Who Improved the Most this Summer?

[bigtoga]

IMO Chelsea and Bolton improved the most but let's compare the teams who are currently in the bookies' lists for 2nd-4th place. Currently, most of the sportsbooks have it like this:

Chelsea
Arsenal
MUFC
Pool
Newcastle/Totts
Let's have a look at the 2nd-4th spots and answer the question, "Which team improved the most in the off-season?" Feel free to include any comments about international play as well as signings.

My thoughts are that MUFC did better than Arsenal but if Newcastle gets Owen, they did the best.

Let's review:
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Arsenal
In: Alexander Hleb
Out: Jeremie Aliadiere, Edu, Stuart Taylor, Patrick Vieira

Liverpool
In: Jose Reina, Boudewjn Zenden, Mohamed Sissoko, Peter Crouch
Out: Mauricio Pellegrino, Bruno Cheyrou, El Hadji Diouf, Vladimir Smicer, Igor Biscan, Chris Kirkland, Anthony Le Tallec, Antonio Nunez

Manchester United
In: Edwin Van der Sar, Ji-sung Park
Out: Ricardo, Roy Carroll, Jonathan Spector, PHILIP NEVILLE

Newcastle United
In: Scott Parker, Emre, Craig Moore, Michael Chopra
Out: Darren Ambrose, Laurent Robert, Andy O'Brien, Patrick Kluivert, Aaron Hughes, Craig Bellamy, Nicky Butt

Tottenham Hotspur
In: Aaron Lennon, Wayne Routledge, Tom Huddlestone, Teemu Tainio, Paul Stalteri, Edgar Davids
Out: Simon Davies, Rohan Ricketts, Timothee Atouba, Dean Marney
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sowhatchusay?

[Joelzinho]

If we get cicinho i will be very happy not only for Manchester United , but for Ronaldo as well. He will finally have someone to speak portugues too!

[Achtung]

Newcastle United
In: Michael Chopra

Chopra actually wasn't a new signing, he came from the youth squad. I remembered him specifically because he very nearly scored an equalizer at the death against us at the start of the 03-04 season.

[caco794]

If we get cicinho i will be very happy not only for Manchester United , but for Ronaldo as well. He will finally have someone to speak portugues too!

Not exactly!

Gary Neville knows the language very well. :D

[Achtung]

sowhatchusay?

Right now, I actually feel that Spurs improved the most over what they had last season, bringing in a good combination of established names and up and coming stars, while getting rid of only nonessential players. I know its said about North London Underachievers FC every few years, but I really do think they can make a legitimate push for Europe this year.

Beyond that, I don't see a whole lot of major improvements. Liverpool have replaced several second-rate players with... several more second-rate players. Their style will win them games (if not many plaudits) in the CL, but I still don't see anything that leads me to believe their Spanish contingency will be able to deal more consistency with the flow of the Premiership this season.

Arsenal took a significant gamble in losing both Edu and Vieira. Wenger clearly has a lot of faith in Fabregas, and though I think he's a tad overrated, no better to way to learn how to swim than to jump into the deep end, I suppose. Hleb is certainly talented, and could light a fire under Ljungberg and potentially even Pires, both of whom would like to regain 2004 form.

Personally I don't care much for Newcastle's moves, sending out talented if not yet adjusted players like Kluivert, Butt, and Hughes. I don't see Emre adjusting well to the English game, nor do I think the rusty Scott Parker will be ready to go from the gun.

I'll post my thoughts on us in the other thread, but right now I'd rank us (in terms of improvement) behind Spurs, about even with Chelsea (though they are still the better overall team) and ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal.

[Achtung]

Not exactly!

Gary Neville knows the language very well. :D

And you can be too with the "Gary Neville Guide to Portuguese"!

English: Are you confident?

Portuguese: Are you confident?

:D

[johno]

I think we've improved a good deal, but that Spurs have also done so. My ranking would be.

Chelsea/Manu - both teams addressed their needs... Chelsea got their RW depth and some depth at Forward, United got cover for both wings and possibly the fletcher spot in midfield as well as a veteran keeper.


Spurs - added some talent, but did not add a creator in midfield, which I feel they lacked, or an explosive winger, should have gone in for SWP,
Newcastle - not impressed with them. They've got no depth at Forward and little quality depth on the wings, especially if Milner goes down. If the get Owen they will jump ahead of Spurs.
Arsenal - the loss of 2 experienced center mids, the lack of depth at holding mid will leave them exposed this season

[Joelzinho]

Neville Knows Portugues....Get out of here!...I bet you Ronaldo makes fun of him when he talks like they make fun of him whe he try to talk in english...

I think ronaldo might like Cicinho a little more then Neville..lol

[RhythmandGangsta1825]

If we get cicinho i will be very happy not only for Manchester United , but for Ronaldo as well. He will finally have someone to speak portugues too!


