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Nail your colours to the mast - where will we finish?

Dave

by Dave
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Stottie

Stottie

Posted
Posted

As the squad stands, relegation battle. I expect us to get a keeper in, and if he does well, that should keep us above the scrap.

 

A striker, preferably one who can also play#10, and fairly comfortably mid table. Based more on Rafa than analyzing the individual parts. The quandary is what to do with Ayoze. I don't think Mitro is trustworthy and should be replaced.

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Lush Vlad

Lush Vlad

Posted
Posted

14th.  Unless we get 2-3 decent players in, I think we're a bit of a way off a top half prem team.  Even if from around 8th downwards, there is plenty of shite in the league. 

 

Rafa is a top manager, but he isn't a miracle worker.  As it stands, we have so many Championship players, that should be squad players at best.  A lot of these will be turning out regularly for us this season and I think we'll struggle a bit. 

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Rich

Rich

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Posted

Just to give some reason for my apparent optimism:

 

We took 12 points from 18 in our last six games in the Premier League under Benitez and these were the players that started (all 4-2-3-1, of course):

 

Darlow; Janmaat, Taylor, Mbemba, Dummett; Tiote, Colback; Townsend, Sissoko, Wijnaldum; Mitrovic (Beat Spurs 5-1)

 

Darlow; Anita, Lascelles, Mbemba, Dummett; Tiote, Colback; Townsend, Sissoko, Wijnaldum; Cisse (Drew 0-0 with Villa)

 

Darlow; Anita, Lascelles, Mbemba, Dummett; Tiote, Colback; Townsend, Sissoko, Wijnaldum; Cisse (Beat Palace 1-0)

 

Darlow; Anita, Lascelles, Mbemba, Dummett; Tiote, Colback; Townsend, Sissoko, Perez; Cisse (Drew 2-2 with Liverpool)

 

Darlow; Anita, Lascelles, Mbemba, Dummett; Tiote, Colback; Townsend, Sissoko, Perez; Cisse (Drew 1-1 with Man City)

 

Darlow; Anita, Lascelles, Mbemba, Dummett; Tiote, Colback; Townsend, Sissoko, Wijnaldum; Cisse (Beat Swansea 3-0)

 

Currently this seems to be the consensus on our starting team, with some business still to be done:

 

Elliot; Yedlin, Lejeune/Lascelles, Clark, Dummett; Hayden/Merino, Shelvey; Ritchie, Diame/Perez/De Jong, Murphy; Gayle

 

In my opinion we're only noticeably weaker on the flanks and in the number ten role.

 

Elliot's a slight improvement on Darlow in goal.

 

Yedlin is a good upgrade on Anita at right-back, the centre-backs are much of a muchness but have improved with experience from those games and Lejuene/Clark is probably a better pairing, Dummett kicked on a little last season and should benefit from that.

 

Tiote was excellent in that run of matches but he was lumbered with Colback, so I think that zone has been improved upon with Hayden/Merino and Shelvey being revitalised.

 

Ritchie is probably a slightly poorer man's Townsend but is our talisman, none of our current number 10's can touch Sissoko from that time, Murphy's an unknown quantity but it's probably a stretch to assume he'd be better than Wijnaldum from the get-go (at home, at least).

 

Gayle is significantly better than the version of Cisse who featured back then.

 

Most importantly, Rafa's now had almost 18 months to implement his ideas rather than the month he'd had before the run began.

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Ikon

Ikon

Posted
Posted

Too early to say Imo. 2-3 quality additions would make a big difference to the team overall, not just the new players but also the current ones would have more belief and confidence. Let's pray we get them in ( :lol: :( )

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Kanj

Kanj

Posted
Posted

Current squad 12-13

 

More additions 10-11

 

So not really worth making any signings then :lol:

 

:lol: nah, I mean s*** - if we sign a few good players it would be revised. Blind optimist says our ceiling is 8th so assuming we do well in the window and have some surprises, etc.

 

Good analysis there, Rich.

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AyeDubbleYoo

AyeDubbleYoo

Posted
Posted

yeah i'm with rich, think things might be more positive than a few people think even without adding more (which we will)

 

rafa is a big factor...imperative we start well also

 

I think this too, I'm just not brave enough to post it first.

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1964

1964

Posted
Posted

Can't believe some of the predictions, 8th, 6th!!!

 

So two of either Chelsea, Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton will finish below us?  Then you have teams like Leicester, Southampton, Stoke, West Ham all of whom have strengthened more than we have from a stronger base.

 

I will say 15th at best

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AyeDubbleYoo

AyeDubbleYoo

Posted
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Can't believe some of the predictions, 8th, 6th!!!

 

So two of either Chelsea, Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton will finish below us?  Then you have teams like Leicester, Southampton, Stoke, West Ham all of whom have strengthened more than we have from a stronger base.

 

I will say 15th at best

 

You've just done the same thing TBH.

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TRon

TRon

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Posted

What's becoming clearer every day is that this season will be similar to the last time we were promoted under Hughton, except we maybe have to dampen down our expectation due to having a world class manager. The squad isn't going to be good enough to do much more than aim for a respectable finish and I'm coming to terms with that at the moment. I'll be happy if we can get a striker in above all else otherwise this squad is going to struggle to stay out of the relegation fight.

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HaydnNUFC

HaydnNUFC

Posted
Posted

Really think having a good start to our season + adding few quality additions before window closes can really set this season off.

We have a fantastic opportunity to do so due to the fixture list we were given. The run of games after Spurs running up to Liverpool (h) is a great opportunity to pick up wins; Huddersfield (a), West Ham (h), Swansea (a), Stoke (h), Brighton (a). Call me deluded or a blind optimist (which I am) but if we get a decent striker in, why the hell can't we get 5 wins there? Mind, at this rate in terms of getting a striker in, I'd take a point vs West Ham...
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afar

afar

Posted
Posted

12th - 16th.

 

Benitez is not a miracle worker and the defence and strike force is not convincing at all. Clark the best of a mediocre bunch at the back, albeit the French lad has still to show his wares.

 

The defence gave up fewer goals than any other last year. Dummett is the only weak link imo, Gayle had the best strike rate of goals to games in the division. If you want to find reason for us finishing in that range, look at the strength in depth and the missing components like a quality number 10 or a decent left back.

 

For me, I'm predicting 10th (with the caveat that Shelvey and Gayle stay fit and available for most of the season) right now and I've often been accused as being a pessimistic old bastard, which is absolutely true. Think our first 11 or so is better than most on here think, and they are way over estimating the general strength of the likes of Stoke or WBA or Southampton, the teams that will probably be in and around that area. The drop off from our first 11 though is severe and that's what worries me most of all.

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