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2017/18 Season - Expectations/Predictions

Glenda's Legs said:
On last season's form/point tallies we'd have to drop 40 points to finish 8th. I just can't see that happening. Even if we did struggle at Wembley (which I don't believe we will) a drop of that magnitude is hard to imagine. That would be a pretty disastrous season and wouldn't bode well at all for keeping the team together going into NWHL.
I honestly think next season will be far more enjoyable for you than you think. At leat I hope I'm right and you're wrong!
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Me too! The only thing I think that may prove me wrong is the massive support we have at home which might make us stronger and give us an advantage. The likes of Chelsea, United, Arsenal love playing a Team wembley though so I can't see us doing the treble over them like we did last year which could be 9 points straight away. Who knows, hopefully I'm wrong and we boss it at Wembley.
 
I don't think we'll get too many new arrivals, maybe Barkley and one other the press hasn't had a sniff of. My guess, right now:

PL: 3rd (winners Chelsea, with City coming 2nd. Arse to finish outside the top-5 again)
CL: I don't think we'll get out of the group - draw can be pretty tough, we could end up in a group with Bayern, Barca, and Roma
EL: Semis, at least
FA Cup or LC: I think we might win one or both.

That would still be a pretty good year, good enough to hold on to the likes of Dier and Alli for at least another season at NDP.

I think Winks will have such a great season that he'll provide Poch with a serious selection headache in central midfield.
 
I hope we finish in the top 6 and perhaps win a domestic cup, with a bit of luck from the draws. Can't see much success in CL, but would like to see a challenge for Euro cup. Not looking forward to going to Wembley as it's a nightmare for me as I have arthiritis in both knees and I hate travelling on the tube, the rail option isn't much better. I certainly won't be going to any night games.

It's going to be very difficult to do as well as last season but I will be pleased if we play as well this year.
 
Wembley will cost us our impressive league form which for me was the ultimate difference between 2nd and us finishing in EL spot.

Will be pleased with 6th tbh
FA Cup - luck of the draw obv. We are due a few tough draws after some favourable ones last season. Would be nice to reach another semi though
League Cup - by far our best chance of silverware. Disappointed if we dont at least make the Semis
CL - Pot 3 means at least 2 big guns. At WHL I think we would progress, at Wembley another 3rd
EL - Time we reached the final if we do drop into it
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Why though?

We have lost one replaceable player and have the best team in the league still despite the money others have spent
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My base case is that Wembley will cost us a place or two - WHL was a fortress whereas from what we've seen so far, Wembley won't be. Overlay on that how much we are better/worse this year compared to our rivals. All the other teams are strengthening this summer and Man C, Cheatski and Man U will all benefit from their managers having settled into their roles now, get their sytems etc across and having a full pre-season. So we need to keep progressing as well. Our biggest challenge is not necessarily about being able to strengthen the first 11, but getting better depth in the squad so that we have players coming off the bench who can change things. Last year we had plenty of games where the bench options where the likes if Janssen, Sissoko, Omonah, GKN etc - people who had zero impact. So if Wembely vs WHL takes us from 2nd last year to 3rd-4th next year, and then others progress more than us this summer, I could easily see us finishing 5th-6th

r.e. "we have the best team in the league" - hard to claim that given we didnt win the league!
 
AdamB said:
My base case is that Wembley will cost us a place or two - WHL was a fortress whereas from what we've seen so far, Wembley won't be. Overlay on that how much we are better/worse this year compared to our rivals. All the other teams are strengthening this summer and Man C, Cheatski and Man U will all benefit from their managers having settled into their roles now, get their sytems etc across and having a full pre-season. So we need to keep progressing as well. Our biggest challenge is not necessarily about being able to strengthen the first 11, but getting better depth in the squad so that we have players coming off the bench who can change things. Last year we had plenty of games where the bench options where the likes if Janssen, Sissoko, Omonah, GKN etc - people who had zero impact. So if Wembely vs WHL takes us from 2nd last year to 3rd-4th next year, and then others progress more than us this summer, I could easily see us finishing 5th-6th

r.e. "we have the best team in the league" - hard to claim that given we didnt win the league!
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United IMO haven't brought better than they had but should be better in seecond season under Mou

City have brought good players but also some very unproven ones too and will need to mesh well quickly

Chelsea have just replaced like for like too and still have no squad

Wembley as I've said many times isn't an issue in that people are judging us on games against the champions of our league who we outplayed and European games. We conceded 10 goals from 12 shots and that just doesn't happen like that normally. Add in the bigger pitch which actually gave us some great results last season and it's not as bad as people Kiel to belive... but of course the proof is in the pudding. For Wembley I'll
Point to the Monaco game who we played off the park but didn't put away
 
As it stands i expect us to maintain our form in the league and hopefully improve further to close the gap to the title, ie take it to the last couple of games. If Wembley causes us problems then it is something that I will accept as a good reason should we drop a couple of positions.

If it is managements prerogative to afford more game time to younger players over improving the squad via transfers then i cant really place any expectations on the cup competitions because we are some way away from having a squad strong enough to compete on all fronts and pushing for league improvement (in our case looking to win the league) should take priority. Hopefully we get a kind draw similar to the FA Cup last season and we do better in the semi's/final should we get there.
 
