sundanceyid10
Well-Known Member
- Aug 22, 2013
- 3,380
- 8,320
That’s the story of the last 10 years.
What are your expectations for the season 21/22: The race for any position between 1st and 20th
- Thread starter BringBack_leGin
- Start date
SuperSpurs69
Well-Known Member
- Jan 27, 2011
- 670
- 1,372
West ham will be too preoccupied with the EL once that starts. Their squad is small so moyes will have no option but to field strong teams if they want to progress and that will have an impact on their league form, especially all those Thursday and and Sunday games.
Leicester will be there or there abouts I'd imagine but again, europa league could hamper them if they get a few injuries. Can't see villa doing too much either, even with Ings.
Everton are the dark horses as they've got a good manager and no European distractions.
sausage
?
- May 17, 2018
- 11,872
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Cox: Chelsea's 1-0 wins hallmark of a champion
Sir Alex Ferguson often mused that 1-0 wins reveal championship form, and no one has mastered that score line better this season than Chelsea.
www.espn.co.uk
wrd
Well-Known Member
- Aug 22, 2014
- 13,603
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Cox: Chelsea's 1-0 wins hallmark of a champion
Sir Alex Ferguson often mused that 1-0 wins reveal championship form, and no one has mastered that score line better this season than Chelsea.
Awesome thank you, clearly me and this fergy fellow share a similar level of understanding about the game of footyball.
In all seriousness though that article did confirm what I had a suspicion of and that is about really strong foundations and a level of confidence in the defensive platform the team has.
Another interesting part of what Fergy was saying in that article though was "making sure we're doing the right things" because the other thing I've noticed is that as a fan in recent seasons i'm usually thinking what sub we need to make or should have made 15 minutes ago because the dynamic of the game is not in our favour.
However with our team namely in the home games I've been dreading us making subs because such is the confidence I have in the game management our players have, I'm scared of a change of dynamic. Which is a huge credit again to the foundations of our system.
Hugely encouraging, today was better in terms of that front foot possesion based game I hoped for. In the latter stages of that 2nd half we were playing how we used to when we were 1-0 down, where we were pinning them back but this time it was building on winning.
That's not to say we don't have areas to improve, a couple of positions we need better passers to make the most of our control and to create better chances but yeah, the manner of our performances should have our fans feeling quietly confident because of the nature of the 1-0 wins telling us what they do.
PrettyColors
Rosie47 Fan
- Aug 13, 2011
- 3,866
- 10,074
Honestly, I’m feeling pretty negative about the season at the close of this window.
We’ve spent basically €125 million (in installments and loans etc but essentially a €125m outlay) on…
-An Aurier-esque RB who Barca fans want rid of
-Romero (who is a brilliant signing, no complaints)
-Gil (I like his potential, good signing, not a starter)
-Backup GK
-Project CM on loan
Add to that we sold Toby and Lamela and lost Bale, 3 important players last season, and Kane/N’Dombele both asked to leave and will not be as motivated this season as last. And lost Vinicius and Sissoko, both without direct replacement really.
blink and put yourself back in May. Would you have taken this window? We spent €125 mill.
-Added a great, yet unproven CB, but his partner is still going to be Dier or Sanchez, lost Toby.
-We have Skipp back but only 5 real CM-eligible players, and both Tanguy/Winks are basically unplayable in a PL match right now.
-We have no backup striker and Son and Kane are literally the only two capable of getting 8 goals in a season, let alone double digits.
-Lo Celso has taken a step back since 2019/20.
-We have hired the manager who led Wolves to 13th place
Sure, we’re top, but looking at it through that lense, it feels like a false dawn. The Emerson signing for €30m especially feels like a head scratcher. I’ve seen him a few times and he is nothing special at all..
We’ve spent basically €125 million (in installments and loans etc but essentially a €125m outlay) on…
-An Aurier-esque RB who Barca fans want rid of
-Romero (who is a brilliant signing, no complaints)
-Gil (I like his potential, good signing, not a starter)
-Backup GK
-Project CM on loan
Add to that we sold Toby and Lamela and lost Bale, 3 important players last season, and Kane/N’Dombele both asked to leave and will not be as motivated this season as last. And lost Vinicius and Sissoko, both without direct replacement really.
blink and put yourself back in May. Would you have taken this window? We spent €125 mill.
