A Manchester United fan and one Liverpool supporter fear for Arsenal’s upcoming title challenge while looking on the bright side of their own seasons.
Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…
It’s prediction time
Top 6:
City, still unbeatable. Feels like Pep’s last season, he’ll want to go with a flourish, and will shake things up enough to ensure this. I think KDB will be less involved but Rodri will once again rule them all. Could be Haaland last season at City too, I’m sure Real will want him with Mbappe with Bellingham behind them.
Arsenal still good but will be further back than they were last season. I think more teams will have worked them out.
Chelsea and Spurs for me the good surprise packages of 24/25 season.
Liverpool will do OK but not in the title race, will get top 6 but I think will just about miss out on top 4.
Villa will disappoint, they punched well above their weight last season but Emery while a good coach and F365’s darling is not in the same league.
United probably a bit better than last year where they lost a lot of games they shouldn’t have. So yeah, top 6 but maybe not top 4.
If Eddie stays, I can see Newcastle just about making the top 6. Without Eddie, nah.
In the middle of the park, I see Palace doing alright, their manager is good. West Ham solid but uninspiring, Fulham and Brentford safe but middling, Wolves will have a better season, will be safe earlier than this year. Brighton will disappoint in a Fulham-type season, pretty much invisible.
📣TO THE COMMENTS! Should Liverpool cash in on Salah this summer? Join the debate here
Relegation: time’s up for Forest. I think out of the promoted teams, Leicester will stay, they still have a bit of experience from last in the PL. Can’t see Southampton or Ipswich stay up to be honest. Bournemouth and Everton (again) will have a scare but ultimately has more than Forest, Ipswich or Soton.
So: City Arsenal Chelsea Spurs Liverpool United Newcastle Palace Villa Wolves Brighton WestHam Fulham Brentford Everton Leicester Bournemouth Forest Soton Ipswich
Mike, Chelsea fan quietly hopeful this time
Premature pre-season pessimism
My goodness that guy Simón was being a bit of a mope. Step out from under that cloud Eeyore and embrace the warm glow of preseason optimism. Remind me again how many league positions are decided in July?
Preseason friendlies count for nothing except fitness, blooding new or younger players, and engraining styles/tactics. Notice how we changed all of the outfield players at HT – it was 1-1 at that stage and the Jesus equaliser would have been VAR’d for offside in a ‘proper’ match. Not to mention (but I will) there are still a lot of our best 11 missing, the Ineos revolution has only just begun and there will be more player churn before the start of the season.
This time last year we beat Arsenal 2-0. No need to tell you how last season went for both teams. Chill and just enjoy the calm before the storm, plenty of time to flap your gums in annoyance if things go south when the season kicks off.
All this being said, if we beat Liverpool next week then it’s definitely our year.
Garey Vance MUFC
United’s 2024/25 aims
So, I may have been a bit overly pessimistic in my last assessment of United, and perhaps over the top given the season hasn’t even started yet and it’s been 2 trophies in the last 2 seasons as well so fair play to Ten Haag. However, does Badwolf actually think the United defence is currently good enough to majorly improve next season?
Come on, lets be real. A De Ligt kind of signing is desperately needed, and given he has worked with Ten Haag previously, it would be a huge boost and a statement signing too to snatch him away from Bayern. The reason Villa and Spurs finished comfortably above United last season was because they recruited a half decent defence over the last few seasons in players such as Pau Torres, Micky Van de Ven & Diego Carlos. I mean for goodness sake, Chelsea finished above United last season lol.
Yes injuries did take place a lot last season for the team, and made Ten Haag’s job very difficult which he dealt with, but it looks like those potential injury problems may possibly rise again suggesting something isn’t going correctly in training or the assessment of the players fitness from the physio team is being largely miscommunicated to the managers and coaches during training and before games. Anyways, I will agree with Badwolf that United were not lucky in the final last year, and genuinely played well in that game and the run during FA Cup too, so I should be more positive and supporting of the team in that aspect.
I think United will have three realistic aims for next season. Try and win the Europa League, regain the FA Cup and secure the Top 4. Those individuals objectives will most likely change during the course of the season, but should be the aim for the start of the season. A number of players such as Rashford, Casemiro & Onana must improve hugely from last season, and need a striker who will actually be able to bag 20+ goals in the season too. Oh, and need a defence that can actually be consistent, with 3 defenders in that same line up each week too (Hopefully Martinez, Dalot & Yoro at this rate, hard to tell with Shaw if he will be around for 3 months or 9 months).
