On the eve of the season, it's time for another Fulham season preview by yours truly. Unlike last year we're not kicking off the Football League season, but let's hope we end up with a similar outcome as we got this time last year. This preview will effectively cover all things Fulham that have happened over the summer, and what I expect we'll see over the course of the next 10 Months.
Given the time of year, there's only really one place to start, and that's the transfer window. Which in typical Fulham fashion has been without any incident, controversy and newsworthy happenings at all.
The Transfer Window
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Marcelo Djalo (Lugo)
Look, I don't know anything about him. And by the sound of it, not even many people at the club do. However, I'm not going to write him off just yet. However naive that may be of me. There's a few reasons for that, the first one being he's only 23. I'd say Centre-Backs generally peak around the 26-30 age range, with some going on even longer like a certain John Terry who's dropped down for the coming season. I'd also argue the large chunk of the abuse Djalo's received this Pre-Season is unfair and largely down to how he's perceived to have been signed rather than his actual ability.
Because when he played the 2nd Half against West Ham next to Tim Ream who's probably our best Centre-Back on the ball, and in front of McDonald who's such a calm player- I thought he actually looked alright. I'm not saying I want him to start every week, but being in the Real Madrid Academy and having a spell at Juventus means he does have a bit of pedigree to him. So I won't completely write him off before he's had a proper go.
Ibrahima Cisse (Standard Liege)
With the signing of Cisse and another player I'll discuss later, I'd say we have the best central midfield in the league. We've now added good depth to the midfield three that in my albeit biased opinion were the best midfield in the league last season. Depending on Kevin McDonald's fitness and his potential (more later) transfer to Forest we could see a lot of Cisse in the near future. I have high hopes for this one, because much in the way of McDonald this time last year he's someone we've tried to sign previously and there's a reason for that.
Lucas Piazon (Chelsea, Loan)
I would've preferred a permanent move for Kalas particularly, but with Slutsky being at Hull, I'm just happy that we've got Kalas and Piazon back in the first place. Piazon's pretty much the perfect squad player. He showed what he's capable of at times last season with some of the goals he scored, with the one against Forest immediately jumping to mind, he clearly likes being here, and he's a decent player first and foremost. You need depth in the Championship, that's just the nature of the league, and winger and centre-mid are the two positions I'd say where we've got quality depth- with Piazon being a part of that.
Oliver Norwood (Brighton, Loan)
As I've already said, the midfield three of Cairney, McDonald and Johansen were in my opinion the best midfield in the league last season. However, it has to be said we without a doubt got lucky last season when it came to injuries, or the lack thereof for those three players. I think Cairney missed 1 game, McDonald only missed games through suspension and Johansen didn't drop out of the team once he'd got his place.
We've already seen in Pre-Season that we probably won't be so lucky this season considering McDonald missed the game at the weekend and Cairney's had some knee issues. So we needed to add players capable of coming in and playing to a high level, and in Norwood we've done that. Everything about him seems perfect for how we play in-terms of how comfortable he is on the ball and his general style of play. Plus, if Cairney is injured when we go to the Madejski second week of the season he'll probably score a 30 Yarder against Reading.
Tomas Kalas (Chelsea, Loan)
As I've already said, I would have preferred this to be permanent, but with Hull being in the mix the way they were I'm just happy to have him at all. I'm hoping now that Kalas and Ream have had the best part of a season together we can be more secure at the back with said pairing. Because if we want to go up, and we absolutely have to go up this season, we need to concede less goals than we did last season. Even during our run at the end of the season we were winning games 3-1 or 4-1 most weeks. That's not sustainable over the course of a Championship season, and there will be games like Blackburn and Wolves at Home that immediately come to mind where it'll cost us points if we keep on the same trajectory defensively.
However, it does have to be said that Kalas in-terms of how Slavisa wants us to play is pretty close to being our perfect Centre-Back and I think the reaction to his signing said a lot about how much we needed him back this season to hopefully go that one step further than we did last season.
Aboubakar Kamara (Amiens)
Our brand new AK47! This one is interesting to me for a number of reasons. But first, let's address the elephant in the room. WE SIGNED AN ACTUAL STRIKER! When I saw the fact that Kamara's the first Striker we've signed permanently since Matt Smith, when we still had Felix as Manager, it took all I had not to burst out laughing.
At least on paper, Kamara looks to be the perfect Striker for us, and the fee we've paid for him would definitely suggest the stats department etc. agree with that. He looks like a very pacy, powerful player who knows where the back of the net is. I said it during either my Season Preview or Transfer Window Review last season, we're always going to score goals.
Even before we signed Kamara the attacking options we have and the way we play mean we'll score goals in the majority of games we play. It's that minority that we wouldn't score in which is why we've brought in Kamara and are looking to sign another Striker on top of him. Just to add the (hopefully) consistent goals from a Striker could be that little bit extra we need to push us over the line in some games. We 100% need another Striker, because we can't be reliant on Kamara when the only other out and out Striker we've got is Cauley Woodrow- but getting Kamara in with basically a week before Norwich to settle him in a bit was a massive "must" for us. Both in-terms of getting the team ready for the start of the season, and also from a negotiation perspective with potential other incoming Strikers (more later).
Outs
For this section I thought I'd just go through the players that actually appeared in a senior game for us last season.
Scott Parker (Retired)
I said I was in the minority in my Window Preview when I thought Parker would go on for another season, and that's because I was in fact wrong to think so. I will say I'm disappointed that Parker didn't take an official coaching position with us considering that's basically what he's been for the last two seasons- but to go to Spurs and work with a Manager like Pochettino is probably most young coaches dream.
Ryan Tunnicliffe (Millwall)
I said it a lot when I was doing consistent match reviews, I liked and still do like Tunnicliffe. You need a work horse like player in the team to do the "dirty work" so to speak. We're just very fortunate that we've now got Stefan Johansen who'll chase down players for 90 Minutes, and actually possesses the technical skills of a Football player. Whatever else you can say about Tunnicliffe, his goal at Bristol City away two seasons ago was probably the highlight of my whole season being in the Bristol City away end for it.
Jozabed (Celta Vigo)
I said in my aforementioned Transfer Window Preview that if Tom Cairney left I would've wanted to see Jozabed fill his role, as it was that became a non issue so there wasn't really a place for him. I've said a few times on Twitter and in my Window Preview that Jozabed's not a bad player by any means, I just don't think he ever really settled with us. Whether or not playing consistent Football will have helped him we'll never know. However, he's gone now, and I believe we sold him at a profit which is good business from us- and good for FFP as well. So it's a win-win.
Scott Malone (Huddersfield)
Depending on whether you'd class Chris Martin as a "Starting XI" player for us last season, Malone's the only one we've lost from the team last season now that Kalas has returned. There seems to be two camps with Scott Malone, the camp that say he's a massive loss for us, and the camp that says he's a bit overrated, suspect defensively and covers for it by scoring goals. I'd say I'm more in the latter camp, because he's 100% replaceable for us.
The signing of Malone in exchange for Jazz Richards, and subsequent sale for 3.5 Million has to be considered one of the best bits of business we've done in the last few years. Up there with Cairney for 3-4 million. Getting that amount of money for someone who's very replaceable is a no-brainer from a business perspective. I think Odoi will start at Left-Back on Saturday and we'll work to sign a new Left-Back before the end of August. A few of those potential incomings I'll discuss later.
Richard Stearman (Sheffield United)
I think it's funny looking back to this time last year where I'd say the majority of Fulham fans would've gone Kalas, Madl, Stearman, Ream in-terms of ordering our Centre-Backs. Now at least in my view I'd go Ream, Kalas, Madl, Stearman. Stearman's a solid player for this level without a doubt, but he's not at the level that we want to be at, and he's not the type of player (like Ream) who could've settled into Slavisa's style of play. So we've got a fee for him, which makes it a good deal for all sides.
Jesse Joronen (AC Horsens)
I think Joronen's a case of "what could have been" from a Fulham perspective. When we got relegated it was pretty much a fight between Joronen and Bettinelli for the #1 spot for the whole of Pre-Season. Joronen started the season, and because we were a complete shambles didn't keep many Clean Sheets, Bettinelli got his spot and the rest is history. I wish him all the best, because by all accounts he's a top guy off the pitch and by the sounds of it he's had a good start at his new club so let's see where he is after a couple of seasons.
Lasse Vigen Christensen (Brondby)
I saw many, many people call this sale a mistake, and I do understand why, although I'd disagree with said people. I loved Christensen when he had just broken into the team and was in my opinion for the first few months the best midfielder in the Championship. However, I think at this point we're all in on Slavisa as Manager. As a result, it's best for Lasse to move on because Slavisa clearly didn't rate Lasse enough to include him in the Matchday Squad, let alone the first team- and Christensen's at the stage of his career where he needs to be playing every week to keep developing now. As with Joronen, it sounds like he's had a good start at his new club- and I get the feeling he'll be back in the Championship, or maybe even the Premier League if he can get back his early Fulham form back. Because the Christensen from the first few months of his run in the first team was a Premier League level player.
Ragnar Sigurdsson (Rubin Kazan)
The latest departure which has happened today is Ragnar Sigurdsson going back to the Russian League on loan. I've said it a few times now, I don't believe Sigurdsson's a bad defender- but he just struggled to adapt to English Football. I'm presuming the only reason this isn't permanent is the fact Kazan couldn't afford to make it so, but provided they're covering his wages which I think are quite large I'm perfectly content with this deal. Sigurdsson's one of the last "dead weight" players we have in the squad, and with his wages freed up hopefully it can speed up the signing of some players. Which is a nice segue to the next section of this blog.
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Potential Transfers
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Diego Rolan (Bordeaux)
Let's just get this one out of the way seeing as it's been the transfer that's consumed many a Fulham fans summer. This one reminds me so much of the Lewis Dunk transfer a few years ago now in that we just seemingly wouldn't give up on him. However, the key difference in the case of Rolan is that we at least seemingly have actually moved on with sufficient time to get the team sorted before the start of the season which is evidenced by the signing of Kamara.
I've seen a lot of people slagging Rolan off on Twitter because of his reluctance to sign because they only want players who want to play for the badge and all those other cliches. So let's talk about that. This next season is a World Cup season, and when Rolan's got Cavani and Suarez firmly ahead of him, he's realistically competing with Abel Hernandez, Cristhian Stuani and a few other Strikers in South American leagues for a place in Oscar Tabarez's 23 Man Squad that's going to Russia.
While he hasn't left yet, given the way Hull seem to be doing things, I would think if the right offer came in for Hernandez they'd sell him- and I could easily see him at a Mid-Table La Liga or Serie A team. Stuani's already left Boro to join a newly promoted La Liga team- and in short, they're more visible, more popular leagues. Rolan would be stupid to not consider his World Cup prospects when making the decision to "drop down" to the Championship from a Bordeaux team who have qualified for the Europa League. Especially when Premier League Newcastle have registered an interest in him by all accounts.
I genuinely don't believe we've heard the last of this deal, because Newcastle seem to be going for Lucas Perez among others, and if they sign him and/or some other players we'll suddenly become an option Rolan wants to explore again.
One more quick point, if Rolan does sign, he's not going to not put any effort in. He's a Footballer, he's paid to play Football and score goals- and if he did sign for us I'd expect him to do both because whatever else you can say about him he'd be a top drawer player to have at this level.
Sheyi Ojo (Liverpool, Loan)
This one's a weird one, just because it seemed like Ojo would be at a new club at the time of writing this- but everything's been quiet for just over a week now.
Ojo's an interesting one. Because as I've already said, winger is one of the areas that we already have really good depth. As I'll discuss in the "potential outs" section, that could change- but as of writing this it's fine. As a result I'm not really sure how this would make sense for us. Because to the best of my knowledge Liverpool put "game time" clauses into players' loan deals specifying they have to play "X" number of minutes/games. While Ojo is undoubtedly a good player, I'd rather play players we already have consistently than effectively help develop another teams player which stifles the game time of a player who's under contract to us like say Kebano.
As far as actual solid links I think that's pretty much it at the time of writing, so now I'll be moving on to "my" more speculative potential incomings based on the positions I think we need to strengthen and players I believe would be able to fill those roles.
Rudy Gestede (Boro)
We've got Kamara who's the quick, more "Aluko/Ayite" up-front type Striker, so now in my opinion we need to sign more of a Target Man/Hold-Up type Striker to wear the #9 so we have some variety in our attacking play and a good option to either start or come off the bench in games. Enter Gestede who, I think is the 5th choice Striker at Boro just 7 Months after signing for them considering he presumably has Assombalonga, Bamford, Braithwaite and most recently Ashley Fletcher all ahead of him.
