Arsenal's defence still needs work
MU are getting old and Rooney dependent
Liverpool are still too dependent on Torres to score goals
Tottenham are Tottenham
Only Chelsea can rival City on paper. And even then, Lampard and Drogba one year older and getting on.
I'm actually going to disagree with Silver and say Chelsea repeats. I'll elaborate, but my main point would City has taken this stance of buy now, ask later. They are buying too fast to, what I believe, allow any kind of reasonable conversation and planning regarding where their new purchase fits in.
Buy now, plan later. They've got the players, now they can plan whatever they want. They can choose which players to keep, which formation to play. The important thing is they've got cover and options in every single position so they can choose:
1) do they want a taget striker (Adebayor)
2) do they want fast striker with two supporting wingers (Tevez, Johnson, Silva)
3) play two DMs for more defence (Toure, De Jong/Barry)
4) play someone in the hole (Ireland)
etc.
Whereas someone like Arsenal, they've got less options.
The other thing is last year they brough a lot of duds like Robinho, Santa Cruz, Bellamy. This year they got Toure, Silva, Kolarov and likely Batotelli and Milner. These are all world class players.
This is just my opinion. I still think Chelsea will be the benchmark, but teams should be vary of City. They are on the rise.
Don't believe that City stand a chance this year, and its once again going to come down to Manchester United and Chelsea because both have fairly settled squads. Yes both have gotten a year older but both teams know what their first team is and both teams have a squad of 25 that they could name tonight.
There is a new rule this year that all Premier League clubs have to name a squad of 25 players (which must include 8 home grown players) and can only use under 21s beyond that limit. City have 37 players on their roster, out of which only about 4 or 5 are under 21. That means they need to lose 7 players and potentially more when they're attempting to sign another 2-3 guys.
Also, Adebayor isn't really a target man. He may be quite big physically but he's about useless in the air and the target man they do have (Roque Santa Cruz) isn't sexy enough for them.
And even when they do sort out their first choice 25, they'll need at least a couple of months to decide their main 11 by which time it'll be too late for them to try and win. Silva will need time to adapt to English football, and getting rid of Craig Bellamy to make way for him will be stupid.
I could go on and on about it, but City isn't going to win.
Arsenal will probably do well till October and then once it starts to get really cold they will struggle again.
Liverpool, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton will once again challenge for the top 4 and maybe one of them will even make it.
For utter hilarity though, the team to watch will be Blackpool. They've got a nutcase as Manager (Ian Holloway), the town in itself has a reputation for being a cheap and tacky version of Las Vegas (except its in the rainiest part of the world rather than the middle of the desert and the lighting and gambling are so poor that they don't even count as lights and gambling), their stadium is a shithole and they don't have enough players in their squad and are really struggling to add players.
I heard they had to release a few players because their wage demand was too high. If I was the player, I would have taken the pay cut to play in the premier league. Even the lowest paid premier league players still get a ton more than the average paying job.
Mark Hughes has taken over at Fulham replacing Roy Hodgson who's gone to Liverpool. I'm quite pleased for Sparky because I found it difficult to dislike him when he was manager at Manchester City despite all the rubbish he said. Thankfully City behaved like the cunts they are while firing him, thereby automatically granting him redemption.
Just to prove how bloody mental Man City are, they have apparently offered €26 million plus Robinho on loan to Inter Milan in exchange for Mario Balotelli. Now to a sane person that makes no sense whatsoever. Especially since there enough Russian and Ukrainian clubs willing to offer crazy money for Robinho.
The complication of course is that they basically bought Robinho because he wanted to get the fuck out of Real Madrid but didn't particularly care about City beyond the £100k+ they were offering him per week. And now he doesn't really want to play for them any more, so he can basically blackmail them into going wherever he wants to go so they don't have to pay him his hefty weekly wage.
Not saying that he can't but its absolutely bonkers that he currently is. And of course in a couple of years time when despite the buckets of money he's poured City don't win a thing and he decides to walk away from it all, its going to be the Football Club that will go broke. The Abu Dhabi royal family will just increase the price of oil they charge the British by 1% and he'll recover his investment.
