Where will we finish in the league 2019/20?

[davidmatzdorf]

Yeah I misspoke as I pointed out in another post. I would edit my post but apparently that's not allowed now or something

I routinely edit nearly every post I write, because my typing sucks. I think I edited the one you just replied to.

If I edit content as well as typos, usually because I posted something that was factually incorrect, I just add "[EDIT]". It's no problem, I do it all the time.

I read that the moderators just wanted to stop people from entirely changing what they had written after people had responded to it.

[I just edited this one twice].

 

[arunspurs]

I think Chelsea are the biggest unknown.

I’ve no idea how derby played last season, all I can remember was hearing their fans say Lampard played pretty boring football and they weren’t very expressive. I wonder if he will set up the same, defensive and try and win games one nil. After all their attack isn’t awesome and they do have some solid midfield players. A lot will depend on how much they get out of pulisic and how quickly the two young English lads get back to full fitness.

They have quite a few ageing once great/good but now becoming average players -Pedro ,Willian , Azpi, Alonso, Giroud. Hudson-Odoi, RLC injured. Hazard will be a big big miss. Kante,Pulisic & Barkley have to carry them most of the season. Their whole campaign depends on how their young players likes of Mount, Abrham will play. If they dont get their act together in intial part of campaign, its bye bye Frank.

I feel Wolves, Everton, WestHam, Leicester all can beat Chelsea this year. They are at best 7th IMO.

 

[Shadydan]

We don’t operate in a vacuum. Teams around us have undoubtedly improved. And we haven’t sold anyone, yet.

We got top four by the skin of our teeth last year. Am I confident we’ll be challenging with the other top six teams? Yes. That doesn’t mean we can’t be realistic about how competitive that top group is now.

If your using the arguement of our new signings taking time to settle in then you need to use it for our rivals as well. Im not disagreeing with the fact they haven't improved but it should be recognised that we have improved as well.

 

[DJS]

I’d like to think performance-wise we’ll do a lot better this year with a proper summer of rest.

Aside from Dele and Sessegnon most of our other first teamers are nice and fresh now although Ndombele still needs to build up his fitness and Lo Celso has only just joined so could see being an impact sub in first few games.

Really really hope Kane with be back to his best now and Son hasn’t had a tournament this summer so should be raring to go as well!

 

[Tucker]

If your using the arguement of our new signings taking time to settle in then you need to use it for our rivals as well. Im not disagreeing with the fact they haven't improved but it should be recognised that we have improved as well.

Absolutely correct, but I think a lot of people deluded themselves that the top six aren’t as close as they really are. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe we have a better team than Arsenal, Chelsea and United, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still lose out to one of them (as we did last season) or even more of them. The margins are very tight for the top four, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable for us or any of the top 6 to miss out on CL.

 

[Shadydan]

Absolutely correct, but I think a lot of people deluded themselves that the top six aren’t as close as they really are. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe we have a better team than Arsenal, Chelsea and United, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still lose out to one of them (as we did last season) or even more of them. The margins are very tight for the top four, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable for us or any of the top 6 to miss out on CL.

Yeah I think it comes down to 2 separate groups for the top 6 and it's whether people think we belong in the elite group with Liverpool and Man City or the chasers, Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea, for me personally I think we belong in the elite, we were keeping up with them last season in February up until our lack of squad depth took it's toll on us and this is before you take any of the other mitigating reasons we crumbled in the 2nd part of our season.

 

[Styopa]

By their standards Manchester City have had a quiet window. They will probably miss Kompany's influence, nevertheless, their squad still looks miles better than anyone else and Rodri and João Cancelo look like astute buys. I expect them to have another excellent season and win the league again.

Given the signings we have made, the quality and depth of our squad looks much closer to Liverpool's this season. Especially as Liverpool haven't really strengthened their squad. I think we have a good chance of challenging them for 2nd place so that's what I have gone for, although I could easily see us as finishing 3rd also. Admittedly some of our squad strength depends on whether Eriksen and Alderweireld stay. CM was one of two areas last year we were especially weak in and we have strengthened there immeasurably by recruiting two of the highest rated midfielders in world football. Our world cup contingent should come back much fresher- In particular I would hope Kane and Dele will be much sharper. We also have the relative luxury of playing our home games at home!

It's probably fair to say that Arsenal have improved. However they needed to. We were well under par for large parts of last season and still managed to finish above them largely due to their own incompetence. They can't rely on us being as poor this season and although they have improved so have we. Their squad still isn't the most balanced squad and there remain question marks surrounding the mentality of their dressing room. For this reason I think we should be good enough to finish above them again. However I can see them finishing in the top 4th.

Chelsea will inevitably be weaker without Hazard who carried them in many games. I just can't see them being as much of a threat without him. It is hard to assess what the Lampard impact will be but at the moment it looks like this will be something of a transitional season integrating some of the younger players. Although they finished 3rd last season both ourselves and Arsenal have improved key areas of our squad and we are no longer playing our matches at Wembley.

Man U should be better defensively following the signings of Wan Bisaka and Harry Maguire. However they have left them self weak in key areas - particularly CM and up front. True it's possible the likes of Pogba (if he's still there), Fred and Sanchez could finally come good but there is little evidence from their Manchester United careers to suggest they will do so. In addition Solskjaer remains a very unproven manager at this level and oversaw what was a terrible slump last year.

 

[Lighty64]

I think a lot of our issues with the quality of football and to extent results over the past couple of seasons has been down to squad depth. Brutally put possibly, but if Eriksen now stays with us I believe there can be no excuses for Poch. I will certainly be judging him more harshly as long as there isn't a crazy injury crisis. Levy has backed him if CE is still here.

why not give the 2 players new to the Premier League at least a chance to settle before the "Poch no excuses". both might settle straight away, but they might struggle with life in England.

