Our PL season is now 7 games in - what's going on?

[Lako42]

Performances have been crap but if we had won at Brighton, which could have happened without some bizarre VAR calls, nobody would be wetting the bed right now.

I would, because the performances have been nowhere near good enough.

 

[FOX Franks]

a single win puts us on 11 points and on the cusp of that top 6 again.

Assuming of course that nobody else in the premier league plays that weekend.

 

[H T B]

When you have a somewhat leaky defence, it is even more important that you take your chances when they arrive.
Man City, Burnley and Palace could have been so different result wise.
Add to the cluster **** of reffing against Brighton, it’s all fine margins.

 

[City Fan]

Man City, Burnley and Palace could have been so different result wise.

So could Wolves and Norwich.

 

[Volpone]

Our first half performance against Villarreal with a back four of Ricardo, Fofana, Soyuncu and Bertrand made me feel very positive about our top four chances. The shape and understanding was magnificent.

Add to that what seemed like smart squad additions and I had high hopes. This was smashed by the Fofana injury and need to spend on Vestergaard rather than a right winger.

If our players coming back from injuries (Barnes, Maddison, Ricardo) had all hit the ground running, we'd have been okay. But they've played like they've had their talent sucked out of them.

Even if BR had swallowed his pride a bit earlier and partnered Vardy and Iheanacho a few matches ago, we'd have more points.

Bad luck, combined with dumbass player management and decision making has screwed us. BR really has to go back to basics and play a much more defence first style with two strikers until the crocked and the crap start to reappear.

Until Fofana got injured in that game I thought we looked good enough to win the league again. What a devasting blow that was and I wonder if it has affected the players psychologically.

 

[alex]

Totally agree with BN and Volpone. We looked so awesome v Villareal.

We will be fine, just need to re-adjust our expectations for a bit. Any talk of getting rid of Brenda is Watford-esque madness.

 

[Brown Nose]

This suggests that BR has a squad that should comfortably finish no lower than 7th.

 

[H T B]

In an ideal world …..

 

[Micky]

So then, back to this thread...

At the moment we are very much hit and miss, perhaps more miss than hit. We are desperately dependent on having our best players fit. Missing Pereira, Ndidi and Fofana today was huge for us. With Barnes also out of form and Evans also only just returning we have to accept that we are likely to be inconsistent.

So the question is, what position in the table would be a decent season? At present I think we look like a 7th or 8th position team, though perhaps that is optimistic?

 

[Lako42]

**** the league off. Try for top 6 but try harder to win the Europa

 

[Miles Away]

**** the league off. Try for top 6 but try harder to win the Europa

What I’ve been saying from preseason.

 

[parafox]

**** the league off. Try for top 6 but try harder to win the Europa

I would add that we should play strong sides in our remaining league cup matches

 

[Brown Nose]

Apart from the odd 15 mins here and there, have we actually played well this season?

I can't recall any game where we dominated. That's totally different to the last two seasons.

 

[Lako42]

Apart from the odd 15 mins here and there, have we actually played well this season?

No

 

[Miles Away]

I thought we were excellent against Utd, generally.

 

[homer]

I thought we were excellent against Utd, generally.

We were - but they pretty much let us do whatever we wanted and were generally ****ing awful

 

[Volpone]

We were - but they pretty much let us do whatever we wanted and were generally ****ing awful

But we seemed 'up' for it whereas yesterday we were not. That's the difference for me.

 

[pork pie fox]

But we seemed 'up' for it whereas yesterday we were not. That's the difference for me.

Yep. Hate to quote a Puel word, but you can often tell our mentality in a particular game from the first minute.

 

[City Fan]

Apart from the odd 15 mins here and there, have we actually played well this season?

I can't recall any game where we dominated. That's totally different to the last two seasons.

No. It’s because we have Justin and Fofana out injured though, apparently.

 

[ThaiSweetChilli]

I guess this is the closest thing to a "21/22 How's It Going" thread so. . .

Including today, we have 12 matches in 37 days. That's literally 3 days per match. Our entire season is shaped by this next 5 or so weeks. We could be in the next part of the Europa League, Semi-final of the League Cup, and even top 6 in the PL, or languishing mid-lower table and out of the aforementioned cups by Jan 2nd.

December 16th to 28th is especially difficult where we play Spurs, Everton, Liverpool (Cup), Man City, Liverpool. We have a bunch of "should wins" next in Watford, Southampton, Villa and Newcastle, but then again what is a "should win" this season anymore? Watford is crucial for momentum IMO. Nice win today, Madders getting better and better, Daka scoring again, Barnes looking dangerous, we need to build on that with an early kill-off this weekend.

If we win on Sunday and the Man Utd debacle comes to an end with their interim appointment, then hopefully can gain confidence and turn our season around. We need Ted to really work on our defensive shape and tighten up at the back though and the players to believe in themselves. But plenty left in the tank imo and everything to play for. Let's see if we can do the opposite of the last 2 seasons and finish strongly.