Who Will Pose A Threat Next Season

Liverpool have a lot of cash to spend. They are making big revenues and still have a warchest from the Couthino deal of £75m . They can easily spend £200m and stay within FFP. If they get a good keeper they will be a major threat. They need more strong squad addtions but Keita is a great signing. I can't see Spurs stepping up as they will be getting used to the new stadium. The Rags have overachieved this season with an ageing and over-rated squad. They will struggle and Peg will be gone by Christmas.
 
Would be amazed if we were anywhere near as dominant next season. Something that's easy to overlook is injuries; the past few season we've been hit pretty hard pretty often in key areas & it's shown - this season though I'd argue our 4 most important players to how we play are Sterling/Sane (providing our width) & De Bruyne/Silva (best players); yes they've had niggles but for the majority of the season we've had them available. I remember similar for Leicester with Mahrez/Vardy/Kante, and Chelsea last season.
Think we coped immensely well with the Mendy injury (props to Pep & Delph in my opinion). I expect we'll have a little more depth in those positions next season so we may be able to cope if one does get a bad injury.

In terms of which teams can compete:

Liverpool will have the best 11 outside of ourselves, with Keita coming into midfield; they'll be a keeper away from a great spine (Keeper-Van Dijk-Keita-Firmino with Salah/Mane). But again this season they've rarely had injury issues to key players, a bad injury for one of their front 3 would be pretty detrimental & you just need to look at their benches to see they lack depth - may be able to add some depth but would be difficult to add enough. On paper they should challenge, but so often they drop points against lower teams, can they change that habit? We'll see.

For United I just don't see it. I feel like they've overachieved this season, and when you see them play they're simply not as good as Spurs or Liverpool for me. They need new fullbacks, they need at least 1 centreback, need at least 1 centre-mid, likely need back-up for Matic, need some actual wingers rather than forcing Martial/Sanchez/Rashford into that position & then actually need to sort out their issues within the team (all the media stuff about Pogba/Martial etc.). It seems a huge overhaul job, both us & them had this overhaul to do, and it feels like we've almost completed ours & managed to win the title whilst doing so, whereas they've just reshuffled what needs doing & still have a lot to go.

Spurs I think it's tough for them. Some of their players have to be looking at Walker & thinking his wage went up & now he has 2 medals round his neck. Add onto that the lack of spending power, and seeming desire of Alderweireld to leave. They'll do great to hang onto Eriksen Kane & Son; it's hard to see them keeping their key players and managing to strengthen enough to close the gap.

Chelsea I think will be a big threat. We've seen time & again how much of an advantage being out of Europe can be for a league challenge. They forever have this habit of one good one bad season. Expect a change of manager & a strong title challenge. Squad definitely needs a revamp though, but it's got a solid basis if they keep key players which they usually seem to.

Arsenal... Never know with a new manager could give them a boost, got some decent players, but very hard to see them making a real challenge.
 
Would be amazed if we were anywhere near as dominant next season. Something that's easy to overlook is injuries; the past few season we've been hit pretty hard pretty often in key areas & it's shown - this season though I'd argue our 4 most important players to how we play are Sterling/Sane (providing our width) & De Bruyne/Silva (best players); yes they've had niggles but for the majority of the season we've had them available. I remember similar for Leicester with Mahrez/Vardy/Kante, and Chelsea last season.
Think we coped immensely well with the Mendy injury (props to Pep & Delph in my opinion). I expect we'll have a little more depth in those positions next season so we may be able to cope if one does get a bad injury.

In terms of which teams can compete:

Liverpool will have the best 11 outside of ourselves, with Keita coming into midfield; they'll be a keeper away from a great spine (Keeper-Van Dijk-Keita-Firmino with Salah/Mane). But again this season they've rarely had injury issues to key players, a bad injury for one of their front 3 would be pretty detrimental & you just need to look at their benches to see they lack depth - may be able to add some depth but would be difficult to add enough. On paper they should challenge, but so often they drop points against lower teams, can they change that habit? We'll see.

