Where do you think we'll finish this season and why?

id hope we would win some silver wear maybe the capital 1 cup,2nd or 3rd in the league as i don't think we have addressed our weaknesses as it stands,centre midfield and both full back positions,maybe even centre half. i do think we will score the most goals again but i do worry about us defensively.

not really progressed at all in the champions league,we are way behind barca, real madrid and Bayern
 
I'm not going to say where I think we'll finish but I do think we'll put up a much bigger fight. The change in system is gonna make us much more compact imo, I assume that we'll complete the signing of De Bruyne soon so I'm typing this on the basis that he will sign, but him, along with Sterling, will give us much more variety in our playing style. One of the main problems we had last season was breaking down teams who park the bus, Sterling will give us something we didn't have in a player who can beat a man AND put in a dangerous final ball, also he will win us a lot of penalties (if the refs do their job). De Bruyne I think will be very impressive, he's different to Sterling in that he likes to put the ball in the box early, he doesn't wait around like Nasri does, he gets it in as quick as he can so it doesn't allow defenders to set themselves. Early signs are that Silva and Sterling are going to form a brilliant partnership, add Aguero and in all likelihood De Bruyne to that, and it becomes something that could take us a long way both domestic competitions and European.

As for central midfield, well. If Yaya can regain his form of 13/14 then he should play every game where he's in a fit physical condition, however, if he has another season like he had last season, which just for the record I don't think he will, then I don't think he should play in the any of the tough teams in the champs league, and the away games against the top 6. For me, when he's not on it, then his defensive flaws can outweigh his attacking capabilities. I'm actually really interested to see how Fernandinho and Delph would work as a pair, behind DS, KDB, RS and SA, they would both add much needed energy in midfield and would protect the defence much better than Fernando and Yaya could ever do as well as having the ability to play themselves, we would have enough quality in the front 4 to be able to sacrifice another forward thinking so that we could have an extra defensive player.

As for the defence, it looked pretty solid when we kept the same back 4 each game towards the back end of last season, and it was missing Kompany and Clichy, as long as we do this this season then I think we'll be ok, in terms of personal, our best back 4 has stayed the same from 12/13 when we had the most clean sheets apart from Mangala in for Nastasic (btw just a little fact for you, Zaba, Kompany, Nastasic and Clichy never played together under Pellegrini) and Clichy proved that he was able last season so I don't there's an issue there. As long as we don't rotate too much at the back and have decent protection in front of them then I think we'll be ok.
 
BenLlewellyn said:
I'm not going to say where I think we'll finish but I do think we'll put up a much bigger fight. The change in system is gonna make us much more compact imo, I assume that we'll complete the signing of De Bruyne soon so I'm typing this on the basis that he will sign, but him, along with Sterling, will give us much more variety in our playing style. One of the main problems we had last season was breaking down teams who park the bus, Sterling will give us something we didn't have in a player who can beat a man AND put in a dangerous final ball, also he will win us a lot of penalties (if the refs do their job). De Bruyne I think will be very impressive, he's different to Sterling in that he likes to put the ball in the box early, he doesn't wait around like Nasri does, he gets it in as quick as he can so it doesn't allow defenders to set themselves. Early signs are that Silva and Sterling are going to form a brilliant partnership, add Aguero and in all likelihood De Bruyne to that, and it becomes something that could take us a long way both domestic competitions and European.

As for central midfield, well. If Yaya can regain his form of 13/14 then he should play every game where he's in a fit physical condition, however, if he has another season like he had last season, which just for the record I don't think he will, then I don't think he should play in the any of the tough teams in the champs league, and the away games against the top 6. For me, when he's not on it, then his defensive flaws can outweigh his attacking capabilities. I'm actually really interested to see how Fernandinho and Delph would work as a pair, behind DS, KDB, RS and SA, they would both add much needed energy in midfield and would protect the defence much better than Fernando and Yaya could ever do as well as having the ability to play themselves, we would have enough quality in the front 4 to be able to sacrifice another forward thinking so that we could have an extra defensive player.

As for the defence, it looked pretty solid when we kept the same back 4 each game towards the back end of last season, and it was missing Kompany and Clichy, as long as we do this this season then I think we'll be ok, in terms of personal, our best back 4 has stayed the same from 12/13 when we had the most clean sheets apart from Mangala in for Nastasic (btw just a little fact for you, Zaba, Kompany, Nastasic and Clichy never played together under Pellegrini) and Clichy proved that he was able last season so I don't there's an issue there. As long as we don't rotate too much at the back and have decent protection in front of them then I think we'll be ok.
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To be fair to Pellegrini, Nastasic picked up a bad injury in the 13/14 pre season.

