2022-23 PL season.

by Guest Sat 30 Jul - 19:02

First topic message reminder :

Liverpool won the Community Shield 3-1 over Manchester City at the King Power Stadium.
TAA opened the scoring.
Julian Alvarez scored on his City debut.
Salah scored a penalty after Dias handball.
Darwin Nunez scored late on, also ok debut.

Seems like the media really have to hype up Liverpool for some reason…

Debut to forget for Erling Haaland, largely anonymous. And missed a sitter from 6 yards out late on. Hit the crossbar in fact.

Wild over the top celebrations over a pre season match…genuinely baffling scenes.

by GSC Sat 27 May - 16:30

Might be the last we hear about whether Arsenal bottled the title

by Duty281 Sat 27 May - 19:57

Luton back in the top flight and in the Prem for the first time.

The play-off final was drawn 1-1, so the stupid penalty nonsense had to be endured, and was eventually settled by some poor Coventry player blazing over the bar on the 12th penalty. Luton deserve to go up because they finished 10 points higher than Coventry, so I think the right result was reached even if the method was wrong. Penalty shoot-outs are so contrary to what football is about.

I'm actually surprised Luton's ground is good enough for the Premier League, but I haven't heard anything about them needing to move/upgrade/groundshare etc. so I presume all is well. Can they stay up? There's a lot of dross in the bottom third of the PL, therefore it's quite feasible.

by GSC Sat 27 May - 20:16

They have to spend 10m upgrading the ground.

by Duty281 Sun 28 May - 12:15

Thanks for that. It'll barely touch the sides of what they gain from going into the PL.

Last day today. Everton 2/9 to stay up; Leicester 4/1; Leeds 12/1.

by GSC Sun 28 May - 14:22

Think of the 3 Everton are the most likely to manage a win honestly.

Luton are building a new stadium so imagine most of their windfall probably ends up on infrastructure

by GSC Sun 28 May - 17:19

Leicester escaping at halftime but one goal either way changes all that. Leeds are on their way pretty tamely though

by Duty281 Sun 28 May - 18:51

Pickford had to make a top save in the dying minutes to ensure Everton stay up, and stay up they do. Good job from Dyche.

Leicester down. What a mad journey they've had. Denied promotion in 2013 because of that crazy play-off finale against Watford, promoted in 2014, just about stayed up in 2015 despite being 20th for a large portion of the season, champions in 2016, actually made the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2017, were close to getting back in the top four in 2020 and 2021, won the FA Cup in 2021, and now relegated in 2023 (despite not finishing in the bottom half since 2017). What a ride.

Leeds seemingly gave up a long time ago. They were fun under Bielsa, but offered nothing since. Surely Big Sam won't stick around for the Championship?

by Duty281 Sun 28 May - 19:10

Duty281 wrote:My unscientific guesswork of predictions:

1) City; 2) Chelsea; 3) Liverpool; 4) Arsenal; 5) Spurs; 6) Newcastle; 7) West Ham; 8) Manchester Utd; 9) Brighton; 10) Villa; 11) Palace; 12) Leicester; 13) Wolves; 14) Everton; 15) Southampton; 16) Forest; 17) Fulham; 18) Leeds; 19) Brentford; 20) Bournemouth.

Probably the most difficult PL season to predict as the World Cup will tear everything up form and fitness wise, making all predictions pointless. What that in mind:

City should win the league by a comfortable distance. I think Liverpool will struggle a bit more than anticipated with their poor squad depth, the loss of Mane and a number of key players starting to show their age. Chelsea will rebound after a rubbish season last year blighted by injuries and the off-the-pitch upheaval. Arsenal and Spurs battle for 4th should be tight - Arsenal were two points and one decent goalscorer short of 4th last year, and I think they've made the necessary improvements to make the extra step. Spurs are hugely reliant on Kane and Son staying fit.

The only other team outside of those I can see challenging for top four is Newcastle, and that requires making additions in August and January because they're not there yet. West Ham/United/Brighton don't have the quality.

Villa/Palace/Leicester/Wolves/Everton should all have dull seasons. Won't be worrying about relegation, but nowhere near the European places. Lampard should be dispensed with early on, and it's probably Rodgers' last season with Leicester as well.