With Liverpool having a new manager for the first time in 9 years, it will be quite intriguing to see if they improve or decrease in performance. Will some players fall out with the manager or be dropped? Time will tell. I think they will get off to a good start overall, but maybe dip away as the seasons comes to a close. I don’t think they will be a title challengers, but stranger things have happened. I think City will win the league again, but I certainly hope I am wrong. If they win the league for a 5th bloody time in a row, it would be a ridiculous statement from Guardiola and his team, or just goes to show the rest of the league simply aren’t good enough in terms of mentality, belief, focus and quality compared to City.
Arsenal have the best chance as it stands, but they will always have a bottling part of the season, its something that has become psychological now, just feel like they need an amazing striker upfront too and Gabriel Jesus just isn’t good or reliable enough.
Rami, Dubai
Liverpool excitement and Arsenal warnings
Dear Sir
As a Liverpool fan I am approaching this season with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Excitement because anything is possible, but trepidation because according to TV pundits, the 4th estate hacks and fellow contributors on this website Liverpool will finish between 4th and 6th. How people know this I don’t know, but if they can pass me Tuesdays Lotto numbers it would make my holiday to the Far East this summer rather luxurious.
I may be categorized as a too positive, but I am not worried. I think we’ve got a good manager, a very good squad (prob need 2 players) and from what I’ve read and the little bit I’ve seen, the Slot transition seems to be well received.
However, the one team I do feel is going to struggle this year is Arsenal. Some Arsenal fans I know and some that I’ve heard on the radio are stating that Arsenal are going to do what Liverpool did when they finished second to Man City in 2019. However, there are a number of differences between Liverpool 2019 and Arsenal 2024.
The Liverpool team of 2019 didn’t have any noticeable weaknesses, they had 6 world class players, the keeper, central defender, defensive midfielder, and quite possibly the best attacking three in world football. They also finished that season winning 10 and drawing 1 of the last 11 games, but more importantly they’ve done something that this Arsenal vintage have not done, and that is win something big. Arsenal meekly went out in the Champions league this year, whereas Liverpool had that historic night against Barcelona and then completed the job in Madrid.
There is also the fact that in 2019 there wasn’t a summer tournament, so Klopp had the full pre-season to iron out any faults he felt they had. I’m sure like a lot of the Liverpool squad, a number of Arsenal players won’t return until early August.
Where I think the wheels may come off is if Arsenal start slowly. Liverpool won 26 and drew 1 of the first 27 games that season, meaning that over that 38-game period, they amassed 110 out of a possible 114 points. They also had the best European night in the club’s history. Won the CL, won the super cup and club world cup, and had the best start to a premier league season ever. Therefore, over that period, they gathered momentum by learning how to win and in the end the title became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Arsenal, I feel, need to start in the same way, they need to create momentum, or something, or they may fade away and be known as a bit Spursy.
Ian H
Pashun
At last someone (Lee) brings up Passion. No sportsman plays with Passion. If you want to be good at sport, the last thing you want is your emotions controlling your performance. Just like a boxer who gets angry will lose the fight, letting your emotions control your sporting performance is the way to fail.
However the problem is with the commentators and fans. I lived in Madrid for a long time, and I never heard a single Spanish fan or commentator talk about Passion. When I hear the word Passion mentioned in the context of football I immediately think two things. First it is an excuse for poor tactics, performance, etc., and second, I don’t need to listen/read to that commentator or fan anymore because they are talking crap.
We didn’t lose the final of the Euros, because of lack of passion, we lost it because we self-indulgently played an injured or too old Kane and due to Southgate’s pitiful tactics and formation.
Charles (that was a very good mail Lee)
Watch the Olympics, any event, see how they care, that’s passion for sport. That’s what fires my emotions.
Come on football
Moses
MORE FROM THE F365 MAILBOX
👉 Liverpool could easily be ‘also-rans’ without Jurgen Klopp
👉 Chelsea will sack Maresca ‘after 10 games’ as Man Utd transfer work already ruined by Ten Hag
Canada’s downright American scandal
Bev Priestman, Canada’s cheating ex-women’s national team head coach, needs the proverbial book thrown at her. A one year ban from FIFA is a joke.
A player unwittingly ingesting a banned substance gets two years and those who are found to have intentionally cheated face a four year ban.
I would argue that a coach, a person in a position of responsibility, should be held to the highest possible standard.
It’s clear, as more and more stories come out, like the Canada assistant lying their way in to scout a closed US friendly in 2021, that this was intentional and systemic. The only appropriate punishment should be the loss of their gold medal and lifetime bans for everyone found to be aware, from the coaches down to the drone operator and film editors.
As someone with Canadian family, I know this is a low blow, but I expect these kinds of shenanigans from us. The New England Patriots “Spygate” scandal was almost two decades ago, FFS. This whole episode has been very American of you. I know that stings, but it’s for your own good.
Ian, LFC Hartford, CT USA