By Walter Broeckx
At the start of the season we have all kind of specialists telling us who will win at the end of the season. One could compare this with the AAA who in August and September predicted we will fight relegation and then say it means nothing when we finish 3rd.
So how did the BBC pundits predict and what is their final score on their predictions? Untold tells you the truth…
| Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Score |
| ALAN HANSEN, MATCH OF THE DAY | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| ALAN SHEARER, MATCH OF THE DAY | MU | CHE | MC | ALS | 0/4 |
| GARY LINEKER, MATCH OF THE DAY | MU | MC | CHE | ARS | 0/4 |
| LEE DIXON, MATCH OF THE DAY | MU | CHE | MC | LIV | 0/4 |
| JASON ROBERTS, BLACKBURN STRIKER AND NEW 606 PRESENTER | MU | MC | CHE | ARS | 0/4 |
| MARK LAWRENSON, FOOTBALL FOCUS | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| ROBBIE SAVAGE, FOOTBALL FOCUS | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| DAN WALKER, FOOTBALL FOCUS | MC | MU | CHE | ARS | 2/4 |
| IAN DENNIS, 5 LIVE SENIOR FOOTBALL REPORTER | MU | CHE | MC | LIV | 0/4 |
| PHIL McNULTY, CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| GUY MOWBRAY, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| STEVE WILSON, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR | MU | MC | CHE | ARS | 0/4 |
| JONATHAN PEARCE, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR | MU | CHE | MC | ARS | 0/4 |
| JOHN MOTSON, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR | MU | CHE | LIV | MC | 0/4 |
| ALISTAIR MANN, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| PAT NEVIN, 5 LIVE PUNDIT | MU | CHE | MC | LIV | 0/4 |
| DAN ROAN, SPORTS NEWS CORRESPONDENT | MC | MU | LIV | CHE | 2/4 |
| GRAEME MURTY, 5 LIVE PUNDIT | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| SAM LYON, BBC SPORT WEBSITE | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| MARK BRIGHT, BBC LONDON | LIV | MU | MC | ARS | 0/4 |
| STEVE CLARIDGE, 5 LIVE PUNDIT | MU | CHE | MC | ARS | 0/4 |
| PAUL FLETCHER, BBC FOOTBALL BLOGGER | MU | MC | LIV | CHE | 0/4 |
| MATT HOLLAND, 5 LIVE PUNDIT | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| ALISTAIR BRUCE-BALL, RADIO 5 LIVE COMMENTATOR | MU | CHE | MC | LIV | 0/4 |
| STEVE WYETH, BBC RADIO MANCHESTER | MU | CHE | MC | LIV | 0/4 |
| JAMES PEARCE, SPORTS NEWS CORRESPONDENT | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| NIGEL ADDERLEY, 5 live FOOTBALL REPORTER | MU | LIV | CHE | ARS | 0/4 |
| PETE STEVENS, BBC LONDON | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| ALISTAIR MAGOWAN, WEBSITE TACTICS EXPERT | MU | MC | LIV | CHE | 0/4 |
| IAN CHEESEMAN, BBC RADIO MANCHESTER | MC | MU | CHE | ARS | 2/4 |
| CHRIS BEVAN, BBC SPORT WEBSITE | MU | MC | LIV | CHE | 0/4 |
| OVERALL PREDICTED RANKING USING ALL BBC FORECASTS | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
So these were the predictions of the experts.
Shockingly bad. Only 3 predicted the outcome of the first two places correctly. 3 out of 30. Dan Walker, Dan Roam and Ian Cheeseman managed to do this.
And then my dear readers….it ends. Those where the only 3 correct predictions out of 120 expert predictions.
