[Archived] Premier League Happenings

[The Rover of Finland]

Huge difference how much better City were passing. Except Rooney United had 10 Jason Lowe's. It will be a huge fight for the title between City, Chelsea and Liverpool. The ref was really good but Fellaini may in trouble for his elbowing.

[K-Hod]

They were awful. The only reason they didn't look so bad was because City played the entire match like a training exercise!

We'll have to agree to disagree then!

They started both halves badly, I've seen them play far worse this season!!

[ABBEY]

Great fun In the office this morning the manc utd fans fuming, I'm not helping much by saying MOYES is getting rovers karma . They just had discussion on next manager , they got grumpy at my kean suggestion.

[DE.]

We'll have to agree to disagree then!

They started both halves badly, I've seen them play far worse this season!!

Not saying much tbf, they've had some absolute shockers this season I think if City had really pushed then they could have humiliated United, but seeing that they had nothing to worry about they were happy to pass the ball around aimlessly and retain possession without any real desire to attack. I lost count of the number of times City passed the ball backwards after getting into a dangerous position. They were toying with United like a lower league club, it was embarrassing to watch. Meanwhile the United fans, rather than voice their discontent at the absolute shambles their club has been reduced to, were happy to sing "twenty times" repeatedly. I suppose they might as well get used to doing so, as that figure isn't going to change in some time with Moysie around

[Guest Norbert]

All I will say is Mata starting on the right wing. Moyes is showing himself to be as bad as Souness in his last few months with us.

[M-K]

Every game Man Utd play under Moyes, you can almost see the millions dropping off their players' transfer values. Like when you buy a new car, they say it loses 20% of its value the moment you drive it off the forecourt. The Moyes effect makes players depreciate in the same way.

If they were to cut their losses on Mata in the summer, would anyone even give them £15m? He looks so lightweight, getting brushed off the ball like a child in a game of grown-ups. Fellaini would be a £10m target man for Sunderland.

[Guest Norbert]

Fellaini should be selling Fezzes to tourists in his parental home country of Morocco after some of his performances. It seems that his powerful, all action game he showed at Everton has been replaced by a fumbling, violent, and lost performance. Kagawa and Hernandez have lost all confidence in their abilities and look a 10th of what they could be, and Rooney is trying to do everyone else's job and literally be a one man team.

It is like a real life Football Manager, where the player wants to ruin a big club, but has to balance the hammerings with just enough to not get fired before you can 'finish the job' and get them relegated.

[thenodrog]

Remember all the talk of Jose making a mistake letting mata go?

He seems lazy and uninterested when he isn't winning

I don't understand the media hype surrounding Mata. From what I have seen live at Ewood I have never rated Mata either. Moyes has wasted more big money imo.

The first question that i always ask myself when i see utd these days is how the hell can you spend 64million on 2 players and not improve the team??

That is sheer genius...

Might sound daft and they'd never admit it but some managers do better without much money to spend. Hughes and Allardyce to the fore in that assessment.

64 million wasted on just two average types. Kean and Anderson must be salivating at the possibilities open to them if only they could get into that club.

[Guest Norbert]

He's probably like Le Tissier-you have to create a formation and team he could fit into, and not that he could just fit into a team. Having said that, I think Le Tissier would have been much more successful nowadays, since few teams go for a rigid 4-4-2 that was common when he was playing.

Edit: Don't worry David we all are (see link below). He really has the look of a haunted, shattered man who has announced that he intends to be President of the USA, but has only just realised that he has no idea about any policies, and the few people who have turned up are bored stiff and think you are a joke. And those pills you have taken to stay awake and keep thundering through the campaigns have turned the crowd into space lizards whispering about how crap you are to each other in Chinese.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26742897

[DE.]

Mata is not a £38M player, in the same way Fellaini is not a £27M player (and Ozil isn't a £42M player for that matter!). United have massively overpaid for Mata, but regardless of that he is a good player. Not a hard worker but put him in the right position and he'll contribute. Shove him out on the wing and you might as well throw an academy player in there for all the good it'll do.

[The Rover of Finland]

Rooney and Mata hardly fit in same eleven. Including Fellaini with them is silly.

[broadsword]

It's unbelievable how they've not sacked him yet, it can only be stubborness.

If you don't sack him, you have to back him, and that means big money over the summer to re-build the team. Bet he makes an almighty pig's ear of that too. the alternative is to back him but not too much, which is tantamount to saying "we want to bin you, but are worried we'll look stupid".

The longer they leave it the further they put themselves back. Ferguson should be binned off the board, Moyes despatched and a manager with some trophies to his name appointed. Like they should've done 9 months ago.

It's amazing to see. Will be funny if Liverpool win this year, the season after the man who "knocked them off their perch" retired

[M-K]

Man Utd seem to think they can repeat the Ferguson years all over again, so they have to stick by their manager even though he's already lopped 26 points off last season's team. They've only managed two wins against sides from the top half of the table, and the manager has spent £64m on a midfield version of Peter Crouch and a player that a superior manager thought wasn't good enough for his title-chasing squad.

