[Albion] So, 3 PL games in, are we a real threat?

[heathgate]

Edit...** A general threat to the established order of things as far as normal PL outcomes are concerned **

We are playing some slick footy and sitting in a comfy position after three decent results, better than most of us might have expected before the season started I'm sure.....however.... I wonder, probably controversially if I know this board, if we have been helped by the rub of the green a bit here.... as welcome as that 'rub' is of course.

1) Everton - At least two laughable misses by the opposition and a penalty that could easily have gone either way.

2) Man U - Marginal disallowed goals and some inexplicable defending at the end.

3) Arse - Saka and Odegaard uncharacteristic misses of virtual tap-ins plus the welcome but again marginal red that on another day could have seen Veltman off.

I do of course refuse to look into the mouths of these particular gift horses.... it's all looking good so far.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Are we a 'real threat' to WHAT?

To the top half - yes
To the top six - possibly
To the top 4 - probably not
To City - absolutely not
To any club on any given matchday - of course

 

[SAC]

A threat to the top four? Almost certainly not.
A threat to the European places? You would think so.
A threat of relegation? Nope.

 

[chickens]

Start of the season nobody has really found their level, which gives an opportunity for atypical results.

Having said that, we’ve a lot of new faces still to come in, and if our recruitment has largely been positive, which it usually is, and we gain confidence and understanding of our new coach’s tactics, then yes we’re a threat.

We have to be able to compete against the top four to get into Europe, so I say yes, we’re a threat there too. Unlikely to be title winners, but that’s what we absolutely have to aim for. Every match, one by one, aim to beat the opposition in front of you.

 

[durrington gull]

Outside bet for Conference/Europa spot i would say

 

[Is it PotG?]

So, maybe.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Hard to say.

We've had a lot of luck so far this season.
If we continue to have the same amount of luck and our new signings are as good as hoped then yes, we will be a threat to top 6.

Bu I doubt it will play out like that.

 

[Betfair Bozo]

I think we are a threat to the top 4. No European football is a huge advantage in terms of the league this season, especially with the new formats.

 

[Stato]

Are we a 'real threat' to WHAT?

To the top half - yes
To the top six - possibly
To the top 4 - probably not
To City - absolutely not
To any club on any given matchday - of course

Sums it up nicely. Far too early to say whether results will continue to be so positive. Would be nice to see a bit more of the players who we've spent all this money on: O'Riley, Wieffer, Gruda, Kadioglu & Rutter have featured in limited spells or not at all yet. Osman, ACD, Yalcouye have all gone off on loan and Gomez doesn't arrive until January. The current league position has been mostly down to last year's squad being much better now that half of them aren't injured. Who knows whether that will continue, but the squad's now deeper.

 

[Soton Seagull]

Too soon to say. Whilst we've played some lovely stuff and scored good goals, we've been fortunate not to concede nearly as many owing to looking quite shaky at the back.

What gives hope of continued form is that, on paper at least, we are not even close to having put out our strongest team yet but have still acheived postive results. Full strength team could cause problems to any team and confidence breeds confidence leading to long good runs and quick bouncebacks after disappointments.

The fear is that unless we get a bit smarter/quicker at the back we will also take a few absolute thumpings.

I feel we could make top 6 with a fair wind, but if frailties exposed then 9th/10th feels about right.

Should be an exciting season regardless. Feels like a great opportunity to get to a cup final.

 

[Bodian]

Five wins out of the first six games last season. Let's not get ahead of ourselves!

 

[wardy wonder land]

key for me - threat to top 4 / 6 / europe - need to maximise the "advantage" of no european fixtures for us and the fatigue for the other teams

Spurs & City are games imeditaly after they have a euro game

villa, Arsnal & Manu are all games in the xmas period

 

[Simster]

Outside bet for Conference/Europa spot i would say

I think we are a threat to the top 4. No European football is a huge advantage in terms of the league this season, especially with the new formats.

