Re: Saints v The Mighty Toffees

hairy cataract Mon 26 Oct 2020, 10:52 pm

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:
Yankthattoffee wrote:
Rotterdam 1985 wrote:I have nothing to say. I only came back to the board for the glory-hunting.
We're still top.
You could be an Arsenal fan after all.

Yup.

I agree with Hairy, we know what we are at the moment. We've got a chance of top 6 if we're lucky with injuries. Anything better than that will probably require us to be spectacularly lucky with injuries, or a mad season similar to when Leicester won it, where most of the top teams have disastrous seasons. That's highly unlikely.

We've got a really good starting 11 but most of the squad depth consists of players who've shown in the last year or two that they're not good enough. But we knew all this anyway, before this defeat. We may have the capacity to sustain a challenge in the near future but it won't be this season.

But we're still top. Since 2005 when we finished 4th, I reckon we've had a week and a half of genuine excitement as far as potential league achievement is concerned. That was towards the end of Martinez's first season after we beat Arsenal 3-0, and we thought we genuinely had a chance of 4th. We beat Sunderland the following week, then lost at home to Palace 3-2 and it all went up in a puff of smoke. If I'm missing another fleeting moment during that period when it appeared that we might go beyond simply being a distant best of the rest then please remind me.

A week and a half of excitement in 15 years. My eldest is 21 and is blue to the core, but apart from recalling that he once named his pet hamster Big Dunc, he remembers nothing of 2005, all he's ever known is mediocrity. So I'm not going to get too down over today's performance/reminder. It's only two months ago that I was writing the season off before it had even started, when we were 3-0 down to Blackpool after 12 minutes in a friendly. Being top is fucking great and we have another week of it at least. Enjoy it.

I agree with this, especially the "I agree with Hairy" bit.

It has indeed been great being top, not least winding up the Red Shite. Of course, they'll take great joy in our downfall but, as Rotts says, we know what we are at the moment. I'd be surprised if James continues to have the influence on games that he had in the first few, particularly as other teams will suss us out (get the ball to James, he turns onto his left peg and wafts a long ball into the path of Richarlison/Digne). And when he's not winning games for us, he could well lose a few for us - with Godfrey at right back, we need better cover on that side than James provides.

But, as with the first Martinez season, it's great to see us taking it to opponents, and thinking we might score a few goals, even if we also get the odd hammering.

I'd take 6th and a trip to Wembley, preferably when the fans are allowed back into the stadium.