Where do you think we'll finish?

[kaz Hirai]

Our midfield may be better, but they have added well in defence aswell Gerrard and an attack of Suarez Coutinho Sturridge. It will be a good battle between the two of us.

don't rate Gerrard really, think his time as a top player is up and will continue to fade further as the season goes on.

Coutinho despite pool fans proclaiming him to be world class is massively inconsistant and much to frail and a passenger when liverpool don't have possession.

Sturridge is Jermain Defoe Lite and is just on a hot streak

Suarez is class but he only disrupts the team with his bans, and antics.

they're good, and they've improved without a doubt but then so have we, don't see them finishing above us.

 

[GutBucket]

It will depend on injuries and January transfer window. As of now, I think 5th.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Liverpool have done very good business over the window and are starting to come together, when they have Suarez back i struggle to see us finishing above them. Arse and Wenger seem to be able to pull rabbit out of hats on regular occasions and now they have Ozil and that Frenchman upfront they will be pulling significantly larger rabbits out of smaller hats. Its all about how quickly AVB can get the team working together, we have a lot of talent in our squad and Holtby looks like he could be a big part of our season. It all depends on how/if Erkisen, Lamela, Chadli and Soldado can adapt quickly to the league, our style of play, to each other and on top of that not get injured. What with Europe as well, unfortunately, i struggle to see us get top four. 5th is my guess.

 

[Mr Pink]

Liverpool have added more depth but they still look incredibly light in the centre of the park. An injury to Gerrard or Lucas and they are fucked IMO. They look excellent in attack, have improved the defence in all likelihood - but midfield they still don't look complete, not by a long shot.

I honestly think we have a chance of third, I really do. Maybe even higher.

Its going to be fiercely competitive. United look flat under Moyes so far, they'll be 10-20% worse off without Fergie, that I have no doubt. Chelsea don't look as strong either, certainly not like the squad JM had at his disposal first time round. City have the best overall squad for me, but a few teething problems with them early doors has also been evident.

We've picked up 6 points from 9, and we havn't even scored a goal from open play yet. Impressive and worrying at the same time? Perhaps. But look how solid we are, we are going to be very difficult to beat this season. When Lamela and Eriksen are integrated into the side our creativity will no doubt improve, it has to. And if it does its going to be a dream watching Soldado gobble up chances.

I think overall the squad looks very strong. Providing we can pick up a decent amount of points over the next few weeks I think we'll be in a good position, as I expect we'll get stronger and stronger as the season wears on.

I'm going to say third barring a horrendous injury situation.

 

[tom4s]

Liverpool have done very good business over the window and are starting to come together, when they have Suarez back i struggle to see us finishing above them. Arse and Wenger seem to be able to pull rabbit out of hats on regular occasions and now they have Ozil and that Frenchman upfront they will be pulling significantly larger rabbits out of smaller hats. Its all about how quickly AVB can get the team working together, we have a lot of talent in our squad and Holtby looks like he could be a big part of our season. It all depends on how/if Erkisen, Lamela, Chadli and Soldado can adapt quickly to the league, our style of play, to each other and on top of that not get injured. What with Europe as well, unfortunately, i struggle to see us get top four. 5th is my guess.

My hope re the Scum it that they with their thin squad will begin to crumble once the cups and the CL kicks off. While we chillax, fielding mainly the 2nd string for the EL group matches, they will have to fight tooth and nail in a very tough group.

 

[SonicSarr]

Anywhere between 3rd and 6th is realistic and between 1st and 6th is possible I'd reckon. If the others have blips I can see us finishing above each of our main 5 rivals but not all 5 of them if you get my drift. I think we'll drop enough points to be below at least 2 teams come May as not all 5 rival will drop as many points as us.

On the other hand we could click right into gear, they could all plunge into disarray and we could run away with the title.

I'll go for 4th.

 

[charliemouse]

I know Liverpool have started well and won 3 out of 3 but in every one of those games they were hanging on to the victory and barely created anything beyond the one goal they managed to score in the first half.

