*Official* English Football Season 2014-15

[Jarquis]

At least we're in full blown preseason mode though with absolutely everybody talking up their own side's chances

 

[flibbertyjibber]

BBC Sport - Blackpool: From the Premier League to having eight players

Blackpool looking like they're going to complete their fall from grace by getting relegated this season. 8 players in their squad, no goalkeepers, and less than 4 weeks until the start of the season. Good luck with that.

We have them in League Cup, could be a giant killing for the league 2 side there.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

At least we're in full blown preseason mode though with absolutely everybody talking up their own side's chances

Entertainment value: on par with watching grass grow

 

[Uppercut]

At least we're in full blown preseason mode though with absolutely everybody talking up their own side's chances

Ha we'll all be mugged by reality come August.

I'm not feeling enormously confident. Feel like spending the summer talking down Liverpool's chances instead is the safer option.

 

[Jarquis]

I've spent so long feeling that Arsenal have been unfairly written off and hoping to prove people wrong (and on a few occasions we've come close) but now that it actually happened last season, we've got the 'monkey' off our back and we've just signed one of the biggest talents in world football I'm not sure how I feel. Just gonna try and enjoy it. We should be in the hunt and that's about all you can hope for at this stage. Definitely think Chelsea are favourites ATM though and if City keep spending smart money then they'll be ahead of us too.

 

[Cabinet96]

We'll have another season like last. Challenge but ultimately falls slightly short (hopefully by a smaller margin this time) but still get in the CL. Hope we can actually finish first in our CL group this year and go on a run though.

Most confident/optimistic I've been going into a season since 2010 though.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

though and if City keep spending smart money then they'll be ahead of us too.

The champions, who haven't lost anyone from their title winning side, might be ahead of Arsenal if they buy smart?

Right champ.

 

[cpr]

****, what is the world coming to when City fans can rightfully be arrogant about their title credentials.


Feeling completely dethroned now

 

[cpr]

I'm going to make a bold prediction now, one of my classic ones along the lines of 'Why are Utd buying Dwight Yorke' (1998), and 'Andy Carroll will repay Liverpool back over the years with his performance', My psychic abilities around football are as legendary as Paul the Octopus (RIP little fella, gone too soon)


I reckon this year Vincent Kompany will have a shocker. I feel sometimes he can be a liability, he's got a habit of picking up silly cards, and has been sent off needlessly before. Too many times I heard at the back end of the season on commentary 'City are going to struggle without their leader' and cliche's to that effect as for one reason or the other he left the game.

I think he'll have a bad season, and City will suffer for not reacting quick enough.

You heard it here first folks.

 

[sledger]

He had a shocker for much of last year as well tbf.

 

[Jarquis]

The champions, who haven't lost anyone from their title winning side, might be ahead of Arsenal if they buy smart?

Right champ.

Well there's definitely rumours of players leaving but the point I was making was that if you keep making buys like Mangala and Fernando then all else will be irrelevant. There's no 'might' about it either.

 

[Jarquis]

You heard it here first folks.

Don't think we did, as Sledger said he was pants for the second half of last season and they're spending £32m on a CB.

 

[cpr]

Yeah, tbh thats what I thought, but I didnt want to get called out on the grounds I'd not watched enough.

City fans round here though seem to think he's a living god, and can do no wrong - bit like Utd fans thought of Vidic before Torres cruelly started to exploit his weakness. To slate Kompany in the pub gets met by stony silence from the blues who come in (all 4 of them)

 

[Uppercut]

I've spent so long feeling that Arsenal have been unfairly written off and hoping to prove people wrong (and on a few occasions we've come close) but now that it actually happened last season, we've got the 'monkey' off our back and we've just signed one of the biggest talents in world football I'm not sure how I feel.

What's all this about? Didn't they finish in exactly the position everyone expected last season? The only people they proved wrong were Spurs fans, who are generally wrong anyway.

 

[Jarquis]

Yeah, tbh thats what I thought, but I didnt want to get called out on the grounds I'd not watched enough.

City fans round here though seem to think he's a living god, and can do no wrong - bit like Utd fans thought of Vidic before Torres cruelly started to exploit his weakness. To slate Kompany in the pub gets met by stony silence from the blues who come in (all 4 of them)

Not just City fans but all of the people who can't look past headlines and MOTD pundits to form their opinions. Slowly but surely people are waking up to it though, it's a bit like the Mertesacker/Koscielny stuff a year or so ago but in reverse.

What's all this about? Didn't they finish in exactly the position everyone expected last season? The only people they proved wrong were Spurs fans, who are generally wrong anyway.

Because end position is all that matters ofc. If you'd have said this time last year (or even at the close of the transfer window) that Arsenal would have led the league for 4 months and been 7(?) points clear at the end of Feb you'd have been told you were off your rocker.

 

[cpr]

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

 

[Tom Halsey]

You mean the mid-table side that finished only one place behind the team you're tipping to win the league?

I'm tipping Chelsea or City to win the league. Can't really make my mind up atm, at the moment I feel like City should be favourites but I may well have changed my mind tomorrow.

I think 11/2 is value but I don't think we will win the league.

 

[Cabinet96]

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

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.

 

[Uppercut]

Because end position is all that matters ofc. If you'd have said this time last year (or even at the close of the transfer window) that Arsenal would have led the league for 4 months and been 7(?) points clear at the end of Feb you'd have been told you were off your rocker.

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.

 

[Uppercut]

"Arsenal prove the doubters wrong by threatening to challenge for the title before a series of comically huge defeats in big games leaves them scraping fourth".

Since the biggest doubt was over whether they had the depth or physio department to sustain a title challenge over a full season, I don't think they could have proven the doubters more right.