Thread: 2007/08 English Premier League Season

Hope everyone saw Ronaldo's first goal against Aston Villa on Saturday.

[ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ndlmuv69z8s]YouTube - C.Ronaldo vs Aston Villa ( Man Utd 1-0 Aston Villa )[/ame]

Ridiculous first and he set up the three other goals. Not that many players are playing better than him right now.

I personally suspect you compared Smith to Hughes to trick our previous idiot manager to purchase the worthless prat.

Never mind not many players playing better than him Ronaldo is by some distance the best player in the premiership at the moment.

Originally Posted by Selmar

I personally suspect you compared Smith to Hughes to trick our previous idiot manager to purchase the worthless prat.

LOL, I wish I had that kind of influence!

Smith was a good player for Man U. Even though he's been poor for Newcastle, I still think we should not have sold him. Saha is a very talented player but its hard for him to stay on the pitch.

Smith is still a quality player, I just think Newcastle is a hard place for a striker to succeed right now. I don't think any of Newcastle's strikers get any good service right now. But yea, Smith isn't a guy you want to lead your line. He did it for Man U for maybe a 10 game stretch. He's better suited to being your third striker.

Originally Posted by Selmar

Never mind not many players playing better than him Ronaldo is by some distance the best player in the premiership at the moment.

Out here in the US, we only really get EPL games and a handful of Seria A games. Haven't seen much of Kaka this year, but I think Ronaldo is in the driver seat for player of the year.

Part of our problem is that unlike the Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool we just havent had the leeway to buy players in that kind of role. They get bought and have to play as we lurch from one crisis to the next and so Smith doesnt have the oppurtunity to be a back up.

Thats what I hope from the Keegan era. Not overnight success just some more interesting football and a build up of players of a few years. The advantage he has is that he's going to get that time where others haven't because he's liked/loved whereas pretty much everyone disliked Allardyce before he started so even though I think he was terrible he frankly had no chance anyway as people openly disliked him before he even opened his mouth.

Same with Gullit, Sounness, Dalglish (that's not to say they did well just that we never build anything!). Roeder everyone knew wasn't up to it and Robson WAS going a little bit senile when we got rid of him but the way we did was insane. It is daft the way we haven't built anything and lurch from crisis to crisis but you have to have the right person leading you or you have no chance and we keep picking the wrong people

I had highish hopes for Smith when he joined as he was a great player at Leeds and a decent one at Man U when he played but he's been terrible for us. He throws himself into stupid tackles, is far far to aggresive towards officials and while I like his enthusiasm I think it might be too late to temper that to something good. I think he will be one of a VERY long line of players on their way out.


I haven't seen much overseas football this year as been too busy but certainly in the EPL there is no player I'd even consider other than Ronaldo if I could pick any one to play for Newcastle. He's just improved so much from when he arrived a diving little cheat it's unreal. I know you have a lot of other good players but this year reminds me a lot of the ones that Cantona won pretty much on his own, the amount of goals he's scored is going to win you the league as there's no other player in the position he plays even close to him in terms of scoring.

Originally Posted by ASUcruz

And I've seen a lot of Vidic since he's joined Man U and his defending has been top class. Skrtel has better ball skills but that's not exactly Vidic's role. Vidic is tougher, better in the air, and a far more imposing physical force. The classic hard man at CB.

I've never thought much of Carragher to be honest. He's a good player but replacing him isn't saying much.

Carragher is uselses going forward, but his defending is top class largely due to sheer will overcompensating his lack of natural ability. One of the strengths of Liverpool in the last couple of years was defending and he was a big part of that. For Skrtel to take over in such a short period of time is no easy feat by any means.

Skrtel's defending style is in Vidic's mould, except he lacks Vidic's height. But Skrtel is quicker on the ground, but both are hard man CBs. In the long run, there isn't going to be much difference as to how valuable they are as defenders.

Skrtel being better on the ball is what makes him more versatile. He can play the out and out defender role or switch off with Agger as the playmaking defender as well.

You bring up ONE game where Vidic struggled. Let's see Skrtel play an 2 seasons at Liverpool and I bet we can pick out games where he stuggled. Keep in mind that Vidic plays in a far more offensive system than Skrtel does. Skrtel usually has at least 1 if not 2 dedicated defensive mids sheilding the back 4. Vidic doesn't exactly have that luxury.

Both Vidic and Skrtel are on a very similar path is what I'm trying to point out, and you know Vidic did not ONLY just struggle in just one game I mentioned.

As for Skrtel, of course he's going to have his struggles you dumb****. Skrtel struggled against Waterloo and Havant, learned and bounced back, he then made other mistakes as a sub against Aston Villa, learned and bounced back. Next thing you know, Carragher is pushed to the RB spot for the big matches. However impressive you think Vidic's prorgression was, Skrtel's isn't that far off.

The guy has the character to go with his ability so it's not hard to see there is a high probabiility of more success in store for him.

You're assuming this Liverpool team is going to be defensive forever. When Agger lines up along side Skrtel and Liverpool add more flair on the wings, they won't be as defensive as they are now or in the past.

No surprise here, Redxalonso taking things out of context. If you go back and look at my posts about Alan Smith, you will see that I compared Smith to Hughes in terms of "style". How they both brought a lot of energy to the pitch. Never did I say, Alan Smith is the next Mark Hughes. I would like you to find the post where I said that.

nice try.

Skrtel and Vidic might be on a similar path its just that Vidic is quite a few miles further up the path. Vidic is closing on 100 appearances for United, is first choice for United and has a Premier league winners medal. No doubt Skrtel is Liverpools defensive future but he needs to show what he can do first, before he gets compared to Vidic.

Originally Posted by Crazy_Ivan

Skrtel and Vidic might be on a similar path its just that Vidic is quite a few miles further up the path. Vidic is closing on 100 appearances for United, is first choice for United and has a Premier league winners medal. No doubt Skrtel is Liverpools defensive future but he needs to show what he can do first, before he gets compared to Vidic.

Exactly what I was trying to convey. Except whenever I say something somewhat negative about a Liverpool player, redxalonso seems to take it as some sort of personal attack or insult upon Liverpool, Benitez, and himself.

Mr. I don't want to jinx anything but it looks like our teams are on a crash course for the semi finals! You're going to have to give me a detailed scouting report on Barca if they get through!

Weak. I don't think Liverpool touched the ball 10 times the entire game and they get a draw and an away goal.



And a lucky non call on a penalty.