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Race for The Top 10

Ron Burgundy

SC Supporter
Jun 19, 2008
7,705
23,267
Can’t say I’m surprised to see us sitting in 9th. Also can easily see Burnley beating Sheffield Utd at home tomorrow and is losing to Everton which would leave us in 11th which to be perfectly honest is about where our players levels are.

Can any of us genuinely sit here, look at our squad and think we are anything other than a mid table side. We have one world class player (Kane), one really good player (Son), and then a few potentially really good players (GLC, Ndombele, Stevie) and the rest are pretty average and are around mid table level. Are any of Dier, Winks, Dele, Aurier, Davies etc any better than what Newcastle, Southampton or Everton have got? Let’s actually compare:

Dier - Lascelles, Vestergaard, Holgate.
Winks - Shelvey, Hojberg, Gomes.
Dele - Longstaff, Ward-Prowse, Sig.
Aurier - Yedlin, KWP, Coleman.
Davies - Rose, Bertrand, Digne.

So as you can see, 5 players who have featured regularly for us are no better than mid table counterparts. I didn’t even use Sissoko as he would be further down the table with the Norwich and Villa players.

Now a massive thing is if you look at those players and compare them to what we had we would have prime Vertonghen, Dembele, Eriksen, Walker and prime Rose. An enormous drop in quality in basically the most important parts of the pitch, i.e the whole defence and central midfield.

We have no money to spend so they are waiting on the young players to mature in Tanganga, Cirkin, Sess, Skipp and White and will look to pick up bargains here and there in the meantime. It’s going to be a very slow road back to us even having a small challenge for top 4 in my opinion. Personally I’m not expecting a top 4 challenge for the next 5-7 years if the model remains the same.

We are mid-table. Totally.

Absolutely no chance of top 4 next year either. It’ll take lots of money and a dramatic turnaround. We’re miles away
 

Mark_147

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2011
1,807
3,019
Can’t say I’m surprised to see us sitting in 9th. Also can easily see Burnley beating Sheffield Utd at home tomorrow and is losing to Everton which would leave us in 11th which to be perfectly honest is about where our players levels are.

Can any of us genuinely sit here, look at our squad and think we are anything other than a mid table side. We have one world class player (Kane), one really good player (Son), and then a few potentially really good players (GLC, Ndombele, Stevie) and the rest are pretty average and are around mid table level. Are any of Dier, Winks, Dele, Aurier, Davies etc any better than what Newcastle, Southampton or Everton have got? Let’s actually compare:

Dier - Lascelles, Vestergaard, Holgate.
Winks - Shelvey, Hojberg, Gomes.
Dele - Longstaff, Ward-Prowse, Sig.
Aurier - Yedlin, KWP, Coleman.
Davies - Rose, Bertrand, Digne.

So as you can see, 5 players who have featured regularly for us are no better than mid table counterparts. I didn’t even use Sissoko as he would be further down the table with the Norwich and Villa players.

Now a massive thing is if you look at those players and compare them to what we had we would have prime Vertonghen, Dembele, Eriksen, Walker and prime Rose. An enormous drop in quality in basically the most important parts of the pitch, i.e the whole defence and central midfield.

We have no money to spend so they are waiting on the young players to mature in Tanganga, Cirkin, Sess, Skipp and White and will look to pick up bargains here and there in the meantime. It’s going to be a very slow road back to us even having a small challenge for top 4 in my opinion. Personally I’m not expecting a top 4 challenge for the next 5-7 years if the model remains the same.
Enic might as well sell up now then cause mourinho can't do shit with young players. So we either have a young progressive manager who's not scared to work with young players or keep mourinho and spend big. Alternatively just sell up because from this point onwards if the current malaise continues its gonna get pretty toxic in our stadium. Drastic changes are needed in the board room if we're going to see progress on the pitch.
 

nattydredd

Non Contributor
Jul 20, 2015
1,103
4,412
Such a downer this season. Can't wait till it's over.
Seriously I think we'll struggle for top half. Unimaginable really considering where we were a few years ago.
 

Strikeb4ck

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2010
4,483
9,409
Get Spalletti or Bielsa in so that we're at least fun to watch, sell the assets that have peaked, start the 1-2 year rebuild, and do it right next time around.
 

Gareth88

Well-Known Member
Sep 19, 2017
4,592
6,727
Such a downer this season. Can't wait till it's over.
Seriously I think we'll struggle for top half. Unimaginable really considering where we were a few years ago.
The realist in me see it going the way you have mentioned. The optimist in me sees the fewer games we have to play next season focusing our players to work hard every game. The pessimist in me is saying we struggle to sign players in the window due to lack of European competition and ending up below mid table finish.
 

NickHSpurs

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2004
13,626
11,875
Well we might actually be 10th by the time we play Monday and maybe 11th if we lose ?
 

Bulletspur

The Reasonable Advocate
Match Thread Admin
Oct 17, 2006
10,690
25,246
Serious question - Are we still one of the top six PL teams? (Disregard current position).

For me the answer is no, we have fallen away big time

Liverpool
Mancity
Chelsea
Man utd
Arsenal
Wolves

are all ahead of us as they are all improving while we have gone backwards
 

Mr Pink

SC Supporter
Aug 25, 2010
54,770
99,330
Serious question - Are we still one of the top six PL teams? (Disregard current position).

For me the answer is no, we have fallen away big time

Liverpool
Mancity
Chelsea
Man utd
Arsenal
Wolves

are all ahead of us as they are all improving while we have gone backwards

Arsenal ahead of Leicester? Behave
 

holsten777

Well-Known Member
Jul 3, 2015
249
440
Serious question - Are we still one of the top six PL teams? (Disregard current position).

For me the answer is no, we have fallen away big time

Liverpool
Mancity
Chelsea
Man utd
Arsenal
Wolves

are all ahead of us as they are all improving while we have gone backwards

If you're disregarding current position, what other criteria are you basing this on?

From a footballing sense, which I assume you mean, it's pretty obvious that we're not in the top six, but instead are in the top 9 (on goal difference).
 

KikoSpurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2019
379
936
If we don't spend wisely this summer we are gonna be in the fight for relegation next season.

Can't see this exhausted squad fighting for top 10 next season.
 

LSUY

Well-Known Member
Jul 12, 2005
24,010
66,826
Serious question - Are we still one of the top six PL teams? (Disregard current position).

For me the answer is no, we have fallen away big time

Liverpool
Mancity
Chelsea
Man utd
Arsenal
Wolves

are all ahead of us as they are all improving while we have gone backwards
^ You could probably add Leicester to that list.

And potentially add Newcastle if the takeover goes ahead as they'll go on a massive spending spree.
 

Timberwolf

Well-Known Member
Jan 17, 2008
10,328
50,217
Our squad is still better than Arsenal's and we have far better depth than Wolves. (I think Leicester's squad is better than both, mind).

Problem is we're currently less than the sum of our parts. We should be in the fight for 5th/6th at the very least but we're underperforming.

Some of the overreaction in this thread is ridiculous. We might be playing crap and poorly managed but I don't buy that we have a bad squad for a second. We have an imbalanced squad but there is a lot of talent there. 2/3 clever signings (and maybe a managerial change) and we could look a completely transformed side.

People said Man Utd had a shit squad in December and look at them now. All it took was Bruno and a burst of confidence and suddenly Martial and Pogba look like players reborn.
 
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