New season ahead

[Finn balor]

I know there’s still a month to go in the transfer window so squads can change but what’s your predictions for the new season? Players to watch out for or surprise teams? I’m excited to see the mess that united will be in after a dozen games and think Newcastle will be relegated which will please me 

[Shukes]

I only concentrate on us as Ive has it drilled into me all my life that as long as I do my job, the opposition does t matter. Play your game and make them think of you.

Im expecting us to finish around 6-7 but be a lot closer to making a dent in that top six. Really interested to see if the end of the season was just simply a run, or if it’s clicked. 

Expecting Richarlison to continue to improve and have another good season. I’m also hoping to see DCL either score some goals or find his level. My prediction is he is going to surprise a few doubters, as finishing is a skill that can just one day click (Henry).

Very optimistic for the coming season.

[StevO]

6th. 

[Aidan]

United fan mate of mine today said he thinks we will have a good season this year. Thinks we could even finish above united. 

I'm not so sure. I think this season bare minimum would be 7th but I'd want us mixing in and pushing that top 5/6 all season. 

Because of the state of some other clubs around us at the minute this is our chance to actually break into it. 

[SpartyBlue]

5 minutes ago, Aidan said:

United fan mate of mine today said he thinks we will have a good season this year. Thinks we could even finish above united. 

I'm not so sure. I think this season bare minimum would be 7th but I'd want us mixing in and pushing that top 5/6 all season. 

Because of the state of some other clubs around us at the minute this is our chance to actually break into it. 

We will know very early where we are headed this year. Our opening 10 or so games are very favorable. I would be surprised if any team has an easier start to the season. If we aren’t in a European spot after the first  2-3 months it’s gonna be a struggle to get there.

[Finn balor]

Doesnt have to be about us I was meaning as the whole premier league. Who do you think will struggle who do you think will be the dark horses? Personally I think arsenal haven’t got the money to buy what they need i.e a whole back four and midfield. Chelsea haven’t got the firepower or the creativity this season and united are a mess. Top four is going begging. Not saying it will be us challenging but I hope someone gives it a go. I like villa’s business so far, they aren’t messing about and I can see them being comfortable. I think sheff united will struggle as they are in the middle of a board room ownership issue so I think they won’t go crazy in the market they will buy decent championship players ready if they go down. Norwich play good football but they will struggle aswell. I think Newcastle are doomed already. Asset stripping and Steve Bruce? Jesus. Let’s see how the “greatest” fans in the world react to it 

[Finn balor]

Also what players do you think will have a stand out season? 

[Gwlad]

Gomes!

[Zoo 2.0]

You have to look at the sides that will get worse over the summer which unfortunately in the Top 6 isn't many. Manchester City and Liverpool are surely going to compete for the title and won't be anywhere near P5, nevermind out of the Europa places altogether. 

Chelsea, even with a transfer ban should be good enough to keep European football. I don't know if I'm in the minority but think that Lampard is the best appointment for the situation that they are in, Eden Hazard gone and a transfer ban means they need someone who knows the club inside and out and there's no better than Frank, especially after doing a year getting his managerial feet under the table with Derby County. 

Spurs will be up there so that's four pretty much nailed above us but then you look at the potential fallers, Arsenal and Manchester United. Both have always been up there but it's anyone's guess as to how they will do next season, there are real problems at Arsenal (captain Koscielny is on strike at the moment) and obviously United have their own problems with Pogba and Lukaku wanting to leave alongside a relatively unproven manager in Solkjaer, someone who started well but crawled to the end of the season with a bucket full of poor results. I don't know if we are good enough over the full season to better these teams but if anyone it's going to be those two. 

Around us, there's the unknown of Wolves, a great season after promotion and without losing any big players they should have the capacity to do it again, it's just a question as to whether they can keep it up or whether this is just "first season syndrome" and they drop back down. They've got quality in Ruben Neves, Rui Patricio and Raul Jiminez but haven't strengthened too much which might come back to bite them on the backside. Leicester on the other hand have spent arguably well with Youri Tielemans and Ayoze Perez but I just don't think that Brendan Rodgers will improve them in the time that he stays there, he fluffed a league title with an outstanding Luis Suarez and a five point lead and since then managed to win a one-team league with Celtic. I expect them to still be behind us, as will West Ham (who finished 10th and have sold three of their strikers). 

Looking into the bottom half, there's nobody that I can see making the leap into the top 10. Watford, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United who finished the highest in the bottom half won't challenge and the latter two have worse squads at the moment than when they finished 2018/19 with the departures of Wan-Bissaka, Benitez and Perez. 

Therefore, wrapping this post up. I think we will be 7th. It's an uninspiring prediction but the most realistic one, if anyone drops out of the top 6 then we look the best outfit to pounce but if we don't have a ridiculous fall from grace then there's no reason why we should be worrying about anything 8th and below. Hopefully that's enough to give us the European nights at Goodison again that I've been craving. 

