Top 4 this year?

No1newts

No1newts

No1newts

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Whats your prediction for top 4 this year and the reasons why?

1. Man United

Fantastic forward line and Hernzndez will only get better, can see him being the new 'Shearer' with 20 goals (at least) guaranteed each year. Strong defence but midfield might let them down, to be honest I'm picking ManU because no one else has improved noticably this summer.

2. Liverpool

Most improved team by a mile, all positionsd are well covered (except left back) and a fantastic strike force. Problem they have is no depth and with increasiingly injury prone players like Carrol, Gerrard and Cara 1 or 2 injuries and they are bummed.

3. Man City

Still not convinced by this lot. Their purchasing strategy is either;

a) hes flavour of the month (Barry/Milner/Johnson/Dzeko)
b) hes expensive so he must be good (Aguerro/Balotelli)

There seems to be no plan to the players they buy and I still see a collection of individuals rather than a team. All that being said stars like Tevez/Silva/Toure will keep them on track.

4. Chelsea

Still Mourinho's team, but older and poorer because of that. The old guard are not as good (Lamps/Terrry/Drog) but they are still relying in them. Still no creativity meaning Torres won't shine but they will still grind it out. Add Modric to that team though and its another story...



Arsenal will probably get fifth, bum themselves financially and eventually realise Wenger has lost the plot 3 seasons too late. They have added one or two nobodies (like normal) then when Fabregas stays make out as if its like a new signing and do nothing once again. Spurs are standing still so are in effect going backward, another nowhere finish before they too lose their best players next summer.
 
Based on the last half of the season that is probably fair, except Arsenal normally had a blinder of a season right up until January where it all blows up. So that could be a curve ball, if they get enough points in the start like they normally do, just to stay up there.
 
1. Man Utd - they always seem to win it.
2. Man City - best squad out there. Would be number 1 if not for Mancini.
3. Chelsea - better than everyone else apart from the two above.
4. Liverpool - if Arsenal add a strong CB, Mata / Hazard, and RVP is fit all season they will be here instead... unless they lose Cesc.
 
I seem to remember every one of these for the last 4 years or so with most people exluding Arsenal. Think we'll surprise people this year.

1. Man U
2. Arsenal
3. Chelsea
4. Man City
 
No1newts said:
3. Man City

Still not convinced by this lot. Their purchasing strategy is either;

a) hes flavour of the month (Barry/Milner/Johnson/Dzeko)
b) hes expensive so he must be good (Aguerro/Balotelli)

There seems to be no plan to the players they buy and I still see a collection of individuals rather than a team. All that being said stars like Tevez/Silva/Toure will keep them on track.
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Flavour of the month?
Barry had been solid at Villa for a while, Milner was also a solid player and the season we bought him he was fantastic, Johnson was a bit of a out of the blue signing but he has performed well in the Prem and gives nice width, pace and skill on the wings and Dzeko had consistently performed in Germany for years before we bought him.

So Aguero is not a good player? He is well proven in Europe and internationally. Has been courted by clubs for years.

Balotelli has not proven his price so far but has immense potential and one day the price we pay may turn out to be a cheap deal!

Collection of individuals? That is so wrong its unbelievable. All of the players are pushing in one direction as seen by the way we finished the season and the performances in the FA Cup Semi/Final. This pre season has also been great for the players as seen by the players, games and training videos.

The only players currently not are the ones Mancini doesn't want to have eg Bellamy, Adebayor and Bridge.
 
No1newts said:
2. Liverpool[/B]

Most improved team by a mile, all positionsd are well covered (except left back) and a fantastic strike force. Problem they have is no depth and with increasiingly injury prone players like Carrol, Gerrard and Cara 1 or 2 injuries and they are bummed.
Click to expand...

Is this a joke, their strike force consists of Carroll and Suarez, ones an absolute cheat(and should hopefully get carded frequently unlike in the Copa America), the others doing quite well to stay out of jail at the moment, backup Ngog. Fantastic strikeforce? One potential, one good, one not very good backup. Arsenal, RVP, Vela, Chamakh, Gervinho, Theo and Nasri/Arshavin can play as a withdrawn striker easily.

Utd, Berbs, Rooney, Hernandez, Welbeck, Macheda, Owen.

Chelsea, Drogba, Anelka, Torres, Sturridge, Kalou.

But Liverpools strikeforce is fantastic, Arsenal, City, Utd are minimum 5 deep upfront of which each and every one is better than Liverpools 3rd choice and most of that have scored more than Carroll by a long way.

They've bought a bunch of players for midfield, but Merieles, Lucas are better than the central mid's they've bought, Gerrard will probably go right back in when he's fit, Kuyt is one of your highest scorers, how much has the midfield really improved and at the back, no improvements.

Biz.Kid09 said:
Flavour of the month?
Barry had been solid at Villa for a while, Milner was also a solid player and the season we bought him he was fantastic, Johnson was a bit of a out of the blue signing but he has performed well in the Prem and gives nice width, pace and skill on the wings and Dzeko had consistently performed in Germany for years before we bought him.

So Aguero is not a good player? He is well proven in Europe and internationally. Has been courted by clubs for years.
Click to expand...

Barry was solid and completely unspectacular, he was average, but you win titles with average but dependable players like Fletcher and Carrick, he really doesn't bring anything to the team though, he's pretty poor defensively, average going forward. Milner did NOT have a fantastic season, he have a bog standard average season and people decided it was a fantastic season.

