Predictions!

[Mr Popodopolous]

4 minutes ago, chinapig said:

I predict that the club will say that whatever position we finish in was the target for the season.

I would like to see them come out and set some parameters tbh.

Tinnion said in March +10 points but it wasn't clear if he meant a year on year rise, or 10 points more than we had at the time of the interview or +10 points more than the previous season.

+10 points would get us pretty close to the playoffs minimum.

Edited July 29 by Mr Popodopolous

[Robbored]

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Interesting, maybe it could be our year.

Is it one of those intangible things? Is it the settled squad vs uncertainty elsewhere.

It’s just a gut feeling Mr Pop and I don’t those very often where City are concerned. I’d regret it if I didn’t act on it.

[Sleepy1968]

I'll be upset if we finish much below halfway, but unless we get extremely lucky (and we might) I see a ceiling of 10th, and not much chance of penetrating the top 6 after the table becomes meaningful (8 games).

[Mr Popodopolous]

21 minutes ago, Robbored said:

It’s just a gut feeling Mr Pop and I don’t those very often where City are concerned. I’d regret it if I didn’t act on it.

Maybe then Robbo. Maybe...if the stars align, the injuries are minimal and the officiating is fair to kind.

A repeat of last years 7 Penalties wouldn't go amiss.

[Ashtongreight]

Good defensively, can’t see where the goals will come from. Mid table again, think we’re weaker than last season 12-16th

[Red Army 75]

New season optimism, the same as every year. Just hope we see a team battling for the shirt and a bit more consistency.

Defensively I think we are ok. Midfield I think Bird and Yu will be great additions, also Williams signing a new contract is a big plus. And up front I will judge after 10 games. Nahki is giving me hope with his performances in pre season.

 So I will go for 10th

COYR

[ORANGE500]

5 hours ago, 38MC said:

I think it's going to be one of those frustrating seasons this year, and would place us anywhere from 15th - 20th right now, but I can see that we are building a bit of a bedrock with the signings that we have made to springboard in future seasons. 

I think our dogmatic pursuit of Twine - which I think will end in a failure to land him - will really let us down and the banishing of Conway to persona non grata could cause disharmony within the camp. Ultimately if we don't get off to a good start or if Armstrong (who hasn't really got a good goalscoring record, albeit I think is a very astute signing) or Fally (who looks a long way off the pace) don't start converting chances whilst Conway is languishing in the reserves or goes off elsewhere and starts scoring, I think some players will start wondering if their futures lie elsewhere. 

For me, the Technical Director has put all his eggs in a few baskets - promising youth and staring down player/agent power - and it might come back to bite him. As @Silvio Dante puts it, the first 10 games are absolutely critical for how the season ultimately pans out. 

 

[Ian M]

I think predictions of 10th to 14th are realistic for us. I do think personally that if we have a fair wind this season that we could challenge for the play-offs but that's dependent on various factors all falling in our favour such as new signings settling in, injuries not being horrendous, Manning continuing with the approach post Easter, or if he changes it, that new approach yielding similar results. None of those things would give me the confidence to predict with any degree of certainty that we would challenge but it wouldn't surprise me if we did.

[RedRock]

With strikers that are clinical then 5 or 6th, without 11th. 

So, it depends how much of Steve’s remaining nest egg he’s prepared to invest in an additional quality striker or, how good our coaching staff and recruitment team are on the assumption we are using our current strike force. My suspicion is Steve won’t cough up more funds and our strike force won’t deliver sufficient goals. Whether the Conway situation will change the situation with reinvestment, who knows. 

My surprise team for top 6 would be Stoke.  

[Dastardly and Muttley]

18th-22nd for me. We’re relying on new players who (Sinclair excepted) haven’t played in the Championship before to come in and get up to speed quickly. 
They’re replacing James and King, who had Champ and Prem know how, with Max Bird and Josh Stokes who clearly don’t.

It’s a big risk, and I understand the pools were fishing in, but with an unproven manager who hasn’t made his mark with a defined playing style yet, along with a slightly strange recruitment plan, this season has the hallmarks of one which could fall flat pretty quickly.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Just now, Dastardly and Muttley said:

18th-22nd for me. We’re relying on new players who (Sinclair excepted) haven’t played in the Championship before to come in and get up to speed quickly. 
They’re replacing James and King, who had Champ and Prem know how, with Max Bird and Josh Stokes who clearly don’t.

It’s a big risk, and I understand the pools were fishing in, but with an unproven manager who hasn’t made his mark with a defined playing style yet, along with a slightly strange recruitment plan, this season has the hallmarks of one which could fall flat pretty quickly.

