Okay so we’re just days away from the start of the new top flight Soccer season in the U.K. - basically speaking The Premiership is back up and running from Saturday.
Do you guys have interest in Soccer?
Ah well - Anyway let’s hope this season runs the entire way through as far as the topic goes.
Anyway here’s a list of all the clubs in the Premiership for the up and coming season:
Arsenal
Aston Villa
Birmingham City
Blackburn Rovers
Bolton
Charlton
Chelsea
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Leicester City
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Middlesbrough
Newcastle United
Southampton
Portsmouth
Tottenham Hotspurs
Wolverhampton
hmmm...there isn't any single team which has a clear dominance over the others. I think it will be a battle again between ManU and Arsenal. The remaining Champion's League spot will be fought out between Chelsea and Liverpool.
yeah, but Boro, spurs and newcastle can be tricky teams if they get their groove on..
and finally someone else decided to win teh charity shield..it was getting a lil bit predictable :)
It could be Newcastle's year, I will be rooting for Birmingham City, who have absolutely no chance of even coming close to winning the Premiership. Hope we beat Newcastle so I could put one over Xtreme.
I hope Chelsea does it well this season...they hype surrounding their shopping list was too much..anybody who is anybody was on their list..
Good to see topic kicks off with everyone’s predictions for their team. :k:
I support **Newcastle United. **
Here’s my predictions for the league:
Champions - Manchester United: I have a sneaking feeling that with Veron and Beckham both sold that United will have a bit of a hole in the middle (damn that sounds so wrong but you know what I mean) but if they do manage to sign Kleberson then they’ll have their squad back to its sual strength - Perhaps Sir Alec should change his formation slightly and instead of playing Paul Scholes of Ruud perhaps they should put Scholes back on the right hand-side of midfield and play Ole Gunner of Ruud - he has played quite well on the right too, though - If they sign Kleberson then they’ll be able to put him in on the right and let Scholes with as much freedom as he wishes. And now with Goalkeeper got the only one thing that Manchester United nead is a midfielder - I guess missing out on Ron is gonna come back to haunt them!
Runners Up - Arsenal: Even with United being short of a player or 2 they probably still have enough to take Arsenal on. Arsenal with their new Goalkeeper too have got problems up front - Henry is a great striker but there is nobody really o pair him - Dennis has got skill but no real pace or power - and the same for Kanu - a lot of trickery and skill on the ball but no real pace or power. And as for Jeffers well the less said about that moron the better - Arsenal need a new striker. Arsenal can probabably just about hold off Newcastle and Liverpool to take the second place - but it’ll be close.
Third I think will be Newcastle - who have one of the most talented set of players in Europe - Possibly a push for the title - and maybe a close run with Arsenal and Manchester United - maybe even surpass one of them?
The other huge battle will be the same that was on the final day of last season and in the opening day of this season - who will get that all important final Champions League place? I think that Chelsea’s side will take a long time to gel and even though they have a great set of individual players how will they function as a team? And with Liverpool having got Harry Kewell - I think they may just have the edge - that’ll be a close one.
As for the other European places well assuming there will just be the twp (that’s if no club above actually wins the Champions League or UEFA Cup etc etc…) then I think those two places will go to Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers with Spurs just missing out.
Relegation: Well I’m not really sure but the 3 team I’m gonna go for are:
Birmingham City
Wolves
and
Portsmouth
I think Fulham and Leeds will just about avoid the drop - though both will have pretty poor seasons - I think Bolton and Everton could be the surprise packages this season - and I think Bolton could well finish in the top 10 and Everton could have to settle for the bottom half of the table.
Chelsea could put a spanner in the works with the big-spending Russian transforming a tired outfit into serious contenders but I don't think a collection of superstars is going to make a league winning team. I'd go for Man U or Arsenal again because they just have a slight edge in quality in key areas over the rest. Liverpool will not finish in the top 4, Newcastle will storm into the Champions league again.
Did somebody mention Spurs? I think if they finish in the top half they should be happy with that.
toon army!!!!!!!!!! toon army all the way this season, we are getting our hands on some silver-ware this season, its one of thebest squads newcastle have had for a while all the players are fit and ready to emulate man utd and arsenal this season, inshallah...
Chelsea’s actual success and performances, well, it will be hard to tell - It will certainly take a while for them all to gel together - They have got an absolutely solid defence and a great set of Goalkeepers but don’t quite have the quality up the pitch - As much as Chelsea do have good (and even very good) players they don’t really have any great players who would sell above say 20 million or so like the other 4 (Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle and Liverpool) major clubs do - The likes of Glenn Johnson and Seva Veron were probably bought quite a bit higher than their actual value and the side is actually overcrowded in defence and in the middle as you have about 16 to 18 players to fill about 9 positions - but upfront is where you’re really lacking - you really need a top class striker - Arsenal have Thierry, Manchester United have Ruud, we (Newcastle) have Alan and Liverpool have Michael - you don’t have anyone of that calibre - If you do win the title then you really will have bought the league but if you do I doubt it’ll be yet!
I will hopefully be getting free illegal cable thanks to Teaser bhai in upcoming weeks, so I can get a chance to watch my favorite team Arsenal play.
ManU just lost Beckham, we'll see how that effects the team.
Its a bit off topic, but do you guys have to call it soccer. ITS FOOTBALL PEOPLE!!! I hate it when yanks start calling their own version football when the only footwork involved is kicking, the rest is all handwork. Another example being the new show on fox The O.C. PLEASE who the hell calls the place O.C
Man these ppl need to get a life
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by lunaticCalm: *
Its a bit off topic, but do you guys have to call it soccer. ITS FOOTBALL PEOPLE!!! I hate it when yanks start calling their own version football when the only footwork involved is kicking, the rest is all handwork. Another example being the new show on fox The O.C. PLEASE who the hell calls the place O.C
Man these ppl need to get a life
[/QUOTE]
True!
I heard Aussies now days are calling football soccer too.
They call rugby football.
Correct?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Mr Xtreme: *
Did somebody mention Spurs? I think if they finish in the top half they should be happy with that.
[/QUOTE]
as a true goooner, i hate spurs..but I think they are under rated and are not clicking..but they have the potential to make head tuirn this season..no it sntogoign to be the glory days of gazza and linekar, but a def improvment, there are a few overconfident teams out there ripe for pickign apart by a side that may rediscover itself.
with David Beckham to Real, and Juan Veron to Chelsea, i think English soccer has lost its only top level club. In recent years it was only ManU who could stand up against the biggies from Europe; and it would come as a big surprise to me if they can keep it that way with virtually their complete midfield been sold.
With Kleberson added to the midfield, and probably one more addition Man U will still be strong enough to compete in Europe and more than strong enough to win the Premiership. Beckham's loss will be felt more for his dead ball expertise, in open play he's quite ordinairy and players like Damien Duff offer far more threat.
Kleberson and (the portuguese) Ronaldo added to the team, even then i don't think in such a short period ManU cannot overhaul the departure of two key-players. If it was in defense or up front, it might have been possible, but in the heart of midfield it's another story.
They will win the Premiership, not cuz of their brilliance, but simple because the other teams aren't good enough. But I wonder if they can stand up against the likes of Real, Juventues, Milan...perhaps even Barca and Bayern???
They weren't good enough to dominate those teams before in any case but they will still be able to compete with them just like before. Real and Barca would be the most difficult opposition because of the high skill level of their players but the rest would be beatable.
any bets on who might become this season’s top scorer?
my money is on Ruud again :k:
Theiry Henry