*Official* English Football Season 2014-15

[Jarquis]

Nah everyone would have said you'd just made a perfectly reasonable suggestion because they'd had exactly the same season the year before in reverse.

Bull****.

 

[Jarquis]

Tom Ince recently turned down Inter for Hull, which kind of says it all. Imagine if a talented Englishman was struggling for first team football, but could go off to Real Sociedad or Athletic Bilbao, or Wolfsburg or Borussia M'Gladbach. Would still be at a very high level, with the possibility of European football. Instead it's easier to just moan and sulk, and pretend every other country which has players move abroad is the weird one which should be restricted (in terms of overseas restrictions in the PL). But money talks doesn't it?

I hate to say it as an Arsenal fan, but I genuinely think people like Wilshere and the OX would be better off playing abroad than sitting on the bench for much of next season.

JW and Ox will both play masses as both are versatile and bother are part of the 'British Core' (TM) and Wenger wubs them.

cpr forgot Woodgate in terms of Galacticos, heh.

 

[cpr]

TBH yeah, but like I didn't analyize Owen's time there, Woodgates was even more ruined by injury, would be unfair to judge the effects of a move abroad for either of them given the problems they had.

In fairness to Ince, he needs to play regularly at Premiership level, which Hull should give him, rather than sit on the bench/reserves at Inter, but I do feel he needs to show what he can do in the Prem before considering the big club abroad.

Agree with Cabinet that Ox could do with a year on loan in Spain or Germany, as he will struggle to get regular game time with the Arsenal firepower. Wiltshire I always feel is one or two steps from ruining himself, he does seem to lack the discipline he needs to become the world class midfielder he threatened to be - Scholes was fair to say he's not progressed. I daresay being a millionaire young man in London doesn't help, and maybe a move abroad would allow him to focus on getting the best out of his potential. I think to a similar extent Smalling would benefit the same from doing this too - certainly I think more of our defenders need to sample playing against the attacking styles of the best nations week in week out.

 

[sledger]

BBC Sport - Ashley Cole: Roma signing says English players afraid to go abroad

Reckon he's got a very valid point, and more English players need to go abroad IMO. People talk about the influx of foreign players killing our game, but I feel the lack of English players learning how to play in different styles/climates/tempo's etc hurts us more. It's hard to name many international quality players we've had that have gone abroad in recent years - the 3 that spring out are the Madrid trio of Beckham, Owen and McManaman. Beckham had always been a class above the rest, but still think he developed a maturity and intelligence at Madrid. McManaman played some fantastic football out there, but was always wasted by England.

You look at every country to perform well in the World Cup, and you can probably find a link to the Premier League somewhere - so many foreign players are happy to come over here, so why aren't our players as motivated to seek the challenge elsewhere - its not like playing in Germany, Spain or Italy will harm your international credentials

He's absolutely right, but it's a bit rich that he comes out and says this now tbh. It would have had a bit more gravitas if he had actually moved abroad himself when he wasn't already well over the hill and at the very end of his career.

 

[sledger]

Also, yeah, Wilshere and Ox will play plenty this season. The only thing restricting either of them from playing more games last season was injuries and lack of fitness.

 

[GIMH]

John Aldridge the best performing export ofc

 

[Ikki]

I think there is pretty much no chance of Liverpool doing a Spurs. Rodgers is too good to let that happen. Suarez was obviously incredible but their monster run at the end of the season was about so much more than just him so there's no real logical reason to expect them not to be up there again. Unless you think Gerrard's last few games + WC were the start of a permanent decline as obviously he was pivotal in that charge for the title.

I wouldn't be surprised if last season's top four + United are all in the title race for a good chunk of the season though.

Think United will fall short of top four. They were so far behind the others last season and Arsenal, who they had the best chance of catching, are doing some cracking business.

Liverpool will be top 4. Suarez was a stand-out player in the league, but even by replacing him with a 15 goal, 10 assist kind of player we'll still score enough goals to win the league in most years (70-90 range).

I'll say what I said last season when a couple posters got a bit indignant. I turned out to be right, and if anything I was a bit conservative. The young players are incredible and they did not do anything they can't repeat. Don't be surprised if one or more of Sterling, Sturridge and Coutinho have POTY caliber seasons. With the signings we have, we have addressed our depth issue. If we also improve 10 goals to the good on defence that in itself will have a big effect (and it's not really that farfetched last year was a bit of an outlier).

Where we will miss out with Suarez is the impact he had on opposition defenders. He occupied a lot of their energy because at any time he could pull out something incredible. He also fought so hard off the ball his attitude was infectious throughout the team. But I think Rodgers instills that naturally through his managerial skills anyway. And really, the most important guy at Liverpool is Rodgers, not Suarez. A transfer like this a couple years ago would have had most fans depressed, but we're all quietly optimistic. In general, people underestimate the 'team' factor and Rodgers has consistently got this team playing better and better. Even in the beginning of his tenure when it wasn't translating into points, you could still see marked improvements in the players and the way we played. I would have never in my life thought Flanagan was capable of what he did last season - I thought he was more League One caliber. Sterling has made huge strides and towards the latter half of the season and going into the WC was on par with Suarez for impact in the team. He's turned Coutinho into a legit CM, Gerrard into a wonderful deep-lying holder and Henderson into a proper international quality CM, when he used to be the butt of jokes from the Dalglish era. Heck, we scored so many goals (the most) from set pieces when we'd gotten used to seeing 15 corners and 0 goals. The only thing he's really not fixed is the defence and I think he'll get on that too.

