Predict the Premiership 08-09

estebancambias

DSB did you just say Sidwell is better than Diarra or did I read it wrong?

evad_lhorg

I have to be honest, I dont think United will win it. Its the curse of that stupid world club championship that will ruin us.

I think Arsenal or Chelsea but Id like to see Chelsea just implode with all their new stars

MementoMori

Manchester United

While I think it's still a little early to be making predictions for 2008/2009, given it's a month to go before the season starts, I may as well throw so random hostages to fortune out there.

I'm going to predict a Liverpool win - but then I'm slightly biased. I think if we sign Keane (as I believe is very likely) and we can get a decent left-sided attacking player (best guess atm is Downing imo) we have a squad who can genuinely challenge for the League. What can I say I'm an optimist.:p

Man Utd in my eyes are the main challengers. However a lot depends on if Ronaldo stays and if they sign Berbatov. I think the loss of Quieroz could be significant. Even if Ronaldo stays I can see there being problems in the squad with him.

Chelsea 3rd - I just don't know if Scolari will be able to get the squad working together for a full season. Also a lot depends on whether Lampard stays or goes. I think Drogba will probably stay but I can see there being discord in the camp. I think they will be there or there about but can see them dropping points to the lower teams. Given the squad they probably should be challenging but I just dont think Scolari will be able to do it and I don't think the atmosphere will be right. I can see their defence being a weakness.

Arsenal - I'm tipping them for fourth. Given they have the easiest start of the big four I can see them potentially being up at the top of the table early on but I just cant see them being there come the end of the season. Seems to be a slightly unbalanced squad in a sense. Be interesting to see what the squad looks like when the window finally closes.

Portsmouth - Fifth - I like the look of the squad assembled by Harry and expect Fratton Park to be a spot where some of the top four drop points. Expect big things from Crouch and Defoe.

Spurs - I have no idea what Ramos is up to at the Lane but I'm expecting a big signing up front if they let Keane and Berbatov go. Defensively - if any of their first choice picks up an injury the backup is a long way down in terms of quality. Can't see King and Woodgate lasting too long. I think that yet again the rollercoaster will continue at WHL - just not sure which way it will go and where they will end up. Be just like them to win the FA Cup.

Blackburn - I think if Bentley goes he'll be a big loss. I think Santa Cruz will stay. I think Ince has a lot to live up to match up to Sparky. Very limited funds to work with.

Man City - I can see them ok for a while but I think it might be next season before they really get a chance to perform - I don't think the current squad matches Sparky's ideal idea of a squad by a long way. Don't think there is much he could do this summer with Sven having signed so many players last season. Good players but intersting to see how they will perform - can see them potential pulling off upsets against Big Four teams.

Aston Villa - I think Barry will still be with them. Given the team seems to be all about togetherness before I can see the decision to hang on to Barry backfiring badly. I think the small squad size will catch up with them this year - I expect an injury or two to cause major problems.

Everton - I think they will flatter to decive. No new players in and not much chance of any. Moyes has done wonders with what he has. Don't know if he can continue to do so for another season.

Newcastle - I don't think Keegan has gotten any wiser than he was in his last stint as manager. Given they are apparently tried to cut wages and flog players I can see there being trouble. Defensive chaos to continue up north.

West Ham - looking at their squad it's quite decent but I think it's a case of less a sum of their parts. I don't think Curbishley is the man to manage them to glory. A lot of bling bling players.

Boro, Bolton, Sunderland, Wigan, Fulham, West Brom, Stoke, Hull - The bottom eight - not sure in which order but I expect these teams to be the team down there battling relegation all season long. I think you could well make a case of their being almost three mini-divisions in the PL - a top four in the PL, the mid-level teams and the bottom eight. Given the amount of money on offer in the CL I can see the gap between the top four and the rest getting wider this season. The teams that came up are the most likely to go down but the rest really don't impress me.

DSB

estebancambias wrote: »

DSB did you just say Sidwell is better than Diarra or did I read it wrong?

He showed more at Reading than Diarra has anywhere imo. Chelsea valued him higher too if i remember correctly

CHD

Liverpool

DSB wrote: »

He showed more at Reading than Diarra has anywhere imo. Chelsea valued him higher too if i remember correctly

Guarantee you have hardly seen them play and only go on what you ave seen on highlights on the premiership on RTE or something.

