Transfer window now closed, it’s time to try ‘n’ predict how this season is gonna go.
A little later than planned but, hey…whatever.
Firstly, the league…
1st Manchester City
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2nd Chelsea
3rd Manyoo
4th Liverpool
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5th Leicester City
6th West Ham United
7th Tottenham
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8th Everton
9th Aston Villa
10th Arsenal
11th Southampton
12th Leeds United
13th Brentford
14th Brighton & Hove Albion
15th Burnley
16th Newcastle United
17th Crystal Palace
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18th Wolverhampton Wanderers
19th Watford
20th Norwich City
Notable points about that predicted, final table for the 2021/22 season and starting with us:
I’ve simply broken it down like this for us:
1. Do we have one of the best goalkeepers in the league? Yes, we do…and we have a decent “No.2” as well.
2. Do we have the best defense in the league? I would say that despite not having a specialist left-wing back, we sure do.
3. Do we have the best attacking / creative midfield / wing department in the league? When you ‘reel the names off’, I don’t think there’s any doubt whatsoever that we do; there’s no team that can touch us in that department, in my opinion, and that’s saying something when you look at the talent a lot of the other teams have in their squads also.
4. Do we have the best ‘strike force’ in the league? No…but for that, I would say see No.3; a bunch of players who are all capable of getting into double figures each season, with some more than able of breaking the ‘20 barrier’.
Any weaknesses we should be concerned about?
Well…there is that issue of not having a specialist left-wing back but if the likes of Cancelo, Zinchenko, Laporte & Ake ‘step up’ and perform whenever asked to cover that role; there’s enough talent listed there for us not to be OVERLY concerned, I would say.
Perhaps our defensive midfield area? I think for a lot of fans – and I’ve been edging this way myself in the last 12 months or so – are of the opinion that Rodri is still to ‘fully convince’. And when you add that situation to a 36-year-old Fernandinho; I think we can categorise that as a slight area for concern…and that’s even with a nod to the fact that Ilkay Gundogan can play in that position if required.
Lastly, I think I’d add Pep not over-thinking it in ‘big games’. I think there are gonna be even more league fixtures with that particular label on it this season – I seem to say this every year recently but I don’t think I’ve seen a table full of so many teams capable of putting in a title challenge. It’s gonna be a close one, I would suggest, and our manager needs to get those big clashes right more than he does wrong if we are to stand a chance of retaining the title; a difficult task in itself ANY season.
As for some notable points about the rest:
· Chelsea look very strong and have an excellent, resolute manager at the helm. They are the biggest challengers for sure.
· Manyoo have spent big on even MORE attacking players; a side who weren’t exactly lacking numbers in that department have now added 2 more at the cost of well over £100M, including wages. They’ve added quality to their central defense too. The team from Trafford are definitely going to be ‘there or there abouts’, in my opinion, but there’s one factor going against them that I see holding them back and leaving them ‘just short’…they have Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at the wheel. I think they’ll smash teams ‘off the park’ some weeks but will also have plenty of ‘off games’ where they’ll continue to look disjointed. Their fans often bemoan their midfield and all-too-often their manager’s personnel choices. He’s got a lot of ‘big egos’ to deal with too and I can see that causing them issues at some point.
· Liverpool have been quiet in the market but have top quality players returning from long injuries. They’re a team packed with a lot of talent and a manager who has done it all before. They’ll be very strong for sure and I could be wrong about a 4th-place finish – THEY could well be our biggest challenger.
· Leicester, as we saw on Saturday, are a fit, organised side with talented players and should see themselves retain their 5th-place finish from last season and with West Ham and Spurs capable sides also; basically, I’ve just realised that I’ve repeated LAST season’s top-7 sides, with only Chelsea, Manyoo & Liverpool shuffling slightly.
· Norwich & Watford brought in a whoppin’ 30 players between them (15 each in fact) but already look in trouble; especially Norwich. Of the two, Watford might stand the slightly better chance of survival but they have a very inexperienced manager and I think that’ll be their undoing. Norwich just look as doomed as they did the last time they were in the ‘top flight’. A ‘journey man’ manager at the helm at Wolves, whereby he’s largely been in charge of youth teams or been an assistant manager over the last 24 years, is likely to see them struggle too and I’m tipping them for ‘the drop’ this season (will they swap with West Brom as they both have done in the past?). I think it’ll be a close-run thing at the bottom though and I can see another ‘twitchy time’ for Burnley fans; a lower finishing position for Newcastle this time round and Palace fans could be in for a very nervy season also; although more of what they saw last Saturday would change that prediction for sure. I can see Brentford having a decent 1st spell back in the top division.
City and the cups?
Finally, here’s how I think we’ll do in the other three competitions.
League Cup - Quarter final stage.
F.A. Cup - Final and, therefore, possible winners.
Champions League - Final and, therefore, possible winners.
With regards to the League Cup, last season we equaled the record of winning it back-to-back 4 times and I’m sure our manager would just love to grab that record of ‘5 in a row’. However, I think this season he’ll have bigger fish that he’ll want to catch and there are far more competing rods in the river this season. Therefore, I believe that we’ll see more of a ‘second string’ outfit than we have done recently in this competition and although that too is likely to be a decent side for sure; if we pull one of the bigger sides at a time where there are more important games around us then that might just end it for us this season before we reach the final.
As for the F.A. Cup, initially I put us down for the quarter final stage also but then had a bit of a re-think. Of course, we could crash out in the 3rd round stage but if we do find ourselves in the semi-final, then I’m betting that our manager will want to get it right this season and ‘go for it’.
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| Gazprom Arena |
“Hungrier than ever” are the words I feel I must use to describe how our manager will be feeling about the Champions League this season, especially having arrived at the final last season only for the team to do an impression of a half-deflated balloon found at the back of the settee a week after a party.
We’ve been handed a pretty tough group though, I would say, and it’s a long road to the final in this competition – we might not even make it that far again. But I would say that if we can keep our top players free from injury in a busy schedule that is STILL to see 2 more international breaks before Christmas, then we could find ourselves in Russia at the end of May.
To ‘sign off’ and ‘other factors’…
I think it’s going to be a really interesting season with some classic encounters in both the league & cups. Straps yourselves in!
What could throw a spanner in the works and possibly cause fixture disruption, eventual congestion and then team-selection issues for us and other teams, of course, is the specter that is Covid-19.
I’m not one to be ‘doom & gloom’; I am, in fact, a very much ‘glass half full’ sort of person. However, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that we’ve not seen the back of this yet and as we – and I suppose by “we” I mean mainly the UK but also Europe and the whole northern hemisphere really - face only our second winter since the emergence of this dangerous virus; it’s got plenty more teeth to bare, I’m sure. I don’t want this to turn into a ‘news feed’ or sound like a government advice service but the continued vaccine roll-out should help and, fingers crossed, we’ll see little disruption, footy-wise.
However, here in the UK we’ve not seen a new variant for a while now and going into winter with no people-gathering restrictions does concern me a little.
I would say, hope for the best but keep in mind that we might see postponed fixtures / end of season date changes and ‘general chaos’ plus, dare I also suggest, a restriction on the number of fans in stadiums short of ‘closed turnstiles’ once more.
Other than that…ENJOY THE SEASON!
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