Who Will Pose A Threat Next Season

domalino said:
Games missed -

Mendy - 48
Kompany - 26
Delph - 15
Stones - 14
Jesus - 12
Silva - 10 (Not Injury)
Aguero - 7 (And out for the rest of the season)
Sterling - 5
Sané - 4


I don't think we've been that lucky to be honest. 7 players have or will have missed 20% of the season or more, and at least 4 of them are in our starting XI.

I think the reason we appear unscathed this season is simply because we are now a system based team. The system is king, and the players are coached well enough that if someone is injured you can fit someone else in. Quality in depth probably helps there too.

In contrast under Pellegrini and Mancini we basically had to have Hart, Kompany, Yaya, Silva and Aguero on the pitch or else we were severely weakened.
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Agreed that we've certainly not been that lucky overall in the injury count. But your list somewhat shows my point that the guys who, for me at least, are key to how we play haven't missed too many games, and often spread out at separate points in the season when we could cope. The games when we've struggled is when we've lost our width in Sane/Sterling, or lost our midfield duo of De Bruyne/Silva - and for the majority of the season we've had these guys available.

I think a big injury to Sane/Sterling is a big worry for us with our current squad. Like you say the system is king, but our current system is so effective because of the width these 2 provide. We've tried De Bruyne/Bernardo out wide this season & whilst they're certainly not bad, we're no where near as effective. However as I say, I expect Pep is acutely aware of that & will add in another natural wide man in the summer to prevent this happening.
 
Chelsea will IMHO be the biggest threat. They will have the majority of the squad that were champions last season, they will have a new manager and they will probably have at least three new starters. They won't have the 'everyone wants to beat the champions' thing, either, nor will they have champions league football. Finish above them, IMO, and we win the league.

The rags are also a danger. They will shell out another £250m this summer, and they might just click. You keep throwing that amount of money at it season after season and one day it may well come good.

Liverpool will be a slightly better version of this season - capable of beating anyone in the league on their day but incapable of sustaining it over the course of a season. Too prone to follow up a really good performance with an abject one. This season they were one long term injury away from finishing outside the top 4. They haven't got the depth of squad to cover an abject loss of form or a bad injury. Other than that, its their year. Obviously.

Tottenham I think will be more of the same UNLESS they win the FA cup. That might spur them on (no pun intended) to better things.

Arsenal will continue to be Arsenal. Probably bottom of the top 6 mini league, but capable of giving anyone a bloody nose on their day.

Personally I think referees and fixtures will be our biggest threats. If we are away at Anfield or the Swamp on the Saturday after we have played CSKA away on the Wednesday, that is going to have a major impact. Look at this season, where we went to Anfield 2 days after a CC semi final and they hadn't had a game in 9 days. That can work in our favour, too, but I think the fixture list can definitely work against us. As to referees, last season we should have been a lot closer to the title but for some pretty awful refereeing decisions - the non-red card against Luiz, the push on Sterling against Tottenham, the not-given handball against Arsenal etc. We've had some bad decisions this season too, but not quite so many in the top 6 clashes where they make the most difference. Next season may be closer to last season's model than this.
 
Chris in London said:
Chelsea will IMHO be the biggest threat. They will have the majority of the squad that were champions last season, they will have a new manager and they will probably have at least three new starters. They won't have the 'everyone wants to beat the champions' thing, either, nor will they have champions league football. Finish above them, IMO, and we win the league.

The rags are also a danger. They will shell out another £250m this summer, and they might just click. You keep throwing that amount of money at it season after season and one day it may well come good.

Liverpool will be a slightly better version of this season - capable of beating anyone in the league on their day but incapable of sustaining it over the course of a season. Too prone to follow up a really good performance with an abject one. This season they were one long term injury away from finishing outside the top 4. They haven't got the depth of squad to cover an abject loss of form or a bad injury. Other than that, its their year. Obviously.

Tottenham I think will be more of the same UNLESS they win the FA cup. That might spur them on (no pun intended) to better things.

