Yet we never won it.
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Cann we make the top 4 or 5?
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Yet we never won it.
Diamond Lights
Alan Hutton
beginning of the season i was adamant we would make top 5, maybe top 4.
Starting this season, personal opinion is i've been sold a dud.
yes we shifted some deadwood, yes we brought in some replacements, but ultimately we haven't improved the starting XI meaningfully enough.
Arsenal for example brought in Calafiori (new LB), Merino (new CM) despite their season almost making it over the line, upgraded 2 positions.
Spurs have upgraded one position in Solanke and this was a team struggling both with attacking wingers (19yr old signed) and CM (18yr old signed).
Not enough done on the starting XI and as i keep saying, that midfield and wingers is entirely interchangeable any any point of time and absolutely no idea of starting XI.
Furthermore, we stupidly decided to take 4 GKs for Europe (one being Forster who was shockingly bad vs Coventry) and decided not to take Spence, meaning we are extremely short on the fullback position for Europe, so Porro will travel, Destiny will travel etc. Silly and will exacerbate a tired squad in time, worse if there's an injury.
So overall, just not done enough to make a meaningful difference.
Starting this season, personal opinion is i've been sold a dud.
yes we shifted some deadwood, yes we brought in some replacements, but ultimately we haven't improved the starting XI meaningfully enough.
Arsenal for example brought in Calafiori (new LB), Merino (new CM) despite their season almost making it over the line, upgraded 2 positions.
Spurs have upgraded one position in Solanke and this was a team struggling both with attacking wingers (19yr old signed) and CM (18yr old signed).
Not enough done on the starting XI and as i keep saying, that midfield and wingers is entirely interchangeable any any point of time and absolutely no idea of starting XI.
Furthermore, we stupidly decided to take 4 GKs for Europe (one being Forster who was shockingly bad vs Coventry) and decided not to take Spence, meaning we are extremely short on the fullback position for Europe, so Porro will travel, Destiny will travel etc. Silly and will exacerbate a tired squad in time, worse if there's an injury.
So overall, just not done enough to make a meaningful difference.
Bedfordspurs
Vinnie Samways
I’m yet to see that Arsenal have improved and upgraded
Merino hasnt played because of that injury and Califori could still be anything. Personally look at it as they have signed more of what they had and still haven’t got that striker which they have needed
For us we had to make sure the squad was better before making the one off signings. Personally I think we gave made the squad better and that’s the kind of move that was needed on this window.
The next summer window is when the big moves are made… like when arsenal brought rice
glorygloryeze
Jack Jull
In theory yes, but in the new league formats of both i think there is similar scope for resting players in both competitions if you get enough wins early on.
Plus, as i say, Villa had Europe last season whilst we didn't and it didn't give us an advantage then..
Doesn't change the fact that the teams are weaker in the early stages than in the CL.
There isn't in the CL. Top 8 to guarantee qualification and already some big guns e.g. City, have dropped points and will be looking to make that up.
Towards the end there might be a couple of games when you can rest players if you know that you can't into the top 8 or drop to the bottom 12.
And it's not only us that they need to beat to top 4.
glorygloryeze
Jack Jull
It wasn't only us they needed to beat to get 4th last time, so no difference to last year (or any other year tbh).
We will have to see how the season pans out but i don't think we are are any more or less likely to get top 4 than Villa. Their manager has a good record wrt balancing European demands with domestic. certainly no more or less than any of the coaches with teams that would challenge for top 4 etc
It's not about the coach, it's about squad depth, but as you said we will see how it pans out.
The difference is where Arsenal and us are in our development.
Arteta is almost 5 years at Arsenal. The first couple of years was a clear out and bringing in youth. That is the stage we are at. We are bringing in promising youth to grow together. Hopefully in another couple of years we will have reached the point Arsenal are now at where we can just look to buy one or two players to improve the quality of the first 11.
metalgear
Luka Modric
oh yes 5th for us
braineclipse
Willie Hall
Our strongest 11 was rather good last season. Was hoping for 1-2 upgrades to that and we got at least one in Solanke.
Squad needed quite a lot of work and quite a lot of work was done. We did go young, but we also went for young players Ange says can do a job now, players that have already done a job. Let's see where those young players are when settled in and more used to Angeball and the PL in 2-3 months.
Midfield and wingers may be interchangeable. But there's also a better mix of qualities there than we had last season.
Forster is obviously seen as our best backup goalkeeper. Would you not have registered him for the EL?
It seems strange to change your view this much based on the number of games we've had so far. Particularly when the possibility of seeing a greater impact from Odobert, Bergvall and Gray seeming so obvious. If you were happy about those signings before the season started, why not give them the time to show what they can actually do this season instead of just the first handful of games.