First weekend of Premier League

[Arginald Valleywater]

Interesting to say the least. Liverpool looked average, especially as Gerrard was distracted by his upcoming fight with Amir Khan. Man U were under par but Chelsea and The Gunners looked much slicker. I am neutral but see Chelsea as faves.

[jj]

Arsenal looked amazing- but as usual, they'll fall off when the
injuries kick in.
Chelsea- OK, but lucky as usual; too many egos for cohesion;
'Pool- hmmm.... I think Hansen's whistling in the dark if he
thinks they'll win the title.
Man U- they'll cope without the Preening Ninny, and Ferg's still
da Boss.

On a personal note, nice to see Sundlund [or Tottenham-on-the
-Wear] winning in style for a change- but as usual the last ten
were a bit antsy. Fulop's maturing nicely- he kept them in it.

Going [back] down?
Burnley, Wolves.
Joining them? Pompey.

[Guilbert]

>Liverpool looked average,

Agreed. I am amazed Hansen says they will win the league.

They totally rely on Gerrard and Torres and without them are average, but Torres particularly is injury prone. If he is out where is their strike force?

Benitez has been there years, dozens of players have come and gone, but he still does not have a TEAM.

Last year the Man U back four was mostly O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra.

Apart from Carragher I had no idea who else was gong to play in Liverpool's back 4. He could pick any one of about 3 right backs or 3 left backs, and either Hypia, Skrtel or Agger in the centre.

And now he has had another close season and still does not have a team (and has paid 20 million for an injury prone midfield player).

They will be lucky to finish in the top 4.

[Guilbert]

> The Gunners looked much slicker.

They did look good, but I have to say Everton looked awful.

The Fabregas goal, where the goalie threw the ball out to him on the edge of the box, and he ran all the way to the other end without a single Everton player getting near him, let alone putting a tackle in, was terrible, schoolboy stuff.

Mind you, Arsenal do have some quality players: Van Persie, Arshavin, Fabregas and others.

They also have a decent SQUAD, which is just as important nowadays.

But I think they will miss Adebayor. Rather like Drogba at Chelsea, he is a menace in the box and a good target man to keep defenders busy while other players like Van Persie or Arshavin or Fabregas glide into scoring positions.

They wont win the league but will probably finish above Liverpool.

[Guilbert]

>I am neutral but see Chelsea as faves.

I agree.

Man U have lost Ronaldo and Tevez and now have a weaker squad.

Scholes and Giggs are now a year older and are not up to a full season of matches. Hargreaves is still injured, and Nani and Anderson have not delivered on their promise.

He has a lot of midfield players at Man U, but how many would get in the Chelsea or Barcelona team, few if any (Carrick?).

Chelsea have a large squad and have the best set of "back up" players of any team.

To be able to bring on Ballack and Deco like they did on Saturday shows the depth of squad.

And others like Alex, Belletti, Ivanovic, Ferreira and Zhirkov (plus Joe Cole when he gets fit) are available to come in.

Chelsea for the title from me.

(I am neutral, a Villa supporter, who WONT do as well as last season)

[Sam Slater]

Watched the Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal games, and about an hour of Chelsea's. To be honest nothings really changed from the back-end of last season.

Liverpool looked dangerous at times but couldn't live with Spurs' quick passing and since Gerrard and Torres had a below-par game so did the team. A bit like last year.

Chelsea are big, powerful and organised, but boring to watch, which is why I turned off after an hour. A bit like last year.

Man Utd kept the ball well and created loads of chances without scoring them, getting a 1-0 win. A bit like last year.

Arsenal were slick but until two silly goals Everton were matching them. Arsenal will get these high-scoring wins from time to time but will also lose against weaker, well-organised teams just as often. Bit like - yes, you guessed it- last year.

[Sam Slater]

[quote]Last year the Man U back four was mostly O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra.[/quote]

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure Man Utd had more changes in the back four than any other EPL team.

And I think Hypia has retired from football.

[Guilbert]

>I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure Man Utd had more changes in the back four than any other EPL team.

No premier team has the same back 4 every week, and yes Ferdinand, Vidic etc did miss games, and people like Evans and O'Shea filled in.

However if asked for the main Man U back 4 I would have said O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra.

But if I was asked for Liverpool's back 4 last season I would have said Carragher and any other 3 from about 10 (Agger, Skrtel, Arbeloa, Dossena, Insua, Degan, Aurelio etc). Nobody (even Benitez) had any idea of their "best" back 4.

>And I think Hypia has retired from football.

No he had gone to Bayer Leverkusen

[Jonone]

Add Gary Neville, Raphael Da Silva, and Johnny Evans to United's list. This season expect to see Ritchie De Laet and possibly Hargreaves too, but yes, I take your point that Ferguson has a better idea of a preferred 'back four'.

[Sam Slater]

Oh yes. I think given a full squad to choose from Ferguson knows his best back four whereas Benitez doesn't. Over the course of the season, though, Man Utd's back four changed more than Liverpool's due to injuries.

Having done a bit of research Liverpool used a total of 8 different players to fill the back four slots during the 08/09 season. These were:

Carragher - 38 apps
Arbeloa - 29 apps
Aurelio - 24 apps
Skrtel - 18 apps
Agger - 17 apps
Dossena - 16 apps
Hypia - 15 apps
Insua - 10 apps


Man Utd used 10 different players to fill the back four slots during the 08/09 season. These were:

Vidic - 31 apps
Evra - 28 apps
Ferdinand - 24 apps
O'Shea -20 apps
Evans - 16 apps
Neville - 13 apps
R da Silva - 12 apps
Brown - 6 apps
Eckersley - 2 apps
De Laet - 1 app

I'm pretty sure Fletcher and Giggs filled in at fullback in some games, which adds to the number. And didn't Carrick fill in at centre-half in one game (after a sending off)?

Note the sole Englishman in Liverpool's back four compared to Man Utd's 4 Englishmen (6-1 when you count Brits/Irish).