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Stats Is this fixture list our best chance ever of winning Prem?
- Thread starter kangyp
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Injuries and luck matter more to building momentum than the fixture order.
If we can put a team out, pretty much week in, week out that looks similar to the below then I think we will have a chance if lady luck drops our when it's needed:
Lloris, Foyth, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose, Winks, Ndombele, Eriksen, Lo Celso, Son, Kane
Gazzaniga, Aurier, Sanchez, Davies, Sissoko, Dele, Lucas.
Great to see that if the squad stays how it looks now that we will still have the likes of Walker-Peters, Dier, Wanyama, Skipp, Lamela, Sessegnon and Parrott not even making the bench, automatically meaning every squad members place is up for grabs.
I'm still on the fence about who our best RB is/ will be, as well as our best front four combination but that's what the manager needs if he's going to have a fair crack at his decision making proving pivotal in how our season goes.
Lloris, Foyth, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose, Winks, Ndombele, Eriksen, Lo Celso, Son, Kane
Gazzaniga, Aurier, Sanchez, Davies, Sissoko, Dele, Lucas.
Great to see that if the squad stays how it looks now that we will still have the likes of Walker-Peters, Dier, Wanyama, Skipp, Lamela, Sessegnon and Parrott not even making the bench, automatically meaning every squad members place is up for grabs.
I'm still on the fence about who our best RB is/ will be, as well as our best front four combination but that's what the manager needs if he's going to have a fair crack at his decision making proving pivotal in how our season goes.
Might as well just give it to us now.
And whoever it was, can you please stop doing it every morning!
We’d somehow still manage to finish secondIf we win the next 37 league games we've got to be in with a shout........
Poch has said the only way this season can be a success is silverware, he didn’t say what silverware but he added “just” finishing in the top 4 isn’t acceptable success anymore.......the man is on a mission!!
Having the best squad in the league and maybe the world IS the magic formula.
I want to be hopeful but I can’t see us winning the league. City and Liverpool are miles ahead of us. One could stumble with injuries, etc but not both.
Not addressing our RB situation in the transfer window cinched it for me.
Deleted member 13260
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Really don't think Liverpool are miles ahead of us. I would say both us and Liverpool should be capable of achieving 80 odd points, whereas City more like 90 odd.
We stumbled with injuries and missing players last season whereas Liverpool were extremely fortunate not just with injuries, but also the rub of the green and poor refereeing decisions (which VAR would have prevented) which enabled them to maintain a very high level of momentum.
Just look what the Burnley game did to our momentum. Still want to know what Mike Dean said to Poch after that game - but I don't think Liverpools season would have collapsed quite as dramatically as ours did, and being Champions League runner ups probably helped them out mentally. They didn't need to make believe they are capable of going the distance - they had already done it. That's part of my hope for us this term anyway.
Certainly wouldn't agree that the RB situation would be the defining issue for us this time.
They are all more than capable against 16-17 teams in the league, and even if they can't cope with a City or Liverpool attack, we lose home and away to both of them purely down to the right back (nothing to do with converting less chances), that still leaves over 100 points available for us to achieve.
We lost games to Watford, Wolves, Burnley, Southampton, West Ham, Bournemouth, and drew with Everton outside of the top 6. That's 20 dropped points from games we are clearly capable of winning even with right backs who will hypothetically under perform in every game.
If those were victories, we would have had 91 points. Turn the loss at Wembley against Liverpool into a win, and we both have 94 points.
Obviously football doesn't work like that though. Games at certain times are tough for different reasons.
Liverpool up until last season used to have a knack for losing games against shit sides. It's not because the shit sides were better than Liverpool, as the teams that beat us weren't better than us - but on the day they were for whatever reasons.
For me, our problem in winning the league isn't being able to beat Liverpool and City home and away. It's bagging all the wins which should be wins on paper, or as close to that as possible. KWP/Aurier/Foyth are more than capable in these games which will once again define our season.
KWP getting done for 5 goals away to City will not define our season, but it will act as a perfect scapegoat to alleviate criticism towards fan favourites and what not.