NOBODY predicted Arsenal to finish in 3rd place. It was all Liverpool and Chelsea that would finish in third according to the people who pretend to know. A few predicted we would finish in 4th place so I could give a mention of them. It was Alan Shearer (who named 3 clubs so this is a bit easy from his part), Gary Linneker, Jason Roberts, Dan Walker (again), Steve Wilson, Jonathan Pearce, Mark Bright, Steve Claridge, Nigel Adderley and finally Ian Cheeseman (also again)
So only two people predicted the names of the top two correct and also said that Arsenal would be in the top 4 be it in 3rd and not in 4th as they said. In fact no pundit predicted us in 3rd place.
And this is what those guys are getting paid for. They are getting paid for knowing something about football. In fact if you look at their predictions the only thing that seems to influence them is how much money did they spend. And thus we get Liverpool and their darling King Kenny in the top 4 a lot. Or maybe they still love them as it was their childhood favourite team?
Now, those pundits who fail miserably in their predictions are the ones who also tell us how the refs are doing on many occasions. If they cannot even get it right when it comes to see how a team will do in a season. What about saying us something about the rules. I don’t know how many of those pundits actually have ever been ref in a football game but if their ability to say something correct about the rules is at the same level as their predicting skills….
The final conclusion about the pundits is: THEY KNOW NOTHING! Hell, they could be from Mars.
Maybe for next season we could do the same and we could make our own top 4 predictions. And then compare it with the pundit predictions. And then see who has done best. Surely we must be able to find 30 regular readers to give their predictions. Please remind us in August to do this.
Another thing that we could keep in mind as a result of this is that despite some fans saying we underachieve it just might be that the real underachievers are Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. Nobody believed in us for even making it in the top 4. The moaners didn’t believe in us as they never believe in Arsenal. They always say we are doomed and are in trouble. Nobody believed in Arsenal in the top 4. Except us fools from Untold maybe. And the players. And the manager.
And we even did better than anyone ever predicted: we came in third place. Nobody would have believed this in August. But we did it. With, according to the AAA, a rubbish manager, rubbish players, panic buys…. Like one of my friends from the Arsenal Benelux supporters texted me after the final game at WBA: We f*cking did it! Lots of humble pie can be eaten for the moment.
Your predictions for next season below please.
Good
1 Arsenal, 2 manC, 3 chelsea, 4 manU
Maybe bold, but i belive manu times r up
Haha, that’s funny! I bookmarked that prediction page at the start of the season and looked at it again last week. That’s a little reminder for the pathetic Wenger haters.
No one one expected united to throw away the points they did in the run in. to drop 5 points prior to the city game was uncharacteristic to say the least. It flew in the face of recent history. The pundits should have been right but would’ve, should’ve, could’ve doesn’t win trophies. This is why it’s called sport.
LET’S HOPE THAT OUR THIRD SPOT RIPS INTO LINEKER’S GUTS-THE PISS TAKING WANKER!
I remember one time watching Nigel our own Legend and he didnt believe in whatsoever reason that Arsenal would finish it in top for, for him 5th would have been an over achievement and finally Arsenal were collapsing his prediction was Liverpool Chelsea and Spurs would be fighting number three and four Pathetic. Just to quote our fantastic captain when we beat spurs, people are saying that spurs team is this year is the best they have seen and Arsenal which is the worst team ever have been them. Fast forward the worst team ever for Arsenal finished no 3.
Meant top Four, and Arsenal have beaten them actually we thrashed them, humbled them.
Is finishing 3rd the same as winning a trophy I thought you actually had to finish 1st.
Yeah couldn’t agree more. Yet they take up our time analysing football matter and do lousy impressions of managers.(lineker). safe to say that all this pundit stuff should be overlooked.
Thanks for this article.
The professional football “experts” have demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that they simply haven’t got a clue what they are talking about.
Not that this is anything new.
Seriously no one could tell the future bet everyone would have laughed at you if u predicted Liverpool for 8th or 9th i picked them for seventh.
I think a lot of factors unseen made up this season and lets face it man u were only minutes from the title.
