Football: For Now We Are All Champions!

[MercenaryChef]

Newcastle continue their overhaul of the squad adding defender Clark from villa and mo diame from hull.

I am shocked and surprised at the freedom to deal that rafa has. 

Friday!!!! The return to the premier league begins Friday!!

[baxus]

9 hours ago, White Walker Texas Ranger said:

At Real Madrid, Mourinho played open and attacking against everyone except Barcelona.

And we all remember how risky a decision it was to play open and attacking against anyone in Primera except Barca at that time.

[Iskaral Pust]

20 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Roberto Martinez has been appointed manager of Belgium. So we know their defence is gonna be shit.

Talk about failing upward.  Baffling decision.

[Iskaral Pust]

Everton now mooted as suitors for Benteke if Lukaku goes.  It could make a lot of sense for them if Lennon is a regular starter and Mirallas makes runs beyond and Delofeu and Barkley are playing off Benteke to receive knock-downs.

[Rorshach]

Lots of ifs and buts. 

Latest I read was that we want to keep Lukaku, which, I guess, makes a lot of sense. Without him, we've got a grand total of zero attackers in whom I have any faith, and who knows his teammates. That said, Benteke could perform the Pelle role, if Koeman wants that.

[Iskaral Pust]

55 minutes ago, Rorshach said:

Lots of ifs and buts. 

Latest I read was that we want to keep Lukaku, which, I guess, makes a lot of sense. Without him, we've got a grand total of zero attackers in whom I have any faith, and who knows his teammates. That said, Benteke could perform the Pelle role, if Koeman wants that.

I agree.  If Everton have deep pockets now, their best option is to be firm with Lukaku and see how he feels after a season with a better manager.  It seems like more and more clubs now have more power to resist offers for their best players until their contract is winding down.

[Rorshach]

A different question: has anyone set up a fantasy league this year?

[Iskaral Pust]

Time to start some predictions for the new season:

I think Spurs will be strong.  They retained all their key players, don't have any big injury concerns, great balance in the team already, added some valuable depth in Wanyama and Jannsen.  IF Kane can keep scoring like he has, they look guaranteed a top-4 finish and should compete for the title. 

Arsenal will be about the same as usual: play great football, dominate a lot of games, rely heavily on Ozil and Sanchez, but probably have a lull mid season that takes them out of contention.  Should be top 4 again but depends on whether others improve enough. 

United: a lot depends on whether Zlatan can score as many in the PL, and whether Bailly settles well, and Rooney's productivity at #10.  DDG offsets a weak defense and Shaw will be a huge boost.  And you have to assume that Schneiderlin and Herrera will be better deployed.  They've bet the farm on a short-term fix and will expect top 4 at least.  If all gels well, they'll get it, but they could easily be 5th or 6th again.  

City: great manager but pretty similar squad so far.  They'll rely heavily on KDB, Aguero and Silva, and hope that 2 of 3 are healthy at any point.  Probably some rotation of other atracking options while searching for the best XI.  Still suspect in DM and defense.  Probably a transition year.  If Aguero gets another series of injuries they could get squeezed out of the top 4.  Iheanacho is pretty good and may have to be trusted more. 

Chelsea: dark horses.  Won't be so slack and disinterested, will concede very little but may lack goals.  Absent further signings, they depend hugely on Hazard and set pieces.  Will only get top 4 if Utd, City or Arsenal are underperforming.

Liverpool: optimistically everything might gel perfectly and, with fewer injuries and no need to rest players every other game like last season, we'll replicate the best football from last season more consistently.  More realistically, probably some more inconsistency ahead for a while, and we may lack for goals.  Hopefully we improve throughout the year and eventually build consistency.  We could take advantage if other teams are struggling with their own change in manager and system. 

"Outsider" teams, especially West Ham, should be competitive too.  But Southampton have been weakened and Everton have not yet strengthened as I expected.  Leicester will probably have some drop off.  I expect at least one more wild card team.

NUFC should dominate the Championship. 

