America's Anfield
America's Anfield was created by two brothers in the US who are passionate fans of Liverpool Football Club. Follow along for episodes discussing match results, transfer news, and other hot topics in the world of football!
America's Anfield
Premier League Season Preview
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Futbol is life. The World Cup was awesome, and now the Premier League season is right around the corner.
Arsenal appear to be heavy favorites to retain their title. Can Mikel Arteta join Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola as the only managers to repeat?
Who will finish in the top 4/5? Who are the candidates to be a "surprise team"?
And, last but certainly not least: where will Liverpool finish. Can they contend for a title? Check it and and let us know your thoughts!
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You're listening to America's Anfield, the Liverpool FC podcast brought to you by American Brothers Matt and Johnny. From the heart of the U.S. to the COP, we're talking all things reds every week.
SPEAKER_00Well, welcome back in to America's Anfield. This is Matt and Johnny. Here with you, we've got all the content you need as the season ramps up beginning Friday, where Arsenal is calling it here on upset alert at home to newly promoted Coventry. Perfect. I got that sentence out without laughing.
SPEAKER_01I did laugh. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um so thanks for being with us tonight. We are doing a series of podcasts this week. Tonight we are going to be talking through our Premier League preview. Um teased it uh last night with what are we going to do with Liverpool? Um curious to see where Johnny landed. I gave it some thought myself. Um and Johnny, I will start here and we can go whatever direction you want uh from there. But we we always have to start with what we are drinking right now because I think that the uh podcast, you can kind of tell where it's gonna go depending on what that answer is. So so let me start for me. I'm going NA beer, which means expect a lot of articulate, intelligent, well thought out arguments. Wow. Because it's just pure sobriety on this side of the microphone.
SPEAKER_01I feel I feel attacked. I feel a little uh just a tad bit attacked. That's okay. I can't that's just me. What about you? So again, I was in Ireland recently, so I picked up a bottle of Powers Johns Lane. So it's sort of an everyday, uh not not that we would do it every day, but sort of your daily kind of easygoing uh Irish whiskey. So I just like a corpse of coffee, right? Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_00Just wake up. The thing is, you're like, let me ask you this. Okay, I said, hey, for me, articulate, intelligent, but are you like, hey, look, I'm the golfer that actually plays better once that first Miller light has been consumed. Like my, you know what I mean? My talent actually goes up a notch.
SPEAKER_01Gets the juices flowing. I yeah, I'm not entirely sure. Uh I mean, you know, I could I can obviously take it or leave it, but you know, for right now, I feel like we're uh we're in a happy place. So we're gonna we're gonna ride it while we while we can.
SPEAKER_00Well, let's go ahead and dive in with that in mind. Um I think that this is a really interesting season in the sense that uh, you know, prior till now there were always multiple favorites, I think that you could say had a chance to win the title. Yeah, yeah. And I don't know if we have that this season. It doesn't mean that Arsenal will repeat, but you go even into last season, I think we were strong favorites, but Arsenal had finished second, like four years in a row. And so there were people that were gonna say, hey, you know what? Like they get Yokarez and they get another year older and wiser, and who knows? You know, maybe they could they could take it and they did. And then prior to that, City was always in the mix, you know, with us and other other teams. So um I think that this is an interesting season in that there's a whole lot of change, a lot of managerial changes. Oh, yeah, a lot of player changes. You think about City. I teased this last night, but I looked at their outgoings. It's crazy. I mean, it's a it's an overhaul that's going on there that's probably not done yet. Um and then obviously all the stuff that we touched on with us. So to me, there's really only one clear favorite, right? Even if it's a team we we really don't like at all. Oh dare. Um we haven't had a chance. Have we? Maybe we have. I'm I'm it's all kind of blending in, but you know, for those who celebrate um the penalty miss in the Champions League final, cheers. Yeah, never forget. Right. Um but do you agree? Do you agree with that assessment? Like it feels like second through whatever, pretty wide open, but I feel like as it stands today, first place, yeah, there's one team.
SPEAKER_01I think I would I would tend to agree. I think what I would say is I I think ironically, kind of teeing off of what you said, because every other team second and below in the table is going to probably have their struggles in various points this season. I have a sense that while Arsenal is still the favorite to win, I wonder if their point total will even be lower this year, yet they will still win. Does that make sense? Just because everything else will just kind of be jockeying for position, taking points, losing points, conceding points. So I could see a world where their point total this season is even lower. Because they, you know, I I think even their fan base would say they weren't exactly playing their best games towards the end there, kind of eeking by. Um so, but yeah, I I think I tend to agree.
