Premier League 2017/18

[Twist]

10 minutes ago, Nerf said:

Alternatively, fans burn the Emirates down by October.

An optimist, I see.

[Bigal]

We've been doing a predictions thing in work. I went with:

 

1. Man City

2. Chelsea

3. Man Utd

4. Tottenham

5. Liverpool

6. Arsenal

______

18. Crystal Palace

19. Burnley

20. Huddersfield

 

I will of course be wrong about all of this.

[Colly]

16 hours ago, Lineker said:

• Huddersfield and Brighton will survive. Newcastle will be relegated with a different manager in place by Christmas.

Shola in!

I fancy Huddersfield to do alright if he gets a bit of backing. Clearly gets the best out of his players and has contacts. And glasses.

[GA!]

1 hour ago, Bigal said:

We've been doing a predictions thing in work. I went with:

 

1. Man City

2. Chelsea

3. Man Utd

4. Tottenham

5. Liverpool

6. Arsenal

______

18. Crystal Palace

19. Burnley

20. Huddersfield

 

I will of course be wrong about all of this.

Me too!

 

1. Chelsea

2. Man City

3. Liverpool

4. Arsenal

----

5. Tottenham

6. Man Utd

7. West Ham

8. Everton

9. Newcastle

10. Southampton

11. Bournemouth

12. Stoke

13. West Brom

14. Burnley

15. Crystal Palace

16. Brighton

17. Huddersfield

---

18. Leicester

19. Watford

20. Swansea

[Gazz]

1 hour ago, Colly said:

Shola in!

I fancy Huddersfield to do alright if he gets a bit of backing. Clearly gets the best out of his players and has contacts. And glasses.

I assume what happens is Liverpool buy all of Southampton (players, staff, stadium etc.) and then loan it to Huddersfield, who finish in the top half.

[Adam]

I can't see Huddersfield staying up, but then I never thought they'd go up in the first place. Newcastle and Brighton are both well placed to comfortably survive though. I'd look at maybe Swansea, Burnley, Hudds and Watford as the main contenders for the drop. Southampton might struggle, Leicester will be absolutely fine.

City, Utd & Chelsea to break clear as the top 3, Spurs & Liverpool behind them and Arsenal, Everton and let's say Stoke and Palace to surprise and compete for Europa placings.

[The Lusophone]

I'd really like to see more of our transfer dealings before making any kind of prediction. Lindelof is a classy defender and a more defensive option at right back if needed and if Jose wants to work a left sided overload with Shaw or Ashley Young even (or a new left back, but I've not seen that we're in for anyone or that we're really looking) playing the Valencia style role. I assume Lindelof will be playing as part of a back three with Valencia roaming upfield - probably partnered with Darmian on the left and Bailly in the centre.

I would hope that we'd put up a much better fight in the league this season - turning some of the draws to wins at home is a must - because Jose can't afford to throw everything at the Champions League like he did with the Europa - it's a much riskier prospect, considering the quality of opposition.

[Gorka]

1. Man City
2. Chelsea
3. Spurs
4. Liverpool
5. Arsenal
6. Man United

12. Swansea

18. Crystal Palace
19. Brighton
20. Huddersfield

I honestly don't think we'll lose a major player like Gylfi, and Clement is a solid manager when it gets tough. The idiots on the board learnt their lesson with Bradley and seem invested in the club so no major changes will happen. Hooray for mediocrity. 
 

[DavidMarrio]

2 minutes ago, Gorka said:

I honestly don't think we'll lose a major player like Gylfi, and Clement is a solid manager when it gets tough. The idiots on the board learnt their lesson with Bradley and seem invested in the club so no major changes will happen. Hooray for mediocrity. 
 

Llorente was a big success as well imo. Turned out to be a shrewd signing. 

[Gazz]

I suppose one of the good things about the league is 8th to 20th is an absolute toss up.

[Adam]

I'm bored so am going to do a totally ill-informed 1-20 with a little prediction for each team and then laugh next May at how horrendously wrong it all proved to be before August was even done.