So the Premiership kicks off this weekend after United beat Chelsea 3-1 in the glorified pre-season friendly that is the Community Shield. Say whatever you want about the game but beating your certain rivals for the next season definitely helps. And the goal by Hernandez was lulzworthy.
Bit surprised today that Martin O'Neill quit Aston Villa but there was the feeling that he had taken the team as far as he could and he knew for sure they would struggle to make it to the top six even. It'll be interesting to see who they appoint as their new manager but I do hope they go for Stuart Pearce or another English manager. There's only so much that squad can do but it would help having a British manager for the overall good of the English game.
So here we go, it's finally time for the EPL to kick off, and we passed a summer off-season with a good number of changes at management, coaching and the men on the pitch. However expect the standings to shuffle a good bit.
1. Manchester United - Rejuvenated Rooney, Chicarito a supersub.
2. Chelsea - A little older, subtracted Joe Cole hurts.
3. Manchester City - Personalities and Lack of cohesion keeps City out of title spot.
4. Arsenal - Kept Cesc, Chamkah added up front is a huge plus.
5. Liverpool - Addition of Hodgson, Cole is good. Torres' Health and expected Maschernao departure isnt.
6. Everton - Health of squad isn't code red, still lack a bonafide scorer, Beckford maybe?
7. Tottenham - Champions League keeps them out of next years Champions League
8. Aston Villa - No O'Neil? Villa takes a dive.
9. Birmingham - Keep getting better, team's defensive football keeps them in games.
10. Bolton - Lee added, so is Petrov, Bolton Wanders it's way up the table.
11. Blackburn - Allardyce does more with less.
12. Sunderland - Need someone else to score aside from Bent.
13. Stoke - Improving Shawcross, but Stoke stays mid-table.
14. Wolves - How do they do it? I don't know. Mick must be a wizard.
15. Fulham - No Hodgson? Cottagers in trouble.
16. Newcastle - They're back and they're here to stay. For another year at least.
17. West Ham - The Hammers keep flirting with relegation, but they aren't ready for that kind of commitment.
18. Blackpool - Almost, sort of but not quite. Pool heads back down.
19. Wigan - Adios to Wigan, don't think the quality is there.
20. West Brom - Brom does
1 - Manchester United - They've always thrived when one of their players have been really savaged after the World Cup. It was David Beckham in the season after 1998 and Cristiano Ronaldo in the season after 2006. The public opinion out here seems to be quite against Wayne Rooney among other players, so you get the sense he'll be up for it. Plus Hernandez looks to be an excellent sign and could be the next Solksjaer style legend. The midfield still looks a bit iffy but as long as Giggs and Scholes continue to pretend that their age doesn't matter, United will do just fine.
2 - Chelsea - A lot of the players are a year older and while they've shed some deadwood, you're not quite sure how they'll react. Again a lot of the players have had poor World Cups so they may just bounce back awesomely. Frank Lampard should be their player of the season again, and they'll keep the title race active till at least the penultimate weekend. I don't think they'll miss Joe Cole that much as Yossi Benayoun is almost as good.
3 and 4 - Bit tough to say who'll finish third and who'll finish fourth between the two, but expect Arsenal and Manchester City to get these spots. Arsenal will make a good start to the season and will fade away once winter sets in and City will do the exact opposite because come Christmas they'll have a good idea of what their first team should be. David Silva will be the biggest flop of their spending and Jack Wilshere will do well enough to convince Arsene to sell Fabregas at the end of this season.
5, 6, 7 and 8 - Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton and Aston Villa respectively. The only reason I've got Tottenham in here rather than in the top 4 is that I think Harry Redknapp is going to concentrate on the Champions League rather than the Premiership and may even surprise us all by reaching the latter quarters or even semis. Liverpool will improve from last season under Roy Hodgson but missing Torres for the early part of the season will probably put the top 4 out of their reach. Aston Villa won't repeat the last three years with Martin O'Neill but wont go any lower down than 8th. And Everton well 5th to 8th seems to be their peak with their current squad and ownership, just like the last few years. I'd expect David Moyes to take over from Sir Alex at the end of this season though if United do knock Liverpool of their fucking perch as promised by the original angry Scot about 25 years ago.
