PL Finale: Matchweek 38

koyvoo

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Nov 8, 2014
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Most players would be more gracious and go out of there way to acknowledge a rival who has such an incredible season.

If Ronaldo said it, he wouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt.
 

Paulie Gualtieri

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May 18, 2016
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Most players would be more gracious and go out of there way to acknowledge a rival who has such an incredible season.

If Ronaldo said it, he wouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt.

You were the one posting the article, but you refuse to read it past the title?

“Mo has done great this year, he deserves it, he deserves the Golden Boot, I am looking forward to the competition again next year.
 

YNWA14

Onbreekbaar
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Even if you read the whole article you can see that Kane is being a snide.
 

Fro

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Was salah healthy all year? I can't remember if he had any kind of injury...

I think my biggest thing with Kane is we always lose home for a month in late winter...if healthy for those 3 weeks this year it would have been more interesting
 

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Was salah healthy all year? I can't remember if he had any kind of injury...

I think my biggest thing with Kane is we always lose home for a month in late winter...if healthy for those 3 weeks this year it would have been more interesting
I think I read that Salah played more games, but Kane played more minutes - but I could be wrong.

EDIT I was wrong. Kane made 37 appearances. Salah had 36
 
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KJS14

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I'm not saying City are the greatest PL team of all time, but you can't dismiss it just because they aren't as strong defensively as past teams. Those past teams weren't nearly as good offensively as City this year, and scoring more goals can be just as good a defense as keeping them out. I will say that City has certainly been one of the most entertaining PL sides that I've seen.
 

Live in the Now

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I'm not saying City are the greatest PL team of all time, but you can't dismiss it just because they aren't as strong defensively as past teams. Those past teams weren't nearly as good offensively as City this year, and scoring more goals can be just as good a defense as keeping them out. I will say that City has certainly been one of the most entertaining PL sides that I've seen.

No, you should dismiss it. They didn't win the PL/CL double as other teams did. That disqualifies them.
 

KJS14

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No, you should dismiss it. They didn't win the PL/CL double as other teams did. That disqualifies them.

Ok, but are we talking about greatest performance in the PL all time or greatest team from the PL all time? I was strictly looking at PL performance.
 

Live in the Now

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Ok, but are we talking about greatest performance in the PL all time or greatest team from the PL all time? I was strictly looking at PL performance.

If it's performance only it has to be Arsenal. They didn't lose. Chelsea 04-05 if you want another. They lost 1 game (somehow to a terrible City team) and conceded just 15 goals. That team was also one of the best in Europe.

That City dismantled teams is only one piece of the puzzle. First to me anyway is not losing.
 

KJS14

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If it's performance only it has to be Arsenal. They didn't lose. Chelsea 04-05 if you want another. They lost 1 game (somehow to a terrible City team) and conceded just 15 goals. That team was also one of the best in Europe.

That City dismantled teams is only one piece of the puzzle. First to me anyway is not losing.

Like I said, I'm not saying they are the greatest team, but I think they are somewhere in the conversation. I'd love to say it was Arsenal (screw Chelsea or United ;)), but you have to respect what City has done this year. Not losing is amazing, but City scored almost an extra goal per game than the Invincibles.
 

Live in the Now

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Like I said, I'm not saying they are the greatest team, but I think they are somewhere in the conversation. I'd love to say it was Arsenal (screw Chelsea or United ;)), but you have to respect what City has done this year. Not losing is amazing, but City scored almost an extra goal per game than the Invincibles.

Well, it's a different sport. No disrespect to the players of the last generation, but the players in this generation are better and more equipped to combine technique with speed.

Which is why Salah's season actually does matter. Think of all the strikers that played 38 game season in this league, they were either neither healthy enough to play enough games to score that much, or they just couldn't. Been some great players in the league too. So about what Curt said, composure is probably the most important attribute for a striker and he has better composure than 99% of the players who have ever played. Being a great finisher is almost entirely mental. Countless times it has been stated that everyone's a good finisher in training, on the pitch is a different story.
 
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YNWA14

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Just because Arsenal didn't lose doesn't make it better. That's silly. They'd have lost plenty this year, plus City had more wins, more points, and more goals.
 

Live in the Now

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Just because Arsenal didn't lose doesn't make it better. That's silly. They'd have lost plenty this year, plus City had more wins, more points, and more goals.

There's no way to know that. Teams then were also better defensively to compensate for lack of skill, but Arsenal remained able to unlock them and not lose.

I can also not imagine Arsenal losing to one team three times. Chelsea did beat them once in the CL.
 
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The Abusement Park

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I'm not saying City are the greatest PL team of all time, but you can't dismiss it just because they aren't as strong defensively as past teams. Those past teams weren't nearly as good offensively as City this year, and scoring more goals can be just as good a defense as keeping them out. I will say that City has certainly been one of the most entertaining PL sides that I've seen.

I’m not saying they aren’t on of that BOAT’s, there’s no way they aren’t. But they aren’t the GOAT’s imo, but I do(unfortunately) respect what they did.
 

Evilo

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If players were down to only the way they played and not the goals they scored, Ronaldo would be a second tier player. Inzaghi would not have reached pro level.
A forward scoring even when he has a bad game is a great attribute. One only few have.
 
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Stray Wasp

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Leicester didn’t repeat becuase they weren’t good enough. They went on a miracle run that coincided with most of the big teams being down/having off years. Don’t think their lack of repeat is fair to blame on a manager.

