The Football.....

[SpokeyDokey]

Never saw that one coming not. lol

Hate to say it as i do like the bloke cracking interviews and a brilliant sense of humor but if he doesn't match or beat what he achieved last time isnt that going to be classed as a bit of a failure ?

His stars of back then Terry Lampard Cole Drogba Robben Essien etc etc are all either gone or past there best imo. Should be an interesting season coming up anyway lol

I guess it will be perceived as failure.

Re the yesteryear stars. The team and game has moved on a lot since 2007. We have some cracking new players still growing into the game as it is played in the PL. Terry didn't feature much last season, Lamps was good and still stays with us. Our 2004/5 squad was pretty stunning tbh but once we resolve the issues of reserve goalkeeper / central midfielder / and strike-force (not much to do there then!) I think we'll be pushing hard again both domestically and in Europe.

Last season was a roller-coaster (but as a fan I guess we are used to that!) and for a team that was either in transition, off the boil or a crock of crap depending on your viewpoint, we didn't do too bad. There are a lot of teams who would sell their grannies to come third in the league and win the Europa League and hold two massive Euro-pots at the same time (albeit briefly). Biggest heart-ache was finishing so far behind MUFC in the PL.

For a team that has not done so well we are still ranked 3rd in the UEFA team rankings which is quite impressive really;

http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/trank2013.html

JM is clearly a good manager, make that damn good manager. He has his foibles but he is the master of being the 12th or 13th man (depending on whether you view the crowd as 12th/13th or vice-versa). SAF was the out and out master of this in my book but JM is very close and that brings a lot to a teams performance on the pitch. Love it or hate it, it's a part of football - not just the modern game either; Cloughie was also a master of the off-pitch psychological battle in his day.

We shall see how it pans out and I can't wait for the show to begin! Again!

 

[dellzeqq]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/jun/05/jose-mourinho-chelsea-fling

it's a boy-boy thang..........

 

[Spartak]

Season starts in 8 weeks

Should be a cracker with Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Spurs & Arsenal all in with a shout ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013–14_Premier_League

 

[on the road]

Spurs won't be anywhere, they've had two good seasons by their standards but the pressure is on now.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I wonder how well Dumbarton can do this season....

 

[Chromatic]

Never mind Dumbarton, what about Stenhousemuir?

 

[ThinAir]

[QUOTE 2498561, member: 30090"]

In all seriousness I think Arsenal have the best chance as long as Wenger does his business asap, brings in some decent players who are Catona esk in terms of leadership and gets cracking with pre season training. [/quote]

I really hope this is true, there's been so much transfer speculation in the press etc with some really big names being banded about, but I don't we will pay the money for Higuain.

Must say though, I think that Wenger needs to win something this year, or he could be going down the road at the end if the year, which I don't think would be a great thing, we've all seen whatcha opens when teams don't have managerial stability!

Best thing about the new season? Gotta be Holloway back in the PL!

 

[Archie_tect]

Just been sent this photo, [if it's a photoshop fake or if you've already seen it loads of times doing the rounds- sorry in advance!]

Made me smile!

[Edit: Found it on Google maps... it's in Muscat, Oman!]

 

[ThinAir]

Hair transplant is looking good though ;-)

 

[Spartak]

Rooney needs to get back to training sooner rather than later ....

View attachment 24921

So does Coleen

 

[Piemaster]

So, first game away at the Bridge. Which I think was the game straight after JM quit last time we met.
Bit of a cop-out for him then I reckon, we didn't get to sing 'sacked in the morning' to him. Wouldn't have been the first manager to have lost to us and got his cards the following day.
At least there must be a good chance of seeing it on TV when I'm stuck abroad.

 

[ThinAir]

^^^ haha!

We've got Aston Villa first off, then Fulham, and the Spurs. Busy first three weeks if Villa have pulled their fingers out over the summer!

 

[mark st1]

See we have a nice easy start agaiiiiiiiiiin . Will be surprised with more than 4 points from the first 3 games tbh.

 

[ThinAir]

Still waiting to see if/when/how we are getting Higuain....

 

[Spartak]

Looking at the end of the season, Norwich's last 4 games are Liverpool, Man. Utd, Chelsea & Arsenal !

Hope we've got enough points in the bag by that point ???