It's that time again. I am copying Lamprey's thread from last year. Post your final standings predictions and we'll tally everyone up at the end to determine who was the closest. Feel free to add predictions on top goal scorer, assists, top transfers, top trainers, etc. Also, justify your picks if you want to generate a discussion. Have fun! The Title Contenders 1.Bayern – Yawn. 2.Dortmund – consistent The European Contenders -I'll stick with last seasons 3.Schalke 4 Leverkusen – Losing Carvajal, Schurrle and Lewandowski as trainer will hurt. 5. Mönchengladbach 6. Wolfsburg The huge mid table - as with last season - a lot of question marks 7. Bremen 8. Hannover 9. Hamburg 10. Hoffenheim 11. Mainz 12. Hertha Berlin 13. Stuttgart 14. Köln 15. Freiburg 16. Augsburg This is a really hard year to pick relegation sides. Don't feel great about this pick. 17. Frankfurt 18. Paderborn
1. Bayern Munich 2. Borussia Dortmund 3. Schalke 04 4. Vfl Wolfsburg 5. Bayer Leverkusen 6. Borussia Monchengladbach 7. TSG Hoffenheim 8. Hertha Berlin 9. HSV 10. Vfb Stuttgart 11. Hannover 96 12. Eintracht Frankfurt 13. Mainz 14. Werder Bremen 15. FC Augsburg 16. SC Freiburg 17. FC Koln 18. SC Paderborn
1. Bayern Munich 2. Borussia Dortmund 3. Schalke 04 4. Bayer Leverkusen 5. Borussia Mönchengladbach 6. Wolfsburg 7. Hertha Berlin 8. Werder Bremen 9. Hoffenheim 10. Stuttgart 11. Hamburg 12. Köln 13. Hannover 14. Augsburg 15. Mainz 16. Freiburg 17. Frankfurt 18. Paderborn
Title Contenders 1. Borussia Dortmund (Prolly a dumb pick. They can't possibly have as many injuries as last season and I think Bayern is going to have issues with motivation, injuries and tactics) 2. Bayern Munich (I'm sure I'm being too hopeful, but there is a lot of bad voodoo in the air for them. Tired players with potential motivation issues after WC, already lots of injuries, very light in midfield and defense now. Pep is already getting defensive) 3. Schalke 04 (Had a great ruckrunde, their poor hinrunde was down to Huntelaar being injured. The youngsters got much needed experience. Should be better this season and keep up with Dortmund / Bayern) Race for 4th 4. Wolfsburg (4th best roster, solid trainer and finally time to fulfill their potential. They should have had 4th last season if not for the bogus broken net goal. Having Europa League matches will be a hiccup, but their squad is deep enough to cope) 5. Bayer Leverkusen (New trainer is an unknown. They should've convinced Lewandowski to take the job. Not real impressed with transfers in and out) 6. Borussia Mönchengladbach (Don't think we'll keep up in race for 4th because our squad is too thin and Europa League, assuming we qualify, will take its toll. We're one CB and striker short of moving up from 6th. Kruse already injured, with a kidney stone, and we have no legitimate back-up) Big Mid Table 7. Hoffenheim 8. Hertha Berlin 9. Frankfurt 10. Stuttgart 11. Hamburg 12. Freiburg 13. Augsburg Relegation Candidates 14. Hannover (not convinced by trainer, lot of squad turnover this offseason) 15. Werder Bremen (fluked their way to several draws and wins last season or they would’ve gone down. Might be just lucky enough to escape the drop another year) 16. Köln (the Bundesliga II was really weak last season and while they won it, not that convincingly. I think they’ll finish 16th and win relegation play-off to stay up) 17. Mainz (more of a spite pick for now two times embarrassing the bundesliga in Europe League. Losing Tuchel will be huge, squad has punched way way above weight recently) 18. Paderborn (the plucky Braunschweig of this year. Will huff and puff but won’t be enough)
I like @Lamprey 's predictions. A few changes 1. Bayern Munich - it's theirs to lose. They have the best squad. Only incompetence could see them surrender first place, but with this group of individuals it could happen. I don't think Pep is a good coach and it won't take much to derail this train. (95% chance of finishing between 1st and 3rd) 2. Dortmund - will the replacements be adequate? Will the returning injured players return to form? If the answer is yes to both questions, then they're a title contender. If the answer is no, they could slip down the table. (finish between 1st and 5th) 3. Schalke - will the youth grow, and can the squad stay healthy? Youth adds volatility to a squad. In Schalke's case, it could mean challenging for the title or struggling down in the EL spots. Somewhere in between seems most likely. (finish between 1st and 7th) 4. Wolfsburg - 4th best starting 11, but more importantly 4th best depth. That depth will come in handy will will likely be a long Europa League well into the Spring. (finish between 2nd and 7th) 5. Borussia Mönchengladbach - again, depth is the story here. Great depth is the key to success in this area of the table, so I see them taking the 5th spot, and challenging for the CL spots. (finish between 3rd and 7th) 6. Bayer Leverkusen - I'm not quite sold on their roster, but Leverkusen always manages to surprise me. For some reason, putting them in 6th place has me very uneasy. I hope that instinct is wrong. Center backs for the win? (finish between 3rd and 7th) 7 and 8. Hoffenheim and Berlin - solid rosters that should see them compete for a potential EL spot. They don't have the talent or the depth to be any higher. (finish between 6th an 10th) 9th through 13th. Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Augsburg - none of these guys should realistically be worried about relegation. Hamburg might punch a bit higher, but I won't hold my breath. (finish between 7th and 17th) 14th through 16th. Werder Bremen, Hannover, Köln - I'm starting to get worried for these folks. It will take a bit of luck, tactical genius, or breakout seasons to get them higher in the table. (finish between 11th and 18th) 17 and 18. Mainz and Paderborn - time to panic? Perhaps not just yet. Still, these are the relegation favorites this season. Poor Mainz. They have some decent youth coming up, but I think it's just a year too early for them to make an impact with the first team. Paderborn could surprise, but it would be...well, a surprise. (finish between 14th and 18th)
This season no website quality table: 1. Borussia Dortmund 2. Schalke 04 3. Bayern Munich 4. Wolfsburg 5. Hoffenheim 6. Bayer Leverkusen 7. Borussia Mönchengladbach 8. Stuttgart 9. Frankfurt 10. Werder Bremen 11. Hamburg 12. Köln 13. Augsburg 14. Hannover 15. Hertha Berlin 16. Paderborn 17. Freiburg 18. Mainz
The clear favourite is Bayern, but let's not forget that the same situation was 3-4 years ago. In any case my hope is that we'll see a strong competition at the top of the table, so Borussia Dortmund will shine surprisingly again. So: 1. Borussia Dortmund 2. Bayern Munchen 3. Bayer Leverkusen (they made some good signings this summer) 4. Schalke 04 5. Wolfsburg 6. Hoffenheim 7. [...]