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Poll Next Year

Prefix for Poll Threads

Which teams do you think can challenge for the league with us?

  • City

    Votes: 40 97.6%
  • Man U

    Votes: 21 51.2%
  • Chelsea

    Votes: 18 43.9%
  • Arsenal

    Votes: 1 2.4%
  • Wolves or other?

    Votes: 2 4.9%

  • Total voters
    41
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LeTallecWiz

Doos
Honorary Member
Although we had a similar thread ... thought we'd start a new one with two talking points.

<POLL>
Which teams do you think can challenge for the league with us?

Manchester City - will come back hungry, with the chip on Pep's shoulder growing by the minute. They will invest heavily (already signed Ferran Torres - who's a quality winger) and will they really lose 9 games again next year? They need to sign a proper CB, or they'll still struggle in the back.

Man U - One of the top teams after the Covid break. Great attacking with Rashford, Martial & Greenwood, with Bruno & Pogba being the start of solid, goalscoring (albeit with penos) partnership. Bar AWB, their defense leaves much to be desired. Decent CBs, but nothing special, permacrock LB in shaw and a keeper who last had confidence 3 years ago?

Chelsea - solid first campaign under Fwank. Ziyech and Werner coming in, with links to a better goalie (Linked with Oblak, Ter Stegen, Henderson & the Ajax kid) and other attacking talent (Havertz). Will that attacking might be able to push them into a title challenge? or will the questions in the back be their Achilles heel?

Arsenal - I know I know ... but let's be honest, they've won some impressive games since re-start. Wolves & us, and two really good cup wins against city & Chelsea. Their attacking 3 are solid, with a really good core of youngsters (namely saka & Martineli). They are a much better coached team and with if they invest in their back line, they could be a contender.

Wolves or other - May we see another team take that jump? Can Wolves, if they keep their core, and invest - as they've done wisely year after year - make another jump?

Lastly ... us.

The team, though a year older, is still as good as it gets ... However, it's always hard to defend the title. How do we see Klopp working this team - that have now won everything and are seemingly going to struggle to add a high profile addition - to ensure they keep up last year's early season form and not ~Feb onward (where we started to look shaky)? I think this team can go down as one of the greatest ever if they can win the league again with a 90+ point haul ... I hope that is motivation enough for this lads ... and to obviously celebrate #20 with fans!
 
It will be a race between us and Man City. The rest are all ok up top but have the solidity of ice cream at the back. City will be better than Man U or Chelsea because they’ll win more of the games with each other.
 
In all seriousness. Us and City will be there at the top again.

I can see Chelsea hitting 80+ points so if we go backwards, and City don't improve, they are in the mix.

Utd still need a signing or two to improve.

Arsenal, Wolves or Leicester for 5th again.
 
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You forget me again, and I'll put you on the next plane back, @LeTallecWiz.
 
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Let's look at City first :

Manchester City - will come back hungry, with the chip on Pep's shoulder growing by the minute. They will invest heavily (already signed Ferran Torres - who's a quality winger) and will they really lose 9 games again next year? They need to sign a proper CB, or they'll still struggle in the back.

They have signed Ake. Whilst a solid CB is he an improvement on Stones ? Ake seems to be a solid CB but no more than that. Stones is the epitome of a sublime to the ridiculous player. I don't see that as an improvement, Ake will save goal scoring opportunities that Stones may give up but on the flip doesn't have the same peak.

Ferran Torres : why the high excitement and 'quality winger' tag? He is young and totally unproven. His low price tag and lack of suitors (especially Barca & RM) may also be an indication of where he's at. A gamble.

So if this is the level of investment and player quality we are looking at, at City, then I'm not convinced. They have lost a few top players over the past years and there is no doubt that Aguero and co. are on the slippery slope. Unless I see Havertz-level of investment I'm not convinced they will reach our level (I'd put them 5-7 pts back season end as it stands).

