Alas, the World Cup has ended in a victory for Italy but fear not, the first pre-season friendlies are merely a week away!

The coming season is set to be an absolute belter and the controversy has already begun with the investigation into wrongdoing among some of the biggest names in Italian football. A verdict regarding the Serie A status of Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina is imminent and Italian football fans are bracing themselves for a barely recognisable top division next season.

But Italy is not alone in the scandal stakes as England was also hit by the Cocaine shame of Wolves striker Chris Cornes. The 19 year old was handed a six month ban today and his plight is feared to be indicative of a wider problem amongst young professionals with too much time and money on their hands. Let's hope not.

There's also the situation at Manchester United concerning Wayne Rooney and Portuguese winker, Cristiano Ronaldo. Surely, Ronaldo's tenure at Old Trafford will be ending within the coming weeks but I pray for at least one training session in which Rooney can, in the words of Alan Shearer on national TV, "Plant one on him."

The Charity Shield, the Premiership's curtain raiser, is scheduled for 13 August, a mere five weeks away and will pit Premiership champions and famed cheaters Chelsea against five times European Champions and current FA Cup holders Liverpool.

So, you all know what this thread is all about. I want predictions, transfer gossip and tactics. I shall get the ball rolling with the following predictions:

Premiership

It has to be Chelsea again. They've added a lethal striker in Shevchenko to their arsenal of attacking players and further bolstered this department with the arrival of Michael Ballack. With the World Cup now passing, Chelsea will have first pick of the talent and it has already been rumoured that German full back Phillip Lahm is on their hit list.

Mourinho will have problems keeping all of his stars happy, but the strength in depth will be too good for anybody else. However, watch out for Liverpool to step up a gear and become their closest challengers. The addition of Bellamy will give the Reds pace, guile, skill and a genuinely feared striker up front, something which was sadly lacking last season. Mark Gonzalez has also gained his work permit and is set to be unleashed upon right backs up and down the Premiership. If anybody saw Real Sociadad last season will know what he is capable of.

FA Cup

No team other than Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd have won the FA Cup since Everton defeated the latter in 1995 and I can't see past the winner being one of these four teams. Liverpool have developed into an excellent cup team and never accept defeat so I'll opt for the 'Pool to retain their FA crown.

The Carling Cup

Man Utd will once again view this competition as their only realistic chance of silverware, but I have a feeling that the big four will disappoint this year as they intensify their pursuit of Chelsea and Chelsea concentrate on the European Cup. Look out for Dean Ashton firing West Ham to League Cup victory.

The European Cup

The big one! Barcelona will be the obvious choice but the Europen Cup hasn't been retained for more than 15 years. The involvement of Italian heavyweights, Juventus and Milan, is in doubt and their non-participation depending on the outcome of the current trial would indicate either a Spanish or English victor.

The acquisition of Shevchenko should give Chelsea the one commodity they've lacked in Europe: goals. After all, he is the all time top goalscorer in the history of the European Cup. However, I think there is just something missing from Chelsea as a European team and it has nothing to do with the players at their disposal. A mental block if you will.

The same can also be said for Liverpool in their capture of Craig Bellamy so look out for them to improve on the disappointment of last season and strive for the glory of Istanbul once again.

However, I shall return to the team at the start of this section: Barcelona. They have everything but most importantly Ronaldinho and I'm sure they will become the first team to retain the European Cup since Milan in the early 90s.

UEFA Cup

I haven't seen many of the entrants from the other countries but England are heavily represented and I can easily see Tottenham having the necessary quality to go all the way. They narrowly missed out on the Champions' League to Arsenal on the last day of the season and look very strong in all areas, even considering the impending loss of Edgar Davids.

What a season it promises to be!

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ROONEY!!

glad i started an annual tradition.

anyways, extremely early predictions:

National League: SL Benfica

Portuguese Cup: SL Benfica

Champions League: Chelsea (Mourinho has to win it again eventually)

UEFA Cup: some club not good enough to be on the CL

that's it for now.

that's fucking sad, especially coming from you.

