Barclays Premier League 2008-2009 Thread

[Dave A]

The wait is almost over with the new Premier League season less than two weeks away. The transfer market seems to be quiter than usual for certain clubs, mine included. I saw a bit of the game against Peterborough today, overal not the best of games but it was never going to be so close to the season. Pretty much like Ole's testimonial on Saturday which wasn't the best of games. The atmosphere there was fantastic though. We haven't made any big signings yet but I think we'll be seeing some younger players playing a part in the smaller games, particularly coming off the bench if we're winning near the end.

It appears that teams are allowed 7 players on the subs bench this year instead of 5 and I think that's a good move to allow younger players to get a shot. As it stands with 5 the players picked tend to be the best players not starting incase there's an injury of something. With 7 sibs you can still put a tried and tested player for each position on the bench (keeper, defender, midfileder and attacker) but you can put 2 or 3 younger players on the bench too.

We've got a couple of young Brazillian lads playing for us now. We signed them a while back but they've just joined the team now. When I read the headlines "Brazillian twins arrive in Manchester" the thoughts going through my head were vivid, then I read that they we're footballers and that put a dampener on things. One of them, Rafael player the full 90 mins today and for a 17 year old he was brilliant, I think he'll get a few appearences in the league this year. then there's Rodrigo Possebon who looks good and Fraizer Campbell who I saw playing in person for the first time on Saturday who's very fast. Scored a good goal against Espanol too, but he's no where near the finished article yet. Of all our youngsters I'd say Rodrigo looks the most capable for his age, it's a pity he plays center mid, the one position we're alreadys more than covered in. Still with Anderson away at the Olympics and Park and Ronaldo recovering from injury and Hargreaves not having played yet in the pre-season I can see him getting a chance.

So anyone looking forward to the new season, dumb question.

 

[Only_in_f1]

Here it is again. No more boring Saturdays. Here comes watching the end of what ever games is on Sky in the Northampton Club Bar and then watching Northampton and then getting home to watch Match of the day. Here come the half times trying to listen for any surprise results to laugh at over the tannoy. Here come long Tuesday night trips to Swindon and Brighton and listening to Midweek premiership games and Champions league results whilst trying to warm up in the car.

Im looking forward to this season. Big Phil trying to get through the first 10 games without someone asking for Jose back. Deco picking up the ball and knocking a pass 40 yards only for Anelka to blaze it over while Malouda falls to the floor shouting for a free kick. Bosingwa seems a decent player but where will he fit in the puzzle? It seems they have a missing piece and with Makelele leaving that has grown.
Fraizer Campbell looks exciting. Hes always good on Football Manager and it seems he played a major part in Hull's season last year. Im wondering why Gerard Pique was sold. He seems a decent talent.
Liverpool made some interesting signings. Robbie Keane is a player that I have always admired as a striker and his talent maybe his overrated nature is shown by the fact he's never swapped a club without a big fee being involved. However alot of youngsters have come in and people like Crouch have left.
Talk of the beanpole he is back at the FA cup winners Pompey. I would have said that they could finish top 6 but Sulley Muntari leaving and Diarra injured will weaken there midfield.
Arsenal have been relatively low key. Ramsey and Nasri only 2 big money signings. Nasri I rate but will he get his chance?
Tottenham are a team I rate for this season. Gomes, Modric, dos Santos, Bentley. On paper they are quality signings but can Ramos make it work. There defence is a bit weak and no real defenders have been signed.
Newcastle's millions of pounds on new players has been flat with little action in the market.
Manchester City only signed Jo and Everton have signed no one.
Hull have signed some very good players that are proven but I think its a step too far for them. Kitson is Stoke's only real signing. He's a quality player but i think them and Hull will go back down. West Brom could join them. We played West Brom in a pre season friendly and they looked quite sharp. Two ex Man United heroes Keane and Ince Have been busy. I dont think Ince can hack it at this level. He managed Franchise FC so im not going to like him but Fowler as a serious striker? Not any more.

I think it will be a cracking season! Can't wait!

