Time to reassess expectations

[An Away Move]

I think we have to face, with perhaps a touch of humour for sanity, that expectations of finishing the league in fourth or fifth is too much to expect with the kind of defensive injury crisis we have currently at our club. Having six defenders out changes everything. It’s not just the loss of an £80m+ player in Fofana who adds so much. It’s not just the others. It’s the change in dynamics. We simply can’t play out with the same confidence. All of this is going to cost us points. The question is how many. 
I also happen to think that starting Vardy in the lone striker role will also cost us points. He’s our legend but he no longer possesses enough of his old strengths to warrant the lone striker role. The goal against Wolves masks the problem. He’s missing more chances than he used to, and more frequently being outrun and out muscled. This could be a mid-table season. Hopefully we get strong again defensively towards the business end of the Europa League. We’d still be missing Fofana though who contributes so much. Time to downgrade expectations. Mostly because of pure misfortune. 

Edited 24 August 2021 by SydenhamFox

[Webbo]

It's 1 match, we had someone sent off. 

[Jimothy]

It's one match, against a team that beat us comfortably twice last season too. They seem to have our number at the minute. If lose to Norwich I'll agree with you, but until then it's one match.

[Chrysalis]

I already think this season will be tougher regardless of how we started, west ham are now a very strong team, everton and spurs are potential teams to be fighting for 5th-8th as well which is where I expect us to finish.

 

Top 4 locked down now, the two manchesters, liverpool and man city will just be too strong.

[An Away Move]

Just now, Webbo said:

It's 1 match, we had someone sent off. 

It’s six defenders out. It’s going to cost us. We have to face that. 

[lanefox]

It’s one game get a grip

[coolhandfox]

2 games into the season 

[An Away Move]

2 minutes ago, lanefox said:

It’s one game get a grip

And I think you might be an ostrich 😂

[An Away Move]

2 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

2 games into the season 

You are an ostrich if you think 4th or 5th is still on 😂

[shailen]

Ffs lol, cancel the stadium expansion 😂

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

Time to reassess a few users accounts.

[Fox92]

8 minutes ago, Webbo said:

It's 1 match, we had someone sent off. 

I do agree with this but even with 11 they were far better than us. I'm not overracting but it was such a disappointing performance against a side who we're supposed to be competitng with for top 6. Given that, though, they are a good team and I'll be more disappointed if we lose at Norwich.

 

We'll stll finish top 6 this season.

[FoxesWalk]

[VLC86]

For all of the outrage in here, based purely on the title of the thread and not the content, I kind of agree. The teams above us have improved, unfortunately at the minute our starting 11 is worse purely down to injuries and for that reason I wouldn’t be expecting top 4/5.

 

We were in an awkward point of expectation anyway this year. Probably not good enough for top 4, too good to finish anywhere other than 5th. 
 

I’m not saying I expect us to finishing anything below 7th but don’t ignore just how bad that centre back pairing is. 

[An Away Move]

I can take the stick I’m getting. Not sure I can take the denial. So those of you posting so far think 4th or 5th is still on then? Ok then. 

[An Away Move]

1 minute ago, Costock_Fox said:

For all of the outrage in here, based purely on the title of the thread and not the content, I kind of agree. The teams above us have improved, unfortunately at the minute our starting 11 is worse purely down to injuries and for that reason I wouldn’t be expecting top 4/5.

 

We were in an awkward point of expectation anyway this year. Probably not good enough for top 4, too good to finish anywhere other than 5th. 
 

I’m not saying I expect us to finishing anything below 7th but don’t ignore just how bad that centre back pairing is. 

Exactly! Not only do we have a crisis at the back. We have a transitional year up front. 

[Sunbury Fox]

We're in a fight with Spurs, West Ham, Arsenal and Everton (plus maybe Villa and Leeds) for a 5th-8th place finish. Getting top 4 was always a very tough ask this season, given the strength in depth of Man City, Chelsea and Man U, combined with Liverpool having key players back from injury and our own ongoing injury crisis. 

 

[StanSP]

I despair for some of our fans sometimes. 

 

[AS78UK]

35 points required from 36 games, I think your panicking to early.   

[Pliskin]

[An Away Move]

2 minutes ago, StanSP said:

I despair for some of our fans sometimes. 

 

You have despair for someone who says we should modify our expectations of finishing 4th or 5th because we have a terrible defensive crisis?

Edited 24 August 2021 by SydenhamFox

[StriderHiryu]

[Innovindil]

5 minutes ago, SydenhamFox said:

I can take the stick I’m getting. Not sure I can take the denial. So those of you posting so far think 4th or 5th is still on then? Ok then. 

We're two games into the season ffs. 

 

How the hell have we become this spoilt and entitled that we lose one game and this forum goes bananas. 

[Dusty]

Can’t believe we’ve spent all summer taking the piss out of arsenal fans just to have a meltdown like one of them as soon as we lose a game. We honestly seem to have one of the most fickle fan bases.

[An Away Move]

Just now, Innovindil said:

We're two games into the season ffs. 

 

How the hell have we become this spoilt and entitled that we lose one game and this forum goes bananas. 

Nothing spoiled or entitled about saying we ought to modify our expectations of finishing 4th or 5th because of our injuries. It’s actually entitled to think otherwise.