2015/16 Soccer Thread

My predictions (and from last year, for comparison and mockery).

1) Chelsea
2) Arsenal
3) Manchester United
4) Liverpool
==========
5) Manchester City
6) Tottenham
7) Everton
8) Crystal Palace
9) West Brom
10) West Ham
11) Southampton
12) Stoke
13) Newcastle
14) Swansea
15) Aston Villa
16) Bournemouth
17) Sunderland
==========
18) Watford
19) Leicester
20) Norwich

Maq wrote:

I joined the fantasy football league. I enjoy watching it but don't follow it at all, and haven't seen a premiership game in, like, 3 years so I have little idea what I'm doing.

I also have never played any kind of fantasy football before so this'll be fun.

Now to find a way to watch premiership matches in Sweden.

Hooray! Glad to have you, maq - the more the merrier.

Does the BBC stream games online? I would guess that using a web proxy would allow you to watch, if so.

(Relatedly, I can't say enough good things about how NBCSports has handled their coverage. Yes, you need to have a cable subscription which includes their channel, but if you do, you can watch every single game if you wanted. Including replays left online for a week or so afterwards. So much better than legally-grey feeds in Russian. )

[Edit: I'd forgotten Southampton had Europa matches this season. The original version of this list had them in seventh - I've shifted the other teams up a spot, otherwise the order is intact.]

My first predictions!

1. Manchester United - Van Gaal is an ass, but he got results last year despite a very shaky team. I reserve the right to change this if De Gea leaves.
2. Chelsea - Chelsea looked utterly toothless without their huge a$$hole upfront in the Shield game and their defense has only gotten older. Plus I really want to watch Jose try to explain a lack of repeat titles.
3. Manchester City - Sterling was my least favorite footballer with Suarez out of the EPL. Now he is on City. He could have a huge year, or he could just continue to be a huge pr*ck.
4. Arsenal - They're Arsenal. They get 4th.
5. Tottenham - Harry Kane is life, Harry Kane is love. Really, I see them finishing below liverpool, but see Liverpool below.
6. EVERTON - JUST LET ME DREAM. If Everton don't look more like the 13/14 team, Martinez is unlikely to have another season.
7. Liverpool - With Benteke, I see Liverpool pushing a top 4 position. But this might be my only chance to see them below Everton in the standings, so here it is.
8. Swansea - Just...well...I love Gylfi.
9. Newcastle - Eh, why not?
10. Crystal Palace
11. West Ham - I don't know. Europa something something.
12. Stoke - I have fewer feelings about these teams.
13. Southampton - Love them, love how they did when predicted to tank miserably. But they will have some Europa hangover issues.
14. Bournemouth
15. West Brom. I forgot about them. I don't feel like moving things around.
16. Watford - They will be not terrible all the time.
17. Norwich - Just barely.
18. Sunderland - Third time is not a charm.
19. Aston Villa - No more Benteke
20. Leicester - Nigel was an ass, but he kept them up. Now he is gone.

Leaked screenshot of Psych's fantasy team:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/qOaQhPF.png)

Spoiler:

Astute readers of this thread may recognize this lineup from last season. ;)

Please. This year I have Gylfi in goal too.

West Ham doing their part to not help out England's UEFA coefficient by crashing out of the Europa League in Romania.

Even though I pretty much only follow the Premier League the prospect of it losing a Champions League spot in a few years looks entertaining.

Roke wrote:

West Ham doing their part to not help out England's UEFA coefficient by crashing out of the Europa League in Romania.

Even though I pretty much only follow the Premier League the prospect of it losing a Champions League spot in a few years looks entertaining.

This always sounded like a pretend doomsday fear mongering story that the papers like to talk about to just help generate conversation.

Considering the wealth of the 4 richest clubs in the EPL compared to the other clubs besides Real, Barca, Bayern and I guess PSG it would take serious mismanagement for the EPL to drop to 3 spots.

jowner wrote:
Roke wrote:

West Ham doing their part to not help out England's UEFA coefficient by crashing out of the Europa League in Romania.

Even though I pretty much only follow the Premier League the prospect of it losing a Champions League spot in a few years looks entertaining.

This always sounded like a pretend doomsday fear mongering story that the papers like to talk about to just help generate conversation.

