soccerball 22/23, the WC hump season

Just in time today before men's Elite DH from snowshoe.

2-1 for Liverpool please

I 'look forward' to the season with even more than the usual sense of dread. Nothing has changed. The farcical transfer dealings (same old, same old....) show the club is still a total shambles and my expectations are absolutely zero other than a lot of swearing and blood pressure medication

Its going to be the two teams playing today that are going to be fighting for the title and my money is on Citeh again

I'm not sure I'm ready for it all, it just feels far too soon. I'm certainly not looking forward to the WC mid season. I've enjoyed England womens far more than I ever have the men.

I agree on City winning again, Liverpool 2nd but Arsenal and Spurs to put up a better fight this season

I’m certainly not looking forward to the WC mid season

I think the Daily Mash perfectly summed up most peoples sentiment about that

Haaland is some unit. Wonder if he'll climb into the commentary gantry and have a word with Roy for picking on his Dad.

Got to be worth a punt as highest scorer in the league this season

*fires up betting app*

I’ve just had a look and he’s the favourite at 3/1

I could see both city and Liverpool scoring over 100 premier league goals this season, perhaps both breaking the previous goals record for a season, what would the odds be on that?

A little touch of class from Ian Rush shaking all the mascots hands.

Oh I've missed this, top class game so far, but would have preferred not to start until late August.

Ah, too early in the season to take anything from that game, except that Liverpool looked sharp, should be these two battling again, with maybe another one coming through from Arsenal/Tottenham/ManU, Chelsea is just an unknown just now.

Think just from what i saw today you can see how important it was for Liverpool to keep Salah, the guy is just world class, Thiago is showing his worth as well, really controls the middle, Liverpool probably have the strongest spine of a team with Allison/Van Dijk/Thiago/Salah, but Man City aren't far behind, they just have to work out what the final jigsaw looks like with all their players vying for positions.

This will be a strange season and one of two halves. There will be injuries at the world cup and very very tired players after. If ever a strong and deep squad were important is this season. I also think January's transfer dealings could be very very important. For those reasons, it is harder to predict. That said, citeh win the prem but as usual fall at the quarters or semis in cl. Liverpool 2nd, bit further in cl. Chelsea...3rd and better then let season but not really closing the gap.

I shall likely be proven wrong pretty quick but I must think ten hag could be out of his depth in the prem, and add others have already said the rest of the club looks broken still.

Gooners, Jesus is a good other but I hope they are still very flawed elsewhere.

Obviously I'm pleased spurs have done some good work signing players. It's not enough to challenge the top 2 I feel but I'd love to take 6 off citeh again. Hopefully we can be pushing Chelsea. Hopefully we can off load the half dozen we need to (rodon and tanganga could be gone, ndombele we can't give away and interest in winks seems to have dried up) to my it mind we also still need to buy several defenders, I have faith though. I'm going to hope for some August arrivals and a couple of important January signings, maybe snatch 3rd from Chelsea and a cl run. Silverware...hmm... Conte has me believing in him but.... Hmmmt, doubt it

Leicester and wolves to do well. Hopefully not West ham.

I just can't see ManU being worse than they were last season, Ten Hag won't need to do that much to get them playing better, the likes of Sancho, Rashford, Van De Beek, Varane, etc all had stinkers of a season, i can see Sancho and Rashford doing well due to World Cup and being a bit more ready after the preseason.

Think Arsenal could fighting for that third/fourth position this year, they've missed that forward like Jesus, Zinchenko gives them strength on the left and Vieira more fight in attack, they'll have Tomiyasu and Tierney back from injury as well, and Saliba back in the mix, it's that central area that's their issue, can Xhaka and Partey play like they should do, i'll not mention Pepe as that must be the worst signing the EPL has ever seen!

I just can’t see ManU being worse than they were last season

To be fair, most pub sides would be hard pushed to be worse than we were last season

Lol!

Tbf, man u have some incredible players, I'd love rashford and Sancho at spurs. They don't seem to be a team though.

