58 minutes ago, Andy North said:

We do not have a very good centre forward or central defensive pairing. We have just let Nathan Ampadu go out on loan and sold one of our best central defensive players. We have just brought back two centre forwards from loan at Villa and Palace. The club have been caught cheating in the trading of young players and received a two window transfer ban and you think Frank Lampard would have a lot to answer for. I would say the board have a darn sight more to answer for.

It's way too early to be pointing the finger at Frank. You seem to be setting him in your sights if anything goes wrong.

I don't have anyone "in my sights" i say it how i see it and always will.

i won't want Frank gone in the near future unless results hit 15/16 territoritry, however the same way finishing above 3 of our top 6 rivals will be overperformance finishing below three inferior squads (one of which's best defender from last year is now with us) would very much be an underperformance.

Edited August 13, 20196 yr by Argo

Even though we lost 4-0 I'm not massively worried. The result seriously flattered Utd

We have a new manager, lost our best player from last season and fielded quite a young side. We also started the game missing 5 players who you'd believe would be considered first team players in Rudiger, Kante, Pulisic, RLC and Hudson-Odoi

We will improve drastically over the next few months IMO 

 

 

Even though we lost 4-0 I'm not massively worried. The result seriously flattered Utd
We have a new manager, lost our best player from last season and fielded quite a young side. We also started the game missing 5 players who you'd believe would be considered first team players in Rudiger, Kante, Pulisic, RLC and Hudson-Odoi
We will improve drastically over the next few months IMO 
 
 

I agree with everything here.

It may seem mad after two defeats and conceding 6 goals, but if i had to vote again now i would change my 8th place prediction to a 5th place at worse, and hopes for top four are now realistic.

On 15/08/2019 at 10:24, coco said:

It may seem mad after two defeats and conceding 6 goals, but if i had to vote again now i would change my 8th place prediction to a 5th place at worse, and hopes for top four are now realistic.

We can make the top 4, just need a little patience at the start of the season. I expect things to keep improving as the season progresses.

My main fear this season was goal scoring before we kicked a ball but now after seeing Mount and Tammy playing well, its shifted to the back line, im not confident in this back 4, in any of its make up, to keep a run of clean sheets going.

I still think we'll be pushing for 4th but if we finished 5th-6th, with Lamps, a ban and losing Hazard, it would be a good season.

I think the expectations for the season should look like this. I have waited till now because i think despite inconsistent results the performances have shown why i have been repeatedly stating it won't be acceptable to finish midtable.

Title = Lampard statue next to Ossie

Title challenge = genius work

Comfortable top 4 = excellent

Top 4 challenge = good work (even if we narrowly miss out)

6th with a mid 60's points haul = below par but under the circumstances not a complete disaster.

Anything below that = failure 

34 minutes ago, Argo said:

I think the expectations for the season should look like this. I have waited till now because i think despite inconsistent results the performances have shown why i have been repeatedly stating it won't be acceptable to finish midtable.

Title = Lampard statue next to Ossie

Title challenge = genius work

Comfortable top 4 = excellent

Top 4 challenge = good work (even if we narrowly miss out)

6th with a mid 60's points haul = below par but under the circumstances not a complete disaster.

Anything below that = failure 

Failure is such a definite word, we could finish 8th but just 4-5 points behind 3rd. That wouldn't be a failure, that would be a good fight and something to be proud of first season. 

Failure is relegation.

2 minutes ago, coco said:

Failure is such a definite word, we could finish 8th but just 4-5 points behind 3rd. That wouldn't be a failure, that would be a good fight and something to be proud of first season. 

Failure is relegation.

The positions have a bit of room for manoeuvre for circumstances like that granted (which is unlikely hence me putting 6th) but i maintain that anything below 60's will be an underachievement.

It will always be about context for me, ie the quality of our squad. When i first started going to games in the early 90's i was delighted with a mid table finish because realistically our squad weren't capable of much more, i was not alive/too young in the 80's but from what I've heard/read about that era i'd imagine merely avoiding top flight relegation would have had me bouncing of the walls. With this squad i feel we have a group of winners with some of the best young players around joining them, mid 60's should be the minimum they achieve in my opinion.

I think we are in with a real shout at Top 4, having seen Arsenal, Spurs and United play I would certainly be disappointed if we didn't make the Top 4. Surprisingly United & Spurs look weaker as a squad this year than they did last, Arsenal may look stronger up top but they certainly have the poorest backline of the top 6 teams.

I wouldn't swap our squad (When everyone is fit) with any of those teams mentioned, in addition I think Leicester/Everton may be in with a realistic shout to compete for the top 4 spots as they seem to have very well rounded squads with stable back-lines however they will need there offensive players such as Vardy and Richarlison to have outstanding seasons.

