The Premier League

The passing of lifelong Arsenal supporter Osama Bin Laden seems to have had a detrimental effect on the team's morale.

The Gunners have amassed zero points from a possible six since the US raided Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

So, last Tuesday City beat Spurs to qualify for the cL. They also won the groundsman of the year award.

Last saturday they won their second trophy in a week with the FA cup.

Tonight they moved into third. Is there any end to this constant, boring total domination of football?

"80 hours, and we're still here......."

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:If there's a better left-back than Kolorav and if there's a better attacking midfielder than Yaya, anywhere in the world, then I am yet to see them.

Jesus, for a second I thought you were referring to Kevin Kilbane. Probably in his prime, the best left-back in the world, up there with Maldini and Baresi, but now somewhat in decline.

But then I checked the name again.

Apparently they have simply awarded next year's title to CITEH!!!!!!!!!!!!

This domination is boring....no wonder United fans are tos.........

Good luck to Swansea City in the Playoff final today. Liverpool are counting on you to reach the Premier League so that they can play football in another country next season!

Scholes retires.. Big changes for United as Neville, VDS and now the Ginger Ninja all hang up the boots.
What a legend Scholes was, one of the best Central Midfielders of his generation. I think it was Charlton who once said he plays the game as if he was watching the game from the stand, his vision and range of passing was just superb. He adapted his game from a goalscoring midfielder in his youth to the conductor role he has played in the last number of years and still retains a brilliant scoring record.

I have heard that before the CL Final Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro and Busquests all argued over who would swap jerseys with Scholes after the game, they eventually drew straws and Iniesta won. Busquests got hold of the game ball and gave it to Scholes in recognition of what was widely thought to be his last game in a United shirt. It shows the esteem he is still held in by his fellow players.

His goal against Barca in the '08 Semi will live long in the memory. Simply irreplaceable..

No doubting Scholes ability but always thought he was overrated in the grand scheme of things....Greats don't let their standards and form drop for 4 seasons like scholes in the mid part of the last decade...Greats don't flatter to deceive like scholes did so many times for England....No conincidence that his drop in form can from when Keane and to a lessor extent Butt left the club and continued til Ferguson really went for the 4-3-3 and brought legs in around him to do the spade work and his form returned again....

England were crying out for a player of his technical ability but again he struggled to make an impact in a two man midfield and ended up being shuffled out to the left wing before taking the easy way out and retiring prematurely....When Keane, Beckham and the likes left OT Scholes should have been the one really taking ownership of that midfield and driving the team forward but instead he let his own standards drop, greats don't do that


A good player but not a great player

[I have heard that before the CL Final Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro and Busquests all argued over who would swap jerseys with Scholes after the game, they eventually drew straws and Iniesta won. Busquests got hold of the game ball and gave it to Scholes in recognition of what was widely thought to be his last game in a United shirt. It shows the esteem he is still held in by his fellow players.

JS.As I said on another site , that story was dreamt up in Disneyland

Real Kerry Fan wrote:[I have heard that before the CL Final Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro and Busquests all argued over who would swap jerseys with Scholes after the game, they eventually drew straws and Iniesta won. Busquests got hold of the game ball and gave it to Scholes in recognition of what was widely thought to be his last game in a United shirt. It shows the esteem he is still held in by his fellow players.

JS.As I said on another site , that story was dreamt up in Disneyland

Yip pure bull....Gave Scholes the game ball

There were 40+ match balls used on the night and each player named in the match squads got one of the balls as a momento, UEFA even announced this in the days before the final....

Christ EPL fans are pathetic

Have to say I really marvel at how annoyed some people get at the mere mention of Man United/EPL.. Profess to hate it yet read and comment on threads about it with great authority and frequency. If you hate it so much lads just ignore it, life's too short to spend raising your blood pressure looking at something you dislike.

The ball thing must not be true so, who cares really if it was or not? Relax would ye..

Stop trying to pass lies and idle chit chat off as fact and people won't get so worked up

Jonsmith wrote:

I have heard that before the CL Final Xavi

Now I don't know about you but if I was trying to pass something off as fact I wouldn't include the qualification "I have heard" and neither would most people who speak English as their first language.. But in your angry rush to rubbish the story you may not have read it very carefully. Understandable.
But seriously I would urge you to carefully read my last post and take it on board Puke, if something so trivial in connection with an industry you claim to despise can get you so animated there may be some underlying anger issues or something..

