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2022/23 expectations

Id like to see this. From my point of view we did well last season in trying circumstances. We got 4th but with managerial change and player changes. We are more settled now. So I would like to think we can be in 3rd place and close to the top two for a while. And get CL before the end of the season. My heart would like to think we can toy with the top spot here and there. And whilst I agree that Liverpool and City are ahead of us. We dont play them 38 times a season. Only 4, so our games against them ( where we did well ) count but its how we do against the rest. Our squad is more settled and we have some backup on the bench now as well.

I hope for a way more solid Defense, a settled Kane and Son firing. Richarlison forcing himself into the team so we have a lethal front three. Peresic with a lot of assets from the left and Spence taking over the RWB spot.

As for a trophy. CL would be a long shot. League cup is not going to shut anyone up. So I want to see us really go for the FA Cup as well.

I could see one of Liverpool or City having a bad season by their standards and dropping their level to circa 85 points but not both. No chance. At least one of them will get more than 90 points. They’ve set an insane standard over the last 4 seasons. I don’t think our defence is solid enough to compete with them. Our forwards can match anyone mind you so if Kane and Son both have the seasons of their lives and we get decent contributions from Kulu and Richarlison then who knows.

I think any trophy will shut up rival fans. Yes of course they’ll say it’s only 1 in 15 years but we’ve got to start somewhere.
 
A computer has us at 4th:

View attachment 14355

This page shows the analysis - pretty interesting inputs there which is quite well assembled and seems to have been backtested for a high confidence of predictability:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/methodology/how-our-club-soccer-predictions-work/
up to date with latest pre season transfers with market value as a guide to changing performance - though i think that would be faulty this year

Well at least the rankings look in order and anticipation of narrowing points gap amongst the top teams:
View attachment 14356
I'd be bitterly disappointed if we only get 66 pts! And no way that will be enough for 4th. I'm expecting us to be around 75 points, hopefully push beyond 80.
 
I'd like to see us finish comfortably ahead of the pack from 5th downwards. Whether that's 3rd or 4th I don't really mind, I just don't want us scrabbling for that 4th spot right to the end (I don't think that will be the case). 3rd would be great obviously. A few weeks back it felt that the conversation was where in the top 4 we would finish, rather than if we would make it, and I think that remains the same, as long as we don't throw away silly points in those games we should be winning. So
Expectation 3rd or 4th plus a domestic cup + score at least twice from a free kick.
Aspiration : 4 points from Chelsea, 4 from Liverpool and all 6 from Woolwich. CL QFs. Harry Kane Golden Boot, Sonny runner-up.
 
I'd like to see us finish comfortably ahead of the pack from 5th downwards. Whether that's 3rd or 4th I don't really mind, I just don't want us scrabbling for that 4th spot right to the end (I don't think that will be the case). 3rd would be great obviously. A few weeks back it felt that the conversation was where in the top 4 we would finish, rather than if we would make it, and I think that remains the same, as long as we don't throw away silly points in those games we should be winning. So
Expectation 3rd or 4th plus a domestic cup + score at least twice from a free kick.
Aspiration : 4 points from Chelsea, 4 from Liverpool and all 6 from Woolwich. CL QFs. Harry Kane Golden Boot, Sonny runner-up.

A goal against them in either fixture would be nice. When was the last time we scored against them?
 
I'd be bitterly disappointed if we only get 66 pts! And no way that will be enough for 4th. I'm expecting us to be around 75 points, hopefully push beyond 80.

No way we’re only getting 66 points with a full season under Conte. We managed 71 points with Nuno managing us for the first few months. I’d be disappointed with less than 80 points tbh.
 
Id like to see this. From my point of view we did well last season in trying circumstances. We got 4th but with managerial change and player changes. We are more settled now. So I would like to think we can be in 3rd place and close to the top two for a while. And get CL before the end of the season. My heart would like to think we can toy with the top spot here and there. And whilst I agree that Liverpool and City are ahead of us. We dont play them 38 times a season. Only 4, so our games against them ( where we did well ) count but its how we do against the rest. Our squad is more settled and we have some backup on the bench now as well.

