5 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

If we beat Liverpool this weekend, lots might think we are the favourites.

Personally think we need strengthening though we should be stronger than last year thanks to Romelu Lukaku. 

We will beat Liverfool. It's the Leicester city's of the world that I worry about. Dropping points against lesser teams. 

It's a really long season so I feel like we might be jinxing ourselves if we start talking about being the favorites and a EPL championship.

That said I think one could accurately say that we are a contender.   But there are several contenders.  Man City, Man U, and Liverpool are also strong contenders.

 

 

2 hours ago, Evenflow20 said:

Highly doubt that! 

 

Donnarumma is definitely top 5 in the world. It's not controversial to say he's best. 

We certainly have the quality to do it week in week out, but I sometimes question the mental side of this group. They tend to put in a bad performance out of nowhere, especially when things are going well. If we can avoid those West Brom like performances and those lifeless 0-0 draws, then we will have a chance.

City and Liverpool really should still be rated favourites ahead of us because of their experience at competing for league titles.

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

Donnarumma is definitely top 5 in the world. It's not controversial to say he's best. 

Not 

I think Barry's point is our we perceived to be favourites on the outside to win the premier league and/Or Champions league.

I don't think we are the favourites to win either however certainly in the premier league we are viewed as probably being just behind Man City, given what they have done over the last few years and given that THEY are the current English Champions.

Champions league wise i think people view us as being able to beat absolutely anyone on our day and because WE are the current champions and given the demise of Barca, Real Madrid. Then i feel we again are probably seen as quite possibly 2nd favourites among a lot of people to Retain our title.

So yes for the first time in years thanks to some good transfer business, Franks faith in and development of Youth and bringing in a couch who has proven he had the experience that Frank probably did not have at the time to mould and bring it all together, We are now in a position we haven't in since Jose's second season of his second spell here.

I haven't been here for a while but i am sure we are all aware that our toughest test will be the breaking down and taking of chances that we faltered under last season so badly, even under tuchel. The early signs so far have been good, We do look to have an extra bounce in our step and the signing of Lukaku is without a doubt for the first time in a long long time, guaranteed goals. Havertz looks like he is so so much more settled in and you are really starting to see him influence things. those two players in particular could be the ones to look out for come the end of the season.

But Alas it is early and i have not forgot those struggles to break down the opposition, including in an FA final may i add. We are in a good place, lets ride the wave and see what happens    

7 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

We certainly have the quality to do it week in week out, but I sometimes question the mental side of this group. They tend to put in a bad performance out of nowhere, especially when things are going well. If we can avoid those West Brom like performances and those lifeless 0-0 draws, then we will have a chance.

City and Liverpool really should still be rated favourites ahead of us because of their experience at competing for league titles.

You need to get 95+ points this day to win pl, we need to see whether this team is ready for that kind of run in our first try. 

10 hours ago, Barry Bridges said:

Ya, that would be pretty poor logic.  Glad it wasn't mine.

So it isn't because we won two games. So is it because we won cl last year?? 

Hmm, were we the best team who beat the crap of everyone or were we a very good team who got good draw?

If you tell me that we got the same exact route to final as last season, then I completely agree with you we should one of the two favorite in cl because I will be very confident we can at least get to another final

 

Edited August 25, 20214 yr by Bob stark

I hope we stay as underdogs. Less pressure especially when we need to bed Lukaku in properly. 

That said, I have hope that we can challenge for the title this season

7 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

We certainly have the quality to do it week in week out, but I sometimes question the mental side of this group. They tend to put in a bad performance out of nowhere, especially when things are going well. If we can avoid those West Brom like performances and those lifeless 0-0 draws, then we will have a chance.

City and Liverpool really should still be rated favourites ahead of us because of their experience at competing for league titles.

This is my biggest worry, we have a tendency to drop off right when we're at the crest of a wave/peak momentum. 

Flashbacks to us vs City after Atleti in 16/17, vs Arsenal in the FA cup 19/20  and last year against Arsenal that started the Lampard sacking. 

3 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Hmm, were we the best team who beat the crap of everyone or were we a very good team who got good draw?

If you tell me that we got the same exact route to final as last season, then I completely agree with you we should one of the two favorite in cl because I will be very confident we can at least get to another final

 

We were the best team, our draw was harder in comparison to Man City.

5 hours ago, Deino said:

I hope we stay as underdogs. Less pressure especially when we need to bed Lukaku in properly. 

That said, I have hope that we can challenge for the title this season

i dont like being underdogs.. the team needs to expect and play with the arrogance of champions.. Some of the games are won in the dressing room and i think body language and mentality are underrated in football.. I would want our coach to say we are targeting to win the league we have spend 300 mil in two years surely we cant be embarassed if people say we need are one of the favorites.

