2013/14 Season Predictions

[daggy_333]

As it stands with this current squad - Another battle with relegation for me. That does not mean I am not behind Lambert. I will wait until Summer is over though.

 

Very good of you.

[heid3ster]

I think next season will be more of the same as this season:Lerner will keep a tight hold of the purse strings,Lambert will continue to make strange substitutions and not react to tactical change from the opposition and we will continue to follow a 6-1 win with a couple of losses and a draw.

In the end I can see us finishing around 15th.

We are lucky that Hull and Palace/Watford are comming up, it should not be too hard to get points from Cardiff either.

 

Why do you keep saying this? We followed the 6-1 win with a 2-1 win at Norwich (a team that lost only three games at home all season, by the way).

[Zatman]

my prediction for next season is Hutton will come back a changed man and replace Lowton and prove once and for all he is 2nd coming of Cafu

[AVFCforever1991]

my prediction for next season is Hutton will come back a changed man and replace Lowton and prove once and for all he is 2nd coming of Cafu

 

I thought Barca are going to buy him to replace Alves and buy Bannan to replace Xavi...

[BOF]

Hutton at Barca? He's more a Real player IMO.

[PandaMac]

Hutton at Barca? He's more a Real player IMO.

Barca? Madrid? Don't be daft. Heard Bayern are getting fed up of this Lahm bloke and they want Hutton to replace him.

[BOF]

Bayern are looking a little above Hutton... At Beye.

Jesus we've had some shite rightbacks in the last few years. I wonder how much extra karma that gives Lowton

[Zatman]

as much as I like and rate Lowton it really helps his rating that we had Beye, Samuel, De La Cruz(who I liked), Cuellar, Hutton, Gardner, reo-Coker all play there before him

[BOF]

Tis true. We've been starved. It helps that he's actually bloody good, but still ...

[Zatman]

best was probably Young and he cant even make QPR 25 man squad

[BOF]

I really liked Young at the start and then there was that whole mess over his brother dying and what did or didn't happen with O'Neill and the compassionate time off etc. Anyway, whatever way it all played out, he was never the same player after that.

[StefanAVFC]

I found it hilarious that Gardner played RB under MON at Sunderland. He just doesn't change does he 

Edited May 24, 2013 by StefanAVFC

[Richard]

as much as I like and rate Lowton it really helps his rating that we had Beye, Samuel, De La Cruz(who I liked), Cuellar, Hutton, Gardner, reo-Coker all play there before him

and Bardsley

[Zatman]

 

as much as I like and rate Lowton it really helps his rating that we had Beye, Samuel, De La Cruz(who I liked), Cuellar, Hutton, Gardner, reo-Coker all play there before him

and Bardsley

 

 

Id actually forgotten he played for us until his antics last week

[Rovers13]

It goes without saying (I hope...) that all of this is based on assumptions about managers/players and depends on the transfer windows that they are all about to have. So with that in mind, here's how I see it. I might be back to tweak as the summer unfolds

1 - Chelsea - Assuming they'll have Mourinho. They already have an excellent squad and he'll improve it. Chelsea win league. Simple.

2 - Manchester United - Can't see Moyes winning the title but I think this squad is too strong to finish outside the top 2. I see next season as a learning one for him where he just takes the wheel of an already-sailing ship and doesn't fix what clearly ain't broke.

3 - Manchester City - Pellegrini is an excellent manager but he (or whoever it ends up being) has a big job to turn these individuals into a team. That said, these individuals are good enough to come 3rd without any manager in charge. I can't see them topping the 2 above though.

4 - Arsenal - Only a massive summer spend can bridge the gap between what is now a very good Arsenal side and the super-powers above them. They obviously need to stop their better players leaving too.

5-6 - Spurs - Bale Bale Bale. Although with that being said, if they can buy a whole new strikeforce from the earnings, then they might end up OK either way.

5-6 - Liverpool - Will be much stronger assuming they keep Suarez. Their growing pains are over too and they ended the season well. Pointswise I think they could challenge for 4th if someone above them drops the ball. Either way I think they'll genuinely make it a top 6 next season, rather than this season's top 5 with them fighting for 'best of the rest'. Sort out those centrebacks though.

7 - Everton - They will not replace Moyes and have instant success, so they are bound to fall away at least for one season. To me it's a case of how far they fall (pointswise if not positionally). They could also hire badly and/or have their squad pillaged (Fellaini, Baines, Coleman, Jagielka). So for me it's a case of 'how bad' next season will be for the Toffees relative to what they've become accustomed to.

8 - Swansea - If they keep Laudrup, Michu & Williams then there's no reason they can't impress again. Lose Laudrup though (Everton...) and it'll be a worry. You won't keep finding excellent managers. Hopefully they'll pluck some more obscure Spanish talent and be a joy to watch again. The league is better for having them.

9 - Aston Villa - The growing pains are over. A young energetic and capable squad full of goals now knows what it takes to be in the PL. There is room for improvement no doubt, so some intelligent summer buys could make this a season of very enjoyable progression. It also obviously depends on keeping our better players here, but at least next season we hit the ground running rather than with a splat.

