football: the beautiful game

[beast]

we got chelsea, pool and man utd. So much about the big 4. What about arsenal??

i think arsenal stands a pretty good chance this season. that is if the current players don't get injured.

I agree with beast that chelsea has a good 1st and 2nd team. In fact i do believe they have what it takes to pick up the bpl this season.

Nope. Arsenal always face the same problems. Weak underbelly. Inexperienced team. And there is always the chance the young guns will leave for greener pastures.

[beast]

so much ignorance on one page, where to start?

classic beast logic: "x is a total fluke even though can be completely explained given a larger trend"

Plus next season is World Cup and the Sheikh will probably be there talent scouting with his cheque book. /quote]

doubt that - pretty much every single hughes signing has been an established premiership player. i don't expect any of this gigantic signings everybody's expecting unless they either sack hughes or start undermining him (basically the same thing)

dude, are you serious?

this is absurd - if there's one thing that chelsea have demonstrated under ancelloti is that different players can adapt tactically under his system as necessary. it's the closest thing we have to total football in today's game

yes, clearly the team is worse off now than last season

between craig bellamy and carlos tevez they're probably fine already

you can get away with reduced mobility / being older in italy but the premiership is a totally different game. i think it's safe to say that chelsea have learned their lesson from the andrei shevchenko experiment

The nutter with the putter cannot be in the same class as Gerrard, Nando or Ronaldo.

He can’t singlehandedly win you games and points although he can score you goals.

If not, he wont have bounced from Rovers to Liverpool to West Ham and now City.

I think if Hughes is not in City, Bellamy wont be part of the City experiment. There are much better strikers and wingers than him.

As for Tevez, he helped West Ham survive relegation almost singlehandedly. In his first season with Man U, he scored like 19 goals but after that, even as a super-sub, he cant make an impact like Benayoiun or Babel for example. That could be why Fergie balked at paying 20 over million quid for him but wanted to do so when Ronnie left.

If I were Hughes, I would choose Adebayor and even Roque over him. With Bellamy and SWP or Robinho or Petrov attacking from the flanks.

BTW Man U will drop points to the likes of Burnley this season and the next and before that. But they still have the quality and class to be champions. And unlike Arsenal which consistently drop points to physical sides like Bolton and Stoke, this is an anomaly.

As for Chelsea playing ‘total football’. I notice Carlo will pig-headedly stick to his tactics no matter what. When losing at Villa, Jose will sub in all 3 players and rolled the dice. Carlo subbed in Joe Cole in the dying minutes and Joe couldn’t make an impact. Maybe he should have subbed in 2 wide players and Kalou to replace the tiring legs of Anelka and stretched Villa’s defence. In the Wigan match, you cant blame him cos he couldn’t really sub since Cech was red carded. Anyway I wonder whether that is his modus operandi in AC?

I see parallels between Scolari and Carlo. Both their Chelseas played really well in the early season and many were predicting Chelsea will be champions. That is until everyone learned how to jam Scolari by blocking Bosingwa and Ashley. Carlo’s pig headedness in his diamond formation means the midfield is too tight and the flanks wide open. He could get in trouble when Man U and the likes test him.

[beast]

arsenal doesn't have the squad depth to mount a serious title challenge. liverpool has a deeper squad but not a manager smart enough to manage it properly

if i was a scouse, i'd be deeply concerned - ownership is highly leveraged and the club needs to fund a new stadium while managing to pull in CL revenue... maybe this is why polish has gone into hiding?

Didn’t Arsene always field his second stringers in the Cup matches and they do well against the mid tier teams? The trick to his second stringers is that they must play together and Arsene cant take a few and mix with his first team. Didn’t Wilshire and Ramsay shine and are touted as the future? Manounane as well? And didn’t young Theo come from this system? Diaby?

His system not only would ensure Arsenal won’t go bankrupt buying players but they will meet the domestic players cap the FA wants to come up with. But too bad they cant win squat with that. Unless Arsene starts fielding his top team when they go into the semis and finals of the Carling and FA cup.