As a result, you have to assume he'd be available to sign, whether it be on Loan or Permanently for 3-4 Million. I'm sure there's another Target Man in a foreign league who we'll no doubt be looking at, but in-terms of a tried and tested Championship player him or Cameron Jerome would be our best bets.
Quickly on Cameron Jerome, are there seriously people saying they wouldn't have him? His goalscoring record at Championship level is great, and in a team like ours he'd be a near perfect fit. While the rumours around him have died down a bit now, if he were to come in I for one wouldn't have a single complaint.
Moussa Marega (Porto)
This one is completely out of left field for many of you I would assume, so let me introduce you to Moussa Marega. Who at least on paper is close to the perfect player for what I think we need. He's big and strong, but he's also quite quick, and based on last season where he scored 13 Goals in 25 games on loan at Vitoria Guimaraes he knows where the back of the net is as well. His cost would also be manageable for us as well because to the best of my knowledge he's in the last year of his contract. The fact he's not represented by Jorge Mendes means we at least have a chance of signing a Portuguese League player because it's not a guarantee he gets vacuumed up by Wolves.
Plus it's been a while since we've had a Moussa at the club now.
Erik Johansson (Copenhagen)
Moving on to Centre-Back now, we were very briefly linked with Mathias "Zanka" Jorgensen early in the window before he moved to Huddersfield, so I thought I'd look at the Danish League and see what else it had to offer, and I've come up with his Centre-Back partner. Reading up about Jorgensen, it was actually interesting, because a lot of Copenhagen fans seemed to rate Johansson more so than Jorgensen and were saying that the reason Jorgensen played as well as he did was because of Johansson. Let's just put it this way, he's better than Djalo, Sigurdsson and Madl and would provide genuine competition/option to Ream and Kalas for their places in the team which we simply don't have at the moment. Plus if my timelines are correct Kebano's played with him before, so hopefully he can get in his ear. We need to move quickly as well, because he turns 29 in December.
Rami Gershon (Gent)
It wouldn't be one of these transfer blogs without a trip to Belgium now would it? Enter Rami Gershon, who to me, is the player who can come in if Tim Ream doesn't carry on as he finished last season. He's basically a slightly taller, and based on how they've played in their respective leagues last season, slightly better version of Tim Ream. He's Left-Footed, very assured on the ball and he can play with both feet based on some the games I've seen him play which albeit isn't very many.
At least to me, based on the sort of profile of player we look at signing, he's the near perfect signing for us. Especially coming from the Belgian League he'd probably be relatively cheap. In short, he'd provide genuine competition and potentially play ahead of Tim Ream which we need this season.
Edgar Badia (Reus)
I still think we need to sign a new Goalkeeper, and with our new Goalkeeping Coach Jose Sambade Carreira coming in being Spanish, I can see us going into the Spanish market which I would hope he knows quite well for said Keeper. Enter Badia, who at Liga Adelante team Reus conceded just 29 goals over 42 games last season. There's not much more to it than that really. He seems a decent Keeper, although he may have an issue in-terms of the physical side of the Championship. However everything else he'd be golden with.
Raúl (Levante)
Badia was the second best Keeper in Liga Adelante last season, Raúl was the best. Plus, unlike Badia he's 6'5 so the physical side of the Championship shouldn't be as much of an issue for him as it would potentially be for Badia.
Because of how we play, I think signing a Spanish, or Spanish League Keeper is our best bet for a Keeper. Everything about how they train is based around passing, which is where Slavisa's got most of his "style" from as a Manager after spending the majority of his playing career and some of his managerial career in Spain. They train Keepers differently to how we do in England, and now we've got a new Goalkeeper Coach to replace Tim Flowers I would assume we're leaning more toward the Spanish style which is a lot of Rondo's involving the Keeper and a lot of the Goalkeeper training with the outfielders rather than being isolated for large parts of training sessions.
Jere Uronen (Genk)
Moving on to the last position that I believe we need to strengthen, and that's Left-Back. I don't think this one is completely out of nowhere like most of this section is because I think I read we're interested in him on FriendsOfFulham a few days ago. I definitely wouldn't have any objection to signing him because he'd be a really solid player for us. He's a very dogged player, and from what I've seen of him he looks better defensively than Malone- but not quite as good going forward. It's basically a question of what we'd prefer, and considering the job title of a Left-Back is "Defender" I know which one I'd prefer.
Isma Lopez (Sporting Gijon)
Gijon, and a certain Fernando Amorebieta with them went down from La Liga last season. However, Lopez is one of the better players at the club, and at least to me looks like he fits the profile of the type of Left-Back we want. He's a Left-Back, but he's literally played as a winger in his career, and he definitely has a goal in him. Basically picture a Spanish Scott Malone, and there you go. Given the nature of Spanish contracts and Release Clauses which are in the news these days with the Neymar move, if we could pay the Release Clause which I would assume is attainable we could hopefully convince him to join us and everyone lives happily ever after.
Those are the four areas I still think we need to strengthen between now and the end of the window; Goalkeeper, Centre-Back, Left-Back and Striker. If we strengthen those 4 positions with quality, I genuinely believe we can have a crack at automatic promotion this season. We may end up needing to further strengthen if there's any significant departures though, which brings me on nicely to the next section of this.
Outs
Sone Aluko
Aluko's an interesting one to me, because even before what Slavisa said after Wolfsburg I've always thought there was something substantial to the Reading rumours. It might be because we've been interested in Ojo, but Aluko could very well be off. I'd be torn on whether or not that's a good move for us. On his day, Aluko's one of the best players in the division. His performance against Huddersfield in the 5-0 was probably the standout individual performance of any player for us last season.
The thing is though, there's also times where he can be the most frustrating player to watch ever thanks to him not being a clinical finisher. He could and should have had double the number of goals he finished on last season. In many ways Aluko summed us up as a club last season, a very tricky, quality player who needed 10 shots for every goal they scored. If a very big offer came in for him I'd be open to selling him provided we did sign Ojo, because I think Kebano has a higher ceiling than him and if Kebano were to settle into a regular starting role I believe he'd get more goals than Aluko over the course of a season.
Of course goals aren't everything, and I'd like to see Aluko stay without doubt- but I'm not entirely against it.
Kevin McDonald
This one has been bubbling for pretty much the whole summer and it seems to have flared up again over the last week or so. Unlike Aluko, I would be 100% against selling McDonald at any cost. Especially this close to the new season. The job McDonald does makes us tick simply. He probably isn't the best DM in the league now Wolves have signed Ruben Neves, but he's definitely up there based on last season- and if we are to go up we need McDonald at the club. It really is that simple.
Marcus Bettinelli
If we do sign a new Keeper, which I think/hope we will- I think Bettinelli's the more likely Keeper to depart of him and Button. I don't think Bristol City have signed a Keeper yet, and that's the team he's been linked with pretty consistently so if he were to leave it would likely be to them. I'd be sad to see him go, but I'd understand why he would want to go- and in-terms of purely on the pitch provided we signed a good replacement like one of the two I've mentioned above I'd be fine with it.
That's that as far as transfers go for me, so it's time to move on to other aspects of the summer and the coming season.
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Tom Cairney and Ryan Sessegnon's new contracts
One thing that absolutely has to be mentioned from the summer is the new contracts for Tom Cairney and Ryan Sessegnon. This will likely be the best bit of business we do this summer regardless of what else we do in the next month. That's both in-terms of keeping them here for the coming season, but also for the potential value should we sell them in the future. Especially when it comes to Sessegnon we've seen in recent years with players like Dembele how brutal the market can be for clubs if a highly rated youngster doesn't sign a new deal.
Now that we've got Sessegnon on a 3 Year deal we can pretty much name our price for him, and with the way the market's going that price if he has a similar season to last could be north of 20 Million which if we don't go up could be massive for us given this coming season is our last of Parachute Payments.
When it comes to Cairney I have absolutely no doubts he loves being at the club. However, I think the new contract was signed under the promise of no promotion this season and he's off next summer to a Premier League team willing to pay our asking price- and I wouldn't blame him one bit if he did. This season really is make or break in many respects for us, with Cairney perhaps being the most obvious example of why we need to go up this season.
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New Kit Reaction
I absolutely love our new kits. Especially the away one. They're nice and simple, and that's really all I want. The one thing that has to be talked about though, because I saw some reactions like this on Twitter and the Forums. Having Grosvenor Casino as a sponsor. For some reason, that I genuinely can't work out- there's some people against us having a Casino sponsor us. Despite the fact we've had betting companies as a shirt sponsor as recently as 3 seasons ago, and had Coral plastered all over the Cottage and literal Coral betting stalls set up at the Cottage- all while we've been in the SkyBet Championship.
It's not a coincidence that pretty much every team outside the Top 6 in the Premier League are sponsored by a Gambling Company. It's literally where the money is, and as long as they're paying a good price I couldn't care less who's sponsoring us as long as the players in the shirt are winning.
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The Season Ahead
As I've already said, this season is a massive one for us. Last season there wasn't much expectation on us, and I think up until Newcastle Away we were largely under the radar despite the fact we'd had a couple of 5-0 wins against promotion hopefuls and were playing some really good Football pretty much every week. This season, we're one of the favourites to go up, and we need to deal with the pressure, and the different type of games that come with that. Every single Manager in the Championship will have seen the way Reading played against us in the Play-Offs and how effective it was against us and try to replicate that way of playing because Jaap Stam's set the "blueprint" on how to get the better of Fulham and Slavisa Jokanovic. Put simply, we're going to have to work doubly hard to play "our" game this coming season.
While Top 6 was ambitious last season, it's the absolute minimum we should expect from this season- and anything less is simply put a failure. With the current squad I don't believe we have enough to push for automatics, however with some signings between now and September I may revise that. I wouldn't go as far as saying anything less than promotion is a failure, but no Top 6 would be.
Also, just a quick point- the Slavisa stuff is getting massively overblown in my opinion. Until he's gone, I won't believe it's as bad as some people have tried to make out.
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Predictions
I hate making Predictions, but as you may have seen on Twitter I've done my yearly Championship Top 6 and Relegation Prediction- and for once, Fulham are in it so I thought I'd expand on them here. I've predicted;
1st. Boro
2nd. Derby
3rd. Fulham
4th. Reading
5th. Wolves
6th. Norwich
That's my Top 6 for the season, with us beating Norwich and Wolves beating Reading in the Play-Off semi's and Wolves beating us at Wembley.
Whatever happens, I'm looking forward to a new season of ups and downs. Thanks for reading as always, I'll most likely be back on Deadline Day with a Live Blog or just after Deadline Day for a Transfer Window Review depending on how active we are in the rest of the window. Thanks again for reading and let's hope we go one step further this season.
Thursday 3 August 2017
Thursday 25 May 2017
Fulham: 17/18 Summer Window Preview
Hello! Long time, no see. The last time I did one of these Fulham posts was all the way back in September. There's a few reasons for that. I was ill directly after said post- but then something magical happened. Fulham actually became a good football team. To be short, I was just enjoying myself too much to do Reviews and the like in what is now last season for us. The last few years the Reviews functioned as a means to vent my frustrations pretty much, but thanks to the good season we've had there hasn't really been much to vent about.
Did we get everything right? Of course not, because if we did we'd be up. However I said back in my Season Preview I was expecting us to finish between 10th and 14th, so for the first time in a while Fulham have actually exceeded my expectations for a season. I would have obviously loved us to go up, but for the first time since we've come down we're heading into a Summer Window in a position of strength. We don't have to put a whole new team together, simply. We can focus on adding quality where needed and hopefully keeping our key players. All of which I shall discuss in this post.
I've done these the last few years, and the other two times they've been stupidly long because we've had to buy a whole new squad. So thankfully (or perhaps not if you like the long posts) this one will be shorter than the prior few. As always, I'm not expecting us to sign many, if any of the players I discuss in this. However, it's my suggestions based on areas I believe need to be strengthened. Right then, let's just dive right into it.
Ins
Goalkeeper
This summer's a big one in-terms of what we do with our Goalkeeper situation. We either stick with Marcus Bettinelli as our #1, or we probably say goodbye to him. Bettinelli's at the stage of his career where he needs to be #1 to keep developing. Whether or not he does so with us is entirely up to Slavisa and the rest of the coaching staff. If we don't, we need to bring someone in who's Top 6 if not Top 2 Championship quality- because after the season just gone Top 6 is the minimum we should be looking at for next season.
Lovre Kalinic (Gent)
We seem to have scouted Belgium quite heavily, with us already signing Kebano and Cyriac just off the top of my head. So, if you haven't heard of him, let me introduce you to probably the best Goalkeeper in the Belgian League. He's only been at Gent for around about 6 Months, but if we came in with the right offer I doubt they'd turn us down. He's an absolute giant, standing at 6ft 7, and I believe that he is a Top 6 level Championship Goalkeeper as an absolute minimum. The one potential issue is that Villa tried to sign him in the January of 2016 and he couldn't get a work permit, and given the form of Danijel Subasic at Monaco his chances for Croatia have been limited which is what I believe work permits are granted on the basis of. But if we could get over that obstacle, I'd be all over him.
