Premier League week 5 - 18/19 September 2010

Saturday, 18 September 2010
Stoke v West Ham
Aston Villa v Bolton
Blackburn v Fulham
Everton v Newcastle
Tottenham v Wolverhampton
West Brom v Birmingham
Sunderland v Arsenal

Sunday, 19 September 2010
Man Utd v Liverpool
Wigan v Man City
Chelsea v Blackpool

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the big one, (MANCHESTER) United vs Liverpool. It's a game I'm absolutely dreading. Our away performances so far this season have been tedious and unimaginative but United aren't looking too great at the moment either so I'm expecting a really drab scrappy affair with at most 2 goals in it.

Chelsea wont have to do too much to win this weekend, a third gear performance will get them the 3 points.

City have a wonderful banana skin to slip on

Lawro' says that you can get a 0-0.

Deluded F*ck wrote:Lawro' says that you can get a 0-0.

Lawro's an idiot unfortunately but that's what we'll come looking for no doubt. If Roy's happy with a point at Birmingham he'll be jumping for joy with one at Old Trafford. I'm not denying we're difficult to beat but I can't see us scoring more than United this weekend because to me playing Torres whilst he isn't fit is like having 10 men and unless Merieles and Joe Cole can provide inch perfect service to him I'd genuinely rather have an in-form and confident Ngog up front. Really.

Were defo winning this game 3-1

Starting Ngog with Torres maybe? Ngog is on fire at the moment, if Torres is unfit just start Ngog. START BABEL, wasn't on the board when the game was on so i don't know what you lot thought of his performance but to me he played well. Him playing where he did last night was quality, had a lot more space and was getting involved in space and playing in the hole sometimes. Alot more involved in play than he usually is. (He twittered that he was training extra on Tuesday to practise shooting )

Merieles was always making himself avaliable for the ball last night, think starting him is important as were gonna need that against united in that Midfield.

4-2-3-1 considering were away to United..

------------------------Reina----------------------------

Johnson------Carragher----Agger--------Konchesky

-----------------Mireles------Gerrard-----------------

Maxi?--------------------------------------------Babel

-------------------------Cole-------------------------

---------------------Torres/Ngog---------------

Could have Lucas in midfield, then put Gerrard CF and put Cole on the wing. Gerrard in the midfield will be better IMO than Lucas against United. A lot stronger and experienced.

No way will we have just Gerrard and Merieles in the middle away at United.

----------------------------Reina-----------------------------------

--Kelly------------Carra------------Agger-----------------Konchesky---------------

----------------------------Poulsen---------------------------------------------------

----------------------Merieles--------Gerrard--------------------------------------

------Johnson------------------------------------------------Cole---------------------

-------------------------------Torres------------------------------------------------

Would be my ideal team but of course it's very experimental and will never be the team Roy picks on sunday. Johnson will be in place of Kelly and Jovanovic or Maxi will start. Other than that this is the team I expect Hodgson to pick.

4.04pm

Luis wrote:Johnson looks way off the pace at the moment and needs to sit on the bench for a while to make him hungrier to improve and prove he's worth the price tag.

4.22pm

Ideal team for the weekend has Johnson starting on the right wing.

BPL

debaser wrote:4.04pm

Luis wrote:Johnson looks way off the pace at the moment and needs to sit on the bench for a while to make him hungrier to improve and prove he's worth the price tag.

4.22pm

Ideal team for the weekend has Johnson starting on the right wing.

BPL

Only because he'll do more than Maxi will. We literally have no one good to play on the right. If he starts ahead of Kelly and is shit again I'll write a personal letter of complaint and anger to Mr Hodgson

I do agree with you on dropping him for a bit. His performance vs Brum was woeful, back to his dopiest worst. Bit of an enigma him, can look absolutely top quality, but then games like that one, you wonder how the hell he ever made it this far as a defender

I watched Liverpool's first have last week and didn't notice Johnson was playing in midfield. Since when and how come?

Alive and Kicking wrote:I watched Liverpool's first have last week and didn't notice Johnson was playing in midfield. Since when and how come?

He wasn't. He should do as he looks good when he goes forward but has no defensive discipline whatsoever, the amount of times he gets caught out of position is laughable. I remember a moment in the Brum game where the ball was in the air and he was stairing at it for ages before deciding to finally head it but miss it completely. It's schoolboy fucking stuff.

Luis wrote:No way will we have just Gerrard and Merieles in the middle away at United.

----------------------------Reina-----------------------------------

--Kelly------------Carra------------Agger-----------------Konchesky---------------

----------------------------Poulsen---------------------------------------------------

----------------------Merieles--------Gerrard--------------------------------------

------Johnson------------------------------------------------Cole---------------------

-------------------------------Torres------------------------------------------------

Would be my ideal team but of course it's very experimental and will never be the team Roy picks on sunday. Johnson will be in place of Kelly and Jovanovic or Maxi will start. Other than that this is the team I expect Hodgson to pick.

That would be my preferred team as well, except with Lucas(he has put in his best displays vs United IMHO, 4-1 at OT and 2-0 at Anfield last) year in there instead of Poulsen and Gerrard push to CF. Never going to happen though sadly.

If I see the Pucas partnership start on Sunday, I'll die a little inside

Luis wrote:No way will we have just Gerrard and Merieles in the middle away at United.