For United I just don't see it. I feel like they've overachieved this season, and when you see them play they're simply not as good as Spurs or Liverpool for me. They need new fullbacks, they need at least 1 centreback, need at least 1 centre-mid, likely need back-up for Matic, need some actual wingers rather than forcing Martial/Sanchez/Rashford into that position & then actually need to sort out their issues within the team (all the media stuff about Pogba/Martial etc.). It seems a huge overhaul job, both us & them had this overhaul to do, and it feels like we've almost completed ours & managed to win the title whilst doing so, whereas they've just reshuffled what needs doing & still have a lot to go.

Spurs I think it's tough for them. Some of their players have to be looking at Walker & thinking his wage went up & now he has 2 medals round his neck. Add onto that the lack of spending power, and seeming desire of Alderweireld to leave. They'll do great to hang onto Eriksen Kane & Son; it's hard to see them keeping their key players and managing to strengthen enough to close the gap.

Chelsea I think will be a big threat. We've seen time & again how much of an advantage being out of Europe can be for a league challenge. They forever have this habit of one good one bad season. Expect a change of manager & a strong title challenge. Squad definitely needs a revamp though, but it's got a solid basis if they keep key players which they usually seem to.

Arsenal... Never know with a new manager could give them a boost, got some decent players, but very hard to see them making a real challenge.

Games missed -

Mendy - 48
Kompany - 26
Delph - 15
Stones - 14
Jesus - 12
Silva - 10 (Not Injury)
Aguero - 7 (And out for the rest of the season)
Sterling - 5
Sané - 4


I don't think we've been that lucky to be honest. 7 players have or will have missed 20% of the season or more, and at least 4 of them are in our starting XI.

I think the reason we appear unscathed this season is simply because we are now a system based team. The system is king, and the players are coached well enough that if someone is injured you can fit someone else in. Quality in depth probably helps there too.

In contrast under Pellegrini and Mancini we basically had to have Hart, Kompany, Yaya, Silva and Aguero on the pitch or else we were severely weakened.
 
Liverpool, United and Chelsea will all be a threat. Personally, I don't think the North London clubs have enough.
 
Games missed -

Mendy - 48
Kompany - 26
Delph - 15
Stones - 14
Jesus - 12
Silva - 10 (Not Injury)
Aguero - 7 (And out for the rest of the season)
Sterling - 5
Sané - 4


I don't think we've been that lucky to be honest. 7 players have or will have missed 20% of the season or more, and at least 4 of them are in our starting XI.
The fact Kompany and Agüero only missed 33 games put together is a mini miracle. Gündogan staying relatively injury free is another.
 
The fact Kompany and Agüero only missed 33 games put together is a mini miracle. Gündogan staying relatively injury free is another.

I thought that as well but looking into the numbers (and I'm assuming Aguero will be out for the last 5 games after his surgery this morning)

17/18 - 38*
16/17 - 27
15/16 - 46
14/15 - 19
13/14 - 33
12/13 - 21
11/12 - 12

So it's not been a great year for them, second worst since Aguero got here, we just don't miss them as much.
 
I thought that as well but looking into the numbers (and I'm assuming Aguero will be out for the last 5 games after his surgery this morning)

17/18 - 38*
16/17 - 27
15/16 - 46
14/15 - 19
13/14 - 33
12/13 - 21
11/12 - 12

So it's not been a great year for them, second worst since Aguero got here, we just don't miss them as much.
Fair enough... I stand corrected.

I think it will be hard to retain the title, as it always is, mostly because you have a target on your back and expectation on your shoulders.
 
Fair enough... I stand corrected.

I think it will be hard to retain the title, as it always is, mostly because you have a target on your back and expectation on your shoulders.

It won't be easy to retain the title, but quite a few journalists have pointed out this is the biggest gulf in quality between the winners and chasing pack since either United at the turn of the century, or Mourinho's Chelsea.

This level of performance is not unrepeatable, we're a young team that's only going to get better with Mendy and some new signings coming in, plus the kids we have improving under Pep. No one else in the country looks like they could break 90 points next year let alone 100, and I think Pep will be targeting 100 every season he remains here.
 
I think Liverpool will be our closest rivals.

They'll be a very good side, they're building quite the reputation.

Where things might get difficult for them is every team but us parking the bus. They have often struggled against the parked buses.
 

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