Monday, 19 June 2023

Season predictions - results

Around the start of every season after the summer transfer window has closed, I try to predict how the final league table will look as well as how we’ll do in the cups as well as league itself.

I also conduct match-by-match result predictions, both at the start of the season and then pre-match.

First of all, here’s that very prediction piece from back in September 2022.

Here’s how I did

Final League Table 2022-23:

1st        Manchester City                    SPOT ON!

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2nd       Arsenal                                   2 places out (had ‘em down for 4th)

3rd        Manyoo                                  2 places out (had ‘em down for 5th)

4th        Newcastle United                  3 places out (had ‘em down for 7th)

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5th        Liverpool                                3 places out (had ‘em down for 2nd)

6th        Brighton & Hove Albion       2 places out (had ‘em down for 8th)

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7th        Aston Villa                             8 places out (had ‘em down for 15th)!

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8th        Tottenham Hotspur              5 places out (had ‘em down for 3rd)

9th        Brentford                              5 places out (had ‘em down for 14th)

10th      Fulham                                   3 places out (had ‘em down for 13th)

11th      Crystal Palace                       1 place out (had ‘em down for 10th)

12th      Chelsea                                  6 places out (had ‘em down for 6th)

13th      Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 places out (had ‘em down for 17th)

14th      West Ham United                  5 places out (had ‘em down for 9th)

15th      AFC Bournemouth               5 places out (had ‘em down for 20th)

16th      Nottingham Forest                3 places out (had ‘em down for 19th)

17th      Everton                                  1 place out (had ‘em down for 16th)

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18th      Leicester City                        SPOT ON!

19th      Leeds United                        8 places out (had ‘em down for 11th)!

20th      Southampton                       8 places out (had ‘em down for 12th)!

Any comments to be had there?

I think getting 2 spot on, 5 either just 1 or 2 places out and then a further 4 just 3 places out sounds pretty decent on the face of it – 11 from 20 within 3 places of where the sides actually finished, in other words. But there are some gaping whoppers in there too, with a good number of 5s / 6s as well as three 8s.

Obviously Arsenal were a lot stronger than I expected and Manyoo too improved a little more than I’d guessed also. I was shocked at what a poor season Liverpool had and, in fact, only a late surge and upturn in form saw them finish as high as they did in 5th!

Newcastle also had a far stronger season than I expected and I think a lot of credit has to go to their manager. Brighton didn’t surprised me really, even though they went on to achieve 2 places better than I had predicted. I hope they keep hold of their manager next season but it will be difficult. If Pep is to make the 2024 / 25 season his last with us, dare I suggest that Roberto might be a candidate to replace him?

Spurs have had a really poor season…and who the ‘eck could have foreseen Chelsea finishing 12th?! 😲 I expect both of those clubs to do much, MUCH better with no European games to “get in the way” next season; especially Chelsea, I’d say.

I think I’ll end this section by saying well done to Forest but even more so Bournemouth, who I had not only as going down but doing so by finishing bottom! I’m pleased to have been proven wrong and, once again, their manager should get a lot of praise…as well as the players too, of course. With shrewd investment from their relatively new owners, they should see themselves as an established, mid-table Premier League side and they try to takes little steps forward.

Looking at our fixtures both pre-season and then pre-match?

Pre-season: 63.16% of results predicted correctly, which is exactly what I got the previous season!

Pre-match: Also 63.16% of results predicted correctly a day or two prior to games. Weird…

As for the cups…

League Cup    -           Predicted the final and, therefore, possible winners.

2 rounds out (knocked out in the quarter final)

F.A. Cup          -           Predicted Quarter final.

2 rounds out (got to the final and won it!)

Champions League     -           Predicted the final and, therefore, possible winners.

SPOT ON!

Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to say a massive well done to our EDS / Under-23s, our Under 18s / Academy as well as City Women.

The EDS / Under-23 won Premier League 2 by a massive 13 points, as well as having an incredible + goal difference of 49, which was 32-goals better than second placed, Liverpool.

The Under-18s also finished their league campaign champions; finishing 4-points clear of a very strong Sunderland side in second. They also came so close to a place in the F.A. Youth Cup final but were beaten in extra time by Arsenal.

As for the women’s team, I thought they did really-quite-well both taking into account the huge number of injuries I recall them having at the start of the season and considering the very-high standard of their three, main rivals – Arsenal, Manyoo and, eventual league winners, Chelsea. I think I’m right in saying also that they’ve lost a considerable number of star players to other sides in the last couple of transfer windows; particularly to sides abroad.

As well as finishing 4th – joint-3rd on points with Arsenal – and 10 points clear of 5th-placed Aston Villa; they reached the semi-final of the League Cup and quarters of the F.A. Cup. Their ventures into Europe this season ended very early, sadly.

I don’t THINK I’ve missed noting any other achievements our Academy, EDS or Women’s team had last season but I would be happy to be corrected / updated…

That’s it for a short time – it’s been a marathon getting four, rather large, close-season blog-postings out in such a short space of time (glad I did some prep work on two of 'em).

The next time I plan to sit in front of the PC and write about City is likely to be when we bring out our 2nd strip; where I’ll probably do an opinion piece about both that and our home kit, which was released a few weeks’ ago.

We’ll see – I might wait until our 3rd kit is out and do a ‘1 piece fing’ on all three…

 

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