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Fans loved A-Rod the first few years as well. I mean that she is a very good player who I would otherwise really like, but she gives off some kind of alien anti-likability radiation. Watch the interview I mentioned, at one point she decided to talk about how "this is the first team i've ever played on that felt like a team" in a way that made her seem completely out of touch. I bet her centaur is prettier, though.Edit: blech, terrible way to start a page, forget I said anything. USA! USA! USA!
Put me down for the Manchester teams as 1 and 2 in the EPL this year too. Arsenal is improved but I don't see how Chelsea has.
For whom, on August 21, he will be playing against ... Celtic.
Hazard is a step up. But they will have to kick their Drogba addiction cold turkey, I think they will miss him very soon. He was the perfect plan B when things weren't working.
Hazard is obviously an excellent addition, but is he enough to make up for the loss of Drogba and Terry, Lampard, Cole and Cech getting older? A Champions League spot, okay. But title challenge? That's a huge climb.
With Bellamy, it's probably worth noting that Bellamy was the one, at least from quotes of the involved parties, pushing for the move. I'm disappointed because he was a good player last year, but as with Maxi and Kuyt, I can understand wanting to clean up the inefficiencies of having non-first 11, squad-player veterans amongst your highest paid players. The lack of depth up front is definitely disconcerting, but LFC's group of pain-in-the-ass small guys (Borini, Suarez, Lucas and, most likely, Allen) is going to be hell to go against.
I think the loss of Drogba has the potential to be massive but I'm just not seeing age as a huge factor for Chelea.
Terry will be 31-32 during the season. That's getting up there, but it isn't ancient for a center back. He's not part of the future but as part of the present I think he's fine. Vidic is 10 months younger than him.
Lampard needs to learn what it is like to come off the substitutes bench. Chelsea has plenty of replacement that I doubt he will be missed much unless there isn't anybody in the starting 11 that can regularly hit penalties.
Cole is a real risk of losing it out on the left. But even if he does start to lose it, I can't see his skills diminishing so much that he hurts Chelsea in the current campaign. He's still the best left back in the Premiership, correct? Even if he slips to 85% of what he was last season, I think that will be ok.
Cech getting old seems misplaced since 30 isn't all that old for a keeper. I haven't watched nearly enough of Chelsea to make my own judgement, but I seem to recall hearing that the further he's gotten from the cracked skull, the better he's been.
To me, the only reason why Chelsea won't compete for the title is the loss of Drogba. And that in itself may do it. Personally, I see enough good things out of Torres that I think he's going to ok. And by ok I don't mean as a completely replacement, just that he's going to look much better than he has in blue. I wouldn't be surprised if Chelsea made one more run at Hulk. Even if they don't, the way I see it, the drop off from Drogba to Torres/Sturridge isn't nearly significant enough to outweigh the gains added by signing Hazard, Marin, and Oscar.
I guess in my mind the difference in ages in the two squads that are both old is this:
1. Ferdinand is not only the oldest center back, but his back problems make the effect more pronounced. As I've noted, I don't trust either Jones or Smalling to be healthy to regularly be in the rotation for when Rio can't play. I can see SAF having his choice of 5 center backs (+ Vidic & Evans) one week and then needing to plug in Carrick two weeks later. I very well could be wrong on that.
2. Giggs and Scholes do a phenomenal job of letting their awareness and skills make up for their declining athleticism. But when both are on the pitch I think it causes troubles. If they don't need them to play as much, it obviously isn't a factor. I have no idea if this is accurate or not, but my gut tells me that SAF trusts both so much that he will likely play both more than he "needs". If some combo of Cleverley, Kagawa, and Anderson all start the season off well, I'm guessing things will probably work ok. If not, I think he's going to lean on both Giggs and Scholes too much.
3. Evra seems to have lost it. Cole doesn't. They are the same age so I might be giving Cole too much credit.
4. United has done a much, much better job of setting themselves up long term and I think Chelsea is going to fall off a cliff. But I don't see it happening in 12/13.
That's a very long way of saying I might be wrong. There is an awful lot of history that suggests I will be wrong as well.
I think that, were I listening to the soccer threads here (and not just this one) rather than reading them, I would be convinced that United employed the world-class-but-aging Dutch midfielder Giggs Antsköols.
That guy was something before electricity!
