ender4 Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 6 hours ago, turvontour said: How would you consider 10th as achievable? We're 10th right now having just lost 6 of the last 9 and sacking the manager. Surely 10th is the minimum? You can't say that our best position all season is now the expected minimum! After the Liverpool game, we could be 16th. Most likely we'll be around 13th. There is just as much chance we finish below 10th as we finish above 10th. Actually its easier to drop places than to gain places. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 12 hours ago, Zhan_Zhuang said: I'm thinking eighth is a possibility, Gerrard mentioned Wolves and Brighton are within sight. However if Wet Spam and Arse have a blip maybe we can catch them too? It's possible. I'd be looking for 3 wins and a draw before the year is out e.g. wins off Burnley, Norwich and one of Leeds/ Brentford and point from other game. Not impossible we could get something off Chelsea either if we keep up this level given they have a fair few midfielders out currently. Not impossible we could be on 30 points by 19/20 games. Think good thing looking at table is top 3 dominance and likes of Spurs and Man. United picking up is they'll probably be a gap between top 6 and the rest so you'll need less points to finish say 8th. There's certainly no way this season we'd finish on something like 55 points and be 11th, if anything 51-52 points could get you 8th or 9th I bet. However this season has shown we can lose a few games in a row when you least expect it so let's see how quickly we react when that happens under Gerrard. We're in a good place now ahead of key part of the season so that's a big success compared to the situation three weeks ago. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 11 hours ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said: Maybe under normal circumstance but Not when you lose 5 on the bounce and lose away to Watford. We need a few unexpected wins to make up for some of these. Gerrard has at least got us back on track and back amongst the chasing pack with the 3 wins in 4. Wolves are currently 8th and haven't scored a goal in 3 games (and two of those were v teams in current bottom 3). They also lost their first 3 games. I think they'll probably be a decent gap between 7th and 8th as Arsenal have shown they're good at putting away most bottom half teams at least so they'll go on another run at some stage. Also think despite their issues currently Leicester will have a strong run at some stage of the season so they could still challenge for top 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 Wolves are interesting, before the last three results they were doing well, but I had a look on their forum just after they beat West Ham and was surprised to see a number of their fans seemed unhappy and concerned, suggesting that they had been lucky in games and were in a false position as a result, and since then they've taken just two points from Burnley, Norwich, and Liverpool - coincidentally the three teams we play next - so maybe they were right to be concerned. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 4 minutes ago, useless said: Wolves are interesting, before the last three results they were doing well, but I had a look on their forum just after they beat West Ham and was surprised to see a number of their fans seemed unhappy and concerned, suggesting that they had been lucky in games and were in a false position as a result, and since then they've taken just two points from Burnley, Norwich, and Liverpool - coincidentally the three teams we play next - so maybe they were right to be concerned. I actually think they played really well early on in the season, battered Spurs and Man. United and lost 1-0 both times. Goals really dried out lately though as they didn't create much v Norwich and Burnley. Got Man. City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man. United to play in next 6 games so I'd be disappointed if we're not above them by Jan 3rd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 I don’t think we have what it takes to push for Europe unfortunately. Not yet. I think we’re 2/3 first team players away from that level. If we can free up some space in the squad by shifting the likes of El Ghazi, Trezeguet, Wesley etc. hopefully we can bring in a couple in Jan. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonIsAPlaceOnEarth Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 Important to note that after the Liverpool game, the sides we are yet to play in the first round of fixtures are Norwich, Leeds and Burnley. Probably the lowest average position run of fixtures in the league. I know they are not the next three fixtures, but the point stands. If we maintain our good form, there are 9 points to be had there, and we could conceivably be looking at top 7. Having said this, we will probably beat Liverpool and get a point from those three now. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 I think their fans feel that Lage hasn't been supported in the transfer market, so are more disappointed with the board than anything else. I don't know how their results this season compare to the corresponding result last season, but after fifteen games they're on exactly the same amount of points as they had after fifteen games last season, and that kind of ended p being a disappointing campaign for them, finishing with Nuno leaving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
messi11 Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 Top 10 (10th place) would be a good season in my eyes. and an improvement from last season in terms of league position especially with the bad start we had. Then we can challenge for Europe places next season. Take it 1 game at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepal_villan Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 If we get 7-9 pts from our next 5 matches which includes Norwich, Burnley and Leed - we will be on pace to get 52-56 pts at season's end. That will definitely get us in the top-half and potentially as high as 8th position. Given our disastrous start that would a good achievement. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abdulaziz1 Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 For me, the moment Grealish left, I thought midtable would be a good achievement as I’ve doubted DS clicking on without Jack. All runs without him was bad wether in the PL or Championship. However, after the change of manager, the outcome was unknown. But so far it’s looking bright. I think we need to take it game at a time. Three teams are on their own league. Man Utd once they click on, West Ham seems to be consistent since last season. Spurs have their own quality. Arsenal too. But apart from the 3, all others are capable of going on bad runs. Who’ll catch them or not that’s another case. We have to look at it every week and hope for the best. Now we can only think of Liverpool game and hope the set of results to come our way. Yes it’s a free hit, but we can’t think of Burnley and leave this. It’s not as if Burnley points are in our pocket. