2023/24 Premier League Season Preview

In this issue:  Grading the transfer window | State of the team | Predicting the starting XI | Narratives across the league | Bonus predictions!

Although the pre-season started pretty positively with Ange Postecoglou's appointment, some of my excitement has ebbed since then—for various reasons. So in an effort to get myself psyched up for the new season, I'm doing my traditional season preview post in spite of my current lack of enthusiasm. And hey, surely this season can't be worse than last season—right??

Same as last year, I picked a few categories to guide me through this preview. It's mostly Spurs-centric, but I will touch on the rest of the league a little bit. Without further ado, let's dive into the 2023/24 Premier League season!

Grading the transfer window

Of course, there is the caveat that the transfer window will still be open until September 1, so there could be further decisions to change my score—up or down. For now, I can only consider the business done up until this point. And yes, that includes the outgoing transfer of Harry Kane, which as of this writing is yet to be officially announced.

My score out of 10:  7

So far, this transfer window has marked a shift in the club's priorities. Not only have the recruits represented a move towards younger players to develop for the future, but also the realities of building a squad without having the European competition carrot to dangle in front of prospective players.

I was relieved that the club acted early in acquiring a new #1 goalkeeper to replace Hugo Lloris (who is technically still at Spurs, but surely not for long). We're probably going to need to have some patience with Guglielmo Vicario as he adjusts to the intensity of the Premier League, but he shows a lot of promise and seems like he has the right personality to fit into an Ange Postecoglou team.

James Maddison represents the sure-fire transfer of the summer. He fills a key need in our squad for increased creativity from the midfield and has a proven record at the Premier League level from his time at Leicester City. With Kane leaving, that creative responsibility will only increase. There will also be a burden on him to score goals regularly, as there will be on all of the midfielders and forwards in this new era at Spurs. The days of relying on Kane to score the bulk of the season's goals are gone.

On the flip side, Manor Soloman represents the wild card option. Although he does have some limited Premier League experience from his loan at Fulham last season, he still has a lot to prove—and made significant headway in proving it to Spurs fans, at least, with a strong showing in pre-season. If Son Heung-min spends significant minutes at the striker position this season (a distinct possibility sans Harry), Solomon will likely be the first choice for left winger, at least until Bryan Gil returns from injury and gets his fresh chance under Ange—or so I hope.

Two new players who are unlikely to be regulars in the first team are Ashley Phillips (a center-back) and Alejo Véliz (a striker). The club has stated that youth development is a key priority under Postecoglou, and these two will provide a great case study for that endeavor. I do hope we get to see them feature in a few of the early domestic cup games, at least.

In contrast, Micky van de Ven is likely to be an immediate starter, as he was at Wolfsburg. We've been waiting for a dynamic defender to pair with Cristian Romero, and he certainly seems to fit the bill. Plus, he can fill in at left-back if needed. At just 22 years old, he and Romero (25) will be a solid defensive core to build around for years to come.  

Much like last season, we've not been as successful with outgoing departures, but there's still a decent amount of time left in the transfer window. I'm pleased with how many incomings we've already managed. And with the fee for Kane, we could still see further incomings before the end of the window. Fingers crossed!

As for the departures that have gone through already, I wish Harry Winks the best of luck at Leicester (he's one of our own!) and hope that Joe Rodon will be able to get his career back on track while on loan at Leeds. Decisions will have to be made about young talents like Dane Scarlett and Alfie Devine, who may need further loans before fully integrating into the first team.

Another interesting aspect of this transfer window is that some of the players we may have previously expected to be leaving are now getting a shot at redemption at Spurs thanks to Ange. Giovani Lo Celso is the main one, but you could even argue that Oliver Skipp had not quite flourished as much as we would have liked under Mourinho and Conte and needed this change of manager. Ange has also spoken highly of Ivan Perišić after the pre-season campaign.

The rest of the transfer window will primarily be focused on moving on players who have played their last games in a Spurs shirt, but I would not rule out another defensive signing or two, and maybe even a striker if there's an option too good to pass up.  

As for the Kane of it all? That probably requires a lot more space than I can justify here in this season preview, so hold that thought until the next regular issue.

State of the team

Beyond and including the new transfers, let's take a look at the rest of the squad.

