Football !

[Xfire]

I'd just like to point out that it wasn't City that made the shift the Big 4, but Tottenham who broke into Big 4 two seasons ago. This also has to be attributed to Liverpool's amazing decline of the past several seasons despite the serious amount of money injected in their team. With this title, City have definitely shifted the balance of power in the PL, but the reality is that the old guard was getting old very fast, just look at Chelsea. I should just say that I still do not consider City to be the most bitter United's rivals (the strongest at this point, perhaps) as City were mostly a too shitty team to ever be considered a true rival, the history of rivalry with Liverpool and Arsenal is so much stronger.

Despite being a United fan, I believe some good things can come out of this:
1. Competition is a good thing; maybe now that United were undone by their neighbors maybe they will finally splash out some money on several players, perhaps fuckin Luka Modrić and/or even Hazzard/Gaitan.
2. The battle for the Big 4 becomes even more intriguing; from the original Big 4 to the Big 6 or even Big 7 if Newcastle somehow manage to keep themselves in the pot. Realistically, there will be 3-4 teams fighting for the no.1 spot, and 3 teams fighting for no. 3 and 4. And that is one hell of a league, if you ask me.

Yes, Tottenham were the first to break the Big Four, but despite that, they never won the PL ( neither did Liverpool in the new format, since '92, but they were a constant presence in champions league ). There was also Blackburn who won it in the '94-'95 season, but that was a simple fluke if you ask me, with all those transfers included ( Shearer & co. ).

This season should have been a good lesson for the Big Four. Time has come to start playing football once more, because City showed that money can indeed bring trophies. Imagine if there was a billionaire owner for each of the PL clubs, what a competition it would be. Even if a lot of people throw mud at City fans, saying that they didn't even know the team existed till a few seasons ago, that is bullshit. Every big club is built around money, and there is no exception in the whole world. We all saw what happened when money came into Chelsea and Arsenal. We all know that small clubs can never be good for more than one season, because the 'big sharks' will buy everything that is hot. So why would it be unfair when a small(er) club finally gets their hands on money and starts raising the competition level? It could've been anyone instead of City, even Wolverhampton or Rovers.

Back to the PL, and to Newcastle and Tottenham. As much as I like Newcastle, I think they will lose quite some players in the summer transfer window. Other than that, Newcastle is such an inconsistent team that it looks unreal. Winning 4-0, 3-0, 4-0 and then losing 0-4, 0-3, 1-5, then winning again. I for one am unable to understand a team like that. Tottenham on the other hand had a nightmare 11 game run with only 1 win after rumours spread out that Rednkapp might take the England national team for the Euros, so it's understandable. They got a formidable team, even though I believe they'll lose Bale and Modric in the summer. That could be compensated though by bringing a new goalkeeper ( seriously, papa Friedel has to get some rest and start thinking about what's his gonna do with his pension ). Other than that, I see Tottenham and Newcastle on the 3rd and 4th places at the end of next season if they can keep up a constant good form. There's no way Arsenal deserves a champions league spot more than them.

And United, well, all I can say is that Fergie got old. Old enough to step down, even though he doesn't seem to do that anytime soon ( he signed till 2015 if I remember correctly ). United had some injuries problems, including their captain, and bringing back retired players like Scholes really shows some signs of desperation in their camp. Other than that, I believe de Gea sucks ass. I can't really say what will happen next season with them, but I don't think they'll be able to beat City for the title. I see them coming close again, on the 2nd place.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool need to start rebuilding their teams from almost ground level. I do have some faith in Chelsea, since winning the CL will definitely boost their morale since they'll be playing in the CL in the next season as well, so their league performance might improve. Else, I see none of these teams doing anything till the '13-'14 season, unfortunately.

Another interesting team to look for is Everton. Huge respect for Moyes and what he did there. Amazing home record, good attacking value, will defo have a word to say in the next season top spots battle. We'll just have to wait and see though.

Funnily, the most exciting thing about this season is the next season. What a season will that be, oh God.

[MOTHERNATURESON]

Well, Newcastle is every season better and better.
Another hand Tottenham will lose Modrić this summer , I'm sure in that. He will go to Manchester United.
Chelsea will win CL and Di mateo will be their coach .
Next season will be more interesting and tensive:

[Fika[F]]

I'm sorry but how the hell can you say chelsea will win cl?
By all standards bayern has like 75% chance to win that and chelsea 25%

[fatman69]

Yes, Tottenham were the first to break the Big Four, but despite that, they never won the PL ( neither did Liverpool in the new format, since '92, but they were a constant presence in champions league ). There was also Blackburn who won it in the '94-'95 season, but that was a simple fluke if you ask me, with all those transfers included ( Shearer & co. ).