1. Man City - Pep finally gets it right although a shaky defence keeps the title race tight. Aguero is marginalised by Jesus.
2. Chelsea - Lukaku misfires at first but comes good, a deep UCL run costs them in the league.
3. Man Utd - Jose bores his way to third but doesn't mount a serious title challenge.
4. Liverpool - Eek out 4th again let down by a crap defence.
5. Spurs - Wembley wrecks the season but Poch retains good faith heading into the new ground with FA Cup win and solid UCL run.
6. Everton - Koeman's new side looks strong but still a bit short of top quality.
7. Arsenal - Wenger meanders to a miserable end to his career after losing Sanchez to Bayern (or City).
8. Crystal Palace - Pellegrino (or Pellegrini, it could be either at this stage apparently) impresses, building around Zaha + Benteke to challenge higher up.
9. Newcastle - Rafalution in full force sees the Toon restored to their former 'glory' of not flirting with relegation at all.
10. West Brom - Pulis keeps his WBA team under the radar.
11. Leicester - Shakespeare doesn't last the season, but Foxes are fine with solid squad rebuilding.
12. Bournemouth - Eddie Howe becomes the front-runner for the Arsenal job after another good season playing good football. Maybe a cup run too.
13. Stoke - Hughes is sacked after a poor start but the Potters recover. Crouch competes with Bournemouth's Defoe for highest old-man goalscorer.
14. Brighton - No real relegation worry for the new boys after good recruitment and good management from Hughton.
15. Burnley - Sean Dyche stays loyal to a fault with his plucky Burnley boys, but they stay up.
16. West Ham - Bilic is the first PL manager sacked, but Hammers don't really recover from a bad start.
17. Southampton - Puel is second to go, Saints struggle mightily but Ward-Prowse gets into England contention.
18. Swansea - Relegated on final day losing to Stoke even though Saints are battered at home by City.
19. Watford - Marco Silva does okay but gets sacked anyway in the winter, leading to a fatal slump in results
20. Huddersfield - Hudds never look like staying up, don't score enough goals and fade away feebly.

[Lineker]

West Ham United will be unable to play their first scheduled home match of the season against Southampton on 19 August because the London Stadium will not be ready after hosting the world athletics championships this summer.

[Lineker]

Southampton have sacked Claude Puel.

Claude Puel has been sacked from his post as Southampton manager.

The south-coast club confirmed the decision via a statement on Wednesday night, bringing the Frenchman’s tenure at St Mary’s to an end after just one season.

A club statement said: “Everyone at Southampton would like to express our thanks to Claude for his hard work and commitment this year. The highlight of the season was a memorable day at Wembley in the EFL Cup Final, a day our fans will always treasure. We wish Claude well for the future.”

The search for a new management team is underway. We are confident that we will find the right fit in line with the long term vision of the club.

Puel’s position has been the source of speculation and rumour for some time with a section of Southampton supporters displeased with their team’s style of play and results under the charge of the 55-year-old.

Having arrived in June as successor to Ronald Koeman following the Dutchman’s departure to Everton, Puel led Southampton to eight in the Premier League and to the final of the EFL Cup, where they were somewhat unlucky to lose 3-2 to Manchester United.

Thomas Tuchel, the former Borussia Dortmund manager, is among those linked with taking over at Southampton. Whoever does so will be the club’s fourth managerial appointment in a little over four years, following on from Mauricio Pochettino, Koeman and Puel.

[MDK]

So who is Tuchel going to at the end of this season? Arsenal? 

[Adam]

Why would Tuchel go to Southampton? Be a right coup that.

Also, this bizarrely timed sacking means one of my above predictions is already off . I can't be arsed to change it now.

[MDK]

If I were a Saints fan I'd be mighty pissed off. Basically a feeder club for Liverpool and a revolving door of managers. They cant always rely on their scouting network to get the next hidden bit of talent or their youth setup to produce quality players. Must have a healthy bank account though. 

[Nerf]

12 hours ago, MDK said:

If I were a Saints fan I'd be mighty pissed off. Basically a feeder club for Liverpool and a revolving door of managers. They cant always rely on their scouting network to get the next hidden bit of talent or their youth setup to produce quality players. Must have a healthy bank account though. 

I'd be inclined to be much more pissed off now than before, but Saints fans can't seem to see the forest for the trees. They seem to want to push for Europe, but that isn't going to happen bar the odd fluke season, and Everton are waiting to close that gap before they do. They've been enjoying a cushy Top 8 life on the back of their model, and might be in for a reality check if they break from the mould.

