Predictions for 2021-22 Season

[Edmonton Saint]

So how do we think Saints are going to get on this season. I have to admit I am very worried this season. I think we are potentially worse than last season and we struggled mightily, if we get a couple of injuries then our threadbare squad will be thrown to the wolves. 

 

So my prediction, Unless we can add 2 or 3 quality signings before the end of the window and based on the current squad

 

18th.

[Chapel End]

10th to 14th

[S-Clarke]

As it stands, despite all the bluster from the end of last season in terms of how we need to be stronger, we'll have a much deeper squad etc, we look likely to start the season even weaker than we ended last. Which is crazy really when you think about it. 

I think we were relying on an Ings or Vestergaard deal early on to give us the money we needed to move early, but it dragged on a bit. Still think we want Vestergaard to go in order to give us some more cash too.

I think we'll add maybe 2 players to potentially bring us up to where we were last season squad wise - but I'm not seeing the promise of 'a much bigger squad', if we're talking about Moussa as a LB option then things have gone wrong.

It's hard to be sure at the moment as so much is up in the air, but if the scouting is top notch and we are able to invest some money then we may be ok and be looking upwards towards Top 10 - but if we fail to reinvest or reinvest the Ings money badly then I think it's curtains and it probably won't even be close.

Edited 7 August, 2021 by S-Clarke

[SNSUN]

Will be tougher this season. First XI is still decent enough (Forster, KWP, Vestergaard/Bednarek, Salisu, Perraud, JWP, Romeu, Armstrong, Redmond, Tella, Adams) to survive but we definitely need reinforcements and fast.

 

Definitely, more than anything, we need a striker this week, although effectively we need to improve the entire spine of the team.

 

We are in that bracket that will be fighting for survival as it stands. It will be nervy but it can be done. 14th-17th. Anything better will be amazing.

 

IMO one of the promoted sides will survive (Brentford I suspect) which means one of the established Prem teams will slip. It could be is but my money is on Burnley.

[SKD]

34 minutes ago, Chapel End said:

10th to 14th

Lol.

[Chapel End]

1 minute ago, SKD said:

Lol.

Obsessed 

[SKD]

A long season where we can’t score and can’t stop others scoring. 

Rock bottom for me. 

Newcastle (18th) and Norwich (19th) to come down with us. 

Ralph to be gone within 15 games. Probably another very heavy defeat to one of the big boys. 

[angelman]

17-20

[Chapel End]

Just now, SKD said:

A long season where we can’t score and can’t stop others scoring. 

Rock bottom for me. 

Newcastle (18th) and Norwich (19th) to come down with us. 

Ralph to be gone within 15 games. Probably another very heavy defeat to one of the big boys. 

Lol.

Is that prediction or a wish?

[SKD]

Just now, Chapel End said:

Lol.

Is that prediction or a wish?

Wager for charity on who’s prediction is closer? You decide how much. 10th place 😂😂😂

[bazza]

Unless we bag a 10-15 goal forward this month I reckon this is the year we go down unfortunately. 19th is my prediction. 

[It's There]

Key, as we know, is a striker who can score plus some good luck re injuries. Without a decent striker- relegation (20th). With someone 10-15 goals-  13th

[saint1977]

18th or worse unless the striker and CM recruitment goes exceptionally well. It’s very hard to reverse momentum that bad from second half of last season without huge surgery to the squad. The new striker is going to need time to settle in which Ralph doesn’t have with the tough opening fixtures. A new manager - as I don’t think he will survive another tonking like Man U or Leicester - may be in place as early as October.

I think Ralph has been a bit shafted on the transfer front but the team cannot play as open as they are. The Championship centre backs and keeper hopefully will be protected better by Romeu staying fit. It’s possible that one or two teams will be even worse and Saints stay up with a couple of upset results against the top 6 somewhere if they are tired after a tougher European fixture where they sustain injuries. 

Uninspiring either way and not the point of moving from the Dell to SMS. Maybe relegation is the only way to be rid of Gao so the penny drops that a relegated asset has no value.

[Daft Kerplunk]

I’d take 17th if offered it today

[Roo1976]

12th if we get sorted at the back and grow some balls to stop caving in so easily.   Will we loose 9-0 is a worry?............who'd have thought it would happen 2 seasons in a row?