As for Liverpool, the buyout’s biggest benefactor are the Yanks. The minute they sell it to the Sheikh, ka ching!! 100 million quid in a few short years and no more interest payments, no more stadium worries, no more Rafa transfer budget. It’s a matter of how much money they want to make given Liverpool has an international appeal that is not fully exploited like Man U.

[ordo]

Such a shame he went to Spain.

is7TQ9y1t8w

[redgrail]

btw, liverpool will never win EPL

unless plane carrying chealsea, arsenal, manchester united 1st squad crashed and kills everyone instantly.

which mean tottenham or man city will be the champion.

liverpool again runner up

cool story, hansel.

when you're done with that crystal ball, can I borrow it?

i'd like to check what the market's up to 3 or 4 years from now.

thanks!

[Guest umhaha84]

^ do you honestly think liverpool can win the EPL??

come'on be serious.

[redgrail]

with the curse of the bambino broken, everything is possible.

look, they won the first division 18 times.

what makes the conditions of the premiership so much different? they're still a top flight team that kids dream of playing for.

the theoretical possibility is there.

within the next couple of years? probably not.

not enough depth.

[Guest umhaha84]

That's what I meant maybe in a long run like you mentioned Liverpool is too dependabt on two key players. Which isnlt a good sign.

[readytoignite]

ok you blind reds, here's a little exercise you can do at home... take out torres and gerrard and compare your starting xi against chelsea/utd, then vs the contenders for top four (villa, spurs, man city). you can take out the two best players on the team you're comparing to.

now - are you closer to the top two or the purported 5-7?

[Guest umhaha84]

lol I'm not a united fan btw,

i'm a fan of beautiful game. nomo

champion's league final match between AC milan vs. Liverpool is probably the best match i've seen so far.

[polishmike]

ok you blind reds, here's a little exercise you can do at home... take out torres and gerrard and compare your starting xi against chelsea/utd, then vs the contenders for top four (villa, spurs, man city). you can take out the two best players on the team you're comparing to.

now - are you closer to the top two or the purported 5-7?

nope. on paper maybe, but this season only johnson would jump into any of those teams. sure carragher, mascherano, reina can be class but they didn't show it this season yet.

lyon match was the only one we didn't deserve to lose. all others we played like shit. against chelsea we weren't bad but they are far superior team to us right now so it wasn't a big surprise that we lost.

wait there are other reds here?

[zombier]

Nope. Arsenal always face the same problems. Weak underbelly. Inexperienced team. And there is always the chance the young guns will leave for greener pastures.

Wrong. A team isnt always going to face the same problems.

[beast]

Wrong. A team isnt always going to face the same problems.

I mean thats the main weakness of the squad.

[beast]

nope. on paper maybe, but this season only johnson would jump into any of those teams. sure carragher, mascherano, reina can be class but they didn't show it this season yet.

lyon match was the only one we didn't deserve to lose. all others we played like shit. against chelsea we weren't bad but they are far superior team to us right now so it wasn't a big surprise that we lost.

wait there are other reds here?

Benayouin is the captain of the Israelis and have shown his class last season and this. God knows why he wants to warm the bench at KOP instead of pursuing Instead of pursuing 1st team action at mid tier clubs like Spurs, Villa or Everton.

Kuyt is a regular and mainstay of the Dutch national team.

Lucas was Gremio captain at a very young age.

Don’t think you can fault Reina. The goals conceded by him this year were hardly due to his howlers.

Mascherano is still good although he can be a bit tad hot headed at times.

Johnson on the other hand is good at attacking but not defending and the common consensus is overpriced at 17 to 18 million pounds. Don’t know why Chelsea wants him back when they have Bosingwa and 3 other right backs.

Carragher? So far this season, not very good.

[cyberPUNK]

glory glory man. united!

[beast]

with the curse of the bambino broken, everything is possible.

look, they won the first division 18 times.

what makes the conditions of the premiership so much different? they're still a top flight team that kids dream of playing for.

the theoretical possibility is there.

within the next couple of years? probably not.

not enough depth.

Plenty has changed in BPL alone. Liverpool has no financial resources to get the top players. They will be outbidded by the rest like Man U, Man City or Chelsea. Not to mention the likes of Real or Bayern. Liverpool’s pay is not as good as the top clubs and their academy can’t produce a stream of new talents like Gerrard and Carragher.

