Are We Worse Off Than Last Season?

[rickmcfc]

Hear me out and dont go into this thread with the blue tinted specs on. Last year we finished 3rd in the league. The only additions we have made to that squad are Gael Clichy and Savic. These are both good players in my opinion but hardly world class, just good decent Premiership players. With players also leaving, most noticable Tevez, we, as it stands are in a worse position squad wise.

Add to this, United have signed good quality players.They finished top last year and they will really be the team to beat this year. Whoever finishes above United, will win the league.

Liverpool. From when Dalglish took over they were a totally different team. They have not lost any key players and have signed some decent players.

Chelsea will look totally different under the new manager. They have not signed anyone yet, but with Modric looking likely to go again they will be seriously strong this year.

Arsenal will finish 5th this year i think. Liverpool will pip them to 4th. So where do i think we will finish? I think 3rd again like this season, but if we are to push for a title challenge we do need to sign some more players. Who do you think we need to sign to challenge for the title, because as it stands, we have got weaker and others around us have got stronger. I know there is 5 weeks of the transfer window remaining, but we have not made progress in it yet. Any thoughts.

 

[LoveCity]

We have not finished our business yet.

 

[UlsterCitizen]

We looked stronger as the season progressed, we have now gelled into a very good team, a team that will challenge this season.

 

[glen quagmire]

Have faith rick! I don't want to add too many to the team as i believe we are nearly there. Aguero for carlos add nasri and we are just about there!

liverpool's honeymoon period is over, wait untill chelsea suffer a losing streak, their young manager won't know how to handle it and hopefully arsenal will just fade away into the background.

 

[Cityfan]

As it stands we have not lost Tevez, we have lost Given, Jo and Boateng but gained Clichy and Savic,this is therefore much the same.

Yes we will probably lose Tevez but we will also strengthen elsewhere. It is also likely that some of our new players from last season will be better integrated from having last seasons experience and a full pre season.
Personally I feel that we will be significantly better than lst season, however I also feel that the standard at the top will be better as well. How it all will work out is guess work at the moment.

 

[Josh Blue]

The team has Gelled now that took over half a season for us to do last season. You could really tell how well we had gelled towards the end of the season compared to the start.

 

[bluetoo]

I think we would still be better this season if we hadnt signed anyone at all. We finished last season like a steam train and showed that Mancinis plans were coming together very nicely indeed. I fully expect us to gel even more closely during close season and hit the ground running with the same momentum as where we left off.

 

[Dirty Harry]

On the contrary, whilst it's likely we will lose Tevez, we are a year further on and I expect the rest of the squad to move up a gear after the success of last season, getting that first trophy and CL qualification will have a huge and positive effect.
We've also added Clichy who will give us better options going forward on the left this season.
How we deal with the loss of Tevez may have a big effect but personally I think if we get Aguero other players will step up to the mark to make a point.

 

[Big G]

This thread

The season has not started.
We have not finished our business.
There is over a month left of the transfer window.

 

[bluemoondays]

As mentioned, we were gelling properly towards the end of last season and still have to complete our buying.

Utd have not strengthened their 1st team but added some cover and a direct replacement. Utd so far have signed: De Gea - A VDS replacement - is he going to be as good? No-one knows yet. Jones - A Vidic backup - extra squad depth. Young - Another winger - extra squad depth

Chelsea - nobody. If Modric goes there I'd say a small(ish) improvement, he's not 5 times the player better than existing Chelsea midfielders.

Liverpool - Could be dark horses but not from their summer signings, more from the Kenny factor, depends if it carries on. Henderson is hit and miss, Downing is a pretty average PL winger, Charlie Adam - meh, again a fairly average PL midfielder. Their defence was an issue when teams got at them, no changes there but they have a stronger squad overall than last season.

Arsenal - If they lose Nasri & Fabregas on top of Clichy they will struggle. Gervinho did well in France so should be a good buy like most of Wengers AM buys. His defensive buys are shite on the whole and they still haven't strengthened the defence so far.

City - Losing Tevez will be a big blow (although I detest him) unless we get in a replacement (Kun) and he fits in the team well. Clichy is a good signing, defensively one of the best LBs in the PL. Savic is just cover. I still think we are looking for another striker (no idea who?), an AM (Nasri/Sneijder) and a midfielder (De Rossi/Montolivo?). Assuming we get these signings and they gel OK we will go up another level as we will have strengthened AM, LB and maybe midfield (or at least got more cover in midfield).

It's not going to be easy to knock the scum off their perch but this season will see the end of our buying for the next few years unless we get people wanting out or bargains become available. The team core is there, we are adding the finishing touches this year and then we will become a settled side with minimal changes each year.

I'd say this year I expect to see a realistic challenge with an outside chance of winning the PL - next year (2012/13) will be the "go for it" year imho.