I hope for a way more solid Defense, a settled Kane and Son firing. Richarlison forcing himself into the team so we have a lethal front three. Peresic with a lot of assets from the left and Spence taking over the RWB spot.

As for a trophy. CL would be a long shot. League cup is not going to shut anyone up. So I want to see us really go for the FA Cup as well.

Absolutely think we should expect improvements from last season. Difficult to know if and by how much teams around us improve. So final league position will depend as much on other teams.

For me a somewhat comfortable top four finish with some of the improvements you mentioned would be good.

Find it difficult to talk about cup trophies and expectations. Can't really expect something that's inherently a lie probability outcome. But would like to see us put ourselves in a good position by having a good cup run or two. Then what happens happens.
 
I could see one of Liverpool or City having a bad season by their standards and dropping their level to circa 85 points but not both. No chance. At least one of them will get more than 90 points. They’ve set an insane standard over the last 4 seasons. I don’t think our defence is solid enough to compete with them. Our forwards can match anyone mind you so if Kane and Son both have the seasons of their lives and we get decent contributions from Kulu and Richarlison then who knows.

I think any trophy will shut up rival fans. Yes of course they’ll say it’s only 1 in 15 years but we’ve got to start somewhere.

There's a small chance of both teams dropping off if it's possible that either one of them does so. But the likelihood is small for sure.

I think our defence showed towards the end of last season that they're capable of performing at a very high level. If we can keep our first choice defenders fit, or Lenglet slots in well I think Conte will be expecting/demanding a rather impressive defensive campaign overall.

For me the biggest question mark will be our ability to break down teams that sit back. We've gone some way towards improving that, for me Perisic is very likely to be a success. If Spence or Doherty along with Richarlison and any other new attacking signings have strong seasons we should improve quite a bit at that.
 
It's all about attitude for me.
There was 18 points between 2nd and third last season.
i think we can easily take third, close that gap to single figures and be ahead of fourth by six points. We are good enough and have a strong enough squad, buy only if we have fixed the mentality, i think we have gone a long way to doing so, we are about to find out.
 
There's a small chance of both teams dropping off if it's possible that either one of them does so. But the likelihood is small for sure.

I think our defence showed towards the end of last season that they're capable of performing at a very high level. If we can keep our first choice defenders fit, or Lenglet slots in well I think Conte will be expecting/demanding a rather impressive defensive campaign overall.

For me the biggest question mark will be our ability to break down teams that sit back. We've gone some way towards improving that, for me Perisic is very likely to be a success. If Spence or Doherty along with Richarlison and any other new attacking signings have strong seasons we should improve quite a bit at that.
What teams do actually sit back?
Last season we had Burnley do it
Beyond that…. West Ham ish
Watford did (2 relegated sides)
Out problem was teams that pressed us more IMO as we didn’t have enough ball players on the pitch.
We had royal and Reggie panicking their passes
Moura treating the ball like a bomb
Sanchez… good and bad
Pierre… not great with the ball sometimes
We have massively upgraded those players and that will make a BIG difference
People talk about lock pickers but city and pool beat the bus Parker’s by playing the same game they did the week before
 
What teams do actually sit back?
Last season we had Burnley do it
Beyond that…. West Ham ish
Watford did (2 relegated sides)
Out problem was teams that pressed us more IMO as we didn’t have enough ball players on the pitch.
We had royal and Reggie panicking their passes
Moura treating the ball like a bomb
Sanchez… good and bad
Pierre… not great with the ball sometimes
We have massively upgraded those players and that will make a BIG difference
People talk about lock pickers but city and pool beat the bus Parker’s by playing the same game they did the week before

We lost more games last season by not turning up than we did against teams parking the bus.
 
I think most of us would be happy with 3rd or 4th, me included. Cannot see Conte settling for that though. He's thinking title charge.
He's going to push the team as much as he can, but I don't think he will be disappointed with a 3rd place finish, provided we have closed the gap with City and Pool. I think next year will be the real title push.
 
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