Domestic, European, cup placement/finishes? Top scorer? Best signing? Most improved/surprising player? What are we in store for this season? Going to wait until the transfer deadline to really assess, and I do hope the return of VVD & Gomez really inspires the side, but I still see some serious holes in the CM & attacking corps. I hope I'm wrong and/or some more signings come in. If not for a surprise, the power in England seems to somewhat firmly reside in Manchester. Unfortunately.
City, United, Chelsea all looks strong and could still make more moves before the window closes. LFC have their talented 11 and great manager, but are looking pretty thin. Hopefully players still incoming. Spurs, Arsenal, Leicester... I don't trust any of them to shake things up very much. Clear top 4 IMO.
PL Winner: Liverpool FC CL places: Citeh Chelsea Manure Relegation: Watford Brentford Brighton FA Cup: Liverpool FC League Cup: Liverpool FC Champs League: Liverpool FC Top Scorer: Salah - 36 goals all comps Best Youngster: Harvey Biggest Flop Signing: Jadon Sancho
No firm predictions before the end of the transfer window but yup, the top four seems pretty set. Without additions I’d say second or third in the league, a domestic cup and maybe glory in the CL.
is there any reason for this gloomy lack of optimism in some readings.... Chelsea won the CL with a few strong defensive back-end performances. Other than that they were underwhelming (just hard to beat) rather like we were in 2005 when we won similarly.... No-one assumed we were higher favs over Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal in the league the next season ('06). I say the same about this one. Barring injuries, City would be slight favs over us, IMO just as at the start of last year we were slight favs over them. Why are we supposedly so different now? We've lost Wijnaldum but have a firmly embedded Curtis Jones and Naby Keita apparently has been resurrected. We've replaced Lovren with Konate. We've embedded a 3rd good keeper. We've got Tsimkas looking good. We've got all these forwards ... Mane, Bobby, Salah, Jota, Minamino, Shaq, Elliot and we've got the same string of midfielders, Fab, Hendo, Thiago, Keita, Ox, Curtis, 90 yr old Jimmy Milner and Shaq if the rest of the forwards are in the forwards... Our defenders are better than City's... I don;t see the difference. Hit the damn ground optimistic and running.....ffs..
They really strengthened, on paper. Is Ramos still good? I honestly have no idea. I'd still say City are better, and if Bayern are tuned in they probably are as well -- City really should have won one by now... should have won last season, frankly -- and Liverpool aren't that far away from those top 3 if they can keep their first 11 healthy and in-form. But as always, surprises can happen. Atleti, Juve, Chelsea... United maybe. Who knows what could happen, depends how the groups/brackets shape up.
If City were "good enough" last year they would have beaten Chelsea. When push came to shove they didn't have that nous to break them down. You wanna know why? When they should have won it (I agree with you on that bit, but not applied to last year - Bayern or PSG should have won last year) was when they had a team with David Silva, De Bruyne,Fernandino, Vincent Kompany and a certain forgotten striking menace called Sergio Aguero .... either in their prime or later prime.... In one of those few years an inspired Liverpool took them out. Another year it was Spurs. Etc x2 or 3 .... (A brilliant Monaco, etc) But they are not that side any more. Harry Kane could change that, but without him, Bayern (certainly), PSG and LFC are all better than them.
Here’s my predicated league table: Liverpool City Chelsea United Leicester Arsenal Leeds Villa Tottenham Brighton Everton West Ham Watford Wolves Newcastle Norwich Burnley Brentford Southampton Palace
I don’t think it really matters how good they are. Their domestic league is a joke, so what happens there doesn’t really matter. Their entire season comes down to a knock out competition. A competition that involves a lot of luck. It’s also a competition where they will face teams who are used to playing in intense games week in and week out. Beating Troyes and Nice is not good preparation for a trip to Anfield.
PL Winner: Liverpool FC CL places: Citeh Chelsea Manure Relegation: Burnley Brentford Southampton FA Cup: Liverpool FC League Cup: Man Citeh Champs League: Bayern Top Scorer: Salah - 39 goals all comps Best Youngster: Harvey Biggest Flop Signing: Ben White or Leon Bailey
This one's for Zaq ............ These are fifteen players who played only a limited role in the last campaign. FIFTEEN New Players For Liverpool – Write Reds Off At Your Peril – The Tomkins Times
what I would love to know is did Sam read all the way through that??? that article leaves my usual 500 words in the dust ....
He's still good at fouling. Also, he will have a lot more energy this year, not having to waste most of it trying to kick Messi....
Pre-window closing... will adjust after window. PL Winner: Probably... City. Sadly. 85 pts CL places: United 77 pts -- nicked on GD! Liverpool 77 pts Chelsea 72 pts Next Best: Spurs 65 pts Arsenal 62 pts Leicester 59 pts West Ham 55 pts Relegation: Watford 36 pts Southampton 35 pts Norwich 25 pts FA Cup: Liverpool FC... I hope!!! Think I've predicted this 4 seasons on the bounce. League Cup: Man United Champs League: PSG defeats City in the final Europa League: Dortmund defeats Napoli in the final LFC Top Scorer: Salah - 30 goals all comps Nothing crazy maybe because of AFCON and some slight rotation... but still a very good season. Could do much more than this IF LFC make real runs in domestic cups... big if, judging Klopp's history in the cups. LFC Most Assists: Trent - 17 assists in all comps Big comeback season for Trent... can see this number being significant with some cup runs and with the twin towers back! Best LFC Youngster: Gotta be Harvey. Biggest Flop Signing: Hopefully Grealish, Lukaku, or Sancho, but I don't believe that. More likely it's someone like... Danny Ings. Sadly.
Window closed. Adjusted predictions. No more incoming players for Liverpool. Everyone else made lots of good/great moves. Looks like a tough year... hopefully LFC stay amazingly healthy and backups do a good job when called on like 18-19 and LFC prove me very, very wrong. PL Winner: Probably... City. 80 pts CL places: Chelsea 77 pts United 75 pts Liverpool 74 pts Next Best: Spurs 67 pts Leicester 65 pts Everton 64 pts West Ham 62 pts Arsenal 56 pts Relegation: Watford 36 pts Southampton 35 pts Norwich 25 pts FA Cup: Man United League Cup: Man City Champions League: Figured PSG & City being in the same group probably makes that final unlikely. I wouldn't mind if someone surprised in here, like Atleti, or Villarreal, or Lyon. Not going to hold my breath... PSG defeats Bayern in the final. Europa League: Dortmund defeats Napoli in the final LFC Top Scorer: Salah - 27 goals all comps, adjust down a little bit. Nothing crazy maybe because of AFCON and some slight rotation... but still a very good season. Still IMO could do much more than this IF LFC make real runs in domestic cups... big if, judging Klopp's history in the cups. LFC Most Assists: Trent - 13 assists in all comps, adjust down a little based on my prediction that LFC attack might struggle a bit this season. Can still see this number being significant with some cup runs and with the twin towers back! Hopefully Trent does even better. Best LFC Youngster: Harvey. Headless chicken a bit against Chelsea, but definitely demonstrated his quality. He should have a good season. Most Improved/Surprising for LFC: Naby! Sticking with it.. hoping he plays enough. Biggest Flop Signing: Should get my head straight and just pick someone from Arsenal every season... Ben White or Odegaard