Considering the wealth of the 4 richest clubs in the EPL compared to the other clubs besides Real, Barca, Bayern and I guess PSG it would take serious mismanagement for the EPL to drop to 3 spots.

It's actually down to just one spot now, Spain are well clear in the #1 spot and with 2011/12 about to be wiped out with this season it'll probably be down to one. There's a fair gap between England and Italy which means it's not going to happen this year.

It's not just a matter of Champions League (although having at least one side considerably underperform there every year hasn't helped) Europa League performance is also hurting England whether it's teams not taking it seriously or just being crap.

I don't think it's likely because of the financial power all the English teams have, but they've not used their financial advantage well in recent years when it comes to European performance.

Do you mean the actual spots are being reduced from 2 to 1 that get 4 or that England is just 1 spot away from falling behind Germany?

I would agree that England would have a hard time out competing Spanish clubs in the CL + Europa league.

If the number of spots are staying the same though the 4 big clubs in the CL from England should be able to keep Italy and Germany at arms length.

It's pretty much a bet of averaged out over several seasons who will be more successful: United, City, Arsenal and Chelsea vs Bayern, Dortmund... Rapid drop off and no idea how Dortmund will be post Klopp vs Juve... Rest of Italy is an absolute crapshoot IMO.

This is news now but depending on the late draws for the CL we could quickly be back to where there's 2 English teams in semis or even the dreaded EPL vs EPL final.

jowner wrote:

Do you mean the actual spots are being reduced from 2 to 1 that get 4 or that England is just 1 spot away from falling behind Germany?

I would agree that England would have a hard time out competing Spanish clubs in the CL + Europa league.

If the number of spots are staying the same though the 4 big clubs in the CL from England should be able to keep Italy and Germany at arms length.

It's pretty much a bet of averaged out over several seasons who will be more successful: United, City, Arsenal and Chelsea vs Bayern, Dortmund... Rapid drop off and no idea how Dortmund will be post Klopp vs Juve... Rest of Italy is an absolute crapshoot IMO.

This is news now but depending on the late draws for the CL we could quickly be back to where there's 2 English teams in semis or even the dreaded EPL vs EPL final.

I mis-read what you said, I thought you meant they're 3 spots away from going from 4 CL to 3 teams (i.e. going from the #1 coefficient to #4).

They are already behind Germany (the rankings are in the thing I linked) however there's a 4-point gap between them and Italy so they'll be fine for at least this year. England are fine as long as their Champions League and Europa league performances match Italy over the next two years, which should be easily doable. Of course Italy shouldn't have significantly outperformed them last year.

The "Big Four" (at least as wage spend stands) competing for 3 Champions League would sure be fun though. I don't think it will happen or it's anything close to likely, but it would be something.

It would be interesting if the EPL slipped that low to see the fallout. But like you said when it requires the Italian league to consistently out perform the EPL? Yea right. The German league will be hard pressed to do that also as I'm not sure Bayern can keep this consistency up. There is some luck in all this.

The gap between 4th and 5th currently because of the CL money is something I can relate fans being frustrated about leading to stagnation in the league.

To break in you need to bottle lightning like Liverpool did with Suarez and time it with the most successful manager retiring. Breaking into the top 4 for some clubs is pretty much harder than winning the title this year for teams like Chelsea and City.

In the year after where United dropped out they muscled their way right back in with their other financial sources while spending highly ineffectively.

Being 'promoted' to the top 4 is like being promoted from the Championship. Sure you have a new source of income but its a whole new type of season.

Unless Liverpool landed the new Suarez in Firmino + Sturridge has an exceptionally healthy season etc I could see the current top 4 clubs staying there for a bunch of years to come. Which honestly would be kinda boring. Not so bold prediction Kane having a great year and one of the hegemons eating him up next summer pegging Spurs back unless they can reinvest shrewdly.

Alright team has been created/activated! Here's to hoping I know what I'm doing this year. Honestly didn't fully understand the system until 7 months in, and by then was pretty bitter at how many mistakes I made.

My predictions for this year, I am going BOLD. Newcastle and Sunderland are on their way out, Norwich will return to style, Crystal Palace and Cabaye are going to blow the league up, Harry Kane is going to score a million goals, Chelsea are going to fall apart, Man United (I have nothing to back this up, gut feeling), Arsenal are going to get 35 clean sheets but still come in second.

