"Respecting" Weaker Teams (Plus A Bit of Panto)

[Craig_H]

I'm not saying Rafa was right or wrong Craig. I didn't agree with Rafa's decision to leave the subs so late but I'm not 100% convinced that Keane would have made the difference. I also wouldn't have disagreed if Rafa had brought him on. However, seing how his gamble didn't pay off, its the easy option to say that he did the wrong thing.

It would seem that some people think that there is only one viewpoint that is acceptable or correct and thrust their opinions forward at every opportunity. Some as you say, defend Rafa's decisions regardless and others just like to keep an open mind about things asthere are sure to be lots of factors that effect Rafa's decisions which we are completely oblivious to.

I dont deny that, but if it was the mancs drawing at home to Hull and Fergie brought on, say, Fletcher in search of the winner, plenty of us would be laughing at him for it.

[rudedog]

I dont deny that, but if it was the mancs drawing at home to Hull and Fergie brought on, say, Fletcher in search of the winner, plenty of us would be laughing at him for it.

What is your point here Craig? That Rafa definately and without any shadow of doubt made the wrong decisions during the Hull game?

[Nicey]

A lot of good posts in this thread

Again I would like to suggest that this particular season .. 2008 -2009 is the toughest yet and the stats would suggest to back me up. Over the past 5 Season at the same time period the total tally of points of the bottom 5 are as follows ... 59,63,66,66,73 and presently 80 ..

I watch a lot of football, here in Asia we get nearly 12 games live and quite a few more delayed live.. each weekend I watch 3 games on Sat and what ever is on Sunday, I have done so for 10 years. In my opinion this is by far the toughest bunch of premiership teams I have ever seen. Its very difficult to spot the weak links, up until recently I was suggesting West Ham, but it looks like Zola is the real deal when it comes to his managerial nounce ..

Teams like Fulham, traditional whipping boys look very very solid, Hull are a bloody good side this year, the play football and fear no one, Stoke well yes we should be beating stoke ... but the 3 other champions in the previous season should have been beating Birmingham... Sure we cannot afford too many more slip ups at home, but at the same time we can go into our games with the big 4 with confidence ... these teams need to attack us and these are the games presently we are doing well in

Arsenal could have come at a better time, we need a result to underscore our title ambitions and Arsenal need a result to keep themselves in contention, beat them and the headlines will all be about Liverpool been the real deal, lose and it will be the end of the world as we know it, draw and it will be the end of the world as we know it, the reality of the situation is regardless of the result we right in the hunt at christmas, we have our destinty in our hands if we dont win the title we have nobody else to blame other than ourselves

[Nicey]

Elfloss ...I see also that not very well respected manager Wenger seems to think this is the toughest Premiership yet .. but you are right you know best .. well done you

[Elvoz]

Elfloss ...I see also that not very well respected manager Wenger seems to think this is the toughest Premiership yet .. but you are right you know best .. well done you

thats the wenger in charge of a team that will struggle to finish top 4 yeah and as a result will be under pressure...


but why would he say that ....

you da man nicey you know best fella - i dont think we need to start all over again today

[Sarb]

Wenger is just covering his own back. Much like Rafa does when he says he hasn't the money to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Man U or Arsenal

I'd be surprised if he came out and said the Top 4 will continue to dominate when Arsenal are 5th and struggling to keep up with Villa at the moment

[Elvoz]

Wenger is just covering his own back. Much like Rafa does when he says he hasn't the money to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Man U or Arsenal

I'd be surprised if he came out and said the Top 4 will continue to dominate when Arsenal are 5th and struggling to keep up with Villa at the moment

agree and pretty obvious mate i think
strange post by the new voice of football young nicey

[Reece]

Wenger is just covering his own back. Much like Rafa does when he says he hasn't the money to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Man U or Arsenal

I'd be surprised if he came out and said the Top 4 will continue to dominate when Arsenal are 5th and struggling to keep up with Villa at the moment

That maybe the case, but I'm not sure how anyone can really argue that the Premier League is now stronger generally than it ever has been.

[Elvoz]

That maybe the case, but I'm not sure how anyone can really argue that the Premier League is now stronger generally than it ever has been.

by saying the top 4 are weaker i would guess

[Reece]

by saying the top 4 are weaker i would guess

Well I don't believe that personally (with the exception of Arsenal), but either way it would suggest the gap between the top 4 and everyone else is lessened.

And no I'm not trying to make excuses before people start.

[Elvoz]

Well I don't believe that personally (with the exception of Arsenal), but either way it would suggest the gap between the top 4 and everyone else is lessened.

And no I'm not trying to make excuses before people start.

glass half full/half empty time reg eh

[Guest]

by saying the top 4 are weaker i would guess

The top 4 teams have got stronger squads and I expect them to pull away past the festive season. This has always been the case. The league is much stronger and this tendency has been steady during the last couple of years.

[Reece]

glass half full/half empty time reg eh

Indeed

[Sarb]

I'd say without a doubt that the Chavs and Mancs and definitely Arsenal are weaker this season than they have been previously.

So then you could debate whether the rest have got better or the top 3-4 have got poorer.

[Elvoz]

I'd say without a doubt that the Chavs and Mancs and definitely Arsenal are weaker this season than they have been previously.

So then you could debate whether the rest have got better or the top 3-4 have got poorer.

i agree but the others seem to think the other teams are getting better

opinions opinions