It's safe to say that Manchester United are going to win their 20th title this year. City are 12 points behind at this point and 3rd place Chelsea are 16. So it got me thinking, who do you guys think is going to be able to challenge Man U next year for the title? Will Man U dominate next season too? Is the premier league becoming more and more like La liga? Or will other teams beside Man City challenge for first place next season? If so, who and how?  

I assumed it was your bias because you didn't provide me with any reasons of why that may be so.

"If you're quibbling about whether Spurs or Liverpool have the better chance of signing big players, all things being equal, then I'd have to say that Spurs are a more exciting prospect for a player,"

How come? 

@1chelsea1 Well, it's a bit of an exaggeration to say Man U won't even be competing in the EPL after the manager and some players go, don't you think?  

But do you really think Man U will start to decline when Ferguson goes? 

@Gustavo: Well, because Liverpool have finished 7th, 6th and 8th, in the last 3 seasons, and are currently 8th now. Spurs have finished 4th twice, 5th the other time, and are currently 4th now. 

Also, Spurs have AVB, who is rated across the continent (and also worked with Hulk before at Porto), which is attractive. Plus, the higher quality of squad (and depth) surely makes a difference.

Okay. 

If Spurs finish worst than they did last season and Liverpool finish better, do you still think Spurs are a more exciting prospect for a player? 

well some people are saying man united players are getting old but the talents and the trophies will lurr good players

@Gustavo: Yes, I do. We've talked about the squad depth, and squad quality. We've talked about recent seasons' form. We've mentioned the manager aspect. It's also the case that Spurs are being touted (for the last two seasons, mind you) as playing the best football in the league.

I don't know why you would disagree (unless you're biased towards Liverpool? :p). But I'm not going to argue about it any further, because nothing appears to satisfy you.

Giggs has been getting old since 7 years ago -_- and he's still world class. Putting in 110% performances every time he plays. 

United will still be an elite club in many years to come.

Every big club has been touted as playing the best football in the league, either this season or last the one. It's funny that I googled "best football in the premier league" and Liverpool came up. 

I've been satisfied since your first comment, I'm just asking questions.  What's the problem with making your case stronger? 

I'm just not really sure that Tottenham has much more depth and quality than Liverpool, and I feel like maybe we need more opinions to reach a consensus.   

"I'm just not really sure that Tottenham has much more depth and quality than Liverpool,"

You really want to go into it?

Why not? Why does this forum even exist if not for discussing shit like this.

Well, okay. If you really want to go into it, let's take a look at what Tottenham actually has, in terms of squad depth, first:

Goalkeeper: Lloris, and Friedel

I think most folks would agree that Lloris is one of the best young goalkeepers in the world, and Friedel is about as solid and as stalwart a reserve keeper as you are likely to find. Of course, he's getting old, and is nowhere near as mobile as Lloris, but since Hugo is young, fit and looking great, we shouldn't have to call upon Brad that much anyway. 

Defense: Full-backs: Walker, Naughton, Assou-Ekotto, Fryers (and Rose out on loan).

Walker may not have wowed us this year with the type of attacking threat he showed last season (winning the PL Young Player of the Year award), he's been pretty damn solid, and with his pace, strength, and willpower it's not very often anyone's gotten past him, all season long. Throw in Naughton on the other side, and you have the two full backs which steered us through the first half of the season into 4th place. 

Returning to fitness is Assou-Ekotto (BAE), who is a very crafty wing-back, Fryers, who Fergie was pissed to have let get away to Tottenham, has been sent into action with the youth team to get match fitness. Danny Rose has been such a success loaned out to Sunderland that they want to keep him. 

Not to mention the fact that Vertonghen can also carry left-back at a pinch, too. That's the depth Spurs have for fullbacks, alone.

Defense: Vertonghen, Caulker, Gallas, Kaboul, Dawson, Smith (out on loan).

Here's where it starts to get sexy. Not only do we have Vertonghen (former captain of a title-winning Ajax), who has been (alongside Kompany) probably one of the best CBs in the whole league this season. Kaboul, too, has returned to training, and was one of the stand-out defenders of last season, too. He's been injured this entire seaosn, but we've been lucky enough to have Gallas (WC winner, multiple league winner) standing in and taking care of the fort while he's gone. Add Dawson to that list, who may not be outstanding himself, but is certainly solid, and Caulker, who is still learning his trade, but has bags of potential as a commanding defender. There's Smith, too, who is loaned out to Millwal; 21 years of age and England captain at various youth levels. 

I dunno about you, but put together with the fullbacks, I call that a pretty impressive defensive squad.