Any from Southampton downwards could get relegated, there's not a lot of difference between them, with the exception of Bournemouth who look well off the PL level and are certainties to go down.

Bets I like - 8/13 City to win the league. 6/4 Arsenal making the top four. 8/11 Chelsea make the top four. 12/5 Brentford go down. And a 12/1 nibble on Jesus getting the Golden Boot.

Plus an 18/1 punt on Howe being the first manager to get sacked. I was wrong about him last season, but Newcastle have a tricky opening to the season - away to Brighton, home to City and away to Liverpool and West Ham in the first 7 games - and a poor start could give the dodgy regime all the encouragement they need to bring in a more fashionable manager.

Let's analyse this complete mess.

I was right about City, and greatly enjoyed the 8/13 price available (and they're 4/6 to win it next season; and I don't see anyone stopping them again, do you?), but I think anyone could have picked them this year. I never doubted them, even when Arsenal were top. I was drastically wrong about Chelsea. I thought they could bounce back, but recruitment was a mess and the new owner is a clown. I was right to say Liverpool would struggle and wouldn't be in a title race, but even I underrated how much they would struggle. I thought Arsenal would get top four, but didn't think they would get as high as they did.

Apologies to United. Ten Hag has delivered a masterclass after an early struggle, but that is the difference between him and someone woefully out of his depth, as Ole was. Newcastle I thought would be just short, but squeezed in by four points.

Went for Leeds, Brentford and Bournemouth to go down, so I'm 1 for 3 in that regard. Brentford have been amazing this season, full credit to Thomas Frank. I'm really surprised Bournemouth stayed up; not many teams concede 70+ and score fewer than 40 but survive! Southampton have fallen apart, and Leicester shouldn't have gone down but they hung on to Rodgers for far too long (Everton also hung on to Lampard too long, but Dyche just about rescued them).

I was probably closer to the golden boot than Jesus, and Howe is still there to mock me. Overall, got the title right, two of the top four, one of the three relegated teams, and had four teams bang on. The rest? Forget it. At least it'll be a normal season next year, with no World Cup in the way.

by GSC Sun 28 May - 19:20

Leeds at least will have a total reset. about to be sold, will be new staff running the on field stuff too.

Leicester looks pretty dicey to me. Haven't had that much to spend on a squad that needed fresh faces for a couple of years, can cash in on some players but probably need 10+ in the door

by westisbest Sun 28 May - 19:43

Duty281 wrote:Luton back in the top flight and in the Prem for the first time.

The play-off final was drawn 1-1, so the stupid penalty nonsense had to be endured, and was eventually settled by some poor Coventry player blazing over the bar on the 12th penalty. Luton deserve to go up because they finished 10 points higher than Coventry, so I think the right result was reached even if the method was wrong. Penalty shoot-outs are so contrary to what football is about.

I'm actually surprised Luton's ground is good enough for the Premier League, but I haven't heard anything about them needing to move/upgrade/groundshare etc. so I presume all is well. Can they stay up? There's a lot of dross in the bottom third of the PL, therefore it's quite feasible.

Love a penalty shoot out. No other way really to decide it after extra time.

Re Luton’s ground. Think they are expanding.

by westisbest Sun 28 May - 19:48

Great season for villa, well since we got rid of that joker Gerrard.
Emery has been a quality appointment.

7th and European qualification.

Couldn’t have really asked for more at the start of the season.
Look forward to see who we sign in the summer.
Also to next season and the European tour.

by GSC Sun 28 May - 20:45

30 signings, who gives a **** etc

Probably be a few less this summer. More selective recruitment and some better injury luck and hope we can kick on

by formerly known as Sam Mon 29 May - 7:40

GSC wrote:
Leicester looks pretty dicey to me. Haven't had that much to spend on a squad that needed fresh faces for a couple of years, can cash in on some players but probably need 10+ in the door

There's likely to be at least 10 out the door at least. There's a number of big earners that will have to go unless they've got relegation clauses in their contracts as you can't have our wage costs in the Championship. We should have enough defenders and GKs left, it'll be wide men and creative midfielders we'll be shopping for.

