skiathospurs
Well-Known Member
Founding Member
Pep Guardiola,Antonio Conte,Jose Mourinho,Jurgen Klopp,Arsene Wenger,Claudio Ranieri,our own Mauricio Pochettino,Ronald Koeman,Slaven Bilic,all coming to a premier league stadium near you soon!!
Some more hign profile and with greater expectancy than others but even forgetting the other 11 managers involved with respect to their clubs,that first list of 9 only one can win the league,and only 4 can make champions league places (bar an unlikely cup scenario).Yes there are two domestic cups to elevate the success required in these media driven times,but as I said 9 into 1 or 4 simply doesnt work,and for some "there may be trouble ahead".Big reputations,huge egos,enormous spending and beyond belief wages being shelled out,some will pay the price this season of not A) making top 4. B)not winning the title C) not progressing in europe and/or winning a domestic cup.
Very early days to make a shout of who will? or will not? this season,some have yet to even finish assembling their band of merry mercenaries yet alone pick a starting XI at their new clubs,reports suggest there is still over half a billion pounds to be spent by Premier league clubs before Jim White gets the dildo treatment live on deadline day.But regardless of spending and managing their sides,the expectations are already in place for all 20 Premier league managers.It is odds on not all will make it to the start of next season in charge of their current sides.A stat backed up by the fact that Poch at 2 years and not even two months at THFC is the 3rd longest serving PL manager after Wenger and Hughes. (regarding Bruce,Dyce,eddie Howe and Karanka at `boro doesnt count to me as they havent served in the PL as long before anyone gets anal about longest serving...)And of all 92 league clubs Poch is already 25th in length of service at a single club wow eh!!!So in some respects merely keeping your manager is a sign of success??(Piers Morgan excluded!)
Obviously,different permutations are possible,such as I could be delighted with 8th place with a domestic cup double,one teams losing in the last 16 or 8 in CL is success,yet to another its abject failure,and for some merely getting the magical 40 pts is all thats required for a decent end of season pitch invasion.So I will break the league up into 3 categories for you 1)Staying alive 2)winning without winning the title 3)contenders or winners of the whole sheebang.
Group 1 Staying Alive
Again with respect to these clubs,I am not expecting them to trouble the scorers;Bournemouth,`Boro,Hull,Burnley,Sunderland,WBA,Watford,Swansea,mere survival will be success,a cup would be beyond their initial dreams.
Group 2 Feels like winning,but its not actual success
Saints,Palace,Stoke,and perhaps two dark horses Everton and West Ham.The comfort of not being in the relegation fight,a few decent rounds in the cup and midtable comfort zone should keep the axe at bay??
Group 3 Contenders
So I have 7 left,but really only 6 as I have put Leicester in there as respect to the current champions,and it hugely depends if they hang on to Mahrez and the rest,of that squad now Kante has gone. Ranieri will be considered a success if they were 7th I believe.I also said west ham and everton are dark horses to intrude into the top 7,maybe even palace??
The expected contenders
Man city,Man Utd,Chelsea,Arsenal,,Liverpool and of course our beloved Spurs.Maybe out of that 6 Klopp and Poch could expect 5th/6th place to not lead to instant dismissal,and probably only city and united would not be fairly happy with cup success and not making top 4.
Manchester united/city;I will say that expectation for both united and city are similar,they have to,I mean have to achieve top 4 as a minimum withstanding a freaky chelsea winning a european trophy scenario.For 3 seasons United have finished 7th,4th and 5th,coupled with the unattractive style he employs,Jose will be fan fodder if he doesnt improve their league position.Similarily,Pep will suffer if he isnt chasing the title til the end AND getting to the CL semi-finals at least.Both clubs have spent big bucks in the last few years,to really stand still or even slip,after a fallow year for manchester football both clubs need to acheive this season.
