The Title Race - 2023/24

How many points will be needed to win the league?

  • Total voters
    446
  • Poll closed .
We might have to settle for just the FA Cup and CL this season!

In all seriousness, tonight wasn't a huge shock. But what did surprise me is Pep's reluctance to change things earlier. We couldn't get on the ball and couldn't create chances. We desperately needed Phil or Bernardo more central but the move never came. Felt a bit like Arsenal where he was happy with a point and yet again we leave with nothing.

Long way to go still and this has been a tough run. Stones got through it. Rodri back. We will be okay. We've come from further back much later than this. And we weren't playing much better going into the WC last season.

Win at Anfield and Spuds and all is forgiven!
 
Draw, draw, draw, loss

Back to the Stuart Pearce era

Being serious though I can’t see us winning it this year. We’ve 2 good rivals up against us not just one to hunt down.
We’ve also dropped an awful lot of points and still have to go to Spurs and Anfield which will be more dropped points
 
I reckon we’ll have a better second half of the season now that the expectations are lower but it won’t be good enough to get above Arsenal or dippers. We’ll have a battle on our hands with the other teams to grab a top 4 place. We certainly won’t reach the CL final but maybe an Fa cup Final ?
 
wolviedinho said:
At this point we ain’t in a title race.

Poor recruitment is the main factor.

No kdb successor, over reliance on Rodri.

Penny pinching needs to stop. Buy some top quality players.

It’s been an unreal few years so don’t want to sound ungrateful. This season we ain’t good enough.

The club will find a way to fix it I am sure but until then we gotta grin and bear it.
Click to expand...

We’re in a battle to get top 4 as it stands. We have a ridiculously small squad and lots of our players are suffering after running themselves into the ground last year.

We really miss the control of Gundogan or Mahrez’s goal threat. We have recruited poorly, Kovacic isn’t controlled enough as a 6 or a creative enough as a 8. Nunes hasn’t shown enough either. It doesn’t look like Pep trusts them yet.

We have lost so much control and creativity in midfield that hasn’t been replaced.

We still seem to be using Walker high is an attacking outlet which has only worked when Rodri plays him behind. We don’t have anyone else with that passing range.

After a good start Alvarez is really struggling in attacking midfield. Foden needs to step up his consistency, he can do brilliant things then go missing.

Tonight was hopefully the nadir of the season without Rodri, Grealish, Doku we had virtually nothing going forward. We were utterly and completely outplayed by a well coached, hungry Villa side.

We miss KDB so badly but we need to recruit soon. We have to have cover for Rodri as we’re a shambles without him and based on the bookings he gets it won’t be his last ban. We need someone else at 8. Kovacic can carry but doesn’t create enough or offer control. Nunes has potential but desperately needs to start making his mark soon.

Last summer we wanted Bellingham and Rice got neither and haven’t added value to the midfield.

More importantly we need more from Dias, Akanji, Bernardo and Haaland, big game players step up when it matters but no one is doing that for us at the moment.

We’re going to have a real old fashioned cup tie sort of match at Luton if we don’t rediscover our hunger and belief it could be a very tough afternoon.
 
pavelsrnicek said:
We’re in a battle to get top 4 as it stands. We have a ridiculously small squad and lots of our players are suffering after running themselves into the ground last year.

We really miss the control of Gundogan or Mahrez’s goal threat. We have recruited poorly, Kovacic isn’t controlled enough as a 6 or a creative enough as a 8. Nunes hasn’t shown enough either. It doesn’t look like Pep trusts them yet.

We have lost so much control and creativity in midfield that hasn’t been replaced.

We still seem to be using Walker high is an attacking outlet which has only worked when Rodri plays him behind. We don’t have anyone else with that passing range.

After a good start Alvarez is really struggling in attacking midfield. Foden needs to step up his consistency, he can do brilliant things then go missing.

Tonight was hopefully the nadir of the season without Rodri, Grealish, Doku we had virtually nothing going forward. We were utterly and completely outplayed by a well coached, hungry Villa side.

We miss KDB so badly but we need to recruit soon. We have to have cover for Rodri as we’re a shambles without him and based on the bookings he gets it won’t be his last ban. We need someone else at 8. Kovacic can carry but doesn’t create enough or offer control. Nunes has potential but desperately needs to start making his mark soon.

Last summer we wanted Bellingham and Rice got neither and haven’t added value to the midfield.

More importantly we need more from Dias, Akanji, Bernardo and Haaland, big game players step up when it matters but no one is doing that for us at the moment.

We’re going to have a real old fashioned cup tie sort of match at Luton if we don’t rediscover our hunger and belief it could be a very tough afternoon.
Click to expand...
What I will never understand is that we were happy to lose the goals and assists provided by Mahrez Gundo ( and KDB for at least half of the season ) and replaced them with players that have barely scored a goal or created an assist in their careers.

Absolute shambolic recruitment.

This season is gone - next is Peps last ( together with possible tribunal date which will make it chaos as far as motivation and recruitment goes. )
 
As much as I would love us to be the first English team to win four titles in a row, I just can't get too worked up at the prospect of not winning the league this season. Perhaps it's because we've just done the treble.

I'm by no means writing us off but if we don't win it then it's not the end of the world, we just try again next season. It's not realistic to expect us to win it every time when you consider the investment of other clubs and how difficult it is to maintain such a high level of consistency year on year.

I wouldn't put it past us as we've won it from worse positions albeit we have lost a lot of quality and big game players that were part of those long winning streaks to get us over the line in recent seasons.

That being said, if we can hang in there until KDB gets back then you just never know. Arsenal and Liverpool will still be very wary of us because of our history of chasing teams down including them. That fear factor could make a difference as long as we don't let them get too far ahead.
 
IrishBlueSince92 said:
We were blessed to still be on level terms as long as we were in that game

Very poor. Zero control.

Starting to look like it’s gonna be a very tough season, and that we got our summer transfer window all wrong.

Nunes and Kovacic don’t look like they’re bringing much to the table, Gvardiol hasn’t impressed at left back.

Alvarez shouldn’t be starting every game he ruins the balance of the team, I also don’t rate his input from general play, apart from his goal scoring (pretty silly thing to say I suppose)

Rico Lewis, I’m sorry but I don’t see the fuss with this lad. Yes he’s a good prospect but what exactly is he? Started out as a full back but can’t defend, now playing in a midfield role but doesn’t create much or control play. Buzzes about a lot and presses well at times but that’s about it
Click to expand...
So who would you have started with tonight instead of Alverez and Rico.
Half the need need a break but our squad is to weak to allow it. CTID
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.