Your teams chances for this season (2018/19)

[frag]

(Shamelessly copied verbatim from last season's post from Panda):

The football season's here again! And that means it's time to assess your team's chances for the season. Will you win anything? Will you go up? Will you stay up? Share your thoughts below.


Team:


Division:


Greatest hope this season:


Biggest fear:


Most likely reason for success:


Most likely reason for failure:


Best summer signing(s):


Most important player:


Most underrated player:


Young player to watch:


Player you'd happily drive to his next club:


One change you'd make at your club:


Have you got the right manager?


What advice would you give him?


Which team do you most want to beat this season?


Best away fans:


Best away ground to visit:


Opposition player you despise:


Opposition player you secretly admire:


Where will you finish?

[Razzle Dazzle]

Team: West Ham


Division: Premiership


Greatest hope this season: Top 6 and a cup with some good football along the way


Biggest fear: Coming off the back of two disappointing 45ish point season and conceading the most goals in the league a major overhaul was needed, the worry is the new team didn't gell and another season of dissapointment


Most likely reason for success: Pellegrini, a top manager with a lot more about him than Big Sam, Bilic or Moyes


Most likely reason for failure: Too much change too soon, it was needed but that's the risk


Best summer signing(s): Felipe Anderson, Jack Wilshere, Yarmalenko, Balbuena


Most important player: Arnautovic, big, strong and leads the attack brilliantly, nobody will want to face him when he is up for it


Most underrated player: Mark Noble, captain under the last 4 managers and we have won about 5 games in 5 year when he hasn't played


Young player to watch: Declan Rice. This kid is going to be special


Player you'd happily drive to his next club: Well it would've been Kouyate, can't pass, can't control a ball and can't defend which is a problem when your meant to be a defensive midfielder. Now it would be Sam Byram and Jordan Hugill, both not good enough


One change you'd make at your club: a top CDM like Maia at Lille


Have you got the right manager? Yes


What advice would you give him? Don't rely on Andy Carroll ever getting fit enough to string 3 games together


Which team do you most want to beat this season? Cardiff and Spurs


Best away fans: West Ham


Best away ground to visit: I'm gonna go Fulham. Such a unique ground and it's been missed when they've been away


Opposition player you despise: can't think of any, can I just pick Jose Mourinho?


Opposition player you secretly admire: De Bruyne


Where will you finish? 8th

[Panda]

Literally just came on to post this thread!

[Panda]

Team: Marske United


Division: Northern Premier League (Evostik) East


Greatest hope this season: A top 5 finish and getting the ground up to standard so we can remain in this league.


Biggest fear: We struggle at a higher level and end up battling relegation.


Most likely reason for success: A quality manager and a loyal group of players who know they can play in a higher league.


Most likely reason for failure: The increased travelling is too much for some resulting in the loss of key players.


Best summer signing(s): Jamie Owens returns to the club after reaching the FA Vase final with Stockton last season. He scored 40 goals for us in the 2014/15 season.


Most important player: Midfielder Craig Gott. The lynchpin of the team and could easily play several levels higher.


Most underrated player: Josh Rowbotham. Young defender who had an excellent first season with the club last season.


Young player to watch: Defender Andrew "Rio" May. Signed from Whitby Town and has been involved at Jamie Vardy's V9 academy which focuses on spotting non-league talent with the potential to succeed in the professional game.


Player you'd happily drive to his next club: No-one. We only have a small squad and there's no-one just making up the numbers.


One change you'd make at your club: I wouldn't have increased admission prices as much as they have been this season.


Have you got the right manager? Absolutely.


What advice would you give him? I don't need to give him any advice.


Which team do you most want to beat this season? Probably Morpeth as they came up with us and Pickering as our nearest opposition.


Best away fans: It's mostly new opponents for us this season so it remains to be seen.


Best away ground to visit: Out of the ones I've been to in this division I'd probably say Ossett, whilst many fans will have special memories of Frickley after we won there in the FA Cup a few years ago when they were 2 divisions higher.


Opposition player you despise: None yet!


Opposition player you secretly admire: Morpeth's Joe Walton, whose wonder goal to beat us last season went viral.


