2019/20 Premier League & General Football Discussion

[ASH32]

So ahead of tomorrow's opening day game, is it time for relegation predictions?

Brighton
Aston Villa
Sheffield

I think Crystal Palace stays up barely but that could change if Zaha leaves in the January transfer window.

I'll go Norwich, Brighton and Crystal Palace, but the Palace one is all down to Zaha as you say, if he sulks and goes on strike, or doesn't perform at top level and/or leaves in January then it is likely they'll go down. If he plays as normal and dives for penalties then they'll be fine as VAR will give them tons of them with our refs in charge of it, so it's definitely a risk picking them to go down. Especially when it means not picking Sheffield United, Newcastle or Aston Villa who would all be likely picks for many I'm sure.

Watford is overdue a bad season too, I'm not sure how they have done as well as they have the last few seasons and they are a team that could lose out VAR wise, as they seem to get away with a lot of cheating to me.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Brighton, Newcastle and Sheffield United are the three going down IMO.

 

[Famine]

As much as it pains me to say* I don't think Sheffield United will be going down. There's quite a few pundits who are saying that they will, but they also only seem to be aware of the Championship twice a year. Anyone who was aware of the whole Championship last season won't be looking at them as relegation fodder, even before their summer recruitment drive.

Newcastle United, Brighton and Southampton.


*It doesn't. We're their lifelong rivals, to the point they even took our nickname when we moved stadiums and didn't use it any more, but they're still Sheffield.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Top 4 predictions:
Liverpool (please), Man City, Tottenham, Wolves (going bold I know)

 

[Jezza819]

Top 4 predictions:
Liverpool (please), Man City, Tottenham, Wolves (going bold I know)

Top 4:

Liverpool (please for me too), Man City, Tottenham, Arsenal.

 

[Jimlaad43]

26 minutes in and Liverpool are already 3-0 up.

 

[Jezza819]

26 minutes in and Liverpool are already 3-0 up.

I'm at work and can't watch. How bad is the injury to Alisson?

 

[Jimlaad43]

I'm at work and can't watch. How bad is the injury to Alisson?

Sounds like a pulled calf that'll keep him out for a few weeks. Or at least that's what the commentators said, I'm just listening to radio commentary.
4-0 though.

 

[Jezza819]

Sounds like a pulled calf that'll keep him out for a few weeks. Or at least that's what the commentators said, I'm just listening to radio commentary.
4-0 though.

How good is his backup? Adrian is it? Looks like he let one in. Is this back to having to win games 4-3 again?

 

[MUSC4EVER]

4-1 in the end, Norwich actually did really well, Liverpool looked shaky at the back at times.

 

[JohnBM01]

Hit the ground running, huh? I didn't see most of the game before the 70th minute, but I saw Liverpool FC defend home quite nicely against Norwich City FC. All congratulations to Liverpool. I'll be sure to try to follow as much of the Premier League as possible and become more engaged in it than I usually am.

 

[Famine]

We, are, top of the league (after one game), I say we are top of the league (after one game).

View attachment 840454

We, are, top of the league (after two games), I say we are top of the league (after two games).

 

[MUSC4EVER]

West Ham 0-5 Man City
Burnley 3-0 Southampton
Watford 0-3 Brighton
Bournemouth 1-1 Sheff Utd
Palace 0-0 Everton
Spurs 3-1 Aston Villa

Man City looked at the Liverpool performance last night and said 'anything you can do, we can do better!', a Sterling hat-trick and it would have been six if VAR didn't exist as City had a goal correctly ruled out for offside (very marginal though.) West Ham got hammered!

A couple of surprise results as relegation favourites Brighton and Burnley picked up big wins, Sheff Utd picked their first point thanks to a late equaliser from Billy Sharp, Villa were 0-1 up and were looking good until a dominant second half from Spurs got them the win.

 

[andrea]

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Man United 4-0 Chelsea, two from Rashford, the others from Martial and James on his debut.

Never expected this, SO HAPPY!!!

 

[Dave A]

What a phenominal second half of football at Old Trafford.

Overall the first half was a very end to end affair and I'm sure Lampard will be ruing that Chelsea didn't score before half time, but that second half was fabulous. When it clicks it really clicks and I don't think that's the best we can play, I saw plenty of roomfor improvement in that perfformance.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

What a phenominal second half of football at Old Trafford.