Fans won't want to hear it, but they're actually in quite an enviable position. Their club can only attract gambles, half of which will pay off and another half that won't. Their comfortable top half existence is entirely down to the model they've been employing, which is having the big clubs financing their gambles by taking the breakout star of that season's pack. They use that money to invest in a new set of gambles, and whichever one keeps them mid-table is the one who moves and funds the next round. The cycle repeats.

That's just the reality, the same way teams like Liverpool are, to a lesser degree, this kind of feeder club for the Barcelonas and Real Madrids of the world. There is a clearly defined food chain in football, and clubs are setting themselves up for danger if they try to break from that. What happens when they don't sell Van Dijk? Great, he stays, but their transfer budget is diminished, they can only afford for a lesser quality player, and less of those gambles pay off. All of a sudden, they've swapped their comfortable mid-table existence for a bottom half finish and their 'dignity.'

Now, this is all redundant as I largely believe the Van Dijk stuff is purely posturing, whether it's to maintain credibility with fans or to enhance their bargaining position or both, but sometimes fans would benefit from remembering that you can't always break the glass ceiling. For every Manchester City, there's an Aston Villa. For every Chelsea, there's a Newcastle. Showing ambition doesn't lead to success, and can sometimes end in dramatic failure.

[Baddar]

[Colly]

14 hours ago, Nerf said:

I'd be inclined to be much more pissed off now than before, but Saints fans can't seem to see the forest for the trees. They seem to want to push for Europe, but that isn't going to happen bar the odd fluke season, and Everton are waiting to close that gap before they do. They've been enjoying a cushy Top 8 life on the back of their model, and might be in for a reality check if they break from the mould.

Fans won't want to hear it, but they're actually in quite an enviable position. Their club can only attract gambles, half of which will pay off and another half that won't. Their comfortable top half existence is entirely down to the model they've been employing, which is having the big clubs financing their gambles by taking the breakout star of that season's pack. They use that money to invest in a new set of gambles, and whichever one keeps them mid-table is the one who moves and funds the next round. The cycle repeats.

That's just the reality, the same way teams like Liverpool are, to a lesser degree, this kind of feeder club for the Barcelonas and Real Madrids of the world. There is a clearly defined food chain in football, and clubs are setting themselves up for danger if they try to break from that. What happens when they don't sell Van Dijk? Great, he stays, but their transfer budget is diminished, they can only afford for a lesser quality player, and less of those gambles pay off. All of a sudden, they've swapped their comfortable mid-table existence for a bottom half finish and their 'dignity.'

Now, this is all redundant as I largely believe the Van Dijk stuff is purely posturing, whether it's to maintain credibility with fans or to enhance their bargaining position or both, but sometimes fans would benefit from remembering that you can't always break the glass ceiling. For every Manchester City, there's an Aston Villa. For every Chelsea, there's a Newcastle. Showing ambition doesn't lead to success, and can sometimes end in dramatic failure.

Yeah, stay in your ruddy hole like Leicester did. I know that's something that absolutely won't happen again, but with the silly money now flooding the league doing a little to remove the sugar daddy power of a Chelsea or Man City there's no reason why a well run, well organised team can't make a push for Europe of the Champions League. Hell, look at Spurs, what's the difference between them and Southampton?

[Nerf]

57 minutes ago, Colly said:

Yeah, stay in your ruddy hole like Leicester did. I know that's something that absolutely won't happen again, but with the silly money now flooding the league doing a little to remove the sugar daddy power of a Chelsea or Man City there's no reason why a well run, well organised team can't make a push for Europe of the Champions League. Hell, look at Spurs, what's the difference between them and Southampton?

Leicester is a great example. They held on to Mahrez and Vardy and in turn lowered the coffers and had to settle for buying players a step below the quality they needed to consolidate. Had they got those two big pay-days along with Kante, we might still be talking about them as a Top 6 team as they could've invested heavily. Instead, they had to take the Southampton gamble I mentioned and it didn't pay off.

Look, I know fans of smaller clubs won't want to hear it, but there's something of a glass ceiling for them. Leicester is literally a once in a lifetime fairytale. You're far more likely to end up like Aston Villa after they tried to push on and become a Top 4 team. Short of being bought out by owners with a bottomless pit of money, selling your best players is the only way to reinvest in your squad and balance the team to maintain your position. Trust me, I had to live through the Hicks & Gillett era at Liverpool.