Premier League countdown and pre-season sledging thread.

[Dragooner]

yous blokes are all mad

DERBY! will take the league, fa cup and carling cup trebble. COME ON DERBY!

Good luck to you RCB. There doin alright in my FM07 game. Comin first and undefeated after 20 rounds but that is the Championship and is in a game.

 

[Bumble]

But does it? The majority of Arsenals good results against the 'big guns' in the EPL last season were without Henry. He also only played about 20 games from memory. Wasn't completely fit all season.

Remember that whole...2nd half of the season slump you had?

Remember when you won 5 premiership matches between Henry's injury in February and the end of the season in May?

Arsenal are done. :lol:

 

[Stonecutter]

Silva and Van Persie will be an awesome attacking combo. They'll wipe the smile from your face Bumble

 

[Tom Shines]

Come on City. Stay up. Please.

 

[Macca_]

Remember that whole...2nd half of the season slump you had?

Remember when you won 5 premiership matches between Henry's injury in February and the end of the season in May?

Arsenal are done. :lol:

I also remember when you said a little while back how Arsenal didn't deserve to be in the top 4 as they don't go any good against the top teams and beat up on the weak teams. This despite Arsenal beating Man Utd twice in the League, drawing with Chelsea twice in the League and going to Anfield twice during the season and winning. So the fact you follow them so closely means we have so much to be worried about because you think Henry was the be all and end all for Arsenal.

There's a good percentage of hard core Arsenal fans out there that believe they will go better without TH now. His time had come, his head wasn't in it anymore, nor was his fitness. The player we missed most last season who was doing the damage in the first half was Van Persie. But you'd know that seeing you followed the season so closely and it was all about Henry.

If anything, the amount of time spent out for TH last season gave them a chance to form a balance that doesn't involve going forward and having to pass to the 'super star' who is demanding he gets the ball all the time. This is going to make it a lot harder to defend against the style of play Arsenal use.

I think it's great when people talk about what a bad season it was for Arsenal and how much of a slump it was that they still managed to finish top 4 yadda yadda. Show's the standard they have set in the past 10 or so seasons under Wenger.

You obviously have your thoughts re Arsenal and it revolves around 'Henry is Arsenal'. You're more then welcome to it. And you call Arsenal fans deluded for thinking otherwise. You're welcome to that too.

I don't think there is any teams in the EPL (and most likely the CL) that are going to go into a game against Arsenal and think they have the 3 points in the bag. And if they do, I think you'll find they may get a surprise.

 

[Macca_]

I might add that Arsenals problem for most of the season wasn't creating chances, but taking them. Yes Henry has been a major contributor for a number of seasons now. But they have the emerging Van Persie to take that mantle as well as a goal poacher in Eduardo who will thrive on the sort of chances created last season that kept being wasted by the likes of Adebayor, Baptista and Aliadiere.

Throw in Bendtner to, you have Van Persie, Eduardo, Adebayor, Walcott. We finished off the second half of the season with Adebayor, Baptista, Walcott and Aliadiere. The 5 that will kick off this season (maybe one other if you believe transfer talk) will net a lot more goals then what we did in the second half of the season with out Henry and on the end of so many chances that were created.

Also expecting more from midfield from the likes of Rosicky, and looking to the 2 'new young guns' that will be 'bigger' names after this season - Denilson and Diaby.

They most certainly aren't dead and buried.

 

[Twizzle]

I tend to agree Macca

I said Henry would be big boots to fill, but he aint Arsenal

you guys will still be up there but I really think the gap will be reduced, we got 2 more spots to fill being a left winger and mid and plenty of irons in the fire so our team is not finalized

going to be a very interesting season coming up

 

[Macca_]

Well I hope your wrong about 'that' gap being reduced

But yes, the Gunners will still be up at the pointy end. I'm not going to say they will win it because that takes a huge optimist. With such a young and talented squad, it's the coming seasons that they'll be challenging for the title again, but perhaps not this one. That's not to say they are gone though. It's only because of the standard they have set as a club in the past 10-15 seasons (as I said) that makes people think they are struggling and will do so without Henry.

Whilst I'm biased, I simply can't see them not being thereabouts again. CL football and a good run in a cup would be a pass mark, but far from a failure. It's only glory hunters that can be disappointed in that. Would have given a lot for a season like that in the GG era and before.

 

[Bumble]

I never said they're going to become a basketcase of a side that is going to give an easy 3 points to any team, I just don't think that the whole feeling of awe and prestige that is associated with Arsenal is going to fade. Eduardo might be a good signing, he might not. Perhaps like most he will take at least one season to get used to the EPL. Either way, I think Spurs will finish above you this year.

