*Official* English Football Season 2006-07

[roseboy64]

And now, any chance of a decent title challenge go out the window for Man Utd.....

They never had any chance.

I doubt Saha will get 30 goals like van Nistelrooy usually did.

I will say this though - Fergie has often been criticised for getting rid of players too early but his decisions are usually vindicated. Remember when he sold Hughes, Ince and Kanchelskis in 95? He replaced them with Beckham, Butt, Scholes, and had already bought Andy Cole. Cantona opted ro retire because he knew Fergie no longer saw him as a key player, and I think he was replaced with Sheringham, who was a huge success.

You could argue either way though, on Beckham, and while internationally he has been poor, I believe he has been one of the better players in these last three years for Real - though correct me because I do not claim to know much at all about Spanish football, I am ignorant like that.

Alas, going against my earlier point, I think Fergie is no longer getting his timing right with players, and his signings are not as intuitive as they once were. His only great recent signings are van der Sar, Heinze and Rooney, and let's be honest, none of them were plucked for obscurity, every team knew that they needed Rooney, and van der Sar isn't exactly a long-term option.

For me, the departure of the horse is good news for a Man U hater like myself, but it is a shame for English football because he is one of the world's greatest strikers. I am going to go as far to say that I would not be surprised if United ended up scrapping it out to finish 4th, and I think Fergie won't last much longer, and they will fall back the same way Liverpool did in the 90s.

Not Rooney no, he's the one world class player.




Yes, I was - but kust being past it does not make him a worse player than the likes of Saha.




Says the person who things that his side have a quality strikeforce and a genuine challenge for the title.

So replicate a load of propaganda and expect us all to swallow it?

Only Roseboy is that gullible and he already thinks that everything the club does is right.

Well they do, Rooney is world class, Saha is in top form even though he didn't really get to show it in the world cup, 4 top class defenders in Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic & Heinze & good set up mid-fielders that if play well as it unit has a real of winning the premiership.

Of course I don't think everything they do is right. Such as sellling John Spector and buying Patrice Evra.

Bloody hell, Tottenham got mugged there. Might as well have thrown in a clause where the Mancs have to pay an extra £50 million if Carrick sprouts wings and develops the ability to fly around the pitch in the next three years. It's more likely.

United will win nothing.

2 Strikers, 4 Defenders, a midfield so good you won't name them. It's an alright team granted. But it's not a squad anywhere near as good as Chelsea's or even Liverpool's. Couple of injuries and Man Utd are in trouble.

Your perspective seems to be that they are all top class. We obviously have different definitions of the term.

I would put Rooney, Heinze and maybe Neville in that category
as for the rest
Saha- Certainly unproven at a club this big. Cannot be expected to play a full season and score 20 goals
Ferdinand- Underskilled in the most important aspects of defending (reading the game and takling). Really needs to be partnered with the right player to be successful and allow his strenghts to show.
Brown- Never quite fulfilled the promise he showed years back.
Vidic- Don't know enough about him to pass comment
Silvestre- Decent player that many clubs would love but may not quite be of the quality required
Giggs- On the downside of his career but still capable of making contributions
Ronaldo- Talented with poor productivity. No where near as quick as he looks and still could be classed as lightweight even after years of development
Scholes- On the downside of his career but still capable of making contributions
Park- Exceptional squad player with a low centre of gravity and the ability to change games, but is he really of the quality to be a mainstay of the 1st XI over a full season?
Carrick- Still unproven and with many doubts over how he actually makes teams better.

United have a very thin squad and personnally I doubt they are capable of finishing in the top 2 let alone with the thing.

Man Utd 1st Team Squad 2006/7 (so far):

GK
Edwin Van Der Sar- One of the best currently.
Tim Howard - Potential to be very good. Concentration problems.
Ben Foster- Bright Prospect

Defenders
Gary Neville - One of the best rightbacks in England.
Rio Ferdinand - Top class.
Gabriel Heinze - One of the bets leftbacks in England IMO. Don't become a fan favourite so easily.
Mikael Silvestre - Inconsistent
Nemanja Vidic - Looks a good signing so far.
Patrice Evra - Undecided
Wes Brown - Coming on but not lived up to his potential.
Phil Bardsley - Prospect. Not sure about him.
Gerard Pique - Looks like he could become very good.
John O'Shea - Decent player.

