Man City will be even stronger and oozing with confidence having broken their duck this last season and will be clear favourites for a second title.They already look like they are targetting 3 or 4 superstars and have the financial power to pay wages and fees without thought. Their squad will be immense imo. Chelsea with Pep Guardiola will be the closest challengers but with Roberto di Matteo they will not be so. 2nd under Pep but outside the top 4 with Robbie imo. I'll assume Pep will be the manager. Man Utd will be 3rd challengers as they are not good enough and don't have the financial clout of Chelsea or City and for the first time will be playing 3rd fiddle. Arsenal if they retain the services of RVP will be alongside Utd but without him will be challengers for top 6 only. Podolski could be inspired or a disaster as I have doubts he will handle the physicalities of the EPL. Outside the top 4 Spurs are a strange animal at the moment and all does not seem well in the camp. The stories of Arry staying or leaving are bizarre and seem to have some merit to them. If Arry goes, Bale and Modric will follow him out and then Spurs will really struggle. If he stops though, I can see them being very good again. Noocarsel, Everton, Liverpool are hard to call. Can the craas build on a superb last season or will they lose 2 or 3 players and slide backwards? If they lose Ba, Tiote, Colocinni or Krul they will be much weakened. If they hang on to them all though, they will again be a good side. Will a Brendan Rodgers led Liverpool be any better than a poor Dalglish one? I have my doubts. Liverpool were an average side last season and I don't see where BR has the experience to take the job on. If Everton can actually start the season before Christmas they could be a real surprise package and challenge the top 4 imo but their problem is they often don't which means they are always playing catch up. Then there is the next batch of clubs which includes us. Fulham will again be solid and steady and mid table under a manager I really respect but losing Dempsey will be a big blow. WBA will miss Hodgsons organisation and tactical ability and they could really suffer as their new manager is coming to the EPL for his first season and his learning period will be very short. Swansea are the tippy tappy team that will be found out this coming season imo. That's why Rodgers jumped ship so easily as he knows that a good chunk of dosh is required for the 2nd season and they don't have it. I tip them to struggle next term. Norwich likewise and losing Lambert will hurt them badly. Also, with the likes of Holt wanting away, they don't have the financial muscle to replace him. Stoke will again be the usual mixture of long ball and muscle but will be safe if not very attractive to watch but without Europe to distract them they will be comfortably safe. Villa will be a much better force next season under a very good manager. Lambert may want to wheel and deal and will have them much better organised than under Big Eck and I see them comfortable survivors if not top half challengers. Then there are the rest. Wigan will lose 2 or 3 of their better players this summer and I think they will struggle again but they have in Martinez a real fighter and motivator and will sit on top of the relegation candidates. QPR are not a good side but they do have Cisses goals to help them. They will be better than last year but will still be strugglers imo unless they can sort out their abysmal away form. My 3 promoted sides. Southampton, Reading and W Ham will find it a difficult task to survive but in Big Sam, W Ham are best placed imo to survive as hes been there so many times before. I dont hink either Reading or Southampton are ready for the EPL and they wont be able to attract enough quality to stay up. Sunderland. Where do we fit in then? Under MoN we have already seen glimpses of what he might achieve but we are 3 or 4 players short at least from being a decent team. I think we will recruit the right people this summer and we will be organised and much more effective next term but I think a top 8 place is our realistic target with anything better a bonus. I expect we will take the cups more seriously and have another good stab at both of them, especially the League Cup. We could see an even better season if things work out but I'm being realistic. That said there could be some fluidity to the season for many clubs and although the top 4 are totally sewn up imo, the next 6 or 7 places afterwards are up for grabs by the team that wants it most. My predictions then: City Chelsea Man Utd Arsenal Spurs Everton Craas Sunderland Liverpool Fulham Stoke Villa WBA Wigan W Ham QPR Norwich Swansea Southampton Reading
With a possible extra 20 games, i really cant see newcastle doing that well in the league because their squad depth is minimal Liverpool I will have to wait and see with Rodgers there now, dont think villa will stay up even with Judas would like reading to stay up for McDermott though
Id swap Norwich and Southampton. Think Liverpool will do alot better and Newcastle will finish lower than that due to the Europa League. Other than that i doubt it'll look drastically different
i have to disagree about my team wigan... i dont think we will lose any of ourplayers and if anything we will get stronger
Villa under Lambert (who I rate very highly) will be much better and a fit Judas will score 20+ goals. With Grant Holt alongsiode him they will be quite a good force and will stay up easily imo.
