Jonathan Wilson: Premier League title far from a formality for early leader Chelsea

[Scott]

Got to say I agree with you on this one. Scott is being way too hard-headed over this. Where's the evidence to say Chelsea won't do the double of United and Arsenal? For Chelsea it's one fixture of the four down convincingly, three to go. I'd expect them to beat United at home, and with United's form and gulf in quality between them and Chelsea (my opinion, before anyone jumps on me) away too. Arsenal I don't see beating Chelsea at home either.

Wheres the evidence to say there do it again. Stats will actually tell you, that last season was a strange year, as not many teams actually ever do the double over us. (maybe actually do some research). It will also tell you, that we are a post x-mas side, and we will get stronger each week. This will be the worse we play all season. And it will also tell you, we are unbeated all year and since April, dating 25ish games. So the gulf in class, is nothing more then media, no nothing fans and speculationary ****. You honestly can see chelsea doing the double over us?

Fancy a wager young man?

 

[fuelledbypassion]

As biased as it gets.

To be honest, there's not that much wrong with it:

Ivanovic - is a centre back playing at right back
Mikel - I don't rate but I guess he does an imortant job for the team with Cole always attacking
Anelka - don't really rate, hot and cold

bench is a load of rubbish, but I think Bosingwa could be good when fit

 

[sunilvk7]

It will also tell you, that we are a post x-mas side, and we will get stronger each week. This will be the worse we play all season. And it will also tell you, we are unbeated all year and since April, dating 25ish games. So the gulf in class, is nothing more then media, no nothing fans and speculationary ****.

Very good point this. We are on 21 games unbeaten, i dont see why people say we lack quality or depth.

 

[GodCubed]

Wheres the evidence to say there do it again. Stats will actually tell you, that last season was a strange year, as not many teams actually ever do the double over us. (maybe actually do some research). It will also tell you, that we are a post x-mas side, and we will get stronger each week. This will be the worse we play all season. And it will also tell you, we are unbeated all year and since April, dating 25ish games. So the gulf in class, is nothing more then media, no nothing fans and speculationary ****. You honestly can see chelsea doing the double over us?

No evidence, just my opinion. The way Chelsea have been playing (admittedly, against mostly sub-standard opposition) I can see them doing the double over United and Arsenal.

I, unlike you, are not trying to use outdated "evidence" from past seasons. I'm saying I could possibly see it happening, unlike you who is saying it DEFINITELY won't. Again, my opinion is that at the minute, Chelsea are a stronger team than United. So yeah, I could concievably see Chelsea doing the double over you. Not saying they WILL, but they could.

Fancy a wager young man?

No. I'm not THAT sure of it, as I said earlier.

Very good point this. We are on 21 games unbeaten, i dont see why people say we lack quality or depth.

Because of your performance. Being the worse side against Sunderland. Dropping a lead in the last few minutes against Everton. Rescuing a draw against Bolton. This isn't United, even pre-Christmas.

 

[Mike.]

No evidence, just my opinion. The way Chelsea have been playing (admittedly, against mostly sub-standard opposition) I can see them doing the double over United and Arsenal.

I, unlike you, are not trying to use outdated "evidence" from past seasons. I'm saying I could possibly see it happening, unlike you who is saying it DEFINITELY won't. Again, my opinion is that at the minute, Chelsea are a stronger team than United. So yeah, I could concievably see Chelsea doing the double over you. Not saying they WILL, but they could.



No. I'm not THAT sure of it, as I said earlier.

No evidence, just my opinion. The way Chelsea have been playing (admittedly, against mostly sub-standard opposition) I can see them doing the double over United and Arsenal.

But this is the crux of the article, something that Cjacko completely glosses over.

 

[sunilvk7]

I, unlike you, are not trying to use outdated "evidence" from past seasons. I'm saying I could possibly see it happening, unlike you who is saying it DEFINITELY won't. Again, my opinion is that at the minute, Chelsea are a stronger team than United. So yeah, I could concievably see Chelsea doing the double over you. Not saying they WILL, but they could.



No. I'm not THAT sure of it, as I said earlier.

But you ignored our victory over them in community shield. They played thier strongest team, still we won. So saying outdated evidence is wrong maybe?

 

[Scott]

No evidence, just my opinion. The way Chelsea have been playing (admittedly, against mostly sub-standard opposition) I can see them doing the double over United and Arsenal.