Midfielders
Paul Scholes - Aging but can still maker good contributions.
Ryan Giggs - Same as Scholes.
Darren Fletcher - Not lived up to the promise he supposedly has. Still got a little time though.
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro - Amazing talent. Needs more production.
Liam Miller - Looks like a dud.
Ji-Sung Park - Impact player. With a season under his belt better is expected though.
Kieran Richardson - Potential but inconsistent.
Michael Carrick - Good player. Made the big jump to CL. Undecided.
David Jones - Good prospect. Undecided.

Forwards
Wayne Rooney - Not much needs to be said here.
Louis Saha - Unproven through a full season at Utd.
Giusseppe Rossi - Talented. Will he able to handle the jump from Reserves to PL if he becomes a fixture?
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - Unknown. Coming back from a long layoff. Needs to regain the form that kept Becks out of the team.
Alan Smith - Won't score a lot of goals but can change things up and is versatile. Was coming into his own in midfield last season.

A fair review I'd say.

Foster looks far less likely to go to Watford since our hopeful deal for Kuzsczczcaqckk fell through. Expect both him and Rossi to stay at United - Rossi will only be loaned out if we get another striker in to the squad, I'd imagine.

Re: Goughy's suggested sales. Don't forget Evra. Sell Evra, too.

i agree with brumby, imo ljungberg, gilberto, fabregas, hleb, rosicky >>>> Giggs, scholes, flecther, smith, carrick.

Easily.

Man Utd.'s midfield consists of two players on their way out, one pretty young, one overpriced and "i'm not really a midfielder but i'll play there if i get a game" Smith.

Compare that to Arsenal's 4 class international players (i don't know if Gilberto plays much internationally).

Anyway so what is people's tips for this season? I think unless something drastic happens Chelsea will more then likely be winning their 3rd Premiership in a row.

Champions: Chelsea
CL: Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal (not in any order)
Relegated: Watford, Reading, Sheffield United
Highest goalscorer: Thierry Henry (Piscine will ljust love it)
Biggest surprise package/s: Newcastle, Portsmouth
Biggest flop/s: Middlesborough, Didier Drogba
Best player: Frank Lampard
FA Cup: Liverpool
Carling Cup: Newcastle (may as well make it their goal)

yeah cant see much i disagree with there, although i would pick aliaksander hleb as being the best player, my tip anyway.
haha, dunno, some parts of yorkshire such as sheffield for example are probably worse imo.

Hard to disagree with that, unfortunately. The three in CL spots all have their weaknesses but should still be able to hold off Tottenham.



Odds of all three going down are very slim. Reading will stay up and do well. Originally I had penned Wigan to go down after the loss of Bullard, Roberts and likely loss of Chimbonda but Landzaat and Valencia have been two decent signings so that tips me in the direction of Charlton to join Watford and Sheffield United. No Curbishley, Bent will struggle to re-create last season's scoring form and they are signing up as many premiership flops as they can get their hands on.



With no RVN, barring injury, quite comfortably I'd imagine. Shev only scored 19 with 5 pens for Milan last season and he won't be helped playing upfront by himself with an entire midfield (Lampard, Ballack, Robben anyway) who's first and generally only reaction is to shoot when they get the ball.



For Newcastle to be a surprise packet they would have to qualify for the CL for mine. After a shocking start last season they came home strongly to finish 7th.

Reading is my surprise packet.



Charlton, Shevchenko (if scoring 15 odd goals would be deemed a flop)



If it's to win an official award the nominees have already been announced - Lampard, Gerrard, Henry or Rooney. Take your pick



Chelsea.



More plastique for Man United.

Biggest Flop - Emile Heskey, 5.5Mil, whatever.