What, a kiss?

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Yes. Could there possibly be a worse punishment than getting a kiss off Wayne Rooney who, lest we forget, resembles an ugly little pug chewing a piss-drenched wasp?

Seriously, I hope Ronaldo never (dis)graces the Premiership again. The worst thing about his antics at the World Cup is that he's been doing it in England for the last two years - and getting away with it for the most part. If anything he seems to have honed his diving ability under the expert tutilage of horse-faced Grand National loser Ruud van Nistelrooy. Even fans of other nations were booing him after his "contribution" against England.

The most frustrating part is that he doesn't need to dive and cheat as he is a genuinely skilful player (although his step-overs have become predictable).

So there's one of Unted's main players gone. Also, leaving will be van Donkey, probably to Bayern Munich, and there have been press reports that Gabriel Heinze will be on his way to Real Madrid for £10m. United to me seem to be stumbling from one crisis to another. The only saving grace for them is that Rooney doesn't want to leave, but I don't know how long that will remain the case if they continue to disappoint in the Premiership and fail miserably in Europe.

Arsenal have made a great signing in Tomasz Rosicky and are being linked with Gigi Buffon if Juve fall prey to relegation. Having Henry sign a contract extension is also like having a new player and I feel he, like Stevie Gerrard last summer, will be reinvigorated now that his future is sorted out. No more uninterested performances from Henry next year, methinks (he was awful at Anfield when we beat them 1-0 and looked for all the money in the world like his head was already in Barcelona).

The only minus for Arsenal is that they move to their new Stadium. It has been shown in recent years that moving ground has an initial detrimental effect on the performance of the team as the new ground doesn't feel like home. It'll take a while before Arsenal feel like they're not at a neutral venue but I still think they have the unity to finish above United.

United will struggle in the league this year, particularly if Rooney gets injured. Stalwarts such as Giggs, Scholes and Neville are in, or entering, the twilight of their career and United will lose a guaranteed 25+ goals a season striker in van Nistelrooy as well as their creative hub, Ronaldo. These players have not been replaced by younger equals, either from the youth system or in the transfer market as United can no longer attract the top names in world football.

If United are not careful, they could even be pipped for the final Champions League place by a rapidly improving Spurs team that is flourishing under the guidance of Martin Jol. I think they will hold on though due to that little extra bit of experience in the big games.

Premiership top four for 2006/7:

1. Chelsea
2. Liverpool
3. Arsenal
4. Manchester United

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I can see how you think that way but for outsiders it is impossible to fathom the absolute level of hatred that exists between Liverpool and Manchester United - it's on a par with Rangers and Celtic and we don't even have the incendiary device of sectarianism to spur us on.

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.....ROONEY!!!

damn yeah, Benfica reached an agreement with Juventus so that Miccoli stays with us for one more season.

this is great news, as Nuno Gomes acts more like a number 10 and Mantorras is apparently on his way out.

johnmansley remembers him, i'm sure...

So wrong

1 Chelsea
2 United
3 Arsenal
4 Spurs

Liverpool is still the Steven Gerrard show.

Edit:

United are still the Roy Keane show...

10TA: Yeah, I remember him, the little bastard!

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FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!

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The verdict has arrived in Italy! From the BBC's website:

"Serie A sides Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina have been demoted to the second division for their involvement in Italy's match-fixing scandal.
AC Milan will stay in Serie A but will lose 15 points and will be kicked out of the Champions League.

Juventus were also stripped of their last two titles and had 30 points deducted meaning that they are almost certain to stay down for two seasons.

Lazio were penalised seven points while Fiorentina suffered a 12 point penalty.

The clubs will have three days to appeal to the Federal Court.

The FIGC (Italian football's governing body) must hand Uefa the lists of teams that will be involved in European competitions by 25 July, with Juventus, AC Milan and and Fiorentina out of the Champions League and Lazio thrown out of the Uefa Cup.

Inter, Roma, Chievo and Palermo, who finished third, fifth and seventh and eighth are all expected to be the teams taking part in next season's Champions League.

