Is Merson right?

Fair enough.
I'd rather Paul the octopus before Paul Merson!

 

Reverse psychology, great idea.

I agree, there is absolutely no way Bournemouth won't go down

Edit: Damn it I did it wrong, now their staying up

 

Phil McNulty knows nothing outside the top 6. Only comment we will get about Watford every season is when he tips us for relegation.

Bookies generally get things right and we are 4th favourites to go down with most . Funnily enough though with Bet365 we are biggest odds to win the league.

Going to go for the points handicap this season, 43 pts handicap at 16/1 looks pretty appealing at this point

 

Most comment translates to "I haven't followed Watford at all or their transfers or the way they've played over the last two years, but they finished 17th last season so they're probably going down and I will maintain that until March when I will reconsider that statement and potentially change it to 'I love an underdog story, I had a funny feeling they'd upset the apple cart'"

 

The first part of that is basically what I was trying to say but put far more succinctly. The second part about the underdog story.. I don't think anybody in the media would ever say that about us, we are massively unfashionable, and despite that fact we are massively punching above our weight we will never ever get credit for it because we had our underdog story in the eighties. The underdog story will be reserved for Bournemouth and Brighton and possibly Huddersfield.

 

Yeah actually i'd agree with you re: Muff, Brighton being the underdogs. We'll probably just be blamed because it took us so long to get our 'identity' back.

 

It wouldn't have taken a lot of research to see that the gap between 8th and 17th was minute, and the only reason we finish in 17th was because we'd reached safety and the players didn't want to play for Walter any more. Of those 10 teams, some have improved their squads quite a bit, some like us have made a moderate improvement, others stagnant and a couple have got worse.

If you could order last season's 8th-17th in best summer business then it IMO would look like:

West Ham
Leicester
Southampton
Watford
Bournemouth
WBA
Crystal Palace
Stoke
Burnley
Swansea

+ on the face of it none of the promoted 3 have done particularly great business.

I think our fate simply lies in the hands of how well the players like/adapt to Silva and whether injuries will play a role again. Looking at our squad I wouldn't necessarily think that we'll finish in the top 10 but I don't think we've got a relegation squad but we ought to be picking up points against Bournemouth and Brighton.

 

Scratching my head at what puts Soton so high on your list...?

 

Merson also predicted West Ham to finish like 5th last year, employed for sheer entertainment in my opinoin.

 

I think Palace and Bournemouth have done as well as us. Lesta and Spam won't do as badly as last season. West Brom didn't do great business last summer and seem slightly worse off. Old squad as well but with Pulis will probably do enough

 

In fairness that makes sense. City have spent millions and Brighton and Huddersfield have just come up. We were awful last season for large parts. Nobody ever picks Newcastle despite everything their team looking a little short of quality because they get big crowds which matters not a jot anymore. Merson is about the worst pundit out there and his reasoning is laughable but I don't find it strange that others think we will go down. A lot of us see it through yellow coloured spectacles as well. Pundits are basically ex players, in most cases very good ones, who were not clever enough to become coaches

 

We weren't alone in that though. Stoke, Palace and Southampton were equally as underwhelming. I think the bigger factor, when you have a large number of average teams all capable of relegation or top half dependent on a good or run or two, is that the average pundit turns the question into "Who wouldn't you mind seeing go down?"

 

I agree, lots of sides could go down but as the team that finished closest to relegation last year it's inevitable we will be among many people's favourites for the drop.

 

I like Merson and think he is entertaining on Sky. But in terms of whether his predictions are accurate - he lost his house and went bust based on his gambling. Draw your own conclusions.

 

I don't really mind Merson but I wouldn't take betting tips off of him. To be fair to him though if we stay up comfortably after he has predicted relegation he will admit he got it wrong unlike many others.

 

He's at it again. He's written his column, and of course he's got to mention Watford being relegated again.....as if we didn't know his views already.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/fo...y-Chelsea-Manchester-United-Liverpool-Watford

Not sure why he's got it in for the club. He slates us every season for some reason.

Now he's saying that our signings are poor, and Deeney won't play so will be off. Mentions Silva signed a lot of players at Hull but still relegated them. Did he not understand how far adrift Hull were before he went there?

