I went to the 4-2 earlier this season and thought we were a class above Spurs, I thought your side had real problems defensively and looked devoid of creativity without Dembele and Bale (close to his best form). We went 8 points above you at that stage and you've clawed back that gap. I wrote Spurs off under AVB but I've been impressed with Spurs so far this season. I thought you were awful against Norwich, QPR (first half), City, Chelsea and Arsenal but that aside it's been mostly good football from you guys in the league. It's too early to predict anything at this stage but I do think Spurs will be right in the mix this season. I don't mean any disrespect to Spurs when I say this but the league is so weak this year conceivably anybody could finish anywhere from 3rd-11th in my view. Will be awfully tight this year but to beat Fulham 0-3 at Craven Cottage is no mean feat. Good debating with you guys and hope to do so throughout the course of the season, will be so unpredictable this year.
I think that we've been far from outstanding, but it's understandable considering the changes in personnel and the injuries that we've had. Glad to see Rafa come in to scupper your lot, though!
We still could do with putting on 90 minutes of convincing football. I'm not too worried about that for the moment though, we should improve as the season goes on, even if we don't necessarily get more points as we've been a bit lucky in some games. Hopefully we can get up in the top 4 again this season although knowing our luck we'll finish 4th and Arsenal will win the CL
Thanks, DL. In all seriousness, now that you have Coco as manager, and with Arsenal looking like they have finally realised they don't have any real strikers (following the massive loss of RVP), and can see both your teams struggling in the second half of the season. I don't think it's a question of this being a weak league, I think its more to do with the fact that (a) Mad Dog had made the biggest fcukup so far, having tinkered one too many times with the club, and (b) Whinger finally running out of luck. Added to which, us, Everton, WBA and Swansea all seem to have got steadily better over the season, so far (although, I can't see WBA maintaining their form).
Fairplay DL it can't be nice for you guys seeing AVB doing well after all the comments that your fans have made (not pointing the finger at you). I think the best is still yet to come from us. To think we've not even had a full team to choose from all season and it's going this well, is just amazing.
Rafa's only had three matches ffs,look where we were with AVB after three matches. PNP please don't crow too soon. Thank you for your eloquent remarks District but things could go reels of cotton next match against Everton so I'm keeping my feet firmly on the deck after your praise. If we go on a losing run then you'll be taking the pi$$ again won't you?
I'm not crowing TMT, but the appointment reminds me of McLeish at Villa or George Graham at WHL. If the fans hate the manager when he's appointed, then his days are probably numbered from the off. Add to that the fact (Rafa fakt) that he's only there on a short term contract, so he's got very little authority and I think he's screwed. I'll be the first to applaud him if he manages to turn that around.
I said something the otherday about not reading too much into closing down the points on other teams while they're in the middle of a slump. I still expect Chelsea to finish above us, if only for the fact that they're bound to spend a lot in January. Does anyone even know how we were able to close down the gap by the way? We lost 3 out of 4 immediately after the Chelsea game!
I'm not AVB's biggest fan and never will be but as I've said before getting sacked at Chelsea is no disgrace, it's the norm. Football is the one and only profession I know of where getting sacked on your CV looks better than resigning. AVB shouldn't be judged based on what he did at Chelsea. YV & HIAG, the only thing that may save us is that Spurs are the only team that has taken advantage of our annual November/December collapse but even then not fully. I said to my housemates I fancied Swansea to get something today. At the moment Arsenal look a shadow of previous sides (even last seasons). Whoever does best in the January window and avoids injuries to key players will snap up 3rd and 4th IMO.
Hiag shhh!! It's too early to be saying these things! We all did it last year with the 10-13 point gap!
Yeah, but last season they had RVP; this season all they have is Walnut! They just don't look like they can score enough goals to get into the top 7, let alone top 4.
We have a better first 11 than Arsenal. If we keep the majority of our players fit we should finish above them. Anything else will mean we have had a failure of a season. Honestly how many of Arsenals team would get in our first 11? I think I would take Cazorla and that probably it. This is not a Wum post it's what I genuinely believe. If it wasn't for Adebayor being sent off we would have beaten them at their place.
Yes but Luke we have a new manager and a load of injuries. If we could have a bit more luck on the injury front we would be right up there with the Manchester clubs.
Yeah, I know, I was just pointing out that we've hardly been in the right form to be making up 8 point gaps yet here we are. Looking at our form on it's own it is surprising,