Changing of the Guard, or normality to return

Will next season revert from this crazy, topsy turvy, (with Leicester taking the title and past champions finishing mid table), kind of season to one where the usual suspects take up the top five positions. Do this year's results demonstrate a power shift, or a one-off "blip". Personally I hope it's not a blip, and new teams will win over the next few seasons. What do you think (naturally apart from West Ham winning the next three League Titles) ;whistle

Comments

  • Hey Epsom. It's a tough one to call. The sensible bet would be to say normality will resume but there are now maybe 8 sides who, depending who they sign in the summer, could really push on and challenge.

    Now, those 8 for me are the top 8 but swap Chelsea for Leicester. I know they proved everyone wrong this season, but they've had virtually no injuries. They surely can't get away with that again?

    In addition to those 8, I think Everton and Stoke have a good platform to build on, but have more work to do than say Liverpool, So'ton and us.
  • Let's see who the managers are... if he's a has-been Italian the team will have no chance; if he's a World-Class Dutch guy, it's top four... oh wait ;hmm
  • Looks like a good year for Southampton then. ;biggrin
  • edited May 2016
    Most years, I'd still expect one of the big spenders to be the Champions, but I think that it will move from a top 4/5 to a top 8 or possibly 9, in which there will be a bit more rotation in terms of who end up in 4th-8th.

    The top spenders can still afford to pay crazy money to get the best players (and not always then - £50m+ for Sterling?), but the 2nd rank clubs now have plenty of money with which to buy and pay the very good 2nd rank players.

    In previous seasons, you would have expected the vultures to swoop on Leicester and pick their bones clean of decent players, but now why would they go, for not a lot more money, and the odds of not getting regular football?

    Similarly with us and Payet: could we have kept a player like that even a couple of years ago? Now we're talking about adding to the squad, and improving it further.
  • Somewhere in between maybe. Pep knows how to win with expensive teams, so Man City might cruise. Chelsea might recover from the mess Mourinho left behind.

    But I think FFP is also starting to even out the league. The big clubs can't buy in as many players as they used to while increasing TV revenues means clubs like ours can buy players like Payet and still have money for a few more.
  • I think it will take a while for Chelsea to recover from this season. Antonio Conte has a great deal of dead wood to get rid of so I can't see them challenging for a champions league spot next season. ;pray

    Citeh should have walked easily to the top spot this season and how Pep deals with such under achieving remains to be seen. The ELP is unlike any other league - just ask vanFryingPanFace - and care's not for reputation.

    I think there has been a small shift in what is possible and hope that it continues. I agree with Grey that this may well help 'smaller' clubs to hold on to their players better.
  • Dunno Suze, Chelsea's record under Hiddink has been pretty good, I don't think it will take much of a turn around if he gets players like Hazard performing again (assuming those players don't leave).
  • Which is why I added the ;pray
  • Suz ;ok

    I think it won't be as open as this season (with Chelsea not competing at all) but as Grey says, might start to transform into a top 8 or something like that.

    Don't see Leicester doing so well with added European responsibilities while we have to prove we can make this season's form something permanent.
  • ;thumbsup
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