Premier League Thread 2019/20

[ChownLC]

22 hours ago, Aus Fox said:

Absolutely, name me a better one other than VVD

Laporte, Matip.

[ThaiFox]

I saw this on the Sky Sports paper review this morning. I hope it's true!

 

Problems are piling up at Tottenham with Mauricio Pochettino agitated, key players set to leave, and Harry Kane unhappy.

[Ric Flair]

16 hours ago, Facecloth said:

Let's ne honest he was poor for a good half a season prior to the 2018 world cup. This poor form has been going on for nearly two years. It's not as simple as hes had injuries imo, I think there more to it. I'm not 100% he was that good to begin with anyway, a bit of a YouTube player, just has sparks of brilliance, like the goal against palace in 2015/16, but largely didn't do much else. Now the magic one off every 5 games moments have dried up hes just deadwood.

I'm sorry but look at his goals and assists record in 15/16, 16/17 and 17/18. He was a very effective and classy player, but an odious character. I'm not sure it's just injuries that have stunted him but to say he wasn't that good to begin with is pony. You don't do what he did for 3 seasons on the spin in the Prem and CL if you're mediocre.

[Nicolo Barella]

18 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

You'd think two seasons of no Champions League money would hurt the servicing of their debt. 

They have huge revenue streams coming from places you'd never even expect, Man United will always make loads of bank. It's the reason they got to this point in the first place; they'll continue making money even if European football dries up completely.

[Nicolo Barella]

1 hour ago, ThaiFox said:

I saw this on the Sky Sports paper review this morning. I hope it's true!

 

Problems are piling up at Tottenham with Mauricio Pochettino agitated, key players set to leave, and Harry Kane unhappy.

Sky are only a couple rungs above the Sun on the ladder of respectability as a news source. It's gotten to the point where unless they're just reposting someone else's news, I automatically assume they're making it up.

[UniFox21]

6 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

Sky are only a couple rungs above the Sun on the ladder of respectability as a news source. It's gotten to the point where unless they're just reposting someone else's news, I automatically assume they're making it up.

Going to disagree with you here. Sky may be highly debatable in terms of respectability; but the S*n is just a ridiculous comparison. That paper is literally a top tier dickhead, the word 'newspaper' flatters them tbh. 

[CosbehFox]

1 hour ago, Nicolo Barella said:

They have huge revenue streams coming from places you'd never even expect, Man United will always make loads of bank. It's the reason they got to this point in the first place; they'll continue making money even if European football dries up completely.

But the longer they remain outside of the CL, I imagine those commercial deals reduce?

[Guest BlueBrett]

Just now, Cardiff_Fox said:

But the longer they remain outside of the CL, I imagine those commercial deals reduce?

Plus you're not going to attract glory supporters without any glory

[Nicolo Barella]

43 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

But the longer they remain outside of the CL, I imagine those commercial deals reduce?

I don't think that's going to be an immediate hit, an even then unless they literally drop to Crystal Palace levels consistently they'll have huge backing.  There's an insane amount of Man Utd plastics that buy all the gear.

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

I don't think that's going to be an immediate hit, an even then unless they literally drop to Crystal Palace levels consistently they'll have huge backing.  There's an insane amount of Man Utd plastics that buy all the gear.

Plastics don't follow losing teams.

 

It'll change for Man united too.

 

There are already less European fans who "support" Man u than even 5 years ago.

[OntarioFox]

20 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

I still say Arsenal finishes no worse than fourth.  Their problems are more manageable than Chelsea or Man U, they have more going forward and a better manager.  Enough firepower to clear the mid-table teams and maybe give Spurs a push for third.

I go further - we're going to see the first St. Totteringham's Day since that hilarious end to our title-winning season. That side is in disarray, has a poor mentality and is, on Saturday's showing, fragile to the ball-playing sides which now make up the majority of their top-half rivals. They're about on a par with Man Utd. for me at present, albeit with a slightly more potent forward line.

 

All said though, I think Chelsea are actually the best placed of the "struggling" sides - similar to Arsenal in that their attack is good but their defence sucks. Simply put, Chelsea's sucks slightly less than Arsenal's, and they gave Liverpool a real game on Sunday, so on that basis I see them grinding out more results and competing in those "top 6" clashes from hereon in.