Overall the first half was a very end to end affair and I'm sure Lampard will be ruing that Chelsea didn't score before half time, but that second half was fabulous. When it clicks it really clicks and I don't think that's the best we can play, I saw plenty of roomfor improvement in that perfformance.

And Chelsea weren't even that bad, just made a few mistakes at the back which United pounced on, United were more clinical.

Maguire made all the difference today and rightly got man of the match, Wan Bissaka looked really good too, plus Daniel James getting a debut goal at Old Trafford.

Edit: almost forgot about Pogba, and how can you after two assists and the ball into Rashford was a Peach!

 

[Dave A]

And Chelsea weren't even that bad, just made a few mistakes at the back which United pounced on, United were more clinical.

Maguire made all the difference today and rightly got man of the match, Wan Bissaka looked really good too, plus Daniel James getting a debut goal at Old Trafford.

Edit: almost forgot about Pogba, and how can you after two assists and the ball into Rashford was a Peach!

Maguire and Wan-Bissaka are going to be very, very important for us.

Pogba's assist for Rashford was sublime, and he didn't even have a great game IMO. This result doesn't mean anything really, it was just realy nice to see us play so well. But if we can keep that energy and clinical touch going we can start to build something special.

It's still early days but the signs are promising.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

The first round of the Carabao Cup is this week with all the ties being played tomorrow night, Salford v Leeds is the game on Sky. European Super Cup between Liverpool and Chelsea is on Wednesday night in Istanbul on BT Sport.

The big game in the league this weekend is Man City v Tottenham on Saturday night.

 

[Famine]

The first round of the Carabao Cup is this week with all the ties being played tomorrow night

... except for the one that was played last week, and the one that has been postponed pending a club's possible ejection from the league.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Oh yeah what's the situation with Bury right now??, there has to be a decision soon as they are not fulfilling their fixtures.

I know Bolton are playing their games, albeit with their young players, Kudos to them for getting a point against Coventry on Saturday.

 

[Liquid]

MANAGER WATCH

A list of all managerial departures because sackings are all too quick to happen these days

Spoiler: All managers of the top 92 on the opening day of the season

Arsenal - Unai Emery
Aston Villa - Dean Smith
Bouremouth - Eddie Howe
Brighton & Hove Albion - Graham Potter
Burnley - Sean Dyche
Chelsea - Frank Lampard
Crystal Palace - Roy Hodgson
Everton - Marco Silva
Leicester City - Brendan Rodgers
Liverpool - Jürgen Klopp
Manchester City - Josep Guardiola
Manchester United - Ole Gunnar Solskjær
Newcastle United - Steve Bruce
Norwich City - Daniel Farke
Sheffield United - Chris Wilder
Southampton - Ralf Hassenhüttl
Tottenham Hotspur - Mauricio Pochettino
Watford - Javi Garcia
West Ham United - Manuel Pellegrini
Wolverhampton Wanderers - Nuno Espirito Santo

Barnsley - Daniel Stendel
Birmingham City - VACANT
Blackburn Rovers - Tony Mowbray
Brentford - Thomas Frank
Bristol City - Lee Johnson
Cardiff City - Neil Warnock
Charlton Athletic - Lee Bowyer
Derby County - Phillip Cocu
Fulham - Scott Parker
Huddersfield Town - Jan Siewert
Hull City - Grant McCann
Leeds United - Marco Bielsa
Luton Town - Graeme Jones
Middlesbrough - Jonathan Woodgate
Millwall - Neil Harris
Nottingham Forest - Sabri Lamouchi
Preston North End - Alex Neill
Queen's Park Rangers - Mark Warburton
Reading - Jose Gomes
Sheffield Wednesday - VACANT
Stoke City - Nathan Jones
Swansea City - Steve Cooper
West Bromwich Albion - Slaven Bilic
Wigan Athletic - Paul Cook

Accrington Stanley - John Coleman
Blackpool - Simon Grayson
Bolton Wanderers - Phil Parkinson
Bristol Rovers - Graham Coughlan
Burton Albion - Nigel Clough
Bury - Paul Wilkinson
Coventry City - Mark Robins
Doncaster Rovers - Darren Moore
Fleetwood Town - Joey Barton
Gillingham - Steve Evans
Ipswich Town - Paul Lambert
Lincoln City - Danny Cowley
Milton Keynes Dons - Paul Tisdale
Oxford United - Karl Robinson
Peterborough United - Darren Ferguson
Portsmouth - Kenny Jackett
Rochdale - Brian Barry-Murphy
Rotherham United - Paul Warne
Shrewsbury Town - Sam Ricketts
Southend United - Kevin Bond
Sunderland - Jack Ross
Tranmere Rovers - Mickey Mellon
Wimbledon - Wally Downes
Wycombe Wanderers - Gareth Ainsworth

