ESB British Forum - Premiership Bottom 3 Predictions...

Yeah I try and get down as much as I can. A fair few of us had season tickets in The Premiership days, but most of them lost interest when we lost all our players and got relegated, so there's just a few of us now who make a bit of an effort.

Some great looking fixtures in this division and the thing is, it's impossible to predict who'll beat who. Makes it exciting.

Good luck for the season mate :good

 

Agree whole heartedly with the bit in bold mate. But outside of United and Chelsea, in my opinion, no one else is competing for the league. It's all about the remaining two spots in the top four.

To be honest, regarding the 'building around two players' bit, I disagree. We rely heavily on those players because they are world class. Cole, Kuyt and (unproven but) Jovanavic are all able players. And would get in most top six squads. The problem we have is that outside of our starting XI the squad is quite weak. The problem spurs have is that you have a strong squad but no single player of the ability of a Torres/Gerrard/Drogba/Rooney. It's not a case of either/or. You need both. Which is why neither Liverpool or Spurs will win the league this year. So, we need to keep our players fit to be in with a shout.

If we can do that, we can finish in the top four. If we dont, it will be a big fight.

Not trying to wind you up, but I think your lot will struggle to cope with CL football this year. There's no shame in it because it's a new world, but trying to compete on two fronts is difficult. Particularly with the number of CL games that have to be played.

Outside of the title, and Blackpool finishing bottom, I think it's going to be a tight season.

 

yeh pretty much my points. Liverpool under Benitez had a ridiclious number of 1st team players, something like 60 but only 14 good enough to play week in, week out in the Premiership. Hodgson for at least a season is just cleaning up the mess left behind. The problem with that is Gerrard and Torres are not going to wait around.

For Spurs, I honestly do not see the large number of games being a problem. We have a big squad, 2 quality players in each position. I think we will get past the group stages and qualify again. This is mainly due to the fact our rivals are in unstable positions and are not in a position to compete with us. We need a world class striker, give us Rooney, Drogba or Torres and we could really do some damage. Our best hope is we sign one who goes onto reach that level.

Your right about us not having any superstars, but the way Bale is going, he will be at that level soon enough and King on his day is as good as any other defender in World Football. Our keeper is also up there, maybe Reina the only better in the Prem.

 

A spurs fan with a soft spot for west ham, that's a first lol!

Yeah I reckon we will go down this year. Ooh well there's always hope!

 

Correct me of i'm wrong as i've lost touch with football, but aren't West 'am's bitter rivals meant to be Millwall?

 

Blackpool Wigan and errrm Newcastle/West Brom

 

I'm going to be a bore now with massively red tinted glasses. For that I make no apologies. I'm happy to be objective when it comes to boxing, when it comes to footy however, the world starts and stops with LFC.

So...

Dont be fooled by tabloid reports. We may have had 60 odd players on the books. But over half of these were 20yrs old or less. Either earning a living in the reserves or loaned out for more experience. When Rafa joined we had a minimal scouting network. So he adopted a scatter gun approach of signing many, many youth players in the hope that one or two would turn out alright. Unfortunately, we probably wont get to know now as they will be shippe out as part of the 'clearing the driftwood'.

'The mess left behind' was a side that had won the European Cup, finished runners up in the same competition, finished runners up in the league, won the FA cup and got to a league cup final. A side which had not failed to get into the Champions League right up until a horror show last season. A side that included one of the best strikers in the world, one of the best midfielders in the world, one of the best DMCs in the world and one of the best keepers in the world. Along with two quality centre backs (and Skrtle's no mug either), England's best right back and some decent squad players.

The problems for me were instigated off the pitch. A manager with one hand tied behind his back and that had no support from either the owners or the press. I'm not surprised that Rafa couldnt pick the team up after a poor start to last season.

Dont get me wrong, we were awful last year. From the first game of the season at your gaff, right up to the last few games. I'm a believer that you get what you deserve from football and we deserved where we finished. But to suggest that we're a finished force is premature. Other than Alonso, we've got pretty much the same team this year as we had the year before last (with the differences being Johnson in for Arbeloa at RB and Cole in for Reira at LW). But we still havent replaced Alonso. I dont buy into the fact that the rest of the league have improved dramatically. You have added players of more or less the same ability that you have always had. You now just have more of them. Villa havent improved. Arsenal have gone backwards. That leaves only City. A genuine threat, but lets see them play together first.

Chelsea and United will fight out 1st (again) and leave the rest of us to pick up the other two big slots.

 

And, I dont watch him week in week out, but you cant claim Gomes to be one of the best keepers in the prem. Pains me to say it, but even Tim Howard is better than Gomes. He's a good keeper. But no better than that.

Bale is starting to look the business though, granted.

 

most London clubs dislike eachother but clubs in Londons main rivals would be;

Spurs > Arsenal
Arsenal > Spurs
West Ham > Spurs
Chelsea > Spurs
Fulhum > Chelsea
Milwall > Chelsea
Palace > Milwall
Charlton > Milwall
QPR > Chelsea
Brentford > Charlton

 

not in any order

blackpool
wigan
west brom

 

What did spurs do to upset every club in London?

 

:nono

 

West Ham is because we are the closest big club to them.
Arsenal is because we are both North London.
Chelsea is because to do with the firms from way back.

 

18. Sunderland
19. Blackpool
20. Wigan

Wigan will do a Derby/Swindon and concede nearly a thousand goals, they are just ****ing ****.

At least Blackpool try.

 

18 S*nderland
19 Blackpool
20 Wigan