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Post by kingcrawler on Aug 6, 2015 19:31:24 GMT -5
norwich might have the most top flight experience, i just meant on paper they look the weakest of the promoted clubs (to me anyway)...or maybe im being bias because i like watford & bournemouth more? i think southampton will compete in the same vein as the last two seasons aswell, but damn, how many times can they lose their core and bounce back?! it puts the top 4's efforts at rebuilding to shame... i remember when big sam said if he were in charge of r.madrid he would win everything, every season. thats a joke, but i almost believe koeman could actually manage it. id prefer sunderland and maybe palace to go down. and i thought villa started playing alright towards the end. again i may be bias due to me liking sherwood... I dunno about their squad being the weakest, wouldn't say it's any weaker than the other two and on paper I'd argue it's stronger. They maybe lack a quality striker though. Yeah fair enough on Villa, swap them for West Ham instead.
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Post by Beady’s Here Now on Aug 6, 2015 19:46:18 GMT -5
I actually do think Arsenal will do it this year. Chelsea still have the better squad, but Chelsea implode often in environments like this.
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Post by sgtpeppr on Aug 6, 2015 19:54:24 GMT -5
norwich might have the most top flight experience, i just meant on paper they look the weakest of the promoted clubs (to me anyway)...or maybe im being bias because i like watford & bournemouth more? i think southampton will compete in the same vein as the last two seasons aswell, but damn, how many times can they lose their core and bounce back?! it puts the top 4's efforts at rebuilding to shame... i remember when big sam said if he were in charge of r.madrid he would win everything, every season. thats a joke, but i almost believe koeman could actually manage it. id prefer sunderland and maybe palace to go down. and i thought villa started playing alright towards the end. again i may be bias due to me liking sherwood... I dunno about their squad being the weakest, wouldn't say it's any weaker than the other two and on paper I'd argue it's stronger. They maybe lack a quality striker though. Yeah fair enough on Villa, swap them for West Ham instead. hmmm, maybe ive just heard of more players from the other two teams? i'll admit i dont really watch the championship, so im coming in semi-blind regarding the new boys. and considering i support west ham, i would definitely prefer villa to go down. the hammers are strong enough to stay up tho and for the first time in a while, im happy with the couple of buys they made...not to mention big sam is finally gone!
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Post by kingcrawler on Aug 7, 2015 3:03:47 GMT -5
I dunno about their squad being the weakest, wouldn't say it's any weaker than the other two and on paper I'd argue it's stronger. They maybe lack a quality striker though. Yeah fair enough on Villa, swap them for West Ham instead. hmmm, maybe ive just heard of more players from the other two teams? i'll admit i dont really watch the championship, so im coming in semi-blind regarding the new boys. and considering i support west ham, i would definitely prefer villa to go down. the hammers are strong enough to stay up tho and for the first time in a while, im happy with the couple of buys they made...not to mention big sam is finally gone! I dunno, I'd say I've heard of more of Norwich's squad so I guess it just depends on that. Hopefully all three add something new to the league though. Ah, sorry about that! Yeah I reckon West Ham will be safe too. What did you make of their Europa League campaign? Personally I think they should have played the first team, at least in the qualifiers. When are West Ham going to be in Europe again? May as well give it a go while they're in it.
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Post by defmaybe00 on Aug 7, 2015 6:49:50 GMT -5
yeah, thats a blow. i hope they stay up tho. developed a soft spot for them during their comeback last season... i predict norwich will have the toughest time out of the new teams. and im quietly thinking villa could be a bit of a dark horse aswell. wouldnt mind seeing watford and bournemouth stick around either. the biggest question for me tho, is will southampton come through yet another re-vamp and be competitive again? if they do, the koeman may become my favorite manager in england. Schneiderlin is a big big loss, as Alderweireld (he's gone right?) and Clyne are, but all the guys they've added are good and fit well with the squad and their style of play, plus Jay Rod is back and key guys like Pellè and Tadic now have got a year of experience in the league (same for Koeman actually), while last year the biggest question mark about them was if they were going to be able to adapt to English football or not The only problem for them could be Forster's injury, unless Stekelenburg comes back to Ajax form
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Post by Greedy's Mighty Sigh on Aug 7, 2015 6:52:37 GMT -5
i hope west ham go down and never come back
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Post by Beady’s Here Now on Aug 7, 2015 10:44:10 GMT -5
I truly wish all the games would kick off on Saturday at the exact same time (as they do on the last day of the season). But this wouldn't be good business, so alas it doesn't happen.