1 hour ago, Jangz said:

i dont like being underdogs.. the team needs to expect and play with the arrogance of champions.. Some of the games are won in the dressing room and i think body language and mentality are underrated in football.. I would want our coach to say we are targeting to win the league we have spend 300 mil in two years surely we cant be embarassed if people say we need are one of the favorites.

This team has won 1 big trophy (2 if you count the Super Cup). The boost in confidence is good but the arrogance of champions should be saved until they have a couple more trophies under their belts. 

Our team needs to remain grounded for now, they're not there yet.

1 hour ago, Deino said:

This team has won 1 big trophy (2 if you count the Super Cup). The boost in confidence is good but the arrogance of champions should be saved until they have a couple more trophies under their belts. 

Our team needs to remain grounded for now, they're not there yet.

i would argue majority of the team have won Europa, and a league title too. For me sometimes we give opponents too much respect. I am not suggesting being over-confident but i am talking about the arrogance that you see in champion teams that comes from a belief in their own abilities.. This team has world cup winners/Euro winners/Finalists so i would rather have them start believing aswell a little more.

1 hour ago, Deino said:

This team has won 1 big trophy (2 if you count the Super Cup). The boost in confidence is good but the arrogance of champions should be saved until they have a couple more trophies under their belts. 

Our team needs to remain grounded for now, they're not there yet.

I think we can't hide the fact that we have a great squad full of talented players, we're not the underdogs anymore in any conversation. But like you say that must be controlled, we have many younger players that need to stay humble.

31 minutes ago, Jangz said:

i would argue majority of the team have won Europa, and a league title too. For me sometimes we give opponents too much respect. I am not suggesting being over-confident but i am talking about the arrogance that you see in champion teams that comes from a belief in their own abilities.. This team has world cup winners/Euro winners/Finalists so i would rather have them start believing aswell a little more.

I meant it as in winning trophies together collectively. This is still a relatively new spine that is still developing, even though we know we have multiple players who've won loads of trophies with different teams. 

It's not that I don't get it, I want a team like that too. The sort of team that knows they're going to win soon as they lineup next to each other. 

I think our lads have belief in their abilities but to have that kind of swagger, we need to, as a team together, win more trophies. The worst thing this team can have is thinking they're too good before they actually reach their peak. We want C. Ronaldos not Neymars and the line between the two is very fine.

17 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Donnarumma is definitely top 5 in the world. It's not controversial to say he's best. 

Number 1 imo, though I would not swap Mendy for him and Mendy totally fits in with the whole club ethos beautifully.

12 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Number 1 imo, though I would not swap Mendy for him and Mendy totally fits in with the whole club ethos beautifully.

Not better than Ter Stegen or Courtois

Not according to Betfair..... odds of winning CL pre-draw

 

PSG 11/4
Man City 7/2
Bayern Munich 7/1
Chelsea 17/2
Liverpool 17/2
Manchester United 14/1
Real Madrid 16/1
Juventus 20/1
Atletico Madrid 20/1
Barcelona 22/1
Dortmund 33/1
Atalanta 33/1
Inter Milan 40/1
AC Milan 50/1
Sevilla 50/1
RB Leipzig 66/1
Villarreal 80/1
Ajax 90/1
Lille 100/1
Sporting Lisbon, VfL Wolfsburg, Zenit St Petersburg, Porto, Benfica 150/1
Shakhtar Donetsk 200/1
Besiktas, Red Bull Salzburg, Dynamo Kiev, Club Brugge, Young Boys, Malmo 250/1
Sheriff Tiraspol 500/1

Odds by Betfair

On 24/08/2021 at 20:50, Bob stark said:

So it isn't because we won two games. So is it because we won cl last year?? 

Hmm, were we the best team who beat the crap of everyone or were we a very good team who got good draw?

If you tell me that we got the same exact route to final as last season, then I completely agree with you we should one of the two favorite in cl because I will be very confident we can at least get to another final

 

It's because under Tuchel we have been a rock.  Won the CL with assured performances, and got more PL points than anyone but Pep who had a better squad whom he'd worked with for what, 5 seasons already.  Tuchel now has a better squad (than last season's), and a full preseason in addition to half a season of bedding in his system with a new squad.  I expect even more, dont you?

 

Because when we normally have such a successful season we rarely if ever back it up by keeping the manager, bringing in the talents they want, and not selling players they really value....but we did this time.  Kept the manager, kept them happy, kept the players they wanted to keep, and brought in their top targets.

 

....or ya, because we beat Palace and Arsenal......whatever makes the most sense to you..... like Athletico Madrid, Porto, and Real Madrid were walk overs indicative of an easy draw, and the real tough road was playing Borussia Mochengladbach, Borussia Dortmund, and PSG.  Somehow.

 

We beat very good teams, and did so in a fashion that made the other teams look a lot more ordinary than they  really are.....if you don't want to give the lads credit for that, and want to pretend the CL was served to them on a silver platter....ok, i guess.  We're all entitled to our opinions.