1. Man United
2. Arsenal
3. Tottenham
============
4. Chelsea
5. Crystal Palace
============
6. Liverpool
7. Swansea
8. Man City
9. Stoke
10. West Ham
11. Southampton
12. Norwich
13. Everton
14. Watford
15. West Brom
16. Aston Villa
17. Leicester
===========
18. Newcastle
19. Sunderland
20. Bournemouth

Poor rich Man. City. Does eighth place at least allows them an Europa League spot?

@jowner: Germany isn't just Bayern and Borussia. Wolfsburg should be one to watch, for example.

slazev wrote:

Poor rich Man. City. Does eighth place at least allows them an Europa League spot?

@jowner: Germany isn't just Bayern and Borussia. Wolfsburg should be one to watch, for example.

I think they're just too old to put up a fight this year. I think they'll bounce back, and still land top 10, but I don't think they'll breach top 5.

Yeah, them two starters over 30 is really going to drag them down.

Oh wait, it's Yaya Toure. And Pablo Zabaleta.

Maybe one of the few times a year I don't mind if United win especially while looking so abject and Walker scores a OG. Rooney just needs to get a straight red now.

Pah, you think so small.

A B-52 needs to misidentify The Swamp as a munitions disposal site and dump 20 tons of cluster bombs on it. No worries if it's not too accurate, Trafford (the area) could do with some urban renewal.

Well, that was a soccer match. Both teams played pretty well defensively (I think).

Micah Richards!

Once target of every big club under the sun!

Now playing for Villa

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what Everton are capable of. Completely sh*tting the bed against a team they should beat handily. An identical result from last season. which was a long sad ride.

Opening the season with a 2-2 draw against a newly-promoted side is my least-favorite Everton tradition.

I already hate my fantasy team. This isn't a surprise.

Edit: after I made this post Courtois gets a straight red.

Why did I pick Courtois over Cech for the same price.

Reverse order for dramatic effect.

20. Bournemouth. Who are you?
19. Watford - I don't choose you.
18. Villa - Tim Sherwood
17. Sunderland - I should pick you to go down but for whatever reason you manage to stay up. Probably because of something related to Tim Sherwood. Either you sack your manager first and magically survive or Villa sack Sherwood first and you then hire him and survive. Whatever it is Tim Sherwood will be related.
16. Norwich - I choose you! You can do it!
15. Leicester - Ranieri! This could be interesting.
14.5 WBA - You won't finish here. Maybe as high as 12 or as low as 17 so this is the average.
13. Stoke - I wish I could pick you to go down simply for booing Aaron Ramsey. One day we will have our revenge.
12. Southampton - being in the Europa league hurts but maybe a medium exit in Jan Feb salvages a relegation scare
11. Crystal Palace - Pardew!
10. West Ham - dropping out of the Europa league was sneaky smart.
9. Swansea - Gylfi!
8. Newcastle - they can't be that bad again! And I'm not creative to mix up the top 8.
7. Tottenham - Kane can't replicate that can he?
6. Everton - I believe. Somewhat.
5. Liverpool - back at the kiddy table, the gap will be so large that Rodgers is canned.
4. United - De Gea is going and its going to be great for all us non United fans
3. Chelsea - I'm starting to loathe Mourinho more than normal. I think if things get ugly that dressing room could implode on itself.
2. City - Sterling won't live up to the fee but that doesn't matter. Healthier everyone else and the City boat rises.
1. Arsenal - If it happens it goes to the wire between City and Arsenal hopefully. Week in and out everyone is treated to who can play the better football and don't have to listen to Mourinho. Wouldn't that be a dream season for every neutral? Please.... As to the reality of this, I honestly rate Cech this high to solidifying the locker room. To inject such leadership in a position of defensive need? He's worth 30m IMO.

Edit: it's cheating that I only did this half way into the games but I didn't move my gut feelings about Everton and Villa.

I also had Baines in fantasy today who wasn't injured yesterday. I'm going to have a hate relationship with Everton this year when they come 12th instead of 6th and I refuse to stop picking up their players on my fantasy team cause they are always going to come into form!

I'm pretty sure my favorite part of week one is the early season table results:

1. Leicester
2. Crystal Palace
3. Aston Villa
4. Man United

As for games (I watched) today:

United vs Spurs - Boring as hell. I thought these people played in the pre-season to warm up? You wouldn't know it watching them. Both sides sluggish and unexciting.

