The Premier League - 2019/20

As are West Ham. The bottom of the table has gone absolutely mental over Xmas.

 

And once again, the top teams did little to help us.

Though if it weren't for the fact that it's putting our PL status in jeopardy, I'd enjoy the fact that the Prem is more competitive and less predictable this season, rather like the Championship that some of us still miss.

 

Wow, VAR allowing Spam to have that penalty after Noble kicks his own heels then throws himself to the floor. What a farce.

 

Not the most ideal result for us at West Ham as things stand.

Not only does them winning convincingly mean that we've actually lost a bit of ground (still three points behind, but further behind in GD), it also means that Bournemouth will be all the more up for their game against us as they'll be desperate to get out of trouble. Unless, as some of their fans suggest, Sir Eddie has well and truly lost the plot...

 

Three points behind West Ham yes, but now two points off 17th.

 

Yes, we would be two points off 17th whatever the result in the Wet Spam game. Still needed another team to drop points but we just need to keep on racking up the points and not worry too much about the table for now...

 

I really disagree - as I mentioned before we prob only need to overtake one of them, and Muff with the state of their squad at the moment (and not having a new manager bounce) are much more likely candidates. They really are a shambles at the moment.

 

9 days ago before we played Man U we were 9 points behind 17th. Tonight we're 6 points behind 11th!

 

Just imagine.... How fan-*******-tastic that would be.

Sky would still have them on all of their adverts and idents, mind. It’s called the ‘big 6’ for a reason....

 

By the way, I guess this concerns Watford from a great escape point of view, Newcastle were diabolical today. Didn’t even try and Bruce had a nightmare.

Shelvey got a bad knock, he stayed on and played horribly. Willems was forced off with an injury after that. 1 sub down. 10 seconds before half time, 45 + 2.50 of 3 added minutes, Bruce inexplicably takes his right back off who had been the least **** of their back four but it looked like he wanted to make a point. He barely made it to his position before the whistle went. 2 subs down. Shelvey off at HT because he’d clearly done his calf. All the subs used.

Newcastle kicked off and Schar immediately pulled his hamstring, refused to come off, had it strapped up and then sprinted around like a man with a wooden leg for five minutes while Bruce stood pink faced on the touch line screaming ‘FAB! FAB! FAB!’ until he finally came off and they played with ten men.

I’ve never seen anything like it, he let two injured players play on, a third if you count Yedlin who broke his hand after he came on when he already has half of his squad out. There’s a big meltdown around the corner for them, especially if they do nothing in January.

And another thing that makes Bruce look a ****.... we knocked them out of the league cup earlier this season and Hamza Choudhury badly injured Matt Ritchie during the game with a perfectly good tackle that unfortunately did Ritchie’s ankle ligaments. Steve Bruce went on in typical excuse making fashion after the game as if our Hamza had burned St James’s park down resulting in him getting a lot of racist abuse on twitter. Guess who scored a beauty, his first for his hometown club today? That’s right baby.

Bruce can ******* shove it.

 

This fa cup week couldn't come at a worse time. Us in flying form and Bournemouth struggling with form, injuries, fitness of those who are playing and confidence.

They now have 10 days to rest players and maybe get a good fa cup win.

Think their injury list wil still be bad but they can at least rest a couple of players for well over a week.

 

Yeah, I've never been convinced by Steve Bruce's managerial ability and I imagine if he'd been available when we were looking for Flores' replacement and had been so much as suggested by anyone there would've been a mini-outcry by many on here.

Yes he's got a few teams promoted, but apart from Birmingham to some extent (and all that was well over a decade ago and he still got them relegated) he's never managed to produce any sustained success or build something for the future. He's like a mixture of Neil Warnock with fewer promotions and Alan Pardew, with a Flores-like unexciting emphasis on defence, which isn't good for a team like Newcastle who have never been prolific in the scoring department and now have a goals against that's almost caught up with ours - good enough as a short-term manager but rarely commits long-term to a club and does well for a year or so before his teams hit a bad patch which he can't get them out of, and his career has been in decline for a while.

 

I don't agree. As bad as the scum are, they're still a Championship side (just) and have scored a fair few goals, and with the way Muff are playing, they'll probably need to play close to a full strength side to avoid an upset or replay, either of which wouldn't do much for their confidence, and in the latter case, fitness. On the other hand, with Tranmere being weaker opponents, we can afford to rest quite a few players, and still win the game and go into this crunch match in better shape and confidence than Bournemouth.

I think we're just in need of a rest as Bournemouth, but for different reasons - getting all those hard-earned results against tricky opponents over an intense period from late December to the new year and picking up a few injuries (thankfully none of them too serious) will have taken its toll, and this break from league games couldn't have come at a better time for us.

 

I'd expect them to rest most of their first eleven then though, I guess at the expense of the cup, as staying in the league must be the top priority.

So a good fa cup win maybe sacrificed, they'll still get a decent rest as sounds like a lot of their skeleton crew first eleven aren't fully fit at the moment.

 

A nice table to look at for a change:

 

Saint Edward doesn't do the FA Cup. They've gone out playing the reserves in 4 of their 5 PL seasons I think. It infuriates their fans. They could win next week I guess but it won't be because Howe wants to.

 

We've played 2 gruelling matches with 10 men, our squad needs the rest as much as anyone. It's great timing.

 

Yeah I guess so. But momentum is also important which we have bundles of right now. There's an argument for each I guess.

 

Looks good.
Rinse and repeat next 6 games and we’re out of the bottom 3.

Did you finish your book?

 

My book?!

 

Yes, your book.. the one with the happy ending ...

 

Hahahaha - holy sheet! That did make me laugh out loud!

I have my very own stalker!

It was an empty threat! I watched a game the very next day!!!

 

Don't worry. A big expensive super-keeper will be signed by moneybags Villa. Despite the fact that they've struggled to make signings of course....

 

Wesley as well.

 

Ben Mee will get his comeuppance soon. Joe Gomez last season, Wesley this season. You can only go around (almost certainly deliberately) injuring people in borderline legal tackles before someone takes you out.

 

Kodjia might well score more than Wesley.

 

Wouldn't surprise me, Villa fans have been less that complimentary about Wesley, looking at the stats he's coming out about the same as Deeney. Not really what you want from your star summer signing.

 

Kane out for 8 weeks. Will miss our game.

 

Son is always an irritant though and Debbie.

 

Haha, well I’ve been called many things but never a stalker .. besides ...

... and in my first dossier I now know everything about you..
. You make idle promises
. You don’t complete assignments
. You’ve been up north
. Your name is - er - Horace?