Will this squad drop its performance level if it believes there is no longer a title to chase in the league? Will players put in that extra 10% for a chance to qualify for a competition they've played in the last two seasons? That's the biggest concern we should have, in my opinion, at the moment.
Given our recent performances and injury list, you can't help but think we might have missed our window the last two seasons to win a league title with most of the current core. City are building a super-squad of sorts, and if we can't catch them this season when they're still transitioning in new players, I'm not sure we'll overtake them next year (big transition into a new stadium) or the year after given our precarious situation in regards to wages for our top players, and their ability to spend 300 million pounds every summer for as long as they want building the best team in the world.
That is a testament to the work Pochettino has done, though. Expectations among everyone are so high given the quality of the last two seasons, that if we finished 5th on 73 points this season, some would regard it an unmitigated disaster.
Given our recent performances and injury list, you can't help but think we might have missed our window the last two seasons to win a league title with most of the current core. City are building a super-squad of sorts, and if we can't catch them this season when they're still transitioning in new players, I'm not sure we'll overtake them next year (big transition into a new stadium) or the year after given our precarious situation in regards to wages for our top players, and their ability to spend 300 million pounds every summer for as long as they want building the best team in the world.
That is a testament to the work Pochettino has done, though. Expectations among everyone are so high given the quality of the last two seasons, that if we finished 5th on 73 points this season, some would regard it an unmitigated disaster.