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***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (5 Viewers)

Ok - first draft of rankings sure to be wrong:

I took the top-6 and tried to rank them based on positions.

GK  (Weight: 2)

1.  Liverpool
2.  Man City
3.  Man United
4.  Spurs
5.  Chelsea
6.  Arsenal

Alisson beat out Ederson for the Brazil #1, so he wins here also.  De Gea is a close 3rd, but not a great WC knocks him off the top spot.  Lloris won the WC, but not without a little Karius-moment.  I don't know who Kepa is, but for £70M, he is probably better than Jay Leno for Arsenal.

FB (Weight: 1)

1. Man City
2. Spurs
3. Chelsea
4. Liverpool
5. United
6. Arsenal

Walker/Mendy = pretty good.  Spurs get credit for numbers, though Trippier was the best RB at the WC.  Chelsea - under Conte, I would have rated them higher - under Sarri, I think they will be a little less attack-oreinted - just based on the usage this summer.  Alonso and Dave are still a pretty good pairing.  Liverpool fans will whine about this rating, but I think the young duo needs to prove themselves another year before I bump them any higher.  United FBs set in stone - because they are so old...Valencia already injured, Young is terrible.  I may be underrating Arsenal a little - they could be as high as 5th in these rankings, but Kolasinac already out 10 weeks, Monreal?  Nacho best option...

CB (Weight 1.5)

1.  Spurs
2.  Man City
3.  Liverpool
4.  United
5.  Chelsea
6.  Arsenal

Vertonghen/Sanchez/Alderweireld - play them in pairs, or as 3 in the back, it does not matter.  Best in the league.  I really like what City are doing, and by the end of the season, Stones and Laporte should be the settled starting pair, but they have Kompany and Otemendi to fill in - so a good combination of potential and experience.  Kompany's injury history knocks them below Spurs, as Stones and Laporte are still a little inexperienced.  Liverpool had an argument for the top spot - VVD is maybe the best all round CB, and Lovren is the self-declared best in the world - but Harry Kane just scored another against Lovren, and knocked them back to 3rd.  United - I think I like their back pair more than Jose does - but its going to have to be the result where the sum is greater than the parts.  I like Bailley, but then you get to Smalling, Jones and Lindelof and you can see why Jose is throwing his toys out of the pram.  Chelsea - oof - Luiz, Rudiger, Christensen, and Cahill - makes you wonder how Miazga did not get a look.  Arsenal - I am sensing a pattern here - but they decided to upgrade the defense this summer with old and slow.
 

CM/DM (Weight: 1)

1. Chelsea
2. Spurs
3. Man City
4. Liverpool
5. United
6. Arsenal

This is a bit awkward, as teams play different formation - but consider this to primarily focus on the DM - and the more attacking CMs will be included in the AM ranking.  Kante - has no peers right now.  Dier - ok this one is a little biased, sue me - provides the steel to Spurs' spine.  Fernandinho - solid, and does his job well, freeing up the attacking players.  Liverpool - Keita literally means "Red Card" in French, and Fabinho will take time to adjust to the PL.  United - Matic/Fro/Fred = meh  Arsenal - Chaka Khan 

AMs (Weight: 2)

1.  Liverpool
2.  Man City
3.  Chelsea
4.  Spurs
5.  Arsenal
6.  United

Salah wins by himself, but add Mane and backed by Shaqiri (and Firmino gets dinged as a Striker, but as a false 9, and its a pretty good attack).  Man City has more depth, but less quality (loads of potential though).  I don't like Sterling, but do like Mahrez, so they cancelled out.  KDB/Silva2/Sane - they are going to score a lot of goals, and could have been tops here.  Hazard/Willian/Pedro is a good combination if they can get on board with Sarri-ball - at least two have wanted to bail though, so lets wait and see how this develops.  Spurs are decent in AM, Erisken is the best 10 in the league and Son and Dele are solid performers, and I think Lucas will be a regular starter, and Lamela is a solid back-up - probably the most depth, but lacking the explosive attacking ability of the teams above them.  Arsenal - Oh-Zeel plays when he wants to, Mkhitaryan and Lacazette (I considered PEA as a striker...) are a good combo, but they lack depth.  Untied - Sanchez is loving those paydays.  Not sure he is loving anything else.  Marital wants out.  Mata is a whipping boy.  Lingard - not sure he does enough to move United up the rankings.  Rashford wants to be a striker.

