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A lot of unknowns for me this season, though I think City will still be favourites. My thoughts below. (Just covering the main runners and riders. Feel free to add sackings, relegation, cups etc).
1) Man City
City still have the strongest spine in the league for me, even though Gundogan & Mahrez will be significant losses. Don’t think they want to lose Walker or Bernado Silva though!
2) Arsenal
Have obviously spent a fair bit & Rice should make them more solid. But no “wow” signings for me that could take them to the next level.
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After these two, it’s anyone’s guess – so many unknowns with new managers, players & possible CL congestion causing issues.3) Liverpool (Contrary to my recent posts, I’ll try and cling to the positives. I think we should have a better attacking flow this year with a more attack minded midfield. Diaz also looks in really hot form. As things stands though, conceding goals is going to be a continuing problem – assuming we bring in others, we could be ok, if not, then less so. Can see a few basketball scores this season).
4) Newcastle (Concerns about CL congestion, but defensively very solid last season so have a good platform to build on, seem to have bought a few interesting signings – could do with more up top for me).
5) Spurs (Could go under the radar – no European distractions, a bold new manager, spent a bit of money, if Kane stays might not have a bad season).
6) Chelsea (Poch should steady the ship, but not an easy job and losing Nkunku for 16 weeks is far from ideal).
7) Man Utd (Just no wow factor for me at Man Utd regarding the players signed, they may still play some nice stuff, but jury very much out for me still on Ten Hag. They didn’t score enough last season and conceded too many – the success or not of the new signings pivotal to how the season goes).
Over to you…
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Top 4
City
Utd
Arsenal
Chelsea – poch will have them fitter then beforeLiverpool can’t defend and can’t see anything changing there
Relegated
Wolves/Bournemouth
Luton
Sheff utdTop scorer
HallandSigning of the season
GarvdiolFlop signing
Harvey barnesFirst manager sacked
Gary o. Neil
Wolves_____________________________
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In fairness Mikus Utd conceded the same number of goals as Arsenal, and a quarter of those came in two games so if Onana settles it will be the other end where we struggle. Juries out on Hojlund, on one hand he has to be better than Martial and Weghorst but on the other he is still a huge gamble.
Greenwood situation will be interesting though as he can score. Hopefully Anthony settles down a bit and finds some consistency and Sancho gets his Dortmund form back but a lot of ifs and buts.
Cannot see past City for the title, unless the FFP ruling comes out with some draconian penalties. Heard that Chelsea are in trouble with illegal payments to players too.
I think city, Arsenal, Utd and Chelsea will be the top four though.
Relegation could be tight this year, can see forest being dragged into the list which Sean gave above.
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Just been reading that the Prem might actaully have 5 spots up for grabs for CL footy uder the new rules, although that won’t be confirmed until the end of the season (although according to the rules, the Prem would have had 5 teams in 5 of the last 6 seasons so the odds are pretty good we’ll be getting 5 this year!)
Anyway, don’t really like to make predictions until the transfer window is shut, teams could lose a star player and mess everything up (and I think the Bone Saw League is open for another 3 weeks after that so that takes you until the end of September!) but assuming it starts tomorrow with the squads everybody currently has I would be going with the following…
1) Abu Dhabi Sportswashing Campaign… what else can be said?
2) Goonies… easily the best of the rest, a slightly stronger 1st 11 than last year, but I don’t think the squad is deep enough to chase down ADSC and compete in the CL…
And like Mikus says above, gets a bit open after that… but I’m going with…
3) Super Spurs!!! Biased, I know, but no CL footy, and hopefully none of the distractions to upset the apple cart last season… had our best start to a season for about 50 years before it all went tits up and we badly, badly underperformed from about 15 games onwards… should ahave fit and firing Sonny, a Happy Harry who I think will hit 40 this season considering the way we’re now set-up, Wee Jimmy “Mad-Man” Maddison to file that gapping hole in the squad that even Stevie Wonder could see, and a decent CB to partner Cuti in defence so Dier is on the bench, and a manager who has taken the shackles off… 🙂
4) Bone Saw Boyz… they’ve built a solid foundation, tweaked it a little bit, got the best defence in the league… I just think they’re going to be the most consistant team other than the 3 above.