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyexists Posted December 8, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted December 8, 2021 (edited) 7 hours ago, abdulaziz1 said: For me, the moment Grealish left, I thought midtable would be a good achievement as I’ve doubted DS clicking on without Jack. All runs without him was bad wether in the PL or Championship. However, after the change of manager, the outcome was unknown. But so far it’s looking bright. I think we need to take it game at a time. Three teams are on their own league. Man Utd once they click on, West Ham seems to be consistent since last season. Spurs have their own quality. Arsenal too. But apart from the 3, all others are capable of going on bad runs. Who’ll catch them or not that’s another case. We have to look at it every week and hope for the best. Now we can only think of Liverpool game and hope the set of results to come our way. Yes it’s a free hit, but we can’t think of Burnley and leave this. It’s not as if Burnley points are in our pocket. You’re right. Liverpool should come without that pressure of ‘must win’ but it doesn’t mean a ‘don’t try’ attitude. From what I’ve seen Gerrard doesn’t know the meaning of the words, so will go for this as any other match. Edited December 8, 2021 by alreadyexists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turvontour Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 1 hour ago, alreadyexists said: You’re right. Liverpool should come without that pressure of ‘must win’ but it doesn’t mean a ‘don’t try’ attitude. From what I’ve seen Gerrard doesn’t know the meaning of the words, so will go for this as any other match. In the last 16 months we have beaten Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, Tottenham, Leicester twice and Arsenal twice. As you say, it's not really a free hit as this is where we are getting a lot of our points from. It's one of those though where after the event you cant be too disappointed if we dont come away with anything. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abdulaziz1 Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 50 minutes ago, turvontour said: In the last 16 months we have beaten Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, Tottenham, Leicester twice and Arsenal twice. As you say, it's not really a free hit as this is where we are getting a lot of our points from. It's one of those though where after the event you cant be too disappointed if we dont come away with anything. Apart from last game against them when we were away from a win with Barkley bad finish, yet it went to them and ended with a loss! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abdulaziz1 Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 2 hours ago, alreadyexists said: You’re right. Liverpool should come without that pressure of ‘must win’ but it doesn’t mean a ‘don’t try’ attitude. From what I’ve seen Gerrard doesn’t know the meaning of the words, so will go for this as any other match. Exactly, 4 games ago we were a bit worried of dragging in a relegation battle. A lot can change. We should just take it game at a time (for us and our rivals). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turvontour Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 26 minutes ago, abdulaziz1 said: Apart from last game against them when we were away from a win with Barkley bad finish, yet it went to them and ended with a loss! Gosh I'd forgotten about that. Its interesting though, do we get more points against top half teams than lower half teams? Other than against man city, we must have a fairly even points spread this season and last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turvontour Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 18 hours ago, ender4 said: You can't say that our best position all season is now the expected minimum! After the Liverpool game, we could be 16th. Most likely we'll be around 13th. There is just as much chance we finish below 10th as we finish above 10th. Actually its easier to drop places than to gain places. Hows 10th our best position all season? We were 7th after the Man U win. And then just lost all discipline, and stopped competing for the next 5 games. 7th to 10th is a fairer reflection of where we should be, as we're seeing again now. I meant from an expectation perspective. If you're the owners, and Gerrard has very quickly steadied the ship and we're in tenth. You wouldnt expect them to say to him to aim to finish as a minimum of 13th. Youd want a top half finish. I'm not saying we cant finish lower than where we are now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hong0311 Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 With some rough estimation, we'll have to win 12 games out of the remaining 23 games to stand a chance of getting into Europe. Do you guys think we stand a chance? Recent examples of a good second half of the season that springs to my mind (excluding the so-called big 6): West Ham/Leeds last season, Southampton multiple times, Wolves/Crystal Palace had a few good second-halves too. These teams have all achieved getting around 40 points after week 15. There's bound to be one (and most likely only one) non big 6 teams that manages to get 35+ points in the expense of the teams around them. Can we be that team? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWARLEY2 Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 We have got to be equal parts lucky and brilliant to stand a chance . But i am up for that excitement. Pick them off like a sniper would. There is nothing to be scared of in this league. Not because we are better. In many cases we might be less talented to be fair. But as it is so tight it will be about belief and character . Look what happenednlast weekend . Leicester just caved in at our continued pressure from 40 minutes in. The last 4 games we have played against teams was with an average league position of 6th . And we got a 75% win ratio. Its no suprise to see Moyes up there with a team that is very very similar to us albeit one with its stars being more consistent than ours. Its because he can get them up for it . And thats what i am expecting Mr Gerrard will be able to do as well. Bring it on. 12th or 4th . Whatever it might be i think the way the league is these days it is perfectly set up for our manager to work his magic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 20 hours ago, abdulaziz1 said: Apart from last game against them when we were away from a win with Barkley bad finish, yet it went to them and ended with a loss! Trez hit thd post and got injured as well, think that was at 1-0 maybe 1-1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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