.



Reina – 9

Cech – 8

Hart – 7.5

De Gea – 7

Szczezny – 6



Left-Backs: Ashley Cole remains the best left-back in the Premiership in my opinion, although Patrice Evra wouldn’t be far behind. Jose Enrique was solid for Newcastle and has looked brilliant for Liverpool so far, while Gael Clichy has a lot of experience for someone only 26, and although his form has dipped in the past season or two, he’s still a great left-back. Arsenal trail again, with the injury-prone (but quality) Kieran Gibbs.



Cole – 8.5

Evra – 8

Enrique 7.5

Clichy – 7

Gibbs – 6.5



Centre-Backs: United win this one comfortably, with arguably the best defender in the world Nemanja Vidic, and the frequently injured but quality Rio Ferdinand. Their Manchester neighbours come in second, with Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott marshalling the defence at Eastlands. Chelsea captain John Terry might not be everyone’s favourite player, but there’s no denying that he’s a great defender and him and Alex make for an almost watertight backline. Their cross-London rivals have Thomas Vermalaen and Johann Djourou at the back but there’s very little seperating them from Liverpool, who compliment the quality of Daniel Agger with the experience of the (ageing) Jamie Carragher.



Vidic/Ferdinand – 9

Kompany/Lescott – 8

Terry/Alex – 7.5

Vermalaen/Djourou – 7

Agger/Carragher – 7



Right-Backs: Right-back was one area United didn’t look brilliant in last year, with Rafael and later Fabio playing there. This season however, and the interchangeable duo of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling look immense. Martin Kelly, although injury prone, is as good a threat going forward as he is at calmly dealing with opposition attacks and starting counter-attacks. England international Micah Richards has seen his form drop in the past few seasons, but on his day is still one of the best right-back’s in the Premiership. In London, Branislav Ivanovic offers an aerial threat not many full-back’s can these days, while Frenchman Bacary Sagna was included in the PFA Team of the Year last season.



Jones – 9

Kelly – 8.5

Ivanovic – 8

Richards – 7.5

Sagna – 7



Left-Wing: Two of the left-wingers in this category were Aston Villa players last season, with Stewart Downing voted Aston Villa’s player of the season last season and Ashley Young one of their top scorers. However, Juan Mata just shades it over the Englishmen for me, although I rate his compatriot David Silva higher. Arsenal once again trail in this comparison, with the ineffectual and sometimes anonymous Andrey Arshavin.



Silva – 9

Mata – 8.5

Young – 8

Downing – 7.5

Arshavin – 6



Centre-Midfield: All of the teams focused on have strong central midfields, with the youthful Old Trafford pairing of Tom Cleverly and Anderson, the strength of Gareth Barry and Yaya Toure, the maturity of Alex Song and Jack Wilshere, the grit of Lucas and Steven Gerrard and the flair of Raul Meireles and Ramires. Liverpool have the edge in this department, but it’s a close call between them, United and Arsenal. Manchester City come in 4th, while Chelsea trail, although this is discounting Michael Essien, who will miss the majority of the season, and Frank Lampard, who no longer appears to be a first-choice midfielder for the Blues.



Gerrard/Lucas – 8.5

Song/Wilshere – 8

Anderson/Cleverly – 7.5

Barry/Toure – 7

Ramires/Meireles – 6.5



Right-Wing: Right-wing is an area of significant strength for most of the sides involved. United have Nani, one of the best dribblers in the Premiership, while City enjoy the skills of Samir Nasri. Arsenal fans don’t have much skill on the right-wing, just a blur of pace in Theo Walcott. Liverpool have the graft and goalgetting abilities of Dirk Kuyt while Chelsea have young Daniel Sturridge



Nani – 9

Nasri – 8.5

Kuyt – 8

Walcott – 8

Sturridge – 8



The Creator: All the sides have that special player on their books who’s capable of creating a chance out of nothing. In this section we feature three of the best attacking players (in my opinion) in the Premiership; Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero and Luis Suarez. The three above are technically superior to almost all others in the league and are well worth the millions that their respective clubs paid for them. That’s not to say that Mikel Arteta or Didier Drogba are bad, but the other three are above them in terms of skill and value.



