Well, you would, wouldn't you? Personally I think finishing sixth 25 points behind puts Chelsea in a slightly lower bracket than United and City. Actually a much lower bracket.
Newcastle aren't in that league yet, they benefited from Chelsea's mid-season hiccup and Liverpool's inconsistency. I'd say they were at the top of the mid-table section with Everton. I'd place the three leagues as: Man C, Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool; Newcastle, Everton, Sunderland, Fulham, Stoke, Villa; West Brom, Swansea, Norwich, Wigan, QPR, West Ham, Reading, Southampton. I think Stoke might slip into the bottom league and we might have the best chance of replacing them. The three to go down will be from the bottom eight. Villa are an established mid-table side that had a poor season but I expect them to be mid-table next season. Likewise Liverpool are a top six side who underperformed...
Chelsea bumbled their way to win two great cups and credit too them or anyone that does that... However they are far from being a side that can compete in the top three ...over a season then they are miles behind Arsenal and Spurs at the moment and they know it ... if you are gonna to win then do it in style ... this won't happen until Chelsea clear out a lot of dead wood ....its a brand that is well and truly out of fashion and that must hurt ... you can bring success with application but without flair then its hollow ... hence my detection of Chelsea people i know who are brainwashed and sadly lacking the spark that makes victory taste sweet
We have the potential to be way higher than some of those. How many of them beat 5 of the top 8 last year, when we were in chaos? As DT always says, difference between 16/17 and 7/8 is marginal. With the managerial merry go round at Norwich, WBA, Villa, Liverpool, Swansea and by the looks of it Spurs, expect a few positive and negative surprises in this bunch too. Southampton and Reading untested at this level, Wst Ham playing football their fans hate, expect unrest. Stoke's game plan has to crumble at some stage, Martinez may have had enough of Wigan, suddenly QPR a beacon of stability Bring it on!
If they get Hulk, that's over 70m in transfers this summer already, so sadly, they could be up there again, the same way they got there in the first place.
Fair point, but they still don't have a manager, so they are buying players without a strategy (Mind you Hulk would fit into most....) and they have a bunch of aging players used to getting their own way. Read somewhere that Guardiola has been told he would not be expected to win anything for 2 years......
I agree SB, I've just listed the three leagues as being where teams will be expected to finish based on their records over two or three seasons. I wouldn't think there's a cat in hell's chance of Liverpool winning the league but I will be surprised if they aren't at least challenging for a top four spot. I think we can make the second league if we get better players in but, more importantly, keep MH as manager. Stability is something we aren't used to and that is the key to our progress...
Chelsea will be up in the top 4 again with all the money they are spending, I agree. I also think some of these so called mid table teams could get into the relegation stuggle, Stoke, Everton, Fulham and Villa could all slip down there. Norwich are in a little League all to themself. They will be relegated by Christmas.
Absolutely mate. We went into last season blindfold and with both arms tied behind our back, then a self inflicted ACL rupture called Barton arrived. And we still ( just) stayed up. High expectations for next season, though I will be very happy with seeing good football being played, lots of home wins rather than fixating on league position. I am really looking forward to this.....
who the **** rates Hulk he is the joke of europe and ad for Hazard ... i have watched him twice in the flesh and sorry nothing there yet for me to go wow... he does disappear from games that is a fact. He has made a buzz so Chelsea have brought him ... its been shown that they are weaker without Terry and Lampard in the team and both of those are finished .. They haven't even got a manager yet so at this moment to say they are a top four side is crazy they are a team who needs a MOT badly.... when the race starts agains then you will need a good start ... I can't see this current team smashing the league up in fact my money will be on same as last year .. (unless its the fish head bloke di o mattress)... "GIVE THE NEW MANAGER TIME!!!" they will shout... then where's the stability? Drogula's gone and he was the ONLY difference when the questions were asked of a team that is my opinion cannot make the transition until they replace Frank with a midfield presence ... Chelsea bloody hell I am talking Chelsea ... i am off fishing **** this
Bit of a longshot I know but, with the right preparations and players in and out, we could get close to doing a Newcastle next term... Of course we'd need to maintain our recent home form - and become a point-winning force away to achieve those heights but a solid management system, sensible investment and hard-earned stability tend to reap rewards. Do pigs fly? Course not - but Air Asia do!!
Well Dave hope you right! But Norwich will be relegated by Christmnas definite. We will survive, + maybe, if we can keep our best players, remove Barton, and make a few top quality additions at CB and central, holding midfield.
Think you are being unfair on me there. The season we won it back to back Arsenal finished a full 24 points behind us nonetheless I and everybody would still have said they are a contender. Chelsea, United and City are the previous 3 winners and IMO remain the only teams that. Luke realistically win the Premier League or Champions League which are the two most desirable competitions to win. Forget 2nd, 3rd and 4th etc if we're talking solely about winning competitions than I'd have to put Chelsea in a separate bracket to Newcastle, Arsenal or Spurs who haven't won anything of note in ages
Again I think you've been harsh there Swords. I said from the get go last season that we wouldn't get close to United or City, simply because we hadn't strengthened enough and started off with a young and less experienced manager. I don't know any Chelsea fan that expected us to realistically win anything this year, this season was all about rebuilding and ensuring we got CL football. , With a fee tweaks here and there I'm certain Chelsea will be there or thereabouts, one thing I'm certain of is we won't finish as far behind City or United as we did. Chelsea have problems and have slipped off the pace but they still have good players hence my reasoning
Always good to be optimistic DL. Because of the Russians money you do of course have a better chance than most others,but I think City and Utd are way ahead, and they are having a normal pre season too. You aren't. You may be starting the season with £100m worth of new players to integrate, bought before whoever your new manager is joined so not necessarily wanted, a captain convicted of race offences, without your talisman who was the difference for you when it counted in the finals. Overly pessimistic perhaps, but distinctly possible. Don't worry, you still have a decent chance of finishing above us. The good news is that there is a distinct possibility that Spurs will implode with Levy messing the limited Arry about on his contract and Modric and perhaps Bale off.
Don't get me wrong I don't expect us to win the league next season. Signings (if any more are made) will take a while to gel, we are in transition and City are at their peak and whilet Ferguson is there United will always have a chance but i'm sure we will compete if we can bolster the midfield. Europe aside I can't think of any team that beat is purely by battering our midfield as was done to United, Spurs and Arsenal several times throughout the season, generally most of our games were lost on the flanks and because we didn't score enough goals, if we can address that we won't be too far off City or United next season for sure.
Stop talking sh*te DL. The Arsenal have qualified for the CL for the last 15 years or summat yet you don't have them in your top group! You'd want to see how deluded the Liverpool fans are on their board. They think they're the biggest Club in England! The fact is, people get so wrapped up in their own Club, they elevate themselves to a crazy position. Some of our own fans do it too. Utd / City / Ars / Chel are now the "Big 4". Spurs / Newkie / L'pool are the "Best of the rest". Then you have the likes of Everton / S'land / Villa etc that are also big Clubs.
Sorry Swords but I respectfully disagree. Arsenal are nowhere near the level of the Manchester clubs and they know it. I wouldn't say they are any better than Spurs or Newcastle. Entering a competition means nothing unless you can realistically compete in it
