August done: Early season thoughts

Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Can't agree. If Chelsea isn't competition, then who is? We blew them away, simply. And Everton away is not to be underestimated. We "managed" them, and that game, in a way that I've rarely seen from us. The rags are poor, not frightened there (nothing up front, just another player who's past his sell-by date, masses of players in midfield, still suspect at the back), Liverpool not even worth talking about. That leaves Arsenal, who have underwhelmed, to put it mildly. Who therefore is going to push us? Chelsea will come back, certain of that. Once again, it'll be between us and them. And for the minute, we're eight points ahead. I'll settle for that for the time being.

The CL is a different matter. But I think the signal sent out by this monstrously good transfer window is the expectation that we get to quarter-final stage, or even semi-final, this year. The owners will settle for nothing less. To give ourselves a serious chance of doing that, we've got to win the group. It's doable. The proof of the pudding will be that first game against Juve. It's a very good thing that it's first up, in my opinion. Seconds out of the ring, let's see what they — and we — are made of. With every year that goes by we are accumulating more and more experience. We sometimes looked a bit overawed in the first two years. I want to see no more of that.
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Chelsea have been awful in all their matches so far, relative to their potential. They should be the competition but the reality is Mourinho's team selection was wrong, we steam-rollered their midfield, Terry and Ivanovic look cumbersome, Costa is ineffecive against our centre-backs, and Hazard is out of form. We played fantastically well to capitalise, but it is nowhere near the Chelsea of last season, proven by how bad they have been in their other games as well.

This month will be a far sterner test, 4 away games (3 in 8 days) and 6 games in 19 days. We'll have to start rotating the squad more, overcome tiredness/travel fatigue etc. It's going to be harder.
 
bigbluekev said:
For some reason over previous season's I'm feeling confident we're going to do well in the champions league this season.
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That's the problem with the team,falling to the elite club in champions league is going to be a worry.
 
But I have my concerns about the team,we were lucky against Chelsea and Everton for the disallowed goals scored, i knew that could have changed the game from that point. Also the players from the bench don't celebrate on goals scored by their teammates.
 
afro2007 said:
But I have my concerns about the team,we were lucky against Chelsea and Everton for the disallowed goals scored, i knew that could have changed the game from that point. Also the players from the bench don't celebrate on goals scored by their teammates.
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You must watch a totally different game to us then.
 
Fantastic start, we couldn't ask for more. Providing we stay focused we could very easily open up a massive gap. Everyone keeps saying Chelsea will get back to winning ways but they are getting worse every week and failed to sign anyone really. United have lost their first game at home and have been crap before that so they hardly look like challengers, they also haven't spent well enough to really sustain a challenge with Europe as well now to think about. Apart from Chelsea, I just don't think anyone has the squad to manage it this year apart from us.
 
I'm optimistic about our title chances.

But as we've seen a few times in the last few years an eight point lead can quickly be lost or gained.

And I can remember a team winning their first ten games of the season and then finishing fourth.
 
jimmygrimblesboots said:
not read all the thread , but 40 points is looking a good bet ,I used to dream of getting to 40pts before Easter , and a run to a cup quarter final
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I still can't quite believe just how good August has been, and last weekend in particular was probably the best footballing weekend (bar the obvious) I can remember. Forget finishing on more than 40 points, I was thrilled if at any point in the season we had more points than games we'd played.
 
We have had some very tough early fixtures and we've come through them better than I expected. 4 clean sheets, four professional performances and we've managed to play good football and remain calm and professional when required. The Everton game was a test of patience and we did well at a ground where they love to beat us and the fans really get behind their team for this fixture. Against Chelsea we put down a marker and against Watford we put behind us the errors of last season by concentrating defensively and sticking to our task and breaking them down.

It's a great start and one we need to build on. The fixtures now start coming thick and fast and we have several away games. We'll now have to see what our squad players can offer and how our performances alter depending on who is playing. We know Yaya, Ferny, Silva, Sterling and Aguero will give us what we need. How will Delph, Fernando, De Bruyne, Nacho, Navas, Nasri etc impact when they are chosen to play. Do we now have enough to win games without Yaya, Silva and Aguero? Can we rotate effectively without losing quality and that cutting edge?

If we can win our next two in the league that would be excellent, beating Juve in the first CL game is very important as well. It will settle our nerves, stop the media from slating us in Europe as they like to and take us 3pts closer to qualification. I still see Chelsea as our main rivals and they go to Goodison and then play Arsenal. It's unlikely they'll get 6pts from those, we need to make sure we win our next two as if Chelsea do take maximum points they'll still only be on 10pts to our 18 and if they drop anymore we've got a gap of 10pts or so to them which would be incredible at this early stage.

Let's hope the Internationals don't cause too many ill effects with injuries. We need to get everyone back fit and ready and get the team to continue in the same vein. The addition of De Bruyne will be an excellent boost.
 
before season started my hopes were,
to go season unbeaten at home, preferably 19 wins beating 11/12 season
to win back the title
to do a double, FA cup this time
to emulate the arse and go season undefeated
to win the domestic treble as never been done before
to get past the last 16 in Europe, to win it would be fantastic, but the teams in champs league are of better quality than premiership
to average 53+k for attendances, and good attendances in all cup ties
lastly for pellegrini to get recognition he deserves, should have had season we did double
oh forgot, the daily mirror and all the other man u tabloids and broadsheets to go tits up
 
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