SPEAKER_00Now, the thing that's up against Arsenal, and we can talk about them later, but but I mean there is history against them, so there's the idea that who else is really going to challenge them? Um I would submit to you, I think the rest of the league is kind of kind of cheeks. You know, I'm not really sure like how good they are. Um, but since the Premier League was formed in this era beginning in 1992, did a little research beforehand, only three teams have have repeated. So Man United did it under Ferguson a number of times, City obviously did it under Pep, and then Chelsea back in 04-05 and 05-06. So there's not a lot of teams that do. Things can come up, injuries can happen, you know, guys can become dissatisfied at the team and want to transfer. Like you just never know what's going to happen. So I don't think that, you know, I'm not introing this to say that, hey, we're we're just going to talk about second place and beyond. But I just think it, you know, there's a push-pull going on there.
SPEAKER_01And you must remember the curse of the shield. Arsenal won community shield, and that is bad news if you want to win the Premier League. It is.
SPEAKER_00So are you telling me that Enzo, Uncle Enzo rolled over? Does he know that stat?
SPEAKER_01Oh, he has to know.
SPEAKER_00Everyone knows. He's playing 4D chess. Yeah, he's like, what? We oh no, they scored again.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, that's right. Yeah. 4D chess, yeah. That's Uncle Enzo. Wow. Well played.
SPEAKER_00Uncle Enzo. So let's keep this going. Okay, I don't I don't want to belabor this too much. We're not, guys, we're not, as you know, you know, super, super in depth in-depth tactical podcast here. But Johnny, let me start with you. Um let's not do top five yet, but give me a couple surprise teams this season in your mind.
SPEAKER_01And why hold on, I wrote this down. Believe it or not, I think a top or a team to watch will be Nottingham Forest.
SPEAKER_00They are also on my list. Tell me more.
SPEAKER_01Let's go. Well, I think despite my hatred for the man, I think Glasnar is going to walk in with a few good ads and some consistency in players. They couldn't have been much worse last season, if we're honest. So I I think and they don't have any European distractions. They kind of just focus on league. So I would say, um, I would say them being one, and I believe they made some ads there with I believe Diamante was a nice ad from sporting. It's selling back, yep. Yeah, I still have Gibbs White, uh, so despite him almost going all sorts of places. So yeah, I think I mean that one's sort of low-hanging fruit in the sense of again, they were like clawing their way to stay in the Premier League, but I think that's one that I would have.
SPEAKER_00I agree. Yeah, and and you said it pretty well for the most part. I mean, look, they had a season from hell last year. You know, you you you have a situation where um you are on you know a billion different managers, you know, through October, basically, it felt like. Um, and there's a lot of talent on the team. Um, so I I think that I agree. You can't really argue with what Glasnar did at Palace with the budget they had, with the players they lost, for him to go in and win two trophies, win a conference league, win an FA Cup, right? That's not nothing um at all. So they're one to watch. What's their ceiling? I don't know. You know, I mean, could they crack back into the top seven, maybe? But I mean, it is a low bar. It's a low bar that they should comfortably finish in the top ten, I think. And if not, that would be disappointing.
SPEAKER_01True. Um, another one I have, and I think they'll just continue. I know some people will say maybe biggest drop-off. I think Sunderland will continue to play well. I don't know why. I don't have a lot of it's uh call this one more of a gut. This is a vibes pick. Yeah, a vibes pick for sure. I I just there's something about them, and I think if I remember correctly, even last season, as I look at sort of some of their they they drew a lot. They drew a lot, and so that's sort of this nice edge of well, those draws turn into losses or wins. But I think 12 draws, if you pivot even a few of those, they finished seventh in the table last season. I think a lot of these teams that they're you know coming up against in the Burmouth, the Liverpools, the Villas, the United States, etc., are gonna be probably even worse than they were last season in some regards. So I would say at least consider, at least consider that they could have maybe maybe not a crazy rise, but but maybe even a few steps up from last season.
SPEAKER_00So for them, I think one of my many freezing cold takes last season, and this was like two months into the year, I was like, not only are they gonna cool off, they're gonna get relegated. So that was a really good call.
SPEAKER_02I think love it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, not a lot to add there. Let me throw one at you. Last night when we talked about the concept, I didn't have them on the list. I did a little research. I kind of like Everton. I know, I know, I know. But you look at their business this summer, okay? So I don't know about you, but I like Brendan Johnson from Spurs.
SPEAKER_01Um a trade, so weird, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I uh um I am a fan of his, and so I like that move. I don't watch a ton of the championship to be honest, but I did watch uh the playoff. Um Aiden Hackney from Middlesbrough is a good player. He was injured and was one of the reasons why you know they they uh ultimately kind of fell apart at the end of the season. He had an injury where he was out for a while, but that's a good ad in their midfield. Correct. Um, do we know about Grealish? Do we know what's going on there? Are they trying to bring him back?
