International Football 16-17

[lopernv]

• Chelsea, as much as I hate to say it, win
• Man City second
• Zlatan doesn't flop, but he's not sensational
• Pogba never comes to Man U
• Manchester United miss CL
• Mourinho not sacked
• Arsenal don't sign a striker
• Hull finish last
• Burnley avoids the drop
• Middlesbrough finish top-10 (BTW guys, it's Middlesbrough, not MiddlesbOrough, it's spelled like it's said)
• Leicester finish top-10 with Mahrez, bottom-10 without Mahrez
• Leading goal scorer: Harry Kane
• PFA PotY: Kevin De Bruyne
• PFA Young PotY: Anthony Martial

[JTernup]

I think a lot of people here are vastly overrating Pogba's potential impact on United. Don't get me wrong he is a great player and I rate him very highly, I wanted City to splash 70M pounds last year but 100M is getting ridiculous. In 42 matches for Juve last season he had 9 goals and 15 assists. Placed in the PL which is a tougher league on a team without much attacking prowess last season that added Mourinho, I think MUFC would be a bad fit for him at this time. I think he could certainly improve their quality but not to the point of single handedly pushing them to a title like some here have predicted. 

 

My prediction:

1 City- The power of Pep shows itself and KDB shows why he will be the best player in the PL for years to come.

2 Spurs- They fell apart this year towards the end but the title race will be closer and they won't have that let down to end the season.

3 United- They will improve under Mourinho but it won't be enough even with Pogba. The top 3 will finish only 5 points apart.

4 Arsenal- 2015/16 was an unusual year this was no more clearly seen than Arsenal NOT finishing fourth.

5 Chelsea- Marked improvement over last season but still far behind the top 3.

6 West Ham- continue to rise into one of the top PL clubs.

7 Liverpool- Same old, not enough fire power. 

8 Leicester- Can't deal with the losses, can't reproduce the magic, can't handle the CL.

 

I won't make predictions not the relegation battle but hopefully some of the new blood stays in the PL.

[crashcarson15]

9 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

20. Hull City: If your coach leaves 3 weeks before the season and it's not for a better job, you're done.

Hey, it’s better than five days before the start of the season…  you, Martin O’Neill.

 

Merged the PL predictions thread with this one, because it doesn’t really need its own thread. Also changed the title here to “International Football 16/17,” which is our standard naming convention.

[crashcarson15]

As for non-housekeeping things, an early set of Premier League (and then general football) predictions…

 

Clearly, predicting the Prem this year is tough, given you have no fewer than 6 title contenders: It’s difficult to rule out Leicester and Spurs (though if Mahrez goes too, maybe we can with the former), while Arsenal, City, Chelsea and United could all feasibly do it. If you want an outsider shout, and I don’t think it happens this year, but Klopp with Liverpool charging toward the top could be a thing, especially as we enter another year where the three biggest sides in England all have new managers.

 

Give me Chelsea though to take home the title, especially if they can get Lukaku in. I really rate Conte, and find it hard to believe Hazard, Fabregas et al are going to struggle again this year. Avoiding fixture congestion with no European football could also be huge for a title push this year.

 

Neither Leicester nor Spurs qualify for the Champions League again — I think Leicester do no better than mid-table personally — and there’ll be a surprise team that qualifies for Europe. Give me Stoke to finish, like, 6th after mounting a Champions League challenge. I’d love to be wrong on Spurs, but I think they fall off the pace again.

 

Swansea to be relegated. It’s not that they’re a bottom-three team, but as more cash comes into the league and everyone can spend, the margin gets thinner. The saving grace for the established Premier League sides is that Middlesbrough are going to be the only promoted side worth a damn, but I’ve long held the bottom will fall out on Swans at some point. I could see this oddly being that point.

