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Race for Champions League - 2023/2024


Don_Simon

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21 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

I think a lot may hang on what reinforcements we can get in January. 

Personally, I am  hoping for the odd player, to be a bit different, to what we have....to offer other attributes, we are short of.

I am hoping we can sign someone, who can help us with our away form....and add that bit of steel/ resillience...It might no be a regular first teamer, I am thinking more squad.

When you are performing like we are at home, its hard to find better players, for the first team, as they are all performing so well.

The strength has to be sought, for the squad, and players to help our existing ones, not necessarily replace them.

I feel sure Unai, he will know, what he wants....and mindful to secure the harmony in the squad too.

Edited by TRO
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59 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

Newcastle and Brighton are annoyingly consistent.

And Man Utd just have the knack of winning football games.

Doesn't look like it will be much room for error this season.

There’s generally very little room for error when you get into the top four places. It’s very competitive, and you’ve got to keep winning to stay there. 
 

Just on your point about Brighton being consistent. I’d say they’re much less consistent this season. Since we smashed them their results have been D4, L2, W1.

I don’t think they’ll be bettering last season’s finish. 

Edited by It's Your Round
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56 minutes ago, TRO said:

shows how much we have to improve to get close.

When we have our dips, like the first 20 minutes, yesterday, city don't......sure City have off days, but their dips are not as low as many other teams.

Despite our phenomenal turn around in form.....there is plenty for us to improve upon, to win over the neutrals.....and media.

City tend to have a habit of starting poorly, especially towards the star of the season, but somehow claw back and win. Its almost as though going down doesn't phase them. Which was super annoying on the last day of the season when Gerrard had us leading in the final game of the season.  I'd hope that is what we can aspire to be, have the nerve to come back from setbacks in games, also playing the ugly way and winning regardless (Man Utd Fergie traits) as well as the free flowing football like us vs West Ham.

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Bournemouth is huge, last season we played and lost to Leicester before playing city and arsenal concurrently, we need to go and break our curse down there with three points and still be firmly amongst the pack heading into the same two fixtures.

I just can’t stop looking at the league table, what’s happening is phenomenal.

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49 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

And Man Utd just have the knack of winning football games.

Utd have only beaten teams from the bottom half of the table. They've not looked convincing in most of those games. They've also lost all 4 games against top half oppo and at home to 13th place Palace. Their next 11 games, 8 are against top half sides, 2 are away at Wolves and Forest. both of whom they only scraped by at home. The other is Bournemouth at home.

On the evidence of how they've been so far this season they should absolutely tank these games and be well off the pace when the run ends in mid Feb.

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2 minutes ago, tomsky_11 said:

Utd have only beaten teams from the bottom half of the table. They've not looked convincing in most of those games. They've also lost all 4 games against top half oppo and at home to 13th place Palace. Their next 11 games, 8 are against top half sides, 2 are away at Wolves and Forest. both of whom they only scraped by at home. The other is Bournemouth at home.

On the evidence of how they've been so far this season they should absolutely tank these games and be well off the pace when the run ends in mid Feb.

You can only beat what's in front of you.

And winning games gives confidence, doesn't matter who ut is against.

I think they are a threat. I absoluely do.

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I think worst case scenario is we get a draw/lose split against City and Arsenal. But we must absolutely get a home and away split versus the competitors at a minimum in order to avoid big 6 pointers. If we manage to do the double against Spurs and Chelsea, then I think we're in pole position for fifth.

It's a given we must get a win/win split against the bottom 6 and a win/draw split against 8-13th.

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United have the potential to be a threat always, they have some good players, and will always have the resource to invest in January. They may have some utter shite and been lucky in the extreme in a few games, but sometimes all it takes is for a bit of luck to snowball into genuine momentum. Ignoring United would be daft. That said, I still back us, all other things being more or less equal in terms of injuries etc, to finish ahead of them. 

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2 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

You can only beat what's in front of you.

And winning games gives confidence, doesn't matter who ut is against.

I think they are a threat. I absoluely do.

Not sure how much confidence they'd be taking from consistently scraping 1 goal wins against bottom half dross, which is what 7 of their 8 wins have been. Yesterday was their only win by more than a goal. And even then I'd say if you didn't know who'd won 3-0 in that game and saw the stats you'd think it must have been Everton. They hardly look convincing.

So with a run coming up of: new CHE BOU liv whu AVL nfo TOT wol WHU avl, realistically what are they taking from that?

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32 minutes ago, supermon said:

City tend to have a habit of starting poorly, especially towards the star of the season, but somehow claw back and win. Its almost as though going down doesn't phase them. Which was super annoying on the last day of the season when Gerrard had us leading in the final game of the season.  I'd hope that is what we can aspire to be, have the nerve to come back from setbacks in games, also playing the ugly way and winning regardless (Man Utd Fergie traits) as well as the free flowing football like us vs West Ham.

I agree.

but that is not to be confused with playing recklessly.

Playing ugly, can require, acute/ Maniacal concentration, and militarial organisation....Fergies teams could do that.

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4 hours ago, Sulberto21 said:

The only way we can compete with Man City is if a nation state buys us that has solid links to the UK (and USA) and then we proceed to breach FFP on 115 occasions. 

We can compete with Man City because we have the best manager in World football, and a lot of excellent players.

Edited by fightoffyour
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We're definitely in the thick of it. A lot hinges on injuries. If we can keep people fit.

I'd be confident in another top 7 finish which almost certainly means Europa League

It's just good that it'll likely be a big 8 now of we can gate crash CL once over next two seasons 

We have staying power I feel. Where other smaller clubs like Brighton, Leicester etc.. don't. 

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The reason why i am excited is the last 38 games with 77 points.  Even when we lost against the big guns in Jan and Feb we bounced back and kept the 2 points a game going. And i would say we are a far better team now. Better drilled. Better players in better form. And big players like JJ and Moreno on the cusp of being fully available again. 

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