I was already being polite but you just had to be a turd. (1) ALL United fans? I never waxed lyrical. That alone destroys your pathetic argument. I was happy about our form but I've seen 1-0 defeats to Wolverhampton pop up from nowhere.. You're just having a massive kneejerk reaction. (2) Sure, you have people who can cover for the absentees. I never said you didn't -- but what if injuries or suspensions happen to them? Worse things can happen. (3) Bragging about strength in depth? Wha? ... Children...
Arsenal does look good so far this season. I will say they are the front runners right now but it's way too early. Drawing at Blackburn (should have won, thank to Jens) and beating Spurs are good results so I won't say Arsenal's good start are all due to weak opposition (we can say that about Liverpool, though). This year's prem is a lot tougher than the seasons before, points going to be dropped by big 4 at places like Citeh, Portsmouth, Everton, Blackburn, Newcastle, etc... Who's going to win the Prem won't be decided until late this season. If it's turns out to be a 2 horse race between us and Arsenal (which is unlikely), I fancy our chances. As Benni mentioned in 2003, Arse has a good size lead on us and eventually crumble under the pressure. That team was defending champion with Viera, Henry, Bergkamp, etc... I am not saying you can't win anything with kids but it's going to be tough.
Ibby, You've got your wires crossed a little, I feel. If you go back to the start of last season, most of us were just delighted by the football we were playing and did not consider it all indicative of the title's home come May. In fact, the doubt about whether we would do it was evident through most of the season and there is even a *Run-In* thread in two seperate parts...about 800 posts deep talking about whether we could do it.. and that was in March and April! I generally tend to look at the league in terms of 10-12 games segments. The first one being the jostle for position. The second being consolidation and the third and fourth being far more important. Man Utd are notorious for going absolutely stellar after New Year and that is usually Championship winning form and it is in the middle of a CL and FA Cup set of runs. We're nowhere near the business end of the season and as such the start, for most Championship challenging sides, is immaterial. It was far more important for Arsenal to start well and also Liverpool then it is for Chelsea and us, as both sides have recent evidence (at least two season's worth) of putting on the afterburners come January, whereas you and Liverpool do not. That's why it's slightly entertaining to see all the proclamations made about the importance of a great start being the vital factor.. most would argue that run-in form is the most vital set of games in the whole season, and I'd definitely be in that camp myself. Chelsea aren't playing well, at all.... and yet they are close to the top of the table as it is... we're not playing great either... and yet we're in the top four... these are far more important factors to me than anything else. It's a marathon not a sprint, so the cliche goes and it wasn't the great start that determined the rest of our season, rather it was the ability to put together that run of games during any segment of the season. I seriously doubt anyone outside of ourselves and Chelsea are capable of that, when you factor in fixture congestion, cup priorities, injuries and suspensions.
As I said in their review, I don't think it's at all early days - that's what will happen to them time and again. No invention, no punch and no plan b. Carew has always been like that. He's no player to rely on for a solid goal contribution, he's also a crap point-man, despite his size. But, one game a season doesn't make. I'm just convinced I'll be right on this one.
I think all we can take from the start of the season is that the top 4 will be the same as last season. We're certainly looking stronger this season, and already are a big chunk of points better off against Manu than we were last at this stage last season, but we still have our "No honestly,you have the 1st goal, honestly, go ahead" friendly greeting. We've certainly toughened up. Just ask Repka Manu are missing a striker, yes you have loads of lovely attacking players, Scholes, Rooney, Tevez, Giggs, and Ronaldo, but really only 1 front man, and he's going to miss 1/2 the season. The class throughout your side means you'll finish top 4, but I wouldn't be surprised to see another loaner come in January to help out Saha. So far 4 goals from 6 games for lack is very un-manu-esque... Liverpool. Big squad, but are people missing the point that players like Pennant and Riise aren't really that good, and with Benitez is back to his squad rotating ways, nothing is guaranteed Chelsea are now showing that without Lampard and Drogba they really struggle. However with Lampard generally missing so few games, he'll soon be back and with Alex as help for the defence, I suspect it might be their year. Everyone else will be fighting for 5th and below.
Manu is a title accorded to the progenitor of humankind, first king to rule this earth, who saves mankind from the universal flood. He is honest which is why he is called "Satyavrata", or with oath of truth.