Where will you finish? Somewhere in the top 10.

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Team: Arsenal

Division: Premier League

Greatest hope this season: Everything clicks under Emery, and we somehow win the title (probably after a few injury crises elsewhere)

Biggest fear: Away day woes continue, the defence is still leaky, and we finish a distant 6th

Most likely reason for success: The preparation and attention to detail under the new manager

Most likely reason for failure: Leaky defence

Best summer signing(s): Lucas Torreira could be the central midfielder we've been lacking for years.

Most important player: Aubameyang - if he scores at the same rate as last season, he could have a 40-goal season.

Most underrated player: Ozil

Young player to watch: Reiss Nelson

Player you'd happily drive to his next club: The owner, Stan Kroenke. Has done nothing except hoover up shares. The prospect of him taking full control (if Usmanov sells him his shares) is very concerning.

One change you'd make at your club: Get another singing section together in the clock end

Have you got the right manager? He hasn't had a competitive game yet, but we need to give him at least a couple of seasons.

What advice would you give him? Avoid the central line during busy times of the day.

Which team do you most want to beat this season? Spurs

Best away fans: Didn't go to enough games last season to get a good impression

Best away ground to visit: Craven Cottage, because the fans do a boat trip up the Thames!

Opposition player you despise: Most of the more despicable ones have left the premier league now, thankfully!

Opposition player you secretly admire: Harry Kane

Where will you finish? 4th - and hopefully in Baku.

[o]

I just hope we make the playoffs...

[Tom]

I'll wait until after the transfer deadline tomorrow (though its still open for loans for football league clubs beyond that) before I post about Reading as it may have a big impact on what I say. But i'll start with Herne Bay as I went to as many games last season as I did Reading (1). Will cut it down though.

Team: Herne Bay

Division: Bostik League South East Division

Greatest hope this season: Promotion would be the ultimate dream

Biggest fear: Relegation

Most likely reason for success: More consistency

Most likely reason for failure: Difficult one. Key players leaving, financial trouble I guess

Have you got the right manager? Or managers in this case, as they've got joint managers - John Embery & Jermaine Darlington. Absolutely. When they took over last summer from Sittingbourne's u21s with no previous first team management experience bringing many of their u21s with them (and I've been told of another player they wanted last year) not much was expected, it was a bold move. So to finish mid-table and have a run in the FA Cup has to be considered a success, even if seeing some of their results after their cup run had ended made me wonder whether it was an inflated position.

What advice would you give him (them)? Same answer as above. Be more consistent. Towards the end of the season they had easier games which they were confident of doing well in but the team didn't deliver, though it's hard to be that critical with such a young team.

Which team do you most want to beat this season? Whitstable, nearest rivals who are now in the same division for the first time in a few years.

Where will you finish? The management team are aiming for the playoffs but I think i'd take the same as last season, mid table and a cup run.

[Razzle Dazzle]

Jermaine Darlington, that's a name from the past I haven't heard for about a decade, I remember him from his Wimbledon days just before they went bust, always seemed a decent player

[Tom]

Aug 8, 2018 12:13:48 GMT 1 Razzle Dazzle said:

Jermaine Darlington, that's a name from the past I haven't heard for about a decade, I remember him from his Wimbledon days just before they went bust, always seemed a decent player

Rather spooky, before I read your post I knew exactly what you'd be talking about! Thought that name might ring a bell with someone. When they were appointed his playing career was mentioned and it did seem vaguely familiar. What stood out was that he was playing for Watford when they reached the Fa cup semis in 2007, remember that and I've also probably seen him play against Reading! It's interesting, he doesn't give many interviews it's normally John Embery (whose son Jake is without doubt one of the best players).

[Tom]

Team: Reading

Division: Championship

Greatest hope this season: Promotion, or reaching a cup final.

Biggest fear: Relegation

Most likely reason for success: Strong team spirit, confidence and getting the best out of the players

Most likely reason for failure: The opposite to above really, lack of team spirit, lack of confidence and underperforming players. All the reasons imo why we struggled last season.

Best summer signing(s): David Meyler defensive midfielder. And he impressed on his debut in our opening game too.

