Vive_La_Villa Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 I was going to put it in the Emi thread but that would have been too cruel. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 These injury’s are so frustrating. I get every team has injury problems but how many teams finally have a genuine attempt of getting in to that top 4 just to see it taken away by injury after injury. Let us have a fully fit squad and blow it by bottling it or something. Not because of **** injuries ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayEm Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 13 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said: These injury’s are so frustrating. I get every team has injury problems but how many teams finally have a genuine attempt of getting in to that top 4 just to see it taken away by injury after injury. Let us have a fully fit squad and blow it by bottling it or something. Not because of **** injuries ! Having our three world class centre backs all injured at the same time, one for a season and the other two for at least a month each, is incredibly bad luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlobalVillan Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 (edited) With no Konsa or Torres, I am really concerned about the next month. To get 5th (or any other CL spot) we absolutely must not lose to Man United (as they are the biggest threat to us getting a CL place) and really need to have a decent February. Unfortunately, with our injuries and lightweight squad, especially defensively, I think we are going to find it very hard. No team is going to perform well with it's 3 best centre backs out for a sustained period so we have to hope we can grind out a few results in their absence. Still think we can grab 5th but it will be a lot closer than I'd hoped. Sunday is a must not lose if ever there was one. Edited February 6 by GlobalVillan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerner's Driver Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 3 hours ago, GlobalVillan said: With no Konsa or Torres, I am really concerned about the next month. To get 5th (or any other CL spot) we absolutely must not lose to Man United (as they are the biggest threat to us getting a CL place) and really need to have a decent February. Unfortunately, with our injuries and lightweight squad, especially defensively, I think we are going to find it very hard. No team is going to perform well with it's 3 best centre backs out for a sustained period so we have to hope we can grind out a few results in their absence. Still think we can grab 5th but it will be a lot closer than I'd hoped. Sunday is a must not lose if ever there was one. Agreed. One word, when contemplating our weakened, makeshift defence in the must win game against Utd... Garnacho. – Garnacho has five goal contributions in his last five Premier League matches, scoring twice in the most recent 3-0 victory over West Ham. Within the United squad, only Rasmus Hojlund has managed more (six goal contributions) in that timeframe. – The 19-year-old draws more fouls than any other player in the United squad. In the league so far he has been fouled 2.3 times per 90. – Garnacho loves to be within shooting range. He takes an average of 3.1 shots per 90, which is more than any other player in the United squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 5 hours ago, GlobalVillan said: With no Konsa or Torres, I am really concerned about the next month. To get 5th (or any other CL spot) we absolutely must not lose to Man United (as they are the biggest threat to us getting a CL place) and really need to have a decent February. Unfortunately, with our injuries and lightweight squad, especially defensively, I think we are going to find it very hard. No team is going to perform well with it's 3 best centre backs out for a sustained period so we have to hope we can grind out a few results in their absence. Still think we can grab 5th but it will be a lot closer than I'd hoped. Sunday is a must not lose if ever there was one. Pau is back training with the squad so I’d expect him to be back this month and potentially in line to start against Man Utd. We really need him now more than ever with the Konsa news. See what Unai says in his Chelsea pre match presser today. Best case scenario is Pau is match fit for the weekend and Konsa only misses a couple of games. Worst case doesn’t bear thinking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlobalVillan Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 1 minute ago, Leeroy said: Pau is back training with the squad so I’d expect him to be back this month and potentially in line to start against Man Utd. We really need him now more than ever with the Konsa news. See what Unai says in his Chelsea pre match presser today. Best case scenario is Pau is match fit for the weekend and Konsa only misses a couple of games. Worst case doesn’t bear thinking about. Can't see Pau being involved until Fulham at the earliest as he has only just come back to training. These next 2 games may well just help define our season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 One good thing is Slabhead is likely to start for Man Utd against us so we should cause them lots of problems in attack where we are generally fully fit. They might play Shaw as a LCB but will then have issues at left back so they will be weaker at the back for sure. Hopefully it will be Pau and Carlos at centre back with Digne potentially back at left back (to give Moreno a rest as he will start tomorrow night) but if it is Carlos and Lenglet we really need to adapt the high line. I think we need to do that whoever starts because Man Utd are very good at counter attacking with the pace of Rashford and Garnacho so playing a ridiculously high line is asking for trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 5 minutes ago, GlobalVillan said: Can't see Pau being involved until Fulham at the earliest as he has only just come back to training. These next 2 games may well just help define our season. Yeah possibly, it depends on the diagnosis. It may be that it’s fully healed and he’s ready to go for the weekend, may be that he needs another week training before he can start. I remember in the Championship Grealish came back after 3 months out, trained for just one week, then started against Derby which was the start of our 10 match winning run. So Pau could potentially come straight back into the team but we’ll have to see what Unai says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPAngel Posted February 6 VT Supporter Share Posted February 6 Things are a lot rosier in this thread aren't they? We're now back to an average of two points per game for the season after the Sheff Utd game with some crucial fixtures coming up. Our projected points total is now 76 which is generally enough for 3rd. Obviously though, the focus remains on 4th or 5th. We currently sit on 46 points which means that, on average, we'd need 25 more points for 4th or 22 more points for 5th. We went one better in the last game vs last season (drawing with Leeds) which means a repeat of all of our results from last season would see us land on 69 (/insert Kenneth) points with a record of W7, D2, L6 for the final 15 games. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 9 minutes ago, JPAngel said: Things are a lot rosier in this thread aren't they? Indeed, there's been a big over reaction to beating the worst team in the league. The Man Utd. game is huge, win that and then all's very rosey. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 1 hour ago, villa89 said: Indeed, there's been a big over reaction to beating the worst team in the league. The Man Utd. game is huge, win that and then all's very rosey. But just the other way, if we lose I’m not going to overreact because people overreacted in the wake of the Newcastle defeat and then high as kite after we beat Sheff Utd. We just have to be consistent points wise for the rest of the season, defeats are likely to happen, the same with our competitors…win two of our next three in whatever combination and I will be happy. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 16 minutes ago, nick76 said: But just the other way, if we lose I’m not going to overreact because people overreacted in the wake of the Newcastle defeat and then high as kite after we beat Sheff Utd. We just have to be consistent points wise for the rest of the season, defeats are likely to happen, the same with our competitors…win two of our next three in whatever combination and I will be happy. Ordinarily I'd agree but Man Utd. are our direct competitors for 4th/5th. It's the veritable six pointer. They don't have any European football left to play this season so they will be all out to finish above us. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 On 04/02/2024 at 22:06, maqroll said: Home to Tottenham on March 9 is looking like a massive game. A must win. At least a must not lose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberman Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 7 hours ago, Leeroy said: One good thing is Slabhead is likely to start for Man Utd against us so we should cause them lots of problems in attack where we are generally fully fit. They might play Shaw as a LCB but will then have issues at left back so they will be weaker at the back for sure. Hopefully it will be Pau and Carlos at centre back with Digne potentially back at left back (to give Moreno a rest as he will start tomorrow night) but if it is Carlos and Lenglet we really need to adapt the high line. I think we need to do that whoever starts because Man Utd are very good at counter attacking with the pace of Rashford and Garnacho so playing a ridiculously high line is asking for trouble. Pau back on the bench tomorrow, so hopefully ready for Utd. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleedClaretAndBlue Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Liverpool and City with straight forward home games this weekend. Potential however for Spurs and Arsenal to drop points with trickier looking games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 On 06/02/2024 at 04:09, GlobalVillan said: With no Konsa or Torres, I am really concerned about the next month. To get 5th (or any other CL spot) we absolutely must not lose to Man United (as they are the biggest threat to us getting a CL place) and really need to have a decent February. Unfortunately, with our injuries and lightweight squad, especially defensively, I think we are going to find it very hard. No team is going to perform well with it's 3 best centre backs out for a sustained period so we have to hope we can grind out a few results in their absence. Still think we can grab 5th but it will be a lot closer than I'd hoped. Sunday is a must not lose if ever there was one. Surely Man U are saying the same thing about their makeshift defence? All teams suffer injuries, we’ve been relatively lucky IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Conference last 16 around games between Spurs and West Ham. Hate to say it but I wouldn’t be too surprised if we got knocked out. Those league games are too important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kiwivillan Posted February 7 Popular Post Share Posted February 7 47 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said: Conference last 16 around games between Spurs and West Ham. Hate to say it but I wouldn’t be too surprised if we got knocked out. Those league games are too important. *long pause* "Good afternoon." 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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