To be honest no one has looked great yet and for me the battle for the top 4 is as open as it has been for a long long time. Can we make it ? Who knows, but overall our squad is far better than it was last season and at least we are now no longer relying on one player to win every game to the point where it became a little embarrassing.

 

[dirtyh]

who voted 'relegation'? ffs. just get out.

 

[Kendall]

6th.

 

[mpickard2087]

who voted 'relegation'? ffs. just get out.

Couldn't resist...

I honestly don't really know, anywhere between 3rd and 6th is my best guess.

 

[kaz Hirai]

Liverpool have done very good business over the window and are starting to come together, when they have Suarez back i struggle to see us finishing above them. Arse and Wenger seem to be able to pull rabbit out of hats on regular occasions and now they have Ozil and that Frenchman upfront they will be pulling significantly larger rabbits out of smaller hats. Its all about how quickly AVB can get the team working together, we have a lot of talent in our squad and Holtby looks like he could be a big part of our season. It all depends on how/if Erkisen, Lamela, Chadli and Soldado can adapt quickly to the league, our style of play, to each other and on top of that not get injured. What with Europe as well, unfortunately, i struggle to see us get top four. 5th is my guess.

we finished 11 points ahead of them last season and they had suarez in the form of his life and 17 points ahead of them the season before that again with Suarez. Don't get the extreme fear of liverpool really.

it's as if they've strengthend from last season to make up that 11 point gap on us while we've done nothing this summer apart from sign Tramezzani

lets also remember we were 11 points clear of them with no Kaboul or Sandro who are back now, no striker for periods at a time, and when they were both available they couldn't buy a goal.

yes with lost gareth who was responsible for many wins but i'd roll back a season before that when our entire attacking play didnt go through Monkey Magic and was spread between Modric, Adebayor, VDV and Bale. we were a much better unit. And AVB alluded to this himself

 

[Kendall]

Sturridge is Jermain Defoe Lite and is just on a hot streak
.

People keep saying this but it is so lazy. Sturridge has added a lot to his game over the last year. he runs the channels, can hold the ball, has good passing, good close control and can finish from anywhere and is good in the air. He's not just on a hot streak, he has a very good record and has a few key attirbutes that Defoe doesn't have and has never had.

16 goals in 20 for Liverpool since he joined, 5 assists too.

 

[Mr Pink]

Amazing that most people were dining out in the...what our opponents are saying thread....basking in all the praise, and now we'll be doing well to finish 6th!!!

The Arsenal game really has changed opinion.

Its one game. And we havn't even intergrated our creative talents into the side yet.

If we win our next three, including Chelsea at home, it will be up the roller coaster again!

Speaking of the Chelsea game, I can't wait for that.

 

[absolute bobbins]

3rd or 4th

 

[Kendall]

Amazing that most people were dining out in the...what our opponents are saying thread....basking in all the praise, and now we'll be doing well to finish 6th!!!

The Arsenal game really has changed opinion.

Its one game. And we havn't even intergrated our creative talents into the side yet.

If we win our next three, including Chelsea at home, it will be up the roller coaster again!

Speaking of the Chelsea game, I can't wait for that.

I think this is why people are looking at things more negatively. We have so many players to integrate, I can't see us getting them gelling in time.

 

[Mr Pink]

People keep saying this but it is so lazy. Sturridge has added a lot to his game over the last year. he runs the channels, can hold the ball, has good passing, good close control and can finish from anywhere and is good in the air. He's not just on a hot streak, he has a very good record and has a few key attirbutes that Defoe doesn't have and has never had.

16 goals in 20 for Liverpool since he joined, 5 assists too.

Sturridge has done well, no doubt.

Liverpool's midfield will be the problem. They look very strong for attacking options now but the midfield is lightweight.

I know United were poor on Sunday but they completely dominated Liverpool. Liverpool pressed well of the ball but they really didn't do anything of note on it - bar the goal.

They got lucky when they played Villa as well, who had to play mid week against Chelsea, and only had two days rest. Again Villa were very unlucky not to take a point.

As for Stoke, they looked very good in the first half but again they fell off the pace in the second.

Still think that central midfield is a big weakness for them.

 

[Kendall]

Sturridge has done well, no doubt.