We have decent depth at most positions, with the exception of the defense—including goalkeeping. I feel pretty good about our midfield options, even with Rodrigo Bentancur still out with his ACL rehab until at least November. This is because I have plenty of faith in Skipp and Pape Sarr to step up under Ange's galvanizing coaching. And even with the loss of Kane, I think we're well-equipped to score plenty of goals this season in a more fluid attacking system, with regular contributions across the entire forward line and the attacking midfield. Plus, I'm backing Richarlison to have a comeback season—as well as Sonny.

I wish the pre-season had not been interrupted for Ange's sake, and that the team hadn't had the Kane transfer saga hanging over everyone's heads, but I still think it was a productive period. Although there are clear defensive deficiencies that need to be dealt with (the arrival of van de Ven will help), to me the most important thing was making sure the entire squad was on board with Ange's tactical vision for the attack. There was no shortage of goals in the friendlies, so I'd say that was a success. And from an outsider's perspective, it seems like the attitude within the squad is positive. Perhaps the Kane transfer was not that much of a distraction but rather an inevitable outcome in their eyes. Ange certainly doesn't seem blindsided or overly concerned, either.

Let's talk about realistic targets for the season. Normally I am an unapologetic optimist, but even I think it would be a bridge too far to expect this nascent Postecoglou team to challenge for the Premier League title. Regaining European competition qualification would be more likely, hopefully in the form of a Champions League berth.

Thinking back to last season, we weren't actually that far off the top 4 and may very well have finished higher in the table without Conte's stymieing tactics dragging down performances (and morale) for most of the campaign. With the tactical shift under Ange—and assuming that key players like Son and Richarlison will get back to their standard form—I don't think it's unreasonable to expect enough incremental improvement to finish in at least the top 6, if not the top 4.

I would also like to see Spurs seriously contend for a domestic cup title. We all know it was more a lack of will (especially from management) than a lack of ability that saw us fall before the final hurdle in recent seasons. Luckily or not, we will have an excellent test of this willpower in our first League Cup tie away at Fulham—by no means an easy draw for our initial foray into this year's competition, but we will quickly see if Ange and the squad are taking the cup seriously this time around; a half-hearted effort will not cut it in the early round this year.

On the whole, I feel a sense of optimism around this year's manager and squad but recognize that some patience will be needed in the early stages of the PL campaign. The important thing is that we're finally rebuilding toward a definable, sustainable project.    

Predicting the starting XI

While rotation won't be as crucial this season (not that Conte ever utilized it anyway) thanks to having mostly one-game matchweeks, I would still expect some variability in the midfield and attack from time to time. Consistency will be key for the defense in such a risky high-line system. There's also an important caveat that, were he fit, Rodrigo Bentancur would surely be starting most matches.

Here are my picks to secure a win and all three points on matchday 1 against Brentford:

My predicted starting XI is mostly who I think Ange will pick, mixed with a couple of wishful-thinking choices. Those being:  Emerson Royal at right back instead of Pedro Porro, and Oliver Skipp instead of Pape Sarr. That's no slight towards those players in general, just personal preference. It's not unlikely that they end up on the pitch after all.

Ange could even throw us a curve ball and start Sonny at striker, opening up the left winger spot for Richarlison to slide back into, or for Manor Solomon to get a surprise start. And I suppose I've technically neglected to put Porro in the lineup twice—neither at right back nor at right winger. He will surely put pressure on Dejan Kulusevski for the right winger position all season long.

Another note:  I doubt Micky van de Ven will be ready to start, but I would love for him to get a cheeky debut on Sunday. If that were the case, my preference would be for Davies to start over Udogie at left back for a little more experience in the backline for the first game of the season.

Narratives across the league

To wrap things up, let's take a look at some of the other teams in the league as I note a few storylines that I'll be keeping an eye on.

Poch in his villain era

I think it's safe to say that none of us were happy to see Mauricio Pochettino appointed as Chelsea's new manager this summer. Then he escalated the emotional torture by throwing his old club under the bus in his first interview. Now, he's openly praising sportswashing projects. Yikes! We must fully estrange ourselves from Spurs' former dad now. I don't make the rules.