From time to time, they can score great players like Nando and Mascherano but they cant do that all the time.

Plus kids in future wont dream of playing for Liverpool. They would be mesmerized by their childhood heroes like Cantonas, Becks, Ronaldos, Lamps, Henrys and Bergkamp etc. No doubt Stevie G and Nando would have plenty of admirers but watching Liverpool as a whole labouring to get into Europe isn’t exactly inspirational.

Their 18 League titles are like some ancient history for them. That will be overtaken by Man U’s 19 very very soon and probably another 2 more when Fergie finally calls it quits and many many more when Jose takes over as Man U gaffer.

[chchchip]

chelsea or arsenal to win the title.

united arent nearly as strong as they were with ronaldo. they got bossed off the pitch against the gunners and by pure luck came away with the win.

pool will finish 5th and i think city will break into the top 4. while spurs wont be able to keep up their good form.

[Guest umhaha84]

Arsenal's just as strong as without Adebayor and Toure?

[chchchip]

adebayor was lazy as hell and was just a burden to the team towards the end of his time with arsenal. and toure has been placed by a much younger and in my opinion better defender in vermaelen. his partnership with gallas is much better than gallas and toure's.granted gallas and toure both hated each other.

[Guest umhaha84]

lol I'd pick lazy ade over bentner any time sorry arsenal not gonna win EPL Chelsea'll probably get it this year

[chchchip]

haha. yeah bendtner sucks. i just hope arsenal wins. but this season has been crazy so far so who knows.

would like to see someone besides fucking united win it.

[beast]

chelsea or arsenal to win the title.

united arent nearly as strong as they were with ronaldo. they got bossed off the pitch against the gunners and by pure luck came away with the win.

pool will finish 5th and i think city will break into the top 4. while spurs wont be able to keep up their good form.

Arsenal? NO way jose.

Man U or Chelsea to be 1st or 2nd unless there is another meltdown in Chelsea and Carlo gets sacked or Carlo stick to his tactics no matter.

Last season, Ronnie's mind wasn't really in it and yet Man U still came 1 step away from a repeat of their Euro double. A mark of a real champ is getting points even if you are playing badly and as you pointed out, they got the points against Arsenal. And I would add City when it should be a draw and against Sunderland when it should be zilch.

Pool should be right in it till the end and so would City. Everton, Villa and Spurs to mop up the remaining Europa League spot. All in all, going to be an interesting BPL this season and in a World Cup year no less.

[beast]

Arsenal's just as strong as without Adebayor and Toure?

Toure was a pale shadow of himself when he returned from African Nations Cup. Think he got malaria and was benched most of the time.

[beast]

lol I'd pick lazy ade over bentner any time sorry arsenal not gonna win EPL Chelsea'll probably get it this year

Whenever Bendtner leads the line, I know Arsenal wont score compared to when Manny leads it. Although Bendtner is good as a super sub thus far. Think Arsene is relying on RVP to get the goals with Arshavin and young Theo as backup.

[chchchip]

weird day. spurs losing to stoke.ha. sunderland losing to birmingham.

have a strange feeling that pool will somehow pull an upset against united. although i wouldnt like to see it.

united clean sheet would be nice for my fantasy team.

[evisu 2000]

nobody cares about the cola but toon back at the top of the table

[chchchip]

fuck yeah newcastle.

hopefully ashley will stop being a twat and sell the club finally.

[zeen]

The ball is round. The title can go to anybody. Arsenal stands a good chance if their players don't get injured.

But looking at the probability, chelsea seems to be the squad with much depth.

[beast]

weird day. spurs losing to stoke.ha. sunderland losing to birmingham.

have a strange feeling that pool will somehow pull an upset against united. although i wouldnt like to see it.

united clean sheet would be nice for my fantasy team.

Wazza probably wont be playing and last season Pool beat Man U without Stevie G and Nando and last time Pool started so badly, they won the Premier League. So if you are feeling brave, you can hit the nearest bookmakers to bet Pool's season will turn around starting from Super Sunday.

[polishmike]