[kurtsimonw]

Former EPL Champions
92/93 Manchester United
93/94 Manchester United
94/95 Blackburn Rovers
95/96 Manchester United
96/97 Manchester United
97/98 Arsenal
98/99 Manchester United
99/00 Manchester United
00/01 Manchester United
01/02 Arsenal
02/03 Manchester United
03/04 Arsenal
04/05 Chelsea
05/06 Chelsea
06/07 Manchester United
07/08 Manchester United
08/09 Manchester United

Holders
Premier League: Manchester United
FA Cup: Chelsea
League Cup: Manchester United
Charity Shield: Manchester United

European Entries
Champions League
Manchester United
Liverpool
Chelsea
Arsenal

Europa League
Everton
Villa
Fulham

EPL 2009/10 team list
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Portsmouth, Stoke City, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Wigan Athletic, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

This post has been edited by kurtsimonw: Aug 7 2009, 11:41 AM

[kurtsimonw]

First game of the season is on Sunday afternoon, the Community Shield between United and Chelsea. Carlo could start off his Chelsea career quite nicely with some silverware!

This isn't Premier League, but it's English.

Just when Newcastle fans thought they had suffered enough, the good ship St James' hit rock bottom on Wednesday night.

After a day of fresh farce, it was revealed that David O'Leary rejected the chance to become manager on a two-year contract, despite spending the past three years out of the game.

This is too funny. This is the equivilent of being rejected by a prostitute.

This post has been edited by kurtsimonw: Aug 7 2009, 07:25 AM

[Darunia]

My predictions:

Premier League: Chelsea
FA Cup: Manchester United
League Cup: Arsenal

[LaPalma]

Pinned the new one, unpinned the old one. Have fun.

[kurtsimonw]

Predictions

Champions League
Manchester United ©
Chelsea
Arsenal
Liverpool

Europa League
Man City
Spurs
Villa

Relegated
Wolves
Portsmouth
Hull

FA Cup Chelsea
League Cup Liverpool
Community Shield Chelsea

[kurtsimonw]

WEBFLASH: Beye Signs


Villa have signed defender Habib Beye on a three-year deal from Newcastle United for an undisclosed fee.

The experienced right-back becomes Martin O'Neill's third signing of the summer.

The 31-year-old Senegalese international, who can also play at centre-back, was Newcastle's Player of the Year in 2008 and also a UEFA Cup finalist with Marseille in 2004 as the French side were defeated by Valencia in the showpiece decider.

Stay tuned to www.avfc.co.uk for more reaction to our new signing.

Habib Beye revealed his heart was set on a move to Villa when the club showed an interest in him.

Beye insists joining the claret and blue troops is a "great step" and a proud moment in his career.

He told AVTV: "I think Villa is a great football club.

"I was really happy when my agent told me Villa were interested. I just said 'get it done.' I wanted to sign for this club.

"It's going to be great working for Martin O'Neill because Villa have a great team. I am so proud now to play here.

"It was important for me to stay in the Barclays Premier League and am really happy I have with Villa.

"Newcastle are a massive club but everybody knows the problems at the moment. But I think joining Villa is a great step for me.

"I signed my contract this afternoon and I am really glad. I now hope I will be successful with Villa."

Really not sure about this. He was one of Newcastles better players last season, along with Bassong, but a 31 year old RB when we already have a 30 year old RB? Ah well, he'll be good enough compete/back up for Luke Young. Never knew he was Senegalese.

[kurtsimonw]

Just pulled up some good stats on Beye.

Newcastle with Beye
Games: 22
Wins: 7
Draws: 8
Loss: 7
GF: 26
GA: 27

Newcastle without Beye
Games: 20
Wins: 1
Draws: 6
Losses: 13
GF: 18
GA: 43

*Won 6 more games with Beye, in only 2 more games played.
*Picked up 29 points with Beye as opposed to just 9 without him.
*Conceeded 16 goals more without Beye, in only 2 less games.
*Beye played 5 times against the big 4, Newcastle only lost 7 with him altogether.

I didn't realise how important he was to them, easy to see why he's won a PotS there.

And some surprisingly nice words for Wenger. Though I think it's mind games, trying to put pressure on the teams around them, fair enough. Though I disagree with what he says, the reason it's a big 4 is because there are 4 CL places, not because there's 4 great teams.

Aston Villa and Manchester City can create 'top six', says Arsenal's Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger has predicted that the traditional ‘big four’ next season could turn into a top six, with Manchester City and Aston Villa challenging the established elite for Champions League places.

By Jeremy Wilson
Published: 10:49AM BST 07 Aug 2009


Wenger also said that the perception of an unshakeable ‘big four’ in English football was not supported by the facts over the past decade, with only Arsenal and Manchester United having never missed out on Champions League qualification.