Rooney – 9.5

Aguero – 9

Suarez – 9

Drogba – 8

Arteta – 7.5



The Finisher: This is the player who’s required to stand in the six yard box and do the most important part of the game, the thing that his team-mates spend 90 minutes trying to do; finish. United’s Javier Hernandez seems to have been born in the penalty area, such is his natural ability and comfort in the box. Edin Dzeko and Andy Carroll are less refined, but still have undoubtable quality. Robin Van Persie and Fernando Torres combine height with exquisite skill and finishing, and while the Spaniard has yet to refind his form, with just 2 goals in 28 games for Chelsea, he can stil be regarded as one of the finest strikers in the Premiership.



Javier Hernandez – 8.5

Robin Van Persie – 8

Edin Dzeko – 7.5

Fernando Torres – 7

Andy Carroll – 6



Back-Up



Defence: Manchester United’s defensive back-line could be a top-10 side’s starting defenders, with Brazilian youth international twins Fabio & Rafael, Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans. Strength in depth has been a problem at Arsenal for years and it doesn’t look to have gotten much better after the summer transfer window. They have inexperience at both full-back positions, with Carl Jenkinson and Andre Santos, while their centre-backs are the slow Per Mertesacker, and hapless Laurent Koscielny. Liverpool have the injury prone Fabio Aurelio at left-back, England international Glen Johnson at right-back and Sebastian Coates & Martin Skrtel in the centre, which admittedly is not the strongest pairing of the sides. Chelsea have England youth-international Ryan Betrand as Ashley Cole’s understudy, beside David Luiz and Paulo Ferreira in the centre, while Portuguese international Jose Bosingwa can replace Ivanovic on the right. Manchester City have arguably the strongest bench in the league, and when it comes to defence they have Pablo Zabaleta, Kolo Toure, Nedum Onouha and Aleksander Kolarov



Manchester City – 7.5

Manchester United – 7

Liverpool – 7

Chelsea – 7

Arsenal – 6



Midfield – Midfield is an area that was strengthened for most of these teams during the summer, with Liverpool in particular reinforcing the middle of the pitch. They have £24million worth of British talent on the bench with a full-strength team, with Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson ready to come on, along with Jay Spearing and Maxi Rodriguez. Manchester City can boast Adam Johnson, Nigel De Jong and Owen Hargreaves all warming their bench, United can look to Michael Carrick, Antonio Valencia, Park Ji-Sung, Darren Fletcher and the legend that is Ryan Giggs to come on from their bench, Chelsea have Frank Lampard, John Obi Mikel and Florent Malouda and even Arsenal have strong back-up in Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky, Emmanuel Frimpong and Yossi Benayoun.



Manchester United – 9

Liverpool – 8.5

Chelsea – 8

Manchester City – 7.5

Arsenal – 7



Attack – Manchester City lead the way in attack, with Carlos Tevez & Mario Balotelli struggling to get a game at Eastlands, their Red Devil rivals don’t look to shabby either, with Danny Welbeck, Frederico Macheda and the 7-time Bulgarian Player of the Year Dimitar Berbatov. Arsenal have the teenage sensation Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho and Park Chu-Yung, Chelsea have Nicolas Anelka, Solomon Kalou and Romelu Lukaku while Liverpool can only boast Craig Bellamy as senior back-up to the first-team.



Manchester City – 8.5

Chelsea – 8

Manchester United – 7.5

Arsenal – 7

Liverpool – 5



FINAL RATINGS (/130)



Manchester United – 99

Manchester City – 94

Chelsea – 93

Liverpool 91.5

Arsenal – 84

Pretty spot on too

[Shaggy]

Another reason for United's openness is the new Rooney - he doesn't chase around anywhere near as much as he used to. The old Rooney would tear around all over the pitch and score 12 goals a season. Now, apparently, he's being instructed to cut it out almost completely, and stay within the width of the goal posts in the middle. It means he's scoring loads more but it's also contributing to their openness. Also a midfield two of Cleverley and Anderson doesn't help in that respect either.

[Craig_H]

So what you're saying is that they can be 'got at' ?

I love that expression

[Alex]

'Got at' thats another one of those overly used cliche's that people use when there to lazy to elaborate.

[Mostar]

@LFCtransfernews
Real Madrid has set a new world record after generating £419m in turnover for the year ending June/30/11.no wonder about big transfers.

[Mostar]

@jouracule
Terrible news. Ibrahim Afellay tore his ACL (left knee) during training, will undergo surgery tomorrow, could be out for six months.

[Mike]

Shame, looks a very good player if given enough game time.

[Shaggy]

RobHarrisUK Rob Harris
Marcus Hahnemann has found a club - joining Tim Howard as Everton's second American goalkeeper #usmnt yhoo.it/qF8sqE