 

Oh, and West Brom to be relegated too. If I say it enough, it’s going to come true, right? But no seriously, I get that Tony Pulis doesn’t get relegated, but West Brom are one of the few sides left in the Premier League with the long-term goal of “remain in the league.” Where, say, Palace and Bournemouth are showing ambition to move up the table, WBA is very content finishing 17th every year, taking their money and going home. Eventually that bites you in the ass, right?

 

Hull will be terrible, which means Burnley get to be everyone’s feel-good story, which would be pretty neat. Sean Dyche is a very good manager, and maybe this time it works a little better for the Clarets.

 

Dropping down a division, I’m a little biased, but I don’t see Newcastle getting out of the Championship this year, I really don’t. I think Derby County finally break through into the top flight as champions, with Wolves going up a bit of a surprise second. Villa though scrape through in the playoff, which would kill my nerves but serve me alright.

 

Outside of England, throwing a tenner on Dortmund to win the Bundesliga at 7/1 is a very, very good idea. They’ve done some great business, have strengthened their side (less playing time for Pulisic is a good thing at BVB, for instance) and Bayern are going through a change at manager. Clearly Bayern are still favorites, but if Dortmund are winning a title anytime soon, I think this needs to be the year.

 

Marseille to be relegated at 16/1 really is a great shout IMO, given how big of a disaster that club is right now. The bottom of Ligue 1 got a little stronger — Gazelec and Troyes dropping out helps that — so a continued mess at the Velodrome could see disaster strike.

[MJWalker45]

8 hours ago, crashcarson15 said:

Dropping down a division, I’m a little biased, but I don’t see Newcastle getting out of the Championship this year, I really don’t. I think Derby County finally break through into the top flight as champions, with Wolves going up a bit of a surprise second. Villa though scrape through in the playoff, which would kill my nerves but serve me alright.

I'll disagree with you here. I see them doing the same thing they did the last time they went down, especially if they can keep Wijnaldum. They'll bl;ow out the bottom half of the table and squeak by the top teams. I don't think they'll break the points record like they did before. It does seem that DiMatteo has a plan for Villa and I hope he succeeds at it. He's a good coach who had the unfortunate luck of coaching at Chelsea when Abromovich cut his coaches every year and a half.

[crashcarson15]

1 hour ago, MJWalker45 said:

I'll disagree with you here. I see them doing the same thing they did the last time they went down, especially if they can keep Wijnaldum. They'll bl;ow out the bottom half of the table and squeak by the top teams. I don't think they'll break the points record like they did before. It does seem that DiMatteo has a plan for Villa and I hope he succeeds at it. He's a good coach who had the unfortunate luck of coaching at Chelsea when Abromovich cut his coaches every year and a half.

erm…

 

 

I tended to think that’d happen with Newcastle (why I much preferred Sunderland to drop instead), but the more I think about things, the more of a mess that club’s in. I don’t see them bossing the division like they did last time, but we’ll see.

[MJWalker45]

5 minutes ago, crashcarson15 said:

erm…

 

 

I tended to think that’d happen with Newcastle (why I much preferred Sunderland to drop instead), but the more I think about things, the more of a mess that club’s in. I don’t see them bossing the division like they did last time, but we’ll see.

They're hosed. I think if they would have kept him, the rest of the roster would stabilize. Now that this domino has fallen let's see how many can get out before the door closes on Monday.

[Berlin Wall]

1 hour ago, MJWalker45 said:

They're hosed. I think if they would have kept him, the rest of the roster would stabilize. Now that this domino has fallen let's see how many can get out before the door closes on Monday.

 

The transfer window does not close on monday, it closes a month later.

[MJWalker45]

Yup. Mixing up my sports. Baseball's trade deadline is the 1st this year.

[Crabcake]

It might be a little late, but I was on vacation while all the predictions were going on, and I love that kind of stuff, so here goes:

 

1. Manchester City - Easily the most talented roster in the BPL, KDB begins his journey into soccer's elite, Aguero stays fit for long enough to get the Golden Boot, and Gundogan and Fernandinho form the midfield of dreams for City.

