Comments on: English Premier League preview

By: Premier League Gameweek 1 Fantasy Preview | Never Captain Nicky Butt

Premier League Gameweek 1 Fantasy Preview | Never Captain Nicky Butt — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:59:26 +0000

[…] Premier League is back, and by now we’ve surely all read through the season previews and predictions around the web. So let’s stick to what we do best – and preview this weekend’s […]

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By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:32:41 +0000

Justin, well, first of Johnson a direct replacement for Arbalo, take the tinted rose glasses off please and come down to Mother Earth. I think if you had a stronger backround on the EPL your judgements would be taken serious. Acqualani was bought for five seasons not five games and he will come right, i must agree with one comment we will sorley miss Alonso, oh and Gerrard has chipped in with goals, so i don’t think Torres was the only one scoring goals.

i think Mark (Man City) played 95% youth and 5% first team so you really can’t judge them on the form in SA.

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By: Peter L

Peter L — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:46:02 +0000

Some good points, Justin, but I still believe that a 72% win record at home (no draws!)is likely to scare many managers.
If you were a manager knowing that statistically you had a 28% chance of winning away at Man City’s Eastlands, would you be bullish or a bit scared?

To your valid point about 3 of the big 4 winning 3 of the 5 games that Man City lost at Eastlands last season, if you were a manager of a team outside the top 4, how would you feel about the fact that statistically, you had an 11% chance of winning at Eastlands?

A bit scared, perhaps?

A point that you may have missed is that some of Man City’s major rivals have also become weaker - Man U losing Tevez and Ronaldo, Liverpoool losing Alonso, Arenal - well, you know where two of their great players have gone to!

Add to that the fact that both Man U and Liverpool are drowning in debt……………

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By: Justin L

Justin L — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:26:39 +0000

Peter L, mate, you are indeed right about their record of at home. I understand they did well there last season, but imho I don’t think Eastlands will scare managers when they take their teams there. Three of the ‘big four’ sides won there last year as well as Everton and Fulham (both in Europe) and Tottenham. Completely agree with you that away form is vital as clearly three of the big four teams won at ‘fortress’ Eastlands. I still maintain clubs should fancy their chances of picking something up at Eastlands.

I realise they have bought seven new players, but I don’t think such big spending will result in an immediate impact. It will take time. The Galacticos era at Real Madrid was slightly different as Florentino Perez built the team up by purchasing at least one big-name player per year and not four new strikers in the space of a year.

Luis Figo joined in 2000, Zinedine Zidane joined in 2001, Ronaldo joined in 2002 and David Beckham in 2003. Clearly, the squad was built up after assessing each season. Granted, they had success immediately, but also had great home-grown players in the side such as Raul and Iker Casillas.

For sure mate, it will be one entertaining season.

@Ian, I know the Reds fans loved Alonso, but still he was not praised enough. I hope he does well at Real Madrid. Liverpool v Real Madrid final – big call. Good luck.

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By: ian barrett

ian barrett — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:30:22 +0000

They’ve lost the midfield magic of Xabi Alonso who I believe was an “unsung hero in the Liverpool side”

not by the liverpool fans,unless rafa does not rest his best players like last season i just cant see liverpool winning the league but fancy them to beat madrid in the champions league final
sky packages

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By: Peter L

Peter L — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:20:25 +0000

Manchester City - “they will not be strong enough as a unit to make Eastlands a fortress. You need to win your home games and a lot of clubs will fancy their chances on any given day in Manchester.”

Justin, mate, perhaps you should stick to reporting on putt-putt and indoor cricket - you clearly know very little about the EPL, or you do no research before hitting the keyboard.

Man City’s home ground Eastlands IS already a fortress, and has been for the last 2 seasons.
They won 13 out of 18 home games, last season and had the third best home record in the premier league.
It was their AWAY form - one of the worst in the EPL - that caused them to finish mid table.

Man City, with their squad and support base will have no problem winning or drawing over 90% of their home games - whether or not they challenge for a Champions league place or end up in the top third / mid table will depend on their away form.

Think about this - with a much weaker frontline, they were one of the clubs that scored the most goals (their problem was their poor defence - they conceded far too many goals and far more than the top four clubs)- add the likes of Adebayor, Teves and Santa Cruz to the line up and do you think that they will score fewer or even more goals this season?

Best case sceanrio - top 4 finish in the EPL, and a good run in the Carling and FA cup.
Most likely scenario - top 6 finish in EPL - cup games are a lottery, so who knows.

Worst case scenario - like Real Madrid of old (Galacticos team), they will scroe and concede a bagfull of goals and end up 7th or 8th in the EPL - watch out for many high scoring games!

One thing that I guarantee you - they will be entertaining and interesting to watch.

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