SPEAKER_01As far as I I know and have read, yes, that is the desire both on their part and his part, but it has not materialized yet.
SPEAKER_00So that could be something, and then I read today that they are exploring bringing back Richarlison, which could be could be a domino if if Gakpo goes. I don't know, you know, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but again, their issue, I think, honestly, is they're a blue-collar team work hard. That's kind of what Moya's teams always have been. Adding a little bit of that skill and flair, like I think would do a world of good for them. So, I mean, again, I I could see them kind of backing up. They had a surprisingly good year last year, I think. I could see them repeating that again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's that's as much as I hate that, that's a bad shout, or it's a good one rather.
SPEAKER_00As much as I hate it, that shout sucks.
SPEAKER_01I hate it. Uh so let's let's unless you have others. Keep going. Let's flip the let's flip the scales. Who had a good season last season that will struggle more this season, have a have a big drop-off.
SPEAKER_00So I think the probably number one contender if you're reading a lot of stuff is probably Villa. Okay. I would think. Yeah. You know, they they're up against financial constraints, they sell Morgan Rogers for a ton of money. Um, you know, and and they're bringing in players, but they're bringing in players that are somewhat unproven. Now, I like Emery, and so do you, so maybe he can develop them, right? But if you look at their uh incomings and outgoings, um they lose T. Lemons as well from the midfield. Yep. You know, kind of a veteran player who who I like. Um, I think that's a big loss for them. And then the other thing, and I don't know how real these rumors are or not at this stage, but they're also linked to potentially lose Martinez to Juvennus. That would be an interesting loss for them. That guy is a lightning rod, let's be honest. But it's been a good goalie for them, right? Except for when they needed to make the Champions League, and then he had got a red card against Man United.
SPEAKER_01Um immediately.
SPEAKER_00And then they're still a lot of noise around Ollie Watkins, too. Um to Saudi. To Saudi, yeah. I don't know. Um again, who who's advising these guys? I have no idea. No idea. Who were these agents? Who were these friends? I just want the mine. This is his inner circle, but yeah. That would be mine. Um, you know, those are some really good players. Let's assume that they were to lose, you know, another one of those two. You know, leadership and everything else, I just kind of wonder like, is that too tough for them? And they're in the Champions League this year, too, right? Because they won the Europa League. That's gonna be tough. It's gonna be a tough, you know, the multiple fronts thing is really, really tough, especially you really kind of need to add quality over the summer and not lose. And I feel like these teams that kind of get their Newcastle, this happened to them too. You get there, you get into Champions League. If you don't have a good window, it's really hard to kind of stay there. Correct.
SPEAKER_01Okay, good shouts. Uh, I think a few that I would add, sort of in similar veins, without as as much detail, is uh I think Burnmouth is gonna struggle a little bit more this season. Lost manager, having to compete on other fronts. Um, I think some of the players that they have that had mild or moderate success last season um may have been temporary, not a huge uh huge amount of ads. Um yeah, so I think that one's gonna be tough because like you said, I think it it's just gonna be a mess from two, three, four, five, six, seven to have to compete in the Premier League day in or week in, week out, uh, to have to compete for them to be in Europa League as well, be new. Uh, another one, a couple that are they're a little bit more low-hanging fruit, obvious, as well as I would say Newcastle. Now, granted, they weren't they didn't exactly do well uh last season, clearly, and that's why so much turnover. But to lose as many players as they have up top in their midfield, and obviously their coaches uh with Eddie However.
SPEAKER_00Well, Nick would have been a bounce back candidate.
SPEAKER_01They got gutted, right? So now, yeah. I would think so. So that's another one. Another one, uh no, it pains me to say. I have a sense that uh Fulham as well, as much as I love Fulham, that they're going to struggle uh as well. Um, their manager has never managed a senior team before in this environment. They lost Jimenez, they lost Harry Wilson, two of their primary goal scorers. Uh, and so I think that's gonna be difficult for them as well. Might might see some, no, granted, we're talking mid-table here at the moment, but still a decent drop off.
SPEAKER_00Agree with all that. Um, to go back to surprises real quick, and I don't know if they would you know be considered one because it it feels obvious, right? But let's throw Spurs in for a minute. Yeah, for sure. They've been horrible in the league for two straight seasons. Nearly relegated, you know, not good. Um they've got De Zerby now. The Zerby ball is heading into a full preseason and into his second season there. Had a good window, I think. They've brought in some leadership. They bring in Rabbo, right? They bring in Ben Heke, a center back from Brighton. They bring in, they kind of redo their midfield. So Tonali and Fernandez from West Ham, I really like their midfield. Yeah, you know, it's good. Tonali, I think sometimes maybe my respect for him was more than his performance levels at Newcastle from time to time. I don't know if you would agree with that or not.
