You’re absolutely right. It’s interesting because the players individually look like they’re playing well (Dalot aside obviously). Licha coming back will help and a bit more legs in midfield will protect them better. Hopefully Amad can adapt to the physical side of his defensive work as well.

…and build some confidence. I really do think the home form is key. If OT can become a fortress, then a few uninspiring away results can be forgiven and aren’t costly esp if we can avoid defeat more often than not.

I’m interested in knowing why you don’t think it’s sustainable as we got thru a tough fixture run without a full blown crisis. We had to cut out the losses which were themselves unsustainable for the project. The next 3 include 2 winnable home games where hopefully we can be a bit more expansive…

A couple of home fixtures might help

Sesko needs time. He’s better than Hojlund clearly and is lucky to have something Ras never had: forward players around him who are scoring, so that takes the pressure off a bit. It’s a theme that Bundesliga players (Haaland aside) struggle to adapt physically to PL. Hopefully he’ll adapt soon.

Overall a positive start with visible improvements on last season.
There will be bumps in the road this season which will cue meltdowns as always but hopefully the curve remains upward and the progress continues.

Achieving Europa would give us two bites at the apple in terms of making UCL next season and that would have to be the aim. Strengthening the squad would be vital in summer 26. Especially if the target is still to win the PL by 2028. The above seems like a logical and reasonable set of targets.

In terms of what I’d take as an achievement for the season. For me making Europa League would represent progress and should be a minimum target for us. With the fixtures easing I think this is achievable. AFCON will complicate things. A run in the FA cup would be nice too though not essential.

Medium term:
The drop off in midfield when Case is taken off is concerning. A physical, composed, progressive CDM would be massive for us. Case would then be an excellent option to see games out.
A club serious about achieving UCL football this season makes that happen in Jan. I doubt it though.

Short term improvements:
It would help if Sesko could return from injury asap and get on the scoresheet again for his own confidence to quieten down the noise.
Licha returning and LCB could be game changing ball-progression-wise; we could then rotate Shaw and Dorgu (who played well today) at LWB.

…this could be a real strength for us if it continues.

The signings of Cunha, Boomo and Lammens have been massive. Forwards who actually track back, and understand the league physically, and a competent and dependable goalkeeper (he might even be better than this!) are game changers for us.

Bear in we’ve played: City, Rats, Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal already. 7 points from those games is decent. We’ve won the games we should have won. It also feels like half a year since we’ve had a home game; the fixture computer has been unkind to us.

Positives:
Home form has been excellent…

For context:
@time of posting we’re 7th; we could be as low as 10th by the end of the GW but I wouldn’t look to closely at the league right now as the top 1/2 is very bunched up and we’re likely to be a handful of points off top 4.
I’d’ve taken that considering the tough run of fixtures we’ve had.

Hopefully we get it. I can’t remember us ever drawing vs BHA it’s always been one way or the other.

For example the Arsenal game in August. In that sense I think this is a massive game.