Here is the original synopsis and predictions for 2007/08 revisited with the addition of the final finishes, the highs and the lows and a couple of semi interesting statistics. So here is an opportunity to share my gaffs and a couple of thoughts that were reasonably close. And before some of you laugh too hard I will be linking back to the original comments and predictions that were posted back in August 2007 once the Whoops signal stops appearing.
Arsenal
Synopsis – If Arsenal is going to better last season’s record then there are two areas ripe for improvement. The first is their record against lower half opposition – last season Arsenal only won half of these games. The other is to get their noses in front. Last season Arsenal gave up the first goal in twenty Premiership games and although they collected 22 points in these matches (more than any other club) a repeat performance would nix any chance they might have of pushing the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United.
Arsenal needs to improve defensively – particularly on cross balls – and the wide midfield players (Rosicky, Hleb and possibly Eboue) need to chip in with goals. Gunner fans will be looking for Robin Van Persie to establish himself as a top rate striker while new arrival Eduardo Da Silva (work permit granted) needs to show that he can replicate his Dynamo Zagreb form at a higher level.
The departure of Thierry Henry has set off a wave of “Arsenal-in-decline” stories – don’t be surprised if his departure has the reverse effect.
Season’s narrative – Can Arsenal prosper without Thierry Henry?
Prediction–3rd. Actual–3rd. High – 1st Low – 7th
Stat Facts – An improvement of 15 points from last season (5 at home, 10 away) and the highest ever total points recorded by a team finishing 3rd in the Premiership.
Bolton
Synopsis – Although Sam Allardyce resigned before the end of last season this really is the start of the post big-Sam era. His replacement Sammy Lee has to prove that he can successfully move from his coaching position to the number one job – something that others have failed to accomplish at other clubs.
At first blush Lee appears to be mimicking the eclectic mix that was so successful under Allardyce. Arrivals from Europe (Cid, Dzemalli and Harsanyi), a veteran English midfielder written off by others (McCann), an underachieving defender (Samuel) and a bustling hard-working striker who to date has failed to make his mark in the Premiership (Helguson). Toss in a loan deal for Christian Wilhelmsson and you have very much the same recipe albeit with a different cook.
Bolton never dropped lower than 8th all last season in the Premiership - a repeat would be a remarkable achievement.
Season’s narrative – Can Little Sam make Bolton fans forget Big Sam?
Prediction – 15th Actual – 16th High – 13th Low – 20th
Stat Facts – Bolton experienced the largest loss in points season over season – 20 fewer than in 2006/07. An unbeaten run of five matches at season’s end that earned Bolton eleven points brought salvation. To generate the points Bolton scored only six goals but conceded only two – just like old times at the Reebok.
Middlesbrough
Synopsis – In the last five seasons Boro has been as high as 7th and as low as 14th. Based on this summer’s moves the team is more likely to finish closer to 14th than 7th.
For all the abuse that is heaped on him Mark Viduka has been a remarkably consistent scorer since he arrived in English football from Celtic in 2000. He has average better than two goals every five game while with Leeds and Boro and that sort of rate is not going to be easy to replace.
Based on past performances Jeremie Aliadiere doesn’t look like an adequate replacement – even though Gareth Southgate has apparently been impressed by the Frenchman’s hunger. Tuncay Sanli is an interesting addition but he would not be the first striker to find the non-stop pace of the Premiership difficult to adapt to.
The scoring load will probably fall on the shoulders of the often transfer-rumored Yakubu Ayegbeni. So far Boro has denied that they are willing to allow him to leave should another club come in with a bid. Boro supporters should hope that the Nigerian striker stays put because without him Middlesbrough might be fighting relegation. With Yakubu a reasonably comfortable lower mid-table position is probably in the cards.
Season’s narrative – Can Boro breakout of mid-table mediocrity?
Prediction – 13th Actual – 13th High – 10th Low - 18th
Stat Facts – Not a head for heights? Boro spent one week in the top ten and only four weeks the season before. Middlesbrough finished the season with two consecutive wins – something they only accomplished one other time during the season – in December they beat Arsenal and Derby County.
Fulham
Synopsis – Lawrie Sanchez has spent a good part of the summer spending money. However, Sanchez may have added to the squad depth but he may not have significantly improved the starting eleven.
Fulham start their season at the Emirates Stadium against Arsenal and a win will equal their away record over the last two seasons. Not hard when the last two seasons have only brought about a win in each. On the road last season Fulham conceded more away goals (42) than any other Premiership club and finished the 2007 season with the longest current run of matches without scoring more than a single goal in a Premiership game – 12.
They also own the current longest sequence since winning by more than a single goal. Fifty Premiership games have come and gone since a 6-1 win over West Brom in February 2006.
Season’s narrative – Will the money spent turnout to be well spent?
Prediction – 18th Actual – 17th High – 9th Low – 19th
Stat Facts – Fulham threw away 27 points from winning positions this season. However, they did finish the season with four wins in their last five matches. The four wins accounted for half of the three-pointers they collected all season. They also finished with three consecutive away wins. Prior to that they had no away wins in 16 games and had only won twice away from home in the last two seasons.
Birmingham
Synopsis – There are very few holdovers from the side that was relegated at the end of the 2006 season. Lat summer Steve Bruce cleaned house and it led to promotion. Twelve months on and has been busy once more. In midfield Fabrice Muamba is now a permanent fixture after spending last season at St. Andrews on loan from Arsenal. He’s joined in midfield by French international Olivier Kapo (5th team since 2004). Gary McSheffrey proved to be a shrewd acquisition from Coventry City in August 2006 and he could be set to make an impression in the Premiership.
Up front Gary O’Connor will be looked to for goals after signing from Lokomotiv Moscow although Nicolas Bendtner (returned to Arsenal after a loan spell) will be missed. Birmingham conceded the second fewest goals in the Championship last season but Bruce has given himself some new options. Only Bruno N’Gotty has left while Ridgewell, Queudrue, Parnaby and Brazilian Schmitz (presently carrying an injury) have been added. Ghanaian World Cup goalkeeper Richard Kingson has signed although it is not clear whether Steve Bruce sees him as a replacement or back up for Colin Doyle.
Casting a potential shadow over the club is the ownership ambition of Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung. Yeung has already bought 30% of the club and has plans to acquire the remaining shares. Full control for Yeung combined with a poor start and Birmingham may become the Hearts of the EPL.
Season’s narrative – Has Steve Bruce learned lessons from Birmingham’s relegation in 2006?
Prediction – 17th Actual – 19th High – 11th Low – 19th
Stat Facts – If half time results had held Birmingham would have finished in a comfortable 10th position. Only Derby County finished with fewer away points while the Birmingham defense only kept three clean sheets all season – a record shared with Derby County.