S (Weight: 1.5)

1.  Spurs
2.  Man City
3.  Arsenal
4.  United
5.  Liverpool
6.  Chelsea

Harry Kane.  Pep can swap between strikers based on tactics, play Aguero for when he wants a lot of crosses in the box, play Jesus otherwise (he hates crosses).  I rated PEA here as the 3rd best striker, even if he plays as more if a WF to Lacazette's S role.  Lukaku is a flat-track bully - and he will score a bunch against the bottom teams.  Firmino got short-shrift here, because he is not a classic #9, but he got credit in the AM rankings for his false-9 role.  Morata can't score in a whore-house right now.  Giroud is the best late sub when you are searching for a goal or a scorpion.

So, what does it all mean?  Probably nothing.

Final Weighted Tally

1.  Man City - 45 points
2.  Spurs - 40 points
3.  Liverpool - 39 points
4.  Chelsea - 26.5 points
5.  Man United - 23 points
6.  Arsenal - 15.5 points

 
Sanchez is that good? He's the Lukaku of CBs imo. Will do well against poor offensive but gets roasted against the better ones imo

 
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The Gator said:
Sanchez is that good? He's the Lukaku of CBs imo. Will do well against poor offensive but gets roasted against the better ones imo
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Sanchez is that good.  He was young last season, and he got bullied a couple of times.  Watching him at the WC though, and he showed a real maturity, even when his teammates were melting down.  I think he has all the attributes to be one of the top 2-3 CBs in the league - this year.  He is ahead of Alderweireld based on ability right now.  He is still inexperienced, but he'll be paired with either Vertonghen or Alderweireld (or both), and that experience helps.

 
Nice write up sinn.  Cant knock you for the effort.  Wonder if United would benefit from a guy like Pogba?

And De Gea is the best keeper in the EPL, world cup hiccup aside.  And as "terrible" as young is, i'll happily let him run out and pocket Salah for two more games this season....

Bailley has the potential to be the top central defender in the EPL, if he stays healthy and they pair him with Lindelof and not smalling/jones/rojo. But thats my hope.

 
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B Maverick said:
Wonder if United would benefit from a guy like Pogba?
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I wonder if Barça would?  Or if a guy like Mourinho would even know what to do with Pogba, if he had him in the team...

But, to be fair.  I will give Man United 3 more points, just for the Pogba-effect.

Unfortunately, I have to subtract 3 points, just for the 3rd-Year-Jose-effect....

 
shader said:
There seems to be a joke that Liverpool fans always say "this is our year".  I get that I wasn't around in the Gerrard/Xavi era when perhaps that was a possibility or should have happened.  But personally I've never felt a Liverpool team had a realistic chance at winning the league.  This is the first time I think it could happen. But will I predict that?  My fellow pool fans might kill me if I do.
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Lol@might.

Your body would never be found.

ETA -- And for ####s and giggles, a keyboard would be placed just a few inches away from your lifeless hands, eternally waiting for another prediction to be typed.

 
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Sinn Fein said:
I wonder if Barça would?  Or if a guy like Mourinho would even know what to do with Pogba, if he had him in the team...

But, to be fair.  I will give Man United 3 more points, just for the Pogba-effect.

Unfortunately, I have to subtract 3 points, just for the 3rd-Year-Jose-effect....
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:excited:

 
AAABatteries said:
“De Gea is a close 3rd”

I stopped reading there.
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Seriously?  It was a good write up.

I like de Gea - a lot.  But, I also like keepers who can play the ball out with their feet.  I think De Gea may be the best shot blocker, but he does not play the ball out as well as Ederson - so I gave a slight edge to Ederson there.  And then, I gave Alisson a slight edge to Ederson because he beat out Ederson for Brazil.  :shrug:

Being "a close 3rd" is not s slight.  I get the Dier > Fernandinho - i admitted I fudged there - but Alisson, Ederson, De Gea is not completely out of line...

 
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Anybody can pick the top six, the bottom three is where the action is.

1. Cardiff City:  Seems like a no brainer.  They rode a hot streak form after the New Year to finish 2nd in the Championship.  The other two promoted teams have spent a lot more than the Bluebirds.  Colin %^&*@! has been in the top flight before and never stayed up.  I love throwback direct football but I don't think Cardiff has the talent to make it work.  Warnock gets sacked by Christmas and one of the usual suspects (Big Sam, Pardew, etc.) gets brought in to finish the season.

