Posted August 5, 201410 yr 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
August 6, 201410 yr 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
August 6, 201410 yr 01 Chelsea - will probably be distracted by Europe but simply have more options than anyone else 02 Manchester City - could go further in Europe this time and I don't think their squad will take the strain like Chelsea's, particularly in midfield 03 Arsenal - more likely to go the distance than last year, Wilshere could be important playing deeper if he stays fit 04 Manchester United - Van Gaal alone will give them a fighting chance in the games against their rivals and I think they'll strengthen further before the 31st 05 Liverpool - Rodgers needs to be less tactically naive in big games, playing City second with a reshaped squad won't help 06 Tottenham - there was a good team there somewhere last season and Pochettino will find it eventually 07 Everton - good signings but not got the depth to challenge in Europe and make the top 4 08 Newcastle - provided Pardew keeps a lid on it 09 Southampton - still have money to spend, Koeman seems like a good fit and a lot of their underrated players are still there 10 Stoke - getting there with the likes of Arnautovic, Sidwell adds to the midfield and Bojan is a wildcard 11 Sunderland - Poyet has the players on his side and the squad is settled, plus they always have the potential to spend more 12 West Ham - a couple of places higher if Allardyce can use Zarate, Morrison and some of the youngsters properly. Kouyate looks like a tank 13 Crystal Palace - default Pulis finish 14 Hull - strengthened, but could be in trouble if they take to the Europa League. I doubt they will 15 Swansea - balance of the squad doesn't look quite right, enough quality though 16 West Brom - couple of good signings but not sure Irvine is cut out for it 17 Leicester - might just about do enough 18 Aston Villa - just don't know where the quality is 19 QPR - I see nothing about them which makes them more likely to stay up than last time 20 Burnley - people were predicting them bottom of the Championship last season, surely this is a step too far
August 6, 201410 yr 1. Chelsea 2. Manchester City 3. Liverpool 4. Arsenal 5. Manchester United 6. Tottenham Hotspur 7. Everton 8. Stoke City 9. Newcastle 10. Crystal Palace 11. West Ham 12. Sunderland 13. Hull 14. QPR 15. Southampton 16. Swansea 17. Leicester 18. Aston Villa 19. West Brom 20. Burnley Championship: Promoted: Fulham, Wigan, Derby Relegated: Blackpool, Leeds, Rotherham League One: Promoted: Sheffield United, Doncaster, Leyton Orient Relegated: Walsall, Chesterfield, Gillingham, Scunthorpe League Two: Promoted: Luton, Burton Albion, Oxford, Carlisle Relegated: Wycombe, Mansfield I think the new faces that Chelsea have brought in should just about make the difference for them this season providing that they don't drop as many points that they really shouldn't like they did last season. I think many people are already underestimating Liverpool and those people forgot how well they played during Suarez's ban at the beginning of last season. Personally I think even Coutinho and Sterling on their own will fill in quite a lot of the whole that bitten off as Sterling inparticular was immense against United in the friendly on Monday. In terms of United themselves I think we are playing with much more confidence already but if we are going to play 3-5-2 then our defence as it is just will not cut it against the better teams. I think Josh has already covered my opinions of the relegation places but I do like Paul Lambert so I hope Villa can pull themselves out of it but that weak squad says otherwise.
August 7, 201410 yr 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
August 7, 201410 yr Author 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 We were naive against Chelsea, but I'd say that was more because we had no options. Think we'll see a difference this season.
August 7, 201410 yr Naive in the sense that he seems far more interested in playing to his own team's strengths than dealing with the opposition's.
August 7, 201410 yr 01. Chelsea 02. Manchester City 03. Manchester United 04. Arsenal 05. Liverpool 06. Tottenham 07. Everton 08. West Ham 09. Newcastle 10. Hull 11. Stoke City 12. Sunderland 13. Southampton 14. QPR 15. Leicester 16. Swansea 17. Crystal Palace 18. Aston Villa 19. West Brom 20. Burnley Promotion. Fulham, Derby and Cardiff. Relegated. Rotherham, Blackpool and Birmingham
August 7, 201410 yr Author 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.
August 8, 201410 yr Naive in the sense that he seems far more interested in playing to his own team's strengths than dealing with the opposition's. But it obviously worked? Why wouldn't you focus on your own team when you have Suarez and Sturridge up front?
August 8, 201410 yr 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. It was, and the squad looks stronger and more balanced. But obviously there's not been a game yet, hence why I said he needs to be less naive than last season. But it obviously worked? Why wouldn't you focus on your own team when you have Suarez and Sturridge up front? If it had worked you'd have won the league when you were favourites. Everyone saw Mourinho's tactics a mile off yet Rodgers ploughed on as if it were any other game. Presumably because Coutinho's goal against the run of play in the City game had convinced him that your usual setup could beat anyone.
August 8, 201410 yr I'd say Gerrard was far more at fault than Rodgers against Chelsea, not for his slip, but for his desire to make up for his mistake which meant he put in one of the most selfish performances I've ever seen as he tried to be the hero that rescued it.
August 9, 201410 yr Author The major problem against Chelsea was we didn't really have an alternative. iirc Sturridge was injured at the time, and Henderson was suspended. I think if we had stronger squad depth we would have played if differently. Our choices from the bench were Aspas and Moses. No way either of them was going to change the game. We blew Man City away in the first half but they realised how to exploit the system (full-backs) and we got slightly lucky. But I agree with Mark too. Gerrard lost his head in the second half. Chelsea parked the bus, and it was hard to break down so we resorted to long range shooting, which is just what they wanted.
August 15, 201410 yr 1 Chelsea 2 Arsenal 3 Man City 4 Liverpool 5 Man Utd 6 Spurs 7 Everton 8 Newcastle 9 Stoke Might as well pick the rest out of a hat! 10 Southampton 11 Swansea 12 West Ham 13 QPR 14 Hull 15 Villa 16 Palace 17 Sunderland 18 Leciester 19 Burnley 20 West Brom
August 15, 201410 yr I don't normally bother with anything as bold but here goes 1 Chelsea 2 Man City 3 Arsenal 4 Man Utd 5 Liverpool 6 Everton 7 Tottenham 8 Swansea 9 Newcastle 10 Stoke 11 West Brom 12 Southampton 13 West Ham 14 Hull 15 Leicester 16 QPR 17 Sunderland 18 Aston Villa 19 Crystal Palace 20 Burnley
January 13, 201510 yr 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 AWFUL PREDICTIONS YET AGAIN JOSHUA.
January 13, 201510 yr Author I got Southampton completely wrong, and over-estimated QPR a lot, but apart from that they're looking fine. I did say in my notes I was likely to be under-estimating Southampton too :D
January 13, 201510 yr I think it's fair to say that almost everyone will have got their prediction for Southampton very wrong so far. Even if they had not lost their manager and their best players, I would have gone for around 7th or 8th.
January 13, 201510 yr 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 Not too bad! :o (Sterling was a poor shout tho)
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