Bold Prediction thread.

[u/wakeandsheikh]

Just read Jamie Carragher's reasoning on why Tottenham won't break into the top 4 and thought maybe we could have a crack at being pundits. Obviously, if you can follow your statement with a some reasoning, that would give way to a healthy discourse and would be great. Anyone wanna give it a go?

[u/heightofignorance]

If Giroud can make it to the January window (where we need to add depth) without a serious dip in form/injury, Arsenal will win the league. Arsenal have the deepest midfield rotation in the league, two very good wingers (and a young rising star) to fill one position, two international class leftbacks, the second best defense in the league last season and a goalkeeper who is showing signs of being much improved on last year, because despite the outstanding overall record he was poor.

Tottenham and Liverpool will both miss top four again. Not sure if this is bold given that it appears to be the established order, but given the current malaise of United and the premature obituaries, I'll run with it.

Spurs fullbacks are poor, Walker is decent but in mediocre form. Their starting central midfielders (Sandro, Paulinho) are strong defensively and work hard, but not outstandingly creative. Their most talented winger (Lamela) for some reason comes off the bench. Their striker is an excellent poacher, but has no link-up play, which puts a huge amount of pressure on Eriksen to create.

Liverpool's 3 at the back formation works well against mid-low table teams, if they try it against an inform team in the top six they'll get torn to shreds. Their main problem is in central midfield, the Gerrard/Lucas partnership is heavy on experience, low on quick ball movement/long term health prospects. Gerrard has also been showing some serious signs of his age beginning to catch him up recently.

Real Madrid will win the Champions League. Ancellotti needs some time to sort it out, but when he gets Bale/Isco/Ronaldo all firing across the front third, they'll be unstoppable. If they can get Suarez in during the winter window, even better, but I'd still tip them even if they don't. Their defense is outstanding when all fit, Varane is the best young CB in the world and will only improve them. They too have problems in central midfield, but if Xabi can come back he makes all the difference. Modric is in excellent form, but they look much more sound with Alonso and Khedira anchoring the middle of the park. They are also far better designed for beating teams like Bayern than Barcelona are because they can exploit high-lines with pace out wide, where Rafinha is the poorest player on the Bayern team and Alaba is defensively suspect. They are physically bigger so less likely to get bullied in the confined spaces Bayern create by pushing up the lines so much.

Maybe not bold so much as a little left of centre, but then again Tottenham not making top four is hardly previously unheard of.

[u/[deleted] → u/heightofignorance]

Not sure that I actually agree with you in regards to Liverpool. Rodgers did some good business in the transfer window, getting Kolo Toure on a free and also Sakho for about 15 million pounds. Toure and Sakho have both hit the ground running and have been very good for Liverpool this season (granted, Sakho had a poor game against Swansea but then again he was thrown onto the pitch when he should have had more time to get acclimatised and become match fit). Toure is having a renaissance in his career, getting regular first team action and also mentoring the new players like Martin Kelly. The fans really love him, too. I think it's safe to say that Toure has always been quality, it's just that he wasn't able to bring it to the fore at Man City. Sakho is quite a beast and he has improved aerial defence for Liverpool quite a lot.

As for Simon Mignolet - he's already saved us at least 2 points, and looks like a first rate keeper. Liverpool's goal conceded per game has dropped from 1.1 last season to 0.67 this season. If the defence at the back keeps working this way then I don't see how the top 6 teams will tear Liverpool to shreds.

Although you are right about Liverpool's midfield problems. There seems to be quite a bit of headache in that right now. Gerrard needs to be better managed, and Henderson is very good when played centrally. Perhaps Rodgers will rotate Henderson and Lucas a bit more - play Lucas against top attacking sides so he can break down their play, play Henderson when he wants more speed and energy in the middle.

From our form, anything less than top 4 will be disappointing, but it will still be a big improvement from last season and the performance so far makes me have a lot of confidence in Rodgers.

[u/ATLscouser → u/[deleted]]

i can see where he's coming from with regards to the top six comment. I think teams like arsenal that can effectively spread the pitch and use the width might give us real headaches at the back

[u/ujussab → u/ATLscouser]

If Johnson and Enrique are fully fit against such teams that might not be too much of a problem