Will we win the league this season?

The Nov-Dec anomaly colours our perception of our team. In 2025, our form and defending was good (source: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/jahrestabelle/wettbewerb/GB1 ). City struggled with the injury to Rodri. In 2025, O'Reilly emerged and Pep increasingly used fullbacks, rather than wingers, for width. Our form improved thereafter.

I am hopeful that we will win the league but less confident than usual because the extent of Rodri's recovery from injury is unknown. The news about Ederson adds uncertainty.

I think Pep will be more attack-minded next season, because our new attacking players are strong players and likely will be more efficient than KDB who was struggling. I have summarised the uncertainties below:

1) KDB has gone. How likely are Foden, Cherki, Reijnders to make up for KDB's goals and assists? Very likely.
2) Ederson's future is in doubt. Trafford is the most likely replacement. It's unclear at the moment whether we will change our keeper, and what that effect might be.
3) Rodri returned in the Club World Cup and played some minutes. We do not know how well and how quickly he will recover next season.
4) Liverpool's spending is extraordinary. Chelsea are in the mix too after signing Delap and Pedro. Arsenal will sign a striker. The Premier League was very weak last season. It will be stronger next season.
 
blueparrot said:
Yet we were second highest scorers in the league, and obviously playing against packed defences it will,take more attempts to score than playing against open teams.As for conceding we conceded 3 more than liverpool . Perceptions aren’t reality.
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With Haaland, Marmoush, a fit Foden, and Cherki we will score more goals than anyone. It’s the back we need to sort
 
Moss Side's Finest said:
No no, I agree entirely that we too have strengthened and have players back from long terms absence. I was merely stating that the Scousers will unfortunately pose a huge challenge to overcome with their improvements
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If you look at how the dippers have strenghtened they must be strong favourites. While shit can happen to the horse in front I expect us to be in a battle with five or 6 others for 2nd to 6th. Things can change over the course of August, there may be unexpected ins and outs but I think the overall profile for the squad is fairly set.
 
Txiki Txiki Bang Bang said:
You make it sound like these players are playing defense for the opposition or like they score an average of three own goals every game. It's silly to suggest our chances of winning or loosing the league depends on how quickly we clear out players who have contributed to getting us where we are now. Since when did those players become bumbling liabilities? Yes they have struggled with fitness issues and have lost a pace or two but those names mentioned are worldclass anywhere in the football world.

Akanji, Stones and Ake can still play for about 5 more years in any other league outside the PL and I believe they can still contribute here this season and probably next season, it all comes down to Pep managing his expectations and using them the right way. Let's not be too quick to discard players all because we have Khusanov and a few youngsters.

Experience goes a long way not just in football but in every sporting activity, you saw what the 38 year old Usyk did to the 27 year old Dubois, right? Different sports but surely the physical demands of boxing outweighs the physical demands of football and none of those players are even close to 38 yet. Winning or loosing the league has nothing to do with how quickly we move those world class players on.
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Boxing and football are entirely different sports. I never said we should get rid of all of them, I said SOME players. Some of those players aren’t liabilities but they aren’t reliable anymore. I also didn’t remotely imply a time frame for when to get rid of SOME of these players
 
Alexia_Ko said:
Boxing and football are entirely different sports. I never said we should get rid of all of them, I said SOME players. Some of those players aren’t liabilities but they aren’t reliable anymore. I also didn’t remotely imply a time frame for when to get rid of SOME of these players
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But you did refer to next season "if we clear out *****, then we would win" so surely that was in reference to next season? And yes football and boxing are different sports, I made that point clear in my previous post.
 
Txiki Txiki Bang Bang said:
But you did refer to next season "if we clear out *****, then we would win" so surely that was in reference to next season? And yes football and boxing are different sports, I made that point clear in my previous post.
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I should’ve made it clearer that I was referring to the near future then
 
We are still a right back and a top quality, pacey centre half short (at least) for me.

I was quietly confident with the business we did early doors, but others have also strengthened really well.

The keeper situation needs sorting this week before we start a short pre-season to give us the best chance possible.
 
This forum needs some optimism. Rodri will be back and Foden seems motivated to get back to his best and he had a promising CWC. I also expect big things from Doku, think he's ready to be one of our most important attackers. He always takes responsibility and I have a feeling that he'll have a great season. Because we've signed them early people are already forgetting that we've signed 3 top players that can immediately improve our first 11.
Will we win the league? Who knows. But we'll definitely have a better season than 24/25.
 
Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have all spent well and big.
As usual if we can win consistently against the big six then we have every chance of winning the title.
The defence however is still a worry.
 
If we signed Livramento and Guehi we’d absolutely piss it.

As it is, I think we’ll be in a battle with Arses and Chelsea for second. If our new signings hit the ground running and contribute goals then we’ll probably manage that. If they take time to make an impact, or we have more injuries then we’ll probably end up about fourth or fifth.

I just don’t have the faith in Savinho, Bernardo and Doku to score enough. We need Haaland to have an immense season and Cherki and Marmoush to play and score regularly. No Gundogan, Bernardo and Lewis passing it around with no end product.

Going to be a tough contest this season the way Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have strengthened. We’ll be in the mix, but a lot depends on the new signings and big Erl.
 
When I look at our squad I still think we’re behind Liverpool and Arsenal.
The obvious weakness is right back which im sure we’ll address, but I also think we look weak and slow at centre back.
Will our wingers start to contribute enough G/A for a title challenge all of a sudden and will our midfield signings be a success? I’m hopeful of the latter.
 
I'd really like us to get a stronger goalie (yes there are feck all about), just feed we are a bit weaker at the back than years previously.
 
For me its more about how few new players gonna bed in rather than additional transfers.

Right back is a question whether Nunes could do one more step, hes not flawless positionally. We have Rico Lewis, Stones or Khusanov who could play there.

We have class CBs. One wish is they all stay healthy then we really do not need additions. Dias, Gvardiol (with both Ait Nouri and O'Reilly i do not expect Gvardiol as LB), Akanji, Ake, Khusanov, Stones, its more than enough, its just about they stay fit.

Pace for CB's is overrated, are Van Dijk, Saliba, Konate fast, not really. But one fast defender like Walker as last resort when on the high line would be good. For that purpose I hope Khusanov gonna make it at RB.

People forget we actually have too many players atm. Grealish, McAtee, Philips gonna leave. Echeverri, Reis and Nypan probably out for a loan.

Counting above mentioned out, we still have 26 players. Without GKs - 23. Its too many for Pep I feel but I struggle to see whose gonna get an axe. Probably Gundogan but surely 1 more at least, maybe Akanji, maybe Stones depending how our staff feel whether John is able to stay fit. Maybe loan for Bobb, but that would really dissapointed me as it means that we do not believe Oscar gonna fully recover after the injury, just maybe in the future.

The end of the day im confident we re gonna be much better than last season, Pep just need to have players available for internal competitiveness. Rivals are strong, but we gonna have more joy this season than last.
 
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