DSB

CHD wrote: »

Guarantee you have hardly seen them play and only go on what you ave seen on highlights on the premiership on RTE or something.

Oh lord. What a ridiculous assumption. I can assure you I have seen plenty of both anyway.

Bounty Hunter

well id rate Diarra above Sidwell buh hope Steve proves me wrong at VP this season. not the same anyway if Diarra was a Villa player he would occupy NRC's role not the role sidwell has been brought in to play.

Mezcita

Pompey to do well this season. Their form only drifted off towards the end of last season once they knew they had an easy final against Cardiff. Their first eleven is now very good. I'd worry if they started getting a few injuries though.

Oh and Diarra is miles better than Sidwell.

Fratton Fred

Mezcita wrote: »

Pompey to do well this season. Their form only drifted off towards the end of last season once they knew they had an easy final against Cardiff. Their first eleven is now very good. I'd worry if they started getting a few injuries though.

Oh and Diarra is miles better than Sidwell.

We dropped about ten points last season because we couldn't win games at home. we had far too many draws and scored way too few goals. Defoe changed that a bit and I expect crouch to make a massive difference. If Nugent finds his form and Kanu carries on the same then I expect a league position better than last years.

This season will be strange for us though, having a better season than the last one is unimaginable, unless we do well in europe.

It will be interesting to see how we start, playing Man u three times in a month should show if we have improved or not.

Fratton Fred

DSB wrote: »

Most top 10 sides have a centre back better than Campbell and Distin, a fullback better than Johnson, a centre mid better than Diarra and at least 1 striker better than Defoe and Crouch.

I think Campbell/Distin is the best CB pairing outside of the top four or at least I can't think of any pairing I would rather have. I can't think of any right back I would rather have than Johnson as well, who I expect to make the England spot his own this year. He went through a dodgy patch at Chelsea, but he's playing with a lot more confidence these days.

Defoe and Crouch, goals per minute played last season are both pretty prolific as well. It will be interesting to see if they can keep it up.

Don't underestimate us, although our biggest problem will be injuries if we want to make a top 6 finish, especially with a EUFA campaign.

Xavi6

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I think Campbell/Distin is the best CB pairing outside of the top four

Dunne and Richards are better, with Samba and Nelsen not too far off either.

Spurs will be good at centre half this year too if Woodgate stays fit.

Spud83

Lads the competition is to pick the results every week not to predict the finishing order of the premiership.

Fratton Fred

Xavi6 wrote: »

Dunne and Richards are better, with Samba and Nelsen not too far off either.

Spurs will be good at centre half this year too if Woodgate stays fit.

You only half quoted me there, I agree they are excellent parings, but I wouldn't want to change what we have, because it works well.

21 times last season we scored first, 21 times we won. that's a big credit to the defence in my book. Sol started to look his age a bit last year, but his leadership qualities are superb. Interesting to see if we get Kaboul from Spurs, we have made a bid.

Xavi6

Would you really want Kaboul? He looked like a major donkey to me last season. A serious long ball merchant from the back if ever I saw one.

Fratton Fred

Xavi6 wrote: »

Would you really want Kaboul? He looked like a major donkey to me last season. A serious long ball merchant from the back if ever I saw one.

I was surprised we are in for him, I would have much rather had Dunne

We are ok for CB,s a left back is more important I think.

Xavi6

Yeah Bridge would have been ideal Hreidersson is ok but he won't last much longer.

PHB

It's very tough to say this early, due to lots of transfers still going through, however what I'd say is

If United get Berbatov
If Chelsea stay as they are or replace whoever they lose
If Liverpool get Keane and another top quality winger
If Arsenal get another CM and some defensive cover

I'd call it like this

United defo going to put in a challenge barring massive massive injury problems (like 3 key players out for significant periods)
Chelsea defo going to put in a challenge barring massive massive injury problems (like 3 key players out for significant periods)
Liverpool could put in a challenge if they don't get any real injury problems to Torres or Gerrard
Arsenal could put in a challenge if they don't get any injury problems to Cesc or their Defence.