Also, Kolarov has scored 17 goals in 165 games, whilst Clichy has only managed 1 in 135. That's a huge difference, if you're continually rotating, and whilst agreeing that Pellegrini should keep the same back four, it's worth noting that our worst defensive performances last season, actually featured Clichy at left back.

I'm not a big fan of Kolarov either, so perhaps the answer lies elsewhere.
 
Pablo1 said:
We've won the league twice in four years. If we sign KDB we will have the best front six in the league. The only real weakness is the LB position and even that isn't as awful as some would have you believe. I'm expecting much better seasons from Zabaleta, Kompany, Mangala and Toure. As it stands we will go toe to toe with Chelsea and I think we'll pip them to the title.
It's hardly blue tinted specs - we're not Liverpool for fucks sake.
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Again, this is based on expectation. What if those defensive positions don't all show improvement? How would you rate us then?
 
leighton said:
Oh this is always hard to say. I think a lot rests on Kuns shoulders. If he is injury free we have a great chance of winning the title or being close. I think with some players they have a point to prove this season in that there is a host of players. Kompany , Mangala , Zabba , Fernando and Yaya all 5 have points to prove and how they will react this season will be huge for us as a club.
Yaya is key. How will Yaya react if he is not first pick anymore which will happen this season. Yaya can be a monster for us this season but would he be happy for a bit part season or being a impact sub. We need a fully fit Yaya but its getting harder for him. Also if we bring in KDB I think Yaya drops out of the team with Silva playing behind Kun for me.
I think if we get lucky in the champions league we could well go deep into the competition.

My aims for the lot.
League top 2 think we might win it but be happy with a top 2 finish and pushing the winners to it.
League Cup semi finals think we will use the young lads in this.
FA Cup Winners
Champions League - Semi finals for some reason I think we will get beaten by the winners of the cup.
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Yaya is not gonna be a bit part player, even if we signed Pogba. He is a starter and will continue as one under Pelegrini.
 
Dax777 said:
Again, this is based on expectation. What if those defensive positions don't all show improvement? How would you rate us then?
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It's not groundless expectation though is it? We've seen what Kompany is capable of when fit, we know Zabaleta is the best right back in the league and although last season was a poor one by his standards he was showing signs of getting back to his best towards the end.
I've seen enough of Mangala to predict he'll be a much better player this time around after a season of bedding in.

If we don't show improvement, Kompany remains injured etc then naturally they'll be cause for concern. Whilst your concentrating on the worse case scenario I'm happy to look at the best case. Both are possible so not sure why you're making such a song and dance. Adding Sterling to the first team is already grounds for optimism, KDB joining him as seems likely will only improve us further.

I guess we'll find out one way or another soon enough.
 
Pablo1 said:
It's not groundless expectation though is it? We've seen what Kompany is capable of when fit, we know Zabaleta is the best right back in the league and although last season was a poor one by his standards he was showing signs of getting back to his best towards the end.
I've seen enough of Mangala to predict he'll be a much better player this time around after a season of bedding in.

If we don't show improvement, Kompany remains injured etc then naturally they'll be cause for concern. Whilst your concentrating on the worse case scenario I'm happy to look at the best case. Both are possible so not sure why you're making such a song and dance. Adding Sterling to the first team is already grounds for optimism, KDB joining him as seems likely will only improve us further.

I guess we'll find out one way or another soon enough.
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I'm not concentrating on the worst case scenario. Really I expect Zabba to be back. Frankly he had some howlers but overall he was pretty good. I don't buy the Kompany wasn't fit "mantra". I think folks say that to make themselves ignore the obvious. He has gotten worse over a 2 year period. Frankly he is out of form. Yes, his consistent injuries might have been the cause, but this doesn't mean he was playing injured for the most part when he was being poor. Torres wasn't injured for most of his time at Chelsea, he was just in bad form. True his long bouts with injury might have caused it, but his dip in form wasn't because he was currently injured.

I think the same is the case for Kompany: injuries that stopped him from practicing his craft, might have led hin to lose form, but he wasn't injured when playing poorly. Whether this is a permanent loss of form or not is yet to be seen. Some lose it permanently, Torres, while others fight out of it, Thiago Silva. Where Kompany lands will play a role in our season.

As for Leftbacks, I'm not as bothered as most, it's average and it will be annoying, but all teams have weaknesses, that's ours for now.

CM is actually quite fine. Yaya will play deeper and orchestrate from deep, while Delph or Dihno will be the box to box workhorse. I even expect Fernando to hold his own when he plays. Not to mention Nasri will probably get playing time at CM.

If we get Debruyne, I will be satisfied with the window, so long as we don't play 2 strikers upfront, we will be fine.
 
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