Quote :

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu I thought they were still trying to determine who the second team was, though?"

So much for Blackpool's putative European adventure. Although there had been speculation that Blackpool had earned themselves a place in the Europa League via UEFA's bizarre Fair Play system, which granted England an extra palce in the competition and then gave it to whoever got the least cards and had the nicest fans (if you can work out the system, incidentally, there's a Fields Medal in it for you). Anyway, a red card earned by Zoltan Gera on the last day put favourites Fulham in some danger of losing out to Blackpool, but apparently that wasn't quite enough to see them miss out on their spot, so it'll be the Cottagers in Europe next season rather than Ian Holloway's now-relegated side.

It's worth pointing out just how close Blackpool did manage to come, however. They were quite literally a yellow card away from being tied with Fulham in the standings, losing out by one measly point out of more than a thousand. Neither Fulham nor Blackpool were particularly close to the top of the table, however. That honour, somehow, falls to Chelsea, who were chased by Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, both of whom qualified for Europe next year on their own merit.

]It's slightly amusing that even had results not gone Tottenham's way in the final couple of weeks of the season, when they were faced with strong competition from Liverpool to the fifth spot, they'd have ended up in the Europa League anyway. All that finishing fifth did (apart from a slight increase in prize money) was deny Liverpool a European spot for next season.

http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2011/5/26/2191140/fulham-europa-league-fair-play-table

5/26/2011 10:26:30 PM

5/27/2011 8:16:26 AM

the Europa League is already regarded as something of a joke...this "fair play" shit just demeans it even further

handing out European places on the basis of good disciplinary records seems, to me, like letting a dumb kid into a moderately good college just because his conduct has always been exemplary

and what's the point? the kid is going to fail out within a single semester, just as Blackpool would get knocked out in the opening round.

5/27/2011 5:05:29 PM

Swansea up 2-0 already in the playoff final. Looking like a Welsh team will finally join the top flight next year.

5/30/2011 10:36:05 AM

Scored on a pk and then scored within 2 minutes. Reading should be down to 10 men.

3-0 now

[Edited on May 30, 2011 at 10:41 AM. Reason : goal]

5/30/2011 10:39:16 AM

Oh boy. We have a game now. 3-2. Swansea imploding.

5/30/2011 11:18:31 AM

crazy game

5/30/2011 11:26:08 AM

Reading up 12-0 in corners. Both goals for Reading are headers from a corner kick.

5/30/2011 11:26:25 AM

I'm going to need a screencap or gif of that Reading fans face. That was epic.




[Edited on May 30, 2011 at 11:41 AM. Reason : picture]

5/30/2011 11:35:19 AM

2nd penalty for Swansea makes it 4-2. Hat trick for Sinclair

5/30/2011 11:41:22 AM

what a dumbass challenge that led to that pk. this game is over now.

5/30/2011 11:43:54 AM

ROFL

5/30/2011 11:49:06 AM

Wales gets a team in the Premier League

5/30/2011 11:55:40 AM

Scholes officially retires.

Quote :

"Spain midfielder Xavi called Scholes "the best central midfielder that I have seen," while France great Zinedine Zidane once branded him "almost untouchable.""

Quote :

"The only part of Scholes' game that let him down was his tackling, which was often late and clumsy. He missed the dramatic win over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final because of suspension, but started in 2008 when United beat Chelsea on penalties in Moscow to claim its third European Cup."

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6609621/manchester-united-midfielder-paul-scholes-retires

5/31/2011 1:35:11 PM

Good night, Sweet Prince

5/31/2011 2:03:47 PM

legend.

http://www.manutd.com/en/Fanzone/News-And-Blogs/2011/May/paul-scholes-the-little-master.aspx

on a lighter note, with Scholesy retired I wonder who in the Prem takes up the mantle of king of the mis-timed tackle.

[Edited on May 31, 2011 at 6:55 PM. Reason : link]

5/31/2011 6:53:56 PM

De Jong.

5/31/2011 6:56:05 PM

Nasri is demanding the same paycheck as Fabregas. Think he is worth it?

6/1/2011 1:10:13 AM

6/1/2011 5:49:39 AM

Actually, yes. The Arse were better this season when Nasri played and Fabric-ass didn't.

6/1/2011 8:15:41 AM

kiljadn you gonna place a bid?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wayne-Rooney-penalty-spot-Ewood-Park-Blackburn-Rovers-/250828149905?pt=UK_SportsMemorabilia_Football_Memorabilia_ET&hash=item3a6685d491

6/1/2011 1:12:21 PM

well out of my price range

6/1/2011 2:46:45 PM

That's a lot of cash. Damn.

6/1/2011 3:13:48 PM

Quote :

"Thank you for birthday wishes. Goodbye to Scholes, the angry ginger mini man with strange voice. He will be missed on the united bench. )) Yes of course he is a great footballer.. However he was not the first man in space or anything.. Angry manager, angry players,angry fans.."

