Premiership discussion August 11th/12th 2007

Grim Reaper wrote:Nope

hardly go there..

is he a WUM?

Roll up, roll up

On the new Premier League season, and predictions for the battles in all areas of the table.

Paul Wilson
August 5, 2007 1:11 AM

It's back, bigger and badder than ever, and this season the Premier League is boldly going beyond parody.

It is customary at this time of year to mention that returning English football is over-hyped, over-paid, over-exposed and excessively litigious, but that was just last season. Most sports are going to look a little vulgar when set against genteel pursuits such as cricket and golf, yet the new Premier League season is lining up to be more garish than a fully lit fairground, complete (obviously) with runaway roller coaster.

Ride on the ghost train, anyone? Here's Noppadon Pattama, Thaksin Shinawatra's Bangkok-based lawyer, explaining why his boss is an ideal person to take over Manchester City: 'There has never been a proper probe. His Excellency has never ordered any official to kill anyone.'

Great. Say what you like about Peter Swales, and plenty did, but he never had to defend himself to Human Rights Watch.

Moving swiftly on, here's that out-of-control, claret-and-blue roller coaster. It cannot stop, because once you have agreed to pay Lucas Neill £70k a week then clearly you must have loads of money for Craig Bellamy and Freddie Ljungberg, and the Hammers are afraid to try the brakes for even a moment for fear of the loud squealing noise that would come from Sheffield United.

Into the hall of mirrors, and Rafa Benitez must be looking at a particularly distorted reflection each morning if he fancies himself with that goatee. In terms of delivering the title, that is. No manager with distracting facial hair has ever won the Premier League, and, although no betting exchange is offering odds on the prospect, it is highly unlikely the rule will be broken. Benitez has spent big but mostly on strikers. He cannot play them all, and he will need to find his most potent formation quickly, and stick to it, to propel Liverpool into title contention. Being Benitez, sticking to a line-up might prove the problem.

The role of traditional strongman is played by Martin Jol - see how many midfielders he can pick up at once - and this is the season Spurs are supposed to test their strength against weak and puny Arsenal.

Spurs certainly look strong. They have not only kept their best players but signed a few more useful ones. Whether Arsenal turn out to be the stooges everyone seems to expect is one of the season's most intriguing questions.

It might not be all doom and gloom post-Thierry Henry. Arsene Wenger is still an astute and experienced manager and Arsenal spent most of last season learning to cope without Henry. The Gunners could be this season's dark horses, a position they would undoubtedly enjoy, and if Tottenham are to make inroads it might have to be at the expense of Liverpool or Chelsea.

Which will not be easy. Nor will wresting the title from a Manchester United pumped up by the additions of Owen Hargreaves and Carlos Tevez, and still threatening to produce even more from Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney than we saw last season.

Making a forecast is most difficult of all. On the face of it, if United were stronger than Chelsea last season they should be stronger still now - they have brought in more players and their average age is younger. But you never know whether Rooney and Tevez will form an unstoppable goal machine or get in each other's way. Supposing Andriy Shevchenko starts rattling them in at Stamford Bridge, or Fernando Torres proves an instant hit at Anfield?

After being widely derided last season for unwisely suggesting United might not score enough goals and Reading would go straight back down, I intend to be much more cautious with my predictions this time.

Please be sparing with the hate mail if I happen to get a few things wrong. There has never been a proper probe. This is only football and, though I don't have a Bangkok-based lawyer to vouch for me, I promise I never had anyone killed.

Crystal Paul

1 Manchester United to win title by large margin

2 Liverpool to come second, followed by Chelsea and Arsenal. The usual top four, in other words. Spurs make a faltering start, and take too long to recover

3 Sunderland to finish higher than Newcastle and Middlesbrough

4 West Ham to finish above Aston Villa, Bolton, Everton and Reading

5 Manchester City to occupy a relegation position at some stage of the season, without actually going down

6 Birmingham, Bolton, Derby, Fulham, Manchester City, Middlesbrough and Wigan to be most worried about relegation

7 Bolton, Derby and Fulham to form bottom three

8 Alex Ferguson to retire and Jose Mourinho to leave Chelsea at end of season

9 Craig Bellamy to have a bust-up at West Ham and end up at Portsmouth

10 Chelsea to reach European Cup final instead of Liverpool

11 Rafa Benitez beard rethink by Christmas

12 Sven-Goran Eriksson steps out with Coronation Street's Carla Connor

blutgraetsche wrote:3 Sunderland to finish higher than Newcastle and Middlesbrough

Luis wrote:Hmmm, you see I'm entirely for the first team, I think the latter team is just too similar to last seasons teams that struggled away, I don't see how that's going to break defences down any better than the team from last season, IMO the first is more adventurous, pacier and will give players more freedom, especially Gerrard, I think Pennant can do a better job away from home down the right than Gerrard, Kuyt needs to start scoring goals, because although he does work hard, if he's missing chance after chance then we need to change it, I wouldn't be against playing Voronin with Torres as I think he'll keep the ball better and hold it up for interchanges down the flanks

Raifael wrote:Captain Neville could return (if not Brown could play as the RB) , Hargreaves + Tevez could make their Premiership debuts , no Scholes so a Carrick + Hargreaves in midfield with Nani/Giggs and Ronaldo.

maybe ?

van der Sar ; Neville , Rio , Vidic , Evra ; Carrick , Hargreaves , Nani/Giggs , Ronaldo ; Tevez , Rooney

Zack_thfc wrote:Expected Sunderland Line-up.........

