We’ve been surprised by quite a few things this season. Often it’s because we’ve not really been paying enough attention during the summer and then went “What? Ross Barkley plays for Villa now?” Often it’s also because we refuse to learn from what has gone before. A lot of these 10 surprising things are on us.
Really, we should be surprised that we’re surprised in some cases. But surely nobody thought Crystal Palace were going to be such complete sh*t this time around after the way last season ended? Spurs being quite so stubbornly stupidly Spurs Or more specifically Ange being so stubbornly Ange. Quite a few of these are on us, really.
Evidence that we never learn and should frankly know better. But we’re not saying here that we thought Spurs would suddenly be sensible or even good. Just that we truly didn’t think Big Ange Big Postecoglou’s Big Plan for his second season – a season, remember, in which he always wins a thing – was to lean even further into just absolute unadulterated nonsense.
They started as they meant to go on, p*ssing away two points from a position of absurd and absolute dominance at Leicester on the opening night before contriving to lose a game they dominated against a Newcastle side that never got out of second gear. They played literally the stupidest game possible against Arsenal and then produced what is – for now – their crowning glory at Brighton , sauntering into a 2-0 lead and then throwing it away in a flurry of defe.