English Premier League

A thread to discuss the new season of football in England.

Only the first round of games so not too much to read into just yet but it looks like Huddersfield are going to struggle to achieve what they did last season, they're in danger of relegation I think.

My predictions:

1st - Man City
2nd - Liverpool
3rd - Man Utd
4th - One of Chelsea, Arsenal or Tottenham, I can see all 3 struggling to match the consistency of the other 3 in the so called 'Big Six' but if I had to pick one to pip the others to the final Champions League spot I'll go for Tottenham, they are the first side ever to make no signings during the summer but I think the mood and the squad unity at Spurs will see them over the line

Relegated - Cardiff, Brighton and Huddersfield are my picks, in that order most likely, as in, 20th, 19th and 18th respectively.

Surprise packages - Wolves

Underachievers - West Ham and possibly Everton, West Ham have spent a lot of money and they may struggle to justify it, Pellegrini is a good coach as a title winner with Man City but it didn't click straight away for him. Everton because the quality of the squad is good but they played so poorly last season and have a new coach so they're in a bit of a no-man's land in terms of expectation (that can turn out badly IMO) Silva appears to be a good coach but hasn't been anywhere long enough to prove it in the long term yet.

Top scorer - Tough one but I'll plump for Mohammed Salah again. Just the way Liverpool seem to play suits him so much, he'll get so many opportunities to score, Kane and Aguero will be contenders as well.

1st managerial sacking - Chris Hughton, Warnock's personality and the fact that Cardiff are so bad that everyone knows it should keep him in a job for a bit longer than Hughton at Brighton where they've built up a tiny bit of expectation.

Agree, disagree, 'don't care hate football I'm just trolling'? Come at me.

Could probably just use the football thread to talk about it but Cardiff's probably gonna shock the footballing world and win the league. Everyone is writing Cardiff off and that's great that'll just spur them on. Same thing happened last season and they finished runners up.

I am interested to see how arsenal do, cech almost scored an own goal yesterday, would've been hilarious if it actually went in

As much as I'd like to see Cardiff do well, I just don't see it, I think they'll finish rock bottom. Warnock is a savvy old manager but with the new blood and new ideas of guys like Guardiola and Klopp he might just find that the game has moved past him for the most part. Same thing happened to Dave 'Harry' Bassett in the '90s. Then again Hodgson is still around.

As a Liverpool fan, it's great to see Utd lose. Mourinho has generated so much negativity around the club it seems like his '3 seasons and gone' rule will continue, perhaps his head has been turned by PSG or Bayern or someone.

Arsenal lost again, they played well and could have snatched a draw but Chelsea were the better team over the game and deserved the win.

It's hard to see anyone but man city winning the league. Maybe Liverpool can step up if Salah has a season like last. I was happy Cardiff got a point, and saved a penalty in the last minute, at end of the season that point could keep them up

It's only been 2 games but yeah, City look pretty good already. I doubt Salah will have as good a season goals wise than last year but he doesn't necessarily have to to have a good season. Be interesting to see how City do over the next few months without KDB, they're that good we probably wont even notice he's gone.

Didn't expect Utd to lose 3-nil at home to Spurs, more of what I was saying earlier about Mourinho's negativity.

I've decided that each season I'm going to pick a freshly promoted side to follow for the season after my own club of course. Last year it was Huddersfield, this year I'm opting for Fulham, some really good signing from them and I don't like Chelsea.

I couldn't believe what happened during the Spurs match. United were solidly the better team in the first half; Shaw and Lingard stood out as being particularly good. And yet, the inability of what are obviously talented players to play together cohesively in a way that leads to goals is just staggering.

And then there were those three minutes in the second half when United's defense yet again fell apart. Smalling, Jones and Lindelof just aren't with it. Bailly, even with those mistakes last week is still by far the best CB United have, and partnered with someone a bit better, he'd do well.

I just really wish they'd go back to a back four.

Seems like Mourinho isn't happy. His last season at Chelsea wasn't great because he had lost the respect of the players after his treatment of that female physio. He might be on that slippery slope yet again with the Utd lads.

It's that third-season curse all over again, it seems.

I'll admit, I didn't want him when he first came to United, but after last season and how well United did, I was expecting better this year.

Oh well.

The funny thing is, it's not really a curse, Chelsea are the only team to fire him, around the 3 season mark, twice. The other teams he left of his own volition, it could be argued that he orchestrates events somewhat, in order to make his position at a club untenable. We know he thinks like that. I've got a sneaky feeling he wants the Bayern Munich job or the Paris Saint-Germain job. He's probably sick of England, he's pretty much spent a decade of his life here.

I dunno, I still feel like you can call it a pattern, whether he leaves of his own volition or gets shown the door. It's hard to argue with his success, but when that success starts to falter, you're left with someone that seems to cause problems wherever they go.

He is arrogant, he is an ass, but he is also an incredible talent. I admire Mourinho greatly... but everything you say on him is right Pr, he does seem too tricky sometimes, although Sam, I am not going to discount your theory he wants out, he may, and it may all just be him choosing to manipulate the situation. With a mercurial man like Mourinho, who knows. But who could you get as good to replace him?

Undoubtedly the man knows how to win trophies, replacing him would be tricky. Realistically, Utd would want someone with a high profile, with a proven Premier League pedigree and a no-nonsense attitude who could come in and win trophies straightaway, the irony is that only Mourinho fits that bill. I think they'd make a move for Simeone or Pochettino. I'd like to see them hand an ex player the job, Barcelona took a chance on Guardiola and look how that worked out for both of them.

Mourinho obviously isn't happy. He's shown that enough times to make me think that he wants to go as much as the chairman wants him out, so I say let him go. Finding a replacement isn't easy, no, but there are managers out there.

Whatever happens, I'm ****ing quaking with the draw United got in the CL. I don't expect them to come out of that group the way they're currently playing.

I think Spurs and Liverpool got the toughest CL draws of the English teams, City's group looks so easy they might as well just let them through now. Watford continued their perfect start with a win against Spurs today, didn't see that coming TBH. Have to have a closer look at Watford to see what Gracia is doing right.

Alisson made his inevitable first mistake at the weekend, glad it didn't cost Liverpool any points though, might work out in Liverpool's favour as it could be a lesson learned for free for him.

international break 2 weeks into the season awehawe
happy wales got revenge against ireland tho

I actually have begun to see the benefit of having an international break at this point in the season. It gives players on the fringes of the first team at their club a chance to get some match fitness. Most managers will say the season doesn't really get under way until this stage which might have something to do with them having a training ground full of fit players for possibly the first time in months.

After an awful start, West Ham appear to be turning it around. Beat Everton (jury is still out on Everton), drew with Chelsea, scored 8 in midweek with their 2nd string team playing and now beating Man Utd at half time. Seems inevitable that Mourinho will be gone soon.

United were shite. West Ham took their goals well (and got a bit of luck), but United were so damn poor at the same time.

Something drastic is needed.