Also, i’m suprised that not one pundit (apart from AS who was hedging his bets) gave Spurs a top 4 spot. As for Newcastle coming within a whisker, nobody but nobody (even Pardew) saw that coming.
It’s only a bit of fun at the start of the seaon and just by looking at the list you can see the sheer variety of predictions. So, from day 1, the experts can’t all be right.
Shame really, else i’d be off to BetFred.
To some extent it can be forgiven that they fail to make good predictions. After all, football is a game that is difficult to predict, despite all the financial doping, ref bias and other shenanigans. Still, only three that get at least some right?! Anybody also notice that absolutely nobody predicted Spurs in the top four?
What is embarassing, though, is the general lack of knowledge of the Laws of the Game. It wouldn’t go amiss if they’d just bother to read through it every year at the start of the season.
Off Topic:
Alisher Usmanov just got richer it seems http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18115914
Untold has become my favourite Arsenal blog with interesting quality read almost every day.
But I must say, in this particular piece you’re making the mistake that you, Walter, sometimes (rightly) accuse some other blogs of: jumping to conclusions.
It’s simply not fair to conclude that these pundits know nothing. In fact 20 of them got the main theme of the season right: That the two Manc clubs would share the title and the runners-up medal between them. And if it hadn’t been for a last minute Aguero goal on the final day 17 out of 30 would have been spot on regarding 1st and 2nd.
Still, you’re right about their predictions regarding Arsenal. But to be fair: How many of us dared dream of 3rd place back in August? 😉
i was one of the doubters. i too eat humble pie. but i am an arsenal supporter for life and always will be……
Good article!…i wish these self acclaimed football geniuses are reading this post. Most of these guys hate arsenal so much, even if arsenal go out and buy all the best players in the world, they will not give us a chance!…they should cover themselves in shame because they believed they know everything where as they know little or nothing. At the start of last season, after manchester city, arsenal is the most complete team before the sale of Fabregas and Nasir, even when both were left, assuming we have Diaby, wilshere, and stable defence through out the season, we could have challenge for the epl title,fa cup and champions league..i hope they wil learn from their weak predictions against next season…
I do not know why there is always a hate wave against our beloved Arsenal, there is some hands involved in this scenario, but F**k them all we managed to be in 3 place against all odds. Wenger has right this season we showed our mental strength and i hope next season we gave combine it with more consistency and with few new player. I stil trust Wenger he is a good manager.
Shame on the so called pundits with thier false predictions. Most of these pundits are arsenal haters and will never say anything good about arsenal. Wenger should win the league come next season to prove these people wrong and position them where they perfectly fit.
Lee Dixon predicted it spot on.
Arsenal 3rd, Spuds to pip Chavs.
@walter add Ollie Holt to that list..he predicted us to drop out of top 4 and said after our defeat by liverpool that they were moving forward while we were moving backwards
Untold have certainly unveiled that to be paid handsomely you need to have your facts and judgement correctly and not judge by hearsay and by a few matches. Untold is one of the best in analysing, say it rightly blogs in the Net. Keep up the good work Mr W. Up with the good news.
GoGunners4Eva.
It’s a prediction??? It’s like forecasting the weather! Only harder! Get over it…lol
To be fair we were also hoping for a third or fourth place at the best. Things really changed from chelsea game onwards. Now we are a differnt team mentally,thanks to the inclusion of some seasoned players like Arteta, Santos,Banayoun etc..RVP also changed his style and started playing from deep.Think of the situation if he had to ne rested for few games.
What’s also noticeable that not one pundit foresaw Chelsea dropping out of the top four; and it’s hard to break back in without the heavy, and correctly spent investment – just ask Liverpool, 3 seasons running they’ve finished outside top 4 since being 2nd in 2008/2009 despite spending loads.