Jonsmith wrote:

Jonsmith wrote:

I have heard that before the CL Final Xavi

Now I don't know about you but if I was trying to pass something off as fact I wouldn't include the qualification "I have heard" and neither would most people who speak English as their first language.. But in your angry rush to rubbish the story you may not have read it very carefully. Understandable.
But seriously I would urge you to carefully read my last post and take it on board Puke, if something so trivial in connection with an industry you claim to despise can get you so animated there may be some underlying anger issues or something..

Where did i ever say I dispise English football, I am completely apathetic to the league and English football as a whole....I do dispise the brainless fans who carry on as it is the be all and end all and hype it out of proportion

I hate Man United ....

The Puke wrote:How exactly is Hodgeson a decent manager, he is middling at best, flopped when he got the chance to manage a decent side and is doing the same at Liverpool....Christ the EPL seriously gives me ire these days.....Nothing but kick and rush for the majority and Andy Gray and Jamie "literally" Redknapp hyping everything to the gills

Only had to go to the opening page of the thread to see how apathetic you are to the EPL.. This must be from the JimWexford definition of the word.
All joking aside I really do find attitudes like this fascinating and it's fairly common on boards such as these.. To dislike or despise or claim "indifference" towards something yet have a detailed knowledge of it and interact with it enough to be able to form strong opinions on it.. Genuinely baffles me.

Jayo Cluxton wrote:I hate Man United ....

This I can understand.

But most of all Shakey Ferguson ....

Jonsmith wrote:

The Puke wrote:How exactly is Hodgeson a decent manager, he is middling at best, flopped when he got the chance to manage a decent side and is doing the same at Liverpool....Christ the EPL seriously gives me ire these days.....Nothing but kick and rush for the majority and Andy Gray and Jamie "literally" Redknapp hyping everything to the gills

Only had to go to the opening page of the thread to see how apathetic you are to the EPL.. This must be from the JimWexford definition of the word.
All joking aside I really do find attitudes like this fascinating and it's fairly common on boards such as these.. To dislike or despise or claim "indifference" towards something yet have a detailed knowledge of it and interact with it enough to be able to form strong opinions on it.. Genuinely baffles me.

Look at my previous comment on this page and the last line of the one you have bumped....That is where my ire comes from, lads who hype it up and think that it is the be all and end all the greatest league in the world/unbelievable jeff brigabe, which it most certainly isn't....As i say I am completely apathetic to the league it doesn't bother me who wins it, who is relegated, who is going well and who is doing sh1te i don't care, although i do like to see the irish lads go well but that is about it.....I love football at the end of the day and i don't pretend that i bury my head in the sand and don't know what is going on in the EPL as it is impossible to avoid given that it takes up the back pages of most papers every day along with being in every sports bulliten....

I would say at a conservative estimate I watched 25 of barca's la liga matches this season live from start to finish and around 15 of Ac Milan's (this doesn't include other la liga or serie a matches), I would say that i maybe watched 4 or 5 EPL matches from start to finish at most last year, i just don't enjoy the football that is played in it and find it hard to like/relate to any of the franchises that play in the EPL, soulless clubs one and all....

The Puke wrote:No doubting Scholes ability but always thought he was overrated in the grand scheme of things....Greats don't let their standards and form drop for 4 seasons like scholes in the mid part of the last decade...Greats don't flatter to deceive like scholes did so many times for England....No conincidence that his drop in form can from when Keane and to a lessor extent Butt left the club and continued til Ferguson really went for the 4-3-3 and brought legs in around him to do the spade work and his form returned again....

England were crying out for a player of his technical ability but again he struggled to make an impact in a two man midfield and ended up being shuffled out to the left wing before taking the easy way out and retiring prematurely....When Keane, Beckham and the likes left OT Scholes should have been the one really taking ownership of that midfield and driving the team forward but instead he let his own standards drop, greats don't do that


A good player but not a great player

Vastly over-rated alright...............

Sure what would these guys know?
Some nobody from Clare with a chip on his shoulder certainly knows better than them because he watches Barca on Sky...

Lauren Blanc:
"I tell anyone who asks me – Scholes is the best English player"

Thierry Henry:
"Without any doubt the best player in the Premiership has to be Paul Scholes. He knows how to do everything, and he is the one who directs the way his team plays. On top of that, he has indestructible mental strength, and he is a genuine competitor"

Zinedine Zidane:
"My toughest opponent? Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder. Scholes is undoubtedly the greatest midfielder of his generation."
"He’s almost untouchable in what he does. I never tire of watching him play. You rarely come across the complete footballer, but Scholes is as close to it as you can get. One of my regrets is that the opportunity to play alongside him never presented itself during my career."