Sergio Padt (Groningen)
Another likely unheard of Keeper for the majority of you, but Padt is one of the best Keepers in the Eredivisie. He's not at the very top which is occupied by Brad Jones of all people after the season just gone- but he's definitely up there. There are a few others, but the majority of them are 6ft or under (including Willem II's Keeper who's 5ft 9) which to me doesn't really work in the Championship. Padt on the other hand is 6ft 3 so shouldn't have a problem coping with the physical challenge the Championship presents.
These are two options, and of course there's a wide variety we could be looking at. However, I just thought I'd highlight these two.
Defenders
If you would have told me this time last year I'd be doing this post and I'd be saying Tim Ream's the only Defender who's absolutely irreplaceable of our current Defence I would've laughed. But here we are. I would go as far as to say Tim Ream was our best player in 2017, just don't have him take a Penalty again. With that said, we're in a unique position for one of these posts in that when it comes to the defence we just need a few "touch ups" as opposed to an entirely new defence like we have the last few years. To me, we need a Right-Sided Centre-Back to partner Ream and depth for Scott Malone at Left-Back because Ryan Sessegnon just isn't one.
We could go all out on trying to sign a pair of Full-Backs with a better end product (or who can at least cross the ball), but I'm largely fine with Malone and Fredericks and the money we would need to spend on getting a marked improvement on them could be better spent elsewhere.
Tomas Kalas (Chelsea)
He's the obvious one, and I wouldn't say no to us signing him permanently by any means. However, I would go as far as to say Ream carried him in the latter stages of the season. We could do a lot worse than Kalas I think that's safe to say, however I'd prefer someone taller. Our inability to keep Clean Sheets is a byproduct of the way we play, which I think Slavisa's openly said- however I think a more physically imposing Centre-Back to cope with the Strikers you see quite a lot in the Championship could definitely help us out.
Marc Roberts (Barnsley)
The majority of "desirable" Barnsley players got snapped up in January, however Roberts is definitely that. I would imagine we're not the only team that would be in for him this summer if we are. Roberts was almost the forgotten man of Barnsley's first half of the season which had them above us for quite a while almost as a result of Hourihane, Bree and Winnall all leaving. However (with respect to Barnsley) in a better team I think he'd flourish.
Vitor Bruno (Feirense)
After two players relatively close to home, we're going back to the continent, this time to Portugal. I looked for players that to me fit the "Fulham profile" because for the first time in ages we have a defined style of play and as a result we can sign players with that in mind. Vitor Bruno was someone who I thought fit in with our philosophy. He's a very attacking full-back, he's quick and he's relatively good with the ball at his feet. I don't claim to have watched Feirense every week, but I would suggest he has a better end product than Malone as far as Assisting goes considering he matched Malone's Assist total for the season in 8 less games in what is on balance a different and I'd argue harder league than the Championship.
Barry Douglas (Konyaspor)
Yes, there is someone called Barry Douglas who plays for a team called Konyaspor which for those of you who don't know is in Turkey. He's quite an important player for Konyaspor as well, and he's registered 5 Assists for them this season- so he can definitely be an effective player for us in the final third, probably more so than Malone I would say.
Moses Odubajo (Hull)
I've highlighted a few more realistic options for us, but I thought I'd include this one just in case we decided to go all out in trying to sign a top quality Full-Back. Hull, or more specifically the Allam's showed in January that they weren't going to get in the way of their better players leaving if the right offer came in for them. So, I would assume that should someone put in the right offer for Odubajo they would accept it. If we could get him I'd obviously be all over him, because to me he'd be the best Right-Back in the Championship.
Midfielders
There's two ways to approach this section really.
To me, we had the best Midfield in the league this season with Cairney, Johansen and McDonald. However, I'd argue we were almost too reliant on those three to make us tick. Especially in the case of Johansen, with the way he plays- he can't play to his absolute top level for 46 Games a season plus however many cup games we have and he features in. So the first approach is to say we need to add more depth to our Midfield and specifically find someone who's a good rotation option for Johansen.
Lewis Holtby (Hamburg)
The first name that I thought of when thinking of a rotation option for Johansen was Holtby. Hamburg have basically turned into the Sunderland of the Bundesliga in that they always seem to be going down and then somehow avoid the drop. As we saw with Sunderland this season however, that run can't last forever. I just thought I'd put his name into the hat. Especially if Johansen does what he did at Celtic and has a shall we say underwhelming second season after a stellar first Holtby would be more than ready to take his place.
Ricardo Avila (Gent)
Another player from a Belgian team, and this one appears to be a done deal at this stage. I can't say I know a lot about him, but from the limited highlights I've seen of him, it looks like he can take a Penalty. So at least that'll be something.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah (Man Utd)
Now that Man Utd have officially made it into the Champions League, I can't see their spending stopping any time soon. As a result, players like Fosu-Mensah could very well be loaned out to gain first team experience. It would be quite a coup if we were to get Fosu-Mensah on loan, for the pure fact that he'd be an absolutely top drawer player at this level. He's versatile as well, I'd stick with him in Midfield which I believe is his best position- but if injuries were to necessitate it (as it has done for Utd) he can play Right-Back and Centre-Back as well.
That's approach one. Approach two is a "worst case scenario" type thing where we lose Tom Cairney. It is a possibility, and if we want to be in the hunt for Top 6 we'd need to find a top drawer replacement for him. Although, I'd actually want us to give Jozabed a go in that role should Cairney go after seeing how he played for Celta Vigo .That being said I think we've burned our bridge on that front.
Alejandro Pozuelo (Genk)
Should Cairney go, I'd be going back to Belgium and signing Pozuelo. He's gotten 8 Goals and 19 Assists in all competitions for Genk this season and I'd say he'd be a more than adequate replacement for him. As I said, this is only relevant in the event of losing Cairney- and I'd like to think if Cairney were to be sold we'd get a minimum of 15 Million pounds for him in which case we could put an offer in for someone like Pozuelo which couldn't be turned down despite how key to their team he is.
Deniz Türüc (Kayserispor)
Türüc would be an interesting one, because he's been a stand-out performer, not just for Kayserispor but in the whole Super Lig. Much like Cairney, he's registered double figures for Goals and Assists for Kayserispor this season and this is in a team that's currently 14th in the Super Lig. Türüc can play wide as well as centrally, but with how influential he can be to a team, he reminds me a bit of Cairney really in that he can play wide- but he's probably best suited to playing centrally.
Kevin Möhwald (Nuremberg)
It's clearly worked for Huddersfield, so why shouldn't looking at the Bundesliga. 2 be an option for us? Put simply, Möhwald has the second highest Assists in the Bundesliga. 2 in what is now last season- while playing for a team that's been Mid-Table. Add on to that the fact he's 23 Years Old, to me he'd be a pretty low-risk signing and he'd be a good option to have next season.
Forwards
To me, we need to sign another Winger and two Strikers of a good level to add to what we've already got to have a good crack at next season. Especially on the Striker front, the earlier we get them through the door the better.
Lucas Piazon (Chelsea)
Let's just get the obvious one out of the way. I hope we sign Piazon. He clearly likes being here, and as far as options go we could do a lot worse. I'm actually curious to see how Piazon would do if he's actually settled at a team, because he arrived at Chelsea with quite a lot of hype but I think their loan farming methods destroyed him. So if he does get settled at a club he could potentially turn into a really tidy player.
Iuri Medeiros (Sporting Lisbon)
Medeiros is in many ways of the same ilk of the likes of Piazon in that he's just constantly out on loan. He's a level or two (at least) above him though, and Medeiros definitely wouldn't be cheap were we to sign him. I've seen reports that he's expected to go back to Sporting Lisbon next season after loan spells at Arouca, Moreirense and Boavista in the last couple of years. However, I doubt he's completely indispensable to Sporting and should we put the right offer in we could probably sign him. This one is ambitious without a doubt, but I wouldn't say it's impossible.
Marcus Ingvartsen (Nordsjælland)
The Danish League is a weird one, because it's by no means a league of the highest standard- but there's always a few gems in there. Specifically in-terms of Strikers. You just have to look at Nicolai Jorgensen who went from Copenhagen to Feyenoord last summer and he went on to be Top Scorer and Top Assister in the league for Feyenoord in their league winning season.
Ingvartsen is someone who I would imagine will be in quite high demand this summer, because not only was he Top Scorer in the Danish League, he's also only 21 Years Old. He's 6ft 1, so could do a good job in the "Chris Martin" type role of holding the ball up a bit and bringing our other attackers into play. He would be a risk given his age and the level he's played at up to this point, but as I've said I want us to sign two Strikers and Ingvartsen would definitely be someone I'd want us to go after as one of them.
Tammy Abraham (Chelsea)
This one doesn't need much of an explanation. If Abraham can get as many goals as he did while being injured for a spell in a largely unimpressive Bristol City team, imagine what he could do in a team as attacking as we are which creates as many chances as we do. It is of course very possible that they loan him out to another Premier League team after his ridiculously successful first season at senior level, but if they were to loan him out to another Championship team we should be at the front of the queue for him whatever it takes.
Enzo Crivelli (Bordeaux)
Crivelli's another relatively young Striker who's coming off of having a really good season in a struggling team in Ligue 1 in Bastia on loan from Bordeaux. I don't know for definite, but I'm also fairly certain we could get him for Free because to the best of my knowledge he hasn't signed a new contract with Bordeaux yet. If that was the case, signing someone who's scored 10 Goals for a team that finished bottom of Ligue 1 on a Free would be a pretty good deal in my opinion.
Duje Čop (Cagliari)
I saw we were linked with Kenan Kodro from Osasuna a few days ago, but it's another Striker for a relegated La Liga team I thought I'd highlight. I've been looking at La Liga Strikers ever since we were linked with Sergi Enrich in January, and of the ones I think we could realistically sign Čop is one of the ones I'd love to. Scoring 9 Goals for a team of Sporting Gijon's standard in La Liga is no mean feat, and given the fact Cagliari have loaned him for the last two seasons I would imagine he'd be relatively affordable.
Sergi Enrich (SD Eibar)
We're ending the "Ins" section with someone who we came close to signing in January by some accounts. Of all the names in this "Attackers" section he'd be top of my list. I know he signed a new contract at Eibar once the January window was over and I'm not sure what his new release clause is, but given the relative size of Eibar, I would think if we threw enough money their way they'd have to accept the offer. A player like Enrich could be the difference maker between going up and staying down, so I hope we're willing to spend big money on a Striker this summer.
I'd actually looked at potential options from the Belgian League for this part, but the two top scorers are way too good for us and will likely be off to the Premier League and then the third highest was Orlando Sa so I just stopped there.
For the first time in a while, we're an attractive proposition for players. We're in London, and we've now developed a reputation of playing good Football under Slavisa. We need to use that and of course spend an appropriate amount of money and we could very well be looking at Premier League football in a years time.
Outs
Let's just get the easy ones out of the way first.
Chris Martin (Derby)
No explanation needed.
Cyriac (Oostende)
I actually wanted to see more from Cyriac, because while I wouldn't say he's a player of the highest level I think he'd have a place in our squad if he could bulk up a bit. However, from reports I've seen we're not signing him permanently this summer even though we had the option to, so as a result he finds himself in this section of the post.
Thanos Petsos (Werder Bremen)
Remember him?
This is another unique situation for this type of post on here, because the focus of it isn't on having a mass clear-out, but rather the need to hang on to key players.
Tom Cairney
To go up, we most likely have to keep Cairney here. Would I begrudge him a move to the Premier League? Absolutely not. Especially if a Premier League team were to come in with a bid of 15 Million plus it would be very hard to turn down. However, in my idealistic world, Cairney decides to give us one more season to try and "finish the job" and take us up as Captain and if he doesn't we agree to sell him to anyone willing to pay our asking price next summer. Brighton managed to hang on to all of their key players last summer despite interest elsewhere, and we need to do the same if we want to be in Brighton's position this time next year.
Ryan Sessegnon
Sessegnon is quite an interesting one to me, because while I obviously want us to keep our best players. Provided he signs a professional contract with us, we can pretty much name our price for him. If selling Sessegnon brought in 15-20 Million that could potentially be the difference between us going up and staying down I would 100% sell him. I know that sounds harsh, but the reality of the situation with players like Sessegnon is that they always end up at a big club, and if the money brought in from his sale is the difference in the level of Striker we could sign this summer I know which one I'd prefer.
