The Title Race 2022/23

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alexmcity said:
We are averaging 89-90 pts under Pep and are on course to 89 pts. I think we improved the squad from last season (it may be our best squad ever, the 18/19 squad was great but Ferna was 34, Kompany 33, David 32, Sergio 31...I'd rather have Rodri, Dias, Haaland, Alvarez, Grealish, Foden and Cancelo than their counterparts from 18/19, but time will tell, might be wrong here).

In a normal season we were likely to get above 90 pts. But the season will be more difficult than a normal one. So, we are not likely to get over 93 pts, but are not likely to drop below 86 pts either, imo, injuries permitting.

It's all about probabilities, nothing is set in stone.
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Our defence is not clicking atm and we need to get it sorted as we will continue to drop more points .
 
Paul1970 said:
Our defence is not clicking atm and we need to get it sorted as we will continue to drop more points .
Click to expand...

Virtually all defenders finished last season injured. Laporte is still injured. We'll click at some point and will have many clean sheets, provided we need them...Think we've conceded fewer chances than any PL team in spite of the form of the defensive players and Rodri. And we are likely to improve at some point.
 
The defence is only a problem when the forwards don’t keep the ball and we get turned over leaving the back line and goalkeeper exposed to 1 v 1 situations where the attacker knows they must take the 1 chance and many do just that.

Defend from the front is pep’s Moto. The lack of clinical finishes exposed a few issues with game management. Bernie went off for Mahrez instead of Alvarez. The press suffered.Foden played like he was told by pep which is the same as Jack on the left but he did not perform to a decent level. His form is not good atm.

The midfield was overrun, the boss should of moved Phil or Bernie in to help Rodri. Over the years when Gundo is in the middle we leave Rodri badly exposed and again same issue. I would love to know why pep did not make the necessary adjustments. He has a habit of playing players but sacrificing the system.

Lot of small issues yesterday as a result of pep’s decisions. The players not taking their chances highlighted the flaws in decision making from the boss right down to the players.

The defence is the same as last season but the team as a whole is not keeping and recycling the ball as efficient as we can. We have work to do. Haaland will keep scoring but the rest need to get up to speed quickly.

While our passing is not at the high levels set I would rather sacrifice a Gundo/Kev player in the middle and start games with Foden and Bernie in midfield. Bring them on if we can’t score. Outfought by a desperate team yesterday. Running and scrapping is essential in these games. Fine margin, we take our chances and it would not have been noticed.
 
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alexmcity said:
We are averaging 89-90 pts under Pep and are on course to 89 pts. I think we improved the squad from last season (it may be our best squad ever, the 18/19 squad was great but Ferna finished the season 34, Kompany 33, David 33, Sergio 31...I'd rather have Rodri, Dias, Haaland, Alvarez, Grealish, Foden and Cancelo than their counterparts from 18/19, but time will tell, might be wrong here: the 18/19 squad won the domestic quadruple!!).

In a normal season, we were likely to get above 90 pts. But the season will be more difficult than a normal one. So, we are not likely to get over 93 pts, but are not likely to drop below 86 pts either, imo, injuries permitting.

It's all about probabilities, nothing is set in stone.
Click to expand...
Also imagine a scenario where say KDB gets unfairly sent off in the final v Brazil...(meeja pressure for Brazil to win) suffers depression.. not unfathomable..Foden misses a sitter in quarters becomes English scape goat goes into his shell... terrible injury group stage to one our key CH's ..all could happen to any team but we have more key players = more chance. Unlucky, yes but WC could be a disaster or could be great for us. Who knows?
 
wolviedinho said:
The defence is only a problem when the forwards don’t keep the ball and we get turned over leaving the back line and goalkeeper exposed to 1 v 1 situations where the attacker knows they must take the 1 chance and many do just that.

Defend from the front is pep’s Moto. The lack of clinical finishes exposed a few issues with game management. Bernie went off for Mahrez instead of Alvarez. The press suffered.Foden played like he was told by pep which is the same as Jack on the left but he did not perform to a decent level. His form is not good atm.

The midfield was overrun, the boss should of moved Phil or Bernie in to help Rodri. Over the years when Gundo is in the middle we leave Rodri badly exposed and again same issue. I would love to know why pep did not make the necessary adjustments. He has a habit of playing players but sacrificing the system.

Lot of small issues yesterday as a result of pep’s decisions. The players not taking their chances highlighted the flaws in decision making from the boss right down to the players.