I always liked Savage. When I picked Blackburn for 5th, two performances where they really showed their capabilities came to mind. Against an inform Arsenal side in the 1-1 draw and last season's cup tie with Chelsea. Of course they looked like Shite against Chelsea last week even though they got the draw. But I think they have enough to nick Everton for 5th. As for the rest, Newcastle are well Newcastle (regardless of Big Sam), and Harry has too much talent to come good..... and everyone knows what I think of Spurs (last year and this) So Blackburn takes 5th.... And besides, Friedel is a heck of a keeper. As for Chelsea, with all the backroom drama and with Ballack and Sheva out in cold, I figured it was only a matter of time before it started affecting the team's performance on the pitch. I also think they blew it when they sold Robben. Of course I did not expect Mourhino to "leave" this early, but I would have placed a small wager on it happening before Christmas. Based on their good early season form and the fact they only venture away from London twice before the end of October, I expected Arsenal to pick up a lot of points early on. Which will only give them confidence going forward. I look for them to battle us to the end of the year for the title. But I look for United to jell in the second half of the season and perhaps pull away.
Anyone going to re-do their predicitions to reflect the state of Chelsea minus Mourinho? I'll have to re-do their write up Will give it a few games before trying to make a call. Not sure they can stay in contention without Mourinho. They are going to face an open season from the league now, lots of clubs will fancy their chances like never before now. They can't afford to many bad results in that period.
They'll be a shadow of themselves. All the problems at the club are still there. Interestingly we now know about some additional problems we never knew they had - like Terry's run away ego
Please. We've clearly brought in the most qualified alternative. I mean, how many times has Mourinho almost qualified for the WC? Zero. How many Israeli league titles does Jose have? Zero. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize Grant may actually be overqualified and it's a miracle he flew under the radar of all the other top clubs.
Do I detect a hint of sarcasm in there? Little do you know he's the man to lead you to untold glory, playing the kind of sexy football Gullit would be proud of! Bram says so!
Definitely. I mean, just look at the recent track records of managers at other ambitious title-challengers like Boro and Newcastle who have also appointed managers without a proper UEFA coaching licence. I'm sure he's right up there with Roeder and Southgate. The bar has been raised, as far as I'm concerned, in terms of managerial appointments.
Actual 1 Man Utd 38 17 1 1 47 7 10 5 4 33 15 58 87 2 Chelsea 38 12 7 0 36 13 13 3 3 29 13 39 85 3 Arsenal 38 14 5 0 37 11 10 6 3 37 20 43 83 4 Liverpool 38 12 6 1 43 13 9 7 3 24 15 39 76 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Everton 38 11 4 4 34 17 8 4 7 21 16 22 65 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Aston Villa 38 10 3 6 34 22 6 9 4 37 29 20 60 7 Blackburn 38 8 7 4 26 19 7 6 6 24 29 2 58 8 Portsmouth 38 7 8 4 24 14 9 1 9 24 26 8 57 9 Man City 38 11 4 4 28 20 4 6 9 17 33 -8 55 10 West Ham 38 7 7 5 24 24 6 3 10 18 26 -8 49 11 Tottenham 38 8 5 6 46 34 3 8 8 20 27 5 46 12 Newcastle 38 8 5 6 25 26 3 5 11 20 39 -20 43 13 Middlesbrough 38 7 5 7 27 23 3 7 9 16 30 -10 42 14 Wigan 38 8 5 6 21 17 2 5 12 13 34 -17 40 15 Sunderland 38 9 3 7 23 21 2 3 14 13 38 -23 39 16 Bolton 38 7 5 7 23 18 2 5 12 13 36 -18 37 17 Fulham 38 5 5 9 22 31 3 7 9 16 29 -22 36 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Reading 38 8 2 9 19 25 2 4 13 22 41 -25 36 19 Birmingham 38 6 8 5 30 23 2 3 14 16 39 -16 35 20 Derby 38 1 5 13 12 43 0 3 16 8 46 -69 11 --- Some of these clubs deserve shooting. Ruined my table Spurs amd Newcastle ruined everything! I think most of the write ups panned out. Got Villa wrong and Steve Bruce. Didn't think Coppell's side would fail him so badly. When Shane Long threw his shirt at Coppell I feared the worst for them. Steve Bruce has gone on to be a much better manager than he was in the Colaship and that totally threw me, tbh. With all the managerial changes as well things changed quite dramtically in some cases and some clubs never really recovered from that. As for next season, Chelsea installed as favourites, yet again
I got the relegation battle pretty much spot on. The only major mistake was Newcastle and Chelsea(which I corrected maybe a month in the Avram Grant era).
What's quite sad about next season is that Stoke and whoever else go up via the play-offs might not get as many points as Derby did this season, combined. They are that poor.