Manchester United dominate the narrative after Monday’s 4-4 draw, with the next few weeks key in sorting out that bizarre table.
Premier League clubs measured against expectations
At the beginning of the season, I made some suggestions about what fans viewed as minimum expectations for their clubs this season, and possible repercussions of failure (outside reasonable tolerance).
Maybe it would be a fun time to revisit that, with the season at such an interesting point? Probably not, but nevertheless…
“City – #1 – how can their fans and indeed their manager and owner bear the thought of lower expectations than top?”
Well my theoretical money remains on them, after getting through a tough early period. I don’t like it, but it’s what my gut says.
“Liverpool – #2 – while they should expect to be competitive again, I think they’d be happy with second and keeping it tight at the top. Reality might prove different, of course. But Champions to 3rd or below seems unconscionable…”
Yikes! With where they are now, you could roundly argue that this stands as probably the aspiration. But landing that title should give him some flex. If they can achieve 3rd, I’d say he deserves another year. I think 4th is very much on the cards though.
“Arsenal – #2 – yes, also second. While reality again may be different…”
Yep, I still think they’ll end up as bridesmaids. Arteta will probably stay, and the fans will have to suffer the bottlers moniker.
“Chelsea – #4 – complete guesswork of course but I would think they’d be happy with fourth…”
Tricky one this. I think the manager absolutely needs to get 4th, but I fancy it’s going to be close between them and Villa and indeed Liverpool.
“Newcastle – #6 – going to be a big season for them…”
Oh dear. I fear trouble ahead for this project, at least with this manager.
“Villa – #6 – similar to Newcastle, they need to maintain their upward journey…”
Love to see a bit of over-achieving, and I really hope Emery sticks it.
“United – #6 – I think, while no one seriously expects anything above 6th…”
Honestly, who knows any more. Could be 6th, could be 4th, could be 14th.
“Spurs – #7 – if we’re being realistic…”
Yeah, no, 7th isn’t going to happen. Possible, but not probable.
“Palace”
I didn’t include Palace, but I did suggest there would be one wildcard…
It’s all about to get very interesting…
I watched the United/Bournemouth game as it was the only one on. While the pundits declared it the game of the season, it showed why the teams not in Europe aren’t making as much headway as they’d hoped. Sure, lots of goals, pretty open game, it showed a certain lack of control…
For Manchester United, Bournemouth, Brighton, Everton, Fulham and even Brentford, this was an opportunity to consolidate their status and push harder for a European place…
Man Utd and rather more toilet talk than anybody needs
I liked Dave Tickner’s analogy in his analysis of Utd: Are Manchester United actually kind of almost good, or just a polished turd?
To run with that analogy a little more. The turd supply is very much still there…
Man Utd players came to life v Bournemouth
The suggestion that young inexperienced manager Amorim, unfamiliar with a big club or a big league, will view young Mainoo’s last cameo performance through the prism of his couple of mistakes…
Peg chat
I’m confused by Adidasmufc’s conclusions from the mailbox earlier…
On xG, Mainoo and more…
Chucking my 2p in on a few topics here…
More on Kate…
No Kate, the reason this country is in the state it’s in now is mainly a decade of Tory incompetence…
A Christmas wish list
Part of this Christmas thing is the pleasure in giving…