Re: I'm better suited to Real or Inter than Blackburn!!11!1! (Other teams thread) City might be good but they aren't good enough to beat our 1927 record of beating Man Utd 7-1 at Old Trafford.
Re: I'm better suited to Real or Inter than Blackburn!!11!1! (Other teams thread) QPR v Chelsea was an amusing match.
Re: I'm better suited to Real or Inter than Blackburn!!11!1! (Other teams thread) Only three teams in Premier League history have beaten ManU by 5 goals: Man City, Chelsea, and... Newcastle United.
Re: I'm better suited to Real or Inter than Blackburn!!11!1! (Other teams thread) Bump. Mods, add an [R]? Chelsea lose. Liverpool lose (inexplicably). Everton lose. Stoke fail to win. If we're writing off fourth, couldn't have been a more perfect night for us.
Re: I'm better suited to Real or Inter than Blackburn!!11!1! (Other teams thread) [result]I was taping that game and had the MC-CFC game on when they gave out that Kuyt had scored the second. I didn't pay it any attention, figuring Liverpool had won until I saw your post. I just had to watch the game then. Just have to say this: They couldn't have done it without Joey Barton. Seriously. Had he not been booed off the pitch by his own fans and Mackie hadn't have come on, QPR never would have won that game. Coates goal for Liverpool was pretty good, too.[/result] Thx, Jay!
These are the guys we need to win on Apr 14., or we probably won't play in Europe. I would hate to lose the Europa League spot we're in line for to the SMBs.
Looking at the run-in, I think we're going to finish fifth or sixth. Have to beat Liverpool and Chelsea probably to have a shot at fifth. I know we're only five points off Tottenham but their run-in is ridiculously easy compared to ours. The fact that Liverpool are wobbling so terribly makes me wonder about them getting to the cup final. If they don't we have to finish fifth and hope Chelsea don't win the CL to make the Europa League.
To be quite honest I am still having trouble wrapping my head around all the different scenarios as far as us making Europa League or not. I've been hearing different and sometimes conflicting things. Perhaps someone here could explain all the different scenarios or direct me to a good source that makes it clear? Thanks!
I think it can be simplified: There are three Europa League spots available. One goes to 5th place in the PL, one to the League Cup winner, and one to the FA Cup winner (or the other finalist if the winner qualifies for Europe by another method). Since Liverpool has the League Cup spot, it only remains to be seen if a non-qualifying team will get into the FA Cup finals. Everton or Sunderland will be one semi-finalist, and Bolton is a long-shot to be another. Bottom line: If Liverpool loses to Everton/Sunderland on Apr 14th, we have to finish 5th. You can ignore this addendum: Since Liverpool already qualified, it doesn't matter if they finish above us in the league (e.g. If they take 5th, then 6th place will get the spot.) That's how they are saying 7th place could go to Europe - if no non-qualified team is in the FA Cup finals and Liverpool is in the top 6.
OK thanks, makes sense. Root for Liverpool and another already qualified team to reach the FA Cup Finals. Also, don't we need Chelsea to not win the CL?
Yeah, because only four teams from one country can qualify for the Champions League. They changed the rules after 2005 when Liverpool won it but finished fifth and they were left facing the idea that the winners wouldn't be in the competition so they let them play through the qualifying rounds (so there were five that year but Everton didn't get past their play-off). So if a team wins the competition now but finishes below 4th in the league, they would take 4th place's CL spot, thus pushing whoever finished 4th into the Europa League. I wouldn't really worry about it too much, can't see Chelsea winning it when Real and Barca are still in the competition. Is anyone following the Championship promotion race by the way? West Ham have slipped from first to third recently and I would piss myself laughing if Fat Sam's horrible brand of football is left in the fizzy pop league. You'd like to think football is changing and Swansea have debunked the old Bolton myth that you stay up by playing hoofball.
If the FA Cup scenario plays out how we want, the only way that affects us is if it's a Pool-Chelsea final and Arsenal finish fourth. Tottenham getting to the Cup final negates that because it provides an extra spot to the league either way (either to Tottenham by virtue of the Cup spot or both Arsenal and us by way of the extra spot going to the league). Of course the easiest solution is to root like hell against Chelsea the rest of the way. No way they beat Barca or Real, though.
Carroll is apparently worried about his reception at SJP. I suspect there will be some booing but I'd love it more if the faithful would coordinate a massive "point and laugh" instead.
I don't think he'll especially get booed, but I don't think he'll get a hero's welcome. We've got Ba and Cisse and £26m change, it's hard to feel hard done by in those circumstances.
I wouldn't give Carroll any reaction whatsoever. Just ignore him. I would, however, boo the living hell out of Enrique for the stuff he said about us.