@broughie said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
I am struggling to see why they are persisting with him.
He plays as an inverted fullback, which is an important role in Arteta's attacking system. In short, Zinchenko is used as an additional midfielder. He's not a great defender though, and is often out of position because of where he is on the field (central).
@dogmeat said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
@canefan
You'd have thought not but they are still in 17th . All three clubs behind them have similarly difficult draws with one massive exception. Southampton play Forest next. They need Saints to win that an then all the bottom three to keep losing. If that happens (not totally unrealistic) they don't need another point to stay up.29 points would have been enough two years ago so in theory....
Personally I think Leeds are done, maybe Big Sam can help earn them a couple of points and that could be enough..but talk about leaving it late, but looking at their next games, I can't see them winning any.
@bayimports You look at that list and it reeks of clubs panicking.
Apart from Parker and Gerrard have any of the others really made a difference?
Obviously Lampard is also a shite Manager but Everton could still go down.
Maybe Big Sam is the answer 
Big Sam is in at Leeds and talking himself up as usual. Almost exactly 25 years ago, he was celebrating taking Notts up to League 1 in a record-breaking season of 99 points and the next season Bolton came calling.
Haaland breaks the EPL scoring record with 35 in the season. Nice finish for his goal. Dixie Dean on 60 is the ultimate target - that is a true outlier as nobody else has beaten 50 goals in the top flight. And he was only 21 at the end of that season and Everton only managed 102 for the whole season - even Haaland doesn't get close to 60% of City's goals.
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
@dogmeat At the start of the season who would have thunk that from having Tuchel and spending big money, Chelsea would end the season with Lampard after he was sacked by Everton?
That was a weird decision let's face it. Of course my Spurs are never immune to making head scratching decisions themselves
@bayimports said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
@KiwiPie and Potter getting sacked by two premier sides in a season.. Chelseas a good chance of losing to Bournemouth this weekend as well..
Potter wasn't sacked twice? Brighton continues to do very well and Chelsea seem worse now
@Winger said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
@bayimports said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
@KiwiPie and Potter getting sacked by two premier sides in a season.. Chelseas a good chance of losing to Bournemouth this weekend as well..
Potter wasn't sacked twice? Brighton continues to do very well and Chelsea seem worse now
true..I should have said departed, still Potter left a Prem Club twice in a season. Brighton have continued to excel without him and are enjoyable to watch that was never in question
The guy that got sacked twice was Flt Sgt Parker and his acrobatic cardigan
@dogmeat said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
The guy that got sacked twice was Flt Sgt Parker and his acrobatic cardigan
ha ha, although he was right that Bournemouth needed a cash injection of which Maxim Demin didn't want to continue..but I am glad GON changed the way we played
edit: no question both Fulham and Bournemouth improved after he left 
The Newcastle-Arsenal game was a good watch, and physical. It had a bit of everything - VAR overturning an early penalty (correctly), shots hitting the posts/crossbar, great saves from both goalkeepers, and the right result.
@Bovidae said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
VAR overturning an early penalty (correctly),
Had to happen sooner or later
@dogmeat said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
@Bovidae said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
VAR overturning an early penalty (correctly),
Had to happen sooner or later
It was a very poor reason to overturn a ref's decision - just because it didn't hit his hand.
Not entirely sure why Lindelof's handball wasn't referred back to the ref to take a look. They seemed to interpret it as not making his body shape bigger despite the fact he moved his hand towards the ball. Very odd. Top 4 race is all on now - although Liverpool do have to keep winning and hoping those above drop more points
@Billy-Tell said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
That’s a very handy win for Everton away to Brighton.
Hopefully they have plenty of confidence for their next game. 
@KiwiPie They don't seem to want to refer back to the refbecause of the time it takes.
The ref in Fulham's loss at Anfield apologised to Fulham players in the second half (having had the opportunity to view the replay at half time) for awarding a penalty he shouldn't have.
Not sure why he would do that or what difference it would make. In real time on the pitch it was a fair decision. It is VAR that are supposed to have the time and multiple camera angles to get it right.
