I think we will win the Prem. Losing VVD a massive blow, and a couple other injuries in the position have been as welcome as a fart in a lift.
But we have a lot of other good players, and crucially, a winning mentality.
Nobody is going to run away with it this year. No preseason to speak of, and the games coming thick and fast. The very best teams won’t hit the highs of the last 2-3 yrs in terms of points haul, and the best of the rest might close the gap somewhat, so the top four race will be interesting right down to the wire.
The CL is anyone’s guess. We are one of a handful of clubs who can win it, definitely, but against the elite and best strikers, and teams in Europe, we will miss VVD. I would have Bayern Munich as favorites, but after that we are as good as anyone else, and even then, if we drew Bayern Munich, I wouldn’t bet against us as anything can happen in knockout football.
The schedule is mad and injuries are going to play a big part this season. So far, we’re coping well. We’ve had 7 games since the last international break and had 5 different CB pairings in that time, but we’ve looked much more secure since the Villa defeat. More like our old selves. 5 wins and 2 draws (away at Everton and City), so a really good three weeks.
Apart from Atalanta we haven’t played with much fluency but we’ve dug in and shown the mentality that won us the CL and the PL in the previous two seasons. A lot of people were rushing to write us off after the Virgil injury but we’ve responded brilliantly. Still the team to beat.