-Added a great, yet unproven CB, but his partner is still going to be Dier or Sanchez, lost Toby.
-We have Skipp back but only 5 real CM-eligible players, and both Tanguy/Winks are basically unplayable in a PL match right now.
-We have no backup striker and Son and Kane are literally the only two capable of getting 8 goals in a season, let alone double digits.
-Lo Celso has taken a step back since 2019/20.
-We have hired the manager who led Wolves to 13th place
Sure, we’re top, but looking at it through that lense, it feels like a false dawn. The Emerson signing for €30m especially feels like a head scratcher. I’ve seen him a few times and he is nothing special at all..
jolsnogross
Well-Known Member
- May 17, 2005
- 3,821
- 5,636
I don't think you need to tilt towards negative or positive really. A little optimism should be part of any pursuit, especially following footy teams, but I think you glaze over some good developments.
Nuno is a good manager and far superior to what we've had for the last two seasons. Our style of play last year was abysmal, even when we were winning, and you could see the half-hearted belief of the side within that system. Nuno is a balanced guy with a balanced approach and we should be encouraged that previously hapless defenders look like they know what they're doing. To point only to his worst PL season with Wolves is searching for negativity.
The outgoings are all perfectly defensible, although I'd have been fine with Alderwiereld staying. It was long past time for Lamela to go and we did a good deal there. Likewise Bale is an expensive luxury and it's not clear he can hack PL footy despite being efficient in front of goal. Likewise Sissoko. The incomings need some time but have a decent-looking ceiling. And we can't just keep looking to shiny new signing to solve issues when a bit of time invested in existing and young players will do. We have been spending money, lots of it on some players that prove much lesser value than their price tag.
The job this season is to be in a much better position at the end of it than we were at the end of the last two. The early season buzz will fade away and it won't take more than a couple of defeats for moaning to predominate. But we've thrown away seasons trying to find a silver bullet that doesn't exist. Right now, I would say we look like having a better chance of winning something this season while also increasing those chances into the coming years by having a better manager, hungrier players, and Levy distancing himself a little from directing football operations.
Blake Griffin
Well-Known Member
- Oct 3, 2011
- 14,172
- 38,508
agree, someone else put it best in the transfer forum. we haven't gotten better, just younger - which is of course a positive in itself and was also necessary but it doesn't really help us much in the here and now.
have to agree on this emerson lad as well. decided to watch a couple of highlight videos and a match comp last night and he looks a worryingly poor footballer, hopefully they've just given me a false impression and he turns out great but they certainly weren't an impressive watch. on the other hand i decided to check out tomiyasu's as well while i was there, i'd flippantly referred to him as "some rando from bologna" previously when i was being a bit mardy at how things were going but wow, he actually looks really good. super composed, intelligent, decent turn of pace, tidy on the ball. probably more of a cb than a rb but still, just looks an all round quality player, i'm now kind of disappointed that we didn't get him - again though, could be youtube painting a not totally genuine picture.
we've started the season well though and i'm a little more optimistic than before the season started but still, early days.
BringBack_leGin
Well-Known Member
- Jul 28, 2004
- 27,719
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- Thread starter
- #450
I really wanted Tomayisu from highlights, but Emerson based on actually watching him in action a few times is a good buy. He’s not Cafu, but he’sa powerful runner and a good tackler who reads the game really well, while going forward he is quick (not Walker but few are) and has a really good whipped cross on him. Also, even though I wouldn’t call him technically gifted, he is good at one touch football and very aware of who’s around him when he receives the ball. He’s also an aggressive fucker.
DogsOfWar
Well-Known Member
- Jan 12, 2005
- 2,305
- 3,648
It's worth remembering this team was top after 12 games last season so we're not necessarily in an artificial position.
My view on last season unravelling was the opposition wising up to fully pressing us with us being unable to either play through or withstand the press.
I think with the addition of Skipp we've become capable of withstanding the press (as shown by the 3 clean sheets so far) but we're still not particularly adept at playing through it.
I think if we can get one of Dele, Lo Celso, Winks or Ndombele and one of Moura, Steve, or Gil receiving, keeping, and doing something useful with the ball then we're in with a genuine shot of top four.
But none of them (Gil obviously excepted as he hasn't been here long) has shown enough in the last couple of years to give me enough hope that they can so I, ultimately, think we'll end up 5th/6th.