Main issue for City is they are building a squad born for 4-4-2, but not playing it. Honestly for all but two teams I see 4-3-3 as simply packing midfield with less good players because you simply don't have enough quality to go with just two players, in De Jong you have the best DM in the league, in Yaya you have an excellent, strong, Vieira type box to box player, you don't need anyone else. Look how you were with Tevez injured, no focal point, but thats because when you play with one guy upfront and he's by far your top scorer, no other strikers are in form. You've got two competant wingers of which for me Adams is a lazy, selfish idiot who consistantly makes the wrong choice.

Yaya/Villa pinging in balls to a front two is pretty much what that squad is built for, even more so with Clichy down the left and a maurading Richards down the right with two excellent cb's who can cope with fullbacks pushing forward.

Same top 4 as last year, Chelsea, City, Utd, Arsenal.
 
Not saying that they are t good players, where did I type that?

I said that there is no overall strategy to their purchases. I personally don't think Milner and Barry are good enough but ignoring that the rest I named are good enough. But there seems to be no plan, every transfer window they buy another expensive striker when (IMO) they could do with a quality right back, right winger and a creative midfielder. With the resources they have they could get these players but instead they seem to be doing a real Madrid galactic policy of buying expensive/popular players and then expecting everything to magically click.

It rarely works like that, but thats just my opinion, out of interest what do you expect the top 4 to be?
 
Yay DM has arrived to not read things properly and post a loooooong winded reply.

Read my post about Liverpool where I clearly state they have no strength in depth but that the starters are great. Where I praised manu's forward line and where I said Chelsea suffer from lack of creativity. But why do that when you can ramble innately and improve your post count?

And arsenal?

drunkenmaster said:
. Arsenal, RVP, Vela, Chamakh, Gervinho, Theo and Nasri/Arshavin can play as a withdrawn striker easily.
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Rvp? Injury prone, but very good if he plays.
Vela? Lol
Chamakh? Average at best
Gervinho? Who? (I know who he is before you post 50 lines giving me an in depth dissection of every minute played in his career) he's done decent but so did chamakh before doing nothing in England.
Nasri? Midfielder, very good but not a goalscorer.
Arshavin? See Nasri, but lazy.
Walcott? Great for a handful of games a season. Normally against my lot or another **** team.

As usual Wenger has done nothing. Problem you have is everyone else is improving while arsenal are staying still (or going backward if fabregas leaves)
 
No1newts said:
Not saying that they are t good players, where did I type that?

I said that there is no overall strategy to their purchases. I personally don't think Milner and Barry are good enough but ignoring that the rest I named are good enough. But there seems to be no plan, every transfer window they buy another expensive striker when (IMO) they could do with a quality right back, right winger and a creative midfielder. With the resources they have they could get these players but instead they seem to be doing a real Madrid galactic policy of buying expensive/popular players and then expecting everything to magically click.

It rarely works like that, but thats just my opinion, out of interest what do you expect the top 4 to be?
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You didnt, i am just saying.

I think there is tbh. We have 2 quality right backs imo, we dont really play with wingers so that is a bit unnecessary but apparently Mancini wants Cerci.

Well if reports are true then Mancini wants Nasri so thats that position covered with Silva, Yaya Toure and Aguero able to play there.

The top 4 the way it finished this year however i think we/City can get 2nd.
 
Man Utd
Man City
Chelsea are all nailed on and will all have a good shout for the title.

Then between Spurs and Arsenal. If Arsenal can keep hold of Cesc while staying fit I would have to go for them.

If Spurs can buy a quality striker I would go for them, but unless Levy breaks the bank, and wage structure I can't see it happening. We managed to finish 5th with 4 strikers who couldn't hit a barn door. If we had Defoe on the form from the previous season we would have finished minimum 4th.

I know Liverpool have splashed the cash, but other than Suarez who is quality they have bought mediocre players for BIG money. Once the Kenny effect has worn off and they get on a bad run of results, it will be back to square one. They are yet to replace Alonso, who was there linchpin, I mean is Henderson really going to cut it?
 
My prediction

Man United
Man city
Arsenal
Chelsea

I think 4th and 5th will be close , i still think Arsenal will get a top 4 finish , people wright them off every year when they lose key players but they prove people wrong!

I think Liverpool , Spurs and Chelsea will be fighting it out for 4th
 
I still think it's a bit too early to tell. Keeping cesc and buying someone like Samba/Cahill/Mata/Jags/ Hazard could have a massive effect on where we finish. Based on current squads I'd say:

1 - Man U
2 - Chelsea
3 - Arsenal
4 - City

I don't see the difference in 1st/4th being more than 10 points, it's going to be a crazy season at the top!
 
Biz.Kid09 said:
You didnt, i am just saying.

I think there is tbh. We have 2 quality right backs imo, we dont really play with wingers so that is a bit unnecessary but apparently Mancini wants Cerci.

Well if reports are true then Mancini wants Nasri so thats that position covered with Silva, Yaya Toure and Aguero able to play there.

The top 4 the way it finished this year however i think we/City can get 2nd.
Click to expand...

Out of interest who are your right backs? I really couldn't think of any :p
 
I think the top two will be Man United and Man City. United still have the best squad but City, who came very close to 2nd last season, have become genuine title contenders and will probably strengthen further before the season starts.

Can't decide between Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool for 3rd and 4th. On paper Chelsea still have the strongest squad but the ACoN could really hurt them. Arsenal look weak at the back and losing Fabregas could destroy their confident and cost them their Champions League spot. Liverpool will be starting the season in a massively better position than last season with a stronger squad, competent manager and no off field problems. Our season could well come down to how well the new players integrate in to the squad and how much better they make us as a team.

Spurs for 6th.
 
This is the first season for ages that I can remember a lot of people actually tipping us for the title, I'm shocked. Well done though lads :cool:
 
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