I’ve always kinda liked Bob Bradley. Here’s hoping he does well.
Indeed. Congrats, Bob and I hope he proves people wrong.
Hi, everyone. Nice to see that the mighty SPURS have picked up where they left off last season*, the only undefeated team in the league, giving up less than a goal every two games, sitting second in their group in Champions League, aaaand having set the new attendance record for a club game in England. All this without much contribution from Harry Kane.
COYS!!!
*which, regrettably, was about a month before the season actually ended.
Shh. The season ended with the horrible game against Chelsea. It was a bad way to go but Spurs took the title challenge all the way to the last game of the season. At least, that’s how I remember it. 
They look hot this season though. Everyone is talking about how City were without their best player, but ignore that Tottenham were without their best 3. They thrashed city with a rotated cup side. They haven’t even started to show how good they can be.
I prefer your reality.
I get to spend this season watching my team totally not care about the PL. 
No, not Sunderland (they care, they are just too inept to do anything about it).
I root for the reigning champions (and before anyone says anything, that’s been true for almost 20 years now; I was a Foxes fan well before it was fashionable to even know the Premier League existed). It appears, based on all available evidence so far, that we’ve decided to try and win the UEFA CL this season, and just sit around and watch what goes on during Saturday/Sunday games.
It’s a good thing I don’t have many demands from my team beyond staying up. 
Spurs are indeed looking very good - they have the options and ability to play different ways and break teams down. Interesting that the Spurs effect has them well over-priced at the bookies (IMHO). They are currently 10-1 for the title whereas City are about evens. So could be a good time to heave on if you think they’re serious.
Everton escaped with a point against City, some gritty defending but we were lucky. Lukaku’s goal was a beauty, though - it’s not often you see a blatant physical mis-match in the prem. Him going past Clicy was like seeing the PE teacher joining in with the kids for a kick around.
Winning the Champions League and being relegated in the same season (not that I think either is likely) would arguably be an even more memorable achievement than last year’s title :).
To quote a friend of mine from days of yore, when ordering a piece of Bob’s Big Boy’s “World Famous” strawberry shortcake:
“I’ll have a piece of that world famous shortcake, only make mine a little less well-known, please.” 
Bob shelled out after 11 games. Harsh, no one would get a tune out of that Swansea side at the moment, and he was always going to be under extra pressure if things started to slide. Still, a couple of absolutely supine performances suggested the team weren’t playing for him, so that only ever ends one way.
There’s only one way you survive a relegation battle. You shore up the defense. 0-0 is a completely acceptable scoreline during attempts to stave off relegation. Sadly, for whatever reason, the Swans after Bradley’s arrival were going the opposite direction with the defense.
Shocked that 'arry 'oudini hasn’t been called on to save someone this season…
This thread is totally dead this year. I’m not having it.
Spurs battled and convincingly defeated the seemingly unstoppable Chelsea yesterday. 2-0 at home breaking a 13 game win streak by the blues, preventing them from securing the longest win streak in a single season ever, and denting their title hopes. They are still in the driver’s seat to win it, but it’s starting to look like a horse race.
Spurs, ever the underdog, are in THIRD PLACE, and only 2 points off Liverpool. More importantly Wollwich is all the way down in 5th!
If I’m being honest with myself, it’s still pretty clearly a 5 team scrum for places 2-4 in the league and it’s Chelsea’s title to lose. United and City are still very much in this and could easily edge out Spurs and the Gunners. On the other hand Liverpool and Chelsea could start dropping points like City and Spurs could be in contention for the title. All top 6 teams are really good. It’s still anyone’s league (but most likely Chelsea’s).
At the other end of the table, Hull/l Swansea/ Sunderland/ Palace all look really bad. Like, really bad. Shame about Swansea. Their game of musical managers shows that they don’t really know what their issues are yet. It will be sad to see them drop, but I think at this point inevitable. It’s about time Sunderland dropped. They need to regroup. I don’t think anyone outside those 4 is in any real danger, though I always get a little glee out of Leicester dropping points.
Anyone else have thoughts?
COYS!
NAF! What a surprise to see you in this thread today! 
Sadly I had to work during yesterday’s game and could only follow the score online. Obviously a brilliant performance by Spurs. I see that Alli was carded for excessive celebration after his goal…excuse me, after the first of his goals. I didn’t even know that was possible in the Prem…what did he do, shoot off fireworks?!
Fun fact: Under Pochettino, Spurs are 9-0-4 at home in League games against London rivals. He’s magic, y’know. 
We got Dele Alli
I just don’t think you understand…
He only cost five mil
He’s better than Ozil
WE GOT DELE ALLI!
