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Race for the Top 4 - 2018/19

Where will we finish in the league ?


  • Total voters
    423
  • Poll closed .

LexingtonSpurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2013
13,456
39,042
Interesting fact; Toby. Lamela, Moura, Wanyama, and Winks started 39 PL games between them last year. Huge, if they can have a significant role this year.
After this weekend, they will be on pace to start 38 PL games between them...
 

Colonel Dax

Well-Known Member
Jul 24, 2008
2,946
12,289
At full strength I fancy us against anyone bar City. However with question marks over the fitness of our central midfielders I fear we won't be able to cope fighting on four fronts and eventually this lack of squad depth in the middle will cost us.

In addition, Eriksen remains our only real creative spark. If he picks up a long term injury we will struggle.
 

Marty

Audere est farce
Mar 10, 2005
39,885
62,553
Wow. Is this seriously what you think? Have you seen their midfield? Their signings in the window? If they keep Hazard, they'll be battling City and Pool for the title. Never mind missing out on top four......
Remember Chelsea are going 4-3-3 now. Both Alonso and Emerson (who we've barely seen in the PL) on the left prefer going forward. Azpilicueta shuffles over to RB where tbf he is good. Their CBs are now Rudiger, Christensen, Cahill and Luiz, and Luiz at least is totally unsuited to a back four. Kepa is a totally unknown quantity and their backups are Caballero and Rob Green which is pretty pathetic.

Their midfield three is potentially outstanding, should be good defensively but I don't see many goals or assists from them. And one of the new boys might be another Bakayoko and totally fail to adapt.

They are totally and extremely reliant on Hazard going forward. Willian can be patchy, Pedro appears to be massively on the way down and Morata, Giroud and Batshuayi are all more or less purely finishers.

Sarriball is difficult to get used to, by his own admission he thinks it'll take a few months. He said the same when he joined Napoli and was 100% correct then, they didn't click before they were a few months in.

I don't think we'll finish below them and I'll be massively disappointed if we do. We have a better side overall.
 
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homer hotspur

Well-Known Member
Dec 7, 2014
2,868
4,637
Yes.

We had a period last season where we coped without him and looked better.
I understand the point you are making but if you really look back over the last 2 seasons and , even in isolation, the goals HK has scored, I think you would have to accept that we would struggle to cope with a long term absence. That is why LLorente and Janssen have been such huge disappointments and we still desperately need someone who could contribute some goals in his absence
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
I understand the point you are making but if you really look back over the last 2 seasons and , even in isolation, the goals HK has scored, I think you would have to accept that we would struggle to cope with a long term absence. That is why LLorente and Janssen have been such huge disappointments and we still desperately need someone who could contribute some goals in his absence

But the last 2 seasons when Kane's been out we've coped very well. Obviously over a long term period we will start to suffer the effects particularly for the lack of leadership and mentality when he's not on the pitch but I was generally making a point that we don't suffer anywhere near as much as we would do if Eriksen was out, that's been proven already.
 

jurgen

Busy ****
Jul 5, 2008
6,710
17,167
We looked very slick and fluid with Son up front actually..but I guess the issue is who else could also operate in that role. Some have suggested Lamela maybe, but not sure. If we had got Zaha that would have been very self evident but Levy gonna Levy.
 

djee

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2004
624
1,797
Not looking promising at the moment is it
You never know with injuries but expect at least 3 of them to have more prominent roles this year. Moura is now match fit after a full one-season and should be better equipped after 6 months at the club. Apparently, Winks and Lamela will be available for Fulham. Wanyama is due the game after although the key worry is his long-term fitness - likely to be alternating with Dier in that DCM until we can hopefully get another midfielder in. Toby will depend on his relationship with Poch but is a world class defender and if he had signed for anyone else we'd be lamenting the strength he brings.
 

djee

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2004
624
1,797
We looked very slick and fluid with Son up front actually..but I guess the issue is who else could also operate in that role. Some have suggested Lamela maybe, but not sure. If we had got Zaha that would have been very self evident but Levy gonna Levy.
Zaha would have been perfect but I would love to see what Moura does over a season. I also think we will see Lamela in more advanced positions - the game against LCFC (although a crazy affair) saw his goalscoring threat.
 

RichieS

Well-Known Member
Dec 23, 2004
11,916
16,436
All the negative nellies seem to have forgotten that we battled our way through some ludicrous injury problems last season and still finished third whilst playing in a shit tip.