This season should have been a good lesson for the Big Four. Time has come to start playing football once more, because City showed that money can indeed bring trophies. Imagine if there was a billionaire owner for each of the PL clubs, what a competition it would be. Even if a lot of people throw mud at City fans, saying that they didn't even know the team existed till a few seasons ago, that is bullshit. Every big club is built around money, and there is no exception in the whole world. We all saw what happened when money came into Chelsea and Arsenal. We all know that small clubs can never be good for more than one season, because the 'big sharks' will buy everything that is hot. So why would it be unfair when a small(er) club finally gets their hands on money and starts raising the competition level? It could've been anyone instead of City, even Wolverhampton or Rovers.

Back to the PL, and to Newcastle and Tottenham. As much as I like Newcastle, I think they will lose quite some players in the summer transfer window. Other than that, Newcastle is such an inconsistent team that it looks unreal. Winning 4-0, 3-0, 4-0 and then losing 0-4, 0-3, 1-5, then winning again. I for one am unable to understand a team like that. Tottenham on the other hand had a nightmare 11 game run with only 1 win after rumours spread out that Rednkapp might take the England national team for the Euros, so it's understandable. They got a formidable team, even though I believe they'll lose Bale and Modric in the summer. That could be compensated though by bringing a new goalkeeper ( seriously, papa Friedel has to get some rest and start thinking about what's his gonna do with his pension ). Other than that, I see Tottenham and Newcastle on the 3rd and 4th places at the end of next season if they can keep up a constant good form. There's no way Arsenal deserves a champions league spot more than them.

And United, well, all I can say is that Fergie got old. Old enough to step down, even though he doesn't seem to do that anytime soon ( he signed till 2015 if I remember correctly ). United had some injuries problems, including their captain, and bringing back retired players like Scholes really shows some signs of desperation in their camp. Other than that, I believe de Gea sucks ass. I can't really say what will happen next season with them, but I don't think they'll be able to beat City for the title. I see them coming close again, on the 2nd place.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool need to start rebuilding their teams from almost ground level. I do have some faith in Chelsea, since winning the CL will definitely boost their morale since they'll be playing in the CL in the next season as well, so their league performance might improve. Else, I see none of these teams doing anything till the '13-'14 season, unfortunately.

Another interesting team to look for is Everton. Huge respect for Moyes and what he did there. Amazing home record, good attacking value, will defo have a word to say in the next season top spots battle. We'll just have to wait and see though.

Funnily, the most exciting thing about this season is the next season. What a season will that be, oh God.

First of all, if all (or most) clubs in PL, or any league for that matter, were owned by billionaires it would be a disaster for football. Football goes beyond the realms of one country, and there isn't enough billionaires and their billions to sustain the whole of Europe. The situation in CL is unbalanced as it is today, I think pumping more and more money into football would eventually be its demise. These mega-offers for players are simply flooding the market, and there is no justification for any of them, or at least 99 % of them. Money IS needed to win the league, but had just one more shot by Aguero been off target, all the City's transfers of this season would be marked as a flop or at least a semi-flop. Had he missed the goal, money WOULDN'T be enough to win the league. I don't mind any clubs to be owned by some rich guy(s), if it adds to the quality of the legaue, but salary cap on European level MUST be determined, otherwise the gap between 5-6 of the richest clubs will just be too great and the system will just implode.

The CL final we are about to witness is a wonder, it is a miracle that the club with such conservative spending is able to appear in the finals. I fear this won't be repeated in a while if this irresponsible trend continues. Competition is what makes a league entertaining, pumping billions into 1-2 teams does not make for an entertaining league (cf. La Liga; Barcelona & Real Madrid); it rather makes a league a two-horse race.

Now, regarding Tottenham and Redknap, I think he has got to be the most overrated manager, as some of his players are too. He has two simple strategies, and two simple formations, he doesn't adapt to the opponent and he doesn't rotate the squad nearly as enough as he should and could. And he could, he has got Dos Santos rotting away on the bench, he has Niko Kranjčar to fill in for Modrić in several minor games but he doesn't do that, he has Sandro whom he introduces when he absolutely has to, he had an excess of wingers, and now that Tottenham have a shortage of them, he puts Modrić there. He has a squad that could easily, and I mean very easily, play the 4-3-3 system with Bale, Lennon and Dos Santosas attacking wingers. I mean Bale was born for that role. But do they play it? No, it's 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 as always. And they would be so great at it...

