Can We Push For The League Next Season?

[Mark (Blue Army)]

Ok i was looking at the squad and was thinking can this squad win the league or is it a bit to soon for us to be looking that far ahead? Ive listed the squad and added the players that we are looking like signing.

I think there's no doubt we will finish higher that last season but with the added Europa Leage games plus the F.A Cup and the Carling Cup games would it be to much of a challenge to push for the league? In my opinion i think we should be able to challenge on all fronts next season with the sqaud we have, and some sort of silverwear is a must. Thoughts???

*Goalkeepers
* Shay Given
* Joe Hart
* Gunnar Nielsen

*Defenders
* Joleon Lescott
* Wayne Bridge
* Jérôme Boateng
* Javier Garrido
* Nedum Onuoha
* Micah Richards
* Kolo Toure
* Pablo Zabalet

*Midfielders
* Adam Johnson
* Gareth Barry
* Patrick Vieira
* Nigel de Jong
* Yaya Touré
* David Silva
* Stephen Ireland
* James Milner
* Michael Johnson
* Vincent Kompany
* Vladimir Weiss
* Shaun Wright-Phillips

*Strikers
* Emmanuel Adebayor
* Craig Bellamy
* Robinho
* Roque Santa Cruz (If not used in the Silva transfer)
* Carlos Tevez
* Edin Džeko

[mcfc1632]

I will be very disappointed if we are not top 2

[john68]

It will be a much harder task next season than last. We will have the extra Euro games we didn't have last season, which takes away that advantage over our nearest rivals.
We have a decent enoufgh squad but with the possibility of almost 60 games, we will need a lot of strength in depth to allow for injuries, suspensions and tiredness.
Still too early to say until we have finished recruiting and know our final line up.

[brite blu sky]

it is too early to start speculating until we see what we end up with. However there are a couple of points worth bearing in mind. Firstly that our defence was rarely together for a run of games and that on top of the new faces trying to get settled in. That isn't the case this season and hopefully we wont suffer as many injuries.

The second point is basically what i was thinking last season, that the same squad with a proper attacking mid playmaker would have done a lot better.. i would go as far as saying clipping Arsenals heels.

So even as it stands with Boeteng as extra cover for CB and LB or DM and AJ with a full seasons games, in addition Ade wont be as bad as last year.. and he is with us all season too. In fact i wouldn't be surprised if Ade cranks it up this season.
Then there is the comeback for Johnno to add in.

So taking the Europa games out of it, as we are only surmising here, then what we have got already should be able to be right up there or there abouts.

SO add in your Yaya, Silva and a bit of Dzeko plus a light sprinkling of Milner and we look like we should be causing a bit of a stir both in Europe and the Prem.

[colonel_muck]

no way. forget it. lets get real. another summer of chopping and changing as a result of the change in manager has guaranteed this. what we have to hope is liverpool stay shit and tottenham get distracted by their champions league endeavours, even with these factors in our favour, you'll have the likes of everton, who ARE better than us when it matters. Top 2? You've got to be joking.

[Kyle]

I think a realistic goal is top 4. Top 2 is too much of an ask at this point...

Oh and why does everyone label Bellamy as a striker in thier squad list? I know he was previously a striker, but has played consistantly at LM or LW for us for just under two seasons. He didn't line up up top during a single game last year!

[DoomMerchant]

I think a realistic goal is top 4. Top 2 is too much of an ask at this point...

Oh and why does everyone label Bellamy as a striker in thier squad list? I know he was previously a striker, but has played consistantly at LM or LW for us for just under two seasons. He didn't line up up top during a single game last year!

i think common sense tells you he's really a striker and not a winger, but it hardly matters.

Also, i believe he played up front in a 2 man strike force last season. Don't you think? i'm too lazy to research it, but when i think of Bellamy i think of a mercurial forward and not a winger.

cheers

[ryanmjo]

I definitely think we can push for the league next season. In fact, I think that has to be our main goal - at least for the first few months of the season.

[BmoreBlue]

mark,

i just wanted to say i'm proud of you for expanding your horizons - this thread has no cutting and pasting of articles, and instead has actual intelligent thoughts. well done.

oh, and i think we could push for the league, but a top 3 or 4 finish is more likely than a title this year. we're headed in the right direction though.

[Dingus McDouchey]

4th is still the new 1st.
5th however, is not the new 2nd.
3rd should be our target.

[Colin the King]

This won't go down well, but I think we'll finish 5th again. We had a huge opportunity last season with Liverpool in dire straits (they might not be brilliant next season either but they'll be better than they were), and Spurs and Villa tried their best to hand it to us by fucking up at important times, only for us to fuck up even more spectacularly than them. Hull, Everton, the 8 draws spring to mind. There's no way the natural progression is from that to going for the title. We'd also need to start turning up away from home- that generally comes in handy in title pushes.

We can keep spending crazy amounts of money but until a team is assembled and a togetherness built (which no amount of money, only time, can guarantee) we'll carry on being inconsistent. For the management to analyse our midfield, for example, and come to the conclusion that we should get rid of them all and start again to the tune of £100million isn't progressive- it's just fucking stupid.

The nucleus of Chelsea and the rags' squad has been the same for a good few years now, with a sprinkling of additions when necessary. If we keep making drastic changes we'll be forever in transition.