With Chelsea the fallout definitely played a part in their two, but given its now happened two times in a row, the core of that team deserves some examination and a fair share of blame as opposed to it all falling on Mourinho and Conte’s shoulders.

As to LITNs point about the bottom being worse, I don’t agree. I don’t think the bottom 7-8 teams are much different as a whole than they’ve been for a whole. Where the big points for most of the big teams (75 points to make fourth is really good) came from this year was that there’s just no more second tier any more. You have the big 6 and then a bunch of trash teams.

I agree with much of what you say, not least about Chelsea. Their missing the Champions League twice in three seasons would have been inconceivable not long ago.

When it comes to fallings-out between players and managers, my instinct is the boring one of laying blame on both sides- unless one side has previous.
 

The Abusement Park

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If players were down to only the way they played and not the goals they scored, Ronaldo would be a second tier player. Inzaghi would not have reached pro level.
A forward scoring even when he has a bad game is a great attribute. One only few have.

Every great striker has and will have that trait. In Salah’s case I’m curious if his change in role makes this season less of an “anomaly”. I didn’t see this season coming st all, I thought 25-30goals this season is where’d he’d finish at goals wise not 43 or whatever he’s at. But i think for the most part it looks pretty sustainable considering the amount of chances he creates for himself and is set up for, assuming his finish stays around the same level which I imagine it would.
 

Stray Wasp

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Mind, calling Leicester's league title a miracle should be made illegal.

We know that if a team has a goalkeeper who makes big saves and a prolific striker, that team can be competitive pretty much every time it takes the field. We know that a strong central midfield covers a lot of weaknesses. We know that two well-drilled banks of bodies can amount to a stronger unit than their individual capacities. We know that if referees give an average defender an exceptional amount of leeway (possibly driven by an unconscious sympathy for seeing his team pull off a remarkable success), that defender's job becomes easier. We know that in modern football, there's so much money available that sometimes people become so addicted to spending big they let a fine player slip through their fingers for relative peanuts.

We know that middling players, coaches or teams can raise their performance beyond their typical level for a spell. We know top players, coaches or teams can lose their way for a spell. We know that football isn't played on paper but grass, and that every game begins 0-0 regardless of the reputations on either side. We know that even if you're not as strong as the top six, you still need play another 26 games against the anonymous dross. Which is 78 points up for grabs. We know that if a team can hit 76 points, they've reached a tally that has in the past won the EPL title.

All of the above fed into Leicester winning the league. By no means did I forsee it- dumb luck prevented me posting my prediction for the 2015/16 season, which would have been that the Foxes were certs for relegation, in no small part because they'd appointed a coach who was finished! You see, I claim merely to be one of the greatest minds who has ever lived, not infallibility.

Something else I scoffed at was in the summer of 2014 when Leicester proclaimed their five year plan to qualify for the Champions League. In hindsight, that is the first sight of the audacity that refused to cash in on Vardy or Mahrez in January 2016, preferring to play their cards to the end. No doubt a few other clubs have made equally lofty announcements and fallen dismally short- Portsmouth for example. But note that they won silverware too.

It's easy to chase a dream and screw up, but it's impossible to aspire to nothing and reach the zenith. Leicester tried, did a lot of things right, and hit the jackpot. It's unlikely to happen again for a long time, but if we (rightly in my book) lambast the pitiably narrow ambitions of so many EPL clubs these days, we shouldn't short-change a club that reached for the stars and grasped them with the vague word, 'miracle'.

Mike Ashley described Leicester winning the league as 'impossible'. I rest my case.
 

East Coast Bias

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I’m biased but United’s 08 season and team were better. League title and CL title. Unbeaten in the CL start to finish. Beat good Lyon, Barca and Roma teams on the way to the final.

The PL is much more top heavy now. Most of the league is absolutely awful. But credit to City - they dominated the league. Can’t take that away. Just don’t think it’s the best team ever in the league. Best statistical season though.
 
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KJS14

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I'm only saying that they have a good argument for best PL team/performance (disregard other competitions).
 

YNWA14

Onbreekbaar
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I think the notion that today's mid to bottom table teams are worse than the ones 10 years ago is silly. They're not worse. The top end teams are probably better overall, which creates a bigger gap, but these teams are definitely not worse. Look at the roster of Stoke for example and compare it to some of the mid table teams of the past. Coaching is becoming more and more important, too.
 

Live in the Now

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I think the notion that today's mid to bottom table teams are worse than the ones 10 years ago is silly. They're not worse. The top end teams are probably better overall, which creates a bigger gap, but these teams are definitely not worse. Look at the roster of Stoke for example and compare it to some of the mid table teams of the past. Coaching is becoming more and more important, too.

People get it from the obvious, like Fulham and Boro being in European finals. That would seem like good criteria to me.
 

Hadoop

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I’m biased but United’s 08 season and team were better. League title and CL title. Unbeaten in the CL start to finish. Beat good Lyon, Barca and Roma teams on the way to the final.

The PL is much more top heavy now. Most of the league is absolutely awful. But credit to City - they dominated the league. Can’t take that away. Just don’t think it’s the best team ever in the league. Best statistical season though.

From someone whose three preferred teams in England are Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton I have to agree. Chelsea had a very good team that year too and it wasn't a fluke to see an all-EPL final. Hard to imagine that happening nowadays.
 

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