2023/24 Season

[frank the tank]

Interesting points you make about the front 3 but when we were in our epic prime with that trio all brilliant, we also had a midfield that scored a goal every full moon. Hopefully over this season we should have a fair few goals from midfield too.

It will be really interesting to see how we do adjust when Mo is gone to Afcon. Will Szoboaslai move there, or maybe a Gakpo through the middle with Nunez onnthe left and Diaz moved to the right??? Or maybe Elliott gets a go on the right

[frank the tank]

I cant see us signing anyone in jan though - unless those Andre rumours of a pre deal arrangement being true. I doubt they are though because it would have been announced by now

[Irishnev]

City are way off it at the moment, as others have said they can flick a switch and go on a winning streak but right now there is a big window of opportunity. I hope the club pushed the boat out in Jan and strengthens because there is a league there to be won. We need a centre back and it’s not Nat Phillips! I still think we need a DM but a centre back is an absolute must

[Doc_Piptorious]

City are way off it at the moment, as others have said they can flick a switch and go on a winning streak but right now there is a big window of opportunity. I hope the club pushed the boat out in Jan and strengthens because there is a league there to be won. We need a centre back and it’s not Nat Phillips! I still think we need a DM but a centre back is an absolute must

Though if I had control of the purse strings I would see City's iffy form (by their standards, for any other club they are close to title chasing form) as a very good reason to bring forward a few reinforcement ideas.

Would love to see us go for a CB, a DM and an adapatable young right sided attacker that was both quick and creative.

Never going to happen of course, but strengthening when the current powerhouse is showing weakness might be a more important trait to cultivate than the oft said strengthen when you are on top.

[Exiled_red]

Given that we bid £110m for Caicedo and since then we have 'only' spent £34m on Gravenberch and £16m on Endo we should in principle have about £60m in the kitty so we should be able to bring one big player in. It was rumoured we were told to come back for Andre in January, hopefully we have a deal wrapped up there ready to announce in a week or so. (Around Christmas has seemed to be when we have announced early January deals before), but I can't help but feel if we had agreed a deal for him it would have leaked out by now and there doesn't seem to be anything on that, but we definately need to be bringing someone in in that role.

The best way to improve is to strengthen when you are on top, we are in a good position at the moment and making sure we have what we need is the best way to ensure we come through and achieve what we want, if we have the money we really need to be improving the squad to allow us to push on for the rest of the season. Also given we should probably have been signing a CB next summer anyway with Matip's injury surely bringing that forward should be a priority too if the right player is available.

[Irishnev]

Given that we bid £110m for Caicedo and since then we have 'only' spent £34m on Gravenberch and £16m on Endo we should in principle have about £60m in the kitty so we should be able to bring one big player in. It was rumoured we were told to come back for Andre in January, hopefully we have a deal wrapped up there ready to announce in a week or so. (Around Christmas has seemed to be when we have announced early January deals before), but I can't help but feel if we had agreed a deal for him it would have leaked out by now and there doesn't seem to be anything on that, but we definately need to be bringing someone in in that role.

The best way to improve is to strengthen when you are on top, we are in a good position at the moment and making sure we have what we need is the best way to ensure we come through and achieve what we want, if we have the money we really need to be improving the squad to allow us to push on for the rest of the season. Also given we should probably have been signing a CB next summer anyway with Matip's injury surely bringing that forward should be a priority too if the right player is available.

Andre seems done to Fulham to replace Paulinha

[Charly]

Yeah, big mistake not getting a DM. Hamman, Mascherano, Fabinho. We have always been ****e without one, and successful with.

I feel like we can challange for the title, but it will be with one hand tied.

[dom9]

We're top of the league.

Scored in every game.

Won every match at home so far.

Played City and Spurs away already. And were pretty much robbed in the latter.

Showed incredible mental resilience.

If that doesn't count as challenging after 16 games then I don't what does.



Enjoy it.

[RedReet]

Yeah, big mistake not getting a DM. Hamman, Mascherano, Fabinho. We have always been ****e without one, and successful with.

I feel like we can challange for the title, but it will be with one hand tied.

Didi wasn't signed as a DM and Mascherano didn't win anything despite playing in an outstanding team. Arguably, if Masch was a more all rounder like Xabi (or MacAllister ) maybe we'd have turned more draws into wins.

Probably not, it's all hypothetical, just like arguing the only way we'll win anything this year is to buy a specialist DM.

[Exiled_red]

Where do we go from here? Next couple of months is massive, we play Arsenal twice in the PL by early Feb, also have Chelsea and Newcastle, plus both League and FA Cup ties. Salah will be away for a month, our forwards are not in form in front of goal and our overall performances haven't been good for sometime, what do we need to spark ourselves into some form performance wise?

[Buzzo]

It was a poor performance, but, **** me, there are some hot takes on here.we aren’t going to beat them 7 nil every season - it’s a derby they got what they came for that’s the frustration.

1 point off top. First dropped points at home all season. Best GD in the League and only a few goals off top scorers.

