The English Football Thread

[Bulldog]

It's the MB derby tomorrow kicking off the Premier League season...

BBC SPORT | Football | Premier League | Aston Villa v Wigan

This'll either be a triumphant springboard for the latics or a total disaster.

Best of luck to your lot Jackhammer. May the best man win

edit: Some of the arguments on the 606 page over the Lescott transfer saga are hilarious.

[jackhammer]

Originally Posted by Bulldog

It's the MB derby tomorrow kicking off the Premier League season...

BBC SPORT | Football | Premier League | Aston Villa v Wigan

This'll either be a triumphant springboard for the latics or a total disaster.

Best of luck to your lot Jackhammer. May the best man win

edit: Some of the arguments on the 606 page over the Lescott transfer saga are hilarious.

Good luck mate

[dollarsandcents]

I think Villa should win the 'battle', however strange things happen on the opening day of the season. I think you'll need a heroic performance from Titus Bramble though, wouldn't that be nice.

Where do you think the title will go this year? I think Chelsea have the advantage this year and will challenge with Man Utd. Can't see Liverpool challenging this year, I think they look vulnerable, but I wouldn't write off Arsenal as the potential in their squad is amazing. Probably won't be contenders in the long run though. The big question is where will Man City finish though, I think they'll challenge but finish 5th behind the usual four, with Spurs and Aston Villa behind those.

[Akira]

'We piss on your fish, we piss on your fish'

Greatest and most eloquent football chant around the leagues.

[Bulldog]

Originally Posted by ToeAndno

'We piss on your fish, we piss on your fish'

Greatest and most eloquent football chant around the leagues.

Almost as good as the classic Millwall one eh.

'No-one likes us, we don't care'

Originally Posted by dollarsandcents

.......

Ouch, 10 goals already? If it's any consolation, I remember a time when Wigan were bouncing around the basement leagues and not doing anything that interesting, and if they can make it up by spending a pitiful amount compared to, say, Man City, anyone can.

And, yeah, I'm pretty ecstatic over the latics' result. Best performance I've seen from them in such a long time (via good old BBC Radio 5, can't be doing with that Talksport shite ) - can't wait for Match Of the Day tonight. It's still early days of course but, as you say, some fairly bad teams have come up and Portsmouth are definitely going to struggle, so with any luck we'll survive this time round too.

I didn't really pay a lot of attention to many of the other games, but that Arsenal result was quite something. If they can keep that kinda form up they'll be much more of a force this year.

[Mojo]

BBC SPORT | Football | Premier League | Sunderland 1-3 Chelsea

Decent first half performance from the lads last night but we just fell apart in the second. Chelsea never really looked in doubt and were comfortable throughout. We chased everything down in the first half and did just about enough to make sure they never really got a clear sight of goal but looked too tired in the second. Never really expected a result but after going in 1-0 up I had held out a little hope for at least a draw.

BBC SPORT | Football | Premier League | Wigan 0-1 Wolves

Ouch!

[Bulldog]

Bleh, can't win them all eh. Doesn't really bother me in the slightest. We didn't play that badly either - just lacking in energy and vigour, which is understandable after a two-day rest, judging by the kind of football Martinez expects the lads to play. After seeing what we're capable of against Villa, I'm not even slightly concerned that we'll be dragged into a relegation dogfight. Not yet anyway.

Unlucky with the Chelsea result btw. Result aside, looks like Brucey's doing your lot good already.

[Mojo]

He's made some decent signings. Bents got 2 in 2 now which is promising, i'm hoping to see more of a role for Campbell, Cana seems to be settling in in the midfield and giving us a genuine grafter in the middle which we surprisingly didnt have much last season despite the amount of grafters we have and then of course theres Clattermole. I'm not a big fan but last night he was chasing everything down and even though I didn't really notice his contribution at the time we seemed to miss him when he was taken off and we just started to lose shape and fell apart. We barely put 4 or 5 passes together in the second half. We'll pick up a few more bookings in the midfield than last season but those 2 might really be what we need. If Bruce can get us as organised as he did with you lot then we shouldnt have a bad season at all.

I didnt see your game last night, just the result which was a bit of a shocker for me. It's early days yet though, string a few results together and you might be able to avoid a scrap. I don't expect you's to go down but I thought a bit of a relegation battle was on the cards. I hope not though, theres a few teams I would rather see go down than Wigan.

[Bulldog]

Well, maybe I'm being a little bit naive in saying we're not up for a scrap. It's far too early in the season to make predictions which, as we know, isn't something it's so easy to do with football.

Take this result tonight as an example...

BBC SPORT | Football | Premier League | Burnley 1-0 Man Utd

[Piss Me Off]

It's going to be a juicy year indeed! No draws yet and a ton of teams with 3 points, not all of them obvious. I'm thinking the top 4 won't be too different but mid-table and lower i couldn't possibly say, apart from maybe Portsmouth who seem to be down on luck. Funnily enough Sunderland are my tip for good things this season, though don't necessarily hold me to that.