Here it is Leeds fans, your season preview. I will put a potential trigger warning here in my introduction – as unlike many media pundits, I’m not tipping you for top half just yet. Don’t worry though, there are some really merited points to discuss about Leeds and I shall do so below.
Leicester City – you are up next and this will be out very soon. I do want to stress, my table predictions were made prior to the season starting, and I won’t change them, just so we can all laugh at how wrong I was at the end of the season. I have a suspicion that Leeds and Leicester fans will both be telling me “we told you so” in May, but I digress.
How did last season go?
Leeds, you’ve done it. At last, you are back in the big time. And as a neutral, you make the PL a lot more interesting. The 2 way banter with Leeds fans is already getting going between Villa fans, and by the looks of things, half the league. Leeds fans have been out of the top tier for far too long now, and they are back with a bang.
They did it in style also, finishing 10 points clear of 2nd placed West Brom, and 12 clear of 3rd placed Brentford, and Marcelo Bielsa’s side learned from their mistakes from the previous campaign and ensured that they made no mistake in 19/20. Their relentless press was too much for most of the Championship, and if they were more clinical, Leeds would be cementing themselves up there with Wolves 17/18, Leicester 12/13, Newcastle 09/10 and Reading 05/06 as the best sides to ever grace the Championship. Patrick Bamford netted 17 Championship goals last season, which, as the Champions’ top scorer, is arguably a modest tally. Other than this, Helder Costa, Pablo Hernandez, Jack Harrison and Mateusz Klich were the most often to pop up with an attacking contribution for Bielsa’s side.
It was the success at the back that made Leeds so formidable in 19/20. The rock-solid partnership of club captain Liam Cooper and former loanee Ben White was exceptional, while the tireless duo Stuart Dallas and Luke Ayling were the most commonly used full backs. Leeds had the division’s best defensive record in the Championship last season, conceding an impressively low 35 goals in 46 games. Leeds have been given plaudits by rival fans and pundits alike for their approach to the Championship, being relentless on and off the ball, ensuring that they try and dominate every single game, having the joint 2nd best attacking record, and the best defensive record last season, it’s clear how Leeds achieved promotion so comfortably in the end.
Bielsa is clearly a great manager – and is the main reason as to why Leeds have managed to get themselves out of the Championship. Before Bielsa, Leeds hadn’t made the Championship top 6 since 2006, with the Argentine veteran manager creating a hard-working, pressing machine that maintains quite incredible fitness levels over the course of the season. How this adapts to the Premier League, over the course of the season does remain to be seen, but their bright start does give good omens to Leeds fans.
What should be done in the remainder of the window/how has their transfer window been?
The big story surrounding Leeds before the transfer window started related primarily to Ben White, with Brighton wanting to keep the former loanee for their new-look back 3, with Leeds extremely keen on White returning. Ultimately, Brighton have learned from the mistakes Bournemouth made last season (selling a player to a club seen as a direct rival.) And placed a £50m price tag on White, that Leeds – understandably, walked away from. Leeds have instead brought in 2 new centre-halves for around half the quoted price of White, firstly, 2-time German international, Robin Koch from Freiburg, and then, Diego Llorente from Real Sociedad. As Leeds now have 5 first team centre-halves, compared to the 3 that they started the season with, Leeds now look a lot more solid in that position.
Leeds also stunned many FIFA Ultimate Team fans with their purchase of FUT legend Rodrigo, the striker who was supposed to come in and replace the “wasteful” Patrick Bamford would be the man to score Leeds’ goals and provide vital assists, as Leeds cement themselves back in the Premier League. For now, it seems that the opposite is true, as Bamford steps up, while Rodrigo sits on the bench. 2 weeks running, he has been subbed on and off again in the same match – I’m unsure whether this is due to niggling injuries, or whether Bielsa is making these substitutions as a statement to Rodrigo and his squad, but early signs for Rodrigo aren’t good.
Other than this Leeds have brought in Helder Costa, after his successful loan spell for Leeds last season, as well as Illan Meslier, also after a successful loan – who seems to have stepped up and become Leeds’ undisputed number 1.
I would argue Leeds’ squad as it is, is ready for the Premier League now, however, Leeds may need to add strength in depth in case of any injuries. Strip Kalvin Phillips out of the midfield, or Jack Harrison off of the wing, and all of a sudden, Leeds are a far weaker team. I would recommend picking up some cheap deals for players with Premier League experience for backup, this will assist with both the squad depth issues, as well as giving the younger players in Leeds squad (of which there are many) leadership figures that will help them when things aren’t going well. 2 midfielders, and a winger would be ideal for Leeds, as well as the potential addition of another goalkeeper – to replace the disgraced Kiko Casilla.
It seems that Leeds are close to a deal for Bayern Munich youngster Michael Cuisance, who has played predominantly as a central midfielder. Cuisance seems to be a very Bielsa style player, who will do a lot of pressing, and is technically gifted, similar to Klich. If I was on Leeds’ transfer committee, I would be looking at the following players:
Central/defensive midfield: Ettiene Capoue – the Watford enforcer has impressed in the past, and despite a poor 19/20 PL campaign, definitely has a lot to offer, potentially slotting in alongside Kalvin Phillips when the games hit thick and fast, and Leeds are under the cosh, or covering for Phillips in case of injury or suspension.
Winger: Victor Moses: Potentially a very left-field shout, but there are many wingers currently available from the top clubs – who are surplus to requirements and may therefore be a coup for a team further down the table – like Leeds, could take advantage of. Moses is known for his tireless work ethic, being versatile, having a great cross on him, and is very experienced. Moses could easily fill in for Costa on the right, Harrison on the left, or Ayling at right-back if needed. Leeds fans may disagree, but I personally think Victor Moses – even on a season-long loan from Chelsea would be a very shrewd bit of business for Leeds.
How will this season go?
In a sentence, Leeds will survive, and they will turn some heads this season. Their opening day 4-3 defeat to Liverpool was a statement from Bielsa. Probably somewhere along the lines of “we’re scared of no one.” Although the defending wasn’t great in their opener, or their second match against Fulham, they put some of their critics to bed after a brilliantly hard-fought win at Bramall Lane, where Leeds defended very well and kept an away clean sheet- and took all 3 points, which is not to be taken lightly in the Premier League. In my opinion, their squad, on paper, is probably in the bottom five of all clubs in terms of their quality (Fulham, Burnley, Sheffield United and West Brom making up the other 4 teams) purely due to the lack of strength in depth that some of the other sides have, while – in terms of The Other 14, you could make a case for Bielsa being the best manager – or at least top five managers, The Other 14 have to offer. While Leeds’ first XI is strong, I worry that when injuries inevitably set in, Leeds won’t quite have the quality to achieve the potential that their first XI has.
This, amongst other reasons is why I’ve given Leeds the verdict that I have below. They will score plenty, they will concede plenty (unless Bielsa adapts his style against very qualitative opponents – which I’m unsure he will.) And they will make the Premier League better for it. Bielsa may or may not stay beyond this season – he is of course a complete enigma of a man, more or less impossible to read, but if he does give Leeds another season or two after this one, he may end up cementing Leeds back in the top half of the Premier League, and will probably be remembered alongside Don Revie as the greatest managers that Leeds have ever had.
Verdict: 15th Place. - Please note Leeds fans, I again stress that I made these table predictions before the start of the season – so if you’re unhappy with 15th, I do apologise, feel free to explain (respectfully!) why I am wrong in the comments below.
Key players and best XI
Key players for Leeds this season will be:
Kalvin Phillips – the enforcer is probably the most important cog in the Bielsa machine this season. Will be very important in breaking up attacks and getting their own counterattack started with a sprayed pass from deep.
Liam Cooper – As club captain, Liam Cooper will have a huge responsibility this season, he will have to lead by example, and should be the main man to keep Leeds’ defence as tight as possible.
Patrick Bamford – Should Leeds not sign another centre-forward, and Rodrigo doesn’t live up to the hype, the pressure of scoring the majority of Leeds’ goals and keeping the press going from the front will be down to Patrick Bamford – at 27 this will be his first ever attempt at being a first-choice number 9.
Starting XI (433/4231)
Illan Meslier
Luke Ayling
Liam Cooper
Robin Koch
Stuart Dallas
Kalvin Phillips
Mateusz Klich
Pablo Hernandez
Helder Costa
Jack Harrison
Patrick Bamford.
Key periods of the season:
Leeds have a kind end to the season, GW34-GW38 see them face Brighton, Burnley, Southampton and West Brom before the end of the season – however, if I was a betting man, I’d wager they will have nothing to play for come this period.
Leeds don’t particularly have any tough runs, with many of the more difficult fixtures mixed in with easier ones, however, a three-match run from GW31-GW33 sees successive matches against Man City, Liverpool and Man United.

[Translation] Which La Liga club fits each Premier League team?

Good morning lads and lassies of soccer. To celebrate that the Bundesliga finally comes back I bring you the transcripton/translation of a pretty interesting video I had watched some time ago, related (and literally titled) "Which La Liga team fits each team of the Premier League?"
Now, I know the issue about fans that have simpathy for "second" teams is polarizing and as we all know after last year, it can become something completely vomitive, but this video is indeed trying to give fans of Spanish clubs reasons to like a particular English club, and with that said, tbh I believe at the end of the day most fans, plastic or not, do feel at least some simpathy for some clubs above others excluding their own. From the small town fan who supports their local club but also the "big" team that challenges for the league in the top division, to the Ultra that hates every club of their country that isn't his but do likes a foreign club of which he befriended their respective Ultras in the past, I'm pretty sure that most football fans do feel at least a bit of simpathy for some particular club of a foreign league.
But well, that discussion shouldn't be the topic of this. The fact is that these Spaniards of the video do like particular English clubs and to guide other similar Spaniards analyzed the situation and created this "guidebook" about which Premier League club "currently" fits each La Liga club, and that is what will be shown here.
With a last emphasis in the "currently", there's nothing else to say as preview. Just remember that these aren't my opinions and I'm only sharing what they decided.

Newcastle United & Athletic Club

Both are clubs that come from the northern parts of their countries. The Basque Country literally faces the English Channel, while Newcastle is in North-East England, facing both Scotland and the Northern Sea.
Both have pretty big stadiums with almost the same capacity (52k and 53k respectively) that also coincidentally are in the center of their respectives cities, something that is laudable in these modern times where stadiums are being designed to be in the outskirts, and not few clubs are forced to traslate them from their original places because of the economical advantages.
And another thing that united them is that they are one of the few historical rich clubs that doesn't have a derby rival in their city. So, if you're born in Bilbao you better fucking support Athletic and there is no room for debate about it, and something similar happens in Newcastle. And in the same way, the derby that the clubs have actually have (Sunderland and Real Sociedad) goes beyond football and is a derby between the whole cities.
They faced each other in the 94/95 UEFA Cup Round of 16 and what highlights it was that it was an epic clash that ended in a global 3-3 draw where Athletic won thanks to away goals, and that in the second leg had a pitch invasion from Basque fans that after celebrating with their team, went to laud the away stand, as the English visitors had been great and even cheered for Athletic after the end of the match, thing that a lot of old fans from both clubs would remember forever.
That match would be so iconic for some that Rob Lee, one of the best Newcastle players of the last decades, would require his farewell match for the Geordie team to be... against Athletic. And such wish was granted.

Crystal Palace & Getafe

Both are clubs from the south of the metropolitan areas of the capital of their countries. Selhurst for London and Getafe for Madrid respectively.
Both are managed by tacticians with a similar ethos: Bordalás and Hodgson. The parallels of both teams are easily spotted when you watch both teams: strong rigid defenders, fast strikers, sitting back and counterattacks, the whole 4-4-fucking-2 package, et al.
Vicente Guaita played for both teams, and in fact was directly tranferred from Madrid to London.
Both have blue as their main colour,

Liverpool & Real Madrid

Both are the European royalty of their respective leagues. Real Madrid is just the most successful in history and nobody comes close, while Liverpool has the double of Champions Leagues than the second most succesful English team and only Milan between them and Real.
Both stand out for their mentality and comebacks. Istanbul and Lisbon, for example, are among the most dramatic Champions League finals in the whole history. One team comeback from a 3-0 in the first half, the other tied and later won a match that they were losing until the 90'+3.
Xabi Alonso, Steve McManaman, Alvaro Arbeloa, Dudek, Antonio Núñez, Rafa Benitez, Michael Owen, Fernando Morientes and the greatest of all, Nuri Sahin, served in both clubs.
Both stand out for being the best teams of the 20th century in their countries by far, which nevertheless suffered many years of drought after the golden years until they eventually achieved an epic again, being Mijatovic's goal and the penalty saved by Dudek, the final actions that crowned them for the first time in decades as European champions for the seventh and fifth time, respectively.

Norwich & Valladolid

Both won the league cup of their countries in the same years (84/85).
Both highlight for the atypical colour of their kits (violet and yellow/green).
Both are the biggest teams of relatively isolated counties.
Mohammed Salisu plays for Valladolid and has been linked to Norwich.

Bournemouth & Eibar

The two smallest stadiums of each league. Dean Court has a capacity of barely above 11,000 in a league where the average is above 40k, while the Municipal de Ipurua has only... 8164 seats.
Likewise, both are clubs from pretty small cities that almost nobody would know if it wasn't for their football teams. Lets just say that Eibar isn't exactly in the same tier of the other Basque cities like Bilbao, San Sebastian or Pamplona, while Bournemouth only has 190k inhabitants and was founded as recently as the 19th century, something strange for English standards.
And finally and ringing the same bells, they are two small teams that were promoted to the top tier for the first time ever in recent years (2014-15) to the first division, and that also coincidentally, have never descended from that time despite their (lack) of historical status.

Burnley & Alaves

Both are extremely physical and defensive teams that also highlight for their lack of possesion (the lowest and second lowest of their leagues respectively).
Turf Moor and the Estadio de Mendizorroza have almost exactly the same capacity (20k).
John Guidetti played for both.