United and Chelsea are always going to be up there. I would say about Chelsea that Big Phil may have lots of experience, but he's no idea about the level of consistancy required these days to win the PL.

Arsenal ya never know. If they get going, they can dominate the league. If. Fabregas still too essential. Nasri will need to make a big impact if they are to sustain a challenge until the end of the season.

Liverpool imo still have big problems, that after their first choice 11, their players just aren't good enough. As such, they need very very few injuries. That said, if they can do that, there's no good reason why they can't put a challenge in.

I'm also going to stick me head out here and say .... Torres won't be as impressive this season due to him getting much more attention and teams playing deeper to deal with his threat.

Both Liverpool and Arsenal need to get ahead early on imo to have any chance of winning the title. Chelsea and Utd would be able to come from behind.

I expect

United/Chelsea/Arsenal
Liverpool

I think Utd flattered to decieve last year in the league, and were not good enough a lot of times. That said, Berbatov may fix that. Still, Chelsea or Arsenal are well capable of beating United.

LegacyUser

CHD wrote: »

Chelsea have it wrapped up anyway.

I'll quote you on that and prove you so very wrong.

CHD

Liverpool

cheesedude wrote: »

I'll quote you on that and prove you so very wrong.

Tell you what Quote this, Chelsea will win the League, United will only win World Club championships and finish about 8 points behind Chelsea.Liverpool will be 3rd and Arsenal Fourth.

CHD

CHD wrote: »

Tell you what Quote this, Chelsea will win the League, United will only win World Club championships and finish about 8 points behind Chelsea.Liverpool will be 3rd and Arsenal Fourth.

Ah, you're still new to this "success" thing what with 66% of your league hauls comin in the last 4 years.......:rolleyes:.......... in time you may learn how to post about these things with some grace grace and a bit of an objective view.



To say that with a new coach coming in with no indicators how his style will fir the Premiership, I find that laughable.

Fratton Fred

Deleted User wrote: »

Ah, you're still new to this "success" thing what with 66% of your league hauls comin in the last 4 years.......:rolleyes:.......... in time you may learn how to post about these things with some grace grace and a bit of an objective view.



To say that with a new coach coming in with no indicators how his style will fir the Premiership, I find that laughable.

come on, he's well used to success.....he was a man u fan five years ago

LegacyUser

CHD wrote: »

Tell you what Quote this, Chelsea will win the League, United will only win World Club championships and finish about 8 points behind Chelsea.Liverpool will be 3rd and Arsenal Fourth.

Still bitter from winning nothing? Hate that. Maybe if Ronaldo leaves, Big Phil who won the world cup with a team most managers would have...and underachieved with Portugal on two occasions now might pull something out of the bag.

You do realise Big Phil is there for the money?

D.S.

United are the team to beat - the issue for united is can they stay ahead wrt squad quality..., if United get Berbatov, players such as Nani, Anderson, Rooney continue to improve, and they can hang on to a (determined) Ronaldo, United have to be odds on to win it again..If Ronaldo leaves and no clear replacement comes in, it's a v different story given Ronnie's goal contribution last season..

Chelsea have a new coach, new system, and may be down Frank Lampard. While they will be challenging, it sounds like there may be a period of readjsutment ahead.

Arsenal have lost Flamini and Hleb, and doubts still persist of Adebayor. However, they have tons of quality youngsters who continue to improve. Wouldn't expect them to be in the top 2 though unless they can produce an out and out sriker who will grab the goals up front (assuming Adebayor heads off)..

Liverpool - jury's out - Even if Keane signs, they are still particularly weak on the wings. But expect them to do well.

I'd bet on a top table of 1) United, 2) Chelsea, 3) Arsenal, 4) Liverpool.

Bubs101

Liverpool

Have to agree with DSB, of the one proper season in which I saw Sidwell regularly in the Premiership he was immense, don't see how anybody could say the same about Diarra. Let's not forget how good Sidwell was for Reading and consider that Chelsea got 5 million for him when we can barely sell most of our failures.

As for Chelsea losing Drogba and Lampard, they can be easily replaced. If we lose Droggy, he will go to Inter and if that happens Ibra will probably come here as he will have to go somewhere. Ibra is a much more consistent player. Lamps has effectively already been replaced and if he does go Mikel could get more of a chance.

