How close are we to challenging City & Liverpool ?

[Locotoro]

After the CL final defeat in 2019 Poch famously said we needed a painful rebuild.... and it has happened, albeit after a delay and then two false starts. 16 of the 23 man squad for the 2019 CL final have all left the club in the last 3 years

• Vorm
• Gazzaniga
• Trippier
• Walker-Peters
• Aurier
• Foyth
• Alderweireld
• Vertonghen
• Rose
• Sissoko
• Winks
• Wanyama
• Dele
• Eriksen
• Lamela
• Llorente

With only 3 of the starting XI from that night remaining at the club (arguably the 3 world class players we had):

• Lloris
• Son
• Kane

Liverpool meanwhile have only seen 2 of their starting XI in that game leave (Mane and Wijnaldum), with 9 of that team still first team regulars, and their back 4 and GK still intact:

• Alisson
• Alexander-Arnold
• Matip
• Van Dijk
• Robertson
• Henderson
• Fabinho
• Salay
• Firmino

However, given their start to this season, has Klopp allowed Liverpool to go stale?

Think you may have jumped the gun...just a tad

 

[gaz73]

i am not sure i know what you lot are drinking....
our football is poor and giving our possession away so much is a worry - can't just rely on the counter
i trust AC but allowing the opposition so much control is a worry

right now our transfer window is 8/10 for effort (getting things done early) but in reality will be closer to 5/10 arsenal have improved stronger in terms of starting 11 and chelseas/utd likely to blow us out of the water by the end of it.

given the way we play possession wise if we get top 5 with all the games we will do well. hope i am wrong and praying for the AC factor to be the difference but from what i have seen so far we are behind pool, city, chelsea and arsenal.... also right now wouldnt be confident for us if we were playing leeds, brighton or newcastle

maybe once the europe games kick in it could change things in our favour with the squad factor but at the moment if anyone offered 4th i would take it - anything higher is just deluded imo

 

[sundanceyid10]

i am not sure i know what you lot are drinking....
our football is poor and giving our possession away so much is a worry - can't just rely on the counter
i trust AC but allowing the opposition so much control is a worry

right now our transfer window is 8/10 for effort (getting things done early) but in reality will be closer to 5/10 arsenal have improved stronger in terms of starting 11 and chelseas/utd likely to blow us out of the water by the end of it.

given the way we play possession wise if we get top 5 with all the games we will do well. hope i am wrong and praying for the AC factor to be the difference but from what i have seen so far we are behind pool, city, chelsea and arsenal.... also right now wouldnt be confident for us if we were playing leeds, brighton or newcastle

maybe once the europe games kick in it could change things in our favour with the squad factor but at the moment if anyone offered 4th i would take it - anything higher is just deluded imo

I said at that start I thought we would finish 4th, but I will say winning when not playing well is a sign of a team with fight. We may not have been on it this season so far but we have been picking up points. I do think our football will improve as the season unfolds and it’s critical we pick up points when we are not particularly in form, something we are doing.

 

[gibbospurs]

Our lack of quality of rwb will be the biggest issue. Baffling considering Conte is Mr wing back, and still hasn’t improved the right side yet.

 

[SUIYHA]

There’s simply no way arteta will be allowed to bin off the Europa league this season.
Bear in mind their squad is paper thin, they’ll be playing people like holding and nketiah in the league before too long as it is.
he might just about get away with playing the kids in the carabao cup but that’s it

Yes he will - provided they're performing in the league. Regardless of what they might say to us - being back in the Champions League is the one they really want and if they're comfortably top four they're going to be happy. In the 15/16 season we went out of both domestic cups early and put out a reserve side at Dortmund to go out of Europe - was still considered a massive season for us as we finished in the top 3 for the first time. The following season is regarded as probably the best in recent memory - but all we talk about is how we got our highest league finish of the last 60 years, how our points total was often enough to win the league, how we only dropped four points at home all season, how we smashed most of our rivals and ended some long running hoodoos....not the fact that we were knocked out of Europe at home to fucking Gent.

 

[mr ashley]

Yes he will - provided they're performing in the league. Regardless of what they might say to us - being back in the Champions League is the one they really want and if they're comfortably top four they're going to be happy. In the 15/16 season we went out of both domestic cups early and put out a reserve side at Dortmund to go out of Europe - was still considered a massive season for us as we finished in the top 3 for the first time. The following season is regarded as probably the best in recent memory - but all we talk about is how we got our highest league finish of the last 60 years, how our points total was often enough to win the league, how we only dropped four points at home all season, how we smashed most of our rivals and ended some long running hoodoos....not the fact that we were knocked out of Europe at home to fucking Gent.

Their group starts in a fortnights time. Being top of the league at that point means nothing.
If they play a weakened team in their first home European fixture in a few years against psv - and subsequently get tonked then I can’t see the fans being happy.
It will start a negative spiral with the media putting pressure on arteta (especially if he has to admit their squad isn’t strong enough).
As we know, their squad isn’t known for its mental fortitude.

