5 hours ago, jack_super_class said:

We have a great chance of winning the league, im surprised some think we aren't ready, we are!. Keeping Lukaku fit is vital though, without Lukaku we will have games like Burnley more often. Liverpool aren't as strong as before although still strong, City dont have a striker and i think they will have blanks in a few more games this season, already had that problem VS Spurs, Southampton and Palace.

People on here are making out like we are tenth highest scorers in the league, we are the second highest scorers in the league with the best defence. We have the squad, the manager and a proven striker in his prime to get us the goals. Next season will be even harder if Utd get a new manager and City buy a striker.

Before anyone says about Lukaku not scoring for 7 games, the service he had in those games was terrible. Alot of those games we were playing 532 with is a bit defensive and lacks creativity. Reece James wasn't playing in some of those games also and he's a huge creative outlet for us. Lukaku showed how efficient he could be VS Villa at home, give him the service he will score the goals for us.

We can't keep blaming service as an excuse for Lukaku when without him we create chances at will. You mention the Villa game well yeah it's all well and good when he takes his chances but when he doesn't (Juventus for example) we look very static with him as focal point.

It's on him to become more involved in the build up and off the ball press (which is my biggest gripe with him), if he can't do it from a technical/combination point of view then he should do it with his movement and stretch defenses like Timo does. In this team everyone's a scorer (we're Ruben, Ross and Saul scoring away from that being a literal statement), we ain't built to gear ourselves up for a vocal point so Rom has to be part of "the service" aswell.

The lack of clinical finishing concerns me which is why I think we will finish 3rd.

Lukaku may finish better yet more attacking moves will likely fail under him due to his other limitations in reading the game and technical weaknesses.

Enjoying leading the league while it lasts.

 

The next stretch of games is where we need to really take the majority of points -- the three games at the start of the New Year will be brutal (Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham). But, it would nice for them to be meaningful. If we can get our finishing right -- and, with a healthy Mount, Pulisic, and Werner playing of Lukaku, I think there is shot for this to happen. In particular, I really want to see Puli/CHO and Mount play at the same time with Lukaku (they have yet to do so), as they seem to play well with a target striker rather than a false 9.  We could be firing for those 3 games -- and the defense is going to be stout. I am cautiously optimistic. 

Unfortunately, I don't see us being top at Xmas. After the international break we have Leicester away. Then we have Man Utd. If It's get their act together and bring in a new coach before then, it will be difficult. Then we have West Ham away beginning of December. 

2 hours ago, enigma said:

Unfortunately, I don't see us being top at Xmas. After the international break we have Leicester away. Then we have Man Utd. If It's get their act together and bring in a new coach before then, it will be difficult. Then we have West Ham away beginning of December. 

Yeah I can see us getting 4 points from the next 4 league games. Having Juve and a trip to Zenit won't help us with the league games either.

6 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Yeah I can see us getting 4 points from the next 4 league games. Having Juve and a trip to Zenit won't help us with the league games either.

1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

On 26/09/2021 at 11:18, axman2526 said:

When the fixtures came out a few said it was our hardest start to the league in a long time, possibly ever.

While it is disappointing that run of 6 ended in a loss, how many of us would have been happy before a ball was kicked with 13 points out of 18, level with United and City, 1 point off table topping Liverpool?

Hand on heart I would have been.

So 2 title contenders, 3 London Derbies and a home game against the only side to beat us under TT away all in the book. Who's is next in the league?

 

Saints (H)

Brentford (A)

Norwich (H)

Newcastle (A)

Burnley (H)

Leicester (A)

 

If we are serious about the title then that is a run of 6 games where, IF we turn up with the right attitude and desire to win the title, we really do need to claim all 18 points from. Hard working sides, some good individual quality in them too. No excuses though. If we want the title badly enough, if the players really want it, they will find a way to win these games as that is what Champions do. And we are champions of Europe, one bad game does not change that.

 

Next game after that is United at home, let's take some momentum in to it, hope Taylor is not the ref and smash them.

 

Come on Chelsea!

 

Damn Burnley.

On 07/11/2021 at 09:54, axman2526 said:

How I am feeling about results for these games ahead:

Leicester (A) - Loss

United (H) - Draw

Watford (A) - Win

West Ham (A) - Loss

Leeds (H) - win

Everton (H) - Draw

Wolves (A) - loss

Villa (A) - win

Brighton (H) - draw

Liverpool (H) - loss

City (A) - loss

Spurs (H) - draw

Wow aside from being bang wrong on Leicester all the rest have been spot on so far... wierd.

I did make this before Villa chopped Smith so I now expect that Villa game to be a Loss but let's see if the trend continues...I hope not, aside from my first Villa prediction that is.

