Early thoughts on City and the Premier League

M M

Marvin

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Joined
9 Jan 2006
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46,683
I know it's ridiculously early to think about how the league is shaping up. In the old days the consensus was that the league didn't take shape until 10 games in but all the same the phoney war of the Summer has passed, the first battles have been fought and this is a talking shop. The transfer window closes today. Is there anything that has struck you about City, or our opponents in the first games or anything about the Summer window that is interesting?

City

Pre-season prep.

Once again City start a season under-cooked. Rather than start a pre-season camp and hit the ground running as Liverpool have done, City seem to have assembled as late as possible. I expected City to under-perform in the Community Shield and against Spurs, and I don't blame Pep for this at all. It appears careless and unprofessional but I believe rest is important, and City are right to start under-cooked. My one concern about City at the moment is the fitness of Foden and KDB. If KDB and Foden are out for any length of time this could be a disaster as I just don't see City scoring enough goals against serious opponents with the false 9.

City transfer window

The transfer window closes and I would say it's been a disappointment. Grealish is a good signing but he does not fundamentally alter City, in fact he slows our game down quite a lot. He takes the ball, and has too many touches before passing it off with the result that the defenders are back in possession. I think like Mahrez it will take time. Grealish has elbowed Sterling out of the side and this is when Foden is injured. Did we need to strengthen our left hand side?

I am disappointed that we did not buy a striker. I don't believe we ever made a serious attempt to sign Kane. He was just too expensive. I don't think we instigated the Ronaldo enquiry either. That was a smart move by his agent. I think having bought Grealish, we should have moved on from the Kane deal and considered a defensive midfielder. For me that is another fundamental weakness in our side. Fernandinho is old whilst Rodri is a very good footballer but lacking in mobility. I am not convinced he can close the midfield down when teams are counter-attacking us. Basically I don't think we have strengthened our two key weaknesses over the Summer: our lack of a striker and our weakness in defensive midfield. However, Dias is amazing. Does he need midfield cover? It's not a disaster.

Torres and Jesus

Torres finished last season strongly and has 2 in 3 games and could have had more, however City looked toothless against Spurs, and have played two sides with terribly weak defences. Jesus performance on the right has been very good. I think he has 3 assists from 2 starts. He has been our best player in the opening games and I think that's particularly impressive as he must have felt under pressure given that Aguero has left and City have been linked with strikers. It's almost as if City were telling the football world that Jesus was not good enough.

Other transfers

Lukaku to Chelsea was the most predictable transfer of the Summer. He really suits their game. They are going to be the side to beat. Possibly they may find it difficult to open the stronger sides up if they are very defensive. For example, I think Lukaku works best attacking the space in behind the back 4. If teams defend deep, they will play on Lukaku's weakness. This maybe Chelsea's weakness.

Sancho? Not a player I know well. He's always flattered to deceive. I can see he's very skilful but his start at Wolves was terrible. Man Utd are a complete disaster as a footballing operation. They needed a defensive midfielder even more than we did and instead they bought a right sided player and a centre forward who threaten to stop the progression of their best young player: Greenwood. Of course, how they do will depend on how prolific Ronaldo is. If he scored at the rate he did in Serie A then they will challenge for the title but they don't create many chances. For example, against Wolves, Wolves created far more chances.

Liverpool surprised me. They have an ageing squad but they have done nothing to renew their side. Their squad must collectively know that this is their final chance to win trophies before it gets broken up. Salah is world class but they seem very reliant on him. I don't think they have enough to challenge for the title.

CL draw.

Really tough for City. How tough depends on whether Mbappe goes to Real Madrid. It's an exciting draw though. Looking forward to playing PSG, and Leipzig who were runners-up in Germany. Utd have the easiest draw they could have hoped for. At least Liverpool have a tough group too.

Predictions

Champions: Chelsea
CL: Wide open unless Real Madrid buy Mbappe.
FA Cup: City
League Cup: City

I think City's season rests on the fitness of de bruyne. City need to have de Bruyne and Foden in the side to make the false 9 effective. I think well organised sides will be able to resist a City side minus KDB and Foden and they will be able to counter-attack us as Spurs did and get some success. I don't see Torres as an effective striker who can step in and take the boots of Aguero yet. Spurs was a test. Norwich and Arsenal were not.

I think City's decisive moment will come after the end of season break and we find out whether KDB needs an ankle operation or whether he can recover gradually.

