AVTuco Posted August 1, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted August 1, 2022 We will improve from last season, but not as much as people would want. 10-11th. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 5 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: Ok let me stop being argumentative, long story short, I don't think the squad is good enough to finish top 7 as it stands, even with Pep Guardiola. Is it achievable without more signings? Of course it is, but so is the League title, but multiple stars would have to align for that to be so. If the team clicks, and we get zero - minimal injuries to key players for the whole season then perhaps. We are 1 or 2 injuries away from having the same team which often struggled last season. Granted, a fit and firing Bailey is a massive boost, but that wasn't the area where our real problems were/are. Bare in mind, my " prediction " for a " good " season with current squad is 8th, so we are not far off, but i keep stressing that it appears people grossly under estimate the competition. The whole top 10 will be an immense battle IMO I think we need at least ONE more proper signing to be more confident. Although, if the current talents we have step up to their level this season, it's a different conversation. This, I don't feel is purely down to any " Manager " I think us finishing 7th is a long shot regardless of manager too, but with a world class one I think it could be achievable. Certainly don't think it's a "change manager and we're a shoo-in for 7th" situation. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 7th is a stretch, even with the best manager in world. We’ll finish 8-11th. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark_1989 Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 If Watkins is our main striker we will finish bottom half, if Ings gets going 8th is possible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 Leicester having issues is good news for us although worth remembering they got to europa SF last year and had a million injuries and still finished 6 places ahead of us (although wasn't a huge difference in points) so not sure selling one of their key players will make huge difference. Palace certainly weaker than last year as I haven't seen them sign a replacement for Connor Gallagher yet. If they just go back to midfield of Milojevic/Kouyate etc that's pretty uncreative and lacking in goals. Brighton will be up and down as usual. Think Wolves will be much weaker than last season, they ended last season in very poor form. Good news for us I think that the middle tier of teams as it stands looks weaker than this time 12 months ago although inevitably Newcastle won't take until December to win a game this time so they'll obviously be much stronger. We simply have to finish top 10. I genuinely wonder what would be the plan if we can't do that after all the investment in last 12 months. Can see call from above to start playing likes of Kesler, Archer, Tim more next season as wage bill is simply unsustainable to keep on finishing bottom half every year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 8 hours ago, MWARLEY2 said: Hypothetical and all that but lets say we had Conte as manager. Would everyone on here say that top 7 was achievable .That our squad was good enough ? Conte is proven at getting maximum out of squads very quickly so yes I think everyone would be confident of europa league qualification if he was here. Also think with what we have 3-5--2 drilled into this squad would work well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 (edited) 4 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: I think it's quite straightforward in the sense that Conte has a reputation of always needing to spend money for ready made players to get results now? You first sentence is simply you playing with a narrative, no one is debating that he could potentially get the team to perform on a higher level than Gerrard, OR that Gerrard is on Contes level. The debate is more about thinking the squad is all of a sudden good enough for top 7 based on a switch of Manager. All of a sudden players stop giving the ball away and strikers start being clinical etc. lol I'm also still struggling to see how the rest of my post isn't relevant, as finishing " Top 7 " would require being the best team after the top 6 ( As i assume you mean 7th..surely? )...it's not really complicated is it? With multiple teams around also with very good squads, some of them arguably more balanced as well. Where did Brendan Rodgers finish with Leicester? Although i'm sure for arguments sake we'll now decide that we wouldn't take ANY players from the likes of Leicester or other teams around us, as all of ours are much better than them. lol We were after players Conte wanted and got.....Bissouma and Bentancur. So ambition isn't a problem for us these days still need lots of factors to come together to sign good standard players compared to Spurs with London + CL. Albeit from lower base since 2019 we've probably comfortably spent more than Spurs have, even this summer they've got in a couple of free transfers in Perisic and Fraser Forster. Conte didn't really want to sign Djed Spence either. Given we've given Gerrard licence to sign guys like Coutinho and Digne we'd certainly give Conte more control of transfers than at Spurs. Edit: Big thing for me is I really think we'd look more convincing playing a Conte type 3-5-2 than Gerrard system which I still believe will stifle us in final third as we saw on many occasions from February. Edited August 1, 2022 by VillaChris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciggiesnbeer Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 I went through the fixtures and my total was 69 points. Which sounds insane and probably is, but that's what I got. So I am predicting 5th! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picicata Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 I think we have the squad to challenge for 8th if the right tactics and formation are used. I think we'll finish 11th/ 12th Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 4 hours ago, ciggiesnbeer said: I went through the fixtures and my total was 69 points. Which sounds insane and probably is, but that's what I got. So I am predicting 5th! That would involve us winning about 20 games this season. For me it's very insane 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 Didnt think needed a new thread but put in here as for this season. We might not win a trophy but according to the BBC we are top of the CO2 emissions table for pre season 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 (edited) I don't really want to put a place prediction. I just want to see tangible improvement from last season to show that Gerrard actually has a plan other than being well trained for media questions. I want to see more than half dozen home wins, some half decent football,and a good cup run. Is that too much to ask? Edited August 2, 2022 by The Fun Factory 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted August 2, 2022 Author Share Posted August 2, 2022 14 minutes ago, Zatman said: Didnt think needed a new thread but put in here as for this season. We might not win a trophy but according to the BBC we are top of the CO2 emissions table for pre season Wow that stat took my breath away! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teale's 'tache Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 I've a sneaky suspicion that we might not have the quickest of starts. Just because I think integrating two new players in to the spine of the team takes a while, especially when both are coming with no experience of the Premier League, I'm sure both will adapt, it just might take a little while. Beyond that it's really down to the form and fitness of certain players and how well the manager performs, but looking at the other teams around us a surprising amount do appear weaker than 12 months ago, where we definitely should be stronger. I think 8th/9th would be a good return from this squad of players. I'd also like to see a positive goal difference. 19 losses is simply not acceptable and anything near that can not happen again if we want to progress. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 Anybody got stats for how many points we dropped against bottom 6 teams last season? I'm guessing even just improving/ stopping that and improving home form would make a massive difference points wise? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: Anybody got stats for how many points we dropped against bottom 6 teams last season? I'm guessing even just improving/ stopping that and improving home form would make a massive difference points wise? Watford twice, Leeds, Burnley 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 14 hours ago, jim said: 7th is a stretch, even with the best manager in world. We’ll finish 8-11th. Thought we already had him ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 58 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: Anybody got stats for how many points we dropped against bottom 6 teams last season? I'm guessing even just improving/ stopping that and improving home form would make a massive difference points wise? 13 points dropped ? I think we got 23 points out of 36 which whilst ain’t too bad should really be better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 We were 7 points from 8th place. We should have won: Watford (a) +3 Watford (h) +3 Wolves +3 (We were 2-0 up with 10 mins left to play) Burnley (h) +2 Just those 4 results would be an extra 11 points which would have had us finishing 7th. If we hadn't collapsed against Man City after being 2-0 with 14 mins left, we would have finished 6th above Man Utd. All this doesn't mean anything though, just me rambling. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 (edited) Sure every club have games where they should have won (or lost) but didn't. And for all this 9th in the form table since Gerrard joined we were only 2 points better than 14th placed West Ham in that form table. We did OK. If everything clicks we should be able to challenge for Europe, but that goes for a number of clubs around us. If we play like we did last season we will be very lucky to get top-10 IMO. Edited August 2, 2022 by sne 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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