My prediction at this point is: 16th Wolves 17th West Ham 18th Leeds 19th Burnley 20th Sunderland Obviously very early days, and very much hope I’m wrong (West Ham could do all neutrals a favour by continuing to be properly shite and giving us a relegation battle).
Forest will have too much quality to go down IMO, plus they’ll fire Ange quickly if they drop like a stone. Wouldn’t surprise me if he does ok short term but long term I don’t think he’s the solution.
I'd find it funny if they went down, but seriously doubt they will that said Ange hardly had a weak squad at spuds and they were in 17th (?) last season so can't rule anything out with him.......
Leeds doing far better than I expected so far. Fair play to Farke who seems to have actually learnt and adapted.
all three should have the resources to push upwards so the ones above shouldn't feel complacent. in fact I'd suggest the two Bs above should be nervous more than the two Ws, although they need to buck up and indeed one might benefit from the honeymoon period of a new manager - and beyond Potter might have sold the hammers down the river by a decent performance yesterday, might buy himself more time, but looking decent in defeat doesn't equate to points
They've been solid and compact so far which has had them competitive in every game (bar Arsenal away which got away from them second half) and recruited all big, physical players in the summer. They've just been really toothless in front of goal, so to get 3 quickfire goals yesterday away from home is encouraging. I think if they had a good run in Europe it could see them really struggle in the league like Spurs did last season. Spurs could carry that because the promoted teams couldn't win a game between them, so Spurs were never in any danger despite only finishing on 38 points. I couldn't call relegation though because it often comes down to who comes in as manager when the current one gets sacked by the teams struggling. If West Ham appointed Van Nistelrooy and Juric for example (like Leicester/Southampton last season) then they'd probably be done for. Someone like Nuno would more likely dog out the results and make them solid.
They'll be playing Thursday/Sunday most of the season if they do well in Europe. You'd want more points on the board before that comes around and already changed the manager and the new one is easy to score goals against. Forest do have a very good squad though, they can mix and match more between the two competitions. They've got big money signings who weren't even named in the European squad. Villa in a similar boat with a poor start and expected to go far in Europe.
Clubs of fans make a massive deal out of the thursday/Sunday grind. They just don't like every sunday being taken up with a game as fans imo. You've the same rest as anyone else in europe and truth be told are able to use your squad more. Teams are either too egotistical to like playing the europa or conference (utd, chelsea etc) Or the fans like having a Saturday game and a night out.
Think you’ve got to be a half decent manager to win the Championship title three times. I think he has the benefit of a much more robust team this season than in his Norwich days. It’s a genuine PL quality central midfield imo, just remains to be seen whether we can create and score enough.
This is a point I have made a lot that a European campaign could send us into a relegation battle. Now a European campaign is the least of our problems. I suppose the only way to try and look at this issue positively is that Ange will likely have us out of Europe before he is replaced so any new manager can concentrate on our league survival without distraction
according to a quick search Atlanta got £18m from winning Europa League, according to the link saints got £109m for being relegated Premier League prize money: How much did each club earn? difference in money received for finishing five places higher let's say than 17th was £9m in its own right, although some clubs get more of the pie for who they are (see mancs, £136m compared to £131m for West Ham a place higher) so sure, Europe offers a chance at a trophy, hard to say if Europa is a better or worse shot than domestic trophies because you might not have the biggest guns in Europa League but is two legged and still some handy sides out there even if you are pitted against similar level opposition as for "out of Europe before...." well unfortunately the League phase is drawn out, runs into January and near enough the end of the window (although you may be effectively out earlier, teams with 10 points made the play-offs last season so you're looking at probably minimum 3 games left before you are out for sure) honestly can't see them dumping him before March-April earliest unless you are sat rock bottom and no chance of staying up
