Tom
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Post by Tom on Aug 10, 2008 12:21:09 GMT 1
But as I've already said, the squad was evolving throughout last season, and it was only beginning to gel towards the end of last season. We have Alves, who only played the last couple of months of last season and still managed 6 goals. He's now ready to start his first full season in the Premier League. No stagnation there. We have Mido who arrived last season, unfit, having played little football the previous season. He then suffered an injury that prevented him from running, so he never played at anything close to full fitness, resulting in the nickname "Midough". During the summer he's lost over 30lbs, and is pushing for a starting spot alongside Alves. Given his problems last season, he'll be like a new signing. Stagnation? After years of sheer effort, George Boateng has finally moved on. He was great in his day but his legs went a couple of years ago and we've done very well to get £1m from Hull for him. Even better is we've replaced him with a hungry young defensive midfielder called Didier Digard, a French U21 international. So we've replaced a 32-year-old nearing the end of his career with a 22-year-old who has attracted interest from several clubs in England and France. Stagnation? We've also brought in Marvin Emnes, an exciting attacking player who can play as a winger or striker. He was a sprinter before he turned to football and was Sparta Rotterdam's fans' player of the year last season. Stagnation? And this before I've even mentioned the academy. I mentioned the goalkeeping situation but only time will tell. Southgate has faith in what we have and given the success of Joe Hart at Man City, you can't blame him for wanting to give one of the young keepers a chance. If they don't get a chance, you'll never know how good they can be. Luke Young leaving is disappointing but shouldn't have much effect on the team as we have a capable replacement in Tony McMahon, with Seb Hines breathing down his neck for a place, too. Stagnation? I hate to go on and on but sometimes it seems like people just look at the transfers in/out page and base their judgement on that... Sunderland have marginally improved their squad, enought to survive again, definitely, but I don't think they'll make a significant jump up the table. I remain totally unconvinced as to whether Malbranque is still a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League. Fulham have signed as many players as possible but most are either past their best (Schwarzer, Gera) or have never quite fulfilled their potential (Johnson, Zamora). Wigan were very good in the second half of last season but even then, they couldn't catch Boro, who were never that far ahead of them... In fact, they only scored 2 points more than Boro in 2008. You make a lot of valid points which i can't really argue with, but it wasn't just based on transfers in/out (ok maybe for Sunderland but not entirely for the others), im just more impressed with other teams atm than I am with Boro. And i do understand why you may be miffed, i was negative about Reading this time last year and Daz still predicted lower than me! In the end we failed to even match his lowly prediction of 17th! And for the record i don't think ive knocked Boro in the past, in fact i like them as a club, but they just struggled more than i thought they would last season. We'll agree to disagree on Malbranque. I think he's a class player personally, and that goes back to his Fulham days as well. Johnson is a great signing for Fulham, and if he's injury-free and is played in the right position, ie as an out and out striker rather than out wide he could really score a lot of goals for them which would keep them well clear of relegation. Their new signings generally are pretty good imo, in fact i would have been happy if Reading had signed most of them last year.
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Post by Panda on Aug 10, 2008 12:32:22 GMT 1
You make a lot of valid points which i can't really argue with, but it wasn't just based on transfers in/out (ok maybe for Sunderland but not entirely for the others), im just more impressed with other teams atm than I am with Boro. And i do understand why you may be miffed, i was negative about Reading this time last year and Daz still predicted lower than me! In the end we failed to even match his lowly prediction of 17th! And for the record i don't think ive knocked Boro in the past, in fact i like them as a club, but they just struggled more than i thought they would last season. We'll agree to disagree on Malbranque. I think he's a class player personally, and that goes back to his Fulham days as well. Johnson is a great signing for Fulham, and if he's injury-free and is played in the right position, ie as an out and out striker rather than out wide he could really score a lot of goals for them which would keep them well clear of relegation. Their new signings generally are pretty good imo, in fact i would have been happy if Reading had signed most of them last year. The strange thing is I would've totally agreed with your Boro comments if you'd made them 12 months ago. They just don't seem so close to the mark this summer. Even after all these seasons, I'm still not sure how good Andy Johnson is. He's great at winning penalties and used to be good at taking them but I didn't expect his Everton career to stall like it did. He's certainly an upgrade for Fulham and I think they'll be safe again. I reckon it's 3 from 4 for the drop (the 3 promoted teams plus Bolton). There could be a bit of a gap to the rest...
