General Chat / Premiership 07/08

Really anticipating the season. Probably more than any I can remember. Can't believe how many transfers there have been. Amazing.

Here's my prediction of how it's gonna stand:

1. Man Utd
2. Arsenal
3. Chelsea
4. Liverpool
5. Newcastle
6. Scum
7. Man City
8. Everton
9. West Ham
10. Portsmouth
11. Aston Villa
12. Blackburn
13. Bolton
14. Middlesborough
15. Sunderland
16. Reading
17. Birmingham
18. Wigan
19. Fulham
20. Derby

Anyone else?

oooh a premiership predictions thread!!! Sign up to the game I coded then... http://www.fiso.co.uk/games/pred ;-)

Arsenal 2nd? I don't think they'll make the top 4 personally, I really think they were a one man team. Even Fabregas will be far less effective without a decent pacy striker up front to aim at (unless Wenger has a flash of common sense and plays Walcott up top, which I doubt he will after the sale of Ljungberg).

I also predict Bolton will struggle big, big time without Big Sam (little sam's just not the same...)

So I reckon it will be...

1. Man Utd
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Tottenham
5. Arsenal
6. Portsmouth
7. Newcastle
8. Everton
9. Blackburn
10. West Ham
11. Aston Villa
12. Reading
13. Man City
14. Fulham
15. Sunderland
16. Bolton
17. Boro
18. (Police Chief) Wigan
19. Birmingham
20. Derby

1. Man U
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Tottenham
5. Arsenal
6. Newcastle
7. Portsmouth
8. Everton
9. Man City
10. Blackburn
11. Villa
12. Reading
13. West Ham
14. Sunderland
15. Fulham
16. Boro
17. Bolton
18. Wigan
19. Birmingham
20. Derby

Yeah i'm really looking forward to this season too. Although the money being spent on transfers is getting a little out of hand, everyone just wants to watch the best players play, so it's good for the Premiership.

1. Man United
2. Chelsea
3. Arsenal
4. Liverpool
5. Tottenham
6. Newcastle
7. Portsmouth
8. Everton
9. Man City
10. Blackburn
11. Aston Villa
12. West Ham
13. Middlesbrough
14. Reading
15. Sunderland
16. Bolton
17. Fulham
18. Birmingham
19. Wigan
20. Derby

C'mon guys, we all know that Tottenham have a decent side this year, but there's no way they'll get into the top 4, and if they do 'replace' any of those big teams it won't be Arsenal. Just because Henry has gone doesn't mean they'll fall apart. Some of the football they were playing pre season was immense. And on their day, they outclass any of the premiership teams.

Deano, last season arsenal pretty much didn't have henry, then lost our other best striker. Any other team would suffer the same as we did. Yet we still comfortably got the champions league spot with level point with liverpool. Consider, we have lost henry, who we pretty much didn't have last season anyway, and have got Van Persie back who will be vital this season. Then we have Eduardo, a natural goalscorer when last season we had Craptista. Not to mention each player is a year older with a year of experience, and then the solid Sagna who will interchange with Eboue and give us more options on the right, allowing Hled to play in the role he prospers in. Liverpool and Spurs may have signed loadsa players, and on the most part, the signings generally seem to be good, but players always need time to adapt to the premiership, so they can't rely on any of them (even Torres) being amazing at the beginning. Even if 50% get accustomed to the premiership straight away, 50% of them would take time to gel in, which can end in poor results early on. Chelsea I think are under too much pressure and the leadership it has is detrimental to them in my opinion. Also, Man U pretty much have the same squad as last year, with assured signings Tevez and Hargreaves to provide more options. Nani and Anderson can provide backup and have time to gel into the team before they become regulars. They have definately had the best transfer season.

^ Seriously, you need to hang on to Eboue, he's immense.

Man U seems to have this year handed to them....the rest of the top 5 could be interesting.

I think the top 5 will be....
Man U
Chelsea
Liverpool
Portsmouth
Arsenal

I wouldnt be surprised if Man U has it wrapped up with a good few games remaining in the season....they improved more than any other top team with transfers, were best last year, and have young players who only seem to continually improve greatly.

I like sipping the Spurs tea...it's their year to break the top 4 if they want to keep berbatov interested with champions league football, so there's some extra desire to win. And I wouldn't use pre-season play as a basis for how good a team will perform in the Premiership. It's a much different stage with much harsher consequences.

The spurs are kings of dissapointment...I dont see any reason for that to change any time soon. I expect them to finish somewhere in the 6-8 range.

Well, they lost to Sunderland today, so they've still got a lot of work to do.

Man U seems to have this year handed to them....the rest of the top 5 could be interesting.

I think the top 5 will be....
Man U
Chelsea
Liverpool
Portsmouth
Arsenal

I wouldnt be surprised if Man U has it wrapped up with a good few games remaining in the season....they improved more than any other top team with transfers, were best last year, and have young players who only seem to continually improve greatly.