I think City will need to be almost perfect to beat Chelsea to the title and we already have two chinks in our side: DM and striker. Last season we covered the striker by spreading goals throughout the side but that only works I think if you have special midfielders like KDB and Foden.

I think Grealish will turn out to be a mistake. Not because he is not a special player. I think he is. But he is going to unbalance the side a little as our left hand side featured Foden and Sterling. How do we maximise Grealish, Sterling and Foden? That £100m should have gone towards a striker or a defensive midfielder. On the other hand, if KDB is out for any length of time, then Grealish may be very useful. Grealish in 2-3 years could be a world class player but in terms of this season I don't think he was the signing we needed to make.

Premier League surprise package

None. Spurs wont last. West Ham too reliant on Antonio who always gets injured. Everton might do well if Calvert-Lewin stays fit but surely too much rests on his shoulders. I don't see anyone breaking up the usual suspects
 
firstly I think an international break at this point in the season is ridiculous
It needs to be later
We have waited all summer for the league to start and instantly stops
Re City we have Foden and KDB to come in our start has been decent
Chelsea look the team to beat and we will by right in the mix to do so
Two trophies again for me this year not sure which 2
I would prefer no striker than a make do Ings style one and think we will have to wait until next summer now
A cheeky left back would’ve been nice with this years money if a striker wasn’t an option Utd have been lucky so far and it will be interesting to see where Ronaldo fits in
 
Foden and Grealish can easily operate together,in fact both are creaming themselves at the prospect.....players with their talent do not get pigeon holed.
As for Sterling,the bench beckons or he can make a play for the 9 role - he isn't essential.

Get all our players fit and this could be a very exciting season.We still have the best squad in the league.
 
Pre-season
Football clubs never prepare their athletes for the season properly anymore. World tours, barely any games, playing on shit pitches, training is minimal… this year there was no tour, a similar number of games, but we played on good pitches. However, barely any players attended.

The football season should not kick off until the Bank Holiday weekend in August. And the Transfer Window should close before that weekend, by however many days before the first game that’s needed to register a player to play.

Transfer Window/Torres and Jesus (and Foden)
Strengthened our attacking options from last year with the addition of Grealish (who was arguably one of the top half dozen players in the league last season, behind 5 City players that is!). Torres and Foden will be a year older and will be better and Jesus now adding to our wing areas too, so no big clamour to add up top with any desperation. Our best front three is Foden-Torres-Jesus, easily the best young front 3 in Europe. With Grealish-Sterling-Mahrez as rotation.
These last couple of games feels like we’ve got a completely new three as a forward line, and we’ve still got our best two attacking players (de Bruyne and Foden) to come back into the side!
We could do with a specialist left back for me though. I think we’ve coasted in this area for too long, won trophies with makeshift stand-ins, but can be an even better team if we got that signing right.

Other Transfers
Lukaku is inconsistent and erratic. I think all this talk about him being the missing piece of the jigsaw for Chelsea is just an incorrect impressionable opinion that’s spread and people just say it to join in with the bandwagon of saying it. I’ll maintain that he’s not the answer for Chelsea. He was over hitting passes, losing possession and tripping over the ball at times at Anfield. Even with ten men there’s always a chance you can win a game and every attack seemed to break down when he got the ball.
CRonaldo will be big for United. Daft to say otherwise. However, they have needed to sign midfielders this Summer yet bought forwards and a defender, making them better but their midfield can be got at (Pogba doesn’t work hard enough for a team that wants to win the league, he was a barely trying in that first half against Wolves; and none of their defensive mids would even make our bench!). But they will be the main challengers again for me.
Liverpool also needed a midfielder, and haven’t got one yet. But they’ll be better than last season.
Overall, all our challengers will be better than last season, but no team has signed the exact players they needed to go and win the title for me.

CL Draw
I always like to have a tough group for various reasons.
1. Having an easier Group Stage has never had any bearing on how well we’ve done in the Knock-out Stages. We’ve still not won the competition even when we’ve had piss easy groups. I think that one area why we’ve struggled in big European games is because we’re not battle hardened enough in big European games. This clamour by fans for wanting easy rides on the way to success is one of the reasons we haven’t had success.
2. It doesn’t really matter if you finish first or second in the group because you can face good teams in the Ro16 as readily in first place as you can second.
3. There’s months and months until the Knock-out phase, and six group games that we put a lot of time effort and money towards attending, and I want some excitement and something to look forward to with some big games in the group. There’s nothing more boring in football than a shit CL Group Stage game. I look forward to and enjoy early round EFL Cup ties (like our upcoming one against Wycombe) more than I do shit Group Stage CL games.