SPEAKER_01You know, I think I think he ebbed and flowed even in the match.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, but but I mean, on his day he's a good player, you know. There's they got rid of Romero, which I think is actually great. That's uh addition by subtraction. He's a cancer person. Sorry, not sorry. Yep. And they're still linked with some guys. I mean, if they bring in Gakpo, you know, get ready for some some cutting in from the left on your right foot, and and then Savinho from City.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Who is a part of the mass exodus there potentially. So, you know, I think it's an obvious one of just, hey, we we think he's a good coach and they've had a good window and all that stuff. Um, how high could they go, do you think? Are they in your top five?
SPEAKER_01I think there's a a world where they could be top six. I I think that there's a world. I think that uh simply because as we stated at the very beginning, there's there's so much evenness to and down that yeah, if they if they get hot, um I think there's a world where that could act absolutely happen. So you're saying maybe six, seven.
SPEAKER_00Hey, hey, here we go. Sorry, that's old now.
SPEAKER_01My kids have said that's that's lame. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Is while we're on that topic, is the phrase crashing out or crashed out, is that also old?
SPEAKER_01No, I think that's still good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00One of my kids was like, Dad, nobody says crashed out anymore. Like, what is wrong with you? And I'm like, I they still do. In my world, people still say that to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. When you're doing it at work. That's right. So that's right. Okay, good, good, good. Okay, let me throw one at you. New category. Some obvious ones. We'll we'll save top four, top five, and then relegated three for a little bit. Uh, would you say uh manager of the season? Go.
SPEAKER_02I probably would say uh either Deserby or Glasner.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it's fair. Because I think one of those two, there's a good chance they'll make Europe. And so if one of them does, you know, now you you tend to always give it to the guy who wins it. So, like, hey, if Arteta repeats, yeah, he's probably gonna win it. You know, if sure, yeah, sure. If Chelsea wins the league, which they won't, but if they were to, I'm sure Alonso would. But but those are my guys that I would say would have a really, really good season, and you're doing it more from a they overachieved perspective. Correct.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think the only other one aside from you know, our Ted Fe wins it or whoever wins it. If if Chelsea have a really good, like go wire to wire, I see a world where Xabi Alonso could win it. I think he's probably the only other one aside from a winner, in my mind at least.
SPEAKER_00I mean, when I was doing the prep for this, I looked at their roster on Foot Mob, and it's just a disaster. Meaning like it's so bloated still. Always, you know? Yeah, yeah. I also think that the Enzo thing is probably more real than they want it to be. Like I know they're doing this deadline thing. I think they kind of need financially to sell him. So if you're on X, go look up um their there was an account that was going through their books today. It is the losses that they are incurring are wild. I mean, like really, really bad. You know, you have Bowley and Walters getting out, they're cashing the check, and they're like, hey, you know what, guys, see you later. I think part of that is because Walters might be in trouble with the federal government. But um yeah, but anyway, anyway, I don't know. I just you know that that to me, Chelsea going wire to wire, no chance. I would put no money on that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it would be wild if that actually happened. Uh let me pivot to this. Who will be when I I I deliberated over this for a while. I think there's a few in my mind. Or no, maybe just two. Maybe two. First manager to be sacked.
SPEAKER_00Let's go. The answer is Michael Kerrick.
SPEAKER_01Oh, he's not on my list, but I love it.
SPEAKER_00You really think so?
SPEAKER_01When though? Let's go even deeper. Well, okay.
SPEAKER_00Did I just say that because I wanted to? I don't know. I mean, yeah, but poked the beer a little. Yeah. Yeah, I've had a few sips of the NA beer. It's starting to get a little hazy, you know, but um that one could go one of two directions. Like, I just don't see it being the same as last year. You know what I mean? So then I'm asking myself, okay, well, is it they're gonna have a big market improvement or they're gonna fall off a cliff? And I kind of feel like it's more likely that they regress. To be honest.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Okay. So, you know, again, just you tell me. I don't know how trigger happy their new ownership is, but we're sitting here, you know, near international break and they're 12th and they've just gotten rocked in their first cup, you know, Champions League game. Like, are you panicking? And the other thing about this, just you know, and I know I'm not giving you a good answer here, but like it's also about like who's out there. You know, correct. I mean, you could be having a perfectly you know mediocre season, and if all of a sudden you're gonna clops like, hey, you know what? Germany, nah, I want to go coach in the Premier League again, you're gonna throw your coach overboard potentially.
SPEAKER_01That's true. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Okay, that was one that maybe that's low percentage. What about you? What about you?
SPEAKER_01Uh uh, so I have a few. I mean, I would say I would say uh RB uh I can't say his name, Arbeloa at Fulham, because I kind of mentioned how I think that there's a there's a real chance where they could really struggle. I think that's probably my favorite of them is if they really start to tank, uh, given a lot of outs, not a lot of ins this season.