 

[Dave A]

I was getting a little concerned with our squad being a bit depleted for the start of the season. As I mentioned in the first post Anderson's at the Olympics, Park and Ronaldo are recovering from operations and Nani is suspended. Then we have Carrick and Rooney sick with some African virus and and Hargreaves recovering from some work on his knee and not having any pre-season behind him. I was thinking, who are we going to play when the season starts, then I remembered, it's all ok since we're playing Newcastle at home .

We sold Pique because he wanted first team football, was good enough for first team football in most teams but had almost no chance of breaking up the Rio and Vidic partnership. Fergie wanted him to stay, but he couldn't promise him what he wanted, so when Barca said "we'll have him back" we let him go.

 

[Only_in_f1]

We sold Pique because he wanted first team football, was good enough for first team football in most teams but had almost no chance of breaking up the Rio and Vidic partnership. Fergie wanted him to stay, but he couldn't promise him what he wanted, so when Barca said "we'll have him back" we let him go.

I though he would be a decent back up for Carrick and Hargreaves in midfield, but I guess first teams football is what he wanted will he get that more at Barca?

 

[Dave A]

Yeah, at least he's been told he will. Pique was a centre back, not a midfielder. We still have Evans and Silvestre as backup for central defense. Though Silvestre is prone to lapses of concentration. Evans looks promising but I always thought Pique was better. Now we have Fabio and Rafael who play left and right back respectively who look very promising. Fergie hinted that Rafael despite being 17 and only playing 1 game for United so far looked so promising he might get a few first team games this year.

Ofcourse we also have Neville back and Brown can play in the centre or at right back, then there's Cathcart, but I don't think we'll see him in the first team. He had a game or two in the pre-season tour but he's not ready for first team yet. As for centre mid, that's one position we're packed in, we have Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes, Rodrigo, Fletcher, Anderson, Martin, Petrucci if he turns out good and ofcourse Rooney who can play very well from a central attacking mid-field position if required.

We've got a promising group of young players coming through, the problem is simply if they can break into the first team regularly enough to want to stay or not and ofcourse if they can reproduce that form in the first team. Pique couldn't and neither could Rossi and Evans never progressed enough after looking like he had potential, 3 seasons ago. We've loaned Simpson out to Blackburn, which I think is a good move. But if Rafael turns out to be as good as he's toutet to be, or even half as much so, then I don't think Simpson will be a United player in the 09-10 season.

 

[Alex.]

Liverpoolwise, The fans are really happy with the progress of Ngog, Nemeth and Pacheco as the new young players, aswell as being able to start the season with Torres and Keane. I will be interesting to see how close we can get this year.

 

[Dave A]

I can see you doing better this year but don't see you challenging for the title yet tbh. I think the biggest change Liverpool needs to do that is the manager. He's spent a ridiculous ammount of money and he's not challenged for a league title yet. I do think you have a good team, but some players I think could go such as Pennant and relatively easilly be replaced with better players. I think last year was the closest you've got to the top since the Premiership / Premier League began, so the gap has closed a bit and you have arguably the best striker in Europe right now in Torres and a few good younger lads like Babel who I think can become something special. But closing the gap as you have done and then taking the next step to challenging United and Chelsea in consistency over a whole season is a big ask. And I think Benitez ratates the wrong players too often. Every manager rotates to a degree, especially if you have a big squad. But Rotating torres for Voronin is just a big no no. Another thing that has left me confused is the whole Barry thing, talk of letting Alonso go if you got Barry, why, no offense to Barry but Alonso is just a better player, I'd think a lot of Liverpool fans are happy Alonso is staying but the whole idea of Liverpool going for Barry and letting Alonso go seemed odd to me. Here's hoping the United v Liverpool derbys are a bit more exciting this year, but the results are the same.

Good news for United is that Rooney is back in training with Carrick, so they might well be good to start against Newcastle.

 

[Alex.]

I think scoring against you would be a bloody start

 

[Only_in_f1]

Another thing that has left me confused is the whole Barry thing, talk of letting Alonso go if you got Barry, why, no offense to Barry but Alonso is just a better player, I'd think a lot of Liverpool fans are happy Alonso is staying but the whole idea of Liverpool going for Barry and letting Alonso go seemed odd to me.