I, unlike you, are not trying to use outdated "evidence" from past seasons. I'm saying I could possibly see it happening, unlike you who is saying it DEFINITELY won't. Again, my opinion is that at the minute, Chelsea are a stronger team than United. So yeah, I could concievably see Chelsea doing the double over you. Not saying they WILL, but they could.



No. I'm not THAT sure of it, as I said earlier.

The fact you say, at the minute, shows a real short sighted or just ignorant view of things., The Facts remain we arent playing them this minute( even if we where, i bet with us.) So you saying if we played right this minute, chelsea would win, but the fact remained we arent playing until december. You call data from a few years back outdated, When your going on one year. Okay so by your knowledge, fulham where going to beat us this year? Did that happen? Thought not.

I am still up for that wager, I trust my opinions as they arent based on whats happening right now, more on what history tells us.

 

[sunilvk7]

Not to forget we dropped points from winning position against Everton, Fulham, WBA. Thats 6 points. With few games into season, i can bet we wont lose those. We had only Vidic in defense who was excellent, and Evra was having mare from that world cup, only from past 2 games, he looked his former self.

 

[Mike.]

Moving to the second part of the article, who are people tipping to go down? I quite fancy west brom to stay up, though i expect their form to drop off at some point. can see the hammers going down

 

[GodCubed]

But you ignored our victory over them in community shield. They played thier strongest team, still we won. So saying outdated evidence is wrong maybe?

Fair enough, you won the Community Shield. Since it's essentially a pre-season friendly, however, it doesn't affect my opinion that much.

The fact you say, at the minute, shows a real short sighted or just ignorant view of things., The Facts remain we arent playing them this minute( even if we where, i bet with us.) So you saying if we played right this minute, chelsea would win, but the fact remained we arent playing until december. You call data from a few years back outdated, When your going on one year. Okay so by your knowledge, fulham where going to beat us this year? Did that happen? Thought not.

What I'm going on is form so far, fairly in my opinion. You haven't been beaten yet, now, but you haven't won games you should've either.

I am still up for that wager, I trust my opinions as they arent based on whats happening right now, more on what history tells us.

History is quite possibly the most useless source there can be in football. If we went on history, the odds of Spain winning the WC would be stupidly long. Same with Holland. If we went on history, Ryan Giggs is a flying left winger, rather than a cultured, creative left midfield force.

Things change quickly in football.

Moving to the second part of the article, who are people tipping to go down? I quite fancy west brom to stay up, though i expect their form to drop off at some point. can see the hammers going down

West Ham, Wolves and one of Wigan and Blackpool.

 

[Scott]

History is quite possibly the most useless source there can be in football. If we went on history, the odds of Spain winning the WC would be stupidly long. Same with Holland. If we went on history, Ryan Giggs is a flying left winger, rather than a cultured, creative left midfield force.

Things change quickly in football.

But hings still remain the same, Giggs is still a class act. Holland still havent won the World cup. Spain only recently wherent bottlers. We can still use history as a reliable soure, otherwise we would have millions of people like you, judging united on there historically bad start to the season. Nothing new.

 

[GodCubed]

But hings still remain the same, Giggs is still a class act. Holland still havent won the World cup. Spain only recently wherent bottlers. We can still use history as a reliable soure, otherwise we would have millions of people like you, judging united on there historically bad start to the season. Nothing new.

What?! You completely miss the point. YES, Giggs is a class act, but he's not going to outpace a defender consistently, he's not the flying winger of before. Maybe he'd replace that aspect with other aspects to his game, but he simply isn't as fast anymore. That is my point, things have CHANGED. My point about Holland and Spain is if we went on history you may as well not even open betting on them, seeing as they'd never won before.

I'm not judging United on their bad start to the season. On top of that, I'm not even completely disregarding history. If you'd read earlier, I'd said:

United can never be ruled out, and always get stronger after Christmas.

Therefore, I expect United to get stronger. Therefore, I expect they will play better. Therefore, I am in no way ruling them out.

 

[fuelledbypassion]

Moving to the second part of the article, who are people tipping to go down? I quite fancy west brom to stay up, though i expect their form to drop off at some point. can see the hammers going down

It pains me to say this, but I think Blackpool are going to struggle. Wigan aren't good enough but are still scraping points together. Wolves must look at the fixtures and wonder where their next points are coming from, but there were encouraging signs in the cup the other night. I think they'll be a few points adrift at the bottom come december/

 

[Mike.]