United will be better, for sure. ETH actually coaches and they will at least have a coherent plan and playing style. I’m not sure that’s enough for top four though. Hope Ronaldo sticks around chucking his toys out the pram.

Amazed City sold Sterling to be honest. Yes he misses chances but he changes games - I’d have him over Grealish/Mahrez everyday. Fascinating to see if Haaland can adapt to City’s style as well.

Meanwhile back at the coalface Reading lost to Blackpool. It's going to be a long joyless season yet again.

Burnley looked good on Friday night. Looks like Kompany has really got them playing. The 1-0 score line didn’t reflect the match at all.

I was fearing the worst for them, but that managerial appointment is looking pretty shrewd if they carry on playing like that

So we are underway! Can Fulham hold on to this lead!?

So we are underway! Can Fulham hold on to this lead!?

Must be time for the first dodgy decision of the season when a favourite is losing to a minnow.

It's not anfield though

C'mon you reds! 🙂

4-1 win and top of the league 🤣. I'm happy. Can we end the season early? 😂

LOL the "random" fixture generator throws you a home banker for your first game, only to throw a fit! and blow it! Binners hoping for the half time team talk bounce.

LOL the “random” fixture generator throws you a home banker for your first game, only to throw a fit! and blow it! Binners hoping for the half time team talk bounce.

Gary Nevilles just run downstairs at old trafford to grab Ronaldo's car keys 😂

🙂

Binners hoping for the half time team talk bounce.

I think Binners is well past the 'hope' stage by now.

Ten Aaargh must be looking at the team sheet with the growing realisation that he needs replacements in virtually every position. Anyone decent coming through the academy, or has Ed Woodward shut that down now?

I think Binners is well past the ‘hope’ stage by now.

I know I just didn't want to be "calling the win" @ half time 😉

Is there a direct correlation between ManU being behind and the amount of time that Fernandes spends on the ground 😂

I think Binners is well past the ‘hope’ stage by now

About 5-6 years ago.

It’s the hope that kills you

I was being optimistic today and bet on a draw. I went into this season with zero expectations, so losing to Brighton at home was pretty much what I expected to be seeing

We’re a pub side

We were a pub side last season and I saw absolutely no reason whatsoever to think this one was going to start any differently

To be fair Binners, Maguire and Martinez look a good partnership.

Good enough to ship two goals, at home, to a Brighton side that have lost some key players and not replaced them?

Mrs Binners bet on a Brighton win, obviously 🙄

She’s forty quid up, so she’s getting the beers in while she mocks me

If you just waited to see her predicted result and stuck your money on that, you'd be minted in no time.

What's her call on City/West Ham? 🙂

what no pogba rant 😉

What’s her call on City/West Ham? 🙂

She said she’s not bothered betting on that, as she only bets on certainties like Man Yoo losing at home to Brighton

Brutal stuff. I'm actually thinking 2-2. Wouldn't do to not be level pegging with Liverpool for most of the season like normal.

Meanwhile back at the coalface Reading lost to Blackpool. It’s going to be a long joyless season yet again.

Well done Caher, that prediction saw us good this week 😉

Can’t write Utd and ETH off after one game! Reactionary 6-0-6 nonsense!

He seems more of a coach than the previous managers. Let’s see if he can get his ideas across……although the transfer policy seems as muddled as ever. Four left backs on the books now, two poor right backs, no replacement for McFred……or Ronaldo. Can’t see Bruno and Eriksen working in the same team, especially both playing so far forward. Seem to be hoping de Jong feels sorry for them and signs up. So yeah, ETH has got his work cut out!

Can’t write Utd and ETH off after one game! Reactionary 6-0-6 nonsense

I don’t doubt he’s a great manager but he’s joined a basket case of a club

At the end of the day we’ve still got McFred in midfield, no centre forward, a massive selection of shit defenders and Bruno has seemingly become the new Deli Ali

You can’t polish a turd. The club is a shambles. We needed a complete rebuild, we’ve got nothing like

Europa Conference League

At best

We’ve just lost 2-1 to Brighton at home FFS!