Edit: Regarding players that will have an outstanding season, Richarlison on the back of Copa America triumph will be on fire. We still need a striker, but he's going to be tough to handle in and around the box. 

[markjazzbassist]

I think we’ll get 4th.  Liverpool city and spurs above us.  Arsenal 5th Chelsea 6th United 7th.  Wolves will be dealing with Europa which I’ll derail their league campaign.  Leicester Vardy is ancient and I don’t rate Perez.  I think if we play our game we can do this.  It’s going to be wide open for 4th so why not us?  I’m optimistic.

 

richarlison DCL and gylfi will all be on 15 goals or more.  Pickford will won keeper of the year and be sold in the summer.

[Finn balor]

I think lampard is probably the man they need but that isn’t going to plug the gap of them being a shadow of what they were. They will have a strike force of giroud, Abraham and bitshuyai. Which to me is average. They have lost hazard and gained pulisic. They have jorginiho, Barkley and kovacic in the middle of the park alongside Kante admittedly. That to me isn’t scaring me at all. Furthermore their defence isn’t great either. I know they have quality but if we get our consistency away from home i don’t think they are a million miles away from us 

[Finn balor]

4 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

I think we’ll get 4th.  Liverpool city and spurs above us.  Arsenal 5th Chelsea 6th United 7th.  Wolves will be dealing with Europa which I’ll derail their league campaign.  Leicester Vardy is ancient and I don’t rate Perez.  I think if we play our game we can do this.  It’s going to be wide open for 4th so why not us?  I’m optimistic.

 

richarlison DCL and gylfi will all be on 15 goals or more.  Pickford will won keeper of the year and be sold in the summer.

Love your optimism mark. One player for us I think might be the star is Bernard. He struggled at the start from lack of pre season but he was a joy to watch at times for us in the second half of the season. If he can add goals to his game I think he might be our main man 

[Bailey]

1 hour ago, Zoo 2.0 said:

You have to look at the sides that will get worse over the summer which unfortunately in the Top 6 isn't many. Manchester City and Liverpool are surely going to compete for the title and won't be anywhere near P5, nevermind out of the Europa places altogether. 

Chelsea, even with a transfer ban should be good enough to keep European football. I don't know if I'm in the minority but think that Lampard is the best appointment for the situation that they are in, Eden Hazard gone and a transfer ban means they need someone who knows the club inside and out and there's no better than Frank, especially after doing a year getting his managerial feet under the table with Derby County. 

Spurs will be up there so that's four pretty much nailed above us but then you look at the potential fallers, Arsenal and Manchester United. Both have always been up there but it's anyone's guess as to how they will do next season, there are real problems at Arsenal (captain Koscielny is on strike at the moment) and obviously United have their own problems with Pogba and Lukaku wanting to leave alongside a relatively unproven manager in Solkjaer, someone who started well but crawled to the end of the season with a bucket full of poor results. I don't know if we are good enough over the full season to better these teams but if anyone it's going to be those two. 

Around us, there's the unknown of Wolves, a great season after promotion and without losing any big players they should have the capacity to do it again, it's just a question as to whether they can keep it up or whether this is just "first season syndrome" and they drop back down. They've got quality in Ruben Neves, Rui Patricio and Raul Jiminez but haven't strengthened too much which might come back to bite them on the backside. Leicester on the other hand have spent arguably well with Youri Tielemans and Ayoze Perez but I just don't think that Brendan Rodgers will improve them in the time that he stays there, he fluffed a league title with an outstanding Luis Suarez and a five point lead and since then managed to win a one-team league with Celtic. I expect them to still be behind us, as will West Ham (who finished 10th and have sold three of their strikers). 

Looking into the bottom half, there's nobody that I can see making the leap into the top 10. Watford, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United who finished the highest in the bottom half won't challenge and the latter two have worse squads at the moment than when they finished 2018/19 with the departures of Wan-Bissaka, Benitez and Perez. 

Therefore, wrapping this post up. I think we will be 7th. It's an uninspiring prediction but the most realistic one, if anyone drops out of the top 6 then we look the best outfit to pounce but if we don't have a ridiculous fall from grace then there's no reason why we should be worrying about anything 8th and below. Hopefully that's enough to give us the European nights at Goodison again that I've been craving. 

Edit: Regarding players that will have an outstanding season, Richarlison on the back of Copa America triumph will be on fire. We still need a striker, but he's going to be tough to handle in and around the box. 

Good post. 

Im not sure where Arsenal are going so they are the one I most expect to flop. I am undecided on how Lampard and Solksjear will fair. Both need to revamp their squads, however Chelsea have enough players on loan to do that even with the transfer ban. Chelsea have a good enough squad to compete whereas I am not as sure about Utd. They carry too many fair weather players like Pogba, Lukaku, Sanchez, Martial and they have lost a fighter in Herera. 

I disagree about Leicester though, I think they will really push and they have bought well. I also think Rodgers is a decent manager, as much as it pains me to say that. 

