Premiership Title Race

[Kean]

After Sunday's Grand Slam the Premiership seems to have taken a bit of a new shape.

Liverpool have as good as written themselves off. 9 points short at Christmas is a pretty huge deficit considering who their rivals are. They have played all of the other top 3 teams and failed to win, nothing short of a miracle could put them back in contention again.

Chelsea Quietly ploughing ahead. After Muorinho's departure they have been flying somewhat under the radar. However, the weekend'd defeat and the continued absence of Terry and Drogba is pretty damning for them. Without them the spine of the team is off centre and really if Drogba isn't there who's going to score the goals? Cole's carry on won't do them any favours either.

Arsenal Still are on the right path, their youth's had a great win last night against Blackburn. The only place they seem to be lacking is the goals they let in, they create a lot of extra work for themsleves when games should be wrapped up. I also can't help but wonder will their young squad have what it takes to last the distance, time will tell.

Manchester United Clearly where my allegiences lie. After a poor start to the season we have been displaying assured, confident football. The back four are doing fantastic together. Although I have many many doubts about Ferdinand, his partnership with Vidic has shown the promise of Bruce and Pallister. Only 8 goals conceeded all season, unbelievable record. The midfield is finally taking shape, Hargreaves and Anderson are working really well together, very promising indeed. And them we have the big guns. Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez and Giggs. In fairness what defence stands a chance with those 4 running at you? The performance at the weekend was disciplined and commanding. I don't think there is another squad in the Premiership to compete with us. I see us lifting our 10th Title in may!

 

[Lyri]

definitely think United have a strong chance of winning this season. our only main opponent at this time is Arsenal, who are looking stronger this season than they have in recent years, despite the absence of Henry. just goes to show that the French man isn't the God he thought he was. Chealsea are doing well, keeping their head above water, but the latest blow concerning Terry will no doubt set them back a bit. Liverpool...can't see them finishing higer than fourth now, and even that's not certain.

this maybe my bias talking, but i think United have the strongest team right now and the best chance of winning the league...however, this latest rape allegation will no doubt shake them a little.

 

[Kean]

definitely think United have a strong chance of winning this season. our only main opponent at this time is Arsenal, who are looking stronger this season than they have in recent years, despite the absence of Henry. just goes to show that the French man isn't the God he thought he was. Chealsea are doing well, keeping their head above water, but the latest blow concerning Terry will no doubt set them back a bit. Liverpool...can't see them finishing higer than fourth now, and even that's not certain.

this maybe my bias talking, but i think United have the strongest team right now and the best chance of winning the league...however, this latest rape allegation will no doubt shake them a little.

I agree, I don't see any team who are in as strong a position as us. Although Arsenal are doing fantastically well I don't know if they have the metal to stick it out. And your right Henry was completely over-rated, he was a happy days kinda player, shone when the team were doing well but when they needed him to grind something out he was useless.

Honestly I don't see the rape claim affecting the first team. They are all professionals, they will still do their job no matter what.

 

[Lyri]

Honestly I don't see the rape claim affecting the first team. They are all professionals, they will still do their job no matter what.

hmm, true. but Ronaldo's rape allegation of a few seasons back (or was it last season?) caused the team to dip a little before they pulled their socks up and got on with the game. the star who's been charge was just making his break into the main team. so perhaps, because he hasn't really found his place yet, the others can put it to the backs of their minds and get on with the job of winning us our 10th title!

 

[Kean]

hmm, true. but Ronaldo's rape allegation of a few seasons back (or was it last season?) caused the team to dip a little before they pulled their socks up and got on with the game. the star who's been charge was just making his break into the main team. so perhaps, because he hasn't really found his place yet, the others can put it to the backs of their minds and get on with the job of winning us our 10th title!

Yeah I know what you mean but the the team that we had at the time of the Ronaldo allegations is a million miles away from the team now. They are settled and have so much more experience, and like we said our squad is fantastic. We have been missing a ALOT of key players all season and we still pulled out the results and preformances, so I think number 10 is still very much on the cards.

 

[Buffy Summers]

After Sunday's Grand Slam the Premiership seems to have taken a bit of a new shape.

Liverpool have as good as written themselves off. 9 points short at Christmas is a pretty huge deficit considering who their rivals are. They have played all of the other top 3 teams and failed to win, nothing short of a miracle could put them back in contention again.

