Will we win the league this season?

You have a really top team. Marmoush + Haaland + Foden and behind Cherky and Reijnders. Plus Doku, Savinho, Bobb. You and Real Madrid have the best attack in the world. Your only weak link is the keeper.

In PL you are the main favourites. Arsenal could be your contender if they buy a top striker and a top left winger.
 
We're surely in the conversation, but it does depend on how the new team gels together and if system changes are made, how we adapt to them.
 
Semper aggressus said:
I don’t think so unfortunately. Unless we get a top right back our defence still looks a bit suspect, though I’d like to see us with Stones and Gvardiol as regular centre backs and Ait-Nouri LB, then with a proper RB we’ll be decent there.

I still think we may be a bit inconsistent this season, plus Liverpool never get injuries and have added Wirtz to the side.
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The chances of JS forming a regular partnership with anyone is fanciful I would suggest.
 
Damocles said:
I don't think so. I'm concerned by a lot of small details that's going on with City. This feels a lot like we're looking at short term focuses rather than long term gains as we always have done. Liverpool have a formidable squad. Arsenal + an Isak are going to be very strong. I think even our best squad under Pep wouldn't run away with this league and we'd be in a fight.

Pep's new staff signing 1+1 contracts to match Pep isn't a good message. Our captain running down his deal isn't a good message. Us not buying from the absolute top table isn't a good message. Us having small bits of complacency such as allowing Foden to get into the 18 month contract window isn't a good message.

I feel it's a year or two too early for us and that the executive team may well have taken their eye off the ball a bit. The other two teams are absolutely primed and ready to go and we're still fuzzy around the edges with a bloated squad and questionable quality in key areas.
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Sadly I think you might be right. I have us 3rd again but if we stay clear of injuries, get a decent right full and Pep works some of his magic then who knows.
 
il_Cecchino said:
You have a really top team. Marmoush + Haaland + Foden and behind Cherky and Reijnders. Plus Doku, Savinho, Bobb. You and Real Madrid have the best attack in the world. Your only weak link is the keeper.

In PL you are the main favourites. Arsenal could be your contender if they buy a top striker and a top left winger.
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I don't think Ederson is a weakness. He is an important part of our possession game. My main doubt is the recovery from injury of Rodri.

I also see Arsenal as a very strong squad which misses just 1/2 attacking players.
 
Marvin. said:
I don't think Ederson is a weakness. He is an important part of our possession game. My main doubt is the recovery from injury of Rodri.

I also see Arsenal as a very strong squad which misses just 1/2 attacking players.
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Rodri doesn't have to come back at the same level for us to drastically improve

You can already see the passing game when he's on the pitch, and he's hardly got going yet

A few more cameos early on in the season, and hopefully he's good to start playing 90 minutes in September

He also doesn't need to play every single game as he used to, now that we have Reijnders that can easily slot in to that role when necessary
 
Father Paul said:
Sadly I think you might be right. I have us 3rd again but if we stay clear of injuries, get a decent right full and Pep works some of his magic then who knows.
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I don't think a right back is vital. We can win the league with a hole in the squad. We won the treble without a left back.

We may not win the league but we will very likely fight strongly for this because:

a) Over 19 games in 2025 we won more points in the PL than any other side,
b) Rodri and Stones are now fit, and they missed much of 2024/25,
c) We have added Marmoush, Ait Nouri, Reijnders and Cherki which is a significant upgrade to our squad.
 
chris85mcfc said:
Rodri doesn't have to come back at the same level for us to drastically improve

You can already see the passing game when he's on the pitch, and he's hardly got going yet

A few more cameos early on in the season, and hopefully he's good to start playing 90 minutes in September

He also doesn't need to play every single game as he used to, now that we have Reijnders that can easily slot in to that role when necessary
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We need a XI that is good enough to beat Arsenal and Liverpool so I would say that it is important that Rodri makes a full recovery
 
It’s going to be interesting to see how they manage the opening stages of the new season, it’s about a month from the final of the club World Cup (if they get there) to the first game against Wolves. A three week break will need to be implemented and then getting the squad up to speed for the Wolves game. Will the team be under cooked in August or will this club World Cup have them gassing by March when it’s needed to push on?

We’ve got 9 new players that have arrived in the last 6 months to gel together and also new members of the coaching team. Liverpool with their spending looks like they are trying to steal a march on City whilst the rebuild takes place. It’s going to be fascinating season and we look better prepared to deal with it than we did last season.
 
Marvin. said:
I don't think Ederson is a weakness. He is an important part of our possession game. My main doubt is the recovery from injury of Rodri.

I also see Arsenal as a very strong squad which misses just 1/2 attacking players.
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Nico Gonzalez is a very good back up for Rodri. You have an incredible huge roster.
Ederson has great feet but is bad shot stopper. Previous seasons was almost impossible attack your team so you can hide this weakness, but last season your defense was weaker and so Ederson got exposed. Plus he is terrible to save penalties and this is important in cup games. You have the worst keeper among the european top teams.
 
IMO it's between us and Liverpool next season.

Liverpool have wisely invested big time this window. They've won the league last season and have strengthened.

Meanwhile, we're in a rebuilding phase having been caught off-guard, as our side, last season, just wasn't good enough at - IMO - mostly pressing - and other sides broke our press on numerous occasions and we conceded a bunch of goals and lost a bunch of games.

We've refreshed our squad big time and have IMO changed our attacking tactics as well.

