Gribz

8 league games could end up causing even more meaningless games. Weeks 6, 7 and 8 could be irrelevant for numerous team. The fixture list is just getting mental. That Club world cup next summer is pointless and should be scrapped, it will just be exhibition matches. I cant see teams taking that serious unless they scrapped the International World Cup. Plus the nations league just wastes a couple of weeks, it should not be a back door for World Cup qualifiers as the WC is a FIFA run tournament with the nations league being UEFA.

I maybe jumped on the Barca bandwagon a bit soon but they did play with 10 men for 80 minutes. Both Man City and Arsenal drawing 0-0 with Italian opposition, are we seeing a turn of the tide again with Italian teams getting stronger or is the Premier League over rated? Atalanta did stuff Liverpool at Anfield last season 3-0 also.

Anyone who bought the Castore kit confirm the quality? There were complaints from teams like Aston Villa last season. I would like to see us go back to Adidas, for me there always produced the best tops.

I'll go with the recent trend Rangers P-P Dundee

Happy for Emery he is a top coach with one of the best win records in Europe. I think only Ancelotti and Pep have more wins since 2010. Im actually tipping Barca for the CL this season, they look good at the moment with Flick in charge.

Hadnt seen this thread until this morning and didnt know Levein was sacked, but would have posted him hands down.

Enjoyed the game, fans made it a great atmosphere for the 90 minutes and very audible on telly for once. There are promising individuals in the team but I cant put my finger on what is still missing, but we were comfortable, Dundee Utd would still be playing now and not scored.

I should have thrown Bolton in. But its interesting. Most of those sides yo-yo through the leagues. Only Everton have been top flight since start of the Premier League and Im not sure if they have ever been relegated, will need to check that. North London Derby was a good ugly match, if it had finished 0-0 it would have been fair. I think if Romero complained about the push then VAR would have chopped it off. But Spurs have a some problems, they were so poor in the final third. Johnson is a good winger but no end product and Solanke looked out of his depth. At least my 2-1 Newcastle prediction finished off a poor weekend of predictions.

Top flight maybe? Id have guessed Notts County, Burnley or Preston would be involved in the oldest fixture of some sort. Anyway, poor days predictions. Ipswich and Leicester both getting away points and Leicester will feel like thats a defeat. Forest winning at Anfield plus Brentford could have been 3 up early on. Everton though, cant be giving away 2-0 leads every week. I still think they will stay up, they will beat teams around them. Hammers leaving it very late, I wasnt convinced by Lopetegui coming in and so far be is Moyes 2.0 with his selections - Kudus on the left when he is awesome in a more central role or the right, continuing to play Soucek and Antonio is poor.

Im not in any fantasy league or anything, I just prefer just having a prediction list. Southampton 0-2 Man Utd Brighton 3-1 Ipswich Crystal Palace 2-0 Leicester Fulham 1-1 West Ham Liverpool 3-0 Nottingham Forest Man City 4-0 Brentford Aston Villa 3-0 Everton Bournemouth 2-2 Chelsea Tottenham 2-2 Arsenal Wolves 1-2 Newcastle

How fast times go. The last time I bought a CL package it was 50 quid in the Club Deck for the 3 games against Bayern, PSV and that cracking Valencia team. Seems a bargain now and considering the team we had it absolutely was.

I dont think its that bad at all, they are not down to the bare bones. They still have Partey, Jorginho, Zinchenko for the holding roles then Trossard, Sterling and Havertz in the attacking midfield role. With that squad they are miles behind City if they worried about missing 2 players for 1 match. Huge game for Man Utd at Southampton but I see them winning there. I worry for Everton, they could get smashed at Villa and its nil-pwa from 4 games.

Yes this is something to think about as well but it looks like we will be more hoping for the Arteta revival than Klopps. With Klopp you could see what he was trying to do and it was a simple case of he needs a keeper and a centre half, once he got that they were top level. With Arteta they stumbled 8th twice then 5th, all of a sudden Saliba comes in the team and they clicked instantly and were a different animal that nobody saw coming. With Clement its a bit of both. For him to even get us in a title race after coming into inherit Beale's mess was remarkable itself and people are probably overlooking this, but since the poor defeat at Ross County and draw at Dundee it seems we havent recovered and its continued into this season. I still think we have a slight hangover from having to climb through the leagues again - and there are reasons for this out of our control like the money Celtic inherited but at the same time appointing Beale and backing him with funds and pretty much all the decision making set us back again.

