When was the last time the big 4 picked up only 4 points in the prem

[CounTakeshi]

Absolutely ridiculous. Made for a god awful Match of The Day

[Fike]

Not if you're a City fan. Which I'm not, but just saying...

[molotov]

Fike Wrote:Not if you're a City fan. Which I'm not, but just saying...

I am, and it was beautiful. Glen Johnson's screamer also made it a good MOTD.

[bubbleblowerdave]

as a west ham fan i can finally watch match of the day tonight

supremo

[aidan_h]

ireland and robinho's goals were crazy.

[sumoboy]

dale_fromage Wrote:I still reckon Whitehead should be in the England squad.

You can definitely tell when people are using sarcasm on the internet with this sort of thing.

[sumoboy]

:D

[Mat Payne]

I was at the City Arsenal game, City tore them apart in the second half, sounds cliched but it really should've been 4 or 5. Stephen Ireland was class.

[Andrew]

matpayne Wrote:I was at the City Arsenal game, City tore them apart in the second half, sounds cliched but it really should've been 4 or 5. Stephen Ireland was class.

Aye, and then Wenger had the cheek to claim the result flattered City, nob.

[bubbleblowerdave]

you have to love wenger tho
his best bit was that fight with alan pardew. spit the dummy comes to mind

[BillieT]

matpayne Wrote:I was at the City Arsenal game, City tore them apart in the second half, sounds cliched but it really should've been 4 or 5. Stephen Ireland was class.

wtf happened to Stephen Ireland, was he this good last season or has he suddenly become good? 2 oustanding performances in a row now.

Such a good league this year in terms of closeness (is that a word?), the bottom half is so tight, hopefully if Harry Redknapp keeps working his magic I won't have to keep looking at it though :)

[bubbleblowerdave]

BillieT Wrote:

matpayne Wrote:I was at the City Arsenal game, City tore them apart in the second half, sounds cliched but it really should've been 4 or 5. Stephen Ireland was class.

wtf happened to Stephen Ireland, was he this good last season or has he suddenly become good? 2 oustanding performances in a row now.

Such a good league this year in terms of closeness (is that a word?), the bottom half is so tight, hopefully if Harry Redknapp keeps working his magic I won't have to keep looking at it though :)

roids

[decadence]

everton abismal again today

how moyes can't see the unbelievable problems with the team which everyone is screaming at him, be it in the pub, at the match or online is ridiculous.

arteta playing like he couldnt care less (and hasn't for a few seasons realistically), therefore no distribution/effort down the left so lescott has to bomb forward, abandoning his left back position, then they lose the ball, theres no one at left back, arteta abandons his defensive responsibilites and jagielka can't play in 2 positions at once so opposition end up scoring. a child could work it out.

[Santero]

I think thats being a bit harsh on Moyes - he's working a bloody miracle to get Everton at the level they have been at for the last few years. I looked up various team's finances recently, and Everton's turnover is pitiful compared to their rivals - they turned over £51.7m in the year to 2007, compared to around £200m for Chelsea, Man Utd & Arsenal, £130m for Liverpool, £100 for Spurs, £90m for Newcastle. Villa, I think, have a certain amount of outside investment coming in, which Everton do not.

So slagging Moyes off should be done in moderation really - I was amazed that he accepted the new deal at Everton, as with the extra budget at Newcastle or Spurs he would be well capable of breaking the top 4 again. Without him, Everton would in all likelihood be just another mid-table team.

[KIRBY]

how on earth did you come to Chelsea turning over as much as United and more than Liverpool? Smaller stadiums, we've generally had better champions league runs.

[KIRBY]

Santero Wrote:Everton would in all likelihood be just another mid-table team.

they already are. with the added factor of getting knocked out of europe twice in a month.

[decadence]

Santero Wrote:I think thats being a bit harsh on Moyes - he's working a bloody miracle to get Everton at the level they have been at for the last few years. I looked up various team's finances recently, and Everton's turnover is pitiful compared to their rivals - they turned over £51.7m in the year to 2007, compared to around £200m for Chelsea, Man Utd & Arsenal, £130m for Liverpool, £100 for Spurs, £90m for Newcastle. Villa, I think, have a certain amount of outside investment coming in, which Everton do not.

So slagging Moyes off should be done in moderation really - I was amazed that he accepted the new deal at Everton, as with the extra budget at Newcastle or Spurs he would be well capable of breaking the top 4 again. Without him, Everton would in all likelihood be just another mid-table team.

all true but doesnt change the fact that he makes no attempts (visual to the fans at least)
to rectify the problems we have been experiencing for the last 4 games, he is far too loyal to want-away arteta and just needs the guts to try something even slightly different, i will accept that he has one of the smallest squads in the premiership and the 'vilified if he does, vilified if he doesnt' argument and genuinely feel sorry for the guy, but surely when goals are coming from the same problem every game (the lescott situation) then he HAS to do something!

I'm sorry but Wigan are not a good side and made everton look even worse the other night, when steve bruce readily admitted that it was one of their own worst performances. We may be seventh but bar the 2nd half against UTD we have not played well for about 4 games and have extremely lucky to come away with anything, particularly the west ham game, our position simply highlights the lack of quality or consistency of those outside of the top 5/6.

Bar stoke we have the poorest record of shots from outside the box out of the whole of the premiership, and this truly underlines the lack of creativity, and fear of trying something different, which i can only really attribute to the management, you simply can't try and walk the ball into the net or rely on dodgy set pieces going in off your strikers backs these days.

We have a next 4 games of Tottenham, Aston Villa, Man City and Chelsea, so don't expect to see the rot stop here, i fear we're gonna be in freefall :(

[Santero]

As a Wednesday fan I admire your staunch pessimism!

I haven't seen much Everton lately, so I can't comment on Arteta's form - but he is, in talent terms, your best player by a bloody mile. And I think you're being harsh on Wigan - they are no great shakes, but I see them as a solid mid-table team, Bruce is a good manager, they have a very decent defence and goalie, and some splashes of talent around the park, even without Zaki. With home advantage, a narrow victory against a UEFA chasing team isn't THAT much of a shock.

Its a sad state of affairs though when a great club like Everton is utterly dependent on some sugar daddy rocking up and spunking hundreds of millions for them to be competitive.

[Osmo]

Quote:"Following this weekend's results, when was the last time all of 'the big four' failed to score on the same weekend/round of fixtures?" asks Dean Gribben, Dave Stewart and a whole host of others

This freak occurance is up there with Haley's Comet, solar eclipses and pies with flavour from football ground refreshment stands — you hardly ever see them, but when you do the wait makes it all the more satisfying. Nearly 16 years have passed since Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United all failed to score in the same round of fixtures — before this weekend it had not happened since February 8, 9 and 10 1993, when the scorelines read:

Leeds 0-0 Manchester United

Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool

Arsenal 0-1 Wimbledon

Of course, back then the big four were United, Norwich City, Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers, which just goes to show how times can change. Though Arsenal losing at home to mid-table opposition just shows how some things never change.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/...dge-trivia

Although that's only 3 points :P