Top Four Wobble.

[Neiler]

Intresting times in the P.L. you would expect Arsenal and Man Utd to be in the top four next season. Personally i think the instabilty at Chelsea and the fact a lot of their star players could leave and new coach has to come in may see Chelsea be under Pressure to remain in the top four. Similarly the [Poor language removed] dont seem to have a pot to piss into and for me are going to under real pressure next season.

So my quention is this will we see a few new sides sneak into the the champions leauge place next season?

I geuss the contenders are

US
City
Spurs
Villa
Pompey

This leauge just does not get any easier!

Who do you think has the best potntial (bias aside) to break in the top four?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Spurs. If they show any consistency they'll be real challengers as they have a strong squad.

 

[Icarus]

There hasn't been that much transfer activity yet, so It'd be difficult to make an educated guess about next season.

However, I'd like to think Spurs have a good shot, if their backline can stay healthy and Berbatov stays. So far they haven't been shy to splash money to improve their questionable midfield either. Of course i'm predicting all their first choice defenders break a metatarsal and Berbatov leaves!

 

[coyney]

Intresting times in the P.L. you would expect Arsenal and Man Utd to be in the top four next season. Personally i think the instabilty at Chelsea and the fact a lot of their star players could leave and new coach has to come in may see Chelsea be under Pressure to remain in the top four. Similarly the [Poor language removed] dont seem to have a pot to piss into and for me are going to under real pressure next season.

So my quention is this will we see a few new sides sneak into the the champions leauge place next season?

I geuss the contenders are

US
City
Spurs
Villa
Pompey

This leauge just does not get any easier!

Who do you think has the best potntial (bias aside) to break in the top four?

Untill the teams finish trading through the window it is difficult to guess proberly between us and Spurs, City will be re building( new manager)and if Barry leaves Villa he will be hard to replace.Pompey its their first Euro adventure and might upset their consistancy

 

[Cal]

Spurs. If they show any consistency they'll be real challengers as they have a strong squad.

I agree but this was a nice quote by King from the Echo:

Yes, Tottenham may have on paper a top-notch squad and could easily click into gear but, just as easily, they could fall apart once things don’t go the way of their big egos.
You wouldn’t even put it past them to sack Juande Ramos if results went askew.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/ever...avid-moyes-eyes-new-recruits-100252-20999501/

 

[Rook]

Right now us. Villa is a close 2nd and it appears that Lerner is going to spend some money this year however Barry's status isn't settled yet.

I don't see anybody overtaking the top 4 though. Us spurs, villa have starting 11's that can compete with the top 4 on any given day. However the problem will always be depth. Utd, Chelsea can stick 20M rated players on the bench all the while our biggest transfer was Yak at 11.25M. I actually don't think Arsenal has a very good starting 11 however that team is riducously deep. The only way to overtake the [Poor language removed] is to take advantage of Benetez resting players (+ Masherano at the Olympics) and build a big lead on the at the beginning of the season like in 04.

The prem will be more competive next year and the UEFA cups teams that could contend still will get burned out and/or overwhelmed with injuries. I just think that also good sides like us, Blackburn, Spurs, Villa, pompey, City and to a lesser extent NUFC will beat each other up next year in the prem. Also lesser teams such as Boro and Sunderland will be better next year.

Plus the loss of Carsley is going to hurt more than people think. Though he was often exposed by the big 4 he always did the business against the Boltons, Boros, and NUFCs in the prem. Losing him may mean we drop more points against teams we should easily beat than we did last year. I'm a big Bradley supporter but I've always said he'll take a few months to a year to settle in. I really wish we were able to keep Cars for 1 more season.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

It's really hard to judge how things will pan out even after the transfer merrygoround has stopped. Someone we consider to be vital to a team may turn out to be the bad apple in the dressing room.
Everyone's logical choice is Spurs, but Villa, Pompey and Blackburn (if Hughes stays) can boast a similar kind of managerial stability to ourselves.
I'll follow the crowd and and say it's between us, Spurs and Villa.
Us because we're the tits. Spurs coz they do have some quality and depth. And Villa coz O'Neil knows what he's doing.
Pompey will stumble with European games to contend with and Blackburn will probably lose Hughes and possibly Bentley

 

[toffeestillidie]

very few teams make me as nervous as aston villa do, i'd say they are tied for favourites (with us) to take a spot if it opens up, they have an amazing side and i'd say it was pure luck that we scrapped a higher finish than them this season.

personally i welcome the competition, and if it comes to it, i'd rather see the villans in europe ahead of the [Poor language removed] any day, i'd just prefer it not be at our expense.

btw, what are liverpool's finances like, if they fail to win their CL qualifier, are they pretty much done?

 

[DENNIS STEVENS]

i would have thought it's bad news for any of the "sky4" to miss out on cl cash for any one year, but potentially disastrous if it becomes a regular occurence. like most, i view everton & aston villa as they front-runners to challenge for the cl places, but tottenham hotspur could easily be up there too. i can't really see the other teams such as manchester city, newcastle united, portsmouth, etc. making a sustained challenge over the course of the season.