Sheffield United & Mallorca

Both are clubs with over a century of history, however, both are currently united by their quick promotions of recent years. Few clubs do it each season, but those who climb two divisions practically in-a-row, even less.
The English club was in the third tier of the English pyramid from 2013 to 2017, after which they won the promotion to the Championship after becoming champions with 100 points. After that, they finished 10th in their first season there, just to assure the promotion in dramatic tones after Leeds implosion in the late stages of the 18/19 season.
Meanwhile the island club was even more epic in their promotions. After failing to Segunda B (the third tier of Spanish football) for the first time in 40 years, they fired everybody but 4 players, but still were able to win their local group of the division and later compete in the final play-offs that gave the promotion spots, and in that they first assured a promotion spot and later become champions of the division. And then? they arrived to the Second Division with the hopes of not being relegated, but overperformed and in an epic way assured the last position that gave a spot to the play-off for the final promotion spot, and despite losing 2-0 in the first leg of the final, the won 3-0 the second leg and completed their return from the Third Division to La Liga in the fastest possible way.
Finally but not less important, both have red in their kits.

Brighton & Levante

Both are small clubs from coastal towns.
Both won the promotion from the second division in 16/17.
Brighton logo shows a seagull and they're known as such.
Levante's coast has a record for having the biggest number of a certain breed of seagulls in the whole world.

Leicester & Villarreal

Both are clubs that are relatively small when it comes to historical status... and for the same reason both were part of some of the best underdogs stories of the world in recent decades.
Villarreal, the Yellow Submarine, comes from a small Valencian city of around 50k, and despite having a history of almost a century, they never reached the top division until 1998, just to be relegated in the same year. But they didn't gave up and came back to La Liga as quickly, and this time they stayed, and in what a way! Pellegrini's Villarreal spearheaded by Román Riquelme and Diego Forlán surprised Europa by ending third in La Liga just behind the Galacticos and Ronaldinho's Barca and won the right to play the 2005/06 Champions League, in what would end being their greatest moment in history so far by eventually reaching semifinals and barely losing the chance of playing the final in their first season thanks to some cursed penalties against the Arsene Wenger club. Even in defeat, the history that they made was epic as few others.
But one that actually was it even more was what Leicester did exactly 10 years later in the Premiership. From barely avoiding being relegated to win the whole league was a FIFA Career-esque story, and for the same it will be remembered forever.
And finally, what made even more iconic both legendary performances was the charisma of some of their players. Vardy, Forlán, Riquelme more precisely.

Southampton & Leganés

Southampton are called the Saints and their stadium is named St Mary's.
Leganes' stadium is called after a religious figure (Virgen de Butarque).
Guido Carrillo and Mauricio Pellegrino served in both clubs.

Watford & Granada

The Pozzo family: originally known from being the owners of Udinese in the Serie A, eventually the Italian family diversified their investments, first buying the small Spanish team in 2009, and later the English one in 2012. Because of financial reasons they sold their participation in Granada in the late 2016, aye, however, there was a timelapse that lasted years were both clubs where effectively in the same hands.
And for the same reasons, a number of players have been "property" of both clubs. Isaac Success and Adalberto Peñaranda the most iconic of them.

Chelsea & Atletico Madrid

Both are pretty big clubs in the capital but that have lived in the shadow of their historically bigger neighbour for more time than not, a certain Arsenal and Real Madrid respectively.
An impressive number of illustrious names have passed through both teams, and not few times from one to the other and even in some times back again: Fernando Torres, Diego Costa, Filipe Luis, Thibaut Courtois, Mateja Keman, Tiago Mendes, Maniche, Radamel Falcao, Jesper Grönkjaer, Hasselbaink, Morata, and more.
Both suffered for tragic defeats in the Champions League final, Chelsea in 2008, Atleti in 2014 (and 2016). One team had their captain slip and missed the crucial penalty, the other ended losing a final that was winning until the 90'+3. Coincidentally, all those finals were between teams from the same country.

Tottenham & Sevilla

Both have white jerseys.
Both were managed in recent years by Juande Ramos.
Both are famous because of their fierce rivalry with a neighbour, that makes them part of one of the most iconic derbies in their country.
Both are clubs that have a long history and that in recent years have had a pretty great period, but still weren't able to truly displace or replace the historically bigger clubs from their place.
Diego Armando Maradona.

Manchester United & Valencia

Both are of the biggest clubs with the biggest fanbases of their country, and both are currently underperforming when you see their historical status, which enrages such fans.
Both have some of the worse owners that a big club that want sportive instead of just financial success could have, and that are one of the main causes of their decline in recent years: the Glazers and Peter Lim.
And fanbases of both clubs also hate the right-hand of their owners that is the most direct responsible of the sportive issues of their clubs: Anil Murthy and Ed Woodward.
Peter Lim is also a big Man United fan and the owner of restaurants and pubs with Mancunian thematics in his Asian domains... and is also a partial owner of the Class of 92's creation, Salford City.
Gary Neville and Juan Mata are some names that both clubs share.
And finally but also most important: Valencia played against Valencia in Valencia.

Everton & Real Sociedad

Both are proud clubs with an illustrious history despite being the smaller club compared to their more famous neightbours, and also are clubs that these days suffer more time than not.
Both had their peak in the 80's, with Everton two leagues and one cup, exactly the same numbers than la Real. That decade would also be the last one when they had any major success, with Sociedad only being able to say that they ended second in the 02-03 La Liga and the Toffees with that they won a FA Cup in 95'.
David Moyes.

Manchester City & Barcelona

Pep Guardiola, of course.
Also of the first stages of the changes after the arrival of the Sheikh was the creation of a sports city for young players, imitating la Masia, probably the second most famous thing of the Spanish club.
And another was the bet for a female team, in what now both are powers, unlike their historical rivals that are shamefully far behind them on it despite their historical status.
Also beyond Pep there are other people that both clubs share: Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, financial director and sports director respectively of both teams in the past and now.
Claudio Bravo played for both, although with different kind of performances.
And finally, not a few Barcelona fans today complain that the closest thing to the Barca that touched the sky today is Manchester City.

West Ham & Espanyol

Both are clubs of a big city where there are bigger teams. West Ham is arguably the 4th biggest London club these days after Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, while Espanyol are the second biggest but loyalist club of Barcelona, where there is a certain secessionist bigger Catalan club.
Both are clubs that have been almost all their history in the top division and yet have never won it. Likewise, both had their peaks and almost did it in the 80s, where both ended 3rd, in almost the same year (86' and 87').
Both were clubs that had an old stadium as traditional as loved (Estadi de Sarrià and the Upton Park) that were eventually replaced by stadiums built by the city for the Olympics (Espanyol eventually left his one though).
Both have never being relegated to the third division of their countries despite being some of the oldest clubs around.
Both had their bittersweet European moments, sweeter definitely for West Ham though.

Wolves & Real Betis

Both are the club with most Mexicans of their league, Raul Jimenez vs Diego Lainez plus Andres Guardado respectively, what makes their teams far more popular than what they should in the CONCACAF giant.
Joey Guðjónsson and Alfred N'Diaye played for both clubs.
Six Portuguese have played for Betis in this century. Six Portuguese play for Wolves this season.
They played a friendly last year.

Aston Villa & Celta de Vigo

Both are related to the sky-blue colour.
Both clubs are characterized for having a player that is almost a demigod for the fans and club overall: Jack Grealish and Iago Aspas.
Those demigods are local players who have been fans of their club since they were children, and love them so much that played for them even in the second division.
Both teams currently have their great derby rivals in the second division (Birmingham and Deportivo La Coruña). -They played in the late 90s in the UEFA Cup.

Arsenal & Osasuna

Both are related to the colour red.
Both are known for having local fans closer to the left-wing of politics.
Nacho Monreal, Carlos Vela and Fran Merida played for both teams.
Both won their league in 1953.

*and that's it. Hope that you liked it as I did. Do you have any opinions about how to make this even more accurate? feel free to share them.

Team Preview - Manchester United [Premier League 2019-20 - 15/20]

Manchester United

by CrebTheBerc

Welcome to the triumphant return of the Premier League Previews, a series where a fan gives an overview of his team for your perusal, and I get an excuse to take pot-shots at other clubs. This will run until the eve of the Premier League, taking a look at each club in turn. Today we're with the most successful team in English domestic football, Manchester United.
About

Established: 1878
Stadium: Old Trafford
Capacity: 74, 879
Official website
Wikipedia page
Club subreddit

Last season

Pos	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
6	38	19	9	10	65	54	+11	66

Last season started off with a bang as we quickly sealed the double transfers of Diogo Dalot and Fred. Unfortunately the rest of the transfer window was a shit show as we chased targets the board wouldn't sanction the funds for (Ironic now I know) and Mourinho quickly descended into his infamous 3rd season meltdown.
Early signs were there as we lost 3-1 to Brighton in the second week with individual defensive errors key to the loss, followed by a comprehensive 3-0 loss to Tottenham featuring Ander Herrera as a CB. Mixed results followed culminating in a fantastic 3-2 comeback against Newcastle which many speculated save Mourinho's job with rumors circulating that he was on the edge. We then went on a run of 9 games that saw us win 3, draw 4, and lose to both City and Liverpool. For anyone who somehow didn't see the Liverpool game, it was the most lifeless performance I've seen from a United team. We conceded 36 shots, more than last place Huddersfield did over both of their games against Liverpool last season, and Mourinho was sacked the following day.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over as a caretaker and went on an incredible 11 game unbeaten streak including wins against Tottenham and Arsenal. We managed a fantastic comeback against PSG in the Champion's League off the back of a controversial penalty and Ole was signed on permanently to many fan's delight. Unfortunately the season again went to shit. In our final 9 run of games we barely beat Watford and West Hame while losing 5, drawing 2, and getting knocked out of the FA cup and CL with mostly poor performances.
At the end of last season most fans seemed to want Ole backed in the transfer market along side an experienced DoF appointment. Assuming those two things happened I think most fans were cautiously optimistic, especially with Chelsea's ban and Arsenal's financial situation.

This season

As things stand the expectations for the next season are somewhat precariously balanced. We've addressed 2 huge issues in the team transfer wise with Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire (deal yet to be finalised) shoring up the defense and Dan James joining as a depth option on the wing. We are currently linked heavily to Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic to a lesser extent. Bringing in Dybala would definitely improve the team and Mandzu would turn the window into a major positive.
We still have a lot of issues however. Despite winning all of our preseason games there are massive questions in midfield. Pogba remains our only creative option and Scott McTominay has stepped up as his undisputed partner in a double pivot. Outside of those two our options are extremely limited. Matic has continued to regress and has looked very poor, Pereira is better farther forward and overall hasn't offered a ton, and Fred is far too inconsistent in his performances. We desperately need a midfield reinforcement which looks unlikely to arrive. RW is also a concern, however we seem determined to wait for Jadon Sancho so we will make due with a variety of options there.
To turn to the positive, several of our players look much improved from last season such as Anthony Martial who's work rate has been praised in preseason. Our young stars have also shone and look ready to hopefully contribute this season. Regardless, this will be another transitional year for us, although hopefully we stick to a plan this time. The board seem prepared to back Ole long term and play the long game, however I don't think any United fan really trusts Woodward or the Glazers so who the fuck knows what will happen.
For now I think most United fans would be happy with the summer assuming we bring in Dybala, with the note that we need a winger and midfielder next season. From there I think we'll have to see if our performances can improve from the end of last season and figure out what to do if they don't. The main goal is top 4 and decent cup runs with youth involved.
Transfers
Highlights

Player	Type	From	To	Fee(£m)
Daniel James	Transfer	Swansea City	Manchester United	18 million
Aaron Wan-Bissaka	Transfer	Crystal Palace	Manchester United	45 million

All incoming/outgoing transfers Full 2019-20 squad
3 players to watch out for
Aaron Wan-Bissaka
We've been crying out for a proper right back for a while now and in his appearances so far he's looked very impressive. He's a wall in defense and has showed good moments of quality forward, combining well with Pogba too. I know it's only preseason but he already looks to have filled a huge hole in the squad.
Scott McTominay
Scotty has become something of a fan favorite recently, he keeps things simple but does them very well. Since impressing in the second half of last season he has kept his upwards trajectory and in many fans opinion has earned a starting spot to start the season.
Marcus Rashford
Fell out of form and carried an injury to finish the season, but looks energetic and hungry this preseason. Whether he starts out wide or up top is kind of up in the air(and maybe moot as our front 3 will be flexible), but we have high hopes he'll continue developing and break his current scoring record(13) this season
Honorable Mention: Mason Greenwood
The 17 year old looked extremely composed in our final game of the 18/19 season and has continued that in preseason. With the RW spot open and his performances so far, he may be in line to have somewhat of a breakout season this year
What the fans think
Thanks to /Reddevils for their help.

How do you think this season will go?

We will finish top 4, but not very comfortably and we'll lose some big games (Liverpool, City) by quite a lot. In Europa League some kids who at first won't play in the Prem will shine and become first team players, whilst gradually phasing out older ones. Ole will finish the season as our manager and everyone will expect bigger things in the next one.

SloGeorge

better than some think, not as good as others think but lots of people will be pissed off. It will be very tough breaking the top 4 but with consistency we can do it. I will say a fourth place finish and no trophies. I consider that a fantastic season for us atm.

Caesar3890

We are all hyped and I think we have made some of the right moves in terms of transfers and our ambition in style of play, but I still think we will have some woeful performances and make it a fight to finish top 4. Pogba will drive us all mad but somehow still be statistically our best player, we wont finish the transfer window as we hope and we will still have obvious problems that just wont be addressed properly - OGS has a lot of pressure to make it work and make it work fast.

bell-91

Which player is going to be your star of the season and why?

Wan-Bissaka, Two-Bissaka, Three-Bissaka, four. Having an actual right side will do wonders

its-pepsiman

Paul Pogba. On his day, he’s the best midfielder in the league (and maybe the world). I think he’ll be playing in a double pivot with McTominay, but with less defensive responsibilities then when he was in the pivot under Mou. He’ll probs be playing box to box, his best position I think, and should score up a range of assists considering he’s easily our most creative player. I expect a 25 g+a season from Paul.

ItchaBoiSid

I think Rashford is going to have a really good season and repay the faith Ole has shown in him. This is going to be his first full season as the main striker so I think he will have a 20 goal season

Mark_12201

How do you think the team will line up?

4-2-3-1 - this is assuming we sign Maguire. I would also expect to see a new signing in the no10 position, most likely Dybala, in for Mata. Lingard probably the least nailed-on out of the rest of the lineup (James and Greenwood will challenge for that spot) and Matic could fade as the season goes on with McTominay and Fred ready to come in. The rest of the team basically picks itself right now.