Chelsea,well what can they be happy with after a midtable finish??no europe as an excuse,so long domestic cup runs are required and Conte may well get away with 5th as the rebuilding jobs is substantial,but with a proviso that he hasnt spent £250m this summer.But with Roman already over a billion into his petty cash at CFC,has to be top 4 and back into the spotlight or its that slippery slope back to 60s,70s and 80s and Who???
Arsenal have to get top 4 for there to be the remotest chance of a contract extension for Wenger,simple as,not even an FA cup would save him IMHO.Last season for Arsene,lets hope its a season too far and they tank.Still has not addressed the defence and striker positions,if he doesnt I dont see a title challenge succeeding.Put into persepctive if they signed Toby last summer,they won the league,and not just in January!!
Liverpool,well OFC its their year,no europe,Klopps second season hand it over now eh!!Well here is my opinion,Klopp is a loveable chap,like a Kraut Harry Redknapp,all the antics,quotes,chest thumping,but like Harry he is a nearly man.Nearly won the cup,nearly acheived something tangable like an honours trophy.Would he get away with one or two place better than last years finish and 7th or 6th??I really doubt it.
.Not sure with the extended contract where that would leave Fenway,maybe one more year?Has to be top 4 to be considered success for Liverpool with the no europe arguement.
Tottenham and what must Poch achieve to be in with a shout of being the longest serving Prem league manager this time next year?? besides Hughes moving on and Wenger actually standing down.
Well,group stage of CL,without knowing the draw,going beyond that is success of a kind,winning a domestic trophy would negate not acheiving a top 4 finish in many peoples eyes,but Prem league final standing,can he hold off Pep,Jose,Conte,Klopp,Wenger??going to be tough, all will spend a shed load more than spurs this summer on top of the shed load they have spent last year,and before that and.......
All I can look forward with optimism is that we kept everybody,added a few key players and this team under Poch will battle for us to do their best.Could we win the title??well lets say it would be less of a shock than last year,and we came mighty close in the end didnt we!!
If we can be in the mix early on for a change,whilst the others are getting their act together,we can certainly acheive champions league again for next season away from the Lane,who knows,maybe the most fitting goodbye to the stadium would be,could be Hugo holding the trophy aloft at the lane,
and actually given our history,that would be completly spursy.
Some more hign profile and with greater expectancy than others but even forgetting the other 11 managers involved with respect to their clubs,that first list of 9 only one can win the league,and only 4 can make champions league places (bar an unlikely cup scenario).Yes there are two domestic cups to elevate the success required in these media driven times,but as I said 9 into 1 or 4 simply doesnt work,and for some "there may be trouble ahead".Big reputations,huge egos,enormous spending and beyond belief wages being shelled out,some will pay the price this season of not A) making top 4. B)not winning the title C) not progressing in europe and/or winning a domestic cup.
Very early days to make a shout of who will? or will not? this season,some have yet to even finish assembling their band of merry mercenaries yet alone pick a starting XI at their new clubs,reports suggest there is still over half a billion pounds to be spent by Premier league clubs before Jim White gets the dildo treatment live on deadline day.But regardless of spending and managing their sides,the expectations are already in place for all 20 Premier league managers.It is odds on not all will make it to the start of next season in charge of their current sides.A stat backed up by the fact that Poch at 2 years and not even two months at THFC is the 3rd longest serving PL manager after Wenger and Hughes. (regarding Bruce,Dyce,eddie Howe and Karanka at `boro doesnt count to me as they havent served in the PL as long before anyone gets anal about longest serving...)And of all 92 league clubs Poch is already 25th in length of service at a single club wow eh!!!So in some respects merely keeping your manager is a sign of success??(Piers Morgan excluded!)
Obviously,different permutations are possible,such as I could be delighted with 8th place with a domestic cup double,one teams losing in the last 16 or 8 in CL is success,yet to another its abject failure,and for some merely getting the magical 40 pts is all thats required for a decent end of season pitch invasion.So I will break the league up into 3 categories for you 1)Staying alive 2)winning without winning the title 3)contenders or winners of the whole sheebang.