Chelsea : their problems run a lot deeper than just their attack, which is either too young or aging. Their defence is a major issue and even Azpilicueta looks to be on the decline. Investment to get them back to the top will need 2-3 serious investment seasons.

United : Could easily be at City's level next season. Wonderful attack, they seem to have sorted out their midfield and a couple of astute defensive transfers this Summer will see them (IMHO) at least at City's current level. In fact they may surpass them end up just 3-4 pts behind us come season's end (assuming our head to heads end up level).
 
I've said this in another thread but I only see City as serious challengers next season.
What we and City have that other teams are lacking can be summed up with two words imo, cohesion and experience.
Remember during the 90 and 00s when we always thought we were good enough to challenge only to fall short in the end?
It's because we lacked one or both of those things. Sure, quality in abundance can also get you there like Mourinho's Chelsea during his first year but more often than not, teams usually build towards a title.
Man U were over 30 points behind us last season, I don't see them getting close. They have experience in DeGea, Maguire, Matic and Pogba but is it enough?
They also lack a leader imo.
Chelsea are too inexperienced. The addition of Werner and Ziyech, two players new to the league, doesn't guarantee any success.

Arsenal are going to be a nuisance next season. Arteta is going to frustrate the shit out of some teams, but they won't be challenging.
 
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Arsenal who finished 43 points off the top could be contenders, based on a half decent finish when results meant fuck all. Righto.
 
Arsenal will only be challenging for the most annoying team with playacting bellends and the highest squeeking manager on the sidelines.

In all seriousness, it will be us and City with Chelsea and Utd fighting for 3rd but closer to the top than last season.

It will come down to stability over the entire season and neither Chelsea or Utd have the quality to challenge.
Chelsea are and will be much improved in attack, but they conceded 54 goals. Lampard has a feel of Rodgers about him. Gung ho pressing, looosided balance and a leake defence.
Utd have a pretty great attack now in all honesty, but not a very good midfield, average defence and a declining goalkeeper.
And Ole is at the wheel.
I think Fernandes could find his second year much more difficult as teams will be aware of him and cut those spaces he thrives in.

City havent done anything yet in the transfer market to make us worried. And how much will the loss of Fernandinho and Silva be felt off the pitch and in the dressing room.
 
My hope is Chelsea's star studded squad don't gel. Man utd have Oli at the wheel who will give them 6-7 wins the becomes mediocre. City will in buy a at least 15 points next season.
 
City's most important signing is Guardiola's new assistant Juan Manuel Lillo. He's a very shrewd 'worker-out' of other teams, and I don't doubt he'll help City to be more competitive in the big games. Manchester United are really being managed by Mike Phelan, and they'll be better. Chelski are depressingly active in strengthening their squad. They'll all be challenging.

We need to push on. We need to strengthen. It's noticeable that even the Echo hacks have quietly ditched their 'trust in FSG' mantra and are beginning to sound anxious about the lack of activity. I know it's a very uncertain period financially for the club, and everyone else, but this is a challenge that can't be shirked.

We also need to be ruthless in keeping our focus. Sadly I think any public celebration of winning the title needs binning. It would be a big emotional disruption if it happens in, say, November or even later - and unless we're playing as well as last season, and winning every game, it'll feel really odd and flat anyway. Moving to Kirkby could also be a problem: at the moment I believe the two options being considered are either to move late this year during the season, or stay at Melwood another year. I guess in theory it shouldn't matter much, but we should have the Academy test the new facilities fully before letting the first team go over there.

But the pressure on reigning champions has to be felt to be believed, and I'm not sure the owners realise what is coming. We need to use all the expertise and imagination possible from the transfer team to find a way to give Klopp more options.
 
Fuck City.

Fuck United.

Fuck Chelsea.

Fuck Arsenal.

Spurs are fucked anyway.... pre-fucked, if you like (thanks Jose - that’s another one we owe you).

For Everton, being fucked would be an improvement.