Edgar Davids:
"Every one of us (midfielders) is just trying to become as good as him. Everyone can learn from Paul Scholes."

Cesc Fabregas:
"He is the one whose level I aspire to. He is the best player in the Premier League."
"For any football player in the Premiership, Scholes is a player you want to emulate."

Socrates:
"Good enough to play for Brazil. I love to watch Scholes, to see him pass, the boy with the red hair and the red shirt."

Xavi:
"In the last 15 to 20 years the best central midfielder that I have seen — the most complete — is Scholes. I have spoken with Xabi Alonso about this many times. Scholes is a spectacular player who has everything. He can play the final pass, he can score, he is strong, he never gets knocked off the ball and he doesn’t give possession away. If he had been Spanish then maybe he would have been valued more."

Eidur Gudjohnsen:
"I'm more an admirer of Paul Scholes than I am of Ronaldo. Ronaldo is a fantastic player, but he has 10 other great players around him every week...Scholes is one of the most complete footballers I've ever seen. His one-touch play is phenomenal. Whenever I have played against him, I never felt I could get close to him."

Marcello Lippi:
"Paul Scholes would have been one of my first choices for putting together a great team – that goes to show how highly I have always rated him. An all-round midfielder who possesses quality and character in abundance"

Who says I watch Barcelona on sky???


Any chance you debate the points I made about Scholes, if he was such a great then the things I pointed out wouldn't have happened.....The man played in four major tournaments for his country yet was poor in all of them, including being outshone by Nicky Butt in one of them....Show me one other of the real top midfield players in the world that performed as mediocrely as Scholes in the his 2 Euro's and 2 World Cups....

Even the likes of Ashley Cole, Beckham, Michael Owen, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney can point to international tournaments where they showed their ability and performed to a high level.....

Pirlo, Zidane, Xavi, Schweinsteiger, Roy Keane, Nedved, Davids, Ballack, Vieira to name but a few have all done it in big international tournaments Scholes never did....

The Puke wrote:
Look at my previous comment on this page and the last line of the one you have bumped....That is where my ire comes from, lads who hype it up and think that it is the be all and end all the greatest league in the world/unbelievable jeff brigabe, which it most certainly isn't....As i say I am completely apathetic to the league it doesn't bother me who wins it, who is relegated, who is going well and who is doing sh1te i don't care, although i do like to see the irish lads go well but that is about it.....I love football at the end of the day and i don't pretend that i bury my head in the sand and don't know what is going on in the EPL as it is impossible to avoid given that it takes up the back pages of most papers every day along with being in every sports bulliten....

I would say at a conservative estimate I watched 25 of barca's la liga matches this season live from start to finish and around 15 of Ac Milan's (this doesn't include other la liga or serie a matches), I would say that i maybe watched 4 or 5 EPL matches from start to finish at most last year, i just don't enjoy the football that is played in it and find it hard to like/relate to any of the franchises that play in the EPL, soulless clubs one and all....

So the league doesn't bother you just the fans that overhype it.... and the pundits... and the soulless clubs... But apart from those people you are indifferent. I think you have found the world's thinnest argument there. Take away fans, clubs and media and you don't have a whole lot left to be indifferent towards!

If you watch so few EPL games how are you able to comment on Scholes form over the course of a whole decade?
Also worth noting that it is possible to read the sections that interest you in a Newspaper. Contrary to popular belief you do not have to read the back pages if you don't want to.. Then you would not have to annoy yourself with the League and we wouldn't have to listen to you bitch about it.. Sounds win/win to me?

Jonsmith wrote:

The Puke wrote:
Look at my previous comment on this page and the last line of the one you have bumped....That is where my ire comes from, lads who hype it up and think that it is the be all and end all the greatest league in the world/unbelievable jeff brigabe, which it most certainly isn't....As i say I am completely apathetic to the league it doesn't bother me who wins it, who is relegated, who is going well and who is doing sh1te i don't care, although i do like to see the irish lads go well but that is about it.....I love football at the end of the day and i don't pretend that i bury my head in the sand and don't know what is going on in the EPL as it is impossible to avoid given that it takes up the back pages of most papers every day along with being in every sports bulliten....

