2023/24 - The Race For..................

[PaulM]

My 11 year old was convinced last week that Ange is going to win us the league. He was really disappointed with the draw yesterday. I thought he just needed a bit longer supporting Spurs to understand the suffering it entails.

F**k it, if we beat Liverpool this weekend, I might just get on the same buzz as him...football is more fun with unrealistic hope.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

3rd is definitely on. Think it'll be city/scousers 1/2 and between us and the scum for 3/4. Too early for us to be 1/2 as think we're still short of depth in one or two areas but brighton/newcastle/villa won't handle europe and united/chavs are just shit.

willing to revise my 3/4 into a 1/2 based on the scouse game.

I think its still too early to say but for sure City and Liverpool look very good, we look good, Arsenal look good but might be slowed down a bit by CL hopefully and also hopefully Brighton and Newcastle and Villa get slowed down by Europe too, Utd and Chelsea look well off it although I expect Utd to climb back up with the run of easy games they have coming up.

Long story short, beat Liverpool and I'll start to believe a top 2/3 finish is on, no Europe is a real advantage for us this season as our squad isn't robust enough for CL/EL again just yet, if we had that I think we'd have had injuries against Arsenal and have lost that game such are the fine margins at the moment in this league.

Exciting times.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

City's depth isn't as good as usual, hoping they pick up some injuries and finally start to him some bad form but seems like if not then they'll walk the league but Top 4 again would be a phenomenal 1st season from Ange playing like this having lost Kane, that has to be the aim but lets just see how it goes, ups and down's still to come.

I fear our attack would be a lot less effective if we lost Maddison and Son and Johnsons pace, could do with Gil back finding some form and/or possibly another addition in Jan, same issue at CB in terms of quality depth.

 

[markt]

It will be interesting how EFL Cup and Europe effects the teams around us.

City away at Newcastle, Arsenal to Brentford, Brighton away to Chelsea. All tricky ties before weekend premier league games. Just a shame Liverpool only have Leicester.

I think we can compete top 4 and have a very entertaining season, but Bissouma, Maddison are so essential especially until Bentancur is back to full fitness. Depth at LB and CB is really weak. But if we get lucky with injuries I think we can be right up there. I still think City will top the league comfortably, then us Brighton and Arsenal will all be super close together, with Liverpool finishing second.

 

[Dillspur]

City's depth isn't as good as usual, hoping they pick up some injuries and finally start to him some bad form but seems like if not then they'll walk the league but Top 4 again would be a phenomenal 1st season from Ange playing like this having lost Kane, that has to be the aim but lets just see how it goes, ups and down's still to come.

I fear our attack would be a lot less effective if we lost Maddison and Son and Johnsons pace, could do with Gil back finding some form and/or possibly another addition in Jan, same issue at CB in terms of quality depth.

It might not be as good, but they've been without Stone, KdB, Kovacic, Silva and will now be without Rodri

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

It will be interesting how EFL Cup and Europe effects the teams around us.

City away at Newcastle, Arsenal to Brentford, Brighton away to Chelsea. All tricky ties before weekend premier league games. Just a shame Liverpool only have Leicester.

I think we can compete top 4 and have a very entertaining season, but Bissouma, Maddison are so essential especially until Bentancur is back to full fitness. Depth at LB and CB is really weak. But if we get lucky with injuries I think we can be right up there. I still think City will top the league comfortably, then us Brighton and Arsenal will all be super close together, with Liverpool finishing second.

Spot on imo.

 

[Tucker]

If you’d have told we we’d get 4 points off Arsenal and Liverpool two weeks ago, I’d have been dubious. Those two results are massive for our confidence.

Something really positive to build on.

 

[Adam456]

Have a look at our run of fixtures now and compare with Arse, Citeh and others. It's Arse-Citeh next week and we're away at Luton Saturday lunchtime. Win that and we'll be top for 24 hours at least. If Citeh don't beat Arse then we can stay top by winning. And this is before we consider having players back from injury and the others having cups.

With his natural confidence and winning habit I wonder whether inside Ange is starting to think about that

 

[easley91]

If you’d have told we we’d get 4 points off Arsenal and Liverpool two weeks ago, I’d have been dubious. Those two results are massive for our confidence.

Something really positive to build on.

Not only that but that we'd be one of two teams still unbeaten and the other NOT being City. Only us and Arsenal because of the draw last week.

 

[dontcallme]

The importance of no European football on our league form cannot be underestimated.

We don't have the strength of depth that some others at the top have but our 1st team competes with everyone. I thought we had an excellent chance at top 4 at the beginning of the season but would fall short of a title challenge.

I'm still in the same place but starting to believe that little bit more.

 

[Tucker]

Have a look at our run of fixtures now and compare with Arse, Citeh and others. It's Arse-Citeh next week and we're away at Luton Saturday lunchtime. Win that and we'll be top for 24 hours at least. If Citeh don't beat Arse then we can stay top by winning. And this is before we consider having players back from injury and the others having cups.

With his natural confidence and winning habit I wonder whether inside Ange is starting to think about that

I don’t think he’d be letting himself get ahead like that. He seems pretty focused on the project and this being just the beginning. There’s a long way to go yet. It’s a positive start and something great to build on.

 

[Marauder]

Not sure that "under the radar" thing is going to hold out for much longer!

'Spurs & Liverpool show they are ready to gatecrash title race'

Tottenham and Liverpool prove they can both be contenders for this season's Premier League amid their pulsating encounter on Saturday.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Spurvert]

Fantastic start and some more favourable fixtures coming up.

No reason why we can’t get Champions League football this season, but I do worry about our lack of depth/options off the bench. That could see us fall short of top 4/5 as the season goes on. But, with no European football, perhaps not.

If we can get some cover in Jan, and manage to qualify for the CL, then next summer could see this project fast tracked a few years.

I have been thinking we need to build for the next few years with Ange to take advantage of the post Pep/Klopp Prem era.

 

[stormfly]

I feel we all need to calm down a bit we’ve only beaten Man Utd, Liverpool and drawn away to Arsenal. We haven’t been truly tested yet

 

[cozzo]

The mini league that we are in is us, Villa, Brighton and Newcastle. We have positive results against these teams then I believe we will get champions league.

 

[Marty]

The mini league that we are in is us, Villa, Brighton and Newcastle. We have positive results against these teams then I believe we will get champions league.

I don't disagree that we're competing against all those three but we aren't not competing against City, Arse and Liverpool. We're properly in the mix after this start and the only team in the current top 8 with no Europe.

 

[bubble07]

Is it true we had the same number of points after 7 games last season ?

 

[Tucker]

Is it true we had the same number of points after 7 games last season ?

Yeah, I think I saw that stat yesterday at some point.

 

[bubble07]

Transfer window opens in 12 weeks so depth issue can be improved then

 

[Marty]

Is it true we had the same number of points after 7 games last season ?

It is. Our first defeat was the derby in the 8th game.