6th for me. I think eventually we will get Ade in but we are still inferior to: Manchester, Arsenal, Chelsea. I think the goals from the front 2 of Newcastly might pip us to fifth. I expect it to be as tight as last season
Call me mad,but i think we can still finish 4th,the two manc clubs will be 1st and 2nd,Chelsea are'nt the force they were lasr season,even with their new signings,and the Goons new signings won't replace rvp well enough imo.
As much as I'd rather we get 6th, I think you guys may beat us too it, providing you get a striker in before the window closes. If you don't, then I have no idea where you'll finish
I really can't answer this until/unless we get a striker. If we have Ade for example, I think I'd pick us fourth. If there's no new striker, sixth--but I'd say that without any real confidence. There's enough talent in the squad that AVB might find a solution to the striker dilemma, whether it's turning Bale into a striker or playing a strikerless formation (I know, I know, the wisdom of both seems highly suspect--my point is I still may like the overall talent in the squad better than Arsenal and Newcastle.)
AVB is the unknown quantity really. The old boys network at Chelski and the mad Russian's duplicity made him look a bit of a dick, granted, but his coaching ability may make what was a good squad last year (and good enough for third , save the Englandgate debacle) into a real force. I think 4th if the gamble works and we manage to get Ade, who looks high and dry as far as Citeh are concerned. If not we could be looking at 7th or 8th. Lots of ifs, but who really knows at this point?
I was just thinking, AVB probably won't play 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1. I'm guessing he'll play 4-3-3, and who knows how that will work? Or am I wrong?
I've gone with 5th, only because I do not believe that either the Toon or 'Pool are strong enough to overcome us, even without extra strike-cover. If we can get in at least one (but preferably two) new strikers before this window closes, I'd say we'd finish comfortably in 5th with the possibility of finishing 3rd or 4th, depending on how well/badly the Gunners and the Chavs perform.
6th or 7th IMO. At current your squad isn't close to that of Chelsea or Arsenal let alone The Manchester clubs. Also with AVB there I don't see much hope. I feel it's very much a transitional year as Chelsea had last season and Liverpool the year before
I'm going to go with Tots. At least this year there wont be Englandgate, it will still take a while for the other clubs new players to gel and at least ours isn't much different this year If Ade does sign he knows the team so wont be as much of an issue as say RVP at Manu, or Arse's new players, or at Chels that may give us an edge. It may not, only time will tell. Obviously there is AVB to consider, but i'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt at the moment, after all we only lost 1 game pre-season.
We didnt have a squad capable of matching Arsenal and chelsea last year but yet we again finished 4th. Buying all the expensive players doesnt always buy you sucess... I thought you knew that
I agree but Arsenal took about 2 months to get going, they werent helped by their pre-season and internal problems. Chelsea made a stupid managerial appointment that didn't work out and season just petered out into a civil war between players and management. Spurs had no kind of distraction and could just get on with the football? At least up until Capello was sacked anyway
Arsenal only got going when RVP hit his stride. None of us expected that RVP would go on the goal-bonanza that he did, and if he had slipped up even a little bit, Arsenal would not have finished in the top 6. Without RVP, the Gunners will be extremely vulnerable, and everything is going to depend on whether or not their new signings can hit the ground running.
7th or lower I'm afraid Red Manc and Blue Manc are sooooo much better than us it should be illegal, even without gelling the Chelski and Goon squad will walk over teams we will struggle against, Pool and the Barcodes have more settled sides now and have retained those players who can make a real difference in matchwinning situations. Given that Everton are notoriously slow starters and our season won't even begin until game three at the earliest, think we're about level pegging with the toffees for positions 7/8
I'll keep my powder dry until I see how the next 10 days or so develop. We should be pretty solid defensively now, we have pace there too. If AVB doesn't go tactically crazy, we should be a lot more secure. We desperately need at least one top striker. If we can make a couple of good signings before the window closes, we could still be up there challenging for a CL place. As has been said, unless something goes drastically wrong, the two Mancs, and the Chavs look pretty nailed on for the first 3 spots - in whatever order. Probably 4th is the best we can hope for, under current circumstances.