18th-22nd? Wow and I thought I was pessimistic or glass half empty.

Bird I think will be fine, has decent Championship experience under his belt too. King was a bigger influence off the pitch, if Stokes is for the here and now..well that would be unusual.

[Alan Dicks]

We will finish higher than Oxford and lower than leeds

[ExiledAjax]

19 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Bird I think will be fine, has decent Championship experience under his belt too. King was a bigger influence off the pitch, if Stokes is for the here and now..well that would be unusual.

If Bird wasn't a defensive midfielder I think he'd be my dark horse for player of the season. DMs never get awards, I think they're less celebrated than CBs of goalies even. It him or Hirakawa for the most exciting signing for me.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

22 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

If Bird wasn't a defensive midfielder I think he'd be my dark horse for player of the season. DMs never get awards, I think they're less celebrated than CBs of goalies even. It him or Hirakawa for the most exciting signing for me.

Rodri?

[ExiledAjax]

23 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Rodri?

Didn't win Man City's player of the season award. He's had a couple of individual awards...but he's basically the best pound for pound all around footballer on the planet. Doesn't get anywhere near the praise that an equivalently talented striker would get.

Edited July 29 by ExiledAjax

[chinapig]

2 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Didn't even get Man City's player of the season award.

But was player of the tournament at the Euros.

[ExiledAjax]

10 minutes ago, chinapig said:

But was player of the tournament at the Euros.

When Max Bird wins that you call me.

Sorry @chinapig I'm being flippant. I didn't realise that saying DMs don't get enough praise would be controversial!

Fine. Max Bird is my outside prediction for player of the season. And I will love it if he gets it.

Edited July 29 by ExiledAjax

[REDOXO]

I expect to be challenging the top six.
 

Nothing else justifies anything that’s happened in the last year. 

[Dastardly and Muttley]

1 hour ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

18th-22nd? Wow and I thought I was pessimistic or glass half empty.

Bird I think will be fine, has decent Championship experience under his belt too. King was a bigger influence off the pitch, if Stokes is for the here and now..well that would be unusual.

I just look at the predicted first 11s that people have started to create and don’t see a team that will challenge, let alone the squad depth. I think we lack a clear plan and are relying too much on some players who haven’t been at this level, or even in this country in some cases. They’ll take time to acclimatise and I don’t think we have that time. A slow start, which is the easiest part of the season, and Manning will be under big pressure as he has such little credit in the bank.

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

Right now I'd hedge we're going to struggle 18th.  

[Mr Popodopolous]

4 minutes ago, Dastardly and Muttley said:

I just look at the predicted first 11s that people have started to create and don’t see a team that will challenge, let alone the squad depth. I think we lack a clear plan and are relying too much on some players who haven’t been at this level, or even in this country in some cases. They’ll take time to acclimatise and I don’t think we have that time. A slow start, which is the easiest part of the season, and Manning will be under big pressure as he has such little credit in the bank.

I agree on the acclimatisation risk for some, such a key position too ie striker. It could be that we see high energy play, defensively steady and decent technically..but little end product. Not fair on young players and new players but then you have major pressure given the first 10 say vs the next 10.

We need a reasonable start for all of the reasons you state. Not just Manning either but even more so those above (IMO anyway).

Edited July 29 by Mr Popodopolous

[Wanderingred]

Some of these top six and relegation battle predictions are daft. I can’t see how we’ll be much different from last season. Our defense looks solid enough, might struggle a bit for goals without Conway… the new signings are a gamble in some way, but it’s not as if we’ll be relying on them to bail us out. There’s enough there already to fall back on if they don’t work out.

Edited July 29 by Wanderingred

[pillred]

58 minutes ago, Wanderingred said:

Some of these top six and relegation battle predictions are daft. I can’t see how we’ll be much different from last season. Our defense looks solid enough, might struggle a bit for goals without Conway… the new signings are a gamble in some way, but it’s not as if we’ll be relying on them to bail us out. There’s enough there already to fall back on if they don’t work out.

I wouldn't be that surprised if we were typical City and missed the playoffs on goal difference.

[Mr Popodopolous]

1 hour ago, Wanderingred said:

Some of these top six and relegation battle predictions are daft. I can’t see how we’ll be much different from last season. Our defense looks solid enough, might struggle a bit for goals without Conway… the new signings are a gamble in some way, but it’s not as if we’ll be relying on them to bail us out. There’s enough there already to fall back on if they don’t work out.

