Some context on this comfort blanket of 3rd. 1st is as far away as 15th is. By all means feel cozy there but I hope the players dont.
I think it’s just an odd one isn’t it. Last year is what we expected to be a transition season where top 4 would be an achievement and maybe a cup. Slot and the players exceeded all expectations by winning the league - as slot said himself he was helped by fact teams thought they could attack us after losing Klopp abd it played into our hands. This year teams now worked us out a bit more, add in the changes - which did need to happen. Of all the players that left only Diaz and TAA were starters and we had no option to keep them really. The rest were squad players, then add in Jota which will have had an impact and it seems this is the transition year just delayed a year. If last year we’d have had this start, 3rd in table with 6/10 wins then think everyone would have gone sure that’s not a bad start.
Who said anything about cosy? This is why people argue with you and then you get all uppity about it.
Just say'n Its up and down the Internet. I've seen the worst start in 10 years v man utd worst start in 10 years rubbish for example. Doesn't change the fact we lost at anfield to them. Just makes people fell better. 3rd after losing 4 in a row is a comfort blanket making it feel not so bad. In reality 3rd is 7 points away from 1st and 7 points away from 15th. It doesn't change the fact we lost 4 in a row. We've won one. That's what is a relief so now we have to try follow it up.against city and go into yet another princess international break We can draw a line under things in different ways. We lost 4 in a row. That's now done. We have won and we want to keep winning. Or hey its not so bad we are 3rd.
I missed out the word 'with' (which I didn't think it needed) so it should have read 'with Slot realising he needs to make incremental changes... '. The point being he needs to keep making small changes. I agree with the rest of what you said.
Yes I think that would be right. Last year we would have been happy to be 3rd though maybe not very happy to lose 4 in a row. It is like villa going up and down thr tbale last year. They were in for 4th then down to 9th then back up again. If you are not leading the way then theres not a lot separating a lot of teams.
Yes there is. I've lost 4 in a row and drawing a firm line under it by winning is a different mindset totally. You really want to win the next one to keep going. You sre not looking at the position you are focused on performance. Its fine we are 3rd will accept losing tje next one as long as it doesn't damage you too much. You are focused on the position not the performance. They are very very different mindsets.
I think what you're inferring is that some people are saying 'we lost 4 in a row but that's ok because we're in 3rd place'. Hence your 'position not performance' comment. That's you assuming that you know what people are thinking or believing and extending that assumption to say that some are happy with any old thing as long as we are in a good position. Nobody has suggested that. As I said, you've assumed it. Cognitive dissonance means holding two conflicting beliefs at the same time. You're mixing up 'mindset' with 'belief'. They are different things.
What is am really saying is IN GENERAL i find thst a lot of Internet commentary goes this way. Hence the comment about man utd's best start in 10 years. I've even seen a mind the gap stupid comment to man utd fans while a far bigger gap to arsenal exists. Its a thoughtless reaction to utd crowing aboit being ahead of us after winning against us and others. You cannot hold a belief that performance is most important and also hold a belief that 3rd is just fine as the performances for 4 games were dire. They are in total conflict. 3rd is 3rd. Its an outcome based on a lot of factors including other teams. Our performance each week is in our control. And mo salah has said as much. He is passed off, he didnt celebrate his goal, he has said he isn't happy how its gone. He couldn't possibly hold the view thst 3rd is ok at the same time and that's why he is mo salah.
I wouldn’t expect any player to think 3rd is ok. That’s not how they think and that’s why they get to where they get to in their careers never being satisfied with things and always wanting more Doesn’t mean as fans we can’t say atm, based on the season, 3rd is a pretty solid place to be.
err you never mentioned ManU best start in 10 years but the exact opposite ( though tricky one as it is in Mitoese) as yousaid I've seen the worst start in 10 years v man utd worst start in 10 years rubbish for example. Doesn't change the fact we lost at anfield to them. Just makes people fell better.
This isn't cognitive dissonance. We are in 3rd place because of a good performance. Cognitive dissonance would be a person believing performance is the most important thing and then dismissing it if a poor performance got you higher up the table. You can absolutely believe that performance is most important and also believe that 3rd is just fine.
All I said is that it's amazing that after such a poor run we are still third. No suggestion at all that we should be satisfied with that position - from me or from anyone else as far as I could see.
Yes, as i said I was talking in general and gave an example of the type of thing I see. To be clear I'm not accusing anyone specifically..my intent is to make a general comment