2. Manchester United - As much as I love to see the Red devils fail, their acquisitions this year (both on the field and on the touchline) should pretty much guarantee then top-3.  Zlatan won't be a failure, but he will show his age.  If they get Pogba, he will do good but he won't just boss teams like he's expected to (For comparison last year: Pogba: 42 apps for Juventus, 9 goals, 12 assists, will cost United around £112m; Milner: 30 apps for Liverpool, 5 goals, 11 assists, cost nothing).  Mkhitaryan will be their best acquisition.

3. Spurs - A young, talented roster got even better with some really top-notch business done in the transfer market.  They won't necessarily challenge for the title but they will be good for a while.

4. Chelsea - Conte has his work cut out for him but he showed this summer that he's one of the best managers in the world, and he'll do a great job with this squad.  Also some pretty good transfer business, highlighted by Kante.

5. Arsenal - This is the breaking point for the Gunners.  Xhaka will be good but Arsenal simply don't have the firepower up front (or the talent in general, for that matter) to compete with the top 4.  With the Gunners out of the Champions League for the first time since the Stone Age, Wenger will be sacked.  Alexis will follow him out the door, and possibly Ozil too.

6. Liverpool - This team is a dark horse.  Mane and Wijnaldum, while expensive, are good additions.  Karius will be much better than Mignolet in goal and Klopp has an underrated strike force of Sturridge, Origi, and Ings.  Add all of that to no European football and you get a legitimate top 4 challenge that will fall just short in the end.  Liverpool will be separated from the top 4 by no more than 5 points.

7. West Ham - If they add Bacca, their chances of moving up go up astronomically.  Bilic is a talented manager that complements a talented squad.  Expect them to challenge for domestic trophies.

8. Leicester City - The loss of Kante is a bigger loss than the possible departures of Vardy and/or Mahrez imo.  He was their energy, their engine room, the player that made them tick.  Now that he's gone, keeping Mahrez is priority No. 1, and if they do, they should comfortably be a top-half team next year.  If Mahrez stays, expect there to be no more than 6/7 points between them and Liverpool.

9. Southampton - They've withstood some pretty big raids in the past, but the loss of Koeman will be the biggest yet.  Their top two scorers from last season (Pelle, Mane) are gone, but the addition of Hojbjerg from Bayern should see them stay in the top half.

10. Stoke City - This is a really talented roster, with the likes of Arnautovic, Shaqiri, Afellay, and Butland.  But the Premier League is the deepest league in the world, and it means that Stoke can only eek out a top-half finish again.

11. Crystal Palace - It's a toss-up between them and Everton here, but I'm going with Palace because of their moves in the transfer window.  Mandanda is hugely underrated as a signing and an attacking midfield trio of Bolasie, Townsend, and Zaha is pretty scary.  If they add a top striker, they could finish even higher.

12. Everton - Their most important summer signing was bringing in Koeman, who is a fantastic manager.  Keeping Lukaku would also be a huge coup and a step in the right direction for them.  But their lack of summer signings puts them behind Palace imo.

13. Middlesbrough - They have made some fantastic moves to add to the squad that did really well in the Championship last year.  Getting Neven Subotic would have been even better, but they're still in a good spot with players like Gaston Ramirez, Stewart Downing, Alvaro Negredo, and Victor Valdes.

14. Swansea City - This is a good team but they don't have a lot of talent beyond Ayew, Sigurdsson, and Williams.  They'll comfortably avoid relegation but won't get close to the top half, either.

15. Watford - Ighalo and Deeney will combine once again to keep Watford in the Premier League.  As much as people laughed at them for turning down £30m for Deeney, he's arguably their most important player, so I think it was the right move for them.

16. Bournemouth - They showed great resilience last year to withstand bad injuries to stay up.  Their only major loss that I can think of was Matt Ritchie, and they added some good young talent (thanks for the £15m for Ibe guys ;)), plus they have one of the Prem's better young managers, Eddie Howe.  Getting Callum Wilson back will be huge.

