Predictions time.

Transfer window now closed (apart from possible outgoings to the Turkish league), it’s time to try ‘n’ predict how this season is gonna play out.

As usual, I’d never do this piece until the main transfer window closes due to the obvious fact that teams can either strengthen or get weakened by incoming & outgoing players.

Firstly, my predicted end-of-season league standings:

1^st        Liverpool

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2^nd       Arsenal

3^rd        Chelsea

4^th        Manchester City

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5^th        Manyoo

6^th        Tottenham Hotspur

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7^th        Newcastle United

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8^th        Nottingham Forest

9^th        AFC Bournemouth

10^th      Aston Villa

11^th      Brighton & Hove Albion

12^th      Fulham

13^th      Crystal Palace

14^th      Everton

15^th      West Ham United

16^th      Sunderland

17^th      Brentford

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18^th      Wolverhampton Wanderers

19^th      Burnley

20^th      Leeds United

Notable points about that predicted, final table for the 2025/26 season with regards to us, initially:

-       Goalkeeping department:

A good shuffle of the gloved department saw one 39-year-old depart and a 33-year-old replace him. Then, we saw the return of 22-year-old, James Trafford; the departure of Ederson and the arrival of Italian international, Gianluigi Donnerrumma. We could see Stefan Ortega go to somewhere in Turkey but I don’t think he was necessarily hoping for that; I got the feeling that he was hoping to get a move but to somewhere in Europe.

Regardless of whether the German keeper leaves us, that’s two out and three in at the moment; with the average age of the keeper department coming down considerably.

Is it an overall improvement? I suppose time will tell but for now I say, “Yes, it looks to be so”.

-       Defensive department:

Has it improved on last season during the summer transfer window? I’d have to say, “No not really”.

At least, in Rayan Ait-Nouri, we have a specialist left-wing back and against his old side, Wolves, on the opening day of the season I thought he defended very well. My eyes were widened by his display as I’d come to understand that we’d signed yet another left-wing back who was better at attacking than defending; such is that role in modern football. Again, time will tell but at least we’re not having to constantly utilise a left-footed central defender or an attacking midfielder in that position.

However, the list of defenders loaned out who can either be classed as first team or ‘fringe players’, generally speaking, is quite large. Finley Burns, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Juma Bah, Manuel Akanji and Vitor Reis have all left on season-long loans. Even Premier League experienced, Burkina Faso international, right-wing back, Issa Kabore has been sent out on loan until June 2026.

I suppose some of ‘em may have ‘recall clauses’ in case we suffer another injury meltdown like we did last season but for a defence that was once looking quite healthy as the season opener approached, it now looks a little less so; especially when you look at the names / ages and recall how injury prone they have been over the last couple of seasons at least. We’ve already got some unfamiliar treatment room faces who have just been withdrawn from international duty who are not our regular walking wounded – Khusanov, Gvardiol, Lewis and O’Reilly. 😒

-       Midfield and wing department:

Massively upgraded in the summer because of both purchases and those returning from long-term injury. Quality in abundance in all positions; defensive and offensive, central and wide.

-       Striking department:

With two top-quality strikers - plus Oscar Bobb who has played ‘front and center’ for both club and country on brief occasions - we have no issues whatsoever. Sorted.👍 I wouldn’t mind ‘em converting more chances, however, but that’s not a topic for this piece.

And as for (some of) the rest…

Genuinely, before the last day of the transfer window on 1^st September, I had Arsenal down as league winners. I thought they had strengthened massively all over the pitch in the summer, and they have, and I thought that this was going to be their season; nudging up one place from their last campaign to grab the big domestic prize that their club and fans have been craving.

However, despite the fact that Liverpool have lost some very good players in the summer, tragically one through loss of life, they then spent massively also; with a huge slice of their spending on one player, Florian Wirtz. Then came the final day of the transfer window where they splashed the cash again BIG time improving, yet further, on their striking department (Alexander Isak) and although they missed out by a whisker of improving their central defence (Marc Guehi); I still think that they’ll be too strong for the rest and will retain the title this season.

