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Football Neutrals Thread - Part 2 |
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#9726 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Middleton
Posts: 13,830
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Quote:
Liverpool won't win the league.
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#9727 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Liverpool
Posts: 6,975
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Quote:
Unlike last season, this one is very hard to predict who will end up winning it,
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#9728 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 15,843
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I could see Man City doing it, but then the posts whinging about the praise a manager would deservedly get for coming into a country and winning the league at his first go would prolly make me throw up everywhere lol
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#9729 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 3,733
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delete
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#9730 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 3,733
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Quote:
Unlike last season, this one is very hard to predict who will end up winning it, any of those teams plus Spurs could end up winning it, sadly I think we are too far behind to do so.
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#9731 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 69,134
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Quote:
You mean last season wasn't hard to predict? Did you predict Leicester winning the title?
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#9732 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 69,134
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Quote:
Last season was anything but predictable. As for Spurs, I'm not sure they have enough goals in them to make a genuine title push this season.
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#9733 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 56,270
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Think they key part is December to February when this is no Europe , as once we get to february Chelsea and Liverpool may have the advantage again.
I think either Chelsea or Liverpool will win it this year |
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#9734 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,830
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The only definite fact on the winner is it will be a team in the PL, everything else is pure guesswork right now.
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#9735 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 1,036
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Quote:
The only definite fact on the winner is it will be a team in the PL, everything else is pure guesswork right now.
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#9736 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: County Durham
Posts: 15,061
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Quote:
Keep these comments coming I prefer them.
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#9737 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,830
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Quote:
I'll stick my neck out and say that it won't be Sunderland.
Quote:
I don't think Liverpool will win the league either, but there is nothing better as a football fan your team beating the doubters.
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#9738 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 12,247
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2nd round draw:
Westfields or Curzon Ashton v Bury or AFC Wimbledon Chesterfield v Wycombe Wanderers Millwall v Braintree Town Macclesfield Town v Oxford United Bolton Wanderers v Sheffield United Blackpool v Gillingham or Brackley Town Whitehawk or Stourbridge v Northampton Boreham Wood or Notts County v Peterborough United Cambridge United or Dover Athletic v Morecambe or Coventry City Crawley Town or Bristol Rovers v Taunton/Barrow Port Vale v Hartlepool Luton v Yeovil/Solihull Moors Woking v Accrington Stanley Sutton United v Cheltenham/Crewe Eastleigh/Swindon v Dagenham & Redbridge/Halifax Lincoln v OIdham Shrewsbury v Southport/Fleetwood Charlton v MK Dons Plymouth v Newport County/Alfreton Town Carlisle v Maidstone/Rochdale |
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#9739 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Liverpool
Posts: 6,975
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Quote:
It did seem as if no one else wanted to win it, and their consistency was extraordinary, so about January/February it was definitely looking like their title.
This season is hard to predict. Last season was also very hard to predict, unless you were waiting until the end to cast your prediction. This time last year people were still thinking they'd fall away. |
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#9740 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: County Durham
Posts: 15,061
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Quote:
Hey, they could be on a resurgence right now, so you never know!
I obviously would love us to win, same as you would love to get right back up to the PL - currently more doubters on us than you just now mind! ![]()
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#9741 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,777
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Kinda crazy how after 6/7 games the general feeling was that the title would be contested between City and Spurs, and now people seem to be replacing them with Liverpool and Chelsea who are both on good runs. Just shows how quickly things can change in this league and why it's quite absurd to be asking the managers of those respective sides about their title chances at such an early stage.
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#9742 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,775
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Quote:
I could see Man City doing it, but then the posts whinging about the praise a manager would deservedly get for coming into a country and winning the league at his first go would prolly make me throw up everywhere lol
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#9743 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: West London
Posts: 5,657
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It's funny how not being in the CL is seen as such an advantage yet you can bet that the first target of both clubs this season is too achieve a top 4 finish.......
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#9744 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 15,843
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Quote:
Pellegrini did it and it barely got mentioned.
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#9745 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Manchester
Posts: 15,094
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Quote:
It's funny how not being in the CL is seen as such an advantage yet you can bet that the first target of both clubs this season is too achieve a top 4 finish.......