Group 1 Staying Alive
Again with respect to these clubs,I am not expecting them to trouble the scorers;Bournemouth,`Boro,Hull,Burnley,Sunderland,WBA,Watford,Swansea,mere survival will be success,a cup would be beyond their initial dreams.
Group 2 Feels like winning,but its not actual success
Saints,Palace,Stoke,and perhaps two dark horses Everton and West Ham.The comfort of not being in the relegation fight,a few decent rounds in the cup and midtable comfort zone should keep the axe at bay??
Group 3 Contenders
So I have 7 left,but really only 6 as I have put Leicester in there as respect to the current champions,and it hugely depends if they hang on to Mahrez and the rest,of that squad now Kante has gone. Ranieri will be considered a success if they were 7th I believe.I also said west ham and everton are dark horses to intrude into the top 7,maybe even palace??
The expected contenders
Man city,Man Utd,Chelsea,Arsenal,,Liverpool and of course our beloved Spurs.Maybe out of that 6 Klopp and Poch could expect 5th/6th place to not lead to instant dismissal,and probably only city and united would not be fairly happy with cup success and not making top 4.
Manchester united/city;I will say that expectation for both united and city are similar,they have to,I mean have to achieve top 4 as a minimum withstanding a freaky chelsea winning a european trophy scenario.For 3 seasons United have finished 7th,4th and 5th,coupled with the unattractive style he employs,Jose will be fan fodder if he doesnt improve their league position.Similarily,Pep will suffer if he isnt chasing the title til the end AND getting to the CL semi-finals at least.Both clubs have spent big bucks in the last few years,to really stand still or even slip,after a fallow year for manchester football both clubs need to acheive this season.
Chelsea,well what can they be happy with after a midtable finish??no europe as an excuse,so long domestic cup runs are required and Conte may well get away with 5th as the rebuilding jobs is substantial,but with a proviso that he hasnt spent £250m this summer.But with Roman already over a billion into his petty cash at CFC,has to be top 4 and back into the spotlight or its that slippery slope back to 60s,70s and 80s and Who???
Arsenal have to get top 4 for there to be the remotest chance of a contract extension for Wenger,simple as,not even an FA cup would save him IMHO.Last season for Arsene,lets hope its a season too far and they tank.Still has not addressed the defence and striker positions,if he doesnt I dont see a title challenge succeeding.Put into persepctive if they signed Toby last summer,they won the league,and not just in January!!
Liverpool,well OFC its their year,no europe,Klopps second season hand it over now eh!!Well here is my opinion,Klopp is a loveable chap,like a Kraut Harry Redknapp,all the antics,quotes,chest thumping,but like Harry he is a nearly man.Nearly won the cup,nearly acheived something tangable like an honours trophy.Would he get away with one or two place better than last years finish and 7th or 6th??I really doubt it.
.Not sure with the extended contract where that would leave Fenway,maybe one more year?Has to be top 4 to be considered success for Liverpool with the no europe arguement.
Tottenham and what must Poch achieve to be in with a shout of being the longest serving Prem league manager this time next year?? besides Hughes moving on and Wenger actually standing down.
Well,group stage of CL,without knowing the draw,going beyond that is success of a kind,winning a domestic trophy would negate not acheiving a top 4 finish in many peoples eyes,but Prem league final standing,can he hold off Pep,Jose,Conte,Klopp,Wenger??going to be tough, all will spend a shed load more than spurs this summer on top of the shed load they have spent last year,and before that and.......
All I can look forward with optimism is that we kept everybody,added a few key players and this team under Poch will battle for us to do their best.Could we win the title??well lets say it would be less of a shock than last year,and we came mighty close in the end didnt we!!
If we can be in the mix early on for a change,whilst the others are getting their act together,we can certainly acheive champions league again for next season away from the Lane,who knows,maybe the most fitting goodbye to the stadium would be,could be Hugo holding the trophy aloft at the lane,
and actually given our history,that would be completly spursy.
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