11 minutes ago, Croat said:

. Defensively, we are far better than them. Arsenal are better offensive, but we are not far behind. 

 

Defensively I agree and I would say mid field (when all fit is comparable) but honestly we are miles behind up front compared to Arse, (if you can have your arse upfront) I would take either of their strikers in a heartbeat. 

If it is Lamps i just hope it signifies a change in the board that they are willing to build something long-term and sustainable. We have the ban for next season and it is the perfect opportunity to experiment with the likes of James, Mount, Abraham and then really kick on in a year or two.

Optimistically i would say top 4, realistically for this season i would say we will finish between 6th and 8th. Not expecting any silverware but a trophy would be a nice bonus. 

I think Tottenham finished shakey, and if they don’t spend potch may be off, I think Utd will spend heavy but they are a work in progress as are arsenal who we showed are a good but behind us. 

These are the teams we are competing with and I dont think Hazard going will turn us into a sh*t team overnight, we made I think the most or second most chances in the league, I know hazard was a big part of it but our main issue was not having a striker.

If we can get one of our strikers to get some form and bag us 20 goals and RLC and CHO get fit sooner than later I don’t see why we can’t compete with those 3 teams for 4th. 

 

Could see us ending up anywhere between 4-8 - but not lower than that. 

As some have pointed out we are about to get loads of talent back in the first team. Imagine... Just imagine if Bakayoko for some reason goes back and delivers. Futhermore we've got Zouma coming home, Reece James, Tammy Abraham and even Batshuayi. Though I have got serious doubts regarding Pulisic, I somewhat hope that he proves everyone wrong. Hopefully both CHO and RLC will come back even stronger.

There's plenty of talent. 

If SFL becomes our next manager, we already know he'll be going for a 4-3-3 formation - just as we have been playing for the entire season. Most of our players should be comfortable with this formation. I mean, look at our possible squad - and back-up squad with all players fit

GK: Kepa
RB: Azpi
CB: Rudiger
CB: Luiz
LB: Alonso
CM: Bakayoko
CDM: Kanté
CM: RLC
RW: Willian
LW: CHO
ST: Giroud

... plus our back-up squad:

GK: Willy
RB: James
CB: Zouma
CB: Christensen
LB: Emerson
CM: Barkley
CDM: Ampadu (If Jorginho is sold)
CM: Mount
RW: Pulisic
LW: Pedro
ST: Tammy/Bats

That's still a clear top 6 squad IMO. Even our back-ups should be able to produce something like a 10th finish. How many of the other PL-clubs would want either Zouma or Christensen in their defense? How many would like Barkley, Mount, Tammy, Pedro or Pulisic in their starting XI? I would assume pretty much everyone except the other top six clubs. And even some of those might want one or more of them. 

... a side note. Read that someone thought Spurs succes was depending on Kanes ankle. Partly agree . He is crucial to their succes. But another- quite underrated player - is Eriksen. He is the one that binds everything together. Think it'll be a massive loss for them if he's leaving. Lo Celso and Ndombele are to quite different players, and I can't see them directly filling the Eriksen-gap, should he leave. Son and Kane are still brilliant though - and if Dele starts performing again, Spurs could be dangerous. Doubt they'll challenge Liverpool or City though.

I think the one person who voted 20th is more or less as likely to be right as the three who voted 1st. Let's just hope we can manage to successfully scrap for 3rd/4th and be in the CL when we are allowed to sign players again. Can't realistically hope for anything else given the circumstances.

It's all a bit obvious in truth. We're about 30 points shy of Liverpool and City and they can strengthen their sides. We have no strikers and a random collection of geriatric wingers and unproven kids with Bakayoko and Drinkwater in the middle. However, even these misfits are still too talented to finish below at least 13 teams in the division, it's going to be a 3rd to 6th place finish. City win it again, Liverpool miss out again.

I would hope we don't fall back too much. As I've said before, we miss out on top four it will be harder to both buy and keep the top quality players.

Kante may not be here if we miss out on top four. His agent may end up having a word in his ear about moving to PSG or playing under Zidane at Real.

Why wouldn't Kante ask for a move in that instance? Knowing the club will struggle to buy top players and will have no CL football. 

It isn't limited to Kante only, but he's been our next best player after Hazard to have been linked with other clubs. I can't say I am particularly optimistic for the next couple seasons. 

I think between 4-7th. Hopefully we can land a top 4 spot but I’m not going to be surprised if we don’t. I still have no idea where goals are going to come from. 

I have no faith in Arsenal and Man U. 4th seems reasonable.

30%+ of you think we will be 6th? Feck me sideways and call me Nancy some of you bastards are losing the plot. 

Why are we selling Jorginho all of a sudden? 

4 hours ago, Hazard STAY said:

30%+ of you think we will be 6th? Feck me sideways and call me Nancy some of you bastards are losing the plot. 

Based on our current situation, I don't think that it's surprising at all.

Hazard was the difference between us finishing 4th and 6th last season and we no longer have him.

Loftus-Cheek could be a difference maker, but he's injured, and it's looking likely that he won't be back until December at the earliest.

Our attack just isn't good enough. Giroud is too old and slow to be playing 1st choice for us. Batshuayi is a system player, I don't think he is a bad player, but I'm not sure he will ever be good enough to lead the line for us. Abraham I am far from being convinced by, he is 100% dependent on service and I don't think we have the players that can offer him that service.

