Professor Moriarty
Posts: 8521
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: the waters of Casablanca
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Cracking start to the league this season. Great time to have a little reflection while the internationals are on.
No surprises that Blackburn, Bolton and Wigan are at the bottom of the table. All 3 teams have lost good players over the summer (Sturridge and Cleverly returning back to their clubs from loan spells and Jones joining Utd). Bolton have had a brutal start to the season in terms of fixtures, but have been on a poor run of form since Stoke mullered them in the FA Cup semi-final. Steve Kean is under ridiculous pressure at Blackburn. I think two of those teams will find it hard to pull themselves out of the drop.
Speaking of managers under pressure, Steve Bruce continues to confound with some of his tactics and substitutions. I'm not sure its entirely fair to say he spent a hell of a lot over the summer as I think Sunderland are probably close to break even over the last year, but I can't really work out what the team is about. He also seems to be disenfranchising himself from the fans. A manager who might be keeping a close eye on the internationals is Roy Hodgson, who might be secretly hoping that Nigeria don't beat Guinea, so he doesn't lose Odemwingie to the African Cup of Nations.
Arsenal are still in a kind of freefall. Not only have they lost their two of their best players (with others out injured), but there seems to be no team spirit or will to win left in the squad. I thought they really needed to beat Spurs to put some oomph back in their season, arguably they played some of the better football, but only one team really wanted it and sadly for the rest of their season, that wasn't Arsenal.
Wolves, Everton and Fulham are all doing what they do best, scrabbling round mid-table with limited squads.
Its fun to see the 3 promoted teams in comfortable positions, but we've seen Burnley and Blackpool there in previous seasons. QPR looked like they'd just managed to do their summer shopping in time and then got hammered by Fulham (I just hope their players were asking Barton how much he's on again, as goals 5 and 6 rolled in). Swansea don't score many, but along with City are also the only team not to have conceded at home and they do play some nice football. Lambert will be rueing the fact that his team didn't have enough confidence to beat Utd who were there for the scalping.
You can't deny that Stoke have a plan now and are assembling a nice squad. Villa are unbeaten and if their unpopular manager can continue to get results from Agbonlahor and others then it will be a good season for them.
Spurs have had a rough start to the season, but between them Harry and Levy have sorted out 4 big problems: Goalkeeper, Modric, Holding Midfielder and Striker. I continue to cry that King's career has been so beset by injury he is a fantastic player when he can take the pitch. If I were a Spurs fan I'd not be happy with a finish outside the top 4.
King Kenny still has his work cut out with Carroll. There's nothing wrong with the lad other than his price tag, but watching him in their last game, he was pretty much always running left when the rest of the team was going right, he didn't put it about enough and wasn't working well with Suarez. Other than that, its a very good squad.
Newcastle are now showing that Ashley had a plan all along. To their credit, they made some gambles in their transfer policy this summer, but at the moment they are mostly paying off. Can't see them going the distance in the EPL, but they should take a long hard look at the FA Cup.
AVB is quickly, methodically and impressively sorting out Chelsea and he obviously doesn't fancy Lampard, having only started him in 6 of their 7 games I think  But the midfield is looking slick. I think after the break, the team will be in so much form we'll forget if Torres is scoring or not (though I can't help but think how often AVB wishes the money hadn't been spent and he'd been able to bring Falcao with him).
City have been the standouts, their squad is so silly rich that even when a couple of leading players are out there are other equally excellent players ready to step in (or stay sat on the bench). I just think that squad will be too much for other teams.
Utd are doing what they do best, playing off the self-belief of Ferguson. But their goal is coming under increasing threat and that's because the midfield is not quite working right now. Cleverly seemed to give it more zip, without him it looks ordinary in the middle. But I love watching Nani and Rooney looks fit, up for it and hirsute.
Predictions based on early form:
1. Man City
2. Chelsea
3. Man Utd
4. Spurs
5. Liverpool
6. Aston Villa
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18. Swansea
19. Wigan
20. Blackburn
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RE: Premier League 2011-2012 Results & Discussion - 
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