What I will say is that Utd still have a crap defence and midfield and are about to have civil war about which attackers start in which position. Arsenal have about 6 defenders and Giroud and Welbeck as Centre forwards and Giroud is out till December. A bad run of injuries in these areas and they are greatly weakened. Would love to face them with Monreal as Centre Half. Wenger is taking a huge risk in not providing cover for these areas - or even defensive midfield. As is Van Gaal in not shoring up the defence more than he has. Both these teams look fantastic in attacking areas, but have weaknesses. If Poch has something about him (I don't know) then 4th isn't impossible.
Where is the delusion exactly. We do have a better squad than Hull and Swansea - or do you disagree? If we could have the best possible season (given our players) why shouldn't we be in the mix for 4th?
"Our squad is a lot better on paper than any of the teams you mention...there is no reason at all why we shouldn't finish 4th." in reply to "We need to stop talking about City/Chelsea/Liverpool/Arsenal " if you were talking about hull etc why did you then move on to say you will get 4th easily? Hull will be no where near there. Even at full pelt there is no guarantee you will get 4th, your main strikers are nothing compared to even Everton's likewise your midfielders and defenders. Eriksen is great, but wouldn't get in to many of the top sides. And if Levy has your attitude it's no wonder your managerial position is becoming a revolving door. Pochetino has been given nothing to spend and has to work with a squad that was picked by Baldini
Read it again. It wasn't my post, but Power was talking about the teams behind us. No one thinks we have a squad anywhere near City or Chelsea, and probably not Liverpool, Arsenal or Utd now (although there are weaknesses especially with Arsenal and Utd). And nowhere did he say we would get 4th easily.
Fair enough re. the first point but I find it odd that he feels that there is no reason at all why you shouldn't finish 4th. And for the record, I would far rather you finish in the top 4 if it was at the expense of Arsenal.
I still don't think the goons are top 4 material,and don't think Welbeck will help much.If he's replacing Giroud,he does'nt score enough,and the defence is still dodgy
Teams often finish in a different order to their squad values. We should be 6th but could come either side. If Poch builds a team to be more than the sum of the parts like you did last year then 4th is quite possible. It is also possible to be below Everton again if the opposite happens but I don't think any of the others will catch us.
Our only chance would be due to Arsenal having very thin cover in defence and midfield. They literally have 6 first team defenders at the club and Chambers (19) is cover for both the centre halves and for right back. Utd have fantastic forward talent now, but will the mix work. Will Rooney or Van Persie be happy not being a forward, or will they play 4-3-3 to accommodate them all. They still have Jones/Smalling/Evans to play centre half. Possibly a couple of them. On balance 6th is probably the best we can expect, but those 2 teams have issues. And I haven't mentioned Balotelli throwing a strop yet.
On paper, we have a better team than 'Pool, which is the reason so many of us were gutted that they beat us 0-3, especially on our own turf. The only area that we are truly deficient is in attack, and that's been the case for about 4 seasons. That is unforgivable, and is the principle reason why Levy should be out of a job. Make the mistake once, or twice - even a third time might be forgivable - not not 4 times. That's taking the piss!
Everton appear to have 3 strikers the same as Spurs, Etoo is certainly a useful addition but last season he actually scored a similar number of goals to Soldado in all competitions, then you have Lukaku and Adebayor who have fairly similar scoring records in the premier league both average almost a goal every 2 matches (Adebyaor has been doing it for a few more years though) and as for Arouna Kone or Harry Kane you pays your money you takes your choice but I am not sure anyone is gonna say one is much than the other, so from that where are Evertons strikers so much better than Tottenhams? Last season Everton (and Liverpool) had the huge benefit of not being in Europe and in Evertons case i can see that being a bigger issue this season than it will be for Spurs.
Welbeck has never scored 10 prem goals in a season, and the most in all comps is 12. I don't think there is any argument on whether he is prolific or not. Could that change, i guess, would i bet on it, no.
We saw the best and worst of Welbeck in one game in Utd's CL Q-F 1st leg v Bayern Munich earlier this year. His pace and constant running, through the middle or in the channels, especially on the counter, had the Bayern centre halves all at sea. They were not used to a forward with a lot of pace and direct running. Unfortunately, the chances he created for himself were fluffed. Wenger probably sees him who move defenders about and create space for more technically able players breaking from midfield. Too often Arsenal have relied on trying to pass the ball through the eye of a needle to get around organised defences which sit deep. Welbeck is never going to be a 20 goal a season striker. His first touch is poor and has not improved, but he has other attributes. I wish him well; he is a selfless player.
Villa's loan move for Cleverly has gone through, only 17 hours after the window closed. please log in to view this image I spoke to a Villa fan earlier today and he said, "I wasn't very impressed by our dealings this summer, but at least we didn't sign that prick Cleverly"!
I see Welbeck,who Whinger bought to Replace the Injured Giroud,is doubtful for the England game ,he likes buying injured players, does Whinger
I've been impressed with how Villa have started the season. Unbeaten, set up nicely, They have some talented players (amid the trash). Benteke to return and their season will be decided by how the experienced players such as Hutton perform as he has been outstanding so far and playing like the Hutton I used to see at Glasgow Rangers. Delph is a quality young talent and one stat which I found surprising was Ashley Westwood created the chances last season (for any english premier league player). Lambert even raised a smile in interviews! Nice to see a team that is ridiculed up their performance, even if its not likely to last.
To be fair they didn't have to even get out of first gear against us on Sunday, we were bloody atrocious.