Skeletonise

Either in a 4-3-1-2 with Martial and Rashford spliting out wide with an attacking midfielder pressing and playing like a false nine. Or in a 4-2-3-1 with inside forwards. Against more defensive teams you would expect Mata to start and in bigger matches Lingard would be more likely to feature somewhere. In both systems expect Martial and Rashford to be totally fluid and swap positions a lot. In the Europa League and League Cup expect a lot rotation and chances for youngsters such as Tuanzabe in defence, Chong on the wing, Gomes as a 10/winger and Greenwood as a striker.

Pasta_is_quite_nice

De Gea, AWB, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, Pogba, McTominay, Mata(maybe Dybala), Lingard, Rashford, Martial
is how I feel we'll start the first few months but by the end I wouldn't be surprised to see Greenwood or Gomes in that team.

tocitus

Wrap Up

by NickTM
The Manager: Remember how Man Utd started the season with Jose Mourinho in charge? Remember how Ole Gunnar Solskjær came in and put together such an impressive list of results? Remember how Manchester United then locked him down to a three year contract after every fan in the world plus every ex-United player in the media was so jubilantly calling him the second coming? Remember how that form immediately turned to shit, winning only two more league games from then 'til the end of the season? God, that was fun, wasn't it?
The Team: Lacking talent has not been Manchester United's major issue over the past couple of seasons despite their lack of Premier League titles to show for it. Victor Lindelöf and Chris Smalling - and, one would imagine, Harry Maguire too soon - protect David de Gea, who remains one of the best goalkeepers in the world despite a down year by his lofty standards last season. Aaron Wan-Bissaka has taken a step down in terms of club prestige to generously help out Manchester United at right back, allowing the Ashley Young as starting right back era to gracefully come to a close. Luke Shaw looks to have finally locked down his spot on the left of defence after first being dropped and then subsequently dropping some weight under Mourinho. Nemanja Matic still patrols the defensive midfield - albeit with less effectiveness than in the past - alongside Paul Pogba, whose ongoing angst about getting paid obscene amounts of money to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world wore thin months ago. Up front, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial support a striker, although whether that's going to be Romelu Lukaku or Marcus Rashford remains to be seen. It's a strong squad with, crucially, a lot of depth; Eric Bailly, Alexis Sanchez, Juan Mata, Marcos Rojo, Fred, Diogo Dalot, Scott McTominay, Daniel James, Matteo Darmian and Phil Jones are just some of the squad options, offering a wealth of experience and quality. Issues still remain in areas of midfield, but there should be enough there to challenge anyone on the pitch.
Why to like them: Juan Mata. Aaron Wan-Bissaka's a good South London lad.
Why to dislike them: If you're not English, it's difficult to sum up the depth of feeling generated by Manchester United. The most effective way I've found is this: they're the Dallas Cowboys. They're the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Ferrari, the All Blacks, the Roger Federer if Federer was a dickhead, the Australia cricket team circa about 2007, the Floyd Mayweather, the Jon Bones Jones. That alone should get you to dislike them.
Now, to hate them, I'm not certain it's possible unless you grew up in England during Manchester United's dominant years in the past two decades. At least a third of the kids in your class would be Man Utd fans, whether you lived next to the stadium or in Land's End. They were, of course, obnoxious in the extreme, flaunting their plasticity for all to see and preening themselves in the reflection of their team's dominance. Now, that's just kids being kids, sure, but the issue is it kept going when they were adults. Hundreds of them, everywhere, chatting bollocks about how Federico Macheda was going to be the next Van Nistelrooy and having their eyes glaze over when you mention you support a club not in the Premier League. These hordes of milquetoast, half-and-half scarf wearing bellends decrying how unfair it was that Chelsea were spending so much money, and no, it's fine that Man Utd do the same because we earnt it, you see. Never mind Manchester United were one of the earliest examples of getting artificial investment via John Henry Davies funding their entire 80,000 capacity stadium for free, giving them a huge competitive advantage in the nascent era of football that established the future trajectories of so many clubs. Oh, and of course it's fine for them to bash Chelsea and Man City and what have you, but the moment anyone says a word against precious Manchester United it's all "jealousy" and that most vacuous and vapid of rallying cries, "hated, adored, never ignored", a pathetic and overplayed attempt to spin other peoples' dislike into a positive like a thin-skinned, emoji-obsessed athlete on Twitter.
And then there's the wailing and gnashing of teeth when the team they supported because they were good fails to win anything, oh dear lord. If you've never been in a bar filled with Manchester United fans when they fail to win a game then good grief that needs to be on your bucket list. You'd assume the walls were about to cave in and planes to drop out of the sky with the amount of angst on display. They treat it like it's their god-given right to be winning football games and any calmer or more rational voice is immediately drowned out by the chorus of "but we're MANCHESTER UNITED", as if being good ten years ago guarantees you success for the rest of eternity and being a 'big team' means losing is somehow completely unacceptable on any level. Their tiny plastic brains proceed to melt out of their ears and thousands across the country drop dead, with nothing of value lost.
Summary: Think I blacked out for a moment there. Anyway, you'd assume Man Utd could capitalise on some of the issues from the sides that finished higher than them - Chelsea's transfer ban, Arsenal's failure to address a leaky defence - are having at the moment. On top of that, they also don't have to contend with Champions League football, and although they're back in the Europa League for the first time since 2015-16 (in which they won it) it's quite a different beast and you'd expect key players to be able to get more of a rest. If De Gea can find his form again, if Harry Maguire lives up to his transfer fee and doesn't end up the next in a long line of underperforming Manchester United centre-back signings, and most importantly if Ole Gunnar Solskjær can prove his worth as a manager in a season that will likely prove the litmus test then the sky's the limit. It's a team capable of challenging for the title with a bit of luck and a few wobbles from the teams above them. Whilst that isn't that likely, you definitely wouldn't bet against a top four finish, and signs are that that'd be considered a pretty successful season all considered.

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Team Preview - Watford [Premier League 2019-20 - 10/20]

Watford

by TheJeck

Welcome to the triumphant return of the Premier League Previews, a series where a fan gives an overview of his team for your perusal, and I get an excuse to take pot-shots at other clubs. This will run until the eve of the Premier League, taking a look at each club in turn. Today we're out of London but paradoxically still on the Tube line as we visit Watford.
About

Established: 1881
Stadium: Vicarage Road
Capacity: 21,577
Official website
Wikipedia page
Club subreddit

Last season

Pos	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
11	38	14	8	16	52	59	-7	50

It's safe to say most Watford fans were apprehensive going into the 2018/19 season. Javi Gracia becoming the first head coach since the Championship to remain in charge from the previous season was a plus, but only the permanent acquisition of loanee Deulofeu and goalkeeper Ben Foster looked to improve the first team, with fans crying out for a striker and centre back. Paul Merson and Phil McNulty each proceeded to predict Watford's relegation for the fourth successive year.
However, the Hornets came flying out of the traps, winning their first four league games, including a comeback to win 2-1 against Tottenham. This led to Gracia being awarded the Manager of the Month award for August. Despite continuing to put in largely good performances, some poor finishing and defensive errors meant that Watford won just two of their next twelve games, slipping from the lofty heights of 3rd to a season low of 12th. During this time they were knocked out of the League Cup on penalties by Tottenham, in a game bizarrely played at Stadium MK due to the unavailability of Wembley or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
December, January and February brought better fortunes, with Watford only losing three games in all competitions in this time, all to top six clubs, despite playing 9 out of their first 11 games of 2019 away in all competitions. The depth in the squad was utilised in the FA Cup, with the team reaching the quarter final without putting out a full strength side, much to the anger of Chris Sutton. A full strength team was played for this quarter final against Crystal Palace, who Watford beat 2-1 for the third time in the season to progress to Wembley. In the league, the Hornets were embroiled in the race for Europa League football, periodically reaching the hallowed 7th spot before swiftly dropping out. A 1-0 win at home against Marco Silva's Everton was a highlight as Watford continued to struggle against the top six.
The FA Cup Semi Final was the match of the season for Watford. Up against a Wolves side they were also competing for 7th place with, Watford found themselves 2-0 down with 11 minutes to go, with goals from Doherty and Jimenez, the latter celebrating with a mask which drew comment from the usually reserved Troy Deeney. However, a sublime lob from Gerard Deulofeu gave Watford hope before a stoppage time Deeney penalty took the tie to extra time, where Deulofeu added a second to take Watford to their 2nd cup final in history. In the league, a 2-1 win against Huddersfield put Watford in 7th with three out of four games left at home. If they won all these they were guaranteed European football. u/TheJeck, not wanting to miss a minute of the race for Europe, ran a mile from Watford Junction station to make it to the fixture against Southampton for kick off - only for Shane Long to score the fastest goal in Premier League history. Twat. Watford drew 1-1, then lost 2-1 to Wolves to effectively end our hopes of coming second. A 3-0 loss to Chelsea confirmed that we would take just 3 points from games with the top six, and a 4-1 defeat to West Ham meant that Watford finished 11th, just the third match this season they finished outside the top ten.
However, there was still hope of a first trophy in the clubs history and a Europa League spot to boot through the FA Cup final. With Jose Holebas' suspension rescinded, Watford were full strength going into their match with league champions Manchester City, who were gunning for an unprecedented domestic treble. However, it was not to be, with City running out 6-0 winners. Regardless, at 5-0 down the Watford fans all started chanting and waving fans, showing what a successful season it had been in their eyes.

This Season

It has been a quieter transfer window than usual for Watford, with just two arrivals at the time of writing. The Hornets have been crying out for a new centre back since last summer and Craig Dawson brings Premier League experience at a low price. Tom Dele-Bashiru is a promising young midfielder who didn't quite make the grade at Manchester City. Watford are also currently in negotiations for Rennes winger Ismalia Sarr for what would be a club record fee, which have been going on for several weeks, making it quite the Sarr-ga (I'm not even sorry). In January Watford will finally complete the signing of Fluminese striker Joao Pedro, widely seen to be a hugely promising talent and already being watched by several of the world's biggest clubs. The fact that Watford have already secured his signature is a testament to the scouting network in South America.
In terms of departures, only Miguel Britos has been released from the first team squad, with veteran goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who was "99% sure" he would retire, signing on for another year. Some young players have been loaned out, most notably promising defender Ben Wilmot to Swansea. In terms of business to complete, Watford will want to finally get the Sarr signing over the line as well as find a loan for youngsters Cucho Hernandez and Pontus Dahlberg.
With Javi Gracia having been at the helm for one and a half years and arguably the most important transfer business of keeping the likes of Doucoure and Deulofeu taken care of, expectations going into the new season are higher than they have been since the 1980s. Relegation is seen as a possibility but not a real concern, with fans believing we will finish mid table or possibly top half.
Transfers
Highlights

Player	Type	From	To	Fee(£m)
Miguel Britos	Perm	Watford	Released	Free
Craig Dawson	Perm	West Brom	Watford	5.49
Tom Dele-Bashiru	Perm	Man City	Watford	Free
Joao Pedro	Perm (Jan 20)	Fluminese	Watford	2.25

All incoming/outgoing transfers Full 2019-20 squad
3 players to watch out for
Gerard Deulofeu
The La Masia product made his loan at Vicarage Road permanent last summer, and despite injury disrupting the start of his season and a new position at striker ended up top scorer, with some eye catching performances such as his hat trick against Cardiff and his super-sub appearance in the FA Cup Semi Final. With a full pre season and more positional familiarity, he can achieve big things this season.
Etienne Capoue
Last year's fan's Player of the Season is a criminally underrated player by non Watford supporters - the work he does in the defensive midfield brings the best out of players around him. Has struck up an excellent partnership with Doucoure over the past 18 months which should continue into this season.
Domingos Quina
Doubt he'll be starting at home to Brighton, but Quina has all the potential to be a Premier League star. Signed from West Ham on deadline day last year after turning up in the car park ten minutes before the deadline, Quina showed his creatively, comfort with the ball at his feet and ability to hit long range shots with either foot in his handful of appearances last season, and will keep the first team firmly on their toes.
What the fans think
Thanks to /Watford_FC for their help.

How do you think this season will go?

I expect us to finish around mid table. Very quiet transfer window in both regards so far. We have all of the same squad that got us to the cup final and should really have got us into Europe if Deeney, Cathcart and Foster hadn't decided to shit the bed in the final few games of the season; however the other teams around us have significantly strengthened though hard to see us finishing above West Ham, Everton, Wolves, Leicester now.

barely1egal

I’d say we will end up roughly in the same place as last season. We added Craig Dawson, so our defense should be better, but I don’t think we’ll have as good run of form against outside of the top 6 as we did last season. I’d say we will end around 9th place, maybe have a decent cup run again as well.

MuchAire

Last season was fantastic, and everyone will be looking to build on 11th. Another cup run is probable, but I think we'll struggle to improve much in the league. We'll be safe from relegation but are lacking some quality and depth compared to Everton, Wolves and Leicester. In my opinion we'll be fighting for top half with West Ham, Bournemouth and whichever of the promoted clubs hits the ground running, with some strong home games against the top six (Liverpool excluded). A cup exit in the semis to a top 6 team.

QuantumPenguin

Which player is going to be your star of the season and why?

I'd have to go for Deulofeu. He grew into his striker role over the Season, building up a decent partnership with Deeney later on in the Season. He is woeful in the air, isn't as positionally aware like Gray by drifting out wide at times when he needs to stay more central and has a penchant for doing too much rather than take the easier option but he's very quick, has developed a fairly good finish and becoming more consistent in his performances, slowly but surely. Still has a good amount of work to do but made leaps and bounds last Season in converting his role out wide to a central one.

Powerjugs

Doucoure. He was usurped by Capoue last season in terms of being our best cm, or even our best player. If he wants to go to a UCL team, as he has stated, then he needs another top season, like he did on 17/18, and I think he will. Deulofeu will want to prove last seasons scoring antics weren’t a fluke. Could also be a breakout season for Domingos Quina.

sk8boardJ

Star of the season will be Gerard Deulofeu of course but I think Etienne Capoue will quietly have another season as one of the best midfielders outside the top 6 and the same for Ben Foster being one of the best keepers outside the top 6. Del boy being our top scorer. Another name to mention that I hope gets some serious game time and becomes a star of the cups is Domingos Quina, very excited whenever this lad plays.

BrkBid

How do you think the team will line up?

Gracia predominantly uses 4-2-2-2, and has sparingly used 4-2-3-1 last Season. Against QPR in the Friendly very recently 5-3-2 (Wing backs) but we will be using 4-2-2-2 again this Season as our main formation. This is our current squad and probable line up, assuming we sign Sarr.

