How are you feeling about your team's chances next season?

[rmoxon]

We (Man U) have looked good pre season, yes we havent played anyone particuarly good, at least not compared to some of the teams in the premier league, but we are playing some fantastic football and scoring the type of goals that deserve to beat anyone, Owen is looking outstanding (at leats until he gets injured) so I'm pretty confident.

9/10

[NemesiS]

That is a massive if.

I never said it would be easy. Owens still to much of an unknown quantity with regards his sick notes but if he can stay fit, i reckon he could bag quite a few goals for us.

Berbatov is my main concern. His return last season was shocking so he can only improve hopefully in his second season.

I think Man U will struggle as they've no what I would call pure goal scorers. Rooney has had lots of very long dry spells and if Owen couldn't make a mark as the only quality player newcastle had, even with better delivery I can't see him ramping it up, even if his fitness holds.

I think Man U will have lots of tense 0-0 at 80 minute games

Owen was never interested at Newcastle. Who would be, playing in a dire side going only one way.

Man U always have lots of tense 0-0 games with last minute goals so theres no change there. But the spine of the team hasn't changed so i really don't see much difference in our play other than to accomodate tactics for Ronnys absense, and the way we play we will always create with or without Ronnys influence, and thats why i'm confident.

I think Pool will have bigger problems if they lose Alonso as he was one of their star performers last season and they don't really have the midfield cover for him if he goes to Madrid.

If Mascher goes as well, then i think L'pool can kiss it goodbye.

Also none of the "big 4" haven't been exactly busy in the transfer market as of yet so its hard to make assumptions about the other 3 without knowing who has got who

[Kit]

Peterborough United.

Not a great follower of Posh, but I would have thought before challenging for a place in the premiership (feels odd typing that) they'd be focusing on building a new stadium; London Road can only hold 10,000 (?) and it looked like it was about to collapse last time I went.

[Kieran76]

On the pitch I would say a 6 or 7.

We have got most of our best players onto longer contracts - Tudgay, Grant etc, and have made some decent signings. Purse, Gray, Miller and Potter.
However, the classic Wednesday injury curse has hit once again and we may only have 2 fit strikers for the first game of the season.

Off the pitch I would say 8 or 9.

Our new chairman is honest, forward thinking and the whole mood of the club has been lifted over the past few months. With talk of developing the ground whether or not Sheffield is chosen as a host city in 2018 and the possibility of investment increasing all the time then things are deffo looking up.

If we somehow made the play-offs I would be estatic but think a top 10 finish is more likely.

I think this years Championship will be the hardest to predict ever.

[toythatkills]

Not a great follower of Posh, but I would have thought before challenging for a place in the premiership (feels odd typing that) they'd be focusing on building a new stadium; London Road can only hold 10,000 (?) and it looked like it was about to collapse last time I went.

Plans are afoot

[Baseley09]

Portsmouth 1, bottom all season then obvious relegation.

Anything higher will be a bonus.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

Bolton 3

Anything other than relegation and a 1st round cup exit will be a bonus for us while that bellend is in charge.

Apparently that Lee Chun-Young is a decent player, but he really needs to stop bringing in Championship standard players and try and get some decent ones in.

He got Steinsson, Taylor & Cahill, but for each of them you have an Elmander.

The only way I can see us staying up is if teams like Burnley, Birmingham, Wolves, Hull & Pompey have a shocking run of form.

[Ginger Tosser]

Birmingham - 4

I think we may survive, seems to be a few teams that might struggle worse than us.

[FreelancePolice]

Tottenham - 6

We've bought in crouch and (hopefully) got rid of Bent as, despite his effort and goals last season a lot of them were very lucky right place right time. We've got a more stable midfield now and I still want to see a CB come in before the season starts. It seems we've also bought in a few kids so that should be interesting come the initial cup games.

I'd like to see us improve slightly on 8th and contest 5th.

[EJG1980]

Tottenham - 7

I think we can have a decent year and finish somewhere between 7th and 5th. Another cup run would be nice too but I'd like it to be in the FA Cup this season, but I'll take anything

Luka Modric started slowly but was excellent by the end of last season and he was running the show in a fair few matches. We finally have a real fighter in midfield with Wilson Palacios. Lennon rediscovered his best form last season too, so if those three can all stay fit and in form for the whole season, it bodes well.

The strikers are all good and will get goals (hopefully Pav will step up an extra level after a settling in year and Keane needs to shake off his Liverpool hangover and rediscover his best form). The question mark is over the defence but IF we can manage to get our first choice fit for the majority of the season (Ekotto, King, Woodgate, Corluka) it should be decent.

Agree with FreelancePolice, we need to get in some cover at centreback but hopefully the fact that we don't have Europe this season will help our more fragile players stay fit.

I'm excited now though, not long to go until we kick off against Liverpool

[prinnysquad]

Sunderland - 5

Incomings
Some decent signings so far. Cana could be a 3 times cheaper than that nighthound Cattermole, and do as good a job. De Souza, who knows? Any cover is handy though. Bent should be good for 10 goals. Has he signed yet??? This is the type of tediously long saga usually dragged out in the 'Big 4' circus. The only one I'm unsure about is Campbell. Could be a right duck egg, and not cheap either. 3 goals from him maybe. Desperately need another centre half, another winger, and a centre forward. Beyond Bent and Jones, there's toss all really.

