Where will we finish in the league 2019/20?

dontcallme said:

So selling players abroad aside the squads for the first half of the season are done.

We have bought 3 quality players, 1 on loan, and so far kept our best players.

City have bought 2 players in Rodri and Cancelo and Arsenal have brought in Ceballos on loan, given Saliba back on loand brought in Pepe, Tierney and Martinelli.

Chelsea have brought in Kovacic and no one else due to their transfer ban.

Liverpool have bought in no one of note and Utd have bought Wan Bissaka, James and Maguire.

There is a gap between the top 6 and the rest but Wolves appear to have bought well again.

So where do people predict we will finish this season?

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absolute bobbins said:

Chelsea added Pulisic too

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wiggo24 said:

Similar to last season, probably. Might flirt with the top 2 but ultimately will finish 3rd/4th. Arsenal look our biggest rivals, think they've spent really well this summer.

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mpickard2087 said:

Who knows to be honest. As I say each season I think we could finish in any position from 1st-6th spending 300 million, but the same is true if we spent zero (see last season......). Some teams might be on an upward curve, some might be taking a few hits, but it's still an uber competitive mini league and momentum usually changes for each team each season.

What I would say though is that the difference for me between being very much in the thick of it contending, or reduced to also ran status, is how hard we work. Of course quality comes into it, but the top teams (City and Liverpool domestically at the moment, for example) work their bollocks off within their system each and every week and very rarely give the opposition a sniff. Now we have great battling qualities and are not a lazy team, but standards in this aspect (plus some tactical aspect too) have been falling over the last couple of years. Ok, last year could be written up off for various reasons possibly with injury and the World Cup, this year there is no excuse we need to get back right on it.

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WiganSpur said:

I think a lot of our issues with the quality of football and to extent results over the past couple of seasons has been down to squad depth. Brutally put possibly, but if Eriksen now stays with us I believe there can be no excuses for Poch. I will certainly be judging him more harshly as long as there isn't a crazy injury crisis. Levy has backed him if CE is still here.

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ComfortablyNumb said:

I certainly want to see evidence that Poch can make the best use of these players, because I don’t think he’s done that so far. Pep and Klopp would, in my opinion, have got better results with our squad for the last couple of seasons.

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WiganSpur said:

I respectfully disagree. I think squad depth plays a huge role. I think the only criticism I may have is that I think he could have been a little braver with some youngsters considering the circumstances. Pep struggled in his first season when City had poor depth at the back. Similarly Klopp until their signings last season.

It allows for less injuries, more cover when they do occur, a better bench as well as more competition driving each player on to perform. It also means Poch can demand more from the players safe in the knowledge that he can rotate without big loss in quality.

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