2.  Watford:  They surprisingly didn't spend their Richarlison windfall and were less active than in previous summers.  They were in 10th on Boxing Day but only got 16 points after that.  I don't see where the goals are going to come from.

3.  Brighton & Hove Albion:  I like the club and Hughton but I'm taking a pure guess here.  They spent a lot of money reinforcing the squad but somebody has to go down.

 
Eephus said:
Anybody can pick the top six, the bottom three is where the action is.

1. Cardiff City:  Seems like a no brainer.  They rode a hot streak form after the New Year to finish 2nd in the Championship.  The other two promoted teams have spent a lot more than the Bluebirds.  Colin %^&*@! has been in the top flight before and never stayed up.  I love throwback direct football but I don't think Cardiff has the talent to make it work.  Warnock gets sacked by Christmas and one of the usual suspects (Big Sam, Pardew, etc.) gets brought in to finish the season.

2.  Watford:  They surprisingly didn't spend their Richarlison windfall and were less active than in previous summers.  They were in 10th on Boxing Day but only got 16 points after that.  I don't see where the goals are going to come from.

3.  Brighton & Hove Albion:  I like the club and Hughton but I'm taking a pure guess here.  They spent a lot of money reinforcing the squad but somebody has to go down.
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I don't get the hate for Watford - seems like everyone is picking them for the drop.  I would replace them with Huddersfield - I think.

 
Sinn Fein said:
I don't get the hate for Watford - seems like everyone is picking them for the drop.  I would replace them with Huddersfield - I think.
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Brighton and Huddersfield were a coin flip for me.  It just seemed too obvious to pick two clubs that were promoted last year.

Newcastle may be more vulnerable than either.  They're obviously a bigger club but Rafa seems like a dead man walking.  You'd think Fat Mike would spend a bit to keep Benitez happy.  A guy who's built his business buying up distressed assets should know his club will bring a better price if it's safely in the top flight.

 
Eephus said:
2.  Watford:  They surprisingly didn't spend their Richarlison windfall and were less active than in previous summers.  They were in 10th on Boxing Day but only got 16 points after that.  I don't see where the goals are going to come from.
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His name is Deeney and he is fit this year.

 
Cardiff seems a dead bang lock to go down.

Huddersfield seems to be next.

And as much as I hate to say it, I'd go with Brighton or Bournmouth to join them.

 
shader said:
Predictions

1. Man City - It kills me to write this, because I think Liverpool have improved to an extreme degree.  But until I see Liverpool break the parked bus regularly, it's difficult for me to project that Pool score enough points to beat City.  City haven't weakened at all and the biggest concern for them is keeping everyone happy playing half the time and keeping the team motivated.  I do feel like City will have a bit of a drop-off, but this team is still loaded.  Another reason I can't keep from picking City is that I've yet to see a single team (outside of Liverpool) actually try and play them straight up, force them into mistakes, etc.  Teams are scared to death of Pep and City and until that changes, they will challenge all the records they set last year.  

2. Liverpool - For the first time in my short career as a fan, there is a GK that looks like a grown man.  Miggy and Karius look like scared children.  Naby Keita, if he's anything close to what I've seen at times in preseason, will be revolutionary for the midfield.  I think Shaqiri is the perfect spark that Liverpool have needed from the bench.  He looks reborn, but keeping him happy in his role will be Klopp's problem. (Can he play as a 10 in front of Keita/Hendo and in front of Mane, Salah, Firmino?)  VVD is an elite defender and Liverpool's total points would have looked much different if he had been on the team week 1.  I've also noticed a marginal uptick in confidence among a number of guys on the team during preseason.  I think the run to the CL final gave this team a ton of confidence.  Wait a second why didn't I pick Pool to win it?  Oh yeah, my curse.  

3. Chelsea - I'm a believer in the Chelsea defense and I think the midfield is awesome. Also, everyone that I've read from Italy raves about Sarri.  I think Chelsea will focus on top 4, send a B team to Europa competitions and Hazard will win POY.  Sarri is going to find a combination that works, stick with it, and win a bunch of games.  But..this team is rail thin.  A bad injury to Hazard or Kante and the whole thing could fall apart.  But falling apart is something that could easily happen to teams 3-6.

