Huddersfield will not be a a surprise package they have a I think our squad is fine it managed to keep us comfortably in the league last season despite having so many injuries and such a negative manager. Before our injury crisis we spent much of the season in the top 10, with a fully fit squad I reckon we will be okay.
Brighton will be fine. Can see them picking up plenty of points at home. And Hughton will make them hard to beat.
I don't really rate them, you just know they'll get lucky and have the ref's on side. I actually think we'll be alright, with Berghuis, Preyera and full fit Success, it's like having a completely new attack.
we are comfortably out of the bottom 3 our problems over the last 2 seasons have been idiot managers and insufficient strength on depth, both of which the club appears to have gone some way to solving
Last season we were bombarded with soo many injuries, after the first few weeks we barely had a settled team, We need the Manager to be able to pick the team he wants, not the team injuries allow us to put out! a lot of difference! with a few less injuries I am confident we will be fine!
Agree, I think it was in December we had 13 fit players and 3 of them were goalies. There were players like Kaboul, Cathcart, Britos, Janmaat and Amrabat who had to play for weeks despite not being fit. Kaboul didn't train for something like 3 weeks but played 5 games at one point, because we were in such desperate need of players. WM said we weren't fit and ready for the first game and it went down hill from there. It's good to hear that this year they are doing more high impact intensity training than last year. The squad we have now lacks a striker, another decent keeper and a left back ) although we have players who can cover there. Mid table obscurity for us. Stoke and Burnley fans will be as worried as we are
I think people are forgetting that we've got a manager who did very well with a team much worse than ours, even if we don't strengthen from here he should be able to keep the same team up. In short I don't expect us to be down there.
He did fairly well... if he had done very well he would still be managing them in the PL, and not us.
No way we go down this season. We have a decently good squad and with any sort of luck will avoid a repeat of last year's injury crisis. I have faith that Silva will be far better than Mazzari. My only real concern is a lack of good striking options but I don't expect it to be so problematic that we get relegated. Pre-season prediction for bottom 3: Huddersfield, Burnley, and Swansea. Out of the three, only Huddersfield has done anything resembling decent business but I still think they'll be too weak to stay up. Burnley are going backwards by losing Keane to Everton. Swansea has had a poor window so far and never seems stable or comfortable in the Premier League to me. Think it could be their time. Last year I predicted Sunderland, Hull, and Burnley which wasn't too bad so let's see if I can improve.
Personally I think Bournemouth will struggle, for no other reason that their established core squad is breaking up and their recruitment has been poor. There a few clubs who will rely on new managers turning around under performing squads. That includes ourselves, Palace, Southampton. The three promoted clubs will struggle. Newcastle because Benitez and the chairman will never agree on the need to strengthen the squad, and the manager will walk. Huddersfield and Brighton simply because it is a giant step into the Premier League. It seems to be two of the promoted clubs and an established team making up the three? So I am going for Leicester (wild card as there is a possibility that it goes wrong early doors they will panic and sack the manager before Christmas and the owners may lose focus if other issues take their attention), with Brighton and Newcastle to join them on death row. With Bournemouth, Huddersfield and Swansea having a torrid Easter all fearful of the drop.
I think either us or newcastle or brighton will be top 6. Liverpool will get relegated with muff and palace. Arsenal will win thr league
I am not assuming we're safe this season. There were a lot of average and poor teams last season and we were one of them. Will the standard be any higher this season? Will our defending improve? We will see!
Is it? Ake is a good buy and they've got a decent goalie in (albeit one who hasn't played much..) I'd say teams like Stoke and Burnley will struggle more - the former have only got Darren Fletcher in at the moment. Leicester are splashing the cash again - probably depends on what mood their players are in - like with West Ham. We will be ok if we can sort out our discipline and injury record.
If I wasn't a Watford fan. I would put us down for the drop. Apart from that Brighton.... This season's Middleborough. Lack fire power, defensive. Bit too like Norwich when Chris Hughton in charge of them too. Swansea Burnley
Last season was the relegation of the Northern Monkeys - Holl, 'Boro and Sonderlund This season i'm guessing will have the relegation of the Southern Fairies - Brytun, Boremuff and Whatfud
Possibly anyone who finished 8th (Southampton) or below last season. Heart says Bournemouth, Palace and West Ham, but head says Brighton, Huddersfield and Swansea. Don't think Newcastle or Stoke will be that great this season either and think we'll finish out of the bottom five.
I'll be interested to see everyone's final league position table this year if Diab0 does that comp again. Think it will be really hard to pick places 9-20 and any of them/us could be in the bottom 3.
The Muffons also have a guaranteed 15+ goal striker in Defoe (assuming he stays fit). With King they have two strikers who are better than any of ours. If I was a Muffin, I would be betting heavily on a top 10 finish.
While I agree that Muff will be fine, I'm not so sure about Defoe. He's getting on a bit now & I don't know how many miles he got left in the tank. There were signs in the second half of the season that he's no longer the player he once was. He's a striker that needs a bit of pace to operate effectively & if his legs have gone...
Brighton will start strong I wold think but will be found out second half of season. If they at or below 20 points at Christmas youd have to worry for them. Muff have enough strikers with goals in them, and refs on their side to stay up. Huddersfield look a bit like us in previous spells so must be in the running. Swansea look like a force that is fading.
Defoe knows where the goal is. Turning off the last man with his back to goal and striking first time there are few better. I think he will do well.
Over the last decade or three the trend is very much for clubs in the London vicinity to prevail and Northern ones (with only City the exception) to struggle. It's now less about gate money than it is the ability to attract players. Of course there's always QPHaHaHa to disprove this.