 

[bigfrooj]

There are people talking about arsenal in this thread? They're irrelevant, can we discuss thoughts on today's game now? Sorry to sound so rude.

 

[mil1lion]

One thing about this season is it will be interesting because of the fixture build up. That will really test all teams. I think even City and Liverpool will struggle to get similar points to previous seasons. Newcastle could be a dark horse because they don't have Europe. It's far too early to tell how things will go though. I don't know why people even look at the table at this stage. I don't tend to pay attention to it until mid season.

 

[elfy]

i am not sure i know what you lot are drinking....
our football is poor and giving our possession away so much is a worry - can't just rely on the counter
i trust AC but allowing the opposition so much control is a worry

right now our transfer window is 8/10 for effort (getting things done early) but in reality will be closer to 5/10 arsenal have improved stronger in terms of starting 11 and chelseas/utd likely to blow us out of the water by the end of it.

given the way we play possession wise if we get top 5 with all the games we will do well. hope i am wrong and praying for the AC factor to be the difference but from what i have seen so far we are behind pool, city, chelsea and arsenal.... also right now wouldnt be confident for us if we were playing leeds, brighton or newcastle

maybe once the europe games kick in it could change things in our favour with the squad factor but at the moment if anyone offered 4th i would take it - anything higher is just deluded imo

Dont think that's fair.

Our football isn't poor, things haven't quite clicked offensively but generally I'd say all our games so far we've controlled well - in another thread someone posted stats showing how while we have given up lots of shots, they're from positions highly unlikely to concede.
It seems the game plan to let the opposition have chances where they either need a ton of luck or a worldie finish.
The Wolves game is a good example, they had quite a few shots but never really looked like scoring.
What we've shown so far is we can control the game, and then step up when we need to.
It's not pretty. But, it's professional and effective.

 

[mr ashley]

There are people talking about arsenal in this thread? They're irrelevant, can we discuss thoughts on today's game now? Sorry to sound so rude.

Not rude just in the wrong thread. This isn’t the match thread.

 

[Gassin's finest]

All the big clubs have started shonky. We're not at our cavalier best as we were in the closing weeks of last season, but unbeaten and holding out at the bridge is a strong start in comparison imo.

 

[H-SF]

The answer is not close at all.
because Conte’s game model means we get dominated way too much by shit teams. It’s asking for trouble and although we get away with it often over the course of 38 games we will come unstuck. People won’t want to hear it but Pep and Klopp are superior managers to Conte in this moment.

 

[slartibartfast]

Nowhere near.

 

[mr ashley]

The answer is not close at all.
because Conte’s game model means we get dominated way too much by shit teams. It’s asking for trouble and although we get away with it often over the course of 38 games we will come unstuck. People won’t want to hear it but Pep and Klopp are superior managers to Conte in this moment.

I’m sorry but after this latest round of fixtures you can see that all PL managers are starting to figure out how to play against city and Liverpool, just as much as they are us.
This season is going to be much closer

 

[Hotspur33]

I know possession isn't everything, but at present we seem to be a slightly better version of what we were under Jose.
I'd like to see Doc integrated again for better quality going forward and hopefully Bissouma in soon to help us win possession higher up.

City are still a long way ahead. Liverpool will finish ahead of us at present as well.

 

[sundanceyid10]

Haaland is the reason everyone is going to be playing for the next best. The guy is a beast, just watching him you can see in that City side he is going to tear it up.

 

[YIDfromtheLANE]

It’s probably been said before, but even at this stage of the season you need to be matching City’s results. Hard not to see them winning at least 30 games with a few draws thrown in. Meaning very little room for error on our part. Not sure even Conte can plug that gap with his experience. But know they will give it their best shot. Genuinely believe this season even with WC thrown in and what that may bring City will have it wrapped up with a good few games to go. But do think we’ll be a very solid second.

 

[dickieven]

It’s probably been said before, but even at this stage of the season you need to be matching City’s results. Hard not to see them winning at least 30 games with a few draws thrown in. Meaning very little room for error on our part. Not sure even Conte can plug that gap with his experience. But know they will give it their best shot. Genuinely believe this season even with WC thrown in and what that may bring City will have it wrapped up with a good few games to go. But do think we’ll be a very solid second.

We just need to beat City home and away again then.

 

[yusrisafri]

I’m sorry but after this latest round of fixtures you can see that all PL managers are starting to figure out how to play against city and Liverpool, just as much as they are us.
This season is going to be much closer

Scott Parker would disagree

 

[DCSPUR64]

Our lack of quality of rwb will be the biggest issue. Baffling considering Conte is Mr wing back, and still hasn’t improved the right side yet.

Royal has improved and we have not seen what Spence can do, yet!
I think creativity in the middle will be my asking!