2018/19 English Football Predictions

[go you pups]

In Hughes' first season he brought in Arnautovic, Pieters, and Muniesa, and got rid of Delap, Whitehead, Pennant, and Jones. The following year he brought in Bojan, Diouf, and others.

You can keep saying he hasn't done anything since Blackburn, and you'll keep being wrong.

Hughes turned over their squad and brought in more attacking, creative players. And while doing that he took them to their highest ever position and then backed that up for a further two years while regenerating the squad.

Still had solid core Pulis types like Shawcross, Walters, Begovic, Whelan, Wilson, Huth, Crouch etc though...

He largely still had the cake as a base before icing was put on top.

 

[SM]

Still had solid core Pulis types like Shawcross, Walters, Begovic, Whelan, Wilson, Huth, Crouch etc though...

He largely still had the cake as a base before icing was put on top.

Yes, a manager taking over a club didn't change the entire starting XI before his first competitive fixture. Colour me shocked. He still brought in Arnautovic, Bojan, Shaqiri, Pieters, Joselu, Affellay, Imbula, etc. and had them finishing 9th three years in a row, significantly higher than any side under Pulis.

 

[go you pups]

Yes, a manager taking over a club didn't change the entire starting XI before his first competitive fixture. Colour me shocked. He still brought in Arnautovic, Bojan, Shaqiri, Pieters, Joselu, Affellay, Imbula, etc. and had them finishing 9th three years in a row, significantly higher than any side under Pulis.

Still a gash vanilla manager though who doesn't have a niche

Give me a niche type like Pulis and Fat Sam every day of the week who know what their limitations are, yet achieve their set targets (usually avoiding relegation).

 

[SM]

Still a gash vanilla manager though who doesn't have a niche

Give me a niche type like Pulis and Fat Sam every day of the week who know what their limitations are, yet achieve their set targets (usually avoiding relegation).

He literally took a Pulis squad, made adjustments, and performed better.

 

[go you pups]

He literally took a Pulis squad, made adjustments, and performed better.

Yet Pulis wasn't afforded the same luxuries and arguably did the same while also getting them into Europe...

9th or 11th/12th it's still only midtable

Give me the guy who made a cup final and qualified them for Europe

 

[SM]

Yet Pulis wasn't afforded the same luxuries and arguably did the same while also getting them into Europe...

9th or 11th/12th it's still only midtable

Give me the guy who made a cup final and qualified them for Europe

You don't like Hughes, that's fine. It's disingenuous to say he did nothing with Stoke though, or that he's been no good since Blackburn. I think there's this easy perception that an old, British manager who has been at a few clubs is automatically crap because that's the popular message these days. Hodgson did pretty well with Palace, and apart from this season with Stoke, Hughes had a good record with them. Pardew is just a s**t manager and apart from that 5th place with Toon has done virtually nothing.

 

[SM]

1. Liverpool
2. Man City
3. Tottenham
4. Arsenal
5. Chelsea
6. Man United
7. West Ham
8. Everton
9. Leicester
10. Wolves
11. Palace
12. Southampton
13. Bournemouth
14. Burnley
15. Fulham
16. Watford
17. Newcastle
18. Brighton
19. Huddersfield
20. Cardiff

 

[DBAH0]

You don't like Hughes, that's fine. It's disingenuous to say he did nothing with Stoke though, or that he's been no good since Blackburn. I think there's this easy perception that an old, British manager who has been at a few clubs is automatically crap because that's the popular message these days. Hodgson did pretty well with Palace, and apart from this season with Stoke, Hughes had a good record with them. Pardew is just a s**t manager and apart from that 5th place with Toon has done virtually nothing.

There was a Stoke fan on Twitter when Hughes was about to get sacked, who did a great couple of posts of how Sparky ruined it for himself at Stoke.