 

Pretty sure he was on our books as a schoolboy. Clearly hated it.

 

I need to wash my eyes after reading that summary. It's like a trolling post on here.

 

That article is mental. He's reaching at every angle. 'Will Hughes and Tom Cleverley aren't going to pull up trees!' 'Richarlison - who knows!' 'Andre Gray's arrived - so Deeney's off!' 'Silva got Hull relegated'. Mental gibberish.

 

Merson. Paul ******* Merson.

I've no idea what he's like when not on TV but I hope to anybodys God that his not being able to pronounce the simplest of names let alone remember them is just goofball schtick. Unfunny goofball schtick but I just hope for his sake that it's an act.

He shows no level of expertise while providing live reports and is not funny in the slightest.

The only thing going for him on SoccerballSaturday is he isn't one of either Tony 'I Get All The **** Games' Cottee or Paul 'What The Hell Is He Wearing Now?' Walsh.

The lot of them just trot out tired cliches and should just piss off, buy a pub and tell their dull anecdotes to half-cut numbnuts who worship the words that drip from these self important has beens haggard mouths.

'Who is the worst pundit on TV?' did I hear you ask?
Well, he doesn't belch out diarrheic diatribe on football but talks absolute mind numbing nothingness on athletics.
Managing to summarise any race down to the tediousness of reading someone elses old shopping list but with all the emphasis that suggests the importance of announcing mans first lunar landing.

Colin Jackson. An utter ******* **** spitting **** dribbler who deserves no oxygen whatsoever.

 

What a pleb.

 

Someone should inform Merse that had Silva had a full season at Hull, taken his avg points per game in the time he had in charge and making that a full season, Hull would have finished 8th and I believe 8 or 9 points clear of 9th. I can't remember where I saw that the other day but I will try and find the article.

Edit: found it, it was from the guardian article posted the other day -

Silva had won 20 points in 14 outings at 1.43 points per game. If that level of achievement could have been sustained across the entire season Hull would have finished eighth, eight points clear of the team in ninth.

 

We aren't really a 'suprise tip' to go down. Pretty obvious we should be in the mix even if we have spent some cash.

On the Debate Show the other night he was saying "at least we were having a go" unlike Stoke, West Brom who are lacking ambition.

16/1 on the handicap is good odds as is 13/2 on a top half finish

 

Merson is clearly the best pundit as nobody else has a 5 page crybaby bedwetting thread about them on here.*

Thats his job, not to be accurate.

*apart from lawrenson

 

This is the reason Merson is employed. He is an idiot but he is clickbait. He just got me to click onto the Daily Star FFS and do my bit to help their advertising revenue. I feel dirty.

 

Does the Daily Sport still give a Nipple count comparison to the Star In each edition?

 

Can Merse do next weeks team talk for us too?

On a side note, Lawro seems to have relaxed his L'pool bias for this season (maybe he hates Klopp). He actually predicted a draw
Well done Mr Lawrence, sense at last.

 

Maybe it was Mr Lawrence rather than Lawrenson

 

whoops .... in defence I'm blaming all the beer I drank last night ... head's still banging

 

Merson's latest "expert" views::


I thought Bournemouth were disappointing at West Brom, they had a lot of the play but didn't really have many chances. Watford should feel confident after scoring three against Liverpool but I still think they are going to be relegated this season.

Jermain Defoe has to start for Bournemouth. What was the point of going there if he's not going to play? Bournemouth play two up front, have a good go most matches and he should get lots of chances. I thought it was a perfect move for him and I'd like to see him up front with Josh King.

PAUL PREDICTS: 3-1 (12/1 with Sky Bet)

 

Fast forward to April 2018 v Crystal Palace.

"Watford have had a decent season and have found themselves in 13th, 9 points clear of the bottom 3. However I think their fortunes are about to turn and I still think they'll be relegated. Palace are bottom but have to find some form sometime and I think this starts away to a team I really don't like."

 

I know I have to boo Merson if I should ever bump into him but should I also boo Shearer who has predicted us to be relegated as well?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40955493