Certainly don't see us finishing above West Ham. It would be nice if we could finish a season strongly though as the last 2 have fizzled out a little (bar Villa).
Every summer there will be some change at every club. For us I think Mane and Wanyama will go, aswell as Pelle, possibly a few of the fringe players aswell (like Gardos, Martina, Gaston) be interesting to see who we are targeting. I reckon centre back, attacking midfielder and right back will be the main targets.
Guessing we'll be around 9th-11th when all is said and done. But position in this iteration of the PL can be a bit deceiving...10th in 2016 might be a harder-fought achievement than 8th was two years ago.
It's a tough run in and we don't have much room for error left if we want a Europa place. Liverpool is the decider on our European ambitions. We're level on points, but they have two games in hand. If we fail to beat them then I think that wipes out any chance of finishing in the top 7. Win and with the Manchester Derby Sunday as well then although the others will have games in hand we will be in the mix. Personally I think we'll finish 9th, but my main hopes for this season are for us to put in good performances against Liverpool and Spurs
Be surprised to see Gardos and Martina going....we may spend seriously on a couple of players we need, so we won't want to get rid of back up players (who now know and understand our style) and probably have to pay more to replace them. This was probably the reason we re-signed Yoshida. Must be looking for a GK as well....unless Stek is willing to stay, knowing he won't be number one.
Can't really see anyone matching our valuations for either Mane or Vic, so I don't think their departure's are a given; neither have had great seasons, but both are pretty important to us imo so I hope they'll stay. And I'm not entertaining the idea of Pelle going anywhere. We need a RB desperately imo. And Gareth Bale.
For me, not including replacements we need... RB, CAM, a winger and a backup GK. I really hope Pelle doesn't go. I thought we needed another striker since xmas '14 but it took a Pelle injury for us to sign one. If he goes then we're back to where we were again.
I know it's only league two, but McCarthy has been doing very well at Wycombe and has played both RB and CB there. I hope that we give one of our young centre backs the opportunity to eventually replace Fonte as opposed to bringing someone in
It would be good to have some Match Officials that would get a higher percentage of our decisions right, but there is more chance of us getting a CL place than that.
I won't be heartbroken if we don't qualify for the Europa, but I really, really want us to beat Liverpool. And Tottenham. And Man City. And Newcastle In fact I badly want us to win every game except possibly away to Leicester where I would settle for a draw. Realistically I think we can get at least 18 points to improve on last season's total, and 62 points might be good enough for 6th place.
The Manure v Spam draw in the cup that now requires a replay will help us as both will have to have a replay and the fixtures become more and more congested. Happy days
Win every game is my aspiration albeit not necessarily realistic. However, I would take a loss against Leicester if it turned out that was the difference between them winning the league or coming second. Controversial ! Anyone else think the same? Alternatively, if we beat them AND Spurs then that would cancel it out.
I have been umm and ahhing about this but have decided we'll take the 3 points off them, but do them a favour by beating Spurs at the lane in the penultimate game
I like that plan. Right, so we are beating Leicester and Spurs. They might as well put the points on the board right now.
In December '14 we had: Rodriguez (injured), Mane, Long. Right now we have: Austin, Mane, Long, Rodriguez (healthy), Juanmi. In December '14, Pelle was unquestionably our A-1, primary striker. Right now if Austin were healthy would Pelle even get in the side? And if we keep Pelle, what happens next year when his contract runs out? We'll still have to replace him. Only we won't have 2-5m extra in the bank to do so. Stop hoarding players, people.
Who's hoarding players? It's not about the 11 anymore we need a SQUAD. This is why our last 2 season have petered out a bit. PLayers have got tired/lost form and we don't have the depth to compete. As for: "Right now we have: Austin, Mane, Long, Rodriguez (healthy), Juanmi." Juanmi - not a striker, I don't think he's played up top for us once this season. Rodriguez - healthy for now but how long for? Any guarantees he will be the player he once was? I've made my feelings clear before that I don't think he will ever go on to look like the player in 13/14 and that we relied on him coming back with a bang was one on our biggest mistakes in the Summer. The point is I think we needed a striker for a long long time before we signed Austin as we were too reliant on Pelle. Now we've signed Austin so upgraded there but if we then sell Pelle n not bring another striker in, numbers wise we are in the same position as we were at the beginning of this season. So if Austin breaks down in September we're back to relying on Long again, especially as so far that Austin has struggled for a run in the side due to fitness. As for better off taking the £2-5m in the Summer than nothing the year after, well that's just nonsense as £2-5m is **** all these days in football. A couple of places difference in our league finish next year would most likely amount to that. I believe it's just shy of a million per place now, so with the new tv deal next year could easily be around £2m per place.