Those directly involved with the scandal were also penalised, with former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi suspended from all football for five years and Adriano Galliani, who was AC Milan vice-president, suspended for one year.

The tribunal in Rome investigated charges that the clubs, their management, football officials and referees tried to influence the outcome of matches by interfering with the appointment of officials.

In May, transcripts were published of telephone conversations between Moggi and Italian Football Association officials, discussing refereeing appointments in the 2004-05 season.

FIGC prosecutor Stefano Palazzi also charged 26 individuals for sporting fraud and violating fairness and probity.

All four clubs implicated denied the accusations.

Thirteen of Italy's World Cup-winning squad play for the clubs involved, with five at Juventus, who also number Patrick Vieira, Lilian Thuram, David Trezeguet, Pavel Nedved and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in their ranks."

May I be the first to say, "Oof!".

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fuck... Juvents had one of the best teams in Europe, why the need for match fixing and shit?

stuff like this baffles me.

Maybe that's why they had one of the best teams in Europe?

I haven't seen anything in the media to suggest that Inter are the new Italian champions, although I presume this to be the case given Juventus' relegation and Milan being docked 44 points from last season's total. Can anybody confirm?

I also suspect that if this sort of scandal happened in the Premiership that no English club would be allowed to participate in Europe for a good few years.

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they would fix matches for money is the best guess, and is probably right

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CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUPS ARE SET (copied from UEFA site):

GROUP A:

Barcelona
Chelsea FC
Bremen
Levski

GROUP B:

Inter
Sporting FC
Bayern
Spartak Moscva

GROUP C:

Liverpool
PSV
Bordeaux
Galatasaray

GROUP D:

Valencia
Shakthar
Roma
Olympiacos

GROUP E:

Steaua
Lyon
Real Madrid
Dynamo Kyiv

GROUP F:

Benfica
Man. United
Celtic
Copenhagen

GROUP G:

FC Porto
Arsenal
Hamburg
CSKA Moskva

GROUP H:

Milan
Lille
Anderlecht
AEK

in red, my predictions.

how the hell did chelsea go down to middlesborough?

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Unlucky.

It's so funny that Ashley Cole and William Gallas aren't even in the squads of their respective sides, because they both want to leave but neither teams are willing to make a reasonable offer. Chelsea aren't even that interested in Cole anymore due to Wayne Bridge's form, and their newest signing Boulahrouz.

Valencia has just snapped up Joaquin. Great signing. One of my favourites teams!

Reyes will go to Athletico. Also, I'm expecting Inter to shine this season. They have made some class signings. Real could be new & improved also. They've been looking for someone to replace Makelele for awhile - Emerson could improve things. Cannavaro most certainly will too.

Madrid should definitely be stronger, particularly if Cannavaro can organise the defence.

I'm reasonably happy with Liverpool's draw for the Champions' League, although I wouldn't have chosen any of those teams in an ideal world.

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I've heard lucas neill maybe leaving blackburn for liverpool

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There's history between him and Carragher, so no fucking chance.

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haha those idiots on sportal.com.au seem to think he might, when is it kewell coming back? isn't it some time in september?

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Don't know, but if he didn't get injured in the summer he'd be plying his trade away from Anfield that's for sure.

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Man, that draw is fucked. I guess the seedings are based off performances over the lat 5 years, though. Chelsea are still ranked below Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool.

It amazes me how United and Arsenal get into the top tier of seedings. What have they done in Europe in the alst five years? Fair enough, Arsenal got to the final last year but other than that? United? Not past the quarters since they won it and only two domestic league titles. Compare that with Chelsea - they have a semi-final appearance and two leage titles - and I can see where Mourinho is coming from.

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anyone thinks Chelsea - Barcelona 3 years in a row too much of a coincidence?

anyways, i expect nothing from Sporting on CL this year.

FC Porto might stand a chance, especially with new coach Jesualdo, who draws alot from Mourinho (you'll see).

Benfica will reach the same stage they did last year, especially with the confidence boost they recieved with the return of Rui Costa.