Excluding our own finish (which I don't want to predict yet, as good as it is currently looking for us), I see the season ending something like this for the "big 6":

1) Liverpool
2) Man City

3) Chelsea
4) Arsenal
5) Tottenham
6)  Man Utd

 

West Ham look the other good bet to crack the top 6/7 at present too, plus Bournemouth look solid. They're our two rivals to break the hegemony, in my opinion. Everton are pants and Wolves are looking like an absolute write-off that may end up in a relegation scrap.

Edited 24 September 2019 by OntarioFox

[Nicolo Barella]

27 minutes ago, FIF said:

Plastics don't follow losing teams.

 

It'll change for Man united too.

 

There are already less European fans who "support" Man u than even 5 years ago.

Nah. Living abroad, most plastics I'm aware of tend to pick a team and stick to them. Actual, team-hopping glory hunters aren't incredibly common

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

Nah. Living abroad, most plastics I'm aware of tend to pick a team and stick to them. Actual, team-hopping glory hunters aren't incredibly common

I've lived in France for over 25 years and there are very few Manchester United supporters now over here. There are Man city supporters (who obviously didn't exist before) More Chelsea than Manure, lots of Liverpool at the moment, very very few Spurs but perhaps Arsenal still have the most (thanks to the French links until very recently).

 

However my point was really aimed at the new youngsters who tune in to Football each year - they are the ones who follow the fad teams and Manure aren't in that group. I agree that older supporters tend to stick with there team but the trend is against Manure. 

[yorkie1999]

1 minute ago, FIF said:

I've lived in France for over 25 years and there are very few Manchester United supporters now over here. There are Man city supporters (who obviously didn't exist before) More Chelsea than Manure, lots of Liverpool at the moment, very very few Spurs but perhaps Arsenal still have the most (thanks to the French links until very recently).

 

However my point was really aimed at the new youngsters who tune in to Football each year - they are the ones who follow the fad teams and Manure aren't in that group. I agree that older supporters tend to stick with there team but the trend is against Manure. 

And one Leicester fan.

[Nicolo Barella]

3 minutes ago, FIF said:

I've lived in France for over 25 years and there are very few Manchester United supporters now over here. There are Man city supporters (who obviously didn't exist before) More Chelsea than Manure, lots of Liverpool at the moment, very very few Spurs but perhaps Arsenal still have the most (thanks to the French links until very recently).

 

However my point was really aimed at the new youngsters who tune in to Football each year - they are the ones who follow the fad teams and Manure aren't in that group. I agree that older supporters tend to stick with there team but the trend is against Manure. 

This is very true in fairness. However the sheer density of Manure support in places like India and China plus the power of their brand (ask some football noob from the US to name a football team and if they can only name one it'll be Man Utd) means they'll be valuable for a very very long time.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, yorkie1999 said:

And one Leicester fan.

One of this year's university sport's science exam is entitled "Hamza Choudhury, the man, the God, the Legend" Discuss.

 

 

Just now, Nicolo Barella said:

This is very true in fairness. However the sheer density of Manure support in places like India and China plus the power of their brand (ask some football noob from the US to name a football team and if they can only name one it'll be Man Utd) means they'll be valuable for a very very long time.

Certainly their brand is incredible in Asia but even there as the sport's fan becomes more educated in football and has the opportunity to watch more than just Manure then their popularity will wane if they do not make the CL every year. I think the simple fact that Man city have such a large international following shows that present popularity is very important. The fact that Spurs have little international popularity adds more fuel to that theory. I'd be interested to see if your theory about the US is correct? I think the fact that all prem teams can be watched in the U.S. and the growth in interest in the sport probably means that very few "soccer" followers in the US only know one team and if they do I wander if it'd be Manure at the top. Possibly, probably but not definitely.

[Nicolo Barella]

6 minutes ago, FIF said:

One of this year's university sport's science exam is entitled "Hamza Choudhury, the man, the God, the Legend" Discuss.