Liverpool
Synopsis – Last season’s challenge for the league was almost over before it began as Liverpool faltered out of the gate. That, combined with poor away form that brought only six wins away from Anfield negated an excellent home record. If Liverpool is to challenge for the league title then a strong start is mandatory.
Based on the moves that Rafa Benitez has made this summer he must be happy with his defense. Torres, Babel, Benayoun and Voronin have all been brought to Anfield to either score or create goals. Lucas Leiva arrives with a great reputation although he will have a difficult time breaking into the Liverpool midfield.
With Fernando Torres carrying the mantle of the Premiership’s most expensive summer signing most of the spotlight will be on the Spaniard. Views on the striker are polarized – the naysayers point to his average of around two goals every five games for Atletico Madrid. His supporters are quick to indicate that he is only 23-years-old and his Atletico strike rate is impressive given the club’s overall goal tally.
Liverpool finished 21 points behind the champions Manchester United last season and it will need a Herculean effort to close that gap.
Season’s narrative – Can Fernando Torres deliver the goals that Liverpool need?
Prediction – 4th Actual – 4th High – 1st Low – 9th
Stat Facts – Liverpool tied with Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur for the most draws – 13. Only Manchester United scored more home goals than Liverpool (47 to 43). Ironically Liverpool gained four fewer points at home this season compared with last campaign although away points went from 22 to 34.
Fernando Torres became the first Liverpool player to score 20 Premiership goals since Robbie Fowler over a decade ago. What’s more of his 24 markers only one came from a set-piece. No other player scored more Premiership goals this season from open play.
Reading
Synopsis – Last summer critics were aghast when manager Steve Coppell decided to keep faith with the players that had secured promotion for Reading. When the Premiership kicked off last season not one Reading player had top flight experience in England.
However, Coppell’s gut instinct was spot on and Reading cruised through their first ever season in the Premiership. Once again, manager Steve Coppell appears to be largely content with his Reading squad.
Full back Emerse Fae was signed late last week from relegated side Nantes for a record club fee and joins another French defender Kalifa Cisse signed from Portuguese club Boavista. Leaving the Madjeski Stadium are little used full back Greg Halford (only signed from Colchester in January but sold on to Sunderland at a $2M+ profit) and influential midfielder Steve Sidwell (Chelsea on a Bosman transfer). The question of how and who will replace Sidwell (former Arsenal player) is still to be answered.
Last season Kevin Doyle carried much of scoring load with 13 league goals and although no other Reading player hit double figures 13 other players did chip in with goals through the Premiership season. Leroy Lita enjoyed a good run of scoring with six of his seven goals coming during and just after the Xmas period. Fellow striker Dave Kitson only managed two goals although he missed almost six months of the season after being injured on the opening day of last season.
Season’s narrative – Can Reading avoid the second-season jinx?
Prediction – 11th Actual – 18th High – 7th Low – 18th
Stat Facts – Reading only picked two points after being in a losing position – tied with Everton. The bottom fell out of Reading’s season both home and away. Compared to last season they collected 9 fewer points at home and 10 fewer away from home. The swing in goal difference – from +5 a year ago to -25 this May.
Blackburn
Synopsis – If Blackburn can hold on to the likes of Benni McCarthy and Morten Gant Pederson by the time the transfer closes then the pre-season can be regarded as a success. The form of McCarthy and Pederson last season was key contributors to a midway league finish and an FA Cup run that finished with an extra time semi final loss to Chelsea. Given the injuries to a number of key players last season it was a remarkable achievement by Mark Hughes’ side.
The arrival of goalkeeper Gunnar Nielsen may be more about Blackburn planning for a time when Brad Friedel will no longer be patrolling the penalty area while Maceo Rigters joins the club on the back of a series of great performances at this summers UEFA under-21 Championship.
Roque Santa Cruz arrives at Ewood Park with a great reputation but one that is not supported by the stats. A goal every five games for Bayern Munich is a disappointing return for a player who appears to have all the right tools. A resurrection at Ewood Park or a stop on the way to lower level obscurity?
Doubtless Blackburn will be as feisty as last season although a reduction in the number of penalties conceded (11) and red cards received (5) might help them.
Season’s narrative – Can Benni McCarthy maintain his spectacular form of last season?
Prediction – 9th
Actual – 7th High – 3rd Low – 10th
Stat Facts – Blackburn fought back from losing positions to pick up an additional 20 points – only Arsenal with 21 points was better. Blackburn only dropped six points (3 draws) at home to bottom half of the table teams.
West Ham United
Synopsis – A good number of players have come and gone since last season’s great escape but most of the attention this summer has been on Carlos Tevez. Now that Tevez has finally left West Ham fans can now focus their attention on the new season.
Manager Alan Curbishley has opted to strengthen the midfield and attack while keeping largely keeping faith with the defenders. Scott Parker will be reunited with his old Charlton boss and Freddie Ljunberg can still contribute goals if he can stay fit. However, French midfielder Julien Faubert will have to wait another six months at least before seeing Premiership action after rupturing an Achilles tendon in a warm up match.
The loss of striker Dean Ashton for almost all of last season to injury was a devastating blow to West Ham and hopes are high that Ashton’s injury woes are a thing of the past. He scored against his former club Norwich in a friendly match last week. A partnership with the fleet-footed Craig Bellamy might be a source of much needed goals for the Hammers.
Season’s narrative – Can West Ham bounce back from a traumatic 2006/07 season?
Prediction – 14th
Actual – 10th High – 5th Low – 20th
Stat Facts – In total West Ham spent 24 weeks and 18 out of the last 19 weeks in 10th spot. West Ham only won two consecutive games once this season – in September 3-0 wins over Reading and Middlesbrough.
Sunderland
Synopsis – Roy Keane was the story of last season’s Coca cola Championship and is likely to be one of the stories of this season’s Premiership. When he arrived a drop into League One looked to be a more realistic prospect than promotion back to the Premiership. But Keane set about the task of reinvigorating one of the great teams of years past.
Over twenty players were signed or moved on as Sunderland moved from 23rd spot to league champions. Keane has also endeavored to change the club culture as he insisted on pictures and mementos of past triumphs be displaced around the stadium and kyboshed the idea of the club publicly “celebrating” the promotion.
With only two players shipping out so far it looks as if Keane is intent on improving the depth of his player pool while focusing on younger players who should, in theory, still have room to improve.
Kieron Richardson should get a chance to nail down a consistent starting position after only spot duty with Manchester United. Michael Chopra returns to the North-East only twelve months after leaving Newcastle for Cardiff City. Chopra had been unable to break into the Newcastle starting line-up but 22 goals for Cardiff in the Championship last season had many questioning Newcastle’s decision to give up on the 23-year-old.
Centre half Russell Anderson is an intriguing buy for only $2M from Aberdeen. The 28-year-old has up to now played his entire career with Aberdeen and developed into one most consistent players in Scotland. Many believe that if Anderson had opted to move to a bigger club earlier in his career his he would have been capped more than nine times for his country.
