Where Do You Think You'll Finish At The End Of The Season?

[PoshSpur]

I think 4th spot will be between Liverpool and Spurs, although I do think that Liverpool will beat us to it unfortunately.

[mad theory]

I think 4th spot will be between Liverpool and Spurs, although I do think that Liverpool will beat us to it unfortunately.

ohh you yids, you really crack me up! :D

anyway you can't see liverpool finishing in anything but 4th place, speaking of how the mighty have fallen.. :o

[Matt Clark]

Spurs finished ninth last season. And that was in a season when both Liverpool and Newcastle took their eye off the ball big-time. I doubt Edgar Davids is worth four, let alone five places.

We'll finish fourth, pushing third a lot harder than last time out. Spurs will finish between sixth and tenth, depening on how much they choose to indulge their habitual frailties again.

[LiverpoolFanatic]

Spurs finished ninth last season. And that was in a season when both Liverpool and Newcastle took their eye off the ball big-time. I doubt Edgar Davids is worth four, let alone five places.

We'll finish fourth, pushing third a lot harder than last time out. Spurs will finish between sixth and tenth, depening on how much they choose to indulge their habitual frailties again.


Which is why I feel my hair is safe. In case anyone forgot--I said I'd dye my hair orange if Spurs reach a Champ. League spot.

I think we'll finish third. I'm a bit more optimistic than Matt.

[Matt Clark]

I said I'd dye my hair orange if Spurs reach a Champ. League spot.

Surely blue would be a more appropriate colour. ;)

I think we'll finish third. I'm a bit more optimistic than Matt.

I'd love to join you, but we'd have to haul in United for that. Who finished 19 points ahead of us last time out in what was by no means a strong season from them.

I know a lot of people are speaking about them as prime candidates for regression, but I actually believe they will be stronger than last season, not weaker. And even allowing for the improvement I am confident we will show this time around, we'd have to post half a point a game more than them throughout the 38-game campaign, just to draw level with their 2004/05 total.

No, I'll stay realistic and say we'll finish fourth, with the gap to third at least halfed and the gap to fourth a strong seven or eight points.

[dcc134]

I think it all depends on getting some defensive help in the middle.

I guess I'm the eternal optimist, but I think Liverpool will certainly be challenging, if not surpasing, both Arsenal and ManU. I expect Arsenal with out Viera to struggle with consistency.

Liverpool has the advantage in the midfield over both those teams, so in head to head matchups, Liverpool can win. I also believe with the confidence the team now has the road form is going to be vastly improved.

[king_saladin]

I'm seeing us in 4th and a fairly big gap from 5th.

How good will ManU's midfield be this season?

[PoshSpur]

The 4th spot will be between you and us. Get the peroxide ready my friend.

[Suss]

We will probably finish 4th, but there will be a big gap between 4th and 5th. People will no longer talk about the "big 3" because there will now be 4 teams head and shoulders above the rest of the league.

Arsenal are going to concede goals. Good teams will find a way to beat them. But Arsenal will score 3 or 4 goals against the bad teams in the Premiership and pick up 3 points everytime. They don't usually drop points against the bad and average teams, and Liverpool have to do a better job than that.

Our league form was truly awful last year. It was a miracle that we even had a chance at 4th so late in the season. There is so much room for improvement. Rafa is building a team more capable of competing in the league, as he learned a lot last season. I don't see why we can't improve by 10-15 points. And if Arsenal or Man United fall down a bit, we could be looking at 2nd or 3rd. Unfortunatley, Chelsea look to be even stronger than last season.

[stanaccrington]

Like the beginning of every season I am optimistic enough to say we are going to win the league as age gets to me and I become more realistic then after a couple of weeks I know we can't do it and I settle for 3rd or 4th but this year we will win the League. I am confident that Chelski are not going to be the force they were yes it will be a 3 horse race with the Russians and the French but we should come out on top. Chelski will be held to a lot more draws this season as teams pack the defence and hit them on the break as they did to Arsenal after their unbeaten season. Jose will find it harder to get 3 points because last year teams had a thought process of we will take it to them and then got torn apart. Arsenal without Viera will be less effective and Bergkamp has lost a lot of pace plus they have a crap keeper so they will stay ahead of the Scum but after a 5-0 hammering at Anfield they will give up.