[Nas!]

"Especially West Ham"?

I would reserve judgement on that until the window closes.  Right now they have 2 want-away strikers plus a glass statue of Andy Carroll up front, no senior left back for about four months, and a career-long attacker for a right back. 

They look strong and deep in goal, in central midfield and on the wings, though. If they can address their glaring issues before the window closes, they might be very good this season. If not, they are going to struggle badly. 

[Iskaral Pust]

2 hours ago, Fuchs, himself! said:

"Especially West Ham"?

I would reserve judgement on that until the window closes.  Right now they have 2 want-away strikers plus a glass statue of Andy Carroll up front, no senior left back for about four months, and a career-long attacker for a right back. 

They look strong and deep in goal, in central midfield and on the wings, though. If they can address their glaring issues before the window closes, they might be very good this season. If not, they are going to struggle badly. 

None of the want-away strikers have left yet and, if they do, West Ham could buy Benteke instead.  They'll miss Cresswell for sure, but that defense was pretty solid.    They should add some cover at FB, but it's less of a critical position for them with wide wingers.  Overall the spine of the team is intact and they have stability in the manager and style, their new signings last year will be familiar right from the start and they have good momentum to continue from last season.  No reason for them to suddenly regress.  Payet may miss a couple of weeks as he returns late, but no worse than that. 

[Rorshach]

So .. next season.

I agree that Tottenham look dangerous. We'll se just how dangerous when we meet them next weekend, but they have kept their team from last year, added some good players - and Pochettino will quite probably have learned something from last season's collapse. They will, however, have the distraction of CL football, and I'm not 100% sold on their defensive cover. I do expect them to challenge again this season, though. 

City I think hinges on whether Guardiola can get a CB or two in. Seems to me they could have bought Stones if they wanted, but he'd be more expensive than they want. He's also not a defensive leader, at least not yet, so he would just add to their defensive malaise. Hart needs to step up, their FBs are getting older, Kompany is still going to be injured a lot .. there's a lot not to like there. I would have thought Bonucci was their best bet, as he's a seasoned CB, not too old, and a proven leader in defence. They've got a good attack when all members are present, though. Will be interesting to see what Guardiola can do in terms of stability. I think that they challenge for the title as long as the defence holds.

United ... really not sure. Zlatan really needs to be a hit, right away. From the Rooney testemonial (anecdotal evidence, yes), the attack looked blunt. Zlatan got a couple of opportunities, but from difficult angles. As for the rest, they couldn't really dent a defensive unit that last year was among the most porous in the country. I would say that's worrying. The defence didn't look all that sharp either, and gave us a couple of big opportunities. DDG will save them a lot of points, however. I do realize I've not watched them enough, but I think they're looking at a fight for fourth. Can't see them challenging for the title, Mourinho or no Mourinho.

Arsenal have the advantage of a long term manager with a long term plan, and players who know their system well. Will give them a leg up, and they have a lot of talent, but, as mentioned on this site more than once, they lack a real goal scorer, and the defence isn't good enough to keep opponents at bay in the course of a season. Can they make top four? Possible, but not a given. No title.

Chelsea .. they are lacking a bit in attack, aren't they? Perhaps they will adress that before the league starts, perhaps not. If not, Conte will need a big change from Hazard and Costa. Both are capable of being world class, but they can also be quite peripheral. Chelsea can't afford the latter. Kante will help shoring up in midfield, Courtois is still world class and Conte can manage defences, so I don't think they'll be leaking goals. Question is how many they'll score. I'd place them third, tentatively.

I think Liverpool will come in sixth. Perhaps everything will click, and the absence of European football will help (plus the fact that, like Tottenham and Arsenal, they've got a manager who's not completely new in his position), but I don't think the team has the talent or strenght in depth to challenge for the top four. OTOH, neither did Leicester last year, so everything is possible. 

Leicester, West Ham will probably come next, with Everton using this season to get a new structure in place - both on and off the field - and will end up mid table. Could fight with the previous two (and Southampton, possibly) for seventh. 

