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2014/2015 Season Thread


Woodsinho

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Something I learned today (football edition).

The Stamford Bridge freehold, the pitch, the turnstiles and Chelsea's naming rights are now owned by Chelsea Pitch Owners, a non-profit organisation in which fans are the shareholders. The CPO was created to ensure the stadium could never again be sold to developers. As a condition for using the Chelsea FC name, the club has to play its first team matches at Stamford Bridge, which means that if the club moves to a new stadium, they may have to change their name.

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Scouting Report:

 

I was at the Liverpool V Man City game last night at Yankee Stadium. Apparently the attendance was more than any Yankees game this season - which is pretty insane. A very strange atmosphere. A LOT of Liverpool fans, probably about 80% Liverpool fans actually. I have no idea why. Didn't feel like a typical football match obvs... it was in a fucking baseball stadium. Anyway, very enjoyable and a fairly high level.

 

Dzeko is a much bigger presence than comes across on TV. He looks huge out there. He also draws defenders with him wherever he goes (which you don't really see as much on TV) and was dropping very deep. Jovetic looked sharp and could become the main striker. He and Dzeko look well suited although Negredo is arguably a better player than both of them.

 

Coutinho is one hell of a player but needs to figure out his final ball. Henderson looked ropey and unfit. Gerrard is past it. 

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Scouting Report:

 

I was at the Liverpool V Man City game last night at Yankee Stadium. Apparently the attendance was more than any Yankees game this season - which is pretty insane. A very strange atmosphere. A LOT of Liverpool fans, probably about 80% Liverpool fans actually. I have no idea why. Didn't feel like a typical football match obvs... it was in a fucking baseball stadium. Anyway, very enjoyable and a fairly high level.

 

Dzeko is a much bigger presence than comes across on TV. He looks huge out there. He also draws defenders with him wherever he goes (which you don't really see as much on TV) and was dropping very deep. Jovetic looked sharp and could become the main striker. He and Dzeko look well suited although Negredo is arguably a better player than both of them.

 

Coutinho is one hell of a player but needs to figure out his final ball. Henderson looked ropey and unfit. Gerrard is past it.

A lot of Irish immigrants in New York, Liverpool have a fairly strong Irish following is my guess.

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Perhaps, although the fans I saw seemed to be a real mix of ethnicities. But yeah, you're probably right, the Irish factor must have been at play for it to be so heavily Liverpool. That said, just from my own experience speaking to people, Liverpool and Arsenal are overwhelmingly the football adopters' clubs of choice. A lot of Americans adopt them as their team.

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Ashley Cole is fitting in well with his new Roma team-mates

 

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Dunno if anyone saw the Photoshop jobs of Ashley Cole lurking and/or looking lonely which originated on RedCafe. Author Irvine Welsh even posted a link to the thread on his Twitter, and then Ashley Cole himself retweeted the best ones. Good bloke, that Coley.

 

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And more...

 

CantonaKungFuKickwithAshleyColeRedcafeWa
 
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This is the best one:
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For the less eagle-eyed posters here, Ashley Cole is stood atop the tower in the distance. Brutal.
 
 
And then Totti himself took the piss in a photo a few days later by pretending to be Ashley Cole
 
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Top banter, Totti.

 
RedCafe is the best at the internet.
Edited by Soda van Jerk
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109,000 people attended a friendly today. That's mad. Fantastic stadium the big house.

 

It's humongous. Went there when I was younger. Not to see a game. Just the tour of the stadium when we visited friends who had emigrated to Detroit. Stood at the very back row behind the goal posts, and the pitch just looks tiny. It's odd how it's not a tall stadium considering how many people it holds. You're just so damn far away. It's an impressive looking stadium, but I bet a large percentage of people in there have a shite view.

 

It's also quite odd how the biggest stadium in North America isn't even used primarily for professional sports.

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Under a different regime, I'd be feeling pretty optimistic about Newcastle's season. The new DOF, Lee Charnley, has come in and done a solid job transfer-wise. Janmaat is a very adequate replacement for Debuchy. We've addressed our striker shortage with Riviere and Ferreyra, although another would be nice. I've heard De Jong described as "a rich man's Kevin Nolan," which will do nicely, and Cabella looks like one hell of a player. Young lads like Rolando Aarons and Ayoze Perez have done well in pre-season: hopefully the club will allow them to kick-on this season, rather than going down the Haris Vuckic/Shane Ferguson route and rotting at Rotherham or wherever.

