The 2017/18 Premier League season is over, but how do non-Liverpool fans rate their respective teams’ campaigns, and the Reds’ future title hopes?
Another highly entertaining league season has come to an end, with Liverpool securing a fourth-placed finish after their 4-0 win over Brighton on Sunday.
Man City romped to the league title, amassing 100 points, while Man United and Tottenham joined the Reds in the top four.
The Championship beckons for West Brom, Stoke City and Swansea City, and Chelsea, Arsenal and Burnley qualified for the Europa League.
We’ve got in touch with a supporter from each of the other 19 top-flight clubs to get their thoughts on the season, and Liverpool’s title chances in 2018/19.
Arsenal
TIA’s predicted finish: 6th
Eventual finish: 6th
Rate your season out of 10: 4
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Riyad Mahrez. Realistic, I suppose.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
A world-class goalkeeper, a centre-back and Naby Keita.
Faisal Khan (@fkhanage)
Bournemouth
TIA’s predicted finish: 12th
Eventual finish: 12th
Rate your season out of 10: 6
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Fulham‘s Tom Cairney.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Apart from a points deduction of 25 points for City and a 10-point deduction for United, I’d say David de Gea in the transfer window to really annoy the Mancunians!
Peter Bell (@CherryChimes)
Brighton & Hove Albion
TIA’s predicted finish: 20th
Eventual finish: 15th
Rate your season out of 10: 8
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Jay Rodriguez.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
A goalkeeper who can earn 10 points a season.
Kieran Maguire (@KieranMaguire)
Burnley
TIA’s predicted finish: 16th
Eventual finish: 7th
Rate your season out of 10: 10. How can it be anything less?
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Jay Rodriguez. A Burnley lad through and through, and will not only love the club but give us some extra class up front.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
A £70 million goalkeeper!
Natalie Bromley (@Natalie_Bromley)
Chelsea
TIA’s predicted finish: 2nd
Eventual finish: 5th
Rate your season out of 10: 4 (rising to 6/10 if we win the FA cup)
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Mahrez.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Liverpool need to be stronger mentally and have the ability to grind out results, like Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea teams.
Richard Long (@CONTETHEKING)
Crystal Palace
TIA’s predicted finish: 9th
Eventual finish: 11th
Rate your season out of 10: 8. Horrible start but recovered brilliantly. Staying up is always the main goal.
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Ruben Loftus-Cheek. When he adds goals to his game there is a really good player there.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Liverpool don’t need to add too many players to contend. The attack is sorted and the defence has improved. Consistency will help more than anything.
Rory Brelsford-Stewart (@RoryBS)
Everton
TIA’s predicted finish: 7th
Eventual finish: 8th
Rate your season out of 10: 3. A massive disappointment given the lofty pre-season expectations. Everton are now further away from being ready to properly compete, despite an outlay of over £200 million.
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Abdoulaye Doucoure. Hopefully Marco Silva could bring his former charge with him if he is appointed as Sam Allardyce’s successor. Everton’s midfield badly needs an insertion of dynamism.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Extra depth in just about every position and a top-class goalkeeper. Despite improved performances of late, the jury is still out on Karius at the very highest level.
Paddy Boyland (@Paddy_Boyland)
Huddersfield Town
TIA’s predicted finish: 18th
Eventual finish: 16th
Rate your season out of 10: 10. That sort of grading isn’t normally warranted, but I feel after this season, in particular the way the squad battled to stay in the division, it is deserved.
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
If it was possible to persuade Terence Kongolo to join permanently from Monaco it would be incredible.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
More of the same from the latter half of the season.
Another player of similar qualities to Van Dijk in the middle of defence could see a title challenge. I am very impressed with both Alexander-Arnold and Robertson.
After the second leg against Roma in the Champions League, the squad seemed to drift somewhat in the league. Focus until the end domestically is most certainly required, and City will be extremely hard to displace.
Nathan Hosker (@htafcslo)
Leicester City
TIA’s predicted finish: 13th
Eventual finish: 9th
Rate your season out of 10: 6.5. By no means a disaster, but definite room for improvement.
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Xherdan Shaqiri. If Mahrez leaves we need a quality, creative replacement.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Strength in depth.
The starting XI is as good as any in the league, especially the much-praised front three, but winning the league requires a strong squad. Some quality additions will make a big difference.
Jamie Thorpe (@thorpie54)
Man City
TIA’s predicted finish: Champions
Eventual finish: Champions
Rate your season out of 10: 10. How can it be anything else given the records City have smashed? It has been a domestic season of unparalleled dominance and all achieved with a swaggering style.
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Jorginho is a brilliant talent and signing him makes sense on every level, but to really get the juices flowing I would love to see an all-out ‘City are buying the league’ bid for Kylian Mbappe.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Keita will improve you immeasurably, as too will the addition of a top-class goalkeeper.
A Ringo Starr to your Fab Three will help too, because any mid-term or long-term injuries to Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah or Roberto Firmino and the title becomes a longer shot.