With us, every close season for the last ten years has seen important players leave – seemed to start with Petite and Overmars and then you can just reel off the names – Edu, Flamini, Hleb, TH14, Cesc, Gallas, Adebayor, Viera, Gilberto, Cole, Kolo, Nasri, Clichy and so on – and for many of those years, especially lately, it’s been the pundits collective opinion that we are doomed. Well, we weren’t, haven’t been and have remained top 4 throughout. It may not be a trophy but no one should belittle the achievement.
That in itself doesn’t guarantee anything for next year at all – either challenging for the title itself or not dropping out, but it should tell the pundits to be a little more careful about writing off Arsenal season after season – regardless of where RvP plays next year.
Nice to see what the “Experts” thought of The Arsenal but i know you can guess who knew all along…Remember “Arsene who?” when he was appointed?
Remember who said in the summer of 2003 his team can go a full season unbeaten in the league and the “experts” laughed?
Remember who believed in Henry,Viera,Sol,RvP,Cesc,Song,Koscielny,Vermaelen,Wilshere,Anelka,Kanu,Sagna? You know who now believes in Ramsey,Diaby,Walcott,Gibbs,Jenkinson,Gervinho,Coquelin?
Arsene Wenger : making mugs out of English journos since 2006.
I will tell you all why there is animosity against our club, it is because of our manager, because of his lack of sportsmanship, Lets face it, he is a bad loser, that is why we have not recieved one single penalty at home this season, and why they take the piss out of him on MOTD and in the stands, the reality is while AW is still at the helm we will not get any favours from anybody
I paid them no mind from the onset because I know how shit can happen, which they always fail to take into consideration. If i remember correctly, Shearer tipped Tottenham to pip 4th spot ahead of Arsenal. Now that the season is over, we need to plan ahead, early enough.
Walter please make an article showing where would arsenal stand if the referee weren’t biased, I would like to see reactions of fans and AAA after that.
Great piece of work. It makes for hilarious reading. I’ve never quite understood why ex-footballers think that being able to play football to a high standard qualifies them to do anything other than be, well, former good footballers. In other words their opinions are no less illuminating than the average pub punter
@ walter
I saw that list before and had a smug little chuckle to myself.
@ PerF
You are right that the main theme, ie the very top of the table being occupied by the Manchester clubs, was predicted correctly by the pundits but you also have to agree that their predictions were mainly based on spending and on who was their favourite.
none of media papers bbc sky sports would show these numbers what has arsenal done that media love to put it down and some bloggers arsenal truth and likes
“People will forget it if you got it wrong.” (I don’t remember which one exactly said that but it was one of these BBC idiots)
Sorry but at Untold, we don’t.
yet all of them fail to predict the spuds at top 4….lol, so never believe in them…
Good article Walter, terima kasih.
Mark Bright wins the most funny pundit, he predicted Liv win the league!
1:Arsenal
2:manchester united
3:manchester city
4:chelsea/totten***
Given that I’ve seen Wenger be very gracious in defeat when we’ve been beaten by a better team, can we ditch the bad loser tag? Only people with an agenda use that stick to beat him with.
Walter don’t it take it as an offence but i guess this is not your “best” article. You are simple questioning the unpredictability of Football which is the most obvious thing about this game!
Yes you are spot on about Arsenal. No one predicted them to be the 3rd best team in England! Yeah maybe had RVP suffered some injuries arsenal “MIGHT” have finished 4th or 5th or 6th…but you guys kept the faith, The players and the manager believed in themselves and got the result! The pundits should have considered certain things before kicking arsenal out of the equation. Even though i predicted arsenal to finish 4th.
But let’s talk Liverpool ,City ,United and Chelsea.
When Kenny arrived at Anfield last season in January, pool gave a solid performance in that short period(Jan-May). Then they spent over 100 million dollars on carroll, downing, adams, henderson etc and they were said to have the BEST squad in the league+they’ll be managed by the Legend. So many expected them to finish in the top 4 in 11-12 season, but alas! All their signings(apart from their racist suarez) flopped! Gerrard suffered from injuries and when he came back he was quite rusty! The morale went down and they kept on failing and kept on rolling down! They even finished below EVERTON AND NEWCASTLE! I don’t think that there was a single football fan/journalist/expert who expected such a catastrophic scenario!and well even Kenny got booted out!(EVEN though i blame their american owners! They are kicking everyone out :-P)No one expected all this to happen!
