FootyRef Bet me $1K that Arsenal will finish in the T4. I am tempted to take that bet. ...in other News. Everton will finish above Liverpool again. I will be 1K on it.
Season started last weekend. The mighty Cherries starting off their campaign in the Championship in style with a win. Yeah Man U is looking over their shoulder nervously, but they are safe for now.
Why is that significant? / I expect a significant dropoff from Man Utd for a few years. I think Ferguson really gave them a psychological advantage for so many years vs everyone else and unless RvP can score another 1000 goals this season, I dont really see them coming close to Chelsea or City. I will probably also be completely wrong in my prediction.
It's a reality in the BPL. You may occasionally see a Spurs finish top 4 but generally it's the same. I didn't realize predictions needed to be bold.
I don't know about City this year. Seems to be headed for more turmoil, IMO. I don't know if Jose will be able to match his Chelsea magic of years past with this roster, either. Seems the players are fit to a different style than Jose likes to play. We shall see.
You're right, my mistake, I should've predicted 1) Spurs 2) Norwich 3) Southampton 4) Cardiff City. There you go!
I think this seaon might be a little more interesting. Man U, Man City and Chelsea have new coaches. Spurs and Arsenal (allegedly) have money to spend. Then there is a possibility that Liverpool with a full season under their belts may make a bigger impression. Swansea have made some impressive mid-tier moves this summer and might do an early season WBA
It was nice to get to see the Ajax v Roda game GolTV had on last Friday. I enjoyed watching it but some of the passing was like watching the Crew v TFC game. It was downright awful at times. Still I'll be watching a lot of Dutch games since I've never really watched any games from that league.
Some may consider 1K a lot of money on something is out of their control. I still have a week before the first game
Top European teams with new coaches this season Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Everton (hehe), Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, and I am sure a few others. Lots of turnover at the top.
Madrid looked pretty good last night. CR7 with a brace to beat Chelsea 3-1. I am not familiar enough with Madrid's starters to know if that was their best 11, Chelsea was without Mata and Luiz due to injury but still started a strong side with a couple of players back from loan in the starters. The Blues seemed to be playing a similar style as the first time Jose was there, playing a lot of defense with spurts of counter-attack, but with Lukaku up top instead of Drogba it wasn't as effective.
I used to be a fan of his, but I'm not sold on Mourinho at all for his second run at Chelsea. I'm not amazed at Chelsea's depth and the club expects to win immediately. Though Chelsea supporters seem to think Mourinho can play mind games like James Moriarty. Love that Ronaldo shoved a double down his throat after Mourinho tried to cut him down a few pegs. I really, really hope we get a Barca/Bayern matchup in the Champions League this year just to see how Pep coaches against his old players (specifically Messi). Pep knows the ins and outs of each player on that squad. While Messi is regarded as the best in the world, many people would argue that Messi wouldn't find nearly the same level of success if he wasn't surrounded by Xavi/Iniesta and coddled at Barca. Cristiano seems to be able to go against former managers who know all of his tricks and still turn out impressive performances. Hope we get to see these 2 face off.
Hull CIiy AFC have remolded themselves. There are now the Hull City Tigers. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/aug/09/hull-city-tigers-rebranding
Exciting start to the Bundesliga. Aubameyang scores a hat-trick for BVB on his debut, Hertha scores 6 against Frankfurt, Hoffenheim makes another case for goal-line technology, and Dante scores for his old club Gladbach