10 - Newcastle United - Tough one. Really depends on whether they lose their stars and can ship out the rubbish. Their scouting myth has been debunked and they've a split dressing room. I think they'll be OK and they benefit from a piss poor lower half of the league but they won't worry the big boys and I wouldn't guarantee Pardew sees next May in charge if they start poorly.

11 - Norwich - I expect they'll be a stronger side than last season. A good 'team' with no over-reliance on any individuals. They'll stay up no problem and hopefully I can go back to liking them now that we've put a whole season between them and the whole Lambert saga This might be 'still 11th' but it'll be a much safer one than the season just gone.

12 - West Ham - All depends on Carroll. If they get him they could be top half again. Sizeable Sam will always keep you up though, so they're one of those sides who could be anywhere from 9th to 17th but definitely no lower.

13 - West Brom - Second season will be tougher without Lukaku and they can't afford a similar quality replacement. I don't expect them to be as strong next time out although I imagine they won't struggle with the drop under Clarke.

14 - Cardiff City - Assuming they keep Malky in charge, I think they'll spend the money and stay up. They've been knocking on the door for years and absolutely sailed up this season. Clearly a good side with a good defence and we've seen that the momentum of coming up as champions, more often than not, keeps you up. Not to mention that teams who come up off the back of a strong defence often do much better than teams who come up as an attacking force with a poor defence.

15 - Fulham - Need a big summer for their ageing squad. I think they could struggle next season. Particularly if their end to this season was any gauge. Jol has problems there IMO and they're my dark horse for a season-long relegation scrap in the way we were Gobby Cabbage's last season.

16 - Stoke City - Cracks started to appear this season and now they're a club without a manager. They've gone from being relatively safe to being in danger of going down. They are still good defensively but a big change in style might be hard to adapt to depending on who comes in. If I was a fan I'd be worried right now.

17 - Sunderland - I get the impression PdC will gut that squad in the summer, meaning a lot of new faces and transition in the new season. He better hope he doesn't fall out with them all or it could be disastrous.

18 - Hull City - Good old fistface. Not sure about this lot because I don't know much about them. I don't think they have much money and they only barely came 2nd with a relatively poor attack and defence and a goal difference that doesn't fit with the league position. Bruce has shown himself to be a very capable manager in the past so they could be OK if he can find more players of Palacios' calibre.

19 - Southampton - I genuinely think they could go down (as you can see). I don't trust Pochettino's ability to get the momentum up that he inherited from Adkins last season. They finished 19th in the form guide too and I do think that reflects them under the new man, rather than attributing it to end-of-season syndrome a la maybe Fulham.

20 - Watford/Crystal Palace - TBD - Either way I'll put them here. I can't see Palace having the quality and I'm not sure if the PL allows you to abuse the loan system in the way Watford have benefitted this season. So they'll be weaker than the side that got them promoted.

Do strong defensive promoted teams really do better? Reading had the best championship defense and did poorly, while Southampton and Lamberts norwich were both more offensive. Furthermore, blackpool under Holloway were relatively bad defensively and got 39 points

[CrackpotForeigner]

I spent about 40 seconds looking at this season's results and working out how many points we could have had with just a little bit more luck and/or skill.

 

I got 70 - 75. Easily.

 

Our form since February backs this up.

 

Considering how close 8th to 16th places are, we could easily finish anywhere in this range with little or no progress.

 

With a couple of good signings and keeping hold of our better players there should be no reason why we can't get most of the extra 30-odd points.

 

So regardless of what happens in the transfer window I'd expect us to finish top 10, and with luck and the right signings there's no real reason we can't finish around 6th or so either.

[TRO]

Having spoken to a premier league first team player about us.... says the young lads are very good and will be that much better with the experience of last season. Having challenged him he was adamant we are going to be a very good side.

 

we all know where and what to improve, no more so than the Manager.

 

I think Lambert has demonstrated his blue print.... and I believe, Lerner will buy in to it.

 

It will take time and we will have varying rates of progress.... but we will get there

 

I believe Lambert has very useful contacts in what appears to be the best markets, Holland,Belgium & Germany. He can also speak German, which is pretty useful.

 

......sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

Ps   someone said we can't compete with the moneybags clubs, well lets see where our model takes us.... best of the rest would do for starters.

[Avfc96]

1-Manchester United

2-Chelsea

3-Manchester City

4-Spurs

5-Arsenal

6-Liverpool

7-Swansea

8-Villa

9- Everton

10- West Brom

11- Southampton

12- West Ham

13- Norwich

14-Newcastle

15- Sunderland

16- Cardiff

17-Fulham

18- Stoke

19- Hull

20- Watford/Crystal Palace

[StefanAVFC]

We'll finish mid table after the same glorious highs (revenge at Stamford Bridge) and crushing lows (knocked out in the 3rd round of the FA cup by a L1 team).