Why the surprise about our title aspirations.

[Guest mick the baker]

After sundays defeat and the inevitable press bandwagon rolling on about our title hopes being extinguished by november,it makes me wonder how we ever thought we would have the quality to rollover chelsea manutd and arsenal in the first place.Pennant, bellamy,gonzalez,were brought in to improve the squad,but were these players going to really get us to the holy grail which as we all know has eluded us for far to young.A lot of our supporters need to get a reality check , and until we can get the cash injection,which we are due soon if you believe mr parry,we will always be buying the players aforementioned, and challenging for a top three to four place,for the forseeable future,their is still a hell of a lot to play for this season,and if its to be the cups,then thats what we have to focus on.

[windy city red]

After sundays defeat and the inevitable press bandwagon rolling on about our title hopes being extinguished by november,it makes me wonder how we ever thought we would have the quality to rollover chelsea manutd and arsenal in the first place.Pennant, bellamy,gonzalez,were brought in to improve the squad,but were these players going to really get us to the holy grail which as we all know has eluded us for far to young.A lot of our supporters need to get a reality check , and until we can get the cash injection,which we are due soon if you believe mr parry,we will always be buying the players aforementioned, and challenging for a top three to four place,for the forseeable future,their is still a hell of a lot to play for this season,and if its to be the cups,then thats what we have to focus on.

 

i would like to add a neuro examination too, beacuse some have the brain size of a green lizard - could be a significant discovery for the human race though.

never expected us to win the title this season, or the next.

[Guest fish finger]

It wasn't just the fans who thought that, though. The press and most of the pundits were spouting that

from the end of last season.

 

Not a peep out of Rafa, mind, so maybe we're all just guilty of wishful thinking.

[Toni]

I agree with you that pennat/gonzalez/bellamy are good squad players and it is clear we need to include a couple of quality players in our side, but with our present squad i still expected a more serious challenge to the title race.

 

I still think that pennant/gonzalez/bellamy have basically underperformed thus far and we all know they can do better. Apart from that Xabi/Gerrad/Carra have not reached last season's level yet

 

still think we can play much better with the present squad. pity we are already out of the title race or so it seems...

[Kite]

Pennant, bellamy,gonzalez,were brought in to improve the squad,but were these players going to really get us to the holy grail which as we all know has eluded us for far to young. A lot of our supporters need to get a reality check , and until we can get the cash injection,which we are due soon if you believe mr parry,we will always be buying the players aforementioned, ...

 

To be fair, now that Pennant, Bellamy and Gonzalez are already in the squad, I don't think Rafa will need to buy them again.

[realtarragona]

The only reality is that we finished on 82 points last season and have since improved the squad in quite a few areas. It wasn't too much to ask to expect us to challenge for the title. Kuyt is a top player and the likes of Bellamy and Pennant are experienced Premiership players and an improvement on last season's squad. Plus add to that the amount of hype to given to Gonzalez and no wonder people were expecting big things.

[Chili Palmer]

To be fair, now that Pennant, Bellamy and Gonzalez are already in the squad, I don't think Rafa will need to buy them again.

 

I'm not too shy to admit that I thought we would win the league, the runs we had last season, Rafas buys in the summer, better squad etc, a good start and I thought we would be there. Its what makes what is happening all the more disappointing, but you gotta believe that Rafa will sort it out asap.

[Nebraska Red]

until we can shop at Harrod's instead of Tesco's, we will struggle to match up with the likes of Chavski and Man U.

 

i know Rafa does not want to overpay for players and will only pay what he thinks they are worth, but you get what you pay for (in most cases) and we have to be able to get involved in the bidding for the top class players and not go for the 2nd or 3rd choice.

 

as for winning the title, it was generally thought that we needed a goalscorer and a winger, we got the goalscorer and we need the winger to show if he can do the job.

[anny road]

I said that the other week

[Cobs]

I'm not too shy to admit that I thought we would win the league, the runs we had last season, Rafas buys in the summer, better squad etc, a good start and I thought we would be there. Its what makes what is happening all the more disappointing, but you gotta believe that Rafa will sort it out asap.

exactly - same here

 

 

Mourinho said after the Charity Shield that we wouldn't be challenging Chelsea for the title and people went off on one about it - citing it as clear mind games as we were obviously Chelsea's biggest challengers...

[Dan]

I was pretty sure we wouldn't win it but thought we'd challenge for most of the season.

 

People were getting carried away after the Community Shield. It's nearly as bad as everyone writing the Mancs off. Why the f*ck do people do this year after year?! Some people are still doing it now ffs.

[hideNseek]

The only reality is that we finished on 82 points last season and have since improved the squad in quite a few areas. It wasn't too much to ask to expect us to challenge for the title. Kuyt is a top player and the likes of Bellamy and Pennant are experienced Premiership players and an improvement on last season's squad. Plus add to that the amount of hype to given to Gonzalez and no wonder people were expecting big things.

