**OFFICIAL Association Football 2011/2012 Season thread**

[pieceofme]

Well the season has already started but the Premier League starts tomorrow.

Predictions:

For relegation i'm going for

Blackburn
Swansea
Undecided between Wigan and QPR but going for Wigan
Newcastle will be hovering around there as well imo.

Surprise package - Norwich

Top 4

1. Man Utd
2. Chelsea
3. Man City
4. Arsenal

Although this could change depending on what happens before transfer deadline day.

[Sleazyjack]

Here's mine then

Predictions:

For relegation i'm going for

Swansea City
Newcastle United
QPR

Possible Blackburn and Norwich as well


Surprise package - West Bromwich Albion - made some seriously good signings in the summer

Top 4

1. Chelsea
2. Man United
3. Liverpool
4. Man City

[Hellsinkey]

top 4:

1. Man Utd
2. Citeh
3. Liverpool
4. Chelsea

relegated:

Wigan
Swansea
Blackburn maybe

[jellyheadrobertson]

Top:
United
Chelsea
City
Liverpool

Bottom:
Blackburn
Wigan
Swansea

[Hellsinkey]

Where's Cliff Byford, isn't he a QPR fan? They were shite and that was just against Bolton. I watched the Liverpool game, nice equalizer from Sunderland.

[MickeyG]

Saw the second half of Liverpool, which was average to be honest. Neither side looked great. I was surprised at how well Sunderland did in midfield, they held their own when I expected them to roll over. Adams set pieces are going to be really troublesome this season, but otherwise I think he's over rared in midfield. Stevie G will still be the clubs lynchpin in my opinion.

Also saw the fistycuffs at Newcastle. Song should have walked for his stamp, and I think Barton would have gone with Gervinho had I been ref. You can't grab a guy up off the floor by his collar like that, and start a brawl. Otherwise Arsenal controlled it for the most part but didn't create anything worthwhile. They need to sort out Cesc and Nasri quickly, one way or the other.

[MickeyG]

Poor keeping from De Gea again. Otherwise United were pretty much in control and should have had a couple more. Fabio was partly at fault for the goal, giving the ball away in midfield, and we never recovered.

[Hellsinkey]

Poor keeping from De Gea again.

They should give Lindegaard a chance, he was pretty good at pre-season games. Let's see the second half.

[MickeyG]

Poor second half, not quite finished. Lucky goal from Young.

[pieceofme]

Nice to start with an away win considering our troubles last season.

How was Young today? It sounds like he had a good game.

[Hellsinkey]

Again scorer is OG. Young was pretty good, but no one really stood out. Not a good situation with injuries for defenders, for a start.

[Sleazyjack]

I thought 2 players stood out in that game , Young was the best United player and Tchoiyi (or however you spell it ) was excellent for the baggies

[Hellsinkey]

I thought 2 players stood out in that game , Young was the best United player and Tchoiyi (or however you spell it ) was excellent for the baggies

You are right on both.

[SLASH1976]

Any news on Sneijder signing to Man. United ?

[pieceofme]

Any news on Sneijder signing to Man. United ?

Looks like its not going though.

The whole saga has caused me to distress this summer.

[MickeyG]

Young's getting a lot of praise, but I didn't think he was that much better than anyone else. Not that he was bad or anything, just that no one stood out for me. He deserves props for the winning goal.

I was more impressed with how the midfield had far more control than in the away games last season. United won the corresponding fixture last season, but were far more lucky then than this. The Baggies never looked like scoring for me, and it took a keeping mistake to allow them too. Lets not forget United had a young, inexperienced keeper, both first choice full backs out from the start, then had to replace both first choice center halves, and yet West Brom never really managed to keep United under pressure, on their own pitch.

[coatsy]

Any news on Sneijder signing to Man. United ?

some reports suggest that sneijder could be part of a swap deal to man city, tevez going to inter in return. fabregas has signed for barca, wonder how he'll fit into the team and who will he replace?