There is zero part of me rooting for him to do well at Chelsea. And there's every chance he might fail spectacularly since they're still employing a "throw it on the wall and see what sticks" transfer strategy—in the most expensive manner possible. They're currently embroiled in a transfer tug-of-war with Liverpool for Moisés Caicedo's services. And the one incoming transfer that seemed near-guaranteed to be a success, Christopher Nkunku, has already picked up an injury in pre-season.

Until the Financial Fair Play loopholes are closed they will continue to be able to attract top talent (and offload them in Saudi Arabia if they don't work out), but it's going to take a master class of management to wrangle them all into something cohesive. This team is definitely going to be... something. I'm hoping it's a hot mess.

Aston Villa no longer sleeping giants, fully awake

I will now point out that I correctly predicted in last season's preview that Aston Villa could qualify for Europe. While their fans are understandably hugely excited about this development, it could prove to be an obstacle to the club solidifying their return to the upper echelon of the Premier League.

But actually, I don't think it will be. Once again they have done smart transfer business to address key areas of need in their squad and probably do have adequate depth to handle multiple competitions and frequent midweek games.

Now that Unai Emery is long removed from his Arsenal manager days, I feel comfortable acknowledging that the man knows what he is doing and does it well. He was a huge upgrade over the tactically naive Steven Gerrard. And while Aston Villa may not have the purchasing power of the traditional top six, their savvy, long-term strategy has equipped Emery with a well-balanced squad not even a full year into his tenure. They were playing the long game.

And truly, I have no beef with Aston Villa (except Matty Cash, screw that guy for what he did to Matt Doherty), so I'm fine with them putting pressure on the usual contenders—Spurs included. It's healthy for the league to have some challenges to the status quo and a good reminder that clubs like Tottenham cannot stand still. Thankfully, I don't think we are taking our position for granted anymore. Aston Villa's resurgence has been a useful wake-up call.

Liverpool are done playing around

An important caveat here is that I feel slightly less confident saying this if Liverpool's transfer for Moisés Caicedo doesn't go through, but even then... their midfield is much improved after this summer. The world's least sincere LGBTQ ally Jordan Henderson has retired, ahem, departed for Saudi Arabia, and James Milner and Naby Keita have moved on free transfers. Liverpool snapped up Alexis Mac Allister, whom any team would be happy to sign after his phenomenal World Cup campaign with Argentina. They also signed electric winger Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig (free, free at last!), and sure, that doesn't bolster my improved midfield claim necessarily—unless you're one of those people who consider a winger a midfielder; I do not—but does bolster Liverpool's attack overall.

There are still questions to be asked of their defense, but when Liverpool are at the top of their game, they can usually find a way to score enough goals that it's a moot point. They will definitely be scoring plenty of goals this season with these two additions, plus the continued benefit of January signing Cody Gakpo. Add in Diogo Jota, Luis Díaz, and multiple Golden Boot-winner Mo Salah, and this is one of the few attacks in the league that I feel genuinely scared by on any given matchday.

In short, we should have enjoyed the reprieve while it lasted.

West Ham are getting relegated

Hush, I'm trying to manifest here. Let me have it!

All right, I'm going to cut myself off now because this preview is already late by one day. On that note, great start to the Golden Boot campaign, Erling! I will never apologize for being a not-so-closet Haaland fan.

In the process of writing this, I did get slightly more excited about the season ahead than I was before—primarily from a Spurs perspective (it's a bit of a relief to have the Kane saga come to a conclusion, to be honest) but also from a league-wide perspective. It was very difficult to make my FotMob league predictor table, let's put it that way. I hope there will indeed be more surprises (even the unpleasant ones) than foregone conclusions in this iteration of the Premier League.  

(City will probably still win the league though, unfortunately.)

On that note, I will end this preview with my one bold, spicy hot take for the 2023/24 season:  Chelsea will fail to qualify for the Champions League, again. Calling it now.

I will also share my predictions from the Football Ramble template so that at the end of the season y'all can hold me accountable for being an incorrigible optimist (and noted West Ham hater).

Drop a comment below to share what targets you have in mind for the upcoming season, who would be in your go-to starting XI, and what narrative you're most excited to follow across the league.

COYS

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