Okay….its time! No ‘mehs’, no silly comments about ‘wendyball’, handbags, biting etc….this is the thread to discuss your thoughts on your team, rival teams, transfers, upcoming fixtures, results etc.

The first questions I have, are…. with Man U’s winning some big games abroad, are they back?

Will Le Prof’s recent signings be the final pieces of the jigsaw to allow Arsenal to mount a serious title challenge?

Can I cope with another year of Moanriniho, without kicking in my telly?

Can Liverpool maintain their form without the Biter, will Spurs challenge the top four?

Who will be the surprise package……Wolves possibly, having ditched all their old players?

The first questions I have, are…. with Man U’s winning some big games abroad, are they back? possibly.

Will Le Prof’s recent signings be the final pieces of the jigsaw to allow Arsenal to mount a serious title challenge? possibly (as every season) buy most likely, no.

Can I cope with another year of Moanriniho, without kicking in my telly? no, please ensure you have insurance to cover this.

Can Liverpool maintain their form without the Biter, will Spurs challenge the top four? no and maybe but would prefer to see Everton up there.

Who will be the surprise package……Wolves possibly, having ditched all their old players? I’d like to see Ipswich back up there.

The first questions I have, are…. with Man U’s winning some big games abroad, are they back?

I’ve watched most of their pre-season matches in the US and the difference between now and the Moyes era is night and day. LvG is cooking up some serious voodoo with this 3-5-2 (or whatever you want to label it) because our players now have options when they’re on the ball. They also move. And pass forwards. They keep the ball, often linking up 15-20 passes. They look like they give a toss. At times we look like we have an extra couple of players on the pitch. None of this happened under Moyes.

We dominated periods of play against all the sides we faced, including decent line-ups from Roma, Inter, RM and the Dippers. And we scored some cracking goals. Only conceded one IIRC from open play. Yes, we still have weaknesses. No, we’re not suddenly going to storm the league. But LvG is making a huge difference already, and with another signing or two I reckon we’ll have a right ding dong at top 3. Even without those players I can see us getting top 4, probably top 3.

Still too early to judge the squads really.
Likely some big signings still to come for Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, City, manure, and others.
So far, Arsenal and Chelsea look like they’ve done best out of this transfer window. Will both be up there again. Mourinho looks like he’s got what he wanted already , mostly.
Arsenal will be pretty special if the Carvalho (or Khedira) transfer goes through.
Liverpool look toothless without Luis and with Sturridge injured at the ‘mo. A lot depends on getting a striker, or two. Will struggle if not.
Lvg has found a system that gets Evans, Smalling, Jones, and Young onto the same pitch. Wow, frightening.

Martinez has proved a few people wrong and managed to make the big loan signings permanent. People want to play for him at Everton and they’ll be right up there again. Tough start this, but I won’t be surprised to see a few shocks big results in their first 8 games.
Poyet’s doing good work and Sunderland will surprise a few this year.

Can’t see beyond City winning it again really. Arsenal will push on perhaps fighting it out with Chelsea for second. Haven’t seen anything of the new United but they can only get better surely. Have read that Jones and Smalling are struggling a little in the three at the back?

Martinez has begun to convince me of his pedigree . Hope Everton push on again.

I really like BR but i think they’ll struggle to reach the heights of last year.Although Sterling and the Ox to battle it out for Young POTY

I am already finding it hard to handle Mourinho’s daily ‘me me me’ outbursts.

Martinez has proved a few people wrong and managed to make the big loan signings permanent. People want to play for him at Everton and they’ll be right up there again.

+1. I questioned his appointment, given he’d just taken Wigan down, but I’m pleased to seem him succeed with decent football and on a relatively modest budget.

No doubt Big Fat Sam will be serving up another season of hoofball at my beloved Hammers.

Even more worrying for you, theres no ‘big man’ to hoof it up too. Potential relegation scrap for you, i reckon.

United will use being out of Europe to its full advantage, as the scousers did last season. Its a major advantage. We are playing totally differently from the squad that went missing last season. I agree with space monkey -3rd or 4th will be a result. I can’t sees anyone getting past Citeh or Chelski. Though the latter will be as woeful to watch as ever. City are at least entertaining to watch. My moneys on them

Liverpool are going to struggle, and I expect normal service to resume, as they’ve reverted to type and bought a load of mediocre squad players. 6th or 7th, with Everton finishing above them

Anyway… Fantasy football anyone?

Even more worrying for you, theres no ‘big man’ to hoof it up too. Potential relegation scrap for you, i reckon.

We didn’t have him for most of last season either! Despite this, we continued to hoof it anyway. You can see why BFS thinks he should be managing Real Madrid…

I’m going to say 3rd for Man U this season. The battle of van Gaal and Mourinho’s egos will be fascinating.

who is this Bet Fred?

Got to laugh at people thinking Mancs pre-season games mean anything. They won the charity shield last year remember. What will be the excuse this year if it goes wrong with no Europe and a “great” new manager (like last season 🙄 )

Sound business as usual from Liverpool. Good acquisitions of people that want to play for the club. We have bought a mixture of talent, youth and squad players. Just need another top striker and ,for me, an attacking central midfielder.

