Top 4 Champions League Race

[ilikecheese]

So this is what I think.

Grill up some bacon and get it nicely crispy.

Toast a couple slices of bread. Brioche if you wanna get all posh

Once toasted, go on and slather it with some butter. Carefully place some crispy bacon on the buttered toast. Next add a heap of shredded cheese. I'd probably do a sharp cheddar. Hide the bacon with your cheese.

Set the toaster to broil and wait for the cheese to get bubbly.

I had a GF that made me sneaky bacon and cheese on toast and totally stole it.

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

We’ve got 13 points after 5 games.

Last season we had 13 points after 10 games

It took us a further 8 games to amass a further 10 points, so after 18 games last season we had 23 points

We finished 10 points of 6th last season and 17 off the top 4.

Our start therefore puts us in a great position.

 

[Rooney_Tunes]

With all the focus at the moment being on unsavoury hatred from that lot about Pickford’s clumsy challenge I thought we needed a different topic so who else believes we can make the top 4 this season?

Five games into the season and we’re top of the league, won four and drawn one.
Long way to go and not enough time passed to judge it but here’s why I think with a bit of luck and without big injuries.

We’ve got a team who can beat anyone
Carlo Ancelotti is world class and has done it all
James Rodríguez is world class and has done it all
Digne, Allan, Richarlison, Doucoure, Keane are all top players in their position
DCL is a goal scoring machine
We have competition for places with even under-performers from last season looking ok (Sigurdsson/Iwobi)
We have some good looking youth to learn and challenge the first team (Gordon/Nkounkou/Godfrey)

Our challengers look ropey:
Spurs just threw away a 3 goal lead against West Ham and created very little against us
Liverpool got smashed by Villa and don’t have VVD now
Man U are still completely inconsistent and got beat by Palace who we beat
Chelsea drew with WBA who we beat (and they nearly lost) and then threw away a lead against Southampton today
Arsenal look better this season and there’s no shame in losing to City and Liverpool but we got a point against Liverpool
City will probably win the league but got smashed by Leicester
Leicester lost to West Ham 3-0 who we beat in the cup (not like for like granted but 3-0 to West Ham is never good!

So, point is, so far we’re the most consistent performers whilst everyone else has been erratic. What do you think?

Aston Villa though?

 

[deipnosophist]

I think we might win the PL

 

[marsh]

1 game at a time and see where it takes us

 

[LinekersLegs]

Don’t know how it will end up, just enjoying us playing fun football whilst still managing to get points.

 

[paulbefc]

As exceptional as the first 5 games has been, it's been 5 games and our weaknesses are very much apparent.

We'd need serious injury luck to get top 4. James will have to be fit for the vast majority of the season, which isn't a given. Any long-term injury to any of the front 3 and we're done for.

Barring injury crisis, it'll be a massive improvement on last season though, in what is still a transitional season. Anything above 7th would be a bit of a bonus. Next season is still where I see us becoming more like the finished article.

 

[TheVelourFog]

take some points off the big teams away, smash the rest at home, and its on

 

[Zatara]

A Spurs W
H West Brom W
A Palace W
H Brighton W
H Liverpool D
A Southampton
A Newcastle
H Man Utd
A Fulham
H Leeds

Lets see where we are after 10 games.

I think we will need 20wins, we have 4, 16 to go.

 

[Eggs]

...where we are after 10 games is usually a good indicator of where we’ll end up (sorry @Zatara, I didn’t see your post above).

 

[mccole]

FAR too early but after 15 games I'd hope to have 30 plus points then we can start talking up chances.

We have had a toughish start:
Spurs and Them plus potentially Palace but our next 5:
Southampton (A)
Newcastle (H)
Man United (H)
Fulham (A)
Leeds (H)

If we can pick up another 8/9 or more points from these we would be on target.

Will provide a harder test with teams more match fit and prepared plus without Richarlison and knowing the FA, Pickford too.

COYB UTFB

 

[Seathestars]

What was it someone posted on here a few days ago.
No team that has been top after 5 games has finished outside top 4 since abar 1176 BC
Can't remember the year but its been quite a while,

 

[Amokachi1995]

Agree with all the points about it being too early to tell. However, early points accumulation is massive. It gives you space to try things and momentum to build from. Also makes it far more enjoyable for us. Not having your dreams dashed in the first month of the season is quite the novelty.

Finally, it might also make us more likely to spend in January.

 

[ToffeeTim]

The league table won't begin to take shape until pretty much Christmas/New Year. People are overreacting to bad starts, and getting too carried away by good starts. I think it's because we subconsciously forget how few games have been played and it's not a normal season where we have 10 games played by this point.

 

[originalgreaserbob]

Yes we should to see where we are after 10 matches, but since this threads already here I will point out that Europe schedules are crazy this year, and I feel like that's bound to help us. Here's what CL/EL teams schedule's look like before we play them in November and December.

11/7 man u 7th game in 20 days, 3 days after returning from Istanbul
12/12 chelsea 7th game in 22 days
12/15 leisceister 8th game in 25 days
12/19 arsenal 9th game in 29 days
12/22 man u 10th game in 31 days (cup semi)
12/28 man city 12th game in 36 days

Admittedly we'll be on our 5th game in 16 days by the time we get to that Man City game, but those other teams will all have been going at that pace for a full month before then.