Bedfordspurs said:
United IMO haven't brought better than they had but should be better in seecond season under Mou

City have brought good players but also some very unproven ones too and will need to mesh well quickly

Chelsea have just replaced like for like too and still have no squad

Wembley as I've said many times isn't an issue in that people are judging us on games against the champions of our league who we outplayed and European games. We conceded 10 goals from 12 shots and that just doesn't happen like that normally. Add in the bigger pitch which actually gave us some great results last season and it's not as bad as people Kiel to belive... but of course the proof is in the pudding. For Wembley I'll
Point to the Monaco game who we played off the park but didn't put away
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Chelsea have added a decent CB, CM and CF - they're undoubtedly stronger and have more depth.
Man C have a lot stronger at fullbacks, added Silva, brought in the Benfica keeper, will have Jesus from the start of the season this year.
Utd have added Lukaka and Lindelof

Chealsea, Man U and Man C have managers in their second season.

All those will be a lot stronger this coming year.

Arse have added Lacazette and that LB from Germany though arguably not solved their problems. Liverpool added Salah

I dont think there's any question that the league will be tougher this year
 
AdamB said:
Chelsea have added a decent CB, CM and CF - they're undoubtedly stronger and have more depth.
Man C have a lot stronger at fullbacks, added Silva, brought in the Benfica keeper, will have Jesus from the start of the season this year.
Utd have added Lukaka and Lindelof

Chealsea, Man U and Man C have managers in their second season.

All those will be a lot stronger this coming year.

Arse have added Lacazette and that LB from Germany though arguably not solved their problems. Liverpool added Salah

I dont think there's any question that the league will be tougher this year
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United and Chelsea will both have Champions League football next season, which for United will be more of a distraction than the Europa League (from the beginning of the season) and for Chelsea it will be an entirely extra round of fixtures to manage having had no European football at all last season - Chelsea look to have cast aside their main striker and goal scorer which is never easy to replace, regardless of money spent and United too will have lost Ibrahamovich for at least the first half of the season so are at a similar disadvantage - only looking at the areas in which teams have bought (as you have done above) and saying they will be a tougher proposition doesn't really give a true reflection and much like ourselves facing a season at Wembley, which can potentially cause us problems, both United and Chelsea also have very real obstacles they will have to overcome next season too.

who knows, perhaps United and Chelsea will struggle more with their obstacles than we will with ours.

personally i dont think United or Arsenal will be anywhere near the title next season, they just arent good enough. Chelsea will struggle with the extra work load of being in the CL and will be lucky if they have a similar injury free season to last year - id be surprised if they retain the title. City on paper are clear favorites for me but they need to improve considerably on last season, are still adapting to Guadiolas style and have the added inconvenience of integrating several new players - particularly in defense where they struggled most last season. Liverpool too will have CL football to contend with and are probably a side which will put everything in to that in a way that we wont, plus they don't really seem to be interested in improving their major area of weakness in defense - also have Barcelona sniffing around their best player and potential there for unrest.
 
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AdamB said:
Chelsea have added a decent CB, CM and CF - they're undoubtedly stronger and have more depth.
Man C have a lot stronger at fullbacks, added Silva, brought in the Benfica keeper, will have Jesus from the start of the season this year.
Utd have added Lukaka and Lindelof

Chealsea, Man U and Man C have managers in their second season.

All those will be a lot stronger this coming year.

Arse have added Lacazette and that LB from Germany though arguably not solved their problems. Liverpool added Salah

I dont think there's any question that the league will be tougher this year
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Chelsea though are losing a proven striker and have added like fof like... their squad is a first 11 plus 3 other senior pros and some kids

City for me are favourites by some way

United have signed a centre back that baby played in a top league it side and a very streaky striker to replace the very consistent Zlatan

Arse will lose Sanchez soon and that hurts them

Pool still have a weak spine

Everton have signed very unproven talent

I'd argue that Poch in his 4th seaon is better placed than most of these inbtgeir second season essocislly with the added pressure of spending 100s of millions
 
Mikey10 said:
We may struggle in the Champs Lge again unless we strengthen the depth of our squad over the next month.
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Do you feel that Poch will field weaker teams in the CL if we don't strengthen? Otherwise why do you think the lack of depth would impact our CL performances but not our league performances?
 
AdamB said:
Chelsea have added a decent CB, CM and CF - they're undoubtedly stronger and have more depth.
Man C have a lot stronger at fullbacks, added Silva, brought in the Benfica keeper, will have Jesus from the start of the season this year.
Utd have added Lukaka and Lindelof

Chealsea, Man U and Man C have managers in their second season.

All those will be a lot stronger this coming year.

Arse have added Lacazette and that LB from Germany though arguably not solved their problems. Liverpool added Salah

I dont think there's any question that the league will be tougher this year
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City also have Gundogan back as effectively a new signing. No idea where they will fit in all their attacking players though. Maybe a 1-10 formation.
 
Mikey10 said:
Honestly feel we have every chance of winning the league - I think we will make Wembley work to our advantage.

We'll come close in the domestic cups - SF or QFs in at least one.

We may struggle in the Champs Lge again unless we strengthen the depth of our squad over the next month.
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Imagine if we actually do and make it 80,000 (or will it be 85,000?) warriors singing and making the 12th man. Would be awesome. Just can't see it but I really hope I'm proven wrong!
 
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