Season’s narrative – Shaped by Brian Clough and Sir Alex Ferguson is Roy Keane the next great Premiership manager?
Prediction – 16th Actual – 15th High – 4th Low – 19th
Stat Facts –Sunderland may have been one of six teams that failed to collect 40 points but they still gained more points this season than in their two previous Premiership incarnations combined. Sunderland did however have the longest losing sequence of any Premiership team away from home with 10.
Manchester United
Synopsis – Sir Alex Ferguson has made a career out of proving his critics wrong so it would foolhardy to predict that United will not retain the title won last season. However, the planets really did align for United in 2006/07. Vidic established himself as the type of physical centre back United had been missing since the long ago departure of Jaap Stam; Paul Scholes orchestrated from the midfield rolling back the years as he gathered, prompted and dissected; Ryan Giggs was another who enjoyed an Indian Summer; Cristiano Ronaldo became the best player in the Barclay’s Premiership.
Can it happen again? Owen Hargreaves has been brought in to provide a more solid defensive shield in midfield while Nani and Anderson look to be the heirs to Scholes and Giggs. The “loan” of Carlos Tevez has now been settled and he will add some extra fire power up front - an extremely exciting addition to the Old Trafford staff. On paper United have strengthened the midfield and attack. However, should Gabriel Heinze be granted his wish to move then United’s back four might be a bit more susceptible to an injuries and/or suspensions.
Season’s narrative – How will Sir Alex Ferguson integrate all his attacking options while ensuring that the backdoor remains bolted?
Prediction – 2nd Actual – 1st High – 1st Low – 16th
Stat Facts – United spent 17 weeks in top spot and maintained that position from round 29 onwards. They claimed 52 of a possible 57 points at home dropping to Reading in the first game of the season and losing to Manchester City. United only conceded three goals in the last ten minutes of Premiership games this season – William Gallas (Arsenal 2-2), Matthew Upson (West Ham 2-1 loss) and a penalty from Michael Ballack (Chelsea 2-1) loss.
Everton
Synopsis – One look at the last five seasons should have Everton fans cringing as new season approaches. Each good season has been followed by disappointment and after last season’s sixth place finish a drop is in the cards.
However, if the Toffees can match last season’s performance of not losing more than two consecutive games then things may not turn out so bad. Moyes will also be eyeing the 13 games that finished as draws last season as a possible area for improvement.
With James Vaughn out for an extended period Everton may still make a move for a striker should one become available. The arrival of Steven Pienaar on loan should add more depth and a bit of goal scoring (15 goals in little less than 100 games during his time with Ajax) to the midfield. He will join the likes of Manuel Fernandez, Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill in a midfield that if it is gels could be a stand-out in the league.
David Moyes will probably slot Phil Jagielka (from Sheffield United) into a back four that improved significantly as last season progressed.
Season’s narrative – Will Everton slip again? Prediction – 8th Actual – 5th High – 1st Low – 10th
Stat Facts – Everton only picked up two points over the entire season after being in a losing position but finished their highest ever Premiership points total. In the last four season’s Everton has finished 4th, 11th, 6th and 5th.
Aston Villa
Synopsis – Last season Villa may have finished 11th in the Premiership but they needed a nine-game unbeaten run at the end of the season to avoid a relegation dogfight. Martin O’Neill may achieved his initial objective of making Villa a difficult team to beat (only ten losses in thirty-eight games) but if his side is up the table then a good number of last season’s league high 17 draws need to turn into wins. That means more goals are needed from the strikers and from the midfield. Another ten goals and the defense holding firm could mean a move into the top six.
The jury is still out on John Carew (7 clubs in 9 seasons) but the arrival of Marlon Harewood gives O’Neill another option up front. O’Neill has under whelmed most Villa fans with the signing of Harewood but remember this is the same manager that resurrected the career of Chris Sutton. Gabriel Agbonlahor was a revelation last season but he may find that the second season is harder than the first. Nigel Reo-Coker will replace Gavin McCann and should bring more vigour and pace to the centre of the Villa midfield.
Villa had the sixth best defensive record last season but there is still room for improvement. An injury free season for Martin Laursen (he’s averaged less than 10 games a season since arriving from Milan in the summer of 2004) would certainly help while O’Neill may yet sign another goalkeeper to compete with Thomas Sorenson.
Overall the departures far exceed the arrivals at Villa Park which might lead us to conclude that Martin O’Neill is willing to go with some younger players.
Season’s narrative – With money going unspent will it turn out to be a false economy by Martin O’Neill?
Prediction – 6th Actual – 6th High – 5th Low – 17th
Stat Facts – Villa finished as the Premiership’s third top scorers behind Manchester United and Arsenal with 71 goals scored. Last season they scored 43 times. The extra goals (although they also conceded 10 more) helped them to five more wins than last season although their losses (10) remained the same.
Newcastle
Synopsis – Where do you start when it comes to Newcastle United? An incredibly well-supported club inadequately led over the years by bungling directors and often managers, is as good a place to start as any. But since the end of last season the club has been bought by Mike Ashley (although there is no guarantee that he will be any better than the others who have come before) and Sam Allardyce has taken over the managerial reins. But even then there have been consistent rumours that Allardyce would not have been the new owner’s pick had he been able to start with a clean slate.
As it is Allardyce has indicated that he is still in the market for some experienced players but even without any additional moves the spine of this team looks much stronger. New arrivals Czech defender David Rozehnal and Brazilian Cacapa will probably be the first choice centre back pairing while Joey Barton will become the fulcrum of the midfield. Up front Viduka and Smith (reunited after playing together at Leeds) will provide some added presence to a front line that was on the small side last season. Martins and Owen (depending on the combination) should benefit from the addition of Viduka and Smith.
Increased goal production is a priority for a team that was shut-out 17 times last season, and 16 times the season before.
Season’s narrative – Can Sam Allardyce bring real hope and progress to the long suffering Newcastle faithful?
Prediction – 10th Actual – 12th High – 1st Low – 14th
Stat Facts – In 2006/07 Newcastle enjoyed the 7th best record against teams in the top ten. This season they collected only 10 points from top half teams. But Newcastle still finished with the same number of points as last season (43) and improved their overall standing by one place.
Derby
Synopsis – Wining the Premiership play off is always a cause for great celebration but it soon dissipates as the challenge of staying in the top league sinks in. Manager Billy Davies has some good young players in the squad but overall it looks awfully like a squad built to do well in the Championship rather than the Premiership.
Robert Earnshaw (Derby’s record signing) will have another chance (he was with West Brom from 2004 to 2006) to show that can score goals regularly in the Premiership (to date 12 goals in 43 appearances) as he has done in the Championship (19 last season in an injury affected season). Steve Howard (16 goals) will likely team up with Earnshaw in attack.