9, 10, 11 and 12 - Fulham, Sunderland, Bolton and Newcastle. Can't say who'll finish exactly where but that's how I feel they'll all line up. There was no reason why Newcastle should have gotten relegated two seasons ago but now that they're back hopefully they've learnt their lesson and won't fire their manager on the 2nd of September. Fulham won't struggle under Mark Hughes because most of the squad is still the same and with no European distraction, they might even make a decent Carling Cup run. Sunderland are bound to improve and hopefully Owen Coyle will start to get Bolton play some decent football and finish 11th or 12th.
13, 14, 15 and 16 - Blackburn, Stoke, West Ham and Birmingham. Again no real order but I don't suspect any of these teams have done anything in the transfer market to improve and wont finish much higher than these positions.
17 - West Brom - Roberto DiMatteo was a class player and hopefully he'll do enough to get his team to stay up. But very little between them and Wolverhampton.
18, 19 and 20 - Wolverhampton, Wigan and Blackpool. The only promoted team to get relegated will be Blackpool because they seriously have no hope. The squad isn't nearly good enough to survive and it was a big surprise they didn't go down to third tier of English football last year. Wolverhampton along with West Brom have been the model yo-yo clubs in the Premiership and I think this year is Wolves' year to get relegated. And finally I tip Wigan to go down because I don't think they're that good. They were lucky to escape last year because there were three teams worse than them this year but this year I don't think its the case. And most importantly it will mean we will not have to hear from Dave Whelan (their owner) for a while.
Ok my turn. Instead of previewing all the tems, im going for each league.
EPL: I already said Im going for City. Yes its a bit bold, but they've got some great additions over the summer, including Yaya Toure, Silva and Kolarov and most likely Batotelli. Chelsea will be up there of course, but they did just sell Cavalho for whatever reason. Still, they'll probably end up getting David Luiz or someone. MU are one player (Ozil) away from being complete. Scholes and Giggs cant carry the creativity forever. On paper MU dont have that great a team, they've just got that winning mentality that SAF has embedded into them. Arsenal still need a keeper, CB and DM cover, not to mention the Fabregas saga would probably have some adverse affect. Tottenham are shit. I like Liverpool but Torres will probably end up injured or something.
City
Chelsea
MU
Arsenal
Liverpool
La Liga: Even though Im a Barcelona fan, I think Madrid will win. They've got to win at least one trophy and the La Liga seems likely since its just a two horse race. I dont doubt the power of Mourinho. He's a genuis. They've brought the right players this summer with some wide men (Di Maria, Pedro Leon), a DM or sorts (Khedira) and a defender (Carvalho).
Madrid
Barcelona
(big gap)
Athletico Madrid
Valencia
Serie A: Inter. Nuff said. Watch out for Genoa and Fioretina.
Inter
Roma
Genoa
Milan
Juventus
Napoli
Bundesliga: Im going to be brave and not go for Munich. I really like Wolfsburg. They won he league with practically the same team 2 years ago, and now have Kjaer (what a steal). And Dzeko is a machine.
So they've had the entire opening round of fixtures in the Premier League and other than Wigan, I don't think any team will have come away with a result that they wouldn't accepted/expected. Everton and Stoke would have probably hoped for better results too but those weren't that unimaginable either.
Also, I'm a big Manchester United fan but I'm not buying into this Paul Scholes love in that the British media has started. He may be the best thing since sliced bread but he wont play nearly enough matches to deserve Player of the season but it seems as if the media have decided that he's going to win it this year after Giggs won it a couple of years ago.
So far this weekend, Arsenal have tonked Blackpool 6-0 and Chelsea just beat Wigan 6-0 too just for the heck of it. The only other real highlight in the Premiership is Bolton going away from home at beating West Ham 3-1.
The German Bundesliga has kicked off and Bayern beat Team Volkswagen (Wolfsburg) 2-1.
Oh and Craig Bellamy is taking the piss down in the Championship with Cardiff City where he almost single handedly beat Doncaster 4-0. He scored a stunning free kick after having set up two of his teams goals earlier. He was one of the best players in the top flight last year and is only down there because he fell out with Roberto Mancini and isn't sexy enough for Man City (why sexiness is a criteria for a team that usually has Tevez and Adebayor up front is beyond me though).