Outgoings
Delighted to get rid of wank like Halford and Chopra. Murphy almost went, but stalled over personal matters. Tosser. I thought Whitehead was a decent squad player and did the club proud over the years, but 3 million is an excellent return on him. That ponce Cisse has pissed off, he couldn't hit a fat arse with a flaccid cock. Good riddance. Still loads of crap at the club that needs to be turfed. Beyond a starting 11 we're very weak.

Backroom
Ok, MagBoss. He's a Mag. And he's our boss. But Bruce is professional enough to do a job. He also sees the crowds and finances as being a step up, so it's one of those managerial training sessions for him to indulge in before he walks out for a bigger club. But that's ok, it's life.
As for the backroom, this Billy O'Naire who is now the majority shareholder isn't another Irish consortium member, but a Texan sugar daddy who is supposedly taking a more hands off approach compared to some. Suits me. With Quinn fronting the set-up, I think we've got a chariman of discretion and decency. Thinking about some of the fat rubbish of the past - Cowie, Murray, Fickling - Quinn is poles apart. He and his consortium indulged that spendthrift Keane and backed him to the hilt, until Keane realised he wasn't up to the job and stropped out. Not many boards would have backed an unknown with 80 million pounds on what turned out to be low quality, hyper-expensive trash. Quinn supported Keane to the hilt with ample funds, and continues to do so with MagBoss. No problems with the board whatsoever.

Anything between 10 and 14 will be fine. Consolidation required, not another relegation battle depending on the ****ness of others for survival.

[glazza]

Manchester United -9- Top 3.

A lot has been made of our chances already this season on here and many other places,due to the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez.

Can see why people would doubt us considering at this moment in time our signings have not been ground breaking by any means but they have been more on the chance side ,but at the end of the day no matter what player a club signs its always a chance but i for one am happy with Owen and Valencia for obvious reasons in each is own abilties in there playing positions.

Also think we still have a mean defence and pretty much the same spine of the team that can now be altered in different ways with the departure of Ronaldo and for the first time in a good few years some excellent young players who can now come in and do a proper job wether it be a league or cup game.

My only doubt is if we get a few key injuries to our top players for a decent period of time,then im not sure the cover we have in all positions is good enough to maintain a challenge against the other big teams around us,but this can also be said for the rest of teams around us.

As for the rest.

Chelsea will be strong and on paper it would seem Chelsea have the most complete and powerfull squad so you know they will be up there..but then again football isnt played on paper but they will be there or there abouts.

Liverpool who had there best season since the premiership started will also be there or there abouts but they have lost Aberloa and Alonso up to know,who were a very important part of there first team last year but will be interested to see who Rafa can get in to replace them and not sure Mascherano will be there at the begining of the season as hes made his feelings clear that he wants out.

Arsenal,well who knows they have lost Adebayour and Toure but not sure if thats a good or bad thing they still may strengthen and we know they have some excellent young players but is there squad big enough and more importantly do they have enough expirience to go the distance,they have a lot of goals in them dispite the loss of Adebayour and if Euduado and Rosicky can stay fit they will be major plus,s for Arsenal but i still think they will be hard to beat as they always are.

Bottom line is think it will be the usual suspects as god knows how Man City are going to be,dont think hughes will know his best team til second half of the season,and Spurs cant be anyworse than they was first half of last season surely and maybe Villa and Everton can maybe get closer to the top 4 if they can sustain good starts in the second half of the season and the ret will fight for the rest of the places amongst themselves and the newly permoted teams will struggle like most others that come up and we may get a team that gets off to a flying start but ends up in the bootm 3 by the end of the season..anyways its going to be a good one no doubt about that so hold on to your hats..

[CrispyXUK]

Portsmouth 1, bottom all season then obvious relegation.

Anything higher will be a bonus.

Nah, you'll beat us (City) near the end of the season and stay up.

[Marmite]

Tottenham - 7

I think we can have a decent year and finish somewhere between 7th and 5th. Another cup run would be nice too but I'd like it to be in the FA Cup this season, but I'll take anything

Luka Modric started slowly but was excellent by the end of last season and he was running the show in a fair few matches. We finally have a real fighter in midfield with Wilson Palacios. Lennon rediscovered his best form last season too, so if those three can all stay fit and in form for the whole season, it bodes well.

The strikers are all good and will get goals (hopefully Pav will step up an extra level after a settling in year and Keane needs to shake off his Liverpool hangover and rediscover his best form). The question mark is over the defence but IF we can manage to get our first choice fit for the majority of the season (Ekotto, King, Woodgate, Corluka) it should be decent.

Agree with FreelancePolice, we need to get in some cover at centreback but hopefully the fact that we don't have Europe this season will help our more fragile players stay fit.

I'm excited now though, not long to go until we kick off against Liverpool

What he said!

For me though, I would like to see Harry try a new formation, or at least have a plan b that we can change to when tactically required - maybe a 4-3-3 style like Arsenal seem to be employing now.

This would allow the likes of Crouch or Pav to hold the ball up at the centre of the attack, with Keane and Defoe playing off him. It would also allow Modric to finally play in the centre behind the strikers, so that he can hopefully be at his most effective and start scoring some more goals.

Need to get this defence sorted still though. So its probably a 7 from me at the moment. Im praying we get a good start to the season for once, and am hoping that losing a couple of friendlies will prove a good omen as we have had a habit of winning all our pre-season games in recent seasons and then losing to everyone in the premiership!

[DeathAdder]

Hmm, I was a little pessimistic, it seems - Di Mateo has been better than I thought.

The Portsmouth fan got it right, it seems. Spuds fans were more or less on the money too.