The wingers are a big problem. Willian offers next to nothing almost every game he plays, Pedro has his moments but they are usually surrounded by some stinker performances. Hudson-Odoi is injured and still just a potential player at the moment. Pulisic also doesn't convince me that he is going to score and assist enough goals for us, he hasn't done it so far in his career so I don't have any reason to believe that it's suddenly going to start in his first season for us.

I also don't think the young players coming in are going to make much of a positive impact on results at this stage of their careers.

All of this on top of the transfer ban is why I think we will finish 6th next season.

4 hours ago, Hazard STAY said:

30%+ of you think we will be 6th? Feck me sideways and call me Nancy some of you bastards are losing the plot. 

Says the Nancy bastard who thinks were going to top city 

Last season when I faced this same question I must admit under the circumstances I thought it would be a 6th placed finish, history has proved me wrong. But until the last month of play it could have easily been a 5th or 6th placed finish with a name manager & a top 5 best on the planet footballer named Hazard. Realistically under the current ban & having no prospect of hiring a proven top class manager I'm gonna go for 6th again. 

Edited June 19, 20197 yr by General
grammar

If wingers are a weakness, we could always play 4-3-1-2, with two up top, with a #10 behind them, and rely on attacking full backs for the width ?

 

23 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

If wingers are a weakness, we could always play 4-3-1-2, with two up top, with a #10 behind them, and rely on attacking full backs for the width ?

 

The problem with that is our fullbacks ain't so great at attacking either.

I just read RLC and CHO back at training and are 2-3 months out, that’s hopeful if it is that long but I wouldn’t be sure 

Edited June 20, 20197 yr by WalterWhiteCFC

3 hours ago, WalterWhiteCFC said:

I just read RLC and CHO back at training and are 2-3 months out, that’s hopeful if it is that long but I wouldn’t be sure 

After Ruben's injury I read both are coming back close to Christmas. Hope it is "only" 2-3 months. 

On 18/06/2019 at 11:16, Snedger said:

I think the one person who voted 20th is more or less as likely to be right as the three who voted 1st.

That was me, I was taking the piss. I know that’s very out of character for me....

23 hours ago, evissy said:

Why are we selling Jorginho all of a sudden? 

Because AGENTS! Highly doubt he'll be sold unless it's for ungodly amounts of cash. 

5th or 6th in my opinion unless some of the others have a Jose level meltdown.

Anywhere between 4th to 8th, so I've voted 6th.

Going to be a season of little expectation, so I'm just going to enjoy the ride and take it one match a time.

Players coming back mostly wouldn’t get into any of our premier winning teams, most wouldn’t even get close. 

City and Liverpool remain way out in front, maybe city need a new striker themselves. Spurs could go either way, ndombele and Donny von der beek? could give them a boost even if Eriksen goes. And poch is a proven manager. Arsenal and united remain garbage but teams like Leicester, wolves, Everton will all be pushing harder. 

I can see this season being a transition season but I can’t see us doing well in the league. Maybe Tammy Abraham will surprise me. 

2 hours ago, ozboy said:

Players coming back mostly wouldn’t get into any of our premier winning teams, most wouldn’t even get close. 

City and Liverpool remain way out in front, maybe city need a new striker themselves. Spurs could go either way, ndombele and Donny von der beek? could give them a boost even if Eriksen goes. And poch is a proven manager. Arsenal and united remain garbage but teams like Leicester, wolves, Everton will all be pushing harder. 

I can see this season being a transition season but I can’t see us doing well in the league. Maybe Tammy Abraham will surprise me. 

It’s easy to say all that and I dont disagree but then sometimes managers can just get it to work, look at the team we won the CL with, that team on paper today would be mid table at best  , but we managed to beat the best teams in the Europe. 

We have lost Hazard but believe it or not I dont think it will be as big an impact as people think  if we can implement the right system, as brilliant as he was it’s hard to build a system round him unless you have all superstars round him and they can flick and pass and all the cute stuff round teams, sad to say but his full potential was wasted here at times. 

Feeding him the ball as your only attack option and him being double marked results in a toothless attack on many occasions, look how many times we just had no ideas going forward, couldn’t buy a goal, and not just last season we have had that problem for years, because it’s rely on him or don’t score, having him without a striker he is confident in was very innefective considering how good he is. 

A good system that brings all your forwards and midfielders into attacking play more will make up for that individual brilliance that he used to win us games ...hopefully. 

City, Liverpool duo is pretty much set. Both are among the best in Europe. 1-2

Tottenham is losing Eriksen but if they buy well they might be in a same sort of level they were this season. 3-4.

ManU will probably buy a couple of world class players and as we know they actually have great quality all over the pitch. No distrsction from CL. 3-5.

Arsenal is entering their second season with Emery. Emery is a serial winner and he has great strikers at his disposal with some good players behind them. If they buy well they can make the CL. 4-6.

Chelsea is entering the world of unknown. Frank at helm and Hazardless attack and you simply don't know what will happen. We also have CL which is not very optimal in terms of where we are as a club. We also have massive positives that include all our young guns: CHO, RLC, Mount, Abraham, Pulisic. We could well witness some magical moments this season. 4-6.

We just finished 3rd due to historically terrible performance by ManU, Tottenham and Arsenal down the stretch and lost a top 5 player in the entire world (and our only offensive threat).  And we won't be able to replace him or any of our other aging and fading starters.  I voted for 6th and I think that is a little optimistic. 

 

Re: Wolves.  Their record against the big 6 suggests that their performance was no fluke.  I think there is a decent chance they (and possible other non-6 clubs) could finish ahead of us.  I think 1 of them will but ManU will be in full meltdown mode.