Lots of ifs & buts going into the start of every season, this is no different, last season I believe most of us thought we’d retain the title, look how that turned out, so to finish in third was a hell of a achievement all things considered,
For me it’s keeping Ox & in particular Keita fit, it’s clear to me Jürgen is more than happy with Keita in pre season and is obviously keeping the faith he has in him, Ox is wasted out wide imo and has more impact centrally so it’s possible he can play in the hole, the options we have all over the pitch is encouraging, we have almost two players for each position with plenty of variation, Minamino looks like he has upped his game likewise Tsimikas, Harvey Elliot is a revelation, the impact he will offer off the bench will be immense, and will allow Thiago to rest occasionally, he can also be used as a Bobby Mkll, but I think young Kaide Gordon will nail this down in due course,
For the first time in what seems like ages we have a squad of players where every element is incredibly strong, from the GK’s, our defence, the engine room and our attack, what ppl tend to forget, especially in the media, that we are in essence a very well oiled machine, the gremlins we had last season are gone and what we are left with is a group of players absolute determined to right a few wrongs, we won the title with the same group essentially aside from Gini, but didn’t have a fully fit Keita, a more settled Thiago & Jota, the further strengthening of defence with Konate, and Tsimikas, the returns of Virgil & Gomez and not forgetting Joel are like new signings, and we have wee Harvey to sprinkle on the gold dust,
One or two new faces of course would be welcome but looking at that list Si posted, I think we are in a very very good position, and with our one game at a time mantra, we will be very difficult to beat, the Mentality Monsters are back, and back with a massive bang imo.
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