Just how far behind the top four are we?

[Deleted member 28206]

In all seriousness. We are about 10 years behind, we're in the first part of the 'billionaire' club. If you look at Liverpool, Chelsea, etc. They spent millions every single year, for years, sacking managers left (the RS sacked Houllier when they finished second!) right and centre. We may not be owned by Sheiks etc like city, but we are absolutely miles behind the top 4. Having said that, unless we do a Leicester and finish near the top its years. I don't see a trophy in the near future either. Unless we buy smart and play even smarter we're no closer than we where 5 years ago.

 

[havrey0123]

There's about five of them in world football, like.

Take a punt on a young striker
Lautaro Martinez
Kevin Holland
Batsuayi - he should of been brands number one target

With Chelsea and arsenal having new managers. Also spurs and united not spending, the chance was there to go for it.

Tosun isn't good enough and neither is niasse and DCL.
We needed at least one decent striker, batsuayi was available aswell, chelsea don't rate him

 

[BirkenheadBlue]

What are people's thoughts on Bournemouth? I'm inclined toward us losing 2-1 (winner to them in injury time...same as it has been the last few times)

Of course you are.

 

[evertonarntwe]

cant really follow the spurs model, they just happened to have a world class striker in Kane come through the system, if they never had Kane they wouldn't be top 4, probably have lost eriksen and alli by now

 

[degsy]

How can we get anywhere near the top clubs in the Premiership? How much has it cost Man City? RS always find a way, Chelsea spent massive money, Man U will always attract players. Spurs/Arsenal always attract the major players (London). So how do we break this trend? 30 40 50 million pound players are not enough now so what can we do?

We are, after 2 games, where we should be...in theory 7th.
But...
At least 3 of the 6, Chelsea, Man.U, Arsenal are either in transition or potential meltdown.
Spurs have no ground yet, spent no money...has the new build sucked up the spare cash? But still have a decent squad.
City have KdB out, no proper back up keeper and its always harder the 2nd time around
That leaves
The rs; They've set off, as always recently, with a hiss and a roar...can Salah keep it up

Truth is - its too early yet, nobody can tell.

We just have to do the best we can and hope the others keep on being in transition / meltdown etc etc.
#come back after halloween.

 

[KaiserEFC]

Take a punt on a young striker
Lautaro Martinez
Kevin Holland
Batsuayi - he should of been brands number one target

With Chelsea and arsenal having new managers. Also spurs and united not spending, the chance was there to go for it.

Tosun isn't good enough and neither is niasse and DCL.
We needed at least one decent striker, batsuayi was available aswell, chelsea don't rate him

Martinez went to Inter.
Volland isn’t that young.
Batshuayi cant do it in the premier league.

The chance wasn’t there though was it, we needed to fix the absolute mess we got ourselves into last season. That’s going to take longer than this season too.

 

[Michaelcoyb]

During preseason we were apparently getting relegated. Now that we have drawn a promoted team and beat a team many are tipping to go down, we start threads like this.

What is wrong with this fan base?

 

[toffeejack]

whilst i agree with spurs being the best benchmark in england, they also got very lucky with a world class striker coming through their youth. I mean before kane they had so many world class players like bale, modric, van der vaart, berbatov etc. and they were still not doing much of significance.

Kane coming through was what turned them into a success, but they have shown with good scouting and good nous you can pick up players like alli, trippier and eriksen for low fees and build a top squad. It's their big money signings like sissoko which are the odd ones.

 

[EFC78]

Let’s remain grounded, Ay?

Let’s accept at this moment we’re the best of the rest and there’s no pressure this season. Play without pressure, gel and get to know each other, how they play and what our strengths are, and should one of the teams from the “top 6” crumble, let’s hope we have enough to potentially capitalise.

Agree with your post and concept of what you're trying to say. I think finishing 7th as a minimum is something we have to be achieving each year from now on, and we cannot afford the likes of Leicester to be ahead of us. Obviously the on the pitch aspect is the most important thing, but how we perform off it is also going to be a contributing factor in moving us closer to the top 6 and away from those clubs like Leicester, West Ham, Burnley, Southampton etc.

That means the Stadium coming off, and improving our global appeal and the money we make commercially. The club have failed miserably on the latter for decades which is unacceptable for a club of our stature, especially when you consider those other 4 clubs I mentioned (as well as the rest of the league), are vastly inferior to us in that regard.

 

[BlueToff]

Problem is mate, even a weaker Arsenal and Man U could easily be still good for us.

The other thing is as well, we haven’t played any one of note yet, our first big test will be the Arsenal game, that may give us a few hints of things to come this season.

I think our first big test is coming up on Saturday, Lou.

 

[Baines' left foot]

We’ve won one game after 3 seasons of utter rubbish.

This is starting to smell like the same mindless optimism that took over the fan base last summer.

 

[mooseatingnome]

What is wrong with this fan base?

Too many Millenials.

 

[Number_25]

Finishing in the top 7, and cementing the position of being the best of the rest is probably where we need to be right now.

 

[BlueToff]

Take a punt on a young striker
Lautaro Martinez - just moved to Inter, is more of a winger/no.10
Kevin Holland - doesn't exist
Batsuayi - he should of been brands number one target - No where near top class. Reason he's been farmed out to other leagues.

With Chelsea and arsenal having new managers. Also spurs and united not spending, the chance was there to go for it.

Tosun isn't good enough and neither is niasse and DCL.
We needed at least one decent striker, batsuayi was available aswell, chelsea don't rate him

Tosun was crucial for us v Wolves and v S'ton. His running gave the three behind space to work. Batshuayi wouldn't give you that. He's a smart price Lukaku.

Chelsea don't rate him because he's not that good.

 

[Number_25]

Too many Millenials.

It tends to be the old guard that are the most unreasonable.

Most millenials were brought up watching Moyes' team, so we don't expect much other than to be competitive.