I obviously want us to keep our best young players. However, the financial benefits from selling him, and potential long-term financial benefits the money brought in from him could give us would mean I'd be open to selling him for the right price. Especially if we could get a sell-on clause and maybe a Loan back as well.
Jozabed
As I've already said, should Tom Cairney be sold, I wouldn't look much further than giving Jozabed a proper run in the team. Especially after seeing him play like he has done for Celta Vigo it confirmed my suspicions that we hadn't seen the best of him in a Fulham shirt. But he barely had a chance to make an impact for us. I do wonder if he isn't dissimilar to Kebano in that if given the time and the opportunity he could've made a splash with us. However, as I also said, I think we've burned our bridge as far as he's concerned, but we should get a decent transfer fee for him. At least recouping the majority, if not all the money we spent on him last summer.
Richard Stearman
Stearman's quite a lot like Matt Smith, in that he's almost definitely surplus to requirements for us- but he should still fetch a not insignificant transfer fee for us and a number of Championship teams will definitely be interested in him.
Ryan Tunnicliffe
I still like Tunnicliffe. Do I think he's good enough for us? No. However, a player like him will always have a place in a team. I could see him dropping down to League 1 or doing something similar to Dan Burn and going to a Championship team that will be fighting relegation next season like Bolton perhaps.
Ragnar Sigurdsson
It's not worked out for Sigurdsson simply put. I don't believe he's a bad defender, because he's had some good games for us without a doubt. However I just don't think he's suited to English football to be blunt, and at the stage of his career that he's at, he should be playing every week realistically which we simply can't offer him. He should fetch a decent(ish) fee for us though. I think we signed him for about 4 Million, and I'd expect us to sell him for maybe 2-2.5.
Cauley Woodrow
I think it's about time Cauley moved on. He's shown at Burton that he can be a useful player in the Championship, but he's a level below where we are now, and multiple levels below where we want to be. We could probably sell him for 1-2 Million to a Mid-Table Championship team like Barnsley, Preston etc.
Lasse Vigen Christensen
Going back to my point about Stefan Johansen not being able to play to his highest level for 46+ games a season, Christensen could feasibly be Johansen's rotation option. We all know what he's capable of doing after his first few months in the First Team under Kit. But I don't think Slavisa rates him considering he couldn't even make it into our 18 most weeks so I think he'll be off this summer, either permanently or another loan.
David Button
I don't think there's many Fulham fans who'd be disappointed if Button did go. I do think he's been too harshly criticised at times this season, but he was without a doubt dropped rightly after the Derby away game. Put simply, he didn't come to us to be a #2 and he'll want to move to somewhere who'll make him their #1 because he won't be our #1 next season.
Scott Parker
I'm probably in the minority, but I genuinely see Scott Parker doing another season in the role he's played this season of half "experienced head to bring on" half coach effectively. He won't play much next season, I'm not saying he will, but there's still definitely some value in keeping him in the set-up.
The Championship is wide open next season. The only team that's been relegated who I think will challenge the Top 6 next season is Boro, and there's not a team like Brighton last season who were pretty much ready to push for Automatics before the season even started. It's not going to be an easy season by any means. You've got the likes of Norwich, Wednesday, Reading/Huddersfield and Derby to add on to Boro (potentially Villa as well, but they need to do a lot of work considering their rumoured FFP problems). But, I'd back us against any of them. I genuinely believe if we get this summer window right we could push for Top 2 next season.
Thanks for reading as always. I can't say when the next one of these will be out, but just keep an eye out. I'm definitely not done with these. If you've read some of my previous posts welcome back, if you're new hopefully you stick around for the next one. Hopefully you have a good summer, and we're all back in August for what'll hopefully be a season even better than the one just gone.
Did we get everything right? Of course not, because if we did we'd be up. However I said back in my Season Preview I was expecting us to finish between 10th and 14th, so for the first time in a while Fulham have actually exceeded my expectations for a season. I would have obviously loved us to go up, but for the first time since we've come down we're heading into a Summer Window in a position of strength. We don't have to put a whole new team together, simply. We can focus on adding quality where needed and hopefully keeping our key players. All of which I shall discuss in this post.
I've done these the last few years, and the other two times they've been stupidly long because we've had to buy a whole new squad. So thankfully (or perhaps not if you like the long posts) this one will be shorter than the prior few. As always, I'm not expecting us to sign many, if any of the players I discuss in this. However, it's my suggestions based on areas I believe need to be strengthened. Right then, let's just dive right into it.
Ins
Goalkeeper
This summer's a big one in-terms of what we do with our Goalkeeper situation. We either stick with Marcus Bettinelli as our #1, or we probably say goodbye to him. Bettinelli's at the stage of his career where he needs to be #1 to keep developing. Whether or not he does so with us is entirely up to Slavisa and the rest of the coaching staff. If we don't, we need to bring someone in who's Top 6 if not Top 2 Championship quality- because after the season just gone Top 6 is the minimum we should be looking at for next season.
Lovre Kalinic (Gent)
We seem to have scouted Belgium quite heavily, with us already signing Kebano and Cyriac just off the top of my head. So, if you haven't heard of him, let me introduce you to probably the best Goalkeeper in the Belgian League. He's only been at Gent for around about 6 Months, but if we came in with the right offer I doubt they'd turn us down. He's an absolute giant, standing at 6ft 7, and I believe that he is a Top 6 level Championship Goalkeeper as an absolute minimum. The one potential issue is that Villa tried to sign him in the January of 2016 and he couldn't get a work permit, and given the form of Danijel Subasic at Monaco his chances for Croatia have been limited which is what I believe work permits are granted on the basis of. But if we could get over that obstacle, I'd be all over him.
Sergio Padt (Groningen)
Another likely unheard of Keeper for the majority of you, but Padt is one of the best Keepers in the Eredivisie. He's not at the very top which is occupied by Brad Jones of all people after the season just gone- but he's definitely up there. There are a few others, but the majority of them are 6ft or under (including Willem II's Keeper who's 5ft 9) which to me doesn't really work in the Championship. Padt on the other hand is 6ft 3 so shouldn't have a problem coping with the physical challenge the Championship presents.
These are two options, and of course there's a wide variety we could be looking at. However, I just thought I'd highlight these two.
Defenders
If you would have told me this time last year I'd be doing this post and I'd be saying Tim Ream's the only Defender who's absolutely irreplaceable of our current Defence I would've laughed. But here we are. I would go as far as to say Tim Ream was our best player in 2017, just don't have him take a Penalty again. With that said, we're in a unique position for one of these posts in that when it comes to the defence we just need a few "touch ups" as opposed to an entirely new defence like we have the last few years. To me, we need a Right-Sided Centre-Back to partner Ream and depth for Scott Malone at Left-Back because Ryan Sessegnon just isn't one.
We could go all out on trying to sign a pair of Full-Backs with a better end product (or who can at least cross the ball), but I'm largely fine with Malone and Fredericks and the money we would need to spend on getting a marked improvement on them could be better spent elsewhere.
Tomas Kalas (Chelsea)
He's the obvious one, and I wouldn't say no to us signing him permanently by any means. However, I would go as far as to say Ream carried him in the latter stages of the season. We could do a lot worse than Kalas I think that's safe to say, however I'd prefer someone taller. Our inability to keep Clean Sheets is a byproduct of the way we play, which I think Slavisa's openly said- however I think a more physically imposing Centre-Back to cope with the Strikers you see quite a lot in the Championship could definitely help us out.
Marc Roberts (Barnsley)
The majority of "desirable" Barnsley players got snapped up in January, however Roberts is definitely that. I would imagine we're not the only team that would be in for him this summer if we are. Roberts was almost the forgotten man of Barnsley's first half of the season which had them above us for quite a while almost as a result of Hourihane, Bree and Winnall all leaving. However (with respect to Barnsley) in a better team I think he'd flourish.
Vitor Bruno (Feirense)
After two players relatively close to home, we're going back to the continent, this time to Portugal. I looked for players that to me fit the "Fulham profile" because for the first time in ages we have a defined style of play and as a result we can sign players with that in mind. Vitor Bruno was someone who I thought fit in with our philosophy. He's a very attacking full-back, he's quick and he's relatively good with the ball at his feet. I don't claim to have watched Feirense every week, but I would suggest he has a better end product than Malone as far as Assisting goes considering he matched Malone's Assist total for the season in 8 less games in what is on balance a different and I'd argue harder league than the Championship.
Barry Douglas (Konyaspor)
Yes, there is someone called Barry Douglas who plays for a team called Konyaspor which for those of you who don't know is in Turkey. He's quite an important player for Konyaspor as well, and he's registered 5 Assists for them this season- so he can definitely be an effective player for us in the final third, probably more so than Malone I would say.
Moses Odubajo (Hull)
I've highlighted a few more realistic options for us, but I thought I'd include this one just in case we decided to go all out in trying to sign a top quality Full-Back. Hull, or more specifically the Allam's showed in January that they weren't going to get in the way of their better players leaving if the right offer came in for them. So, I would assume that should someone put in the right offer for Odubajo they would accept it. If we could get him I'd obviously be all over him, because to me he'd be the best Right-Back in the Championship.
Midfielders
There's two ways to approach this section really.
To me, we had the best Midfield in the league this season with Cairney, Johansen and McDonald. However, I'd argue we were almost too reliant on those three to make us tick. Especially in the case of Johansen, with the way he plays- he can't play to his absolute top level for 46 Games a season plus however many cup games we have and he features in. So the first approach is to say we need to add more depth to our Midfield and specifically find someone who's a good rotation option for Johansen.
Lewis Holtby (Hamburg)
The first name that I thought of when thinking of a rotation option for Johansen was Holtby. Hamburg have basically turned into the Sunderland of the Bundesliga in that they always seem to be going down and then somehow avoid the drop. As we saw with Sunderland this season however, that run can't last forever. I just thought I'd put his name into the hat. Especially if Johansen does what he did at Celtic and has a shall we say underwhelming second season after a stellar first Holtby would be more than ready to take his place.
Ricardo Avila (Gent)
Another player from a Belgian team, and this one appears to be a done deal at this stage. I can't say I know a lot about him, but from the limited highlights I've seen of him, it looks like he can take a Penalty. So at least that'll be something.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah (Man Utd)
Now that Man Utd have officially made it into the Champions League, I can't see their spending stopping any time soon. As a result, players like Fosu-Mensah could very well be loaned out to gain first team experience. It would be quite a coup if we were to get Fosu-Mensah on loan, for the pure fact that he'd be an absolutely top drawer player at this level. He's versatile as well, I'd stick with him in Midfield which I believe is his best position- but if injuries were to necessitate it (as it has done for Utd) he can play Right-Back and Centre-Back as well.
That's approach one. Approach two is a "worst case scenario" type thing where we lose Tom Cairney. It is a possibility, and if we want to be in the hunt for Top 6 we'd need to find a top drawer replacement for him. Although, I'd actually want us to give Jozabed a go in that role should Cairney go after seeing how he played for Celta Vigo .That being said I think we've burned our bridge on that front.
Alejandro Pozuelo (Genk)
Should Cairney go, I'd be going back to Belgium and signing Pozuelo. He's gotten 8 Goals and 19 Assists in all competitions for Genk this season and I'd say he'd be a more than adequate replacement for him. As I said, this is only relevant in the event of losing Cairney- and I'd like to think if Cairney were to be sold we'd get a minimum of 15 Million pounds for him in which case we could put an offer in for someone like Pozuelo which couldn't be turned down despite how key to their team he is.
Deniz Türüc (Kayserispor)
Türüc would be an interesting one, because he's been a stand-out performer, not just for Kayserispor but in the whole Super Lig. Much like Cairney, he's registered double figures for Goals and Assists for Kayserispor this season and this is in a team that's currently 14th in the Super Lig. Türüc can play wide as well as centrally, but with how influential he can be to a team, he reminds me a bit of Cairney really in that he can play wide- but he's probably best suited to playing centrally.
Kevin Möhwald (Nuremberg)
It's clearly worked for Huddersfield, so why shouldn't looking at the Bundesliga. 2 be an option for us? Put simply, Möhwald has the second highest Assists in the Bundesliga. 2 in what is now last season- while playing for a team that's been Mid-Table. Add on to that the fact he's 23 Years Old, to me he'd be a pretty low-risk signing and he'd be a good option to have next season.
Forwards
To me, we need to sign another Winger and two Strikers of a good level to add to what we've already got to have a good crack at next season. Especially on the Striker front, the earlier we get them through the door the better.
Lucas Piazon (Chelsea)
Let's just get the obvious one out of the way. I hope we sign Piazon. He clearly likes being here, and as far as options go we could do a lot worse. I'm actually curious to see how Piazon would do if he's actually settled at a team, because he arrived at Chelsea with quite a lot of hype but I think their loan farming methods destroyed him. So if he does get settled at a club he could potentially turn into a really tidy player.
