I'm pumped for the season
Very psyched about my Fantasy team.
Very excited for the coming season.
Worried for Chelsea - not nearly enough business yet. Going to be a rocky start.
Liverpool looks great. Darwin Nunez gives them a different dimension up front. Mane was a great player, but he and Salah didn't always get along. Salah seems super-happy with his new contract, and unquestioned status as top dog. They are entering the season healthy in defense, and have a solid midfield that bossed City in the Community Shield.
City is City. Erling Haaland is going to take time to settle, because they are not direct enough to really get the best out of him. He has the youth and athleticism to press on defense, but if he doesn't get balls over the top, or actual crosses into the box instead of always trying to walk the ball into the goal, his fit may be worse than Lukaku at Chelsea. Don't read too much into 1 game, but I like Liverpool this season.
Arsenal is finally making strides under Arteta and have bought pretty well. Gabriel Jesus is going to be their focal point up front. Is he better than Raheem Sterling? I'm not so sure, but he's going to score probably 15-20 goals this year. Zinchenko gives them another decent fullback, Matt Turner may get to play the Cups in goal for them, and Marquinhos (not the defensive guy from PSG, but the young Brazilian winger) gives them more quickness and skill in the attack. I don't see them challenging, but their chemistry looks good. Arteta is clearly the boss now. No more "player power". I see Top 4 for them, maybe 5th - them or Chelsea.
I see Spurs 3rd this year. Holy Cow, has Conte built a team! Cheapskate owner buys 6 new players, including Ivan Perisic (who can play either as a wingback or in midfield), Yves Bissouma from Brighton, Fraser Foster as the back-up goal keeper, and he's still very good. They already had quite a bit of talent on that team. Maybe they could use one more centerback, and maybe one more guy on the other wing. Conte is a great coach. They could possibly challenge, at least until December.
Chelsea's a mess. So many players want out. Boehley hasn't been able to get enough deals done fast enough. At least there are only 4 games before the first International break in September. Not too much damage can be done, and they'll have a couple weeks to finalize any additions to the squad. I like the 2 signings so far, but they need about 4 more guys, and to do that, they have to sell about 4 more guys.
Manchester United will probably improve under Ten Hag, but they have found recruitment of their top targets very difficult without Champions League football on offer. And Ronaldo wanted to leave, but found no takers.
Among the rest, West Ham added another striker, Scamacca, the 6-4 Italian, so Antonio doesn't hopefully get injured from over-use. They've signeed a goal keeper and a guy from Swansea to play a Mark Noble role hustling around the midfield. But to be honest, they need a couple flashy signings to get fired up for the new season, or they might fall back to mid-table.
Newcastle is trying to spend some of that Saudi money recruiting for Eddie Howe, but so far, they have a good goal keeper in Nick Pope, who they got from Burnley, Matt Targett from Aston Villa is a good left back, and Sven Botman is a big 6-4 Dutch defender. Solid players, but they need a midfield creator and another guy who can score goals.
Wolves may make a comeback and threaten European places this year. Raul Jiminez has looked increasingly more comfortable and recovered from his horrible fractured skull. He's the key. If they can get 15-20 goals from him in all comps, then they are going to be a much better team for it. They still have Neves and Moutinho in midfield. Neto on the wing is a threat. Ait-Nouri is improving as a defender. Willy Boly, Nelson Semedo, Dendonker, Max Kilman and Conor Coady give them a pretty deep defensive unit. They could use a little juice in midfield, and a little more creativity to manufacture scoring chances.
