The race for the Top 4 - RUNNERS UP, a game to spare

[cibaman]

Re: The race for the Top 4

I wasn't too unhappy at United's win yesterday. Befrore the game my biggest concern was that Arsenal, Liverpool and United were all playing better than City, had more momentum. I just didnt fancy us if we were in a 4 horse race for 3 CL positions in the last few weeks of the season.

Now that we've opened a 7 point gap on Liverpool and their run has stalled I feel we should at least be safe in the top 4. The next step is to drop off one of Arsenal or United to make top 3 safe. And so on.

The big downside of yesterday of course is that United are now super confident, the derby is a massive game. But out of Liverpool, Arsenal and United, I thought Liverpool were more likely to put together a sustained run. United are still very up and down, Arsenal always look a bit fragile.

Win at Palace and I think we'll stay 2nd. Drop points and we'll be in a real dog fight to finish top 3.

 

[manimanc]

Re: The race for the Top 4

Still say we'll win the league...
Chelsea will drop points...
They aren't playing that well.
Ain't over til it's over in my eyes, lots of points to play for.
Fuckin come on city.

 

[inbetween]

Re: The race for the Top 4

Still say we'll win the league...
Chelsea will drop points...
They aren't playing that well.
Ain't over til it's over in my eyes, lots of points to play for.
Fuckin come on city.

Running out of time now for them to drop points, that is the problem. We have 8 games left and are 6 points behind, Chelsea have a game in hand too. If they had drawn yesterday we would have had a chance but being potentially 9 points behind is just too much on our form right now. I'm still amazed we are where we are considering our form which is absolutely abysmal for this stage (4 wins in the last 10). Our other title wins have coincided with a string of wins but now I can't see where the next win is coming. West Brom we expected to win but we have games coming up where anything could happen. Chelsea have a tough run in too but us having to go to United and Spurs away with their current forms is not great. We all slag off United and their defence but right now it is better than ours! It will be such a tough game going there seeing as they now have something to play for.

If anyone has a chance it is Arsenal who are quietly winning and closing the gap and they also have a chance to beat Chelsea too. They could very easily overtake us and with one more bad result for Chelsea be right within a few points of the title! If anyone has my bet it will be them, I just don't think it is our year and unless we get our act together, staying in the top 3/4 has to be the priority. If we lose that then we can kiss goodbye to a good summer window because no-one will want to come here.

I want to believe but this year it is different, the first year we won the title we were the best team overall, last year we were the best team overall. This year I can think of at least 2 teams that are better than us for a start. The biggest problem this year has been our home form, a title winning team doesn't lose 2 and draw 3 at home.

 

[CheethamHillBlue]

Re: The race for the Top 4

Running out of time now for them to drop points, that is the problem. We have 8 games left and are 6 points behind, Chelsea have a game in hand too.

So us clawing back 8 points in 6 matches 3 seasons ago never happened?

 

[meeesh]

Re: The race for the Top 4

What's gonna piss me off, is that the rags have a great chance of going over us if they beat Villa,cause we not playing till the Monday,then its the derby weekend week after,so if the unthinkable happens and we lose there,they will be 4 points above us,(and that's us slipping up at Palace of course).....now how the fuck is that possible....they are SHIT ??

 

[cleavers]

Re: The race for the Top 4

I'm still amazed we are where we are considering our form which is absolutely abysmal for this stage (4 wins in the last 10).

Our form must be on the up, because while it is 4 wins in the last 10, its also 4 wins in the last 6, it is still the worst of the top 5 but not by much other than Arsenal who are 100%, but it is improving.

Last 6 games, won 4, lost 2, scored 15, conceded 4.

Cheer up.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

Re: The race for the Top 4

What's gonna piss me off, is that the rags have a great chance of going over us if they beat Villa,cause we not playing till the Monday,then its the derby weekend week after,so if the unthinkable happens and we lose there,they will be 4 points above us,(and that's us slipping up at Palace of course).....now how the fuck is that possible....they are SHIT ??

because we`ve lost 11 games and drawn 9 in all competitions this season

 

[inbetween]

Re: The race for the Top 4

I'm still amazed we are where we are considering our form which is absolutely abysmal for this stage (4 wins in the last 10).

Our form must be on the up, because while it is 4 wins in the last 10, its also 4 wins in the last 6, it is still the worst of the top 5 but not by much other than Arsenal who are 100%, but it is improving.

Last 6 games, won 4, lost 2, scored 15, conceded 4.

Cheer up.

It is not bad but is it good enough to be Champions? The table says it is miles away from being good enough. I'm not saying it is over at all though because Chelsea have some really difficult games against people around us. It is too early yet but we seriously have to shape up to make sure we win these games because one draw or loss here and there isn't good enough now.

 

[cleavers]

Re: The race for the Top 4

It is not bad but is it good enough to be Champions? The table says it is miles away from being good enough. I'm not saying it is over at all though because Chelsea have some really difficult games against people around us. It is too early yet but we seriously have to shape up to make sure we win these games because one draw or loss here and there isn't good enough now.

In answer to your question no its not good enough to win it, my reply was more in response to those saying we won't finish top 4.

In the last 6 games though, we have had a couple of very good performances, the away win at Stoke for instance, Newcastle, and WBA we could have scored 10 in each game, its not as bad as people are making out. The defeat at Liverpool was disappointing (more so, after the way they played yesterday), and Burnley was poor all round.

 

[SilverFox2]

Re: The race for the Top 4

What's gonna piss me off, is that the rags have a great chance of going over us if they beat Villa,cause we not playing till the Monday,then its the derby weekend week after,so if the unthinkable happens and we lose there,they will be 4 points above us,(and that's us slipping up at Palace of course).....now how the fuck is that possible....they are SHIT ??

The problem is that whilst MUFC may have not played well all season they still have managed to get points whereas we have not.

Another way of looking at it is that the standard of the PL has obviously fallen (top compared with bottom that is) allowing the formerly average teams to beat the so called top teams more regularly.
Tactically we are often naive so that lower teams (including Middlesboro ) have found a way to beat our constant system.

In a way I hope that MUFC do have confidence when they meet us because they are likely to be more attacking minded than they were expected to be which perhaps would suit our usual system (unless of course we make a lot of defensive mistakes).