I have actually gone for 3rd as I believe we will finish top 3. might feel differently if by the end of the month we are minus Toby, Rose and Eriksen.

 

[Mr Pink]

Yeah I think it comes down to 2 separate groups for the top 6 and it's whether people think we belong in the elite group with Liverpool and Man City or the chasers, Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea, for me personally I think we belong in the elite, we were keeping up with them last season in February up until our lack of squad depth took it's toll on us and this is before you take any of the other mitigating reasons we crumbled in the 2nd part of our season.

Exactly.

And you have to factor In that our squad will have more recovery than we did last summer and we've a proper home advantage for a full season.

For me it's almost like some people are underwhelmed because Sky didn't big up our signings yesterday.

 

[markiespurs]

Realistically we are probably looking at 3rd place.

That said, with most of our key players getting a proper rest this summer and a fair few of Liverpool’s playing throughout the summer, then I think we could grab 2nd place.

Sadly I do’nt think any team has a chance of catching City.

 

[TorontoYid]

Why? Llorente was no good. We have Son and Lucas and Parrott is more suited to our style of play.

And when Kane gets injured we have only Son who is good but not world class and when he gets tired we have an inexperienced kid. Just a little concerned that's all

 

[WiganSpur]

Sane has an ACL and hasn't been replaced. City are light at centre back, Liverpool are light in defence generally. I was shocked neither addressed those weaknesses in their squads.

If Eriksen signs a new contract and Rose is still here come September, we've got a shot at winning it.

 

[Lighty64]

We don’t operate in a vacuum. Teams around us have undoubtedly improved. And we haven’t sold anyone, yet.

We got top four by the skin of our teeth last year. Am I confident we’ll be challenging with the other top six teams? Yes. That doesn’t mean we can’t be realistic about how competitive that top group is now.

the thing is the competitive aspect of 3 clubs you mentioned.

Wolves: will suffer later with all their euro qualifiers

Everton: failed to strengthen at the back. yes they got Sidibe, but lost Zuma. Sidibe I believe is a fall back yet they have Colman and Digne, so 1 of them will miss out

Leicester: the loss of Maguire will hurt them, he got them a lot of points last season.

with the other top 6,

Man C will need De Bryune to stay fit, Sane will still be a big loss even after not playing as much last season.

Liverpool have had more players less involved in pre-season due to the AFCON and Copa, and have extra games to play at the busiest time of the season.

Chelsea without Hazard and a very inexperienced manager at this level

Arsenal have made signings, but only 1 has any PL experience and has good and bad days. They will also have pressure on them to finish top 4. all their signings have had to be structured over a few years. fail to get CL and they might not have a penny to spend next season.

Man U really not sure if they have strengthened and will have to cope with the EL this season just like Arsenal

 

[Shadydan]

the thing is the competitive aspect of 3 clubs you mentioned.

Wolves: will suffer later with all their euro qualifiers

Everton: failed to strengthen at the back. yes they got Sidibe, but lost Zuma. Sidibe I believe is a fall back yet they have Colman and Digne, so 1 of them will miss out

Leicester: the loss of Maguire will hurt them, he got them a lot of points last season.

with the other top 6,

Man C will need De Bryune to stay fit, Sane will still be a big loss even after not playing as much last season.

Liverpool have had more players less involved in pre-season due to the AFCON and Copa, and have extra games to play at the busiest time of the season.

Chelsea without Hazard and a very inexperienced manager at this level

Arsenal have made signings, but only 1 has any PL experience and has good and bad days. They will also have pressure on them to finish top 4. all their signings have had to be structured over a few years. fail to get CL and they might not have a penny to spend next season.

Man U really not sure if they have strengthened and will have to cope with the EL this season just like Arsenal

You forgot West Ham, don't sleep on them.

 

[SpursForever71]

I think we can finish 2nd this season if we can have more luck with keeping players fit this year (esp kane). And see how well liverpool do if Salah is out injured for a few months like kane was

 

[Duck]

Manchester City entering their 4th season under Guardiola. They've been the pinnacle of consistency the last two seasons, but sometimes teams get tired with the same old setup. They're still heavily dependant on a 31 year old Aguero and lost one of their line-breakers in Sane, so I can see them dropping a bit from their total from last year.

Liverpool didn't sign anyone. History says teams that don't bring in any new players tend to drop off, like we did last season. They're going to go with the exact same setup they had last season, so chances are, opposition clubs will start figuring it out a bit, and without any new options to mix it up, they may struggle at some point.

If Lo Celso and Ndombele prove to be hits, I think we're a very good chance of winning the title. Creativity through the middle has been our biggest problem during Pochettino's tenure as our manager, and that looks to have been addressed now. If we can score a good run with injury, especially keeping Kane fit, we're very capable of extending out 2016/2017 tally of 86.

Arsenal will improve, and are likely the best of the rest, but still look too weak in defence and midfield.
Manchester United still look like a mess. So many players that just don't fit together in one team.
Chelsea are rubbish. New inexperienced manager, no Hazard, no Hazard replacement. Not a threat, write them off.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

If we can match our determination, cohesion and of course quality of 16/17 we will win the league.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

Loads of optimism here, but I remain cautious. One factor that has been consistent for several seasons in a row is that we have been heavily influenced by injuries. We have not have a spell of good fortune in terms of injuries for a long time. I see no concrete reason this would change, and with the same level of injuries, we won't really be THAT good.

 

[E17yid]

With Eriksen 2nd.
Without Eriksen 4th.

 

[sunnydelight786]

3rd