Have to be honest and say Right here , right now I thnk relegation is quite probable . However I am basing that on the players we have at the moment who are actually PLAYING in the first team . Thinking longer term ( and taking into account the fact it will take a bit of time for the new players / entire squad to settle down ), I think mid - lower table is quite achievable .
LD reckons we'll win 4-0, Mark. I know he's messing about, but 300-1 please log in to view this image
we will finish mid table, higher than swansea I hope after the statement above. We have a top 4 strike force (meaning Lambert, Lallana & Ramirez) with a championship backup. The defence will let us down a bit so 10th to 12th for me To go down Reading, QPR and either West Ham or Norwich (although I hope Norwich stay up)
Yeah probably a top 10 strike force but near on Championship defence depenfing on how Yoshida turns out. I don't thnk we will find it as easy to score against other teams that don't push forward as freely as UTD and City. I think this will be the main problem this season but still thnk we will stay up in mid table.
Depends really on how the new guys all settle in over the next few months, Well and we could be anywhere from 12 to 17th badly and we could be rooted to the bottom at xmas as lets face it the defence aint great. Having said that I am sure Nicola will make the right decisions during the season and Jan transfer window so a solid 17th place for me 4/5 points clear of the relegation places as we have a great final run in.
Big Si made a very good point, that we will find it hard to break some teams down. Those like Wigan (as proved), Stoke and Sunderland will come with very solid rows of four and ask us the questions. They will be happy to sit back and wait for us to break them down. These teams know that over 90 minutes they will get at least a couple of chances and will rely on taking one of those. I love the way we are trying to play, however I think it's a little naive. I'm hoping for 17th.
I'm concerned about how people will react if we don't get points against the teams that come immediately after the Arsenal game. All games in the PL are hard and just because we need to win games doesn't mean we will. I'm sure we will avoid relegation, but we have no means of knowing when those points will come. We all have to keep our nerve.
The question asked was with the current squad; where will we come? Its too early to give a logical response because we have so many young players expected to 'step-up'. That said, at best 17th with the current squad - but with some defensive additions at centre back this should improve. I have read some of the comments on apparent other 'weaker' teams than us - frankly speaking - I do not see that many. Maybe Norwich and Villa; with us on a par with QPR. I certainly would not agree that teams like Stoke and Wigan are weaker or as weak as us. They have been in this league some time now and know how to grind out results - hopefully something we will learn sooner rather than later.
FLT - was taking my time responding and now just seen what you have written - in total agreement with what you have said.
Last season in the Championship, I could only think of 7 or 8 teams that we were better than and we finished second! Let's see-Aston Villa because they have one good player (Bent) and their side have no spirit or leader. A decent manager, but I think he should have stayed at Norwich-some managers do better with lower expectations (like Brendan Rodgers). Reading because their tactics won't work in this division. They won't be able to do their everyone defend and then counter attack tactic because they will concede and will then have to go for it and then get hit on the counter! No recognised goal scorer, Reading will start off poor like they always do and the owner will be impatient and sack Mcdermott and disrupt the team and then it will be all downhill from there. Norwich have bought some decent players to be fair so maybe not them, I'm thinking maybe AVB to get sacked and Martinez to leave half way through the season to Spurs and this will put Wigan in a bad position. However ungelled QPR's side is, they have too much quality to go down for me. Those three teams are the most likely to finish below us I think.
I think between 15th-19th. We won't finish bottom, but we will struggle to stay up. One man coming in won't change the defence that much, and we don't even know what he's like. For this league, our defence (especially through the middle) is poor. We need to sign another defender or two in January. If two of our CBs get injured, we are dipping into our reserves, not acceptable for the Premier League.