Predictions
Hard to predict because injuries, and random occurrences and coincidences always happen. Even things like the coincidence of our run of games could be against teams who are in form making our season harder and our finishing points lower, whereas our title rivals could play the same teams at a different stage of the season when they’re out of form. That’s why an individual season can never be trusted and it’s a trend of multiple seasons that shows who the really good teams are.
But we have, in my opinion, by far the best squad in England. Arguably the best squad in Europe. So, depending on how our injuries go, we could win multiple trophies again… we’ll certainly challenge for them!

PL Surpise Package
Brentford, with no star players, will do well in the Prem and one of the domestic cups. Their manager will be a manager of a top club one day.

One thing I’m sick of hearing
…is that we’re playing with a False 9 or we are going into the season without a striker. We are not. Torres has played as a striker in all three games so far, we have not played with a False 9 in any game yet this season.

Here are the average positions taken up by each player on Saturday:

BFD87839-EC3D-46A1-8C49-3592E0EE8D11.png

City are not playing a False 9 this season when we play Torres up front, he is a striker, a Proper 9. I’d argue that it’s actually Jesus who’s playing as a False-right-forward-in-a-front-three than anything else. He’s been the one dropping deep more often to receive the ball, taking up more of Bernardo’s starting position at times with Bernardo dropping deeper as well. Torres has played up front.
(Jesus has been like a new signing so far, an incredible start to the season!)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Marvin, I do not think Pep wants a traditional striker so we were never in the running for Kane. The only way he would have come was if the fee was 80 Mill. That was never going to happen so we allowed the media free reign.
Grealish is an improvement on Sterling but with a fit Foden.... perhaps for once we bought an english star to raise our media profile.
I think pep has had the Jesus Torres combination in his head since late last season and I think in 10 games time it will be blowing everyone away.

Our main threat is Chelsea who look so solid and have bought well.
Liverpool and united will always be there but .... the rags scatter gun approach to buying players will hinder them and Liverpool have not really strengthened.

League: City
Champs League : Chelsea
League Cup: need you ask
Fa cup I refuse to even type who but they desperately need something to show for 100 Mill plus.
 
Marvin said:
I know it's ridiculously early to think about how the league is shaping up. In the old days the consensus was that the league didn't take shape until 10 games in but all the same the phoney war of the Summer has passed, the first battles have been fought and this is a talking shop. The transfer window closes today. Is there anything that has struck you about City, or our opponents in the first games or anything about the Summer window that is interesting?

City

Pre-season prep.

Once again City start a season under-cooked. Rather than start a pre-season camp and hit the ground running as Liverpool have done, City seem to have assembled as late as possible. I expected City to under-perform in the Community Shield and against Spurs, and I don't blame Pep for this at all. It appears careless and unprofessional but I believe rest is important, and City are right to start under-cooked. My one concern about City at the moment is the fitness of Foden and KDB. If KDB and Foden are out for any length of time this could be a disaster as I just don't see City scoring enough goals against serious opponents with the false 9.

City transfer window

The transfer window closes and I would say it's been a disappointment. Grealish is a good signing but he does not fundamentally alter City, in fact he slows our game down quite a lot. He takes the ball, and has too many touches before passing it off with the result that the defenders are back in possession. I think like Mahrez it will take time. Grealish has elbowed Sterling out of the side and this is when Foden is injured. Did we need to strengthen our left hand side?

I am disappointed that we did not buy a striker. I don't believe we ever made a serious attempt to sign Kane. He was just too expensive. I don't think we instigated the Ronaldo enquiry either. That was a smart move by his agent. I think having bought Grealish, we should have moved on from the Kane deal and considered a defensive midfielder. For me that is another fundamental weakness in our side. Fernandinho is old whilst Rodri is a very good footballer but lacking in mobility. I am not convinced he can close the midfield down when teams are counter-attacking us. Basically I don't think we have strengthened our two key weaknesses over the Summer: our lack of a striker and our weakness in defensive midfield. However, Dias is amazing. Does he need midfield cover? It's not a disaster.

Torres and Jesus

Torres finished last season strongly and has 2 in 3 games and could have had more, however City looked toothless against Spurs, and have played two sides with terribly weak defences. Jesus performance on the right has been very good. I think he has 3 assists from 2 starts. He has been our best player in the opening games and I think that's particularly impressive as he must have felt under pressure given that Aguero has left and City have been linked with strikers. It's almost as if City were telling the football world that Jesus was not good enough.

