craig

I think the top 3 will be Manu U, Chelsea & Liverpool - so a hedge bet would be Chelsea/Man U/Liverpool AND Man U/Chelsea/Liverpool. 6/1 and 8/1 - tenner on each and as long as they finish in the top 3 with Liverpool being 3rd you are guaranteed profit of 50 quid.

I think Man U will win it again though.

Re Sam, Possibly... but it is the players who play the game and I think they wanted him to stay, so they may not quite be up for it - I guess we find out tomorrow.... I will happily send you 20% of my profits for the season so long as you send me 20% of my losses.... that tells you how confident I am !

All 5 of those games are winnable and the home games should be banker wins as they are the easiest 3 games there. Killie nor Hearts will be easy but we are definitely capable of picking up 15 points from the 5 matches. 15 points and the pressure will be on Celtic - the home games you expect to win but if we go to Rugby Park and Tynie and pick up maximum points we will be making a statement that we mean business this year.

If you forgot they even played for Rangers how come you managed to remember them in the same post :fish:

I am not overly confident on the Newcastle game but I think the Sam factor could play a part for BOTH teams. He will want a win in his 1st game back at the Reebok and there could be a hangover for Bolton from him leaving. That is what I am banking on. Yep, I like the Torres bet - and each way he is a solid bet.

My early bet for tomorrow is Bolton v Newcastle - away win Arsenal v Fulham - home win Chelsea v Birmingham - home win Man U v Reading - home win West Ham v Man City - home win Pays just over 12/1

I like the Torres bet, but the problem is with Benitez and his rotation system. I think I will have a punt on him each way anyway Gribz. For some reason I quite fancy Newcastle to win the league without the top 4. I think big Sam will have them difficult to score against and his options up front are amazing for a team outside the top 4 (Owen, Viduka, Smith, Martins, Ameobi, Luque). Think I might punt on them finishing 5th - they are 6/1 to finish at least 5th. Also quite like 9/2 for the to 4 to be, in order, Man U/Chelsea/Liverpool/Arsenal Need to look at the weekend coupon now.

Good shout. I actually felt he was the better of the 2 full backs at Hibs, looked better than Whittaker to me.

Fair point Mike - but away from home I actually don't mind the 4-2-3-1 formation too much as long as the "3" truly support the lone front man !

I don't think it would be if Fergie was playing the advanced midfielders position - and he is quoted today saying he is enjoying playing the more advanced role.

Not sure either - but the one satisfying thing this season as opposed to last is that we actually do have to think about starting line-ups and formations. Last season the team picked itself because the squad was thin AND lacked quality. At least this season we see a much stronger squad and competition for places all across the pitch. Not forgetting that WS has only had 2 transfer windows I think he has done a fantastic job thus far in the transfer market. Obviously early days but there are good signs there.

Out of all those mentioned the only ones I would prefer we keep are Hemdani and Novo. Sebo - hasn't done enough to warrant a place and with additional strikers coming on board makes sense to see him moved on. Buffel - undoubtedly has the talent but often doesn't show up for games. A luxury we can't afford when he is a passenger - but if he got his finger out could be that creative spark we miss in midfield. Ugo - bombscare and has to be down the pecking order. Hemdani - a class act and should be kept. As has been said before we only have 3 natural CM's so doesn't make sense to move him on. Novo - wages shouldn't be a problem and is a great squad player - depends on if he would be interested in merely being a squad player.

Apparently he asked to be played in away games only after an altercation with his own fans, his house was vandalised too. I can see where the notion of an attitude probnlem comes from - except I think we would all ask for a transfer if subjected to that !

I will definitely give him the benefit of the doubt but for some reason this signing underwhelms me too - especially if we are paying about 2 mill for him. Think I would rather see Naismith signed for 2 mill (but that is being unfair on the big man as I haven't seen him, just going on his previous). Would be nice to secure Naismith as well, I think that would give us a very strong squad with the one glaring exception being a creative midfielder.

So it is your opinion then ? Well, I will continue to hope your crystal ball is cloudy.

Benfica would be the one for me but Sevilla don't have an easy game either, though you would still have to expect them to go through. The rest look like they should have more than enough to see off their opponents.

Do you have a source ?

I agree he has the potential for it - but many forget that Cech is only about 25 or 26 himself - so he also has the potential to become even better than he already is.

Aye juffers - stop talking shite ! :fish:

In which case I disagree - he isn't as good as Cech. So unless Cech moves abroad then I can't see him overtaking Cech as best keeper in Britain.

Best British keeper or best keeper in Britain ? If in Britain, he is good but he is no Petr Cech. Has the potential but then Cech is only 1 or 2 yrs older than him so also has time to improve.

1 million is never enough for a player of his calibre.

The pleasing thing for me thus far is the fact that we are not losing goals. When your midfield and attack are confident that your defence won't lose goals it breeds confidence as, once you go a goal up, you feel that you have already won the game (though still need to apply yourself properly). Been a long time since we had a defence that hasn't leakes stupid goals - I know it is early in the process but it is a trait of WS teams that they don't lose many goals and hopefully they can continue in the same vain for the duration of the season.

Signed for Sunderland. Well done the Jambos to be fair - no way is he worth 9 mill