Challenging Next 8

Clrnc

Didn't realise how brutal our next 8 fixtures are (ignoring PNE Carabao cup which will be filed with young players)

Out of the next 8 fixtures, 6 are away from home.

Newcastle (A)
Inter (A)
Chelsea (A)
Forest (H)
Sporting (A)
West Ham (A)
Man Utd (H)
Fulham (A)

Even seemingly easier fixtures like Sporting and Fulham away are the exact teams we previously struggled with due to their tactical managers (Ruben Amorin, Marco Silva).

With our injury list, we will do well to come away the next 8 with 5 wins IMO.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Clrnc
I wouldn’t stress about those CL games too much, we don’t have to win.

Newcastle are shit and Forrest, West Ham, Fulham etc we should all be beating.

Those fixtures look worse than they are and anyway 1 game at a time. Bigger concern is our depleting squad.

Qwiss

Clrnc if we only get 5 wins from that 8 we are in trouble. Gonna go out on a limb and say we won't lose any.

Clrnc

Clrnc Lost the first 2 already which is within my expectations. We are lucky Amorim is leaving Sporting before we play them but will still be a very tough match there.

Unlucky there he's going to United before we play them though.

I can't see us winning Chelsea, we will do well not to lose. 5 wins might also be a bit too much, I think we will have around 3 to 4 wins from the next 6 matches.

Qwiss

Sicario2 - Tier 1 yeah I'd start considering some second string in the CL.

naz

We should be winning all 8. We have no right to claim as challengers without winning all.

Coombs

Focus on the CL. Bare minimum in the league.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Clrnc

Sicario2 - Tier 1 fake tweet. We are 9-3-1

Burnwinter

First off, haven't we got Preston on Wednesday in the Carabao before all this?

Other than that, I'm more interested in the league than the CL to be honest. If we send slightly weaker sides out in the CL for Inter and Sporting, we'd probably still scrape through given the stupid new format right?

With that in mind and adding the currently scheduled dates in:

2 Nov Newcastle (A)
10 Nov Chelsea (A)
23 Nov Forest (H)
30 Nov West Ham (A)
4 Dec Man Utd (H)
8 Dec Fulham (A)

I don't think that's too bad a stretch. In theory (touches the nearest wooden object carefully) we'll have Ødegaard back for Forest and thereafter.

I would optimistically hope for 5 wins from those 6 if we show the resilience we've had of late. Chelsea away is the toughest fixture. A perfect record is a real stretch in this league, but it's not impossible.

Qwiss

Clrnc no we drew with Atalanta.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Title officially done today.

Football is not linear. When you have the chance to win the title, win the title.

Qwiss

Sicario2 - Tier 1 if we were good enough to win the title last season we wouldn't be as bad as this now. We just aren't as good as we and most others thought. We'll probably finish second again if Ode and Saka can stay fit.

Claudius

Qwiss hmmmm
Look at our lineups from January to June

quality and consistency.
And then look at our lineups this year. This isn’t rocket science. We had a good team that had the good fortune of health to its most critical players throughout the season. Which is what you need if you’re not City. Ask Pool fans

Qwiss

Claudius so we got lucky with injuries for a while. We have a few, missing Odegaard is big but this is normal. Seasons are long, injuries happen. Top teams deal with them.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Qwiss

This is the issue, are we a top team or just wannabes/nearly men?

Top team don’t go trophyless for this long to begin with.

We love to hype our team and players up so much when we have nothing to show for it.

Huge season for Artera as questions will arise come season end if we are empty again. Can’t keep going like this.

Claudius

Qwiss who are all these top teams dealing with injuries and beating City to the league?

Qwiss

Claudius City are the team to beat. They are covering for their injuries pretty well and worst of all we are letting them.

Claudius

Qwiss city proactively sat Foden down for 5 weeks to start the season. The day we have a player of that quality can choose to sit him down, will be the day I agree that matchup is even. Nobody else is keeping up with them consistently season after season.

Someone earlier said, you get a season like last year where you’re healthy and clicking, ideally you need to make it count trophy wise.

USArsenal

Claudius Someone earlier said, you get a season like last year where you’re healthy and clicking, ideally you need to make it count trophy wise.

Yeah, but the first half of our season last year was not that great, we just went on a crazy run of 16-1-1 after the holidays. But generally speaking yeah, we were lucky for the most part last year (Partey and all our LB's aside).

There is still every chance that Pool's form dips and City really starts to miss Rodri just as we start getting our players back.

I know, grasping at straws, but its all we have right now.

Qwiss

Claudius you take a season like last season and you build on it. We didn't. The summer wasn't close to enough and I think everyone knew that at the time.

Claudius

USArsenal thanks. We cling to hope.