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Post by MG on Aug 7, 2015 10:52:14 GMT -5
I truly wish all the games would kick off on Saturday at the exact same time (as they do on the last day of the season). But this wouldn't be good business, so alas it doesn't happen. And yet you stated Sky was the best thing to happen to football
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Post by sgtpeppr on Aug 7, 2015 11:18:13 GMT -5
forget saturdays for a minute, this is the season theyve brought back friday night matches. great for TV (i guess?), but could become a little ridiculous for teams playing in UCL/europa. first one is united vs villa next week. as with most change, im against this new scheduling system...
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Post by Beady’s Here Now on Aug 7, 2015 11:55:53 GMT -5
forget saturdays for a minute, this is the season theyve brought back friday night matches. great for TV (i guess?), but could become a little ridiculous for teams playing in UCL/europa. first one is united vs villa next week. as with most change, im against this new scheduling system... Not a fan of Friday matches. Fuck that.
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Post by ManofMisery on Aug 7, 2015 16:41:04 GMT -5
Benzema to Arsenal looking very likely. Multiple journo's on twitter talking about it but more telling is skybet have cut odds from 8/1 on Wednesday to 5/6 tonight. COMON WENGER...JUST DO IT.
Arsenal look like the favourites to me...feeling very confident about this year but i also felt good about Kilmarnocks season bit we got humped 4-0 on the opening day from dundee so you know...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2015 16:42:35 GMT -5
Gotta think chelsea and city are still favorites , arse always seem a dollar late and a day short lately
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Post by Beady’s Here Now on Aug 7, 2015 16:51:29 GMT -5
Gotta think chelsea and city are still favorites , arse always seem a dollar late and a day short lately Citeh were very lucky to finish 2nd last season. And Sterling for 50m? 'the fuck?
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Post by ManofMisery on Aug 7, 2015 17:00:18 GMT -5
I think Arsenal and more importantly Arsene Wenger has realised that he can't play the 'Arsenal way' vs teams like Chelsea, City, United because they play too high up the pitch and had no-one protecting the back 4. Coquelin has added that much neede protection and they have shown an ability to win ugly as shown v Chelsea. I wish they would add another solid DM but looking unlikely. Also Sanchez is a player that will provide moments of class required to win tight matches. I always look at the middle of the team to see how strong they look and Cech, Kos, Mert, Coq, Ramsey, Cazorla, Giroud, Benzema etc looks like title winners to me.
I see Arsenal, chelsea, man u contending and City a good 10-15 points off.
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Post by kingcrawler on Aug 7, 2015 17:42:58 GMT -5
I think Arsenal and more importantly Arsene Wenger has realised that he can't play the 'Arsenal way' vs teams like Chelsea, City, United because they play too high up the pitch and had no-one protecting the back 4. Coquelin has added that much neede protection and they have shown an ability to win ugly as shown v Chelsea. I wish they would add another solid DM but looking unlikely. Also Sanchez is a player that will provide moments of class required to win tight matches. I always look at the middle of the team to see how strong they look and Cech, Kos, Mert, Coq, Ramsey, Cazorla, Giroud, Benzema etc looks like title winners to me. I see Arsenal, chelsea, man u contending and City a good 10-15 points off. I reckon United will be closer to City than the other two but apart from that I agree with everything you've said. If Arsenal get Benzema then it'll be hard to look past them for me. Chelsea probably have a slightly better starting 11 but Arsenal have much better depth and bringing in Benzema will only add to that. I hope Arsenal do win the league, I really like Arsene Wenger as a manager and it'd be nice to see him win the league again to prove the 'Wenger Out' brigade wrong.