I agree. Alonso makes everything tick. Gerrard is the heart, Mascherano the body, Alonso is the Mind. Barry's a cracking player but he cannot make things tick better than Alonso. I've always admired Alonso for his Passing and his long range shooting. Barry is yet another example of an overpriced player, just because he is English. I think that's where England are missing out. At Manchester United you had Rossi and Pique two foreign lads who you got for little money. They came here got one of the best educations and go back to Spain or Italy and do well. England? Theo Walcott. Cracking talent could become one of the best but £12 million or near enough for a 17 year old? No it shouldn't happen. Ok clubs should be getting a massive amount for these players but not that much. I think young English players should go abroad. They will be better for the experience.

 

[<_Spike_>]

Looking forward to it. Hopefully we'll see a strong challenge from Liverpool to make Man United, Chelski and Arsenal have a few thoughts, something they could do with Alonso or Barry in my opinion (though I agree that Alonso is definitely a better player). And of course, the fact that Ronaldo is staying makes things all the better as I don't think many can argue he's often well worth the watch on Match of The Day.

 

[Dave A]

I think scoring against you would be a bloody start

Yeah that would be a start . But I think with Torres and Keane we might be having to score more than 1 to win this year. I think they will play well together, if Rafa plays them regular and lets them gel that is.

 

[Aremburgkerve]

Cannot wait for this season to start! Being a Fulham fan, obviously ecstatic at the events of last year, and for once, have real optimism going into the new year, thanks to the 11 new signings we've made! Including AJ.

Hoping for a comfortable mid-table position this year, maybe 11th? Its possible for us to get higher, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves.

Joe

 

[Alex.]

Why is it, that alot of pundits, including Andy Gray, think Liverpool can win the title, when alot of our supporters don't?. I just dont see anything fundamentally different with the team.

 

[Only_in_f1]

Cus its Andy Gray....

 

[Alex.]

Very happy with that, I was complaining most of the game that Arsenal, Chelski and the mancs would all win and so should we, and torres to the rescue it was.

 

[Only_in_f1]

Poor Bojinov. Bojinov was ruled out for five months after suffering a knee ligament injury against Manchester United in August and now again in August he's suffered another serious injury. A snapped Achilles. Nasty injury for such a good player. I rated him highly last year and for this season. Does this guy have any luck?

 

[Dave A]

Shame that, he does look promising as well. Ofcourse I'm not a fan of City in any shape or form, but I don't like to see players getting injured.

 

[Race Idiot]

Chelsea oh my god, chelsea? Was that Chelsea? Playing an attacking formation, passing allong the ground? And scoring more than 2 goals?

WHAT THE HELL

 

[Dave A]

Yep. I think you took the whole country by suprise with that performance. A very good display it pains me to admit. But there is always the buzz of a new manager and high expectations giving the team that initial lift like what Manchester City experienced for the first half of last season. Ofcourse Chelsea are a very good side, they will be fighting for that top spot all the way through, but will they be playing like that all the way htrough the season. Hopefully they will be able to be that entertaining but not that effective .

 

[Alex.]

YES! 2 GOALS IN THE LAST 5 TO WIN 2-1!
Thank god, thats what champions do, I'm not saying we will challenge for the title but its a trait Man Utd have been doing for years.

 

[Aremburgkerve]

All I can say is wow. How Fulhamish have the last two weeks been? Firstly, we go 1-0 up away at newly promoted Hull City, only to endure a meltdown and eventually lose 2-1, provoking panic amongst our fans on forums and worry at losing to one of the relegation favourites. And then with most of the footballing world expecting us to go into the international break with no points due to a very tough home fixture against Arsenal, we play beautiful football, and deservedly win 1-0! True, Arsenal were nowhere near their best, and it didn't look like the Arsenal we all know, the lack of Fabregas and recently departed Hleb and Flamini was evident, but nonetheless, you can only beat the team that is put in front of you, and we did so, and played brilliantly in the process!
Now we go into the international break (we haven't got a game next week - we were scheduled to play Manchester United away but they have the European Super Cup on the Friday) with 3 points, which we would have surely taken having learnt that our first two fixtures were Hull (A) and Arsenal (H). Here's hoping for 3 points at home to Bolton in 3 weeks! 👍

Joe

 

[Dave A]

That game against Arsenal was very un-Fulham like. I've never seen Zamora play as well as that before. Arsenal were a bit flat but Fulham played really well.