Not only is Ronaldo just irreplaceable but he also means that Man Utd will have to change their whole style of play. While I agree that Nani and Anderson have a lot of potential, it's no guarantee that they will fulfill it this year. Nani was a dissapointment last year and realistically Giggsy is finished. The same could be said for Anderson and Scholes but Anderson was certainly a little better than Nani. Those two have massive shoes to fill. Man Utd have the advantage, but only because they have V7per. He is also their biggest weakness though because he can effectively hold the club to ransom and you have become too dependant on him. Also think that if you buy Berba and ROnaldo stays the ballance of your team will be upset

PHB

I think the balance of the team this year was towards Ronaldo, possibly in a bad way. Attacking wise we struggled at times.

Berbatov and Tevez as our front 2 would give us a much more natural shape and mean we rely on Ronaldo an awful lot less.

zAbbo

Manchester United

Perfectly good thread decends into rollarse

CHD

Liverpool

Deleted User wrote: »

Ah, you're still new to this "success" thing what with 66% of your league hauls comin in the last 4 years.......:rolleyes:.......... in time you may learn how to post about these things with some grace grace and a bit of an objective view.



To say that with a new coach coming in with no indicators how his style will fir the Premiership, I find that laughable.

lol at you taking me serious if you read what i have said in this thread already you would know im messing.

United & Chelsea are the teams to beat not just united, but Chelsea have every chance to win the league thats all im sayin and that DSB lad starts saying Chelsea will fail because Mourinho now has a new job..........ffs how stupid is that. Saying United are clear favourites is laughable it will be a two horse race at least for sure.

CHD

Liverpool

cheesedude wrote: »

Still bitter from winning nothing? Hate that. Maybe if Ronaldo leaves, Big Phil who won the world cup with a team most managers would have...and underachieved with Portugal on two occasions now might pull something out of the bag.

You do realise Big Phil is there for the money?

Big Phil is there for the money but will be doing a good job.Check his record again and you will soon change your opinion on him, if you dont then your clueless when it comes to football.

CHD

Liverpool

Fratton Fred wrote: »

come on, he's well used to success.....he was a man u fan five years ago

yeah if we dont win anything this year i will prob jump on the sunderland bandwagon :rolleyes:

PHB

CHD wrote: »

Saying United are clear favourites is laughable it will be a two horse race at least for sure.

Possibly, about as laughable as saying this

Chelsea will win the League, United will only win World Club championships and finish about 8 points behind Chelsea.Liverpool will be 3rd and Arsenal Fourth.

If you want to give out about people making ludicrous claims, perhaps you shouldn't do it yourself. Otherwise, let other people have their opinion.

LegacyUser

CHD wrote: »

Big Phil is there for the money but will be doing a good job.Check his record again and you will soon change your opinion on him, if you dont then your clueless when it comes to football.

How do you know that though? What makes you so sure? Would you be happy if they get to the final of the champions league and lose through a spot kick? And come second in the premiership by a whisker? Will that be a good season for Big Phat Phil.

CHD

Liverpool

Are you serious....

That could have happened to United easily last year.

How do you know Ronaldo wont score half the goals he did last year? How do you know VDS isn't going to be a weak link.How do you know Quireoz leaving wont affect the team and yous finish second in the league?would that be a good season?would you be happy with that?

I can talk ****e aswell

Fuzzy_Dunlop

CHD wrote: »

I can talk ****e aswell

Certainly does look that way...

leninbenjamin

Chelsea

CHD wrote: »

I can talk ****e aswell

I think it's more a case of when don't you talk sh*te?

oh and your comment about Scolari's record. well there's one glaringly obvious thing. he's never managed a European club before.

CHD

Liverpool

leninbenjamin wrote: »

I think it's more a case of when don't you talk sh*te?

oh and your comment about Scolari's record. well there's one glaringly obvious thing. he's never managed a European club before.

lol oh know!!

LegacyUser

CHD wrote: »

lol oh know!!

I suggest you keep the blatantly obvious and ridiculous **** talking to a minimum to be honest, or else you will be so blasted out of it with your terrible statements that you will never post here again when your proven wrong...