Charlton will be mid table easy, i actually think their signings have been decent. Traore may not have been top class at Liverpool but he did ok and will be good enough for Charlton. I wouldn't really call JFH a premiership flop either

Traore is terrible and I was thinking more of Faye than JFH.

JFH scores goals wherever he goes yet still always gets the boot, I like him, but age is catching up.

Manchester City can be my second surprise package. They seem to have the odd/even year thing down pat and should shoot up the table a little.

I apologise, it was 94 points, but they still were far and away the dominant side that season, and were promoted ages before the season ended.

Without investment they were woeful, and as yet, Reading haven't invested in anything of any real note.

The likes of Lita will not worry Premiership defenses overly.

Anyway last night Chelsea can be beaten, and in their bogey team Liverpool in Cup matches and Crouch was again the hero for the Reds.

If they can turn their form they show in Cup competitions, then perhaps they could really challenge Chelsea, and they have the have a pretty good squad on paper as well, and if Chelsea do some how implode, then I think Liverpool would be the best team out of Arsenal and Man U and the rest to win the league. However the chances of that are minimal, but stranger things have happened in football.

However i think it will be:

1/ Chelsea
2/ Liverpool
3/ Arsenal (depending on who they sign, if anybody before the window shuts and if Mr Cole joins another Cole at Stamford Bridge and Reyes gets moved on as well)
4/ Man U


I think if Arsenal can get a left back and centre back, and a good one, then they will have all the players they will need.

a bit early, but what are your Champions League predictions this season, my top 3 teams are:

1. Barcelona
2. Chelsea
3. Inter Milan

Oxford to take out the Conference.

PSV Eindhoven...

im not biased

honestly the final 4 will be Chelsea, Man Utd, Real Madrid and Lyon i think

I think that Liverpool will do better than Man Utd tbh.

in the premiership i agree, i think they might go on a bit of a run in the CL though...

I'd have Inter ahead of Lyon at least, they have profited from the italian scandall along with some good transfers & have gained the likes of Crespo, Vieira, Ibrahamovic, grosso, Dancourt to go with season blokes like Zanetti, Toldo, Martins, Solori, Figo, Samuel, Materazzi, Stankovic etc. If they play as a unit they can go very far in Europe.

United's progress in Europe will depend on a few more good transfers for me, if they can get Hargreaves or Senna probably Torres especially i'll back the boys to go very far not only in Europe but in the Premiership.

And Exeter to still be consistently inconsistent?

Is Inglethorpe (ow who his name is) still in charge?

Gerrard on the right >>> Lennnon > Beckham

Gerrard>>>Lennon>Beckham>Pennant, to complete the full list of options we have on the right these days.

Few more.

 

[roseboy64]

Yes, you were right, but you were arguing with someone who was also right...

True but he missed the point I was making originally.

 

[roseboy64]

Liverpool top of the table atm. They'll be lucky if they get to be in that spot again in the season.

has fulham turned up .. 4 - 0 after 19 mins and man utd on fire. good to see ronaldo and rooney have settled there differences and they are playing quality.......poor ol chris coleman rumours have it he will be the first to go........

My predictions:

1. Manchester United - if we get one more signing
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Tottenham
5. Arsenal

18.Charlton
19.Sheffield United
20.Watford

Last year I called it for Chelsea to win and for United to finish second so this year I'm reversing and hoping for my predictions to come through again.

Pure optimism.

lack of concentration there, made a few of those gaffs lately, i apologise, my bad, ban must start in next few games.



rubbish, no way will man utd finish any higher than second, and no way will charlton be relegated. No way will spurs finish above Arsenal either.

I could see Spurs finishing above Arsenal, it very nearly happened last season and they've not sold off their best players. Arsenal should finish ahead, but i don't think it's as clear cut as you make it out to be.
As for Charlton well, depends how they start the season. If they're there after 10-15 games, then i could seem then staying there but really they shouldn't get relegated.

i would say its far more like that someone like wigan ends up battling relegation rather than charlton, spurs i feel will struggle to repeat the effotrs of last season whereas arsenal have a new stadium and plenty of young prospects to work with which should see them into at least fourth place this season.