Powerjugs

Foster will be number one but Bachmann has been brought back to challenge. Javi typically plays 4 at the back, expect Dawson to partner Cathcart with some fullback rotation. Deeney and Deulofeu will start together up front most weeks; we rely heavily on their mentality and skill respectively. I'd expect a flat 4 midfield, but Javi does tinker from time to time. Hughes-Capoue-Doucouré-Sarr(?) most likely, with some shakeup to fit in Quina or play Hughes more centrally.

QuantumPenguin

I expect the exact same 4-2-2-2 as last season, but with Dawson substituting in for Mariappa which will look something like this. If Sarr does come as has been strongly suggested, I expect he will take one of Hughes / Pereyra's positions.

barely1egal

Wrap Up

by NickTM

The Manager: I've got to say, Javi Gracia is probably one of the least notable coaches in the league to me. He's just... there. There's no doubting his experience, though, having had spells in Spain, Greece and Russia before plying his trade in the Prem. Last season was about as good as a generally mid-table club can hope for; never in any danger of relegation whatsoever, a highest league finish since the formation of the Premier League, a cup final run and all done with a positive net spend.
The Team: Watford bring to bear a hugely multinational squad, with 17 nations represented in the first team squad alone. A well-balanced side, the hugely-experienced trio of Ben Foster, Craig Cathcart and Adrian Mariappa make up the goalkeeper and centre of defence respectively. Gracia favours something approaching a 4-2-2-2, presumably partially as a way of including all of his talented central midfielders, and so Aboulaye Doucoure, Etienne Capou, Will Hughes and Roberto Pereyra can all be found on the pitch at the same time. Up front, the mercurial Gerard Deulofeu supports Troy Deeney, who is entering his tenth season at the club. It's a strong side across the board, but despite the excellence in the centre of the pitch questions might be being asked of old warhorse Deeney if he gets off to a poor start given his 9 league goal return last season. The addition of Craig Dawson is likely a good one given Mariappa has generally found most of his success at Prem level as a rotational utility player, but it's probably fair to say Cathcart and Dawson comprise a pairing that is merely OK rather than particularly good. It's lucky, then, that Ben Foster remains one of the better keepers in the Premier League behind them.
Why to like them: Gerard Deulofeu is a delight to watch, and to an extent that also includes the entire team as individuals. There are a lot of players in this Watford side that can pull off moments of magic, be it a splitting pass or a tricky run. You've also absolutely got to respect a manager who casually pulls out a 4-2-2-2 like his team is a classic Brazil side. Watford also properly commit to a proper colour scheme and motif but refuse to restrict themselves to boring features like 'only stripes' or the like, which thematically I absolutely appreciate given the ongoing plague of boring strips in football. Isaac Success has a cracking name.
Why to dislike them: Watford fans, lemme be honest, you lot have some problems. First on the list is probably that weird way you're trying to start rivalries with other fanbases because nobody cares about your team. I've seen some Watford fans sniping at Everton of all clubs, which, let's be honest, would result in the worst-named rivalry of all time. You just know that the press would make it the Z-cars derby. There's also the way you all seem to have 'ackshuyally I think you'll find it was only affray' bound to a macro. And then there was the reaction to the FA Cup final, in which the absolutely embarrassing capitulation the team displayed on the pitch was glossed over by that most shithouse of obfuscations: "our fans outsung theirs!". Come on now. You can do better. I believe in you, Watford fans.
Also of note is the ongoing delusion by some members of the media that Watford is somehow in London, which isn't their fault but somehow still irritates. Speaking of the media, Troy Deeney's also a shit cunt who you absolutely know is lining himself up for a post-playing media career as 'the controversial one' on a panel of pundits.
Summary: Watford look like they're in a great place for the foreseeable future, but there's a very definite glass ceiling on the midtable of the Premier League. Their ambition in that regard will be to make it into Europe, but that's as unlikely to manifest consistently as it is for anyone outside of the top six. If you look downwards rather than up, it also seems unlikely for Watford to really be at a risk of relegation given the strength of their side. Much more likely would be a pop at domestic silverware, and Gracia seems to be willing to commit to a deep cup run once more. Whilst cups are by nature unbalanced and risky, a team that's anchored in midtable is often one of the better bets for getting to the final given their ability to play first teamers without risk of losing too much on weekends. Expect Watford to go for it again as they bounce around somewhere between 13th and 8th.

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Team Preview - West Ham [Premier League 2019-20 - 11/20]

West Ham United

by Sonofabilic

Welcome to the triumphant return of the Premier League Previews, a series where a fan gives an overview of his team for your perusal, and I get an excuse to take pot-shots at other clubs. This will run until the eve of the Premier League, taking a look at each club in turn. Today we'll be smashing down some mash & jellied eels as we take a look at West Ham.
About

Established: 1895
Stadium: The London Stadium
Capacity: 60,000
Official website
Wikipedia page
Club subreddit

Last season

Pos	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
10th	38	15	7	16	52	55	-3	52

Coming off the back of a chaotic 2017/18 season - one that saw two managerial dismissals in the shape of Slaven “sonofa” Bilic and David “jobs for the boys” Moyes, the sacking of our chief scout for a cheeky bit of racial profiling, our financial overlords continually using rejected Eastenders scripts as a basis for running the club, and of course the small matter of pitch invasions, coin throwing, and fans fighting that took place in our March game against Burnley - the biggest aim for the 18/19 campaign was a bit of calm and forward thinking off the pitch and hope that this would result in progress on it. Enter the softly spoken “Engineer” Manuel Pellegrini.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester City manager joined on a 3 year deal from Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune and represented a high profile appointment by a board who had promised to improve their running of the club. Normally when someone from East London orders something from a Chinese they insist on adding a side of chips, but on this occasion it was decided that our Chinese takeaway would be better served with a Director of Football to provide us with a hitherto non-existent level of respect in the transfer market so Mario Husillos, who had previously worked with Pellegrini at Malaga, took control of transfer proceedings. The owners had pledged to back the manager in the transfer market and duly did so by twice breaking the clubs transfer record on Issa Diop (£22m) and then Felipe Anderson (£35m) as well as recruiting the likes of Yarmolenko, Balbuena, Fabianski and Jack Wilshere to breath a bit of life in to both our squad and our medical room.
Most importantly for most West Ham fans though: the owners also pledged to step out of the spotlight and stop using the club as a megaphone to remind everyone what top business(wo)men they are. In last year’s preview I mentioned this commitment and said “we’ll wait and see on that one”. Well, we waited and - say it quietly now - they actually kinda followed through. No more public negotiations, no more leaks of internal affairs to the media, no more slagging off the players or manager in their weekly Sun column. The manner in which we’d began to manage ourselves was, dare I say it, quite mature?
It seemed that so long as things started to improve off the pitch most Hammers were willing to chalk up the season as a bit of a transitional one and be a little forgiving of poor results, although starting the season with 4 defeats on the trot certainly did raise a few eyebrows. The rest of the season would go on to be pretty inconsistent which is very on brand for West Ham. We’d go from looking World Class one week against the likes of Man Utd (H) or Everton (A) to looking Vauxhall Conference class the next week against the likes of Cardiff (A) or AFC Wimbledon (A). Pellegrini seemed to spend a decent portion of the season trialling different tactical set ups, with 4-2-3-1, 4-4-3, 4-2-2-2, 4-1-3-2, and all the other number combinations getting a run out at somepoint, and his efforts to settle on a best team weren’t helped by the health of his squad, with no less than 6 squad members (Lanzini, Yarmolenko, Reid, Carroll, Sanchez & Wilshere) missing most of the season through injury. Their loss did however open the door to four academy graduates (Grady Diangana, Ben Johnson, Conor Coventry and Joe Powell) who were all able to earn their first cracks at the senior side.
While I’ve waxed lyrical about our improvements off the pitch it obviously wasn’t all good, with main man and star of Eminem’s “Stan” music video Marko Arnautovic throwing his toys out of the pram in an effort to engineer a move to China in January. While this seemingly caused a great deal of drama behind the scenes, it culminated in him receiving a new contract and pay increase as he publically stated that he loved West Ham and never truly wanted to leave, in perhaps the least convincing performance from an Austrian since we were asked to believe that Arnold Schwarzenegger was an average joe American mattress salesman in Christmas classic “Jingle All the Way”.
Ultimately though it was a relatively positive season for the team. Redevelopment of the London Stadium had begun, with a fancy new carpet replacing the garish green felt, the newly named “Billy Bonds” stand, and plans to move the seating closer to the pitch all finally starting. The stadium is still a vision of a nightmarish dystopian future, but at least it was starting to a bit more like our nightmarish dystopian nightmare you know? The season had seen us achieve our highest finish and accrue our highest number of points & wins since moving the London Stadium, we had become the first side to score & win at London’s newest billion pound toilet bowl, we even won 8-0 at one point! The season certainly wasn’t the be all and end all, but it represented a stable foundation to build from.

This Season

It’s a bit of a tough one to gauge going in to next season. We’ve managed to clear 7 overpaid bit part players off the wage bill as well as finally granting our resident moody Austrian his childhood wish of playing in the ^{^{^Asian}} Champions League. We have brought in two big money signings, Pablo Fornals and Sébastian Haller, who look like they can immediately improve our first team quality, and we have a raft of long term absentees like Wilshere, Lanzini and Yarmolenko back amongst the squad. The hope is that going in to Pellegrini’s second season at the club we can start looking like a team built in his image (tactically, I mean, though I will concede that in previous years we’ve looked his image visually). The bulk of our transfer budget going on attacking talents suggests we’re going to try and play increasingly on the front foot next season, and while we could probably do with some additional coverage at the back it looks like we’ll be going in to the season with the same back 5 for the first time since the Large Samuel regime. Like I said though, next season is a tough one to work out what actually represents a successful campaign. With the middle class of Everton, Leicester, Wolves and Watford all looking increasingly dangerous, with the Hasenhüttl revolution in full swing at Southampton and a frustrating, back to basics Burnley on the up, and with the desperate need for someone in the top 6 (fingers crossed Frank Lampard) to have an absolute melt down for anyone to even have a sniff at the Europa League group stage let alone champions league, you’d have to say that any improvement on our 52 points last season would represent a decent season, with 7th spot being an ideal one. Let’s just hope there’s a cushty little FA Cup run and a few mega club scalps in there too.
Transfers
Highlights

Player	Type	From	To	Fee(£m)
Pablo Fornals	Perm	Villarreal CF	West Ham Utd	£24m
Sébastian Haller	Perm	Eintracht Frankfurt	West Ham Utd	£45m
Roberto	Perm	RCD Espanyol	West Ham Utd	£0

All incoming/outgoing transfers Full 2019-20 squad
3 players to watch out for
Sébastian Haller
This may come as a surprise to many of you, but we here at West Ham have struggled in recent years to bring in a quality, non perma-injured striker, so there is a great deal of hope that Javier might be the answer to this generation game conveyor belt of subpar forwards. Yeah ok I copy pasted that bit from my preview two years ago and left Chicharito’s name in because unfortunately our desperate hope for an answer to our centre forward problem is as relevant now as it was two years ago, and the year before that, and the year before that, and… you get the point. We’ve spent big to bring in the 6’4’’ Frenchman, but where we knew that Hernandez’s limited skillset represented a bit of a gamble, Haller really looks like he could have it all – “he scores goals, sets them up, makes tackles, leads from the front and has a far better attitude than the striker he is replacing” is how Martin Laurence of the Guardian summed up our new no.22, and that is exactly the sort of centre forward we need to bring the most out of the maverick attacking talent surrounding him. Despite seemingly being Pellergrini’s second choice behind Maxi Gomez, Haller really does look like a fantastic acquisition. It’s a good job he’s a big lad with broad shoulders, because he’s going to be carrying about a decades worth hopes and expectations.
Lukasz Fabianski
Last season Lukasz was not only our Hammer of the Year, he was also our get out of jail free card on more occasions than I’d care to count. With highest number of saves in the league, as well as the third most high claims, and fourth most punched clearances, our Polish number 1 certainly had his work cut out for him, and as we continue to transfer in to more of an attacking unit there’s every reason to believe he’ll have more of the same to do next campaign. In Adrian, Randolph, Jaaskelainen and Green we’ve had a string of good shot stoppers who were always vulnerable to dropping an absolute clanger, but in Fabianski we finally appear to have a steady, safe set of hands who could very well be the best ‘keeper outside of the top 6. Not bad for £7m.
Declan Rice
Entering his third campaign as a first teamer, the 20 year old has truly established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet now and has proven England’s most controversial Irish acquisition since the 1921 Northern Ireland partition. A keen and precise tackler with a great sense of positioning, Declan loves to get in close to harry the opposition off the ball before recycling it off to one of his midfield colleagues. It’s looking like he might be lining up alongside the likes of Wilshere, Lanzini, Fornals, or an aging Mark Noble next season so if he can get the ball to them then he can be sure they’ll be able to move it forward, but it does mean he will be increasingly expected to pick up the vast majority of defensive slack in midfield, so he’s going to have to better the high standards he set himself last season. There’s a lot of hope that Declan will continue to earmark himself as a future club captain, but if he continues on his current trajectory there’s also the unfortunate recognition that he may have his fair share of suitors next summer
What the fans think
Thanks to /Hammers for their help.

How do you think this season will go?

Cautiously optimistic. We've brought in some decent attacking talent and hopefully offloaded all the toxic personalities that could destabilise the season midway through. That said, the attacking unit needs to gel quickly as our plan seems to be outscore the opposition (and we don't look remotely like being able to keep a clean sheet). The squad depth is concerning also, as I have little faith in our back ups if they're called upon and we still haven't addressed areas like a mobile ball winning midfielder or adequate left backs. But with some of the big clubs in disarray, I think we'll manage top 10, maybe top 7 if it all clicks.

Kulikant

Keeping with the Game of Thrones theme, we've got the quality there but there's sort of an underlying dread it's all going to go horribly wrong. It could either go seasons 1-4 or seasons 5-8. No in between.

west_ham

I think going forward we will be really good. Defensively we are gonna be so suspect. No additional fullbacks or support for Rice is going to cost us severely. I can see 9th/10th.

TheBurningStarIV

Which player is going to be your star of the season and why?

I think Rice will be out stand out player this year he just keeps getting better and has a great attitude. I hope Fabianski keeps his form and if he does he will be a contender too. Could be Wilshere as he's had a great pre season but he is more likely to Andy Carroll it. I am reserving judgement on the new signings until I see them in action with the team.

