Whose Top 4 Place Will we Take Next Season?

Rednotdead

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Assuming, of course, we don't have another nightmare of a season.

Realistically there will be 5 teams competing for the 4 CL places next season - Utd, City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. The likes of Spurs, Everton etc. will flit around the top 4 early on perhaps, but when push comes to shove they won't quite be there.

Looking at the other 4 contenders the obvious choice for us to replace would seem to me to be Liverpool. They will experience something of a reality check next season, the CL will bring unaccustomed added pressure in terms of games, possible injuries, travelling and recovery in time for league games etc. I don't see that they have anything like the depth of squad they'll need to get them successfully through the season. Added to that will be the mental pressure of trying to repeat last season's performances.

Can anyone see any other candidates for the chop?
 
I think we'll finish no lower than 3rd.

Liverpool will be the team left out. Arsenal finish 4th
 
Arsenal won't make it into the top 4, Liverpool finishes 4th, Chelsea and City will battle for the title until the last match day. :D
 
I'd say Liverpool's. Next season they wont have the luxury to focus on just the EPL. Also expect Chelsea (2nd season of Maureen + with a new striker), City (Pellegrini would have settled down and tackled possible weaknesses) and Tottenham (their squad would have settled down by now) to be stronger next season.
 
If Rodgers makes the signings he wants to, we shouldn't be quite so presumptuous about finishing above Liverpool.
 
I don't see how Chelsea and City fall out. I think they will fight for the title and Liverpool, Arsenal and United will fight for 3rd and 4th, with maybe Everton or Spurs mounting a solid challenge there before dropping off.

I think Arsenal have the strongest spine with Koscielny-Mertesacker and Ramsey-Ozil providing creativity, with a new DM or Flamini/Arteta doing an okay job there. Shame Wilshere doesn't have his act together enough to become a DM. They'd be terrifying, and he has the mobility and bite to do it. I also think they'll sign a decent striker to compete with Giroud and score off the bench. So I'd have them favorites for 3rd.

Liverpool vs United is tough. Rodgers has done a brilliant job, and I think he could replace Suarez even if he goes and still have a scary attack, but it's hard not to see Gerrard being a year older and their ugly backline causing them trouble, though I could see Sakho having a stronger season.

This question is tough to answer before transfers. Liverpool could keep Suarez, get a good fee for Agger and spend money on a top fullback. Or Suarez could go, replaced by Lallana and some risky defenders brought in. United could sign Kroos and Strootman to sort out the midfield, or strike out and end up settling for Clasie or another unproven type with one of Fellaini or Cleverley getting a real chance under LVG.

So, chance of missing out on the CL, right now:
Chelsea - 5 percent chance (Mourinho gets fired)
City - 5 percent chance (Silva and Toure get hurt, they can't keep the ball and get exposed on the break over and over)
Arsenal - 25 percent (Wenger is good enough)
Liverpool - 30 percent (They probably can't score 100 with teams readier to park the bus)
United - 35 percent (LVG teams start slow, will our D be good enough?)
 
it all really down to what happens this summer.
I think Chelsea and City will defiantly Finish top four. the rest is up in the Air.

Arsenal need a striker, if the don't get one and giroud gets injured, the could easliy tumble out of the top four. But surely wenger can't be daft enough not to buy one when it this obvious thats what they need?

Liverpool, need a defense as well as a few more forwards, thier squad is paper thin, and with the champions league as well it not hard to see thier squad been over stretched, i also expext gerrard to struggle next season after the disapointment of missing out on the league this year, a tiring summer in the world cup, and his age, and i think he wll be thier weak link next season as i can't see him been dropped. and ill be shocked if strurridge plays as well. So unless liverpool make some amazing signings i expect them to fall out of the top four.

Spurs i personly think are a decent manager(and maybe another decent pacey Center back) away from a top four place. they have a great squad,if they could just get a manager in who could make it click, then they could be a real force. If Van Gaal had got the job i would have said it would be top four, but currently it looks like it between pochettino and de boer. and can't say im as confident either will manage to pull the squad togther enough.

Us: We have a Huge squad already and not as many games as our competitors, so think with a good summer we should stroll back into the top four with ease.
think only thing that will stop that is a badly handled summer, where two many of our inconsistent players stay (ie:nani anderson, young....) and we bring in the wrong sorts of players(Robben, Sagna, Song...) and we acually end up with a worse squad. but i think as long as wodward learn from last years mistakes, we should be fine.

so i think liverpool will drop out and we will get top four again.
 