When they had Arnautovic, Shaqiri and Bojan in a front 3 and they had just beaten Man United 2-0 from memory, things were going great for them. Then he removed Bojan as a False Nine, started playing with more of a target man up front, and they were never the same. And the defensive "graft" that they had under Pulis, that slowly went away season by season, and they got worse defensively, they were shambolic defensively under his reign there last season.

 

[SM]

There was a Stoke fan on Twitter when Hughes was about to get sacked, who did a great couple of posts of how Sparky ruined it for himself at Stoke.

When they had Arnautovic, Shaqiri and Bojan in a front 3 and they had just beaten Man United 2-0 from memory, things were going great for them. Then he removed Bojan as a False Nine, started playing with more of a target man up front, and they were never the same. And the defensive "graft" that they had under Pulis, that slowly went away season by season, and they got worse defensively, they were shambolic defensively under his reign there last season.

But again, you could say that of any manager who makes a tactical change to the team that doesn't work and ends up costing them their job. The fact remains that three consecutive 9th placed finishes while drastically changing the style is not doing nothing.

 

[go you pups]

You don't like Hughes, that's fine. It's disingenuous to say he did nothing with Stoke though, or that he's been no good since Blackburn. I think there's this easy perception that an old, British manager who has been at a few clubs is automatically crap because that's the popular message these days. Hodgson did pretty well with Palace, and apart from this season with Stoke, Hughes had a good record with them. Pardew is just a s**t manager and apart from that 5th place with Toon has done virtually nothing.

I'd like to see Eddie Howe try his luck somewhere else, instead of getting too comfortable with Bournemouth

Hodgson is a solid manager, same with Fat Sam even for all the stick he gets. Warnock has promoted multiple clubs to the PL throughout the years, building on from being a successful lower league manager in the 90s.

Hughes is lucky to be in his current position imo.

 

[SM]

I'm actually really happy Howe has stayed at Bournemouth. Fantastic to see the loyalty and perseverence from him. And he keeps proving the doubters wrong there. They started last season slowly but finished well. Hopefully they push on a bit. Same with Dyche at Burnley. People mock the merry-go-round but then expect to see managers try their hand at other jobs.

 

[Ratts of Tobruk]

Bojan getting left out was a surprise, but he'd had a bunch of injuries too, right? He also said that he major problems with anxiety:

I didn’t go to the 2008 European Championship because of anxiety issues but we said I was going on holiday. I was called up for Spain against France, my international debut, and it was said that I had gastroenteritis when I had an anxiety attack. But no one wants to talk about that. Football’s not interested.

Since getting frozen out at Stoke, he had 631mins for Mainz (8 starts, 3 sub apps, 1 goal 1 assist), and then had 436mins in the league for Alaves. He didn't score or assist in those 4 starts and 9 sub appearances, but Wiki has him down with 2 cup appearances and a goal from that.

I don't know if you can say Hughes missed a trick there. He made his debut for Barca in LL and UCL at a younger age than Messi, and was their youngest goalscorer too. People know about him.

 

[go you pups]

I'm actually really happy Howe has stayed at Bournemouth. Fantastic to see the loyalty and perseverence from him. And he keeps proving the doubters wrong there. They started last season slowly but finished well. Hopefully they push on a bit. Same with Dyche at Burnley. People mock the merry-go-round but then expect to see managers try their hand at other jobs.

Dyche has done a great job with Burnley and obviously is a sound tactician, will be interesting to see if he can grind results out in Europe, though they have to qualify first.

Howe has been a great servant for Bournemouth as player and coach, but imo he's got to a position where he's arguably bigger than the club. Loyalty probably is the thing that is hindering him moving on.

 

[SM]

Dyche has done a great job with Burnley and obviously is a sound tactician, will be interesting to see if he can grind results out in Europe, though they have to qualify first.

Howe has been a great servant for Bournemouth as player and coach, but imo he's got to a position where he's arguably bigger than the club. Loyalty probably is the thing that is hindering him moving on.

He left once for Burnley and it didn't work out so I think he'd be pretty hesitant.