It could also be some of the players arent capable of buying into Clement's methods for one reason or another. Its hard to teach an old dog new tricks for the old guard and then you could be creating a salad bowl instead of a good blend. There has been a good number coming in the door during the summer and we have had a horrendous injury list again so until that eases and the new players are settled we may not see much developing on the pitch for a while. As such I am still fully behind Big Phil, I think he has been unlucky despite some baffling decisions, however this could be down to trust - he see's things day in day out that we dont.

Im going to have to be pedantic. We didnt wear my personal favourite kit (94-96 adidas written on the neck) in the 93 winning cup final, it was only worn in the 94 defeat against Dundee Utd. Both 92 and 93 finals (Airdrie and Aberdeen) we wore the next best (92-94 kit) - therefore that is the best "Cup Winning" strip. Although I do have great memories of the 96 Laudrup Durie final so that kit was magic also. But they just dont make kits like the used to.

It has to be a thread. Keeping players in the same era is key to answers. Im going to start with this which I still cant work out to this day: Start bench drop Andy Cole, Ian Wright, Les Ferdinand.....

The question was Forest Winger - of course mate. If it was Robertson Hearts Id have been all over it. Good scorer...but not top level. Robertson Forest is a weird one for me - I had never ever heard of him until a few years ago.

Haha clocks....someone who relies on a construct. Roger that - you have a point. This must be the first ever game where (if its Kyiv) that the games will 2 legged be played at neutral stadia. As for your jibe - as someone who doesnt have to worry about clock detail I have pretty good faith in Big Phil. Seriously - why is the mess Ian Beale made so quickly forgotten?

Nah after the draw..- Kyiv or Belgrade....Surely that knocks it down.

Really? Im well into Darts now - could he even get near the level of players?

Very winnable tie. Kyiv in Poland which gives us an advantage or Belgrade. If Scotland can beat Serbia there then we can win for sure. We were in the firat ever Champions League, No reason why we can be in the new structure set up.

Overall a bizarre competition. Whilst it was enjoyable the standard wasnt great. Spain miles and country miles clear of any team - they were sublime considering a newly put together team. The final was 2-1 going on 4-1. As for England - to even get to the final was embarrassing. Southgate was playing for penalties, he was bringing on defenders then Spain struck. Scotland and Steve Clarke were equally embarrassing....the british mentality of management showed clear through in this championships. I didnt even care when Scotland scored and having a sour face in charge doesnt help. EDIT - I Just saw Che Adams face online for moving from southampton, Clarke should be removed for his persistence with him. He isnt even near Scottish and offered zero. he was the worst player Ive ever seen. Plus Clarke had an obsession for McGinn who I dont rate at all. Zero pace, Zero skill...

Interesting question as to who is the top 50....although 50 seems a stretch. Its a bit like picking your top 5 players of all time, there is no right or wrong and picking should be based on what you have seen - i.e. Pele, Cruyff, Best dont enter my top picks of all time. There was an interesting question on ESPN the other day asking Steve Nicol to do a Start, Bench, Drop between Jimmy Johnstone, Archie Gemmill and John Robertson - that would be an interesting one for Compo, Scott and the plus 60 posters. I'll need to have a look at that top 50 list...its easier breaking it down to positions: Keepers: Goram Leighton McGregor Gordon Defenders: Gough McLeish Miller Hansen (just makes it as ended playing 1990) Hendry Weir Robertson (Davie all day long for me - note this doesnt have to be based on scotland caps) Midfielders: B Ferguson Lambert Collins McAllister (Tough typing that) McCall McFadden (was awesome on his day stroke winger) Forwards: McCoist McAvennie Johnstone Durie Miller That was brain storming and Ive missed masses in the midfield and forward line. But generation opinions are great

Fantastic...I knew being 44 was all about being semantics......I just looked at Jason Statham and laughed and said ive a decade on you........ But end of the day Hibs are awful pal...........

From a nostalgia point when the Scottish game was last competitive, its actually really interesting. I do recall watching that Dundee Utd side as an 8 year old at Barcelona and it seems like yesterday, and I was egging them on. Your right about the Aberdeen, Miller and McLeish were probably the best centre half pairing in Britain for a while. Without Alex Ferguson would they have won so much though? Hibs - You have age on your side there, I dont think Ive ever seen near a classic Hibs team.