It looks as though Wanyama's injury thankfully isn't a recurrence of his previous one and Winks is almost ready for selection. Dembélé got written off last season and then went on a run of owning anyone he came up against - if he is carefully managed then there's no reason he can't be a big player for us once again. Not to mention Alli and Eriksen are more than capable of playing in midfield and it's the area of the pitch where our academy tends to produce solid players.

It's not ideal that we didn't sign anyone (I would have liked us to get Grealish over the line and have a proper run at Zaha) but some people seem to be posting as though our squad is somehow worse than last season, which is bizarre.
 

coys200

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2017
8,436
17,403
Lucky win for United. Draw probably been fair result. They look exactly same as last season. No pattern of play just hope for bits of magic from quality players. Sanchez was absolutely woeful and Fred doesn’t look much special. Maddison was best player on the pitch. Oh well playing catch up now ?
 

Reece

Shutterbug
May 27, 2005
2,860
1,779
I thought Fred was good, but still a disjointed performance from Utd. From a defensive point of view Shaw still looked poor too. He needs to shape up on the tactical side of the game. You can still see Mourinho doesn't rate him.
 

tttcowan

Well-Known Member
Aug 12, 2005
2,792
3,295
People should probably go and look at last year's thread... I imagine there were just as many daft predictions of us coming 6th 7th. And that year we had 38 away games.
 

MyNameIsNicolaBerti

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2013
2,035
3,834
People in this thread have legitimately said we are going to finish 6th

:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
Why is that unrealistic out of interest? We have a first team that has nine players who've had no pre-season and risk World Cup fatigue. We haven't strengthened like our rivals and we have a new stadium to get used to. Any of the top six are capable of finishing in the top four but only four teams can. I don't see why you think it's an impossibility that we finish in the top six but not top four.
 

poc

Well-Known Member
Aug 6, 2004
3,235
3,652
Yes.

We had a period last season where we coped without him and looked better.
Agreed Kane is a loss for sure but without Eriksen we create little to nothing. Maybe lamela and Moura can step up if the worst happens and we lose him to injury.
 

Doctor Dinkey

Legacy Fan
Jul 6, 2013
3,591
8,687
People in this thread have legitimately said we are going to finish 6th

:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
Right, so you think it's completely outrageous that a strengthened arsenal with a new manager, a strengthened Chelsea with a new manager, and a much strengthened Liverpool could finish above us, with all our issues?
Behave.
It's this sort of arrogance that's fucked Liverpool over countless times.
 

shelfboy68

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2008
14,566
19,651
All the negative nellies seem to have forgotten that we battled our way through some ludicrous injury problems last season and still finished third whilst playing in a shit tip.

It looks as though Wanyama's injury thankfully isn't a recurrence of his previous one and Winks is almost ready for selection. Dembélé got written off last season and then went on a run of owning anyone he came up against - if he is carefully managed then there's no reason he can't be a big player for us once again. Not to mention Alli and Eriksen are more than capable of playing in midfield and it's the area of the pitch where our academy tends to produce solid players.

It's not ideal that we didn't sign anyone (I would have liked us to get Grealish over the line and have a proper run at Zaha) but some people seem to be posting as though our squad is somehow worse than last season, which is bizarre.
Your spot on with the assessment that the squad is no worse than last season but by the same token it's not improved either, so we are stuck a bit in very much as we were mode it remains to be seen what impact that has on us this year.
 
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hellava_tough

Well-Known Member
Apr 21, 2005
9,429
12,382
Chelsea's main problem area is their lack of goal-scorers. Some may disagree, but I don't really rate Giroud over the course of a season and their other 2 haven't stepped up to the plate yet

As for us, Moura and the new stadium may be hugely positive factors; we'll have to wait and see. Negatively speaking, the TW hasn't shut yet for player sales, so there is a (small) possibility we lose players we'd rather not. Also, some ITK was saying that Poch wasn't happy, with other ITK saying Poch was fine. So I guess we'll see how that plays out

Overall though, I think we'll make the top 4 again this season. If nothing else, we've got a tried and tested 25+ league goal a season striker in the squad; you can't overstate how much of a benefit that is. It's almost like playing on 'cheat-mode' :LOL:

Anyway, COYS!!
 
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