17. Burnley - Call me crazy, but I'm taking Burnley to pull a Sunderland and miraculously, against all odds, finding a way to stay in the Premier League on the last day of the season.  Andre Gray will score more goals than Olivier Giroud next season, and Tom Heaton is a bright young goalie.

18. Sunderland - The loss of Big Sam is crippling to an organization that finally thought they had found their manager.  I don't think David Moyes will ever really recover from his failure at Man United, both in his reputation and as a manager.  This is finally the year that Sunderland goes down.

19. West Brom - Not.  Enough.  Talent.  They should count themselves fortunate if Berahino stays and they should count themselves even more fortunate if he stays for the whole season.  Once he inevitable leaves, there will not be enough talent left to have them stay.

20. Hull City - They were long shots to stay even before Bruce's departure, but after it, they are the closest thing to a shoo-in the Premier League has this year.  Expect them to go down without too much of a fight.

 

Golden Boot: Sergio Aguero, Man City (26 goals); Runner-up: Harry Kane, Spurs (21 goals)

PFA Player of the Year: Kevin De Bruyne, Man City; Runner-up: Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Man United

PFA Young Player of the Year: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Southampton; Runner-up: Andre Gray, Burnley

[Berlin Wall]

Well, Hertha playing Europa League quali right now.

 

 

[-kj]

Nice goal.  Those Hertha kits are a mess, though.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Is there any way to make people care about the International Champions Cup? I get the purpose of it, but there's already FIFA Club World Cup and that seems better. 

 

Also, Blonde Messi looks like an :censored:.

 

. 

[dfwabel]

2 hours ago, DG_Now said:

Is there any way to make people care about the International Champions Cup? I get the purpose of it, but there's already FIFA Club World Cup and that seems better.

ICC pays the mega clubs (ManU, Bayern, Real, City, Barça) €4 million/match* and pay for travel/lodging. Juventus, Chelsea, Liverpool, AC Milan, PSG, and Inter get €3 million per.

 

FIFA Club WC is for only one club and the payout is based upon their finish.

 

*- Some sites say per match and some say the total is overall.

[BlackBolt3]

7 hours ago, DG_Now said:

Is there any way to make people care about the International Champions Cup? I get the purpose of it, but there's already FIFA Club World Cup and that seems better. 

Hey, any way to get top level soccer in Charlotte is fine by me.

 

And speaking of which, what happened to Julian Green and the USMNT? I haven't seen that man since the World Cup. Did he fall out of favor with Klinsmann like that?

[GFB]

These kits in the AC Milan (grey) /Liverpool (volt) game are offensive to my eyes.

[crashcarson15]

On 7/30/2016 at 8:32 PM, BlackBolt3 said:

Hey, any way to get top level soccer in Charlotte is fine by me.

 

And speaking of which, what happened to Julian Green and the USMNT? I haven't seen that man since the World Cup. Did he fall out of favor with Klinsmann like that?

Green was sent out to Hamburg on loan after that World Cup, and ended up training with the U-23 team there, which is… not the point of a loan. Then upon his return this season, he went back to Bayern II and did quite well again, scoring 10 times. But effectively, he hasn’t progressed in the last two years.

 

IMO he could really use a loan move somewhere, but that somewhere is probably in the 2. Bundesliga, not in the top flight. He’s only had success in the fourth tier, which is neat, but not particularly telling of future success. Asking him to jump into Bayern’s squad is a step too far IMO.

[waltere]

In legitimately surprising news, Belgium just appointed Roberto Martinez

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36971352

[MJWalker45]

When you're so non descript no one realized you fired your coach, you're Belgium. 

[crashcarson15]

5 hours ago, waltere said:

In legitimately surprising news, Belgium just appointed Roberto Martinez

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36971352

Hey, the sacked a guy who can’t manage at all for one who can’t manage a defence at all!

 

That’ll work out well, I’m sure. Let’s see how Martinez can screw up the best centre back in the world.