05 Liverpool - Rodgers needs to be less tactically naive in big games, playing City second with a reshaped squad won't help

Interested as to why you think Rodgers has been naive?

The games we lost last season against the big teams were Arsenal away, Man City away and Chelsea home and away. Arsenal we were outplayed by and deserved to lose, but the others I'd put more down to defensive mistakes rather than Rodgers being naive

Naive in the sense that he seems far more interested in playing to his own team's strengths than dealing with the opposition's.

Naive in the sense that he seems far more interested in playing to his own team's strengths than dealing with the opposition's.

Last season was different though. There was no way you could leave out Suarez and Sturridge when both were fit. And playing a strict 4-3-3 suits neither. End of the day our full backs are a huge weak spot, and the system exposes that if teams know how to exploit it. Now we've really made an effort to improve the squad, and have strength in depth I expect we'll play 3-4-3 and 4-3-3. Fully expect more 2-0 wins more than anything this season.

But it obviously worked? Why wouldn't you focus on your own team when you have Suarez and Sturridge up front?

So here we are, the football league season kicks off at the weekend, and the Premier League football season starts the following weeks. As always, your predictions please! Even if you have a passing interest, it's good to make rough predictions, purely because it's fun to see how right (or very wrong...) we were about certain teams!

Premier League

1. Manchester City
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Arsenal
5. Manchester United
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Everton
8. Newcastle
9. Stoke City
10. West Ham
11. Sunderland
12. QPR
13. Hull
14. Swansea
15. Leicester
16. Crystal Palace
17. Southampton
18. West Brom
19. Aston Villa
20. Burnley

So start off at the top. First off I think it will be very close between the top 5, probably 8-10 points between them all. Chelsea have signed the superstars, but for me Manchester City are more of a team unit. They don't have the big names, but going in to season they're likely to have roughly the same starting XI bar 1/2 players. Chelsea are likely to have Felipe, Courtious, Fabregas, and Costa all as starters for them. It may change but right at this moment in time I think Chelsea are far more suited to cups, then a 38 league game season. Between the top 5 I think there's next to nothing between their best XI, but the squads is where the major difference is.

Arsenal and Liverpool's are more raw, but not that far behind. I know the bookies and a lot of people think if any team are likely to drop out of the top 4 it's Liverpool, but I completely disagree. Expect to challenge for the title, but made the right signings. But two major issues for me 1) striker 2) full-backs. If these can be sorted out then I don't see why Liverpool can't be as successful as last season. People sometimes forget the level of football we played, and in Coutinho and Sterling I think both are potential superstars if they work on the weak points of their game. With Arsenal I expect they will be as solid as always. I hope the cup win helps their mentality out. A lot depends on whether Sanchez will be deployed down the middle or out wide. As always they really need to step it up in the bigger games against the rest of the top 7 this season.

I'm already totally repulsed by the van Gaal fest in the media. They have had a good pre-season, but there's far too many holes in their performances/games. I don't know whether anyone watched the pre-season game against Liverpool in the early hours of the morning, but the win totally covered up the cracks. As soon as teams figure out how to exploit the 3-5-2, they will be in trouble. I can't see them getting in the top 4. Spurs will do better than Everton, who are really going to struggle with their lack of depth if they go far in the Europa League. I think Pochettino will get the best out of the Spurs squad, but I expect them to be quite inconsistent for a the first 3/4 months.

The rest of the league is much of a muchness. I might be underestimating a few teams like Southampton and Palace and perhaps overestimating West Ham and Stoke but again we will see I guess. I expect Bojan to flop massively at Stoke, probably have a similar impact to van Wolfswinkel. If Hull exit the Europa League early I think they will do better. Very impressed with some of the signings they made and in Long and Jelavic they have two strikers who will get in to double figures if they stay fit, and half the battle in the Premier League is having a good goalscorer.

Down the bottom, I really can't see Villa staying up. They've spent no money, and are really relying on youth. It could work, it could not. West Brom have an unproven manager, and I just don't know how Burnley will make the step up. If the likes of Ings really take to the Premier League then I think they will be fine, but right now I'm not convinced, and I think the other two promoted teams will fair much better.

Top goalscorer: Sturridge
Player of the year: Yaya Toure
Young player of the year: Sterling

Championship
Promoted: Middlesborough, Fulham, Derby
Relegated: Blackpool, Huddersfield, Leeds

League 1
Promoted: Sheffield United, Yeovil, Bradford
Relegated: Scunthorpe, Crawley, Peterborough, Walsall

League 2
Promoted: Bury, Northampton, Carlisle, Luton
Relegated: Morecambe, Exeter

Not sure on whole table but my top 4 & bottom 3 preds:

1. Chelsea
2. Man City
3. Man United
4. Arsenal

18. Hull
19. West Brom
20. Leicester

Top scorer: Aguero

Player of season: Hazard

Young player of season: Sterling