Looks Like The Usual Suspects.....

[redrus]

Sports >> Saturday August 11, 2007

Looks like the usual suspects

On the opening day of the Premiership it would be nice to think that a ''different'' club might just have the opportunity of winning the title. But there's as much chance of that as Jose Mourinho keeping his mouth shut all season or Sir Alex Ferguson giving up chewing gum. The likelihood is that last season's top four will also be this season's top four and may even be in the same order.

That all sounds like it could be rather boring, but you get the feeling this season will be anything but boring. Even the Community Shield match, which is normally played in an exhibition-like atmosphere, was fiercely competitive this year.

Admittedly it wasn't very pretty but the commitment displayed by both Manchester United and Chelsea was a taste of some really spicy matches coming up.

With an impressive array of new signings Manchester United must start as favourites again, especially with the Chelsea squad currently resembling the walking wounded.

Chelsea will probably be happy if they can keep the Red Devils in their sights in the opening month. There is a danger that Man U could go racing off into the distance, which would not be good news for the Premiership.

It has been suggested that without Thierry Henry, Arsenal might lose some spark. But Henry hardly played last season either and they didn't do too badly. However, the Gunners might be a little too dependent on Van Persie for the goals.

The team that most needs to win the title is Liverpool. For a club that so dominated English football in the 1970s and 1980s _ in one period they won nine titles in 15 years _ it seems inconceivable they have not even had a sniff of the Premiership trophy, except in 2001 when they were runners-up to Arsenal by seven points.

If Liverpool fans are desperate for Premiership success, God knows how Newcastle fans feel. With Big Sam at the helm there are great expectations at St James' Park. But that's the case every season. Unfortunately the Newcastle job appears to be something of a poisoned chalice as a long list of famous ex-bosses know all too well.

Spurs are coming off one of their best seasons for years and appear to have their strongest squad in a long time. They played some attractive football last season thank to the exciting partnership of Berbatov and Keane, but it's still hard to see them breaking into the top four.

Then of course we have Manchester City who haven't been out of the news for the entire off-season.

Before a ball has been kicked the City fans seem to be absolutely delighted with the Eriksson-Thaksin double act. The former England boss has been spending a lot of Thai money on players that most people honestly don't know an awful lot about.

It's going to take some time for them to gel and they start off with a tricky away encounter against West Ham. Fortunately for Sven the opening home game on Wednesday is against Derby, not the strongest team in the league. Who knows? City might even score a goal.

Thaksin, known by City fans as ''Frank'' (Sinatra), appears to be taking his adopted name seriously and could well be embarking on a new career as a crooner. Last weekend he was on stage singing the City theme song ''Blue Moon''. And ''My Way'' also got an airing. What next? Thaksin's Greatest Hits?

One thing is for sure, City's results will be closely scrutinised in Thailand for a wide variety of reasons.

Once again the relegation battle promises to be a good scrap. The newly promoted sides are always favourites to go down and for good reason, as Watford and Sheffield United discovered last season. Sunderland's performance will be particularly intriguing and a real test of Roy Keane's credentials as a a gaffer.

Sunderland, Birmingham and Derby will garner some hope from the spirited performance by Reading in their first-ever visit to the top flight last season and Wigan the season before.

Nobby has to admit an element of bias here, having been born and raised in Reading and spending a childhood watching them for many uninspiring seasons at Elm Park in the old Third Division.

It is unlikely the Royals will repeat their success this year. They have only bought one player and lost a couple of good ones. The fixture list hasn't exactly been kind to them either _ Manchester United away tomorrow, Chelsea at home on Wednesday. At least after that things have to get better.

Manager Steve Coppell must also have been less than amused to hear that star striker Leroy Lita is going to be out of action for a month after pulling a muscle... in bed! Now that must have taken some explaining.

redrus

[dee123]

err,..Arsenal will not be what they were I reckon, but I have not seen who they have signed yet,.football is a bit habitual win and you can't stop winning ,..lose and you can't stop losing,...without henry on the bench forcing the new stars to always be at their best,strenghth of character might come into play ,....ie has van persie got what it takes when things are a little turbulent?

Edited August 10, 2007 by dee123

[dee123]

These days all of the other top flight clubs having now got wind of how Arsenal plucked the best players from the african continent , and are ready for battle,.

[ThaiPauly]

IMO Arsenal will be squeezed out of the top four this year by bitter north London rivals Spurs.

If they aren't then Bent will have been a waste of 18m quid

[mrtoad]

Okay, the likelyhood is that one of the winners will come from Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool but there are certainly a couple of very interesting clubs who have made a flurry of signings, Spurs, Portsmouth and Newcastle will certainly be stronger this year. Throw in a teamlike Blackburn who are certainly one of the most difficult sides to play against and you get the idea that there are going to be few sides who have an influence on where then title will go this year. I'd expect Man City and West Ham to do considerably better given the investmenst made by their repective owners as well. Arsenal may struggle for consistency again this year, but they will still be one of the better sides, althouygh the battle for 4th could be very, very interesting.