Not saying I disagree with a lot of your post but supposing Armstrong and Fally take time to settle, do we then have a scenario whereby we struggle for goals.

Adjusted for penalties we were joint 18th for Goals Scored in the League for last season.

Perhaps more creativity and midfield will help compensate. Dickie pops up with a few goals as well but we shall see.

[robin_unreliant]

I think we will struggle for goals again. 15-19th.

[Baldyman]

Maybe I’m just a glass half full type of person but I don’t agree with the pessimism on here for the coming season . Our already strong back line will be boosted by the return of Atkinson and hopefully with the arrival of Max Bird our midfield won’t feel the loss of James too sharply . Yes , Fally will take time to settle but Armstrong already looks to have hit the ground running . If we play Knight in the right position with Bird central , I’m sure we’ll be more creative going forward too . I’m optimistic of a top ten and don’t see us down in 18th or worse . 

[Lew-T]

Top 2 is out of the question. Top 6 is unlikely, but you never know I guess, flukes do happen. We look to be marginally stronger in terms of depth and the likes of Atkinson coming back from injury. 

So, as of right now, I think we will marginally do better than last seasons finish…

10th

[City oz]

We should be stronger this coming season. Just outside the top six is my prediction.

[Charlie BCFC]

22 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

Do you think Armstrong and Mayulu are better than Twine and Conway? I don't, hence weaker going forward

I don’t think Twine should be used as a direct comparison, I think we’ll get a 10 Twine or not. In regards to strikers, if you discount penalties (not saying that’s not an important part but Conway was a penalty taker whereas Armstrong wasn’t) Armstrong has a better minutes per goal. Maylulu also got double figures last season, and we know Wells can still contribute for the short term atleast. 

[Red-Robbo]

4 hours ago, Lew-T said:

Top 2 is out of the question. Top 6 is unlikely, but you never know I guess, flukes do happen. We look to be marginally stronger in terms of depth and the likes of Atkinson coming back from injury. 

So, as of right now, I think we will marginally do better than last seasons finish…

10th

Not a bad call. 

I'm going more optimistic than some but agree top half is perfectly achievable but top 6 seems unlikely. 

Midway between 7 and 12 is 9th or 10th but seeing as you've nabbed 10th I'll go 9th. 

[Topper 123]

Well I’m going for missing automatic by 2 points and finishing 3rd 

[Grey Fox]

Wanting to be positive, I think 8th to 10th, but very much depends on if our new forwards can fulfil their promise, should they do so , top six is not impossible , if not lower mid table.

[Mr Popodopolous]

I should ask anyway. Less so predictions more hopes and expectations.

How many points from the first 10-12

Or even 14-15 games?

Last year we had..

*10 Games- 15 Points

12 Games- 18 Points

14 Games- 18 Points

15 Games- 21 Points

Matchday 8 to 14 but maybe 10 or 12 to 14 saw the injury issues take off  a bit and we were still post Scott plus no McCrorie- TGH to cover the pair in a sense.

We still had 7 out by Matchday 15 and one was on the bench in Naismith.

Edited July 31 by Mr Popodopolous

[LondonBristolian]

Personally I don’t see any reason to expect or accept any form of regression from last season. We finished 11th on 62 points and I think any lower than 12th and any less than 60 points has to be seen as unsatisfactory.

My expectation is we will do similarly to last year but not significantly improve on it.

[Mr Popodopolous]

That sounds about right to me.

Transfer activity can still change it again but I tend to agree. Maybe 10th, maybe another win. Top half at worst has to be the goal, ie no lower than 12th.

[FNQ]

I know we’ll win some that we’re not expected to win and lose some that we’re expected not to lose… But looking at the list of teams there are only half a dozen that I would expect us to finish above. 
 

18th. (Hope I’m way off the mark)

[ExiledAjax]

On 29/07/2024 at 14:43, And Its Smith said:

Very hard to see Oxford staying up for sure.  I’m thinking NTT will go big on Norwich and us. Maybe not top 6 for us but certainly top 8

NTT20 predictions are out on Sunday.

[Capman]

I will make one prediction. The claims of the board that we are aiming for the premier league will be shown to be laughable by Christmas and they will be starting to look around for the next scapegoat to blame for that failure.

[Barrs Court Red]

I don’t think above 10th is unrealistic as post Easter the trajectory was generally upward. Coupled with new signings that could make a positive impact I think we’ll do ok.  
 

“Could” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here though.  

[temp]

City = Mediocrity, its why our best players always want to leave; many fans live in hope it will change but it never does...sorry.

