Why do you think you'll finish 8th? Genuinely interested.
Not only do I think we can, but I think we should. (Not saying I'd be really disappointed with anything between 9th and 13th though).
Last season we ended up 9th. The only team above us who we can realistically see ourselves as a competitive rival for positions is Southampton, can't exactly expect to be challenging Everton, Tottenham and whichever laughing stock ended up in 7th (their name escapes me
) for league places.
So yeah, Southampton were the only team that finished above us if you discount the top clubs, and they've been stripped of all their best players and not improved their team one bit. Meanwhile we've added some really exciting players; Bojan, who's had an excellent pre season; Diouf, who you lot could probably tell me more about but has done well in Germany and adds quality to a position that has previously been occupied by the likes of Peter Crouch, Kenwyne Jones and a rapidly declining Ricardo Fuller (who I can assure you was bloody brilliant in his prime and forever a club legend for it); Steve Sidwell who adds great quality in depth in midfield and has been one of Fulham's better players for a number of years; Phil Bardsley who will fill a position that hasn't been a strong point of our squad for a long time (as much as I love Geoff Cameron, I think Bardsley is definitely an upgrade). Also added an unknown, young Brazilian defender called Dionatan Teixeira, but I've not a clue who he is.
Newcastle and Crystal Palace were the two that finished behind us. I think Newcastle have made a couple of good signings, but also lost a couple of their best players recently so I think we have a better squad and a much better manager than them. Palace have just lost the best manager in the bottom half of the table who was also the only reason they're playing in the top flight in 2014-15 so they're nothing to worry about.
Our squad is so much better than last season, any weak spots have now been covered and the excellent signings Hughes and Coates made before 2013-14 have now had a full season to bed in.
Our squad:
- Begovic is one of the best keepers in the league, Butland is England's top young keeper
- Bardsley and Pieters are good solid full backs, Shawcross is already a club legend and fully deserves an England call up, Muniesa showed great promise last year and has had an impressive pre season, Teixiera is an unknown quantity so we'll see if he can add depth while Huth (who I think will share the load with Muniesa as Shawcross' defensive partner) has good experience and is usually a trusted defender, he's also hilarious on Twitter if that counts for anything
- N'Zonzi is a very talented player, tends to stick at walking pace but it doesn't really matter because he's good enough to be allowed that luxury. Whelan was seen as more of a squad player under Pulis, even though he played most games he was never seen as a particularly important member of the squad but Hughes turned him into a really really talented player, many even thought he was our player of the season last year. Adam splits opinions, many think he should go but I like him and he pops up with some great goals (Man Utd fans will know this). Ireland has rejuvenated his career in a Stoke shirt and has shown his Man City form a lot more than he's shown his Villa form, Cameron can cover in midfield and anywhere along the back four, he's a really good player (thought he was fantastic in USA's game against the Germans during the World Cup), rumours he may be leaving but I really hope not, think the same be bout Marc Wilson as I do about Cameron
- As for forwards; I've spoken in detail about Bojan in the newbs but the general point of those posts is that the entire fan base is excited (myself included) and really hoping he shows us why he was so highly rated once, he's had an excellent pre season. Walters is always a useful squad player so he should stay, Crouch I think should go, he's not really needed but he'd be useful for depth should he stay. Diouf I've spoken about above, Odemwingie is brilliant and scored a lot of important goals last season and Arnautovic is a very exciting player when he can be arsed, he's inconsistent but has a lot of talent.
This post was a lot longer than I thought it'd be, and probably more than you can be arsed to read but I'm very excited about this season as you can probably tell. Hopefully I'm not getting my hopes up.