Chelsea have been a major force in the past 10 years! Their Russian Mafia have filled the blue piggy pot with insane amount of money. Just read today that Mr Roman has invested over “1 BILLION” dollars since his arrival at Chelsea! INSANE! They started their season with a young manager who gave an exceptional performance at Porto! He brought mata(who was great this season), lukaku(who is said to be the future and still started only 10 games :-P), Romeu and they said that their super headless chicken Torres will be back in form(Well he has scored 10-11. Great stat for a players who came for an amount as low as 50 million dollars. Impressive!). But it all fell apart for AVB. and by the time RDM arrived it was too late! RDM have done a great job since his arrival according to me. Awesome. But let’s face it. How many expected them to end 6th? No one i guess+They have been finishing above arsenal for many years now so people just stupidly assumed that it;s gonna be same this year. Though we cannot blame them. Personally i blame ROMAN for everything! Sacking both carlos and AVB was wrong!
Now the two Manchester Clubs! They were spot on! Had it not been aguero last minute goal or had United not conceded those two late goals against everton at OT things could have been very very different!
I’m not a fan big of these Pundits and experts(and i hate MARTIN SAMUEL) who consider themselves flawless! But we cannot totally blame them! Football is unpredictable. It’s as simple as that!
Well i would just like to see arsenal fighting for the title next season! They can do it. They were the 3rd best team in England and well plays the best football and their manager…a true gentleman! All the best for the next season lads 🙂
@ Neutral: You meant 50 million pounds, not USD for Torres.
@ Yassin: There is a site (a non-Arsenal site in fact) that looked at last season (2010-2011) and, after correction of officiating mistakes, errors, and inattention, published an actual table with Man U finishing correctly first, Arsenal second (up from fourth), Chelsea third (down a spot) and Man City fourth (down a spot). The problem is that I cannot find the link. Walter, ASTUBLIEFT, please find the link for us!
Aside from that, we ought to do the predictions come August.
This is a poor metric to measure predictions.
A far berer one is to add all differences between forecast and reality. the lower the score, the better.
Total places wrong:
ALAN HANSEN, MATCH OF THE DAY 9
ALAN SHEARER, MATCH OF THE DAY 8
GARY LINEKER, MATCH OF THE DAY 6
LEE DIXON, MATCH OF THE DAY 11
JASON ROBERTS, BLACKBURN STRIKER AND NEW 606 PRESENTER 6
MARK LAWRENSON, FOOTBALL FOCUS 9
ROBBIE SAVAGE, FOOTBALL FOCUS 9
DAN WALKER, FOOTBALL FOCUS 4
IAN DENNIS, 5 LIVE SENIOR FOOTBALL REPORTER 11
PHIL McNULTY, CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER 9
GUY MOWBRAY, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR 9
STEVE WILSON, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR 6
JONATHAN PEARCE, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR 8
JOHN MOTSON, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR 13
ALISTAIR MANN, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR 9
PAT NEVIN, 5 LIVE PUNDIT 11
DAN ROAN, SPORTS NEWS CORRESPONDENT 7
GRAEME MURTY, 5 LIVE PUNDIT 9
SAM LYON, BBC SPORT WEBSITE 9
MARK BRIGHT, BBC LONDON 10
STEVE CLARIDGE, 5 LIVE PUNDIT 8
PAUL FLETCHER, BBC FOOTBALL BLOGGER 9
MATT HOLLAND, 5 LIVE PUNDIT 9
ALISTAIR BRUCE-BALL, RADIO 5 LIVE COMMENTATOR 10
STEVE WYETH, BBC RADIO MANCHESTER 11
JAMES PEARCE, SPORTS NEWS CORRESPONDENT 9
NIGEL ADDERLEY, 5 live FOOTBALL REPORTER 11
PETE STEVENS, BBC LONDON 9
ALISTAIR MAGOWAN, WEBSITE TACTICS EXPERT 9
IAN CHEESEMAN, BBC RADIO MANCHESTER 4
CHRIS BEVAN, BBC SPORT WEBSITE 9
Prediction for next season before beginning transfer window? Even after January transfer window it is too soon to predict!