Arsenal will buy a striker and a defender. They'll actually keep up a title challenge and Ramsey will be player of the year.
Chelsea will buy a striker who actually scores goals, fix everything else and win the league
City will be as good as this season but we'll be up there with them

Liverpool cannot have another season as good as this one, them.
 
Nobody is certain to finish top four.

I do think Arsenals grip on the top four gets more slender as the seasons go by.
 
Ducklegs said:
Nobody is certain to finish top four.

I do think Arsenals grip on the top four gets more slender as the seasons go by.
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I think if Wenger can secure the services of a Top DM like Martinez, a 25 goal season striker and an upgrade on Podolski; they would be the front runners for the title next season.
 
Liverpool or Arsenal.

Especially Liverpool, if Suarez leaves. I expect it to be a tougher season for Liverpool next season. The we attack, you attack mentality won't work in the champions league as City found out recently and ourselves in the 90s. And that could have a baring on league form.
 
Shinjisan said:
I think if Wenger can secure the services of a Top DM like Martinez, a 25 goal season striker and an upgrade on Podolski; they would be the front runners for the title next season.
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He had those during the last 9 years and still couldn't do it.

He had a midfield of Song and Fibreglass, RVP up top, Walcott, Carlos Vela who he never played and sold on because reasons.
It's not the players he has at his disposal, it's him.
 
Ducklegs said:
He had those during the last 9 years and still couldn't do it.

He had a midfield of Song and Fibreglass, RVP up top, Walcott, Carlos Vela who he never played and sold on because reasons.
It's not the players he has at his disposal, it's him.
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Not entirely true.

They need a world class striker and DM. But for years before that everyone were saying how they needed CBs. They got them and let their world class striker go.

Wenger hasn't found the balance. And to be fair in those 9 years, they have bottled it. They were top for most of last season and their typical February/March collapse came.
 
Ducklegs said:
He had those during the last 9 years and still couldn't do it.

He had a midfield of Song and Fibreglass, RVP up top, Walcott, Carlos Vela who he never played and sold on because reasons.
It's not the players he has at his disposal, it's him.
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Song never was and never will be a top DM. Arsenal have had a good XI but there squad was never the strongest. In addition, they had to regularly sell their top players to raise cash in order to fulfil their stadium liabilities.

The current squad has a good foundation. A young, quite experienced and exciting British base. If reports are to be believed that Wenger has a £100m transfer kitty, and if he can acquire those top players with that cash than, imo, they would be right up there challenging for the title.
 
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I expect Liverpool to struggle a little next season.
 
Shinjisan said:
Song never was and never will be a top DM. Arsenal have had a good XI but there squad was never the strongest. In addition, they had to regularly sell their top players to raise cash in order to fulfil their stadium liabilities.

The current squad has a good foundation. A young, quite experienced and exciting English base. If reports are to be believed that Wenger has a £100m transfer kitty, and if he can acquire those top players with that cash than, imo, they would be right up there challenging for the title.
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Wenger always has a 100 million transfer kitty.
Every year the same thing, Wenger has money to spend, if he does X Y and Z they will certainly be challenging for the title.
 
Shinjisan said:
What kind of evidence will you be looking at 11 days after the season got over?
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Appointment of a risky manager, three experienced players leaving at once, still clear issues within the squad.

This isn't football manager. You can't just sign 8 players and think it'll all be ok again.
 
alastair said:
No-one's.

5th place for me. I have seen no evidence to suggest otherwise.
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We now have a competent manager who commands respect, the difference will be monumental. I see your point that we have to prove it on the pitch, but we will make a couple of good additions, don't have midweek football to 'worry' about (I'd like to worry about it, but oh well), so anything but a comfortable return to Top 4 would surprise me.
 
alastair said:
Appointment of a risky manager, three experienced players leaving at once, still clear issues within the squad.

This isn't football manager. You can't just sign 8 players and think it'll all be ok again.
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I'm pretty confident we'll finish above arsenal.
 
Liverpool's. I think the season just gone was a one off for both teams.
 
alastair said:
No-one's.