Most important player: At the start of the season I probably would have said Liam Moore, but our defence coped well without him against Derby on the opening day, so i'll say Modou Barrow who was unplayable on the wing for the majority of that game. Without him there doesn't look to be much excitement or creativity in the side.

Most underrated player: Tough one but i'll say Chris Gunter simply because I think he gets unfair stick from fans. Not sure how many times if any I've seen him have a bad game and his fitness record is remarkable, hardly ever misses a game, which is why it's such a shock he's currently injured until next month. Don't think he's been injured with us since he first joined 6 years ago! Certainly nothing serious anyway. I do think he'd look better in a better team.

Young player to watch: Don't know whether it's tough to predict how young players will do or whether i'm just a jinx but hardly ever get these right! I'll say Omar Richards left-back because with Gunter and Obita out injured I think he'll get plenty of games this season, especially early on, and he was impressive on the opening day.

Player you'd happily drive to his next club: Before the season started I would have said Sone Aluko, but he had his best game I've seen of him on the opening day so i'll say Tyler Blackett. I don't mind him as a centre-back, though there's little chance of him playing there with 3 or 4 players ahead of him in that position unless we have injuries and want to play a back 3, but I've never liked him as a left-back and think our record when he plays there isn't good. Even on the odd occasion when he does play well he's so frustrating that he's likely to have a bad game in his next match, especially if it comes only a few days later. If Stam was still here I suspect he might have been sold in the summer, but can still see him leaving within a year when we have the likes of Gunter and Obita back from injury. And also he's stopping Richards, a natural left-back, from getting more games.

One change you'd make at your club: Very tough to answer but there's something wrong at the club and has been for about a year now, which is why I wasn't calling for Stam to go like many fans last season (though it was the right call when it happened - think he was taking us down by that point), and I can't pinpoint what that is.

Have you got the right manager? Jury is very much out on Clement. Whilst I don't think 8 games last season is enough to judge him, and his remit was to keep us up which he did, results were very up and down and if we'd got the results in games that I thought were deserved we'd have gone down. Been a bit disappointing start to this season as well, albeit in tough games, but I hope he succeeds as he's brought a couple of backroom staff back to the club and I suspect that despite their history with the club if he goes they will too.

What advice would you give him? Have the ability to change games, ie a Plan B. The evidence so far suggests that when things aren't going well we're unable to turn things around.

Which team do you most want to beat this season? Probably Millwall or QPR.

Best away fans: Leeds simply because they always pack the away end, whether it's a Saturday or a midweek game, even if they do cause their problems...

Best away ground to visit: Hmm, well Brighton and Fulham aren't in the division anymore so there really isn't any away ground i'm fussed about going to this season.

Opposition player you despise: No one I can think of off the top of my head.

Opposition player you secretly admire: Bradley Dack Blackburn attacking midfielder, a player I wanted Reading to sign a couple of summers ago after he starred for Gillingham. And to add to that he had a productive partnership with Dominic Samuel one of our young strikers who was on loan there that season who went on to play a few games for Stam in the play-off final season of 2016-17. Don't know whether there was ever any interest there, but if there was we were probably put off by Gillingham's valuation as he didn't go anywhere that summer despite interest from a number of clubs supposedly. With hindsight Gillingham should really have sold him that summer rather than last summer (to Blackburn) as apparently he had his head turned, which explains why in his final season at Gillingham he simply wasn't the same player, and subsequently they didn't anywhere near the amount they wanted a year earlier. The move to Blackburn has re-ignited his career and it will be interesting to see how he gets on in his first season in the Championship. I notice he scored in his first game.

Where will you finish? Staying up with around 50 points, below mid-table, and probably a similar position to last season.

[Tom]

Aug 3, 2018 16:59:07 GMT 1 Panda said:

Opposition player you secretly admire: Morpeth's Joe Walton, whose wonder goal to beat us last season went viral.

Just watched this, wow!

[Earl Purple]

My team made a few more signings than Tottenham but also had 2 key players leave. So I can't really say we're going anywhere this season, we've lost one in stoppage time and won one in stoppage time now but I see nothing but mid-table mediocrity this season but hopefully our takeover will happen and we'll be able to launch a proper promotion bid next season.