[Suss]

Like the beginning of every season I am optimistic enough to say we are going to win the league as age gets to me and I become more realistic then after a couple of weeks I know we can't do it and I settle for 3rd or 4th but this year we will win the League. I am confident that Chelski are not going to be the force they were yes it will be a 3 horse race with the Russians and the French but we should come out on top. Chelski will be held to a lot more draws this season as teams pack the defence and hit them on the break as they did to Arsenal after their unbeaten season. Jose will find it harder to get 3 points because last year teams had a thought process of we will take it to them and then got torn apart. Arsenal without Viera will be less effective and Bergkamp has lost a lot of pace plus they have a crap keeper so they will stay ahead of the Scum but after a 5-0 hammering at Anfield they will give up.

Forget what I said in my previous post. I'm with stan...We're gonna win the league :D

[655321]

We take fourth, but make a strong push for third.

[never walk alone TPK]

We will probably reach third.I am doubtful about any position higher cause I feel Chelsea will top then arsenal and then liverpool.
Mid Season Manure will be third but some on the pitch battle between their players will cause them to tumble to fourth for the rest of the season,
Interesting to see some wwe at old trafford
Rooney vs Smith
Nisterlooy vs rio
Keane vs SIR FERGIE
Brown vs YELLOW
THINK ABOUT ALL THOSE BATTLES

[imasyko]

I like your thinking Stan....but....

Chelski - Drogbha looks improved to me in the pre-season - much more confident and aggressive, and along with Crespo. who scores goals everywhere he goes, they will make up for the fact that Lampard won't approach his total of last season. And even if you get thru their all-world defense, damn if I don't think Cech is the best GK on the planet just now. And with SWP, they have depth for the injury-prone Robben and Duff. I don't see how they lose the title.

Arse - How do they not miss Viera? Without him, can they afford the 'luxury' of playing Bergkamp as much? I admire Wenger for the re-tooling of his squad with younger players - van Persie, Reyes, etc, - but they'll be more exposed without Patrick in the middle. Hleb looks like a good addition though. But they'll be a lot more dependant on Henri, esp with Dennis on the bench, and they just don't appear as strong as in years past.

ManU - Still no backup for Keane (as yet another supposed replacement, Kleberson, gets shipped out) - grooming Smith as a replacement shows SAF's desparation. With Horseface back, they'll still be very dangerous going forward, and their D is very solid, but suspect goalkeeping and Keane's absences (he can't play all games in all competitions) makes them weaker also.

I think second place in the league is a real possibility - though everything will have to break perfectly for it to happen - few injuries to key people, SG to have a year scoring like Lampard did last year, the forwards to gel and provide consistent scoring, and the backline to hold (we do need depth). We'll know a lot more after the first month, as we play the above three in that time.

I expect to see a lot more attacking, and entertaining, play from Pool this year.

[mbrossetti]

I'm thinking 3rd. 4th at worst.

19 points can be made up. If we take the game at Anfield, we've already cut the deficit by 6 points. After that, we just need 3 additional wins and a draw while they need to convert 2 wins into draws (maybe one of the Arsenal games if they don't lose it - they took both from them last year). That strips them of 7 points bringing them down to a 70 point haul and gives us 13 to a 71 point haul.

Remember (It's hard to forget), we lost 6 points on the road to teams that were relegated and 6 points to Birmingham. If we beat all 3 teams of the teams that will be relegated each time we play them, there's already a +6 point difference (enough to take 4th) - which should be the bare minimum. Then if we beat Birmingham at home and take one from ManU and right there is the 12 points that we need. Turn the draw against Boro at Anfield into a win and we've got a +14 point increase to 72.

If United lose to us, they're down to 74 and if they lose one of the Arsenal games, they're at 71. We're in 3rd and United in 4th. Then we can worry in 06/07 about bridging the gap between 3rd and 2nd or realistically even 3rd and 1st.

[usscouse]

These threads scare the ******** out of me...!

I may join in after we play a few league games though, against teams like Boro, Spurs and other middle of the leaguers. :)

We were way out pointwise just to hold onto 5th last year and even though we know that wasn't where we should have been and it'll never happen again :cool: I'd still like us to get some league wins and confidence going.

It'd have to be a total reverse of last years fortunes for us to better 4th.