Do we know club’s financial reports for 11/12 season, the first season where FFP starts? No!
I want to make total fool of myself anyway:
MC 87 pts, MU 80 pts, Arsenal 78 pts, Chelsea 72 pts
@ Yassin & Ray from Norfolk,
I believe the website was debatable decisions. It’ll never be spot on though as statistics can’t work out how many points were dropped due to the poor morale caused by dodgy refs
OOT: Big Sam is back!
@Cannonian: Nice try you tawt. It seems that “pathetic AW haters” have more creative ability than I thought. But you just can’t hide how pathetic losers YOU ARE.
My (early) prediction for next season:
1. Arsenal
2. Man $hitty
3. Man Urine (come on, they still have the refs, you know it)
4. Everton (yeah, I let my emotion get in a bit here)
As I said, it’s early prediction, I preserve the right to change it by August.
Ok, ok, I am going crazy too.
1. Arsenal
2. MCity (they can not drop, if drop they will buy another EPL stiker in January)
3. Everton (gives credit to Moyes please!)
4. Newcastle (hate or not, they have good players)
5. Wigan (Roberto, is your time!)
MU, Chel$ki, Pool will go to transition period, so they will struggle. And Spud back to where they was, mediocre!
@Canonian,@Neutral and the rest of the dickheads who say if only my Auntie had balls I PITY YOU.
You are in dreamland and just keep on dreaming who gives a …. in the last 7years these twats have been predicting that we wont last the next season,damn and why do you really say that THEY DONT KNOW ANYTHING i mean seriously for how long does it take fools to know that we have been there and we will always be there. Hey@Walter where did all the Girls go!
1….MAN CITY
2….ARSENAL
3….SPURS
4….MAN U
5….SWANSEA
6….CHELSEA
1) City
2) Arsenal
3) Man Utd
4) Norwich
I suspect Rooney could become a loose cannon again, especially if whoever understudies him in the Euros scores a few goals and keeps him out of the England team.
Manu probably going into permanent decline
City for now look settled.
Wouldn’t surprise me to see an “upstart” team like Norwich hit the big time.
Arsenal won’t win the EPL though next season, I can guarantee.
A midfield chosen from MVila, Song Arteta, And Wilshire will be the best in
the country, but it’s not just about football….is it?
Well said Walter. Keep in mind that our 3rd finish is as much about our great come back as it is about melt down of Chelsea, Liverpool & Sp@rs in some part.
Next year:
ManC
Arsenal
ManU
Sp@rs
I agree with Sammy and we’ll win it the year after
@kampala gun=Oh you ungrateful little chap!After reading the first 2 lines of your comment all i can say that you are some 12-13 year old chap who thinks he’s the master of the universe!
All i said that the game is unpredictable!Who expected bolton to get relegated? or all the newly promoted teams to survive the drop? or APOEL to reach the quarter final of UCL??, or torres to score at nou camp etc! I’m not a big fan of all these pundits and Journalists! They speak and write tosh most of the times! But you CANNOT be 100% correct when it comes to prediction!That;s all i said! Never said a thing against Arsenal. If you don’t have the guts to show some kindness or appreciation then that doesn’t mean that you have the rights to express your Hooliganism!
Be a Man! Maintain some dignity! Mind your language! Show some respect to others. Every one have their own opinion. You are on a public forum. Even though it’s an arsenal blog(which means most of the people commenting on this blog are arsenal fans and they won’t question your idiocy very much) but everyone can have their say. Don’t get carried away with your emotions!