Iuri Medeiros (Sporting Lisbon)
Medeiros is in many ways of the same ilk of the likes of Piazon in that he's just constantly out on loan. He's a level or two (at least) above him though, and Medeiros definitely wouldn't be cheap were we to sign him. I've seen reports that he's expected to go back to Sporting Lisbon next season after loan spells at Arouca, Moreirense and Boavista in the last couple of years. However, I doubt he's completely indispensable to Sporting and should we put the right offer in we could probably sign him. This one is ambitious without a doubt, but I wouldn't say it's impossible.
Marcus Ingvartsen (Nordsjælland)
The Danish League is a weird one, because it's by no means a league of the highest standard- but there's always a few gems in there. Specifically in-terms of Strikers. You just have to look at Nicolai Jorgensen who went from Copenhagen to Feyenoord last summer and he went on to be Top Scorer and Top Assister in the league for Feyenoord in their league winning season.
Ingvartsen is someone who I would imagine will be in quite high demand this summer, because not only was he Top Scorer in the Danish League, he's also only 21 Years Old. He's 6ft 1, so could do a good job in the "Chris Martin" type role of holding the ball up a bit and bringing our other attackers into play. He would be a risk given his age and the level he's played at up to this point, but as I've said I want us to sign two Strikers and Ingvartsen would definitely be someone I'd want us to go after as one of them.
Tammy Abraham (Chelsea)
This one doesn't need much of an explanation. If Abraham can get as many goals as he did while being injured for a spell in a largely unimpressive Bristol City team, imagine what he could do in a team as attacking as we are which creates as many chances as we do. It is of course very possible that they loan him out to another Premier League team after his ridiculously successful first season at senior level, but if they were to loan him out to another Championship team we should be at the front of the queue for him whatever it takes.
Enzo Crivelli (Bordeaux)
Crivelli's another relatively young Striker who's coming off of having a really good season in a struggling team in Ligue 1 in Bastia on loan from Bordeaux. I don't know for definite, but I'm also fairly certain we could get him for Free because to the best of my knowledge he hasn't signed a new contract with Bordeaux yet. If that was the case, signing someone who's scored 10 Goals for a team that finished bottom of Ligue 1 on a Free would be a pretty good deal in my opinion.
Duje Čop (Cagliari)
I saw we were linked with Kenan Kodro from Osasuna a few days ago, but it's another Striker for a relegated La Liga team I thought I'd highlight. I've been looking at La Liga Strikers ever since we were linked with Sergi Enrich in January, and of the ones I think we could realistically sign Čop is one of the ones I'd love to. Scoring 9 Goals for a team of Sporting Gijon's standard in La Liga is no mean feat, and given the fact Cagliari have loaned him for the last two seasons I would imagine he'd be relatively affordable.
Sergi Enrich (SD Eibar)
We're ending the "Ins" section with someone who we came close to signing in January by some accounts. Of all the names in this "Attackers" section he'd be top of my list. I know he signed a new contract at Eibar once the January window was over and I'm not sure what his new release clause is, but given the relative size of Eibar, I would think if we threw enough money their way they'd have to accept the offer. A player like Enrich could be the difference maker between going up and staying down, so I hope we're willing to spend big money on a Striker this summer.
I'd actually looked at potential options from the Belgian League for this part, but the two top scorers are way too good for us and will likely be off to the Premier League and then the third highest was Orlando Sa so I just stopped there.
For the first time in a while, we're an attractive proposition for players. We're in London, and we've now developed a reputation of playing good Football under Slavisa. We need to use that and of course spend an appropriate amount of money and we could very well be looking at Premier League football in a years time.
Outs
Let's just get the easy ones out of the way first.
Chris Martin (Derby)
No explanation needed.
Cyriac (Oostende)
I actually wanted to see more from Cyriac, because while I wouldn't say he's a player of the highest level I think he'd have a place in our squad if he could bulk up a bit. However, from reports I've seen we're not signing him permanently this summer even though we had the option to, so as a result he finds himself in this section of the post.
Thanos Petsos (Werder Bremen)
Remember him?
This is another unique situation for this type of post on here, because the focus of it isn't on having a mass clear-out, but rather the need to hang on to key players.
Tom Cairney
To go up, we most likely have to keep Cairney here. Would I begrudge him a move to the Premier League? Absolutely not. Especially if a Premier League team were to come in with a bid of 15 Million plus it would be very hard to turn down. However, in my idealistic world, Cairney decides to give us one more season to try and "finish the job" and take us up as Captain and if he doesn't we agree to sell him to anyone willing to pay our asking price next summer. Brighton managed to hang on to all of their key players last summer despite interest elsewhere, and we need to do the same if we want to be in Brighton's position this time next year.
Ryan Sessegnon
Sessegnon is quite an interesting one to me, because while I obviously want us to keep our best players. Provided he signs a professional contract with us, we can pretty much name our price for him. If selling Sessegnon brought in 15-20 Million that could potentially be the difference between us going up and staying down I would 100% sell him. I know that sounds harsh, but the reality of the situation with players like Sessegnon is that they always end up at a big club, and if the money brought in from his sale is the difference in the level of Striker we could sign this summer I know which one I'd prefer.
I obviously want us to keep our best young players. However, the financial benefits from selling him, and potential long-term financial benefits the money brought in from him could give us would mean I'd be open to selling him for the right price. Especially if we could get a sell-on clause and maybe a Loan back as well.
Jozabed
As I've already said, should Tom Cairney be sold, I wouldn't look much further than giving Jozabed a proper run in the team. Especially after seeing him play like he has done for Celta Vigo it confirmed my suspicions that we hadn't seen the best of him in a Fulham shirt. But he barely had a chance to make an impact for us. I do wonder if he isn't dissimilar to Kebano in that if given the time and the opportunity he could've made a splash with us. However, as I also said, I think we've burned our bridge as far as he's concerned, but we should get a decent transfer fee for him. At least recouping the majority, if not all the money we spent on him last summer.
Richard Stearman
Stearman's quite a lot like Matt Smith, in that he's almost definitely surplus to requirements for us- but he should still fetch a not insignificant transfer fee for us and a number of Championship teams will definitely be interested in him.
Ryan Tunnicliffe
I still like Tunnicliffe. Do I think he's good enough for us? No. However, a player like him will always have a place in a team. I could see him dropping down to League 1 or doing something similar to Dan Burn and going to a Championship team that will be fighting relegation next season like Bolton perhaps.
Ragnar Sigurdsson
It's not worked out for Sigurdsson simply put. I don't believe he's a bad defender, because he's had some good games for us without a doubt. However I just don't think he's suited to English football to be blunt, and at the stage of his career that he's at, he should be playing every week realistically which we simply can't offer him. He should fetch a decent(ish) fee for us though. I think we signed him for about 4 Million, and I'd expect us to sell him for maybe 2-2.5.
Cauley Woodrow
I think it's about time Cauley moved on. He's shown at Burton that he can be a useful player in the Championship, but he's a level below where we are now, and multiple levels below where we want to be. We could probably sell him for 1-2 Million to a Mid-Table Championship team like Barnsley, Preston etc.
Lasse Vigen Christensen
Going back to my point about Stefan Johansen not being able to play to his highest level for 46+ games a season, Christensen could feasibly be Johansen's rotation option. We all know what he's capable of doing after his first few months in the First Team under Kit. But I don't think Slavisa rates him considering he couldn't even make it into our 18 most weeks so I think he'll be off this summer, either permanently or another loan.
David Button
I don't think there's many Fulham fans who'd be disappointed if Button did go. I do think he's been too harshly criticised at times this season, but he was without a doubt dropped rightly after the Derby away game. Put simply, he didn't come to us to be a #2 and he'll want to move to somewhere who'll make him their #1 because he won't be our #1 next season.
Scott Parker
I'm probably in the minority, but I genuinely see Scott Parker doing another season in the role he's played this season of half "experienced head to bring on" half coach effectively. He won't play much next season, I'm not saying he will, but there's still definitely some value in keeping him in the set-up.
The Championship is wide open next season. The only team that's been relegated who I think will challenge the Top 6 next season is Boro, and there's not a team like Brighton last season who were pretty much ready to push for Automatics before the season even started. It's not going to be an easy season by any means. You've got the likes of Norwich, Wednesday, Reading/Huddersfield and Derby to add on to Boro (potentially Villa as well, but they need to do a lot of work considering their rumoured FFP problems). But, I'd back us against any of them. I genuinely believe if we get this summer window right we could push for Top 2 next season.
Thanks for reading as always. I can't say when the next one of these will be out, but just keep an eye out. I'm definitely not done with these. If you've read some of my previous posts welcome back, if you're new hopefully you stick around for the next one. Hopefully you have a good summer, and we're all back in August for what'll hopefully be a season even better than the one just gone.
Sunday 29 January 2017
Royal Rumble Predictions
Right then, what did I miss? I don't think it's worth going into the reason(s) for the long gap between posts. After all we're right on the edge of Wrestlemania season baybay! Just know that these posts are back as of tonight. I had originally planned to bring these back with the 2016 Sammy Awards, but then WWE had to go and cancel the Slammy's didn't they. So really blame WWE, I mean we all do anyway- but still. Anyway, we've got a stacked Royal Rumble card- and for those of you who've been reading these blogs for a while you'll know I like to book the entire Royal Rumble match in these predictions. So hopefully you'll be looking forward to my inevitably better version of the Rumble.
Anyway, I might be a bit rusty with this whole "predicting" thing- so let's see how I get on shall we?
Pre-Show: Sasha Banks v Nia Jax
The injury angle is of course the potential spanner in the works of this prediction. I'm simply saying Sasha's going to win, because well, she's Sasha. Added onto that the fact it's on the Pre-Show which drastically decreases any chance of a Heel winning means I see Sasha winning. That's not to say it's impossible Nia wins, but with this being the last PPV of any kind for RAW wrestlers for over a month I doubt they'd keep the angle properly going for that long.
Winner: Sasha Banks
Pre-Show: Sheamus & Cesaro v Gallows & Anderson- RAW Tag Titles
As much as I want Gallows and Anderson to win the Titles, I simply don't see it happening. Which is annoying, but a sad fact of how they've been booked. I may have discussed it a bit at the time, but if I didn't I'd just to like to say that Finn Balor getting injured was the worst possible thing for Gallows & Anderson. I'll maintain to this day that Balor would've turned pretty soon after winning the Title at Summerslam. For the simple reason that Roman has be the #1 Babyface. Anyway, that's off topic. Sheamus and Cesaro are winning. God knows who they'll wrestle next. The Shining Stars?
Winner: Sheamus & Cesaro
Pre-Show: Mickie James, Alexa Bliss & Natalya v Becky Lynch, Naomi & Nikki Bella
A women's 6-Man Tag. When was the last time there was a good one of those? I think Mickie James is pinning Becky with some shenanigans. There are of course alternative outcomes. These 6 could very possible be in a Women's Elimination Chamber match for example, and Naomi could be pinning Alexa after their little interaction on Tuesday. Then Nikki could be pinning Natalya for obvious reasons, but I personally think these two will be abandoning the match to fight all over the arena. I'm sticking with Mickie getting the win.
Winner: Mickie James, Alexa Bliss & Natalya
Neville v Rich Swann- Cruiserweight Title
There's not really been much to shout about in the absence of these blogs, but Neville's turn has been without doubt one of the highlights of that time. If it weren't for AJ and Jericho, I'd actually be saying Neville's the best thing about WWE TV at this moment in time. I do really like Swann, but Neville's run is simply too good to halt now. Get the Title on Neville, and start building the inevitable Wrestlemania Pre-Show match for the Title between Neville and Gallagher.
Winner: Neville
Bayley v Charlotte- RAW Women's Title
I'm most likely wrong, but simply put, I just want the Title on someone other than Charlotte and Sasha. I think the more likely scenario is Bayley winning the Title at Mania by pinning Sasha in the rumoured 4-Way between Bayley, Charlotte, Sasha and Nia which would allow Sasha to turn and us to finally get a Bayley/Sasha main roster feud. So simply put, I know I'm wrong, but I'm predicting it anyway.
Winner: Bayley
John Cena v AJ Styles- WWE Title
I saw something to the effect of Meltzer said that neither AJ or Owens will be the Champion going into Mania. That made me think of the possible routes they'll go down for the Mania Title matches, the wildcard is of course the Chamber between now and Mania. Given the fact that AJ's rumoured Mania match is against Shane, I think it's a lot more likely that AJ loses the Title in the Chamber given what he's already said with regard to the Chamber match. Therefore I can only predict AJ to win. Although it definitely wouldn't be a surprise if Cena did win let's put it that way.
