What I do know is that the lads EPL preview grossly underestimated the might of the Hull Tigers! An opening weekend victory at Fulham put Hull in the drivers seat early, needing only another 30 odd points to avoid the drop.
Much of what I read of the Hull City tilt this year discussed Hull having a two year strategy to stay up in the premier league. By being relegated this year, Hull would receive About $60 Million pounds in parachute payments. This would enable them to buy heavily next year to come back up for good. Whilst it seems a sound strategy, one certainly hopes to see Hull stay up this year. Hull will have to avoid injuries due to a complete lack of depth, but between Boaz Myhill, the rejuvinated Marcio Geovanni and the "usual suspects" for a team struggling to avoid relegation in Dean Windass, Nicky Barmby amd George Boateng they could be competitive.
As for the top of the table, as much as it pains me, I have to disagree with the lads and stake Man Utd to the top of the premier league table this year. If Berbatov gets his wish and ends up at Old Trafford they will end up being far too strong for Chelsea. The big mover may well be Villa this year, potentially breaking up the big four.
My drop teams, Stoke, Wigan and Fulham.
The only sport I caught a lot of this weekend (all on Virgin Blue's Live to Air!) is some A league. Most teams looked a little underdone in the first round - Sydney v Melbourne didn't rise to the heights that I hoped it would. Perth v Adelaide was a touch static as well. Adelaide look rock solid in defense but will seriously struggle to score goals. Perth look significantly more organized than last year. Perth's Amaral looked well short of fitness. However, the couple of times that he injected himself into play makes you think that he could be one of the A-leagues biggest stars in a months time. As for the rest of the games - 5 goals in four A-league games! Soccer fever: Catch it! Probably more symptomatic of early season form than anything else, but wasn't the weekend of soccer that promoters would be looking for.
2 comments:
Firstly, I know you're caught up in Hull's victory over Fulham without injured Andy Johnson, but I need to point out that it was in fact a home game for the Tigers. Their woes will be on the road. At least they have shown they can be competitive at home. West Brom didn't look terrible either. I fear the worst for Stoke...
As for your idea that Utd will easily win the title...You know Chelsea dusted Portsmouth 4-0 without Drogba? Did I mention they have Deco this season?! And Bosingwa is seriously good too. Utd could only manage a 1-1 home draw over a Newcastle outfit with "the worst two midfielders in the league" according to JB. Sure Berbatov will be big but they might have dropped too many points by the time they get him and get Ronaldo back fit. I can't see how they will win it easy, let alone at all...
Early season form on United and Chelsea.. I am thinking United by three points or so.
The only other team (apart from down the bottom end where it is a bit of a shitfight) I disagree with is Liverpool. They could finish as low as 6th for me this year. I can only hope.
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