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Aug 10, 2008 12:38:16 GMT 1
You make a lot of valid points which i can't really argue with, but it wasn't just based on transfers in/out (ok maybe for Sunderland but not entirely for the others), im just more impressed with other teams atm than I am with Boro. And i do understand why you may be miffed, i was negative about Reading this time last year and Daz still predicted lower than me! In the end we failed to even match his lowly prediction of 17th! And for the record i don't think ive knocked Boro in the past, in fact i like them as a club, but they just struggled more than i thought they would last season. We'll agree to disagree on Malbranque. I think he's a class player personally, and that goes back to his Fulham days as well. Johnson is a great signing for Fulham, and if he's injury-free and is played in the right position, ie as an out and out striker rather than out wide he could really score a lot of goals for them which would keep them well clear of relegation. Their new signings generally are pretty good imo, in fact i would have been happy if Reading had signed most of them last year. The strange thing is I would've totally agreed with your Boro comments if you'd made them 12 months ago. They just don't seem so close to the mark this summer. Even after all these seasons, I'm still not sure how good Andy Johnson is. He's great at winning penalties and used to be good at taking them but I didn't expect his Everton career to stall like it did. He's certainly an upgrade for Fulham and I think they'll be safe again. I reckon it's 3 from 4 for the drop (the 3 promoted teams plus Bolton). There could be a bit of a gap to the rest... I completely agree with your relegation tips and know what you mean about Johnson. Maybe im just a bit biased as up until last season he'd scored every time he played against us!
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Post by Panda on Aug 10, 2008 12:58:56 GMT 1
Soccernet predictions: 1. Chelsea 2. Man Utd 3. Liverpool 4. Arsenal 5. Tottenham 6. Everton 7. Villa 8. Portsmouth 9. Man City 10. West Ham 11. Wigan 12. Newcastle 13. Middlesbrough 14. Blackburn 15. Sunderland 16. Fulham 17. West Brom 18. Bolton 19. Stoke 20. Hull
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frag
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Post by frag on Aug 14, 2008 22:26:15 GMT 1
PREMIER LEAGUE I think it's going to be closer than ever between the top four this season. Liverpool will probably fall short again (possibly due to concentrating on cup competitions, and they have the most ground to make up), although Keane should be a good buy. Arsenal have lost some experience (Lehmann and Gilberto were past their best anyway; Flamini had had one good season in midfield; Hleb was decent but Walcott will shine now that he'll have a regular place), however Rosicky, van Persie and Eduardo (from December) will feel like new signings to Arsenal and give them an edge, and all the young players now have a year of challenging for the title. Chelsea will be strong as usual and have got yet another attacking midfielder, but Makelele will leave a hole in midfield - assuming Scolari plays the system people expect him to. Then we have Man U, who haven't bought but probably didn't need to, having had the best attack and the best defence last season. It'll still be a three-horse race in May, and quite possibly the first 3-team final-day showdown since... I don't know when.
1. Man Utd (the team to beat again) 2. Arsenal (just a little short) 3. Chelsea (strong, but haven't improved much) 4. Liverpool (probably concentrating on cups as usual) 5. Aston Villa (very shrewd buys) 6. Tottenham (good signings, just shy of villa) 7. Portsmouth (strong defence again; defoe+crouch should be good; midfield lacking) 8. Everton (standing still leads to going backwards) 9. Man City (boardroom troubles and no striker) 10. Newcastle (boardroom troubles and not much in defence) 11. Blackburn (lost key players, but still have capable ones) 12. West Ham (no firepower) 13. Middlesbrough (can push for 10th if alves does well, but I'm not convinced) 14. Wigan (should be safe) 15. Sunderland (lucky there are five worse teams) 16. Fulham (manager: hodgson) 17. West Brom (just!) 18. Bolton (manager: megson) 19. Stoke (kitson saves them from 20th) 20. Hull (have signed a lot of other prem team's rejects. way to go.)