Winner: AJ Styles
Kevin Owens v Roman Reigns- Universal Title w/ Jericho in a Shark Cage
Going back to what Meltzer said, according to him the Mania card at this moment in time has The Undertaker wrestling Roman. As soon as Taker showed up on RAW in recent weeks I had a feeling it would happen let's put it that way. To me, Taker was either wrestling Roman or Strowman- and I don't think Braun's ready for a proper "marquee" match-up at a Wrestlemania yet despite how much he's improved in recent months.
My initial thoughts when I saw Meltzer said that Owens wouldn't be Champion going into Mania was surprise, because at the time I genuinely thought Jericho would win the Rumble and go on to wrestle Owens for the Title at Mania. I just can't see a scenario where Owens loses the Title in this match as shocking as that may be. The No DQ addition last Monday just makes me think there'll be some shenanigans resulting in Owens retaining. However, it's for that exact reason that I think that's what they want you to think and Roman's winning.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Royal Rumble Match
The last few times I've done this there's been a sizeable number of "empty" spots in the Rumble, meaning I've just dived right into the match. This year, and fair play to the WWE they've actually booked the match quite well. As a result there's only 8 spots left to be filled, so let's look at who they'll be.
Firstly, no to Kenny Omega. I know some people think he will- but he won't. He just won't. The first name, which I think is a fairly obvious one is Samoa Joe. I don't think this one even needs to be discussed. His feud with Nakamura's over and his absence on any NXT programming since it ended says it all. Then one that's less exciting, but is equally as likely is Kane. It's just not a Rumble without Kane really. Then last "safe bet" one bringing us down to 5 empty spots is the man, the myth, the legend, James Ellsworth. This promises to be one of the most "serious" Rumbles in recent memory, but there'll still be time for some comedy. Then there's another sort of "comedic" entrant, although not to the same level as Ellsworth in Enzo Amore, who genuinely baffled me when trying to work out the order of this because I thought he was already in the match so I'd accidentally left out Rusev in my original 30.
Ellsworth being in the match brings me onto my first slightly less obvious pick for the remaining spots, JBL. JBL's made his hatred of Ellsworth pretty clear, and I just think they'll do something with the two- plus Dolph being in the match after recent goings on leads to some interesting dynamics shall we say. I also think Mark Henry's quite likely, just cos Texas really.
This leaves us with two spots left, and these are my "wildcard" options I suppose you could say. In that these appearances could truly go one way or the other. The first is perhaps more likely than unlikely, but I'd still say far from a guarantee in Kurt Angle. If Kurt does show up, the "You Suck" chants in that size of a stadium will be a proper goosebumps moment. I'm just desperate for it to happen really. Then the last option after what happened on Monday is Triple H.
Now that we've got the 30, let's get ready to rumble!
1. The Undertaker
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Kurt Angle
4. Kane
5. Enzo Amore
6. Cesaro
7. Baron Corbin
8. Xavier Woods
9. James Ellsworth
10. The Miz
11. JBL
12. Dolph Ziggler
13. Rusev
14. Dean Ambrose
15. Bray Wyatt
16. Big E
17. Sami Zayn (but not really, more later)
18. Randy Orton
19. Braun Strowman
20. Kofi Kingston
21. Big Show
22. Mojo Rawley
23. Luke Harper
24. Goldberg
25. Mark Henry
26. Big Cass
27. Sheamus
28. Chris Jericho
29. Samoa Joe
30. Triple H
In-terms of the stature of the guys involved, I would argue that this is one of, if not the biggest Rumbles ever. That's obviously what they've gone for- and as a result they're not going to start the Rumble off with two Midcarders. It may not necessarily be Taker and Brock, but it'll be two of the "big three" i.e. Taker, Brock and Goldberg. I've gone for Taker and Brock because of the obvious history between the two, combined with the fact I think it's almost nailed on that they'll be doing Taker and Brock at Mania next year in New Orleans. We won't really get much between these two, with a stare off being the majority of their "1-on-1" time. However, in the last 30 seconds or so Brock will kick Taker in the dick and F5 him. He'll look as if he's about to eliminate Taker when a certain music will hit and the place will go mental.
I'm going to Mania this year, so I obviously hope there'll be some amazing moments- but I'll predict right now that if Kurt Angle shows up in the Rumble then it'll be the best moment we'll get all year. Kurt will milk the entrance and the "You Suck" chants before coming face-to-face with Brock. Brock will go to German Suplex him, Angle will reverse it and hit a few on Brock. He'll then hit the Angle Slam on Brock before getting the Ankle Lock on Taker- and then we'll get a certain relation of Taker entering in 4th. We'll get some back and forth with Kane and Angle, but there won't really be much in this little section. Then we get #5, Enzo Amore! You probably already know where this is going. Enzo eliminates all of them at the same time! No, he's going to come in- it'll be worked so Taker, Brock, Angle and Kane are in the 4 corners of the ring. Enzo will be dead centre in the ring, do his wacky dance, look as though he's going to try and take them all on. Kane hits him with a Big Boot, Taker Chokeslams him, Angle Angle Slams him, Brock hits the F5 and then he gets dumped over the top rope. Most likely by Kane just to give him another elimination to add to his career total. (Enzo Amore eliminated by Kane).
After the Enzo spot, Taker and Angle will pair off, as will Kane and Brock- before Cesaro enters the mix. I really hope they give Cesaro a decent showing in this Rumble. It's unlikely, and while I'm not doing it in "my" match I hope they avoid some fuckery involving Sheamus & Cesaro to eliminate one of, if not both of them. Anyway, Cesaro's amazing- and he'll come in like a house on fire, uppercuts for everyone, let's move on. Next in, we have Baron Corbin- who's been an interesting player over the last number of months. He'll do the usual thing of running in and clotheslining everyone, before eventually hitting the End of Days on Kane and eliminating him. (Kane eliminated by Baron Corbin). Next in we have Xavier Woods, and he won't be too dissimilar to Enzo in that he'll be steamrollered by Brock, F5'd and quickly dispatched. (Xavier Woods eliminated by Brock Lesnar). The key thing here is Xavier is completely dead on the outside and is remaining on the outside for the foreseeable future.
After that elimination, Brock will go on a bit of a tear, F5's and Suplex's for everyone (except Taker) leaving him waiting for the next entrant. James Ellsworth! I'd considering a number of options involving Ellsworth, whether it be a spot with Ambrose, a spot with Braun, or even a spot with Goldberg. However, this is what I settled on. It's basically going to be Brock doing his usual sadistic laugh thing knowing he's about to murder someone. Ellsworth walking to the ring as slowly as humanly possible. Just as Ellsworth is about to enter, Taker shows up behind Brock, low blows him, and subsequently Chokeslam's him. Taker then stares at Ellsworth in the usual "Taker" way and Ellsworth before Angle appears behind him, Angle Slams Taker and basically a repeat of what happened with Taker and Brock. In short, Ellsworth's survived. For now.
Now, entering at #10, Tye Dillinger! How original! C'mon guys, I predicted this last year. It's obviously a possibility, but for a number of reasons I simply don't see it happening. The funny thing is, due to the size of the crowd, I'm not even sure the majority of those in attendance will actually care that much- simply because they won't know who Tye Dillinger is. However, there'll still be some wanting him- so in place of Tye you need the heat magnet himself The Miz.
Miz enters, he'll go on a spree of "Yes" Kicks, but that's really it for his little section. Next in, we have Tripp Bradshaw, also known as John "Bradshaw" Layfield. As I've already said, he's made his hatred of Ellsworth pretty apparent. Once he's taken his tie off etc., he'll enter the ring, Ellsworth will be magically in the middle of the ring without anyone around him, JBL will enter the ring, Clothesline from Hell, and Ellsworth is slightly less f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s. (James Ellsworth eliminated by JBL). However, JBL's not long for this world, and after what's been happening recently on Smackdown I would actually quite like to see this in the Rumble. Dolph enters, JBL goes for the Clothesline from Hell, Dolph ducks, Superkicks JBL over the top rope. (JBL eliminated by Dolph Ziggler).
Next in, we've got Rusev, and he'll do the standard "running wild" once he comes in, before getting the much anticipated stare down between Rusev and Kurt Angle. Again, I'll be very disappointed if this doesn't happen. While I'm not necessarily expecting a match between the two, it just sort of has to happen really. After some back and forth, with Angle going for the Angle Slam, Rusev reverses, Superkick and throws Angle over the top rope. (Kurt Angle eliminated by Rusev). Let's face it, if Angle's entering the Rumble a proper heel has to be the one to eliminate him, much like with AJ last year.
In next is Dean Ambrose, who'll do his usual Dean Ambrose stuff. We'll get a few little moments between Ambrose and Brock because of Mania last year, and of course Ambrose and Miz- but apart from that there's not really much to it. Bray Wyatt's the next man to enter the fray, and his time before the next entrant is almost exclusively going to be stare-downs between him and Taker and him and Brock. Meanwhile, with some distractions from Maryse, (Cesaro eliminated by The Miz). We're quite Heel heavy at the moment, so we need some babyfaces to balance things out a bit- bring in Big E. Your Uncle and your Daddy. He'll be Belly-to-Belly'ing everyone in sight upon entering, but as with Xavier, Brock will murder him, dump him to the outside where he's out cold, for now. (Big E eliminated by Brock Lesnar).
Sami Zayn's music hits, after his slightly questionable win on Monday Night. But nobody comes out. What could this possibly mean? We cut to the shaky, running camera backstage where Kevin Owens who's already pissed because he lost his Title tonight is throwing Sami into various things in order to steal his spot in the Rumble. Yup. Owens steals Sami's spot. Samimania is running wild! Owens will be selling the (most likely) multiple spears, but he'll still be going for it, and will most likely be cheered by the majority of the crowd who'll be pissed Roman took the Title off him.
Randy Orton's out next, and he's here to help out Bray of course. RKO's for a few people, before he and Bray combine with their Abigail/RKO spot to eliminate Baron Corbin. (Baron Corbin eliminated by Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton). Next, Randy and Bray will eliminate Rusev (Rusev eliminated by Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton). Randy and Bray will be standing tall when the next man enters, who Bray's quite familiar with. Braun Strowman. We'll get the stare off between Bray and Braun, not too dissimilar to the one they had before Survivor Series with Randy stepping in front of Bray. Before Braun "nods" as if to say I won't be going for you, turning around, hitting the running powerslam on Dolph before swiftly dispatching of him (Dolph Ziggler eliminated by Braun Strowman). They'll then gang up on the various guys still in the Rumble before we get our #20 entrant Kofi Kingston.
He'll spring to the ring and Braun will literally use Kofi's own momentum to throw him from the ring all the way to the announce tables on the other side. It's Kofi Spot time! Big E and Xavier will have been slowly coming round as the match has progressed to the point where they're both on their hands and knees at this stage. Kofi sees this, and uses Big E and Xavier as Stepping Stones to get back to the ring. He'll then go to the top rope, dive off and eat an RKO before being swiftly dispatched. (Kofi Kingston eliminated by Randy Orton).
In next is The Big Show, and he'll have a stare-down with Braun, back and forth, but with Braun being too powerful and swiftly dispatching him. (Big Show eliminated by Braun Strowman). Out next is Mojo Rawley who'll try and put up a fight, but be eliminated by The Wyatts pretty quickly (Mojo Rawley eliminated by Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton/Braun Strowman). Then, Luke Harper's next out, and after Smackdown things will be a bit intriguing between Harper, Bray and Randy. They'll have a little stare off before looking as though they're on the same page by going straight after Ambrose, and after Ambrose putting up a bit of a fight (Dean Ambrose eliminated by The Wyatt Family).
At this stage, we've got The Undertaker, Brock, Kevin Owens, Miz, Bray, Randy, Harper and Strowman. Sounds like it's time for some Heels to be cleaned out. Enter, Goldberg. He'll hit the ring like a house on fire. Spear everyone except Brock, with the big spot coming when he Jackhammers Braun and eliminates him (Braun Strowman eliminated by Goldberg). We'll then get the big moment with Brock and Goldberg facing off once more. After some back and forth, they'll basically work it so they both eliminate each other (Goldberg eliminated by Brock Lesnar/Brock Lesnar eliminated by Goldberg). They'll keep fighting after hitting the floor and we'll get the massive pull apart brawl to suitably hype up their Wrestlemania match.
Out next is Mark Henry for the aforementioned "Texas pop", but he'll be overwhelmed by The Wyatts pretty quickly and dispatched by them. (Mark Henry eliminated by The Wyatt Family). As is the case with these sort of eliminations you'll have all three facing the same way, Harper takes a step back and pushes Bray over the top rope and eliminates him (Bray Wyatt eliminated by Luke Harper). However, Harper will turn around and take an RKO for his troubles before being eliminated by Randy. (Luke Harper eliminated by Randy Orton). Now he's been eliminated Bray will Sister Abigail him on the outside to firmly establish Harper's divorce from the family.
