Pre-season perspectives

[.h.]

I really like getting people's opinions pre-season - its so easy for people after the season to be all high and righteous and "I told you so"

What's everyone's view for the season ahead? This is separate to the "money where your mouth is" thread which is more about specific predictions

1. Based on what we see atm, Napoli will still be a strong team next year
2. Milan have a huge amount of risk, they could be a lot better, or a lot worse. So many unknowns. I'd say based on ignorant perception, many of those signings won't be great, though
3. Juventus have an awful lot of work to do before they can really start re-building the team, in terms of people to offload. I think they'll struggle this season
4. Lazio obviously have finally lost SMS, and without extensive funds available, I think they'll be worse off next season
5. I'm worried about us in the sense that we're very midfield heavy, I expect us to sign a good striker, but we've got a real weakness in defense right now. If Darmian or Acerbi take a dip in form, we're gonna really really struggle unless we think we can recover De Vrij for some reason.
6. Roma I think will struggle again

Overall, I HOPE we're relatively stronger to the competition than we were last year - team sheet may be worse, but Lukaku, Skriniar, Brozovic, etc, all missed significant chunks of last season anyway so in practice it might not be 'as bad'.


What else do people think/expect? How will Atalanta do with all their Hojlund money?

 

[wera]

Maybe we surprise everybody with another CB, maybe Carlos Augusto, maybe Pavard, maybe Scalvini, ... yet still I think our defence is clearly the worst part of our team and we will concede even more than last season. No matter who the primary goalkeeper is.

I agree with your assessment on all points, it's us and Napoli for Scudetto, Milan could also be there, but we have to see how all these young players play together. I'm not optimistic about them atm. Juve doesn't look good. Even if Lukaku comes.

 

[wera]

Oh, and Lazio will get rekt in CL. I'm sure.

 

[varmin]

I'd say that Jube are the main competition for Napoli this season. They have a one game per week, most probably will get Lukaku as well. He will guarantee them enough goals against midtable and bottom teams, and with Allegri ugly tactics, they will win every other game 1-0.
If Napoli keep their squad, they are favorites for me, with Milan teams fighting for 3rd and 4th spots.

 

[junkie]

Napoli and Juve, for now even Milan is ahead, last two years they just didn't click, this year they made some good moves, it's just question of settling, and they can't always have bad luck, that's reserved for us, the rest will be decided after mercato is over

we can be up there but with this stage of completing our squad we are just not there yet

 

[Gal]

We are a favourite for the 4’th spot, we lost a very important piece in our set up in Onana, we lost our warrior in the middle and our usual captain at the back in just one market, that’s just a massive blow.

Most of those coming in are talented but very inexperienced development players, with all that comes with that package. On top we have some very serious question marks regarding GK and width of out squad on defence and attack.

Scamacca look to be forth man In attack and he will at least need 6 month to regain form and performance. with 6 month out he will be very rusty on top of an already rusty Correa, meaning we better hope Martinez find some consistency this term and that Thuram step up to the plate or we are in for some serious challenges.

We replaced world class Skriniar with an unproven german player no one ever heard off, unless you watched the low level Danish league. And on top it look fragile and thin in the an aging back line. This in front of just a third choice GK in place. Sommer isn’t given all that much reassurance at the back either if he comes.

Midfield look very talented and competent given time, but will need loads of time to gel.

So forth place, perhaps third place is really a realistic target.

Napoli is probably still favourite with Milan and Juventus as outsiders, however with the new Napoli coach that can quickly turn out not to be the case. The title is cheap for sale this season. But Inter are currently in no position to challenge for it, things would definitely need to go our way and we would need to massively improve and not throw stupid games on the floor like last season, but with so many new young and experienced players I just don’t see it.

 

[.h.]

for what its wroth, im loving people putting down their opinions & would love to see more people put them down. Its easy to say 'i told you so' after the season, i'd rather see people actually make their forecasts

 

[varmin]

for what its wroth, im loving people putting down their opinions & would love to see more people put them down. Its easy to say 'i told you so' after the season, i'd rather see people actually make their forecasts

Yeah, but the mercato isn't over yet, so some of those predictions so far, could go really wrong. But at this moment I'd stick to Napoli, Jube, Inter and Milan for top 4 positions.

 

[wera]

If Juve doesn't get their shit together, I can see Roma being top4, but it all depends on the mercato.

 

[dax21]

Difficult to make any outlandish claims as of now. I think we are overall weaker than last season which in itself shouldn't be a deciding factor as much as the state of our rivals.

Lazio lost a great player but they now have Sarri who managed to implement his system and I expect them to overall come out improved.
Milan have objectively improved but Pioli can't deliver another scudetto, this is more of a gut feeling than opinion reinforced with some expert analysis.
We have to see the new Napoli in practice but even if we give them a small benefit of doubt they are still the title defenders and as such the main title contenders.
Roma is making subtle moves under the radar, they could suprise us all and we shouldn't underestimate them.
Atalanta are a non factor, they won't make top 4 anyway.
If Juventus get Lukaku I could see them getting streaky with those 1:0 Allegri specials against weaker teams for sure, but I wouldn't worry about them in big games, especially agianst us. If his transfer indeed happens, derby d'italia immediately becomes what I look forward to the most this season. Our curva will eat him alive and he will mentally crumble.