I think Chelsea will be both as strong, and as flaky at times, as they were last season. Once more, just ahead of the final day of the transfer window, I originally had ‘em down as 4^th. What changed my mind, and sadly to the detriment of us, is that they look stronger than I expected in the opening three fixtures…and stronger than we look as I continue to tweak this article before release.

Seeing as I’m focusing on the top end of the division at the moment, and because I’ve placed ‘em where I have; I suppose I have to now talk about Manyoo.

Some might say that I am crazy to suggest that a team who finished 15^th last season will suddenly jump 10 places and end up in a European finishing position and those people may well be right. In fact…I hope I HAVE lost the plot a little in my assessment about the team from Trafford but here’s my reasoning.

They have improved their attacking midfield / wing / striking department SO very much I just can’t help thinking that they’ll win more matches than they’ll lose this season. They won 11 league games and lost 18 last season and I can easily see that reversing at very least. Perhaps, similarly to us but maybe more so, they’re still very vulnerable at the back and perhaps in their defensive midfield department too and that may just stop ‘em from achieving my predicted 5^th-place finish. However, if they do fall short of achieving 5^th then I don’t think it’ll be by much. Crucially, they also have no European football to stretch their resources across an additional competition.

I think Spurs, Newcastle and Forest will all battle it out for 6^th to 8^th place. There’s another big leaping side, Tottenham. 17^th last season and, if I am correct, they’ll shift a whopping 11 places!

At the scary end of the table I just can’t for one second see Leeds surviving, simple as that.

Burnley’s rock-solid defence from last season’s Championship campaign has already been breached 6 times in just 3 games. Considering they’re not a side known for scoring many then to have your greatest asset suddenly fail you is gonna hurt.

I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve tipped Wolves for ‘the drop’ and been proven wrong every time. However, they look considerably weaker after the summer transfer window and are already propping up the rest. Sadly, for both the club and fans, this season I could well be right for once.

As I saw Brentford being systematically dissected over the summer, both on the pitch as well as their management team, I genuinely had The Bees down as relegation fodder. However, despite winning one and losing two of their opening three fixtures they look better than I had expected and should have the experience to just about stay above the three teams I’ve placed below them.

Sunderland look a LOT better than I expected and I think they’ll be fine in their first season back in the top flight since 2017.

City and the cups?

Finally, here’s how I think we’ll do in the other three competitions:

League Cup                -           Semi-final.

F.A. Cup                      -           Final, again, and therefore possible winners…again.

Champions League     -           Round of 16.

I think our manager would like to make quite a few changes for the League Cup this season but with us goin’ into the season with a slightly larger / deeper squad, especially in the midfield/wing department; I think any “second 11” will still be a strong one. We could even make the final in this competition.

I think we’ll show strong again in the F.A. Cup and the only thing that will stop us getting to Wembley, at least, is if we draw Arsenal, Liverpool…or Spurs.

As for the Champions League, simply put if we’re not good enough to win our domestic league [in my opinion] then I doubt, even though it’s a cup competition, that we’ll be good enough to win a trophy in Europe. There’s a good chance we might not even make it out of the first table stage…😧

The reality is that we’re having to take a step back as we reconstruct a team that was both aging and creaking last season and for that, I think we need to accept that this competition has become, once again, an unwanted distraction from any possible domestic silverware. You, the reader, may never have been of that mindset. I was for a while until we’d bagged, what I thought was, enough domestic silverware and I have to admit that I am once again…just for the time being at least.

To ‘sign off’…

I think we’re going to do okay…ish. But will okay’ish be enough for a new generation of Manchester City fans plus those ‘old timers’ whose expectations have now risen SO high that they expect nothing less than a season filled with silverware? I doubt it. And nor will an okay’ish season keep the ‘press vultures’ at bay.

A 4^th-place finish and a chance of some domestic cup silverware would, at one time, have been seen as a very good season and even a DREAM for a lot of Blues. Now it’ll be deemed as simply unacceptable and I get that.