“I would say top six with Aston Villa, you cannot discount them,” he said. “Last year they collapsed in the last 12 games but at some stage they looked like they might challenge for the championship.

“I never felt that the top four is set forever. If you look in the last 10 seasons, only two teams have always been in the top four and it is Arsenal and Man United. Liverpool was out of it, Chelsea was out of it.

“When I arrived, Newcastle was in the top for and then Leeds. It is not set forever. Some clubs in the last 10 years have invested. It is not because they do not have the resources.

“Football is not as scientific and predictable as people have it sometimes. Everybody can be wrong. Last year the team that won everything in Europe was Barcelona. What did they do? They sold two superstars, Ronaldinho and Deco.”

Wenger also admitted that he had been monitoring Fulham centre-back Brede Hangeland and suggested that he may add one defender and one striker.

“We have a look at him yes,” he said. “We have not contacted Fulham, we have not contacted Hangeland, we have not made our choice on him or anybody else at the moment.

“We can still make with one or two player more. One could be in the defensive areas and one in attacking areas.”

That extra attacking player could be Marouane Chamakh, with Wenger considering a renewed offer.

Arsenal have also lost Tomas Rosicky to injury, potentially for six weeks, although Wenger expects the Czech midfielder to make a full recovery.

“He was so sharp it’s difficult to accept he has a muscular injury,” he said. “You get that kind of injury when a player has been out for 18 months. I believe he will play an important part in the season.”

This post has been edited by kurtsimonw: Aug 8 2009, 01:09 AM

[kurtsimonw]

Villa 1-0 Fiorentina.

Good game overall from both teams. The #8 from Fiorentina had a very impressive game, Jovetic I believe it was. Fabian Delph made a great first impression, he was superb on the ball beating players on runs, his tackles is fantastic - though I suspect a few yellow/red cards - the Fiorentina players resorting to just fouling him in the end. Heskey opened the scoring after 15, good work from Delph, Milner and Young down the left. A penalty was given for a handball, against Lichaj I beleive, after 80 minutes but Gila hit the post. Though Friedel got down very well and went the right way and looked like he had it covered in any case. That's 2 Italian CL teams in the space of a week. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[Milan Are Brilli...]

Fabian Delph made a great first impression, he was superb on the ball beating players on runs

Yeah this guy has looked impressive for a while now, hopefully Villa can nurture him into World-Class material and we will have a good end product as a country rather than another Walcott.

[kurtsimonw]

Yeah this guy has looked impressive for a while now, hopefully Villa can nurture him into World-Class material and we will have a good end product as a country rather than another Walcott.

Easily the best debut I've seen by a youngster for us, even though it's technically not a debut. Dare I say he reminded me an awful lot of Barry with his composure and the way the ball just seems to stick to him no matter how many players are around him, yet he has more energy and gets more stuck in than GazBaz. If he turns out half as good I'll be happy.

Though it was another Leeds product who was MotM for me. Milner was amazing, a performance you'd expect from Young at his very best. He doesn't have mad pace but his footwork is brilliant and he just beats people with ease. I'll stick my head out and say this is his year. Expect him to be going to South Africa next summer, unless Fabio just picks the same old squad.

[kurtsimonw]

Chelsea 2-2 United
*Nani
*Carvalho
*Lampard
*Rooney

Chelsea look very disorganised, I thought organisation was meant to be one of Carlo's strong points!

Penalties it is (Chelsea have lost their last 5 shootouts)

[Maestro10]

And we cast away Ancelotti, only for him to win again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[kurtsimonw]

And we cast away Ancelotti, only for him to win again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

If his teams play like this, they can write off the title already. United battered them, both goals were goalkeeping errors.

[han2503]

And we cast away Ancelotti, only for him to win again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Yeah right (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Chelsea are not doing well so far, especially against the English sides they faced in pre-season and now this terrible performance that was only won because of the penalty shootout which is a lottery and not a good way to asses how a team performed throughout a match.

I still stand by what I said, I believe Roman will get tried of seeing his team struggle to both score and keep a clean sheet and the same thing that happened to Scolari will happen to him. When I see Chelsea I see the same old Milan that Carlo coached, they just have a better team so he'll manage more wins then he did at Milan. When you look at his achievments at Milan Carlo really falls short looking at the teams he's had throughout his 6 years at Milan

[Maestro10]

If his teams play like this, they can write off the title already. United battered them, both goals were goalkeeping errors.

well it is too early to say that, but overall United were better. My point is that the castaway coach went off to win a trophy, while we remain getting spanked on every occasion thus far (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)