The top sides (and probably everybody) are going to be rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of coming to OT and picking up the easiest 3 points they’ll get all season

Fulham looked ten times better than us this weekend. At least they’ve got someone who knows where the back of the net is

Kinda what I was saying. Let’s see if he can garner an improvement from the current lot to attract some new players. But given how Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea have strengthened I cannot see them making the top four.

Not a chance of top four

This club is seeing the results of 15 years of ownership by parasitic shysters who know nothing about football and are only interested in money

Ten Hag will fail, as everyone before him has, because the people who own and run the club are absolutely clueless about what actually takes place on the pitch, but the real problem is that they’re not even interested. They couldn’t give a *! They’re just milking it for all they can get out of it

I watched that shite this afternoon, which is no improvement on the dross we were served up last season, with a mate who thinks that if that’s now the acceptable standard at Old Trafford then we’ll be in a relegation scrap at the end of the season. I’d love to argue with home, but didn’t because for a diehard United fan to say that it Just shows how far we’ve fallen under these *s!

And they are utter ****s!

Aaaannd moving on, Harland getting a lot of praise.

Well done Caher, that prediction saw us good this week

I actually got back to watch the Cardiff game.

I went to watch an FA Cup game this afternoon at a local club. 2-1 home win, 2 missed pens and red card and 200+ happy fans and a pretty decent traveling support from South Yorkshire.

The BBC are dropping the classified results.

Quite sad IMO.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-62397375

Given the spread of games across a weekend rather than the majority being played at 3pm on a Saturday, as well as just being able to quickly read the results on the internet, I am surprised they have lasted this long. No great loss for me.

Not sure how many people do the Football Pools any more and need all the results read out in order.

It's a bit like being cross that you can't sit in front of Ceefax any more and enter 303 every minute to get live scores.

No great loss for me.

Me too. I actually stumbled across Final Score on Saturday (looking for Commonwealth Games coverage) and found it a very odd experience as it seemed so out of kilter with modern communication – as above, it's so easy to check online so absolutely no need to wait for a scheduled programme. I just use the Sky Sports app – automatic notifications for my team and I can 'favourite' any other matches I wish to for notifications on those games too.

so, idle curiosity.....

One round of games played - who's going to be the first managerial casualty based on that

Southampton and Villa both on poor runs from end of last season into this are my predictions. Or Everton, being Everton.

it’s so easy to check online so absolutely no need to wait for a scheduled programme.

No great loss for me

It’s a bit like being cross that you can’t sit in front of Ceefax any more and enter 303 every minute to get live scores.

Just out of curiosity, are any of you over 40?

To me it's a sound than goes back to my childhood. Far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Rush goalie. Two at the back, three in the middle, four up front, one's gone home for his tea.

No great loss for me.

Me neither

I constantly check the scores during the course of the weekend on my FF app, Just to confirm that this is always still the case

I’m even worse at FF than I am at betting on football. I really should Jack them both in. Alongside the woeful form of the bloody awful team I support, I’m not deriving a great deal of pleasure from it at the moment

One round of games played – who’s going to be the first managerial casualty based on that

Stevie G for definite, just due to the ridiculous expectations of Villa fans

Stevie G for definite, just due to the ridiculous expectations of Villa fans

I have a suspicion that you don't actually know any Villa fans. If you did, you'd know that our expectations run as far as the hope of bettering our performances of the last two seasons.

I'd say that was a reasonable rather than ridiculous expectation.

I personally haven't seen anything from Gerrard as a manager at Villa or elsewhere that makes me think that this expectation will be achieved and I personally doubt that he'll still be in charge come the end of the season.

Would love to be proved wrong on all counts.

Ralph Hassenhuttel to go first. Especially if they don’t pick
up a few wins given how they ended last season.