StanePantsen

Given his position and what is already in place around him, I think Fornals will really shine. He's a playmaker that adds dynamism, great passing, and creativity to a solid, but slow, midfield. I think he will integrate with an already very strong attack that just needs another creator to really make the most of players like Felipe Anderson and Antonio.

OnlyTheRedStarburst

How do you think the team will line up?

Our game plan is looking like we're gonna have 6/7 attacking players on the pitch at any given moment with Rice filling the 'Hodor' role of holding back the hoardes from our fragile, innocent defenders before (GoT spoiler) ultimately succumbing and dying for the cause as Balbuena and Diop look on in horror.

west_ham

Assuming a team where everyone is fit.
Fabianski in goal Fredericks, Diop, Balbuena, Masuwaku Noble, Rice Yarmalenko, Fornals, Anderson Haller
But keep in mind the depth of Wilshere, Lanzini, Snodgrass, Antonio, Chicharito and the youth prospect of Diangana who Pellegrini played a fair bit last season.

_Enigma_UK

Wrap Up

by NickTM

The Manager: It was nice to welcome back Manuel Pellegrini last year. The venerable old Chilean always had the air of the urbane about him, and his calming presence on the sidelines is one that Man City fans will remember fondly. Pellegrini is generally a bit of a neutral's favourite given his propensity for consistency in regards to the media and referees as well as a rather attractive style of play, and his presence stabilised West Ham after a rocky couple of seasons. He'll be looking to push on and properly establish West Ham in the top half. Soon.
The Team: There has been a lot of player turnover in the past season and a half, and the outlook of the squad has changed drastically. Gone are the likes of James Collins, Joe Hart, Cheikhou Kouyate and Andy Carroll, and others like Angelo Ogbonna have been superseded by superior options. Lukasz Fabianski, who belied his early career reputation at Arsenal to develop into an excellent Premier League goalkeeper, takes the gloves, and Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena's solid partnership in the centre of defence put an end to the baffling array of players the Hammers had fielded there previously. Pablo Zabaleta's advancing years might be a concern, but he and Arthur Masuaku are nonetheless given licence to go forward by the steady presence of Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble in central midfield. It's definitely the forwards that are the most exciting aspect of the team, though: Andriy Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson and Sebastian Haller is a front three packed with potential and talent, and with the return of Manuel Lanzini and Javier Hernandez as a super-sub you wouldn't bet against West Ham putting in quite a few goals this year.
Why to like them: Well, that front three is a good start, and also mentioned previously is how likeable Manuel Pellegrini is. Ribman is still there for West Ham games; if you're ever in the area on matchday I highly recommend. I also quite like the Carpenter's Arms, in a similar vein.
Why to dislike them: Their stadium acquisition was funded essentially by a council 'loan' from one of the most deprived boroughs in the entire city that'll probably never be repaid. Speaking of, and I know all of this is pretty well-trodden ground, but christ that stadium isn't much cop. I went there a couple of times and I was so far away it felt like I was watching a West Ham game through the wrong end of a telescope. Also, the bastards released Andy Carroll and made everyone who is a fan of big, elbowy strikers really sad. Luckily we still have Peter Crou-
Summary: Everything seems to be in place for West Ham. They've got a top quality manager and - hopefully - a legitimately good striker for the first time in quite a while. A strong defence with Declan Rice holding in front of it is the equal of any outside the big teams, and they've built plenty of talent on that base. They seem well-placed for a push next year, be it for domestic silverware or for Europe.

Team Preview - Manchester City [Premier League 2019-20 - 20/20]

Manchester City

by ibpants

Welcome to the triumphant return of the Premier League Previews, a series where a fan gives an overview of his team for your perusal, and I get an excuse to take pot-shots at other clubs. This will run until the eve of the Premier League, taking a look at each club in turn. Our final preview of the season analyses our reigning champions, Manchester City.
About

Established: 1880 (as St. Mark's)/1894 (as Manchester City)
Stadium: Etihad Stadium
Capacity: 55,097
Official website
Wikipedia page
Club subreddit

Last season

Pos	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	38	32	2	4	95	23	+72	98

It went well. It went very well. After Manchester City’s Centurions season in 2017/18 saw them run away with the title setting all manner of records as they went, there was a lot of expectation that we’d see a much closer race in 2018/19. That proved to be the case as City finished 2 points shy of their record-setting total and only won the league by a single point, yet it was still the second highest points total in Premier League history and was topped off with a unique domestic clean sweep (3 or 4 domestic trophies depending on your feelings about the Community Shield).
The season kicked off with confident 2-0 victories over Chelsea in the Community Shield and Arsenal in the league opener before Kevin De Bruyne’s injury problems began (injury problems that would plague the majority of his season). His absence didn’t prove to be as pivotal as many feared/hoped, however, thanks in no small part to Bernardo Silva’s formidable season.
After the opening months City had dropped just 4 points and were looking strong, and then December happened. The packed month included 9 matches across all competitions and it took its toll as City lost 3 of their 7 Premier League matches.
Heading into January with Liverpool still unbeaten the title looked lost until the top two met at the Etihad. A true heavyweight clash delivered in entertainment and saw City take all three points by the very finest of margins as John Stones made a vital clearance through the legs of Mohamed Salah with just 11mm to spare.
After beating Liverpool City dropped just 3 more points, ending the season on a remarkable 14-game winning streak to claim the first back-to-back Premier League trophy in 10 years.

This Season

While the squad is (on paper) quite comparable to the ones that set both the highest and second highest Premier League points totals in consecutive seasons, the loss of Vincent Kompany is difficult to quantify. Cynics might reasonably point out that City are losing an ageing centre-half who only plays sporadically and is prone to occasional hasty decisions meaning they will just have to give more minutes to a younger centre-half in John Stones, who also appeared sporadically and is prone to occasional hasty decisions. In a strictly material sense that might all be true, but in among Kompany’s hasty decisions was an improbable 30-yard potshot in the 70th minute against Leicester that won the match and kept the title race in City’s hands. It’s his remarkable force of will, his experienced leadership, and his eagerness to carry the weight of the team on his shoulders when no one else can that will be missed with the departure of Kompany and it remains to be seen if there is anyone that will step and lead in the same way.
There’s some change at the back for City this season. Stones and Laporte are expected to be the first choice central pairing, but Otamendi (as the most experienced centre-half in the squad, capable of playing on the right or left side, and probably the best aerial defender in the squad) is likely to be leaned on more this coming season than last. The fourth spot will likely be a straight head-to-head between Fernandinho and the promising young Eric Garcia. At fullback there’s a little more attacking impetus than previously - Zinchenko increasingly looks like a real left back, but Mendy’s injury troubles continue, so Angelino has been brought back to maintain the depth that the outgoing Fabian Delph provided but with more of an attacking mindset. On the right you can expect Walker to finally get some days off with the introduction of another attack-minded option in Joao Cancelo.
The future of the number 6 position looks to finally have been figured out with the signing of Rodri after various misfires in the transfer market and with any luck we’ll have the joy of watching a fully fit Kevin De Bruyne all season. It remains to be seen what role David Silva will play in his final year, especially with Phil Foden needing all the minutes he can get if he is to replace the Spanish stalwart long-term.
Should Sane stay It will be the same again up top with quality depth abound all vying for their place in the matchday XI. Riyad Mahrez began finding his feet at the tail end of 18/19 with a run of strong performances so the hope, should Sane leave, is that Mahrez will continue that form and prove an ample replacement for the upcoming season.
Last season there was a need to prove that the 100 point season wasn’t a fluke. 98 points and 5 out of 5 pieces of domestic silverware later it’s been pretty well established that City probably are in fact that good and may well be able to continue putting up these kinds of numbers until either Pep leaves or the rest of the league adapts (whichever comes first).
Transfers
Highlights

Player	Type	From	To	Fee(£m)
Rodri	Perm	Atletico Madrid	Manchester City	£62.5m
Joao Cancelo	Perm	Juventus	Manchester City	£26m + Danilo
Vincent Kompany	Perm	Manchester City	RSC Anderlecht	Free

All incoming/outgoing transfers Full 2019-20 squad
3 players to watch out for
David Silva
Worth watching out for if only because this is likely to be the last Premier League season for one of the league's greats. On top of that, with the departure of Vincent Kompany, David Silva will be the most senior member of the dressing room and is widely expected to take on the captaincy. Despite making his name as an archetypical number 10, David Silva has managed to stand out as a dynamic and modern number 8 - while at 33 he may not be quite the player he once was but he continues to provide much of the creativity in the final third so enjoy him while you can.
Rodri
The number 6 position in general will be one to watch this season. In previous years Fernandinho has been undisputed first choice, but at 34 years of age he can’t last forever. Ilkay Gundogan started to make a case for himself in the run-in last season having finally added a little extra defensive nous to his already outstanding passing range and ended the season as a starter. New signing Rodri (at age 23) appears to be the future of the number 6 role - touted by many as Busquets 2.0 and now training under the same coach that brought Busquets to the world’s attention, Rodri’s ascent seems inevitable, but arriving in a new league and playing rather a different style of football will test his adaptability in the short-term.
Kevin De Bruyne
Not exactly a hidden gem here but your life can only be improved by watching out for a fully fit KDB. De Bruyne was among the very best players in the League (if not world) in 2017/18 but struggled significantly with injuries and missed much of last season. It may seem like a stretch to say that he was “missed” given the levels City reached last season but when he’s in the team City can transition much more efficiently and there’s always a sense that one pass could cut open even the most resolute defence.
What the fans think
Thanks to /MCFC for their help.

How do you think this season will go?

Last season was an unprecedened success, winning every domestic trophy possible. The aim for this season will obviously be to continue on as we have been domestically, and improve in Europe. The past two campaigns have been disappointing, and I think we can do better - but will we? It's hard to say. However, I think we're the most equipped team to fight on two fronts - especially after signing Rodri, in a position we've always lacked cover - so I think retaining the title is feasible, and I'd be happy with an improved performance in Europe.

ElliotDX

I think we'll win the league. I think our fixture schedule is fairly kind to us (easier run-in than Liverpool and most of our tricky away games are in the first half of the season when we're usually on fire). I trust our players a lot more this time around - although you could argue that the Old Guard carried us in the final weeks of last season, the younger players have got experience and confidence now, and I think that's invaluable.

lmh971

Which player is going to be your star of the season and why?

KDB has looked frightening ever since he came off the bench at the FA Cup (not to mention his performance against Tottenham before his last injury). He seems angry and frustrated about last season, as if he's got something to prove. I think he's a shoe-in for our player of the season if he can stay fit. I can also see Jesus and Mahrez really coming into their own this season; both of them suffered from low confidence last season, and I think the summers that they had and their great performances at the end of last season signal a lot of growth from both of them.

lmh971

I think we'll win the league again. This time around I don't think it'll be a close title race like it was last season. We'll get around 93 points while Liverpool will finish second and get around 88 points. In the FA and League cup, I think we'll win one the two and may get knocked out early in the other one. I think this season in the CL, we'll finally reach the final but lose the final.

Max0699

Gonna go with Bernardo Silva. Let him play his own game and he is one of the best in the league. You would be hard pressed to find many better in the division. Down and up the pitch he works tirelessly. Never gives up. Gonna be hard to find anyone to outperform him this season. Run, pass, shoot, tackle, he can do it all. Around him he has an aura of a greatness.

FreeLook93

How do you think the team will line up?

4-3-3 like always, but with even more depth. Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko; Rodri/Dinho, Silva, KdB; Sterling, Aguero, Bernardo, should be our first choice starting XI. Rodri vs Dinho is anyone's guess. If Mahrez steps up, we might see Bernardo moved to the midfield paired with KdB. Aguero will continue to start over Jesus, Nico will likely rotate with Stones and Cancelo (if he comes) will rotate with WalkeZinchenko. We might even see Mendy play a full match before the season ends.

blueradium

And now we come to the hardest part, predicting the line up. Desert any dreams on consistency at the door. You are going to see a lot of rotation from City this season. Never assume we will have everyone healthy at the same time, but if we do I think this is how we will line up.

FreeLook93

4-3-3 formation
Ederson
Walker-Stones-Laporte-Zinchenko
De Bruyne-Rodri-D.Silva
B. Silva-Aguero-Sterling

Max0699

Wrap Up

by NickTM

The Manager: The legendary Pep Guardiola. Not much to say about him that hasn't already been said at length. A managerial genius, Guardiola's dogmatic adherence to the style of play he passionately believes in is no deterrence to the outright dominance of his teams. With 28 pieces of silverware in his collection as a manager alone, he's as close to a guaranteed title win as you can get from a manager of a top club. Entering his 11th year of top-level manager, his brilliance remains undimmed.
The Team: Simply put, Manchester City's team is terrifying. It's unlikely any club team has brought to bear this level of depth in talent in the Premier League at very least. Ederson holds court between the sticks in his third season at the club, and Aymeric Laporte partners one of Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones just in front. Danilo has been replaced by Joao Cancelo at right back, and Oleksandr Zinchenko's highly successful conversion to left back makes him the leading contender for that spot. It's in midfield where the team wins their games, though, a superlative array of talent fronted by Silvas David and Bernardo, held together by Fernandinho (and the newly arrived Rodri) and powered by Ilkay Gündogan's dynamism. An attacking trio containing Raheem Sterling, the supremely reliable Sergio Aguero, Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus will be affected but not brought low by the unfortunate loss of Leroy Sane. That's without even mentioning the brilliance of the returning Kevin De Bruyne, the promise of Phil Foden or the absolute talent of Scott Carson. It is a glittering squad.
Why to like them: Guardiola's teams play football 'the right way' (tm) and whilst their style of play isn't necessarily my favourite, it's hard to not appreciate the sheer fluidity of attack and technical prowess being displayed. Raheem Sterling has also blossomed from the kid with a dodgy agent who sacked off Liverpool at a moment's notice to England's leading attacking talent and icon for the fight against discrimination in football.
Why to dislike them: Their owners essentially launder the image of a brutal, oppressive regime as well as their own grimy reputations simply by owning a successful football team, and it clearly worked for City fans. Personally, despite all the fanboying over their playstyle, I'm not really much of a fan. Pep Guardiola has a tendency to be unbearably smug at times. Also, they're really fucking good, so it's fun to watch them lose.
Summary: Got it in the bag, surely? Man City replaced their major first team loss in Danilo and propped up Fernandinho's advancing age with his heir apparent in Rodri. Their strength in depth continues to be unrivaled, and Raheem Sterling continues to improve as Sergio Aguero has shown no signs of slowing down. The major questions for me revolve first around losing Leroy Sane, which takes away not just some options in depth but also a truly direct runner that City could well miss against certain teams. More notable might be the intangible loss of Vincent Kompany, the City legend departing to Anderlecht as player-manager. Kompany's leadership and will to win were obvious even in one of his numerous spells on the sidelines, and when he got on the pitch he'd produce moments of brilliance that have kept Man City alive when they were faltering - the most recent being that wonderful goal against Leicester that sent them top. It's a strong team with a lot of experienced leaders, but it's hard to calculate the value of such a talisman until he's gone. With all that said, you'd be a fool to bet against them retaining their title, and you have to make them favourites at this early stage.