If it wasn't for Juve I'd say that we have deteriorated the most of all the squads, I'm being objective and not "woe is me" pessimistic. We have a lot of ground to cover and very little time to do so. Without Onana, Skriniar, Brozo and with arguably inferior attack (Thuram won't score as much as Lukaku, we are still stuck with Correa and Lautaro is going to Lautaro a lot), we are weaker in defense and attack with arguably reinforced midfield. I wouldn't want to be in Inzaghi's shoes right now, he is given a shit soup and told to make a sandwich out of it. I wouldn't be suprised if we have a very weak season start just like last year except this time it won't be a matter of poor tactics but individual players finding their gear and fitting into the team.

 

[.h.]

Yeah, but the mercato isn't over yet, so some of those predictions so far, could go really wrong. But at this moment I'd stick to Napoli, Jube, Inter and Milan for top 4 positions.

Yeah, of course things will change, but its interesting to see people's thoughts and opinions in one place ahead of the season.

 

[.h.]

Anyone else wanna add some preseason perspectives?

 

[IM21]

I think we will have the same problems as last year, perhaps be even worse on defense and we will struggle even more at scoring, as Thuram and Correa are not classic strikers. I am hoping for our midfielders to score more goals and help us out with that problem... i also hope Inzaghi doesnt wait too long to play Frattesi from the start if Mkhitaryan plays bad... anyway, it will be a fight for the top 4, where i see Juve as clear favorites, Milan second and then Lazio, Roma and us fight for those 2 spots. Napoli to me looks like it will fall off.

 

[Wobblz]

- Napoli lost Spalletti. I don't think they would be able to reproduce last season with him, let alone without him. They've also lost Kim.
- Juve still have a pretty great team, on paper, plus Allegri is Allegri. Without European football I think they'll be top 3, easily. Let's see if they get Lukaku. I don't think they'll actually win it but they'll make everyone's life difficult, as usual.
- Milan, yes, have made a lot of risky moves but Pioli and the management have a clear path and a style of play in mind. I think Musah is a good replacement for Tonali, although they're not like-for-like; they've significantly diversified their attack, and they've kept their defence intact. Strong contenders this year, if you ask me. We all know Pioli can work wonders with far less talented players, and those guys are young, athletic and hungry.
- Atalanta haven't really "lost" with selling Højlund, yet they've replaced him with two decent strikers and made some other moves.
- Lazio lost SMS... I don't think they can replicate last years performances either.
- Roma are... Roma. Mourinho or not I don't think they can compete for top 4.
- Last but not least. We've replaced Lukaku with Arnautovic. Lost Skriniar for free. Replaced Onana with Bayern's backup keeper. And upgraded in midfield and on the wings. Probably the best midfield in Italy but I don't see it being enough for anything substantial. Another good run in the Coppa and an early elimination in CL, if we don't get super lucky again. We have A LOT of new players to gel so we'll start super slow, similar to last season. By the winter break it'll be far too late to compete for the title.

So... based on that:
1. Milan
2. Napoli
3. Juve
4. Inter
5. Atalanta
6. Lazio
7. Roma
8. Fiorentina
9. Monza
10. Sassuolo

 

[varmin]

Sassuolo are not good with their present coach. I think they will be out of top 10, but I expect either Toro or Bologna to make it there. Top 4 will be the same for me, maybe with different positions only. I'd put Lazio as a dark horse in top 4 fight.

 

[brightbackground]

Our season depends on way too many 'ifs' at the moment.

-If Lautaro can finally stop his 2-month blackouts;
-If Thuram can learn to shoot on target (and hopefully score);
-If Sanchez and Arnautovic remain healthy and not boiled;
-If Asllani can step up to the role of vice-Calha (and for that matter, if Calha can step up to the role of Brozo);
-If Frattesi isn't a Gagliardini regen;
-If Sensi can make a miraculous recovery;
-If Mkhitaryan remains healthy;
-If Dimarco can learn to defend and last 90 minutes (otherwise, if Carlos Augusto is actually good and not just a one-season wonder);
-If Dumfries can replicate his form from 2 years ago and not last year;
-If Cuntdrado isn't completely boiled;
-If Acerbi and De Vrij remain healthy and not boiled;
-If Darmian remains healthy;
-If whatever 35-year-old cadaver we replace Skriniar with goes the way of Acerbi and not Kolarov;
-If Sommer isn't completely boiled;

If all of those 'ifs' are true, or even most of them, we can have a relatively stress-free season, but I have serious doubts.

 

[varmin]

If we get Pavard at the end, I can put us as a one of the 3 teams favorites for the scudetto.
It's a fact that we downgraded in goalkeeper position, but this is mostly related to our matches against top tier teams. We saw against Monza, that footwork is not so important against small clubs, and as a shot stopper Sommer is not so far away from Onana. I want to add that last season we were awful against top opponents in Italian the first half regardless.
The defense with Pavard will be more or less same as the last season, so there won't be so huge difference imo. If we don't get another defender, we'll have problems.s
Wingbacks - huge improvement. Cuntdrado and Augusto are much better than Bellanova and Gosens.
In the midfield we lost Brozo, but Hakan was great as his replacement and with Frattesi we'll have finally very solid 4th option, not fuckin 5G. Sensi also could be useful if he stays fit.
In attack we look weaker on paper, but I think we could be better. Thuram doesn't need too much to match last year Lukaku, and I don't mean only goals but overall contribution. Same applies for Arnautivic and Dzeko. Sanchez is clear upgrade over Correa.
In conclusion, our starting 11 seems a bit weaker than the last season, but our bench is significantly improved. Against Monza we put 4 players in, and the quality immediately had been improved. The good bench also means more pressure to starters to keep high standards, because they are no more irreplaceable.