Premier League 2013/14

[S7_MUFC]

Also you have to say the quality of the league is quite high I believe at this time. Apart from the top 7 from last season the likes of WBA, Swansea, Southampton, West Ham, Villa have all improved and can beat any of the top 7 on their day and can beat each other. Then you have the likes of Newcastle, Norwich, Cardiff, Fulham who have players that can hurt you and are difficult to beat when they are on form.

Really the only poor teams that I can see are Palace, Sunderland and Hull, despite their league position.

So it makes for an interesting season I think.

Only team that is really poor is Crystal Palace.Even the likes of Hull and Cardiff have players who could easily get into top 10 teams...I can see team with less than 80 pts winning the league this season...

 

[DavidVillano1]

Also you have to say the quality of the league is quite high I believe at this time. Apart from the top 7 from last season the likes of WBA, Swansea, Southampton, West Ham, Villa have all improved and can beat any of the top 7 on their day and can beat each other. Then you have the likes of Newcastle, Norwich, Cardiff, Fulham who have players that can hurt you and are difficult to beat when they are on form.

Really the only poor teams that I can see are Palace, Sunderland and Hull, despite their league position.

So it makes for an interesting season I think.

Norwich, Stoke, Fulham, Cardiff, West Ham and Villa are also poor IMO.

A freak result for West Ham won't change my opinion on them. West Brom had a much better start to the season last year, they were excellent against a struggling United team though.

I'm not convinced West Ham, Villa, WBA or Swansea have improved. Swansea made some good signings but Shelvey brings their starting 11 back down from last season.

 

[DavidVillano1]

Also Adnan looks fantastic, but 50K a week?

 

[S7_MUFC]

Norwich, Stoke, Fulham, Cardiff, West Ham and Villa are also poor IMO.

A freak result for West Ham won't change my opinion on them. West Brom had a much better start to the season last year, they were excellent against a struggling United team though.

I'm not convinced West Ham, Villa, WBA or Swansea have improved. Swansea made some good signings but Shelvey brings their starting 11 back down from last season.

I was talking about the ability of the teams to get results against top sides....In any other season West Ham and Stoke would've been considered as solid defensive sides who will definitely beat the drop but now they are considered poor...this shows how the rest of the teams have improved...

 

[DavidVillano1]

I was talking about the ability of the teams to get results against top sides....In any other season West Ham and Stoke would've been considered as solid defensive sides who will definitely beat the drop but now they are considered poor...this shows how the rest of the teams have improved...

The same West Ham that got relegated two season's ago?

West Ham will be finish around mid table-top 15 like they did last season. They've been poor for a few years now but there is just as many poor teams or teams around their level in the league. Nine teams in that league that are a poor standard, IMO, the problem is the top teams are not nearly as strong as they used to be hence these clubs able to take points of them.

Stoke were floating in the relegation battle last season, they were hardly comfortable last season.

 

[S7_MUFC]

The same West Ham that got relegated two season's ago?

West Ham will be finish around mid table-top 15 like they did last season. They've been poor for a few years now but there is just as many poor teams or teams around their level in the league. Nine teams in that league that are a poor standard, IMO, the problem is the top teams are not nearly as strong as they used to be hence these clubs able to take points of them.

Stoke were floating in the relegation battle last season, they were hardly comfortable last season.

They were under Avram Grant then.....People considered having Sam Allardyce as manager as a guarantee of beating the drop......now those long ball tactics will not work against teams like Southhampton and Swansea who were not in the league back then....and teams that you call poor have players proven in the premier league....Fulham have strike force of Berbatov and Bent....That would've be the striker partnership for a top 6 team.....The extra 30m that teams get because of new TV deal will improve the quality of the league because most for teams battling relegation 30m is massive and we will see teams fighting relegation spend 20m+ on a single player.....

 

[DavidVillano1]

Those two clubs were in the league last season and West Ham were fine.....

Yes Berbatov and Bent are good players, but you need more than a couple of good players to be considered anything more than average in my view. Berbatov is nearly 33 and although he had a good return last season(increased through a few pens) he has only 1 goal in seven this season so far and looks off the pace.

Bent is a good signing and will score around 10+

Stand by that those 9 teams albeit have some good players who will score goals such as Bent, Berbatov, RVW etc are as much as the same as every season and not strong at all. They will be able to take points off each other and the rest of the league because as I said previously the top clubs are nowhere near as strong as they were 5 years ago.

Just because these clubs can spend loads, doesn't mean they will buy the right players. Southampton spent loads on Wanyama and Osvaldo who are vastly overrated. People are going overboard on Southampton's start, they've had an easy start so far and arguably should have picked more points up at home to WHU/Sunderland and away to Norwich. Had a fantastic result at Liverpool, but that's no surprise as has happened to Liverpool the last few seasons. Southampton will drop off.