Other transfers

Lukaku to Chelsea was the most predictable transfer of the Summer. He really suits their game. They are going to be the side to beat. Possibly they may find it difficult to open the stronger sides up if they are very defensive. For example, I think Lukaku works best attacking the space in behind the back 4. If teams defend deep, they will play on Lukaku's weakness. This maybe Chelsea's weakness.

Sancho? Not a player I know well. He's always flattered to deceive. I can see he's very skilful but his start at Wolves was terrible. Man Utd are a complete disaster as a footballing operation. They needed a defensive midfielder even more than we did and instead they bought a right sided player and a centre forward who threaten to stop the progression of their best young player: Greenwood. Of course, how they do will depend on how prolific Ronaldo is. If he scored at the rate he did in Serie A then they will challenge for the title but they don't create many chances. For example, against Wolves, Wolves created far more chances.

Liverpool surprised me. They have an ageing squad but they have done nothing to renew their side. Their squad must collectively know that this is their final chance to win trophies before it gets broken up. Salah is world class but they seem very reliant on him. I don't think they have enough to challenge for the title.

CL draw.

Really tough for City. How tough depends on whether Mbappe goes to Real Madrid. It's an exciting draw though. Looking forward to playing PSG, and Leipzig who were runners-up in Germany. Utd have the easiest draw they could have hoped for. At least Liverpool have a tough group too.

Predictions

Champions: Chelsea
CL: Wide open unless Real Madrid buy Mbappe.
FA Cup: City
League Cup: City

I think City's season rests on the fitness of de bruyne. City need to have de Bruyne and Foden in the side to make the false 9 effective. I think well organised sides will be able to resist a City side minus KDB and Foden and they will be able to counter-attack us as Spurs did and get some success. I don't see Torres as an effective striker who can step in and take the boots of Aguero yet. Spurs was a test. Norwich and Arsenal were not.

I think City's decisive moment will come after the end of season break and we find out whether KDB needs an ankle operation or whether he can recover gradually.

I think City will need to be almost perfect to beat Chelsea to the title and we already have two chinks in our side: DM and striker. Last season we covered the striker by spreading goals throughout the side but that only works I think if you have special midfielders like KDB and Foden.

I think Grealish will turn out to be a mistake. Not because he is not a special player. I think he is. But he is going to unbalance the side a little as our left hand side featured Foden and Sterling. How do we maximise Grealish, Sterling and Foden? That £100m should have gone towards a striker or a defensive midfielder. On the other hand, if KDB is out for any length of time, then Grealish may be very useful. Grealish in 2-3 years could be a world class player but in terms of this season I don't think he was the signing we needed to make.

Premier League surprise package

None. Spurs wont last. West Ham too reliant on Antonio who always gets injured. Everton might do well if Calvert-Lewin stays fit but surely too much rests on his shoulders. I don't see anyone breaking up the usual suspects
Click to expand...
Good summary mate. Lots I agree with. Here are my key observations

In my own mind I wrote off the Spuds game, we were just too undercooked.

Gabby has been a revelation wide right and I am so pleased for him. I have been a big fan of his workload and attitude since he arrived and am delighted he is now getting the plaudits for his performance. I think he can take this forward against the better teams. Torres also looks the part. He is making very intelligent runs and indications are we are starting to see this better. The key will be how does he perform against the better organised defences?

I was disappointed not to get a striker but the more I think about it the more certain that it has to be the right one. I am pleased we didn’t get Kane, that never sat right with me particularly the figures that were being bandied about. Lukaku would not have fitted our style at all. There are so few to choose that would improve our squad maybe trusting the youngsters particularly Torres is the right answer this season and see where we are next summer when Haaland becomes available.

If we can keep Laporte, our defence is fine. I think Walker, Zinc and Cancelo covering right and left is perfectly fine. The defence does cover well for Rodri lack of speed although I would prefer that we have a as like for like replacement for Fern as we can. The young lad at Brighton looks a good bet.

