The Sir Alex Ferguson Thread (For Manager related news)

[Twist]

If Newcastle manage to finish in the top 4 next season, with the added burden of European football being played, it’ll be a bigger achievement than doing it this year. The club are massively ahead of schedule and as a fan I’ll be thrilled to finish the season in any of the European spots.

I think going into the season the only team that feels guaranteed to finish in the top 4 is City. I would not be surprised if Arsenal, Man United and Newcastle all finished outside the top 4 (unlikely, and I don’t think that happens, but definitely possible).

You could easily see Liverpool, Chelsea, Brighton and Villa kicking on and challenging for those positions. I feel like Spurs’ approach to their management situation is going to leave them up shit creek without a paddle though.

[Baddar]

Brighton's squad will be gutted and it's whether they can identify more gems to replace them. I think they'll struggle too with the Sunday/Thursday/Sunday schedule.

[Gazz]

I can't see us finishing top four next season, even with our great first half of the season, we barely held off a disjointed Liverpool in the end. To get top four again, we'd need to sign at least four to six players this summer and have every one of them instantly gel and hit the ground running from match one. Can't see it myself, never mind factoring in the grind of midweek football. Sixth would be an achievement.

[The Lusophone]

On the subject of Villa, I think they're going to make the mistake of bringing in big names with European experience and it won't work, like how Everton brought in James Rodriguez.

[Gazz]

Big Sam earned £500,000 a point.

Pep earned £213,485 a point.

Work smart, not hard.

[Colly]

1 hour ago, Gazz said:

I can't see us finishing top four next season, even with our great first half of the season, we barely held off a disjointed Liverpool in the end. To get top four again, we'd need to sign at least four to six players this summer and have every one of them instantly gel and hit the ground running from match one. Can't see it myself, never mind factoring in the grind of midweek football. Sixth would be an achievement.

I do think there's an element of losing our surprise package status too. For all the "you've spent millions" the biggest change at Newcastle has been tactics in the sense of going from no tactics to actual tactics. We press hard, we counter, and teams this year didn't sit back against us bar a few occasions at home. Our big weakness was the two runs of games where we couldn't finish chances and drew a lot, if we have the same problem when teams are more prepared then we need a plan B. That's why a Maddison type who'll actually finish (not necessarily him) is essential, the likes of Almiron can't be relied on for a return in the long run.

Recruitment will be massive though, I wouldn't want to attempt predicting our season at this point.

[DFF]

1 hour ago, Baddar said:

Brighton's squad will be gutted and it's whether they can identify more gems to replace them. I think they'll struggle too with the Sunday/Thursday/Sunday schedule.

Brighton don't need to sell anyone though, hence why the can drive up the prices massively for their players. I think they'll only sell 2-3 names and that will rake them in well over £100m. 

[Colly]

And as much as McAllister looks to be gone, I think they'll hang on to Mitoma and all the kids solely because they've all realistically only had half a season at this point. I'd be disappointed if the likes of Gross or Estupian started pushing for silly moves.

[Lineker]

They've also got that magic laptop with all of the names of the replacements all ready and waiting to go, remember!

[Gazz]

Absolutely disgusting that Brighton get to use FMScout to look at the hidden attributes of players.

[DavidMarrio]

It's pretty much been said but you've got a Chelsea team who surely can't be as bad next season who should be pushing for European places. 

I also expect us to be a lot better. We just missed out on top 4 and we were gash for the majority of the year. Getting some bodies in midfield and defence will be big. 

Brighton/Villa/Newcastle all now fall into the boat of you may have a good starting eleven but you're gonna need to add depth.

Newcastle had that rough patch without Bruno in the run up to the Carabao Cup final. While I may not expect stupid money signings I think it'll be a number of bodies in. Again if Newcastle can sustain a top 6 spot next season I think it'd a good achievement. 

Brighton are likely to get gutted but I expect their recruitment will help them. 

Villa have been great under Emery but I wouldn't be shocked if they suffered the most from being on Europe and it impacting on the league. 

United will spend more despite Ten Hag making out they haven't spent a penny. Definetly need a striker and be interesting to see who they get. 

Arsenal need quality depth to sustain a title challenge again but missing out will do them good. Similar to what happened to us. 

Tottenham may be best suited in just starting fresh and using next season as a rebuild year. If they keep Kane that'll be massive but they need an identity 

[Kaney]

4 hours ago, Baddar said:

Next season will be tough without a doubt. 

I don't expect Arsenal to be quite as good as this season but very much in the top 4 mix, and you'd be shocked if Liverpool and Chelsea don't improve. 

Newcastle will need reinforcements to compete on all fronts but I'm sure Howe will be backed.

Bias from me aside, can I ask why you think Chelsea are more likely to improve than us? If we can bring in the players we like, which will be a hella lot easier with champs league/this season to build on, we'll have covered the major issue why we fell off this season, strength in depth mainly.

I'm not saying we're guaranteed in the title race again next year, but I find it weird how sure some people seem to be that it was a fluke season.

[Twist]

23 minutes ago, Kaney said:

Bias from me aside, can I ask why you think Chelsea are more likely to improve than us? If we can bring in the players we like, which will be a hella lot easier with champs league/this season to build on, we'll have covered the major issue why we fell off this season, strength in depth mainly.

I'm not saying we're guaranteed in the title race again next year, but I find it weird how sure some people seem to be that it was a fluke season.

Probably because Chelsea were bloody awful and Arsenal had a very, very good season (run in excluded).

Ultimately Chelsea have a lot more room to improve than Arsenal do, so they are more likely to improve as a result. Keep in mind an improvement for Chelsea is finishing in the top half, an improvement for Arsenal is reaching a points total that would have won them the league in a third of previous seasons. So yeah, of the two Chelsea are the much more likely to improve.

[Lineker]

Last time Chelsea had a season (almost) that shit, they went on to win the league the following year. So rule nothing out.

[Gazz]

At the moment, I'm saying Poch gets sacked inside 15 games.

[Cymbols]

Yeah next season could be a bit tougher for Villa. Obviously buzzing having qualified for Europe, but going into a Thursday-Sunday schedule with a pretty small squad, it puts extra pressure on getting the recruitment this summer on point. That being said, Emery hasn't put a foot wrong so far, so have quite a lot of confidence in him getting the right players in that suit his vision. 

[DavidMarrio]

I'm a fan of the Thursday/Sunday schedule purely because we won't have to play in the cursed timeslot of 12.30 Saturday as much. 

[stokeriño]

1 hour ago, Gazz said:

At the moment, I'm saying Poch gets sacked inside 15 games.

You're including the pre-season friendlies in that figure, yeah?

[Baddar]

Yeah I don't mean that Chelsea are now destined to finish above Arsenal, but they have to be better than this season.

And what Arsenal fans need to remember is that one good season of coming oh so close doesn't automatically mean they'll do the same next time.

[Kaney]

I get that. I've seen lots of (mostly Man U fans for what it's worth) people who think because we bottled it at the end we'll automatically be back to the usual mediocrity next season. I for one think we're definitely going to improve, go unbeaten and get at least to the semis of the champions league. And still lose the league to City.