CHD

Liverpool

cheesedude wrote: »

I suggest you keep the blatantly obvious and ridiculous **** talking to a minimum to be honest

Your guilty of this.

cheesedude wrote: »

or else you will be so blasted out of it with your terrible statements that you will never post here again when your proven wrong...

Doubt it

MIN2511

I think United have it in the bag yet again....

1. Chelsea; Scolari might be the manager but Abramovich controls that team. I don't think Scolari would make any difference, the team has too many overpriced and underplayed players
2. Arsenal; right they would start strong early in the citizen(as the always do) team strategies and performance would go down at the end of the season. Underpaid and overplayed players!
3. Liverpool; Seems Rafa aint going no where, i would be keen on Torre's performance. Injuries might be a problem, dunno what's going to happen.

And the team to look out for would be SunderIreland, i would be very interested to see Keane's work this season.

selpher

Well if Abramovich does control the team im not too worried, he came within a whisker of matching what Fergie did last season and with no ACN and hopefully no repeat of the injury crises of the previous 2 seasons, We should be fine. Plus all Scolari has done is win a cup with a team any manager would of won with. So where better for him than chelsea.

Seriously though it'll be just as close this year , at least a two horse race.

KnifeWRENCH

Off the top of my head:

1. Man U
2. Chelsea
3. Arsenal
4. Tottenham
5. Liverpool
6. Everton

---

18. One of Sunderland/Hull/Boro (preferably Boro )
19. Fulham
20. Stoke

I quite fancy Wigan to do well: Bruce could keep them in the top half.
I'm not convinced by Villa - I'd think they'll finish 9th or 10th. They're not good enough for top 5 imo.

Unearthly

1. Man Utd
2. Chelsea

significant gap

3. Liverpool
4. Arsenal

At the moment It's hard to seperate Man Utd and Chelsea so ill pick Man Utd as I support them. Liverpool and Arsenal is also touch and go and probably depends on future transfers. If Liverpool get keane and Barry and Arsenal dont sign anyone else then Liverpool will finish above them. I can't really see a title challenge from anyone but Man Utd and Chelsea though

CHD

Liverpool

selpher wrote: »

Well if Abramovich does control the team im not too worried, he came within a whisker of matching what Fergie did last season and with no ACN and hopefully no repeat of the injury crises of the previous 2 seasons, We should be fine. Plus all Scolari has done is win a cup with a team any manager would of won with. So where better for him than chelsea.

Seriously though it'll be just as close this year , at least a two horse race.

LOL

People saying Scolari has only won the one trophy should really cop on to themselves. You think Chelsea are hiring him for the laugh??? Cop on!!!

LegacyUser

CHD wrote: »

LOL

People saying Scolari has only won the one trophy should really cop on to themselves. You think Chelsea are hiring him for the laugh??? Cop on!!!

They are hiring him because they are a clueless hierarchy to be honest. He is a good manager, but he has been tested with Portugal and failed on both times. He won the world cup with a Brazil team that definitely was going to win and an average manager would have.

CHD

Liverpool

He has won more than the WC. He didn't Fail with Portugal at all.When you get to the business end of a National Competition it can go either way. His teams play good football and are proven winners.Was there a better manager out there that Chelsea could have signed?
Whats this obsession with everyone sayin he's only won a world cup. The only reason people are bashing him is because hes the new Chelsea manager.Pretty pathetic.

leninbenjamin

Chelsea

CHD wrote: »

People saying Scolari has only won the one trophy should really cop on to themselves. You think Chelsea are hiring him for the laugh??? Cop on!!!

his record in South America though, while no doubt impressive, is difficult to use as a milestone because the two continents are so culturally difficult. I know little about SA tbh, but from reading on it their coaching culture is way behind Europe. there's no doubt about it hiring Scolari was a gamble. no doubt he may be successful, but he's not a Mourinho, or a Capello. success is far from guaranteed. and i find it very difficult to see how he wont require a period to allow him to assimilate the English football culture, which again, is a very different ball game from the continent.

