Wont be finishing Top 10 based on 6 weeks of the window still open, keeping a good squad together with players coming back from injuries and likely 2-3 other signings. Glad I'm not over yours for Sunday lunch this week
Agreed but other teams around us are all improving/adding whilst we are doing nothing ( as of yet). This season is going to be the toughest PL season in history in my eyes, purely due to money being spent. Teams who wont pay the money asked / fail to find hidden gems , will simply get left behind this year.
Our board is not going for boom or bust.....and I wouldn't want them to. They are running a business and trying to improve steadily within our means...but, in a business like football, the rise won't always be straight...there are too many variables. Other teams for example. There will be seasons when everything falls into place...take Leicester for example...and there will be seasons when we disappoint. Running a football club is a long term project if you haven't got a sugar daddy and you don't want to go bust. In the past, we'd have killed to be a steady PL team like West Ham for example...now we have been top ten (or top 8 if you want to be pedantic) for 3 seasons. We should always keep striving, but mustn't ignore what our present owner and board have achieved. May be annoying, but every season we have several players that top clubs and Liverpool desire. How often did that happen in the past....so the club aren't buying journeymen.
And that has been the same for the past xxx number of seasons... And if we do slide once in a while, what's the problem. Im sure it wasnt in Man Utds plan to slip the way the did, but you what, **** happens.
Are they though? Everton definitely have. West Ham - if they sign Hernandez, arnautovic and hart then ok I'll put borderline yes. Stoke - signed Darren fletcher and the guy from hull. Not exactly quaking in my boots. West Brom - signed our third/four choice striker for well over what he is worth. No improvement there. I do hope that jay finds form again and that his career gets back on track but just being bluntly honest here. Palace - signed a Chelsea loanee. See Stoke. Swansea - mesa is a very good player but they are going to lose Sig. Burnley - Walters - lol. Newcastle/huddersfield/Brighton - not really worried about them for now. Huddersfield have made too many signings imo. Watford - have they signed anyone aside from Will Hughes? Good play btw but on par with Redmond for us. Bournemouth - Defoe and begovic - good signings. Ake - decent but not worth the price they paid. We have a mixture really. There have been some ok signings but right now I wouldn't be too worried. Everton have just set a high standard.
It was so close last year though you could argue that it wouldn't take much for teams to overtake us. We are firmly in the mid table side area in my view, let's see what happens over the next 6 weeks or so before judging. However with the start we have fixtures wise it would be far better to have our squad settled by opening day rather than taking a few games to get going
Cheers! The Watford point was a genuine question, I haven the really kept up with their activity. As for Llorente, is he leaving or are you talking about him being injured?
Great point. This is arguably one of the nicest run of opening fixtures we are going to have in a long while. Start well and we could find ourselves really high up the table, with some added momentum going into the Christmas from hell. On the flip side, start slowly and we could be in real trouble. Don't want to be too dramatic but I feel the trajectory of our season will be based on the results of these first 10/13 games (not sure how many games it is until the big boy pile up)
I just dont think we have any money to spend thats the main problem. Well a lot less than many assume.
Agreed, a good start could set us up nicely for a great season and give great momentum. Likewise, we can't really afford to be sat in the bottom half come the end of November.
I make that point every season - and rarely has been more important than this coming season, given the aforementioned fixture list. We shouldn't be looking at 31 August as the deadline. The opening day of the season should be our deadline. Margins are so fine, that three or four games really can make the difference (both in the black-and-white sense of the points obtained from those matches, and also the longer term impact across the following games - eg confidence). And unless the authorities align the two, I will keep on raising the point every season. And given that it relates to the above discussion, I will also repeat another point I recently made. Right now, I don't care what our rivals are doing in the transfer market. If we get our house in order and sufficiently improve the positions that I believe need improving, then good luck to the West Ham's and the Stoke's etc. Because we will be one serious threat to them. But if we don't do that, and we're broadly left with the squad as it is (pretty much with any transfer activity limited to replacing anyone we sell), then suddenly I will be looking around at the other teams and worrying. But I don't see any point worrying now, because we still have time. Who knows, we might yet trump them all and find ourselves with a squad that should secure 8th place without any sweat (and could even challenge higher).
There is an air of resignation amongst Celtic fans that Armstrong is on his way to us. No bitterness. They accept that this is the way of things - as we should when players move on. I like Celtic as a club and as a group of fans. Would love to see Saints play up there in a pre season friendly sometime. Even better - in a European tie
With Kat's worth somewhere between £300-£400 million, and the takeover looming over the club at the moment, it really isn't that surprising we have only bought in one player so far. That could all change if VVD is sold, which I still think he won't be.
Pedant alert. "now we have been top ten (or top 8 if you want to be pedantic) for 3 seasons." Shouldn't that be 4 seasons?
I'd rather stick to signing the Manés, Virgils and Gabbiadinis and develop them here. But, isn't it nice that there are different ways to build a squad in the PL? If everyone had to do the same thing, that would be a bit boring. So if someone else things they can get something out of Defoe and Arnautovic then good luck to them.