Portsmouth? Seriously?

Anyway. I expect Reading to win it all.

1. Man U
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Chelsea
5. Newcastle
6. Tottenham
7. Man City
8. Everton
9. Blackburn
10. Aston Villa
11. Boro
12. Portsmouth
13. West Ham
14. Birmingham
15. Reading
16. Fulham
17. Bolton
18. Sunderland
19.Wigan
20. Derby

I personally think Arsenal are going to come 2nd too, although i would love for them to win but Man U are a force to be reckoned with. The class of Van Persie and Eduardo together should be brilliant (and should easily give us a win against Fulham today). I would have put tottenham higher but if they are as good as they were 'predicted' (The "fantastic four"), then they would have beated Sunderland yesterday but they weren't all that fantastic at all.
I don't think Chelsea are going to do anything special this season, its just gonna be the usual Drogba Drogba Drogba (Lampards losing his touch and Terrys injured).
One thing that has annoyed me this season is how greedy Man U are being, i mean they won the league last year but still added many more players to the squad this season..whats the point in that? They sold Smith because he wouldn't have got a game but surely the new players will be in the same position as he would have been in? Not only that but they fielded 2 seperate teams in 2 seperate games in the pre-season friendlys and slaughtered both opponents. Greedy.

Anyway, Cmon the Arsenal!

Edited by Marshy, 12 August 2007 - 04:55 AM.

One thing that has annoyed me this season is how greedy Man U are being, i mean they won the league last year but still added many more players to the squad this season..whats the point in that?

BECAUSE THEY'RE THE ANTI-CHRIST

Anyway. I laughed when eman put Pompey in his top 5 but then I realized that they've probably got the deepest squad outside of Man U and Chelsea. So I put them at 7.

1. Man Utd
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Arsenal
5. Everton
6. Portsmouth
7. Tottenham
8. Newcastle
9. West Ham
10. Aston Villa
11. Reading
12. Manchester City
13. Blackburn
14. Fulham
15. Bolton
16. Middlesbrough
17. Birmingham
18. Wigan
19. Sunderland
20. Derby

You know I hate to wish injury upon anyone, but I can't say I feel too bad for Wayne Rooney right now.
;
And a scoreless Man Utd-Reading draw at Old Trafford just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Attaboy Marcus Hahnemann.

Yeah, i cant believe Reading managed to defend for a whole 90mins.

And just to clarify;

Fulham 1 - 2 Arsenal

Healy '1 (Ful)
Van Persie (Pen) '84 (Ars)
Hleb '90 (Ars)

Chelsea 3 - 2 Birmingham

Forsell '15 (Birm)
Pizarro '17 (Chel)
Malouda '31 (Chel)
Kapo '36 (Birm)
Essien '50 (Chel)

Man U 0 - 0 Reading


A good day for everybody except Man U fans.

Jens Lehman, world class.

Shame for Man U and Rooney, but I still expect them to be the top team. Things should be interesting now though, this definitely makes for more parity. And yep Jelly, I think Pompey has a good shot at 4th, they are very deep and have solid players throughout...theyll be a force to be reckoned with to say the least.

It's kind of shitty when the only time other teams have a shot at the title is when the top 2 get whacked by the injury bug.

But I'll take it.

Chelsea
Man Utd
Liverpool
Arsenal
Newcastle
Spurs
Man City

Derby, Brum, and Wigan to go down.

I don't think Man Utd will be as lucky with injuries as they were last year, which was a major factor for them in securing the title. They already have Rooney and Saha out (I happen to rate Saha very highly, I think United played their best football last year with him in the side) and we saw what happened when Ferdinand was injured. I expect Ballack and Shevchenko to find their footing in the Premiership this season, and Diarra and especially Obi Mikel Jon or whatever his name is appear to be coming along nicely. Sidwell has not looked out of place in preseason, surprisingly, and it appears Mourinho is finally getting the best out of SWP. Malouda has fit in immediately and has produced some very good performances already, could be the signing of the summer. I do believe Chelsea have the best squad in the PL on paper by far, but it'll be interesting to see how they perform. I expect Liverpool to finish third again, but closer to the top 2 this time around. I don't think Rafa's the manager that can win them the PL, though they should go far in Europe yet again. Arsenal will be well off the pace of the top 3, and if they lose van Persie again, they're pretty much fucked. Spurs at 6th is optimistic, as good as Berbatov and Keane are, their midfield looks like it will have trouble creating anything and the defence looks weak again.

Derby going down is pretty much a certainty, I can't remember the last time we saw a Premiership squad as weak as theirs.

Ah but that's all changed with the addition of BENNY FEILHABER!!!

Just kidding. Poor Derby. They even got a shitty kit from two years ago from Adidas. I feel bad for them.