Wigan who did amazingly well and have pretty much got rid of the people that put them there. They should be battling. It's tough deciding which one of the newly promoted teams will stay up. Reading completely ran away with the Championship and so it should be them, but we know how well Sunderland did. I've also seen Watford bandied about as the best team that went up.

reading despite running away with the championship will struggle i think, theyre defence was not at all convincing and were lucky to win the other day, they being the closest premiership side to where i live, just beating portsmouth have my full support, but i can see it being very difficult for them, most likely of all the teams that came up to stay up i wopuld have thought would be sheffield united, which is a shame, as i can neither stand them, or that **** neil warnock.

Looks that way after the Liverpool result tbh. Also shows the reason why Liverpool won't win the Premiership.

liverpool are the only team with a chance of catching chelsea or putting up any sort of fight though if you ask me. Whether that will be in vain remains to be seen.

Surely Man U can give Chelsea a though fight if they play to potential as well.

Bottom half of the table finish for Portsmouth.

For me Spurs and Man United are battling for 4th place this season based on current squads.

Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal in that order for top 3.

Kuyt will fail, mark my words.

No.

Dont agree. Liverpool have a big squad but I dont think they have quite enough truely world class players to really challenge chelsea. I think Man utd have the firepower to challenge Chelsea but it will depend on keeping Ronaldo, Rooney, Scholes and Saha fit for the whole season and I dont see this happening.

i think thats a big if, providing that remains the case then they could have a go at catching them, but i think liverpool as has been said previously are the only team with enough depth to challenge chelsea really, but time will tell i suppose.

Oh come off it!!!Arsenal?Are you crazy?I know you don't like Man Utd but please!!!Best they can do is 4th. Use some logic will ya. And yes my view of Man Utd challenging Chelsea is logical if you look at correctly and not just using bias.No one expected second last year and hmm wonder where they finished?And who thought they would?

Look at it objectively.

Last year with a young side Arsenal reached the CL final (in the process winning as many knock out ties as United have won in about 7 seasons)

They are now a season more experienced, and haven't lost any of that team, whilst adding Rosicky, and potentially now Gallas as well as Walcott maturing enough to be another option.

By contrast, Man United have no young players coming through, still have no top class central midfielders and have sold their main goalscorer.

As for the nobody expected second, I'd agree based on the likes of you, who seemed to think you'd win the league

I don't see the CDMs having a particularly good season. They did well in the CL 2-legged ties because of their defense, in 2-legged ties teams like the CDMs can be patient and get a goal from somewhere on the counter attack or from a set piece and keep it tight so they get through 1-0 or whatever. Nowadays in the big knockout competitions a good defense is virtually all you need. In the Premiership the onus is on the CDMs (in most games) to attack but when they're up against an organised 2 banks of 4 they struggle to score, this results in them dropping points in a fair few games. Now there is such a gulf between the top 4 or whatever and the rest you can't afford to drop many points. The CDMs' squad hasn't got any better and they're standing still whilst other teams improve. Chief poseur will start going downhill as he loses that first yard pace, which is critical to a player like him because his other skills aren't anywhere near as brilliant as people make out (he can hardly head the ball, he has good control but no great skill to beat players without relying on his pace, his finishing is mediocre). Another thing to consider is Manure and Liverpool were badly hit by injury for the early part of last season, they're not so badly off this season.

The problem they have at the moment isnt magicaly going to disapear though as Aston Villa showed. Having said that I think they will get top 4 pretty easily. But Manchester United as long as they have Rooney and Ronaldo fit play football that is very efective for beating most of the mediocre premiership oppostion. For this reason i think they will come 2nd again.

In terms of personnel you may be accurate, but we do have a young squad with several players who are in their early twenties & younger. An awful lot of our players have great potential to improve. I reckon we'll at least go better than 4th.

Where'd you see that, Dave?

He's hardly a "world-class manager" IMHO. World class many things, but not manager...

København to finish ahead of Celtic.