If I’ve missed anyone important - they can get fucked too.
 
We finished 25 points behind City in 2017/18. The next season we finished one point behind. Too much is made of winning margins in terms of what it means for the following season. It doesn't usually mean much. Teams can catch up surprisingly quickly.
 
We finished 25 points behind City in 2017/18. The next season we finished one point behind. Too much is made of winning margins in terms of what it means for the following season. It doesn't usually mean much. Teams can catch up surprisingly quickly.

Good point.
 
City will be City. They really do scare me next season, not because I think they're much better than we are, but rather because to beat them again, we'll have to be outstanding again, and that'll be three straight seasons going almost mistake-free... That's hard to do. I'm optimistic, but nervous about next year.

The chavs can spend money like drunken sailors, and they have a very good young side. A top keeper, a solid CB and that Havertz kid, and they'll be very strong again.

Salford will be us in 2013/14... At times, especially if they get Sancho, they'll be the best on the planet going forward, but their defense will still be clown shoes and will end up being tyhe reason that, though they'll be closer, ultimately, they're still 4th, maybe 3rd when it's all over.

The Arse will be better too, but they still have sooooooo much work to do, it'll be a couple of seasons before they're pushing anywhere close to the top.

That's it.
 
Utd now are where we were in 17/18 season, they are going to rip teams up with their attacking talent but teams can still get at them. The level of complacency from some Liverpool fans is incredible, yes we won the title by a huge margin this year but that counts for nothing in Spetember as we should be well aware from last season. I keep reading people say opposition teams are hopeless at the back so we will be fine.

Last season we conceded 33 goals last season. 2 less than City and 3 less than Utd. The idea that our defence is miles ahead of everybody else doesnt seem to stand up to any sort of scrutiny. Even in the 18/19 season when we defended much better we only conceded 1 goal less than City.
 
Its not a level of complacency though, its stating a fact. The team people are mostly taking about is Chelsea, they conceded 54 goals.
And Utd doesnt have a good defence and their keeper is on the decline. No matter how you dress it up.
City are at least on par with us over the course of a season.

Its the same when people use the form after lockdown as some sort of indicator of how good you are, which is quite a bizzarre thing to do.
A 9 game mini league showing how poor we have become, suddenly, and how brilliant Utd are.
 
The thing is the step from 3rd or 4th to 1st is the hardest step. Look at us, we never made that step for 30 years. Tottenham under Pochettino never did it and I think they had a better team than both United and Chelsea do now. Of course, they never had United or Chelsea's money.

For us to actually make that step, we bought Becker, VVD and Fabinho. Two are best in class and Fabs is probably the best at what he does in our league and in the discussion for the best in his position. Those signing transformed us and took us to the next level.

So, United and Chelsea can catch us but they will need an absolute perfect summer. No more signings that turn out to be like Maguire or Pogba.
 
The main issue is most the league is shite so they could easily win a fuck load of matches with the added fire power. We just have to be at our best home and away against our main rivals.
 
The main issue is most the league is shite so they could easily win a fuck load of matches with the added fire power. We just have to be at our best home and away against our main rivals.
This is actually an indicator of how close the PL could be next season. City, United and (a big) maybe Chelsea could end up blowing most other teams away bar the occasional blip (like us this past season) ... meaning the title could come down to the head-to-heads. We weren't exactly imperious there (though damn good - and the CV-19 break may have affected us) this season never mind next.
 
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We won the league because we consistently beat everyone we should. We won our first 8 then drew with Utd and won 18 in a row.
If and it’s a big if we can get near that level of consistency results wise again it’s going to take one hell of an effort to beat us.
 
Our rivals will definitely strengthen, but everyone is relying on us to get worse, we won the league with 7 games to spare, that is ridiculous.
 
United getting Sancho has potential to be scary but their complete lack of depth in midfield is a huge weakness that they don't appear to be addressing.
 
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