Diame, Rodellega, figeuroa. Moses will be wanted by teams and DW will sell. Can't see Martinez performing miracles forever unfortunately for Wigan
Diame and Rodgella have left... and not been in the team for 6 months Figaroa has signed a 5 year contract and says he doesnt want to leave Moses said he will stay if martinez is staying because for one more year he will be better for a move to a top team
I'm confused? You first said that no out filed players will be leaving then say that both Diame and Rodallega have left? Are they not 2 big players? Figueroa may well have signed a news contract but we both know that means very little except a fee for Wigan if he left (didnt the same thing happen when we signed catts) and Moses head will be turned if a club comes in for him that can offer him first team football but also to play in front of 40,000 and double his wages. Martinez performed miracles for the past 2 years and although I still think he will keep Wigan up, its another season of struggle for you imo.
As i said the two who have left havent been in the team most of the season Fig has said he is happy and family is settled and doesnt expect to leave for the next 5/6 years and Moses has said he is staying too if he leaves he will be replaced too we actually have abit of mone this season to spend
football is so great because its so unpredictable, Swansea were favourites to go down and they have a great season they even managed to finish above us and we finished lower than we all would of predicted we would I'm going with 1. Manchester City 2. Chelsea 3. Manchester United 4. Arsenal 5. Tottenham 6. Everton 7. Liverpool 8. Newcastle 9. Fulham 10. Sunderland 11. QPR 12. West Ham 13. Aston Villa 14. Stoke 15. WBA 16. Wigan 17. Swansea 18. Reading 19. Norwich 20. Southampton
1. City 2. Chelsea 3. United 4. Arsenal 5. Spurs 6. Toon 7. Everton 8. Liverpool 9. Sunderland 10. Fulham 11. WHU 12. Swansea 13. QPR 14. Stoke 15. Villa 16. Wigan 17. Southampton 18. WBA 19. Norwich 20. Reading I can't really place the bottom 5, but those are the 5 I'd say will be in a relegation scrap. On to us - Yes I know we have weak points in our squad, but I think it's silly that people are still making these stupid comments about us having a small squad. The reason we've done well this season wasn't just because we have a great starting 11, it's because our squad players stepped up and did a job in absence of our best players. We were without Tiote for a lot of the season, and half of the games he played he was half fit and playing with knocks. Perch and others had to cover for him. We had plenty of injuries to our defence, but still put in solid defensive performances in most of our games. We've had to grind out results with a makeshift side at times, but our manager gets the best out of the players and organizes them very well. All squad depth issues will be sorted before next season, so even if we do have a few weak spots right now, we will be even stronger next season with our new signings. It's not our fault you or anyone else doesn't rate our back up players, because they've been just as important this season as our starting 11. I think the top 4 are already sorted, Spurs - It will depend on who they keep, but if they lose Modric and Bale, then I'd say we could very possibly finish 5th this season, but I'm gonna predict 6th. Everton and Liverpool will be in the mix, I think it will be a 3 horse race for the title, with Arsenal just behind them, and us, Spurs, Liverpool and Everton in the mix for a top 6 place, but I think we can come out on top. It's still funny that people make these crappy predictions about us sliding down the table and stuff. They've made the same sort of prediction in the past, but they still haven't learned, oh well. We'll just have to march on and see what happens. Yes Europa League will be tough, and yes we have some areas in our squad that need strengthening, but we have plenty of time to get that sorted out. People actually need to look at the job our fringe players did, rather than just claiming we have a small squad and it's our strikers that have carried us through the season.
From these tables i think Southampton are going to shock some teams. Lambert will do a Holt and Sharp will get goals. They are also trying to get Rodriquez who has the potential to be very good. Reckon they'll win alot of games at home like Norwich did.
I've seen Southampton play. They have some canny players in there, but I still think they'll be in a relegation scrap come the end of the season. They NEED to keep their strikers and keep them fit to survive this season.
Can't see another season where all 3 promoted teams will stay up. Think the top 2 will be Citeh and Chelski, considering they will be much better for next season, but Manure will still be there or thereabout's. I think we will still be hovering near or in mid table.
Was it not Guthrie that actually stepped up to the plate in the absence of Tiote the Soft ****e? Isn't it the same Guthrie that you have just let go?
Perch/Guthrie/Raylor all played CM and all played in midfield as part of winning teams. Guthrie left, he can be replaced. w/e make your predictions, it means **** all really, you in particular always sounds like you're clutching at straws. Anyone who actually has a look at our team will see why the pundits crappy predictions about us didn't come true.
tbf to cest he has got you above us in his table, which must be bloody killing him, and i am very surprised, cant remember what the bet was about, but i think it was whoever is top dogs the other has to leave the forum for good between him and cheik, so if his table comes true he will have to leave the forum as well. Just surprises me he has you over us, I do think it will happen, but if i had been betting and spouting top dogs for the last 4 seasons, it would kill me to say you would be next season.
I think Newcastle and Sunderland would enjoy their seasons a lot more if they forgot about each other until derby days. Not point in depressing each other when one is doing better than the other. You feel like **** when your team is doing bad, but 5x worse when your rivals are doing better. We should just forget about each other until derby days so we wont feel so bad when one of us is "top dogs in the north east".
