It's a funny old game Dribbles (Jimmy Greaves I quote) Maureen will get the Chavs into their stride at some point, the Mancs will have a good run as will City I think it's a question of who can go with them (or stay ahead of them) when they do. A lot may depend on which teams stay in Europe as the season wears on. More often than not it puts a strain on the weaker squads but the bigger squads can often benefit in the league from putting together a good run in Europe. A lot also depends on who can keep their best players fit and available. Having a smaller pool of players is obviously a problem but the effects are somewhat negated if you get a good run of luck with injuries/suspensions.
There is no doubt that this premiership is unpredictable and different to any previous seasons. IMO it is due to the absence of Fergie - incredible what an effect he had ! The winners may well lose 7 or more matches this season. I believe if Fergie had been around he would have been clear leader at this stage. Because of that, there is no outstanding manager or team and 8 teams are bunched up together. Moyes was right in saying United had the most difficult start. If you look at the matches played by the top 8 against each other: Arsenal: 3 Liverpool: 2 Southampton: 2 Chelsea: 4 United: 5 Everton: 3 Spurs: 3 City: 3 Liverpool and Southampton have played 9 matches against lower opposition compared to United 's 6 and Chelsea's 7. So if current form is maintained we should expect a lot of change in the order of these 8 teams...
If Ferguson had still been in charge the performance/results would probably have been no better and even the faithful deluded mancs would be begining to question if he 'still had it'. Oh and if you wanted a truly difficult start you should have had ours last season - then you could complain!!!
He ran away with the league when many pundits said his squad was nothing special. We would never know but it seems you think SAF would have done no better than Moyes, which is good to know . No complaints but it shows that Liverpool had an easier start but will have it more difficult later. United should have it easier later during the season....
We all realise we've had an easier start than we seem to get usually, hence the reason none of us are getting carried away just yet.
apart from United, we play last years top 6 all at home in the second half of the season. If anything we have a harder start to the season than end.
Nice try but even you understand that Ferguson left you with with an unbalanced side and a bloody great gap where the midfield should be.
That midfield could be improved granted But that same midfield gap was hardly noticed when the team romped home with a huge margin. You could argue that this season might have been different but with the same manager and the same squad and teams around losing points all over the place to each other except for Liverpool, can you really make a case for United not being at or near the top? Having said that the midfield needed sorting out, which Moyes is doing. We have youngsters who are taking over the old guard. The defence is gradually being replaced. United will remain competitive in the premiership this season. The CL is a different matter.
what do you expect from Moyes this season Smithy? ie title challenge or just top 4 and build on it. i hope you fail miserable on all accounts obviously, but maybe you could be a surprise package in the CL as not much will be expected of you.
I think it boils down to the fact that most of football is fascinated to see if Moyes can get the same level of performance out of those players that Fergie did. That is the real unknown and predicting his success or failure is futile because we can't know. Obviously what we wish for is decided by who we support.
Since you won the league last year, I think that should be your expectation. The change of manager would normally have a big effect, especially after such long service from the previous guy, but your not the only club to make this change. Tottenham and Liverpool aren't in a position to challenge for the title so out of the teams that didn't change manager, its just Arsenal who ATM are looking good but, like asked in previous seasons, can they sustain it?
Whilst it grieves me to say so, I have always said that United will remain competitive. I'm not going through the arguments again but I have laid out my logic as to why I see United replicating our slide from dominance. In the 20+ years since we dominated, it cannot be claimed that we have sunk without trace. I believe that United will do the same kind of thing. You can point to your youngsters and we can do the same thing but with the added advantage that many of ours have already been 'blooded'. As for your defence then that is truly a matter for debate. Oh BTW it is to the eternal shame of all of the other teams in the Premiership that you won by so many points last season. However, if I'm right then you will have to suckle on that success for a fair few seasons to come.