 

Exactly and agree 100%.

[Guz]

Although we lost at United, Chelsea and Arsenal last year - some of the performances weren't that bad. With the introduction of pace (Speedy, Pennant and Bellamy) and the industry of Kuyt I thought we'd do a lot better at these games because that was the biggest area we had to improve onl.

[Maldini]

We won more points than any other team in the league from October onwards last season. Of course we had a chance of winning the league this year, the fact that this hasn't happened doesn't change the fact that it should have, that's why people are so pissed off.

[Rimbeux]

We won more points than any other team in the league from October onwards last season. Of course we had a chance of winning the league this year, the fact that this hasn't happened doesn't change the fact that it should have, that's why people are so pissed off.

 

 

f***ing bang on.

 

Given the fixture list, it was always going to be do or die from very early on. Had we held our own and maybe got away with draws, or maybe a couple of defeats and a win, we'd be sitting pretty f***in pretty. This all has the air of expecting to lose those five games, which although was always a possible, is a strange mentality.

[IgPig]

We won more points than any other team in the league from October onwards last season. Of course we had a chance of winning the league this year, the fact that this hasn't happened doesn't change the fact that it should have, that's why people are so pissed off.

 

Indeed.

 

And its very easy to come out now and say "we were never gonna win it anyway" in an effort to look like some sort of genius.

 

If you're contrary often enough, you'll be proved right occassionally.

[Cobs]

point being no-one was saying 'we're never gonna win it this season' back in August.

 

Playing all the big guns away was seen as a good thing cos we could stick with the leaders to Christmas and then have a great run in to the title in the 2nd half of the season.

 

It has all gone properly t1ts up and there's no point trying to say otherwise now

Edited November 15, 2006 by Cobs

[Romario]

After sundays defeat and the inevitable press bandwagon rolling on about our title hopes being extinguished by november,it makes me wonder how we ever thought we would have the quality to rollover chelsea manutd and arsenal in the first place.Pennant, bellamy,gonzalez,were brought in to improve the squad,but were these players going to really get us to the holy grail which as we all know has eluded us for far to young.A lot of our supporters need to get a reality check , and until we can get the cash injection,which we are due soon if you believe mr parry,we will always be buying the players aforementioned, and challenging for a top three to four place,for the forseeable future,their is still a hell of a lot to play for this season,and if its to be the cups,then thats what we have to focus on.

I thought we'd put in a decent challenge to be honest. I hoped the new players would settle quickly and that the older heads would continue their fine form of late last year. I also hoped that we'd get off to a flying start for the first time in god knows how long.

I thought we could make it really interesting if we were within 3 points of the top at xmas judging by the fixtures.

 

For reasons no one can explain absolutly none of the above happened and we look completly broken all over the park at the moment away from home. I'll be chuffed if we can scramble 4th (with next year in mind) but I can't get excited about it at all. I was hoping we'd be mixing it up with the top 3 rather than the likes of Bolton, Everton and Wigan.

[D.Boon]

point being no-one was saying 'we're never gonna win it this season' back in August.

 

Playing all the big guns away was seen as a good thing cos we could stick with the leaders to Christmas and then have a great run in to the title in the 2nd half of the season.

 

It has all gone properly t1ts up and there's no point trying to say otherwise now

 

i thought it went t*** up at the mancs and felt tiwas over there and then. Not only the result but the performance.

[sutty]

There's a significant difference between believing you are going to win it and believing you are going to challenge.

 

I never thought the former. I did think the latter. I did not count on the fact that we'd play like c**** away from home.

Edited November 15, 2006 by sutty

[Cobs]

There's a significant difference between believing you are going to win it and believing you are going to challenge.

 

I never thought the former. I did think the latter. I did not count on the fact that we'd play like c**** away from home.

and there's a difference again from believing we weren't 'ever going to win the league in the first place' - no-one thought that

[Romario]

and there's a difference again from believing we weren't 'ever going to win the league in the first place' - no-one thought that

Exactly. I think that's why so many are so pissed off. As it stands we are never going to win the league this year and that's a real blow knowing we're playing for the wooden spoon as early as October.

[Guest The Defender]

I'm disapointed with how things have gone and frankly i did expect more.

 

But the season is far from over.. Come april/may i dont think we'll be 14points behind the leaders.. IMO

[Cobs]

I'm disapointed with how things have gone and frankly i did expect more.

 

But the season is far from over.. Come april/may i dont think we'll be 14points behind the leaders.. IMO

you think it's gonna get better or worse?

[Guest The Defender]

you think it's gonna get better or worse?

 

Better.. alot better. The hardest away games are out the way and we have the best run in we've had in years.