Way, way, way, way, way and way behind.
If United and Arsenal drop off who knows
I know what you're saying, but I think you're potentially overstating our quality there. A winning mentality comes from knowing you're better than the opposition. Having the belief that you can just go out and play, and as long as you play as well you can then you'll win, regardless of the opposition. I just don't think we've often had that sort of quality in my time watching us.I can buy the quality gap in head to heads v the top 6 and also in terms of overall consistency (ie us not being good enough to put some teams away so some wins turn to draws that would have been wins for a top side). What I can’t accept though is Everton going away to poor sides and from the first ball being kicked playing as if a draw is a fantastic outcome. There’s been games there for the taking over the years and we’ve not gone for them because we’ve been content with plying out a draw. Our away record has been absolutely shocking and that is not a quality issue it’s a mentality one. If Silva can fix this then our scope for improvement is massive this season as our home record under most managers is usually good. I’m not saying we’re going to start turning teams over every away game but we should be going to the grounds of the bottom ten away from home at least with the aim of winning and not just looking for a plucky point.
It essentially all boils down to this for me. 2013/14 was a fantastic season that produced results as well as attractive performances and it was all down to having a young, talented spine with great balance. We need to find that again.Having a very young squad is a massive step in the right direction. We need a top top striker who can get 25 plus.
We have an excellent goalie, defence is a work in progress, gana is our Kante and the front four have started clicking.
It’s all positive.
Problem is mate, even a weaker Arsenal and Man U could easily be still good for us.
The other thing is as well, we haven’t played any one of note yet, our first big test will be the Arsenal game, that may give us a few hints of things to come this season.