Kevins injury does worry me as well more than Phil. I would rather he had surgery if that would negate future problems. Ankles are bloody tricky. I am pleased with how Grealish has settled in and think he does give us something different. Dribble + end product. His assist fo4 Gabby was very good. He keeps the ball very well and I think he will prove an enormous asset particularly if Kev has to take extended recovery period. Gundo and Bernie have started so well. They ooze class from every pore.

so I think we are in good shape, better than same time last season. Squad looks ‘at it’ particularly our ‘want always’.

as far as our competitors are concerned, very much as I expected. Tuchel and Kante are Chelsea’s key players. I watched Kante against the Dippers and he really is something else. Mobile, fast, strong in tackle and has a good pass too. Lukaku? I actually don’t think he will improve them that much. They are using him as a target too much rather than exploiting space for runners which is what they did successfully last year. Too early to say that will be a feature though.

United and Liverpool much as expected. United will continue to win ‘lucky’ . Liverpool better than last year but will fall short. Of the others, capable of beating anyone on their day but not consistently enough.

Refereeing has grasped the ‘let it flow’ guidance on a ‘who does it advantage‘ basis which is no surprise. Crowds make a difference for the home side.

The club needs to beef up it’s support for match going fans.........
 
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Chelsea are going to walk away with the league, which is fine. The cups are up for grabs for us, though, and we'll finish inside the top 4.
 
Anything can happen. How we enter the new year is obviously gthe best indicator. But I don't see any problems right now, signed grealish, foden kdb to come back (for me foden is a new signing this season - it's his year) Palmer/delap/etc to get more games. I also thibk/hope Jesus rises to the top, and Ferran. Lots to look fw to.
 
Pre season prep :

  • Under cooked is right, but it is what it is. We can't help it. All the footballing associations should pull their fingers out of their.......and work on better scheduling. International friendlies after 3 weeks of league is appalling really.

City Transfer Window :

  • If Pep only wanted Kane then obviously there is no point in going for an alternative. I honestly don't think there was any realistic option B out there. Lukaku is very good but his game just doesn't suit our style. Kane would drop deep and has the ability to open up defenses again and again. I rate Lukaku very highly but he just isn't the same. Apart from that you are struggling to find a prolific long term option in the market. Haaland's never happening.
  • Grealish is an amazing player. And I disagree that we didn't need him. He has been the best chance creator in the league for last two seasons after Kev. Considering Kev is now an injury prone 30 year old, this just gives us a massive cushion in that department. And he is just getting started.

Other transfers :

  • Lukaku to Chelsea is massive. They are now a complete team and the title favorites along with us, in my book.
  • Sancho is a meh signing I'm not gonna lie. He has the potential to be the best player on the pitch on his day but I don't think he has it in him to do it consistently.
  • Ronaldo improves United massively, but I still think they don't have a solid style of play that they can rely upon, they are a group of amazing match winners and are a certain top 4 team.
CL Draw :

  • I am beyond excited with the draw. Messi coming back to the Etihad and playing Leipzig for the first time that I can remember. It's going to be tough but I wouldn't have it any other way. Especially after witnessing our campaign last season. Big games get the best out of big players so I can't wait.

Predictions :

  • League - Chelsea
  • CL - PSG (I think Messi and Neymar is just too good of a duo, and if they keep Mbappe and manage to get him motivated it could get ugly for the rest)
  • FA Cup - City
  • League Cup - City

I'd be happy with a deep CL run and a cup double. I know it's going to be a tough pill to swallow for most but title defense is always very hard to do and our team has started with almost no pre season with our best player being injury prone.
 
Marvin said:
I know it's ridiculously early to think about how the league is shaping up. In the old days the consensus was that the league didn't take shape until 10 games in but all the same the phoney war of the Summer has passed, the first battles have been fought and this is a talking shop. The transfer window closes today. Is there anything that has struck you about City, or our opponents in the first games or anything about the Summer window that is interesting?

City

Pre-season prep.

Once again City start a season under-cooked. Rather than start a pre-season camp and hit the ground running as Liverpool have done, City seem to have assembled as late as possible. I expected City to under-perform in the Community Shield and against Spurs, and I don't blame Pep for this at all. It appears careless and unprofessional but I believe rest is important, and City are right to start under-cooked. My one concern about City at the moment is the fitness of Foden and KDB. If KDB and Foden are out for any length of time this could be a disaster as I just don't see City scoring enough goals against serious opponents with the false 9.

City transfer window

The transfer window closes and I would say it's been a disappointment. Grealish is a good signing but he does not fundamentally alter City, in fact he slows our game down quite a lot. He takes the ball, and has too many touches before passing it off with the result that the defenders are back in possession. I think like Mahrez it will take time. Grealish has elbowed Sterling out of the side and this is when Foden is injured. Did we need to strengthen our left hand side?