 

 

Certainly their brand is incredible in Asia but even there as the sport's fan becomes more educated in football and has the opportunity to watch more than just Manure then their popularity will wane if they do not make the CL every year. I think the simple fact that Man city have such a large international following shows that present popularity is very important. The fact that Spurs have little international popularity adds more fuel to that theory. I'd be interested to see if your theory about the US is correct? I think the fact that all prem teams can be watched in the U.S. and the growth in interest in the sport probably means that very few "soccer" followers in the US only know one team and if they do I wander if it'd be Manure at the top. Possibly, probably but not definitely.

Spurs are apparently improving on that front, particularly in the US and Latin America (the US plastics being ones that were either hipsters that like underdogs or don't want to support an oil team like Man City). Of course nothing special but definitely noticeable. 

 

God I really hope Man Utd somehow lapse into obscurity however. It would only take a modicum of competence to set the club back on track, but if the Glazers somehow ran the club irreparably into the ground that would be the only occasion I can think of that capitalism has delivered sweet sweet justice.

[KrefelderFox666]

2 hours ago, OntarioFox said:

I go further - we're going to see the first St. Totteringham's Day since that hilarious end to our title-winning season. That side is in disarray, has a poor mentality and is, on Saturday's showing, fragile to the ball-playing sides which now make up the majority of their top-half rivals. They're about on a par with Man Utd. for me at present, albeit with a slightly more potent forward line.

 

All said though, I think Chelsea are actually the best placed of the "struggling" sides - similar to Arsenal in that their attack is good but their defence sucks. Simply put, Chelsea's sucks slightly less than Arsenal's, and they gave Liverpool a real game on Sunday, so on that basis I see them grinding out more results and competing in those "top 6" clashes from hereon in.

Excluding our own finish (which I don't want to predict yet, as good as it is currently looking for us), I see the season ending something like this for the "big 6":

1) Liverpool
2) Man City

3) Chelsea
4) Arsenal
5) Tottenham
6)  Man Utd

 

West Ham look the other good bet to crack the top 6/7 at present too, plus Bournemouth look solid. They're our two rivals to break the hegemony, in my opinion. Everton are pants and Wolves are looking like an absolute write-off that may end up in a relegation scrap.

West Ham are a good side and at least on par with us. Everton are not a write off but they have certainly had a bad start and several back to back shoddy seasons. Don't expect them to do anything. Come new year, Bournemouth will be nowhere near. They'll be back in mid table.

 

Wolves will start to pick up some points but as I said before the season, I don't expect them to finish higher than mid table. They certainly won't be in a relegation scrap come January.

[Deeg67]

2 hours ago, OntarioFox said:

I go further - we're going to see the first St. Totteringham's Day since that hilarious end to our title-winning season. That side is in disarray, has a poor mentality and is, on Saturday's showing, fragile to the ball-playing sides which now make up the majority of their top-half rivals. They're about on a par with Man Utd. for me at present, albeit with a slightly more potent forward line.

 

All said though, I think Chelsea are actually the best placed of the "struggling" sides - similar to Arsenal in that their attack is good but their defence sucks. Simply put, Chelsea's sucks slightly less than Arsenal's, and they gave Liverpool a real game on Sunday, so on that basis I see them grinding out more results and competing in those "top 6" clashes from hereon in.

Excluding our own finish (which I don't want to predict yet, as good as it is currently looking for us), I see the season ending something like this for the "big 6":

1) Liverpool
2) Man City

3) Chelsea
4) Arsenal
5) Tottenham
6)  Man Utd

 

West Ham look the other good bet to crack the top 6/7 at present too, plus Bournemouth look solid. They're our two rivals to break the hegemony, in my opinion. Everton are pants and Wolves are looking like an absolute write-off that may end up in a relegation scrap.

I'll be very surprised if Chelsea finish above Arsenal, more than I would be if they finished outside the top 6.

[MC Prussian]

Where in the World is Phil Foden (these days)?

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49796793

 

Wonder whether Manchester City are willing to loan him out to another PL club soon...

Edited 24 September 2019 by MC Prussian

[Sir Shep]

http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/412751

 

[Wymsey]

Tottenham..! 

[Goober]

[ealingfox]

Poverty name ffs I don't want us to be playing in that.

[KFS]

5 minutes ago, Goober said:

So this is to stop Burnley, West Ham, Wolves in recent years gate crashing the EL.

 

The winner of the EFL/ 7th place if a Europe qualified team wins the EFL will go into the Conference.