Just standard stuff really. Nothing worth panicking about - yet

What's par at home to Liverpool - who at full strength, are probably one of the best two or three sides in the world... and as an absolute bare minimum, are top six in the world? Losing by about three goals.

What's par away to Man City - who are awfully close to being the best side in the world, full stop? (Hypothetically, in a 38-game European league with all the best teams playing each other home and away, they'd very likely win it with something to spare). Losing by about five goals.

And that's even before we factor in the total lack of preparation thanks to Covid. If we play open, ie. 'our way' against these teams, we will always get trounced... but playing a flat back eleven at City didn't exactly work out under Hughton either.

Both City and Liverpool are, in effect, at least three divisions above us. And even in the good old days, ie. before money ruined football, we had more than our fair share of thrashings when going open against top sides.

It's life. We are what we are. Getting something on the board next weekend would be great (par at home to Leicester is probably a narrow defeat) - but far and away the most important work this season will involve what happens between now and the end of the window, and how Farke goes about organising us during the international break. That's when he's fixed things so well in the past, after all.

No-one ever thought it was going to be easy. But let the pundits write us off and dismiss us. It's not about games v superclubs; it's the games v everyone else that'll decide everything. Nothing's changed in that sense - and getting these two games out of the way so early when we're so undercooked may well end up a blessing.

Posted By: thebigfeller, Aug 22, 02:39:02