4. Tottenham - The only way Tott fail to get top 4 is if injuries happen.  The starting XI is too good.  However I do think that this is the last run from these guys.  At some point the main guys on this team are going to realize that Tottenham aren't going to regularly compete for trophies because they aren't going to spend.  All it really takes is one year in the Europa and these guys are going to abandon ship.  How could this go wrong?  A bad start.  Tottenham were hit the hardest by the WC and I'm of the opinion that Alli/Kane were already tired before the summer even began.  Not enough rest could prove deadly for this team. BUT....Poch is incredible and the new stadium should provide a buzz that will keep this team in the hunt.

5. Arsenal - Offense could be as good as Liverpool or City's.  Defense might not be a top half defense.  I have no idea how Arsenal can break top 4 if they can't defend. They'll have to literally outscore everyone and that just doesn't seem realistic.  

6. United - I see a total implosion coming.  The defense looks bad, there are no fullbacks and their luck can't continue, can it? Sanchez isn't a guy known for standing up and taking charge as it all falls apart, Martial hates Mourinho, and Pogba isn't a big Mourinho fan either.  I see a team that is going to stop buying into the slow paced Mourinho ball, and when that happens, the whole thing falls apart.  

The rest:  Everton/Fulham/Wolves/Leicester/Hammers all intrigue me.  I think the other teams should be excellent this season.
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Love it!

 
Weekend can't come fast enough.... 

Tempted to troll the SP "first week overreaction" thread with:

"Sturidge scores 15 goals"

"Morata for the golden boot"

 
drunken slob said:
@Jaysus, would you please repost the link the fantasy league for FPL. I saw it a few pages back but didn't get back into the thread to join. TIA  :bow:

:banned:
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I am on mobile and I've been drinking, so good luck with this.

Invite players to join FBGEPLFLGBGM

Code to join this league: 1210410-274800

 
CletiusMaximus said:
I'm picking Liverpool to win the league.  They improved where needed the most, and already proved they're better than City in the Champions League qtr finals last year.  The 5-1 aggregate was a dominating performance.  Those LFC-MCFC games will be great this season as I'm sure Pep has thought about almost nothing else since April. Historically, its been hard to repeat as EPL winner, and I think Liverpool has enough to make the jump over City.

I've got City, United and Spurs rounding out the top 4 again.

I think Chelsea and Arsenal are going to suffer a bit under new managers, neither of which has won much of anything (Emery winning the Europa League 3 times with Sevilla I suppose is impressive). Everton and West Ham will push them, but it looks most likely to be the same top 6 again.  I like what Fulham have done and expect them to stay up, possibly even reaching mid-table.

Pretty excited for football this year, already planning to take a late lunch tomorrow to watch United play Leicester.
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:wub:

I want to believe and do think this core is one that should be able to contend for the next few years.  But City is likely too strong this year.

 
Leonardo and Maldini were in contacts with intermediaries yesterday night to try to sign Anthony Martial from Man United, offering a high paid loan with option to buy but United had made no signings and therefore they did not want to sell [Alfredo Pedullà]

 
I think Cleeeeetus(I've had a few and have no idea how to spell your handle now) is being a bit hard on Chelsea ... That midfield three is nasty. Hazard won't have to worry about defense much and frees him up more. I think they might surprise. 

Signed,

Jorginho and Morata Owner

 
The Gator said:
I think Cleeeeetus(I've had a few and have no idea how to spell your handle now) is being a bit hard on Chelsea ... That midfield three is nasty. Hazard won't have to worry about defense much and frees him up more. I think they might surprise. 

Signed,

Jorginho and Morata Owner
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You at Great Taste tonight? 

 
Sinn Fein said:
Seriously?  It was a good write up.

I like de Gea - a lot.  But, I also like keepers who can play the ball out with their feet.  I think De Gea may be the best shot blocker, but he does not play the ball out as well as Ederson - so I gave a slight edge to Ederson there.  And then, I gave Alisson a slight edge to Ederson because he beat out Ederson for Brazil.  :shrug:

Being "a close 3rd" is not s slight.  I get the Dier > Fernandinho - i admitted I fudged there - but Alisson, Ederson, De Gea is not completely out of line...
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I was joking - DeGea was horrible at the WC. I figure he’ll be fine and wouldn’t trade him straight up for either of your top 2.

 
It seems the predictions of Man U’s demise pretty much rely on Jose losing the locker room. They had, what 85 points last season?  There can’t be more than 2 or 3 times when that wouldn’t be good for at least second. 

I get it. I also think Jose has lost his man management chops, but it’s a talented team. And Valencia, in particular, is way better than fans give him credit for. 

 
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