Football Banter

Bottom 3
Blackburn
Swansea
Norwich

And if i was to predict who i think will come up from the championship i'd say Leicester, West Ham and at a push Leeds via the play-offs

(25-07-2011 20:16 )Money_Shot Wrote:  Yeah thinking about it you might be right. Pardew is a ropey gaffer, and he hasn't exactly brought any decent players in (Ba aside) a lot of unknown French players are playing for 'Le Toon' now who lack EPL experiance. If Joey Barton goes I think they might be in trouble. Espcially with lack of firing power as well.

I think Bruce has done pretty poor with Sunderland so far, he definitely needs to improve next year. Spend shit loads so far so the pressure is on....

As a side thought, I wonder if Bent would have left Sunderland if he knew both Young and Downing would have gone and Alex McGinge would now be in charge.

If he loses Barton, he needs to replace him and still hasn't really replaced Carroll yet, so they need to get their act together.

You are right, Bruce has put a lot of pressure on himself, but he has bought some experience, in O'Shea & Brown, so that will help, and Larsson and Gardener are good players, so I think they will be fine, but the start of the season for both is very important!

Regarding Bent, I think it all depends on whether money was a factor, or just that he wanted to leave Sunderland (the club and area) but to be honest I still think he would have, they still have decent players and have the capability of signing good players that will provide for him (albeit not as well as Young/Downing) and N'Zogbia is a start!

(25-07-2011 19:20 )mitchell Wrote:  4 Even I'm querying this one.

Just think united have lost a lot of experience mate with VDS,Neville & Scholes hanging there boots up,Giggs coming to the end of his career and selling O'shea and Brown.

New and young players look up to lads like that.Lads who've been there,seen it all and won it all,lads u look to when times are tough.united legends.

Now they're gone.

Can just see them having a tougher season this year...Could be wrong though.

Funny you should say that GroundnPound

Quote:Former Manchester United player Lou Macari is concerned that the spate of retirements at Old Trafford will have a huge impact on the club next season. "The new players coming in at Manchester United will be looked upon as filling the boots of Edwin van der Sar, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville. Are they capable of doing that? It's a big ask to do that," he said.

From United's point of view, the retirement of so many of their established veterans, would open the way for a quicker, younger new generation of players to break into the team. When I watched United against Barcelona in the Champions League final, I noticed how slow they were against Barca, especially in midfield. The likes of Giggs, Scholes and Ferdinand just don't have the legs anymore.

So expect to see Alex Ferguson's side with a much younger look next season... although the usual spoilt brats will still be there....

So City have a new player... How will this alter things ?

Errr... Their squad will grow by one, their shirt sales will soar as will their wage bill & their subs bench will be even stronger. To name but a few things.
I hope this answers your 64 thousand dollar question Mr Money_Shot

Hahaha... Good answer

Still, Aguero is a superb player though. I don't know if him alone will be enough to take City over the line, but he will certainly help. IF and only IF he can cut it in the English league

in case you didn't realise, the world cup draw was on for brazil 2014 (i could see it thanks to RTE two!). here's the eurozone groups:

GROUP A: Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, SCOTLAND, Macedonia, WALES
GROUP B: Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia, Malta
GROUP C: Germany, Sweden, IRELAND, Austria, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan
GROUP D: Holland, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Andorra
GROUP E: Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Cyprus, Iceland
GROUP F: Portugal, Russia, Israel, NORTHERN IRELAND, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg
GROUP G: Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, Liechtenstein
GROUP H: ENGLAND, Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, San Marino
GROUP I: Spain, France, Belarus, Georgia, Finland

i know it's the WORLD CUP but i think europe should have more than thirteen places!

I heard them talking about this on the radio this morning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14366574.stm