I'm going to go with Man City with Chelsea to pip Liverpool to second. If Tottenham had shown a little more ambition I would have had them as contenders.

Did you know the leading Irish goalscorer last season was Shane Long/Jeff Hendrick/Ciaran Clark with two goals each.

really !? what the hell happened to irish footaball !?!?

I don't know!

I compare Ireland to Wales and Scotland in terms of the ability of their players, even though Ireland generally qualify for more tournaments. But, you see Wales bringing through players like Gareth Bale, Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey, and even Scotland are bringing through players like Callum McGregor, who got a move to Southampton this summer, Kieran Tierney and Ryan Gauld, who earned a move to Sporting Lisbon.

11 total goals scored by Irish players last season. Roughly the same amount of Scottish players playing in midfield and forward positions yet they all seem to score more on average than their Irish counterparts in recent times.

I was hoping the likes of Jeff Hendrick and Shane Long would push on after a fine Euros in the case of the former, and a strong season under Ronald Koeman in the case of the latter, but it just hasn't happened. Robbie Brady, too, had a fine Euros, but hasn't really pushed on either, although this is partly due to injury problems. This is another thing. Players like Brady, James McCarthy, Stephen Ireland and Darron Gibson have all suffered with injury problems in recent seasons, which hasn't helped.

I think we are going to see less and less Irish players in the Premier League as more money is pumped into the game and foreign managers continue to become the norm rather than the exception. Some of this may be attributed to poor development at local level and also to the reputation Ireland have developed playing attritional football under Giovanni Trapattoni and Martin O'Neill.

I really wish more Irish players would consider playing in other European countries, but I think they are only, by and large, comfortable playing in the UK.

So it looks like Ireland will continue having to source their players from the Championship in the foreseeable future!

It's quite depressing.

I mentioned injuries. Seamus Coleman is probably the one player who is/was capable of moving to a top four team, but he was injured horrifically in a match against Wales and that probably ended any lingering hopes of getting a big move. In any case, I think he's too loyal (like a lot of Irish players) and the stigma of being Irish would probably also hinder a move. I can't understand why Moyesie didn't sign him up for Man United!

I understand if you didn't read any of this! LOL

there are more uk players in lower english leagues, but not enough in the premier league.
well let's be honest here it's not about money and foreign players, i thinks it's due to them having less and less good players (for instance england next generation look pretty good, with players like foden, angel gomes, mctominay, jadon sancho, luke shaw, james maddison, ryan sessegnon, marcus rashford, trent alexander arnold, marcus edwards, ben chilwell, and more who have brilliant future ahead of them, unlike the rest of the uk...
they should work more and more on developing talented and good young players, the PL having so much foreigners players made the local boys work hard to get minutes that what made this WC so good for them, and the next generation will be good also !
and btw moe are you irish or italian ?

In the past foreigners in the PL were true stars Cantona, Keane, Vialli, Zola, Ginola, Gullit, Bergkamp, Van Nistelrooy etc.., now you have too many average foreigners.

cr7 and juventus today !

I’d like to keep up with international football more, going forward. The major tournaments, at least. I had a blast this year putting together a proper rig with surrounds for the FIFA cup. I wouldn’t mind experiencing something like that more often than every 4 years.

I know there’s the Champions League, which sounds like an awesome concept. All the best *clubs* of the region (not countries) going head to head in a knockout battle. What other tournaments would you consider “must watch” material?

well like you mentioned - the champions league
also the english premier league
and also good games between the top quality rivals in their own league

Surely the spending in the Premier League is unsustainable. Didn't Fulham spend over 100 mil this summer? Imagine the pressure if they get relegated. The amount of money spent all down the leagues is insane. Look at the stadium Coventry built, and what happened to Darlington. Surely it's gonna collapse on itself eventually.

Ethnically mostly Irish, no Italian.

well after the amount of spending wolves, fulham and everton made this year the premier league will be very compatible.
every team can beat each other except for city and liverpool who will go all the way (and maybe chelsea and spurs too).
this just show how much strong the league is when even the "small teams" are so strong...
also moe do you think we will see england winning the next euro ?
they have a great chance !
also cr7 and portugal and france have a chance...

If anybody is interested in joining a football prediction website, follow the link below. Its a really good website..

http://theactuary.predictorpro.com/

I have noticed Espn in the States are showing Serie A games, this year. All because of Ronaldo?

I Dont know much about the league. Nothing compares to the Premiere league.

But i will be watching Juventus, only because Ronaldo.

Yes his move to Italy is huge, I read Juventus' shares have grown 55.15 per cent on the stock exchange since July 1, increasing from 0.660 euro to 1.024 euros.

Primera Division and the Bundesliga are also great leagues to follow.

During the Juventus game today, they said once the transfer was final. Juventus sold 60 million dollars worth of apparel in the span of 24 hrs.

de niro if we lose on monday do you think mourinho will be out ?
i think he needs to go already, because we look bad !
that defensive football sucks !

We will win.

Zidane is the favorite to take over at Old Trafford. At least he has some class that fits United unlike Mourinho.

i really think that bale can step up this year and make himself one of the best in the world

Spurs are beating ManU 0-2.

Really?? Fuck Yeah!! I can't stand that Mourinho..

According to The Sun he's done as the manager.

Clint Dempsey retires today. He has had a wonderful career.

Congrats to our rivals PSV and Ajax, two dutch teams in the Champions League.

real looks great !!!
also liverpool so far looks awesome i think they win the pl this season
i'm waiting for today's united game
de niro you got any thoughts ? if we lose today i won't be surprise if they fire mourinho

My Earthquakes aren't doing so well. 2-0 Vancouver right now.

A much needed win for Man Utd before the international breaks. A long way to go if we are too think about challenging for the title. These days it's no good just defending like a Mourinho team. We need to attack like Liverpool and Man City.

Don't believe everything you read in The Sun. Unless it is reported on the BBC Sport website then for me it's not a reliable source..

i don't get it why martial doesn't play ?!?
he could easily be a world class player
especially as a striker

True british tabloids are notorious lol. But they do have power so not a smart move by José to attack them. When he was with Porto, the first years with Chelsea and Inter he was a great manager, but in Madrid he turned in a real creep.

Dorados de Sinaloa signs Don Diego Maradona.. I don't necessarily think it's such a good idea, considering our beloved Diego's past narcotics problems.