The loss of Suarez doesn’t mean everyone else will falter just like the appointment of Sloth at Utd doesn’t mean they are all of a sudden title contenders again!

City will be there, Chelsea have a decent striker in Costa and Arsenal will do well with Sanchez. It will be a very competitive league as it was last year with five or six teams in with a shout.

Got to laugh at people thinking Mancs pre-season games mean anything. They won the charity shield last year remember. What will be the excuse this year if it goes wrong with no Europe and a “great” new manager (like last season )

Eh?

Last year’s pre-season was the worst for years. We were absolute dog sh1t.

CS counts for nothing.

A “great” manager like last season? People who referred to Moyes as “great” were being polite – they were never elevating him to truly great status. It was universally agreed that he had done a capable job at Everton. Some thought he would take to United but most thought he would be way out of his depth at United.

How many minutes of United’s pre-season have you seen?

here we go, here we go, here we go

Yeah… beating Real 3-1, after last years woeful season, is no cause for a bit of guarded optimism. The most I’ve seen anyone say is that we can hope to finish top 4, taking advantage of the absence of CL games. I’ve yet to hear a single United fan make any bold predictions about having a sniff at winning it. Thats just not going to happen.

Anyway… given the scouse appetite for hubris, if they’d have managed that result against Real, they’d be banging on like the champions league was already in the bag 😆

Easy to get a bite in this pond……. 🙂

It doesn’t matter how many minutes I’ve seen of anyone’s pre-season. That’s the point. It doesn’t have any bearing on how they’ll do in the league.

My point re: the CS was some of your supporters were making out it was a piece of silverware come the end of your dismal season.

Edit : Good luck to everyone btw. Should be a great season.

Okay….its time! No ‘mehs’, no silly comments about ‘wendyball’, handbags, biting etc…

[quote]Can Liverpool maintain their form without the Biter?[/quote]
Pah, wendyball!

I don’t make the rules 😉

Easy to get a bite in this pond…….

#banter

The loss of Suarez doesn’t mean everyone else will falter just like the appointment of Sloth at Utd doesn’t mean they are all of a sudden title contenders again!

He scored 31 goals last season – I can’t see anyone else stepping up to that level.

No but if several people score a couple more and we shore up that leaky defence it won’t be the catastrophic loss some people are making out.

Nobody is suggesting that a single player is going to fill the gap.

Wolves being a surprise package in the Prem this season would most definitely be a surprise.
I don’t think much else will be a surprise though.

Looking forward to The Championship season, looking like Cellino’s babes bambinos might actually be better than we were all expecting. MOT

No but if several people score a couple more and we shore up that leaky defence it won’t be the catastrophic loss some people are making out.

Well, sure, but I reckon your ambition now is CL at best – whereas with Suarez you came close to winning the league.

More strength in depth this season. Time will tell.

anyone know the odds on big sam getting the sack before the first game?

Looking forward to The Championship season, looking like Cellino’s babes bambinos might actually be better than we were all expecting. MOT

Nope, they will continue to be utter garbage, and having spent 10 years trying desperately to get out of that horrific cesspit of a league the only thing I look forward to is laughing at Forest fans as their foolish owner gives them yet another tragic season.

Anyway, back to the big show…..

Jose is a total bore, anyone taken in by his regular distraction techniques should go and get a sports editorial job at one of the big tabloids.

It’s also funny looking in at Liverpool fans (from Norwich) and Utd fans (from Wimbledon) arguing about their respective clubs. Utd will have a better season that last year (not difficult) and Liverpool will have a worse season than last year (Suarez out, Lambert in :lol:)

In the meantime my beloved Leicester are back on the scene and frothing at the proverbial gash at the prospect of getting back to our old business of beating many of the big teams, you don’t like it up you!

Can’t wait to see Van Gaal explode when Danny Drinkwater bangs in a 30 yard 90th minute winner on 21st Sept 😉

Can’t wait to see Van Gaal explode when Danny Drinkwater bangs in a 30 yard 90th minute winner on 21st Sept

Good luck with that! 😯

There were a lot of sackings last year and as above Big Sam is clearly the favourite to go first this year, but I reckon Pochettinio has a lot to do to avoid being one of the first. Plus… what happens if the unthinkable happens? Van Gaal does no better than Moyes? Odds below:

Sam Allardyce8/11
Louis Van Gaal 3/1
Paul Lambert8/1
Harry Redknapp9/1
Alan Irvine9/1
Ronald Koeman10/1
Alan Pardew11/1
Garry Monk12/1
Nigel Pearson16/1
Steve Bruce20/1
Mauricio Pochettino20/1

Okay, I’m on my hols but keeping in touch with the latest footie stuff from the meeja and see the latest utterings from the ‘Special ****’ and reckon that despite him saying they can dominate for ten years, I really believe that it ain’t gonna happen. I believe his team won’t dominate this year and will not make the top two this year.

There…I’ve said it!

Looking forward to the game against Citeh! argh….my pic of welbeck in an AFC shirt isn’t working! 😕

(where’s jamie when you need him!)

Intersting bit of man management from Wenger 😯
http://sport.uk.msn.com/football/wenger-cryptic-on-welbeck-signing

Welcome to Arsenal Danny.