And I don't think Friedel is too old, even at his 41 years of age. When Van der Saar left last season, he left because he WANTED to not because he HAD to. Same goes for Friedel; as long as he can produce the way he's done this season, he's got a good couple of seasons in him.

Same goes for Fergie. Old, yes. Too old, definitely not. Tight transfer policy aside, not a lot of managers would achieve what he's done this season (compete for and almost win the top spot) with the squad at his disposal so plagued with injuries and the old guard fading away (cf. Rio, Evra and perhaps Vidić although to a lesser extent). If he could just get his hands on a good midfielder or 2, United would be much safer.

Regarding Everton, as fond as I am of these guys, there's no chance they would compete for top spots unless some serious money is invested in them. They can only buy players when they sell one of their own, and that is not the way you win the PL. And I really like them the way they are now - a small and relatively poor clubs, with rich history and tougher then the devil himself. It is clubs like them, Sunderland, Fulham, Stoke that add the spice to the league. You go to play against them and you take the game as a given, and you lead by 2 goals AND THE MOTHERFUCKERS SCORE 2 GOALS THAT COST YOU THE TITLE!! GODDAMN THEM AND THEIR FUCKIN COACH!!!!

But seriously, I'd be happy with them staying how and where they are (1 spot above Liverpool). And if United raid their ranks before next season, and get Fellaini, Baines and perhaps Jelavić, I'd be even happier with them.

[Xfire]

First of all, if all (or most) clubs in PL, or any league for that matter, were owned by billionaires it would be a disaster for football. Football goes beyond the realms of one country, and there isn't enough billionaires and their billions to sustain the whole of Europe. The situation in CL is unbalanced as it is today, I think pumping more and more money into football would eventually be its demise. These mega-offers for players are simply flooding the market, and there is no justification for any of them, or at least 99 % of them. Money IS needed to win the league, but had just one more shot by Aguero been off target, all the City's transfers of this season would be marked as a flop or at least a semi-flop. Had he missed the goal, money WOULDN'T be enough to win the league. I don't mind any clubs to be owned by some rich guy(s), if it adds to the quality of the legaue, but salary cap on European level MUST be determined, otherwise the gap between 5-6 of the richest clubs will just be too great and the system will just implode.

Very true. The market is so overflooded it's becoming stupid. Why would you pay 90 million euros for a player, when you could pay 50, or 40, or 10, and that would still be TOO much. Hell, you can feed an entire city for a month with those money. The inflation reached a level that will rather destroy this 'sport' instead of making it evolve. I honestly would like to see more inbreed players, raised in youth academies, rather than having 20-world class players in a team, for whom a billion pounds had been spent. I read some weeks ago that the FA wants to award bonus money for English clubs who use the youth talent in their main teams, and honestly this system should be promoted in every top league in Europe. It's a shame to see English teams with no English or British players in the starting 11, it really is. It is also unfair for all British young talent out there, who got no chance of proving themselves because the managers decide to spent a few hundred million pounds every summer for some hot shots.

The CL final we are about to witness is a wonder, it is a miracle that the club with such conservative spending is able to appear in the finals. I fear this won't be repeated in a while if this irresponsible trend continues. Competition is what makes a league entertaining, pumping billions into 1-2 teams does not make for an entertaining league (cf. La Liga; Barcelona & Real Madrid); it rather makes a league a two-horse race.

The only thing I'm happy in this situation is that I can proudly punch my chest and say "I've told you so". I wanted to see this Bayern - Chelsea final so much that I placed a bet on it, and I won ( it had 36/1 odds ). During those semi final legs I felt I wanted to spit the commentators in their face, since every fucking minute they were saying "Oh God, Bayern has no chance in this game, Real will destroy them" / "Chelsea parked the bus and waits for its demise". Guess what, morons, the teams who scored more goals won. You should quit football and start a Real/Barca fanclub. Just because one team plays 'tiki-taka' ( which means shit, btw ) and the other spends 1 billion euros every summer and still can hardly beat the likes of Osasuna and Levante and other shit teams they got in "La Liga", these two facts along don't mean Bayern and Chelsea are some fucking underdogs. Not to mention the Øvrebø incident 3 years ago for the Barca 'fans'; were Chelsea underdogs then as well, when the shots on target statistic were like 20-1 in their favor?

Back to competition, this last word is the one that makes Premier League superior to La Liga. As many performances as they might have in UCL / Europa League, I don't think there's one person on earth that can honestly say they find the Spanish league more entertaining than the English one.