------------------Robinson--------------------

Chimby-----Dawson------Kaboul-----Bale-----------

Lennon-------Jenas----Zokora-----Malbranque---------

---------------Keane-----Berby...............


Or my line-up and Jol might go for it.....


------------------Robbo---------------------

Chimby------Dawson----Kaboul-------Bale-------------

-----------------Huddlestone/Zokora---------------------

--Lennon---------Jenas--------------Keane---------------

------------Bent---------Bertatov---------------------

Subs: Cerny,Defoe,Taarbt,Boetang,Rocha

Football Genius wrote:

Luis wrote:Hmmm, you see I'm entirely for the first team, I think the latter team is just too similar to last seasons teams that struggled away, I don't see how that's going to break defences down any better than the team from last season, IMO the first is more adventurous, pacier and will give players more freedom, especially Gerrard, I think Pennant can do a better job away from home down the right than Gerrard, Kuyt needs to start scoring goals, because although he does work hard, if he's missing chance after chance then we need to change it, I wouldn't be against playing Voronin with Torres as I think he'll keep the ball better and hold it up for interchanges down the flanks

Benitez has indicated that Gerrard will be considered in a more central role this season, quoting something like 'we have enough wingers now'

Controversy wrote:

Zack_thfc wrote:Expected Sunderland Line-up.........

------------------Robinson--------------------

Chimby-----Dawson------Kaboul-----Lee-young-----------

Tainio-------Jenas----Zokora-----Malbranque---------

---------------Keane-----Berby...............


Or my line-up and Jol might go for it.....


------------------Robbo---------------------

Chimby------Dawson----Kaboul-------Lee-------------

-----------------Huddlestone/Zokora---------------------

--Tainio---------Jenas--------------Keane---------------

------------Bent---------Bertatov---------------------

Subs: Cerny,Defoe,Taarbt,Boetang,Rocha

So fantasy football lies that Bale/Lennon have injuries?

Parks lives wrote:Really against the lesser sides in the league you should be able to beat them with Mascherano and Gerrard in the middle and then two wingers. Leave Alonso for the games you need to dicate the midfield.

Roger Hunt wrote:Absolutely. If Gerrard's going to play in the centre and score he's much better off with 2 strikers in front of him. That'll peel defenders away and give him the space to run from deep. He can do a Lampard and shoot from knockdowns from the strikers, or carry the ball from midfield for long-range shots.

Football Genius wrote:

Parks lives wrote:Really against the lesser sides in the league you should be able to beat them with Mascherano and Gerrard in the middle and then two wingers. Leave Alonso for the games you need to dicate the midfield.

Thats what i've been saying for a while now, Gerrard has scored 3 times from the centre this pre-season in part of a 4man midfield.

I'm pleased, i've said for a long time that is where i like to see him play.

COTR wrote: The fight is on for alonso and mascha to play with gerrard.

Roger Hunt wrote:

COTR wrote: The fight is on for alonso and mascha to play with gerrard.

As fights go that is Tyson v Harrison. Who on earth would put Alonso as single holding midfielder ahead of Mascherano? Xabi can't tackle, he'd get more yellow cards than Scholes.

Mascherano is like Alonso and Sissoko in one person, for less money than either

Roger Hunt wrote:

COTR wrote: The fight is on for alonso and mascha to play with gerrard.

As fights go that is Tyson v Harrison. Who on earth would put Alonso as single holding midfielder ahead of Mascherano? Xabi can't tackle, he'd get more yellow cards than Scholes.

Mascherano is like Alonso and Sissoko in one person, for less money than either

Di Canio Is A God wrote:Woo, just found out that Thursday at 2:00am they're showing the West Ham Bolton match from the end of the season, so I think I'm going to be staying up watch, atleast for the first three goals.

Riviera wrote:

Di Canio Is A God wrote:Woo, just found out that Thursday at 2:00am they're showing the West Ham Bolton match from the end of the season, so I think I'm going to be staying up watch, atleast for the first three goals.

haha, it's good when you know the score isn't it?

Freddie Ljungberg wrote:

Riviera wrote:

Di Canio Is A God wrote:Woo, just found out that Thursday at 2:00am they're showing the West Ham Bolton match from the end of the season, so I think I'm going to be staying up watch, atleast for the first three goals.

haha, it's good when you know the score isn't it?

Yeah...a bit like when we're playing Arsenal.