Bradford City - Gary Bowyer
Cambridge United - Colin Calderwood
Carlisle United - Steven Pressley
Cheltenham Town - Michael Duff
Colchester United - John McGreal
Crawley Town - Gabriele Cioffi
Crewe Alexandra - David Artell
Exeter City - Matt Taylor
Forest Green Rovers - Mark Cooper
Grimsby Town - Michael Jolley
Leyton Orient - VACANT
Macclesfield Town - Sol Campbell
Mansfield Town - John Dempster
Morcambe - Jim Bentley
Newport County - Mike Flynn
Northampton Town - Keith Curle
Oldham Athletic - Laurent Banide
Plymouth - Ryan Lowe
Port Vale - John Askey
Salford City - Graham Alexander
Scunthorpe United - Paul Hurst
Stevenage - Dino Maamria
Swindon Town - Richie Wellens
Walsall - Darrell Clarke

Amazingly, there are three vacancies at the start of the season; Birmingham City, Sheffield Wednesday and Leyton Orient.

As for Bury, I think it's a disgrace how they are continuously failing to fulfill their fixtures. They've been given until 23rd August to avoid being expelled from the Football League but really, I don't see why they have been given that much time when they have already failed to compete in four games so far already.

I'm a fan of a club that has been through hardship itself; Wrexham were the first club to be deducted 10 points for going into administration and twice avoided going out of business at the last hour thanks to two six-figure fan whip-rounds. I understand what it's like to be a supporter of a club in dire needs but compared to the likes of Wrexham, Oxford or Coventry over the years where the dire circumstances were through asset stripping, in the case of Bury, the owners deliberately overspent and knowingly accelerated the club's debt in doing so. I do not think that is at all fair and a bailout package would in some way vindicate the policy of overspending, flying in the face of supposed financial fair play, fit and proper persons test and directors disqualifications act.

 

[88GTA]

Leyton Orient

They still have an interim manager? I guess it would be tough to replace Justin Edinburgh.

Last time I read any news about Bury, they were having a charity game with Accrington to raise money for the club. Didn't sound promising that they would be able to stay afloat though.

 

[Liquid]

a charity game with Accrington to raise money for the club.

Ironic given that their league fixture against Accrington is one of the ones that has been cancelled.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

When I first started going to Swansea games in the late 90's there were people outside the ground shaking buckets with 'save the club' written on them, and it was the same when my mum went to their games in the mid 80's too, nobody at the club knew what was happening on a day-to-day basis and we also had an over 90-year old ground that was crumbling, this was before FFP and the points deduction existed.

That famous game in 2002/03 saved us, needed to beat Hull on the final day to stay in the Football League, 2-1 down at half time but then a James Thomas second half hat-trick kept us up, the club were bought by the supporters trust and we haven't looked back since, a new stadium came in 2005 and then a six-year stay in the Premier League.

However bad things are now for Bolton and Bury or any other club in financial difficulty, things can change very quickly, Swansea are a good example of that, as are Bournemouth. Just got to try and stay positive.

 

[88GTA]

Leyton Orient had financial issues only a couple of years ago as well and they are slowly coming back.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Breaking news in the last few minutes. Man City have been fined £315k by FIFA for breaches relating to international transfer and registration of under 18 players.

Don't know if this is any thing to do with their FFP investigation, if it is they've probably avoided a transfer ban or Champions League expulsion.

 

[Phoenix]

Breaking news in the last few minutes. Man City have been fined £315km by FIFA for breaches relating to international transfer and registration of under 18 players.

Unless they get a huge fine in the multiple millions, this is just pocket change. Nothing will change with these low fees.

 

[ASH32]

Unless they get a huge fine in the multiple millions, this is just pocket change. Nothing will change with these low fees.

Yes, I guess as long as you admit it when you get caught you'll just get a pathetic fine. This is for a similar offence to the one Chelsea are currently serving a two window transfer ban for.

 

[Jimlaad43]

The only issue with complaining about small fees for big clubs is that a precident has to be set somehow that can be applied to anyone. If a fine of $50mill was issued, I doubt a lower league team that falls foul of the same thing could pay that.