SPEAKER_00And then any anybody who anybody who is employed at Nottingham Forest could be sacked tomorrow. At any time. We don't know.
SPEAKER_01That's true. Yeah. There's no security there at all. Yeah, that he will hug you and then he will sack you as soon as, yeah. Um, I think I I'm of two minds where I think there's a real chance that a couple of the guys that got promoted, I think a couple of those managers could be just depending on how you know good or ter terrible, obviously, that they would do. So I think of um uh Gary O'Neill. I think I really like him for the record. Um, but I think there's a a world where uh Ipswitch the last time they were up were really, really, really, really bad. Uh and so that could be ugly again. And I think of Yakievic as well. Um, so there's there's a chance where if Hull's is not performing, I know they just got pulled up. Usually that's fairly fairly rare, I feel like when a team comes up for them to sack their manager, but it it sort of depends on how bad they do.
SPEAKER_00Well, and those teams though, dude tend to panic. You know, that's true. I mean, right? Like you want to stay up. The the money is just so big. You want to be able to do that. Yeah. Um, yeah, I mean, like, I again I watched the the championship playoffs. Hull is just they're not good.
SPEAKER_02I mean, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So watch them, watch them be this year's Sunderland, but I don't care. I'm you gotta say something on these podcasts, right? You gotta take a stand. That's right. They're not good. They're not good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Uh okay. Keep going, keep going, keep going.
SPEAKER_02Uh Golden Boot. I know. It's a weird, weird season for that. It is.
SPEAKER_00Um it's probably still Holland, I think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I have Holland as well, simply because of how their offense runs. It's primarily through him. And so he's the direct focus there. But I do who's your second if it's if it's if he's number one.
SPEAKER_00Um I mean, you know, look, there's a part of me that wants to be a homer and say Isok. I said Isok. Yeah. Good to go. Yes. You know, because you you just you gotta hope the guy can have a healthy season this year, and yes, we can play a style that is more suited to getting him the ball and having like actual service and things of that nature that didn't really you know. So I could see that. I mean, because and I don't have this, so if you do, you you don't have to look it up. But I mean, like, how many are we talking to qualify for the golden boot typically?
SPEAKER_01Uh let's see. Uh Holland had 27 last season.
SPEAKER_00That's kind of what I was I was gonna say 25.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, over the course of 38 games, you would again, if Eesok plays the quality he's capable of, he's gonna have at least a couple of games where he's got more than one. And then you're kind of off to the races. Who takes penalties now for us? It's a great question. Probably Dom, right? Is it Dom? Maybe I would think so. I mean, there's probably a lot of candidates, you know. But again, if it if it's ESOC, I'm not saying it is, but that's another way to pad your stats, kind of. So um okay, keep going.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, my second was ESOC as well, simply because I I did, you know, kind of back of the napkin math and looking at other teams and players. Arsenal's not really dependent on one goal scorer. Villa's sort of in flux on who's actually gonna score goals for them. Um, sorry, I'm just looking, looking at people that were in top four and whatnot. Um, and as you go down, like Man United, not sure. Like again, kind of varied kind of across the board. Chelsea, kind of the same. Uh, and then after that, I just don't think you're gonna have a dominant score really. Tottenham, I think, is maybe the asterisk is like who kind of catches on there, but they're not done doing business, so it's kind of hard to tell. So I I'd be really shocked if it was somebody outside of those, in my opinion. But again, what do I know? Agree. I'm with you. Uh okay, let's go to the low-hanging fruit now. Let's start with the sad news. And the sad news is who will be relegated this season?
SPEAKER_00So I'm gonna say two of the three teams that got promoted. I'm gonna say switch is gonna go right back down. I just said whole stunk, so I can't say they're gonna stay up. So they're going right back down.
SPEAKER_01It's good because I love Coventry. Let's go.
SPEAKER_00And then you're picking from you know, obviously, the rest of the league who a lot of these teams have been up for several seasons. I'm gonna say Leeds will go back down again.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well done. Yes, I agree. I think Hull's Ipswich, however, mine was a toss-up, and this is either the best take of my life or the worst. It was a it was a uh a tie between um Leeds and Fulham, and I said Fulham. I think Fulham's going to be.
SPEAKER_00Just on the merits of the field performance, not any shenanigans that happened off the field, right? They're not going down.
SPEAKER_01They're not, they're not, nothing's happened. They're spending like there's no tomorrow. It's fine. It is one big like F E we're fine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, 100%, 100%.
SPEAKER_01Okay, wow.