This is unrealistically optimistic to me. Changes don't exist in a vacuum, just because a team got better (on paper) doesn't mean they'll actually be better in the standings: other teams get better too. And of course, #### happens. Chelsea wasn't good enough last year with 64 points. So we're starting off with a core not good enough to win the league, although 2 years ago they were 2nd. Chelsea has a mountain to climb to win the title. Since 2002-03, the lowest point total to win the EPL has been 80. So best case realistic scenario is at least a 16 point improvement by Chelsea while both Man City and Man U drop at least 10 points from last year and while Arsenal and Spurs pick up no more than 9 and 10 points respectively.
Recent history is not kind to a team in Chelsea's position: (man I wish I knew how to do a table)
2011-12: Champion: Man City. Previously: 3rd. Point total improvement: 18. Defending champs: Man U. Point total improvement: 9
2010-11: Champion: Man U. Previously: 2nd. Improvement: -5. Defending champs: Chelsea: Improvement: -15
2009-10: Champion: Chelsea. Previously: 3rd. Improvement: 3. Defending champs: Man U. Improvement: -5
2008-09: Champion: Man U. Previously: 1st. Improvement: 3. Defending champs: Man U.
2007-08: Champion: Man U.Previously: 1st. Improvement: -2. Defending champs: Man U.
2006-07: Champion: Man U. Previously: 2nd. Improvement: 6. Defending champs: Chelsea. Improvement: -8
2005-06: Champion: Chelsea. Previously: 1st. Improvement: -4. Defending champs: Chelsea.
2004-05: Champion: Chelsea. Previously: 2nd. Improvement: 16. Defending champs: Arsenal. Improvement: -7
2003-04: Champion: Arsenal. Previously: 2nd. Improvement: 12. Defending champs: Man U. Improvement: -8
2002-03: Champion: Man U. Previously: 3rd. Improvement: 6. Defending champs: Arsenal Improvement: -9
(I stopped at ten years because I am neglecting my job typing this up.) 6th to 1st just doesn't happen in the EPL. 2004-05 and 2003-04 saw the kind of point total changes Chelsea would need, but with the previous year's runners up. Of course unprecendented stuff happens, but good luck trying to predict it.
See them where?
As to Torres, he's a step lower but he still has good pace. I think the timing of his runs is still top notch and he has touch and distribution that is still good for a pure striker. He just can't finish. Granted, that's a massive problem to have. I can't see it continuing to be this bad. Essentially I think he will be able to create chances for himself and he's likely to finish a few more of them.
I'll believe Torres is good again if he plays well. He hasn't been able to carry Yakubu's jock the last year and a half. He should be capable of regaining some form, though. It just seems surreal he could be this bad. If he were a Dominican baseball player I'd just assume he's been lying about his age.
edit: And for Spurs fans, Townsend and Kane have scored in the friendly against Southend in the first half. I have the distinct impression Townsend is making the team this year instead of going out on loan again. He looks much improved from last year and I rated him last year, too. I wonder if he has a Jake Livermore leap in quality in him.
My biggest worry is that while everyone hopes United rely less on Scholes and Giggs, they needed them last year to just beat mediocre teams.
Not that this is breaking news or anything but does this also make it all-but-official that Dempsey is going nowhere?
With all respect to my good friends at Bleacher Report, there appears to be nothing else in the news that even hints at a Dempsey transfer anywhere right now.
This is theoretically true, but I'll believe it when I see it. Something tells me he'll be smart enough to hang it up before the team implodes.
I do think his transfer magic has been a bit off the last few years- I thought De Gea and Jones were pretty wildly overpriced, not to mention Bebe (though I think Shooty's on to something with that one...). Then again, Ashley Young was reasonably cheap, so I guess his recent record remains solid.
With Bellamy and Maxi gone and Carroll being told he's useless, there's room at Liverpool for Dempsey, though moving to a club that finished 1 point above his own may not be what he had in mind.
(though I think Shooty's on to something with that one...)
ursus would know more, but there's some really sordid rumors about that transfer and I know there has been a police investigation into it, though I don't know if anything came of it.
[edit] Oh, great, now I'm getting a "this video is private" message. ####### #nbcfail.
[edit2] Ah, it appears the game is only on the nbcsimulcast ... not that there was anything, anywhere that would have told me that if I hadn't stumbled on it randomly ... #nbcfail.
Also, early gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal for Mexico!
