: Tue May 26, 2009 8:43 am  

Ashmeister wrote:

We drew too many games.

Overall we have been the better team IMO. Double over United, Double over Chelsea, 0 Losses at home vs Man Uniteds 1, 2 Losses away vs Man Uniteds 3 and a better goal difference.

Unfortunately United have a better squad. We missed Torres and Gerrard for large parts of the season. United really struggled when Ronaldo was out before X MAS.

All very interesting stats but you win the league by gaining more points than anyone else which renders your interesting stats worthless.

: Tue May 26, 2009 8:56 am  

I do love it when fans say 'if only we hadn't lost/drawn so many games at home/away' how many fans could say that up and down the country about their club! Haha.

: Tue May 26, 2009 9:05 am  

My overall look on the season:

Manchester United
Another excellent season by the Mancs, a couple of blips, but the thing that put them above Liverpool was their squad depth. United can afford to rest Rooney and Ronaldo and still come up with the points, but can the same be said about Gerrard and Torres for Liverpool? Hoping they don't win the champions league on Wednesday! But if they do, Everton have the title of "the only team to have knocked Manchester United out of a cup this year". I'm not counting the super cup... we beat Zenit anyway

Liverpool
Until they get more players with the Gerrard and Torres "quality" factor and bring in more strength in depth then they won't be winning the league for a while. Rafa has said the summer is important, at the end of it, I'll be able to say if I think Liverpool have a chance of winning the league, at the end of last summer, I said no. Good season though, closest they've come. The double over United would have been sweet, but if they want to finish one place higher next year they need to cut out the home draws to Stoke, Fulham, Hull, West Ham type teams.

Chelsea
Good start under Scolari, but they were very poor mid-season, the 3-0 against United backs up that point. But under Hidiink they've improved alot and 31/36 is pretty good. Hoping they don't win any silverware though!

Arsenal
Another season without winning anything for Arsenal. And if Villa hadn't had this awful run of form, they wouldn't be in the Champions League next year, knocked out of two semi finals, need some quality experienced players in for next year.

Everton
Considering the start we had, we've had a fantastic season. Out the Carling and Uefa cups and low in the table, it looked awful. But since the Villa game at home it's been very hard to beat us. Finishing above Villa as well to retain 5th spot, but Saturday is the big day.

Aston Villa
A season of two halves, they were on fire for the first half, but the small squad has come back to bite them. A good season, but they'll have felt they could have got 4th spot.

Fulham
Great season for Hodgsons side, beaten Arsenal, United, Villa drew with Chelsea and were beaten at the death by Liverpool, proves they're a very difficult side to beat, great season.

: Tue May 26, 2009 9:08 am  

efcrhino wrote:

Fulham
Great season for Hodgsons side, beaten Arsenal, United, Villa drew with Chelsea and were beaten at the death by Liverpool, proves they're a very difficult side to beat, great season.

Roy Hodgson, manager of the year?

: Tue May 26, 2009 9:13 am  

Catalancs wrote:

Roy Hodgson, manager of the year?

Tony Pulis may run him close

: Tue May 26, 2009 9:24 am  

efcrhino wrote:

Fulham
Great season for Hodgsons side, beaten Arsenal, United, Villa drew with Chelsea and were beaten at the death by Liverpool, proves they're a very difficult side to beat, great season.

What's the difference between Boro and Fulham? Mark Schwarzer.

A good goalkeeper is vital. How many points was Brad Friedel worth to Blackburn in previous seasons? Tim Howard is very solid.

: Tue May 26, 2009 9:40 am  

Catalancs wrote:

Roy Hodgson, manager of the year?

Definitely.

: Tue May 26, 2009 9:41 am  

apparently calvalho is going to city go on etihad football.com and go on player profiles he is on it.

: Tue May 26, 2009 9:50 am  

PAUL M wrote:

Have you honestly seen anything in Shearer to suggest he could be a top manager other than it's Shearer, change of style? Galvanising the side? As an outsider he seems to have had little impact, not his fault you went down but his appointment seemed to bring little to the team in terms of immediate impact.

Another thing to count against Shearer is his knowledge of the lower leagues. For various reasons, Newcastle are going to be wanting/needing a whole heap of players for next season, and I think it's fair to say top level players wont be falling over themselves to join a Championship club. Shearer, in both his playing and media career, has basically no experience of life outside the top flight. Not his fault, but how's he expected to unearth the hidden gems that will help Newcastle get back up?

If he's going to stay as a figure head to help gee up the players and the fans, well he's had 8 games this year to do that and he's hardly looked like somebody able to do that so far. What amazed me most on Sunday was the way they went down without a fight. In the last 5 minutes, get your centre back's up front, hoof the ball up there in hope more than expectation, anything. What did they do? Nothing.

: Tue May 26, 2009 9:54 am  

Lord_Percy wrote:

Another thing to count against Shearer is his knowledge of the lower leagues. For various reasons, Newcastle are going to be wanting/needing a whole heap of players for next season, and I think it's fair to say top level players wont be falling over themselves to join a Championship club. Shearer, in both his playing and media career, has basically no experience of life outside the top flight. Not his fault, but how's he expected to unearth the hidden gems that will help Newcastle get back up?

If he's going to stay as a figure head to help gee up the players and the fans, well he's had 8 games this year to do that and he's hardly looked like somebody able to do that so far. What amazed me most on Sunday was the way they went down without a fight. In the last 5 minutes, get your centre back's up front, hoof the ball up there in hope more than expectation, anything. What did they do? Nothing.

Ian Dowie has so do not see that will be an issue.