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Post by defmaybe00 on Aug 7, 2015 20:50:16 GMT -5
I think people are overlooking City a little bit
Hart has been unbelievable in the second part of last season, and I've always rated him despite the 3 or 4 mistakes he makes every year Right back and left back are there, hopefully Pellegrini doesn't randomly decide to play Sagna over Zabaleta Kompany hasn't been healthy for a big part of last season and it looks like he's back, that's something many are not considering They still need another centre back 'cause Demichelis is old and Mangala isn't good enough, Denayer might be a pleasant surprise though, he looks incredibly promising Midfield is a question mark, Fernando and Fernandinho are good and solid but not great, if Yaya comes back to form they're enough, and the fact there's no African Cup to play this year is certainly a positive Delph is alright but he's gonna take the Milner role at best I'm quite optimistic about Sterling, he's not worth all those money, but he looks like the kind of player who can be devastating if he's got space in front of him and don't have to carry all the load, and that's what going to happen playing with the likes of Silva, Nasri and hopefully a healthy Aguero The only problem could be, as Noel said too, that when they're still fighting for something if Pellegrini knows he's going and the players know it as well they could kind of slow down a bit and let it all go, but him renewing his contract seems reassuring in that sense
Arsenal would make a big step forward if they're able to sign Benzema, and I'm saying that as a Giroud fan myself Health could an issue as it's been in the past years, and they need a CB too, even though I think Chambers is one of the most promising defenders in the league They look like they want it this year
Chelsea are Chelsea and I still see them as favourites, but I think Mou's gonna try to win the Champions League this year and fatigue could catch up with them in the end Plus I'm not sure Terry will be able to replicate last season's play Their defensive system, and the fact that their core is made of the best GK, 4 of the best defenders, one of the best midfielders, arguably the best attacking midfielder and one of the best strikers in the league make them the team to beat
UTD won't go anywhere till Van Gaal realises they can't fucking play with Smalling or Phil Jones leading the defense
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Post by sgtpeppr on Aug 8, 2015 5:06:57 GMT -5
^^ i pretty much agree with the above. city are probably still chelsea's biggest threat. arsenal have the core squad to make a real run at it this season, but they never cope with the inevitable injuries. the bench is already looking kinda sad with injuries, so when walcott or ozil or ramsey or all of them end up in the physio room, straight away theres no cover. arsene really needs another DM and a striker...theyre already down to one of each. theo dont count and coquelin at least needs some better back-up. arteta was never the right guy. i guess one bit of good news for arsenal fans is that theyll never again have to go through the ordeal of diaby stubbing his toe or whatever in warm-up and being out for another 6 months. altho, in my opinion, he was the best DM in england when he was fit...that one time. united wont challenge. they should be happy with UCL again if they can manage it. i really dont think LVG is gonna make anything happen with his time in manchester. he goes on about his 'philosophy' but as far as i can tell that consists of throwing money around with no real thought towards the end team and playing his squad consistently out of positions. all the while failing to get his players to react to this 'philosophy'. last season it was all about getting in as many left sided players as he could for whatever reason. this time around hes decided to stack up the DM spot five players high?! and thats still no guarantee we wont see rooney back there at some point and maybe have schweinsteiger up front, why not? even with depay playing out of position, hes got a striker shortage. hes not even gonna give de gea a farewell game. their best player?! too risky he says. so naturally hes bypassing second choice (the one that he bought specifically as back-up), and he'll play it safe and call up a 22 year old 5th string keeper. thats an assumption on my behalf tho i guess because i read romero wasnt going to get the nod? long story short: chelsea with back to back titles while arsenal and city fight for the first loser spot.
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Post by Beady’s Here Now on Aug 8, 2015 7:40:42 GMT -5
Despite our predictions, what makes the league so interesting is its unpredictability (bar last season, which was just terrible). I love all the subplots that develop, throughout.
Hoping the Swans can do summat today.
Oh, and almost 20 years later this is still the best advert ever. It's good to be back.
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Post by ManofMisery on Aug 8, 2015 8:29:43 GMT -5
Man Utd as dull as ever.
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Post by matt on Aug 8, 2015 9:13:28 GMT -5
Thoughts for this season?
Trying to avoid anything with that fecking arsehole Alan Shearer for the next nine months.
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Post by Manualex on Aug 8, 2015 9:29:32 GMT -5
But, they are top of the league.
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Post by matt on Aug 8, 2015 9:32:52 GMT -5
But, they are top of the league. Nope, that will be Leicester! Ranieri the Tinkerman is back in the Premiership with a bang.
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Post by Gin & Tonic on Aug 8, 2015 9:50:59 GMT -5
I actually do think Arsenal will do it this year. Chelsea still have the better squad, but Chelsea implode often in environments like this.Arsenal are of course well known for not crumbling when they have a chance of winning the title (especially in recent seasons). Chelsea Man City Arsenal Man Utd
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Post by ManofMisery on Aug 8, 2015 10:03:01 GMT -5
But, they are top of the league. I can confidently say that'll be the only time this season
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Post by Beady’s Here Now on Aug 8, 2015 10:47:30 GMT -5
But, they are top of the league. Nope, that will be Leicester! Ranieri the Tinkerman is back in the Premiership with a bang. Where did Nigel Pearson fuck off to?
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