I may have gone mad but assuming Spurs can hang on to the team they have I genuinely believe they could be our closest rivals in the league next season. AVB had a tough start with Spurs, as most Spurs fans were against his appointment for his so called failures with Chelsea, but I bet the Chelsea players are now wishing they had believed in there coach as this guy is a world class manager, providing he has a squad of players that are willing to listen and learn. He has won over the Spurs fans after a slow start, and they are now playing like the 2nd best team in England, and the form table supports this claim. I watched them tonight and they really impressed me, they have quality across the field, and they play good football. Inter Milan aren't the team they were, but they are still a massive club with plenty of quality players, and the way Spurs made them look mediocre really impressed me. I genuinely feel they will be the best of the chasing pack next season, does anyone else agree?
Code: As they only play with 1 up top, with Bale playing off him, I only think they need 1, as Defoe and Adebayor are decent no 2s and 3s. I'm sure AVB will be looking for a striker, and knowing how good he is in the transfer market it wouldnt suprise me if he gets a world class one. This is the man who first brought Falcao to Europe after all
It all depends on keeping Bale in this kinda form. He is unstoppable atm, but will Spurs be nearly as competitive if he was sold/injured/lost form?
From a footballing point of view I think Bale would be best staying there, as they will build there team around him. If he were to go elsewhere I don't think he would get anywhere near the same recognition. Could you imagine him knocking Ronaldo off the free kicks at Madrid? Even if he were sold though, I fancy they could get atleast 50 million for him, and that is alot of money to go to war with. AVB is a shrewd operator, and isn't going to fork out the 34 millions for Hazard's or the 50 millions for Torres's, he knows what he is doing. It may put them back abit, but in time that money would pay dividends, assuming they put that money back into the club, which I assume they would
your biggest rivals are Arsenal and Liverpool for the 4th spot. In the next few years, the title race will always be a two horse race between Man Utd and Man City.
but the question is, Will Bale still be at Spurs next season? I doubt it if a team comes up with a big offer.
NO .. first let us see if they can keep Bale. even with him staying, the squad depth is really not good enough to win PL
United are way ahead of everyone else bar City, but way behind top European clubs, as evidenced by their last two European campaigns. The Prem is weak at the mo, only Chelsea have reached the QFs of CL in the past two seasons.
Using the CL as the barometer makes no sense (surprise!) as an English club won the CL last season and that club was very much an also ran in what you are describing as a weak league. Or are you saying Chelsea winning the CL was a fluke?
Spurs may well be our biggest challengers next season, assuming they make the CL this season. Spurs will get a load more money to spend from the CL, particularly if they finish 3rd or even 2nd (the market pool rises by £10m with every league position). At the same time City will have to keep trying to stem their losses, Chelsea will lose massive amounts of money due to the CL group exit and possibly no CL next season, Arsenal are struggling and will struggle even more so if they are the ones who miss out on the top four. So Spurs may be the only one of our rivals who actually gets stronger next season. That may sound pretty tempting, but I prefer a strong PL - we tend to be at our best when we are actually pushed in the league by a decent side. We did very well in Europe from 07-09 when the prem was really strong, but relatively poorly in 2010 and the last two seasons when the PL has been weak.
So United are going to get stronger, whilst City, Chelsea and Arsenal are all going to stagnate/get weaker? Convenient. Spurs will struggle to juggle CL and PL next season. City and United will definitely be the top 2 in whichever order with Chelsea 3rd and Spurs/Liverpool/Arsenal battling for 4th.
Remove your bias for a moment and look objectively at the situation. City compared to last season have most certainly gotten weaker or at the very least stagnated. Considering the calibre of players Mancini was allowed to sign this time around, there is no guarantee they will win the title next season or even come second. The introduction of FFP will further hampen their chances. Arsenal are a mess imo. Wenger doesn't seem to have a clue and they will no doubt struggle to keep hold of their top players let alone attract new ones. Once Chelsea get a new manager in, I can see you continue to rebuild and sign new players. More than Spurs, Chelsea will be the team competing with Utd for the league. Also you give too much credit to Liverpool.
The irony of you telling me to remove my bias and then saying I give Liverpool too much credit. City have a poor manager, he'll go and they'll improve. Your living in cuckoo land if you think FFP will affect City. United and City are still streets ahead of the competition and have been for the last 18 months. Spurs have a fantastic set up and are playing well but form is temporary and class is permenant. City will be your closest rivals next season and you know it, to pretend otherwise is delusional.
Never said Utd would get stronger. But don't let the fahkts get in the way of your bias, Rafa Spurs may struggle to juggle the two, but they juggled PL and EL a lot better than Chelsea or City this season. City will need to spend heavily if they are to improve on this season, which they'll find very hard to justify now Malaga and others have been banned under FFP. Hard to see how Chelsea will improve without getting Mourinho back - you've been going backwards for three years now and I doubt many good managers will want to take over from the waiter, given the bad shape he usually leaves clubs in. Arsenal are more of an unknown - they have a young squad which will improve and the money to buy players, but if they miss out on the CL this season they will struggle to improve on what they have. Spurs may well not improve enough to be a title challenger, but they certainly have a lot more to be optimistic about at the moment than the other three.
You may well be right about their manager - if Mourinho went to City they'd be very dangerous last year. But you're the one in cloud cuckoo land - FFP has already affected City. They needed to buy a couple of top class players in the summer to challenge in the CL and retain the title, but they ended up with a bunch of mid priced squad players cos their board wouldn't sanction matching Chelsea or PSG's bids on Hazard and Moura. They've been selling to buy for the past year now, which is their biggest problem cos that doesn't give them the squad depth they need to challenge for the league without a completely injury free season like last year.
My comment about Liverpool were not grounded in bias just reality. They will not compete with the likes of Utd, City, Chelsea, Arsenal or Spurs. To think otherwise is utter fantasy. Also you yourself are living in the clouds if you believe FFP will not affect City. Regardless of who is in charge at City, they will struggle to compete if the owners do not or are not permitted to spend and spend big.