Chelsea Quietly ploughing ahead. After Muorinho's departure they have been flying somewhat under the radar. However, the weekend'd defeat and the continued absence of Terry and Drogba is pretty damning for them. Without them the spine of the team is off centre and really if Drogba isn't there who's going to score the goals? Cole's carry on won't do them any favours either.

Arsenal Still are on the right path, their youth's had a great win last night against Blackburn. The only place they seem to be lacking is the goals they let in, they create a lot of extra work for themsleves when games should be wrapped up. I also can't help but wonder will their young squad have what it takes to last the distance, time will tell.

Manchester United Clearly where my allegiences lie. After a poor start to the season we have been displaying assured, confident football. The back four are doing fantastic together. Although I have many many doubts about Ferdinand, his partnership with Vidic has shown the promise of Bruce and Pallister. Only 8 goals conceeded all season, unbelievable record. The midfield is finally taking shape, Hargreaves and Anderson are working really well together, very promising indeed. And them we have the big guns. Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez and Giggs. In fairness what defence stands a chance with those 4 running at you? The performance at the weekend was disciplined and commanding. I don't think there is another squad in the Premiership to compete with us. I see us lifting our 10th Title in may!

God that was so United biased.

Also, Liverpool is actually 10 points down and done. Stevie G can't do shit in England.

Edit:

And your right Henry was completely over-rated, he was a happy days kinda player, shone when the team were doing well but when they needed him to grind something out he was useless.

Actually, Henry's problem was that he was only about scoring goals, and when he stopped having Patrick Viera to feed him the ball 50 times a match, he was in trouble.

Honestly I don't see the rape claim affecting the first team. They are all professionals, they will still do their job no matter what.

It didn't affect van Persie so I don't see why it should affect CR.

 

[Kean]

God that was so United biased.

Hey! I admitted it! Can't really help being biased about it.

Stevie G can't do shit in England.

I agree, I think he would do well at Barca...would hate to see him in Madrid. If we was going to go it would really have to be this season.

Actually, Henry's problem was that he was only about scoring goals, and when he stopped having Patrick Viera to feed him the ball 50 times a match, he was in trouble.

Like I said...over-rated.

It didn't affect van Persie so I don't see why it should affect CR.

It's not actually Ronaldo this time, that was a couple of seasons ago. The new claim is for a young United player called Evans.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Totally missed that one lol. Still, argument is the same - hasn't seemed to affect players in the past. I mean, whatever even happened with that? lol

Stevie G at Real would be a disaster for him - he would never play. Michael Owen all over again imo.

 

[Kean]

Totally missed that one lol. Still, argument is the same - hasn't seemed to affect players in the past. I mean, whatever even happened with that? lol

Stevie G at Real would be a disaster for him - he would never play. Michael Owen all over again imo.

The case got dropped. The usual, some wannabee wag looking to sell a story to the Sun.

Personally I think Real can kill a lot of players careers, especially the state they are in now. I think Owen is too injury prone to ever really be the player he could.

I may be a United fan but I'd like to see Gerard in a team where he could really show his class. I think at the minute thats Barca

 

[Buffy Summers]

I can't see Gerrard anywhere but Liverpool, really. He is too inconsistent (meaning that there are matches where he just disappears). Yeah I'd love if he would really come into his potential but I honestly can't see that happening anywhere. I feel like if he leaves the Pool, he'll not be able to really fit in anywhere else.

 

[Kean]

I can't see Gerrard anywhere but Liverpool, really. He is too inconsistent (meaning that there are matches where he just disappears). Yeah I'd love if he would really come into his potential but I honestly can't see that happening anywhere. I feel like if he leaves the Pool, he'll not be able to really fit in anywhere else.

I agree about the inconsistency but I wonder how much of that is due to him being played out of position the thing about him too is that he is a sulker, I don't like that in a player. He tends to get caught up in his own situation instead of doing a job for the team. Like you said he is consistent...is there any top flight team out there that would pay the money for him, only to get 5 or 6 years out of him

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Being a West Ham fan, my lot in football is one of permanent disappointment 🙂 If forced to pick one of the Big Four I'd have to go for Liverpool (my grandson is supporting them this season, it was Man U last year 😉) but I have to agree with what has already been said - it looks like Liverpool will be lucky to finish fourth (especially after their last couple of results), Chelsea don't seem as good as they were, so it looks like the title will be between Man U and Arse...which takes me back to my first sentence...