5th place for me. I have seen no evidence to suggest otherwise.
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I love it, 1 dodgy season and opposition fans try to forget about our past 20 years dominance. Arsenal were very lucky Everton slipped up
and Arse had an easy run of fixtures towards the end otherwise they wouldn't be in top 4 this season either.
 
alastair said:
Appointment of a risky manager, three experienced players leaving at once, still clear issues within the squad.

This isn't football manager. You can't just sign 8 players and think it'll all be ok again.
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Everyone knows it isn't football manager. Why do you think 5th? Why not 7th or lower?

"5th place for me.I have seen no evidence to suggest otherwise." - is a nonsensical statement.

We are losing 3 players - One of whom was a bit part player, another one way past his best, and the loss of Vidic can be overcome by a good CB signing.

We need 8 players? Who told you that? We still have a good base of players in De Gea, Rafael, Evra, Smalling, Jones, Evans, Carrick, Januzaj, Valencia, Rooney, Mata and Van Persie. Some of them are world class. What we need is injection of quality in certain areas. Addition of 3 or 4 players in the first team is very different from overhauling the complete first XI. And we can manage to ease them in due to the already available quality. It may be too much for a title challenge, but top 4 can be done fairly easily with the right manager.
 
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Arsenal. We're gonna knock 'em right off their fecking perch.
 
Liverpool. 100%.

I've said it in another thread but they hit a purple patch this year where all players were on form at the right time and I just don't see it happening like that again. On top of that they had the rub of the green with decisions all season.

Next year, their squad is thin and their players are already coming back off a World Cup summer. I just don't see them coping with 6 extra games and being in a hard Champions League group (Pot 3) means rotation will be very tough.

They might pull it together and do well up until Christmas but the Christmas schedule and onwards is going to see them struggle big time with fatigue.
 
Ducklegs said:
Wenger always has a 100 million transfer kitty.
Every year the same thing, Wenger has money to spend, if he does X Y and Z they will certainly be challenging for the title.
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I cannot dispute that.

However, I think that signing Ozil last season was a signal of intent. Arsenal do have the money to go and spend now. If they do, and on the right players, than they would be up there, imo.
 
Pexbo said:
Liverpool. 100%.

I've said it in another thread but they hit a purple patch this year where all players were on form at the right time and I just don't see it happening like that again. On top of that they had the rub of the green with decisions all season.

Next year, their squad is thin and their players are already coming back off a World Cup summer. I just don't see them coping with 6 extra games and being in a hard Champions League group (Pot 3) means rotation will be very tough.

They might pull it together and do well up until Christmas but the Christmas schedule and onwards is going to see them struggle big time with fatigue.
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Yep, pretty much my thinking. Liverpool's success this season was down to a really strong run from Feb onwards, 11 games on the spin. Its no surprise that they were so strong then when you look at their games up to Xmas - they'd played eight less games as us by the New Year, all of which were mid-week games and many of which were far higher profile than the games they were playing. They were still full of running when all their competitors started dropping points.

And its not just fitness too. Rodgers pulled a lot of decent tactical changes last season. But that doesn't happen by magic, it comes from working with your players on the training ground. If you're playing Saturday to Saturday you can fit in two or three training sessions aimed solely at working a particular formation. If you're playing Saturday-Wed-Saturday, particularly with a European away tie in the middle, you barely have the chance for a full fitness training session before you're preparing for the next game.
 
Liverpool won't make top four next year. They are getting vertigo up in second place and will be back down to their normal 6th/7th next season
 
Jando said:
I love it, 1 dodgy season and opposition fans try to forget about our past 20 years dominance. Arsenal were very lucky Everton slipped up
and Arse had an easy run of fixtures towards the end otherwise they wouldn't be in top 4 this season either.
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That isn't really lucky at all, it just means that at some other point of the season (ie March), Arsenal were playing hard fixtures while Everton were playing easier ones.

Everton either bottled it at the end of the season or they couldn't step up to beat the better teams when it really mattered.

It is very difficult to predict. I think there are 6 or 7 teams who will aim realistically to finish in the top 4 at the beginning of the season and I do think any one of them could do it. Obviously some have a far higher chance than others (I think it is almost unthinkable for example that Chelsea or Man City will drop out) but let's be honest, nobody predicts the team that is going to drop out at the beginning of the season.

LVG will obviously be aiming for the title but in terms of getting back in the top 4, I do think Liverpool and Arsenal are the 2 more vulnerable ones in that top 4. Which doesn't mean that they (or in fact any of the top 4 this season) will necessarily drop out.
 
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