Originally Posted by
Carlos Tevez
Originally Posted by
zizou
Originally Posted by
Carlos Tevez
You forgot that they have Toure...Toure will be starting in place of Kompany.
I already told airseattlejordan that I think Hughes will get fired by the halfway point of this season. If City have a string of 4-5 bad Premiership games (which is inevitable for ANY team), I think that he'll get the sack. If City aren't in the top 5 by the halfway point, he'll get the sack. I dont see this ending well for him.
We'll see how Torres + Gerrard works over the course of the season. Liverpool played great in the 2nd half of last season but I dont see them keeping up that crazy goalscoring pace that they had going on where they were easily scoring 3+ goals a match. In Liverpool's defense, they are about as deep upfront as their main competitors - Chelsea and Man Utd.
forgot about toure. even more impressive because kompany is a very good player, imo.
interesting point though. the big 4 really aren't that deep up front. never really though of that.
man united:
rooney
berbatov
owen
macheda
wellbeck
- but the last two are very young. not much will be counted on them
liverpool:
torres
babel
kuyt (when he's not playing on the right)
gerrard (but he's an attacking CM or support striker)
n'gog
chelsea:
drogba
anelka
sheva
pizarro
sturridge?
sinclair?
arsenal:
van persie
bendtner
walcott (but he'll be used as a winger)
vela (but he'll be used as a winger too)
lol, in comparison:
real madrid:
benzema
raul
rvn
ronaldo
higuain
negredo
To be honest, I think Man Utd look weak upfront. It's Rooney's team now so he'll be expected to score 20 goals. I think Berbatov will be more comfortable in his 2nd year with the club and should get atleast 15. Anything from Owen and Macheda will be a bonus. The key to Man Utd's offensive success will be Rooney staying healthy...he misses time every single season. Owen coming off the bench will likely prolong his career, we all know how injury prone he is. I cant wait for the British media sensationalism when Owen scores a couple of goals for his new club..."OMFG!!!!! OWEN IS BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER!!!!"...."OWEN MAKING A PUSH FOR ENGLAND"...along with Beckham, he is the poster boy for the English media.
Chelsea only have 2 strikers that are guaranteed to be on the opening day roster...Anelka and Drogba. Drogba is gone for 1 month at the beginning of 2010 for the African Nation's Cup so they'll need to bring someone in (just like how Anelka was brought in to fill in for Drogba during the 2008 ACN). Sheva and Pizarro will be gone by the end of the transfer window...IMO they are not wanted by the club. No one should be surprised if Chelsea acquire a big time striker within the coming weeks.
Torres is Liverpool's only natural striker...thats why I think they need to sign someone else to come off the bench when necessary. They tried using Kuyt as a secondary striker and it didn't work out as well as they expected. Kuyt is still good for slightly more than 10 goals a season. Babel is still young and wildly inconsistent...he usually plays as a winger and hasn't scored that many goals in his career. Liverpool will be in trouble if they rely on him to be a primary attacking option in the event that Torres/Gerrard are unable to play.
Arsenal have v. Persie, Eduardo, Bendtner, Vela, Walcott, Arshavin and potentially Kalou/Chamakh up front. Other than v. Persie, none of these guys have proven much in the Premiership. They're all very young and full of Wenger's favorite word..."potential". Arshavin is in his prime right now and I'm confident he'll score around 10 EPL goals as a winger. v. Persie will lead the team in goals but he'll miss about 30% of the season because he is an injury prone pansy. Other than v. Persie and Arshavin, I file Arsenal's strikers under the category of "good...but not good enough...yet".
well, as for man united, i agree. my concern is owen and rooney are bound to miss a stretch of games due to injury. and rooney happens to get injured rightafter a string of games with goals.
with the personnel we have now and with CR leaving, i don't think we'll see much of a 4-3-3 anymore. with valencia and nani (if he's back in form),i think we'll be better suited to a 4-4-2. so if rooney and owen miss some stretch of games, we are very weak up front. especially since berba isn'twell suited to play as a lone striker.
but i agree this is rooney's team now. he'll be playing in the center that he favors so much. much will be expected from him.
i agree that sheva and pizarro will probably be gone by the end of the window. at least pizarro, for sure. but they have more depth at the midfield and canuse other players as support strikers, if needed. i hope joe cole comes back healthy this year.
agree with liverpool. kuyt has made the right wing his own there and has found a way to contribute without scoring. i wonder if benitez will try and play babelas a forward more this season. it's too bad robbie keane couldn't cut it at liverpool.
agree about arsenal. i've never been much of a fan of bendtner, but he has the tools to be a great scorer.
