No champs team is prem-ready this season

as proved by the leaders being mostly players who weren't good enough for 17th in the Prem last time out. I'd be surprised if it wasn't the three who go up this year who come down next year. The gap gets wider every year and it's decreasingly tenable without money from oil, crime or both to become established in the Prem let alone do well in it. Even if you can change most of your starting XI, that new XI won't have gelled properly at the start of the season then it's all over by the time they have gelled, you're already in a relegation scrap.

Re us, we've not looked the part for long stretches but we have looked the part in other stretches and that's really all you need for top six, a couple of decent runs. Top two takes more than that and if they'd all stayed fit...maybe.

Posted By: Old Man, Apr 27, 21:40:42