Any other team would have sacked him a couple of months ago, but that option probably went out the window when they gave him all that money to spend in January. I don't think they'll even get rid of him in the summer, because the Glazer debt means they don't have enough cash for a new manager to come in and take it in a different direction. Their only hope is that he does turn out to be Ferguson mk II, and that he can build a great team on a defensive pairing of Jones and Smalling.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Hahahaha. Didn't see the game last night but I presume they were as dire as they've been for 95% of the season. Can see him getting sacked in the summer which would be a shame.

Everton are 6 points behind Arsenal with a game in hand. I would love it if they finished in the top 4 ahead of them.

[Oklahoma]

And just a few months ago most football fans thought Mourinho was crazy for selling Mata and buying Matic...

Moyes is a great manager if the Man Utd objective is to sink like the Titanic lol

[Guest Norbert]

I'd love Arsenal to end up 5th or lower too. I'm sick of all the tools on radio 5 excusing Wenger's continual failure to build a proper team. People like John Hartson are lauding him for 'building the Emirates', and not bankrupting the club, and saying that being in the top 4 most seasons is a fantastic achievement. So actually going out and signing 20 midfielders despite the fact the team needs defenders, strikers and more pace is a mark of genius then?

[onlyonejackwalker]

Moyes lost a lot of respect in these parts with his comments regarding Kean. God knows what he was thinking.

However he is genuinely a decent bloke who has few airs and graces and has worked hard since coming south to North End. He was a somewhat limited centre half but very respected amongst the other players and made an easy transition to assistant manager under Gary Peters, then manager. He has done very well for himself ever since.

It's all gone badly wrong now though and his failure to spend well and attract Fibreglass or a top quality alternative, plus injury to RVP, added to the unprofessional nature of the chase for Fellani and Baines, coupled with his low quality support crew, early season moaning about referees and bad luck have all seen him appear Ill equipped and unprofessional. And more importantly have all helped internally and externally further erode that air of invincibility lost when old red nose wrapped up.

Suprised at Moyes. Thought he was better than this. He has lost a lot of his early fire and strength and looks lost on the touch line and in front of cameras. Moyes is a winner who has won little. They needed someone with a few trinkets already behind them.

[roverandout]

should have gone for ancellotti

[Roverthechimp]

no but I wouldn't trust bowyer to do the same at rovers either

For me there's a parallel between Bowyer and Moyes, neither will take their respective club forward. I suppose I'm allowed to say that about Moyse.

Sorry but have to disagree completely seeing as Bowyer has taken the club forward already by building the squad we have and erasing some past mistakes. That some people think he can't take us further is another issue but if Moyes had started with a squad that had finished 18 points after the leaders and took them to 15 points from the leaders then comparisons could be made - instead they have gone from 11 ahead to 20 after whilst spending 64 million (or 70 depending on which newspaper) and also raising the wages of a number of current and more worryingly all future players despite the impending loss of revenue...

Frankly i think you guys should apologise to Mr Bowyer for even drawing the comparison (even if you are entitled to your opinion that he should be replaced in order for the team to take the next step).

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Sorry but have to disagree completely seeing as Bowyer has taken the club forward already by building the squad we have and erasing some past mistakes. That some people think he can't take us further is another issue but if Moyes had started with a squad that had finished 18 points after the leaders and took them to 15 points from the leaders then comparisons could be made - instead they have gone from 11 ahead to 20 after whilst spending 64 million (or 70 depending on which newspaper) and also raising the wages of a number of current and more worryingly all future players despite the impending loss of revenue...

Frankly i think you guys should apologise to Mr Bowyer for even drawing the comparison (even if you are entitled to your opinion that he should be replaced in order for the team to take the next step).

Whatever you say matey. I should apologise for having an opinion ? Sweden is a democracy isn't it ?

[roverandout]

hes from sweeeden,

[Roverthechimp]

Actually i'm from Lancashire - about 8 miles from Ewood - but happen to be resident in Sweden.

Not sure why that is important but it seems to matter to some.

Incidentally saying "whatever you say matey" generally leads to someone being glassed but luckily i'm a pacifist

[thenodrog]

I'd love Arsenal to end up 5th or lower too. I'm sick of all the tools on radio 5 excusing Wenger's continual failure to build a proper team. People like John Hartson are lauding him for 'building the Emirates', and not bankrupting the club, and saying that being in the top 4 most seasons is a fantastic achievement. So actually going out and signing 20 midfielders despite the fact the team needs defenders, strikers and more pace is a mark of genius then?

You can hardly crib Wengers record at Arsenal. He's been fantastic for them and has only suffered recently because of footballs crazy overblown finances which has put City, Chelsea and MU in a position to crash and burn should the owners die / tire of them / suffer finacial disaster themselves. To his and the Directors credit they have resisted the temptation to blow their brains out financially. It's likely Arsenal will still be at the top when the others are doing a Leeds.

[yoda]

should have gone for ancellotti

Jose was the one

[Doug]

SSN reporting west ham booed off by some home fans after they beat Hull!

Can you Adam and Eve it!