Links

Team Preview - Newcastle United [Premier League 2019-20 - 8/20]

Newcastle United

by AjaxTreesdown

Welcome to the triumphant return of the Premier League Previews, a series where a fan gives an overview of his team for your perusal, and I get an excuse to take pot-shots at other clubs. This will run until the eve of the Premier League, taking a look at each club in turn. Today from way down south we're going way up north, with Newcastle United.

About

Established: 1892
Stadium: St James' Park
Capacity: 52,354
Official website
Wikipedia page
Club subreddit

Last season

Pos	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
13th	38	12	9	17	42	48	-6	45

Pre-season began 12 months ago with a lot of Newcastle fans filled with hope after a 10th placed finish. Mikel Merino and Aleksandar Mitrovic were sold to Real Sociedad and Fulham respectively, with their replacements being Ki Sung-Yeung on a free and Salomon Rondon on loan. Chancel Mbemba was also sold to Porto, while Fabian Schär and Federico Fernandez came in at centre back. Martin Dubravka and Kenedy returned to the club after impressive loan spells, with Dubravka signing permanently. Yoshinori Muto was also signed from Mainz as the most expensive purchase for us at £9.5m.
An awful start to the season saw us fail to win in our first 10 league games. In fairness, we did play 5 of the eventual top 6 in this time, but it was still a shocking run. Despite decent performances against Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City, we completely bottled games against Cardiff, Leicester and Manchester United, throwing away a 2-0 half time lead at Old Trafford. A scrappy game vs Watford in early November was our first win of the season. We beat Bournemouth and Burnley in our following two games, instilling hope into the fans that maybe we weren't terrible after all. We then won 1 game in our next 9. ¯\(ツ)/¯
22 games into the season, we sat in 18th place on 18 points. we were 3 points away from Brighton in 15th and 7 points clear of Huddersfield at the foot of the table. Gameweek 23 saw us hosting Cardiff at home. We won 3-0 with a strong performance in a game that could have been the biggest result of our season, but 10 days later Manchester City came to St James' Park and we made headlines around the world by winning 2-1, in one of the biggest shocks of the season. Our midfield that game was Isaac Hayden and Sean Longstaff, who was thrust into the limelight after being praised by Pep Guardiola. The fans' mood was at an insane high, boosted again 2 days later when Miguel Almiron's arrival finally broke the club's record transfer fee.
The back to back victories and Almiron's arrival revitalised the team, narrowly losing to Tottenham, drawing with Wolves and beating fellow relegation candidates Huddersfield and Burnley quite convincingly. A 2-0 defeat away to West Ham dented the team's form (we only picked up 4 points from the next 4 games) and saw Sean Longstaff ruled out for the remaining 9 games of the season with a severe knee injury.
The following game saw us do what Manchester United had done to us 5 months prior. Everton led 2-0 at St James' Park at half time, but a Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez masterclass saw the game finish 3-2. This signalled the beginning of an unplayable run of form for Perez, scoring 8 goals in 9 games including a hat trick against Southampton in what might be the best performance I've ever seen from a Newcastle player. The final 3 games of the season saw us draw to Brighton, lose to Liverpool in the dying moments thanks to Origi being the biggest clutch player alive and a comprehensive 4-0 victory against Fulham. A 13th placed finish was far better than we hoped for after the winless streak at the beginning of the season. At the time we were overjoyed, but everything that has happened with the club since has made the positives from last season somewhat bittersweet.

This Season

At the time of writing, Summer has been nothing short of disastrous so far. The season ended with some optimism that Rafa Benitez was going to sign a contract extension, we would sign Salomon Rondon permanently and that a wealthy group from the Middle East were interested in buying the club and finally ending Mike Ashley's reign as the owner of the club. Rafa left has left and signed for Chinese second division Dalian Yifang, with Rondon joining him. The takeover seems to be dead in the water, with Steve Bruce being appointed as manager on a 3 year contract. As of yet, there have been no players signed to the senior team, while Ayoze Perez and Joselu have been sold. We're expecting Joelinton to be announced in the next few days for what will be another record breaking fee, but I'm not optimistic that he will be good enough to drag us up the table.
The most I can currently hope for this season is a relegation battle that sees us narrowly stay up. Right now, I'm not sure I'll even care by the time we get past January. A sad reality that a good number of Newcastle fans are facing.
Transfers
Highlights

Player	Type	From	To	Fee(£m)
Ayoze Perez	Permanent	Newcastle United	Leicester City	30
Joelinton	Permanent	Hoffenheim	Newcastle United	40
Jose Salomon Rondon	End of Loan	Newcastle United	West Bromwich Albion	N/A

All incoming/outgoing transfers Full 2019-20 squad
3 players to watch out for
Sean Longstaff
Longstaff's recovery from injury is something I worry about a lot. Rolando Aarons' progress at Newcastle was similar; a handful of promising appearances ended by severe knee injuries. We have slapped a £50m price tag on him to ward off Manchester United this summer, which I hope we don't end up looking foolish for. Longstaff's tireless work rate, tidy passing and his threat from range (he scored numerous screamers when at Blackpool 2 years ago) will be instrumental if he returns as strong as he was last season.
Florian Lejeune
While Fabian Schär and Jamaal Lascelles have been the centre backs to receive the plaudits in the last 2 seasons, Florian Lejeune has gone somewhat under the radar when he has been equal to, and sometimes even better, than the pair of them. His involvement in the squad has at times been restricted by the two anterior cruciate ligament tears he has suffered, despite him returning from both of them in half the time footballers usually take to recover. Lejeune's positional awareness and composure on the ball made him a consistently effective defensive partner to Lascelles and Schär, while his passing accuracy and range on the left side of a back 3 was a great asset to the attacking movements under Rafa Benitez. With Steve Bruce likely opting for a very direct approach this season, Lejeune's distribution will be very important.
Jonjo Shelvey
I wanted to say Miguel Almiron, as the only player remaining from the Perez-Rondon-Almiron front 3 that was so promising last season, but I think Jonjo Shelvey could be very pivotal player. A number of Rafa's outcasts from last season like Dwight Gayle, Rolando Aarons and Jack Colback will return to the fray much to the dismay of many fans. It's Shelvey however, that catches my eye. Shelvey has talent that few players in the Premier League possess, a pinpoint accuracy with diagonal long passing that is a dream to any wide player capable of exploiting space. The downside to him is just about everything else. His poor work rate and lacking athleticism means he often can't provide adequate cover to the defence and his temper (albeit improved in recent times) means he is always a potential red card. He's a player to watch for better or worse. His performances could result in us gaining 10 points this season, or losing that many.
What the fans think
Thanks to /NUFC for their help.

How do you think this season will go?

Not as well as any of us want it to, but also not as bad as many think it will go. So (optimistically) somewhere between 11-16.

MilburnStand

I think we'll finish 13th if (and it's a big if) we make another couple of decent signings. I loved Rafa, but he would often freeze players out of the team for unknown reasons, and I think some of those coming back will have something to prove. My call for player of the season is Shelvey for that reason, I think he'll be called back in and his long Hollywood passes will work well with Almiron and another fast winger (ASM?).

spinynorman1846

We will all get increasingly annoyed as historically 'smaller' clubs than us like Wolves, Bournemouth, Watford and Leicester take an easy three points from us home and away. Their owners have actual ambition for their clubs and have proper facilities and coaching. We've got Steve Bruce in command and some wheelie bins for ice baths. The big 6 teams will beat us despite our plucky performances, we will play out grinding draws or fluky 1-0 wins against other relegation fodder teams like Brighton and Sheffield United. Meanwhile beloved ex-players like Shola Ameobi will get airtime on Sky Sports to tell everyone how great Mike Ashley is. If we don't get relegated then it will be a miracle, some fans hope that we do go down because they believe Fat Mike might be more likely to sell if we are in the Championship/League One.

EdgarAetheling

Which player is going to be your star of the season and why?

Lejeuene. He's arguably our best player but his time with us has been marred with injuries. However, when he has played he has given us that boost we needed out from defence. He's a ball playing centre-back who also has great defensive capabilities. A trio of him, Schar and Lascelles will be key for us this coming season.

The_White_Django

If Almiron can carry his form over despite losing the two players he linked up so well with it'll be him. If Joelinton can find his feet and score the goals to keep us up then him.

SilenceoftheRedditrs

Isaac Hayden. He was quality at the back end of last season, and his personal problems appear to have subsided/been resolved to an extent. Hopefully, this means he will push on and make a case for a potential national team call up.

ThinWhiteMale

How do you think the team will line up?

GK Dubravka
Back 5: Manquillo, Schar, Lascelles, Dummett, Ritchie
MF: Longstaff, Hayden, Shelvey
ST: Joelinton, Almiron

EdgarAetheling

Formation.

MilburnStand

Dubravka. A back 5 of Manquillo Schär Lascelles Dummett and Ritchie. Longstaff and Hayden CMs, Almiron Joelinton Muto the forwards.

wingardium_leviosah

Wrap Up

by NickTM

The Manager: Well, beloved manager Rafa Benitez finally decided that enough was enough after his contract expired in the summer and went off to enjoy being filthy fucking rich in China, smuggling his boy Salomon Rondon through customs along with him. Equally beloved owner Mike Ashley decided that the logical choice to replace this Champions League-winning, multiple time La Liga-winning, two-time UEFA Manager of the Year was with... Steve Bruce. Oh boy. Look, as much as I like to use this section to poke some fun, I'm still a Palace fan, and thus I can't quite bring myself to align myself anywhere other than in line with your average Newcastle fan's reaction towards him. It was a pathetic appointment. Bruce, fresh off jumping ship from Sheffield Wednesday as soon as he saw an opportunity in the Premier League - managing to land Newcastle in hot water legally whilst he was at it, true to form - arrives with a mediocre track record in the Premier League and a spell managing bitter rivals Sunderland for one and a half incredibly average seasons. Baffling.
The Team: Benitez managed to cut out quite a lot of the deadwood and refresh the squad significantly during his tenure, which left Newcastle with a team that was reasonably balanced and able to compete across the pitch. Unfortunately, his departure was followed in quick succession by the aforementioned Salomon Rondon's loan finishing and also Ayoze Perez, a flaky but talented forward, departing to Leicester City for a hefty £30m sum. In order to compensate for the shortfall up front, a huge £40m was shelled out for Hoffenheim's Joelinton, who arrives with an okay-but-not-really-that-good goal record spread across two years out on loan at Rapid Wien and one at his former parent club. Much will be expected of him between donning the coveted number 9 shirt and the so-far limited effectiveness of last year's signing Yoshinori Muto. Elsewhere, the defence will look to continue the form that saw it become the most effective unit in the bottom half, and much has been made of the admittedly limited gametime Sean Longstaff has had in the Prem so far. Ultimately, it looks like Newcastle will be relying heavily on Joelinton to hit the ground running and Miguel Almiron to really show his class tucked in behind him.
Why to like them: I quite like DeAndre Yedlin as one of the United States' attempts to plonk a superlative athlete on a football pitch in hope he'll become a superstar. Miguel Almiron's a treat to watch play, and if the team loses there's always the faint hope one of their fans will go full Little Mac on an ungulate.
Why to dislike them: Half their identity is based on beating a League One team that they haven’t beat in 8 years. Their fans claim to hate Mike Ashley - which, let's be honest, they get a little hysterical about given they make him out to be absolute footballing Lucifer when there's probably half a dozen owners in English football alone that you'd choose him over - and yet have had about one sort-of-effective protest in the entire time he's been an owner. They're still so mentally broken by a bedsheet some bloke had scribbled a half-baked pun on that there's genuine animosity towards Aston Villa to this day. Couple that with all the proclaimations of being a 'big club' despite not really ever having achieved that much comparatively and you can see why so many fans in England often end up a little irked by them.
Also, Steve Bruce can fuck off, the pudgy northern mercenary wrister.
Summary: Newcastle weren't really good last year, and you feel the strength of Benitez' management was the thing really holding them together. With Rafa gone and an already significant outlay spent on a single transfer, things look even more grim this season. You wouldn't bet on Steve Bruce to maintain their integrity defensively, their forwards have been weakened at very least in depth, and whilst the midfield is solid it's not entirely inspiring. If you can find good odds on a midseason managerial sacking, I'd be tempted.

Links

/r/Championship's Championship club by club season preview - part 1!

Part 2 here - Part 3 here - Part 4 here

On Friday at 8pm UK time, Reading and Derby County will kick off the 127^th season of the English second division - also known as the Championship! 24 clubs will compete for 3 promotion spots to the Premier league (2 via automatic promotion and 1 via playoffs) and to avoid the 3 relegation spots to the third tier a.k.a League One.

Its looking like a really tight and competitive season. The league is absolutely full of ambitious player and managerial talent - the more time goes by the more it looks like a Premier League 2. If you want a competitive league with proper English football, that also has the spice of skilful players and forward thinking managers, it really is the place to go.

This is guide written by the fans who have come together on /Championship - an absolutely huge thanks to them. Do check out the sub, we try to keep it a good place to discuss the EFL, away from the rancid gloryhunting shithole that is /soccer (just kidding - I like this place). Lots going on, including a score predictor thread which is running all season.

This guide is in table order with the PL demoted sides first. Only 5 clubs today (because the Swansea one is a fucking novel and I can't fit any more in), the rest will be submitted tomorrow and Friday. Do bare in mind that not all the transfer news will be up to date as these guides were largely written a week ago. Point out to me if there are any clear errors with formatting or spelling.