 

[S7_MUFC]

Those two clubs were in the league last season and West Ham were fine.....

Yes Berbatov and Bent are good players, but you need more than a couple of good players to be considered anything more than average in my view. Berbatov is nearly 33 and although he had a good return last season(increased through a few pens) he has only 1 goal in seven this season so far and looks off the pace.

Bent is a good signing and will score around 10+

Stand by that those 9 teams albeit have some good players who will score goals such as Bent, Berbatov, RVW etc are as much as the same as every season and not strong at all. They will be able to take points off each other and the rest of the league because as I said previously the top clubs are nowhere near as strong as they were 5 years ago.

Just because these clubs can spend loads, doesn't mean they will buy the right players. Southampton spent loads on Wanyama and Osvaldo who are vastly overrated. People are going overboard on Southampton's start, they've had an easy start so far and arguably should have picked more points up at home to WHU/Sunderland and away to Norwich. Had a fantastic result at Liverpool, but that's no surprise as has happened to Liverpool the last few seasons. Southampton will drop off.

Top teams are better than they were last season...only team that is poor compared to last season is United..and I'm sure Southampton will finish in top 10 because they already had a decent team last season and now they have added to that team. Osvaldo is getting picked for Italy and scoring goals ....

 

[DavidVillano1]

In what way are they better?

Chelsea won 7 from their first eight league games last season including wins at Arsenal and Tottenham. This season they've dropped points in 3 games and struggled in others such as Villa at home. I've yet to see an improvement from Chelsea, best player is not playing regularly in Mata and they've had issues and you just need to watch the Basel game to see this.

Man City have had the same issues as last season, poor away form. Again there has been no improvement in results from the beginning of last season, they've lost 2 at Villa/Cardiff and drew at Stoke. That is horrible results, no idea how anyone can suggest otherwise.

Tottenham have made some good signings, but they've struggled to score goals. Only a single point up on the same stage as last season.

Arsenal have improved results wise and made a great signing in Ozil. But you would expect them to have a better points return from the beginning of last season considering they played away to Stoke, City and Liverpool and had Chelsea at home in the first seven games. Last season was a tough start for Arsenal.

Liverpool have been the most improved, Arsenal have better results as a result of the fixture list, Chelsea and United have went backwards. Whilst City, Tottenham are as much as the same.

 

[S7_MUFC]

The results would suggest that the teams haven't improved but on paper Chelsea,City,Tottenham and Arsenal have all improved...both Chelsea and City have better managers now and City have player like Navas who is massive improvement on Milner/Nasri...plus Negredo,Fernandhino,Jovetic are all top class players....Chelsea have made couple of stupid signings that make no improvement to their starting XI but you can see what player like Willian can do as impact sub...Maybe the results are just poor because of the strength of Opposition....

 

[JamDav1982]

The results would suggest that the teams haven't improved but on paper Chelsea,City,Tottenham and Arsenal have all improved...both Chelsea and City have better managers now and City have player like Navas who is massive improvement on Milner/Nasri...plus Negredo,Fernandhino,Jovetic are all top class players....Chelsea have made couple of stupid signings that make no improvement to their starting XI but you can see what player like Willian can do as impact sub...Maybe the results are just poor because of the strength of Opposition....

Not sure Man City have improved - Hart looks poorer and they lost Tevez, Ballotelli etc and have had some poor performances.

Arsenal have improved but still nowhere near the top teams in europe.

Man Utd have gone backwards.

Chelsea have more players but dont have a decent striker and will struggle to keep everyone happy, while their important players like Terry and Lampard are ageing.

Of the top sides just about all other than Spurs are poorer than they were about 5 years ago.

 

[Jenks]

The bigger sides have mostly weakened while the weaker teams have mostly strengthened. Swansea are sixth from bottom but have a guy who has just started for Spain in their team, while Fulham are fourth from bottom with Berbatov as their main striker, for example.

 

[S7_MUFC]

Not sure Man City have improved - Hart looks poorer and they lost Tevez, Ballotelli etc and have had some poor performances.

Arsenal have improved but still nowhere near the top teams in europe.

Man Utd have gone backwards.

Chelsea have more players but dont have a decent striker and will struggle to keep everyone happy, while their important players like Terry and Lampard are ageing.

Of the top sides just about all other than Spurs are poorer than they were about 5 years ago.

I think it's the case of top sides
in Europe getting stronger not English teams getting weaker.... 5 years back we defeated AC Milan 7-2 on aggregate and almost beat Bayern after outplaying them at old trafford with team that was weaker than our current team....we had Gibson starting matches for us so we couldn't have been better back then...

 

[Galning]

Somewhere out there HBA is convincing himself Newcastle are a big club because they are winning against Liverpool.

 

[Ode to Django]

Nice goal though.