I dont see any reason why Wolves won't do as well as they did last year other than the EL curse. 

I think similar comments apply to us, but given we had so many new players and a new manager we should improve but whether it will be enough to close the gap is a different story. We will definitely need to score more goals and whilst I expect Bernard to chip in more this season, maybe Gomes too, I dont think that will be enough.

[Finn balor]

The positive thing is if we manage to get Zouma the defence was rock solid in the last dozen games. We are difficult to break down. If we get that goalscorer and a player that can do a bit of magic in the final third we are in business. We had a horrible Christmas time which fucked us. Coincided with Gomes being out of form and conceding from set pieces. We won’t be talked about as usual but if we can finish our chances away from home against the big boys that gap will close 

[Palfy]

Leicester could be dark horses as said they have made some decent signings, again I think Wolves will do well, it will be interesting to see how Villa do on there return it's taken them longer to get back than was expected I think they will struggle but stay up.

 

[Finn balor]

I think villa will have a decent season. Think West Ham have bought two really good players so far 

[Btay]

West ham have done good business. I think if we get another 2/3 players that are first team quality - we could seriously push 4th

[Finn balor]

Bit weird the press are saying arsenal have not got the dough to spend big but can spend £27 mill on a eighteen year old and send back out on loan 

[Finn balor]

Just listening to talksport bigging up Leicester and wolves for top six. We didn’t get a mention 

[Palfy]

2 hours ago, Finn balor said:

Just listening to talksport bigging up Leicester and wolves for top six. We didn’t get a mention 

Probably because we haven’t improved our team yet from last season, in fact looking at the loss of Zouma they would probably consider us to be in a worse position, and Wolves and Leicester in particular have made some good signings. 

So no real big surprise for me that pundits don’t rate our chances of getting in top six, we need some big signings to show we are serious challengers. 

[JimmytheJimster]

I'd rather us slip under the radar, the quality we have in are team with a couple of signings we should easily be challenging the top 6 if not the top 4, Arsenal are no great shakes and who knows what's going to happen at United and Chelsea 

[MikeO]

32 minutes ago, JimmytheJimster said:

I'd rather us slip under the radar, the quality we have in are team with a couple of signings we should easily be challenging the top 6 if not the top 4, Arsenal are no great shakes and who knows what's going to happen at United and Chelsea 

This, if Talkshite were bigging us up I'd worry.

[markjazzbassist]

4 hours ago, Palfy said:

Probably because we haven’t improved our team yet from last season, in fact looking at the loss of Zouma they would probably consider us to be in a worse position, and Wolves and Leicester in particular have made some good signings. 

So no real big surprise for me that pundits don’t rate our chances of getting in top six, we need some big signings to show we are serious challengers. 

who have wolves signed?  they signed jimenez to a long term deal but he was with them last year.  i don't think they've brought anyone else in.  

[StevO]

Wolves have a very good side as it is. I’d see them consolidating themselves as a top ten team, but with Europa I think they will struggle a bit in the league. 

[Palfy]

14 hours ago, markjazzbassist said:

who have wolves signed?  they signed jimenez to a long term deal but he was with them last year.  i don't think they've brought anyone else in.  

Your right Mark thanks for correcting me you show off

[markjazzbassist]

1 minute ago, Palfy said:

Your right Mark thanks for correcting me you show off

you can be a real drama queen sometimes, just trying to keep you in your place

[Palfy]

18 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

you can be a real drama queen sometimes, just trying to keep you in your place

[Finn balor]

Just over two weeks to go off the window. There’s going to be so much going on once a big transfer happens. Agents must be creaming themselves 

[Finn balor]

Just been reading a recent interview from Micheal Keane who says that it’s the first time he’s come to pre season with the same manager and how beneficial it is as you can start straight away knowing what you already know. That might be a real advantage this year. Just hope we get out of the blocks well 

[Ghoat]

I think the Spurs move up a spot to round out the top 3, and Chelsea drops into 4th.

Of the others that finished ahead of us, I think ManU is a dumpster fire and will tumble, and I think Wolves will struggle with the additional games and travel. If we can build from the end of the season and have some luck, we could overtake Arsenal and finish 5th, and that would be a good year for me. Finishing 6th with a Euro spot would be an "acceptable" season. Anything worse would be a disappointment for me.

Behind us, I think Leicester City and *gasp* West Ham are the threats. 

As of today. WIth 2.5 weeks in the window (Chelsea aside), who knows what the other top ten may add or lose, us included. ManU will likely be the most volatile,  but they could still drop $100M in the squad and get a couple guys that tear the EPL up. Pulisic may be a flop and leave Chelsea with a creative hole that drops them out of the top 6. 

Everybody above us has the rigors of Europe in addition to anything else they have going on, so that should be an advantage for us when the season starts. I'd like to jump on Mark's 4th place bandwagon, it's not inconceivable, but for me 5th is the reasonable ceiling. With looming transfers and possible injuries to any team, this entire post could be absurd by the time we get to Selhurst on the 10th.