I like Mexico playing a high line and being aggressive. I wish teams would do this against Spain more often. Laying back just means they have possession 75% of the time and eventually you get picked apart. In a group or season situation where goal difference matters it makes some sense, in a knockout situation better to try and win 3-2 at the risk of losing 5-0.
Soiled.
Well, Sven would listen if they called.
Well, if there's any country that could afford to pay the man in bikini models...
Well, that's that ... congratulations to Mexico.
Lots of talk linking Spurs with M'Villa, Damiao and Adebayor still. We shall see.
I'm so far out of the loop on transfer rumors that I thought M'Vila was already on Arsenal.
They've given up on him for some reason. He's not the kind of player I would have thought Spurs would be in for, but the rumors persist.
Go Jozy!!!
Do you think Jozy Altidore will have a good year in Holland? Is this good for the US Men's National team? Discuss below!
I'm surprised that many Euro-based guys were called up. I will repeat this forever: I hate this August friendly.
Llorente is available, but it would require Abramovich admitting he goofed and digging into his pocket for another 20 million quid. To me, Ramires looked like Chelsea's best player, but I was only sort of paying attention. I did catch Hazard falling on his face trying a back heel, which was fun. But, yeah, it's just one game and not a "real" one at that so...just counting down the time until Saturday.
Shhhh!
Totally fair, but I think a lot of people saw striker as an issue leading into the season, and I think yesterday's effort confirmed that for me. I would imagine Abramovich expects them to be battling it out with City and United this year, but right now I'd put them behind Arsenal and possibly Tottenham- again.
Are they having trouble with the home grown quota? Because it's the only thing I can think of and I fully expect him to get buried at City and never be heard from again.
I'm forgetting the rules, but they're fairly English as the rich clubs go. Barry, Hart, Lescott, and Milner see regular action, and Johnson is still on the roster.
I think you need 8 home grown players on the roster.
edit: They shipped out Bridge, Taylor and Hargreaves so maybe they needed to add a guy since Johnson is rumored to be in the shop window. Wikipedia didn't have that detailed an account of their roster, so I'm just guessing. Maybe they actually rate Rodwell that highly.
Clichy doesn't count, though, as an example, Gylfi Sigurdsson does count as he spent 3 years at Reading's academy.
My count:
Richards
Lescott
Johnson
Hart
Milner
Barry
Rodwell
I have no idea how many of their academy/reserve players are technically home grown or if any of them will be on the roster. I can barely keep up with Spurs when it comes to this crap!
I've been pimping this on Chelsea board this summer. As I was yelling at Spurs fans before last season, Adebayor is a perfect guy for a one (maybe two if your lucky)-year stint where you just need size up front and goals. He was great for Spurs with a smaller team behind him, and he'd be fantastic for Chelsea. Then after a year you discard him and his attitude.
Rodwell is way overrated. That's a waste of money. The guy on Everton that just gets no love is Fellaini. I can't understand why more teams aren't rushing to sign him. Unbelievable work rate, fantastic in the air on defense and not a bad passer to link your defense with an attacking mid. I don't get what's not to like.
You don't need them, per se. Those 8 slots are just reserved for home-grown players. In theory, you could name a squad with zero home-grown players; in that case, the penalty would be that your squad would have a maximum of 17 players.
Does a guy like Clichy count, having spent so many years in England with Arsenal? I wasn't clear on that.
Clichy does not count. However, the Belgian-born Dedryck Boyata does, having spent the required 3 seasons/36 months with an Association club (City) prior to turning 21.
Moyes is pretty savvy about not selling the good players!
Are you sure? Clichy went to Arsenal at 18, he should count as "homegrown" since he played in England for 3+ years before he was 21.
Not that I was a dressing room insider or anything, but Adebayor's attitude for Spurs last season seemed pretty fantastic. The published quotes about him from Tottenham teammates are overwhelmingly positive, and he appeared to be quite well-liked based on "soft" evidence such as goal celebrations, post-game hugs, photos of him clowning around with teammates in training, and the like.
The guy on Everton that just gets no love is Fellaini. I can't understand why more teams aren't rushing to sign him. Unbelievable work rate, fantastic in the air on defense and not a bad passer to link your defense with an attacking mid. I don't get what's not to like.
Dodgy disciplinary and fitness record. But yeah, like you say, a dominant player on his day.
Van Persie is available.
(no, doesn't have the same ring as "Soriano")
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