# UK football, season 2008/09, forecasts **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 7, 2008, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150 "2008-08-07T12:09:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 28
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/541 "2009-01-22T19:02:13Z")
> [@villa](#): > > All in all, its good Spurs won. They’ll get stuffed in the final, and its another game to risk injury/take their minds off the league. Which can only increase their chances of getting relegation. True true. I hope they don’t get stuffed though, it might send United on a run. 0-0 with lots of injuries would be ideal I think! ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/542 "2009-01-22T23:18:39Z")
I think you are all ignoring the very real possibility of a Treble this season. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/543 "2009-01-22T23:22:43Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > I think you are all ignoring the very real possibility of a Treble this season. 😉 Call me greedy, but I want an unprecedented 5 timer! 😃 Tbh though, I’d be happy with just the premiership and equalling Liverpool’s record. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/544 "2009-01-23T14:09:28Z")
It hurts to say this but I’d rather your shower win the Carling Cup than the Spuds ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/545 "2009-01-23T15:22:24Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > I think you are all ignoring the very real possibility of a Treble this season. 😉 Hahahahahaha. Look at their stats man. Man City have scored more goals than them! They’re awful at the moment, kept up by the backline. Who just all got injured. They’d struggle to beat Sporting friggin Lisbon at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/546 "2009-01-23T22:52:43Z")
> [@Discordia](#): > > Hahahahahaha. > > Look at their stats man. Man City have scored more goals than them! They’re awful at the moment, kept up by the backline. Who just all got injured. > > They’d struggle to beat Sporting friggin Lisbon at the moment. Which, of course, is why they are at the top of the table, with a game in hand, no less. :rolleyes: Your attitude about the quality of football is, frankly, getting silly sounding. Of course, the proof will be in the pudding, so to speak. I’ll withhold further commentary until May, at which point we shall see what we shall see. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/547 "2009-01-24T00:20:01Z")
I’ll be happy to eat crow if all the English teams get through to the quarters. Heck, even if 3 of them make it. I think 1, maybe 2 is likeliest. I hope you’ll do likewise if the opposite occurs 😛 Though I withdraw the ‘bet’ if someone starts banging in 3 goals a game, since my position is just that they all suck _now_, not in general. I’m not sure why you find my opinion unusual. Liverpool were on top of the table despite getting fewer points from the games they’d played than they got last season (I believe they were 4th then, their token league challenge long over). Something like 6 of United’s last 9 games were 1-0s. Yeah, they’re winning, but that’s seriously unimpressive, even in Italy, and last I checked English teams don’t play like that. Chelsea have sort of fallen apart, and their lack of width and forward issues are well documented. I trust I don’t even need to go into Arsenal. There’s been plenty of talk of the first team to stop sucking wins the league. I’m hardly alone in being seriously unimpressed with the quality this season. It’s surprising, a squad like United _should_ be far better, I’m very surprised they’ve been so poor (defence excepted of course, that’s been superb). ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/548 "2009-01-24T00:20:29Z")
> [@Discordia](#): > > Hahahahahaha. > > Look at their stats man. Man City have scored more goals than them! Well, yeah; Man City have scored more goals than anyone except Chelsea (who are, of course, very boring according to you). So what on earth does this prove? I’m with **DSYoungEsq** on this; everything for you is apparently shit unless it’s Barca. Barca this, Barca that, English football sucks. Change the tune, eh? Jesus, you’ve got me defending Chelsea and Man U. That it should come to this… ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/549 "2009-01-24T00:31:30Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > Well, yeah; Man City have scored more goals than anyone except Chelsea (who are, of course, very boring according to you). So what on earth does this prove? > > I’m with **DSYoungEsq** on this; everything for you is apparently shit unless it’s Barca. Barca this, Barca that, English football sucks. Change the tune, eh? > > Jesus, you’ve got me defending Chelsea and Man U. That it should come to this… Er, no. All I’m saying is the English top 4, other than their defences, are very poor this season. That’s all. The fact that teams near the relegation zone are scoring more goals than them was evidence offered for said point. And I’ve never said everyone other than Barcelona are shit. Most teams in Europe are roughly as expected, actually. Some good, some mediocre, some bad. The English teams are unexpectedly bad. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/550 "2009-01-24T00:42:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Er, no. All I’m saying is the English top 4, other than their defences, are very poor this season. That’s all. The fact that teams near the relegation zone are scoring more goals than them was evidence offered for said point. Well yeah, and we’re saying that “very poor” is a pretty daft overstatement, and that picking out the one club near the relegation zone that is capable of scoring goals for fun but has a defence more penetrable than Paris Hilton’s nethers doesn’t really qualify as evidence, particularly in a season when “near the relegation zone” means anywhere from eighth place downwards. You yourself say Man United’s defence is excellent, and their attack (which admittedly hasn’t quite gelled around Berbatov yet) is scoring a mere 1.5 goals per game; that’s “very poor”? Really? This is what we’re saying; the weird absolutism you’re constantly coming out with is, well … weird. Aaanyway, anyway, in happier news it looks like droopy and grumpy are going to get [stuffed by their loans](http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jan/23/football-premier-league-liverpool-george-gillett-tom-hicks-nasser-al-kharafi), forcing them to sell up for £110m less than they might’ve made eight months ago. And a bloody good job, too; it still offends me that they might make as much as a dime out of all this. Having comprehensively bagged City for being Abu Dhabi’s pet club, of course, I can’t say I’m that keen about becoming the Kuwaiti Kop. Is it really too much to ask to find an owner that doesn’t want to either show off to his mates on his yacht, or leverage the crap out of the business and sell it on for a quick buck? ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/551 "2009-01-24T00:50:35Z")
Sure, in absolute terms they aren’t very poor. I’m talking by their own standards though. You don’t think 1.5 goals per game is poor for a club like United? Meant to be best in the world, very attacking? I’d say the same for Arsenal or Real Madrid or whatever. For contrast, the big Italian teams averaged around 1.8-1.9 per game last season, in a far more miserly league. So yeah, very poor in an attacking sense, very good defensively. ETA: If you’re nitpicking about me calling them poor, just replace it with underachieving. For that club, for the amount they attack, for the players they have, they are scoring shockingly few goals. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/552 "2009-01-24T19:09:58Z")
Manure beat Spuds 2-1 :mad: Is there no Og? Bollocks, bollocks and more bollocks ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/553 "2009-01-24T21:35:52Z")
Let me be the first to congratulate Swansea on knocking out the current FA cup holders Portsmouth. A Championship side beating a Premier side at their ground. Of course it would be churlish of me to criticise whatever his name is (the presenter) on the BBC football round up, when he said (more or less) “Of course it was a good win for Swansea but what can Tony Adams do to get Portsmouth out of the shit?” Then the three experts began pontificating about what Adams would have to do. Experts that are only there because they are too useless to get a proper job in football. Need I mention Garth Crooks and Steve Claridge and Gary Pallister? At least Adams had the grace to say ”we were outclassed, outplayed and outfought and that’s not good enough.” Now that I’ve got that out of the way, if you want me I shall be sitting next to and getting outside the contents of a bottle of bubbly stuff and celebrating the birth of a new grandson. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/554 "2009-01-26T12:26:45Z")
And Cardiff held the mighty Gooners to a draw. Spawny manure get yet another easy draw for 5th round, Forest or Derby ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/555 "2009-01-26T12:31:53Z")
The best result of the weekend was Liverpool being forced into a replay - that’s hardly going to help their Premiership challenge. If only it was at Brighton or Plymouth instead of somewhere just across the park, but one can’t have everything… **chowder** , I thought you said you’d rather Man U won the cup than Spurs? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/556 "2009-01-26T12:35:24Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > The best result of the weekend was Liverpool being forced into a replay - that’s hardly going to help their Premiership challenge. If only it was at Brighton or Plymouth instead of somewhere just across the park, but one can’t have everything… > > **chowder** , I thought you said you’d rather Man U won the cup than Spurs? The Carling Cup my good fellow. I want Liverpool to win the FA Cup ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/557 "2009-01-26T23:22:47Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > And Cardiff held the mighty Gooners to a draw. > > Spawny manure get yet another easy draw for 5th round, Forest or Derby Explain exactly how their 4th round draw was an “easy” draw? 😕:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/558 "2009-01-27T08:04:37Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Explain exactly how their 4th round draw was an “easy” draw? 😕:rolleyes: Home draw against a team struggling in the relegation zone. That easy enough for you? ---
**Author:** ![MJinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@MJinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MJinks)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/559 "2009-01-28T00:12:07Z")
Well if Arsenal really do have a chance of taking the league then surely that means there are at least 13 teams struggling in the relegation zone, that doesn’t leave a lot of ‘difficult’ opponents to pick from. Tottenham, Portsmouth, City, Bolton are all ‘easy’ 😉 teams that can frustrate even the best on an off-day. They certainly have more chance than Ipswich, Cardiff or … Nottingham Forest. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/560 "2009-01-28T00:15:27Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Home draw against a team struggling in the relegation zone. > > That easy enough for you? In a round in which there were a significant number of participants still in the draw who are from below the Premier League? Get real. One of these days, all y’all will accept that bashing everything about Manchester United simply makes you look silly. It also belittles the accurate points you make about them. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150.md?page=27) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150.md?page=29)