He's bought well, but I think we still need a Griezmann like wideman capable of goals and assists as well as being able to play across the front; a CB and a LB. We're pretty much set after that barring a huge marquee signing which I don't see us making as I think Rodgers wants Sturridge to finally be the man for us up front.

I think the top 4 will be the same teams, in a possibly different order. Too much will have to come together in one season for United to legitimately challenge. I don't see it happening.

 

[Nate]

And really, the most important guy at Liverpool is Rodgers, not Suarez.

This.

 

[GIMH]

My predicted top 6:

1. Man City
2. Chavs
3. Scousers
4. Arse
5. Man U
6. Everton

 

[Nate]

1) Chelsea
2) City
3) Arsenal
4) LFC
5) United
6) not bovved

 

[Uppercut]

John Aldridge the best performing export ofc

I thought we were talking about English players?

 

[grecian]

He's absolutely right, but it's a bit rich that he comes out and says this now tbh. It would have had a bit more gravitas if he had actually moved abroad himself when he wasn't already well over the hill and at the very end of his career.

Yeah, pretty much agree with this, just seems hollow now.

 

[GIMH]

I thought we were talking about English players?

love this

 

[Pothas]

I think the top 4 will be the same teams, in a possibly different order. Too much will have to come together in one season for United to legitimately challenge. I don't see it happening.

I actually agree with most of what you said apart from this last bit and it is why I think Liverpool will end up 5th as things currently stand.

United went from 1st to 7th in one season, they could easily go from 7th to 4th.

 

[King Pietersen]

Going to be very close between United, Liverpool and Arsenal for 3rd and 4th for me, and I can actually see Arsenal being the side finishing 5th. Liverpool might have lost Suarez, but I think the signings of Lallana, Markovic, and Emre are very good. If they get a decent striker (been rumoured with Bony, which would be a great signing), and a world class centre back, they're still going to be a force. Emre could be a key signing, provides a bit of extra cover for the defence that was really missing last season. As for United. LVG's got that bit more tactical nouse than poor Moyesie, so will more than likely squeeze more out of the squad than he did. He's also going to buy smartly, and bring in some real quality. Moyes was awful in the transfer market for United, and I can see that changing this summer with LVG in charge.

Arsenal's defence could be their major achilles heel next season. Sure, they've signed Sanchez, but they've lost Sagna who has been excellent for the last couple of seasons, and then it looks like they're going to lose Vermaelen as well. That's 2 versatile, experienced defenders gone, and it's not going to be cheap to replace them, and they need to replace them quickly. Arsenal's squad is also very small, and a couple of injuries to key players, and they could really struggle. If everyone stays fit, and they sign a couple of decent defenders, they could have a very good season, as their attack is awesome, but wouldn't surprise me if they do a typical Arsenal, storm out of the gates, then get a few injuries to key players, and struggle. I can see them finishing 5th.

Chelsea will win the league imo. Signed some serious quality, and they were in the hunt last year, so that bit of added quality could make a huge difference. Having Jose at the helm also helps.

 

[Damo833]

Being a Spurs fan I don't have high hopes this season, would just like not to play **** every week tbh.

Sell Chadli and Paulinho too

 

[marc71178]

Too much will have to come together in one season for United to legitimately challenge. I don't see it happening.

What, like so much had to come together in 2013/14 for Liverpool to legitimately challenge?

 

[Ikki]

What, like so much had to come together in 2013/14 for Liverpool to legitimately challenge?

Yes, exactly. A season like ours last year is very, very rare. It basically never happens that a team from 7th turns out to be title contenders. Liverpool didn't go to 7th and right back upto the top 4 spots. We spent several seasons getting our **** back together. The point United fans bring about the squad being mostly the same as the one that won the title was also true of us when we dropped out of the top 4, after challenging for the title in 09. For me, it's the drop in standards. Title pushing teams get used to fighting back and have a sense of resolve - that's what characterised United, and us last year - but once you go a season where as soon as a goal hits the team falls apart; it's hard to build that character back again. Especially if the next season doesn't start off well. The heads drop that much faster. In LVG they have a joker in the pack, if it does happen, you can see how it might; but it being his first season, United coming off such a terrible season, and needing to settle in new players; all in the same season is a stretch for me. We'll see.

 

[Nate]

Hoping it can be a breakthrough season for Ibe. Love that kid.

 

[Pothas]

Been hoping for us to get some of your youngsters on loan given that Frank McParland is our sporting director.