MasterBlaster76
ICC Chairman
I gave up predicting football after last season's last day madness!
Season 2012-13 predictions
- Thread starter Haarithan
- Start date
War
Chairman of Selectors
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2010
- Online Cricket Games Owned
Heard Bebe scored as well, again.
Couldn't agree more, except Aquilani was just officially offloaded to Fiorentina for 7m pounds. :/
Ye just realized.
Lee1981
International Coach
Nothing against utd but I honestly can't see them doing anything this season
Poorest squad I've seen for years, I'm looking at the squad and I struggle to see the quality.
Over reliant on a 100 year old rusty roof centre midfielder, that isn't a good sign,
Take Rooney out and where are the goals??
You have Vidic at the back, the rest are not good enough, Valencia and potentially cleverley in midfield and then Rooney,,?.
De Gea is absolutely awful,,
Can't see anything but city dominating, Chelsea could go either way, looks good on paper but it's a new start so who knows.
Poorest squad I've seen for years, I'm looking at the squad and I struggle to see the quality.
Over reliant on a 100 year old rusty roof centre midfielder, that isn't a good sign,
Take Rooney out and where are the goals??
You have Vidic at the back, the rest are not good enough, Valencia and potentially cleverley in midfield and then Rooney,,?.
De Gea is absolutely awful,,
Can't see anything but city dominating, Chelsea could go either way, looks good on paper but it's a new start so who knows.
thedon5
Panel of Selectors
I agree with this. Vidic as well, we don't know if he is still the same player after such a long injury.
De Gea was awful at the start of the season, but honestly he has become a good player. Towards the end of the season, he was one of the best goalkeepers in the league. Still, not on Hart or Cech's level.
Chelsea I think are weaker than last season too. You've lost the best big game player in the league, and replaced him with no-one yet. You've also brought in a lot of technical players. Seems very much a transitional season before you attempt to bring in Pep. I'm also not convinced by Di Matteo, and I'm not sure he can bring the best out of all these new attacking players.
Oscar is unproven and quite frankly looks anorexic. I see him only really leaving his mark on the PL after a few seasons. He is very young and inexperienced and needs to bulk up. Hazard should be a hit, and will be outstanding in a few seasons. Reckon he'll have a slow start initially though, definitely won't win you as many points single-handedly as Drogba did. Marin is terrible, not even good enough for Bremen. An average squad player.
I reckon you need a new centre forward, an experienced central midfielder and an RB.
City meanwhile have the by far both the best starting XI in the league, as well as one of the top 5 squads in Europe. The squad has also gelled together. Expecting them to get the title by at least a 10 point deficit.
Arsenal will finish 2nd. Just a hunch.
Bevab
Staff Member
Provided they get Messi?
They'll be good if Sahin and Cazorla come and RVP stays. A 3rd spot is the most realistic, although 4th and 2nd are also looming.
I wish dearly that United finish 5th and their fans cry like the sky's fallen down......
thedon5
Panel of Selectors
Provided they get Messi?
They'll be good if Sahin and Cazorla come and RVP stays. A 3rd spot is the most realistic, although 4th and 2nd are also looming.
I wish dearly that United finish 5th and their fans cry like the sky's fallen down......
Provided we get Sahin and keep RVP, Walcott and Song, we are stronger than Man Utd and have better depth. Also depends on getting a good back-up RB and ensuring the defence is better organised than last season. Cazorla is already in London and has passed his medical. Just waiting for a photoshoot and announcement (likely that they'll try and make the Cazorla and Sahin reveals coincide). Judging from Mourinho's comments and the fact that Sahin was playing LB in pre-season, it looks very likely. Wenger wants him and Galatasaray only other seriously interested club. Both are world class.
People seem to forget that we were 17th after five games last season. That has never happened before and will almost definitely never happen again. New signings who were rushed in last season have also settled, and the young squad is always improving. We've also replaced Fabregas finally with Cazorla (though Fabregas was better), and have some serious depth with at least two decent players in every position.
Chelsea having Torres as their starting centre forward makes us stronger than them with or without RVP.
3rd is probably more realistic though.
United finishing 5th probably would be the sky falling down in all honesty. That would put them at the risk of suffering a similar fate to Liverpool, though SAF is infinitely better than Kenny, Roy or Rafa in the market.
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Bevab
Staff Member
Yeah, really nice to see Arsenal make some good transfer attempts ATM.
Still, its SAF's United, so a realistic chance should be them going slightly close for the title for the season unless they make some needed signings.
Still, its SAF's United, so a realistic chance should be them going slightly close for the title for the season unless they make some needed signings.
thedon5
Panel of Selectors
Challenging for the title isn't hard, except for last season, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have challenged for the title most seasons except maybe one or two in the last ten years.
Utd will surely challenge, I just think they'll end up 3rd maybe.
Utd will surely challenge, I just think they'll end up 3rd maybe.
When was the last time Arsenal took the title to the wire, they've been consistently falling apart around February/March time whenever they've been "in contention" for the title.
What makes you think that'll be any different this season?
What makes you think that'll be any different this season?
thedon5
Panel of Selectors
Didn't happen last season. What was the difference with last season you ask? Experience. We had Benayoun, Arteta and Mertesacker, this season we have Giroud, Podolski, Cazorla and possibly Sahin. All guys who have experienced winning a title at some point. In the past we've relied on younger players who are mentally more vulnerable to falling apart.
Often we also are completely decimated by injuries at the end of the season. Obviously we'll need some luck on this front to avoid this, but this season we have very good depth.
Often we also are completely decimated by injuries at the end of the season. Obviously we'll need some luck on this front to avoid this, but this season we have very good depth.
puddleduck
Chairman of Selectors
Last season one player scored more goals than anyone else in your team by a country mile. Is that going to happen again?
MasterBlaster76
ICC Chairman
Third? Dream on. Have you forgotten we only lost out on the title last year by two minutes - and that was with our best centre back missing for half the season? Expect a backlash from Utd.
thedon5
Panel of Selectors
Every single club is stronger except for Man City and Man Utd. Kagawa is hardly a huge necessary signing.
Seriously you can't expect to beat Arsenal 8-2 every season.
Seriously you can't expect to beat Arsenal 8-2 every season.
MasterBlaster76
ICC Chairman
I don't remember mentioning that I do expect us to beat you 8-2 again...