Ste Tudor (@SteTudor123)
Man United
TIA’s predicted finish: 4th
Eventual finish: 2nd
Rate your season out of 10: 5. Nineteen fucking points behind the best team in the country is a disgrace. If you can’t win the league at least contend for it. Not one club has troubled City and everyone else should be ashamed of that.
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
A left-back. A left winger. A right-back. A right winger. And find a captain for fuck sake. Someone who can take charge on the field like Martin Buchan, Bryan Robson, Roy Keane and Nemanja Vidic.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
The mentality that second, third and fourth isn’t acceptable.
Ste Armstrong (@sarm0161)
Newcastle United
TIA’s predicted finish: 10th
Eventual finish: 10th
Rate your season out of 10: 8
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Andy Carroll.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Not a lot!
Alex Hurst (@tfNUFCfanzine)
Southampton
TIA’s predicted finish: 14th
Eventual finish: 17th
Rate your season out of 10: 4
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Quincy Promes.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Liverpool are probably three or four starting players short of challenging City over the course of a season. They need a better goalkeeper, right-sided centre-back and defensive midfielder, and possibly another full-back.
In addition to that, City’s strength in depth is so much greater, which provides them with a massive advantage over the course of a 38-game season.
Richard Brereton (@RichardBrer)
Stoke City
TIA’s predicted finish: 15th
Eventual finish: 19th
Rate your season out of 10: 1. Shockingly poor, and we all saw it coming.
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Difficult to say, but a rumoured move for Dwight Gayle has got a lot of supporters’ hopes up. He would be fantastic.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Game management.
City can kill off the smaller clubs with a lot more ease. Although blessed with an outstanding attack, Klopp sometimes can’t find a way to grab three points against teams who set up to defend.
David Cowlishaw (@davidcowlishaw)
Swansea City
TIA’s predicted finish: 18th
Eventual finish: 18th
Rate your season out of 10: 2
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
I don’t know where to start. So many players will leave, so we will need players in every position.
Keeping Oliver McBurnie would be a start as he was Barnsley’s Player of the Season, despite only joining on loan in January.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Sign a world-class and more consistent goalkeeper, replace Lovren at the back. You’re probably fine elsewhere, although Milner isn’t getting any younger.
Kevin Elphick (@Kevin_Elphick)
Tottenham
TIA’s predicted finish: 5th
Eventual finish: 3rd
Rate your season out of 10: 8.5
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
A top striker to help Harry Kane.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Another top centre-back or a creative midfielder to support the front three—either or both will surely be on Klopp’s summer wish list.
It feels like Liverpool are very close to challenging City.
Russ Williams (@Russw777)
Watford
TIA’s predicted finish: 19th
Eventual finish: 14th
Rate your season out of 10: 5. We stayed up comfortably which is an achievement, but after such a blistering start it is hard not to be a little disappointed.
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Watford scored one goal away from Vicarage Road in 2018 and not many more at home. The Hornets need a striker badly. I don’t care who he is as long as he knows where the goal is.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
Apart from City being docked 10 points for financial irregularities, the Reds must keep Salah. They must also freshen up the squad. If you’re standing still you’re going backwards, so adding high-end performers is vital.
Replacing Can will be important, and having a reliable backup option for the versatile Milner could be pivotal, too.
Mike Parkin (@watfordpodcast)
West Brom
TIA’s predicted finish: 11th
Eventual finish: 20th
Rate your season out of 10: 3. Until the final few weeks Albion deserved a rating close to zero.
Very little had gone right, the club had suffered its longest ever Premier League losing streak and were going down without a whimper.
But caretaker manager Darren Moore salvaged some pride with a string of fabulous results including wins against Man United, Newcastle and Tottenham.
He even had the more optimistic Albion fans dreaming of an unthinkable escape heading into the final week.
The Baggies went down as the bottom club, but at least with their dignity intact.
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Relegation inevitably means West Brom will have to dip into a very different market to the one they’ve shopped in for the past eight years.
They need to find players who have excelled at Championship level, but who Premier League clubs are not yet ready to take a chance on.
Bristol City midfielder Bobby Reid, who banged in 21 goals in all competitions last season, might just fit the bill.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
The season before last Liverpool took more points off the ‘big six’ than any other team, so the trio of wins over all-conquering City came as little surprise.
Liverpool have, for a while now, been able to mix it with the best of them. It’s a question of consistency. It’s seeing off the lesser teams—the likes of West Brom, who have proved a huge thorn in Klopp’s side—that will take the Reds to the next level.
To get there, they’ll certainly need a specialist left-back and another big signing at centre-back because I’m still not convinced by Lovren, Matip or Klavan.
Keita’s impending arrival should make a big difference, too, not that Liverpool are light in central midfield.
Paul Suart (@PaulSuartWBA)
West Ham
TIA’s predicted finish: 8th
Eventual finish: 13th
Rate your season out of 10: 4
Name one player you’d realistically like your club to sign this summer…
Cairney at Fulham looks a great player.
What do Liverpool require to become a title contender next season?
I think a world-class goalkeeper would make all the difference, along with possibly a couple of defenders.
Attack-wise, I don’t think Liverpool can get much better.
Danny Rust (@Danny_Rust10)
* Thanks to all 19 contributors for their views on the season!
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