After the first couple of games I would say we must get top 4, Utd & Spurs I would say are starting from the same position as we are in terms of how difficult they´ll season will be simply because of different circumstances. Arsenal will be 5th or 6th. 

I still reckon we could get the 4th spot, provided we get the 3-4 first team regulars back. It's a long season, and there are 4-6 teams at the similar level to get the 3rd/4th spot. We may need to get an early exit from the cup competition to prioritize the season, not saying we should be throwing games, but how about just youth players for the league cup, for real? If the transfer ban get over turned for the next transfer window ( not counting on it), may just push us over the line.

I still have optimism but will hold my judgement after we're half a season in. Too many variables at the moment

Think its a bit too early for bold top 4 predictions because of the defending we've witnessed to date. Could be sorted without reinforcements but lbh its the teams biggest current weakness and gives other teams a clear strategy.

If SFL bloods 5 or 6 academy players into the 1st team this season he will have potentially saved the club 100s of millions in transfer fees, therefore if the club finished outside of top 4 or top 6 it would not be the end of the world, money talks and the Russian bird could buy the 2 or 3 world class payers that would put the club back into contention challenging the vermin & city next season.

At the beginning of the season I would have had us more or less nailed-on for sixth, I haven't seen anything so far to make me change that prediction. 

8 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

At the beginning of the season I would have had us more or less nailed-on for sixth, I haven't seen anything so far to make me change that prediction. 

At the start I thought we had a decent shot at top four but it would be tough.

Now looking at the issues facing Arsenal (can't create or defend), United (too many average players) and Spurs (stagnant) I genuinely believe we will finish third if we can get the first choice lineup together soon.

I'm sticking with fourth, outside of City and Liverpool no-one looks unbeatable yet that does not mean they cannot go on a run and of course the January transfer window can also change things.

I clicked 1st, thinking this was for NEXT season lol

 

This season I reckon 5th, which isn't the end of the world.

Surely we should finish 4th.

Apart from City and Liverpool, we look like we’re on same level as the rest. Tottenham, United and Arsenal aren’t really any better than us.

I expected 6th before the season started, but after seeing their starts, anything below 4th would be disappointing imo. Unless one of the rivals go on a winning run.

5 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Surely we should finish 4th.

Apart from City and Liverpool, we look like we’re on same level as the rest. Tottenham, United and Arsenal aren’t really any better than us.

I expected 6th before the season started, but after seeing their starts, anything below 4th would be disappointing imo. Unless one of the rivals go on a winning run.

You say that, but not only did Man U pump us 4-0, they also kept a clean sheet against Leicester, something we’re a million miles from being able to replicate.  

1 hour ago, cuppaT said:

You say that, but not only did Man U pump us 4-0, they also kept a clean sheet against Leicester, something we’re a million miles from being able to replicate.  

Indeed, and lose to West Ham.

Sorry but I’d expect more than 0 points at West Ham. The 4 - 0 was just a freak result, they scored on every chance they had. On a normal day it would have been 2 - 0 or even 1 - 0.

On 22/09/2019 at 22:07, dansubrosa said:

Indeed, and lose to West Ham.

Sorry but I’d expect more than 0 points at West Ham. The 4 - 0 was just a freak result, they scored on every chance they had. On a normal day it would have been 2 - 0 or even 1 - 0.

Or Abraham would have hit it one inch to the right and we'd have won the game...

Leicester look like the real deal, and as much of a caricature as he is, Rodgers has proven to be a top coach, and with Vardy, Maddison, Ndidi and Schmeichel, they have a top quality spine. I think there's a legitimate chance they take one of the top 4 spots with Liverpool and City, with us and Arsenal fighting for the other spot. 

I think i'd happily take 4th at this point in time.

5 hours ago, Jonty said:

Leicester look like the real deal, and as much of a caricature as he is, Rodgers has proven to be a top coach, and with Vardy, Maddison, Ndidi and Schmeichel, they have a top quality spine. I think there's a legitimate chance they take one of the top 4 spots with Liverpool and City, with us and Arsenal fighting for the other spot. 

I think i'd happily take 4th at this point in time.

Definitely. I'm trying not to be too concerned about the teams around us though and where we finish, I think we should be targeting 75 points and this season, that'll be good for 4th. Arsenal don't have the defenders to improved their defensive record, we do. 

Where we finish rests on our next 5 games imo, we could easily win all 5 which provides a huge benchmark for the rest of the season. Getting consistency in this team early would be amazing. Sarri for all his faults, consistently beat the lower half teams and that is why we finished 3rd. 

As long as we finish top 4 this season, and have a good season in general. Im more than happy. Near impossible to win the league this season, but as long as we play well and progress then im more than happy. 

Depending on how this season goes and how our youth play, I think next season or the season after will be the real push for the title.