[Jeor]

I think it'll be a three-way fight for the title between the two Manchesters and Chelsea. Each of them are flawed (City's defence, United and Chelsea's attack) but if things click, the ceiling for each of those teams is very high. I still think Chelsea's secret advantage of not having any European football is going to pay off. You just know that Conte is going to be the type of manager who will make good use of that time.

Sadly Arsenal aren't there; we have a decent enough team but no world-class goalscorer and (potentially Koscielny aside) no world-class CB. I think Tottenham will find it hard to bounce back to challenge for the title, although they will definitely be in with a top four shot and could for once displace Arsenal in that spot. Liverpool are still lurking around too and a second season of Klopp and no Europe will allow them to make a good dash for top four.

This is probably the season where Arsenal is most at risk of breaking the streak of top-four finishes.

 

[Mark Antony]

Sturridge to miss Arsenal game with an apparently not serious hip injury. Lame

[Iskaral Pust]

37 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

Sturridge to miss Arsenal game with an apparently not serious hip injury. Lame

It starts again.  (I hope not)

[Iskaral Pust]

This Liverpool/Barca game is pretty good so far.  The tempo and intensity are much closer to competitive level, although some rusty passing from a few individuals (Coutinho, I'm looking at you). 

Very good goal by Mane created by Lallana. 

[Iskaral Pust]

9 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

Yep, we're deffo going to win the league.

I'm sure the knee-jerkers will be out in force but I'm just glad we're looking close to competition level.  Still some coordination problems but much less ragged than against Roma. 

[Iskaral Pust]

I hope that Lovren's muscle strain doesn't make him miss the Arsenal game.  Otherwise a good workout for Liverpool. 

[baxus]

I absolutely love how after Grujic scored twice against lower-league opponents at the early prep games a bunch of online haters came out of the woodwork to say he only scored because he was playing against lower-league opponents.

Today he scores against Barcelona and the silence is deafening.  

[Rorshach]

Well, he only scored because it's Barcelona.

[Iskaral Pust]

Since I got to watch all of the game and I'm seriously jonesing for the start of the season, I'll inflict upon you my post-match summary usually reserved for competitive games. 

It's only preseason and don't read too much into it but: Klavan looked pretty assured, better than I expected for an unheralded 30yr old for a low fee.  An erratic Sakho won't easily displace him even though he has a higher ceiling.  Clyne got forward really well and linked well with Sane, but Clyne's crossing was still poor: keep it low, we won't win headers even with the 1% of your high crosses that are accurate.  We seem to be playing 4-3-3 a lot and it suits our personnel.  The shape of the midfield 3 seems to depend the opposition.  Wijnaldum was ok but the least effective in our MF today -- in a congested area he tried to do too much alone every time and lost possession.  Origi looks confident and dangerous.  He used to get compared to Babel but his ball control and game awareness are much, much better.  Sturridge should be worried.  Coutinho wasn't in sync yet and isn't a definite starter on that form.  Origi, Sane and Sturridge give him great targets while Lallana and Firmino link well with him, but Phil needs to get into the rhythm better.  Sane looks like a great attacking threat, especially to complement Firmino dropping deep.  Kevin Stewart did surprisingly well and may take Lucas' role, although we still don't have a DM specialist and instead are relying on box-to-box players like Hendo, Can, Wijnaldum, Grujic and maybe Milner.

The biggest change is the improved depth in the squad, apart from FB.  There isn't such a drop in quality if one starter is missing a game.

Although Arsenal will be missing Ozil, Giroud and Kos next week due to late returns, they'll still have a strong team with Sanchez, Cazorla, Ramsey, Xhaka, Coq, Walcott, Wilshire, Gabriel, Bellerin, Monreal and Cech, and the young wide forwards.  Hardly a skeleton crew.  If their stand-in CB (Chambers?) does ok, they should expect to play at close to their usual level.  The Emirates is always a tough game for 'Pool.