- Jul 23, 2013
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Completely forgot it's Leicester v Man City tomorrow, too. Excellent timing that one.
It's a really excellent day at the office. Watford were always going to be tough as the second of two games in three days, but we held in there. 6 points from both games is a blinding return. Hopefully Everton's morale is a little dented after today too.
This will be interesting to see and is precisely why we need another striker in my opinion to go the distance.Injuries and exhaustion will be the key areas.
We've had more injuries than last year, but they have been in areas where we have good cover, specifically the attacking midfield roles, where the players rotate positions routinely already.
Our exceptional consistency so far has been due to our abilty to play a settled defensive spine (Lloris, Alderweireld, Vertonghen & Dier) in nearly every match. If any two of those get injured for more than a couple of weeks, we are likely to see a drop-off in defensive statistics and in our ability to control matches.We read a lot about our attacking and pressing football, but the real difference this season is that we have have an effective and reliable defence for the first time since, I suppose, 09/10 and 11/12. Equally important, if more obvious, would be the consequences if Kane were to be out for any length of time.
What also remains unknown is how our young, hyper-fit players will respond to a 50-match season of hard, high pressing and multiple sprints. Which ones will wear down and lose effectiveness? Will Pochettino be quick to replace these players when their form starts to fade? Will those replacements deliver a similar level of performance?
I don't think we're going to get to 74 points. By our standards we've had a very good start to this season amassing 35 points. We will do very well to achieve the same total again, never mind better it.I said here at the end of last season that, having got 64 points under Poch as a first-season manager, we should be aiming for - and might well make, given exponential improvement - 74 points this time around. Whether or not that gets us a CL place, it's a target that's very much on.
With the amount of games we have failed to win when leading in he first half of the season I don't think it would be a huge leap to better 35 points in the second half of the seasonI don't think we're going to get to 74 points. By our standards we've had a very good start to this season amassing 35 points. We will do very well to achieve the same total again, never mind better it.
Yeah but they were beaten by Stoke who are now closer to us than Everton
When forecasting the result against Everton are people aware they play the first leg of the League Cup S/F against Man City 3 days after their game against us ? Dare I suggest they might be pre-occupied.