If he can be arsed for the rest of year, Cardiff should get promoted with no problem whatsoever unless Man City are feeling generous and send another couple of players to the likes of Bristol and Scunthorpe.
And Newcastle have just hammered Aston Villa 6-0. I'm quite pleased to see them back in the Premiership and playing the way they currently are. They will get beaten by the top teams but results like this show that they can turn their home stadium into fortress. Teams never enjoyed going to St James' Park and don't think they will either after this result.
Well Mascharano refused to play this morning so he's likely to leave in the next few days. Ibrahimovic is also rumoured to join Milan (LOL). I had high hopes for Liverpool, but now they just got rid of Aquilani, Masch and maybe Kuyt. Why would you loan out your $18 million signing!!???!?!
Meanwhile Juventus are building a strong team. A lot of big teams were going after Krasic, Motta was the U21 captain, Bonucci is one of the best Italian defenders and now Aquilani. Meanwhile Inter havn't added anyone and got rid of Balotelli. Juventus may actually have a chance of winning this year.
Also Arsenal finnaly have another CB in Squallaci. But we still need a damn keeper!!
To save on how many ever million they pay him each year. Same logic as Barcelona being willing to loan out Ibrahimovic. Its ample clear that the players in question aren't fitting into the team system and few teams would shell out big bucks on guys who've not been in the best of form.
This way you save on his wages and at least if he gets back into form, you can either sell him off for a better fee or maybe try and bring him back into your team and hope he does better with more confidence.
And apart from that, mainly because Aquliani is shit.
Well it just makes them look incredibly stupid to buy them in the first place. At least if Aquilani stays at Liverpool, he may prove his worth like Theirry Henry at Barcelona. Since he went on loan, hes either going to fail again, further dropping his price, or succeed and do really well, wihc Juventus would just buy him for 2/3 of what Liverpool paid for him.
Well the buy-out clause at the end of the loan is never automatic and Liverpool will still retain right of refusal in case they want the player back, and similarly Juventus won't be forced to buy him if he's shit for them as well.
That apart, the draw for the Champions League just got made and other than Tottenham all the English clubs have got quite decent draws. Barcelona probably have the easiest draw of the lot and could afford to send out reserves for most their games. The group of death is by far the one with AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax and Auxerre.
Inter also have a reasonably difficult group but they should still advance quite comfortably as FC Twente and Werder Bremen have both lost some important people in the off-season.
So AC Milan seem to have found a few pennies lying around and have made the best of an odd transfer window by signing Ibrahimovic and Robinho. Both players were expensive contracts at their previous clubs and Don Berlusconi seems to have made both Barca and Man City offers they could not refuse because if someone told you this time last year that any team would be signing both Ibrahimovic and Robinho for about €40 million combined, you would be pissing yourself laughing. And the rumours coming out of those in the know are that Adidas may have helped bankroll the transfers because of the additional t-shirt sales these two players would generate.
Another club that seem to have done rather well for themselves are Schalke, who've signed both Raul and Huntelaar this summer and should be right up there competing for the Bundesliga along with Bayern and perhaps Wolfsburg.
I was a bit surprised that Man United didn't sign anyone else but knowing how Sir Alex operates, I wouldn't be surprised if he shells out a bit of money in January, just like when he signed Vidic and Evra a few years ago.
Yeah but then you read stories about whether they've spent £7.5 million on Bebe, so I'm probably not going to fall for that debt line. Especially since Rafael van der Vaart went for not that much more (although his wages would have been substantially higher).
Anyhow, if anyone has been following what is happening at Blackburn Rovers and thought that wasn't going to fail hard, you will be pleased to know that this Indian "businessman" who is worth a few billion has had his main Bahrain based company shut down for numerous violations and they've discovered a number of debts he left outstanding when he lived in the United Kingdom.
I find it pretty lulzy how most British clubs are basically whoring themselves for foreign money and failing hard in the process (Manchester United not excluded).
Oh and Liverpool may get taken over by the Royal Bank of Scotland if club doesn't repay the £240 or £250 million owed to the bank. If that happens, the British taxpayer will technically own the club. That should be fun.
Football/Soccer Thread 2010-11 Season
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