With no Rogers buying over priced squad players we should improve but a new manager is needed soon as there's no guarantee of getting out the Championship.

by GSC Mon 29 May - 10:10

Yeah it looks pretty brutal next year, a lot of big names down there

by Duty281 Mon 29 May - 11:32

Going to be interesting summers for Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham. Tottenham, no European football at all next season, will surely lose Kane. Kane's turning 30 in July and if he wants a chance of some trophies to look back on, he needs to move this summer. But without Kane, and Son seemingly dropping off so much, the top four looks further away than ever for Levy.

Liverpool needed a rebuild last season, didn't do it, and now they need two years worth of rebuilding in one summer, plus they don't have CL football anymore as an incentive. And it's going to be tough for them to get back into the top four. City have one spot locked down, Newcastle have similar resources + CL football so they're only going to get better, United are on the up, and Arsenal got 84 points with a good young core to their squad, so it's unrealistic to see them dropping off. Plus Liverpool have the irritation of Thursday/Sunday games next season.

Chelsea - just 38 goals this season. 38! I believe that is their lowest goal tally in a season since 1923/24, when they were relegated from the top flight on goal average, having scored just 31 in a 42 game season. Get a new striker and get an actual manager, not Frank (or keep him for the comedy), and have the owner intervene less. This isn't America.

As a side note, 36 points would have kept a team up this year, meaning this is the 8th of the last 9 seasons where 36 points was enough. So no more talk of 40 points for survival, 36 is enough.

by Lowlandbrit Mon 29 May - 18:11

GSC wrote:Yeah it looks pretty brutal next year, a lot of big names down there

First time two PL champions meet in the Championship too.

by GSC Mon 29 May - 22:45

Two former European cup winners already did lol

by dummy_half Tue 30 May - 10:34

Duty281 wrote:Going to be interesting summers for Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham. Tottenham, no European football at all next season, will surely lose Kane. Kane's turning 30 in July and if he wants a chance of some trophies to look back on, he needs to move this summer. But without Kane, and Son seemingly dropping off so much, the top four looks further away than ever for Levy.

Liverpool needed a rebuild last season, didn't do it, and now they need two years worth of rebuilding in one summer, plus they don't have CL football anymore as an incentive. And it's going to be tough for them to get back into the top four. City have one spot locked down, Newcastle have similar resources + CL football so they're only going to get better, United are on the up, and Arsenal got 84 points with a good young core to their squad, so it's unrealistic to see them dropping off. Plus Liverpool have the irritation of Thursday/Sunday games next season.

Chelsea - just 38 goals this season. 38! I believe that is their lowest goal tally in a season since 1923/24, when they were relegated from the top flight on goal average, having scored just 31 in a 42 game season. Get a new striker and get an actual manager, not Frank (or keep him for the comedy), and have the owner intervene less. This isn't America.

As a side note, 36 points would have kept a team up this year, meaning this is the 8th of the last 9 seasons where 36 points was enough. So no more talk of 40 points for survival, 36 is enough.

First one - Newcastle's new owners may have the big money, but they don't seem to be spending like Chelsea in the first years of Abramovic or Man City when they were bought. Sensible levels of recruitment and a good manager rather than just buying every shiny thing going. Be interesting to see how they approach recruitment now, knowing the level they need to reach to compete with City.

2nd one - The 40 points to avoid relegation thing hasn't been true for ages, indeed basically not for a 20 team league. 2010/11 saw a team relegated with 39 points and 2002/3 saw West Ham be relegated with 42 points, but that was obviously a freak season, as typically mid 30s will be good enough. A point a game is generally good enough.

by **Galted** Tue 30 May - 10:50

westisbest wrote:Great season for villa, well since we got rid of that joker Gerrard.
Emery has been a quality appointment.

7th and European qualification.

Couldn’t have really asked for more at the start of the season.
Look forward to see who we sign in the summer.
Also to next season and the European tour.

Now we await the inevitable match-up with Rapid Vienna.

by Lowlandbrit Mon 19 Jun - 13:46

Bournemouth have sacked O'Neil, presumably because they've hired someone else already.
Update: Andoni Iraola from Rayo Vallecano. Seems a slightly odd one for both parties to me, but I suppose we'll see.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Tue 20 Jun - 6:13

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