[MickeyG]

Fabregas will allow Pep to rotate his midfield so Xavi and Iniesta don't have to play all the time.

[Sleazyjack]

I think the Aguero , Silva , Dzeko combination up front looks really promising for City, although it was only Swansea , the movement for a first game together was fantastic

Swansea will struggle as predicted , can;t see them winning many games , if any away from home!

[SLASH1976]

Fabregas will allow Pep to rotate his midfield so Xavi and Iniesta don't have to play all the time.

Yeah, Xavi is 32 or something and to prevent injuries they gonna rotate him with Fabregas.
Great match yesterday btw for the supercup between Barca and Real.
It ended with the traditional fight and all .

In the papers here they said that if Eto left for some club in Russia or something that Inter wouldn't let Sneijder go.

[MickeyG]

Fabregas will allow Pep to rotate his midfield so Xavi and Iniesta don't have to play all the time.

Yeah, Xavi is 32 or something and to prevent injuries they gonna rotate him with Fabregas.
Great match yesterday btw for the supercup between Barca and Real.
It ended with the traditional fight and all .

In the papers here they said that if Eto left for some club in Russia or something that Inter wouldn't let Sneijder go.

I saw a clip of Mourinho poking someone from Barca in the eye.

Eto'o is on his way to FC Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia, I believe. All the players train and live in Moscow and are flown to Makhachkala for home matches.

[SLASH1976]

Fabregas will allow Pep to rotate his midfield so Xavi and Iniesta don't have to play all the time.

Yeah, Xavi is 32 or something and to prevent injuries they gonna rotate him with Fabregas.
Great match yesterday btw for the supercup between Barca and Real.
It ended with the traditional fight and all .

In the papers here they said that if Eto left for some club in Russia or something that Inter wouldn't let Sneijder go.

I saw a clip of Mourinho poking someone from Barca in the eye.

Eto'o is on his way to FC Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia, I believe. All the players train and live in Moscow and are flown to Makhachkala for home matches.

So Sneijder is staying then ?

[MickeyG]

So Sneijder is staying then ?

Who knows. I'd bet he will probably stay though. Inter won't want to lose too many all at once, and they will want big money. Sneijder also wants big wages.

[Hellsinkey]

A nice win, Friedel did some good saves but it wasn't enough. Young has a good presence at midfield, he's getting better. I hope it's a start for Welbeck now.

[Sleazyjack]

A nice win, Friedel did some good saves but it wasn't enough. Young has a good presence at midfield, he's getting better. I hope it's a start for Welbeck now.

Tottenham looked very poor , although their fans completely outsung the United fans on thier own patch ,

Friedal was excellent but they couldn't cope with United's quality.

I'm off to watch our reserves in the carling cup against Hereford now, gonna need a few beers before that haha!

[pieceofme]

Looks like Nasri is off to City.

Even though Young has looked pretty decent so far, I would have much preferred Nasri in the team. Oh well.

[Rageman]

Super Bowl Sunday just got a lot more interesting

From a FOX press release:

FOX Sports has decided to put Chelsea vs Manchester United LIVE on the FOX free-to-air broadcast network (instead of FOX Soccer) on Sunday February 5, 2012.

Pre-game show will start at 10:30am ET, with kickoff scheduled for 11am ET.

Let's see whether FOX can draw 1 million viewers with the first ever LIVE English Premier League match telecast on U.S. free-to-air broadcast television.

[pieceofme]

Solid start for Liverpool, although Carroll is worth more like 3.5 million than 35 million!

[Hellsinkey]

I think the Aguero , Silva , Dzeko combination up front looks really promising for City, although it was only Swansea , the movement for a first game together was fantastic

With Nasri added, I hate to admit it, but they were very good. Funny that now Tevez and Balotelli are on the bench. Spurs and Arse are in trouble today.

[Hellsinkey]

And how! It will be between us and Citeh this year. I liked the "You're getting sacked in the morning" chants. Welbeck and De Gea are getting better. Young has probably been United's best this season, I didn't expect it from him, but he's been great. Arse was pathetic.