Everyone shitting the bed because of the "other teams". This is what it's about.
Every season under Poch we start slowly, move the results to one side and focus on the performances, not just this year but every year, we are not at our best for things to click and look great. We may have won our first 3 this season but the performances were 'normal' not great to watch, us not clicking. Diffrenece was we had takenall three points, where in previous season we had been beaten or drew. The perfomances however were more or less the same, without fanfair.
Now to drill down further we have played two rival title contenders, winning one losing the other and a side that absolutely deserves to be where they are now, Watford.
Now look at those rivals and who they have played:
Woolwich = Only teams they have beaten have been literally bottom of the table (West Ham, Cardiff & Newcastle). In none of these games did they look good e.g Cardiff hadn't even scored a single goal until they played them and stuck 2 past them, should have scored a couple more. The two 'rivals' they played beat them easily, even though the Chelsea game was weird as fuck in the first half.
Chelsea = Huddersfield relegation fodder, Woolwich (beat them at home as they always do), Newcastle scraped over the line, our performance against this same team was better; Bournemouth (I don't know what Bournemouth are probably mid-table side) I didn't see the game but not surprised with the result; Cardiff (relegation fodder). So only one away game in that lot too but zero surprises with the results. So Woolwich and Bournemouth their highest placed teams they have faced.
City = No surprises in any of their results other than against Wolves, who are a very good side and will take points off another top 6 rivals. They got the same score against Newcastle as us, although I thought they played better than us against them by comparison. So the highest placed side they have faced is Woolwich and the result was completly as expected.
Liverpool = One title rival (Us) and they deservedly won. Leicester, Palace, West Ham, Brighton. Don't think they have been anywhere near as good as is being made of them but every game, with the exception of ours (even though they were the bookies favourite to win against us) has gone as expected.
Man U = Another who has only played one title rival so far (us) and lost. Leicester, Brighton and Burnley all results you would have predicted. Against Watford, they should have lost and where it not for their 'keeper they would have done. But this win was a very good result as Watford will probably be best of the rest this season.
So without a doubt in my mind, we've had the hardest fixtures so far. Other rivals will drop points at Watford because they are a good side. Our results/performances are no different than those of our rivals against the same teams. City on the whole still looks to be the team to beat judging by how they are playing.
I'm not seeing anything alarming so far, City still looks the best side, I am undecided about Chelsea this year, they have a great Manager (better than Conte, specifically as he plays better, more attractive football but this could make them more open??). Woolwich will improve by virtue of being better-drilled defensively but looking at how they are currently defending, I don't see this actually being addressed yet, which is a welcome surprise. We will fight out 2/3rd with Liverpool and maybe Utd if they persist on boring their way through the season.
That could be the best investment so far.
