Thread to discuss the fortunes of the teams around us and everybody else. Let's keep it on topic. At the moment, it looks like Chelsea, Everton and Spurs will be the teams around us for most of the season. I can't see West Brom keeping up their challenge, but I could be proved wrong. Liverpool look no better under Rogers than they did with under Hodgson and I can see them missing out on a Europa place to the likes of Stoke or Swansea This is how I think the table will eventually end up : - Man Utd - Man City - Chelsea - Arsenal - Spurs - Everton - Swansea - Stoke - Liverpool But of course, QPR might make a late surge
I would take the 4th, disappointingly enough. It looks as if once again we will fail to win anything of note. We still lack the world class players to compete at the highest level.
We got our work cut out for us, the likes of Everton and West Brom don't look like they're going anywhere. We need a win on Saturday!
I think top 4 wise that will be the eventual standings, especially with chelsea and man city out of europe aswel, i would also expect chelsea to pick up the pace now and actually get closer to man utd at the top. With everton, i think there challenge for 4th will really depend on if they can keep their top players fit, even with injuries however they still have the players to grind out results which will be vital. Spurs will be thereabouts but like us they are inconsistent, i actually think that we might actually just have the edge if we can get a couple of players in in january we can put a run of wins together which we seem to do every season. And i actually think that brendan rodgers is the right man for liverpool however he hasn't given himself a chance with the squad that he currently has and when he goes into press conferences and says "the standard on the training pitch is fantastic" then its quite worrying and they always have the tendancy to self-destruct.
Well, on our main rivals for 3rd: Chelsea: Just getting going under Rafa, but with Lampard on the way out, and Terry reaching the end of his time, I think they'll find it tough. One injury to Mata or Cech and they're finished. West Brom: Have shown lately that they're too inconsistent, and don't have the players to be Champions League. Everton: They have the players but not the ambition. Fellaini wants out, Baines is probably thinking about an exit too. Pienaar is only there because he failed at Spurs. Likewise Gibson with United. Jagielka, Howard, and Distin are not players looking to improve... they've settled for what they have. Only Jelavic and Mirallas are still trying to make something of their career. There are no other teams I would consider rivals.
Chelsea look like they are back on track. I said when he was appointed, that Rafa is a very good manager. Sadly I can seem them pulling away from us, especially if they sign someone like Falcao in January.
This most definitely goes under 'other teams'. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/dec/27/henning-berg-blackburn-rovers-sacked 57 days, FFS.
That has to be the worst run football club ever. They sack their manager, get relegated, their old manager gets a team promoted to mid-table in the Premier League, their new manager is fired after 57 days for being terrible. Have to feel very sorry for Blackburn fans. However, they did bring it on themselves by giving Steve Kean such a hard time. He would have done a better job without the abuse. It wasn't his fault for being hired.
Thing is, they were not doing that badly with Kean in the championship, I am pretty sure they were close to the top of the table when they sacked him. That club is a mess.
You'd know all about that, Roman is the biggest out there. Nottingham Forest just sacked their manger too, after he took them to within a point of the top 6 and had just beaten their massive rivals Leeds. There's no rhyme or reason to Owner's and Chairman's decisions sometimes.
Problem with Blackburn is there is no plan. When any teams gets relegated there has to be an immediate plan with an experienced manager/personnel to get them back up. Of the teams that went down Blackburn had by far the most quality and should have been romping to the title but they had a poor manager in charge who didn't know the division and same with Henning Berg now. Wolves are the same, they had a strong Championship side and should be in the playoffs now but hired a manager that doesn't know the league. Bolton have signed poor managers. When has Dougie Freedman led a side to the PL as manager? The rest of the league must have pissed themselves in amusement at his appointment, nobody moreso than Palace who now have Holloway.
Holloway is a good manager, and I'm glad to see him at Palace. I'm tipping them for promotion this season. Forest, after sacking O'Driscoll have appointed Alex McLeish one of ****test managers around. It was a miracle that he didn't get Villa relegated - although Lambert seems to be doing a good job of that. Blackburn just seem to be in freefall
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...s-appoint-Judan-Ali-Henning-berg-sacking.html Blackburn are in serious trouble. The owners are clueless... utterly clueless.
Got to feel for the Forest fans. McLeish is one dour bastard and drains any joy from watching your team.