[kinkylola]

I dunno, it's hard to say. You look back at last season and we accomplished/improved quite a lot and finished 5th.

but you also have to look back and think "what if" ... what if we hadn't drawn all of those winnable games early in the season? How many in a row did we draw? what a tremendous amount of points dropped against distinctly average opposition. That was indeed an opportunity lost and still being able to finish 5th, fighting for 4th till practically the end of the season, was a great accomplishment. If Bobby can get us playing consistently, beating the teams we should beat (the number of which is growing every year) and get some results against the guys above us (the number is shrinking every year) then the sky is the limit.

05 October 2009 20:00 A Aston Villa D 1-1
18 October 2009 16:00 A Wigan Athletic D 1-1
25 October 2009 15:00 H Fulham D 2-2

01 November 2009 16:00 A Birmingham City D 0-0
07 November 2009 15:00 H Burnley D 3-3
21 November 2009 12:45 A Liverpool D 2-2
28 November 2009 15:00 H Hull City D 1-1

Of those ... Wigan, Fulham, Birm, Burnley, Hull, should without a doubt have been wins. Villa away is a tough fixture and you can say a draw is fair, but we are going to have to start winning that fixture to progress. Same can be said of lpool away.

that's 10 extra points ... puts us on 77 ... third place above arsenal by 2. If we had finished 3rd place with 77 points (8 behind the scum and 9 behind chelsea) would your answer about whether or not we could push on for the league be different?

Now I know what if's are stupid and useless ... but these are just the games in that horror period of 7 straight draws, they were winnable games. This isn't looking through our schedule for other draws that shouldn't have been.

That's why I say if Bobby gets us playing consistently at our level, we will be a force and I think we could be pushing for the title or thereabouts come the end of the season.

Just for fun, fixtures we should have won (rhymes so you know it's true)

12 December 2009 15:00 A Bolton Wanderers Barclays Premier League D 3-3
06 February 2010 15:00 A Hull City Barclays Premier League L 2-1
21 February 2010 15:00 H Liverpool Barclays Premier League D 0-0
05 May 2010 20:00 H Tottenham Hotspur Barclays Premier League L 0-1

[Sister of fu]

That squad will need to be trimmed I'm sure we are only allowed to use 25 players?? Is this correct??

[DoomMerchant]

This won't go down well, but I think we'll finish 5th again. We had a huge opportunity last season with Liverpool in dire straits (they might not be brilliant next season either but they'll be better than they were), and Spurs and Villa tried their best to hand it to us by fucking up at important times, only for us to fuck up even more spectacularly than them. Hull, Everton, the 8 draws spring to mind. There's no way the natural progression is from that to going for the title. We'd also need to start turning up away from home- that generally comes in handy in title pushes.

We can keep spending crazy amounts of money but until a team is assembled and a togetherness built (which no amount of money, only time, can guarantee) we'll carry on being inconsistent. For the management to analyse our midfield, for example, and come to the conclusion that we should get rid of them all and start again to the tune of £100million isn't progressive- it's just fucking stupid.

The nucleus of Chelsea and the rags' squad has been the same for a good few years now, with a sprinkling of additions when necessary. If we keep making drastic changes we'll be forever in transition.

fair enough, and the point about chemistry i'd agree with. But in fairness, you can't actually think our midfield produced fuckall much of anything last season on the whole, can you? Barry, Dejong, SWP all had challenges/injuries or both and were largely inconsistent enough. Jinky was a revelation the last few months, and Bellers was great at times, but on the whole? C effort if i am grading the midfield.

cheers

cheers

[King Kev]

My main worry is the defence, I am glad to see that this is being addressed by the signing of Boating but I don't have a great deal of confidence in the centre-backs.

If/when Hodgson takes over at Liverpool this will give them a huge boost and will put them firmly back in the mix, which will only make our task even more difficult.

Top 4 hopefully, anything above that would be a big bonus.

[dazby]

mark,

i just wanted to say i'm proud of you for expanding your horizons - this thread has no cutting and pasting of articles, and instead has actual intelligent thoughts. well done.

oh, and i think we could push for the league, but a top 3 or 4 finish is more likely than a title this year. we're headed in the right direction though.

I want to bite and add to this, but Mark doesn't deserve it. Just be sure everyone that I'm thinking something but am being too polite to say it. Give me some beers and I'd release the comment. Maybe.

[simon12]

If Fabregas goes to Barca then I can see third otherwise we`ll take 4th. That`s at this point as in today. If we get Kolarov at LB and maybe Krasic in on RW I can really see third.

[john@staustell]

You dont have to analyse squads or players or whatever. That is Mancini's stated intention and the bookies have 4 realistic contenders, one of them (3rd) is us.

The results were starting to bank up a bit with away wins at unheard-of places like Chelsea and Fulham, and a big win over Brum's total defence. Only the Spuds blip that soured it a bit really.

By the time a few new players come in we'll be soaring.

However we need not to panic if we dont win at Spuds on day 1. That is a very hard place to go anytime in the season.

[DoomMerchant]

mark,

i just wanted to say i'm proud of you for expanding your horizons - this thread has no cutting and pasting of articles, and instead has actual intelligent thoughts. well done.

oh, and i think we could push for the league, but a top 3 or 4 finish is more likely than a title this year. we're headed in the right direction though.

I want to bite and add to this, but Mark doesn't deserve it. Just be sure everyone that I'm thinking something but am being too polite to say it. Give me some beers and I'd release the comment. Maybe.

old Dazby...meet new Dazby...he's a different animal altogether. Yr not the chessmaster yet, Kasparov. Just talk.

cheers

[Beeks]

I think top 4 is realistic...anything better is a bonus...anything less...depending on who we sign...will be a disaster...and the media will be all over it