General Premier League Thread 2023-24 Mod Note in op 27/6/23 And 21/05/24

I said a couple months back that I'd have had Watkins in the TOTY over Haaland and nothing has changed. Watkins has cemented his place, and definitely getting a nomination for POTY. A few weeks back the chat around the POTY was largely between Rice, Rodri & VVD and that the winner would go to the team which wins the league. Something I'm not a fan of, the best player award should be for the best player, not a player from the best team. I think I'd give it to Watkins now as his form has carried on and he is on the verge of one of the all time great seasons like Henry & Suarez both did with both 20 goals & 20 assists. He's currently on 19 & 17 (although some stat providers have him at 19 & 12. Either way, he's been the standout forward this season IMO.

Emery definitely in with a shout of winning the MOTY alright. It's a bit weird with Arteta getting it. I say that because Arsenal can win their remaining 4 games and not win the league, but they can also win their remaining 4 games and win the league. He has done his bit up to here but the fate is out of his hands. The margins are so tight and could come down to something trivial like the West Ham keeper randomly deciding to not play the last game for no reason and their reserve keeper throws one into the net last minute to give Man City the win. The same Arteta performance can result in 2 different outcomes. Should Arteta be punished for doin something he can't control from here on out, but at the same time could be rewarded for doing the exact same thing? Man City control the outcome, so surely Arteta should be judged irrespective of outcome (assuming that they win all 4 games of course)?

Oh, and Emery is Manager of the Year, but won't get it. Followed by Iraola, but he won't get it either.

lol

It's his first managerial role, will probably come 1st in the non-financial doping league and made it through to the quarter finals of the CL, and he was assistant manager in City.

Not too mention he only has a year left on his Arsenal contract, same as Pep's I believe.

No, no reason at all City would come knocking once Guardiola leaves 🙄

What the feck is happening with Rashford?

So he's just not happy he's getting criticism? The United games I've seen he's looked like a fella who's lacking serious effort or is in serious pain but it's not his fault either if he keeps getting picked if everything isn't right with him.

More he called out abuse rather than criticism but it's 2 sides of the same coin.

Have to reset expectations and give him a fair enough chance I think. The goal for next season goes back to top 4, and somewhere around 2 points per game.

Absolutely, this season Liverpool have totally battered expectations - but if Klopp was staying, the goal would be quite high for next season. With a new man in, it gets reset to what it was for this season again.

It's manager of the season, not manager legacy. If anything, having the foundation of a team that has just been rumbling along in utterly relentless dominant form for years takes away from the impressiveness of the individual season. And there's nothing like spending some 200+ million on new players (Gvordial, Doku, Kovacic, and Nunes) to take the edge off the couple of departures. For anyone else, a 55 million international winger is a key first team signing, at City he starts less than half the league games, and only 1 champions league game. There's not many other clubs could go shuffling the most expensive centre back in history off to fullback either.

For me it's an easy decision in Emery, unless Arteta can pull off a huge league win.

Spurs fan eh?

Can't be Emery cos he's beaten ye to top 4.

Can't be Arteta cos Totteringhams day.

So a manager doing the same thing that he's done for the last 3 years but with less points and a worse goal difference should win it?

Naw, not having it tbh.

Pep is a genius.

But he lost Mahrez (who was never as integral as people make out), and replaced with Doku. Inconsistent, but regular impact.

Lost Gundogan. An all-timer. Gets Kovacic, and spends 50m on Nunez to replace him.

Palmer wasn't a loss. He let him go. Palmer was never getting big minutes if he stayed.

He also bolstered his defence with the best defensive prospect in Europe - Gvardiol.

His squad wasn't decimated. And whatever he lost, he was given replacements for.

After finishing 5th last year and not really troubling the top 4 race, and then replacing the entire midfield in one go - being involved in a title race until the last few games was definitely not on the cards. I can't speak for anyone else, but my own expectations and hopes were to ideally be in the running for top 4 come the sharp end of the season. I'd zero expectations of any sort of a title run.

If Pep retired tomorrow, I've no doubt Arteta would be top of their shopping list. He used to be Peps assistant and has Arsenal challenging for the league..

Many didn’t have them in the top 4 at all.

Liverpool had spent most of the previous season in mid table, struggling to dictate games, midfield had no energy, Hendo was getting on and Fabinho was practically a different player. Really looked like the Quadruple chase had taken its toll on them. It was only near the end of the season where Klopp found a system to get some sort of form out of the team.

Considering that and the midfield overhaul, along with the questions over Nunez, all anyone was hoping for was a season of course correction and getting into top 4. And with a new manager coming in, target will be the same again.

It’s definitely a positive, but nobody thought that would take them from mid table to title challengers. Even if they were all the ideal players, they’d need time to bed into the system, get used to their teammates etc. Everyone hoped they’d be an improvement and that would result in a top 4 place, and in fairness, they have been.

It's a positive, but we know the outcome of it now. In the summer it was a whole lot of uncertainty. It wasn't the usual sporting director set up either so the caveat of 'Liverpool's transfers usually are sound' couldn't be applied as much as previous summers.

We knew how MacAllister could play as an 8/10 but didn't know about him playing as a 6. Not many knew a whole lot about Szoboszlai or the youthful Gravenberch and Endo was an unknown starting the final stage of his career. All 3 were moving to a new league.

Mad that you can have 3/4 players who could stake a claim to be in the all time PL eleven, all in their prime, a couple hundred million worth of a supporting cast, and yet supposedly not be considered title challengers.

Ten Hag was supposed to get top 4 with a notorious collection of failures, what does that say about expectations.

West Ham are so bad to watch.