Misery or Realist?

I know I can be a bit too gloomy at times, but our wonderful start to the season, which should have left me deliriously happy, just has me fearing the worst. I know we’re top of the league and have won most of our games including some tough(ish) ones, whilst barely conceding a goal, but the doubts are still there for me.

Fixtures As I have indicated, whilst on paper there were some possible banana skins in the games we’ve played so far this season and I know you can only beat the teams in front of you, but if you had to pick a start to the season you’d probably mostly pick the teams we have come up against. As we go forward the fixtures are going to get a lot tougher and we haven’t really been tested so far. Yes we’ve won lots of games, but we haven’t really looked that convincing to my mind. Too many games have been 50/50 in terms of possession, we have given away too many chances for my liking and relied heavily on good goalkeeping and quality finishing from us and poor finishing from our opponents.

Slot’s new style: It might be that the Slot approach will mean the team is better able to stand up to the figours of a full premiership season plus cup games but I miss the total domination we often had over teams under Klopp. Hopefully, the success the team has had so far under Slot will continue and the team will develop and the control of games will follow, or maybe I will just have to get used to a style of play that means less possession, but just as many wins.

Losing players: We are in danger of losing three of our best players in TAA. VVD, and the mighty Salah. Sure, players come and go as they always have, but to lose these top top players at the same time would be a disaster that could and should have been avoided. Replacing these players will be extremely difficult. Players of this quality don’t grow on trees and oven ready replacements are hard to find and very expensive. We are already a CB and DM short and I can’t see FSG “opening the purse strings and letting the moths fly” to fund a further three top level replacements.

Current team: I think we are all impressed and not a little surprised at how well the transition from Klopp to Slot went and how well the replacement of the entire midfield has gone but can we honestly say that we currently have the same quality of players we had under Klopp at the height of his powers? Is Diaz as good as Mane? Is Gakpo the equal of Firmino, even if you throw in Nunez as a makeweight? And the midfield, yes they’ve done well and Gravenberch has been a revelation, but as a unit are they as effective as Fab, Hendo and Gini? They may be more technically proficient individually, but do they have the same energy and ability to work as a team? They may well develop, but at the moment I don’t think so….

In short, my worry is that at the minute we might well be flattering to deceive and could all too easily end up in the coming years as just one of a number of teams fighting for a CL place, rather than realistic challengers for major honours. Or am I just being Mr Gloomy again ?…