Fixtures are irrelevant if the other components are not there - it’s fairly obvious what I believe our biggest hinderance to be and there is a body of evidence to support that.
ochsulk:Deleted member 13260
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I don't get what you see as our biggest hindrance?
Not seen other posts from you on this thread, am unable to view your posts due to your privacy settings, and simply don't remember your points if you have made them in other threads?
We won the 1st one and still 5th. If we keep going at the same rate , we'll end up 190th.If we win the next 37 league games we've got to be in with a shout........
It's both. All the games count the same. Well, games against Liverpool and City count more if we are talking about a title challenge since it gives them a loss too.
I appreciate the optimistic tone of your post, and I'd like to think we have a legitimate title shot, but I just think it's a bit naive. Liverpool wasn't lucky last year. They have a great squad. You don't win the Champions League and the come in second in the PL by a point based on luck.
Whenever I think points gained in the PL might be a bit misleading, I look at goal differential to see if that tells a different story. Here's what the top 6 teams in the table's GD looked like last year.
1) Man City 72
2) Liverpool 67
3) Chelsea 24
4) Spurs 28
5) Woolwich 22
6) Man U 11
Our GD gap to Man City was 44 goals and to Liverpool 39 goals. Those are enormous differences. As a point of comparison, Newcastle finished 13th in the PL and Bournemouth 14th with 45 points, 26 points behind Spurs (the same point gap between Spurs and Liverpool). Bournemouth's GD gap to us was 34 goals and Newcastle's was 42.
That's the sad reality. Liverpool's gap to us from both a points and GD standpoint was like our gap to Newcastle and Bournemouth. That's the enormity of the task that is in front of us in trying to catch the frontrunners.
If it was just City OR Liverpool, I'd say that shit happens and we've got a shot. But passing both of them? I'd love to see it but I just don't see it happening.
We have a better shot in the CL due to the limited number of matches and possibility for favorable draws.
That makes the difference clear.
However, Poch says Football is fluid. Liverpool finished below us 8-10 seasons (?) before last, so it is not helpful to suddenly cower beneath them mentally (not saying you are, but most seem to perceive them as out of sight). Though the gap was big, we had a smaller (quality) squad with a fatigued core, this fatigue should now be resolved (or equal to peers), plus we have signed 3 first team squad players (2 first teamers).
KWP and/or Foyth are both capable of having Robertson style breakout seasons.
We should have enough to bulldoze more teams this season I hope, giving the squad more minutes, keeping us fresher.
Get Eriksen a new contract and I will believe it could be our year (if we remain undefeated after City).
This season could be our best shot, if we keep Toby and Eriksen it will be very difficult to improve next season (replacing two like those leaving on frees).
Brian Clough got Notts Forrest back to back European Cups, Poch has performed miracles with 'top of second tier' players (on the whole), let's see what he can do with 3 of his choice (NDombele, Lo Celso and Sessegnon were all his picks, and top picks it appears).
COYS
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The magic formula is 1.6 billion pounds in player purchases.
The order's not irrelevant. Confidence and momentum play a part. If we do well up to Christmas, the fact that we then have the top teams at home may well boost the second half of our season and we will go on to win the league.
This is not my opinion, it's a scientific fact, proven in numerous published papers and written about by God, in Leviticus, Chapter 13, so don't bother telling me I'm wrong.
I don't think we're quite there yet. I think we could be in with a chance within the next couple of years though, if we spend right.
For me we're pretty close on the attacking sign of things, but we need to sort out the back line now. I think that if we can't tie Jan and Toby into new deals we need to buy their replacements in January so that we can rotate between them to get the new guys ready for the next season.
I don't think the fixture list plays a huge part in it, we just need to make sure we win as many games as possible.
For me we're pretty close on the attacking sign of things, but we need to sort out the back line now. I think that if we can't tie Jan and Toby into new deals we need to buy their replacements in January so that we can rotate between them to get the new guys ready for the next season.
I don't think the fixture list plays a huge part in it, we just need to make sure we win as many games as possible.