Didn't he have Kleberson to speak to for two years? :rolleyes:

[OneUnited08]

I think we've improved a good deal, but that Spurs have also done so. My ranking would be.

Chelsea/Manu - both teams addressed their needs... Chelsea got their RW depth and some depth at Forward, United got cover for both wings and possibly the fletcher spot in midfield as well as a veteran keeper.


what about our need for a central midfielder?? I think that was a bigger priority then keeper or depth at the wings

[billyireland]

I think Newcastle have got notably worse this summer, to be perfectly honest. They got rid of one average CB (Andy O'Brien) only to replace him with another average CB who is about 7-8 years older (Craig Moore). They got rid of one erratic left-winger (Robert) who could turn a game on it's head when he was one, and have yet to replace him (if they get Boa Morte, it's an upgrad,e but that is not final, yet). Their manager has made it well known that he wants to get rid of their holding midfielder (Faye) and leftback (Babayaro), although they have no replacements there (having sold Hughes, iirc... and loaned out Butt). Granted, they have brought in Emre & Parker, but while I think the latter could be a hit, Emre will more likely than not get knocked around and face a lot of niggling injuries (like, oooh, say, Kleberson), and neither of these guys address a big problem of Newcastle's - the holding midfield position. Speaking of their problems, what about the striker situation? Come tomorrow, they look liek they will have to play their right winger as their sole forward, and even when they have a fully fit corps, all they've got is 34 (soon to be 35)y/o Shearer, Ameobi (who was awful last season) and Chopra (who is completely unproven). It was a good idea to get rid fo Bellamy & Kluivert, but you think they would have had replacements lined up.

No offense to Newcastle fans, but they have got the worst manager and worst chairman in the league by quite a stretch... and one hell of an unbalanced squad.

[johno]

No offense to Newcastle fans, but they have got the worst manager and worst chairman in the league by quite a stretch... and one hell of an unbalanced squad.

that's just not fair, they are very balanced, they're crap allround. :D



what about our need for a central midfielder?? I think that was a bigger priority then keeper or depth at the wings

that's just about the only need we did not fill and if we plan on playing Smith there and Ruud stays healthy (w/ a healthy Saha as cover for him) then we've got ample cover. We might not have signed someone, but I think Smith can do a good job there.

I'll also maintain that when you lead the league in shots taken and have the 2nd best defence and dominate possesion in almost every match, your midfield is not crappy.

[Motterman]

The Geordies are still chasing that midget, btw.

Must suck to be them though... they are offering a starting spot in their lineup and Owen still might pick being 5th choice in Spain over them... :D

[billyireland]

The Geordies are still chasing that midget, btw.

Must suck to be them though... they are offering a starting spot in their lineup and Owen still might pick being 5th choice in Spain over them... :D
The Own move is even more confusing, and shows the idiocy of the Sounness/Fat ******** tandem even more though, since Owen is simply not cut out for a lone striker role in a 4-5-1 (the arguable exception being if Newcastle were a bunker team, which they can't possibly be with their backline and lack of a defensive mid, no matter WHO is in between the posts ;)). so do they play a 4-4-2 if they somehow get Owen? Then they've got no holding midfielder.

I don't see them finishing near the top 10, to be honest.

[Mac_Howard]

And you can be too with the "Gary Neville Guide to Portuguese"!

English: Are you confident?

Portuguese: Are you confident?

:D

More like:

A yer conf'd'nt? :)

[Dark Savante]

More like:

A yer conf'd'nt? :)
:D

I'd say Tottenham, Chelsea, pool and boro have improved the most in that order. The two signings we've made are OK but there is no 'umph' to either one - we need a true world classs CM.

There are a lot of eyes on spurs this year. Jol looks like he knows what he's doing. I'll be keeping an eye out for them.

[SirManchester]

I'm also going to have to say Tottenham, not only did they acquire a lot of new players, Martin Jol created a good balance between youth and experience, and also managed to galvanize the team even more, just look at how they played in that mini tournament they participated in.

[bigtoga]

...we need a true world classs CM.That was certainly obvious today...

[Motterman]

That was certainly obvious today...

Agreed. I get the feeling that a stud CM could do both of what Keane and Fletch do on the pitch together right now.

Not that either player is crap, but I think it's clear that something needs to be done soon... Either that or see if Fletch is up to it, cause Keane isn't up to speed quite yet, and we don't know if it's just early season lack of match-fitness or.... well.... I just hope it's that.

[billyireland]

Agreed. I get the feeling that a stud CM could do both of what Keane and Fletch do on the pitch together right now.

Not that either player is crap, but I think it's clear that something needs to be done soon... Either that or see if Fletch is up to it, cause Keane isn't up to speed quite yet, and we don't know if it's just early season lack of match-fitness or.... well.... I just hope it's that.
I would imagine that is what it is... he has been slow out of the gates for the last 2-3 seasons running, but by September, tends to be hitting full stride. I still think we could use as worldclass CM pretty badly, though...