I am disappointed that we did not buy a striker. I don't believe we ever made a serious attempt to sign Kane. He was just too expensive. I don't think we instigated the Ronaldo enquiry either. That was a smart move by his agent. I think having bought Grealish, we should have moved on from the Kane deal and considered a defensive midfielder. For me that is another fundamental weakness in our side. Fernandinho is old whilst Rodri is a very good footballer but lacking in mobility. I am not convinced he can close the midfield down when teams are counter-attacking us. Basically I don't think we have strengthened our two key weaknesses over the Summer: our lack of a striker and our weakness in defensive midfield. However, Dias is amazing. Does he need midfield cover? It's not a disaster.

Torres and Jesus

Torres finished last season strongly and has 2 in 3 games and could have had more, however City looked toothless against Spurs, and have played two sides with terribly weak defences. Jesus performance on the right has been very good. I think he has 3 assists from 2 starts. He has been our best player in the opening games and I think that's particularly impressive as he must have felt under pressure given that Aguero has left and City have been linked with strikers. It's almost as if City were telling the football world that Jesus was not good enough.

Other transfers

Lukaku to Chelsea was the most predictable transfer of the Summer. He really suits their game. They are going to be the side to beat. Possibly they may find it difficult to open the stronger sides up if they are very defensive. For example, I think Lukaku works best attacking the space in behind the back 4. If teams defend deep, they will play on Lukaku's weakness. This maybe Chelsea's weakness.

Sancho? Not a player I know well. He's always flattered to deceive. I can see he's very skilful but his start at Wolves was terrible. Man Utd are a complete disaster as a footballing operation. They needed a defensive midfielder even more than we did and instead they bought a right sided player and a centre forward who threaten to stop the progression of their best young player: Greenwood. Of course, how they do will depend on how prolific Ronaldo is. If he scored at the rate he did in Serie A then they will challenge for the title but they don't create many chances. For example, against Wolves, Wolves created far more chances.

Liverpool surprised me. They have an ageing squad but they have done nothing to renew their side. Their squad must collectively know that this is their final chance to win trophies before it gets broken up. Salah is world class but they seem very reliant on him. I don't think they have enough to challenge for the title.

CL draw.

Really tough for City. How tough depends on whether Mbappe goes to Real Madrid. It's an exciting draw though. Looking forward to playing PSG, and Leipzig who were runners-up in Germany. Utd have the easiest draw they could have hoped for. At least Liverpool have a tough group too.

Predictions

Champions: Chelsea
CL: Wide open unless Real Madrid buy Mbappe.
FA Cup: City
League Cup: City

I think City's season rests on the fitness of de bruyne. City need to have de Bruyne and Foden in the side to make the false 9 effective. I think well organised sides will be able to resist a City side minus KDB and Foden and they will be able to counter-attack us as Spurs did and get some success. I don't see Torres as an effective striker who can step in and take the boots of Aguero yet. Spurs was a test. Norwich and Arsenal were not.

I think City's decisive moment will come after the end of season break and we find out whether KDB needs an ankle operation or whether he can recover gradually.

I think City will need to be almost perfect to beat Chelsea to the title and we already have two chinks in our side: DM and striker. Last season we covered the striker by spreading goals throughout the side but that only works I think if you have special midfielders like KDB and Foden.

I think Grealish will turn out to be a mistake. Not because he is not a special player. I think he is. But he is going to unbalance the side a little as our left hand side featured Foden and Sterling. How do we maximise Grealish, Sterling and Foden? That £100m should have gone towards a striker or a defensive midfielder. On the other hand, if KDB is out for any length of time, then Grealish may be very useful. Grealish in 2-3 years could be a world class player but in terms of this season I don't think he was the signing we needed to make.

Premier League surprise package

None. Spurs wont last. West Ham too reliant on Antonio who always gets injured. Everton might do well if Calvert-Lewin stays fit but surely too much rests on his shoulders. I don't see anyone breaking up the usual suspects
Click to expand...
Some very good points Marvin.

Already we see the title is between 3 teams Us , Liverpool and Chelsea but I also don't think the rags will be far off and may well take points against all the top sides.

Good point about Grealish, at this time he does slow us down, reminds me very much of Mahrez when he first arrived. Pep will get hold of him and I am sure we will see a very good player, a 100m player? not sure myself.
 
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