12 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Why did you have to go and put the mocker on us like that?!

I'll wait to see the proof in the pudding when it comes to Lukaku. We've bought so many failed strikers with good pedigree I honestly have no idea whether he'll work out or not.

For mine it depends on which Chelsea turns up consistently. If it's the Palace Chelsea we could make a run at it. If it's the Villareal Chelsea we'll be battling for fourth again. I'm not sure Palace are a good measure. I could easily see them going down the way they played yesterday. We'll have a better idea after our next run of games.

I disagree about Palace not being a good measure. People went on about us struggling to beat the smaller teams like Palace last season. It was the bigger teams that we had no problem against last year, at least under Tuchel. The fact that we beat them without a full lineup is a good sign.

14 hours ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

I disagree about Palace not being a good measure. People went on about us struggling to beat the smaller teams like Palace last season. It was the bigger teams that we had no problem against last year, at least under Tuchel. The fact that we beat them without a full lineup is a good sign.

I agree. We played well without Kante and others who would usually start. I just thought Palace were in that awful neither attacking nor defending style that is a bit nothing and usually leads to relegation.

First few matches within a season are no good indicator about how clubs will perform in the following months. Palace playing neither attacking nor defending could also just mean that they didn't find any real grip as to how to counter our (formidable) playstyle. Which I'd say rather highlights our good form and general approach than giving a clue as to how Palace will go about their season. If we keep this going I'd argue we're probably one if not the worst team to play against this season.

But BTT: that also doesn't mean that we're set for the title. I'd say challenging for the EPL till the last day(s) would be a great development. City remains to be seen (w/o Kane or not) but I don't think there is a huge gap between us, City, Utd. and Pool. The first two have overall the deepest squads with City more "elite" personell within their squad but Chelsea players eventually being more hungry for the title. United has the worst manager of all four clubs so it'll  be interesting to see if OGS can step up a level or two. Liverpool has a great XI but not much depth..

 

Would be great to see a four horse race till the very end! As of now I don't see one (or two) team steamrolling the league like Pool/City did before.

Champions..

City dropped points but intact should have had lost had not another ridiculous decision be made.

In other news pool again got saved by a ref .. so in the last 4 matches the opposition has gotten two reds which were not red worthy and a penalty denied to palace at nil nil.. the red clearly got overawed and didn’t fancy a shouting and abusing anfield on his back.. it’s strange how many decisions pool and Utd get. Despite what people will say doesn’t add up in a season for me.

4th, in theory we should recovered from our usual wobble and have enough to be ahead of Spurs, Arsenal, Leicester, Brighton etc. I don't expect this will be good enough for Roman.

Edited September 30, 20214 yr by axman2526

Champions are u having a laugh,I felt that even before the City game ,we are still a long way from being actual contenders.

20% of the season gone and were in pole position.

Just now, coco said:

20% of the season gone and were in pole position.

Need to not lose our sh*t during November/December like we normally do 

Just now, Munkworth said:

Need to not lose our sh*t during November/December like we normally do 

7 minutes ago, coco said:

31 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Need to not lose our sh*t during November/December like we normally do 

Sometimes that starts in October and we need to be bang on it for Brentford who are in incredible form and must have sky high confidence.

That game is going to be as tough as we have faced so far imo.

2 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Sometimes that starts in October and we need to be bang on it for Brentford who are in incredible form and must have sky high confidence.

That game is going to be as tough as we have faced so far imo.

Yup, that game looks like a potential banana peel. Brentford are no mugs and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if we dropped points in that game. We have started the season well but I am still unconvinced by our title ambitions. Unless some of our big money signings start performing consistently, I am afraid we will drop off.

12 minutes ago, TheSage said:

Yup, that game looks like a potential banana peel. Brentford are no mugs and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if we dropped points in that game. We have started the season well but I am still unconvinced by our title ambitions. Unless some of our big money signings start performing consistently, I am afraid we will drop off.

Indeed is where I feel we are at too. If we are not at it 100% Brentford will get us.

1 hour ago, coco said:

20% of the season gone and were in pole position.

You’d never guess it reading the match threads 

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Sometimes that starts in October and we need to be bang on it for Brentford who are in incredible form and must have sky high confidence.

That game is going to be as tough as we have faced so far imo.

That’s because West London is wonderful…

20th if that CFCDaily knobhead on twitter has anything to do with it. Insufferable f**ker

Based on current form, I'm praying we finish in the top 4! 😞

Injuries and Covid have killed our league season sadly ... 

At various points in the last two months, we have been missing all of our main 3 central midfielders, all of our 3 main central attackers, and 4 out of 5 of our first choice defenders.

Up until the West Ham game (first 14 games) :

Thereafter :

The squad players that have come in aren't quite at the same level, and hence the gap to City has developed.

 

 

Spurs win there games in hand -4 and they go above us. Let that sink in for a minute 

On 15/01/2022 at 13:43, Andy2461 said:

Spurs win there games in hand -4 and they go above us. Let that sink in for a minute 

That is another reason why our game against them next week is vital. We need to win that one and increase the gap a bit. 

On 15/01/2022 at 13:33, Sexyfootball said:

Injuries and Covid have killed our league season sadly ... 

At various points in the last two months, we have been missing all of our main 3 central midfielders, all of our 3 main central attackers, and 4 out of 5 of our first choice defenders.

Up until the West Ham game (first 14 games) :

Thereafter :

The squad players that have come in aren't quite at the same level, and hence the gap to City has developed.

 

 

In addition to our form the last 8 games look at the difference in the number of goals scored. 33 from the first 14 to just 12 from the 8. We have conceded more goals too. Only 6 conceded in first 14 compared to 11 in last 8. Seems like usual form for us in December based on recent years unfortunately.

On 15/01/2022 at 19:43, Andy2461 said:

Spurs win there games in hand -4 and they go above us. Let that sink in for a minute 

We are easily good enough to finish 3rd behind City and Liverpool. West Ham, Arsenal and Tottenham are another level below us, and than Man United are a level below even that LOL

Look how crap Tottenham were in our two SF legs of the league Cup, and then ask yourself how that side can win a run of PL games. Not going to happen.

On 17/01/2022 at 09:10, Sexyfootball said:

We are easily good enough to finish 3rd behind City and Liverpool. West Ham, Arsenal and Tottenham are another level below us, and than Man United are a level below even that LOL

Look how crap Tottenham were in our two SF legs of the league Cup, and then ask yourself how that side can win a run of PL games. Not going to happen.

Football can change very quickly. The fact is that if Tottenham win their games in hand, they go above us, and if we lose or draw against them, Arsenal and United can also overtake us if they win their games in hand. 

We are a mess, to allow the likes of Tottenham, Arsenal and United to gain so much ground on us from the position we were in is nothing short of a massive collapse.

Too many competitors and injuries.

Spurs being out of Europe is a blessing. With Conte they make top 4 imo. 

Think we end up 5th ot 6th.