It was always going to be tough today, after last season. They had a lot on the line today. And I’m always fearful when the expectations we will roll a team over. Big games are coming thick and fast.

We are a work in progress, but we are challenging, so o think that’s progress. We are 9 points up on where we were this time last season. League title wise it looks like it could be more of a scrap.

All I am reading is question marks against pretty much every single player bar maybe Allison and VVD, yet we’ve still only lost one game.

*tin hat*

Edit - not aimed at you ER

[Exiled_red]

It was a poor performance, but, **** me, there are some hot takes on here.we aren’t going to beat them 7 nil every season - it’s a derby they got what they came for that’s the frustration.

1 point off top. First dropped points at home all season. Best GD in the League and only a few goals off top scorers.

It was always going to be tough today, after last season. They had a lot on the line today. And I’m always fearful when the expectations we will roll a team over. Big games are coming thick and fast.

We are a work in progress, but we are challenging, so o think that’s progress. We are 9 points up on where we were this time last season. League title wise it looks like it could be more of a scrap.

All I am reading is question marks against pretty much every single player bar maybe Allison and VVD, yet we’ve still only lost one game.

*tin hat*

Edit - not aimed at you ER

That's all true and at the start of the season I would have been happy with top 4, the way we have started in terms of points has been fantastic and has put us in a position where we can talk about title race. City don't look as good as they have and I think the big fear here isn't that we lose out on a title to City but that they have an off year and we lose out to Arsenal.

I posted a while ago that I was happy with us getting results when we didn't play well, Mark of a good team and all that, but my fear was if you are consistently playing badly that will catch up with you sooner or later, and that has been the case with us. If anything our performances have got worse as the season as gone on, you would hope that things would improve as the new players bed in -I know that progress isn't linear but our form over the last few weeks has been concerning (not just today). I think today we got what we deserved and I think a few times recently we have probably got more than we deserved.

Alot of players are off form at the moment, and I really feel we need at least some of them to turn things around. For me the next couple of months are season defining domestically, we have games home and away against Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle as well as some tricky mid table games and knock out matches in both cups, with Salah away for a large part of it. We are really needing people to step up and be counted, the players are capable of it but they aren't really showing it at the moment. We are in a strong position, but we really need to be looking at strengthening in January. I still think a top DM makes a massive difference to this side and allows us to mount a serious challenge, we have shown so far this season that we can get the results with the players we have but I still feel we need something else in there to allow us to build on a strong start to the season

[Buzzo]

That's all true and at the start of the season I would have been happy with top 4, the way we have started in terms of points has been fantastic and has put us in a position where we can talk about title race. City don't look as good as they have and I think the big fear here isn't that we lose out on a title to City but that they have an off year and we lose out to Arsenal.

I posted a while ago that I was happy with us getting results when we didn't play well, Mark of a good team and all that, but my fear was if you are consistently playing badly that will catch up with you sooner or later, and that has been the case with us. If anything our performances have got worse as the season as gone on, you would hope that things would improve as the new players bed in -I know that progress isn't linear but our form over the last few weeks has been concerning (not just today). I think today we got what we deserved and I think a few times recently we have probably got more than we deserved.

Alot of players are off form at the moment, and I really feel we need at least some of them to turn things around. For me the next couple of months are season defining domestically, we have games home and away against Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle as well as some tricky mid table games and knock out matches in both cups, with Salah away for a large part of it. We are really needing people to step up and be counted, the players are capable of it but they aren't really showing it at the moment. We are in a strong position, but we really need to be looking at strengthening in January. I still think a top DM makes a massive difference to this side and allows us to mount a serious challenge, we have shown so far this season that we can get the results with the players we have but I still feel we need something else in there to allow us to build on a strong start to the season

I’m not sure if a lot of players are off form is true, they aren’t in top form but just sort of average in many cases. We could also do with getting the likes of Thiago, Jota and Robbo back soon just to have that top quality back in the squad.

Massive game next week for both teams. Also, if it’s a draw and Villa win they will be top at Xmas!

[Doc_Piptorious]

It was a poor performance, but, **** me, there are some hot takes on here.we aren’t going to beat them 7 nil every season - it’s a derby they got what they came for that’s the frustration.

1 point off top. First dropped points at home all season. Best GD in the League and only a few goals off top scorers.

It was always going to be tough today, after last season. They had a lot on the line today. And I’m always fearful when the expectations we will roll a team over. Big games are coming thick and fast.

We are a work in progress, but we are challenging, so o think that’s progress. We are 9 points up on where we were this time last season. League title wise it looks like it could be more of a scrap.

All I am reading is question marks against pretty much every single player bar maybe Allison and VVD, yet we’ve still only lost one game.

*tin hat*

Edit - not aimed at you ER

Bad day at the office in a season that has been pretty good result wise to date.


Take it on the chin and move forward again.

[Craig_H]

Too many players who aren’t making any positive impact, especially those who we rely on, in the final third.

Diaz, Nunez, Gakpo all nowhere near delivering.

We’re getting too similar to the old days where, if Gerrard doesn’t step up with a decisive goal, we don’t win.

For Gerrard then, now read Salah