2023/24 - The Race For..................

[ComfortablyNumb]

yet even with this great momentum United are allegedly building, and our apparently poor form, we are still keeping up with them and even obtaining more points than them, depending what sample of matches one uses.

The only sample that matters is the next one.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

yet even with this great momentum United are allegedly building, and our apparently poor form, we are still keeping up with them and even obtaining more points than them, depending what sample of matches one uses.

It is strange that we have our first choice defence back, plus Maddison back and Richy on a hot streak, and we are letting in more goals and struggling in a lot of matches , although we have got over the line eventually.
I think Sarr will make a big difference, gets round the pitch and covers Porro. Bissouma might take a few weeks to get back to fitness after his malaria bug at afcon.

 

[dirtyh]

stay unbeaten until the end of the season and see where we end up.

 

[Mr Pink]

I cope just fine and I’m not negative at all. I understand we have just got them back but since we have we’ve conceded a lot of goals which you cannot ignore, I understand we have players away and players just coming back from injury so proof will be in the pudding when everyone is back and fit but I’m judging us currently on the eye test. Brentford are not a good side, they had two key wingers out and yet they tore us to shreds you cannot deny that.
I never said anything about United I just caveated why I think a lot of people are being negative.
Same goes for United though they are getting their players back now and do look much better so they could easily go on a big run now. It works both ways as they have had pretty horrendous injury problems and have had to play evans and Maguire at Cb.
I know we are fine, I’ve said numerous times you cannot judge us properly until next season I’m content with where we are I think we are doing well.
But Brentford also wasted a number of big chances against us, yeah everton looked toothless but they also dominated us for a half with 2 key cms out and a bunch of attackers out injured.

Brentford tore us to shreds?

Thats a load of shit. We tore them to shreds in a ten minute blitz.

They got a goal completely gift wrapped for them, and the other was fairly fortunate.

 

[Styopa]

It is strange that we have our first choice defence back, plus Maddison back and Richy on a hot streak, and we are letting in more goals and struggling in a lot of matches , although we have got over the line eventually.
I think Sarr will make a big difference, gets round the pitch and covers Porro. Bissouma might take a few weeks to get back to fitness after his malaria bug at afcon.

We have our first choice defence back, but Maddison has really just returned and has not looked match fit. We are still missing Bissouma. We have been missing Sarr. Bentancur also still looks half fit. I don’t think the issue is with the defence now, although there have a few individual errors, but I think the main reason we haven’t looked as good is that we have been struggling to control games in the midfield.

As you say it may take a while for Bissouma to recover, but I think Sarr and Maddison will make a big difference and of course Son returning will give us an extra dimension too.

Everyone knew this was going to be a difficult period for us, but all things considered, two away draws - including one against the supposedly bang in form United - and a home win is not a bad few weeks of league results given the circumstances.

 

[mil1lion]

We need to look up the table. Only 7 points from top and 6 from 6th place so not much in either. Can't be looking over our shoulder, need to try push as close to top spot as possible. It's just about the mindset now of going for the teams above us rather than the pressure of being caught. Take it game by game but 3 straight home games is a great opportunity to put ourselves in a great position where we will then have a game in hand too.

 

[dannythomas]

We've only lost once in 8 games. With 5 wins in that time too.

The lack of belief in our team is baffling from some. People looking behind at United, who are 6 points behind us. If they think they can catch us, wheres the belief that we can catch Arsenal who are less points ahead of us? United have 3 losses in that same period of 8 games.

100% agree with this . 5-2-1 in last 8 games, tied with Liverpool and City collecting the highest - 17 points in that time. Without key players throughout .
But yes I guess conceding a draw at Everton puts us into crisis.

 

[Styopa]

But yes I guess conceding a draw at Everton puts us into crisis.

Yeah the reaction to conceding a late draw at Everton has been totally disproportionate to the actual result. We didn’t even lose.

 

[Yantino]

I agree it's ridiculous to suggest it's anything other than an away draw and more experience for this group to learn from, but you must also appreciate that as a fan it was a frustrating watch, especially considering the players we now have back and the position we find ourselves in. 3 points instead of 1 and we would now be joint third. We've all seen how this team have dominated possession and teams this season. We were nowhere near that level of performance against Everton, so it is right to also acknowledge that.

The focus hasn't changed for me though - top 4 is still the target. Anything more is simply a bonus.

 

[GioW]

Brighton feels big. Win that and I feel a run could be on the cards.

Also Villa v United this weekend is a great fixture for us

 

[npearl4spurs]

We're going to be fine. Saturday notwithstanding, we are a train about to pick up speed. Being critical and giving us the reasonably lowest amount of points, I believe we still pick up a minimum of 28 points in our remaining fixtures. That would put us at 72 which is a great number for top 4. But I honestly think we are going to get 30+ in our remaining 15. Top 4 is still well within sight, and I agree with others that we may well feel disappointed if we don't get at least 3rd with how well I believe this team is going to play the rest of the season.

But even if we end up in 5th, it would still represent a great improvement and a better result than I believed we would have had before we kicked off in this first Ange season.

 

[Styopa]

I agree it's ridiculous to suggest it's anything other than an away draw and more experience for this group to learn from, but you must also appreciate that as a fan it was a frustrating watch, especially considering the players we now have back and the position we find ourselves in. 3 points instead of 1 and we would now be joint third. We've all seen how this team have dominated possession and teams this season. We were nowhere near that level of performance against Everton, so it is right to also acknowledge that.

The focus hasn't changed for me though - top 4 is still the target. Anything more is simply a bonus.