5) LiVARberoOol… taking a real gamble completely rebuilding their midfield, but I think they’ve bought smartly… might take them a while to get going and fall to far behind but once they get going, they’re going to be a real handful.
6) YooUtd… seemingly spent most of the season being Spurzy… great one week, diabolical the next, and I think most of last seasons success was based around that excellent 20 game purple patch that Rashford had when he looked like a world beater every week… questionable fullbacks defensively still and won’t score enough up top…
7) Jammy Todgers… new manager and about another billion new players (and possible trouble with the FA). Will take at least a season for Poncho to figure out a starting 11 from all that lot…
Aston Villa to be my “surprise” dark horse package and very capable of getting the top 7 if any of the above get smacked in the face with a smoked kipper or a points deduction for being a naughty scallywag…
This all is, of course, assuming Harry stays… 🙂
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I am never usually so confident but I can say for sure chelsea will finish 2nd….to 10th. Would be amazed to be wrong.
I can see a possibility of city struggling to maintain the same level this season and so there is an opportunity for the likes of arsenal and pool to challenge but outside of them I don’t see a challenge.
Utd and Newcastle to battle it out for final top 4 place with chelsea a decent outside bet but odds against nonetheless.
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I just can’t see how greenwood can come back in Alfie. Is it worth the hassle for the club? Is it really worth all the media spotlight and constant focus on greenwood? Utd just don’t need it in my view. We know there was no charges but it’s as clear on day what he’s done. I wouldn’t want Liverpool to play him no matter what. I really think utd should just cut their ties, they will get a lot of respect for that
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I think people are being very harsh on utd. They have improved their squad and their home form is formidable. Ten hag had more a net spend in a year then Klopp had in his whole Liverpool tenure and Klopp needs to given money like Chelsea, Arsenal and utd to compete. I can’t see how people can predict Liverpool to finish top4 with no holding player and we can’t defend for Shit. We have made some really bizarre decisions this summer and we are in trouble
I don’t newcastje be as good as last season. Barnes is not going to improve them. Gordon 45 and plays in the same position as barnes.80m spent on two average wide left players.
Have doubts over Arsenal aswell. Concede to many goals to challenge again. Can only see city walking it again
Chelsea have spent 860m in a year and we are talking about them not even being in the top four? Crazy stuff
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“Chelsea have spent 860m in a year and we are talking about them not even being in the top four? Crazy stuff`”
Yeah it is when you look at it like that, all that money and yet the squad looks weaker. There is good reason chelsea are 6th faves for top 4 though ie its not crazy at all to predict chelsea finish outside top 4 all considered.
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Ye fair comments lucky. How has it come to that chum? All the money being spent on players under 23 etc. it just seems out of control and how much poch got an input into these signings?
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There’s so much crazy going on at the moment and more than a few clubs having the chance of an absolute disaster of a season, I’d consider putting a cheeky fiver on Poncho being in charge of the Spuds by the end of the season… with Levy discovering he’s signed Ossie MKII and the Todgers still failing to understand that spending 860 million in the Prem doesn’t guarantee any musturd on your hotdog.
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I can only hope they prove us wrong sooner rather than later but it seems clear to all of us that Chelsea are wasting a hell of a lot of money and that as this money needs to be accounted for against the clubs income it will cripple us for years unless most of the players bought can prove to be top players.
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Yeah, I totally get where Sean’s coming from and I’m with him. What improvement have we made to our defense? Alisson at times is a long lost puppy with nobody to lean on. Van Dijk needs a clone of himself to accompany him.
Dunno for us hard to tell. I’ll take what we achieved 2022 right now.
The Gunners need to believe in themselves and they CAN win the Title this time round. Need to be ruthless and decisive.
Very hard for me to tell beyond that without actually seeing the rest unfold.
Really hope for Luton Town they stay up.
Has Pep now employed a Bus?
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I think people are being very harsh on utd. They have improved their squad and their home form is formidable. Ten hag had more a net spend in a year then Klopp had in his whole Liverpool tenure and Klopp needs to given money like Chelsea, Arsenal and utd to compete.