 

[Twizzle]

I never said they're going to become a basketcase of a side that is going to give an easy 3 points to any team, I just don't think that the whole feeling of awe and prestige that is associated with Arsenal is going to fade. Eduardo might be a good signing, he might not. Perhaps like most he will take at least one season to get used to the EPL. Either way, I think Spurs will finish above you this year.

we'll probably have a better idea when we finished recruiting and Jol has made it clear that we are a long way form finalising our team just yet

I am bias as well but also realistic, we'll see

 

[Macca_]

I never said they're going to become a basketcase of a side that is going to give an easy 3 points to any team, I just don't think that the whole feeling of awe and prestige that is associated with Arsenal is going to fade. Eduardo might be a good signing, he might not. Perhaps like most he will take at least one season to get used to the EPL. Either way, I think Spurs will finish above you this year.

But you did say 'Arsenal are gone'...

And no, if that last comment you made about sp*rs happens (won't), that still doesn't mean they are gone :lol:

Just another interesting thing to throw up about Henry. I just read a little piece on Ian Wright. Around the time he broke Bastin's goal scoring record was when a young Henry was coming to life as a front man. Not something you thought about at the time, but now looking back, you had the record breaker but didn't know that the next record breaker was in the squad...

Point being, players are replaceable. Maybe not in the scheme of things at the time. And I'm not saying someone in the current squad will go on to break Henry's record, but you still have to allow for the fact that there will be a striker or 2 that now need to step up. Van P and Ed will be that pairing. Van P has shown what he can do and with out Henry and the way he was going last season, he'll have a big one. I think Eduardo will settle quicker then most. His style of play is very much like the style Arsenal play. He's got speed and from what we've seen he is just one of the players that finds themselves in the right places re runs off the ball etc. He only has to make those runs of the likes of Cesc and Tom and he'll be amongst the goals for sure.

And it's only been an 'awe and prestige' feeling in recent times. For the style that have played and what they have won. You can't keep winning all the time

 

[hybrid_tiger]

The EPL sucks dog balls.

 

[Bumble]

The EPL sucks dog balls.

I thought about deleting your post for trolling but then I thought...nah. It's more fun this way.

How's your Serie A official thread going? :lol:

 

[Dragooner]

How's your Serie A official thread going? :lol:

:lol: :lol:

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

although im blindly optomistic, i cant see derby doing much to be honest.
geez id love a win against portsmouth first up though. thatd be fantastic!

 

[NK Arsenal]

Back to earth now are we RCB? ;-)

 

[hybrid_tiger]

I thought about deleting your post for trolling but then I thought...nah. It's more fun this way.

How's your Serie A official thread going? :lol:

Serie A is too classy for most in here, with a couple of exceptions. Unless its force fed down your throats through the English loving Aussie media, not many are prepared to broaden their horizions and sample a different flavour of football.

I liken the EPL to a turd which is marketed brilliantly. In the end its an inferior product to its competitiors, but the advertising, marketing, sponsorship gurus have done an outstanding job in building up the hype to what is, in essence, a lower standard of football to other markets, chiefly Spain and Italy.

 

[Bumble]

Serie A is too classy for most in here, with a couple of exceptions. Unless its force fed down your throats through the English loving Aussie media, not many are prepared to broaden their horizions and sample a different flavour of football.

I liken the EPL to a turd which is marketed brilliantly. In the end its an inferior product to its competitiors, but the advertising, marketing, sponsorship gurus have done an outstanding job in building up the hype to what is, in essence, a lower standard of football to other markets, chiefly Spain and Italy.

So basically, your an elitist twat who can't handle the fact that English football is more popular around the world than Serie A.

Tell me something I don't know.

 

[Misanthrope]

Since I've not seen any West Ham love, I'll chime in. Fairly confident about our chances this year, provided we don't go through that same kind of complacency that dogged us last year. Any official word on the Tevez situation yet, though? Whether or not he sticks around will go a long way to determining whether we're contenders for Europe or mid table this year, I think.

 

[Dragooner]

Since I've not seen any West Ham love, I'll chime in. Fairly confident about our chances this year, provided we don't go through that same kind of complacency that dogged us last year. Any official word on the Tevez situation yet, though? Whether or not he sticks around will go a long way to determining whether we're contenders for Europe or mid table this year, I think.

Latest I have heard on Tevez.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=445188&cc=3436