 

[Buffy Summers]

Don't worry Mr. P - your grandson will be supporting Chelsea next year after I send him some tapes 😉 😛

Thing about Chelsea is we can't get a break with injuries. We need everyone healthy to have a chance. We also need to concentrate more on getting more defenders instead of always going for strikers, though I think that might be better in the future now the Mourinho-Abramovich feud is over. Just wish we were going to get Guus Hiddink over the summer. But our defense depends on having JT, and we can't keep going on that way.

Back to Gerrard - when there were rumors, last season I guess it was, about him leaving and someone paying 40 million pounds for him or something. I remember talking with my Liverpool supporter friends about it, and they were like - if you can get 40 million for him, do it. Use that money to put back into the team. I like Gerrard, but I just don't see it when people say he's the best central midfielder. His head is just not in the game every match. He's great when he's playing on, but when he's off he might as well not be playing.

 

[Kean]

To be honest I think Chelsea need to strengthen both the defense and up front. I mean take Drogba out of the team and goals are few and far between. Cheslea need a REAL attacking forwards, someone with talent. Kaka would do well I think, but the chances of getting him are the same as Sunderland winning the league!

I agree about Gerrard not being the best midfielder, I just don't see it in him to be the best. I know I'm insanely biased in this but I really don't think their is any midfielder in the Premiership to touch the quality of Roy Keane and to a lesser extent Patrick Viera and in fairness they are the names players will be compared too.Fabregas maybe, but he is too young to tell yet.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Fabregas is a cheating bastard!

Okay, now that I got that off my chest... 😀 😉 😛

Keano is class, no doubt about that. I can't really say anything bad about his ability. have you ever heard that parody song of the Proclaimers "10,000 miles" with Roy Keane talking about going to play in Scotland. "The greatest midfielder of his era...are you listening Patrick Viera?" lol

I think we have players at Chelsea that could step up on the attack side, but I just think we are too shallow on the defense side.

I think they did try to get Kaka and failed (?). I'm not sure I'd like to see him on the side though, because I think being the player he is and such I think it would throw off the team's balance even more. I think when we got Sheva and Michael Ballack you saw it - how it was like the team couldn't play together so well. Too many big names at once. It took a long while for them to gel, and having Mourinho changing the 11 so much every match didn't help that.

I love Didier, but I think sometimes he gets too much credit. Well not too much credit as much as the impression that he's the only one who can score goals. I'd love to see us pick up some Italians though lol, I was disappointed we didn't get anyone out of the whole scandal thing.

 

[Kean]

Fabregas is a cheating bastard!

:lmao: Have to agree with you there...seen him make meal of tackles and roll around like a sissy girl a few too many times


I know what you mean. For a while Chelsea were running the risk of becoming the next Real Madrid. Buying players because of their hype with little to no regard as to fit they actually fit in the team. I think half the reason Ballack and Sheva haven't worked is because Mourinho didn't really want them in his team so they are trying to wedge themselves in and they just don't fit. the rotation aspect never really works either, a team needs a a core group of players that play together week in week out, its the only way to get any kind of rhytmn going both as a team and individual players. It brings a certain sharepness to your game that rotation doesn't allow.

Edit:

Buffy Summers agrees: Totally agree with you on all points. (Plus did you see that huge Fabregas dive on Sunday? lol)

I did! what about his theatrics after Cole barely caught him on the chin! He was like Dida when confronted by Celtic fans! He looked like he had been shot

 

[Buffy Summers]

You know even the game commentators called it a dive and they NEVER say anything that's pro-Chelsea lol

 

[caitaintdead]

i didnt know all you buffy fans were into football as well!!! wow...
and im sorry but everton are the team to watch at the moment.
playing fantastic passionate football with young stars on the rise!

(mine was also slightly biased. maybe.)

 

[Kean]

To be honest of all the mid-table teams on the rise I would say Man City and Spurs were the ones to watch but I agree withe passionate football, thats an Everton staple.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Keanoite agrees: Your not listening to Andy Grey then cuz he doesn NOTHING but sing ye're praises!

I knew I liked him, and not just because he was on Dream Team lol!