Look at the players that have left and moved on, we are still here, get used to it....no change

The latest looks like Conway to Boro/Burnley really, give him the money and stop ripping the squad apart every season ffs, rebuilding ffs not working

Edited August 1 by temp

[KegCity]

We should be finishing in the top 10. Not got any weaker as a squad although I'm not sure we've got much stronger either so expect the same as last season.

If we don't get a creative midfielder through the door I'd expect us finishing more like 14th.

[Barrs Court Red]

I think some of you are forgetting that we “play to win”. That’s clearly another couple of places gained. 
 

Checkmate other Championship clubs. 

[Son of Fred]

On 30/07/2024 at 07:54, robin_unreliant said:

I think we will struggle for goals again. 15-19th.

Totally agree about the goals...... 14-17th  -  with a possible manager change before Christmas.

[RUSSEL85]

Well I already know where we will finish and I don’t need to give you a specific position in the table.  One place below Preston 

[jj77]

I predict that at some stage we will be around 7/8 and need to win to get into the play off places. All the teams around City will lose and City will lose as well.

[GrahamC]

On 30/07/2024 at 00:22, Wanderingred said:

Some of these top six and relegation battle predictions are daft. I can’t see how we’ll be much different from last season. Our defense looks solid enough, might struggle a bit for goals without Conway… the new signings are a gamble in some way, but it’s not as if we’ll be relying on them to bail us out. There’s enough there already to fall back on if they don’t work out.

Exactly how I see it.

We have gone for potential in Mayulu & Hirakawa rather than proven players & Armstrong arrives with no goalscoring record at all, though his physicality he might well provide chances for others.

However the return from injury of Atkinson, Naismith & Bell gives us more squad depth & Bird looks to be a solid replacement for James.

I honestly can’t see us troubling the top six but we might improve on last season’s 11th by a place or two.

[supercidered]

Reading most of these predictions it looks like its going to be a very exciting and interesting season ahead!

(the above doesn't come across as sarcasm).

[Nogbad the Bad]

2 hours ago, temp said:

City = Mediocrity, its why our best players always want to leave; many fans live in hope it will change but it never does...sorry.

Look at the players that have left and moved on, we are still here, get used to it....no change

The latest looks like Conway to Boro/Burnley really, give him the money and stop ripping the squad apart every season ffs, rebuilding ffs not working

As I understand it they did 'give him the money', or at least in the end offer him a deal that would have put him up with our highest earners.

He and his agent wouldn't consider it so it's fairly clear their minds were made up that the grass would still be greener elsewhere, and he was never going to sign.

City ended up over paying Vyner imo if reports of his wage are anywhere near correct, and I'm quite content we haven't ended up doing similar for '10 goal Conway.'

[Swede]

With front foot hard running all action football with our new forwards and more mobile midfield It has to be a positive top ten and at least pushing for top six. Twine will be the new "magic daps" to unlock teams if we can get him through the door.

I predict a big year for Sam Bell who has gone under the radar with his injury recovery and the TC saga.

[Swede]

Oh good, my medication has arrived at last.

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, temp said:

City = Mediocrity, its why our best players always want to leave; many fans live in hope it will change but it never does...sorry.

Look at the players that have left and moved on, we are still here, get used to it....no change

The latest looks like Conway to Boro/Burnley really, give him the money and stop ripping the squad apart every season ffs, rebuilding ffs not working

I’m currently drafting my article for QPR’s Loft For Words website.  I’m struggling to not feel a sense of deja vu.

[Sir Geoff]

2 hours ago, temp said:

City = Mediocrity, its why our best players always want to leave; many fans live in hope it will change but it never does...sorry.

Look at the players that have left and moved on, we are still here, get used to it....no change

The latest looks like Conway to Boro/Burnley really, give him the money and stop ripping the squad apart every season ffs, rebuilding ffs not working

Totally with you there. We should be building our team around Conway and to a lesser extent Bell, rather than flogging them at the first opportunity.

Wasn't it Tinnions dream to have Conway and Bell as our front 2 for years to come ?

[Nogbad the Bad]

7 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Totally with you there. We should be building our team around Conway and to a lesser extent Bell, rather than flogging them at the first opportunity.

Wasn't it Tinnions dream to have Conway and Bell as our front 2 for years to come ?

Conway has declined to sign a new contract and it is him insisting on leaving City at the first opportunity.

 

[Offside]

The return of injured players gives the squad more depth, but it still seems mid-table in terms of quality. The most I’m realistically hoping for is a play-off push, but I’m expecting 10th-12th. 

