Next season predictions?

[Chippy_boy]

I posted something along these lines a moment ago, and thought perhaps it deserves its own thread. So what's your thoughts about what we can expect next season?

Personally, I think we are going to dominate the league. This isn't just proud and blind faith. I think we have some incredible players and some very fine players, and one or two dross players. But in the main we have incredible talent, playing woefully below their potential.

I think with two or three top quality additions (which we will surely get), renewed confidence, and a top quality manager who can really coach players and who has incredible attention to detail and tactical nouse, we will be simply awesome.

I am going to stick my neck out and say we will get 90+ points and win the league by 10 points clear. I think he will have us playing like Barca after about 3 games.

 

[dubblue]

Hoping for a decent tilt at the title but not expecting anything with the work Guardiola has to do with this squad. Might be 2 years before we are in a position to win it again.

 

[moorsideblue]

premier league: winners
fa cup: winners
league cup: i think he wont take this seriously and will give kids a run out or fringe players
champions league last 8 or better

 

[shauny29]

It all depends on how we build in the summer. I'm not expecting us to win everything, might take pep a season or so to gel

 

[Chippy_boy]

It's easy to think he has a lot of work to do, and yes over the next 3 years he does, since a lot of our players will be too old by then. But I think in the short term, he's already very close to having a top quality side.

Aguero, Iheanacho, KDB, Silva, Fernandino, Hart are all top class I think. Fernando has shown he can be very decent in the right role. Otamendi is fine, and I think Mangala will come good. Sagna is solid. Nasri can be great under Pep and I think we'll see huge improvement from Navas. Personally I think Clichy and Kolarov are both a waste of food, but some seem to think Clichy is OK.

We need a quality left back, a Vinny replacement and a Yaya replacement and we are good to go.

 

[Viridian]

It's far too early to be talking about this sort of stuff.

 

[levets]

League: winners
FA: depends on draw of course
LC: reserves will play
Europe: will take seriously QF at least

 

[Alex B]

The youngsters will replace the deadwood in the squad. Angelino-Kolorov, Denayer-Demi, Brahim/Roberts-Navas. Hopefully a few others Bryne or Davenport too. Im not sold on Garcia yet.

With 5/6 quality signings added to the existing players like Aguero, KDB, Sterling, Dinhio, Hart, Otamendi & Silva we will win the league with Pep.

Fancy us to get to the semis at least again in whatever European competition we land in.

 

[sh249]

Very optimistic.

To my mind, we've had (very broadly and crudely speaking) three main problems this season. One has been the attitude/mentality (call it what you will) of the players - i.e. their inability or unwillingness to work hard and play with intensity week in, week out, and the more general laxity in our play. A second has been tactical, and relates mainly to the lack of 'compactness' of the side from front to back (which manifests itself in the ridiculous gaps between defence, midfield and attack, and between our wide men and the other attackers). The third has been technical - i.e. the fact that, particularly when it comes to pitting ourselves against top sides, we've got too many players who are technically limited (compare and contrast Sagna, Otamendi, Mangala, Clichy and Fernando with, say, Lahm, Martinez, Boateng, Alaba and Alonso).

I expect Guardiola to address the first two pretty much immediately. He'll demand effort and intensity from all players from the get go, and no-one, irrespective of who it may be, will get away with coasting through games. And inasmuch as it might take a short while for us to get to grips with how he wants us to play, I expect to see a pretty pronounced change in terms of how compact we are - seeing our centre halves planted some 20-30 yards behind the midfield, as they have been for most of this season, will be a thing of the past.

The third point is perhaps more difficult to address, and the replacement of certain players with more technically-gifted ones will probably be an ongoing process throughout his time with us (I can't see us going out and signing five, six, seven new first-teamers in the summer). At any rate, I don't think it will be a huge problem in the league and, assuming we make a couple of top quality signings (central midfielder, new wide attacker), I would be extremely confident of us winning the title, and possibly dominating in a big way. The lack of technical ability might still hinder us in Europe though, initially at least.

 

[blueinsa]

We will win the league and do well in Europe, regardless of what competition we end up in.