SPEAKER_00Let me real quick though, since we brought you know, the that up Coventry's kind of an interesting story in my mind. You know, so you think about the career arc and the ebb and flow of Frank Lampert, right? Um, I gotta say, man, like you know, it didn't look good after his last couple of stops. He doesn't mind going back into the championship and then gets them promoted. That's that's pretty impressive. You know, if you kind of compare and juxtapose like him and Gerard, right? Yeah, love Gerard. No, no shit. I'm just saying, like, went to Saudi Pro League, crashed out. Hey, look, used it. Well done. Uh, you know, and and Lampert's taking a different route. And I mean, like, kudos to him, man. That that's pretty impressive to get them back to to the prem, I think.
SPEAKER_01I agree. Good shout. Yeah, there it we haven't had a ton of very successful former player managers in recent years. I know you have Jabi at Leverkusen, but then it got real ugly real fast. We'll see. And I think it's gonna get uglier because you you you hitched your wagon to the dumpster fire that is Chelsea. But yeah, that is a good shout. And and I I will say as well, I appreciated the fact that you noted the humility to go down and then come back up. That's that's a big pull. A lot of people are willing to do that. Yeah. Or it's sort of similar to like guys that are willing to not do well and then actually catch on as an assistant somewhere, actually learn some more and then pivot on their own. That that's sort of rare in these in this day and age. Um, okay. The moment we've all been waiting for. Top four.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm gonna give you top five just because I still think that might that might work. Yeah, but but we can, you know, we'll do it in order so that the fifth team may or may not make it.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Do you want to go or do you want me to go?
SPEAKER_02You go first.
SPEAKER_00My top five is I'll go fifth to first.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00I have Chelsea in fifth. I'll give a little blurb about why. Why? I don't feel good about any of the options in fifth. You could surprise me, or you could say a number of teams, and I wouldn't be surprised. You could say Spurs, not surprised. You could say Villa. You know, not surprised. I think Emory's that good. You could say, you know, maybe we get in a little while. You could say Forrest. I probably would be surprised. But again, like they've you could have a season where everything goes right, you know. So anyway, I think there's a lot of teams that could fit here. This is me saying they don't have anything else going on, they're not playing in any other competitions. They've got a good coach, I think, in Alonso. So you know, in and the league doesn't have three excellent teams, right? So I think you can sneak in and backdoor fifth. I have Liverpool in fourth. Um, I think it could be higher, but I do feel like there's a lot of things that could go wrong, you know. Like we talked about the depth, you know, um last night. And so, yeah, for example, we're only like you know, an injury at a key position away from it, you know, being like, oh god. I mean, like to me, like okay, if Van Dyke gets hurt, right? It's bad.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's real bad, real bad.
SPEAKER_00Um, do we know what's gonna happen with Verts and Isok? So these are less about depth, more about question marks. Are we actually going to spend 140 million dollars on PSG's backup left wing? Um we are. And will he fit? He's super quick, technical, fast, but again, the league is is low blocks. Is he gonna fit? Are we gonna make more moves? Are we gonna bring in Mbaye? Are we gonna bring in um you know anybody else in the midfield? Like, is there any anybody that's gonna leave late? Like it still feels like Jones and Gakpo are probably both gonna go. How does um Rio do on the right? I was reading that today, he might play there. How does that work out? So a lot of uncertainty. There's still a lot of talent, and you know, and obviously, like I respect Ariola as a coach, so I think that not making the Champions League would be horrible. So I would say fourth. And then I'll go quicker here. Manu third. Uh, didn't really know where to put him. So, like I said, you know, wouldn't shock me if they sort of fell off. So I am kind of contradicting what I said earlier, right? But like, um, you know, they actually didn't have a dumb summer, they didn't go out and splash a ton of money on somebody stupid.
SPEAKER_01Agreed.
SPEAKER_00City second, um, another wild card. Let me just let me just read to you real quick their outgoings. Okay. Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Raiders, Nico Gonzalez, looks like he might be on the way out. He is, or yeah, yeah. Akonji, Ake, John Stones, Marmoush, I'm sure if they got the right offer, would leave. Grealish, is he going to stay, you know, at Everton or go somewhere else? Savinho, so many guys, and then obviously you lose Pep. So still second, because they still have Holland. I think Foden has a bounce back year. He like didn't even do anything last year. Um, and then you know, if if they bring in End Zone, they have LA Danderson, that's not the world's greatest midfield, but that's still something. So second for them, and then uh Arsenal first. Um here's the one the one thing with them. So I really like getting Bruno in the midfield. I think their midfield's awesome. But they're so conservative. We've talked about this a billion times. Is it almost like worse when you keep adding more creative talent to a team that is like designed to play with the handbrake on? Does it you know what I mean? Like, does it actually make it worse?
SPEAKER_01We'll see.