It pains me to say this, but I think Blackpool are going to struggle. Wigan aren't good enough but are still scraping points together. Wolves must look at the fixtures and wonder where their next points are coming from, but there were encouraging signs in the cup the other night. I think they'll be a few points adrift at the bottom come december/

yeah im worried about blackpool, they are tactically interesting, particularly for a "lesser" side, and with a class act for a manager (i still cant get over his player power rant)

 

[fuelledbypassion]

yeah im worried about blackpool, they are tactically interesting, particularly for a "lesser" side, and with a class act for a manager (i still cant get over his player power rant)

Loved that rant! You have to give them credit for the way they play, but sometimes they just have to settle for a point. The loss against Blackburn, and similar dropped points throughout the season will catch up with them. With only 3 points seperating 7th place from 18th, it's going to be very interesting.. It's too difficult to make any assumptions at this stage

 

[Mike.]

Loved that rant! You have to give them credit for the way they play, but sometimes they just have to settle for a point. The loss against Blackburn, and similar dropped points throughout the season will catch up with them. With only 3 points seperating 7th place from 18th, it's going to be very interesting.. It's too difficult to make any assumptions at this stage

they remind me of west brom before this season, in that they are purist to theie style, even as the cost of points. Much as i admire that, they do need to be a bit more pragmatic, just as long as they dont go the whole way and be like blackburn

 

[sunilvk7]

yeah im worried about blackpool, they are tactically interesting, particularly for a "lesser" side, and with a class act for a manager (i still cant get over his player power rant)

Loved that rant! You have to give them credit for the way they play, but sometimes they just have to settle for a point. The loss against Blackburn, and similar dropped points throughout the season will catch up with them. With only 3 points seperating 7th place from 18th, it's going to be very interesting.. It's too difficult to make any assumptions at this stage

Blackpool and WBA are playing the game the way it should be played. We have seen newly promoted teams parking bus and just hoofing with a hope something might happen, but this time, WBA and Blackpool tried to keep it on gorund and played really good passing football. For that reason alone i want both teams to stay up.

And more importantly Ian Holloway FTW....

 

[dasty]

History is quite possibly the most useless source there can be in football. If we went on history, the odds of Spain winning the WC would be stupidly long. Same with Holland. If we went on history, Ryan Giggs is a flying left winger, rather than a cultured, creative left midfield force.

Things change quickly in football.

West Ham, Wolves and one of Wigan and Blackpool.

To be honest, history isn't really the most useless thing in football. In an unpredictable game such as football, history are our most reliable sources to predict the outcome of a game. I mean, what else can we rely on when predicting the outcome of a game? According to history, Drogba absolutely loves scoring against Arsenal. And did he score against Arsenal yet again this season? Yes. According to history, a team that manages to grind out wins even when they're not playing well are a team that is showing signs of a champion. That in my opinion, is quite true as well. According to history, Liverpool's last home win against Blackpool was in 1966 and Blackpool had only lost on one occasion in the past 6 meetings. The outcome? History prevails. It's superstitions like this that makes the game interesting.

There might be cases where history fails, but as we all know, football is an unpredictable game. But let's look at it this way, prior to Spain's World Cup win this year, weren't they one of the biggest underachievers in World Cup? So in the past World Cups other than this, history prevails. There is an exception in everything.

I could go on and on about how much history could influence the game. You may not believe in what I've said, but you cannot deny that history doesn't have a part in the game and it definitely is not possibly the most useless source in football.

 

[fuelledbypassion]

History and form are about the only two sources for football predction. It's difficult to pinpoint which is most valued, but I would say form most of the time

 

[Scott]

What?! You completely miss the point. YES, Giggs is a class act, but he's not going to outpace a defender consistently, he's not the flying winger of before. Maybe he'd replace that aspect with other aspects to his game, but he simply isn't as fast anymore. That is my point, things have CHANGED. My point about Holland and Spain is if we went on history you may as well not even open betting on them, seeing as they'd never won before.

I'm not judging United on their bad start to the season. On top of that, I'm not even completely disregarding history. If you'd read earlier, I'd said:

Manchester United, have changed there ways as well. They dont play the same ways as before, hence why we will improve. My point still remains they wont do the double over both of us. And you are judging it on right this minute in the world, When utd will get stronger, hence your opinion SHOULD be in line with that, The fact is we play chelsea in december, i expect as to be near 100% in terms of performane by then,