Championship info, links and media

/Championship's 17/18 player of the season review

Season previews: The Guardian | Sky Sports | The Mirror
EFL focused podcasts: Not the Top 20 | The Totally Football League Show
The 17/18 table - Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham went up. Barnsley, Burton and Sunderland went down. This season West Brom, Swansea and Stoke join from the PL and Wigan, Blackburn and Rotherham join from League 1.
These are the bookies' favourites for promotion (via Oddschecker):

Club	Odds
Stoke	2.75
Middlesbrough	4
West Brom	4
Nottingham Forest	4.5
Leeds	4.75
Swansea	5

And relegation:

Club	Odds
Rotherham	2.2
Bolton	2.25
Ipswich	4.5
Reading	5
QPR	6
Hull	6

How to watch in the UK: Live rights are owned by Sky Sports. They are upping the number of televised matches this season. Reading v Derby on Friday is televised. The weekly highlights show previously on Channel 5 is moving to Quest TV, which apparently is on Freeview.
How to watch abroad: Depends, but in most territories, the iFollow Service is available, which is £110 to watch all a single club's matches. Bargain. I think the clubs that aren't on iFollow have their own similar streaming services.
Check out club Youtube channels - quite a few of them post extended highlights now with their own commentary, including Derby, Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday, Brentford and more. (You may need VPN to watch if you're abroad.)

Swansea City by RafiakaMacakaDirk and my_knob_is_gr8

Location: Swansea, Wales
Nickname: Swans, The Jacks
Major honours: Football League Cup (2013), Championship Play-off Winner (2011), League One Winners (1925, 1949, 2008)
17/18 finishing postion: 18th (Premier League)
Transfermarkt squad value: €115.5 mil NOTE: This number is as of July 22nd, when we still have Mawson (€15 mil), A. Ayew (€15 mil), Bony (€10 mil), Clucas (€8 mil) and Fernandez (€8 mil), who are all pretty much expected to be sold, or loaned out, before the season starts. Without all of these players except Bony (who's injured for a while so it makes it unlikely he'll be sold soon), the squad value would be around €70 mil.
Manager: Graham Potter joined the Swans on 11th June 2018. In 2010, he became head coach of Östersund, who were in the fourth tier of Swedish football. 5 years later, he got the club promoted into the Swedish top flight and in 2017, they won Svenska Cupen which qualified them for the Europa League where they managed to get through the group stage. He’s been applauded for what he did at Östersund and the way he managed to build the club up from nothing. The year after his success in the Europa league he signed a 3 year contract with Swansea.
Potter is well respected by The Swans and after a few years of poor managerial and financial decisions his appointment is seen as a step in the right direction to bringing us back to our old ways of being a well-run club. Potter has been recognised for his "progressive" and "unconventional" coaching methods. At Östersund, he encouraged his players and staff to engage in community activities, such as performing in theatre and music productions which was designed to take them out of their comfort zone. Potter describes his style of football on the pitch as "tactically flexible, attacking, and possession-based". At Östersund, he deployed a flexible 3–5–2 formation centred on ball possession.
Best player(s)/ talisman:With many of our best players being rumoured with a move away what good players that remain at the start of the season is yet to be seen.
Alfie Mawson is probably our standout player. He’s been amazing for us since we got him and was a bargain at about £3m. He’s great in the air and is just an all round tank. Keeping him will be a huge boost for us and should be solid in the championship.
Federico "El Pajaro" Fernandez has also been strong at the back with Alfie. The pair played with each other for the majority of last season and together became a solid unit. We will most likely sell him to reduce wages though.
Jordan Ayew put in a great shift last season and was our top goal scorer. His work rate was immense and was able to drop back and defend when needed. He’s fast, able to beat a man and a decent finisher. Sadly all these players are transfer targets for other clubs and might not even be here at the start of the season. If we can keep a lot of our players we should have a decent season but who knows who'll be left by the end of the window…
Rising star: Swansea’s U23 had a great season last year and with Potter wanting a young and fresh squad, a handful have moved up into the first team.
Our standout youngster, Oliver McBurnie, joined Barnsley on loan in January last season where he went on to win a Championship player of the month award after 6 goals in 8 games and went on to win Barnsley’s Player of the year award. While only 22, he’s struggled to break into our first team but will most likely be our main striker for the coming season. Be on the lookout for his long legs, miniature shinpads and ridiculous sock length! LEGS LEGS LEGS!!!
Connor Roberts performed well at RB last season and adapted quickly to the premier league where he battled Kyle Naughton to be in the starting line up and did great when given the chance. Decent at going forward and professional at the back. Hopefully potter puts him ahead of Naughton.
What happened last season?: What Happened last season?: After our great escape the season before and with Paul Clement at the helm there was optimism that the 17/18 season could be our turning point where we start rebuilding 'The Swansea Way". How wrong we were.
After a disastrous transfer window where we sold Sigurdsson and never replaced him and started panic buying the week before the transfer window closed we were left an obvious hole in our team. We had no creativity in midfield and no one could kick the ball into the box to save their life. And just to rub it in further Renato Sanches turned out to be more disappointing than Bob Bradley. With the team sitting bottom of the table Clement was sacked in late December.
Then along came the wise talking Carlos Carvalhal who managed to rebuild the confidence the team had lost. Our results took a turn for the good, beating Liverpool, Arsenal, Burnley and West Ham consecutively at home. He pulled us out of the relegation zone and things were looking good. However, the good times were quickly followed by the bad times. Our form turned and we didn’t win a single one of our last 9 matches. We were quickly relegated after pitifully losing to both Southampton and Stoke in our last 2 games of the season.
Highlights (Or lowlights):
The pass by Renato Sanches that summed up his and our season
Swansea City 3-1 Arsenal
Summer transfer business (so far): At the end of last season, it was clear we needed several transfers, both in and out. However, this would all depend on the manager we got.
Yan Dhanda (Free, Liverpool): A 19 year-old Midfielder, Yan Dhanda left Liverpool this summer and joined the Swans in a free, before we even hired Graham Potter. At one time one of the most promosing youngsters in Liverpool's Academy, injuries slowed down his progress, and ultimately made him fall behind other players. Citing lack of first-team playing time, Dhanda decided to join us this summer in hopes of getting regular playing time in the senior squad. Through 3 pre-season games, Dhanda has been one of the brighest and most impressive players in the squad, even scoring a game-winning goal and smashing a penalty in a shootout against Genoa. With our current injuries and shenanigans involved in our midfield, Dhanda has a good chance of becoming a starter and hopefully guide our midfield during the season.
Jordi Govea (Free, Real Madrid): Another 19 year-old from Ecuador, Jordi was the first signing under Potter. Not much can be said about the lad, but this is what Real Madrid had as his bio:

Jordi is an Ecuadorian defender who possess three key qualities for a player in his position: he's skilful, is able to go past a player and has a good shot on him. He's left footed and is able to send in good crosses on the run.

With Martin Olsson currently as our starting LB, and Kyle Naughton as the backup, the hope is that Jordi can develop on our U-23 squad and hopefully move up to the senior squad in coming years. Also the only man I've seen do a medical while wearing jeans (https://twitter.com/SwansOfficial/status/1015251916132057089)
Joel Asoro (€2 mil., Sunderland): Yet another 19 year-old, a Swedish winger who has represented his country in the younger levels, he was Potter's first senior signing. With world-class speed, and some impressive skills, Asoro was able to score 3 goals and get 2 assists last season in 26 apperances for Sunderland. While these numbers may seem a bit disappointing, many of these games were sub appearances on a very dysfunctional team. Along with Dhanda, Asoro has been one of the most impressive players during preseason, constantly beating his man with either speed or skills, and whipping in good balls to Legs. At the current rate, Asoro appears to have a good chance of starting on the right wing spot, with Nathan Dyer and Luciano Narsingh backing him up.
Predicted starting XI: NOTE: This is gonna be assuming Mawson, A. Ayew, Clucas, and Fernandez are all sold by the start of the season. If by some reason they end up staying, they are pretty much guaranteed to start. Based on the pre-season games so far, a lineup looking like this would be plausible, with Rodon most likely to be replaced by a CB (possibly Scott McKenna) when we buy one. Our second unit is looking something like this.
Best case scenario: Graham Potter is able to motivate and make sure our senior players (Fer, Carroll, etc.) stay fit, along with our youngsters being able to make an impact as expected, and also we retain Mawson, Fernandez, and Clucas, we can finish in the top 2 and get promoted automatically.
Worst case scenario: Our worst case scenario, and something many of us fear of happening, consists of primarily 3 things. 1. Graham Potter isn't given enough time to build an identity with our squad and is sacked by the midway point of the season by the greedy, dumb American owners. . 2. We end up not replacing the players we sold properly like last summer, therefore having a squad with holes everywhere and no chemistry. 3. Our youngsters such as Asoro, McBurnie, Dhanda and company don't pan out and progress at all, thefore becoming mediocre players. This would all culminate in us looking like Sunderland, and making relegation a probability.
Prediction: Realistically I see us selling Mawson and company in the last days before the season starts and not replacing them properly until later on. Because of this, as well as our current injuries with Fer and Clucas, I can see us initially struggling to build an identity but over time, we will start playing like Potter wants us and finishing the season strongly.
8th place, missing the play-offs by 4 points
What will happen to your closest rivals?: The scum that is known as Cardiff City will break the record for lowest points ever accumulated in a Premier League season, getting 5 points all from draws, and will therefore get relegated with 17 games to spare.

West Bromwich Albion by Joelwba

Location: The Hawthorns, West Bromwich, West Midlands
Nickname: The Baggies, The Throstles
Major honours: 1x League title, 1x League Cup, 5x FA Cup
17/18 finishing postion: 20th in Premier League (relegated)
Transfermarkt squad value: £101.16m
Manager: Darren Moore or Big Dave as he's known to Albion fans. A club icon as a player in the early 2000s, he returned to look after our U23 squad before being promoted to assistant manager by Alan Pardew in January. Following the end of Pardew's horrific reign, Moore took temporary charge with Albion facing inevitable relegation. He led us to wins over Newcastle, Spurs, Man Utd and a draw with Liverpool, somehow taking our futile battle for survival to the final week of the season. Following this he earned the head coach role permanently. Moore is loved among the Albion faithful, largely due to his reputation as a player here. He heavily favours a 4-4-2 formation and at the back end of last season, tended to soak up pressure and play on the counter attack. It will be interesting to see how his approach differs in a league where we are one of the favourites, not fighting to survive (hopefully)
Best player(s)/ talisman: It's an interesting situation for Albion currently. There are plenty of Premier League quality players still in the squad. A lot depends on if they are picked off before the deadline shuts. Chris Brunt is a club stalwart and likely to be reappointed as captain. He is adored by the fans and in my opinion will be an incredible asset in the championship. His set pieces alone will bring 10+ goals to the side. Kieran Gibbs is a high quality player who appears to be set to stay and should make a big difference. Jay Rodriguez, Craig Dawson, Salomon Rondon and Nacer Chadli should all make a big difference in this division IF they stay. In all honesty I expect to lose a few of the above. Sam Johnstone appears to be an astute signing to replace the outgoing Ben Foster.
Rising star: Sam Field he's one of our own! He looked completely at home against some of the top Premier League sides last campaign. A box-to-box midfielder, he's full of energy and looks so comfortable on the ball. I expect him to be a major part of our side this season, having just signed a new long-term deal.
Kyle Edwards is an exciting attacking midfielder who has been impressing in pre-season. He may have a part to play following a loan spell at Exeter last campaign.
Jonathon Leko looked like a potential world-beater when he first came through a couple of years back. A lightning quick winger full of tricks. A loan spell at Bristol City and limited appearances later he seems to be losing his way. Will be an interesting one to watch.
Finally, the enigma that is Olly Burke. After signing with us last summer for £15m, he failed to impress any of the four managers we had over the season. He looks exciting when he comes on, without any end product so far, and was unfairly blamed for a loss at West Ham by Alan 'Coward' Pardew. We all know the talent he's got. Hopefully we can see it this season.
What happened last season?: Let's not talk about it... We finally escaped the stranglehold of Tony Pulis, only to opt for the human joke that is Alan Pardew and duly hurtled towards relegation. Four of our players stole a taxi and then played (and lost) the following weekend.
Pardew was sacked about 3 months too late, and Moore took over, restoring pride with some notable wins over Man Utd and Spurs.
This season we also lost the great Cyrille Regis, and the outpouring of emotion and the coming together of the club during the weeks after his passing was something special.
Summer transfer business (so far): We started by releasing Claudio Yacob, Boaz Myhill and Gareth McAuley. Yacob and McAuley will be greatly missed but it is perhaps the right time for them to go.
Jonny Evans departed for Leicester for a cut-price £3m, Ben Foster left for Watford and James McClean has departed for Stoke City.
Sam Johnstone has been bought in to replace Foster, with Jonathon Bond arriving as backup. Kyle Bartley has joined from Swansea City and it appears that Harvey Barnes will soon be arriving on loan from Leicester.
Finally, James Morrison is currently out of contract but still with the club. His future is uncertain.
I am very happy with Johnstone and Bartley. It has been a quiet window for Albion so far but that is largely a good thing. The squad is packed with Premier League talent and the window is more about keeping hold of them.
There is major interest in Dawson and Rondon, along with interest in Rodriguez, Hegazi and Chadli. If any of the above go, then we would need to replace. Otherwise I would be happy with another striker and another CB.
It is also worth mentioning that every player in the Albion side suffered a 50% wage cut upon relegation which means that we are financially sound despite relegation, but may lead to more big names leaving.
Predicted starting XI: This is my best attempt. It will undoubtedly be 4-4-2. We may see Nyom in at right back and perhaps Barry in for Field.
Obviously about half of this side could leave, so we shall see.
Best case scenario: The bulk of the side remains and the quality in the side shines through as we breeze to automatic promotion.
Worst case scenario: The better players leave or do not put the effort in. Moore cannot transfer his great start into his first full season in management. We become embroiled in a relegation battle
Prediction: It will be somewhere in the middle. I'd like to think we'll go up automatically but I think play-offs are more likely. 6th
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Villa won't go down but will settle into mid-table, despite the recent takeover.
I think Wolves will do well in the PL, although I don't know how long Nuno will last before a big club comes in.