The prevailing view seems to be that Swansea are doomed and have gone for a manager to help them rebuild in the Championship next season. Personally I find this line of thinking rather strange. It’s incredibly hard to get out of the Championship (unless you go the other way - there are many ex-Premier League teams in the third and even fourth divisions, including ‘bigger’ clubs than Swansea like Blackpool, Bolton, Charlton, Portsmouth, and Leeds - albeit these, and others, are often due to horrendous owners and/or financial mismanagement), and with the quality of the other 3 of the bottom 4 in the Prem at the moment, it has to be easier to try and stay in, surely? Admittedly there is a bit of a shortage of Premier League-quality managers at the moment, so maybe it still is their hope/plan to survive. They’re currently only a point from safety so I don’t know why some seem to be writing them off. Any of the teams in the bottom half could yet go on a bad run and become the latest relegated team thought “too good to go down”.
Incidentally, Stoke fans must be pleased their board kept faith with Hughes even after their terrible start to the season. I maintain sacking the manager is rarely the right answer, and I think Swansea are going to be another bit of evidence for this. Possibly Palace, too, and probably Hull. Sunderland were my pick before the season started to finish bottom (before they appointed Moyes, though not sure how much that would have changed my view anyway) and that could still happen.
In a similar vein, apologies for the slight hijack but hopefully Bristol City won’t sack Lee Johnson. They’ve been on a dreadful run of form recently (after a rare good start - City are usually slow out of the blocks, but there was vague hope of a play-off place as recently as November) and have just lost 3-2 at home to Reading having been 2-0 up with 15 minutes to go, which is pretty dire. But I think he deserves a chance to turn it around, and I believe he will. They’ve already made a couple of signings in this transfer window (albeit they need defenders more than strikers from what I can see) so presumably the board is behind him, at least for now.
I think Swansea were stupid to sack Bradley at the point they did. Mind you, I’m not a Bob Bradley fan. Indeed, I think he’s an over-rated coach. But you don’t sack a manager in the middle of the Christmas season unless you’ve got someone really hot already in mind to take over, and want to make a move before he’s snapped up by someone else. Not sure that really applies to Paul Clement. :dubious:
Still, at this point, my pick for relegation are Hull, Sunderland, and 'Boro. I think Swansea actually have enough to keep them up, so long as someone gets them to focus on not shipping goals. By comparison, while I don’t think that Big Sam will let Palace down in the long run (he’s usually very good at getting defenses to become more organized), I have absolutely no faith in the ability of David Moyes to rescue Sunderland. Indeed, the more I watch him manage, the more I wonder how he got on so well at Everton; he was totally over-matched by Man U, and didn’t exactly shine at Reál Sociedad. Since Newcastle are clearly headed right back up, it’s only fitting that Sunderland take their turn going down this year.
'Boro are game, but in the end run, that’s usually not enough. They only got 18 points out of the first half of the season, and that was a half-season in which they have generally pulled a bit above their weight, so to speak. That’s not good; it means 37 pts. may be out of reach for them.
Sadly, unless things change, and soon, my beloved Foxes may well spend all season in the relegation battle. The high of last season is swiftly becoming a drum-beat of depression as I watch formerly committed players play like they don’t particularly need to commit any more (yes, Riyad Mahrez, I’m looking very much right at you). And clearly losing N’golo Kanté was even more devastating than I thought it would be (he was my pick for MVP last year). I’m hoping that the last couple of clean sheets show that things are starting to get sorted at the back, and that we will start to get the required results from the bottom half of the table on the way in. But I’m not counting on it. Which is why I’m torn in two about the Champion’s League: we have a definitely good chance of winning the first matchup, but I cannot really see us taking down a Munich or a Barça, so I almost would prefer we go out quickly, and top having to deal with crowded fixture lists.
Unless, of course, we go all the way in the FA Cup. In which case, I’d be ecstatic.
As for the top of the table, I have only one thought: Manchester United are set to make a run at it, and I’m not counting them out at all. Yes, they have ten points to make up on Chelsea, but that’s not very important, since if Chelsea continue their form from the first half of the season (16-1-2), no one is catching them, period. So assuming they break down, and come back to the field, United really only have to get past Spurs, five points above them, and that’s not that much.
And bless his soul, Mourinho knows how to win. Once, at least, with each team. 
Liverpool with their worst game in recent memory lose in an EFL game to Southhampton. They’d better get their shit together before Man U on Sunday or it is gonna be ugly.
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Coys!
A tie at Man City is a good result. This goal is maybe one of the best I have seen all year.
The first Tottenham goal was no slouch either. But that was an amazingly put together goal.
Better than this? 
Credit where credit is due, that’s a great goal.