The relegation battle will certainly be keenly contested, but I think that maybe a couple of the promoted sides will stay up. Sunderland and Birmingham have strenghthend and they are well organised sides. Bruse has already managed Birmingham in the premiership so he has some experience of it, whereas Keane is still a bit of an Unknown, but you can't fault what he acheived last year. One thing for sure, losing is not a word that you'd associate with Keane.

Derby on the other hand jsut don't look stringe enough, and do not have the funds to add significantly. They may give Sunderlands previous low popints score a run for it's money this year.

The other two, well Wigan have made a big mistake in appointing a manager who is clearly out of his depth, and given the fact that the last time he was in this position with Bradford he failed to win a game, the poor start and the dodgy signing of Titus Bramble (a liability in a good team, even worse in a poor one) this season looks ominous. The other one, my sneaking feeling is Reading, the loss of Sidwell and the lack of a proven quality replacement will have a major impact on them. He was highly influential last year and chimed in with 10 goals from misfielld. Thery did exceedingly well last year, but I think we'll see them get found out at this level this year. Fulham will probably stuggle again this year but will be difficult and robust teams to play against, it will be interesting to see how the influx of all the Norther Ireland players improves the team. The other team, who always cause problems for the bigger clubs, Bolton are a bit of an unknown this year, they have lost a couple of players including Tal Ben Haim and they have a new manager. It may well be a less comfortable season for them this year.

Apologies to the other teams I have missed out.

Edited August 11, 2007 by mrtoad

[spot]

The team that most needs to win the title is Liverpool. For a club that so dominated English football in the 1970s and 1980s _ in one period they won nine titles in 15 years _ it seems inconceivable they have not even had a sniff of the Premiership trophy, except in 2001 when they were runners-up to Arsenal by seven points.

And you can argue that the teams that most need to win the Champions league are Manchester Utd and Chelsea.

I really don't expect Liverpool to win the title this season. Too many new players to gel together in the first season - next season yes.

[true blue]

see no one mention everton good put your money on top 4 this season when midfielders start to score reqular sign of good team

[mrtoad]

see no one mention everton good put your money on top 4 this season when midfielders start to score reqular sign of good team

They are certainly looking like a good team, and once they get Cahill back they will be an even better proposition. If they have luck with injuries, then there is no reason why they can't break into the top four.

[MiG16]

Arsenal will be strong again this season, they looked dangerous pre-season in the Amsterdam Tourney.

Also at the Emirates Cup pre-season, where they played Paris Saint Germaine and Inter Milan

ok if Im gonna be honest, the chance of us getting the league cup arent that great, but yes I believe the team even with its young squad will do well

[chavy]

That article from the BP seems to have, in one way or another , been turned slightly on it's head given the start of the so called unfancied teams (Bolton apart) Man U can't buy a result so far Spurs not exactly setting the division alight ..so on & so on

[redrus]

How we feeling now then people, the Arse are still in there and having a remarkable season considering most here thought they wouldn't be in the top four...!

United are well in with a shout too, at most its now a three horse race....!

redrus

[mrtoad]

How we feeling now then people, the Arse are still in there and having a remarkable season considering most here thought they wouldn't be in the top four...!

United are well in with a shout too, at most its now a three horse race....!

redrus

This is a Wankchai article, he is a poor sports editor, who has little idea about what is even happening in his own country, let alone in England.

Wankchai, doesn't even look at anything out of the normal, and has little opinion. He is a total joke who refuses to even look at certain things that are even happening in sporting circles in Thailand.

If you would like to me to give an example of the pathetic nature of the Bangcock Post's sports coverage I'm more than happy to oblige. It's not related to football, but even so it can expose the duplicity of the paper yet again.

[redrus]

I didn't say I liked the article, infact was just looking for peoples responses to the season so far, as per the question in my last post which you copied into yours. Are you suggesting I'm 'Wankchai' or did you mean to copy the article?....!

My original post was six months ago, if the article bore little relevance then, its hardly likely to have any now.

[mrtoad]

Sorry Redrus, probably got wires crossed alittle bit. I'll partly blame the Chang.

Of course you are not Wankchai, and I wasn't trying to suggest that you liked the piece..

I was refering to the article written by the Sports Ed in the BKK post at the beggining of the season.Basically, it was a piece of crap that any idiot could have written, without much knowledge. That certainly isn't applied to you, as I am more than familiar with the posts that you make.

My main gripe with the BKK post sports pages, are the total lack of knowledge regarding football outside of Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. For a national newspaper, you'd expect to have a little more quality, and I'm pretty certain that there are a few people here in BKK, that could at least make an interesting contribution to the sportspages.

As regards the usual suspects, 3 of the 4 are there, although Liverpool are making it a little bit interesting in the race for the 4th spot.

So hopefully, you didn't think I was having a go at a fellow United fan.

[redrus]

Sorry Redrus, probably got wires crossed alittle bit. I'll partly blame the Chang.

So hopefully, you didn't think I was having a go at a fellow United fan.

Fairdly do's, just wondered why you copied my post in but, Chang'll explain it. You'll have a Changover now then eh....?

redrus