Centre back Claude Davis who was relegated with Sheffield United last season is another player to be given a chance to prove his worth in the top flight.
Season’s narrative – How many times will Derby be described as gallant losers?
Prediction – 19th Actual – 20th High – 7th Low – 20th
Stat Facts – Derby County now owns almost every Premiership record for futility.
Chelsea
Synopsis – Peace has broken out at Stamford Bridge. The enemy, for the moment at least, is the other nineteen teams of the Barclay’s Premiership and on paper this is the strongest squad that Mourinho has had since his arrival in the summer of 2004.
If Petr Cech can avoid injury it will only add to a defense that led the Premiership with 22 clean sheets. The on-going right back problem may remain although rumours persist that Sevilla’s Daniel Alves is on his way to Stamford Bridge. A work permit has been granted for Alex so the last season’s centre back crisis is less likely to reoccur - Tal Ben Haim as a squad player will also help.
That will allow Michael Essien to play is his more natural position in midfield with all the resulting benefits. The talk is a return to a 4-3-3 formation and if Mourinho decides to go that route then it is difficult to see how Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko will fit in - essentially the same question as last year at this time.
Malouda was France’s player of the year and he carries a scoring threat. His work rate plus an ability to get past players makes him a great addition to the Chelsea squad. Given that Chelsea’s goal production dropped by 10 goals last season, more goals will be one of the critical factors if Chelsea is to make it a third Premiership title in four seasons.
Season’s narrative – Can Chelsea maintain focus and stop the in-fighting and strength sapping controversy?
Prediction - Champions Actual – 2nd High – 1st Low – 7th
Stat Facts – Chelsea only spent one week in first place – that came in round 4. Chelsea remains unbeaten at home for another season and collected exactly the same number of points as in 2006/07 – 43 points. Contrast these totals with the 55 points and 47 points they gained at home when winning the league in 2006 and 2005 and ironically you can see where Chelsea needs to improve. Chelsea’s impressive away form continued this season – 42 points from a possible 57 which is up two from the previous season.
Tottenham Hotspur
Synopsis – Martin Jol has been one of the busier managers this summer with another raft of new signings. Spurs’ start last season was woeful and they must find a way to integrate their new signings quickly if the hope to improve on their 5th place finish of the last two seasons.
When the team began to click last season goals were not a problem. Unfortunately as quick as Spurs could score them they let goals in as well. In all Premiership games involving Spurs produced 111 goals – more than any other Premiership team – but Spurs finished with a goal difference of only +3.
The return of a fully fit Ledley King will help plug the holes at the back and it is doubtful that England keeper Paul Robinson can produce back-to-back mediocre seasons. Younes Kaboul arrives with glowing recommendations. Youngster Gareth Bale (watch out for his free kicks) arrives from Southampton and is expected to solve the ongoing left back problem at White Hart Lane. However, there doesn’t appear to be a ready made solution at hand on the left side of midfield.
With a price tag of $35M the expectations for Darren Bent are justifiably high and many will be watching to see how Jol goes about fitting the former Charlton player into a strike force that already has Berbatov, Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe pushing for a spot.
Season’s narrative – Can Spurs spending finally deliver some silverware as well as entertainment?
Prediction – 5th Actual – 11th High – 9th Low – 20th
Stat Facts – Spurs set a record for points lost from a winning position – 33 over the season. They also gained 14 fewer points than they did twelve months ago and that means they have slipped 19 points from two seasons ago. This season saw Spurs participate in another galaxy of goals – this time their 38 games produced 127 (66-61) goals up from 111 (57-54) the season before.
Portsmouth
Synopsis - Pompey was the moved improved team last season so expectations have grown since the club just avoided relegation at the end of the 2006 season. Portsmouth’s improvement was almost exclusively on account of their form at Fratton Park. Sixteen more points were secured at home last season over the previous season and only the top four lost fewer home matches. Only three teams - Bolton, Charlton and Chelsea – left Fratton Park with full points. Harry Rednapp will focus on significantly improving Pompey’s away form which was poor last season - three wins and only 16 points was a poor return.
Pompey appears to have strengthened throughout their line up. Sylvain Distin is a good addition to the defense – particularly if Sol Campbell should up and leave – while Sulley Muntari and Arnold Mvuemba will join the likes of Gary O’Neil and Matthew Taylor in a workman like but effective midfield.
Although Kanu’s future at Fratton Park is still undecided the arrival of David Nugent and Nigerian John Utaka should add to Pompey’s goal scoring threat. These two could be become very important players at Portsmouth.
However, the signing of Hermann Hreidarsson should be enough to sober up any Pompey fans dreaming of 2008 glory. Since arriving in England in 1997 Hreidarsson has played for Crystal Palace, Brentford, Wimbledon, Ipswich and Charlton. Only Brentford escaped relegation while the Icelandic international was on the books.
Season’s narrative – Can Portsmouth become road warriors?
Prediction – 7th Actual – 8th High – 4th Low – 15th
Stat Facts – Portsmouth had the most consecutive wins away from home this season - 6. When opening the scoring Pompey was the only side with a 100% record 14 out of 14. But they did fail to find the mark 15 times - only Sunderland and Derby were worse. Even so Portsmouth improved on last season’s previous high water mark of a 9th place finish and 54 points with three more points and one place higher.
Manchester City
Synopsis – If City supporters felt as if they spent last season in purgatory, the good news is that miserable situation may get better. The bad news is that it might not get all that much better even though a lot of cash has been splashed this summer.
Sven Goran Eriksson, successful in Sweden, Italy and Portugal, has been throughout his career a counter-attacking coach and so the City Of Manchester Stadium may again be a ground where thrills are administered from a drip. However, given that City only scored ten goals at home all season and set a new top flight record for scoring futility in the process it really can’t get any worse.
Bulgarian Martin Petrov looks to be a good acquisition and Geovanni has been brought in to add some craft in the last third of the field. Since his move to Europe the 27-year-old has done little to fulfill his earlier promise – City might be his last chance. Swiss youngster Gelson Fernandes is another recruit and he will battle for a midfield spot.
Rolando Bianchi was a scoring sensation (18 goals) with Reggina last season but he has little else in his career to substantiate the fee of over $16M that City paid for his services. A few seasons ago when with Lecce Bulgarian Valeri Bozhinov was one of the great young up and coming players. Since then his career has been moving but more sideways than ahead. If the pairing can hit it off then City’s prospects will look a lot rosier. However that is a very big if.
Elano, Javier Garrido and Vedran Corluka were added at one fell swoop last week bringing new signings so far to 8 and not one English player amongst them. With Sylvain Distin off to Portsmouth, Eriksson will likely opt to move Micah Richards to centre back. Eriksson will focus on making his side more difficult to beat but from there on he may run out of ideas – on the field anyway.
Season’s narrative – Is the Manchester City secretarial pool safe?