This next little bit is mainly the "cool down" part before we hit the big finish, and we're bringing Big Cass out to start that little section. Then it's Sheamus out and he'll be doing his usual Sheamus things. This is basically just to fill the ring up for the latter stages of the Rumble. Out next is Jericho, who does have a chance of winning if Owens retains earlier in the night. He'll obviously align with Owens and they'll be on top for their little bit before the next entrant.
Then the moment that is I'd say 99% likely to happen, and the moment I'm definitely anticipating to be great, Samoa Joe finally being on the main roster. Hopefully they don't ignore his history with Owens, and Owens sells it as the big deal it is and similar to how he sold Sami's entrance last year. Joe will run wild, taking out Owens, Jericho, they could even tease something between Joe and Taker even if it won't come to anything. He'll also go on to get a few eliminations under his belt in the forms of Big Cass and Sheamus before the last entrant. (Sheamus eliminated by Samoa Joe), (Big Cass eliminated by Samoa Joe).
The last entrant is Triple H. If Triple H is showing up in the Rumble, and I feel like he might, he'll only come in at #30. Because if you were in a position of power as Triple H is, why wouldn't you come in at #30? They'll be playing up how Triple H won the Rumble from #30 last year. After his initial flurry, and most likely a stare down with Taker given their history and hopefully Joe as well to tease something down the line with them. However, after all of that, Seth Rollins music will hit, he'll run down, and he'll finally get Triple H!
My theory on what happened on Monday, as well as giving Owens a way into the match by taking out Sami, was this run-in was going to happen either with Seth on Triple H or Triple H on Seth- and given the nature of the crowd it would be cheered either way. As a result, why would they have Triple H who's the heel be the one to get the pop? After some back and forth, Rollins with hit the Pedigree on Triple H to a big pop before throwing Triple H over the top rope. (Triple H eliminated by Seth Rollins).
Now we've had all of the entrants we're left with The Undertaker, Miz, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho and Samoa Joe. The next angle in the match is the one involving Jericho and Owens. I don't think a month is long enough to fully build the Jericho/Owens match which would happen if they split at Fast Lane. As a result, I think the disintegration of Team Chris and Kevin is going to come now. Jericho and Owens will go to throw someone over the top rope. It doesn't really matter who, so let's just say it's Miz. When Jericho will take the step back, not unlike the Harper on Bray elimination and eliminate Owens. Every man for themselves right? (Kevin Owens eliminated by Chris Jericho). However, Jericho's not long for this world either. After the elimination, he'll turn out, take an RKO and be thrown over the top rope by Randy Orton. (Chris Jericho eliminated by Randy Orton). Jericho's night isn't done there however. He'll have been thrown over to the same side that Owens is on, after hitting the deck, Owens will look at him, pick him and Pop-Up Powerbomb him onto the side of the apron.
We're now down to 4, and these are the 4 guys who I think have genuine chances of winning. The Undertaker, The Miz, Samoa Joe and Randy Orton. The Undertaker because of my aforementioned prediction of Roman Reigns winning the Title and his rumoured match with Roman at Mania. Randy Orton because there's a chance Bray wins the Title in the Chamber and then they do Randy/Bray for the Title at Mania. Then there's Joe who isn't associated with one particular brand yet, so they could tease him going for both titles for a few weeks. And of course Miz, who I've said for a few weeks is my dark horse to win the thing.
The first of the 4 to go is unfortunately going to be The Miz, and let's just give another elimination to Joe eh? (The Miz eliminated by Samoa Joe). I truly believe Joe is going to be treated as a big deal on the Main Roster, and being in this position of the Final Three in the Rumble against Orton and Taker is the perfect start to this. His elimination will come after taking an RKO and Tombstone before being forced over by both guys. (Samoa Joe eliminated by Randy Orton/The Undertaker).
To me, this has been the most unpredictable Rumble in a few years in that there's not a ridiculously obvious winner. However, it's still down to two guys with realistic chances of winning for me- and these are those two guys. I'm going with Taker winning, just because I think they'll keep Randy firmly on Bray's side until the Chamber in a few weeks time- and they'll want to start building Roman/Taker ASAP. (Randy Orton eliminated by The Undertaker).
Winner: The Undertaker
That's the Royal Rumble match folks. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this, because I've liked booking it as I have done over the last few years. Just remember, my booking hasn't been matched the last two years- so this is as good as it gets.
Hopefully you've enjoyed my first predictions in absolutely ages. The Review will be up tomorrow if all goes to plan and I haven't died from sleep deprivation. Thanks for reading as always, and let's just hope for a good one tonight eh? I've got quite high hopes for it.
Anyway, I might be a bit rusty with this whole "predicting" thing- so let's see how I get on shall we?
Pre-Show: Sasha Banks v Nia Jax
The injury angle is of course the potential spanner in the works of this prediction. I'm simply saying Sasha's going to win, because well, she's Sasha. Added onto that the fact it's on the Pre-Show which drastically decreases any chance of a Heel winning means I see Sasha winning. That's not to say it's impossible Nia wins, but with this being the last PPV of any kind for RAW wrestlers for over a month I doubt they'd keep the angle properly going for that long.
Winner: Sasha Banks
Pre-Show: Sheamus & Cesaro v Gallows & Anderson- RAW Tag Titles
As much as I want Gallows and Anderson to win the Titles, I simply don't see it happening. Which is annoying, but a sad fact of how they've been booked. I may have discussed it a bit at the time, but if I didn't I'd just to like to say that Finn Balor getting injured was the worst possible thing for Gallows & Anderson. I'll maintain to this day that Balor would've turned pretty soon after winning the Title at Summerslam. For the simple reason that Roman has be the #1 Babyface. Anyway, that's off topic. Sheamus and Cesaro are winning. God knows who they'll wrestle next. The Shining Stars?
Winner: Sheamus & Cesaro
Pre-Show: Mickie James, Alexa Bliss & Natalya v Becky Lynch, Naomi & Nikki Bella
A women's 6-Man Tag. When was the last time there was a good one of those? I think Mickie James is pinning Becky with some shenanigans. There are of course alternative outcomes. These 6 could very possible be in a Women's Elimination Chamber match for example, and Naomi could be pinning Alexa after their little interaction on Tuesday. Then Nikki could be pinning Natalya for obvious reasons, but I personally think these two will be abandoning the match to fight all over the arena. I'm sticking with Mickie getting the win.
Winner: Mickie James, Alexa Bliss & Natalya
Neville v Rich Swann- Cruiserweight Title
There's not really been much to shout about in the absence of these blogs, but Neville's turn has been without doubt one of the highlights of that time. If it weren't for AJ and Jericho, I'd actually be saying Neville's the best thing about WWE TV at this moment in time. I do really like Swann, but Neville's run is simply too good to halt now. Get the Title on Neville, and start building the inevitable Wrestlemania Pre-Show match for the Title between Neville and Gallagher.
Winner: Neville
Bayley v Charlotte- RAW Women's Title
I'm most likely wrong, but simply put, I just want the Title on someone other than Charlotte and Sasha. I think the more likely scenario is Bayley winning the Title at Mania by pinning Sasha in the rumoured 4-Way between Bayley, Charlotte, Sasha and Nia which would allow Sasha to turn and us to finally get a Bayley/Sasha main roster feud. So simply put, I know I'm wrong, but I'm predicting it anyway.
Winner: Bayley
John Cena v AJ Styles- WWE Title
I saw something to the effect of Meltzer said that neither AJ or Owens will be the Champion going into Mania. That made me think of the possible routes they'll go down for the Mania Title matches, the wildcard is of course the Chamber between now and Mania. Given the fact that AJ's rumoured Mania match is against Shane, I think it's a lot more likely that AJ loses the Title in the Chamber given what he's already said with regard to the Chamber match. Therefore I can only predict AJ to win. Although it definitely wouldn't be a surprise if Cena did win let's put it that way.
Winner: AJ Styles
Kevin Owens v Roman Reigns- Universal Title w/ Jericho in a Shark Cage
Going back to what Meltzer said, according to him the Mania card at this moment in time has The Undertaker wrestling Roman. As soon as Taker showed up on RAW in recent weeks I had a feeling it would happen let's put it that way. To me, Taker was either wrestling Roman or Strowman- and I don't think Braun's ready for a proper "marquee" match-up at a Wrestlemania yet despite how much he's improved in recent months.
My initial thoughts when I saw Meltzer said that Owens wouldn't be Champion going into Mania was surprise, because at the time I genuinely thought Jericho would win the Rumble and go on to wrestle Owens for the Title at Mania. I just can't see a scenario where Owens loses the Title in this match as shocking as that may be. The No DQ addition last Monday just makes me think there'll be some shenanigans resulting in Owens retaining. However, it's for that exact reason that I think that's what they want you to think and Roman's winning.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Royal Rumble Match
The last few times I've done this there's been a sizeable number of "empty" spots in the Rumble, meaning I've just dived right into the match. This year, and fair play to the WWE they've actually booked the match quite well. As a result there's only 8 spots left to be filled, so let's look at who they'll be.
Firstly, no to Kenny Omega. I know some people think he will- but he won't. He just won't. The first name, which I think is a fairly obvious one is Samoa Joe. I don't think this one even needs to be discussed. His feud with Nakamura's over and his absence on any NXT programming since it ended says it all. Then one that's less exciting, but is equally as likely is Kane. It's just not a Rumble without Kane really. Then last "safe bet" one bringing us down to 5 empty spots is the man, the myth, the legend, James Ellsworth. This promises to be one of the most "serious" Rumbles in recent memory, but there'll still be time for some comedy. Then there's another sort of "comedic" entrant, although not to the same level as Ellsworth in Enzo Amore, who genuinely baffled me when trying to work out the order of this because I thought he was already in the match so I'd accidentally left out Rusev in my original 30.
Ellsworth being in the match brings me onto my first slightly less obvious pick for the remaining spots, JBL. JBL's made his hatred of Ellsworth pretty clear, and I just think they'll do something with the two- plus Dolph being in the match after recent goings on leads to some interesting dynamics shall we say. I also think Mark Henry's quite likely, just cos Texas really.
This leaves us with two spots left, and these are my "wildcard" options I suppose you could say. In that these appearances could truly go one way or the other. The first is perhaps more likely than unlikely, but I'd still say far from a guarantee in Kurt Angle. If Kurt does show up, the "You Suck" chants in that size of a stadium will be a proper goosebumps moment. I'm just desperate for it to happen really. Then the last option after what happened on Monday is Triple H.
Now that we've got the 30, let's get ready to rumble!
1. The Undertaker
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Kurt Angle
4. Kane
5. Enzo Amore
6. Cesaro
7. Baron Corbin
8. Xavier Woods
9. James Ellsworth
10. The Miz
11. JBL
12. Dolph Ziggler
13. Rusev
14. Dean Ambrose
15. Bray Wyatt
16. Big E
17. Sami Zayn (but not really, more later)
18. Randy Orton
19. Braun Strowman
20. Kofi Kingston
21. Big Show
22. Mojo Rawley
23. Luke Harper
24. Goldberg
25. Mark Henry
26. Big Cass
27. Sheamus
28. Chris Jericho
29. Samoa Joe
30. Triple H
In-terms of the stature of the guys involved, I would argue that this is one of, if not the biggest Rumbles ever. That's obviously what they've gone for- and as a result they're not going to start the Rumble off with two Midcarders. It may not necessarily be Taker and Brock, but it'll be two of the "big three" i.e. Taker, Brock and Goldberg. I've gone for Taker and Brock because of the obvious history between the two, combined with the fact I think it's almost nailed on that they'll be doing Taker and Brock at Mania next year in New Orleans. We won't really get much between these two, with a stare off being the majority of their "1-on-1" time. However, in the last 30 seconds or so Brock will kick Taker in the dick and F5 him. He'll look as if he's about to eliminate Taker when a certain music will hit and the place will go mental.
I'm going to Mania this year, so I obviously hope there'll be some amazing moments- but I'll predict right now that if Kurt Angle shows up in the Rumble then it'll be the best moment we'll get all year. Kurt will milk the entrance and the "You Suck" chants before coming face-to-face with Brock. Brock will go to German Suplex him, Angle will reverse it and hit a few on Brock. He'll then hit the Angle Slam on Brock before getting the Ankle Lock on Taker- and then we'll get a certain relation of Taker entering in 4th. We'll get some back and forth with Kane and Angle, but there won't really be much in this little section. Then we get #5, Enzo Amore! You probably already know where this is going. Enzo eliminates all of them at the same time! No, he's going to come in- it'll be worked so Taker, Brock, Angle and Kane are in the 4 corners of the ring. Enzo will be dead centre in the ring, do his wacky dance, look as though he's going to try and take them all on. Kane hits him with a Big Boot, Taker Chokeslams him, Angle Angle Slams him, Brock hits the F5 and then he gets dumped over the top rope. Most likely by Kane just to give him another elimination to add to his career total. (Enzo Amore eliminated by Kane).