The defence is the same as last season but the team as a whole is not keeping and recycling the ball as efficient as we can. We have work to do. Haaland will keep scoring but the rest need to get up to speed quickly.
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I think Villa CM over achieved and surprised us. We underestimated them as their CM has been poor early games. So..we risked Gundo from the off.. he and Rodri quite rightly got done
 
wolviedinho said:
The defence is only a problem when the forwards don’t keep the ball and we get turned over leaving the back line and goalkeeper exposed to 1 v 1 situations where the attacker knows they must take the 1 chance and many do just that.

Defend from the front is pep’s Moto. The lack of clinical finishes exposed a few issues with game management. Bernie went off for Mahrez instead of Alvarez. The press suffered.Foden played like he was told by pep which is the same as Jack on the left but he did not perform to a decent level. His form is not good atm.

The midfield was overrun, the boss should of moved Phil or Bernie in to help Rodri. Over the years when Gundo is in the middle we leave Rodri badly exposed and again same issue. I would love to know why pep did not make the necessary adjustments. He has a habit of playing players but sacrificing the system.

Lot of small issues yesterday as a result of pep’s decisions. The players not taking their chances highlighted the flaws in decision making from the boss right down to the players.

The defence is the same as last season but the team as a whole is not keeping and recycling the ball as efficient as we can. We have work to do. Haaland will keep scoring but the rest need to get up to speed quickly.
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Walker free strije at goal .. so much time.. really would have changed eveything if we scored then.
 
Tolmie scores said:
I think Villa CM over achieved and surprised us. We underestimated them as their CM has been poor early games. So..we risked Gundo from the off.. he and Rodri quite rightly got done
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Yep.

The midfield should have been changed to incorporate the runners and fighters. It was bypassed all game.
 
wolviedinho said:
Yep.

The midfield should have been changed to incorporate the runners and fighters. It was bypassed all game.
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Wgen we all saw it happenig say after 20 mins def needed changing. Villa werent good enough to expose the tactical advantage really.
 
Tolmie scores said:
Also imagine a scenario where say KDB gets unfairly sent off in the final v Brazil...(meeja pressure for Brazil to win) suffers depression.. not unfathomable..Foden misses a sitter in quarters becomes English scape goat goes into his shell... terrible injury group stage to one our key CH's ..all could happen to any team but we have more key players = more chance. Unlucky, yes but WC could be a disaster or could be great for us. Who knows?
Click to expand...

It's possible, football is a funny old game. But such a scenario is not probable. Why think about bad scenarios? Even if one of them happens, shit happens, we move on.
 
alexmcity said:
It's possible, football is a funny old game. But such a scenario is not probable. Why think about bad scenarios? Even if one of them happens, shit happens, we move on.
Click to expand...
Because scenarios are part of planning and managing expectations..all this talk of..we are in line for x amount of points etc. Tbis season no targets, just game by game will be a better way forward
 
This is true every season, but especially true this season: any team that can put a run of 10 back to back games will almost certainly win the league. Spurs, Arsenal and United all look better this season, Liverpool a bit under cooked (but wouldn't surprise me if they bounce back) and Chelsea about par (but really hard to tell). Leicester and West Ham, teams I'd over the past year or two consider in and around the Europa places, look off it as well. So 10 back to back looks tricky without being impossible. I think we'll know where we are at on Saturday.
 
With the current congested schedule for this year I believe all teams will drop points. I don't see us or any team getting 85+ points. I think we are looking at the low 80s to win the league
 
We could get to Boxing Day when the Prem starts up again and have half a squad for the Christmas period for all we know. This cunting World Cup is a pain in the arse, not looking forward to it or it’s aftermath one bit.

I did vote for 90-94 at the start of the season but as the WC gets closer it starts to feel bigger in terms of impact it’s going to have.

Maybe it’ll be a points total like the Covid season when we won it with 86 points?
 
We’re a point better off than the corresponding fixtures last season (minus four from Newcastle and Villa away, plus five from Palace home and Hammers away)
We will remain so even if we once again contrive to defeat ourselves v Spurs on Saturday. Any positive result makes us 2-4pts better off
 
Our Formation after the WC:

Rico Haaland Haaland Wilson
Haaland
Haaland Haaland Haaland
Mahrez Haaland Palmer
 
Looks like we'll be in battle with a new challenger this season, probably Spurs or Arsenal.

Most likely nobody will be that close to us.
 
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