SPEAKER_00I there's a philosophical it's there's a question for you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think there's gonna be a uh a change in the way that even set pieces are officiated. And so I think that'll I I think that'll be an emphasis. Well, probably one of those like you know, short-term emphasis that affects the first quarter of the season, but might affect how people and teams adapt in that area. So yeah, I guess we'll see.
SPEAKER_00And then, like, this is kind of dumb, but how big of a loss is Trossard? I mean, like, didn't like the guy, but how many times did he come on late and score a meaningful goal for them? It felt like it was a lot.
SPEAKER_01Well, everyone's talked trash about him as compared to this new kid they picked up, who I've never heard of for the record.
SPEAKER_00Um, okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, say his name. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00All right, rip it apart. Love it, hate it. I yeah, this is really you have the exact same top eye. No, I do not get it this is really hard for me.
SPEAKER_01As you said, because I hate Arsenal, I don't want to pick them first, and then everyone else is bad. So it's it's it's difficult. This is and like, yeah, this there's no no way that any of this actually comes to fruition, either of ours in my mind. But yeah, number one, I'm gonna go opposite, just for funsies. Number one, Arsenal, bar from my mouth. Uh, number two, I also have City, simply because I still think they have depth in positions that no other team really has and some history there. Um number three, I have Liverpool. I think it's, you know, probably wishful thinking, but as I looked again across the board, there, I don't know, there's there's just a lot of different places you could go.
SPEAKER_00Well, well, state the case, though. I mean, because I gave the I gave all of the negatives, right? Like the case for them finishing third is what?
SPEAKER_01I think there's a there's a world where again their competition is is not world beaters, and then there's there's also a world where all of the things that went wrong last season go right this season. Yeah. Defensively, goalkeeping, injuries, and then connections in players, especially with like the likes of Verts and Isak, that really could make you know, we we've seen some of these like you know, seasons for uh for Salah that where he scored in 20, 30, you know, almost 40 goals. If we have a season like that, and then you have other guys kind of contributing, like you know, sky's the limit. So there's a world where you get good injury luck, that could happen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then we've had some pretty bad injury luck, you could get some good luck. That we've had seasons where guys didn't really get hurt that much.
SPEAKER_01Correct. Well, and then we have a lot of guys that can contribute that that are just not not on the radar right now, you know, in terms of uh Connor Bradley and uh Leone and things like that that could really be positive reinforcements for us. So I think there's just it's such a big wild card, me slotting him in the middle at third just kind of made sense in my mind. Um, and then uh fourth, I had Chelsea. Um yeah, they're just kind of I think that the biggest reasoning for me there was again, they have 97 players on the roster. I think they have a decent manager who can deal with the chaos, and then they don't have to compete on any other front. I think that's probably the biggest.
SPEAKER_00That's the biggest one. And then you gotta think that Palmer's gonna have a better year. Correct. I mean, the guy was invisible for long stretches last season. Correct.
SPEAKER_01I also think Enzo is a cancer, so getting rid of him if that actually comes to fruition will be helpful.
SPEAKER_00I agree. Uh Lavia is a good player, he's injured a lot, you know, but he he is a good player. If they could unlock him a bit in the midfield, I think that would be something for them.
SPEAKER_01So correct. Now I'm gonna do an annoying thing here for my fifth. I had four teams that I really struggle with choosing.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Number one is Sunderland, because I think they're actually gonna continue to improve.
SPEAKER_00Dude, I love I love that you're just you're pushing all the chips in the table. Yeah. Guys, this is the this is the effect of alcoholic beverages in the podcast and and a beer. Sunderland, the top five. Okay, anyway.
SPEAKER_01But I wasn't drinking when I made these choices. So just to be just to be clear.
SPEAKER_00It was 1 30 a.m. last night. You were texting me. What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01No, just yet it appears so. Uh so Sunderland being one, uh, I want I I honestly consider Brighton to kind of push the balance there as well. Okay. Then I have Manu, obviously. And then my last is that I actually have Tottenham kind of in the realms there.
SPEAKER_00I mean, like I could I could see Spurs are so baffling, underperform so much. Right.
SPEAKER_01And if you actually look again, they're one of those teams as well that had 11 draws. If you pivot some of those over, and then obviously 17 losses, like some really bad losses. But so I ended up siding with, you know, sorry, man. I think they're probably a close, a close here, but I I went for the I went for the gut feeling and I went with Tottenham. Hated it, feel dirty about it, don't love London teams, but I went with Spurs as my as my fifth, and I feel gross about it. So there you go.