After the Enzo spot, Taker and Angle will pair off, as will Kane and Brock- before Cesaro enters the mix. I really hope they give Cesaro a decent showing in this Rumble. It's unlikely, and while I'm not doing it in "my" match I hope they avoid some fuckery involving Sheamus & Cesaro to eliminate one of, if not both of them. Anyway, Cesaro's amazing- and he'll come in like a house on fire, uppercuts for everyone, let's move on. Next in, we have Baron Corbin- who's been an interesting player over the last number of months. He'll do the usual thing of running in and clotheslining everyone, before eventually hitting the End of Days on Kane and eliminating him. (Kane eliminated by Baron Corbin). Next in we have Xavier Woods, and he won't be too dissimilar to Enzo in that he'll be steamrollered by Brock, F5'd and quickly dispatched. (Xavier Woods eliminated by Brock Lesnar). The key thing here is Xavier is completely dead on the outside and is remaining on the outside for the foreseeable future.
After that elimination, Brock will go on a bit of a tear, F5's and Suplex's for everyone (except Taker) leaving him waiting for the next entrant. James Ellsworth! I'd considering a number of options involving Ellsworth, whether it be a spot with Ambrose, a spot with Braun, or even a spot with Goldberg. However, this is what I settled on. It's basically going to be Brock doing his usual sadistic laugh thing knowing he's about to murder someone. Ellsworth walking to the ring as slowly as humanly possible. Just as Ellsworth is about to enter, Taker shows up behind Brock, low blows him, and subsequently Chokeslam's him. Taker then stares at Ellsworth in the usual "Taker" way and Ellsworth before Angle appears behind him, Angle Slams Taker and basically a repeat of what happened with Taker and Brock. In short, Ellsworth's survived. For now.
Now, entering at #10, Tye Dillinger! How original! C'mon guys, I predicted this last year. It's obviously a possibility, but for a number of reasons I simply don't see it happening. The funny thing is, due to the size of the crowd, I'm not even sure the majority of those in attendance will actually care that much- simply because they won't know who Tye Dillinger is. However, there'll still be some wanting him- so in place of Tye you need the heat magnet himself The Miz.
Miz enters, he'll go on a spree of "Yes" Kicks, but that's really it for his little section. Next in, we have Tripp Bradshaw, also known as John "Bradshaw" Layfield. As I've already said, he's made his hatred of Ellsworth pretty apparent. Once he's taken his tie off etc., he'll enter the ring, Ellsworth will be magically in the middle of the ring without anyone around him, JBL will enter the ring, Clothesline from Hell, and Ellsworth is slightly less f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s. (James Ellsworth eliminated by JBL). However, JBL's not long for this world, and after what's been happening recently on Smackdown I would actually quite like to see this in the Rumble. Dolph enters, JBL goes for the Clothesline from Hell, Dolph ducks, Superkicks JBL over the top rope. (JBL eliminated by Dolph Ziggler).
Next in, we've got Rusev, and he'll do the standard "running wild" once he comes in, before getting the much anticipated stare down between Rusev and Kurt Angle. Again, I'll be very disappointed if this doesn't happen. While I'm not necessarily expecting a match between the two, it just sort of has to happen really. After some back and forth, with Angle going for the Angle Slam, Rusev reverses, Superkick and throws Angle over the top rope. (Kurt Angle eliminated by Rusev). Let's face it, if Angle's entering the Rumble a proper heel has to be the one to eliminate him, much like with AJ last year.
In next is Dean Ambrose, who'll do his usual Dean Ambrose stuff. We'll get a few little moments between Ambrose and Brock because of Mania last year, and of course Ambrose and Miz- but apart from that there's not really much to it. Bray Wyatt's the next man to enter the fray, and his time before the next entrant is almost exclusively going to be stare-downs between him and Taker and him and Brock. Meanwhile, with some distractions from Maryse, (Cesaro eliminated by The Miz). We're quite Heel heavy at the moment, so we need some babyfaces to balance things out a bit- bring in Big E. Your Uncle and your Daddy. He'll be Belly-to-Belly'ing everyone in sight upon entering, but as with Xavier, Brock will murder him, dump him to the outside where he's out cold, for now. (Big E eliminated by Brock Lesnar).
Sami Zayn's music hits, after his slightly questionable win on Monday Night. But nobody comes out. What could this possibly mean? We cut to the shaky, running camera backstage where Kevin Owens who's already pissed because he lost his Title tonight is throwing Sami into various things in order to steal his spot in the Rumble. Yup. Owens steals Sami's spot. Samimania is running wild! Owens will be selling the (most likely) multiple spears, but he'll still be going for it, and will most likely be cheered by the majority of the crowd who'll be pissed Roman took the Title off him.
Randy Orton's out next, and he's here to help out Bray of course. RKO's for a few people, before he and Bray combine with their Abigail/RKO spot to eliminate Baron Corbin. (Baron Corbin eliminated by Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton). Next, Randy and Bray will eliminate Rusev (Rusev eliminated by Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton). Randy and Bray will be standing tall when the next man enters, who Bray's quite familiar with. Braun Strowman. We'll get the stare off between Bray and Braun, not too dissimilar to the one they had before Survivor Series with Randy stepping in front of Bray. Before Braun "nods" as if to say I won't be going for you, turning around, hitting the running powerslam on Dolph before swiftly dispatching of him (Dolph Ziggler eliminated by Braun Strowman). They'll then gang up on the various guys still in the Rumble before we get our #20 entrant Kofi Kingston.
He'll spring to the ring and Braun will literally use Kofi's own momentum to throw him from the ring all the way to the announce tables on the other side. It's Kofi Spot time! Big E and Xavier will have been slowly coming round as the match has progressed to the point where they're both on their hands and knees at this stage. Kofi sees this, and uses Big E and Xavier as Stepping Stones to get back to the ring. He'll then go to the top rope, dive off and eat an RKO before being swiftly dispatched. (Kofi Kingston eliminated by Randy Orton).
In next is The Big Show, and he'll have a stare-down with Braun, back and forth, but with Braun being too powerful and swiftly dispatching him. (Big Show eliminated by Braun Strowman). Out next is Mojo Rawley who'll try and put up a fight, but be eliminated by The Wyatts pretty quickly (Mojo Rawley eliminated by Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton/Braun Strowman). Then, Luke Harper's next out, and after Smackdown things will be a bit intriguing between Harper, Bray and Randy. They'll have a little stare off before looking as though they're on the same page by going straight after Ambrose, and after Ambrose putting up a bit of a fight (Dean Ambrose eliminated by The Wyatt Family).
At this stage, we've got The Undertaker, Brock, Kevin Owens, Miz, Bray, Randy, Harper and Strowman. Sounds like it's time for some Heels to be cleaned out. Enter, Goldberg. He'll hit the ring like a house on fire. Spear everyone except Brock, with the big spot coming when he Jackhammers Braun and eliminates him (Braun Strowman eliminated by Goldberg). We'll then get the big moment with Brock and Goldberg facing off once more. After some back and forth, they'll basically work it so they both eliminate each other (Goldberg eliminated by Brock Lesnar/Brock Lesnar eliminated by Goldberg). They'll keep fighting after hitting the floor and we'll get the massive pull apart brawl to suitably hype up their Wrestlemania match.
Out next is Mark Henry for the aforementioned "Texas pop", but he'll be overwhelmed by The Wyatts pretty quickly and dispatched by them. (Mark Henry eliminated by The Wyatt Family). As is the case with these sort of eliminations you'll have all three facing the same way, Harper takes a step back and pushes Bray over the top rope and eliminates him (Bray Wyatt eliminated by Luke Harper). However, Harper will turn around and take an RKO for his troubles before being eliminated by Randy. (Luke Harper eliminated by Randy Orton). Now he's been eliminated Bray will Sister Abigail him on the outside to firmly establish Harper's divorce from the family.
This next little bit is mainly the "cool down" part before we hit the big finish, and we're bringing Big Cass out to start that little section. Then it's Sheamus out and he'll be doing his usual Sheamus things. This is basically just to fill the ring up for the latter stages of the Rumble. Out next is Jericho, who does have a chance of winning if Owens retains earlier in the night. He'll obviously align with Owens and they'll be on top for their little bit before the next entrant.
Then the moment that is I'd say 99% likely to happen, and the moment I'm definitely anticipating to be great, Samoa Joe finally being on the main roster. Hopefully they don't ignore his history with Owens, and Owens sells it as the big deal it is and similar to how he sold Sami's entrance last year. Joe will run wild, taking out Owens, Jericho, they could even tease something between Joe and Taker even if it won't come to anything. He'll also go on to get a few eliminations under his belt in the forms of Big Cass and Sheamus before the last entrant. (Sheamus eliminated by Samoa Joe), (Big Cass eliminated by Samoa Joe).
The last entrant is Triple H. If Triple H is showing up in the Rumble, and I feel like he might, he'll only come in at #30. Because if you were in a position of power as Triple H is, why wouldn't you come in at #30? They'll be playing up how Triple H won the Rumble from #30 last year. After his initial flurry, and most likely a stare down with Taker given their history and hopefully Joe as well to tease something down the line with them. However, after all of that, Seth Rollins music will hit, he'll run down, and he'll finally get Triple H!
My theory on what happened on Monday, as well as giving Owens a way into the match by taking out Sami, was this run-in was going to happen either with Seth on Triple H or Triple H on Seth- and given the nature of the crowd it would be cheered either way. As a result, why would they have Triple H who's the heel be the one to get the pop? After some back and forth, Rollins with hit the Pedigree on Triple H to a big pop before throwing Triple H over the top rope. (Triple H eliminated by Seth Rollins).
Now we've had all of the entrants we're left with The Undertaker, Miz, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho and Samoa Joe. The next angle in the match is the one involving Jericho and Owens. I don't think a month is long enough to fully build the Jericho/Owens match which would happen if they split at Fast Lane. As a result, I think the disintegration of Team Chris and Kevin is going to come now. Jericho and Owens will go to throw someone over the top rope. It doesn't really matter who, so let's just say it's Miz. When Jericho will take the step back, not unlike the Harper on Bray elimination and eliminate Owens. Every man for themselves right? (Kevin Owens eliminated by Chris Jericho). However, Jericho's not long for this world either. After the elimination, he'll turn out, take an RKO and be thrown over the top rope by Randy Orton. (Chris Jericho eliminated by Randy Orton). Jericho's night isn't done there however. He'll have been thrown over to the same side that Owens is on, after hitting the deck, Owens will look at him, pick him and Pop-Up Powerbomb him onto the side of the apron.
We're now down to 4, and these are the 4 guys who I think have genuine chances of winning. The Undertaker, The Miz, Samoa Joe and Randy Orton. The Undertaker because of my aforementioned prediction of Roman Reigns winning the Title and his rumoured match with Roman at Mania. Randy Orton because there's a chance Bray wins the Title in the Chamber and then they do Randy/Bray for the Title at Mania. Then there's Joe who isn't associated with one particular brand yet, so they could tease him going for both titles for a few weeks. And of course Miz, who I've said for a few weeks is my dark horse to win the thing.
The first of the 4 to go is unfortunately going to be The Miz, and let's just give another elimination to Joe eh? (The Miz eliminated by Samoa Joe). I truly believe Joe is going to be treated as a big deal on the Main Roster, and being in this position of the Final Three in the Rumble against Orton and Taker is the perfect start to this. His elimination will come after taking an RKO and Tombstone before being forced over by both guys. (Samoa Joe eliminated by Randy Orton/The Undertaker).
To me, this has been the most unpredictable Rumble in a few years in that there's not a ridiculously obvious winner. However, it's still down to two guys with realistic chances of winning for me- and these are those two guys. I'm going with Taker winning, just because I think they'll keep Randy firmly on Bray's side until the Chamber in a few weeks time- and they'll want to start building Roman/Taker ASAP. (Randy Orton eliminated by The Undertaker).
Winner: The Undertaker
That's the Royal Rumble match folks. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this, because I've liked booking it as I have done over the last few years. Just remember, my booking hasn't been matched the last two years- so this is as good as it gets.
Hopefully you've enjoyed my first predictions in absolutely ages. The Review will be up tomorrow if all goes to plan and I haven't died from sleep deprivation. Thanks for reading as always, and let's just hope for a good one tonight eh? I've got quite high hopes for it.
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