It amazes me when players like Riquelme, Aimar (went to Real Zaragoza? WTF?) and Juninho stay at the clubs they're with. None have any hope in the Champions League - isn't that what most top tier players want?

Well, Lyon maybe have a shot whilst Juninho is still alive - but that's pretty far-fetched.

HAHA!!! Barcelona was raped by Sevilla yesterday. 0-3 for the UEFA Super Cup.

on related news, Mourinho dances on the street.

Ronaldo/Adriano swap reportedly confirmed. What a stupid deal. Madrid getting the younger, inferior version of Ronaldo and ousting out the original. Arguably just as lazy as Ronaldo, just as inconsistant. And he only has one foot.

Worst move of this transfer window? Ibrahimovic. 24.8m. Oooooh boy. Hey, atleast he can juggle bubblegum. Although that'll never top Darren Fletcher signed to United. On a free transfer. I still think they got ripped off.

Looking forward to Athletico - Valencia in a few days!! Should be KILLER.

It looks like you were right after all...

Ibrahimavic, alongside Trezeguet, is the most over-rated footballer on the planet. Adriano is another one.

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Chelsea better bring their form together if they want to win. 2-0 loss to middlesborough...

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GO VALENCIA!

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Chelsea traded william gallas with arsenals ashley cole

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They did trade, but also gave Arsenal £5m. Reyes also loaned to Madrid, Julio Baptista moving in the opposite direction.

i wouldn't want to go to arsenal if i was gallas, they suck 4th last on the ladder

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Wow haha. Tevez and Mascherano to West Ham. That's funny.

...And now it has been reported that West Ham are in "exploratory negotiations" regarding a take-over, rumoured to be the finance company that owns Tevez and Mascherano's contracts. Funny that...

This has got Abramovich written all over it.

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Yeah, what a sweet-ass deal. West Ham paid nothing, Corinthians received nothing. Those players would be worth a fortune.

come on chelsea win all your matches

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as much as i love Chelsea and "Slave Master " Mourinho, i predict bad things for Chelsea this season. it's being the center of so many controversies, it's bound to make some impact on everyone's morale.

i think the breaking point will be an eventual elimination right in the group stage of the Champion's League, with Barcelona largely involved.

two words for John:

fuckin Everton!!!

yeah 3-0 liverpool beaten by everton

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man united 1-0 beat tottenham

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Question: do you only like Chelsea because of Mourinho? Not having a go at you or anything, simply an honest question.

I hate all these super teams fuelled by senile old men with seemingly infinite amounts of money.

Bluenose bastards.

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yes. Mourinho is from my hometown, a local (and national) hero. if he goes to a different team, i'll root for that team. unless it's Liverpool. Liverpool sucks.

haha, Australia vs Paraguay soon I'm going to see this match, Yay

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Been away for awhile, GLORY GLORY MAN UNTED. Don't be haters

Hahaha..

nice surprise yesterday by Sporting, nailing Inter 1-0.

not bad at all, considering they're possibly the youngest team in the Champions League (in terms of average players age).

oh man, the only thing better than Drogba's goal against Liverpool was Mourinho's reaction.

well i just won some money from chelsea winning

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We outplayed Chelsea and it took an absolute stormer of a goal to beat us. Once again, Liverpool just can't get a penalty against Chelsea for love nor money. Having said that, we still had the chances to win the game without needing the penalty.

At least Man Utd got beat - Arsenal looked impressive, even without Henry.

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What a surprise. It isn't often you bet against Chelsea in the EPL.

Xabi Alonso scored from 65 yards out against Newcastle last night. Fucking genius. We won 2-0 with Dirk Kuyt getting his first goal for the club after a very well worked passing move.

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i saw alonso's goal and that was fucking amazing, the keeper fell on his ass and couldn't stop it

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Remember the other he scored from 60 yards out? He's making a habit out of catching keepers off-guard. It would have been a spectacular attempt if the keeper was in position and stopped it anyways.

I don't think you can top Villa's one from his own half last season though. That, was amazing. And of course, Beckham's.