[DT]

Relegated

[Micky]

We were in freefall at the end of last season, we've lost two main men in Bertrand and Ings, so ultimately start weaker than last season.  Unless some serious signings happen - we'll struggle, plain and simple.

[SFC Forever]

I think we will get a couple of useful players in.

 

12th to 14th

[Teddeer]

Whichever way you cut it, it looks like being a tough season for us and we will probably be scrapping to stay in the top flight from the first game to the last. I don't see many weaker squads than ours especially with Ings gone. Our main hope lies in the 3 new comers struggling along with Burnley and Palace so or me it's 3 from 6 with us right in the mix.

Edited 7 August, 2021 by Teddeer

[LGTL]

I think we’ll go down. I also think RH won’t be here after 10-15 games. 
 

Once again, it’s a case of hope and pray for 3 teams worse then us. 

[Convict Colony]

[croydonsaint]

As we stand we will be relegated…… not enough goals in this team and can see us leaking goals

I would say we need at least 4 new players in…… at least to be able to compete… imo

[vectraman]

17th.

Watford, Newcastle and Norwich just slightly more shit than we are. 
 

We struggle to stop conceding goals, teams know we want to play out from the back and simply pressure us into giving them the ball in and around our penalty area.
 

Neither of our keepers are comfortable on the ball, we keep giving soft self inflicted goals away.

Our central defenders still can’t read the game (why would they, they are the same as last season).

I am regularly told off for uttering my usual Saints watching phrase “ffs stop pissing about at the back with it”.

[Saint Matty 76]

I think we like to forget how poor the teams around us also are. Watford/Norwich/Brentford have done borderline nothing and Burnley/Newcastle haven’t either. Brighton are weaker after finishing below us and Palace have a monster rebuild going on, despite looking to have done well so far.

I think we’ll finish between 12th-15th, depending on us bringing in a good striker before the month closes out.

Going to go with 14th.

[Pamplemousse]

I don't think we'll go down. There are worse teams than us in this division, and we have a better manager as well. 11th-15th is a reasonable prediction.

 

It'll be three from Burnley, Newcastle, Palace, Watford, Norwich, Brighton and Brentford.

Edited 7 August, 2021 by Pamplemousse

[Golac's Iron Gonads]

Relegation with Adams, Armstrong, Walker-Peters and Tella all showing enough to ensure they get summer transfers to remain top league players

[Dusic]

This current team will be relegated because allied to being poor defensively there just aren't enough goalscorers.

There are also too many players who seem like they will play a part despite the Manager having already and rightly IMO written them off as PL players: Long, Obafemi, Valery and Elyounoussi. When he said we would have a deeper squad I never imagined it meant these players.

As ever, we havent (yet) done enough in the transfer market to improve our team. 

The only positice is we must have a bit of cash and there are still three weeks to go.

I don't think it is overly dramatic to say the next three weeks will largely define if we can stay up or not as without a good goalscorer we don't stand a chance sadly because we know we will concede a lot still.

[obelisk]

Still looking bereft of ideas and slow in the attacking third while the midfield and defence always have a mistake waiting to happen. Livramento looks a good buy and made an instant impact today but unless we have some goals in us we'll struggle. Long? Why?

We could easily end up with nil points at the end of September. As for the season, well, 40 points looks a long way off.

 

[Mr X]

Well this is the weakest we've been for some time so based on that our usual 15th-20th it all depends on wether we get a decent replacement for ings, we only scraped 15th with ings so it's not looking great is it? He basically kept us up, Come on saints suprise me! 

[Colinjb]

My, we will struggle this year. Had Ings stayed I would have argued we were stronger then last year, Bertrand going was a shame but his heart was no longer in it. Perraud looks promising and has something to prove. How we use the £25m or so from the sale will shape not just this season, but also our medium term future.

However, Ings going does open up opportunities for Tella. This will be his break out season, if he can strike a good accord with Che and Theo then we have a chance. This will need to happen quickly mind, our lack of strength leaves every fixture looking like an uphill battle.

A lot will also depend on other clubs. Newcastle and Palace could self destruct, the promoted teams need one or two to fail to get to grips with their new surroundings. 

[Give it to Ron]

18th we haven’t addressed last years issues and weaker up front.