----------------------------Reina-----------------------------------

--Kelly------------Carra------------Agger-----------------Konchesky---------------

----------------------------Poulsen---------------------------------------------------

----------------------Merieles--------Gerrard--------------------------------------

------Johnson------------------------------------------------Cole---------------------

-------------------------------Torres------------------------------------------------

Would be my ideal team but of course it's very experimental and will never be the team Roy picks on sunday. Johnson will be in place of Kelly and Jovanovic or Maxi will start. Other than that this is the team I expect Hodgson to pick.

Spose your right about the midfield. I can honestly, only see positives from Johnson playing right wing. He losses the ball, Kelly is covering, he obviously won't have to defend as much and can attack more which he is very good at. Get those crosses in

Ade wrote:

If I see the Pucas partnership start on Sunday, I'll die a little inside

I'm not betting on us to win until I see the line-up. No way will we win with the "Pucas" partnership.

Luis wrote:Saturday, 18 September 2010
Stoke v West Ham
Aston Villa v Bolton
Blackburn v Fulham
Everton v Newcastle
Tottenham v Wolverhampton
West Brom v Birmingham
Sunderland v Arsenal

Sunday, 19 September 2010
Man Utd v Liverpool
Wigan v Man City
Chelsea v Blackpool

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the big one, (MANCHESTER) United vs Liverpool. It's a game I'm absolutely dreading. Our away performances so far this season have been tedious and unimaginative but United aren't looking too great at the moment either so I'm expecting a really drab scrappy affair with at most 2 goals in it.

Chelsea wont have to do too much to win this weekend, a third gear performance will get them the 3 points.

City have a wonderful banana skin to slip on

Bad memories from last year. I know Arsenal lost against Sunderland and I think Tottenham lost Wolves at home.

A good test of our mettle at Sunderland today. No doubt the ongoing stuff about us not liking it when opponents gets in our faces will be played out maximum volume and that's exactly how Bruce will prime his team. However there is more to Sunderland than that - they have handy players like Elmohamady and Malbranque who'll test our defence; Bent on his day is a threat and we saw what Gyan can do in WC. However it's vital we get a result to keep up in Chelsea's slipstream and maintain our momentum.

I'd expect pretty much the same team that played against Braga - there was a suggestion that Rosicky may come in for Wilshere, but this is exactly the sort of match Wilshere should play in. So;

Manuel

Bac - Kos - Squillacci - Clichy

Song - Cesc - Wilshere

Nasri - Arshavin

Chamakhattack

Thankfully Cole is back so there is little chance of uncle Roy going as defensive as he has been recently.

We have a chance, but it is totally dependent on the midfield he picks.

...............Lucas....Meireles
.....Maxi............Gerrard........Cole


................Gerrard...Meireles
........Maxi...........Cole.........Babs/Jova

I think we would have a shot at winning with both of these selections. Torres may actually receive the ball in a decent position for a change. He is perfectly match fit Luis, and will be up against his favourite defender.

Massive game for Hodgson. He hasn't made a good start with us but this can change everything.

TheCrazy58 wrote:Manuel

Bac - Kos - Squillacci - Clichy

Song - Cesc - Wilshere

Nasri - Arshavin

Chamakhattack

See what I mean, Ray? Are you willing to concede the point yet?

Giving a nickname to Almunia is either a desperate attempt by Arsenal fans to plump up their players feelings, or is like when they give gold stars to a special needs kid because he finally wrote the correct date on his exam.

Subtly Beautiful wrote:

TheCrazy58 wrote:Manuel

Bac - Kos - Squillacci - Clichy

Song - Cesc - Wilshere

Nasri - Arshavin

Chamakhattack

See what I mean, Ray? Are you willing to concede the point yet?

Giving a nickname to Almunia is either a desperate attempt by Arsenal fans to plump up their players feelings, or is like when they give gold stars to a special needs kid because he finally wrote the correct date on his exam.

Stoke: Sorensen, Huth, Shawcross, Faye, Collins, Pennant, Delap, Whitehead, Etherington, Walters, Jones.
Subs: Begovic, Higginbotham, Whelan, Gudjohnsen, Fuller, Wilson, Wilkinson.
West Ham: Green, Jacobsen, da Costa, Upson, Gabbidon, Behrami, Parker, Noble, Piquionne, Obinna, Cole.
Subs: Stech, Tomkins, Barrera, Boa Morte, Kovac, McCarthy, Faubert.
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire).

Woo Obinna starts, he looked very good against Chelsea, lets see if he can do better against stoke.

I expect Shawcross will break his leg within the first 20 minutes.

Tuncay not on the bench again..is he injured or has he just made the worst career move ever?

Huth hits the post after another mistake from Green. This game, rather predictably, has seen a lot of set-pieces, crosses and long balls. It's not particularly enjoyable football.

hahah this game is really hit and run, no midfield play

Parker scores for West Ham. Terrible, Stoke-esque goal from a free-kick.

Parker! 1-0!

Delap tried to clear it but only managed to shoot it into the face of Shawcross

What a try by Piq off the bar!

Parker is actually Quality

Parker for England says I

Stoke 0-1 West Ham HT

K Jones equalises. Cross from Pennant and Jones climbs highest at the back post.