Gerrard won the league with Rangers but the football was pretty functional. Relied heavily on an excellent (that season) defence and Celtic having a shocker. He’s yet to do anything to suggest he’s the heir to Klopp.

Please, please, please let him be the heir to Klopp 😉

If you didn't listen to it live, then Nihal Arthanayake today on Five Live is well worth a listen on BBC Sounds.

Its discussing all the best things about going to the match other than the football, including Parmo's in a bun at Middlesborough, Benny and Hot at Burnley, pies, pre-match pints, ironic chants to crap players* and many of the other joys we all love

Its great! 😀

* I used to love the Zamora one at Fulham 'when you're sat in Row Z and the ball hits your head.... that's Zamora'

I'm sure he was aiming for row Z at the time but...

Lampard has a tough job at Everton so I could see that failing fast.

The comment above about somebody (Fernandes ?) Being the next Dele set me thinking. How is it that talented players suddenly become untalented? I mean proper useless, like Dele. I get the, 'I'm rich and can't be bothered' nasri/bale etc. I can get a change of team and the style just doesn't suit a player, I can get a player having a bad season, but how does someone do a Dele!? He hasn't been the only one. Torres was pretty spectacular in his fall from form. What is it? Drugs? What?
Wish we'd sold Dele 4 years earlier..... But then I couldn't foresee his fall from ability and would have been seething if levy had done.

Dele’s decline is an odd one, given his age. He should be in his prime right now. I suspect it’s a combination of things - confidence, motivation and tactics. His main strength seemed to be arriving in the box and getting on the end of things, bit like David Platt back in the day. And like Platt he’s not really that great at anything else which seems daft but I just don’t think he fits into the current trend of playing. Doesn’t seem to press much?

He could press, fit young lad not afraid to run or to be a dirty sh**. Remember his early days and attitude... Lucky to not be sent off a few times, or thumped by a more Ramos like player! He was also very good at very quick balls forward, usually to Kane.

Anyway, I hope he finds some confidence and a good fit somewhere again, he was fun to watch when playing well.

Next weekend will be a very different test for spurs.... Stamford bridge.

Aye you’re right - he did play with a chip on his shoulder. Odd he’s lost that.

We'll never see anything like this again

Anyway, I hope he finds some confidence and a good fit somewhere again, he was fun to watch when playing well.

His sole contribution for Everton on Saturday, when bought on as a sub, was a terrible first touch to a great through ball into the box, then he tripped over his own feet and fell over.

Everton and Man Yoo do now seem to be the clubs where careers go to die. I'm surprised we didn't buy him. Mind you, there's time yet. The windows still open, isn't it

Our transfer policy, if its true we've signed Marko Arnautovic, appears to now involve picking names out of a hat

Dele is pretty easy to explain tbh.

Young lad breaks into MK Dons team at early age. He is physically more mature than most 16/17yr olds so stands out with his peers and within the lower leagues. As a young lad he plays more first team football than 90% of kids at premier league teams.

He gets his early move to Spurs.

He quickly establishes himself in the Spurs side under Poch. He has the physical attributes to cope with Premier League football even though he is still growing and is really a kid. He becomes a mainstay of the team with the HIGEN press. Dele Alli as he is known then is the pivot of the press. He is the athelete who can cover most ground, is physically capable of putting himself about and mobile enough to get on the end of things. It works really well for 3-4 yrs and he has success with England too.

Now the issues. He was a young man when he came to spurs. He starts to mature. He starts to believe his own hype and starts holding the ball longer than he should and thinking he can be some kind of playmaker. Major major muscle issues hamper him. He was working at 110% without proper recovery or any consideration for what he was doing to his body. He starts to have longer and longer periods out with injury. Poch rushes him back from those injuries and plays him all the time he is available. Its a bad circle which just continues. His last 18mths under Poch he is a disaster. Poch goes.

This all coincides with major family issues. Dele removes any reference to Alli from his shirts. He is surrounded by ****ers and he starts getting himself into troubles at hotels etc.