@Ray from Norfolk=My bad mate.
What a shameful display by Chelsea. This was defend-ball, not football.
Did you see Abromovich go to stands to lift trophy??! I’ve never seen an owner do this.
The worse team won, but at least Sp@rs are out of CL!
Arsenal Hater Paul Wilson, a senior stenographer at the Manchester Guardian’s football department, gives his TOP TEN moments of the past season. Now hold your breath, guess what is conspicuous by its absence: OUR GREAT TURNAROUND.
Wigan’s turnaround is featured, but ours is deafeningly silenced.
Up Thine, Paul keyboard warrior Wilson.
Up the Arsenal!
Celebrate The Great Turnaround! — Our story.
Putz Wilson writes Ok, but our omission is vintage Arsenal-Hater:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/may/16/premier-league-season-joey-barton
Sammy the Snake,
I thought you’d savor the cool-headed manner in which the Manchester Guardian’s in-game commentator summed up this most glorious occasion:
“Champions of Europe! It’s a stunning triumph of the human spirit; and, in terms of Roberto Di Matteo’s involvement, one of the great football fairytales.” 🙂
Sammy the Snake,
Abe Chelski went to the stands for the trophy because he can. Restraint-free like the rest of the Petro-Ballers.
Walter, they aren’t paid to know anything about Football or be right 1 out of 10 times….its all about the number of articles (crap or not) they can churn out based on rumours, editor’s preferences, bashing Arsenal whenever possible and lauding the Manchester teams above all else.
you being an experienced referee, knows that 99% of the players and managers have no idea of the rules other than the very basics (ball is round, goal is on narrow part of the field, kickoff occurs at centre circle, diving works etc.)! Why would you expect some yellow, gutter journalist to bother reading the Laws or even have the faintest idea of what occurs on the field other than what someone else tells them to say?
The AAA and Wenger-out retards actually know more about the Game than the average journalist or player, but only marginally so…because they play Fantasy Football Manager all day.
Surprise, surprise,
The Daily Mail’s Top 10 Moments of the Season include our 8-2 defeat at Old Toilet (as does the Manchester Guardian’s) and actually shows the scoreboard with glee, but it sure don’t include Our Great Turnaround.
Ha! So Europa League for the tinies 😀 The moron (or desperate tinies fan) who said “We finished third which means CL football and Tottenham is fourth, which means the same” can show his ugly face again 😀
The only bad thing about this is, I admit, they won’t forget to mention the cheaters in blue are first London club win CL, blah blah blah. Cheaters by all means.
“Predictions below please”.
I think Man city will get even better next season, I hope no matter who Man utd bring in, it will not solve their declining problem. Arsenal will improve still further. Liverpool will be Liverpool. Chelsea will be in transition big time. Spurs (I aint got a clue and neither has Harry). Newcastle will struggle with the extra games europa will bring. We have got shot of some s**t sides out of the EPL this year and gained two teams that will “have a go” at whoever they face (Southampton & Reading). Southampton have always been a pain in the arse for Man utd so hope for an upset(Glad to see all southern clubs come up this season). With the summer tournaments I can see a slow start for the bigger clubs, I don’t think a team will need 89points to win the league next season.
1.Sheik ya money 84pts
2.wengerball 79pts
3.Old red nose 76pts
4?
Teams I would like to see relagated.
Stoke
Qpr
Sunderland (won’t happen under O’neill)
1. Arsenal
2. Swansea City
3. West Bromwich Albion
4. Southampton
More of a shot of getting one of those 4 right than all the pundits.
hahaha Now dont be so harsh on them 😛 after all even they are only humans(assuming they are not from mars) 🙂
My predictions for next season….., well ill save that untill the season starts 😉 but sure i wont be predicting Liverpool to win the PL 😛
Damn, last night is best ever CL final that I ever see.