Instead they seem to decide that everything is a 50/50 call and it should stay as ref's decision. So what the hell is the point.
@Billy-Tell said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
That’s a very handy win for Everton away to Brighton.
Also for Forest..pressure squarely on Southampton, Leicester and Leeds now
@bayimports No pressure on Southampton other than working out where to stay in Rotherham next season...
Everyone's now played 35 so easier to sort out permutations
So pick two from
Leeds 19th - 30 points - Goaf Diff -25 1 point from last 5 games
Newcastle (H), West Ham (A), Tottenham (H)
Leicester 18th - 30 points -(-15) 5 points from last 5 games
Liverpool (H), Newcastle (A), West Ham (H)
Everton 17th - 32 points - (-21) 5 points from last 5 games
Man City (H), Wolves (A), Bournemouth (H)
Forest 16th 33 points - (-31) 6 points from last 5 games
Chelsea (A), Arsenal (H), Crystal Palace (A)
Today's wins massive for Forest and Everton. Can't see that may wins from these remaining 12 games so I reckon Leeds and Leicester are for the drop. Big Sam will pocket half a mill for achieving fuck all.
Their only potential lifeline is maybe West Ham drop points as they're now safe and might be focusing on Europe to try and retrieve their season.
@dogmeat said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
No pressure on Southampton other than working out where to stay in Rotherham next season...
very true, will have a close eye on the championship playoffs to see who their biggest competition will be next year.. Sunderland the big finishers with momentum, could be the smokey
Championship is Luton v Sunderland (very 1980s Division 1) and Middlesbrough v Coventry (very 1990s Premier League).
Luton is the romantic one, low budget, in the National League less than a decade ago and (like Notts County) falling out of Div 1 the season before the Premier League started.
Boro haven't been in the EPL since 2017 and Coventry since the start of the century (and also dropped into the 4th tier for a season not long ago). These 2 teams played today and drew.
Finally Sunderland dropped out of the EPL 6 years ago and dropped another level in the next season.
Suspect Boro have the best team and in Chuba Akpom a guy with 28 goals - former Arsenal player who seems to have spent seasons being loaned out and is suddenly a star.
@MajorRage I could enjoy that if not for the fact that Spurs are so bad, with no obvious improvement in sight. No defence, no director of football, no head coach, no hope...
@dogmeat It was a crazy 2 play-off games - we were only ahead for 2 minutes across 240. Justice was done so I don't feel so bad for burgling 2 wins! Now to take on League 2 and continue our relentless rise to the EPL!
Good win for Fulham and good to see Chelsea a distant 3rd in the West London league.
Brighton are great to watch - having changed keepers to Jason "Balls of" Steele who loves to pass the ball with attackers swarming him. And now Arsenal can kiss Buonanotte to the Premier League title.
While I can sense the glee from those celebrating Arsenals demise hopefully, since they will be in the Champions league, unlike other high profile teams, like Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea, if will be interesting to see what they do in the offseason. Arsenal play soft and need to address the defense and midfield. Hopefully they bring in some grit and not the pretty players. They looked tired today. A couple of Roy Keane types would be good.
i hope City win the Champions league so Pep can say "job done" and fuck off. Only then maybe someone else can win the league
They've won 12 straight to get themselves on the cusp. They are just relentless at this time of year. They last dropped points in mid-Feb to Forest of all teams, and their last loss was 2 weeks before that to Spurs.
So the loser of the 2023 Champions League Final has been found. Inter beat their flatties 3-0 on aggregate.
And Luton into the final of the Championship play-off. Pretty romantic story this one given they dropped down to the 5th tier and have one of the lowest budgets in the league. Capacity is only 10,000 and their footballing style is fairly basic, not sure how they would go in the EPL if they get there.
And you enter the stadium through someone's front door.
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
And Luton into the final of the Championship play-off. Pretty romantic story this one given they dropped down to the 5th tier and have one of the lowest budgets in the league. Capacity is only 10,000 and their footballing style is fairly basic, not sure how they would go in the EPL if they get there.
And you enter the stadium through someone's front door.
Wow that's really old school!! I remember when they were in the first division back in the 80s