I love Arshavin

6/1/2011 3:47:27 PM

he forgot "angry champions"

6/1/2011 4:21:49 PM

LOL he has some golden ones on there.

Quote :

" RealArshavin Andrey Arshavin The force is strong in Blatter, I have seen inside his Death Star with Roman as he provide all steel workings. It is nice, even has ESPN.. "

Quote :

" RealArshavin Andrey Arshavin I don't watch Transfer deadline Tv, I play for Arsenal there is no point.. )) "

Quote :

" RealArshavin Andrey Arshavin Yaya Toure has body of giant, head of boy and ears of a baby.. "

He retweeted this:

Quote :

" sidrus_sidwell Sidrus Sidwell by RealArshavin The great thing about FIFA 11 is that you can use the Sprint button to turn @RealArshavin into a player that moves around, runs and defends. "

[Edited on June 1, 2011 at 6:06 PM. Reason : .]

6/1/2011 6:03:13 PM

lol at the last one

6/1/2011 6:42:08 PM

Mark Hughes to Villa

[Edited on June 2, 2011 at 12:58 PM. Reason : well he only resigned from Fulham but Villa's the obvious move]

6/2/2011 12:51:47 PM

damn, that's kind of a step down, honestly.



i mean, villa doesn't have a MJ statue.

6/2/2011 1:18:25 PM

haha true

6/2/2011 1:34:14 PM

Liverpool looking to sign Sunderland youngster Jordan Henderson. Could be ripe for a move to a bigger club.

OptaJoe says only 4 players created more scoring chances in the prem this year.

on second thought, I saw who the other 4 players were and am not as impressed with the stat (Malouda, Brunt, Davies, Downing).

[Edited on June 2, 2011 at 11:15 PM. Reason : .]

6/2/2011 11:12:31 PM

Drogba to Milan?

Hate to say it, but I would miss him.

6/2/2011 11:16:57 PM

^^ nothing wrong with that group of players

Friedel to Spurs

6/2/2011 11:23:48 PM

Well that's certainly an upgrade over Lolmes.

6/2/2011 11:26:42 PM

^^ nothing wrong with Malouda, the other 3 are exactly where they belong (which is to say not on a top team)

6/3/2011 12:21:26 AM

Looking FORWARD to playing fifa with drogba alongside eto'o

6/3/2011 12:25:48 AM

^ inter or milan?

Drogs/Ibra/Pato/Robinho would be stacked deck

6/3/2011 5:56:17 AM

Quote :

"the other 3 are exactly where they belong (which is to say not on a top team)"

I think Stewart Downing would be a nice option for most teams.

All of them are also way closer to 30 than Jordan Henderson's 20 so there's a lot more potential. Not sure he's worth Bruce's 20m price tag but I think he's a solid buy.

Not sure why Kenny's going after more CMs though but we already had this discussion about Adam and how crowded their midfield seems to be. Spearing, Gerrard, Lucas, Meireles... all capable enough. Can't see why you'd spend upwards to 20m for another one.

[Edited on June 3, 2011 at 8:07 AM. Reason : pool]

6/3/2011 8:03:42 AM

^^
AC Milan

6/3/2011 2:14:48 PM

Milan following their usual practice of signing old-ass stars who will only be world-class for another year or two. if they want another forward, they should sign a young one.

Ibrahimovich ain't gettin any younger, either.

it will be good for Chelsea, however, and bad for the rest of the Premier League, if Drogba goes. part of Chelsea's problem this year was that they had too many strikers, and the corp never really had a chance to develop chemistry or get into a rhythm.

obviously (but nevertheless ironically) the signing of Fernando Torres was a bad thing for Chelsea, at least as far as this season went.

6/3/2011 4:29:40 PM

Chelsea's biggest problem was that Drogba had no interest in partnering Torres. Torres is going to score goals though, especially if Chelsea land Hiddink as their coach.

6/3/2011 4:43:03 PM

also the fact that Drogba had malaria, you guys.

6/3/2011 4:58:41 PM

that was part of it...Chelsea did suffer from a lot of injuries/illnesses. but there was also a lot of overpassing, and useless individual play when the passing didn't work, from strikers.



[Edited on June 3, 2011 at 5:14 PM. Reason : and plenty of piss-poor finishing from Fernando Torres]

6/3/2011 5:08:12 PM

has chelsea said if they're bringing back sturridge? he was on fire for bolton for a while

6/3/2011 6:55:22 PM

^
I'm 99% sure they are.

6/3/2011 7:01:02 PM

Looks like Spurs have agreed to terms with Internacional over Leandro Damiao and are negotiating personal terms with the player now. I can't wait to get a look at him in Brazil's friendly vs the Dutch.

6/4/2011 10:42:17 AM

Who?

6/4/2011 5:05:59 PM

Joe Cole to Spurs?

Tevez peace outta Manchester?

So says the Internets...

6/5/2011 12:36:33 PM

^^ 21 year old Brazilian striker from Internacional

6/5/2011 12:45:23 PM

Nasri to United exposed?!?!?!1

6/5/2011 1:42:54 PM