If we could have swapped three of them for Kessie, Aouar, and Traore I would have fancied an outside chance at the title.
My view on last season unravelling was the opposition wising up to fully pressing us with us being unable to either play through or withstand the press.
I think with the addition of Skipp we've become capable of withstanding the press (as shown by the 3 clean sheets so far) but we're still not particularly adept at playing through it.
I think if we can get one of Dele, Lo Celso, Winks or Ndombele and one of Moura, Steve, or Gil receiving, keeping, and doing something useful with the ball then we're in with a genuine shot of top four.
But none of them (Gil obviously excepted as he hasn't been here long) has shown enough in the last couple of years to give me enough hope that they can so I, ultimately, think we'll end up 5th/6th.
If we could have swapped three of them for Kessie, Aouar, and Traore I would have fancied an outside chance at the title.
Spurvert
Huge Member
- Jul 10, 2011
- 2,373
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6th at best.
Kane injury and it’s probably 8th.
Absolute joke that we’ve ended up with 4 right backs and no second striker behind Kane.
All this ‘lessons have been learned’ bollocks. Nothing has changed.
Have to hope we have a lot of luck with injuries this season. Best of luck, Nuno.
Kane injury and it’s probably 8th.
Absolute joke that we’ve ended up with 4 right backs and no second striker behind Kane.
All this ‘lessons have been learned’ bollocks. Nothing has changed.
Have to hope we have a lot of luck with injuries this season. Best of luck, Nuno.
PLTuck
Eternal Optimist
- Aug 22, 2006
- 16,058
- 33,537
Personally think we have a genuine shot at 4th. If I was putting money on it I'd go for 5th though.
The only absolute joke are the people who are stamping their feet and throwing a tantrum because we didn't get enough new shiny toys for them.
Signing of the season will prove to be Nuno.
The only absolute joke are the people who are stamping their feet and throwing a tantrum because we didn't get enough new shiny toys for them.
Signing of the season will prove to be Nuno.
Spurvert
Huge Member
- Jul 10, 2011
- 2,373
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Shiny new toys? Tantrums?
We need a second option at striker that isn’t a young kid or shoehorning a winger to do it when Kane needs to be rested/gets injured.
The fact that hasn’t been addressed IS an absolute joke, IMO.
PLTuck
Eternal Optimist
- Aug 22, 2006
- 16,058
- 33,537
And this is where we fundamentally disagree. So be it. To claim it's "an absolute joke" is just pure hyperbole.
Spurvert
Huge Member
- Jul 10, 2011
- 2,373
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We will see at the end of the season.
Saoirse
Well-Known Member
- Aug 20, 2013
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We've got absolutely zip in terms of ball progression. Nobody in our team last season who could reliably break the lines and get us forward through either passing or dribbling - that was our key failure. It limited our chance creation, it necessitated Kane having to come deep and do it all himself, it relied on Son being sensationally clinical which he couldn't sustain all year, and it meant our defense came under constant pressure. Unless we fix this, we will end up playing conservatively for the most part, and struggling to break teams down. Traoré would be a very good answer, as may Aouar albeit I'm less confident and he's a very different player. Failing that, Nuno's task is to uncoach Mourinho's defense-first approach from the likes of Regullion and Lo Celso, try to get this penetration from Skipp and Gill, and desperately attempt to get Ndombele firing. That's the difference I think between us having potentially a very, very good season and an entirely mediocre one.
(By the way, I don't want to strain the point, but Jack Grealish is literally one of the best in the world for this with both his passing and dribbling, and I genuinely believe that had we offered something other than Onomah+£3m at the start of that fateful window, he would have helped us win the CL and quite possibly even last season's PL - he's that much of a difference maker).
(By the way, I don't want to strain the point, but Jack Grealish is literally one of the best in the world for this with both his passing and dribbling, and I genuinely believe that had we offered something other than Onomah+£3m at the start of that fateful window, he would have helped us win the CL and quite possibly even last season's PL - he's that much of a difference maker).
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Saoirse
Well-Known Member
- Aug 20, 2013
- 6,170
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How long is a reasonable timeframe? It's now been three years since the infamous 2018 no-transfer window, and 2.5 since that season went to pot domestically in January 2019. It's lucky that nobody expected a quick fix, because the timeframe for that is long gone already. The problem is that there's been no sign of a fix at all - in fact, the first XI is still worse than it was back then!
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