Prediction – 12th Actual – 9th High – 1st Low – 9th
Stat Facts – Of the top ten teams only Manchester City show up in the bottom half of the “second-half” table. City matched their best ever Premiership placing of ninth and could have improved on that if that had been able to hold on to a modicum of their early season home form. City took a maximum twenty-seven points from their first nine matches at the City of Manchester Stadium but only ten points from their last ten games at home. Even so City finished with a season-to-season improvement of 13 points.
Wigan
Synopsis – Apart from a relegation saving final day of the season win over Sheffield United the latter part of last season is something that Wigan do not want to replicate. Last season Wigan took 18 points from their first 12 games; and 20 points from their other 26 games. They also conceded more goals at home (30) than any other team and suffered more losses at home than any other team in the Premiership – 10. And just for good measure Wigan led the Premiership in the unwanted category of points dropped from winning positions – a massive 26 points.
More than enough for new manager Chris Hutchings to work on you would think. He will be hoping that injury-dogged keeper Chris Kirkland stays. In front of Kirkland the arrival of Titus Bramble and Mario Melchiot is to say the least being met with some raised eyebrows.
Michael Brown brings his unique competitive (I’m being kind) qualities to the JJB along with former WBA midfielder Jason Koumas. Up front Antoine Sibierski is the only addition and it is doubtful that the 33-year-old Frenchman is suddenly going to become a regular goal scorer.
Season’s narrative – Who will replace Chris Hutchings when he is fired in November?
Prediction – 20th Actual – 14th High – 1st Low – 19th
Stat Facts – After spending nine of the first 24 rounds in the relegation zone Wigan “escaped” never to return over the remaining 14 rounds. With Steve Bruce in charge Wigan won eight, lost eight and drew eight.
Actual Prediction Manchester United 1 2 Chelsea 2 1 Arsenal 3 3 Liverpool 4 4 Everton 5 8 Aston Villa 6 6 Blackburn 7 9 Portsmouth 8 7 Manchester City 9 12 West Ham United 10 14 Tottenham Hotspur 11 5 Newcastle 12 10 Middlesbrough 13 13 Wigan 14 20 Sunderland 15 16 Bolton 16 15 Fulham 17 18 Reading 18 11 Birmingham 19 17 Derby 20 19
And finally I took a look back to your comments from August 2007.
From what I can see nobody got the top three correct let alone the top five although there were around ten of you that correctly chose United followed by Chelsea. The relegation predictions came no closer to reality. No one got all three right although there were a solid number of you who targeted Birmingham and Derby County.
For all of you who contributed thank you and a special award to andesras6292 who wrote on August 14, 2007 – “bobby your predictions suck. and anyone who think arsenal is going to finish top 3 are crazy the top 3 are going to be liv'pool chelsea and man utd not arsenal. and liv'pool are going to stink because torres isnt good at all i dont see whjat people see in him he cant even score a one on one. last game he missed world class chances and if he is world class he should have scored he is just a overpaid bad striker and isnt going to be good for liv'pool.”
andesras6292 – where ever you are – congratulations. You my friend, are without a doubt this blog’s version of Derby County 2007/08.
What Derby has to do to ensure the “worst-ever” tag isn’t hung on them.
Three games on Thursday takes a toll so this weekend preview is an abbreviated version.
Premiership – at the top Chelsea goes into the second last week of the Premiership hoping that Manchester United might come a cropper against their recently anointed bogey team West Ham United. On the other hand United are hoping the same thing as Chelsea’s results at Newcastle have been less than sterling over the last few seasons.
West Ham United has beaten Manchester United in their last three encounters. One of the three was the epic last match of the season that saw Carlos Tevez – then in different colours – score the only goal of the game and one that kept the Hammers in the top flight.
Nearly twelve months on West Ham sits comfortably in mid-table – as they have done for a good part of the season – already seven points better off than last season. The defensive statistics show the biggest improvement with 15 less goals conceded than during the 2006/07 season. After an impressive start away from home West Ham’s road form has slumped. The first nine away games brought sixteen points from a possible 27, the latest nine only one win, two draws and four goals scored.
Chelsea is unbeaten in their last nineteen Premiership games and has collected more away points than any other Premiership side – 39. Twenty three of these points have come in the nine away matches.
They face a Newcastle side that is unbeaten in their last seven matches with six of them wins. Newcastle has only lost once to Chelsea on their last five Premiership visits (3 Newcastle wins and the other a draw).
Premiership – at the bottom Anything less than a win for Fulham and they will have to look to Reading and Bolton both losing if they are to retain an interest in Premiership survival going into the final weekend. A draw for Birmingham will guarantee that they go into the final game of the season – albeit on life support.
Birmingham has enjoyed success over Fulham in the Premiership with three wins, five draws and a single loss. The loss came at St Andrews in January 2005. Given their respective home and away records over the second half of the season both sides will be coming into the game with trepidation rather than confidence.
Fulham have only picked up seven points in last 9 home matches (2 wins and 1 draw and 5 goals for) and Birmingham are without an away win since a last minute winner at White Hart Lane on December 2. Since then they have only only picked up two away draws. A small encouragement for the Brummies will be a London record of a win, two draws and a tough opening day loss at Stamford Bridge.
Bolton have bounced back from a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Villa three weeks ago and 3-2 loss to Arsenal the week before with a couple of wins and a draw. Considering they have only scored three points and picked up seven points it is a case of making a little go a long way.
Sunderland are safe and that might just provide Bolton with the edge that they need – with a trip to Stamford Bridge next weekend Bolton will also be hoping that Manchester United sow up the Premiership title this weekend.
With sixty-five goals against Reading’s defense has been a major weakness this season. What’s more it doesn’t help their survival hopes that the goals are no longer going in at the opposite end. Reading is currently on the longest current goalless streak in the Premier League – nothing to cheer about for the last 461 minutes.
Although Reading still has the relative luxury of a last weekend trip to Pride Park they desperately need to get something out of this match against Spurs. Earlier this season Reading blew 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 leads before losing 6-4 to Spurs.
Tom Jordan, son of Joe, helped Havant & Waterlooville to a glamour FA Cup match-up with Liverpool. I wonder if he has his father’s teeth - possibly in a jar.
John Inverdale on the controversy over how to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich disaster. Perhaps some Manchester City supporters don’t realize that the crash also took the life of a once great City player as well. After a spectacular career for both Manchester City and England Frank Swift retired at the end of the 1950 season. He became a journalist working for the News of the World and covered the fateful game in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Seven times a non-league club has knocked off a top flight opponent.
The wit of Gordon Strachan........ and he could play at bit - this from early in his career. The game was at Arbroath's ground called ####field. It is perched on what is really the North Sea and the ball is always only a Titus Bramble sliced clearance and a gust of wind away from heading to Norway. One of the coldest places you could ever watch a game - but because it is so close to the water games are rarely postponed.
With Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all facing Premiership opposition this weekend what chance that we will lose one of the current top three in the league?
Both Arsenal and Newcastle have enjoyed FA Cup success in the past especially when they have played each other along the way. With the exception of their very first FA Cup meeting in the 1901/02 season Newcastle and Arsenal have either met in the final or the winner of an earlier round match-up has gone onto the final.
Here is the rundown. 1901/02 Newcastle put Arsenal out in first round but were knocked out in the last 8 to the eventual winners Sheffield United.
1905/06 Newcastle beat Arsenal 2-0 in the semi final but lost 1-0 to Everton in the final.
1931/32 Newcastle beat Arsenal 2-1 in the final.
1935/36 Arsenal beat Newcastle 3-0 on the way to the final and won the Cup beating beat Sheffield United 1-0.
1951/52 Newcastle beat Arsenal 1-0 in the final (one of three Newcastle wins in the early 50s).
1997/98 Arsenal beat Newcastle in the final and completed their second domestic double.
2001/02 Arsenal knocked Newcastle out after a replay and went on to win the Cup and Premiership for their third domestic double.
Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are another two Cup giants. United have been to the final eighteen times and have won the trophy eleven times while Spurs can look to eight wins out of nine trips with a 1987 loss to Coventry City the only blemish.
You would think that with twenty-seven final appearance between them that at some point they would have contested a final. But that has never happened and it certainly won’t this season. The nearest they ever came was in 1962 when Spurs beat United in the semi-final. Other than that their meetings have been limited to the early rounds.
Robbie Keane last week notched his 100th goal in all competitions for Spurs but there is one team he has yet to score against in English football. Will this be the weekend that he breaks his duck against Manchester United?
There is a gulf between Wigan and Chelsea in the Premiership and there is a similar gulf in the FA Cup. While Chelsea have not been eliminated before the 5th round since 1998 this is only the second time in the last two decades that Wigan have made it this far.
Mark Lawrenson says that Newcastle Chairman Mike Ashley reminds him of David Brent.
And given that there is a shortage of good articles this week here is some stuff from Rick Gervais.
The first piece is with celebrity-Chef and former player Gordon Ramsey. The second bit I am sure most of you have seen but it is well worth revisiting. It's from the 2006 World Cup.
Paul Doyle on why it would be a folly to believe that Spurs are too good to go down. He includes a mini-table of the teams that currently occupy the lower reaches of the table – something that I was thinking of pulling together but he got there first.
Plans afoot to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich disaster.
Two weeks ago the Premiership’s bottom three teams ran up against Chelsea (Derby), Arsenal (Wigan) and Manchester United (Bolton). It is a case of more of the same with another weekend dominated by bottom versus top match-ups – or vice-versa.
Arsenal is away to Middlesbrough, struggling Derby is at Old Trafford to play Manchester United, Sunderland is in London to play Chelsea while Reading is home to a rampaging Liverpool side.
Bolton pulled off a massive upset a fortnight ago in beating Manchester United. Can any of these four teams match that performance? If it is to be Boro then they need a seismic improvement in current form.
Arsenal held on at St. James’ Park in midweek for a draw but Boro is without a win in ten Premiership games and have conceded the first goal in twelve of their fifteen league games. It means Boro now occupies a relegation spot for the first time since August 2004.
Very much against the odds Derby has twice won at Old Trafford in the Premiership but another win is as likely as Steve McClaren being told it was all a big mistake and he is still in charge of the England team.
Sunderland pulled off a crucial win against Derby last week courtesy of a last minute goal from Anthony Stokes. Six of Sunderland’s thirteen points have come from goals scored in the 90th minute or later but they face a Chelsea team that has only let in one goal in the last eight league games.
Liverpool is another side that has lowered the shutters over the last few weeks. Nine clean sheets in fourteen games and four consecutive clean sheets since they conceded a late equalizer to Cesc Fabregas at the end of October has helped Liverpool to the best defensive record in the Premiership.
Fernando Torres has scored six of his eleven goals for Liverpool in the Premiership but he has yet to notch a Prem goal away from Anfield.
Reading is eleven points of their pace of last season and a look at the statistics quickly tells you why. A defence that has let in fourteen more goals must take much of the responsibility but an anemic first half attack does not get off scot-free.
The attack has actually one more goal than last season (18 to 17) but only four have come in the first forty five minutes. Last season twelve of their seventeen goals came before the half time cuppa.
Stats corner – Some of the other matches this weekend in the Premiership throw off interesting statistics. Three of the last four league games between Villa and Portsmouth have finished as draws. But Portsmouth has only one Premiership win over Aston Villa, has not won on their last ten visits to Villa Park and their last league win was in the old 2nd Division in 1970.
Tottenham’s woes continued last week as they lost at home to a last minute Birmingham goal. A cure? Well it may come in the form of a visit from Manchester City. In their twenty Premiership games Spurs have taken 45 points from a possible 60 and have only lost twice to City.
However, if you are looking for a team that suffers from travel sickness and in particular a Liverpool version then look no further than Fulham. Fulham has never won a league game at Goodison or Anfield in forty-nine attempts. What is more in thirty-eight league games between Fulham and Everton the away team as only won three – all by Everton. Their last fifteen league matches have all been won by the home side. The game is at Goodison.
In Serie A Inter and Roma now have a bit of padding with a five point gap between second place Roma and third place Juventus. Based on the fixtures this weekend it seems unlikely that Juventus will make up some of that ground.
Inter plays mid-table Torino a team that doubles as the draw specialists. Their last four matches have finished as draws to give a record of nine ties in fourteen games. Torino is winless away from home and faces an Inter team that has been rampant in the first forty five minutes of games this season. Inter has a phenomenal record – they have outscored the opposition 17-2, have led at half time in twelve games and been tied in the other two.
Roma has only one loss (to Inter) so far and is gamely hanging in. They are away to 16th place Livorno, a team that lost seven and drew two of their first nine games. But since then three wins and two draws has given Livorno fans hope. Summer signing Francesco Tavano has been instrumental in the turnaround with five goals in the last six games.
Two seasons ago Tavano scored 19 Serie A goals for Empoli before departing for Valencia. His spell in Spain was unsuccessful and he moved to Roma on loan last January. Two goals in the second half of the season failed to persuade Roma that Tavano should be signed.
Faced with the loss of iconic forward Cristiano Lucarelli to Shakhtar Donetsk Livorno stepped in to secure the striker’s permanent return to Italy.
Third place Juventus is at home to Atalanta currently sixth while Udinese fourth faces an improving Sampdoria side.
A sure sign of how competitive Liga is – the team with the longest winning streak at the moment is Atletico Madrid with…….two straight wins. If it is goals that you are looking for then the Vicente Calderon is where you want to be. In their last four home games in the league Atletico has scored 4, 4, 3, and 4 winning three and losing one.