Now, regarding Tottenham and Redknap, I think he has got to be the most overrated manager, as some of his players are too. He has two simple strategies, and two simple formations, he doesn't adapt to the opponent and he doesn't rotate the squad nearly as enough as he should and could. And he could, he has got Dos Santos rotting away on the bench, he has Niko Kranjčar to fill in for Modrić in several minor games but he doesn't do that, he has Sandro whom he introduces when he absolutely has to, he had an excess of wingers, and now that Tottenham have a shortage of them, he puts Modrić there. He has a squad that could easily, and I mean very easily, play the 4-3-3 system with Bale, Lennon and Dos Santosas attacking wingers. I mean Bale was born for that role. But do they play it? No, it's 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 as always. And they would be so great at it...

And I don't think Friedel is too old, even at his 41 years of age. When Van der Saar left last season, he left because he WANTED to not because he HAD to. Same goes for Friedel; as long as he can produce the way he's done this season, he's got a good couple of seasons in him.

I do share the same feeling about Redknapp. He always tries to look interesting, the all-knowing-football-manager, but truth is, with the squad and talent he has out there, losing games at home to the likes of West Brom and Norwich, kicking the 3rd spot away when they got it in hand for half the season - that should be a hint. I still would find the English coach position rumours as the reason for this, but hell, Redknapp might've missed the best team he'll ever have to just finish 4th in the league. Sure, 4th place in BPL is equal to a title in most of the countries, but they could've done hell of a lot better. About Friedel, I do have the feeling he's moving slow and could've saved a lot of goals this season, other than that, I got nothing to do with him; after all, I cheered for Maldini till his 41 years of age, he was still hell of a player till his last day at Milan.

Same goes for Fergie. Old, yes. Too old, definitely not. Tight transfer policy aside, not a lot of managers would achieve what he's done this season (compete for and almost win the top spot) with the squad at his disposal so plagued with injuries and the old guard fading away (cf. Rio, Evra and perhaps Vidić although to a lesser extent). If he could just get his hands on a good midfielder or 2, United would be much safer.

This is a tough one. As I said, a lot of different things can be blamed for United's unsuccessful run this season, but I do feel Fergie is the one to be blamed most. He did a great job winning like 9 games in a row, at a time when City were dropping points at Swansea, Stoke, Sunderland or Arsenal. But who's to blame for the mentality he went in with for games at the likes of Wigan or Everton? Who's to blame for his desastrous starting line-up against City, with Park, Scholes AND Giggs, and getting Wellbeck, Valencia and Young in so fucking late in the game?

Regarding Everton, as fond as I am of these guys, there's no chance they would compete for top spots unless some serious money is invested in them. They can only buy players when they sell one of their own, and that is not the way you win the PL. And I really like them the way they are now - a small and relatively poor clubs, with rich history and tougher then the devil himself. It is clubs like them, Sunderland, Fulham, Stoke that add the spice to the league. You go to play against them and you take the game as a given, and you lead by 2 goals AND THE MOTHERFUCKERS SCORE 2 GOALS THAT COST YOU THE TITLE!! GODDAMN THEM AND THEIR FUCKIN COACH!!!!

But seriously, I'd be happy with them staying how and where they are (1 spot above Liverpool). And if United raid their ranks before next season, and get Fellaini, Baines and perhaps Jelavić, I'd be even happier with them.

Hehe, the blue Merseysides really pissed your day I can say You got me wrong though, I never said they'd compete for the top spots, I just said they'd have a word to say in the top spots race. Goodison Park has always been a place where most top teams lost points every season, and they're not doing bad in away games either. Pienaar and Jelavic were incredible though towards the end of the season, hands down.

[fatman69]

This is a tough one. As I said, a lot of different things can be blamed for United's unsuccessful run this season, but I do feel Fergie is the one to be blamed most. He did a great job winning like 9 games in a row, at a time when City were dropping points at Swansea, Stoke, Sunderland or Arsenal. But who's to blame for the mentality he went in with for games at the likes of Wigan or Everton? Who's to blame for his desastrous starting line-up against City, with Park, Scholes AND Giggs, and getting Wellbeck, Valencia and Young in so fucking late in the game?