CHD wrote: »

He didn't Fail with Portugal at all.

uhhh... 2004. they lost the final to a pretty sh*t Greece team due to a set piece. 2008 they went out to an again inferior team on paper to set pieces. can't remember 2006, but i seem to recall they didn't win anything. this is by no means a good record. comparable with Sven's and England's tbh.

LegacyUser

CHD wrote: »

He has won more than the WC. He didn't Fail with Portugal at all.When you get to the business end of a National Competition it can go either way. His teams play good football and are proven winners.Was there a better manager out there that Chelsea could have signed?
Whats this obsession with everyone sayin he's only won a world cup. The only reason people are bashing him is because hes the new Chelsea manager.Pretty pathetic.

As LB said, SA is incomparable to Europe. Not on the same wavelength.

Also, it's really sad that you have to make up a quote of me in your signature to say Chelsea will win the league when I clearly didn't say it.

Charlie

cheesedude wrote: »

As LB said, SA is incomparable to Europe. Not on the same wavelength.

Also, it's really sad that you have to make up a quote of me in your signature to say Chelsea will win the league when I clearly didn't say it.

In fairness though, you can only work, adn try and succeed, with the league that you are in.

The Portuguese league is pretty naff, but most people rated Mourinho on the basis of a cup competition win. Scolari is in the same boat.

In terms of the leagues he's won, they mightn't be Premiership quality. However, that does not say that he is not a Premiership quality manager. Sure Fergie came from the Scottish league, and Wenger from the Japenese. Go figure.

leninbenjamin

Chelsea

charlie mchugh wrote: »

In fairness though, you can only work, adn try and succeed, with the league that you are in.

The Portuguese league is pretty naff, but most people rated Mourinho on the basis of a cup competition win. Scolari is in the same boat.

In terms of the leagues he's won, they mightn't be Premiership quality. However, that does not say that he is not a Premiership quality manager.

Sure Fergie came from the Scottish league, and Wenger from the Japenese. Go figure.

and those two were gambles of the highest order at the time. i distinctly remember Arsene who?

in the case of Jose he'd won the Champions League. very different from Scolari's World Cup tbh. Scolari had one of the best teams on paper in the thing, Mourinho had one of the worst. Secondly international football is itself an entirely different scenario. the same motivational methods don't work, largely because managers haven't enough time. they can't work with their players on a day to day basis to get them to play to the style/system they want, they have to develop it for them and so on.

i'm not saying he won't have success, but a lot of people here, and in the press already seem to think he's the guaranteed winning factor when it clearly just isn't the case.

CHD

Liverpool

leninbenjamin wrote: »

his record in South America though, while no doubt impressive, is difficult to use as a milestone because the two continents are so culturally difficult. I know little about SA tbh, but from reading on it their coaching culture is way behind Europe. there's no doubt about it hiring Scolari was a gamble. no doubt he may be successful, but he's not a Mourinho, or a Capello. success is far from guaranteed. and i find it very difficult to see how he wont require a period to allow him to assimilate the English football culture, which again, is a very different ball game from the continent.



uhhh... 2004. they lost the final to a pretty sh*t Greece team due to a set piece. 2008 they went out to an again inferior team on paper to set pieces. can't remember 2006, but i seem to recall they didn't win anything. this is by no means a good record. comparable with Sven's and England's tbh.

Greece beat France, Czechs and drew with Spain which knocked Spain out basically.They beat Portugal twice. Saying Portugal failed cause they didnt beat Greece is stupid. Portugal got knocked out by Germany in 2008, hardly failure.

In WC06 Portugal topped there group, knocked out the Dutch then England eventually losing to France in the semi's.Germany beat them in the 3/4 playoff. Hardly Failure.

The man is a good manager.He has a good record in South America.He hasn't managed a european club before but has been in european football since 2003.

He's a proven good manager, probably the best choice for the Chelsea job considering who there was to choose from. He will fit right in and do a top job.

CHD

Liverpool

cheesedude wrote: »

As LB said, SA is incomparable to Europe. Not on the same wavelength.

Also, it's really sad that you have to make up a quote of me in your signature to say Chelsea will win the league when I clearly didn't say it.

Its really sad that you had to aswell.That comment i made was a joke and i also confirmed it was i think. But if you want to take everything you read so serious then go for it.