2007 English Premier League

[Akileese]

Ouch to Rooney being out with ANOTHER foot injury. His foot is the soccer equivalent of Fred Taylor's groin and Ken Griffey Jr's hamstring.

[Bralkan]

Originally Posted by xelnix

Very rarely, and you will have to be extremely lucky to catch a Premier league game on ESPN. Think they play em on ESPN 8 THE OCHO! Seriously though, Fox Sports shows lots of games, live on the weekend. ESPN won't usually show any.

i need to talk the girlfriend into getting digital cable and getting the fox soccer channel, I guess.

[Mimirswell]

Originally Posted by Akileese

Birmingham is no pushover. I expected them to play the role Reading played last year.

I like Birmingham but scoring two goals at Stamford Bridge for anyone is very, very unlikely - Chelsea now have 64 consecutive undefeated games at Stamford Bridge in the league. I blame it on the lack of Terry. Last Season when Terry was on the field, Chelsea conceded an average of 1 goal every 2 games. When Terry was not on the field, Chelsea concede an average of 1 goal every game. Cech was completely blindsided for the Kapo goal and he should of definitively could have gotten to it.

Originally Posted by Akileese

Ouch to Rooney being out with ANOTHER foot injury. His foot is the soccer equivalent of Fred Taylor's groin and Ken Griffey Jr's hamstring.

Yeah, Manchester is really getting cursed to one playable striker at any given time.

[Telrem]

As an Arsenal fan, I'm pretty excited about the upcoming season, but I think Liverpool will end up winning the league (Chelsea having big injury concerns before the season STARTS is not a good thing).

Thoughts? Predictions?

I think you have no idea about the Premiership. Liverpool will at best get 3rd.

The league is a two horse race between Chelsea and Man U. Although with early injuries to Rooney and Essien, Arsenal and Liverpool may be able to keep up with the big two for a bit longer.

By the time the season ends Chelsea and Man U's VASTLY better squads will put them clear ahead of the rest of the field. The are just so much stronger in numbers and talent compaired to Liverpool, Arsenal and the smaller clubs.

It's impossible to tell at this early stage who will win the league. If Man U can recapture last seasons early form and Chelsea don't suffer another massive injury crisis it's going to be very very close.

[Akileese]

Chelsea started off the season with a slew of injuries first off. Secondly, this game isn't played on history. It may seem like it since the big 4 are almost always in the top 4, but if it's going to change, it will start now or very soon. Rooney is out for two months and Arsenal still have troubles. United won last year because the injury bug bit them the latest. They stayed relatively healthy for most of the year as oppose to Chelsea and Arsenal. Liverpool just didn't do a good job of signing players with Bellamy, but getting Fernando Torres is a big boost to them. I think Liverpool has the most depth out of any team, but I think the Prem is much more balanced than it has been in years passed with the increased spending. The margin between 1 and 6 or 7 will probably be a lot less. Most teams have made significant improvements (Newcastle for one and when/if they get a healthy Michael Owen, putting him up top with Martins could push Newcastle into the top 4. I think United and Chelsea will struggle this year. I think one of the big 4 misses the top 4 in place of Newcastle. I have no clue which, but I feel one of them will miss out. Probably Arsenal or Chelsea. There is no way Chelsea makes it through this year without losing at home.

Interesting theory is that some are wondering whether the boots are to blame for the foot injuries (Rooney's had 3 in 3 years now). I doubt it's the MAIN cause, but with players more commonly wearing them for "testing", it could be related.

[Grooverider]

Akileese, don't follow football much?

Pretty much everything you said is laughable :P

[Seds]

chelsea and man united will not be happy with not winning the champions league last season. expect to see some very good football played in europe!

[Akileese]

Originally Posted by Grooverider

Akileese, don't follow football much?