The game is very peaceful, almost all player played in the one side of pitch (Chel$ski half), and mostly entire game Chel$ki players allowed Bayern players to practice shot on goal (stat 43 shots, 7 on goal). And they also give time to Bayern players to practice corner (stat Bayern corner 20).
And for warm friendly from Chel$ki players (some of them is friends from the past), Roben decided to not put the ball on the net when he takes the penalty.
After that, all Bayern players decided to give this year trophy to Chel$ki because Bayern already has it, and Chel$ki desperately want it.
Very nice final, hopefully the same touching final next year.
Philip Lahm should hav taken the penalty, not Robben.
This reminds of France-Germany 1982: when Stielike missed his penalty, the French thought they had it won, only for them to miss two; ever since that game, the superstitious French fans have been reluctant to see a left-footed player take penalties or spot-kicks.
@Neutral: Good guys do not need to apologize (by the way, apologies from bad guys are not expected; AAA bloggers are potential board members, and they just lecture the rest of us).
I forgot to mention that the most shocking penalty miss in 1982 was by the left-footed Maxime Bossis, a great player otherwise.
Chelsea deserved the win because they played with luck on their side (expensive – but then luck has no price). The glory of Spuds being knocked of the cockerels perch is joyful.
Man City have enough to stay in top 3 next season. Arsenal always have the capability of winning everything provided some simple improvements are made in technique (Wenger is aware of the Art of Kicking). Players are always sought after but referees make the difference.
Third place will probably be PGMOL’s Man U. Fourth will be Wigan provided Martinez stays.
My betting purse – 30% on Arsenal to win; 30% on Arsenal to come top 2; 40% Arsenal to come top 3.
@Neutral – I appreciate your time and patience in posting the comment…very balanced and well articulated! It is always nice to hear people’s perspective. Though it won’t be unfair to say that Arsenal do get the raw end of the deal with these Pundits, Refs and the media (who typically do not like a Frenchman doing what he has done…and so well)
Well the predictions will follow but we surely have a very exciting team to support…just hope Wilshere comes back all guns blazing, Diaby has a turnaround – a la RvP – injury free season long and then all these youngsters bursting into the scene!
@Neutral ha ha ha ha so you are not an arsenal fan no wonder you talk shit. Go to your spunks site and talk with your deluded guys’ you never expected Torres to score @ Nou camp!!! ooh my, if Bedtener can score there why not Torres.
Don’t you worry @Neutral you will be in Europa next season and wish you all the luck.
i think we cannot be too harsh on the pundits. i think even some fans were worried that we would miss the top 4 this season especially after losing our 2 best players from last season and wilshire to injury. I think getting 3rd after out start was more faith and hope than expectation… and it was fortunate that chelsea and tots had their respective collapses.
we all know sports is so difficult to predict – probably 90% of the public thought man utd would win the title just a few weeks ago. most of us probably thought we would have 3rd spot sewn up a few games earlier, but we did it the hard way.
i dont really care too much about their predictions, because theres always a few surprises and any argument can be made to support their opinion. but its always great to prove them wrong!
however, i would say it is grating to hear that even when man utd sell their best player, we always hear pundits saying, they will be there or thereabouts. yet with arsenal, as soon as we lose a few players, we are fighting relegation, when we have been top 4 for how many years through thick and thin?
Hi Walter. Been busy so just read your article. What a laugh! Pundits eh?
@kampala gun, I think Neutral is being relatively respectful irrespective of which team he supports. Please read his comment again…
in fact, neutral may be typical of a number of football fans who enjoy reading balanced articles about football in general (on untold) so I do not think there is any need in insulting him/them before/unless they are purposely stirring things
in fact, neutral may be typical of a number of football fans who enjoy reading balanced articles about football in general (on untold) so I do not think there is any need in insulting him/them before/unless they are purposely stirring things
It looks like these predictions were a little off and that only a handful actually thought Manchester City would actually win!
Sophie