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frag
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Post by frag on Aug 14, 2008 22:45:17 GMT 1
I think the last time 3 teams had a chance of the title in the final game was 1985/86, but oddly, four matches were played two days after the last full round. Table before 3 May '86: 1. Liverpool Pld 41 Pts 85 2. West Ham Pld 40 Pts 81 3. Everton Pld 40 Pts 80 Before that, there was a four-horse race in 1972 which I'm sure you'll all remember Man City went top after winning their final game, but finished 4th. Before the final games, the standings were: 1. Derby Pld 42 Pts 58 (2 pts for a win) 2. Leeds 41, 57 3. Man City 42, 57 4. Liverpool 41, 56 So either of Liverpool and Leeds could have snatched the title from Derby, but Derby won it in the end.
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Post by Panda on Aug 14, 2008 22:50:34 GMT 1
Skysports.com predictions: 1. Man Utd 2. Chelsea 3. Liverpool 4. Arsenal 5. Tottenham 6. Portsmouth 7. Everton 8. Aston Villa 9. Man City 10. Newcastle 11. West Ham 12. Middlesbrough 13. Blackburn 14. Sunderland 15. Wigan 16. Fulham 17. Bolton 18. West Brom 19. Hull 20. Stoke
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Post by Panda on Aug 14, 2008 23:03:12 GMT 1
Foxsports.com English Soccer Predictions! 1. Chelsea 2. Man Utd 3. Liverpool 4. Arsenal 5. Tottenham 6. Aston Villa 7. Man City 8. Newcastle 9. Portsmouth 10. Sunderland 11. Everton 12. West Ham 13. Blackburn 14. Fulham 15. Middlesbrough 16. Wigan 17. Bolton 18. West Brom 19. Stoke 20. Hull
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Jan 25, 2009 1:34:07 GMT 1
so we are well past halfway now and the league looks like this
1 Man Utd 47 2 Liverpool 47 3 Chelsea 45 4 Villa 44 5 Arsenal 41 6 Everton 36 7 Wigan 31 8 West Ham 29 9 Hull City 27 10 Fulham 26 11 Man City 25 12 Portsmouth 24 13 Bolton 23 14 Newcastle 23 15 Sunderland 23 16 Tottenham 21 17 Blackburn 21 18 Middlesbro' 21 19 Stoke City 21 20 West Brom 21
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Jan 25, 2009 1:36:26 GMT 1
so with 16 games left i used the bbc predictor to predict the remaining games based on how the season is panning out and here is what i came up with im not sure why pompey andcity have a game left but it wont make any difference to the standings if city win or draw it
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Post by Panda on Jan 25, 2009 9:47:23 GMT 1
I can't see Arsenal finishing 12 points ahead of Villa...
Whilst I'm obviously disappointed with Boro's current position, if someone had said we'd be 4 points off 11th (where I predicted us to finish) at this stage of the season, I'd have taken it. The sad thing is, the way we played during the first 2-3 months of the season, we should be about 7th right now.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Jan 25, 2009 16:28:41 GMT 1
the thing with villa is they look really lightweight without young. look at doncaster yesterday. i don't think they will finish 12 points behind arsenal either, if i never did the predictor i would say 3 or 4. maybe doing the predictions 4 or 5 times over the next few weeks and taking the average would be more accurate. its hard to predict villa will turn over the big boys after watching them against doncaster.
as for boro, you are right, i have lost count of the amount of times they should have picked up points but never, however they were in easier games and i just feel they have a tough run in and with only 21 points they really have to start winning asap but next up is chelsea away. last 5 games are Arsenal (away), Man Utd (home), Newcastle (away), Aston Villa (home) and West Ham (away), i have them down to get 2 points from them 6 games so that is a lot of points needed in the remaining 10 games, which also include playing liverpool and tough scrappy trips to bolton, stoke and muliti billion man city. however i have them to stay up even though they are joint bottom and havent won in 10.