Liverpool's midfield will be the problem. They look very strong for attacking options now but the midfield is lightweight.

I know United were poor on Sunday but they completely dominated Liverpool. Liverpool pressed well of the ball but they really didn't do anything of note on it - bar the goal.

They got lucky when they played Villa as well, who had to play mid week against Chelsea, and only had two days rest. Again Villa were very unlucky not to take a point.

As for Stoke, they looked very good in the first half but again they fell off the pace in the second.

Still think that central midfield is a big weakness for them.

Do you think we looked any better in our first 3 games? Maybe first half against Swansea.

 

[Curtis Peterson]

This year is the year where we finish 4th, ahead of Arsenal and don't lose CL to dirty Russian money parking the bus in Germany.

Yes, we lost our game winner in Gareth Bale, but look at that squad. Sandro and Kaboul were hurt, we were using Parker and Huddlestone in the midfield and Defoe was our only senior striker for a month. The reason that Bale had to save us with his brilliance was because our squad was solid, but just not quite there. Now, we've added seven players to the team who are all ready to make an immediate impact and are huge improvements compared to the players they replaced. AVB will have plenty of options and there will be plenty of competition for starting spots.

It will take time for the team to get to know each other, but not so much that it will have too much of a negative effect on our season. We have the goalscorer we so desperately needed in Soldado, we replaced Dempsey with Chadli, Lamela and Eriksen should provide the creative play that we're so often missing, we replaced Huddlestone and Parker with Paulinho, Capoue has already shown us how good of an addition he is and Chiriches looks like a very skilled defender who will fit wonderfully into AVB's style of play. Holtby is also pushing very hard for a spot, Sigurdsson is a skilled player, Townsend and Rose are back to prove themselves and best of all, Sandro and Kaboul are back in the side.

Our strength will be in our depth and our defense and possession. Lloris is a top keeper, Vertonghen is one of the best defenders in the league and the competition for the spot next to him will only bring out the best in the other CBs. In front of that defense is our aggressive midfield that will bully almost every other midfield in the league while still being skilled enough in terms of passing and looking forward. These two things give us a very good foundation to work off of.

Our weakness will be down the wings. Walker has been frustrating, but it's early. Townsend looks promising, Lennon is very solid and hopefully Lamela will be able to take over that spot. I'm worried about our left side though. Rose is very inconsistent and leaves Vertonghen exposed far too often for my liking and Chadli isn't the best at tracking back. Hopefully Rose will get better as the season goes on with all of the playing time that he'll get, but that's the real glaring weakness for me. Going forward, we definitely need more creativity, but Eriksen should be the one to provide that and once we start getting Soldado the ball, he'll start banging in goals.

Arsenal added a world class player in Ozil, but in a position where they already had Carzola. They always seem to be injured and didn't address anything else in the window. We all know they'll go on some stupid run at the end of the season, but hopefully we won't be dropping points. Liverpool have an outside shot, but they also have some depth issues and quite frankly, not enough quality for me. That said, they will be better this year and they've finally started to make good decisions in the transfer market. Still need think they need to focus on passing Everton (who had a great deadline day) before they can focus on the North London clubs.

Long post, but basically, 4th place is Arsenal's to defend and our's to take and something tells me that it will be us celebrating the Flint, Michigan Mega Bowl at the end of this season.

 

[@Bobby__Lucky]

Looking objectively with a big influx of players last year Siggurdson, Dempsey, Dembele, Vertongen, Lloris, and losing three major players in King, Modric and VDV we ran Arsenal very close. AVB has had a year to settle the squad and only lost Bale. Our signings this year are amazing and certainly improve the squad. I voted forth, but anything from 1-6 is possible. I think Man City and chelsea probably have the best all round squads and are likely the 1 & 2. I think the other places are up for grabs. Man utd in believe is a step to far for moyes, and they are for the taking. Think the top 6 will be very close.this year and Everton will get closer to challenging also.

 

[No Donkey]

I'm going third and Europa winners. We have no need to be nervous of any other team out there. We have absolute quality all over the place. I really believe in this club, from top to bottom. Quality.