Chelsea top of the ladder now. Lampard with 2 goals

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Bleh. Eto'o out for ages. LAME.

chelsea top of their group in champions league and thats with barcelona

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Yeah, and they're playing Barcelona next Champions League match day.

>=)

should be interesting match

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For sure. Scary thing is for the rest of Europe, Barcelona are a better team this year. Sheva and Ballack are still yet to fire for Chelsea, so, I guess Chelsea will be fucking insane when they do..

yeah, i watched the ashton villa vs chelsea match and shev wasn't doing very much in the match. Lucky drogba got that fluke goal

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Sheva has kicked 1 goal in 8 or 9 matches.

He really needs to get used to premier league. Just watched A league fucking Melbourne beat Queensland 4-1 pisses me off.

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I could just write united here about 100000 times but I'm sure you've all seen the table, for both the prem and champions league so, I'll play nice.united

Enjoy it while it lasts. The first - and only - decent team you've faced this season (Arsenal) played you off the Old Trafford pitch without their star man (Henry).

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regardless, we take those easy points, unlike you scousers!

Chelsea will beat you

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Too true!

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indeed. the more i watch Chelsea, the more i think they're at 50% of their capabilities.

Being an athlete and watching sports, I've noticed two trends about superteams (New York Yankees, New York Rangers just too name two). Either they play well and click all the time or they just "show up" , hoping the name on their back gets them the win. Right now Chelsea looks to be just showing up, no one really looks interested. Hopefully barca gives them a kick in the pants.

I know what you mean, Drogba atleast does something right though

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Well, haha, in the Australia v Paraguay match something amazing just happened.

Coach puts on two new players, at the last minute of play, with 4 extra injury time minutes, and what happens? An own goal due to the two players that have come on. The goalkeeper and defender. End score 1 - 1. That defender was absolutely devastated. I was in stiches.

That pissed me off so much, I was there in that crowd and I said wouldn't it be funny if he lets a goal in?? and HE FUCKING DOES!!!!!

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Great game yesterday (Barca vs. Chelsea). Barca played their usual free-flowing, amazing one-touch brand of soccer (When you have Deco, Messi and Ronaldinho combining like they usually do it's a sight to behold) and Chelsea played a more conservative approach that eventually won them the match. The one difference in that game, surprisingly: Drogba. He's evolved into quite a player. That goal was almost a carbon copy of the one he smashed in against Liverpool. One thing I've noticed about Chelsea: they're way too predictable when going forward.

Anyone see the Schwiensteiger goal? That was a pretty classy strike - I haven't seen one from that far out since.. Xabi Alonso, who has a habit of trying to score from inside his own half.

You're right about Drogba - he's starting to actually look like a £24m player. To be honest, he's carrying Chelsea at the moment as they're not really hitting peak form.

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yeah, not that much of a goal, more a huge fuckup by the keeper. he could have seen it coming from miles away.

PSV is as good as through, with Liverpool in the same poule, same ammount of points. PSV was shit in the first half but Koné was in top shape the second half.
Is it just me or is Barca lacking shape? Same goes for Robben by the way, he's been crap lately. can't say the same about van Persie, it's good to see we have a least one winger in shape.

I don't know if they're a better team, they sure are missing Eto'o more then I expected.

Drogba's goal was pretty good in that match turning the defender and beating the keeper

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I think they're a better team for sure. With the addition of Zambrotta and Thuram (pity Marquez is in top form, and you can't really leave out Puyol - Thuram is absolute class - can he play fullback? Not sure) they are looking very omnious at the back. Ronaldinho is playing like ass for what he's capable of though. Boulahrouz did a number on him in the Chelsea match.

They are definitely missing Eto'o. They don't look like scoring all that much when they go forward, Messi seems to be filling in the void that Eto'o leaves. Gudjohnssen can't provide the class Eto'o has. Saviola should be played much, much more.

Robben has been crap, yes.

Inter seem to be the major unachievers again.

Ohhhhhhh John.

We were bribed...