These four games have produced an incredible 25 goals. This week Getafe provides the opposition and will be looking to continue their improved form. The first seven games this season brought two draws and five losses. However, their last seven have seen five wins a draw and only one loss.
Half way around the world the FIFA Club World Cup will get underway early on Friday morning – on the east coast of North America anyway. Iranian champions Sepahan kicks off the competition against Waitakre United from New Zealand. Sepahan lost to Urawa Red Diamonds in the Asian Champions League but with two host federation spots available both teams qualified.
Concacaf interest centres on Pachuca, a side that has recently gone off the boil. After winning five trophies (including beating Chivas of Guadalajara in the Concacaf Champions League final on penalties) in less than two years the Mexicans are struggling to regain their form.
On Sunday they face African Champions Etoile Sportive du Sahel. We have to wait until midweek for Boca Juniors and Milan’s involvement. Boca and Milan have been kept separate with a final clash the most likely outcome.
This is a tournament that requires an upset if it is to ever capture worldwide attention – something we have yet to see.
Ulsterson -I know you have been an ardent critic of the Glazers financial model used in the purchase United. As a United fan but not much of an economist I have tried, with marginal success, to follow your analysis and critique. I understand the concept of "bad debt" you have been warning against but I still don't see the upside, financially, for the Glazers if they don't keep the team competitive.
You have, since not long after or perhaps even before the takeover, come just short of predicting financial ruin leading to on field failure as resources for talent dwindle. As obviously smart business men, I cannot see the Glazers allowing the Team/product to suffer because of their financial scheme. Further, the purchases of late would indicate they do realize the necessity for success on the pitch for there to be success at the bank.
There is no question that their involvement in United is not based on a love of the team or even the sport itself and the debt situation does look dire on paper but could you please further explain any possible hustle we should be leery of? If you could, a "for example" of a possible scenario, in which they could make money at the expense of the team’s quality. Or, is it just a very risky gamble?
Bobby – You are right the Glazers have to keep the team competitive because the issue for them (at the moment) is a revenue shortfall rather than an expense problem. They bought the team believing that they could generate more and new revenue streams. The increase in revenue would then be used to pay down the large debt load.
The problem is where does the revenue come from and is it realistic to think it can be amount to the $100m or so in annual payments needed to pay the interest on the debt? Generally the revenue sources available to United fall into the following categories; ticket sales and hospitality, television and prize revenue domestic, television and prize revenue Europe, merchandising and sponsorship.
If you look back to when the Glazers borrowed to take the club over (it is more accurate description than bought the club) it would be fair to say that none of these revenue sources have dwindled and most have in fact increased. Prices and capacity have increased at Old Trafford; TV and prize money for the EPL up; Champions League is still producing; there was word that they got more for the AIG logo on the jersey than from the previous sponsor.
But even then they renegotiated the debt and reduced the interest payment at a cost of a longer term repayment schedule. Think in terms of your mortgage – it’s the kind of thing you do when you find that the monthly budget can’t be stretched far enough.
So the plan/hope is that the team can continue to be successful (and tap into an ever increasing pool of Premiership and CL money) but that is a risky assumption on two levels and in terms of continued succeess one that Leeds made. (Although in the case of Leeds they had nothing else to fall back on. Leeds also got caught with assets/players bought at inflated prices whose value then plummeted as the impact of the Bosman ruling took affect.)
Ticket prices will continue to be a place that the Glazers will feel they can generate much more money – Carling Cup this season as a prime example – because the stadium is playing to capacity. Demand high – a chance to raise prices.
The tricky part kicks in when the revenue increases don’t meet the money needed to pay the interest on the debt. It is at that point that the temptation might be to cut costs and pray that the product isn’t impacted. To date there has been money spent on players but it seems doubtful that it has been anything close to the numbers that have been widely reported. The deals for Anderson and Nani seem to have been done with relatively low initial payments with more to follow if certain targets are hit. The Hargreaves transfer involved more money up front but the same concept.
The other risk is Ferguson and who takes over from him. The Glazer deal is structured around a timeline that far exceeds the number of years that Fergie has left. He may think he can go on forever but he is 66 at the end of December and the day will come. The likelihood of a seamless succession appears to me to be a hope rather than the certainty that the Glazers need.
When you add up the finances, the risks inherent in what appears to be the Glazers assumptions, as well as the general uncertainty and risk that is involved in any deal, it seems to me that for this to work it needs an incredible amount of luck.
There again, they could always sell the Tampa Bay Rowdies or United for that matter. There would be no shortage of buyers for either team. If United was to be sold then the fans should be looking for a philanthropist not a businessman.
RINGO - Dundee, six points behind Hamilton (who the hell are Hamilton anyway?), and you don`t like to brag on your hometown, so here`s your chance.
Bobby – A bad loss to Hamilton a couple of weeks ago and a draw with Partick Thistle on Saturday only increased the gap at the top. Keep your eye on Hamilton Academical. They have a very aggressive youth policy under manager Billy Reid and it is beginning to pay off. You will see the bigger clubs starting to pick off some of their players next summer.
Hamilton plays Dundee United in the quarter-final of the CIS Cup on Wednesday and it will be a very interesting game. Craig Levein seems to have United cooking.
Dasayev -Interesting that on more than one occasion Jol pointed to the absence of Ledley King as a reason for Spurs' poor defense. Is there any truth in that? What is Tottenham's record with and without King over the past few seasons? How many goals do they concede per game with and without him? They also recently lost Davids, who seemed to set the tone for them when he played.
Bobby – The statistics show that Ledley King is very important to Spurs. I looked at Premiership records over the last two seasons with King in the side and without King.
In 2005/06 King played 26 matches and Spurs averaged 1.00 goal against per game. That happened to be the same as they averaged over the entire 38 game schedule. However, the points per game with King in the team were 1.846 per game and only 1.416 without him – the season average was 1.71. That means with Ledley King in the side Spurs were 30% more successful.
Last season the goals against with King in the team for 21 games were 1.29 goals against per game and points gained were 1.81. Without Ledley it was 1.59 goals per game and an average of 1.29 points gained per game. Averaged over the full schedule Spurs conceded on average 1.42 goals per game and gained 1.58 points per game.
The difference a fit King made last season – an incredible 39.8%.
Source - premiersoccerstats.com
Davids was a peripheral player for Spurs – even two seasons ago. Last season he started six games and Spurs lost 3, drew 1 and won 2. The season before he started 28 games and played in 8 or Spurs’ 9 losses. Average points with Davids starting were1.57. Average when he did not start 2.1.
Craigy f – 1. What criteria do you use to choose a game of the week? 2. Do you think Ramos can turn Spurs around between now and January? 3. What result(S) surprised you this weekend? 4. Can you give your opinion on Benitez's personnel and tactics against Arsenal on Sunday? 5. What was your goal of the weekend? 6. What was your miss of the weekend?