Jose comes in as manager (Forget about the other guy). He tries a different approach. The hand on the shoulder doesnt work so Jose tries embarrassing Dele. Dele has NEVER been a good trainer, going in at 50%. He relies on his natural athletisism. Jose turns on him and Dele being a rich, injured, angry young man rebuffs it all. He gets worse and worse. Second season with Jose Dele actually went full pre season abroad with a fitness trainer trying to put everything right. He was absolutely 100% fit. He came back but his game had dissapeared. He had lost all his youthfull energy and was now a man, a strong man but much clumsier.

Dele downfall was Poch & Spurs. But then maybe if he had been held back the inevitable would be him failing anyhow. At least this way he got his time to shine early. Never know but he is paying the physical price of too much too soon imo.

Other major factors in Dele's decline are the loss of form and eventual transfer of Eriksen. He kept making the late runs in the box, but no-one ever looked up and picked him out.

Too much time spent on Fortnight.

Armed burglary at his home where he got assaulted.

Poch's intense training provided results on the pitch, but also took something from them. Dembele was broken. Dele has stated he can't train to the same intensity any more.

Tottenham playing a different system - he is very effective in one position only, and playing him anywhere else makes him look average.

People forget just how good he was. 16 goals in League 1 aged 17/18, 10 goals in the PL aged 18/19, 18 aged 19/20. More goals than Gerrard/Lampard/Scholes etc at that stage of their careers. Even in the Champions League semi, he got two assists for Lucas.

Shame he can't perform at this level any more, but sounds like he had a pretty bad upbringing so hope he's happy now.

Poch didnt break Dembele. He resurrected him. Dembele had similar major muscle issues BEFORE Poch got hold of him. His hips and groin issues were killing him, he always carried a few pounds and struggled with fitness. Poch was the only Spurs manager who managed to get him fit and keep him fit and actually convince him to move the ball quickly. 2 or 3 seasons he became the player he always should have been. Prior to that he was the same as Dele.

Dembele realised that he could only maintain that kind of fitness and remain injury free for so long and made a decision to quite before he did himself too much damage.

It’s reaching the point where I’ve run out of swear words and I’m inventing new ones to shout. Mainly aimed at the human scarecrow Harry ****ing Maguire. I’d he actually capable of movement? It would appear not.

The only consolation is that anticipating exactly the same utter shambles as last weekend, I stuck a few quid on a Brentford win

There’s still 60 minutes left for manu to get 4 😁

0-3 before halftime???? 😂😂 Dear lord….

Make that 4!!!!

Gonna be a long journey back up the 303 to Yeovil

Eriksen must be regretting moving for the money. Brilliant first half from Brentford.

I didn’t really think that it was possible to watch a United side that was even more of a clueless shambles than the one that finished last season

Turns out that was wildly optimistic

The entire club is a *ing joke! Not one of those players is fit to wear the *ing shirt!!

Ten Hag needs to be ****ing punching people in that dressing room, because that shitshow was absolutely inexcusable

At least they've got an easy home game next.

Indeed. We’ve got Liverpool next week. I think I’ll stick a bet on them getting into double figures

I didn’t really think that it was possible to watch a United side that was even more of a clueless shambles than the one that finished last season

Turns out that was wildly optimistic

Have to say, i honestly thought ManU with a few signings and a new manager could do well this season, i might be as wrong as you were.

Someone has to tell me how Eriksen has gone from being the centre forward one week to the defensive midfielder the following game, McTominay must be sat there thinking 'at least i'm not part of this nonsense' 😂

He’ll probably play him as a central defender next week. He’d be better than ****ing Maguire!

Apparently Brentford fans crucifying Erikson for moving to a smaller club 🤣

At least for ManU fans they didn't lose the second half 😁

It’s going to be ‘interesting’ to see how toxic it gets at OT a week on Monday for the Liverpool match. This feels like a real tipping point

from the bbc comments

Brentfords' Annual Wagebill is currently £16,834.000
Man Utd's Annual Wagebill is currently £202,785.000