[mbrossetti]

I think second place in the league is a real possibility - though everything will have to break perfectly for it to happen - few injuries to key people

That's probably the only way 5th to 2nd will happen. Arsenal is too good even without Viera to drop too many points against teams that they shouldn't. I.e. Fulham, Rovers, basically anyone in the bottom half of the table. We can all wish that a huge jump is going to happen, but look at the statistics. Numbers are hard to argue against.

Arsenal lost to ManU (twice), us, Bolton and Birmingham on the last day of the year in a throw away game. I'm willing to bet that if that game was for the championship or even for 2nd place, they'd have won it. Remember, the week before they clinched 2nd over United by embarassing Everton 7-0 at Highbury. Also factor in the slump that they suffered after losing to United to break their unbeaten streak. They drew at home to So'ton and West Brom at home (those would have to be considered aberrations).

The bottom line is that Arsenal are immensely talented and know how to beat the teams they're much much better than. Even without Vierra will still possess enough ability to show that they are easily among the elite teams in the league (maybe even enough if Chelsea drop a few points to take back the league) 2nd I don't think is a realistic position for us this year. Next year probably, but this year, not really.

[mbrossetti]

It'd have to be a total reverse of last years fortunes for us to better 4th.

Can you see us being any more inconsistent this year than last? I've got to believe that with a year under their belt and the gerrard situation settled, the team as a whole should feel more at east and asa result become more consistant. That alone should be good enough for 4th.

[imasyko]

That's probably the only way 5th to 2nd will happen. Arsenal is too good even without Viera to drop too many points against teams that they shouldn't. I.e. Fulham, Rovers, basically anyone in the bottom half of the table. We can all wish that a huge jump is going to happen, but look at the statistics. Numbers are hard to argue against.

Arsenal lost to ManU (twice), us, Bolton and Birmingham on the last day of the year in a throw away game. I'm willing to bet that if that game was for the championship or even for 2nd place, they'd have won it. Remember, the week before they clinched 2nd over United by embarassing Everton 7-0 at Highbury. Also factor in the slump that they suffered after losing to United to break their unbeaten streak. They drew at home to So'ton and West Brom at home (those would have to be considered aberrations).

The bottom line is that Arsenal are immensely talented and know how to beat the teams they're much much better than. Even without Vierra will still possess enough ability to show that they are easily among the elite teams in the league (maybe even enough if Chelsea drop a few points to take back the league) 2nd I don't think is a realistic position for us this year. Next year probably, but this year, not really.


Well, I can hope, can't I? ;^)

Besides, the FA cup is a lock! Morinho doesn't care about it, Keane won't play in it, and we'll just have to depend on someone beating Arse, right? (again, this is all 'tongue in cheek' wishfullness)

[dcc134]

That's probably the only way 5th to 2nd will happen. Arsenal is too good even without Viera to drop too many points against teams that they shouldn't. I.e. Fulham, Rovers, basically anyone in the bottom half of the table. We can all wish that a huge jump is going to happen, but look at the statistics. Numbers are hard to argue against.

Arsenal lost to ManU (twice), us, Bolton and Birmingham on the last day of the year in a throw away game. I'm willing to bet that if that game was for the championship or even for 2nd place, they'd have won it. Remember, the week before they clinched 2nd over United by embarassing Everton 7-0 at Highbury. Also factor in the slump that they suffered after losing to United to break their unbeaten streak. They drew at home to So'ton and West Brom at home (those would have to be considered aberrations).

The bottom line is that Arsenal are immensely talented and know how to beat the teams they're much much better than. Even without Vierra will still possess enough ability to show that they are easily among the elite teams in the league (maybe even enough if Chelsea drop a few points to take back the league) 2nd I don't think is a realistic position for us this year. Next year probably, but this year, not really.



I think you are giving Arsenal way too much credit. It is going to be extremely difficult to maintain their consistency with the inexperience they have in central midfield. Sure they have talent all over the field, but without Viera and no real replacement, over the long haul that is going to show.

If we had lost Gerrard and not replaced him, would we even be considering a move up in the standings? I doubt it. Without their leader, Arsenal are going to lose and tie more of those road games against teams they should beat. Henry may be their captain, but he doesn't really strike me as a leader who can get it done in difficult situations. Also without Campbell to start the season they have a big hole in the middle of their defense.