First five

TambourineMan

3 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw the absolute minimum for another title charge.

Don Pacifico

I think we need to be comfortable with being a few points off top in the first part of the season. I'm saying that as fans, rather than how I would expect the players/Arteta to see it.

Claudius

Don Pacifico we need to be relaxed.
The problem with competing with City is we have reached this point where now not only every game is treated as a cup final, but now even moments in games are over-scrutinized. During this game, there was a lot of criticism about how we played. I rewatched the game the other night without the stress of the result and, actually, we were very much in control. It was a comfortable 2-0 win save for a 10 minute pressure early in the second half. We looked like a team playing at 70%, but in control. Yet the fanbase was stressed throughout.
We cannot go through 37 more rounds like that, constantly on edge. We must enjoy this wonderful team. We just got 5 players in the PFA team of the season, more than any other club - and that's without Bukayo. Let's enjoy this.

Qwiss

Claudius During this game, there was a lot of criticism about how we played.

That's always been true though. Match threads have always been up and down and people are going to make observations in real time. Same thing has been happening in the stands and pubs since forever.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Claudius

We can prob afford to drop points in no more than 5 games across the season if we really want to win the title.

We can call these games ‘lives’. We really don’t want to be going into the 2nd half of the season where every game is must win like it was last season.

Claudius

Qwiss i feel like it's getting worse during and between games. Look at the discussion now about how the title is going to be lost in the first five games of the season.
After 5 rounds last season it was City 15, and all of Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs on 13. At the time, I recall a lot of fans saying Spurs looked better than us. We need to let this shit breathe like a good Cape blend.

Qwiss

Claudius a lot of people really fell for Spurs new manager bounce. It was obvious to me watching them they hadn't a hope of maintaining it.

However 13 points after 5 games last season is the same as Tambourines minimum expectations above. The reality is that we are targetting 90+ points. We can't afford to drop too many early on or we are in trouble. We aren't dealing with as many changes as the start of last season so its not crazy to expect more consistency too. This time last year Raya was looking nervous, Kai was looking lost and Arteta was struggling to figure out his best XI. He knows the team now, we played our best XI vs Wolves, we need to get out there and put points on the board.

Clrnc

Claudius i feel like it's getting worse during and between games. Look at the discussion now about how the title is going to be lost in the first five games of the season.

Feels to me more like how the title is going to be won in difficult games. But in any case it's just simple math. Drop too many points and you don't win the title.

QuincyAbeyie

It's not over-scrutinizing when points matter much more than before - that would be adequately scrutinizing. In the battle for top 4 you can lose tons of points, so every mistake has less weight.

Burnwinter

Sicario2 - Tier 1 We can prob afford to drop points in no more than 5 games across the season

Not to be a dick, but if we lost five games outright and dropped no other points we'd reach 99 points—might not be enough to take the title, but it might be more than enough.

I'd be getting worried if we were far below 45 points after the half season, match day 19 …

Burnwinter

As it's been put, we'll almost certainly win the title if we add the first half of 22–23 to the second half of 23–24. Last season we only scraped 38 points from the first half-season, from memory. It wasn't enough.

And breaking even in our head to heads with City will be massive.

RocktheCasbah

Burnwinter Last season we only scraped 38 points from the first half-season, from memory. It wasn't enough.

40 points, which was actually the same as City!

Dom

Don't want to jinx it but Spurs away should be the easiest game out of this batch.

Its the Spursiest spurs team since Martin Jol days.

Burnwinter

RocktheCasbah I post corrected. 😆

You know what I mean anyway, given the state of the league these days, we'll want to be at around a 90 point pace at the halfway to feel upbeat.

Asterix

Especially as City always come home like a steam train.

Hopefully this season though they will be trying to catch up the 31 points they have been docked...

awooga83

Yeah the trend has been city have been a little less effective in the first half of the season and you need to nail this part and get yourself a decent gap from them. Liverpool in the title they won were just immense in that first half of the season and pretty much killed City with that.

Claudius

awooga83 only practical problem is we and every other team are coming off the first big summer tournament in 3 years. everyone is ramping up slowly. City didn't even bother fielding their two best players from last season in opening week. so this first month will be tricky for all. and probably this whole season.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Claudius

Or you can argue this is the first summer a lot of players had serious time off. Not all teams progressed far in the euros/copa America. Not all players even played in these competitions.

Players like Odegaard and Haaland had entire summers off.

We need to stop looking at excuses and go full throttle into the season. Ok if other teams have players coming back late then let’s use this to our advantage.

Clrnc

Claudius city rotates very often. It's nothing new. Even in the crucial run ins last year many fringe players started after a UCL match in mid week.

And Pep also use many matches to play academy players every now and then. He can afford to rotate and not drop much points.

flobaba

If we intend to win the league, we better win at least 4 of 5, if not all 5. Worst case we should be aiming for is 4 wins, 1 draw. I bet you this is what Arteta is telling the boys. We know what the standard is, we know what the margins are. No more excuses, valid or otherwise.

Claudius

flobaba these are some of our harder games. We get them out of the way before champions league and games every 3 days start. We don’t really need to win 4 or 5. Don’t fall on our faces, but it’s not a do or die moment.