Stoke City by mrmariomaster

Location: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Nickname: The Potters
Stadium: bet365 Stadium, 30,089 seats
Major honours: 1972 League Cup
17/18 finishing position: 19th, Premier League
Squad value: £127.8 million
Manager: Gary Rowett signed from Derby in May. His honest attitude has brought lots of optimism to fans, who are looking forward to an overhaul of the Club. His style of play seems to change based on the squad he has available.
Best Player: Joe Allen was vital to the Club last season, giving us hope that we would avoid relegation. His massive new contract signed this summer shows how loyal and committed to the Club he is, and will be a vital player this season.
Rising star: Tom Edwards is a local lad who has won the Under 18 Player of the Year award twice in the Club. In the latter parts of last season he played some good first team football.
What happened last season: A pathetic attempt at a season that had been coming for a while under Mark Hughes. Paul Lambert was appointed in January, but a win rate of just 2 in 15 matches wasn’t enough for him to keep his job and miss out on the million pound bonus offered to him.
Transfer business so far: So far this has been a decent transfer window. Peter Etebo had an amazing World Cup for Nigeria and Benik Afobe looks really promising. Adam Federici has also been appointed to replace Lee Grant. Xherdan Shaqiri has left along with a few players like Stephen Ireland and Glen Johnson who will not be missed. Badou Ndiaye also looks to be on his way out, but it looks like Jack Butland will stay with us, which is massive. Perhaps most surprising are the new contracts signed by our 2 best players last season, Joe Allen and Moritz Bauer.
Predicted Line up: Here is our predicted squad. I’m not sure what formation we will have. EDIT: This is a new version, complete with our rumoured new signings and in the right formation.
Best case scenario: Stoke will finish top with an all-time Championship points record.
Worst case scenario: A mediocre start to the season will see Rowett sacked and Stoke with a disappointing mid-table finish.
Prediction: I think with our squad and our new manager, we will finish 1st.
What will happen to our closest rivals? Port Vale will be relegated to the Vanarama National League.

Aston Villa by trueschoolalumni

Location: Villa Park, Trinity Rd, Birmingham B6 6HE
Nickname: The Villans, The Villa, Prince William's Club, David "Twat" Cameron's Second Club.
Major honours: 7 First Division wins, 7 FA Cups, 5 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 European Super Cup, 1 Intertoto Cup
17/18 finishing postion: 4th
Transfermarkt squad value: £67.77m and dropping fast
Manager: Steve Bruce (for now). Former Man Utd playing legend who's been a fixture of English football for decades. He joined Villa in 2016 after successful runs at Hull, Sunderland (yes they were good once) and Birmingham City. A bit of a promotion specialist, he's taken Championship clubs up to the Premier League 4 times in the past and just missed out last season, losing 1-0 to Fulham in the Playoff Final. Tactically, he's fairly old school who prefers 4-4-2 or a 4-1-4-1, usually involving a big man up top. Fun fact: while managing Huddersfield in 1999 he wrote three novels, "Striker!", "Sweeper!" and "Defender!", which focus on main character Steve Barnes, a football manager. Barnes solves crime and takes on terrorists, and the books have become prized rarities. The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast managed to get a copy and read out some of the copy - suitably awful.
Best player(s)/ talisman: There's only one Jack Grealish. A Villa boy through and through, he's been with the club since 2001 (aged 6), and made his way into the first team in the 2013-14 season. He's been the centre of controversy a few times, most notably getting on the beers and passing out on a Tenerife street. Playing as a number 10, his quick feet and dribbling skills provide a number of goals and assists, as well as fouls. He probably went down a bit too easily when first in the Premier League, but time in the gym has noticeably toughened him up and he's a much more solid player as a result. One of the better players in the Championship, and due to Villa's abject finances, a transfer target for the likes of Leicester.
Rising star: Keinan Davis could possibly be it, potentially Andre Green and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy as well.
What happened last season?: Have you ever walked into a casino, spotted the roulette table and popped £10,000 on red? It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off. You've doubled your money if you win, but look like a right git if you lose. Villa figured this was a good way to approach 2017-18: spend millions on players, get in lots of loans, gamble everything on achieving promotion. After a so-so start, Bruce got the team playing well, stringing together a number of wins and moving through the playoff spots. Unfortunately they ran into a few teams playing out of their skin - champions Wolves ran away with the league and boasted a squad that included several Champions League players. Neil Warnock's Cardiff couldn't stop winning and grabbed the second automatic promotion. In the playoff final Villa came up against a Ryan Sessegnon-led Fulham and were just pipped at the post 1-0.
Summer transfer business (so far): It's one-way traffic, due to absolutely abysmal finances. Loan spells for Lewis Grabban, Robert Snodgrass, Josh Onomah and Sam Johnstone have all ended, which is almost the spine of the team (Johnstone in particular - he was arguably the best keeper in the Championship and personally bagged a number of wins). Plus clubs are circling to pick off whatever assets we have left (eg. Jack Grealish, James Chester). With no prospect of anyone new coming in, it looks like the youth academy will be getting a lot more game time.
Predicted starting XI: Possibly this, but half these players could be gone before the first match.
Best case scenario: Mid-table anonymity would have to be best case - Villa are a mess and could go down this time around.
Worst case scenario: Our finances are the real issue - they are dire. Villa need to find £9 million this month to avoid going into administration. Owner "Dr." Tony Xia is a billionaire, apparently, but tax bills went unpaid and the question remains if he's able to support the club as generously as he has in the past. Administration, points deductions and potentially relegation to League One are all real possibilities right now. It's not looking good.
Prediction: Due to financial irregularities in the 23 clubs above us, Villa will get into the Champions League and take out the likes of Atletico, Bayern and Real Madrid on the way to our second European Cup. "Taylor, Green, prepared to venture down the left. There's a good ball played in for Jack Grealish. Oh, it must be and it is! It's Keinan Davis!"
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Unfortunately the Scum managed to avoid League One in the final rounds of the season. Here's hoping they go one better. Agbonlahor to re-sign for one game: the Derby. And score the winner, again.

Middlesbrough by OneSmallHuman

Location: The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough
Founded: 1876
Nickname: The Boro (Or just Boro)
Major honours: The League cup 2003-2004 season
17/18 finishing position: 5th
Transfermarkt squad value: 79.34m
Manager: Tony Pulis became manager of us in late December 2017, replacing the sacked Garry Monk after a pretty lacklustre few months of the campaign (despite where our league position was). Pulis is known in England for being the man that is never relegated when in charge of someone in the top flight. We are all aware of Tony Pulis' style of football. You start by having a strong and massive defence and maximise your use of set pieces to gain an advantage. Pulis is a lover of all set piece plays, whether that is crossing the ball in from a corner or free kick, or launching a ball into the box from a throw in, they're all in his arsenal of weapons. 'Pulisball' as it is pretty much known. Pulis has achieved promotion from the championship once before with Stoke, and I hope he achieves it again with us this season
Best player(s)/ rising star: I mean, where else do I begin. Adama Traore. Arguably the best player in the championship on his day and is one of the most frightening dribblers in English football, maybe even world football. The winger is known for his speed and dribbling ability although is usually criticised for his lack of end product. Before last season I would've agreed, however 5 goals and 10 assists, with all but 2 assists coming before Pulis' arrival show the progression of the Spanish winger.
As for other members of the squad, Ben Gibson, the prodigal son. Boro through and through he's progressed into a commanding centre half with the ability to play out from the back thanks to Karanka. He gained attention and emerged as one of the few given credit after our disappointing premier league campaign but was only the subject of one bid upon our relegation, from now manager Tony Pulis. It remains to be seen whether he'll be here come the first game of the season, but I hope he will be.
As for future stars, Dael Fry, already has played 2 championship campaigns for us and looks as assured as a veteran of the game. Another centre half produced by our academy and he is being played in cdm this pre-season by Pulis, to add to his versatility. Hopefully a standout season for him, especially if Gibson does end up leaving. Finally, yes, he does always look as confused as images of him show.
What happened last season?: Well, the first half of the season was tragic under Monk. We played really poor football at times and looked like we hadn't defended a day in our lives. There was also no consistency in the team, we'd win one game then lose the next. A key theme under both managers however, was our inability to beat those around us in the table. After Pulis' appointment the results picked up and it ended with us finishing 5th in the table. We ultimately lost in the playoff semi finals to Aston Villa but honestly, we didn't think we'd even be in the top half around Christmas.
Summer transfer business (so far): Just the three deals to talk about so far. We've acquired Paddy McNair from Sunderland who looks like a decent player. He's been utilised in right back and midfield during pre-season so it looks like they'll be his positions for the season. I imagine he'll play alongside Clayts and Howson in a midfield three.
Aden Flint was signed from Bristol City and I think I'm in the minority when I say I don't like how much we paid for him. Obviously the man is a Pulis player but I'm a bit unsure about his defensive ability. That being said he's looked strong during pre-season and I'm sure Pulis will get the best out of him. Fabio departed our club for Nantes so we'll need more full back cover.
As for the rest of the window, I expect Gibson to leave but will be delighted if he doesn't. One of our strikers will also leave and Braithwaite should follow after his decent World Cup performances. We'll probably bring in a striker and a winger and hopefully hold onto Adama. That'd be a successful window in my eyes.
Predicted starting XI: My best guess The only other guess I could make is that Gibson might leave and then Ayala would start, but he's injured at this point in time. Britt might play over Gestede too if Pulis is feeling fancy.
Best case scenario: It has to be top of the pile right? It's not out of the question to imagine us up there and if everything clicks then we've got a chance. A defence that scores more than some teams' strikers, Adama channelling his inner Messi and finding consistency, Rudy/Britt/Bamford scoring for fun. It could be carnage.
Worst case scenario: I can't see us finishing outside the playoffs, if we did then that would be gut-wrenching. But if we did then that would most certainly be the worst. Realistically, it'd be losing in the playoffs... again, and if it were in the final again then god help me. Although saying this, now losing Bamford and maybe Traore will be a worst case scenario in itself, definitely if they're not replaced.
Prediction: Have to be confident, although it always kills me. 1st or 2nd. Tony Pulis and his nice white trainers carry us to the promise land. That being said, we never do it the easy way.
Best Match of Last Season Sorry Leeds fans, but it had to be. "Hattrick Bamford" as our Twitter account tweeted, 3-0 against Leeds with Adama running the show. Leeds clearly found some positive from the game as they're set to sign him off us. This was the sign of what we should've done more last season. Showed what Paddy could've been too if given an even more extended period in Striker by himself. Oh well.
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Who even are our closest rivals in this league? We're in geographical purgatory. Can't say Sunderland anymore so what? Leeds? Bielsa either turns them into the well oiled machine they hope for or he succumbs to the old Leeds ways and is sacked by December. As for the Mackems, probably promoted from League 1.

Premier League Burnley v Watford. Burnley v Watford: Premier League betting preview, free tip & TV Hornets might sting struggling Clarets. Ismaila Sarr celebrates scoring for Watford. Getty Images. 1 of 1. By Henry Hardwicke 3:37PM, JUN 24 2020. Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Burnley v Watford in the Premier League on Thursday. ... Finally, it may be true that Watford recorded a win the last match-day, but fact remains that it was against the hugely off-performing, newly-added, Norwich. Taking this information under purview, expect Burnley to have a good game this weekend. Watford vs Burnley Betting Tips. Burnley +0.5, +1 Asian Handicap @ 1.50 (1/2) Watford vs Burnley betting tips: Premier League match preview and predictions By Ben Gray Published: November 21, 2019 12:26 pm Watford vs Burnley prediction: Watford 1-2 Burnley The match preview to the football match Burnley vs Watford in the England Premier League compares both teams and includes match predictions the latest matches of the teams, the match facts, head to head (h2h), goal statistics, table standings. 19 January 2019: Watford 0-0 Burnley (Premier League) 19 August 2018: Burnley 1-3 Watford (Premier League) 7 April 2018: Watford 1-2 Burnley (Premier League) 9 December 2017: Burnley 1-0 Watford ...

Burnley Vs Watford Opposition Preview

Alan McInally and Emma Jones preview this weekend's first Super Sunday clash between #Burnley and #Arsenal, a win for the hosts would see them leapfrog Mikel Arteta's side in the table. Sportsbook Review’s Natalie Rydstrom, Jamie James @JJisaWinner and tipster Nigel Seeley break down the Week 6 Premier League match Burnley vs Watford playing on Sunday 25th September 2016 and ... Alan McInally and Emma Jones preview the 14:00 Super Sunday game as #Burnley host #LeicesterCity at Turf Moor. Using research and input from the #FootyAccumulators followers, a 10/3 #YourOdds ... Alan McInally and Emma Jones preview the early Saturday kick-off as #Spurs travel to Nigel Pearson's in-form #Watford. Using research and input from the #FootyAccumulators followers, a 14/1 # ... Watford vs Burnley Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Preview Comment below with your score predictions for Watford vs Burnley and HIT LIKE & SUBSCRIBE if you want more football tips! Subscribe ...

Burnley vs Watford Betting Tips & Predictions Jun 25, 2020

r/TheOther14 Leeds United 2020/21 Season Preview:

[Translation] Which La Liga club fits each Premier League team?

Newcastle United & Athletic Club

Crystal Palace & Getafe

Liverpool & Real Madrid

Norwich & Valladolid

Bournemouth & Eibar

Burnley & Alaves

Sheffield United & Mallorca

Brighton & Levante

Leicester & Villarreal

Southampton & Leganés

Watford & Granada

Chelsea & Atletico Madrid

Tottenham & Sevilla

Manchester United & Valencia

Everton & Real Sociedad

Manchester City & Barcelona

West Ham & Espanyol

Wolves & Real Betis

Aston Villa & Celta de Vigo

Arsenal & Osasuna

Team Preview - Manchester United [Premier League 2019-20 - 15/20]

Manchester United

by CrebTheBerc

Last season

This season

Wrap Up

Links

Team Preview - Watford [Premier League 2019-20 - 10/20]

Watford

by TheJeck

Last season

This Season

Wrap Up

Links

Team Preview - West Ham [Premier League 2019-20 - 11/20]

West Ham United

by Sonofabilic

Last season

This Season

Wrap Up

Team Preview - Manchester City [Premier League 2019-20 - 20/20]

Manchester City

by ibpants

Last season

This Season

Wrap Up

Links

Team Preview - Newcastle United [Premier League 2019-20 - 8/20]

Newcastle United

by AjaxTreesdown

Last season

This Season

Wrap Up

Links

/r/Championship's Championship club by club season preview - part 1!

Part 2 here - Part 3 here - Part 4 here

Championship info, links and media

/Championship's 17/18 player of the season review

Swansea City by RafiakaMacakaDirk and my_knob_is_gr8

West Bromwich Albion by Joelwba

Stoke City by mrmariomaster

Aston Villa by trueschoolalumni

Middlesbrough by OneSmallHuman

Burnley Vs Watford Opposition Preview