All things Football (soccer) related

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Dixie

Is there any interest on the forums in a fantasy football league? There are probably others out there, but this one is free http://fantasy.premierleague.com/ Not sure if there's any appeal outside the UK for the Premier League though?

I'm open to other options, as long as they're free [:)]

warspite1

I'm up for it [:)]

warspite1

N/a - See Dixie's new thread

[warspite1]

Very nicely played Madrid. Get Bale's mind set on a move then and only then, bugger Spurs about over the price. We'll be lucky to get €60m for him

Nice work......

[warspite1]

Question to all true football fans out there:

What do you make of this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23629379

I would be interested to hear your views

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Question to all true football fans out there:

What do you make of this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23629379

I would be interested to hear your views

It must be a joke. A bad joke.

Edit: But it should be no real surprise that the new owners want to make an impact.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Question to all true football fans out there:

What do you make of this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23629379

I would be interested to hear your views

It must be a joke. A bad joke.

Edit: But it should be no real surprise that the new owners want to make an impact.

warspite1

Sadly no joke, and following hot on the heels of Cardiff City, it may be the way football will go. Really sad though imo.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Question to all true football fans out there:

What do you make of this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23629379

I would be interested to hear your views

It must be a joke. A bad joke.

Edit: But it should be no real surprise that the new owners want to make an impact.

warspite1

Sadly no joke, and following hot on the heels of Cardiff City, it may be the way football will go. Really sad though imo.

Sad indeed. [:(]

[Orm]

I watched Man U a few days ago in a friendly match and they didn't look ready for a new season at all. They looked very bleak even for a friendly.

What do you think of the new coach in Man U?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Orm

I watched Man U a few days ago in a friendly match and they didn't look ready for a new season at all. They looked very bleak even for a friendly.

What do you think of the new coach in Man U?

warspite1

I think what he did at Everton was pretty special given what he had to work with. The question is always - can they make the leap to the next level? I think he can, but he is following such an incredible act - its not going to be easy. Moyes has not been helped by the start they have and the pressure will be on if they start poorly.

Consensus is the Premier League was really weak last year and Man United were by no means great. They haven't really added too much to their squad either (Zaha looks a good signing though).

Time will tell but I think they need a big signing.

[warspite1]

English Premier League

So one week to go - all the friendlies have been played. Difficult to read much from these but here is my prediction for the top four and relegation places at the end of the season based on where we are today (of course I expect a good deal of transfer activity between now and the end of August which may sway these predictions):

Champions: Chelsea (the special one is back with a bang)
Runners-up: Manchester City (I hope it will be a ding-dong battle between these two all season. No idea about the City manager, but they have spent well and spent early so the players in the squad know each other).

Third: I have to say Manchester United, but they need to strengthen their squad.

Fourth: The usual bun fight with Arsenal annoyingly making it 375 years of Champions League football in a row [:@]

Relegation:

Crystal Palace (despite getting their season off in fine style beating Tottenham on the opening day)
Hull City
Cardiff City (if any of the promoted clubs survive it will be Cardiff, they have a good manager, but I cannot think of an obvious candidate to go down in their place).

What are other peoples predictions for this or other leagues / competitions?

[Dixie]

1st: Man City
2nd: Chelsea
3rd: Man Utd
4th: Arsenal
5th: Spurs

Going down: Hull, Crystal Palace and Stoke.
Cardiff and Newcastle will finish in 17th and 16th. If they don't then the bottom five will be these teams in some combination.

Elsewhere, Everton will struggle without Moyes as Martinez couldn't organise a decent defence if he was given free choice of all the players in the world.
Liverpool will not win the league or qualify for the Champions League.

David Moyes will not be fired. Alan Pardew will be. Mark Hughes will refuse to shake hands with someone. Man Utd fans will demand 'Moyes out'. Arsenal will not sign Suarez. Or anyone over 20 for that matter. Spurs will sell Bale and but three players on deadline day. Harry Redknapp will be linked with every single potential job vacancy.


P.S.
England will easily progress through the rest of qualifying for the World Cup next summer and beat a well known team in a friendly. Then they'll limp through the actual group stage and be knocked out in the last 16. The team will blame the heat, the tabloids will blame Roy Hodgson (probably with some bad puns and photoshopping his face onto a donkey/vegetable/cartoon character).

Madrid and Barcelona will blatantly make eyes at various players through the rest of Europe before saying that they can't talk about players at other clubs.

[warspite1]

The oldest international of them all:

England vs Scotland

It's only a friendly.....except there is no such thing as a friendly where these two are concerned [;)]

Come on England!!

[warspite1]

Great respect for the national anthems as always [8|]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

The oldest international of them all:

England vs Scotland

It's only a friendly.....except there is no such thing as a friendly where these two are concerned [;)]

Come on England!!

Warspite1

Hee Hee the commentator just said the above[:)]

[Orm]

Sweden had a friendly against Norway today and I must confess I couldn't care less. Therefore I am glad that a friendly game between England and Scotland brings some engagement. [:)]

[Dixie]

Meh. It was a friendly so probably proves nothing. Having said that, I'd have preferred to see Ben Foster start in goal to give Joe Hart a kick in the pants that he needs.

[warspite1]

To be fair its wasn't meant to prove anything. It was a friendly. Howsomever, the fact is, it was a brilliant match and proof that there is no such thing as a friendly where the Auld enemy are concerned.

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

To be fair its wasn't meant to prove anything. It was a friendly. Howsomever, the fact is, it was a brilliant match and proof that there is no such thing as a friendly where the Auld enemy are concerned.

If you can't give your second choice 'keeper a game in a (not quite) friendly then when do you let him play? Joe Hart needs a kick in the pants IMO so that he knows he's not irreplaceable. He's getting complacent (has been since last season) and making mistakes that any other 'keeper would be taken to task for. But because he's England's #1 choice...

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Dixie

ORIGINAL: warspite1

To be fair its wasn't meant to prove anything. It was a friendly. Howsomever, the fact is, it was a brilliant match and proof that there is no such thing as a friendly where the Auld enemy are concerned.

If you can't give your second choice 'keeper a game in a (not quite) friendly then when do you let him play? Joe Hart needs a kick in the pants IMO so that he knows he's not irreplaceable. He's getting complacent (has been since last season) and making mistakes that any other 'keeper would be taken to task for. But because he's England's #1 choice...

warspite1

Well so long as he plays like that for Man City I won't complain. Let's be honest we are NOT going to be in Brazil next year - and even if we do somehow make it by some incredible luck, we are just embarrasing on the world and European stage...[:(]

[warspite1]

Oh dear....

Are we going to struggle without Bale or what?

Chadli plays like Downing!!! [X(] At least Kyle Walker is trying [&o]

[warspite1]

Chadli played better second half I'm pleased to say, but that was a real struggle....