Edited December 17, 20214 yr by axman2526

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Wow aside from being bang wrong on Leicester all the rest have been spot on so far... wierd.

I did make this before Villa chopped Smith so I now expect that Villa game to be a Loss but let's see if the trend continues...I hope not, aside from my first Villa prediction that is.

Wow! You were eerily close in your predictions. I hope you are wrong about the fixtures ahead or the current form will look like a breath of fresh air.

49 minutes ago, forbzy said:

Wow! You were eerily close in your predictions. I hope you are wrong about the fixtures ahead or the current form will look like a breath of fresh air.

Yeah normally never happened.

And absolutley I need to be dead wrong on TT will be under a lot of pressure.

We were outsiders for the title before the season started.

And then we looked great for a long while but injuries have really crippled us. Not only because we've missed the injured players but it's also exhausted the fit ones to the extreme. Not least Jorginho who's been playing through pain for a long time already.

Kante – Missed most of the season, only started six games in the Premier League.
Kovacic – Missed the last two months of football, only played 8 times in the league.

Chilwell – Long term injury, only featured six times in the league.
Lukaku – Long term injury/Covid, only started seven games in the league.

Pulisic – Missed August, September and October.

So that's four starters that's been injured long-term and a impact sub/potential starter who was also out for a long time.

It's a good achievement to be third as it stands in my opinion. With a significant gap to 4th and only four points behind the leaders.
The gap to the leader is going to widen significantly over Christmas i'm afraid. We are heading into Wolves with no match-fit midfielders so what can you even do? We will likely lose that game which will then extinguish any hopes of the Premier League title.

 

We'll be lucky to end 3rd right now

It is quite clear that at the moment the way the team looks like (both performance and injury wise) to reach top four looks our top target for this season. City is by far the best team in the league and Pool succeeds to always make some late lucky goals or get referees' decissions not to drop many points either.

The amount of injuries we are picking up is something I have never seen before. We seem to pick up a fresh injury after every game. I remember Lampard's first season being a bit annoying for injuries, but this season has been awful. They aren't just slight niggles that need a few days to recover, they are injuries that last weeks or months. 

2 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

The amount of injuries we are picking up is something I have never seen before. We seem to pick up a fresh injury after every game. I remember Lampard's first season being a bit annoying for injuries, but this season has been awful. They aren't just slight niggles that need a few days to recover, they are injuries that last weeks or months. 

Agreed.

It's actually surprising to me that some seem to be so shocked about our recent downturn of results lately.

Kante, Kovacic, Chilwell, Lukaku out for most of the season. Jorginho playing through pain and fatigue so perhaps at 60% of his capacity.

To compare to previous great teams i'd say that would be like missing Lampard. Ballack or Essien, Ashley Cole and Drogba from our great teams 10-15 years ago. And Maka playing at 60% of his capacity. Would be suffer? You bet we would so I don't know why everyone seem to be surprised.

 

 

 

9 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Agreed.

It's actually surprising to me that some seem to be so shocked about our recent downturn of results lately.

Kante, Kovacic, Chilwell, Lukaku out for most of the season. Jorginho playing through pain and fatigue so perhaps at 60% of his capacity.

To compare to previous great teams i'd say that would be like missing Lampard. Ballack or Essien, Ashley Cole and Drogba from our great teams 10-15 years ago. And Maka playing at 60% of his capacity. Would be suffer? You bet we would so I don't know why everyone seem to be surprised.

 

 

 

I take the general point about the impact of missing so many key players at the same time. All I would say is that, with the exception of Kante, none of the rest are remotely in the same league as those you've listed. But yes it's daft to expect us to be firing on all cylinders with them missing. That said our replacement options have been playing teams also missing key players and come up short.

Unless City are either hard hit by covid and are made to play the rest of us while we are strong they are off over the horizon with Liverpool holding on to their tales best they can.

Edited December 20, 20214 yr by axman2526

7 hours ago, loz said:

I take the general point about the impact of missing so many key players at the same time. All I would say is that, with the exception of Kante, none of the rest are remotely in the same league as those you've listed. But yes it's daft to expect us to be firing on all cylinders with them missing. That said our replacement options have been playing teams also missing key players and come up short.

I think in our case it is not just missing key players. We have just about managed without various key players at various times over the course of this season. However we spent several weeks losing all 3 of our midfield core at the same time. We have backups who have done OK when they are filling in for a player in midfield. But if you replace all 3 at once it does not end well. Great examples are that RLC looked pretty good initially with Kante and Jorginho behind him. Less impressive when he had to make do with Saul or Reece next to him. Even Saul looked markedly better with Kante alongside him today. Of the midfield 3 Kante is our most important, but I think losing him would have been less disastrous had we still had both Jorginho (fit) and Kovacic.