 

Ideal scenario: we lose our first five games in a row, bring in a more thoughtful manager, bring Hatem Ben Arfa out of exile and finish comfortably in mid-table. I know that the reality is going to involve another year of Pardew, Jack Colback in the first XI, and Paul Dummett, though. 

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I can't wait for this season to just begin already. We mostly tend to discuss the English Premier League around these parts, so I've done my preliminary league placing predictions. This is subject to slight change, dependent on transfers before the end of August, though I imagine most of the big effective deals have been completed.

 

01. Chelsea

02. Manchester City

03. Manchester United

04. Arsenal

05. Liverpool

06. Everton

07. Tottenham Hotspur

08. Stoke City

09. West Ham United

10. Hull City

11. Newcastle United

12. Sunderland

13. Crystal Palace

14. Swansea City

15. Queens Park Rangers

16. Southampton

17. Aston Villa

18. Leicester City

19. West Bromwich Albion

20. Burnley

 

I envisage a significant points deficit between 5th and 6th, and 7th and 8th places. I think Hull City have strengthened their squad sensibly this summer so far, securing the signatures of young British players who are already accustomed to playing football in England. I don't think it can be underestimated how crucial a factor this can be; with Tottenham suffering slightly last season by recruting a multitude of players who had never played football in England before. It could be argued that Newcastle suffered similarly, but I'm sure I'll be told by those more educated that Newcastle's 'failings' are primarily down to Alan Pardew and the seemingly strange management and power dynamic going on at the club.

 

I have admired Paul Lambert's approach to his reign at Aston Villa so far, but I think they're in for another relegation fight this season; they may even go down. They've failed to strengthen their squad, and frankly, the majority of their young developing players aren't good enough yet.

 

I'd love to see others' league predictions.

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Thought I'd slap down my Scottish Premier League predictions too.

 

01. Celtic

02. Aberdeen

03. Dundee United

04. Motherwell

05. St Johnstone

06. Inverness Caledonian Thistle

07. Kilmarnock

08. Dundee

09. Partick Thistle

10. St Mirren

11. Ross County

12. Hamilton Academical

 

St Johnstone's final placing depends hugely on Steve May. If he goes before the end of August (which looks very likely), I think St Jonstone will be bottom half. It's sometimes easy to overestimate how crucial a certain player is to one collective team, but I do truly believe that St Johnstone will struggle to find goals without May. Not only does he provide hard statistical contributions (goals and assists), but he creates so much space for teammates through his lively movement. Most teams tend to double mark him - basic maths tells us that will leave one player without a dedicated marker, and St Johnstone have been quite good at using that space and opportunity when it prevents itself. As it is, May is still a Saints player, so I will place them in the top half for now.

 

I think Dundee United are in for another solid season, despite losing Gauld and Robertson. The younger players have a season under their belt, and I think they'll build on last season's platform. Nadir Ciftci is a player I admired last season, and Stuart Armstrong, Keith Watson, and Gary Mackay-Steven are all players I enjoy watching play too.

 

Given their budget, Aberdeen have strengthened impeccably over the summer, and I expect them to finish second this season. I recall identifying two or three players/positions on this forum that McInnes ought to be looking at last summer, and he went ahead and signed precisely the required players (Flood and Robson in particular); this season he's added a little strength and pace to the wide attacking positions, though a proper attacking left-back is still lacking. There's a great sense of legitimate balance in the Aberdeen squad just now, and I expect them to be even more difficult to beat this season. I also expect Derek McInnes to be cherry-picked by a slightly bigger club at some point - the guy genuinely has a fucking clue about how to build and manage a football team, which is quite unlike many other managers in the Scottish Premier League right now.

 

Motherwell just won't go away and they'll be up there with Dundee United and Aberdeen. I predict a significant points deficit between 4th and 5th.

 

Scottish Cup: Celtic

League Cup: Aberdeen

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