Yeah, there is some truth in what you say. He said that he would go to Etihad to win, and he clearly did the opposite; he was just out to grind out a draw, and almost got it. But such is the faith of every big manager; had he gone and got out a draw, we'd be talking about his mind games and psychological warfare, and had United scored on some random counter then he'd be the big coach, the clever fox that outwitted Mancini. He took a gamble, and fucked it up completely. Not one of his brightest moments, but it happens to every manager. Now, regarding the Wigan/Everton games, I think he chose the best players at his disposal for those games, they simply didn't perform when it mattered. United tend to keep calm under the biggest pressure, so it's understandable he didn't feel to need to put additional pressure on his team against a team facing relegation or when leading by 2 goals on home stadium. It seemed like a routine job; basically get in and kill the game off, finish the job. And it backfired, as it sometimes does. Performance of some of the experienced players seemed to be the biggest issue there.

Hehe, the blue Merseysides really pissed your day I can say You got me wrong though, I never said they'd compete for the top spots, I just said they'd have a word to say in the top spots race. Goodison Park has always been a place where most top teams lost points every season, and they're not doing bad in away games either. Pienaar and Jelavic were incredible though towards the end of the season, hands down.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Toffees (despite them hating United/Rooney), I think their history is admirable and they are a constant threat against any team. But they didn't have to be so tough against United, ffs .

[Xfire]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Toffees (despite them hating United/Rooney), I think their history is admirable and they are a constant threat against any team. But they didn't have to be so tough against United, ffs .

Hey, at least you got 4 points from Everton this season, we only got 3 : )

[Cen]

I'm sorry but how the hell can you say chelsea will win cl?
By all standards bayern has like 75% chance to win that and chelsea 25%

Chelsea got 1% chance to win agaist Barca and look what happened. They can win simply because how shitty the are.

[MOTHERNATURESON]

Chelsea got 1% chance to win agaist Barca and look what happened. They can win simply because how shitty the are.

Yeah, it's true Cen.
I bealive in Chelsea and I hope they will win CL.
This season proves that Barcelonas time is over.
I think that Manchester City and Real Madrid will be in Final of CL next season. I'm sure

[fatman69]

Yeah, it's true Cen.
I bealive in Chelsea and I hope they will win CL.
This season proves that Barcelonas time is over.
I think that Manchester City and Real Madrid will be in Final of CL next season. I'm sure

Only an utter fool can think Barca's time is over. What, did Messi suddenly become a 31 years old grandpa with 2 broken feet? Did Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Sanchez, Villa suddenly lose the ability to play football? As long as this generation of players is around, we won't be rid of the menace called Barca. The balance of power was shifted, but who's to say what could happen next year. Man City was predicted to go into finals of both CL and EL and we saw how that went. This defeat of "tiki-taka" bullshit has probably only silenced their mentally challenged supporters, it will all come back next year. So don't fool yourself, things are not over yet. Things just don't change overnight in the game of football...

[MOTHERNATURESON]

Only an utter fool can think Barca's time is over. What, did Messi suddenly become a 31 years old grandpa with 2 broken feet? Did Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Sanchez, Villa suddenly lose the ability to play football? As long as this generation of players is around, we won't be rid of the menace called Barca. The balance of power was shifted, but who's to say what could happen next year. Man City was predicted to go into finals of both CL and EL and we saw how that went. This defeat of "tiki-taka" bullshit has probably only silenced their mentally challenged supporters, it will all come back next year. So don't fool yourself, things are not over yet. Things just don't change overnight in the game of football...

Haha you're just one more of many who is for Barcelona only because they "WERE" the best. Messi has no skill at all, he just ran with ball and I don't understand why some defense player's don't have brain to take it away from him. Sanchez is totaly unskilled player who you slap like a baby he will act that he got bullet in his head. Xavi and Iniesta are " best centar player's "
LOL Funny is that FIFA always choose best player's from team who won most Championships. That's sucks , this year Rooney , Cristiano Ronaldo , Benzema or Ozil should win the prise.
Fatman aj sretno sa barcom al vidjet ces da je gotovo.

[noel]

Messi has no skill at all, he just ran with ball and I don't understand why some defense player's don't have brain to take it away from him.

lol dude, they can't catch him even with taxi.

[Tayschrenn]

Barca "fans" used to piss me off like hell, but lately I think that barca haters are louder, dumber and more annoying.

[Cen]

lol

[Fika[F]]

Messi has no skill at all, he just ran with ball and I don't understand why some defense player's don't have brain to take it away from him. Sanchez is totaly unskilled player who you slap like a baby he will act that he got bullet in his head. Xavi and Iniesta are " best centar player's "
LOL Funny is that FIFA always choose best player's from team who won most Championships.
Fatman aj sretno sa barcom al vidjet ces da je gotovo.

If your not a troll, you must be one of the dumbest football fans I have encountered, no hard feelings or insults intended

"he just runs with the ball and noone can take it away from him" "he sucks" L0L