Norwich vs Palace - Despite the score, Norwich look really good this year. They definitely have to iron out some defensive issues, but they don't look hopeless. I don't agree with a lot of the calls made against them, but I'll take the win. Zaha's first goal for Palace was awesome looking. Easy re-direct in reality, but +10 for style. Also excited for putting faith in Cabaye to score on week 1 for fantasy!

Chelsea vs Swansea - Hard to believe Swansea managed a draw there, as they were looking about 2 seconds slower than they needed to be on every offensive play. They seemed to get the ball up front a lot, but were taking too much time in the box to make a decision. Other than the red card, Chelsea looked identical to last year, and I think they'll have a strong season. Swansea are a good a team and a tough first opponent, I don't think this draw is indicative of anything wrong with Chelsea.

Bielsa resigns from Marseille after their first match of the season. I was hoping he'd do that at the end of last season so he could end up at Newcastle :(. It wouldn't be successful but it would have been damn fun.

My favourite analytics blog ended up publishing a number of previews, basically of the top-7 teams, which I'm only just getting around to reading. The Everton one is pretty good: http://statsbomb.com/2015/08/epl-201...

What an arse - go through preseason with your tactics and presumably signing or re-signing players for your system, then do one after the first game ?

He's either had a spat with the board, or applied for another job already. Either way, don't think I'd be wanting him at my club.

davet010 wrote:

What an arse - go through preseason with your tactics and presumably signing or re-signing players for your system, then do one after the first game ?

Well, that's my favourite part of every Football Manager game Maybe he thought "nah, let's restart before this sucks me in".

Two most underwhelming teams in the league right now are Sunderland (just get relegated already!) and Everton. Newcastle will probably complete the three.

I'm not sure if I'll do predictions this season, but I'm tipping United for title challenge. They had no problems making top four last year, it's Van Gaal's second season and they continue to pump stupid money into the squad. They will have the biggest group of players and I think people spend too long just concentrating on first XIs. Wait till Costa/Aguero/whole Arsenal team get injured.

In other news, Claudio Ranieri continues to be everybody's favourite embarrassing uncle.

"I told my players, 'when you go on the pitch and you hear the song Fire from Kasabian, that means they want warriors'," said Ranieri.

"I want to see them as warriors for the fans."

Down with the kids yo. Rock music yo.

You're not wrong, UCRC - I've often thought that to be one innovation within FM that is sorely lacking from real life. My attempt to start a new FM15 game last night foundered on the rocks of Toure (out 4 months), Silva (out 4 months), Zabaleta (out 3 months) and Mangala (unfortunately at City). 4 consecutive draws later and I accidentally pressed the reset button. Though I did learn one thing - Wilfred Bony makes an excellent AM(C). I discovered this mainly through the delights of each match's third stoppage, there's HT/FT and 'Jovetic has picked up a knock'.

United - nah. Once Shrek goes down injured and the goals dry up, that pisspoor central defence is going to look like the poor construction that it is. And I'd be somewhat surprised (English for "absolutely astonished, Brian") if Pig Climber lasts more than 15 games. When your own club are dumping someone who is reputed to be a fan favourite for a player 3 years older, in the heart of the midfield, then you know something other than football reasons are involved.

What Dave said... Again agreeing. Yikes.

United are not mounting nothing with Smalling, Romero at the back and lone Rooney up front.

2016 when they spend another fortune.

Anyways Arsenal!

Surely Man Utd have to consider 2 more big signings before the close of the window (who aren't midfielders.)

I'm surprised that they seem content with Romero, especially when there are options like Sirigu at PSG, Perrin and Genoa and Rico at Sevilla open to them. I think they should focus on a younger keeper, people forget that De Gea was lamented in his first season at Man Utd and people who were calling for him to be hung and drawn now think he's the best goalkeeper in the world! Actually discovered that Zieler who plays for Hannover was a youth team player at Man Utd, maybe they could get him back? All I know is Romero is too error prone for a team that has title aspirations.

Not sure why they didn't just go in for Begovic, would've made so much sense.

Good first half from Newcastle, we look so much more fluid (although that isn't hard post-Carver.) Still need a left back though, Haidara has one of the worst first touches of any top flight footballer I've ever seen.

Welp! Europa league it is then! ;P