This is where the real debate is to be had. I think our lack of European football means we are an outside bet for the top 4 and not just a threat but bang in the mix for at least a Conference league spot.

The top 3 picks itself (City, Arsenal, Liverpool), but then there are several clubs who could finish top 8 and we're one of those - but we have no European fixtures to worry about this season.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

key for me - threat to top 4 / 6 / europe - need to maximise the "advantage" of no european fixtures for us and the fatigue for the other teams

Spurs & City are games imeditaly after they have a euro game

villa, Arsnal & Manu are all games in the xmas period


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You're correct to be pointing this out. If we're going to get to 4th, 5th, 6th kind of position, we need to win more than we lose against comparable teams.

But probably more importantly, is greater ruthlessness at home against low block kind of sides. Finding those goals in tight matches where we have failed to do so in recent years

 

[BBassic]

Without wanting to piss on anyone's chips, and with the caveat that I'm absolutely ecstatic about the start we've had, I feel we have been a wee bit lucky, certainly in our last two games.

Everton we basically dominated and rightly smashed.

We were a knee away from going 2-1 against United which may have been the final result.
Arsenal were on top before Rice got himself a second yellow.

That said of course - suck it United and absolutely suck it Arsenal, you bunch of weirdos.

It's too early to tell. We look good, very good at times. But we could have easily lost the United and Arsenal games and be sat on three points right now. We'll have a clearer picture when we've played some more of our usual bogeymen - the teams that camp the box and hit us on the break.

 

[wardy wonder land]

Key 9 points to play for at the buisness end of the season could have a big impact on who finishes where 1-8

 

[Professor Plum]

Yes we've had plenty of luck but almost every team can say that about almost every match. We will lose games this season through the reverse happening ie opponents getting a lucky decision or us failing to score an open goal. Injuries obviously are another unpredictable source of both good and bad luck, depending on whether it's our opponents or us who are affected.

But there's plenty that we can control ourselves. I think we have the talent to be considered top 6 or 7 but not top 3 or 4. When we have all the new players available I genuinely think we will be a major handful for most teams in the division. We will know much more after the Ipswich and Forest games. On paper we should be battering them but if we don't, we may find our bubble deflating a bit (but not burst).

Much comes down to mental strength and I like Hürzeler's focus on this aspect. It's absolutely no coincidence that the really successful sides tend to be 'mentality monsters' and this is something we can continue to work on well with FH.

 

[Berty23]

1) Everton - At least two laughable misses by the opposition and a penalty that could easily have gone either way.

2) Man U - Marginal disallowed goals and some inexplicable defending at the end.

3) Arse - Saka and Odegaard uncharacteristic misses of virtual tap-ins plus the welcome but again marginal red that on another day could have seen Veltman off.

I do of course refuse to look into the mouths of these particular gift horses.... it's all looking good so far.

I think we need to be careful with forgetting some details.

The two Everton sitters were actually offside (assuming you mean Dwight Mcneill’s misses?

Odegaard missed a huge chance but Trossard was clearly offside before he crossed so it would have been disallowed.

I am still not sure how anyone can make a case for Veltman getting a Red. On a different day Arsenal might not have got the jammiest assist you could wish to see.

I suspect that with our high line we will see numerous goals disallowed for offside but also lots of chances missed that count as chances but would have been chalked off by VAR.

 

[The Fits]

Getting Wieffer and Ferdi fit and firing feels like the real key. Get them fit and hope they turn out to be top end Prem players (Ferdi definitely will be) for five games and then we can really see where we are at.
We are competing against the likes of Villa and West Ham who've had equally impressive transfer windows for my money.

 

[Sussexscots]

Can't say at the moment.

We've looked decent but also had a healthy dollop of good fortune in our first three matches (not complaining). Minteh aside, we've no real idea how quickly the new signings will bed in.

We'll maybe have a better idea after we've played Ipswich and Forest