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Boula (aka the cannibal) does seem to be doing pretty good for Chelsea. They sure are missing him at HSV because they've been falling down in the german rankings latetly. Van der Vaart and De Jong both didn't play much (VDV was injured)

I don't understand why Boula got number 9, for a friggin defender. Robben has been crap for a while, I wonder if he'll ever get back on his old level, as much as I hate to say it; he's become an annoying diver with a shitty attitude.

Inter Milan needs a good coach, they've got top class players like Julio Cesar, Toldo, Materazzi, Viera, Cambiassio, Stankovic, Ibrahimovic, Crespo, Recoba and Adriano.
They just aren't a team but in potential they're definetly Italy's best.

man, liverpool played way too defensively, with only Kuyt up front, it took ages before crouch came in too.

Doesn't Kompany play for HSV? He's a great defender.

And yeah, Robben (in form) is one of the best wingers in the world. Pity he's not doing much lately.

That's our problem - too negative. At no point after Kuyt's header was saved did we believe that we could get a goal so we just defended (badly) what we had. Invariably, a team loses when it has that attitude and we duly did.

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needless to mention that Man United didn't even had Ronaldo playing. lord knows how much damage the kid could've made.

piss off. the only thing he does is dive and act like a fucking wanker. that's all he is, do you ever see him passing his man?

True, I don't think Benitez made the right choices and I think Liverpool can do a lot better. Kuyt is not a solo-striker but I can guarantee that he is a good striker when covered by a shadow striker or a winger.
I haven't been too impressed by Manure lately but have you seen RVN at Real Madrid? he's been a scoring machine! he isn't even selected for our national squad, it's truly a shame.

is that ass still hurting from the World Cup? when even the referee couldn't stop us from winning?

don't hate the player, hate the game.

I don't hate the game but I sure hate Cockwobbler Ronaldo, he's an annoying wanker, just the look on his face when the referee whistles after his dives is hilarious.

But seriously, how many times does he actually pass his man in a match, he's overrated IMO. sure he's got skills but I've seen better mancunians.
Eric Cantona for example.

I've seen him pass his player and then another player after that, I've also seen him score a goal. Yes it is funny to watch his face when he dives and doesn't get it

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Haha yeah... and Man United only paid 1m for him, hahaha...

I'm going to the Amsterdam Arena for the Ajax - Austria Wien game in a few minutes, BEEEERRRR AND SOCCER!!!

For my liverpool friends. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/s...=391613&cc=5901 Enjoy.

Everyone else United is back.

It's hard not to concur with Pepe, but how many of the other top sides have played Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton (or their respective derby game) and Bolton ALL away from home? All of Liverpool's hardest games have been played within the first 12 fixtures of the season so who's to say we can't go on a very good run?

Another thing to brighten beleaguered Liverpool supporters is that if, and I know it's a big if, but if we beat all of the above sides at home then we will be two points up on the points we gained from those sides last season. The other seven points (we finished nine behind Chelsea last year) need to come by turning defeats away to the likes of Charlton and Fulham last year into victories. Brimingham got two draws against us last year so if we take 6 points from one of the promoted sides we're 4 up on last year.

There's still a long way to go, but I have to admit that maybe third is the best Liverpool can hope for this year and this relies heavily on taking 6 points from the majority of the sides outside of the top 6 or 7. Based on Sunday, I'd fancy United and Chelsea to win at Arsenal so I wouldn't count the north Londoners as being legitimate challengers.

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How's Kuyt doing over there John?

Haven't really seen much of Liverpool but I have seen him score a pretty nice goal.

In other news, Clarence 'Fuckin' Seedorf (AC Milan) is back in our national team, what a fucking shocker. Last time he played we lost with penalty's against Brasil at the previous world cup or something. I hope he gets some play time because he's great.
He wasn't selected because Van Basten didn't like his personality or something, now Sneijder is injured he finally found the heart to invite him. (He'll probably be on the bench against England this wednesday!)

Van Persie probably won't be there because his wife is having a baby and Van der Sar wasn't interested in playing the match. hah, what a wanker