It was frustrating for sure, but sometimes you have to accept that as a football fan. Everyone team has performances like this, even Man City and Liverpool. Teams that are way ahead of us in terms of their cycle.

The issue isn’t people getting frustrated with the result, it’s them losing all sense of perspective and trying to draw huge ramifications from the match that just don’t stack up. People lose their sense of objectivity, start overrating the results and form of teams around us and underrating our own form and performances.

We’re 1 point ahead of Arsenal and Man U in the form table over 6 matches and just a couple points behind Liverpool. Over the last ten matches we’re 4th in the form table just a point behind Man C and Arsenal.

Yet there’s loads of talk on here of how Ange’s tactics have been found out, how Man U are breathing down our necks etc. I think sometimes people let their disappointment over a particular match or matches cloud their judgment regarding the bigger picture and find it difficult to be objective.

 

[ohtottenham!]

It was frustrating for sure, but sometimes you have to accept that as a football fan. Everyone team has performances like this, even Man City and Liverpool. Teams that are way ahead of us in terms of their cycle.

The issue isn’t people getting frustrated with the result, it’s them losing all sense of perspective and trying to draw huge ramifications from the match that just don’t stack up. People lose their sense of objectivity, start overrating the results and form of teams around us and underrating our own form and performances.

We’re 1 point ahead of Arsenal and Man U in the form table over 6 matches and just a couple points behind Liverpool. Over the last ten matches we’re 4th in the form table just a point behind Man C and Arsenal.

Yet there’s loads of talk on here of how Ange’s tactics have been found out, how Man U are breathing down our necks etc. I think sometimes people let their disappointment over a particular match or matches cloud their judgment regarding the bigger picture and find it difficult to be objective.

Great post, particularly regarding the need to keep perspective. Going forward, we're still going to have setbacks sometimes because the league is so competitive. We see that every week, and it gets more difficult in the season run-in. That's why City, who have an obvious unfair advantage, and Liverpool are the benchmarks. They've proven it season after season. Helps if you've got great coaches with great squads for many years on the trot.

It's a clear sign of the great job Ange is doing in his first season that our expectations are raised so much. Drawing at Arse and City away and beating Liverpool at home - nice little combo that - shows we can challenge the top teams in the toughest fixtures despite having a new coach who's having to deal with a squad rebuild.

At this stage, I'd be disappointed with 5th. Would be happy with 4th, but think that 3rd place is completely up for grabs between us and Arse.

 

[jordibwoy]

That late equalizer made me depressed the rest of the weekend and it's because I wanted to keep close to Liverpool. Now they've lost I'm even more depressed because we would have been just 5 points behind

 

[philll]

That late equalizer made me depressed the rest of the weekend and it's because I wanted to keep close to Liverpool. Now they've lost I'm even more depressed because we would have been just 5 points behind

We're a point closer to them than we were...

 

[jordibwoy]

We're a point closer to them than we were...

Ha fair on my closing the gap comment but you know what I mean. 5 points from Liverpool rather than 7, with City having a few matches in hand

 

[mightyspur]

Ha fair on my closing the gap comment but you know what I mean. 5 points from Liverpool rather than 7, with City having a few matches in hand

Both of those are against Brentford, weirdly and Brentford did the double over City last year, so.... you never know

On the plus side, we still have to play pool, so win that and we're only 4 pts behind them. I can see lots of teams dropping points here and there, so it's going to be tight. Sure, it's out of our hands in terms of getting 3rd or better, but top 4 is there for us to get simply by bettering Villa's results and beating them in 5 games time. It's gonna be fun.

 

[Rosco1984]

Both of those are against Brentford, weirdly and Brentford did the double over City last year, so.... you never know

On the plus side, we still have to play pool, so win that and we're only 4 pts behind them. I can see lots of teams dropping points here and there, so it's going to be tight. Sure, it's out of our hands in terms of getting 3rd or better, but top 4 is there for us to get simply by bettering Villa's results and beating them in 5 games time. It's gonna be fun.

More chance of us signing Mbappe than winning at Anfield. We could be 3-0 up with 10 minutes left and they would somehow get 3 penalties.

 

[Mr Pink]

It was frustrating for sure, but sometimes you have to accept that as a football fan. Everyone team has performances like this, even Man City and Liverpool. Teams that are way ahead of us in terms of their cycle.

The issue isn’t people getting frustrated with the result, it’s them losing all sense of perspective and trying to draw huge ramifications from the match that just don’t stack up. People lose their sense of objectivity, start overrating the results and form of teams around us and underrating our own form and performances.

We’re 1 point ahead of Arsenal and Man U in the form table over 6 matches and just a couple points behind Liverpool. Over the last ten matches we’re 4th in the form table just a point behind Man C and Arsenal.

Yet there’s loads of talk on here of how Ange’s tactics have been found out, how Man U are breathing down our necks etc. I think sometimes people let their disappointment over a particular match or matches cloud their judgment regarding the bigger picture and find it difficult to be objective.

Absolutely spot on.

 

[cliff jones]

It’s been good overall so far especially given the absences and reduced fluency, and while I reckon 5th looks most likely that’s much better than I thought we’d do without H. He was a seismic loss, no mistake.

Sort this Vic issue out quickly, more luck with injuries and control from our three red card magnets, we might even get 4th if Villa have a bit of bad luck of their own!

Those calling for another right sided attacker surely have to understand that it’s a miracle Levy has dropped what 80m on the two we currently have competing for the spot. I didn’t want either of them but it’s up to Ange who presumably signed both off to get a better tune out of them till the end of next season at least.

On the verge of my first two games of the season that’s how it all looks to me…