Premiership Roundup - The media gets it horribly wrong
Daniel Finkelstein got it dead right when he said:
“It is impossible to predict who will win the Premiership. All you can do is say how probable different outcomes are.”
Reason doesn’t stop us from trying though, and fans from all sorts of clubs made all sorts of predictions. The peeps at the Soccernet Extra Podcast even got some things right, but mostly football proved itself to be beyond any certain outcomes and especially, beyond wishful thinking.
Case in point - the starts made by Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham. Nothing to suggest that they have any serious troubles but everything points at the problems we diagnosed before the season started - Arsenal lack personnel, Liverpool lack cohesion and Tottenham are still not good enough to be in the top four.
Then again, you could have been forgiven for getting caught up in the hype around Liverpool. Surely a team that snatches victory from the bowels of defeat in a Champions League final, and then is the best team on points for 3/4th of the next season deserves to be ranked as favourites. After all, even Kevin McCarra is woefully wrong (although there is a difference in being equipped to do something and actually being able to pull it off).
But you could easily look at the charts and say that Liverpool still lack consistency, and that they will struggle. It’s not magic, and it’s not rocket science. As long as you stay away from the media Kool-Aid, you can pretty much beat the predictions offered by armchair hacks.
I got my Arsenal prediction wrong (I predicted that Arsenal would win by a 2-goal margin - silly me), but then again I had underestimated Martin O’Neill’s man-management skills.
Better luck next week, I guess.
But at least two things are constant in the universe of English football - Chelsea are still the team to beat (3-0 win against Manchester City without Ballack, Cech, Makelele, Cole, Gallas) while you can never, ever, write off Manchester United (top of the table after a 5-1 thumping of Fulham). Rose-tinted glasses? After all the “United is in decline” crap we’ve heard in the last month, hell yes.
Make sure you check out the goals from the Manchester United vs Fulham game - fantastic build-up to all 5 of them.
Premiership Results for 19th and 20th August:
- Sheffield United 1-1 Liverpool (Soccerlens coverage)
- Arsenal 1-1 Aston Villa
- Everton 2-1 Watford
- Newcastle 2-1 Wigan
- Portsmouth 3-0 Blackburn
- Reading 3-2 Middlesbrough
- West Ham 3-1 Charlton
- Bolton 2-0 Tottenham (Soccerlens coverage)
- Manchester United 5-1 Fulham (Soccerlens coverage)
- Chelsea 0-0 Manchester City
All the latest football headlines.
heh
“Case in point - the starts made by Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham. Nothing to suggest that they have any serious troubles but everything points at the problems we diagnosed before the season started - Arsenal lack personnel, Liverpool lack cohesion and Tottenham are still not good enough to be in the top four.”
Wow. What insight.
When Liverpool win the Community shield, they have incredible cohesion. When they draw against Sheff, they lack cohesion.
When Arsenal finish the season on a high with CL final, they have incredible depth, when they draw Aston Villa, it’s a lack of personnel.
When Tottenham lose against Bolton (who started off too well with two suckerpunches), they’re shoddy. But when they buy Berbatov and Man U target Zokora, they’re a team on the rise.
When United have a shoddy transfer season, they’re on the decline. When they put 5 past Fulham, they’re not dead.
Brilliant.
Lets just say that http://soccerlens.com/manchester-united-2-steps-away-from-totally-fucked/1309362.html
no13,
Not a fan of comprehension, I see.
I said NOTHING about Liverpool winning the Community Shield, I never rated Arsenal’s chances in the CL final NOR did I ever rate Tottenham as a team capable of breaking into the top 4 (although a team on the rise can make mistakes. did I say the Spurs were shoddy? I said they couldn’t handle Bolton’s physical approach).
Similarly, never talked about United being in the decline. The article you are linking to was a statement on where United stood at that time - if we don’t make the right moves we would have been totally fucked (at least by my standards, getting out of the top 3 for United is being TF).
The point of this article was that media hype was responsible for building up Tottenham and Liverpool while putting down United. If you understood something else, do tell.
“I said NOTHING about Liverpool winning the Community Shield, I never rated Arsenal’s chances in the CL final NOR did I ever rate Tottenham as a team capable of breaking into the top 4 (although a team on the rise can make mistakes. did I say the Spurs were shoddy? I said they couldn’t handle Bolton’s physical approach).”
Deary me.
It may have been soupdragon2. You guys should mention authors with the articles. It would appear more than one writes.
Also, I didn’t say anything about rating Arsenal’s chances. I merely state that I remember some glowing words about Arsenal’s youth system giving them depth right on this blog, in context of Arsenal reaching the final. I may have been mistaken, but I’m fairly certain that it was either pointed out BY a contributor, or at the very least, not contradicted at all when someone commented.
[sarcasm]
But you know. You may be right. Liverpool suck. Tottenham will get UEFA cup again, (and by the same threads) Saha will score 20+ goals, Ronaldo won’t dive and be consistent, Chelsea will play attractive football and Arsenal’s squad will be arrested en masse for underage driving.
[/sarcasm]
Anyhow, thanks for clearing it up. I definitely seem to have facts mixed up.
Enjoy this season. Let’s hope it’s better than the last.
It wasn’t Soup mate.
The author name is stated in the post-info box (right below the article, above the comments section. Your failure to see it suggests that other people may have difficulty in this regard, so yea, will think of highlighting it better.
Good words about Arsenal’s youth system? Must be Rocky. I don’t contest that their young players were excellent last season, but that doesn’t hide the fact that they ARE short of quality players in the first-team. Where’s the backup to Gilberto? Senderos and Djourou are good defenders but not the same class as Toure, so Arsenal need backup in central defence and at left back as well (and the midfield, as I mentioned earlier re Gilberto).
Even Arsenal fans would agree.
link to the thread you are quoting mate. the underage diving comment sounds like Soup, definitely
Well darn it… the entire box looks like an advertorial box
This looks like wordpress?
I recommend having the author name right under the headline. And removing any pictures or highlighting from ‘related items’
But that’ just me.
And that underage driving comment was pure fantasy drummed up by me as a hypothetical semi sarcastic exaggaration. (God I hope I don’t have a style similar to soup
that’d be the end of me!)
Well darn it… the entire box looks like an advertorial box
It does? Damn. Thanks for the suggestions, am planning on ‘design update’ but sidetracked with other stuff. Definitely on the cards though.
The underaged diving comment is my favourite read of the whole day. Still can’t stop laughing
“… Thanks for the suggestions … Still can’t stop laughing ”
Anytime.