Bobby – 1. Whatever appeals to me.
2. It depends what you mean by turnaround. If you mean get Spurs out of the bottom three then the answer is yes. The next four games are very winnable before they hit Manchester City, Portsmouth and Arsenal. If you mean can they make a run at 5th (I think the pre-season proponents of Spurs finishing 4th would concede that such a scenario is unlikely) then they have to start averaging over 2 points a game. That is a tall order.
3. I thought Milan would bounce back against Roma and I was surprised at how Valencia rolled over against Sevilla.
4. I covered that off on the Monday show and also in the response section of the weekend preview blog.
5. Sevilla’s third by Fabiano against Valencia.
6. Solano’s second fluffed header when Cole’s shot rebounded off the Portsmouth crossbar.
JayAlves - Why does the EPL only allow 5 on the subs bench? and is it the only league to allow 5? Sure makes it annoying in FM to have such a short bench especially since one is a keeper.
Bobby – Ah interesting. I wasn’t aware that there were premier-type leagues than allowed more than five substitutes on the bench. Sorry to be ancient but I remember the days of no substitutes. The first breakthrough was a player had to be injured and you only had one sub available. If the keeper went down injured it was just part of the game.
CIAO - Was Jol really quoted saying that the defensive problems were due to King being injured? If so, I'm glad they fired him because knowing King is injury prone he could have brought in a suitable back up. The new appointment seems very promising, but I think it will be a hard year for Spurs. They will be lucky if they place 5th. I think they will be in 6th or 7th place on the last day of PL.
Bobby – See previous response that I think clearly shows that Jol had a point. You are being hard on a man who it certainly appears did not control who was signed and who was not signed.
Weah11 - How do you pick the articles you put up on the blog?
Bobby – A combination of factors. Articles that I think are good reads; pieces that are maybe counterintuitive; articles that might be a bit unusual; and James Lawton columns to upset Craigy f. I try to avoid player interviews as a general rule.
Sleeper000 - I was curious as to what you think about the current Eduardo situation at Arsenal. The guy is incredibly gifted yet lately, he is not getting any playing time whatsoever. It seems to me like he has been relegated to fifth choice striker.
To be honest I was always nervous about Eduardo moving to Arsenal and this is not due to lack of skill. On the contrary, I think Eduardo is the most gifted forward on the Arsenal squad. However, I could never stop thinking about what happened to Croatian megastar #### when he moved to Arsenal. Whenever #### started, he would score goals, and then one day Wenger decided to start Henry and ####'s career was over.
Do you think something similar is happening to Eduardo? Now that Walcott and Bendtner are doing well, is this pretty much it for Eduardo? What happened to "It is Eduardo's time to shine"? Could he really be struggling that much with getting accustomed to his life in England, that he does not even merit a spot on the bench? I personally highly doubt that. What are your thoughts?
Bobby – As others have pointed out Wenger generally does not rush new players into the side. There are also many examples of his patience paying off.
I don’t think comparing this situation to ####’s is necessarily a fair comparison. I stand to be corrected but my recollection is that ####’s best years were behind him by the time he came to Highbury. Otherwise Real Madrid would not have let him go so easily.
He had a great World Cup in 1998 but it was a bit of an anomaly compared to his club form. There is nothing in his record post-Arsenal to indicate that letting him leave was a mistake. In retrospect replacing a 31-year-old #### with a 22-year-old Thierry Henry paid off don’t you think?
Craigy f - Correct me if I'm wrong but can't a player still play for one country after playing for another country at u20 or u21 level. Freddy Adu can still play for Ghana at full international even though he's played for USA U20 MNT.
Bobby – You are right about the first point but not on the second I think. Adu has been capped at the full international level for the USA has he not - back a few years ago against Canada I believe.
Sleeper000 - You mentioned yesterday that you would start Taylor for Portsmouth. Who would you drop then? Certainly not Kranjcar who is doing so well for the team. Anybody who would drop Kranjcar is obviously not too familiar with his talent. I'd hesitate to drop Hreidarsson either since he compliments Niko so well. Your thoughts?
Bobby – I don’t recall saying that I would start Taylor. I noted he was being kept on the bench and had only started three Premiership games this season. He was Portsmouth’s second top scorer last season with 8 goals as he was the season before with 6. Given his talent and in particular his left foot I said he could be an in-demand player come the winter transfer window. Maybe a Portsmouth fan can fill any other details.
Tamerlin - How does the financing of the Champions League and UEFA Cup work? I've heard that the CL pays each club for everything (hotel, travel, etc.), whereas UEFA Cup requires the clubs to pay. Therefore a club needs to get to the Semi-finals in the UEFA Cup to actually make any money.
- Where do you place the ref's call that ejected Shanon Boxx among the worst World Cup calls? The Brazilian fouled her!
Bobby – UEFA controls both competitions and generally owns the media (TV etc) and sponsorship rights. I say generally because my understanding is that the clubs are able to sell the rights to qualifying round games in the Champions League but all rights revert to UEFA once the group stage starts.
The home team gets to keep their gate money but I have no idea who pays for hotel, travel etc. I would be surprised if UEFA paid for hotel, travel etc as it would be easily abused. The prize money is allocated based on qualification for the group stage, points collected in the group stage plus how far the club progresses in the knock out rounds. The prize money is a combination of money from a general rights pool (sponsorship and TV) and money allocated based on the TV money generated domestically and paid out based on how all clubs from that country do. That’s why we get situations where Champions League runner up (or even beaten semi finalist) can be awarded more prize money than the actual winner.
There are also payments made to teams that are knocked out in the three rounds of qualifying. Here is a UEFA article that outlines the process with pay out amounts for 2006/07 for both competitions.
I stand to be corrected but I believe UEFA only sells TV rights from the last eight of the UEFA Cup on and before that the home club owns the rights. Sponsorship is limited compared to the Champions League. Clubs also keep the home gate so I think the stories of having to reach the semis to make money are far-fetched – after all if that was the case why would teams bother competing?
I didn’t watch the WWC so I can’t comment on the referee’s decision.
Yohann - Are you confident about Chelsea (in Champions League)? I feel like the Blues will have trouble finding the net, especially if Drogba isn't on fire like last year... They tied Rosenborg and are in a group that includes Schalke and Valencia, a team that has an extra motivation against Chelsea.
Bobby – I stand by my prediction. There are six games and a home draw against Rosenborg is not the end of the world. Schalke is average at best. Valencia are a good team with solid European credentials.
Ringo - Either Duncan Castles is now part of the inner workings at the Bridge, or he`s auditioning for a job with the Sun.
Bobby – I was a bit cautious on some stuff he wrote earlier as I was thinking the same as you. But based on the stuff he has generated lately and after listening to him on the GU podcast I w