It ticks the club's commercial box as well. |
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#9746 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: A Sound Expert
Posts: 13,881
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Its all about the money and attracting players
The club want to do both (be in the PL and CL), but actually playing in the CL is chore - as only 1 team can win, its really unlikely to be you. The ideal is getting there, getting through the first round and then going out. Arsenal have perfected that over 17 years. You get the money, the prestige, and can attract the type of player that wants/ needs to play there. But the manager wants to be out of all the cups to concentrate on the league, especially if you can win it. |
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#9747 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 15,843
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First line of Wenger's CV, that.
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#9748 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 26,160
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Quote:
It's funny how not being in the CL is seen as such an advantage yet you can bet that the first target of both clubs this season is too achieve a top 4 finish.......
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#9749 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 12,247
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Under 21s quite entertaining tonight winning 3/2 v Italy.
Doubt tomorrow will be as such! |
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#9750 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Under Your Bed
Posts: 5,488
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Quote:
That's what happens when the 5 or 6 top sides are much of a muchness quality wise. Inevitably a big team has to miss out but then they might get a boost the next season. Was never the case when Chelsea and United were a step ahead of everyone else in the league and able to compete at the business end in Europe. It would be interesting to see what has happened in English football over the last 8 years or so to get us to the point where the league itself is a lot more open but the top teams are less competitive in Europe. I would suggest that United and Chelsea were probably the two strongest defences around at that time, whereas the English sides always look a bit suspect at the back now.
Pre-Premier League, teams got successful largely from a decent manager, the right infrastructure and keeping hold of or recruiting quality players - it wasn't purely all about the money. The Liverpool team that dominated the 70s and 80s was the result of a superb foundation being set down in the 60s. Not all the recruits were "names" so a good scouting network was important. As the honours rolled in, inevitably that brought revenue and sustained the success - almost to the detriment of every other club. Great managers like Clough ensured some competition whilst average managers elsewhere held back clubs who actually had the resources to compete - United spent a lot during this period and bought some stellar players but underachieved in terms of a sustained presence. That all changed when a certain Scotsman rocked up and set down the foundations for a dynasty - the creation of the Premier League was also a dream ticket for a commercially astute club like United. Much like shankly, Ferguson didn't just rely on recruiting stellar talent and set down a defined style of play and a nurturing yet winning culture. At first, the PL and the CL simply reinforced the bigger clubs' status - but the earning power of the PL notably started to attract investment in football - which was once only a guarantee of losing money and strctly the reserve of rich fans who were prepared to feed their passion rather than their bank balance. So enter the oil billionaires. Although resented (largely because they further prevented other clubs changing the status quo) actually were the catalyst to where we are today. The largely United-Arsenal domination was joined by Chelsea and later City. During this time, the CL widened its scope and allowed more English clubs to share that particular pot of gold and hence competition at the higher reaches of the PL slowly but surely increased. The PL attracted more and more TV money and more and more investment and this was inevitably going to water down the strength as even mid to lower table sides began to be financially strong enough to retain and recruit better players. This would not have damaged success in Europe had it not been for clubs such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSG having the financial muscle and drawing power to still largely attract the world's elite players. There is thankfully still room in the PL for a good manager and/or a perfect storm of players/sysystem to have an effect but that has actually re-emerged as the league shares its resources more evenly - only having some of the best players happy to come to England rather them all leaves the cash-rich clubs more vulnerable as they are weaker and the rest slightly stronger. PL cash is actually improving the quality of other leagues too - while we throw silly money at the smaller clubs in Spain, Germany and France they'll slowly erode the domination of the big clubs there - but the grip of the massive clubs in those leagues is harder to loosen as either the TV money is unevenly distributed or simply too low to encourage the kind of growth we've seen here. If, especially, Spain gets more competitive (and things are started to budge a little) English clubs will begin to compete in the CL again - at the moment, Barcelona and Real still have the best players in the world at their beck and call. It'll be interesting to see how the dynamic changes when Messi and Ronaldo move on. |
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