Vennegor wanted to leave, hes been with us for 5 years and wanted to play in a different country, going to Porto would have a been a better move for him i think...

we still have enough power up front to get through, i think we can top our group and go through unbeaten, 3 home wins and 3 away draws is a good chance...

my tips for all the groups

Group A: 1st Chelsea 2nd Barcelona
Group B: 1st Inter 2nd Bayern Munich
Group C: 1st PSV 2nd Liverpool
Group D: 1st Valencia 2nd Roma
Group E: 1st Lyon 2nd Real Madrid
Group F: 1st Man Utd 2nd Benfica
Group G: 1st HSV 2nd Arsenal
Group H: 1st AC Milan 2nd Anderlecht (finally)

not sure where on earth bolton have got that money from, be paying him a fortune in wages as well, after a season of scoring quite a few goals i can see this arrangement ending in tears.

Liverpool will win the prmeiership this year.

UEFA champions league will be won by Chelsea.

I think Diego has a lot to prove IMO after his time at Porto didn't work out that well for him and show his obvious talent.

As for the CL, I reckon Valencia could go a fair way, they have made some good signings, I think Morientes will do well back in Spain, but I am not sure on Francesco Tavano since Italian players haven't always worked out at Valencia, so for me it is very risky. Joaquin should be one of the buy's of the year and I will say David Villa, last season's bargin buy will have another top season.

The last bit. Might look later for more.

 

[marc71178]

Few more.

Few more what exactly?

Not sure what quoting a load of stuff out of context proves.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Few more what exactly?

Not sure what quoting a load of stuff out of context proves.

Well it might not prove anything but it does make you look like an arse and makes me look good.

Seems a worthwhile exercise to me.

 

[Craig]

Hmmm smart choices about Reading and Didier Drogba and Liverpool and Newcastle as was Frank Lampard.

That was dire.

 

[Barney Rubble]

My Pompey prediction still stands, TBH. Adams has done next to nothing besides help Big Sol and Kanu feel at home, and Glen Johnson is still ****.

That said, I'm insanely happy with the way our season's gone. Bring on some big names in the summer and a UEFA place next year.

EDIT: I'm also greatly looking forward to our new stadium, on the bottom of the sea or wherever it's going to be. Hopefully it'll be built by 3006-07.

 

[roseboy64]

Few more what exactly?

Not sure what quoting a load of stuff out of context proves.

Well it might not prove anything but it does make you look like an arse and makes me look good.

Seems a worthwhile exercise to me.

More or less correct by SP.

 

[pinchy81]

Pinchy's is easily the worst considering Torquay have been relegated for awhile now.

woop i win

 

[Craig]

With all this controversy regarding West Ham and the signings of you-know-who, why didn't this all pop up before and this investigation happen earlier until now?

 

[Matteh]

Because Wigan looked like they were staying up.

 

[Craig]

Yeah but if something is dodgy, then it was dodgy back then. Anyway Mascherano hardly played anyway so he wasn't really much of a factor then Tevez has been.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Few more what exactly?

Not sure what quoting a load of stuff out of context proves.

It's not out of context at all. It proves that people spoke a long way too soon, me included.

 

[luffy]

NOOOO!! Man U, ****!

 

[marc71178]

Dream scenario can still happen.

Charlton win both their last 2 games, whilst West Ham avoid defeat at the title celebration party and Wigan win at Sheffield United.

 

[Craig]

Dream scenario can still happen.

Charlton win both their last 2 games, whilst West Ham avoid defeat at the title celebration party and Wigan win at Sheffield United.

What are the odds of that?

 

[grecian]

MMMMMMMMMMMMM, Arsenals 'keeper.

That's my only comment on the Womens FA Cup final, I'm afraid.

 

[steds]

Hate Arsenal. Didn't even need to call on Carney until 3-1 up.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Looking bad for yer Addicks. Spurts leading 1-0 with two minutes left & they need to win.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Ha. 2-0. All over Red Rover.

Defoe too, ex-Charlton boy to rub salt in the wound. Fair play to the fans tho, going down with a smile.