Current League Expectations

[Lambert09]

After the start to the season so far,where would you put your money on us finishing? 

 

Curious to see people’s perception on this 

Edited 2 November 2020 by Lambert09

[Aus Fox]

Champions!!! Nothing less will be good enough!

[deanolegend1989]

Top 4+ Fantastic achievement .

5-6th Good solid season.
7-8th Decent enough.

9th-10th Not good enough really but not a disaster.

11th Or lower. With the squad we have, unacceptable. Unless we win a trophy under 10th is a major fail.

[Tomek]

With our ever growing injury list, I’ll be happy just to stay up!

[teblin]

We have had a great start all things considered. By the end of this game we could be sitting 2nd or 3rd with a result of some sort tonight. Top 4 is achievable IMO.

[jonthefox]

Season has only just started and the further we go into Europe I think our league form will suffer. I put us in ninth.

[gw_leics772]

The key to this is expectation vs hope. I'm going top 4 but not an entitled "big 6" type way. 

Win today and its a great start. Don't win and there are loads around us. Too early, 1 good run away from challenging. 1 bad run away from mid table mediocrity, which wouldn't be the end of the world if we continue to do well in Europa. 

[StanSP]

Gone for 5th.

 

Pre-season I think I said 7th or 8th but changed it purely on how inconsistent other teams are right now. Barring Liverpool, I've been shocked at some results of other clubs I expected to be above us at this rate, including our own as well. 

Think injuries will continue to hinder us but maybe we need to be a bit more optimistic

 

Go far in Europa League and qualify for Europe again next season will be a successful season

[chapero82]

Because of injuries I’ve predicted 8th but if we get out full our squad back we could be top four 

[Scotch]

Said at the start of last season, top 6. 

Said at the start of this season, top 6. 

Will say the same next year too. 

 

I think it's important to be realistic. Consistently being somewhere in the top 6 for 3 seasons on the trot would be massive. It also won't be easy, especially when juggling european football too. 

 

An FA cup win somewhere in there too would also help elevate us into being one of the leagues undisputed top sides. 

Edited 2 November 2020 by Foxy_Bear

[jmono84]

If we can keep away from too many more injuries and get our guys back and ready then there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be aiming for top 6 again (reason why I voted 6th).

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

This season will have a big asterisk next to it I suspect. So many different external factors - more games and fixture congestion, injuries, no crowds. Makes it harder to think where we should finish.

[norwichfox]

Just now, bmouth_fox said:

This season will have a big asterisk next to it I suspect. So many different external factors - more games and fixture congestion, injuries, no crowds. Makes it harder to think where we should finish.

Be good if we all finish alive...

[foxfanazer]

I'm quite enjoying the unpredictability of the league this year. Absolutely no idea how well we'll do. 

[TRAD-DAD]

The results in the prem so far are proving to be a right mixed bag and I suspect it will be like that for the whole season. Not having crowds has proved a great leveller and I think we will do a lot better than anyone thinks.

[HybridFox]

European qualification again but there's absolutely no reason why we can't go for top 4

[HighPeakFox]

I'm definitely in the 'not got a clue' camp on this one. I really don't know.

[Crinklyfox]

2 hours ago, Tomek said:

With our ever growing injury list, I’ll be happy just to stay up!

I remember the MON era when we had three consecutive top ten finishes followed by an injury plagued season when we were relegated.  We have better overall strength in depth now IMO but injuries can certainly wreck a season.

[kingcarr21]

I've gone for 4th. More a prediction than an expectation though. I do not expect to make champions league but I fancy our chances.

 

This season could really throw out some interesting results. The league table is fascinating to look at. Although Liverpool are top they are going to lose matches. I can still see Liverpool walking it but we may see some interesting Champ league/Europa League contenders. Once your confidence is high you feel like you can take on anyone. As we are all fully aware of what that can lead to we should be excited to see how the season plays out

[Ric Flair]

7th is where I think we'll finish but the gap between 5-7th will be a mere few points and it will still be a solid season in the PL. I think we'll do well in the Europa.

[CosbehFox]

Still saying between 8th and 10th for me. 

 

Injuries plying up - the form won't be sustained forever. Happen to think Rodgers is doing a very good job of managing it at the moment. 1 win in the Europa, qualified as good as. 

 

Happen to think we've been anywhere near as fluid as we can be except probably second half against West Brom 

[Hales]

I voted 5th, I genuinely believe we can achieve that. Get the lads back that are injured and we have a really good team. Mentally there seems to have been a shift with Brendan and the players. They seem to be finally believing in one another and have had some big results already with key players missing.

[Ric Flair]

It is refreshing to see that we are learning to cope mentally with key players missing and the odd poor result not derailing us so far. Last seasons slump was very alarming and I didn't see how we put that behind us with such a short off season and barely any time to get in to the players tactically and mentally in pre-season. But so far so good, we are putting it behind us and going some way to proving we are a force in this league that don't always need the perfect environment in which to prosper. 

[Aus Fox]

9 minutes ago, Crinklyfox said:

I remember the MON era when we had three consecutive top ten finishes followed by an injury plagued season when we were relegated.  We have better overall strength in depth now IMO but injuries can certainly wreck a season.

I think you’ve missed out a season in between, we had three top ten finishes under MON, we then had a season under Taylor where we finished 13th but were clueless.

We had lost MON, Heskey, Lennon, Walsh, Cottee amongst others and replaced them with Akinbiyi, Benjamin, Marshall and Lewis.

Relegation followed the next season after 18 months of mismanagement- IMO nothing to do with injuries.

[Aus Fox]

Expectations will change as the season go on, top 8 would be a minimum expectation right now, however, would anyone turn their nose up at 12th and winning the Europa League?

Expectations is what led many to be dissapointed with 5th place last session. This season more than ever, just enjoy the ride absolutely anything could happen.

FWIW I think with a fully fit XI I genuinely believe we are a top 4 side. Will we see our best XI on the field at any point this season?

Will anyone else?

How Will January go? last session United signed Bruno and he gave them the lift they needed - will anyone else do that?