SPEAKER_00Can I ask, did you just tease Brighton? Because what you really want to do is you want to talk about what's going on with their manager's hair. Have you seen this? Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, oh, I've been I've been pondering this for some time. Yeah. And he's a young man. He's trying to, he's got sort of this like weird clumpy swoop, and we all know he's uh he's covering. But I I don't, yeah. I mean, for him, like he should have done this years ago. Like he's not heading the ball, he's not running in the wind, you know? Just just head out. No, a fun fact. I was just there. Dublin is actually taking over the market for hair plugs now. It's not Turkey anymore, my friend. Not Istanbul. It's Dublin. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00What does a airplug treatment go for? Like, roughly, do you know?
SPEAKER_01So, yes, that's a great question. So it sort of depends. So part of the package is actually, you know, airfare and traveling and they sort of make it into this sort of resort spa thing, but usually it's actually not that expensive. We're talking anywhere from like six to seven thousand dollars, like all in.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I feel like the minute I sign my contract, I'm like, you know, hey honey, uh, we'll worry about buying a new place later. Like, I gotta call the hair plug guy, gotta get that on the on the schedule.
SPEAKER_01Going right there. And again, I think Dublin's probably a little bit more expensive because it's more of expensive of a city as a whole.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, I mean, my but I'm just saying, like, with what these guys are making, okay. Say it's say it's 14, they're like, okay, whatever.
unknownGreat.
SPEAKER_01Now you also realize too that like the other thing they all do is I'll get new teeth. So like Klopp did that, Bobby did that. It's a little terrifying when you see the the pearly whites, you know, and you're like, oh, wasn't Klopp a smoker?
SPEAKER_00These guys have gotta get ragged like big time in the locker room. When you when you leave in May, you know, like and I'm assuming you haven't seen each other very much. You leave in May, season's over, you walk back into the training center for preseason, and like there's Jurgen, and he's got you know unbelievably white brand new teeth. Are you not like right? Are you not? It's like that friends episode. Are you not saying anything? Like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01You know, I mean it's it's the Kramer response where you see him Yeah, you know, I don't like him. Uh look away, Jerry. I'm hiding. Well, I think the social media for Mac, when he decided to get the plugs, I think he had a photo of him that had like he's he sort of looked like Thor, but he was trying to do the Dom, like you know, man bun flow kind of thing. He didn't have a hammer or anything, but I think they're leaning into it themselves. That's probably helpful. Um I will say I I neglected to do this. We have two listeners for this that have been clamoring for an overview podcast for this the upcoming seasons. Two of my kids' friends, we got William and Cooper that have been been asking for this episode, so I wanted to give them a shout-out. So boys, thank you for listening. Hopefully, this met your expectations. Uh go Liverpool. I don't know who they were for. I think I think they're I can't remember. I think it was in Arsenal.
SPEAKER_00Oh I I kind of love so this is the third time we've done this. Yes. We both called our shot in the title winning season. We said, hey, we're gonna finish first. Nobody, nobody else did. Like nobody else. Right. I feel really good because last year we said, yeah, we're gonna repeat, and we were dog crap. I like keeping expectations low. That's a Liverpool way. You know what I mean? Like let's let's overperform, let's be in a title chase in March, April. That would be amazing.
SPEAKER_01Agreed. Agreed. Uh yeah, I think we nailed that. I don't know. Do you have any other questions there that you wanted to cover for the overall season?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. So I think you know, just for those out there, um, obviously we start Sunday, way at Newcastle. Um, Johnny and I and the producers still got to sit down and talk through, you know, what's the uh content schedule gonna be like. Um but we had kind of gotten the way from match recaps, but I don't know, man. Like I'm kind of thinking it's the first one, you know, new season, new manager. Maybe we hop on and and talk about what we saw after that match. If you're around, you know, if the schedule permits.
SPEAKER_01I'm not opposed. Let's talk to the producers and also let's play by ear if we get if we get shellacked. I'm not doing that. That's right.
SPEAKER_00So we we really are like temperamental fans. Like nobody wants to get on and talk about it if we were to lose like four-one. Don't expect a podcast.
SPEAKER_01I mean, we can do it, it'll be four minutes long and really depressing. So you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You'll be like, why is the explicit sign next to the podcast now? Well, I'll tell you.
SPEAKER_01Learn some new words today. That's right. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like, hey, hey, friends of the pod, don't listen to this one. No, this isn't it. That's right. That's right. That's right. So, all right, man. Good stuff. Uh thank you all for listening again. You can check us out on social media. Let us know what you think. Hey guys, these predictions were terrible. Hey guys, I learned something tonight. Like, whatever that could be, love to hear from you. And we will catch you again next time.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for tuning in to America's Anfield. If you enjoyed the show, make sure to like, subscribe, and follow us on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube, Twitter, Threads, and Instagram at America's Anfield. Got questions or topics you want us to cover? Send them our way. We'd love to include them in a future episode. Until next time, up the red.