At one point over the summer I was reeling off, in my head, the likes of, Silva, Echeverri, Doku, Gonzalez, Bobb, Cherki, Rodri, Reijnders, Marmoush and Haaland and, with the addition of a new Assistant Manager / Coach, was almost drooling at what I might witness in terms of new attacking weapons and a tweaked system. That’s still a possibility of course and…🤞

However, I now find myself feeling a little let down that a vulnerable area of our already-vulnerable defence hasn’t been addressed (right-wing back if you needed to ask) in a defence that, to me, looks no different to last season in many ways. That concerns me.

Let’s just hope it’s going to be a case of, you score one, we’ll score two; you score two, we’ll score three. It’ll do nothing for the nerves plus, at the moment, we continue to fail to capitalise on so many of our created changes, so…🤷‍♂️

Hold on to your seats Blues; it could be a bumpy one. And find your tin hats too because I can envisage some flak heading our way over the next nine months…

Carbon Copy City

Aside from the timings of the goals and a few stats; that was almost identical to last season’s visit to the AmEx Community Stadium.

More worryingly – and I can’t speak for you, of course – was that I could just sense it coming during the game.

It felt inevitable

Wasted chances, no step up in tempo and a home side that you could tell was smelling blood. At 0-1 up, I said to my wife that if we don’t start taking our chances and retaking control of the game after a lot of possession, once again, in the first half at least, then it’s going to lead to them having their chances.

Soon after that? BANG! Penalty. Bit later? BANG! 2-1 to the home side. Groundhog Day.

They were sickening blows but not as sickening as watching my City side with the apparent-same issues as last season. Even one of my favourite players, Oscar Bobb, was guilty of dithering on more than one occasion yesterday; almost like he was low on confidence to fully take on his man / men. On the one occasion he used his immense talent to dance through 2 or 3 Brighton players he just couldn’t carry the ball all the way through with him.

At the other end, a stupid error and then being stretched and overloaded on yet another opposition counter attacking break sealed our fate.

And to add insult to injury, after a fairly decent start where possession was, once again, our main weapon of choice; far too many of our players faded to the point where they only deserved 4s, 5s and, at best, 6s. For me, only James Trafford earnt his pay on the day.

No guts and no leadership on the pitch was the main theme from our supporters who could bring themselves to speak on local radio after the worsening display in the second half.

The manager

“Pep has been found out”, were the shouts from opposing fans last season. In close season, the club decided to bring in an additional Pep (Lijnders); a once Assistant Manager to Jurgen Klopp and his ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’-style football.

Backed up by new-attacking, creative midfielders, many City fans expected, at the very least, a noticeable tweak to our play; certainly attack wise. But apart from looking a bit more direct against Wolves, no…not since.

Possession, possession, possession is our marching tune; create loads of chances, sometimes get a goal in front, switch off and then get punished. It’s like a reoccurring bad dream.

Am I reading last season’s script there or the script from our last two games? Either way, they’re the same.

Of the fans who phoned into BBC Radio Manchester, I didn’t hear one, overreacting, ranting person who was suffering post-match emotions and in addition to almost all of them asking where the guts and leadership were; every single one of ‘em, when asked about what they’d like on the final day of the summer transfer window, said, “A right-back” without hesitation.

Will filling that position with a quality signing fix all of our problems? Well, from all that I’ve written above the answer is definitely, “No”. But it would go a long way to help with some of our defensive frailties? I say, “Yes”.

Before a ball was even kicked in yesterday’s fixture a pundit on Radio Manchester gave out an ominous warning about how this was likely to be a dangerous game; adding that in addition to a confident-sounding Brighton manager, to him Pep looked like a worried man ahead of this match.

Last season, I kept brushing off and brushing off again all talk of Pep losing it; Pep being found out and Pep being far too stubborn to change his ways. When Pep Number 2 came in, I thought that had answered the last slur against our manager - he was prepared to listen to a change of mindset as other sides adapt to our once-threatening ways.

Now, and as of just turned 4:00pm yesterday, I’m starting to have some doubts about our hero of a manager and I don’t like that feeling.

Two weeks off domestically now. Is it two weeks to fix things or is it two weeks to rankle and worry about whether we can find our old selves ahead of Manyoo, a returning Kevin De Bruyne in a Napoli shirt and then Arsenal.

Yikes…