slifersd, you are not necessarily wrong. As a matter of fact, at this moment, you are probably wright.
But sometimes we put too much emphasis on the performances of the previous season and the players that certain teams have. Many times people talked about (even officials from Milan during the past season) "we had 60 points the year before, we can't expect to gain 80 this season, we have to take it slow, etc".
But let's take Napoli for example, in 2014/15 they finished the season on 5th place with 63 points. 7 points behind Roma and 24 behind Juventus. Fast forward to last year....nobody gave them a chance. The level of the players they had "weren't supposed" to perform the way they did. Nobody thought Higuain was going to score 36 goals. They didn't even sign any "great" players. Allan had some decent showings at Udinese but no way in hell did anyone think that he was going to do what he did for them. Koulibaly was already there from the year before, and HE WAS LABELED A FLOP! They lost Gargano and Inler also.
But Sarri was the game changer. He brought belief, intensity, self belief to the club. Nobody thought Napoli was going to do what they did and push Juventus to the end. Roma as a matter of fact had a "far more talented" squad and was supposed to be the challenger. Instead they needed a change of coach midseason, going on a crazy winning (no-losing) streak to make the CL.
All I am saying is that (even though I am one of the biggest critics of the quality of our team), even though it takes for many things to go your way, improvement (and big improvement at that) is possible.
IF Montella can have a similar influence to this squad like Sarri did with Napoli...IF Gomez proves to be a solid partner to Romagnoli...IF De Sciglio finally answers his critics....IF Niang and Suso can replicate their last seasons.....etc, etc.....than I would not be surprised if we end up far higher in the table than most of us think....and probably end up being higher in the table than teams that probably have more talented squads than us (Inter, Roma).....if things don't go right for them (like they didn't for us last year for example). Don't forget, last year many of us believed that we can push for a CL spot. Nobody gave Napoli a shot and we were supposed to fight it out with Inter and Roma. Instead, us, Inter and Roma had a ton of problems throughout the season (players not performing, coaching changes, etc) and Napoli took advantage simply because things aligned for them. It might be that way for us this year.
I just don't think we should enter the season thinking EL is acceptable. I think we should aim high. I actually think it's wrong for Montella to do what he is doing right now, which is kind of giving signs that we are not good enough. That's the vibe I am getting from his interviews. We need to do what Sarri did! We need to do what Conte did when he took over at Juventus. Play with self belief and with passion. Fight for the colors, for the fans, for yourself. Don't give in and say so and so is better than us so it's ok if we finish behind them. We need some fire in the locker room. We need people to step on the field and say to the other team "YOU? You won't last longer than ME!! You won't fight harder than ME! YOU ARE NOT better than me!" Like I said, Conte and Sarri are the perfect examples of this, and it worked for them!
Obviously it's not realistic to think we can be ahead of Juventus at this moment. But hell, teams like Inter and Roma and even Napoli with the changes......with a little bit of luck (and bad luck for them)...things can be very interesting.
Of course, at the beginning of every season I get amped up and enthusiastic. It slowly fades as the season goes on!
But sometimes we put too much emphasis on the performances of the previous season and the players that certain teams have. Many times people talked about (even officials from Milan during the past season) "we had 60 points the year before, we can't expect to gain 80 this season, we have to take it slow, etc".
But let's take Napoli for example, in 2014/15 they finished the season on 5th place with 63 points. 7 points behind Roma and 24 behind Juventus. Fast forward to last year....nobody gave them a chance. The level of the players they had "weren't supposed" to perform the way they did. Nobody thought Higuain was going to score 36 goals. They didn't even sign any "great" players. Allan had some decent showings at Udinese but no way in hell did anyone think that he was going to do what he did for them. Koulibaly was already there from the year before, and HE WAS LABELED A FLOP! They lost Gargano and Inler also.
But Sarri was the game changer. He brought belief, intensity, self belief to the club. Nobody thought Napoli was going to do what they did and push Juventus to the end. Roma as a matter of fact had a "far more talented" squad and was supposed to be the challenger. Instead they needed a change of coach midseason, going on a crazy winning (no-losing) streak to make the CL.
All I am saying is that (even though I am one of the biggest critics of the quality of our team), even though it takes for many things to go your way, improvement (and big improvement at that) is possible.
IF Montella can have a similar influence to this squad like Sarri did with Napoli...IF Gomez proves to be a solid partner to Romagnoli...IF De Sciglio finally answers his critics....IF Niang and Suso can replicate their last seasons.....etc, etc.....than I would not be surprised if we end up far higher in the table than most of us think....and probably end up being higher in the table than teams that probably have more talented squads than us (Inter, Roma).....if things don't go right for them (like they didn't for us last year for example). Don't forget, last year many of us believed that we can push for a CL spot. Nobody gave Napoli a shot and we were supposed to fight it out with Inter and Roma. Instead, us, Inter and Roma had a ton of problems throughout the season (players not performing, coaching changes, etc) and Napoli took advantage simply because things aligned for them. It might be that way for us this year.
I just don't think we should enter the season thinking EL is acceptable. I think we should aim high. I actually think it's wrong for Montella to do what he is doing right now, which is kind of giving signs that we are not good enough. That's the vibe I am getting from his interviews. We need to do what Sarri did! We need to do what Conte did when he took over at Juventus. Play with self belief and with passion. Fight for the colors, for the fans, for yourself. Don't give in and say so and so is better than us so it's ok if we finish behind them. We need some fire in the locker room. We need people to step on the field and say to the other team "YOU? You won't last longer than ME!! You won't fight harder than ME! YOU ARE NOT better than me!" Like I said, Conte and Sarri are the perfect examples of this, and it worked for them!
Obviously it's not realistic to think we can be ahead of Juventus at this moment. But hell, teams like Inter and Roma and even Napoli with the changes......with a little bit of luck (and bad luck for them)...things can be very interesting.
Of course, at the beginning of every season I get amped up and enthusiastic. It slowly fades as the season goes on!