Arsenal will continue to be Arsenal. Probably bottom of the top 6 mini league, but capable of giving anyone a bloody nose on their day.

Personally I think referees and fixtures will be our biggest threats. If we are away at Anfield or the Swamp on the Saturday after we have played CSKA away on the Wednesday, that is going to have a major impact. Look at this season, where we went to Anfield 2 days after a CC semi final and they hadn't had a game in 9 days. That can work in our favour, too, but I think the fixture list can definitely work against us. As to referees, last season we should have been a lot closer to the title but for some pretty awful refereeing decisions - the non-red card against Luiz, the push on Sterling against Tottenham, the not-given handball against Arsenal etc. We've had some bad decisions this season too, but not quite so many in the top 6 clashes where they make the most difference. Next season may be closer to last season's model than this.
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Hopefully we will get Liverpool away first game so we can get it out of the way!
 
you would think Liverpool but I don't think they have the squad for a league challenge. Take away one of their front 3 and they're fucked. Add Van Dijk to that too.They are adding Keita who is supposed to be very good but they need more and its quality they need, not numbers. Will they splash the cash?
United and Spurs will be up there but again, I dont see them as 80+ point teams.
Chelsea are the anomaly. New manager and maybe some additions and they are capable of pushing us. Will Roman spend again?
 
Every season for the last however long Liverpool have been tipped to make a credible title challenge and it's never really materialised. In 2013-14 their title hopes hinged on winning the last 14 league matches on the run and this proved beyond them. They seem vulnerable to injury to key players but even more their playing style is based on such high tempo, high energy pressing that they seem unable to keep it up for more than an hour in a single match and for more than a couple of games in succession. As for Spurs it's a bit the same. This was their third successive season in the top four but there hasn't been a genuine title challenge yet and this season they've been a long, long way short of City. United, too, look a long way off the pace - the derby showed that for 20 minutes they may match and even surpass City, but over 38 games they are miles short. Chelsea? Arsenal? I think both have other problems to think about before they can pose a threat to us.

My fear is that history suggests that retaining the PL is actually much more difficult than it was a decade ago and that for City retaining the title is the minimum requirement. City want the CL - badly. The chairman wants a serious attempt to win all four trophies and I bet Pep does too. So I think the biggest threat to City will be City itself (if we don't mention the FA and/or UEFA). What I will say is that the owner will provide the funds to ensure that we have a big enough and good enough squad and the mastermind behind our efforts will be Pep Guardiola.
 
Liverpool for me. They've improved massively against the bottom clubs this season, less individual errors in defence and from their keeper. They've looked in control in those games recently and have the capabilities to score a ton at home. They've also had a good run of clean sheets that they weren't able to accumulate previously.

Chelsea are having a shit season which means they'll be contending next season with a new manager and improved performances + signings. Very odd club, they just have a yearly cycle of good/bad.

United will play like shit once more under Mourinho but get results somehow and comfortably make the Top 4.

Spurs will be Top 4 again but won't have enough to win the league or contend it seriously. They're still a few players off that.

I'm not going to even talk about Arsenal.
 
BlueMedic said:
Agreed that we've certainly not been that lucky overall in the injury count. But your list somewhat shows my point that the guys who, for me at least, are key to how we play haven't missed too many games, and often spread out at separate points in the season when we could cope. The games when we've struggled is when we've lost our width in Sane/Sterling, or lost our midfield duo of De Bruyne/Silva - and for the majority of the season we've had these guys available.

I think a big injury to Sane/Sterling is a big worry for us with our current squad. Like you say the system is king, but our current system is so effective because of the width these 2 provide. We've tried De Bruyne/Bernardo out wide this season & whilst they're certainly not bad, we're no where near as effective. However as I say, I expect Pep is acutely aware of that & will add in another natural wide man in the summer to prevent this happening.
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Without Sterling and Sane we could play 3 centre backs and have Walker and Mendy playing as wing backs, like we started this season.
 
if we are as consistent as we have been this season, nobody. Cant see the likes of pool, rags or Chelsea and the spuds keeping up. however I expect it to be a lot closer.
 
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