I'm a bit happier now than I was last Monday, United palyed a hell of a lot better today. Should have been 2-0 since Rooneys goal was wrongly rules offside but fortunately it didn't matter as Pompey didn't score. Anderson played really well, especially considering he only got back into Manchester last night. Possebon looks like he has the quality to make it, he just nneds the experience. A season or two of late sub appearences and Carling cup matches will hopefully do the job. He creates space for himself and looks very composed on the ball. Another thing he can do is get past a man, something Carrick and Hargreaves don't do. He gave the ball away twice I think in the time he was on, maybe 3 times but he worked to get the ball back each time he did. Give him a season of bit parts and Carling games and I think we've got a gem there, the same thing goes for the Da Silva twins. Our teams turning Brazillian.

 

[Alex.]

Only Liverpool and chelsea consecutively soon for you guys

 

[Dave A]

Let's hope we can make it another year Liverpool fail to score against us . I tihnk squad wise we'll be fine for thoes two games, we'll have most of our players back, we'll only really be missing Ronaldo and we can play well enough without him against a team like Liverpool. I'm not slating Liverpool there it's just we play a containment game against your guys and that takes a large portion of what Ronaldo provides out of the equation straight away. We'll miss him more against Chelsea. I think Liverpool will be really up for beating us this year, I think if were up for it enough then the games ours but on the day it could go either way.

 

[RouWa]

As expected, ManU vs Chelsea was as close as always. A draw is only good for the other clubs. Both teams lost two points today.

The German top match on Saturday was a little bit more interesting:
http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bayernwerder25kr0.jpg

 

[Dave A]

What about City, 6-0 v Porstmouth. I mean Porstmouth were dreadfull today, but 6-0 a bright result. I thought United made the the wrong change at the end of the match. We should have take Berbatov off for Tevez and played Tevez behind rooney, Berbatov wasn't really in the game at all in the second half, we're still not clicking yet. Taking Berbatov off would have maybe made scoring a second harder but playing Tevez between the midfield and rooney would have helped us choke thier attacks more. Though Kalou should have been under pressure for that header. Before the match a draw away to Chelsea would have been a good result, but to be ahead for so long is a bit of a blow. Still, the season is long and we have a game in hand, so the 6 points could be 3.

 

[daan]

It was just like watching Brazil.

How does it feel to support the 2nd best team from Manchester, Dave?

 

[Dave A]

Hey, . Even if we we're 2nd best I'd still love being a red though we're definietely not at moment. Personally I'm hopefull that City can provide consistent competition for the CL spots, having 5 clubs consistently challenging for 4 places should make for better competition rather than pretty the same 4 clubs every year. As good as City played on Saturday they will have to produce good form in games consistently and against the top teams. Anyone can have an off day and anyone can have a very on day, Portsmouth had an off day, City need to prove that that was just a day and not a very on day. If you get me. United are slowly starting to click, we're maybe 2 good results away from getting the confidence and composure back and once we do I tihnk we'll shoot up the table and slot in behind Chelsea fairly quick. After that it's a question of who will do the best over the season. I definitely thhnk this year will be a two horse race between United and Chelsea.

 

[Smallhorses]

For those of us that don't get regular access to Setanta Sports channel, I thought that people might be interested in this hilarious "I'm On Setanta Sports" show, and have created a thread in the YouTube Gallery Forums. 👍

"I'm On Setanta Sports" - YouTube Thead.

Be Champions!

 

[Dave A]

The top 4 is looking more like the top 4 with the usual suspects occupying the CL qualifying spots. I think the final table will see United and Chelsea fighting for the title, Chelsea look very strong and very confident at the moment. Liverpool are getting results but have been rather lucky with a few of their games, players being sent off followed by deflected goals etc. The whole season won't go like that for them. Arsenal I think are currently the weakest of the top 4,they have a great first team but they lack ideas in some matches and at the same time as good as thier first team is their squad is quite shallow. That cost them dearly last year and I believe that they've got an even weaker squad this year.

Going back to United and Chelsea, it's frightetningly close how thier two games turned out yesterday. both scored 5 goals, both scored 1 in the first half, Rooney was unlucky that his was dissalowed. Both proceeded to score another 4 in the second half.