The Global Football Thread

[Jax]

I'd be shocked if anyone other than the newly promoted teams go down. Sunderland are selling their squad despite promotion, Burnley don't score enough and while Leeds may give it the best go, Daniel Farke is a PL relegation magnet and they have little money as a club.

Brentford for me are the biggest established club in danger as the loss of their manager and likely several key players who score and create there goals will seem them crater.

 

[SithHappens]

I dunno, think there is probably half the PL who could go down if circumstances dictate. Wolves, West Ham, Everton and so on. Forest too with their volatile owner.

You can't even rule out Man City if the PL grow a pair with the punishment.

 

[flandry84]

Vis a vis City….never gonna happen.
Hammers ,Spurs and United very lucky that those who did eventually go down were so very bad.Unlikely that that will happen again.
I remember listening to Shearer some years ago when the magpies were hovering just above the relegation zone.He said that if a team thought that they could get relegated,spend a year in the championship rebuilding and then bounce back up to the PL,then they were delusional.
The championship is a bear pit,with some awfully big clubs scrapping for promotion.

 

[SithHappens]

The bottom were awful this time. I recall West Ham going down on 42 pts once.

The PL itself wasn't great quality IMO , look at Liverpool, they won it on 84 points which is quite low. You could argue the quality improved amongst the other teams i guess but it didn't seem to me that was the case. That's why I think there could be some shocks next season in the teams fighting at the bottom. One example I gave was Forest, they have a bloody good manager who did a great job but they tailed off towards the end of the season and should they not make a great start you could see him being moved out, and look what happened to Leicester. And the same could apply at most of the PL clubs with owners having increasingly itchy trigger fingers. Wouldn't it, for the neutrals, be good to see a proper 'big' club go down. Imagine it had been Spurs on just 38 points. Would be some huge games for championship teams then.

Will one of those who went down do a Luton? Normally the relegated teams are favourites for promotion but with Sheff Utd, Birmingham and even Wrexham in the Championship it's hard to say.

 

[flandry84]

And you know,it’s not like Luton were bad.
True defensively a mess but well able to score.To see them struggle since is a pity.

 

[SithHappens]

Hmmm, the Bayern Munich result tells a story. Club world cup.is supposed to be the elite.

 

[Starkers]

Teams I expect to struggle in the Prem this season (setting aside the promoted clubs)

West Ham, unless Potter turns things around, which is eminently possible because he does take time to make a difference (see Brighton).

Brentford, losing Frank is a huge loss, who replaces him might be the difference between struggling or not.

Bournemouth, just because they seem on course to lose a lot of players, and the manager is likelt coveted by other teams.

Wolves, had a terrible season and have just sold two of their best players. How (if) they spend that money will dictate how their season goes.

Crystal Palace, assuming they keep their European place, teams often don't comprehend how much of an impact those extra games make to smaller clubs, look at the impact the Champions League had on even Villa and Newcastle in recent years. People forget how awful Palace were in the first half of last season.

Forest, see Palace above, but throw in madman Marinakis and the possibility of Nuno saying screw this.

Throw in someone surprising like Fulham or maybe even Brighton if they lose players.

I'd love it is Man Utd were down there but I suspect they won't be as bad this season.

Don't get me wrong, Sunderland at least are doomed, but I believe one of the three will stay up, probably Dirty Leeds (tm)

 

[Jax]

Well after today's events - Iran coming to an North American World Cup next summer, should be fun.

 

[Jax]

Forest, see Palace above, but throw in madman Marinakis and the possibility of Nuno saying screw this.

No, we are now settled.

We have one of the best keepers in the league who last season became the first non top 4 club keeper to win the Golden Gloves award.
Murillo is one of the best U23 defenders in the world and we have Vidic 2.0 for his partner in Milenković
Aina/Neco are two of the hardest working full backs in the PL.
Elanga/Odoi pace destroy teams on the counter.
MGW creates more chances than the vast majority of other players in the PL.
Wood has scored 34 goals in the last 2 seasons (14 & 20) and we have just signed Jesus from Botafogo who is currently ripping up the CWC and is now a Brazil international.

The UCEL will drain us a little but no way we're going to struggle. I think 12th-8th place finish and a potential Conference League win as any PL team are among the favourites for that cup.

Exciting times at the City Ground!

 

[SithHappens]

It's going to be a challenge isn't it.

Israel could qualify too. Personally i think it's harsh to exclude innocent people because of the actions of their leaders but security will need to be very tight.

 

[Jax]

It's going to be a challenge isn't it.

Israel could qualify too. Personally i think it's harsh to exclude innocent people because of the actions of their leaders but security will need to be very tight.

USA, Israel and Iran all in the same group would be as funny as it would be dangerous.

 

[Starkers]

No, we are now settled.

We have one of the best keepers in the league who last season became the first non top 4 club keeper to win the Golden Gloves award.
Murillo is one of the best U23 defenders in the world and we have Vidic 2.0 for his partner in Milenković
Aina/Neco are two of the hardest working full backs in the PL.
Elanga/Odoi pace destroy teams on the counter.
MGW creates more chances than the vast majority of other players in the PL.
Wood has scored 34 goals in the last 2 seasons (14 & 20) and we have just signed Jesus from Botafogo who is currently ripping up the CWC and is now a Brazil international.

The UCEL will drain us a little but no way we're going to struggle. I think 12th-8th place finish and a potential Conference League win as any PL team are among the favourites for that cup.

Exciting times at the City Ground!

All Nuno's new contract means is a better pay off should Marinakis tire of him (he does at least seem to keep more faith with Forest managers than he does Olympiacos ones)

It's a decent team but it's about squad depth, and it is a lot of extra games. Maybe Wood has another good season but he's 33 and time catches up to even the best players.

As always when it comes to football time will tell and I guess we'll see where the land lies comes next April/May.

 

[Jax]

Our squad will be bigger next season due to European football.

We have signed 1 player and we are working on 4 more apparantly at the moment - 2 more from Botafogo and 2 from Juventus.

We won't have a PL season like last year but mid table is still achievable and we really should be looking to win the Conference League.