Sinnacle Predictions….
This is where I’ll throw out a bunch of predictions and hit maybe 1 out of 10, come back six months from now boasting about the one I did get right and hope you forget about the rest. With that here we go.
Spain
Barcelona will come up short again. Messi will get hurt at some point and Barcelona fans will end up wishing they had Deco and Ronaldinho around. It will take more than one transfer period for new head coach Pep Guardiola to put his stamp on this team.
That means I’m picking Real Madrid to be champions yet again. Not exactly an off the wall pick I know.
Villarreal won’t be surprising teams anymore. Look for them to slide back down the standings.
Look for Valencia to climb up the standings after enduring a season where if anything could go wrong it did.
Also like Deportivo La Coruña to grab an UEFA Cup spot by the end of the year. They were playing very good football towards the end of last year which should carry over to this team.
Italy
Claudio Ranieri will find a way to mess up Juventus this term. Look for another 3rd place finish from them.
Ronaldinho can only do so much for A.C Milan. The effect his signing will have is bound to fade away by the start of the year. Since Ronaldinho can’t play in the back four ,A.C Milan will just give up too many goals to be considered a championship contender.
This could be accused of being a homer pick but I like Jose Mourinho to lead Inter to another championship. He won it his first year in back at Chelsea so I’ll side with him to do the same for Inter.
Inter however won’t make it to the semi finals of the Champions League. Final 8 no further.
Alberto Gilardino will find the goals from his Parma days and forget about his ill fated stint at A.C Milan.
Germany
Jürgen Klinsmann will start looking like a genius once he gets Luca Toni and Franck Ribéry back.
Also looking to see if Breno will receive some first team action and how he handles the pressure of playing for a big European club.
Claudio Pizarro will actually score now that he is back in Germany playing for Werder Bremen.
Speaking of Werder Bremen they are also my pick to win the Bundesliga this year.
France
Can’t go against Lyon to win the title yet again. I like to be a contrarian but at some point you just respect what a team has going for them. Few clubs are better run in Europe then Lyon.
On the flip side few clubs know how to run a team into the ground like PSG.
Portugal
Benfica to win the league. Like all of their summer signings. Hopefully they can gel quickly under new coach Quique Flores.
A Portuguese team does make it to the final eight of the Champions League this year. Going with Sporting to achieve that.
This is the year where Porto will come back to earth. Even if Ricardo Quaresma and Lucho González stay at some point you just stop advancing as a player without being able to face a new challenge.
Scotland
Will go back on my word and pick Rangers to win the league. The main reason they let it slip away last year was due to playing so many games in such a short time frame. With Europe already out of the way Rangers can solely focus on winning the league.
England
Already covered most of this in my EPL preview. Still pick Arsenal to win the league. I’ve also patted myself on the back with my Middlesbrough pick after beating Tottenham last week. That Chelsea team didn’t look too bad however.