AustrianNiner Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 21 hours ago, texans_uk said: I mean, I don't know many Ajax fans but, De Boer won 4 straight Dutch titles with some pretty impressive results along the way. I've also seen some Ajax fans being pretty happy when he left, his last two seasons were pretty dire apparently and results just came off individual performances. I was kind of shocked when they faced Roger Schmidt's Salzburg in the EL and were absolutely smashed twice with de Boer being absolutely unable to make any adjustments to his team to escape Salzburg's pressing, in fact he didn't do anything at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKTexans Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 13, 14, 15 & 16 are up. Work has been hell, so apologies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustrianNiner Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 Good work fellas! I'd predict the top 6 to be something like this: 1. Man Utd Mourinho in his 2nd year at Utd should be way more successful than in his first, lost Ibra but added Lukaku who is able to constantly beat the hell out of the lesser PL CBs and a crucial piece in midfield with Nemanja Matic, who was brilliant under Mou at Chelsea. They'll simply beat all the sides they have to and will defend themselves to some draws against the top teams to win the title. 2. Man City City started off brilliantly last season before their defence really hurt them. They haven't really strengthened their central defence but did all you can ask for at fullback and also added another brilliant footballer in Bernardo Silva. Still don't think their defence is good enough so they'll just fall short. 3. Spurs Nothing new at Spurs, which isn't bad, but it doesn't really make them better than last year and they'll still have their weaknesses(which have been talked about here already). with FB the most glaring one right now with Walker gone, Trippier injured and Rose being a douchebag. A long international season would be great for them but could make them fall out of the top 4 in the league. 4. Chelsea Chelsea is the only top 6 team that is weaker right now than at the end of last season imo. Matic gone, replaced by Bakayoko who' needs time to adapt and should have been developed behind Matic, according to Conte. Also, Morata is a big unknown to me, could turn out well, could be a big bust as well though but certainly not better than Costa. Rüdiger is ok, hasn't played a role for them so far. They're still short of wing-backs and midfielders. Tension building up between Conte and the Chelsea board which could have an impact on their season and may lead to them falling out of the CL spots. 5. Arsenal Did the most important thing in keeping Alexis and Özil, finally added the striker everyone wanted and a powerhouse at LB. Both strengthen this team but I'm not sure they've improved that much. Not sure a striker is what they've lacked, still not a fan of their midfield and central defence is quite weak, especially with Koscielny perhaps nearing the end of his playing career faster than people would've hoped for. Holding is a gem though, still should have added more quality there. Can see them finishing ahead of Spurs and Chelsea if Alexis and Özil stay fit and Laca scores enough to make up for their lack of quality behind them. Right now I see them at 5 but it's pretty close between them and Chelsea for me. 6. Liverpool Same as always, will beat the teams above and fail to beat the dross consistently, Lallana is out for a while, Coutinho is messing around and we have absolutely no alternative to those two. Salah is great and was needed, but the lack of creativity and the lack of solutions against well organized teams will cost us as both pace monsters can't make up for that. Central defence still isn't great aswell and as we're playing international football at least until December, the lack of squad depth makes it hard to rotate, which would be absolutely neccesary given our intense style of play. Will have some really bad games in December and January(again) and will quite certainly miss out on the top 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKTexans Posted August 11, 2017 Author Share Posted August 11, 2017 All the previews are now up. We may as well use this as a thread for the EPL season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kempus Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 Superb write ups all around. Great job to anyone who participated in this and of course Tex, for organizing it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeezy Fanatic Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 Arsenal defending still a disaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKTexans Posted August 11, 2017 Author Share Posted August 11, 2017 3-2 Either Leicester are back at it Or Arsenal are terrible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teamorange Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 I love it when the announcers say zonal marking is the problem and how it is a flawed system but then points out what the players are doing wrong in the system. So maybe it isn't the system but the players Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teamorange Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 This feels like and looks like the year Ox will put it all together. He was unbelievable today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustrianNiner Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 Proper way to start the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr LBC Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 1 hour ago, teamorange said: I love it when the announcers say zonal marking is the problem and how it is a flawed system but then points out what the players are doing wrong in the system. So maybe it isn't the system but the players I mean, no one should expect Kyle Martino to make sense anyway. All he does is criticize without every being able to critically back it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marky mark Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 We're so sloppy in our own third. Two of Leicester's goals came after awful turnovers. Need Koscielny and Mustafi back ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roysmyboy31 Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 Exciting way for soccer season to restart. Both sides certainly have to work on their defending. I do think Leicester can have a solid year, but Arsenal were sloppy with the ball today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr LBC Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 3 hours ago, roysmyboy31 said: Exciting way for soccer season to restart. Both sides certainly have to work on their defending. I do think Leicester can have a solid year, but Arsenal were sloppy with the ball today. I'm less concerned about the sorting itself out because of the three starters on the back line today, only one would normally be starting and not at the spot in the line he was today. Koscielny returning from his suspension will reassert some organization, and Mustafi returning once he's in match shape following another pointless summer tournament, should bring some increased stability. And, honestly, Cech had a mare of a match today - I found myself screaming constantly for him to come off his line and play the ball. Back lines are a matter of chemistry and this combination hadn't logged any minutes together previously, aside from the remainder of the Community Shield after Mertesacker got sliced up by Cahill. What was a bit more concerning defensively, but I'll worry about if it becomes more of a habit was the reluctance of the midfield and defenders to press in our own half. They did it and did it well against Chelsea in both the FA Cup and Community Shield matches, so there's really no argument to be made that they should have feared Leicester more. Passing, honestly, left a lot to be desired today and I was really surprised we still came out of the match with something like 70% of possession in spite of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khodder Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 Conte will have his work cut out for him this season with the current squad. A couple of injuries and they'll be struggling to put a game-day 18 together. How they cope with such a small squad and being expected to compete on at 3 fronts will be very interesting to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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