The Title Race - 2023/24

[MillsyTheMosher]

Lucky to get top 4.

 

[Corky]

Gone from 8/11 to 10/11, a team who caught up 3 points and just 3 behind now are 100/1 not changed.

 

[alexmcity]

Nope.

I can only react to what I see. I stand by my assertion. It’s all down to recruitment.

Sure we can defy the odds and go on a run but if Kev don’t come back or gets injured again or if Rodri gets suspended again we end up in the same situation.

Only Doku and maybe gvardiol can be deemed ok to good signings recently. The rest look like mid table team players. Pep can’t turn his magic on every player.

Buy him some top quality.

IIRC, you shouldn't trust your eyes for you were convinced Rodri wasn't good enough for us. Calm down and trust people who get football, i.e., Txiki and Pep. We'll come good.

 

[kenbelly]

We just need to build some confidence over the next few weeks, I’m not giving up on the title but it will be hard, KDB can be the catalyst January onwards, just got to try and stay close til then

 

[alexmcity]

We just need to build some confidence over the next few weeks, I’m not giving up on the title but it will be hard, KDB can be the catalyst January onwards, just got to try and stay close til then

It will be hard for us and even harder for Arsenal and Liverpool. We are favourites for a reason.

 

[tregyblue61]

It's like last season, pedestrian in our build up and lacking ideas. What's worse though, there is very little creativity in midfield. Just seem happy to play "to me, to you" football.

Not the right time to give up yet.

 

[wolviedinho]

IIRC, you shouldn't trust your eyes for you were convinced Rodri wasn't good enough for us. Calm down and trust people who get football, i.e., Txiki and Pep. We'll come good.

Rodri struggled a lot but I can’t remember saying he wasn’t good enough. Maybe i did at the time. Still think he can be nullified if he doesn’t have runners in around him or stones.

No need for petty digs. I am sure you have typed plenty of crap in here from time to time. I won’t go looking -:)

 

[Man-chester copperpot]

Well we can write off another 6 points right now with having to go to Spurs & Liverpool.
This will be a tough season

 

[handsofstone]

It's not gonna happen for us this year

Out of form when the fixtures are piling up, looking tired and down on our luck

And Arsenal/Liverpool are picking up points at the death

We can win it, but we look a mile off at the moment

 

[Judge Roughneck]

I think the difference this season is that it is not us and one challenger. We are getting matched in games by our rivals and for the first time in god knows how long Villa took the game to us and were better in every position. I think if we can find ourselves within 6 points of the top come mid January, we may have the chance to do it yet again, but it cant keep happening. The support have a massive part to play in it and I think we could do more, especially at home.

 

[supercity88]

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!

 

[IrishBlueSince92]

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

 

[MillsyTheMosher]

Paying the price now for letting a plethora of world class players leave (Laporte, Cancelo, Gundo, Zin, Sane, Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling to name a few) and bringing in sub standard replacements.

Reap what you sow.

 

[citymad]

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 ?

 

[pavelsrnicek]

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.

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.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

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.

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. )

 

[Metal Biker]

We do so love to make things difficult for ourselves.

 

[Deleted member 81382]

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.

 

[Claytop]

Probably already said but comparing to last years feels a mistake.

We were still decent enough in the first half of the season it’s just Arsenal were incredible in those first 18/19 games.

This year we’ve dropped 15 points already and only just over a third of the way through.

 

[Franny 1234]

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

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