Pick Your 2009/10 Champions: Prem, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Eredivise

To be 100% honest, I’m not a big fan of pre-season predictions. There’s no form to base things on, and the result is usually a lot of people arguing over things that haven’t happened yet. So we decided not to go big with predictions, like doing a final table 1-20 or anything like that.

Instead, Chris and myself have picked our winners for six European leagues: the English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and the Eredivisie. Just who we think will win, and why.

We challenge you to do the same in the comments…

Premiership

Chris: Chelsea
Cristiano Ronaldo >>> Michael Owen/Luis Valencia and Carlo Ancelotti is the best coach Chelsea have seen since, well, Guus Hiddink.

Daryl: Man Utd
They may have lost a couple of big names, but Man Utd win titles because they have better squad depth (amd more willing squad players) than any other team. That hasn’t changed.

La Liga

Chris: Barcelona

History teaches us many things; two can help us determine the La Liga race:

i. Barcelona is pants-wettingly good.
ii. Florentino Perez sells shirts; he does not win trophies.

Daryl: Barcelona

Galacticos 2.0 won’t necessarily be a disaster. But I don’t see them having the same consistency as Barcelona, who’ve made small improvements over last season’s squad. Which is terrifying if you think about it. Wouldn’t be too surprised if Real Madrid pulled out a Champions League win though.

Serie A

Chris: Juventus
Many people joked that the scudetto shield should be replaced with a caricature of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Obviously it’ll never happen but…it wouldn’t be the worst idea. Like him or not, he, not Ricky K, ruled Serie A and Inter is half the team without him. It’s a toss-up this year.

Daryl: Inter
I’m aware that my first three picks are the teams that won last season. And that that suggests a worrying lack of imagination on my part. But no team has improved enough to challenge Jose Mourinho’s men. Losing Zlatan might be big, but replacements don’t come much better than Samuel Eto’o.

Bundesliga

Chris: Bayern
Do you know when Bayern last went two years without a title? 1995-96, when Borussia Dortmund won back-to-backs. Do you know when the next time will be? Not this year.

Daryl: Bayern
They had a “bad” season in 2008/9, and were still title contenders on the final day of the season.

Ligue 1

Chris: Marseille
Ligue Un seems to either suffer dominating spells at the top or rotate champions like a drunken game of musical chairs. Bordeaux simply does not appear to have the ability to dominate. Color Marseille a hunch (so long as Didier can stay out of the board room).

Daryl: Lyon
I’m torn between Lyon and Bordeaux. Lyon feels weirdly inevitable, a little like Bayern (see above). But Bordeaux turning Yoann Gourcuff’s visit into a permanent residence is huge. Should be a good year in Ligue 1.

Eredivisie

Chris: Ajax
Champs AZ lost Louis van Gaal to Bayern and highly influential midfielder Demy de Zeeuw to Ajax; the Amsterdammers picked up not-quite-as-rubbish-as-everyone-thought Martin Jol from HSV along with de Zeeuw to offset Thomas Vermaelen; PSV are a shadow of a shadow of their formerly dominant selves; and Twente lost young studs Marko Arnautovic and Eljiro Elia to leagues not named the Eredivisie. It’s about net change in the sellers’ Eredivisie, as ever, and Ajax gained more while losing less.

Daryl: What Chris said.

So, who do you think will win the following leagues?

Prem:
La Liga:
Serie A:
Bundesliga:
Ligue 1:
Eredivisie:

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Category: Europe