In fairness Sean, Klopp has had to bide his time to build his squad but he’s still had over £750mil to spend on players. That he’s had a low net spend is as much about him having had some valuable assets to sell. Ten Hag has had absolute rubbish given to him and only being able to sell players for measly sums. Nobody wants the likes of Bailly, Martial etc. Looks like we might finally be getting some money in for Maguire, McTominay, Fred and some others but before them, we’ve had nobody to sell because nobody wants our players due to such poor management previously giving them such high deals that nobody else would match.
Klopp and Pep have both had 7-8 years now to build their squads and that’s almost always a huge advantage over managers like Ten Hag, Poch and Postecoglu who all need to rebuild sides.
My predictions:
Top 4
City
Arsenal
Liverpool
Utd6,7,8
Brighton
Chelsea
Newcastle
It feels wrong putting Spurs as low as 9th because I think Postecoglu could do a good job there but I can’t imagine any of the above being that low either and I think there will be a real transitional period for Spurs this season where they make a lot of mistakes as they introduce a new styleRelegated
Bournemouth
Luton
Sheff utdTop scorer
HaalandSigning of the season
Caicedo if he signs for ChelseaFlop signing
HavertzFirst manager sacked
Hodgson (reckon that spell when he came back was a bit of a false dawn and they’ll soon realise he isn’t up to it any longer)_____________________________
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Tend to agree with Sean that some are harsh on Utd. Weak fullbacks defensively is not something I see in Shaw and AWB.
Cannot even remember a player beating AWB one on one. His tackling stats have to be the best in the league. Obviously major problems going forward, but that doesn’t make him weak defensively.
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Fair comments Ed and we have spent but as Neville says, he’s need to be given money like utd, Arsenal chelsea to compete. Look at support areta has now from the board. Ye we sold well but utd have never had to sell to buy. That’s the difference. They have to this season but he’s already being supported with 170m. Ten hag will then get the proceeds of the sales. We have a net spend of 45 m this summer. He needs massive money and if he gets it then this argument can end.
Good call in havertz. Don’t get that signing to be honest and already playing him at centre forward.
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Awb is the best one on one defender in the league Alfie.
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I don’t think Liverpool have to sell to buy though Sean. That’s just how they choose to do business. Let’s see where we finish up in terms of spending. It’s a pointless debate until the window is shut. Everywhere was reporting us only having £100mil net to spend this summer, hence a gamble on someone like Hojlund rather than a Kane/Osimhen type. We’ve no idea yet where we’ll end up spending wise.
There were some unique circumstances for that spending under Ten Hag being so heavy the first season. He absolutely has to have ball playing CBs (and ideally a GK, though this one had to wait a season) to play his style. Hence the big outlay on Martinez. He took over a side without a defensive midfielder, hence the outlay on Casemiro. The Greenwood thing happened. Without that, I don’t think Anthony signs (who the jury is very much out on). He still went into that first season knowing his keeper was not right for him and he didn’t really have a striker to use as Martial was injured all season. He had nobody valuable to sell at all.
Klopp does need to be given more money if he’s to be expected to compete but Liverpool have been very good at finding gems and great at selling players for good fees. That’s their model. Look at what Brighton can do despite spending a fraction of what Liverpool spend, never mind Utd, City, Arsenal, Chelsea etc. You don’t need to spend loads if you have a good scouting network and transfer team identifying the right players.
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Ye it’s a debate that goes in circles all the time Ed to be honest mate. I bore myself m myself about net spend etc.
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Havertz can work well depending on how he’s integrated and placed in a 11 line up. So for example, he could work well in a 4-3-3 set up as a center forward with Martinelli linking up one-side and Saka on the right-hand side.
Arteta actually a little spoilt for choice, but positive from a squad point of view and being able to utilize players to last over a course of the season.
The only reservation in Havertz’s direction is when Jesus is fit; can’t see really any other fit, but definitely a player that can bring something effective.
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There was a valid point made my 3ps on another thread where I don’t believe FSG even care.
Whoever is in control and conducting our transfer policy, I just don’t know why we’re not open to bringing an experienced head at short-term or a marquee type of player. Possibly our recent historical record of injuries might have clouded our judgement.
On the flip side: why on earth didn’t we keep and doing something with Nat Phillips? He would credit Van Dijk and our defense.
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