Midfield: Defensive/Centre: Sandro, Dembele, Parker, Livermore, Huddlestone (out on loan).

Sandro has been fantastic, this season ( http://threeandin.com/2013/01/19/sandro-tottenham-have-one-of-europes-best-midfielders/ ), and the injury that has ruled him out for the rest of us was a real blow for the team. But, he'll be back, and when he is, we'll be reminded why we call him the Beast. ;) But, happily, we also have some nice cover, in Dembele and Parker.

Parker was our DM rock all last season, and while he's only been back to match fitness following a gruelling summer at Euro 2012, he's already 'back', and doing his job well. We may be waiting for Sandro to return, but in the meanwhile, Scotty's got this. Dembele is known more for his ability to go forward, but with his size, strength and touch he's also been very solid keeping the opposition midfield out of the game; one of the signings of the summer., and one of the league's midfield bosses.

Livermore and Huddlestone have never seemed to reach the level we need nowadays, but have been stalwarts in the past, and can still do a very competent job, if asked.

Add to this the the fact that Vertonghen can cover, in the event that NONE of our DMs are available. In fact, it's what Arsenal wanted to buy him for. ;) Not bad, eh?

Midfield: Attacking/Wings: Holtby, Bale, Lennon, Siggurdsson, Dempsey, Townsend (out on loan), Pritchard (out on loan).

Oh where do we start? I'm not going to go into Bale; there's a whole thread about him to read. ;)

But who else? Well, Holtby has been a bit exciting since his arrival, to say the least. He's nippy, he's skilful, he's hard-working, creative and doesn't mind putting in a tackle, either. Given that he'd probably even cover DM if asked, I think few can argue this guy is going to have some fun against these PL midfields. Siggurdsson has struggled with form and competition this year, but there's a reason why Reading tried to get him with 3 bids, in January. When Siggy starts clicking with the team, he'll be vital to our efforts to fight on multiple fronts, in multiple competitions. Same with Dempsey, really, though he's been filling in more for the strikers lately.

Lennon deserves a paragraph on his own; he's become such a complete winger, these last couple of seasons. He's still leaving right-backs in the dust up and down the country, and now tracks back to cover as an extra full-back too, multpiple times a game. If anyone thinks Lennon ain't awesome, then you haven't seen him play. ;P

Who is Pritchard, you might ask? Well, he's the new youth prodigy that helped the Spurs NextGen side rip apart Inter, 7-1, and Barcelona, 4-1 (though Barca did beat them 2-0 the other leg). Barcelona already have registered an interest in him, following that game, and Liverpool themselves tried very hard to get him, this January. He signed with Spurs for another 2.5 years, instead.

Strikers: Defoe, Adebayor, Kane, Calibaly (out on loan).

Well, here's where it gets sticky, of course. Defoe is a chap to have when you need him, but, he's also getting old, and injuries like this are going to become more frequent. Plus, his goals seemed to have dried up, anyhow. :/ Adebayor is not much more inspiring given his apparent disinterest in even playing, and Kane was loaned to Norwich, but then got injured, and didn't feature in their plans all season, so, yeah. Up front is where we have our problems.

However. Calibaly is an awesome little dude from Cote I'voire, who took the Golden Boot at the U21 World Cup in Mexico :p He, like Pritchard, have been tearing up NextGen defenses all across Europe, and he's currently loaned out in the Serie A, to get some first-team experience. He's still raw, so might take a while, but... just watch this space, and remember the name. ;)

And then there's Dempsey, who can at least fill-in here, while Adebayor tries to remember how to care, and while JD is side-lined.

So, that's my case for Spurs having a very good squad, and a squad with more allure than Liverpool's. 

What can you tell me about the Reds'?

The Tottenham squad beat Liverpool's in nearly every single department I say.

GK - Spurs, CLEARLY.

DEF - Spurs

MID - Spurs

ATK - Liverpool, Suarez alone right now is better than the whole Spurs strike force. I'm a HUGE admirer of Defoe as well. The rest of the Spurs strikers are good/okay.

SUBS - Spurs

Overall Spurs clearly have the superior squad. 

@Lo What is your opinion on Shaquile Coulthirst? I heard Barca were interested in him. 

@Gunner: I've honestly not gotten much info about him. I've heard the name, though, as being key in our NextGen side, so if Barca are interested in him too, then that seems like a stamp of approval to me. :)

why are we even talking about next season? We all know clearly man united won the title, but there is still 3 months left of the 2012-2013 season left and 7 months until next season.

He scored a hat trick against Barca, then they reportedly expressed interest in him. The kid sounds interesting. 

@Gunner: Noice. I guess maybe there's more going on beneath the not-buying-strikers hood than it seems?