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Post by Maximo Mark on Jan 25, 2009 18:17:48 GMT 1
Pompey and City have a game left because the game between them was postponed and it hasn't yet been re-arranged and therefore doesn't feature on the BBCs prediction league.
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Post by Panda on Jan 25, 2009 20:21:37 GMT 1
as for boro, you are right, i have lost count of the amount of times they should have picked up points but never, however they were in easier games and i just feel they have a tough run in and with only 21 points they really have to start winning asap but next up is chelsea away. last 5 games are Arsenal (away), Man Utd (home), Newcastle (away), Aston Villa (home) and West Ham (away), i have them down to get 2 points from them 6 games so that is a lot of points needed in the remaining 10 games, which also include playing liverpool and tough scrappy trips to bolton, stoke and muliti billion man city. however i have them to stay up even though they are joint bottom and havent won in 10. It is hard to see where Boro's points are going to come from, but that's the thing about Boro. They tend to pick them up when you don't expect it. We've already beaten Stoke, Man City and Villa (away) this season and drew with Arsenal, Newcastle and West Ham. We also have a very good record at home against Liverpool. I'm not expecting anything from the Chelsea game in midweek but we have a massive game against Blackburn next weekend...
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Jan 25, 2009 20:57:50 GMT 1
as for boro, you are right, i have lost count of the amount of times they should have picked up points but never, however they were in easier games and i just feel they have a tough run in and with only 21 points they really have to start winning asap but next up is chelsea away. last 5 games are Arsenal (away), Man Utd (home), Newcastle (away), Aston Villa (home) and West Ham (away), i have them down to get 2 points from them 6 games so that is a lot of points needed in the remaining 10 games, which also include playing liverpool and tough scrappy trips to bolton, stoke and muliti billion man city. however i have them to stay up even though they are joint bottom and havent won in 10. It is hard to see where Boro's points are going to come from, but that's the thing about Boro. They tend to pick them up when you don't expect it. We've already beaten Stoke, Man City and Villa (away) this season and drew with Arsenal, Newcastle and West Ham. We also have a very good record at home against Liverpool. I'm not expecting anything from the Chelsea game in midweek but we have a massive game against Blackburn next weekend... thats true, i also noticed a key period between mid march and mid april you play portsmouth, hull and fulham at home aswel as stoke and bolton away
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frag
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Post by frag on Jan 25, 2009 22:15:55 GMT 1
I can't see Arsenal finishing 12 points ahead of Villa... If it wasn't for Villa's unbelievable good luck during the past six weeks, we'd be about eight points ahead of them now... and that's not including the game at the Emirates when they were given two goals, neither of which should have counted.
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Post by Panda on Jan 25, 2009 23:43:38 GMT 1
If refs weren't scared to give penalties against Arsenal, they'd be 8 points behind Villa now...
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Post by Panda on Apr 17, 2009 13:30:41 GMT 1
Well apart from overestimating how Boro would do, I'm quite happy with my predictions for this season, particularly in the lower leagues...
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Post by Earl Purple on Apr 19, 2009 19:24:17 GMT 1
Various odds for the Premier League... 9/1 Middlesbrough 22/1 Newcastle If only I'd placed a couple of bets... White Hart Lane has actually had the fewest number of goals so far.
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Post by Panda on Apr 19, 2009 20:42:27 GMT 1
Current relegation odds:
1/100 West Brom 1/3 Middlesbrough 8/13 Newcastle 7/5 Hull 6/1 Blackburn 13/2 Sunderland 25/1 Portsmouth 33/1 Bolton 80/1 Stoke
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