 

[go you pups]

He left once for Burnley and it didn't work out so I think he'd be pretty hesitant.

Came 8th (half a season) and 13th there in the Championship, he was also 33-34 at the time

He's 40 now and has had 3 full years of PL experience, if not now, when?

 

[Ratts of Tobruk]

He's 40 now and has had 3 full years of PL experience, if not now, when?

Later?

 

[go you pups]

Later?

5 years? 10 years?

Another year or two at Bournemouth surely the most

 

[moomba]

Hughes was decent at Blackburn but no better than Sounds who he took over from.

Garbage at City.

OK at Fulham but thought he was too good for them.

Garbage at QPR.

Garbage at Stoke.

OK at Soton but it will end in tears.

 

[SM]

Rubbish lmao.

And I used to think you had a decent understanding of football.

 

[Sozabarus]

When Hughes got the Stoke job a lot of people tipped them to go down because he had such difficult job on his hands of completely changing their style of play while keeping them in the league and not only did he do that, he got them to their best ever finish three seasons on the bounce.

I know it ended badly but that doesn’t discount the good work he did previously.

 

[moomba]

1. Man City
2. Liverpool
3. Man United
4. Chelsea
5. Tottenham
6. Arsenal
7. Everton
8. Wolves
9. West Ham
10. Burnley
11. Leicester
12. Crystal Palace
13. Fulham
14. Watford
15. Bournemouth
16. Huddersfield
17. Southampton
18. Brighton
19. Newcastle
20. Cardiff

Promoted: Stoke, Villa, Leeds
FA Cup: Man City
League Cup: Arsenal
Top scorer: Salah
Best transfer: Keita
Worst signing: Fabinho
Champions League: Barca
Europa League: Chelsea.
1st manager sacked: Colin w***er

 

[Jatz]

Below the Goons. Yeah nah.

I don’t think it’s as crazy as you Spurs fans seem to suggest. One injury to Kane and your team looks far less potent. Arsenal are somewhat of an unknown and you lot have stood still.

I wouldn’t guarantee it would happen but I certainly wouldn’t be very confident if I were a Spurs fan.

 

[Jatz]

Rubbish lmao.

And I used to think you had a decent understanding of football.

Which bit specifically do you think is rubbish? He was underwhelming at City, putrid at QPR. Stoke was alright but I think they were slightly underwhelming.

I don’t know it’s a “rubbish” claim.

 

[Jatz]

Bojan getting left out was a surprise, but he'd had a bunch of injuries too, right? He also said that he major problems with anxiety:

Since getting frozen out at Stoke, he had 631mins for Mainz (8 starts, 3 sub apps, 1 goal 1 assist), and then had 436mins in the league for Alaves. He didn't score or assist in those 4 starts and 9 sub appearances, but Wiki has him down with 2 cup appearances and a goal from that.

I don't know if you can say Hughes missed a trick there. He made his debut for Barca in LL and UCL at a younger age than Messi, and was their youngest goalscorer too. People know about him.

Poor bastard. As someone who’s struggled with anxiety attacks in recent times, I can somewhat relate to what he’s going through. At the same time, I can’t relate to it at all (as no one is expecting me to perform for my national side).

He’s actually right really. Mental health is still quite hushed in football. Perhaps I’ve just missed some of it but I’ve seen more in that space in the AFL/NRL than I have in football.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

I don’t think it’s as crazy as you Spurs fans seem to suggest. One injury to Kane and your team looks far less potent. Arsenal are somewhat of an unknown and you lot have stood still.

I wouldn’t guarantee it would happen but I certainly wouldn’t be very confident if I were a Spurs fan.

This furphy has been shown to not be true.
We've continued to win without him. His biggest season with injuries was 16/17 and we won in his absence and only ceased to once we lost Alderwiereld as well.

In regards to the season, it's on the assumption that we will stand still. That remains to be seen, hence why my prediction will wait.
As for where we'll end up, all I'm confident on atm is it being above Arsenal. That's irrespective of signings.