In the previous few seasons under Pep, we high press, win the ball back, and then pass it around, mostly hoping to create one-on-one situations with our wingers - and hoping that a cross into the box to an open attacker leads to a goal.

Next season, the high press and ball retention is going to be a staple of our game. But what's changed is that we now have numerous players in our squad who can defeat defenders one-on-one - and they play centrally. Our attack next season will feature much more goals assisted or directly scored from the middle of the pitch.

So will we win the league next season? I hope so, but if we don't, I think we'll be second.
 
Marvin. said:
I don't think a right back is vital. We can win the league with a hole in the squad. We won the treble without a left back.

We may not win the league but we will very likely fight strongly for this because:

a) Over 19 games in 2025 we won more points in the PL than any other side,
b) Rodri and Stones are now fit, and they missed much of 2024/25,
c) We have added Marmoush, Ait Nouri, Reijnders and Cherki which is a significant upgrade to our squad.
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A) a season is ran from August until May
B) Stones can never stay fit, relying on him would be suicide.
C) Good additions which hopefully adapt quickly, most of our top players needed time to adapt. ]

A right back is vital as it adds the balance to our team. When we won the treble we didn't play a right back either. It was the four centre halves which creates that balance rather than being lob sided. That isn't to say it is impossible to win anything, we have with Delph and Zinny at left back but it would benefit us more having a right back.

I fear it is a year too soon to win it back but as long as we see the improvements, see a more exciting style of play and that progress from last years crap served up, then I can live with that. Things don't change overnight and we will have had a lot of changes in a short period of time. We will be back, just maybe not as early as next season.
 
il_Cecchino said:
Nico Gonzalez is a very good back up for Rodri. You have an incredible huge roster.
Ederson has great feet but is bad shot stopper. Previous seasons was almost impossible attack your team so you can hide this weakness, but last season your defense was weaker and so Ederson got exposed. Plus he is terrible to save penalties and this is important in cup games. You have the worst keeper among the european top teams.
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On Ederson:

Looking at his data in the league alone for 24/25 (26 games only) there is an argument that he was the best goalkeeper :)
(stats based on keepers with >10 apps)

2nd - Goals conceded p90
1st - Clean sheets p90
!st - Assists (4 is a mad stat)
1st - Pass completion % by some distance for long ball launches (> 40 yards)
1st - Sweeping/defensive actions p90
1st - for highest positive "post shot xG"

Post-shot xG effectively assesses the difficulty of shots faced on where they actually ended up. Based on this metric he saved over 5 more goals than the his post shot xG and the best in the league. (Source fbref)

For context allison was +9 in his best season a couple of seasons back but +3 for 24/25.
 
Liverpool will rightly start as favourites due to what they did last season and the players they’ve added. Arsenal will also strengthen in the right areas as well.

However, I couldn’t give a shite who they sign as if we perform as we can, we will walk the league.

Forget the new signings for a minute, having Rodri back, Gvardiol playing as a CB, Foden returning to form and Savinho and Doku having another year under their belt instantly improves us. Then add the quality that we have in the summer and it’s looking good. That’s without mentioning Marmoush who will score plenty next season.

There is no spine in football better than Ederson, Gvardiol, Dias, Rodri, Foden and Haaland.
 
il_Cecchino said:
You have a really top team. Marmoush + Haaland + Foden and behind Cherky and Reijnders. Plus Doku, Savinho, Bobb. You and Real Madrid have the best attack in the world. Your only weak link is the keeper.

In PL you are the main favourites. Arsenal could be your contender if they buy a top striker and a top left winger.
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Only if you make the mistake of viewing "keeper" in the old, traditional sense.
Don't worry, many on here do.
 
meeesh said:
It surely can’t be similar to last season with some of the results we had, I mean let’s take a few examples

0-4 at home to Spurs- really?

1-2 at home to rags -How the fuck?

1-0 away at Forest - what the fuck?

2-1 away at Bournemouth - as if

1-1 home to Everton - give over

2-2 away to Brentford - 2-0 up with 8 mins left- bollocks

Not to mention the dismal displays in the CL, or the icing on the cake a 1-0 loss to Crystal fucking Palace in the cup final, unbelievable

That’s just taking a few examples, we were instructed I’m convinced, and we said we will as long as we get a CL spot, they said fine but finish 3rd to make it look realistic

This season WILL be different in all comps
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Hopefully. Whilst we won't go on winless streaks like that can't help think too much footy catches up with us again. Squad look motivated enough, hopefully the younger sognings can give us energy.
 
Damocles said:
I don't think so. I'm concerned by a lot of small details that's going on with City. This feels a lot like we're looking at short term focuses rather than long term gains as we always have done. Liverpool have a formidable squad. Arsenal + an Isak are going to be very strong. I think even our best squad under Pep wouldn't run away with this league and we'd be in a fight.

Pep's new staff signing 1+1 contracts to match Pep isn't a good message. Our captain running down his deal isn't a good message. Us not buying from the absolute top table isn't a good message. Us having small bits of complacency such as allowing Foden to get into the 18 month contract window isn't a good message.

I feel it's a year or two too early for us and that the executive team may well have taken their eye off the ball a bit. The other two teams are absolutely primed and ready to go and we're still fuzzy around the edges with a bloated squad and questionable quality in key areas.
Click to expand...
Looking at how some of the new signings are playing, I’ll happily disagree and we’ll both hope you’re wrong I guess.
 
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