[CanadaSaint]

Based on the entirely reasonable assumption that Semmens and Crocker have a better idea of what's best for the club than the people on this forum, and the fact that we've added some depth were we suicidally lacked it last year (with more to come), I'll go with a fairly comfortable 12th.

[Teddeer]

3 minutes ago, CanadaSaint said:

Based on the entirely reasonable assumption that Semmens and Crocker have a better idea of what's best for the club than the people on this forum, and the fact that we've added some depth were we suicidally lacked it last year (with more to come), I'll go with a fairly comfortable 12th.

I'd be interested to hear the names of the 8 sides you think will finish below us.

[The Cat]

16th or 17th after being no higher than 14th all season. We'll be in the bottom 3 at various points too. 

[The Kraken]

3 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

I'd be interested to hear the names of the 8 sides you think will finish below us.

I’d be interested to hear where we’ve added the squad depth that we lacked.

[Whitey Grandad]

1st to 20th

[aintforever]

Relegated with Palace and Brentford.

[whelk]

15/16th. Palace might be a car crash under Viera. Newcastle will be worse with crowds. Manager at Burnley is jaded and new owners prob want to replace. None of the 3 promoted sides are going to tear it up. Brighton can flatter to deceive. Wolves new manager might be shit. Everton also has potential to be hilarious car crash. West Ham will dip this year. There you go some reasons to be cheerful. 

[Manuel]

I would take 17th right now.  I think we may be around this area and hope we have the mental fortitude to stay above the drop.  

[Chickendippers]

13th if we can get someone who can put the ball in the back of the net as we will create chances especially now we are counter-attacking. 15th otherwise. Need an early win though but that's not guaranteed with our fixtures.

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, whelk said:

15/16th. Palace might be a car crash under Viera. Newcastle will be worse with crowds. Manager at Burnley is jaded and new owners prob want to replace. None of the 3 promoted sides are going to tear it up. Brighton can flatter to deceive. Wolves new manager might be shit. Everton also has potential to be hilarious car crash. West Ham will dip this year. There you go some reasons to be cheerful. 

The Premier League seems to have become this weird enigma where you can be absolute dog sh*t and still finish 12th or spend £200m and only end up 11th.

[CanadaSaint]

 

18 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

I'd be interested to hear the names of the 8 sides you think will finish below us.

 

14 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

I’d be interested to hear where we’ve added the squad depth that we lacked.

I think we'll finish above all the promoted teams, as well as Brighton, Wolves, Newcastle, Burnley and Palace. And I'm not convinced that Leeds and West Ham will be anywhere near as good as they were last year.

We’ve improved because we have multiple defensive permutations that we didn’t have last year, and wing backs on both sides who will be pivotal to an effective attacking style.

The caveats? Ballsing up the Ings replacement, losing and not replacing Vestergaard, and another injury to Romeu. But there could also be some nice, young surprises.

A bit rose-tinted? Sure, but there's not much point following footy with a negative mindset.

[Badger]

11 minutes ago, aintforever said:

Relegated with Palace and Brentford.

Think Brentford will be okay this season, possibly a Sheff Utd in their first season up.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Relegated 

[hackedoff]

The club will get what it deserves in terms of its ambition and footballing nous.

[CB Fry]

Either 17th or 20th. Right now feels like 20th.

[badgerx16]

16th

[Totton Saint]

23 minutes ago, whelk said:

15/16th. Palace might be a car crash under Viera. Newcastle will be worse with crowds. Manager at Burnley is jaded and new owners prob want to replace. None of the 3 promoted sides are going to tear it up. Brighton can flatter to deceive. Wolves new manager might be shit. Everton also has potential to be hilarious car crash. West Ham will dip this year. There you go some reasons to be cheerful. 

Thank goodness for some optimism amongst al the gloom

[TWar]

Damn you are all negative, I'm going 13th.

[OttawaSaint]

I desperately want to be optimistic but I feel that we will be this season’s Sheff Utd. After the Liverpool win in January we have been awful. Since then we’ve only got weaker and not addressed our problems. 

So many of our defeats are similar. No attacking threat and full of mistakes at the back.

If you look back at the goals we conceded last season, about 70% of them, the replay starts with us on the ball.

Hoping that somehow 3 sides are worse than us and/or we get in some inspired signings. 

I’ve been wrong many times so maybe they’ll surprise me but it looks a bit gloomy right now.