English Premier League thread

YoungGun_UK said:
We'll be back to win our trophy so don't get to attached to it. ;))
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I'm quite convinced about that, but then you will have to play better football than the 2 last seasons. Man Utd's football was pretty dire in those seasons, even if your end results were fantastic.

I have a hunch (and i hope it's true) that some clubs will be stronger this season: Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and perhaps even Spurs.

On the other hand, Man Utd have Kagawa. Possibly the best transfer in the EPL.
 
I disagree with that Gerd, we were far too 'gung-ho' for the early part of the season. 3-0 against Spurs, 8-2, against Arsenal, 5-0 against Bolton and 3-1 against Chelsea.

A style which was pretty much we'll score 'more than you' unfortunately we ended up paying the price when City beat us 6-1, I mean after that their was no way we wee going to continue playing 'that way' and after we'd lost one of the best CBs in the world in Vidic to injury we needed 'go back to basics' after a defeat like that.

I think we had 'patches' of great football throughout the season but agreed nothing sustained but that's more to do with injuries and not being able to play a consistent line-up.

and with all that said we bottled it, we were 8 points clear at the end and should quite possibly have cruised over the finish line.
 
I've seen that match against Spurs. You probably know i'm a Spurs fan, so i'm biased...but IMO the 3-0 did not reflect that match...Spurs were very good...(but in the end only the result counts).
 
Chelsea and City will start the season with the best squads - but they did last season too.

I wouldn't be that surprised if City run away with it. If Fergie hadn't dragged United's squad along, City could have won the league by 20 points. A manager can only extract that 'extra' bit of energy for so long - it can't be sustained in the long term.

There's just no hiding the fact that City have done their investing now, and have the best squad in the league - and almost all of their team are at peak age for footballers.

The hope for United/Arsenal/Spurs fans is that FFP might mean something (now that PSG have been bought, I somehow doubt that Platini will be as militant as before) because if it doesn't, we'll just see City do what Chelsea have done this year and break all the spending records again in 3 season when their team needs an overhaul.

I'd wager that City and Chelsea will both have wage bills > £50m more than the next tier of teams. The league has never seen that kind of inequality at the top, and it'll show on the pitch. Arsenal, United and Liverpool will be in the next tier, probably within £10m or so of each other.
 
I'd be shocked if Chelsea leapfrog from the 6th best side into the top 2, yes they've made some great signings but im not convinced about the manager or the fact Drogba has finally left and the new signings will need time to bed in.
 
YoungGun_UK said:
I'd be shocked if Chelsea leapfrog from the 6th best side into the top 2, yes they've made some great signings but im not convinced about the manager or the fact Drogba has finally left and the new signings will need time to bed in.
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Completely agree. Di Matteo will not eat his panetone in London (that is the Italian way of saying he will not last until Christmas) unless Chelsea will start of like a rocket and continue to do so, but that seems unrealistic.
 
Chelsea won't stick with di Matteo, but look at that squad! Their front 4 or 5 players can come from an outrageous pool of real quality. The only question mark they have is at RB really.
 
Good article here, I agree with the majority: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature/_/id/1133101?cc=5901

Particularly like the closing:

Unlike Henry and Werner, the Glazer family does not appear to care what Chelsea or Manchester City are doing or what the fans think.

For that, the rest of the league should be grateful. Under the Glazers' United, revenue has more than doubled. It dwarfs that of every other club in the Premier League. If they were willing to spend on players at the average Premier League level, it really wouldn't matter what their billionaire rivals did. By competing with one hand tied behind their back, the Glazers have made the Premier League a slightly fairer place.
 
Predictions?
Top 4: City, United, Chelsea, Arsenal
Bottom 3: Swansea, Wigan, Southampton
Top Scorer: Tevez
Best signing: Kagawa
Biggest surprise: If Dempsey goes to Pool, he'll outscore Wayne Rooney
Biggest disappointment: Dimitar Berbatov remains in United's squad, not even making the bench most matches
 
beachryan said:
Predictions?
Top 4: City, United, Chelsea, Arsenal
Bottom 3: Swansea, Wigan, Southampton
Top Scorer: Tevez
Best signing: Kagawa
Biggest surprise: If Dempsey goes to Pool, he'll outscore Wayne Rooney
Biggest disappointment: Dimitar Berbatov remains in United's squad, not even making the bench most matches
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Arsenal to win the title. That's my gut feeling.
 
jackarmy said:
Thanks a lot!

For that I hope City win the Prem again.
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Haha, fair enough. I want Swansea to stay in, but having lost Sigurdsson, Allen possibly Sinclair and Rodgers, I worry. Then again, Michu should be good...hard to tell.

In a perfect world, West Ham would be heading straight back again ;)
 
Yeah, looks like Swansea and Fulham are chasing each other, both 4 up till now!

Swansea is lovely to watch, even without Rogers!
 
Hehe, what do we have here, Ivanovic sent off during the Community Shield match but with these stupid rules being applied, now he can play and he just scored for Chelsea. Peachy.

EDIT: Pretty stuff, the match is already over, 6 minutes in.
 
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Officials are getting pedantic and stupid by the day. First there is the overreaction to Alan Pardew pushing a linesman after he felt Newcastle should have had a throw-in. It was hardly anything but Martin Pratkinson made a big issue of it. Also the incident where James McClean got sent away by Chris Foy for having tape on his socks which didn't match.

Where is the world coming to?
 
Top 4: City, United, Chelsea, Newcastle
Bottom 3: Norwich, QPR, Southampton
Top Scorer: Aguero
Best signing: Hazard
Biggest surprise: N/A
Biggest disappointment: N/A
 
Whichever nut job in FIFA came up with this sock tape rule needs a .22 rifle in their head. David Silva got ordered to change his white tape for light blue.

What next, banning multicoloured boots?
 
Instead of bitching around about stuff like ankle-tapes, FIFA should finally do something about the ridiculous officials, goals like City's should be reviewed via video replay and the goal should be called off. City already obligated by stupid officials in the first game.
 
They are human. They make mistakes.

If that went for you as a Manchester United fan woud you be complaining ? You have had plenty of decisions go your way.

Officials cannot do any better unless they get the help of technology.

Footballers and football fans will learn little from the Olympics. Seeing Pardew's pathetic rant about the ball going out of play from a grown man and supposedly responsible adult brought it all home once again that the footballing circus has started again.

One loss for Rodgers and even the commentator was insinuating his position was already under threat.

It never used to be like this certainly to this level.
 
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