[temp]

6 hours ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

Conway has declined to sign a new contract and it is him insisting on leaving City at the first opportunity.

 

Why would that be? lack of ambition and belief in paying him and others a bit more on our side; our best players are leaving and always have done due to our lack of ambtion....build knock it down, build knock it down.

Here we go again search around for some bargains keep them for a bit then sell off and repeat its what we do. But it does nothing for us and gets us no-where except back to the rebuild AGAIN.

[temp]

7 hours ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

As I understand it they did 'give him the money', or at least in the end offer him a deal that would have put him up with our highest earners.

He and his agent wouldn't consider it so it's fairly clear their minds were made up that the grass would still be greener elsewhere, and he was never going to sign.

City ended up over paying Vyner imo if reports of his wage are anywhere near correct, and I'm quite content we haven't ended up doing similar for '10 goal Conway.'

Seems like the "grass is greener" for many of our past best players, why is that? we have and will always lack ambition while Lansdowns rule are we forever to be suppliers to the likes of Bournemouth/Brighton/Burnley jeez we have come a long way.....not

[ExiledAjax]

13th they reckon, sandwiched between Swansea in 14th and Hull in 12th.

The bit on us starts at 40mins.

 

 

[RUSSEL85]

6 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

13th they reckon, sandwiched between Swansea in 14th and Hull in 12th.

The bit on us starts at 40mins.

 

 

Hard to disagree with much of that.

[Sir Geoff]

Held my powder dry so far but if we play Manningball like we did between December and March and fail to score many goals, I predict a relegation scrap.

[Son of Fred]

8 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Held my powder dry so far but if we play Manningball like we did between December and March and fail to score many goals, I predict a relegation scrap.

And from what I witnessed yesterday Manning is determined to do so......we'll see how close he gets himself to the door this time before he changes tack!

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Son of Fred said:

And from what I witnessed yesterday Manning is determined to do so......we'll see how close he gets himself to the door this time before he changes tack!

He’s signed two that allow him to change tack, if / when the time comes.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Benjamin Bloom Championship Podcast Prediction is out.

[EFL View]

Here are my predictions! Let me know what you think

1st-12th

13th-24th

[ExiledAjax]

30 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Benjamin Bloom Championship Podcast Prediction is out.

7th...based on "nothing more than a hunch". 

[mozo]

3 minutes ago, EFL View said:

Here are my predictions! Let me know what you think

1st-12th

13th-24th

Pretty decent to be fair

[Mr Popodopolous]

21 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

7th...based on "nothing more than a hunch". 

Yeah I wouldn't go for 7th either.

10th, 11th perhaps.

[Silvio Dante]

4 hours ago, Sir Geoff said:

Held my powder dry so far but if we play Manningball like we did between December and March and fail to score many goals, I predict a relegation scrap.

Again, I’m back to my first twelve games point. 
 

What was worrying yesterday was the trying four - four - options in the number 10 role. I think that says Liam has a clear idea of how he wants to play but doesn’t have the personnel to play it. And no, Scott Twine is not the answer, however determined we are to make him. 
 

One of the things I both admire and frustrates me about Liam is that he’s very resolute in how he wants to play. The period from Leicester onwards was kind of anti Manningball v1. But his issue last season was coming into a club and imposing a way of playing that we didn’t have the personnel to do so. The sign is from yesterday that he may not have learnt from that.

I worry that whoever comes in - whether it’s Twine or someone else - will need adaptation time and we’ll eat a lot of a favourable start up trying to square peg in round holes. We should have enough defensively to see us through, but make no mistake, another period of Manningball V1 - which I worry we’re setting up to do - and the same level of entertainment and results sees him gone at the end of that 12 game block.

[Davefevs]

11 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

whether it’s Twine or someone else

I’m not even convinced he’s the player / it’s the player type we need.

[Silvio Dante]

Just now, Davefevs said:

I’m not even convinced he’s the player / it’s the player type we need.

Me neither!

[ExiledAjax]

29 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Yeah I wouldn't go for 7th either.

10th, 11th perhaps.

Yeh. I think 7th is the highest media/official prediction I've seen, and I think @NTT20Pod's 13th is the lowest.

What is clear is that from the outside looking in we're seen, once again, as being comfortably safe from relegation, but unlikely to seriously threaten the top 6.

Ps. Can we start predicting the result v Hull? I reckon a 0-0 or 1-1 is on the cards and there will be a load of misery on here in the aftermath.