Pretty much everything you said is laughable :P

Ok cocksucker. Point it out instead of saying pretty much. Pretty much as in, oh wait, nothing. Chelsea always underachieves in Europe. Every year people say "oh this is the year for Chelsea" and bam. They're out in the fucking quarters and semis because they kill themselves trying to win the league. I'm not sure why United haven't played well in Europe the last couple years, but they were a little banged up by the time knockouts rolled around (the Italian teams don't play nearly as physical a game as England which is why they're more fit in the spring when Knockout phase rolls around). Liverpool made it to the finals thanks to a good draw and a lack of injuries. Had the rolls been reversed injury wise with them and say, Chelsea, then Chelsea would of went to the finals (probably would of won the league too). Chelsea didn't start to get very healthy until the end of the season. Not only that, but not having Cech cost them a SLEW of games.

It's still early. We're only past the first weekend of the season. I think Liverpool will win the league because they're starting out the healthiest, they have no African mainstays that they'll lose to heavy international duty, and they have the most depth. That's not laughable buddy, it's logic.

[Telrem]

Akileese, don't follow football much?

Pretty much everything you said is laughable :P

/agree

Newcastle breaking into the Top 4 .... enough said ....

[Akileese]

First off, team's aren't especially cursed. They have enough talent to break into the top 4. Anything can happen in pro sports which is why Man UTD are now in a position to have to battle their way back up with their Derby loss today. Still early and there's no way Man U. sit around the bottom of the table, but it still proves that anyone can beat anyone else on any given day.

Also, I fucking hate Lehman. He came close to costing us points last week and he cost us two this week. It's pretty much a consensus among supports that's he's out after this year, but it's not soon enough. Every point counts and having arguably the most important part of your team have the temperament and decision making of a 6 year old is not a good thing.

[Telrem]

First off, team's aren't especially cursed. They have enough talent to break into the top 4

How do they have enough Talent? How many of their players would get into Liverpool, Arsenal, Man U or Chelsea's teams?

Owen? Maybe if fit but even if he was fit people now realise how injury prone he is. Martins is a good player but would be more of a squad player if he were at a top 4 club. Same goes for Geremi, Nicky Butt, Emre, Barton etc. As soon as you get past their front 6 they are very average. Shay Given is a quality keeper but he's never had a top class back 4 infront of him.

Good to see Man City actually starting to live up to their fan base. Would be ironic if Sven ends up having a good season after all

[K`Lag]

TOP OF THE LEAGUE

[Akileese]

Man City are shocking the fuck out of me. They had a lot of guys who were relatively unproven in England (Sven's new signings). A lot of people said Sven wouldn't succeed at City, but most of them are die hard England supporters and they still remember how badly he botched their world cup chances. In fairness, I think Steve McClaren has done a pretty awful job.

[whocaressd]

Originally Posted by Akileese

Man City are shocking the fuck out of me. They had a lot of guys who were relatively unproven in England (Sven's new signings). A lot of people said Sven wouldn't succeed at City, but most of them are die hard England supporters and they still remember how badly he botched their world cup chances. In fairness, I think Steve McClaren has done a pretty awful job.

Pretty much everyone from England vastly overstimate their nations chances in the world cup. Sven's track record with the England is as good as you can expect, I'm going to laugh my ass off when they don't even qualify for the next European Championship.

Anyone who's suprised that Man City is doing a whole lot better with him as a coach can't know much about his career before he worked for Englands national team. Seriously, quarterfinals is the best you can hope for in any international competition, saying that he botched England's chances is laughable. His time with IFK Göteborg and Benfica marked both clubs most successful periods ever.

Man City don't really have the material to continue to compete with the likes of Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal and so forth in the long run, but top 10 or 6 as was said earlier in this thread is within reason and a vast improvement from previous years. Either way, I'm sure City fans are happy right now with the latest victory, beating your "big brother" is always fun.

[Akileese]

Yeah. I'm not surprised in relation to Sven's track record (as a club coach he has a VERY good history), so that part isn't surprising. I'd like to see if they can keep it going for longer than Pompey did last year. It's pretty much the same kind of start.