I would say at a conservative estimate I watched 25 of barca's la liga matches this season live from start to finish and around 15 of Ac Milan's (this doesn't include other la liga or serie a matches), I would say that i maybe watched 4 or 5 EPL matches from start to finish at most last year, i just don't enjoy the football that is played in it and find it hard to like/relate to any of the franchises that play in the EPL, soulless clubs one and all....

So the league doesn't bother you just the fans that overhype it.... and the pundits... and the soulless clubs... But apart from those people you are indifferent. I think you have found the world's thinnest argument there. Take away fans, clubs and media and you don't have a whole lot left to be indifferent towards!

If you watch so few EPL games how are you able to comment on Scholes form over the course of a whole decade?
Also worth noting that it is possible to read the sections that interest you in a Newspaper. Contrary to popular belief you do not have to read the back pages if you don't want to.. Then you would not have to annoy yourself with the League and we wouldn't have to listen to you bitch about it.. Sounds win/win to me?

Like I said I am a fan of the game and i will always keep a look out as to what is happening, I don't have to read the back of the papers but there is no point trying to avoid it as it is everywhere....Like I said I don't care who is doing well and who wins what I don't go out of my way to watch it and i don't go out of my way to avoid it, I just think it is a league full of soulless clubs and i find it very hard to see how so many irish people have been hooked in by it and relate to it, especially now as you can pretty much watch very game in every big league from your laptop.....Just listen to today fm any saturday evening after 5 pm and listen to some of the clown's ringing in and some of the nonsense that is spouted and referring to sides from middle england as "we"....Do you not agree that English clubs have become nothing more than corporations, name me one English club that actually stands for something or is represenative of a political or cultural group like you have all across europe, ....

If you cannot see that there is complete and utter overkill and overhype of the league in the past few seasons then you are as naive as they come, you can see that the same blowing things out of proportion has even taken a grip on the irish media when dealing with our own national team in the past few years

The Puke wrote:Who says I watch Barcelona on sky???


Any chance you debate the points I made about Scholes, if he was such a great then the things I pointed out wouldn't have happened.....The man played in four major tournaments for his country yet was poor in all of them, including being outshone by Nicky Butt in one of them....Show me one other of the real top midfield players in the world that performed as mediocrely as Scholes in the his 2 Euro's and 2 World Cups....

Even the likes of Ashley Cole, Beckham, Michael Owen, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney can point to international tournaments where they showed their ability and performed to a high level.....

Pirlo, Zidane, Xavi, Schweinsteiger, Roy Keane, Nedved, Davids, Ballack, Vieira to name but a few have all done it in big international tournaments Scholes never did....

Good to see you ego is so overinflated that you think you know more about football than the combined minds of Zidance, Lippi, Xavi, Fabergas, etc.
I knew Clare people had issues but wow!

As for claiming he was poor in International Tournaments, I think your bitterness regarding anything from Manchester is tainting your view again.

Scholes played in two World Cups.

In 1998 he started every game, scoring in his World Cup debut, and was one of England's best performers. The English media didn't hype him up afterwards because 1) they were having two much fun trying to string up Beckham, and 2) like the rest of his career, the media ignored him because he didn't run around like a headless chicken.

In 2002 he started every game (again), and was only taken off once, when injured. Hardly indicative of being in poor form. He played badly against Brazil whilst carrying an injury sustained in the Denmark game, but was excellent through the group stages, being England's best player against Nigeria and second only to Beckham against Argentina.

In the Euros he started every game in both 2000 and 2004, scoring a goal in each tournament.

In the four major tournaments he went to he started every game. Surely if he was playing so poorly in them he would have been dropped? Or maybe you're just a blinkered fool? I know which seems more likely.

Seeing as how Butt didn't go to WC 1998 or Euro 2000 and wasn't used during 2004 I can only assume you're claiming he outplayed Scholes in 2002, which is (as usual), utter rubbish. After the group stages it was being widely claimed by pundits and media that Beckham, Scholes and Owen were England's key attacking players, with Ferdinand and Campbell key to the defence. I guess that equates to Scholes playing poorly in your book

black&white wrote: I can only assume you're claiming Butt outplayed Scholes in 2002, which is (as usual), utter rubbish.

Seeing as lots of random opinions are being thrown around...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/matches_wallchart/england_v_brazil/newsid_2054000/2054738.stm